I dip my cheese stick in the marinara sauce and stick half of it in my mouth to hide my smile. Bobby wields the power of charm in that dimpled smile.
“But he can go to extremes,” I share, finding it easy to let down my guard with Bobby. He’s easy to talk to.
Did Carlos send him my way, knowing I needed someone to talk to in a bad way? I have my friends and Ty and his crew, but something feels missing from my life. Even in a crowd, there’s this deep loneliness.
“How so?”
“I have a shadow,” I say, with air quotes on shadow.
“A bodyguard?” He snatches a cheese stick and takes a bite of it sauceless.
Aghast, I point at the half-eaten cheese stick. “Those things are best eaten slathered in marinara.”
He arches a dark brow. “Is that so?”
“Yes.” I take the cheese stick from him, coat it in the sauce, and eat it in one bite. Cheesy, gooey, and tomatoey, a mix I didn’t realize I needed. I groan. “So good.”
He watches me chew and swallow with a gleam in his eyes. “Food tastes better when it’s shared.”
“Exactly!” I eat with Ty, José, and the guys every other Sunday—it’s difficult getting sixteen people together for a sit-down meal when we have busy lives—and Bobby is spot on. The food tastes ten times better when eaten together.
“Tell me more about this shadow.”
How to describe Gage? “Six-foot-two. Crew cut. A gym rat. Grumpy. Stubborn.”
“A boyfriend?”
“Oh, God no. He’s like a brother.” Gage has been Ty’s best friend since middle school.
Bobby sips his beer. “What other rules does your brother have for you?”
“If I tell, you’ll think he’s an overprotective monster.”
“I have worse for the women I see. Try me,” he challenges.
“Will you share these rules if I tell?” Will these rules have me running in the opposite direction? I’m not getting bad vibes, but I am curious.
Remember why the curious cat died, Ever. I hear my brother’s warning in my head. Your curiosity will get you killed, Sis.
Can it, Ty!
“Are you sure you can handle them?” he asks.
“Are they that bad?”
“Bad? No. In my favor? Completely.”
The last word scrambles my insides. This man wants complete control over a situation, just like Carlos and my brother.
Carlos controlled our relationship so that we could continue seeing one another in secret. My brother controls my life by keeping tabs on me using tracking apps and Gage. I want to live freely, but how can I trust myself not to get into trouble?
Look at my current situation. I told Gage I was sick and that I’d be holed up in my room, but here I am, at a nightclub I was warned to stay away from.
Bobby’s commanding voice pulls me out of my thoughts. “Your brother’s rules, Ever. Spill.”
I clear my throat. This is the first time I’ve told anyone. Not even my friends know Ty’s rules for me. “No partying with a frat unless it’s at someone else’s house. Frat houses are a cesspool of used condoms, three-day-old underwear, botulism in a can in the fridge, and cum on every surface.” My face heats. “His words, not mine.”
Bobby holds back a smile but loses the war. I reach out and skim my finger over his dimples.
