My head tipped to the side. “Then I really have to get out of here soon.”
“Come again?”
“Rita said I could get out by the weekend. I’ll have to make sure that happens so you and the others don’t have to pay more—”
“Stop. Don’t fucking worry about that shit and don’t try to get out too soon. That only leads to problems.”
“Right,” I whispered. I raised my chin and stared into his eyes. “Thank you, Punc… and tell the others I’m grateful, too.”
His full pink lips jutted out a touch while he mulled over my words. Then he patted my bicep. “Yeah. You need dessert. I’ll be right back.”
Punc
He couldn’t stand it. Yak or Turk should have come down here, but they hadn’t.
After one session of church, they were no closer to knowing who attacked Savannah. Add in the fact she couldn’t figure out why he was looking at her ‘like that,’ and he’d never been so frustrated.
He couldn’t remember being so pleased to watch a woman devour her food. Her boss assumed he was her boyfriend, and he didn’t correct her. From the moment she stood up for herself at the audition, he’d wanted to drag her to the office and keep her off the stage. Not to control her, but so they wouldn’t be coworkers.
Alanis would lose it if he went there with Savannah. But to a man like Punc, that shouldn’t factor.
As though just thinking about his sister conjured her, Alanis stepped off an elevator and strode up the corridor toward him. “Excellent. I hoped I would catch you alone.”
“What do you want, sis?”
She cocked a brow. “To ask you the same thing: what do you want from Savannah? Are you leading her on with this bedside vigil routine?”
His jaw clenched and he guided them both to the side and out of the flow of foot traffic. “I would never do something that shitty. Can’t believe you think I would.”
She looked slightly contrite. “I don’t think you’d do it intentionally. Shit happens though, and more than enough bad shit has happened to Savannah.”
Something in her tone bugged him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
Alanis kept at him. “Are you leaving? Or is she awake?”
He dipped his chin. “She’s up and I was going to get her a cookie to chase her Big Mac.”
She lifted a grocery bag. “Got that covered. Sugar cookies - her favorite.”
His brows arched. “Lemon cookies are her favorite, Alanis.”
She gave him a fake smile. “Yes, but only when made from scratch - and that right there is what I’m talking about. You recalling her favorite foods could give her false hope - so what are you really doing with her?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “Not your business, really. Or are you going to throw some immature fit if I…”
“If you what? Fucked her and left her? Yeah, I’d be pissed as hell. If you keep this up and actually want something more with her, then I won’t care… as long as you keep her happy.”
“And to hell with your brother?”
She grinned. “I’ll always love you because you’re my brother, but don’t do her like you did half your other girlfriends.”
“I haven’t had a girlfriend in two years.”
She nodded. “Yeah, you also didn’t have the last one hounding you because she came to me for advice on how to get you back.”
“You never told me that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why would I? You had moved on, but you pull that with Savannah… shit will get awkward fast.”
