“Why are you really here?”
He narrows his eyes on me, then lets out a heavy sigh and wraps his fingers around the back of his neck. I watch him for a moment, waiting for whatever it is he’s got to say, because clearly, he’s not just here to bust my balls about meeting with Lorenzo.
“I needed to talk to Cidney about her future.”
“Let me guess, Posey is going to be doing your secretarial work from home, because you’re not going to have an outside office any longer.”
He winces. Yeah, that’s what I figured was going to happen. “I’ll pay her as long as it takes for her to get another job.”
“You know she’ll leave town, right?”
He winces yet again. Yeah, he knows that. There’s nothing here for her in the form of work. It’s not like Thunder Rock is a thriving metropolis. We’re a small mountain town in the middle of fucking nowhere, which is why the club is here.
“Figured she would. Maybe it’s for the best.”
I don’t respond to that shit. If I do, I’m going to give everything away. I’m not ready for that yet. I’m not ready to admit out loud, let alone to Ivy, what is going on between us. Because admitting it to Ivy means I have to make a claim.
And I sure as fuck am not ready to make any kind of claim. At least, that’s what I’ve convinced myself of.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
GOOSE
As much asI don’t want to, I let Ivy and Cidney talk alone. My attention stays focused on Cidney, though, her body language, the way her shoulders slump when he tells her just what the fuck he’s come here to tell her.
I watch as he wraps his arms around her in a hug, rubs her back, then takes a step backward, keeping his hands on her shoulders. He shakes her gently until her head tips backward, and she looks up into her eyes.
She gives him a small smile, he dips his chin as if that’s exactly what he needed, then turns his head to look at me. He jerks his chin, his hands fall from her shoulders, then he walks toward the front door.
I decide that I need to follow him. As I walk back into the apartment from the balcony, I don’t look at Cidney as I move past her. I can’t see the sadness in her eyes, but I know it’s there.
We make our way into the hall, and I close the door behind me. “I’m not going to ask what’s going on between you two. Itprobably won’t matter in a week or two anyway, so I’m going to feign ignorance on that.”
“But?” I say when he doesn’t continue.
Ivy clears his throat. “But she’s like a daughter to me, and I’m going to leave it at that. Before this, whatever the fuck it is, ends, make sure she’s safe.”
He walks away without waiting for another word. I watch him until he’s around the corner and on the elevator. Only then do I turn around and head back into the apartment.
Cidney is standing there, and the second her gaze meets mine, I feel a sense of guilt wash over me. I told Ivy to get it together with her job, his practice, and now she’s standing in front of me with an expression of pain etched in her features, mixed with a bit of panic.
“Well,” she whispers. “I’m jobless.”
Cidney’s bottom lip trembles, and the sight makes my heart squeeze. Maybe I shouldn’t have said shit. Ivy could have continued to pay her bills for the rest of her life. Because seeing her like this is too fucking much.
“You’ll be okay,” I state.
She moves toward me. She doesn’t wrap her arms around me, but she buries her face in my chest, almost burrowing herself there as if she’s trying to crawl into my body. I would welcome that. In fact, I would fucking love it if she could.
Wrapping my arms around her, I hold her close to me. “It’s going to be okay,” I murmur.
I lower my head, touch my lips to the top of her hair, and inhale her scent. I’m falling for her. I know I am. I knew I was, but somehow, this moment feels bigger. So much fucking bigger.
She tips her head backward, her eyes find mine, and she searches them. “It’s time for me to be an adult,” she whispers.
My lips twitch into a smirk because the fact she thinks she’s not an adult is hilarious as fuck. She lives on her own, pays herbills, up until now has been a responsible employee, and I know without a fucking doubt that when she’s naked, she’s very much an adult.
“I know I’m an adult,” she says, rolling her eyes. “But I’ve relied on Justin my whole life. He’s picked up the slack of my parents, he’s helped me in a million different ways, but he’s got his own family now.”
