And if it was as bad as I assumed… what would I do to them in return for hurting my girl?
9
WEST
Iwas an asshole.
Not as much as Langston, but nevertheless, what I just did, the text I sent, firmly set me in that category. Though technically it wasn’t an outright lie, more of a fudging of the truth.
Could I get my clothes on without help? Yes, I could.
Did I want to do it alone when I knew all I had to do was shoot a desperate, pleading text to Juno, knowing she would come over? That would be a firm hell no. Not when I was eager to see her again. Last night, that small taste of her, not just what I licked off my fingers and her lips but the intimacy of that moment, lit a fire inside me I knew would never burn out. It had been there before, a small flickering flame in my gut when I saw her, but now it was an inferno eating me alive with the insistent need to be around her, see her, touch her.
All my thoughts and needs revolved around Juno now.
Grabbing a T-shirt out of the closet, I headed for the front door, knowing she would be by any second. Her response to my pitiful text came only a few minutes ago, and her place wasonly a couple down from ours. Tapping the screen, I scrolled to Langston’s text, smirking at his response just like I did the first few times I read it.
He was so close to breaking. I could feel it. Last night pushed him even closer to the edge of joining me in the glorious free fall toward Juno. All he needed now was the last bit of confirmation that she wasn’t a threat to his family here in Anchor Bay. How we would get that, fuck if I knew, but it needed to happen soon.
Staring at the short list of ongoing texts, my stomach flipped. What if Juno found it weird that I only had the family I’d made here at Uplift as friends? What if she couldn’t accept the life I was forced to live to survive before I moved here?
Or found me damaged if I opened up about those horrible years of bouncing around foster homes that each ended up being worse than the previous? A violent shiver racked my whole body just thinking about those dark, lonely moments. But before those shame- and pain-filled memories could take root, taking me down a black hole that I wouldn’t emerge from until Langston could pull me out, a knock on the front door jerked me out of my head.
Hand slightly shaking, I palmed the knob and pulled the heavy wood door open. My heart literally skipped a beat and my lungs stopped working at the sight of a sleepy Juno on my front porch. Fuck, what it would be like to have her look like that in my bed, all soft and rumpled, hair a little crazy, lids still heavy.
“You play dirty,” she grumbled.
I started to respond that it wasn’t dirty, that I really needed help, only to snap my lips shut. It wasn’t my needy text she was referring to; it was how dressed—or undressed—I was, based on how her eyes were now wide open and scanning every inch of my bare chest, stalling at where my unfastened jeans rode precariously low on my hips.
“Fuck.” Rubbing a hand down her face, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
“I just need help from a friend.” I emphasized the word, remembering what she’d said last night, that it was a one-time thing and after, we would go back to normal. I knew there wasn’t a chance in hell for that to happen for me, though, and from the way she was eye-fucking me, it wouldn’t be possible for her either.
When she stayed rooted on the porch, I gently wrapped my good hand around her firm bicep and guided her inside, then shut and locked the door. Even though it was my place and not Juno’s, I didn’t want to leave Finley interrupting us again to chance.
“Shut the front door,” Juno exclaimed.
I eyed the closed door and then her. “It is.”
Those aqua eyes rolled while a smile pulled at her lips. “It’s an expression, a less aggressive way to say ‘shut the fuck up.’”
Still utterly confused, I pushed the center of my black frames up and pulled both brows in tight. “But I wasn’t saying anything?—”
“Oh my goodness, you’re adorable. I’m talking about that.”
I followed where her blue-painted nail pointed. GG sat on the back of the couch, staring at Juno like it was love at first sight, her fluffy white tail twitching back and forth in utter excitement.
“Who in the heck is this beautiful kitty?” she gushed.
Before I could warn Juno that GG was actually a secret assassin—at least that was the way she acted around strangers—she marched over to the couch and scooped the cat into her arms.
And yet the meanest, surliest pussy ever born didn’t attack or look two seconds from reaching down Juno’s throat and tearing out her heart. No, GG actually sighed and relaxed in Juno’sarms. I couldn’t help but gape at the sight as Juno whispered in baby talk while rocking GG back and forth around the room.
When Juno’s excitement-filled eyes met mine, she froze. “What?” Clearly, my astonishment and fear that GG was waiting for the perfect moment to strike were written all over my face. “I won’t hurt her if that’s what you’re worried about. Oh, and I’m not allergic. Genetic lottery if you ask me.”
“It’s more the other way around.” Now that the shock had worn off, I was slightly pissed at the attention-seeking cat. She’d stolen Juno’s focus from me.
Asshole, just like her owner.
