It's in the way he's so eager to enrich his mind instead of dulling it down with pointless television, how he attempted to make heart latte art and tried pineapple pizza because I said I liked it. It was in the comfort he showed me after absolutely destroying my pussy on his kitchen counter, and the concerned texts he's sent since then. Plus, him showing up to my office in a panic because I had slipped out of his place without telling him.
I'm safe with Silver. I guess he and Alec have that in common, too. Something that Miller shares with them, only Miller isn't interested in me the way that I am in him. I shouldn't want him, but that crush that appeared the second I saw him across that bar all those moons ago hasn't let up, and I don't know how to make it stop.
Miller is sexy in his own right, this sort of cryptic mysteriousness about him. He doesn't exactly fit in, aesthetically, into the criminal world. He's not overly muscular or arrogant in his nature. Miller is an enigma. He's well dressed, not in suits like a lot of the guys I see in that industry, but in fitted cashmere sweaters and pleated pants. He has great fashion sense, and now that I'm aware he's super wealthy, I wouldn't be surprised if he has someone who styles him.
Although his fashion sense could be explained by his...
The doorbell ringing takes me out of my thoughts, and I hug the blanket tighter to my chest, tugging it up to where it's almost covering my chin.
I listen intently, the shuffling of my father’s footsteps going across the living room.
Our house is small, with thin walls. Nothing can be kept quiet here. A lesson I should have learned before I eavesdropped on my dad and Ricardo.
Muffled conversation appears, only for it to stop and my dad to walk away from the door. He doesn't close it, at least not from what I can make out.
Fuck.
He taps on my bedroom door. "Cora, you in there? There's a gentleman out here to see you."
A gentleman?
I sit up and consider who it might be. Other than Ricardo, Silver's the only one bold enough to show up unexpectedly, but do I really know Alec or Miller enough to put it past them? And if it isn't any of them, I don't know who else it could be. That alone sends a shiver down my spine.
With shaky hands, I throw off my blanket and slip off my bed. "I'm coming," I tell the man I've been avoiding and throw a cardigan over my shoulders.
My stomach tightens as I open the door and come face to face with my dad. I don't look him in the eye, nor do I even tilt my head toward him, instead, I keep it low and to the side for more reason than one. The bruises from Ricardo's slap are already forming on my pale skin.
I hug my cardigan to my chest and peek through the cracked front door at a man standing outside with a package in his grasp. He glances both ways and checks his watch.
"Can I help you?" I ask him once I've opened the door.
"Coraline Price?"
I cringe at the use of my legal name. "Yeah?"
"Here." He holds the envelope out to me. "It's from Miller."
"Oh." I take the package. "Thanks."
He nods. "Have a good evening."
"Uh, thanks. You, too." I stand there a bit awkwardly as he turns around and marches down the walkway and onto the sidewalk. I wait until he climbs onto a bicycle and peddles away before shutting the door.
"What do you have there?" My dad asks me, his proximity making me wish I never responded to his knock at all.
"I don't know," I tell him. It's not entirely a lie, but it's safe to say my driver's license is in here.
From the weight of the package though, that isn't the only thing.
"Well," he continues. "Are you hungry?"
I walk past him, not bothering to glance in his direction.
"I could throw a frozen pizza in."
I stop in my tracks but don't turn around. "Have you heard from her?"
My dad lets out a sigh telling me exactly what I need to know. "No."
