I lie there, my whole body buzzing. My eyes flutter open to see Bam over me. I stare up at him as a smile takes over my whole face. I wrap my arms around him, pulling him down for a kiss.
“I like tasting me on you,” I tell him.
“You marked me, rebel.” He smirks, letting me know he’s more than okay with that.
Chapter Seventeen
BAM
“When you passed by the security camera, did you look at it?” Josie asks as I pull out the kitchen chair to settle in and watch her finish making breakfast. I offered to help, but she said everything was done. In the time between me climbing out her bedroom window to fetch clothes from my apartment and returning, she made the bed, showered, and mixed up biscuits. She gave me the task of setting the table while she cut the biscuits with a small drinking glass.
“Yeah.” I wanted her dad to see me coming in this morning. Making sure I pass by the camera when I leave and return takes extra effort since that means matching trips in and out of the window but we have to keep up appearances for her dad.
“Hope you weren’t wearing that.” She points a flour-coated finger in my direction.
I glance down at my gray graphic T-shirt that has “Nirvana” in faded green. “Your dad a Kurt Cobain hater?”
“Not the T-shirt, silly. Your face. I’ve never really known what smug looked like until today.” She shakes her head and then returns her attention to the biscuits.
I pick up a spoon and peer into the back of it, trying to see what she means. I look normal, if a little less grouchy.
“It’s the mouth,” she supplies. “You’re not smiling, but the corners of your lips are quirking upward. If my dad saw it, he’s going to be sus—” She stops talking mid-word when the phone rings.
“Should I answer it?” Her hands are a mess, so I reach for the phone, but she jumps in front of me.
“No, I’ve got it. Hey, Dad, what’s up? No, he just came over this morning. I don’t know why he was looking like that. Probably beat someone up last night and felt good about it. Yes, I’ll tell him. Yes, I will make sure the doors are locked. No, I won’t do anything dangerous. I’m still working on that one case. The missing basketball player.” She listens for a bit, but I can’t make out anything her dad is saying. “Yes, I love you too.” She holds out the device white with flour. “He wants to talk to you.”
Alarm is bright in her eyes.
“No problem.” I give her a wink. “Yes, sir,” I answer into the receiver.
“You taking care of my girl?”
“Yes.” I keep my voice as flat as possible. No smugness.
“You doing anything I wouldn’t approve of?”
“I’d give my life for hers.”
There’s a prolonged silence. Josie’s dad is smart. He clocks immediately that I didn’t answer his question. My girl gives me a worried stare before rushing over to the sink to wash her hands.
“You being careful?” he finally says.
“Yes, sir.”
Josie tries to take the phone from me, but I fend her off easily with one arm.
“You two are young. Very young. Josie’s got a bright future in front of her.” Meaning don’t get her pregnant.
“Brighter than mine, and I’m going to be very careful to keep it shiny and fresh and full of options.”
Josie sighs and puts the biscuits in. She gets the gist of the conversation.
There’s another pause before Josie’s dad finally replies. “Can’t keep you apart because Josie’s headstrong, but I’ll hunt you down and disembowel you if she is ever hurt.”
“Sir, I’d fall on your sword before you even took a swing if that happened.”
“Let me talk to Josie again.”
