“Harley’s a prick, and I’m getting the hell out of here.”
Caroline gasped again, blurting out, “he’s not!” but what did she know, right? She got his best side. She got the kindness and… Jesus, I’d had his kindness too. I’d had a whole lot of fucking support and shit from him. I was overreacting, wasn’t I? I was throwing away a good fucking thing, because I was a pissy, petulant little twat.
My breath all rushed out of me and I sagged a little, releasing my knee before I toppled back onto my ass.
“Fuck me. No, he’s not, you’re right. I’m pissed, and I’m the one being a dick. He’s a good guy. Just, I’m struggling with not holding his words against him.”
“What words?”
I straightened up, meeting V’s eyes. “The warning not to hurt you, because clearly I’m such a fucking asshole that I’ll take what I can get from a vulnerable woman, with no consideration for her feelings.”
She grimaced, shrugging at me. “I mean, I handed him his ass for that after you left the shop. He had no right to try and defend me like I’m some fucking damsel in distress or something. For the record, I know he doesn’t think you’re a bad person. He justthinks I’m too broken to risk dating. Either that or he’s worried I’m rebounding, and if I am, I don’t want you to be the one who gets used.”
She blinked, dragging her hands over her face. “Fuck me. I just have no filter these days.”
“Rebounding?”
“Of course that’s the part you picked up on. Did you even hear the rest? I’m a mess. I’m broken. I’m…”
“That shit you told me last night in bed…” I trailed off at Caroline’s shocked gasp, but where the fuck did she think we slept?
“Oh god… I told you… oh god, why did I open my mouth?”
I caught her hand as she tried to cover her face, because I liked her face, and I didn’t want her hiding it from me.
“He was wrong. He’s a… I know you hate this word, but that’s what he is… a cunt. He’s a too-stupid-to-know-how-lucky-he-is kinda twat, and he deserves to suffer every day realising that.”
“He got her pregnant, Rocket. She was able to give him what I couldn’t.”
I tipped her chin up as she tried to hide from me again.
“Maybe you weren’t supposed to give it to him. Maybe he wasn’t worthy.”
She gasped, her lips parting as she stared back at me.
“Are you?”Her voice was tiny, but I caught it.
“Probably not. Really starting to fucking wish I was though.”
V
Iactually begrudged Carolinebeing here to hear this, because it was our personal business, and I had so many things I wanted to say, but not in front of her. I’d been wanting Rocket a little more, every moment I got to know him, and if we’d been alone right now, I’d probably be climbing his muscled body like a tree.
“I think you could be,” I finally said, softly, hopefully outside of Caroline’s hearing range, but I knew Rocket heard me, because some of the tension left his face, and he stroked my jaw with his thumb.
“Maybe we don’t rule stuff out then? Maybe we just keep doing what we’re doing, and see where it goes. If nothing else, I have a friend now that I don’t want to lose. If that can be enough, then we should nurture that, right?”
He frowned then. “When did I turn into a fucking douche who says things like nurture?”
I grinned though, because I knew he was trying to hide behind those walls again, like stepping out from behind them had been a shock to his system. Like maybe he revealed too much of himself, and there was some warning siren going off in his head right now. Warning, warning, heart at risk. Every time he showed me a little of his heart, I wanted more.
I cleared my throat. “Caroline, you need a ride home?” I wasn’t inviting her into anything, I was trying to find somewhere safe to leave her, so I could get Rocket alone somewhere.
“I… I can go inside and find Harley.”
“Nope.” Rocket tapped at his phone, and tucked it back in his pocket.
“I can…”
