I covered my mouth to keep my giggles from getting out of control. “Do you still watch anime at all?”
His smile seemed content. “All the time. It helps me wind down at night when I can’t sleep. You?”
I shook my head softly. “Not so much. Blake didn’t like it, and one of his things was us enjoying television together.”
“Ah, so long as it was something he wanted to watch.”
I almost felt stupid. “Yeah.”
He reached for his water. “Please tell me you remember that one weekend we were allowed to have a sleepover.”
The memory hit me like a crashing wave. “Holy shit, the weekend our parents were all sick with the flu.”
He took a sip of his drink. “They stuffed us in that basement to try and keep us away from all of it, and we spent the entire weekend—”
“—eating all of their snacks and getting sick anyway.”
His smile was positively contagious. “I think about that weekend a lot.”
Hurt laced his voice, and it killed something inside of me. “I do, too.”
His fingertips danced along the condensation on the outside of his glass. “So, what are you doing for work nowadays? Did you ever make anything of those doodles I always caught you drawing in your notebooks during English?”
“Ugh, I fucking hated English.”
“I take it you don’t do anything with books, then.”
I shook my head at him as the giggles kept coming. “I’m a graphic designer now.”
He clapped his hands. “I knew you could do it. I knew you’d make something of that art.”
I leaned forward and reached for a piece of bread. “Now, I’m not going to act like I haven’t seen the emblem on the back of your vest, all right?”
“All right. What questions do you have?”
Concern washed over me. “I’ve seen the news. It doesn’t take a genius to put things together. Are you guys all right? Will you be able to rebuild those clubs?”
His gaze searched mine before he folded his hands in his lap. “We’re doing okay. Most of the insurance claims are done, and since most of the clubs are totaled, it’ll be a nice payout so that we can rebuild without sticking our hands into our own pockets.”
“Hey, that’s good, right?”
He nodded, but it seemed a bit mechanical. “Yeah, it’s good.”
I took a long pull from my own water. “Do the clubs take care of you guys? I mean, financially?”
He grinned. “Curious as to how much money I make?”
My eyes widened. “Wait, no. No, no. I just—”
He waved his hand in the air. “I’m playing with you, Rose. Settle down. It’s just me.”
It was never “just him,” though. “Sorry. I just—it—uh—”
“You apologize a lot now. You never used to do that before.”
I closed my eyes and settled my angry mind. “I know.”
The silence was deafening, and when I opened my eyes, I found him studying me. Staring me down.
