Several dayslater a familiarbang bang bangbrought me out of the best dream, one with a sexy NFL quarterback who may or may not have been wearing any clothes.
“Trzy, get the door. I need to finish my dream.”
Meow
“You’re really worthless, you know that, right? But I love you anyway.”
The banging continued as I made my way to the peephole, but I knew it was Everson. He had the weirdest knock: knock knock (ten seconds later) knock knock knock knock knock. The same pattern continued without variation. The guy knew I had to assemble myself before I could get the door.
“Yes, I’m marrying Cage.”
Everson grinned—the full-on smile I loved. It was the best because I knew he didn’t really want to admit that he genuinely liked me. Or that he was amused by me—same thing.
“Monaghan is married to the team. He won’t be taking a wife anytime soon if he knows what’s best for him. Too distracting.”
“Good morning to you, too.” I crossed my arms over my chest.
“It’s nearly noon, Stick.”
“I had a late night.”
He held his hand up. “I don’t need to hear about you getting your freak on.”
“Sons of Anarchyuntil 2:00 a.m. is hardly getting my freak on. What do you want?”
“Conditioner.”
My gaze shifted to his short, buzzed hair. He rolled his eyes.
“Ooohhh…” I nodded. “You had a lady friend stay over last night.”
“A lady friend? Really, Stick? No one says that. And no, that’s not it.”
“First of all, I just said it, so you can’t say ‘no one’ says it. I’m someone, you know? And as for yourstick…I saw a picture of Shayna’s mom—yourmom.”
His brow peaked.
I narrowed my eyes, but he shook off my comment.
After a few seconds of silence that he refused to fill with elaborating on his mom, I sighed. “If the conditioner is not for hair, then I have a good idea what you’re going to do with it and I’ll give you some lotion instead. I splurge on good conditioner. I’m sure some sort of cooking oil would work just as good. Ya ever thought about trying that?”
Everson shook his head. “Porn site or not, you’re a freak, woman, that’s all there is to it.”
“Evson?”
The door to his apartment cracked open.
I came so close to bursting into tears. I couldn’t even speak past the lump in my throat.
“I’m not sure what the rules are on helping her bathe. I’m a guy, her brother, not her dad, and?—”
I shook my head until he stopped talking, then I nodded. “I’ve got her,” I choked out, blinking back my tears.
“Get your clothes,” he told her then turned to me when she went back inside his apartment. “Don’t give me that look. I’m not making any promises. One day at a time. That’s all I’ve got to give. Don’t get too attached to her, Stick. Got it?”
I nodded, completely lying. Shayna already had me with her very first smile.
As Shayna playedin the bathtub, I sat on the vanity and scrolled through my emails looking for my flight confirmation. My phone vibrated and a text popped up at the top of my screen.
