I don’t miss the way Roxie jolts slightly when his arm rests on her and my chest tightens.
Someone’s touched her. And once I figure everything out…the hand that touched her will be dismembered.
Mark my fucking words.
It happens so fast I probably wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t so on alert, so tuned in to every single movement she makes. Roxie slips right into that confident, seductive skin I saw before. It’s magnetic, but I can see through it. I wear my silence like it’s a wall but, Roxie, she transforms.
She puts armor on to push people away or adjusts it to get what she needs.
Roxie’s fake smile irks me, but I know she’s just trying to feel strong again.
“Oh god, you’re in on this too now?” she jokes, subtly shifting from under his arm while stepping minutely closer towards me.
I tell my heart not to look too deep into it.
“Sure am, Rox. I saw how he handled losing you before, I’m not going to let that happen again,” Asher says the words with a light tone, one meant for teasing, but when he looks at me, I know he’s being serious. Protective. Worried.
Roxie’s eyes meet mine, regret flashing in those golden-rimmed brown eyes before she takes a deep breath and sits back down on the couch like her body couldn’t keep her up.
“Are you okay?” I kneel next to her, holding her hand gently in mine.
“I’m just so tired,” she whispers brokenly.
“I know, I know,cariño.” My hand ghosts over her injured one. “Let me help you lay down, and we’ll figure it all out later.”
“There’s nothing to figure out,” Asher says easily, like he already has everything figured out. “You’re staying here. You can work at the shop if you want, or do what you want to do. But right now,” Asher looks at me, taking over and laying the plan out so I can be the one to nudge her into it while he fucking threw her over the side. “Right now, you’re staying here. Ty will stay out here with you, and I’ll go triple lock the door. Nothing is happening tonight, just rest. We’ll figure the rest out tomorrow.”
“Asher,” Roxie starts to say and I put my hand gently on her knee.
“Just tonight, Roxie.”
She looks at me, torn and nervous, but I can see it in the way her eyelids droop that she’s already halfway to agreeing.
“I’ll guard the door, I promise,” I say earnestly, hoping that it brings even a little relief to her. A small safety.
“If I stay…” she says softly, eyelids closing as she looks from me to Asher then back again. “I’m telling you now, you’re inviting trouble into your home.”
Asher looks at me, those blue eyes saying to me ‘bring it on’, and I turn to Roxie, a powerful, feral smirk crossing my face.
“I love trouble.”
Forty-five minutes later and Roxie’s snoring so loudly it’s like we’re cutting down trees in here. She’s adorable, but holy hell.
I sit at the little beat-up kitchen table, absentmindedly running my thumb over my bottom lip as I watch her asleep on the couch. Her chest rises and falls, but it’s unsteady. Almost on edge. It’s like her body doesn’t know if it should give in to the comfort, if it’s a trick.
Her words run through my mind,‘I did it for you!’
Six years… For six years I thought she’d forgotten me. I thought I wasn’t worth remembering. For six years, I would try to move on only to be immediately turned off the moment I saw a shortie with black hair or a girl wearing fishnets and combat boots. I didn’t save myself, but I was always,always, trying to push her from my mind.
Liquor and weed help with that a lot.
Six years I did that stupid fucking shit, and she was hurting. She was alone, she was being fucking used and hurt, and I was out. Picking up girls with Asher because I was trying to get over her.
What kind of asshole am I? Newsflash, the worst fucking kind.
Asher snaps his fingers in front of my eyes and I jolt.
“What?”
