“Can you?”
Gunner put down the bagel in his hand and gripped the table, white knuckling it with both hands. “Raemina…”
“Yes?” I batted my eyelashes.
“That’s it. Fuck this food.” He stood abruptly, his chair clattering to the floor behind him. He lifted me into his arms and tossed me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.
I yelped, laughing and giggling like a teen girl confessing her crush to her best friend. Then he slapped my ass and carried me upstairs.
CHAPTER NINE
Gunner
Over the nextcouple of weeks, we kept our relationship as much of a secret as we could. We acted like co-workers at the bar, not want to draw attention to anything, but fuck it was so damn hard passing by her and not being able to touch her, kiss her, or smell her hair.
We snuck into the cooler for a quick kiss when we could, but the closer I grew to Grizz, the more he was around. At one point, the three of us were laughing, and hope filled inside me, inflated like a balloon, leaving me wondering what day it was going to pop in my face.
Would he always think of Raemina as off limits? Or would he finally let me show him how good we were for each other?
Outside of work, I saw her as much as I could between her busy schedule of classes and schoolwork and both of our work schedules. I met her roommate Trish and visited their apartment while she packed a few bags and necessities, as she spent most of her nights at my place now.
I’d fallen head over heels for the woman. It wasn’t hard to. Every stolen glance, every painstaking touch, every sweet kiss, every moment in time all confirmed one thing- my heart called her name.
But keeping our relationship a secret from Grizz was proving difficult.
“You okay, G?” Dad came up beside me as I loaded the dishwasher with racks of glasses on Friday night at work. It was open mic night, and the customers were nonstop, leaving more loads of dishes than usual.
“Hanging in there. It’s busy tonight.”
“Tell me about it. Some open mic nights take off. Makes me think I should continue.”
“I think so. Gives the town something to look forward to.” I shut the dishwasher, locked the handle, and press start.
Dad crossed his arms over his chest. “Good point. Want to come over for dinner tomorrow? I have a rack of ribs I’d like to cook.”
I opened my mouth to say yes but remembered I was having dinner with Raemina and Trish tomorrow.
Shit.
How did I tell him no? He’d ask me all sorts of questions if I said I was going out with friends.
“I can’t tomorrow, but what about the night after?”
“No? What do you have going on?”
“I’m meeting up with some friends for dinner.”
“Friends? Are you dating someone? I probably know who they are.” Dad chuckled and scratched at his beard.
“No, nothing like that. Just trying to meet new people in town.”
“Good for you, Gunner. It’s not easy.”
Raemina walked into the kitchen, and my body instantly reacted. I cleared my throat and busied myself with spraying down the sink.
I could feel my father’s eyes on me.
Don’t betray me now, stupid body.
