He eyes my exposed legs and knee-high boots, then presses the side of the phone. I stare at him while the forty dollars sits on the counter between us.
His eyes brush the money, then my face. “Gon’ on and take that back. Buy the man some dinner or something.”
“A forty-dollar dinner?” I scoff, slapping my hand on top of the money and crumpling it in my hand. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”
I grab the cake and turn to leave.
“Hey, gorgeous…” he calls out while I reach for the door.
“Yeah?”
“Remember—lead with Pup next time. It’ll make things go a lot smoother for you around here.” He presses the phone to his ear. “And be sure to tell him I got five hundred on him next Sunday, so he best keep that goddamn chin tucked.”
I snort under my breath, pushing the door open. “Yeah, I’ll let him know!”
As soon as I step outside, my mouth falls open and I suck in a loud gasp.
What the hell am I doing?
CHAPTER
TWELVE
LOVIE
Carswhizz along the road that runs in front of Worthing as the setting sun casts a hazy glow on the old building.
Before I was born, Worthing used to be a tire shop, and we never had the money to make it look like anything other than that. Mama’s life insurance settlement only paid out enough to buy this building, secure the supplies to start F&S Home Cleaning, and pay my tuition at Rhodes and Lockwood. After that, I blew through my monthly survivor benefits on silly, useless stuff like clothes and shoes.
One side of the gym’s doors is still rolled up even though it should’ve been closed two hours ago, but everybody knows Worthing never actually closes except on Family Fun Day. Learning how to lock up the gym is like a rite of passage for all the guys because sometimes they stay here long after Uncle Kenny leaves. One of them even lived in one of the empty supply closets in the back.
My throat grows dry and the cake box slips against my sweaty fingers as I sneak a peek at Rich’s massive truck that’s parked two spaces down.
Seeing it makes me antsy, like it’smybirthday. I’ve lied, primped, paced, and now I’m standing in front of a place I never cared to step foot in since I was in college because I’m stupidly sneaking away to see this guy again.
“Just give him the freaking cake and go like Aunt Faye said…” I mutter to myself, finally forcing my feet to move. “Tell him ‘happy birthday,’ sit it down, and leave. You’ve done enough crazy stuff for today.”
It’s a simple thing to do, but my puckering nipples think otherwise because they have minds of their own that center on somebody who should be a non-factor. But this non-factor sees all of me—even the ugly parts I try to hide.
I gulp in another mouthful of the night air and march toward the gym’s garage door, but I falter as soon as I get to the threshold because he’sreallyhere.
I don’t know why I’m shocked about it, or maybe I’m not. Truthfully, I just don’t know how to differentiate my feelings anymore. With AJ they all blended together and existed as one big clusterfuck of an emotion that made me hollow, but now they’re slowly separating and coming back to me at the oddest times and right now IthinkI’m shocked.
Rich lies along the edge of the boxing ring with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. Today, he’s only wearing a pair of fleece shorts and his necklace, so all of my friends are exposed—his pectoralis major, his biceps, his triceps…and rectus abdominis.
If I were Rasheeda, I’d ban him from walking around half-naked.
I shake my head.
Ireallyshouldn’t be thinking that.
My heels clack against the concrete floor as soon as I take a step inside. The noise makes him turn his head toward the entrance.
“Sneaking away again, huh?” His lazy drawl echoes throughout the empty gym while I stare at his moist stomach.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out—not even when his brown irises stroke the white box in my hands and rove down to my bare legs.
There are things I forgot about his face in the week that he disappeared—like the flat flesh-colored scar that runs along his cheek and makes my mouth water, and his black eye that looks a little blacker.
