“So?”
“Sowhat?”
“What time are you gonna bethere?”
“I don’t know. Maybe four? To give Jessa a hand if she needsit.”
I watched her as she cleared the breakfast shit off the table. “I’ll need to head out soon. You want a shower first? The shower in the master bathroom is shit, so we gotta use the one down thehall.”
She looked at me sideways and smiled softly. “Why do you livehere?”
“You don’t like my place?” I looked around. Yeah, it was old. Smallish. But it was clean. Simple. I likedsimple.
“I just mean, it’s not your place. It’s a rental,right?”
“Thatobvious?”
“You could afford much nicer, I’msure.”
I shrugged. “Better things to spend my moneyon.”
“Suchas?”
“Bikes. Travel.” I checked out her bare legs. “Women.”
She rolled her eyes. “You go shower. I’ll finish cleaningup.”
“You really don’t have to do that,darlin’.”
“Just go.” She was fussing over the dishes in the sink, and I slipped my hand around her hip to her stomach, that slight curve of her belly that fit right into my hand. I brushed her hair out of the way with my chin and kissed hertemple.
“Yes,ma’am.”
I left her there. I could feel her pulling away a bit, but fuck if I knew why. I told her I wanted her to come to the dinner. If she was nervous about seeing Piper or something, not sure what I was supposed to do aboutthat.
I was uneasy about itmyself.
I’d told Jesse at the party last night that I wouldn’t be coming by his place this morning to work out, and he’d definitely seen me leave with Roni. So he could connect the dotsthere.
Other than that, I hadn’t said shit to anyone yet—includingPiper.
Was definitely gonna fill him in that I was seeing Roni when I went by his place today, though,beforehe ended up in a room with her and a beer in his hand and said somethingstupid.
No idea what he’d make of it. Really didn’t care. As long as Roni was mine, we’d work the restout.
And last night, when I screwed her on Zane’s couch in the dark, I’d definitely told her she wasmine.
She didn’targue.
As I got into the shower, I realized I wasn’t even sure what time it was, which was fucking rare. Something about Roni, about spending time with her… She sucked up my focus, made all my attention converge onher.
Made the clock in my head shut the fuckup.
And I likedit.
I figured I had enough time, though, to get cleaned up, very possibly screw the hell out of her again, and head out to Piper’s place, with time tospare.
This Christmas Eve dinner thing—the Orphans’ Potluck, we called it—had been a tradition between Jesse, Brody, Zane and me, ever since we were about twenty. We’d started the tradition when the four of us were renting that shitbag apartment together. The year Jesse’s momdied.
