His brows rose. “Do I look like a man who’d use the word ‘comfy’?” he demanded.
I bit my lip trying not to laugh and shook my head, attempting to look remorseful for my use of such an apparently effeminate term. I practically snorted with my effort not to laugh.
“Jesus,” he grumbled, trying to look put out, though his eyes twinkled with amusement.
“Why are you here?” I asked, dishing us up some pizza and coming to sit next to him on the sofa.
He shrugged. “Wanted to hang with you.” He reached out for his plate, taking a big bite of the best pizza in town.
My cheeks warmed at his admission as I nodded, thrilled he wanted to spend time with me. The feeling was definitely mutual.
I cocked my head toward the TV Kat had so generously left behind. “Vikings again?” I asked, referring to the series we’d watched a few times together.
“Yeah,” he agreed, his mouth full of food.
We’d been watching the show for nearly an hour; the sun had dipped low in the sky and I felt sleepy. Our plates had long since been discarded and my legs were pulled up underneath me as I lay on the opposite arm of the couch from where he was sprawled out.
As always, the energy in the room felt charged, at least for me. He was so close, this larger than life, beautiful man, just out of reach.
He seemed absorbed with the show, legs crossed at the ankle on the coffee table, hand resting on his abs. He never seemed as affected by being close to me as I was to him.
My heart pounded as I worked up the courage to talk to him – to finally divulge the secret I’d held so closely. The secret that would change everything.
“Listen, Ax,” I began, my heart hammering so hard it was nearly painful.
His eyes turned toward me expectantly.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about.” I licked my lips nervously.
The shrill ring of my phone began in the background but I ignored it, intent on the task at hand.
“Soph?” he prodded.
My phone rang again and I huffed in exasperation, rising to silence it.
I saw the familiar number flashing across the screen and was compelled to answer. I watched Axel wordlessly, memorizing the plane of his face, the color of his eyes, and the shape of his lips as I delivered the one-word answers that were required of me in a rushed whisper. It was only a five-minute conversation, despite it changing the course of my life.
I knew what I had to do.
I was on the next bus out of Hawthorne that very night.
Chapter 1
Thirteen Months Later
“That order you’ve been waitin’ on is up,” Stacy, a fellow waitress, mentioned in passing as she snapped her gum.
“Thanks,” I murmured, relieved. Table 12 had been giving me trouble since they sat down and it hadn’t helped that their food had taken longer than usual.
Giovanni’s was a popular little Italian place downtown with good food and a quiet atmosphere. I was lucky they’d given me the chance to waitress since I’d had no experience when I started.
“Do y’all need anything else?” I asked after I’d put the steaming plates down in front of four impatient gentlemen. The “y’all” had emerged somewhere in the last few months and I was rolling with it.
“Your phone number for starters,” one of them returned without pause.
I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
A sing-song voice called out, “She’s taken, honey.” Dwayne swept in to rescue me as he gave me a wink and sashayed on down to pick up his own order.
