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“Maybe you shouldn’t be around Tiny too much,” I muse. “Your bad attitude might rub off on him.”
“You don’t know what a bad attitude is,” he says. “Get out of here. I’ve got this.”
I leave him alone, suspecting Gus might fall asleep in front of the pen.
I didn’t tell him that I plan to have Scarlett clean my room today.
We talked a lot over dinner last night, and Bishop agreed we would play today by ear.
If Scarlett seems fine, we’ll go on with trying to get to know her while she cleans.
If she seems off, Bishop’s going to ask to talk to her.
I don’t like option number two.
Scout didn’t like it either.
Gus mostly ignored our conversation, but even he shook his head when Bishop mentioned it.
We can’t talk to Scarlett unless she’s at a point where she’s willing to open up to us.
None of us think she’s there yet.
Whatever happened between her and Scout, it wasn’t tangible enough to count as a breakthrough.
So, today, Scout and I are looking for breakthroughs.
While Gus hides in my room and Bishop watches out for any behaviour that might signal that Scarlett’s ready to bolt and pretend the last few days never happened.
I move down the stairs slowly, meeting Scout in the lounge.
He’s already had his daily workout, but I can tell he has a lot more energy to burn off.
“Hey,” I greet as I sink into the couch opposite his.
We’re both in tank tops and sweatpants.
I doubt his decision was made the same way mine was, unless she looked at him like a hungry tiger, the same way she looked at me when I wore this. Even if she did, he probably didn’t notice.
“Hey,” he murmurs, looking up from his newspaper.
“Twinsies!” I blurt as I flop down opposite him.
He raises an eyebrow, and I motion to what I’m wearing.
Letting out a sigh, he puts the paper down. “I should go change.”
“Why?” I ask. “It’s a good look. Guaranteed to get Scarlett in the right kind of mood.”
He shakes his head. “I put this on because I’m going to work out again.”
“Right, because she almost let something happen when she saw your muscles covered in sweat.”
I know that’s not why, but he’s hiding something and I’m a little hurt that he doesn’t feel like telling me what’s wrong. We’ve been best friends since practically the day we met, and we’ve been pack brothers for almost that long.
Secrets aren’t a thing with Scout. He doesn’t keep stuff to himself like Gus.
I don’t know what’s going on with him now, but I don’t like it.
