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She looked up, narrowed her eyes, and then growled. “You.”
“Me?” My eyebrows rose. “What about me?”
“You left me in your bed, all alone, and didn’t come see me afterward!” She paused. “Not that I care about that, but you could’ve at least told me that you were done with me.”
My lips twitched. “But I wasn’t done with you.”
“Yeah?” she asked. “Then why can’t you come say hi or bye or you know…anything?”
I bit the inside of my cheek as I thought about how to word what I needed to say.
“Because I’m a bad guy, Harleigh. I’m not some romance hero that’s going to save you and live happily ever after,” I told her. “I’m an ex-con. A felon. I killed a man. Also, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be doing anything with me, even talking to me, at this point.”
Her brows rose and she crossed her arms over her chest as she tapped her foot.
“Well, want to know what I think?” she asked.
I smirked. “Sure, why not?”
She crossed the lawn toward me and leaned in until she was so close that I could smell the soft scent of her.
She smelled of baby powder, something citrusy, and coffee.
“Fine, here it goes,” she said. “I’m a grown woman. I’ve been a grown woman for quite some time. I make my own decisions. I fuck who I want. I stay with who I want. I do what I want, and I goddamn well can make a decision about my life without you making it for me.”
My hands clenched, almost itching to reach for her.
“I got put on mandatory leave today,” she said. “I’m in a bad mood. I didn’t sleep last night because I overthink everything. For example, whether we get to do more of what we did the other day. And each time I did get to sleep last night, your stupid bike would start up and or shut off right outside my bedroom window. Now, tell me what in the hell the reason is that you have to park it right there.”
I looked behind me to see Rome standing there watching us with avid fascination. And behind him, where I parked my bike next to the kitchen window, parked in between our two houses, caught my attention.
“I park there,” I said, turning back. “Because nobody can see that spot from the street. Also because I have a video camera on my alarm system that points right there. If anything happens to it, I want to be able to at least get a good video of it getting stolen.”
“You’ve had many things stolen from here?” she asked curiously.
“Yes,” I shrugged. “Actually, I’ve had my bike stolen before. Twice.”
Her brows went up. “Really?”
I nodded once. “Yes. But…it was my brother both times.”
“Your brother?” she asked in surprise. “Really?”
I nodded once. “Yep. He was a punk kid. Wanted to ride my bike to a girlfriend’s house both times. I got it back, but not before he put a scratch in the paint.”
She shook her head. “That’s just nuts.”
“It is what it is,” he admitted. “Do you want to go to Disney World with me?”
She opened her mouth and then closed it.
“You…what?” she asked.
“Do. You. Want. To. Go. To…”
She held her hand up for me to stop. “I heard exactly what you said. I just think I’m hearing things wrong.”
I grinned. “You didn’t. I really asked you to go to Disney World with me.”
She opened her mouth and then closed it. “That’s…insane. And something I can’t afford.”
I waved it off. “My brother-in-law is rich. He’s making me go.”
“I didn’t pay for the tickets,” Rome admitted, not even pretending to act like he wasn’t listening to every word. “I got them from the team owner.”
The team owner being the man that used to own his football contract before he’d retired to take care of his sick son.
“Who the hell just gives away Disney World tickets?” she asked curiously.
“The team owner,” he repeated. “And I have to go. Izzy’s making me. If I have to go, I think it’s only fair that others should have to be subjected to the same shit. I already asked Bayou. And he’s going to ask Phoebe. I also asked a few of the other guys, but everybody else said no. I fully expect Bayou to say no as well.”
“It’s not just tickets, though.” Harleigh looked like she’d been thrown a curveball and was running with it. “There are snacks and meals. You can easily spend a couple grand on food…and I don’t have that.”
Rome waved her off. “That’s covered, too. Swear to God. The tickets came with meal plans and shit. Three meals a day paired with two snacks. And that includes the kids, who don’t eat worth a shit. Trust me when I say we’ll have enough.”
