“They’re calling for another round.”Mike saluted us and left.
“This should be fun to watch,” I said.
“I don’t want to watchthis.I want us to sit and eat dinner like adults, not stand in thepool halllike white trash.”She said “pool hall” like they were dirty words.I didn’t consider anyone in here to be any more white trash than me.
“Are you coming?”She chinned toward the exit.
“I’m going to watch her fleece Drew,” I said.
“Fine.Stay if you think this is more important than our date.”
Guilt trips like that flipped a switch in me—straight into stubborn mode, where I’d do anything except what the person wanted.I couldn’t stand being manipulated that way.My mother practically mastered the technique when I was in grade school.She was a patient, wonderful woman, bless her, but her guilt trips were Olympic-level.Borderline diabolical.
I tried to smother my immediate need to snipe back.This was supposed to be a date.“I’m going to stay for a few minutes.Stay with me.This should be entertaining.”
Her eyes narrowed with enough venom to drop a horse.So much for the shy little mouse persona.Guess she’d ripped that mask off.Dante’s warning flashed in my mind.She said, “I’ll wait for you out there and surf my phone while I eat dinner alone.Whatever.”
I watched the swinging doors flap behind her as she exited.Real guilt rode me hard.
But not enough to leave.I might never see Erika hustle again.
The game started.Erika lost the first point on purpose.Now overconfident, Drew lost the next several rounds.Then she turned up the heat and burned him to the ground.
Once the game was over, Erika shot me a cocky grin.
I nodded and headed back to Milly.She put her phone back in her purse and gave me a smile that was all about disappointment.
“Did Drew lose?”Her tone held a lot of judgment.
“Yes.”
“She’s something to show up here and then steal money from Drew.”
“Drew knew what he was getting into.”
“Gambling is illegal in this state.”She stared at her glass of wine.
“They were just having some fun.”I tried smiling at her to settle her down.
“I guess so.”She seemed to relax.
We ate in silence for a while.Exhaustion combined with the beer slowed my mind to the point I hoped I wouldn’t fall asleep at the wheel when I left.Good thing I only had a few miles to drive to get back to the clinic.
Suddenly, she announced.“I want you to sleep over at my place tonight.”
“Sleep over?”I repeated.
I just stared at her.My mind stuttered, trying to catch up to the blunt weight of the question.Was she really asking me to have sex?Just like that?For a split second, the loneliness I’d been dragging around for months tugged hard.It would be so easy to say yes.To fall into someone’s arms and forget everything.God, I was tempted.
But the moment the thought surfaced, Erika’s tattoos flashed in my head.My chest tightened.I couldn’t do it.Not tonight.Not tomorrow.Not while my nerves still sparked at the memory of someone who was half-ghost and half-wound.Maybe in a few weeks, if Erika left town for good.Maybe then I could untangle the mess inside me enough to handle the complication of “sleeping over” at Milly’s place.
But if Erika stayed I’d have to figure out why she still mattered so damn much.
“We’ve gone out enough times.I’ve got it all planned at my house.Let’s leave now.”
Planned?The word hit harder than I expected.
“I can’t tonight,” I said, forcing the lie to sound solid.“I’m on call, and I’ve got somewhere to be in an hour.”Technically true, but only if you stretched the truth until it thinned out.I had just enough time for four precious hours of sleep before I needed to watch Petey.I needed them more than I wanted to admit.
