“That’s too bad,” he whispers, his head lowering to kiss my inner thigh.
“Eli,” I’m not even sure if he’s still awake, but I’m lying awake staring at the ceiling.
“Yeah.”
“What did you mean by he helped you out last night?”
“I wasn’t sure what to do with him when I was done.” He explains. “So I called Z and told him not to ask too many questions, but I needed his help.”
“And he didn’t ask?”
“He did. But only because of who it was.”
“What do you mean?”
“We knew Kyle in high school. It was a mutual dislike. A couple of fights may have happened.”
“He never said he knew you guys.”
“He knew who you were, though.”
“Everyone does.”
He actually chuckles at my statement. “Fair. But just something he said last night, it’s still gnawing at me.”
I remain quiet and let him finish.
“God, I don’t want to tell you this,” he whispers as he pulls me closer to his body. “He said word’s gotten around you grew up too protected and it made you naive and too trusting.”
“What?” I gasp. “So are there people like…”
“I don’t know.” It’s almost as if he doesn’t know what else to say, as he just quiets down. “But I’m not gonna let anything happen to you, ever again.”
I want to joke with him, tell him he’s getting a little ahead of himself, but I stop, letting his words speak for themselves. Letting myself actually feel the emotions for once.
“I told Z what happened to you.” He finally whispers back to me, I’m not sure if he’s hoping I’m asleep. “I just didn’t tell him it was you.”
“Who’d you tell him it was?”
“My complicated girl.”
Rolling my eyes, I stand up and walk across the room into the bathroom.
“Should I be offended about being called complicated?”
“No,” he calls back, but I can hear humor in his voice. “No one ever writes shit about the easy ones.”
“What?”
“Songs, movies, books — they never talk about the easy ones.”
“God, you’re cheesy.” I’m trying not to smirk at him as I walk back across the room, because, okay, that’s a decent response.
“Ow,” I gasp when I’m almost back to the bed. Looking down, using only the glow from the TV to see, I bend over, looking for what I just stepped on. “What the fuck?” whispering as I pick it up. “Is this a fucking tooth?”
“Shit,” Eli murmurs. “Sorry, it must have fallen out of my pocket. I forgot it was in there.”
“Wha — you got your tooth knocked out?”
