Page 81 of Beg Me

My laughter is quick and easy this time. “Fishing references, huh?”

“I’m an angler. It’s in my blood.”

We turn toward the entryway as the door creaks open. The rain grows louder before the click of the door closes. Markie comes around the corner with a pizza and a tote bag.

“You’re soaked,” Gus says.

Markie’s eyes find mine, and I smirk, making her blush.

“It’s pretty wet out there,” she says, shaking her head and placing the pizza on the table. “Are you hungry for some pizza, Gus?”

“Yup.”

He hops to his feet and races into the kitchen for a plate, passing Markie on her way to me.

I pout as she grows closer. “You didn’t ask me if I’m hungry.”

“Because you aren’t eating pizza if I have any say in it,” she says, nipping my protruding lip with her teeth.

I growl, making her giggle. “Keep it up …”

“Where’d you get that?” she asks, pointing at the keyboard on my lap.

“I believe it’s called Goode’s or something. It’s next to Miller’s. I didn’t even know it was there until I drove around the parking lot today and saw it tucked back in the trees.”

She makes her way back to the kitchen. “I didn’t even realize that place was still open. Do you want some pizza?”

“Yeah, I’m coming.”

I move the keyboard to the floor and join Gus and Markie at the pizza boxes. We pile a few slices on the paper plates Gus grabbed from the cabinet, then grab our drinks and return to the living room. It’s not something I let Gus do all the time, but every now and then, eating in front of the television won’t hurt him.

I hope.

Markie clears her throat. “So, this might seem a little weird, but I have to ask.” She grimaces. “Will you boys go with me to Lolly’s for dinner on Sunday?” She takes a bite. “I go to my grandma’s almost every Sunday unless she’s out gallivanting around the country with her girlfriends. But she left me a voicemail this afternoon that she heard from someone that you exist,” she says, looking at me. “And she expects you to show up with me this week.”

“And me?” Gus asks, his eyes bright.

“Of course, and you. Are you kidding me?”

“I mean, I figured …” he says like he’s the star of the show everywhere he goes. He kind of is, which makes my heart stutter as pride washes through me. This kid.

Markie laughs.

I put my pizza on the plate and rest it against my leg. Meeting a woman’s family has never ranked high on my to-do list, and I’ve avoided almost every interaction possible. I have a kid with Deidre, and I met her parents once last summer.

A part of me, the logical one, wants to say no. The more embedded that I get in Markie’s life, the harder it’s going to be to leave. I have to leave—that’s not a choice—and her life is here. But the other part of me, the one growing more attracted to this woman every single day, wants to say yes.

The look in her eye is the tiebreaker.

“Of course, we’ll go,” I say, rubbing her shoulder.

She tucks her legs beneath her and curls up beside me. “Great. Thanks. It’ll make my life a lot easier.”

We eat quietly, Gus asking random questions about the weather here and there. I don’t know if he thinks we’re meteorologists or what, but I have no clue what makes thunder. I do, however, love having the two of them here with me.

Markie takes out her phone and studies the screen, her brows pulled together. It reminds me of how she looked earlier at the park when she got off the phone with Miles. I still don’t know what that shit was all about, and she asked me not to press, but something tells me she’s reading a text from him and that it’s in the same vein as whatever they discussed this afternoon. I was hopeful she’d talk to me when we got back to the house, but Gus was wild and gave us no privacy. And then she had to go to Mira’s about Audrey’s wedding for a while.

This is the first time I’m seeing her since then.