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“Motherfucker,” he hissed and heaved himself to his feet so he could gather his popcorn tub, drink, and empty candy boxes. “This sucks.”
When one of the empty boxes slipped from the pile in his arms and fell to the floor, he muttered, “Shit,” and tried to bend down to retrieve it, only to lose more trash from his arms.
“Oh, here. I got it,” I offered.
“Thanks.” He straightened and waited for me to pick everything up before he started out of the row so we could walk side by side to the end of the aisle.
“Maybe they could go back in time and have some prequels of her when she was younger,” he guessed conversationally as we headed toward the exit.
I shook my head. “But then they’d probably use a different, younger actress, and I don’t think I could handle anyone else filling that role. Not right now, anyway.”
“Yeah,” he said, his shoulders slouching as he paused by the trash can and sent me a pitiful sigh, even as he dumped everything in his arms. “It’s really over, isn’t it?”
“Maybe she’s not dead after all,” I suggested hopefully, even though there was no hope for that because—
“We watched them burn her body at sea,” he reminded me.
I wrinkled my nose. “Yeah, well…” After tossing the two boxes I’d been carrying, I pulled my purse strap more firmly up my shoulder and stepped through the doors of the theater to start toward the front entrance of the building. “I can’t afford to think about it being over, so I’m just going to keep hoping some kind of bizarre miracle will happen.”
He nodded, considering my words. Then he softly answered, “I think I will too.” Only to gasp, “Ooh.” He snapped his fingers and pointed at me. “Identical twin shows up out of nowhere and carries on her mission for her. Huh? That’s doable, right?”
Except mentioning a twin made me think of his twin. Sobering because I’d just spent the last two hours with my shoulder pressed up against Bella Lowe’s brother, and I’d actually enjoyed his company, I cleared my throat discreetly. “That—yeah, that could work, I guess.”
We were getting along, which was bad. I couldn’t be friendly with him.
Which meant, I needed to get out of his company, like now.
“You bet your ass it could work,” he said. “It’s freaking brilliant. They better go that route if they know what’s good for them. Otherwise, I will revolt.” Once we reached the doors, he opened one and held it wide for me to exit ahead of him.
Warmed by his thoughtfulness, I glanced at him shyly and murmured, “Thank you,” only to jar to a horrified halt when I realized the creepy guy from inside, who’d hit on me before the movie, was leaning against the wall right outside the building as if waiting for us to exit.
I was barely able to gape at him, wondering why he was still lingering, when Gracen bumped into me from behind.
“Ope.” His large, warm frame colliding with mine caused me to stumble forward. So he gripped my waist to steady me. “What…?” he started, only to spot the creeper as well. Then he stiffened, drawing me protectively closer. “What the fuck, man?”
Sm
irking at us, the creep pulled a piece of gum from his pocket. As he unwrapped it, he said, “Hey there. I was just curious if you two were going to keep up your lovers’ ruse all the way to your cars or not.”
“Ruse?” Gracen huffed as if offended by the word. He stepped around me so he could face off with his contender. “Just what the hell is your problem, buddy? Even if she wasn’t here with me—which she is—she doesn’t want anything to do with you. Got it?”
“Yeah, well…” The wall leaner popped his gum into his mouth, wadded the wrapper in his fist, and made a point of dropping it to the ground beside him as if littering was some kind of badass move. “I never heard her say that.”
Rising onto my tiptoes so I could see him over Gracen’s shoulder, I said, “No, he’s right. I don’t want anything to do with you.”
With a laugh, Gracen turned as if allowing me into the conversation, then he swept a hand from me to the other man, saying, “There you have it, bud, straight from the woman’s mouth. She’s not interested.” Offering me his elbow, he asked, “Shall we go somewhere else this psycho isn’t?”
I nodded and grabbed his bicep. “We shall.”
He grinned at me obligingly before transferring his smile to the man. “Sir,” he said pleasantly before trailing it with, “Follow us, and I’ll break your fucking face.”
Then he turned me in the opposite direction and started us down the sidewalk.
“Oh my God, thank you,” I breathed, clutching his arm for dear life before I quietly added, “You’re walking me all the way to my car, right?”
“Hell, yes,” he growled. “I really need your protection right now because that dude’s giving me the heebie-jeebies.” When I laughed softly over his joke, he leaned closer. “Please tell me you know some kind of kickass martial arts.”
I winced and decided not to mention the single self-defense class I’d taken. “I could rack him in the junk for you.”
