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Needing to control the situation for just a second longer, I don’t immediately roll the window down when he steps up to the glass. He doesn’t seem annoyed though. He simply lifts the bottle of water to his lips and takes a long gulp. It’s clear he’s been helping her because there’s dirt on his hands and under his nails. The thought of him going inside and taking a shower here makes me want to insist he get the hell off my property.
He makes a roll-your-window-down motion with his free hand as he finishes off his bottle of water.
I comply, not saying a word once the glass has disappeared into the doorframe.
“Wanna help plant flowers?” he finally asks.
“Nope.”
His smile fades, and I imagine he’s easily picking up on the irritation I’m feeling right now. I know it makes no sense. I like Boomer well enough, I guess. We’ve both been Cerberus members for the same amount of time, but I’ve always felt like more of a member since I’m a legacy. Seeing him here with her is what’s grating on my nerves, and that makes me pissed. I shouldn’t give a shit who is here.
“I didn’t want to spend the day sitting in the truck. Plus, I don’t think she’s been outside much since she was abducted,” he says, pressing his back to the driver’s door to face her.
Guilt swims inside of me, both from realizing that he’s here as her detail not because he really wants to be, and also because I haven’t taken much of her recent trauma into consideration while I’ve been acting like a complete asshole to her.
I’ve been making excuses for my issues, and she’s been going through hell as well.
The-biggest-jerk-in-the-world award would definitely be mine if all points were tallied.
“Has she talked about it any?” My thoughts go back to the conversation I had with the guys about talking to work through issues and find myself wondering if I could ever be that guy for her. I push the thought away as quickly as I can manage, because not only would I never want to be that man, but I have also too much of my own shit to worry about. Taking that burden on from someone else would be catastrophic to all involved.
“No, and I don’t know that she will, but I think keeping busy will help. If anything, the yard will look better.” Boomer chuckles before turning back around. “Did you need anything?”
My first instinct is to remind him that this is my damn house and I don’t need a reason to be here, but I swallow that down. It’s common knowledge I haven’t been here in months, and although I’m sitting across the street, I have no intentions on stepping foot on the property. Just seeing the two SUVs in the driveway now, absent of Lana’s little white car, is painful enough.
“Just trying to get Aria to calm down,” I explain.
Boomer cups his hands around his eyes and presses his face to the backseat glass. “She’s conked out.”
I hum an agreement.
“Didn’t take long,” he says before leaning back against the vehicle.
It irritates me that he’s keeping his eyes on her, and I have no doubt that he sees exactly what I see. No sexually charged man would see this woman curled over with her ass practically in the air while she moves dirt around and not notice the line of her back or the sexy way her arms flex when she reaches for something.
“You guys planning a quiet night in after this?” I ask, and the words come out on more of a snap than actual random curiosity.
He shrugs, his eyes still locked across the yard.
“Sure didn’t take long for her to find someone,” I mutter, as if who the woman is seeing affects me in any way.
“What?” Boomer spins around, brows creasing.
“You and her.”
“Me and her what?”
“Do you really think it’s smart to—”
“Let me stop you right there,” he says, leaning a little too far into the vehicle for comfort on my part. “There’s nothing going on between the two of us. She doesn’t know anyone here, and I’m just trying to be a nice guy.”
“So, you’re telling me that you aren’t trying to nice guy your way into her bed?”
Boomer chuckles, the sound making it clear that he doesn’t have those intentions at all, and I question the response because I can’t imagine sweet little Alyssa Dansby not being everyone’s type.
“I don’t have my sights on Ali, Harley.”
“It doesn’t matter if you do,” I say stupidly.
Boomer scoffs before patting his hands on the window seal and backing away.
“I better go help her.” Boomer winks at me as he backs away, and when he joins her in the yard, neither one of them acknowledges me again.
I roll the window back up and drive away. The ride may have been exactly what Aria needed to get settled, but it’s done nothing for me except left me even more irritated and annoyed. Since I have no reason for either of those emotions where Ali is concerned, I’m full-fledged pissed by the time I make it back to the clubhouse.
