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Chapter Seventeen:
Seven Steps
When I walked in thehouse, I knew there was no way to avoid Sterling, but I was feeling more confident than I had when I left. Some small part of me knew I shouldn’t feel that way simply because a man asked me out, but it was more than that. It was a boost I needed. “Hello, Silver,” I said the second I saw him, wanting to beat out any teasing he might have in the chamber. “Sleep good?”
I set the bags on the kitchen table, pointedly not looking at him as he sat down half-naked across from me.
“About as well as always. Did you?” he asked.
“Oh yeah. Best sleep in a while. And Charlie? It felt weird leaving before checking on him.”
He tilted his head toward the stairs. “He’s reading up there, he’s good. Look, if you raced out this morning because of last night ... I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t,” I rushed out, then went with honesty. “Or I did, but because I didn’t know what to say not because you did anything wrong. You didn’t.”
“Okay then.” He smiled tightly, leaning forward so every damn muscle in his beautiful upper body flexed. “Did it help?”
I nodded, not wanting to lie to him. I already couldn’t lie to him. “I’m sorry if I interrupted you or anything. I—” My eyes began to trace the lines of his body without me realizing, and when I did catch myself, I blurted out the only thing that could stop me from fucking him right there in the kitchen. “I ran into a friend at the store—” deflect, deflect, deflect “— he asked me on a date this Friday at eight. Do you think that could work? I know your schedule is hectic.” And we both know I need to be fucked.
“What?” he asked, like the hurricane in those blue eyes didn’t give away the fact that he’d heard me perfectly. “And you ... want to go?”
“Yeah, I mean I don’t have anything else going on, do I?” I shrugged a shoulder to try and play it off. “Is that okay?”
He stiffened, and I begged him silently to say something, anything, that would stop me — but all he did was nod. “I can move some things around. It should be fine.”
Of course.I forced a smile and went back to the groceries. “Thanks. I’ll grab you a World’s Best Boss cup.”
“Great.” He stood, picking his shirt up from the back of the couch and sliding it on. “I’m going to take Carl for a run. Are you going to be here for a while?”
“Yeah, of course. I won’t go anywhere. Enjoy.” I couldn’t take my eyes off of him, but he wouldn’t even look at me as he grabbed his shoes from the closet beside the door and put Carl’s leash on him.
He didn’t look at me at all until he had the door open and froze with his hand on the knob. “It’s probably not my place to ask, but who is it? Your date. I didn’t know you knew anyone here besides us.”
“I know a couple people. But his name is Caffrey, we met at the bar and it was kind of a mess so we figured we’d try again.”
He jerked, flinching like I’d slapped him instead of answering his question. After a moment, he turned his face toward me. “Very funny. Did Ollie put you up to that one? Seriously, who are you going with?”
“Ollie? We haven’t texted in a few days. Why? Do you know Caffrey?” I tilted my head in confusion, trying to understand where the sudden anger was coming from.
“Fucking hell.” He rubbed his jaw and tugged Carl back a little as he tried to yank him out the door. “Yeah, we’ve met. Friday at eight. Got it.”
He took off, startling Carl with the movement, and I couldn’t figure out what I did wrong.
One step forward, seven steps back.
Sounds about right.
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Sterling
I RAN UNTIL CARL DECIDEDwe were done. The giant, hairy little shit laid down on the sidewalk two miles from home and played dead, so I gave him some water and sat down in the grass to breathe.
Caffrey fucking Brannigan. Of all the fucking people.
The thought of him weaseling his way into my life, putting his hands on her, of me having to see his stupid, agitating fucking face ... I couldn’t stand it. I had my phone in my hand to call the one person who would understand my predicament before I made a conscious decision to do so, though I had no idea what to say.
“A call from my brother on a random Saturday? To what do I owe the pleasure?”
