AllFreeNovel
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I can see them doing it all again the next day, and every day thereafter. But I don’t see myself anywhere in that picture. Maybe I’m not imaginative enough, or maybe I just know in my gut that it’ll never happen, so I can’t even bring myself to try.
“Do you like it?” she asks. I realize I’ve left her hanging longer than I intended.
“I love it,” I tell her. “Thank you.”
She doesn’t look convinced. I tow her onto my lap so I can kiss her. That seems to assuage her well enough. She presses against me, and thankfully my cock at least has his priorities straight. I can already hear her breath quickening.
“Is that a candy cane in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” she says.
“Reach inside and find out.”
She slips her hand into my pocket, tilts her head curiously, then pulls out Sam’s business card from last night. I’d forgotten to take it out when I put these pants back on this morning.
“What’s this?” she asks.
I don’t even have to look at my dad to know he’s glowering at me.
“Remember the couple we hosted last night? Apparently the guy’s a restauranteur. He offered me a job in his new restaurant.”
“But you already have a job.”
“Actually, I quit. They wouldn’t give me time off for Christmas, so I took it, and more.”
“Oh,” she says. The muscles in my arms and legs start to twitch. I want to go to my room, or Noelle’s room. Outside. I want to be anywhere but here in this room, staring down the barrel of her inquisition. It’s a feeling I hate more than anything, which is why I generally go out of my way to avoid it.
“Is the new restaurant in Burlington?” Noelle asks.
I keep my gaze aimed at the ornament in my hand.
“It’s in LA,” I tell her.
“As in, Los Angeles, California?”
I nod. She says nothing, just sits there beside me, still as a statue. I set the ornament back in its box, then push up from the couch. My dad glares at me, his mouth pressed into a tight line.
“You’re not seriously considering moving to LA though, are you?” Noelle asks.
I rub my eyes so I don’t have to look at her. “I haven’t really had time to think about it.”
The sense that the walls are closing in is too much to bear. I’d give anything to avoid this conversation. Anything to avoid seeing the hurt in her eyes—hurt I’ve caused.
“Might be nice change of pace,” I say lightly.
I don’t meet her gaze until I’m ready for whatever she has to throw at me. Even then, it’s too damn much. The confusion. The betrayal.
She should know better. No one can say she didn’t know what she was getting into. She saw what I was from the start. A player, or in her words, a fuckboy. Yet, she’s acting as if I’ve been carrying her heart around in my pocket. Like a glass ornament I didn’t know was there until I crushed it.
Now there’s blood on my hands. Hers and mine.
“Come on, little sister,” I say. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“I’m not looking at you like anything.” She moves to stare out the picture window, as if she couldn’t care less about me or this conversation.
But she does care. It’s obvious.
My dad grunts and gets up to poke at the fire. He’s antsy, which means he’s already well on his way toward getting pissed.
I feel like hot garbage. No, worse. Like a dumpster fire, or an entire landfill doused in gasoline that’s been set ablaze in Noelle’s small town.
