AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’ll take it.
And secretly—or, I guess, not that secretly—I’m glad he didn’t send us back to Building C. I didn’t want to go. I also didn’t want to ask him to stay. It would have been too much like running a con. One of my dad’s tricks. Get your foot in the door, then take them for everything they’re worth..
I don’t want to take anything of Will’s. I just want to be around him. And, most importantly, I don’t want the twins to go through another robbery.
“Was my dad one of the guys at the building?”
Will straightens up. “No. Donovan didn’t have names. He said he hasn’t seen him.”
I don’t know how to feel about that. Relieved, mainly. Sean’s words have been stuck in my head. “I don’t think he’s going to come back.”
We haven’t talked about the situation with my dad. That’s the kind of thing you discuss with your boyfriend, not your ex-boss. But he wanted me here.
Will nudges the fridge closed with his elbow, a package of ground beef in the crook of his arm and a Tupperware with chopped onions in the other hand. He studies my face. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
He tries, but he can’t hide the scorn in his voice completely. Will thinks my dad is worse than useless. That’s pretty accurate. A strange nervousness hits me. Will might have the same opinion as Sean. Frankly, it doesn’t matter what they think, but it would be nice ifsomeoneunderstood.
“Sean thinks I should send the twins to a relative’s house in California. He’s worried I’m going to spend my whole life taking care of them, and he thinks I shouldn’t, because they’re not my kids.”
His eyes narrow. “California? With a stranger?”
“That’s what I said. I don’t want to do that. It would hurt them. I can’t see any way it wouldn’t.”
Will takes the ground beef over to the countertop next to the stove and looks down at it, a muscle in his jaw working. This is a real conversation. Not the kind we had when I stayed here after the storm, and we were pretending. My chest aches. I curl the Jolly Rancher in my tongue, the familiar taste soothing, and go to stand closer.
“I hated it when Sinclair lived in LA.” He turns his face away, digging in a drawer for a spatula. It’s a good thing, because I have to snap my jaw shut to keep the Jolly Rancher from falling out. Will’s mentioned his brothers, but never his feelings about them. Never. Only facts. “I have to imagine they’d hate being sent there, away from you.”
“I thought so, too.”
Will takes out a pan and puts it on the stove, his shoulders tight. I want to press him. About his brothers. About his family. I remember what he said when I asked about his mom.Dead. I never knew her.But this moment seems like a test, and not the kind Will usually likes—the kind where he bites and fucks and bruises, and I love it. It’s something else.Don’t take this too far,the set of his shoulders warns.I’m already bruised.
“Did you really not kiss me all week because I was sick?”
His shoulders let down, and he looks at me from the corner of his eye. “I wasn’t very interested in getting nursed back to health by Sinclair, if that’s what you’re asking. He drinks kale smoothies.”
The disgust in his face makes me laugh. “I take it you’re not a fan?”
“No.”
“Whatdoyou like, then?”
A smile flickers over his face, and then he leans down and kisses me. I think it’s going to be tame. Kitchen-appropriate. Right up until the moment his hand comes up to grip my jaw and he sweeps his tongue through my mouth, deep, then deeper.
Will pulls back, his pupils blown. “You taste okay.”
I slap him lightly on the shoulder. “Mean.”
“You taste fucking delicious,” he murmurs. “Go away. I’m trying to make dinner.”
* * *
Will doesn’t havesex with me that night. He frets about the time I spent standing in the rain, then pins me to the bed and kisses me until my lips feel sensitive and bruised. When he pulls back, there’s a wicked curve to his mouth. He reaches over me and turns out the light.
“Good night, Bristol.”
“You’re doing this on purpose.”
“Doing what?”
