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I exhaled a breath. “There’s not much to know.” I gulped down the drink and then rose. “I’ll drag the mattress into the front room. Yes?”
She nodded slowly. “Is there just the one?” She wore a suggestive smirk, which made me smile.
Give me flirting over whining any day.
“There are single mattresses from what I’ve seen.”
She puffed out smoke. “We really are roughing it.”
I smiled sympathetically. “We’ll have this sorted by tomorrow. It will only be for a night.”
Her face brightened, which put me at ease at last. I hadn’t realised how on edge I’d been.
“It’s kind of interesting. And I love open fires. It’s warming up at least.” Removing her coat, Savanah still wore my denim jacket. “I guess I should give you back your jacket.”
“No, keep wearing it. It suits you.”
She gazed up at me and held my stare. “Really?”
I’d already told her that, but Savanah loved to milk compliments, and I didn’t mind. “It goes with your pretty blue eyes.”
“I’m not exactly a peach at the moment. All battered and bruised.”
“Sorry. I forgot you were in pain, and here I am getting you to do things.”
“No. It’s okay. I’m feeling better. Not so much pain today. I haven’t even taken a drug.” She chuckled.
“That makes me glad.” I thought about my mother and how she took painkillers like sweets that turned her into a zombie. They not only numbed her physical pain but emotional pain, which resulted in her remoteness towards us in the end.
She held my gaze and frowned. “Why do you care if I take them or not? Although my mother keeps at me about my Xanax use.”
“I don’t blame her, Savanah.”
“Call me Savvie, if you like.” She flashed me a conciliatory smirk.
“Okay.” Her eyes held mine again, and I fiddled. This was becoming a little complicated. I wanted to hold her and care for her, but I also wanted her as a woman. “Pharmaceuticals are just as bad, if not worse than street drugs.”
She shrugged. “To be honest, after everything that’s happened and is happening, I couldn’t give a shit.”
My heart went out to her. I could see she needed to speak to a professional. A suggestion I would leave for another time.
I left her at the table smoking, to organise our bedding.
I soon discovered that the single-bed mattresses had bedbugs, after catching mites jumping when I raised the sheets. Someone had sprayed the double-bed mattress, which I could still smell so that it was clear of the little biters.
Back to complicated. I rubbed my head. The double mattress was all we had. I dragged it out and positioned it in the front room and then found clean sheets and pillowcases in the cupboard.
Savanah followed me around. “Are we sleeping on that? Together?”
Despite being tempted, I wasn’t about to remind her how we’d fucked mindlessly for close to two months.
“Icanexercise control when needed.” I raised an eyebrow, and she smiled.
Chapter 21
Savanah
Heranhishanddown his face. “There are single mattresses, but I’m afraid they’ve got bedbugs.”
