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“Wherever I want.”
“Where do you sleep?”
“Wherever I want.”
When I frown at his non-answers, he gestures at me. “Best drink up if you want to avoid passing out. I’d hate to have to carry you back.”
I look at the water and then at him. He reads my silent response and gives me a little grin.
“If you want to follow me around out here, you’ll eventually need to learn to piss and shit outdoors, Xenia.”
Taking a moment to enjoy the way my name sounds in his rough voice, I open the bottle and ask, “Do you want me to have a crush on you? You sounded annoyed about it earlier.”
“That’s just on account of me not wanting to upset my nonexistent woman.”
I take a few seconds to realize he’s saying he doesn’t have a girlfriend. Sipping the water, I study his rugged face, deeply tanned from his time outdoors. His blue eyes watch me watching him. The silence between us feels better than any conversation I’ve ever shared with anyone else.
“Why did you go out with Velma’s grandson if you didn’t want him?”
“I did want him back when I first moved here. He’s still nice, but I can’t want him like I do you.”
“Why me?”
“I don’t know,” I say, lowering my gaze. “I might just be shallow. You’re the best-looking man in town.”
Tommy shakes his head, making his loose blond hair tumble into his eyes. “You haven’t seen everyone good, if you think that.”
“Who haven’t I seen?”
“Why are you asking? Curious if you might be able to upgrade?”
“No, I want to know who you think is better looking than you?”
Tommy chuckles. “My club brothers are known to be easy on the eyes.”
“Club brothers?” I ask, wondering if that’s code.
Tommy had been getting comfy, leaning back like he might want to nap. Suddenly, he sits up and leans forward to study me.
“Did you really think I was homeless?”
“People call you Hobo.”
Scratching his jaw, he shakes his head like he’s trying to knock something loose. “That was just because I used to be. My parents run a little cult out in the woods not far from here. I lived in tents or just out in the wild.”
“Where do you live now?”
“In tents or out in the wild,” Tommy says and chuckles at his words. “But now, I do it by choice.”
“Why make that choice?”
Tommy’s expression goes blank as if I’m asking him too many questions.
“Are you close with your sister?” I ask, trying to find an easier topic than my crush and his living situation.
“Sure. Not as close as Ruin is with Wynonna or Armor with Goose. But we’re close, yeah.”
Unsure who Ruin, Armor, and Goose are, I do recognize Wynonna’s name.
