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Her father didn’t say anything to that, while Claire was busy nodding along, agreeing with me, as if she herself had experience with the police like that. “You do look a little like him,” she said.
Tyler nodded once. “Bad luck, man.”
Right then Emily came out of the house, holding a glass of ice water. She smiled as she approached the picnic table, and she set the water down in front of me before scooting onto the bench near her husband. “I hope you’re not grilling the man too hard,” she spoke to James.
“Not at all,” James muttered, giving his wife a smile before turning that scowl back to me. “Though you’re right, honey. He is a man, ain’t he? This man’s been dating our daughter for a few months. How old are you?”
I didn’t want to say my real age, so I took a few years off: “Twenty-nine.”
“And why the hell are you dating a nineteen-year-old girl? Couldn’t find someone your own age to date?”
“Dad,” Claire jumped to defend her sister. “Ten years isn’t that much. Lexie’s parents were fifteen years apart, remember?” Lexie must’ve been a friend of hers or something, someone both her parents knew, because both Emily and James nodded—the latter begrudgingly.
It was obvious James was going to make more comments about my age, but Emily stopped him by placing a hand on his back and asking, “James, honey, why don’t you go put another burger on the grill?”
James huffed, making it clear he didn’t want to go, but in the end he turned his scowling face away and got up. The man was suspicious, and so far he didn’t seem like a fan.
Whatever. I didn’t give a shit if her family liked me or not. I was here for Charlie, not them.
“I didn’t see your car in the driveway, Ian,” Emily remarked.
“Oh, I walked. I actually don’t live too far from here.” The lies were easy, and they sounded believable. All my life, I’d lied to everyone about everything, hid the true beast within. When you lied so much, it became first nature. This was easy.
Once James put another burger on the grill for me, he came back over, and it was a return to the hot seat. How’d we meet? What did I do for a living? Whether or not I was aware Charlie was still in school, all that fun stuff. I lied, I embellished, I told them exactly what they wanted to hear. I even made some jokes—got her mother and her sister to laugh, but James was a hard sell. And Tyler mostly paid attention to Claire.
Eventually, the topic of conversation returned to Claire and Tyler, getting me off the hot seat. Charlie lightly touched my leg under the table before she got up, and she walked towards the house. I assumed she wanted me to follow her, so that’s exactly what I did.
It was only when I followed her into the house and we stood staring at each other near the back door that I realized: she’d hardly said a word the entire time, since I’d shown my face. Charlie had been quiet as a mouse. Everyone had talked over her. I bet that happened a lot, more often than not.
We stood just inside the house, a few feet away from the door so whoever was outside couldn’t see us through the glass. Charlie was deeper in the house, but she’d stopped, folded her arms over her chest, and whirled around to face me, her features twisting into a glare, mimicking her father outside.
Charlie’s glare I didn’t mind one bit, though. It was kind of cute.
…Pretend I didn’t just think that.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, her voice light. I could tell she wanted to yell at me, but she was trying to be careful, since her parents and sister were outside. “I told you to watch the house, not invite yourself in.”
“Yeah, and I thought it might be easier to keep an eye on you being a little closer,” I spoke with a shrug, taking a teeny step forward. “On a positive note, the hair dye works—”
She threw her hands up. “I don’t give a shit if the hair dye works. You weren’t supposed to do this—” She huffed, and she undoubtedly wanted to say a lot more, but I moved closer to her, backing her up against the wall. That shut her up.
I leaned an arm over her head against the wall, looming over her as I told her, “I don’t like watching you be miserable from afar, Charlie.” It wasn’t the first time we’d been this close—far from it—but it struck me then just how small she was.
So goddamn breakable. So unassuming. It wasn’t a wonder why other people could overlook her without trying. I wasn’t one of those people… not anymore.
“I wasn’t miserable,” she whispered, fury in those dark brown eyes. I’d much rather take fury instead of sadness. “I was fine. You just like inserting yourself where you don’t belong—”
“Oh, I wouldn’t call inviting myself to a family cookout inserting myself where I don’t belong.” A slow smirk spread on my lips as I leaned down and whispered, “I wouldn’t use the wordinsertingat all, unless we were talking about somethingverydifferent.
Charlie knew what I meant, because her cheeks flushed an adorable pink. “You… don’t.”
“Don’t what? I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?” I lifted my other arm to the wall near her shoulder, inching my body closer to hers. “We’re dating, you and I. It’s natural to talk about these things.”
“Sure, but we aren’t dating. I’m not your type, remember? You didn’t enjoy kissing me—”
“You’re right, on all accounts.”
And she was. I had told her all that, but… well, that didn’t stop me from thinking about her all hours of the fucking day and night, nor did it stop me from dreaming about her so vividly I came in my goddamned pants. And it definitely didn’t stop me from remembering the way her body fit against mine.
