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“Why me?”
“Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the day I walked into my apartment and found you standing there waiting for me. When that fucking asshole Welch talked shit about you out on that ice, I wanted to throw down my gloves. I’ve never wanted to throw gloves over a woman before. I’ve never cared enough to let anything anyone says bother me,” I tell her. “Well, apart from my mother.”
“So I’m like your mother?” she says, and I nearly choke on air.
“Fuck no. I don’t want to devour my mother.” I shudder at the thought. “Gross, Aliyah.”
“Wait… you said Welch talked shit about me on the ice. What’d he say?”
“He said he wanted your number so he could show you how a real man fucks the babysitter.”
Aliyah’s eyes widen. “That’s why Gray hit him.” She nods as if she’s answering her own question. “And then the skate to the face…”
“Yeah, I’m still trying to figure out how the lucky son of a bitch managed to make it look like an accident,” I admit.
“He’s good.” Aliyah shrugs. “You know, if he did that to someone who just talked shit, what do you think he’s going to do when he finds out you actually have fucked the babysitter?”
“I didn’t fuck the babysitter. I fucked my future girlfriend.” I smirk.
“Future girlfriend?”
“Yeah, I figure you’re not ready to label this.” I gesture between us. “But one day you will be. So, future girlfriend it is.”
“It honestly scares me to think about how your mind works. It’s like you have your own Liam King logic going on in there.”
“Go to sleep.” I kiss her forehead.
“If I wake you up, I’m sorry and ignore anything you might hear me say.”
I laugh. “Deal.”
* * *
“Oh. My. God!” a high-pitched female voice squeals before the sound of a door slamming shut has me jumping out of bed.
Aliyah sits up and groans. “Phoebe, what are you doing here?”
“What amIdoing here? What is…” Phoebe points to me. “...he doing here?” she whispers.
“Why are you whispering?” Aliyah asks her.
“Because your brother’s in your living room. I told him to let me wake you up because you like to sleep naked and he didn’t need to see that,” she says. Phoebe reaches behind her and locks the door, right before the handle starts rattling.
“Pheebs, what’s going on in there? Open the door,” a male voice yells out from the other side.
“Just a sec. Your sister is naked. Jesus, Jonah, let her get dressed,” Phoebe yells back.
“Aliyah?” the voice calls.
“I’ll be right out, Jonah.”
“What’s he doing here? He’s supposed to be at school,” Aliyah hisses to Phoebe. Me? I’m just standing here, looking between the two of them, still trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. “You have to get rid of him,” Aliyah urges, her tone panicked as she jumps out of bed. “He can’t find Liam here, Phoebe.” Then she takes me by the hand and drags me into her closet. “Stay here until I come and get you—don’t make a sound,” she stresses the last few words.
“What? Aliyah, I’m not hiding in your fucking closet,” I say and attempt to brush past her.
“Yes, you are. Please, just let me get rid of him.”
The pleading look on her face, the desperation in her eyes, is what has me giving in and sitting my ass down on the carpeted floor of her wardrobe. I mean, if you’ve gotta be stuck in any closet, hers ain’t a bad one to choose. It’s fucking nice in here. Aliyah has a fondness for designer labels. Everything is so orderly, color-coded, and on display like a museum exhibition. The back wall is floor-to-ceiling shoes. I grin as soon as the idea pops into my head.
