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I laugh shyly, giving a small shrug. “You know, ifyou have no one to spend Thanksgiving with, I’m sure you could spend it with me and my friends. They’re new in my life, but they’re great people so I’m sure you’d be welcome.”
Alice gives a small chuff of a laugh, speaking more to herself than me. “Yep. You’ve got one of those hearts. The rare kind that bleed without ever being cut.”
I tip my head to the side. “How do you know it’s never been cut?”
“Because it’s still bleeding,” she explains oddly. “If it had been cut, you’d have stitched it tight and learned to shield it from the daggers all the wounded souls who walk this world swing aimlessly—trying to hurt others because they’re hurting.”
“Is that how you live? Removed, so that you won’t get hurt?”
She cocks her head. “Isn’t that how most of us live?”
I shrug. “I hope not. I mean, what would be the point?”
“There’s always a point.” She shifts to the side in her seat and pulls out another book, letting it fall to the table with a thud. “Have you read this book? I mean, the man in here is a total nut job, but the way he loves his woman. Damn.”
I glance at the book and shake my head. “No. I’ve heard enough about that one to know it’s not for me.”
“This man is for everyone.” She cocks her head to the side. “He’s obsessive and protective. Isn’t that like your man?”
My phone chimes and I smile, because Cash is right on time. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
thirty-two
Cash
Dumbstruck. That’s how I feel when I look at her. She’s amazing. Of course, I knew she was amazing back when I watched her working the floor while I stood on stage. She’d had a way about her then, something that called to me. I couldn’t take my eyes off her, watched her in secret. Fuck, my interest in her bordered on obsession, something that made me uncomfortable because I knew the sick feeling being someone’s obsession left clinging to my skin, like dirty water that dries there. An itch you can’t scratch away no matter how many times you try.
She’d been my clean water. The thing that washed me of the obsessed and made me feel clean again. Thecrazies didn’t stop throwing their panties on stage or writing the letters. But Alyssa stopped, and that counted for something. The fact she’d moved to another city altogether was a reprieve in itself. I didn’t know I wasn’t really breathing until she wasn’t breathing down my neck.
“All right,” Tav leans back in the chair, beer in hand, gaze fixed on the direction of the kitchen. “I need to find me one of those.”
“Wrenlee’s one of a kind, man.” Kane takes a pull. “Been through more girls than I can count and never found one who blushed like a virgin and kissed her man like a pornstar. You see that kiss she gave that asshole earlier?” He shakes his head. “Fuck me.”
I don’t bother to hold back when the desire to smack him upside the head strikes. Kane leans forward, chuckling because he knows he deserves it.
Wrenlee laughs at something Candace says, and three sets of eyes shift to her. She really is beautiful, especially when she laughs. Her long warm honey gold hair is pulled up in a high, straight ponytail. I like it up, because it makes me want to wrap it around my fist and tug.
Desire stirs like it always stirs when I look at her. When I think about the fact she’s really mine.
Shit, I’m hooked on his woman.
The front door opens, and Ian walks in with an armload of Candace’s cabbage rolls. She’s made themfor us every holiday since she and Ian got together. Every year, she gets emotional as she cuts into her own, thinking of her Memaw who passed and taught her to make them. They’re unique, with bacon and hamburger. They’re also delicious.
Ian likes to brag about the fact he found a woman who knows how to cook. It appears I’ve found the same in Wrenlee, because my condo smells out of this world.
“Hey, Wrenlee, you invite some chick for dinner?”
Wrenlee’s eyes widen in shock. “Oh my God, she came?” Her wide eyes blink fast as they swing in my direction. “I forgot to mention I invited Alice. She has no one and it slipped out. I forgot I extended the invite.” Her hands move to her face, worry flaring in her eyes as she cringes. “I’m sorry.”
“Babe, it’s cool.” Kane stands, arms flying to the side like he might hug her even though they’re a room apart. “More the merrier, right?”
She drops her hands just a little, wince still in place. “Really?”
I move close, tugging her against me. “It’s fine. You can have friends, too.”
Her nose scrunches a little. “She a bit of an odd duck.”
Candace snorts. “Then she’ll fit right in.”
