He hadn’t even hinted at inviting me.
But something wicked had come over me. Something that told me I should say it just to see his reaction.
And oh… my... God. What a reaction it was.
He stiffened hard at my words, his body turning woodenly so that he could stare at me with his full field of view.
Then he said, “Excuse me?”
“Uhh,” I hesitated. “What?”
“You’re going on a run?” he asked carefully.
“If that’s the thing y’all are doing next weekend, he mentioned it, yes,” I told him the truth.
Stick to the truth, and hopefully he wouldn’t spot the lie.
I’d expected a reaction out of him. But not that kind of reaction.
Not the kind of reaction where I was thinking he was going to go up to Laric and punch his daylights out.
Jesus.
“Is he now?” he asked carefully. “You ever been on a bike before that wasn’t mine?”
Why was he asking?
“Ummm,” I hesitated. “No.”
Which was kind of the truth.
When I was sixteen, I got on a kid’s dirt bike with him. But that kid had been eleven, so I didn’t think that was what Zach was asking.
He slowly shifted his bag of food, his hands clenching in the plastic instead of holding onto the little handles.
“You have feelings for Laric?” he asked carefully.
I thought about Laric. About how sexy he was, and how he’d made me laugh more than a couple of times tonight.
“He’s attractive.” I shrugged, wondering what he would say to that.
I shouldn’t have been surprised to find him saying nothing.
Of course.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because Laric is looking for permanent,” Zach said. “Something that’ll help keep his head above water.”
I frowned. “What’s that mean?”
“That means that you have enough on your plate. You really shouldn’t be adding Laric’s helping to yours,” he replied.
I had no clue what the hell that meant.
What I did know was that I didn’t like that Zach was telling me who I could and couldn’t date.
I mean, if he wasn’t going to make a move, then why shouldn’t I find someone that was willing to?
Then again, as Murphy would say, maybe I should take the bull by the horns.
But I did, didn’t I? I invited him to the wedding, and he’d said no.
I mean, what more could I say or do to make it obvious that I wanted something to do with him?
I wasn’t the most outgoing of people.
I’d literally had sex with one person, and that was kind of an experimental thing, anyway.
A childhood friend and I had made the mutual decision to see what sex was all about.
And, let me tell you, it wasn’t about all that much.
From that point forward, I hadn’t really wanted to explore anything more in the sex department.
At least, not until a certain inmate had walked into my corner store and made me want things I’d never wanted before in my life.
“Well, you have fun at that wedding,” he said, looking as if he’d swallowed a bottle of lemon juice. “Let me know if you need anything.”
And with his abrupt exit came an irrational surge of anger on my end.
Why had he even asked?
And he damn well knew that I wouldn’t be having a good time.
Even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t. I couldn’t have a good time when there were people like my father and stepmother attending.
CHAPTER 9
I love my curves. My tattoos. My imperfections, and my jiggly thighs. No one said you had to.
-Crockett to a customer
CROCKETT
I was running so damn late.
The sad thing was, I didn’t even have a good excuse for why I was running late.
I just was.
Mostly, it was due to the fact that I didn’t want to go to my own brother’s wedding. Because going to the wedding meant that I would have to see my family.
Family that either didn’t care enough about me to check on me—my mother’s side of the family that lived a couple of hours away—or chose my father when there were sides chosen—my father’s side, which included nearly all of my father’s immediate family.
And, spoiler alert, none of my family chose me except for Murphy, and apparently him choosing me meant that my family never thought twice about me.
Which was okay with me, honestly.
I’d rather have a true family member—one that stuck with me no matter what—like Murphy than any of the other two-faced assholes I’d once called Uncle or Aunt.
“Whoa there,” Murphy said as he walked out onto the porch. “You look pissed. You have that.” He raised his gnarled hand and encompassed his face with a pass, then grinned. “Resting bitch face going on. Everything okay?”
I felt my belly roll. “Actually, yes. I’m fine. It’s just that I keep thinking of who I’m going to see tonight. I haven’t seen Uncle Roger in six years. I didn’t even get invited to Roger Junior’s graduation. Or Christmas at their house. It’s just… I don’t really want to see them, and now I’m overthinking everything.”
Murphy started to shuffle slowly to his car, which I’d been using over the past few days since I still couldn’t make a decision on what I wanted to buy.
“Get inside and grab a beer to calm down. I’m driving,” he urged, shooing me away with a flick of his wrist.
I did what he said, honestly feeling that I could seriously use the mellowing out right about now.
I’d been on edge ever since Zach had left, and it was getting to the point that I just couldn’t handle it anymore.
Seriously, the anxiety of not knowing how today was going to go, whether I was going to get into a confrontation with my family, was beginning to make me sick.
Walking to Murphy’s stash of beer that was inside his fridge, I caught up two Silver Bullets and thought better of it and put one back.
There would be no way in hell with the way my grandfather drove that I would be able to drink both of them before I got to the church.
Walking to his dish rack, I grabbed up the largest coffee mug that he had sitting there, one I’d bought him for Christmas that said ‘don’t call me grandpa’ and poured as much of the beer into it that I could.
The rest I downed as I walked out of the store and out into the night.
Murphy’s car was already idling, and I had to toss the empty beer into the trash beside the door, and place my cup of beer on the railing, to get at the lock for the door.
When I turned around, keys in hand, fingers extended to reach for my beer, I saw a flash of dark brown out of the corner of my eye at the far side of the building.
Frowning hard, I focused a little harder to see if I could spot the movement again but didn’t spot anything.
Now really feeling a bit freaked out, I grabbed my beer and walked the long way around, avoiding that corner of the building as I walked out wide and around the back of Murphy’s car.
When I arrived at the passenger side door, I squinted my eyes into the darkness but saw no movement whatsoever, not even a change in the shadows.
So I chalked the earlier flash of movement up to my imagination—because lord knew it was going crazy tonight—and yanked open Murphy’s car door and got inside.