Danica glanced out the window, rolling her eyes. “You have an issue with everything I ever wear, Ted. Unless it’s a grandma style. I told you already I’m not dressing like an old vieja just because it’d make you more comfortable. I can only dress like a young woman while I’m still young. I can’t help it if my assets pop out more than most.”
Ted turned on the car and pulled out of the parking space “You’re twenty-three, Danica. You still have plenty of time to dress young, and you don’t have to dress like an old vieja. I’m just saying that’s a lot of cleavage to put out there.”
“It’s a normal top I bought at the mall, and it’s my size. Even when I wear a T-shirt and jeans, you complain about them.”
“Because there’s no need to wear clothes so tight.”
“They’re not tight,” Danica said, starting to get annoyed. “I should know. I’m the one wearing them. I have a big ass and big tits, Ted. Until I lose some weight, I can’t hide that fact unless I wear an old lady muumuu, and that’s not happening. So, you’re gonna have to just deal with it.”
Wisely, Ted stopped while he was ahead and said nothing more about it. Danica was sure he’d noticed how lately her patience for his ass was wearing thin a lot faster than normal. Now that she might even have an out, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could put up with him. Ted drove silently instead of continuing to bitch about her clothes, no doubt stewing as he stared ahead, until he glanced around her car again, finishing his earlier inspection. He took in the two empty Starbucks cups in her cup holder. One inside the other. “Who’d you have coffee with?” He adjusted the rearview mirror as if his question was just a curious one.
But Danica knew better. She pulled her seatbelt on. “I didn’t. One’s from yesterday. I just hadn’t thrown it out yet.” Before he could make a comment about how expensive that could get, she added, “I still have that gift card you gave me for my birthday.”
“That’s right you did go to Starbucks yesterday.” They started onto the street when it suddenly hit her. She’d never mentioned Starbucks to him yesterday, and as far as she knew, this was the first time he’d been in her car in days. “How’d you know I had Starbucks yesterday?”
“Your rewards card.” He stared straight ahead as he drove. “Gal at the place when I got it said, if I registered the card, you’d get points and whatnot every time you used it. I get a thank-you email now every time you use it.”
Danica eyed him suspiciously. He’d never told her he’d registered her card, and she’d had it for months now. No wonder she hadn’t been able to register it when she tried. She’d chalked it up as a glitch. When they’d asked her for her phone number and it came up, she just figured it had gone through after the first time she tried registering it. Before she could comment further, he hit her with an even more unnerving question. “What else did you do today?”
Gulping, she wouldn’t panic. No way could he know about her other stop. She shrugged. “After work, I went back to your place—”
“Our place.” He turned to her, lifting a brow.
Danica forced a smile. “Our place.” She knew full well she’d never get used to saying that. “I took a shower and got ready to go meet you.”
“What were you doing in Boyle Heights an hour before you had to meet me out here?”
Her heart nearly stopped at the question. How the hell did he know she’d been out there? Was he spying on her? Did he know she’d stopped at Bad Boy’s Auto Shop? They came to a stop and he glanced at her. Likely noticing her questioning expression, he went on, “I got an email from Starbucks when you were there giving me the time and location you were at.”
As the relief drained, she came up with her answer. “Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that. I saw some shoes I liked for work out there a few weeks ago. Comfortable ones. I got paid today, so I thought I’d stop and grab them on the way to Crudos, but they didn’t have them anymore.”
Again, true story. Different day. She was only glad the memory of doing so came to her quickly so she could use the story. Ironically, lying to Ted didn’t feel nearly as wrong as lying to Nine and trying to lie to Orlando had. Danica still didn’t know what to make of her inability to lie to him. It was probably just her nerves. All she knew was she’d have to get past it. There was so much he couldn’t know, so she’d have to work on it. Ted glanced down at the heels she wore tonight. “Did you get those there? I’ve never seen those on you.”
Danica glanced down at her shoes, refraining from rolling her eyes. “No. I’ve had these for a long time.”
“I’ve never seen them on you.”
“Haven’t worn them in a while.” She glanced out the window, this time all out rolling her eyes again. “Probably never wore them in front of you.”
Of course, his anal ass would keep tabs of everything about her. Right down to every pair of shoes she owned. Delia had tried to warn her he was controlling, but Danica had shrugged it off as him just being an alpha male like the ones in all those romance novels she read. But she knew better now. If it weren’t for her pride, she would’ve already done what she’d been considering doing for months now: crawl back to her sister’s with her tail between her legs and ask for forgiveness and that she let her move back in. For now, she was stuck with Ted but not for long. Now that she may have not one but two new jobs, she just might be able to afford renting a room somewhere else. But if Ted got any worse before that, she was sucking it up and showing up at Delia’s doorstep.
They pulled into the driveway of Ted’s home. “Well, I’m glad you’re pulling out of the funk you’ve been in for too long. Finally, you’re over it, and we can move on already. “
Just like that, her insides ignited, and the angry tears blurred her eyes. She almost let it go. What point would it make? He obviously didn’t give two fucks about how she felt about this. The reminder of what she’d been going through, and all alone because her heartless boyfriend was so apathetic about her heartache, awoke the familiar rage inside her. She’d been doing so well about keeping it in check for longer than she could remember. Try as she may now and especially when it came to this, she couldn’t just let it go. “I’m not over it, Ted. I’ll never get over it, you fucking asshole!”
She got out of the car, slamming the door behind her. Ted jumped out of his side. “Danica!”
She stopped in her tracks, feeling like a moron when she realized if she were going anywhere tonight, she’d need her car.
“Danica, I get it okay? It was hard for you, but your life was a mess. Still kind of is, and I’ve told you I’m willing to help with everything, but I wasn’t about to raise some other man’s baby.”
“Nobody was asking you to,” she said through her teeth.
“Oh, come on! How did you plan on raising him? You work part-time at ShopMart, and the only family you have kicked you out. The last thing you needed in your life was that baby.”
The tears streamed down her face as she remembered that horrid morning she kissed Oreo good-bye forever. Through her peripheral vision, she saw Ted walk toward his front door, but she didn’t move an inch. She knew Ted was right. Her life had been a fucking mess for too long now. She knew there was no way she could’ve kept him, that had she attempted to, as she first thought she might, she’d be in a world of trouble. But did he have to be such a callous bastard about it? Glancing at Ted, she watched as he stopped and slumped his shoulders when he turned and saw that she was still standing on the sidewalk. “Danica, let’s not do this again okay? At least not out here. Come on, babe. Just come inside.” With no other recourse because it was late, and she needed to figure this out, she started toward the door. “Good girl,” he said as she walked in the door he was holding open for her.