Page 22 of Desperate Haste
He sets the paper down and moves his glasses to the top of his head. As he does, the veins in his forearm swell and pop out. “Something is clearly amusing, spit it out.”
“It’s nothing, it’s just,” I pause and pull my lips in between my teeth. “You’re just not what I expected, that’s all.” This gets him to fold the paper back up and fully look at me, resting his tattooed elbows against the bar.
“And what were you expecting?”
I think about it for a moment before speaking. “I guess someone like me. Someone who only sticks around for a good time and then moves on. Not someone who stays the night and then goes to get donuts and the paper to read the next morning. When you so rudely woke me up this morning and I saw you were gone, I guess I wasn’t surprised by the thought that you had left before I woke up. It’s what I would have done…it’s what Ihavedone.”
His eyes drop to the counter and he chews on the inside of his lip. “Normally I am like that, but I don’t know. There’s something about you that makes me want to be different.”
“Eww, please don’t tell me you’re catching the feels? I don’t do emotions or feelings.” My face morphs into a grimace and I roll my eyes.
“Not yet you don’t,” he says confidently before grabbing his paper and stepping down from the stool. My mouth falls open as he walks towards the couch. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
“It’s just sex, remember?” I state, turning to look at him. He takes a seat on the couch and unfolds the newspaper again, opening up the first few pages to read.
“Sure, sure. Just sex. Whatever you say, princess.” He doesn’t look at me and instead gives the paper an overconfident grin and moves his glasses back down to the bridge of his nose. If he didn’t look so hot sitting there with his stupid glasses and the stupid paper I would have told him to get the hell out. I huff out a breath in a sad attempt to get my emotions in check.
“I’m going to go take a shower,” I announce, standing from the stool with a purpose. He doesn’t look at me which just irritates me more. “Hello? Are you listening? I said I’m going to go take a shower.”
“Are you asking me to come with you?” He folds the paper over and looks in my direction, peering at me over his glasses.God, why are glasses to fucking sexy?
“No, I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.” My bottom lip pouts as we hold one another’s gaze.
“I’m always paying attention to you.”
I roll my eyes at him even though my heart does a flip. Little traitor.
“Are you going to be here when I come out?” I ask pointedly.
“I’ll only leave if you tell me to,” he offers with raised brows.
I push my lips out and study him with my arms crossed in front of me. We have a stare off for a few seconds before I turn on my heels and walk into my bedroom. Before stripping out of my nightgown and getting into the shower, I pop my head out and look at him, still on the couch and reading the Sunday paper.
“I want you to stay,” I say quietly, my words small and almost unsure.
“Then I’ll stay.” He doesn’t look up from the paper as he says it but his lips pull back into the widest smile I’ve seen him shed yet.
14
MALCOLM
“What the hell is this garbage?” I sneer as Ophelia and I lay on the couch watching some kind of reality TV show I’ve never heard of. We’ve watched several episodes by now and I’ve come to surmise that a group of random idiots who all share the same brain cell seemly agreed to live on an island for twelve weeks to see if they could find true love. Jokes on them because true love doesn’t exist and it definitely doesn’t exist on a clearly staged set where you’re only given alcohol to drink and there aren’t enough beds for the number of bodies that need them.
“What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’ve never seen this before?” She drops her chin into her shoulder and looks at me from her side of the couch. After she took a shower, she came out fresh faced with damp hair that had a slight curl to it. As she moved throughout the condo, I loved watching her curls bounce across her back. She slipped on a pair of leggings and a cream, off the shoulder sweater and had her feet tucked under herself as she sat as far away from me on the couch as she could possibly get. I wouldn’t mind it if she would scootch a little closer to me but I wasn’t going to push my luck. Having her ask me to stay was enough of a win for me already.
“Well seeing as how I don’t own a TV,no, I’ve never seen this show before,” I say flatly. “TVs rot your brain and make you stupid. Clearly the people in this show have watched too much because they’re all idiots,” I sniff.
“What are you, a Boomer?” she scoffs and the way her face pinches up makes me laugh. “Who doesn’t have a TV? What the hell do you do all day?”
“Well, if I’m not working at the bar then I’m training at the gym or with my friends. And if I’m not doing any of those things, I’m normally reading. Something I figured you would do more of seeing as how your place is full of overstuffed bookshelves.”
She looks around her space and with a contented smile. “I do love to read—a lot. That’s something Bailey and I connected over, our love of books. Sometimes I just need to turn my brain off though, hence the show.” With the remote in her hand, she flicks it towards the TV.
“And you choose this dumpster fire being masked as entertainment?” I joke.
She reaches over and shoves my leg and I love the way her hand feels there. “Hey, leave me and my show alone. I have a very stressful job and this helps me relax.”
“I’ll help you relax anytime you need,” I offer without a hint of sarcasm in my voice. She looks at me through squinted eyes before sitting up straight and shifting her weight.
