Page 42 of Desperate Haste
“What are you doing here?” she cries out with her back to me with her hands still over her eyes.
“I think I should be asking you that,” I say, taking a few steps into the living room where she’s standing.
“Uhm, I used to live here? My best friend was acting strange and I wanted to come make sure she was still alive? Your turn,” she chaffs over one shoulder, refusing to look at me.
“Bailey, you can turn around. I’m covered,” I explain, trying to get her to uncover her eyes and look at me. Slowly, she turns over one shoulder and glances at me between her fingers. When she sees that I’m covered from the waist down, her hands drop and she turns to face me. Her eyes take in my exposed skin and I can see her counting the tattoos I have scattered across my chest.
“Did that hurt?” she asks, looking at me with a single raised brow.
“Did what hurt?”
“You”—she points towards my crotch—“getting tattooed down there?” She has one hand on her chest and her face is pinched up as ifshewas in pain just thinking about it. I look down at the towel which is the only thing maintaining any sense of decency in this situation.
“Well I wouldn’t say it was the most enjoyable thing,” I explain with an airy chuckle.
She nods her head slowly as if she’s imagining what the experience was like. After a moment, she takes a breath and meets my eyes. “Why are you here?”
“I think you should ask Ophelia that.”
“I think I’m askingyouthat. Now spill.” She takes a step closer to me and her Southern drawl comes out which means there’s no way I’m getting out of this without a fight.
I sigh and try to choose my words wisely. “She was sick this weekend, food poisoning, so I came over to take care of her. That’s it.”
“That’s it?” She looks at me skeptically. I nod my head at her and she crosses her arms in front of her chest and shifts her weight into her other foot. “How dumb do you think I am?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“I know Ophie, and I know you. You two are not the type to help someone else when they’re sick unless there’s something more to it. Explain yourself.”
“I have nothing more to say than that. You’ll have to take it up with her.” I smile at her as she tries to look tough to see if she can scare me into telling her more. Conrad may fear for his life when it comes to Bailey, but I’m not going to back down to her. She takes another step closer to me and squints her eyes up at me.
“If you hurt her, I will ruin you,” she hisses.
“I’d love to see you try,” I jeer, looking down at her.
“If you hurt her, I’ll tell Hank to kick your ass. And you know he will,” she says, pushing a finger into my exposed chest. She turns and takes a few steps away from me. “Where is Ophie anyway? Why are you here alone?”
“She left for work already. She told me I could stay and take a shower before I head to Butcher and Block,” I explain.
“Oh, well that was nice of her.” She looks down at her shoes before I see a smile bloom across her face and she looks at me again. “She’s never let a guy stay here alone before. She must really like you.”
“What can I say, I’m a likable guy,” I say confidently, and she rolls her eyes at me.
“Alright, well, if she was okay enough to go to work then she must be better. I guess I’ll go. Hank is waiting for me outside so we can go to work too.” She moves towards the front door and I watch her pause once she reaches for the handle.
“Do you like her?” she asks, looking at me over her shoulder.
I think about my words before speaking because I know as soon as I say them there’s no going back. “More than I like myself.” This gets me a hopeful smile.
“Be good to her. She’s been through a lot and deserves someone who will be good to her,” she says, nodding her head softly. I’m not sure what she means but I make a mental note to try and figure it out. Suddenly, she juts a finger in my direction. “And seriously, if you hurt her, I’ll figure out how to kill you. You might be bigger than me but I’m fast and know how to Google my way through anything.”
I chuckle loudly and it fills the space. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
She waves at me and finally leaves, letting the door close softly behind her. I walk back into Ophelia’s room to get dressed and grab my things. Once I have everything and her door is locked behind me, I tuck the key under her mat like she asked. I’m halfway to my truck to head to the bar when I feel my phone explode in my pocket.
Dungeons and Dickheads: 1 New Message
Hank:
