I shrugged and turned my gaze from his to study the bedroom we were in. I wasn’t going to answer his question. That was something no one needed to know.
The walls were a smoky gray color, and the ceiling was painted black. I wasn’t allowed to paint my walls, yet he had painted his. The large king-size bed in the middle of the room was a rumpled mess. An electric guitar sat in one corner, and in the other far corner was an acoustic guitar. I turned my focus to the posters on the walls. Two of them were of what I assumed were rock bands, and there were signatures on them. Then, of course, the other poster was of a naked blonde with really big—and hopefully fake—boobs, because they looked a lot like bowling balls. They couldn’t be real. The blonde was straddling a guitar, and the only thing keeping her private area covered were her hands gripping the guitar between her legs.
“I wonder if she ever wears panties,” I mumbled out loud before I could stop myself.
Krit’s laughter startled me, and I turned to see two very distinct dimples on his face. He didn’t look like the kind of guy who would have dimples, but wow, they did things for me. “I like to believe she doesn’t,” he replied, once he was through laughing.
“Where are you from?” Krit asked.
“A small town in South Carolina. You wouldn’t have heard of it,” I replied, feeling the sick knot in my stomach forming, the one that always came with memories of my life there.
“Are they blind in that small town I wouldn’t have heard of?” he asked with a softer tone to his voice.
I swung my gaze back to his and studied his expression. Was he teasing me again? “No,” I replied.
Krit frowned then slowly ran his thumb over his bottom lip several times. It was a fascinating thing to watch. He had really nice lips. I wondered how often he used them. I would assume he was very talented with those lips.
His hand fell away, and he took a step toward me. “Will you go in there and meet everyone for me? Maybe have a beer? Just try to relax and enjoy being in a crowd?” His voice had dropped to a smooth thick drawl. It was very hard to tell him no. “I just want you to ease into being social. Here it’s safe because I’ll make sure it’s safe. I won’t let anything happen to you or hurt you.”
In a few days school was starting, and I would need to be in lots of social situations. This was my new start. I wanted to be able to walk through a crowd without having a panic attack. If Krit could help me, then maybe I should at least try.
“Okay,” I blurted before I could change my mind.
The pleased grin on his face was almost worth the fact I was going to have to face strangers who might not be as blind as he was about me. Someone was bound to see the bad in me. They always had before.
He nodded toward the door and grinned. “Let’s go.” Then he made his way to the door to walk out of the safety I had found in his room. I couldn’t seem to get my legs to follow him.
When he glanced back to see I hadn’t made a move to go with him, he chuckled and shook his head. Then he held out his hand to me and waited.
I liked holding his hand. I could do this. I took a step forward and slipped my hand in his. The warmth was back, and I was able to take a deep breath again. Okay. This was good.
“Come on, little dancer,” he said gently, then led me out of the room and down the hall.
The music was louder out there and the laughter and voices reminded me of how I didn’t fit into this world. I was a loner. I liked being a loner. As if Krit could read my mind, he squeezed my hand reassuringly. Right. He was with me. This was his crowd, and he wasn’t going to let anyone say anything to hurt me.
“Where’d you two go?” Green asked with a frown on his face, but I couldn’t hear Krit’s response over the noise.
I started to say something to Green, who was really nice and who I had felt comfortable with right away. He had a friendly smile. Before I could speak to him, Krit pulled me over to stand beside him. “Here’s a beer,” he said, handing me a red plastic cup. I took it, although I wasn’t sure I was going to drink it. I didn’t like the way alcohol smelled.
“You left me,” the blonde I had seen him with when I arrived said as she walked up to him and turned her back to me.
“A friend showed up. Sorry, babe, but I’m going to spend some time with her. I’ll find you after she leaves,” he replied with a wink, and tugged me closer before walking us toward the sofa.
The girl pouted at him then shot an angry glare at me. She was upset that I was taking her date away. She should be. I wasn’t going to make any friends by doing that.
Krit sank onto the sofa, pulling me down beside him. I could feel people staring at us. Were they all mad that he wasn’t with the blond girl? I studied the cup in my hand, unable to lift my eyes.
“Who’s this?” a curious male voice asked. He didn’t sound angry. He sounded nice.
“This”—Krit slipped his finger under my chin and lifted it so that I was now forced to look at the person speaking to him—“is my new neighbor, Blythe. Blythe, this is Matty. He’s the drummer in our band.”
Matty had bright orange hair that stuck up in all different directions. I wasn’t able to focus on much else. I had never seen hair quite like his before.
“Hello, Blythe,” Matty said, and I realized he had a warm smile and friendly brown eyes.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I croaked out. The nerves weren’t letting up. Speaking to strangers was hard.
Matty’s grin got bigger, and he shifted his gaze back to Krit. “Dude,” he replied, and shook his head. I watched him take a long drink of the beer in his hand.