The First Taste (Slip of the Tongue #2) - Jessica Hawkins Page 0,127
was in the shower.”
He furrows his eyebrows. “Your hair is dry.”
I touch my ends. “I mean, I was about to get in.”
“Can I come in?”
“No,” I say quickly.
He nods a little. “I don’t blame you for being upset. I’m late. Really fucking late. I’ve had a weird and shitty day, but that’s no excuse. I don’t deserve a chance to explain since I didn’t give you one, but I’m asking anyway.” His makes a fist with one hand. “Let me in for a little bit before you kick me out for good.”
I have to bite back the urge to cry. He’s disheveled, obviously upset, and I can’t comfort him. I can’t ask for his comfort. I grasp for strength. Everything in me is screaming to tell him the truth: I don’t want him to go; I need help; I don’t know if I can handle Reggie on my own. But Bell needs her father more than I do, and I can’t put them at risk. “I don’t forgive you. Please leave.” It’s as much as I can say without breaking down.
He closes his mouth, tilting his head. “What’s wrong? Why is your face so red?”
“Please, Andrew,” I say, allowing more emotion into my voice. “Just go. Don’t make this harder.”
He pleads with me, his deep-blue eyes sad, beaten down like I’ve never seen. “Just a few minutes.”
“No.”
“I rode all the way here—”
“You should learn that when a lady says no,” Reggie says behind me, “she means no.”
My heart leaps into my throat. What the fuck is he doing?
Andrew looks past me, pushing off the doorframe. “What is this?”
Oh my God. Andrew might think Reggie’s here because I invited him. “I can explain,” I say.
“There’s only one explanation,” Reggie says. He comes up behind me and grabs my ass so hard, I inhale a sharp breath. “She chose me. Didn’t you, muffin?”
Andrew looks between the two of us. “Is that true?” he asks me.
My mind is spinning. I don’t know the right answer. If I say yes, it’ll kill Andrew. But if I tell him Reggie’s blackmailing me, Andrew might snap and do something stupid. I can’t have that. From the start, Andrew and I had an understanding: hurt me now to save me later. I owe him that. My urge to protect him trumps my fear.
“It’s true,” I say with as much confidence as I can muster. “I asked him here.”
Andrew narrows his eyes. “Why?”
I don’t have to reach too deep. I know how to hurt Andrew, and that’s what I’ll have to do to get him to leave. To stay away until I can deal with Reggie. “I thought about what I said earlier, and I was wrong. I can’t be what you need,” my voice cracks, and I clear my throat, “what she needs.”
“She . . .?” Andrew asks.
My stomach drops. “Bell.”
Andrew’s jaw ticks. “I see. You can’t, or you don’t want to?”
“I don’t want to.”
“You don’t want me,” he says. “Don’t want my little girl.”
I have to look away from his scrutinizing gaze. Hot tears scald the backs of my eyes. “No.”
“Well. Fuck.” He shakes his head. “I’ve been an idiot, haven’t I?”
“Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Reggie says. “You couldn’t have known it would end this way. Well, actually, you could’ve, if you’d listened to me from the start. But what’s done is done. Go on back to your little life. Amelia’s had her fun.”
Andrew swallows and drops his eyes to me. The sadness is gone, and now they’re just sharp with anger, hurt. “All right. I’ll go if that’s what you want.”
It’s not. It’s not what I want. My heart urges me to speak, but my brain knows better.
“But do one last thing for me, Amelia, will you?” Andrew asks. “Before I go . . .”
I can’t even open my mouth or I’ll scream. I want to launch myself into Andrew’s arms, but I’m afraid. For both of us. “What?” I rasp.
Andrew nods. “Move a foot to your left.”
My mind goes blank, confusion coming on fast. I’m sure I’ve misheard. “What?”
“Move.”
I leap aside when Andrew lunges into the apartment, grabbing Reggie by his shirt. He barrels him back into the nearest wall, and Reggie oophs like he’s had the wind knocked out of him. “How fucking dumb do you think I am?” Andrew asks, nearly rattling the walls with the deep rumble of his voice. “Did you honestly think I’d believe this? That she’d choose a scumbag like you?”