Rich Prick – Tijan Page 0,61

for her. I didn’t want her to feel like she was drowning in me. Ever. But we could deal with that later. We sat at the table and had our breakfast.

Benny and Miss Sandy joined us. The lawn guy came in later, sitting close to Benny, and it kind of seemed like these three were more Aspen’s family than her own.

That shit wasn’t right. Not at all.

Miss Sandy might’ve guessed my thoughts, because she gave me a pointed look. But I ignored her. After breakfast, Aspen wanted to be lazy, so we headed up to her movie room. She grabbed a journal. I lounged back, watching sports, and she sat next to me, writing.

I drew circles on her back as her leg pressed against mine, and this right here was heaven.

I never wanted to leave.

I knew she wanted to ask about what had happened with me last night, but I wasn’t ready to go there. She gave me space.

But it was pressing on me.

I was on borrowed time. Eventually that world would interrupt us.

My mom had taken a valium to sleep. Fuck. Every time an alert went off on my phone, I tensed. So did Aspen. She was reacting to me. When my phone finally rang, a part of me was okay with it.

It was time to get this shit over with.

It was Zeke calling.

Aspen saw the screen, but my hand stayed on her back.

“Can I take this here?” I asked.

She looked over her shoulder to me, biting her lip. She nodded, a strand of hair falling over her face.

I reached up to tuck it behind her ear as I lifted the phone and pressed accept. “Hey.”

“Hey!” Zeke’s voice boomed. “I’m surprised you picked up. Thought for sure you’d be MIA until Sunday.”

I cringed. “Nah. I’m here. What’s going on?”

“Wondering what you and that fine woman of yours are doing today. The boys called, asking to meet up. The party didn’t happen last night.” He offered no explanation, just kept on going. “So instead of having it at the field, I was thinking maybe we could meet up—put our heads together and see what everyone’s in the mood for today.”

My hand pressed against Aspen’s spine. I didn’t realize until she shifted, but then I jerked my hand back. “Sorry.”

She frowned. “What?”

“Nothing.” I put my hand back, and she leaned into it, relaxing, but she was eyeing me. That same strand of hair fell down over her face.

“What?” I asked her.

“That to me?” Zeke asked.

“No.” I pulled the phone away a little. “You okay?”

Aspen watched me, chewing her bottom lip until I ran my thumb over it. “Oh. Sorry.” She laughed. “I don’t even realize I’m doing that.”

I nodded, waiting. She had something to say.

After another couple seconds of silence, I smoothed my hand over her back again. “What is it, babe?”

“Babe?” Zeke asked, but he was a lot quieter than normal.

She looked down, as if she felt shy. “He can come here.”

I frowned. “What?”

She sounded surer. “He can come here, if he wants. You two can have your meeting here.”

This was big.

“You sure?” I asked quietly.

She nodded. “Yeah. Ask him if he’s had breakfast. I bet Benny would love to do a whole spread if he didn’t.”

I relayed the message and Zeke boomed, “Hell to the fuck yeah! I’m going to meet your babe, and I ate, but I’ll eat again. This boy never says no to food. Shoot me the address, and I’ll be over in two pumps in a virgin.”

Fuck’s sake. “Really, dude?”

“What?”

But Aspen was grinning when I hung up, and I texted him the address.

Aspen pulled her phone out. “Carl? A Zeke Allen is going to be arriving later this morning. Let him through, please.”

She nodded after a moment. “Thanks.”

I waited until she hung up. “You sure about this?”

She nodded, relaxing back against me. “Yeah. He’s not going to be mean with you here, and he’s your best friend.” She reached over, running her hand up and down my leg. “Does he know what happened last night?”

I tensed. I didn’t want to tell her. So she was going to ask someone else.

My voice was a bit hoarse. “Yeah. And yes, you can ask him. I’ll tell you more later, but I’m okay if he tells you what he heard.”

“He was there?”

I nodded. “He was there.”

Her eyes held mine. “Okay.”

She climbed off the couch, heading to let Benny and Miss Sandy know about the impending arrival.

I lay back and cursed. Ready or not, my two worlds were about