Rocked (The Everyday Heroes World) - Julia Wolf Page 0,51

scared to do it myself. The man who was the best dad I’d ever seen in action. The brave, selfless hero who’d put his life on the line for a stranger. I could be mad at him and still love him. “Sit by me.”

Wary, he eyed me as he lowered himself beside me, maintaining as much room between us as he could. “Are you going to twist my balls off?”

I snorted. “You’d deserve it, but that’s not my MO.” I pushed his knee. “I’m pissed off. And betrayed. Really betrayed.”

He bowed his head, his hands steepled between his knees. “The first time I warned a guy off you, we were thirteen. You had just started developing and boys started seeing you—really seeing you—not just as the tomboy who ran with us, but as a girl. Leo Sanchez was going to ask you to the eighth-grade dance.”

“Aw, I had a massive crush on him.”

“Yeah, well…” he shook his head, then lifted his eyes to mine, “he planned to feel you up while he was dancing with you. So, I punched him in the gut and told him I’d knock his big buck teeth out if he ever looked at you again.”

“You should have told me.”

“I didn’t want you to see that ugliness. You had enough of it in your life.”

Immediately, I softened. He was wrong, incredibly wrong, but I also saw where he was coming from. Growing up, he’d rescued me from my house more times than I could count when my mom’s boyfriends were drunk and handsy. He’d been beside me, tossing my mom in the shower after she’d passed out in her own puke on my front lawn. He’d brought over leftovers and stayed up until all hours to talk to me while I was waiting for my mother to stumble home from the bars. When I said we were best friends, it wasn't a throwaway term. Victor was my best friend. He could screw up in a lot of ways, but that would never change.

“That’s sweet. Terribly misguided and unnecessary, but sweet,” I said, laying my head on his shoulder.

He wrapped his arm around me and pressed his lips to my hair. “It’s hard to change a habit, but I’m going to try. But if some dick talks trash about you…”

I laughed under my breath. “Feel free to punch him in the gut and threaten to knock his buck teeth out.”

After a minute or two of sitting there, he straightened, letting his arm drop from around me. “You never did answer how you found out.”

“Oh.” I swept a few strands of hair off my forehead. “Devon brought me lunch at the station. Rainer made a comment about being surprised you’d allowed it, which obviously made me see red.”

Veego growled. “Fuckin’ Rainer.” His brow furrowed. “You have something going with the rock star? I had a feeling at Hooligan’s.”

“Nothing serious. It’s not going anywhere. I already told him he’s not allowed to fall in love with me.”

He chuckled, his body shifting away from me. “Always a hard-ass, Kitty Kat.”

“Just a realist.” I swatted his arm. “I do need to see if you can keep Ellie an extra night, though. No big deal if you can’t.”

The look he gave me was long and thorough. “I’m always happy to get more Ellie time. Just make the switch on our calendar.” He went to take out his phone to check our shared calendar when he paused. “Is this about the rocker?”

“Yes, it is.”

Last night when I went home, I spent a lot of time stewing in my anger. Then I checked my schedule, realized I wasn’t working on the days Devon would be going out of town, and decided going to LA would be a big middle finger to Veego.

Now that I had calmed down...well, I just wanted to go. Not for revenge or out of defiance, but because I’d like to spend more time with Devon. To see his LA house and listen to his record player. It might be a disaster, but it would be my disaster—something I’d chosen for myself. A little selfish, maybe a little unwise, but I had no doubt Devon would make it fun.

“He asked me to go to LA with him. I didn’t give him an answer, but I’m going to say yes.”

Veego released a great gust of air through his nose. “All right. Just be careful. I know you’re tough, but I don’t want to see you hurt. And that guy...he’s not for you.