Don't Need You - Lilian Monroe Page 0,4

swings her eyes to me, and I try not to stumble. Heat rips down my spine as her eyes settle on mine.

“I’m in short-term parking,” she says, not answering my question. “We need to go.” She spins on her heels and starts walking. I follow, as if she has a meat hook sunk in my gut and is dragging me in her wake.

Robbie grabs my arm, imploring me with his eyes. “I’m sorry, Kit. I didn’t know she’d be picking me up from the airport.”

“It’s fine,” I lie.

Do I really want some chick staying with me? No one’s stayed at my place, except for Esme—before she shacked up with Finn, of course.

I’m supposed to just let Robbie’s sister crash at my place?

My instinct is to recoil. To say no, to retreat, to push everyone away. Isn’t that what I’ve been doing for months? Years?

I’ve been isolating myself. Protecting myself.

Letting someone live with you means trusting them. Can I really trust Robbie, if he springs this on me with no warning?

Can I trust Serena?

But heat is still coiling in my stomach, and a big part of me doesn’t even care.

No one mentions the elephant—or hippo, I guess—in the room as we drive through New Haven. Serena cranks the heat up and then blasts the volume on the radio, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel. I sit in the back seat, stealing a glance at her profile every few seconds.

She has the same sharp angularity as Robbie, but hers is softer. Her hair is wild as a lion’s mane, and my fingers itch to touch it. To bury my hands and face in her hair. Caress it then pull, just to see what her face does when I hold her hair tight behind her.

“I have to stop at the bakery,” Serena says. “Mom asked me to get cannolis for tonight.”

“That’s fine,” Robbie answers.

Tension ripples through Serena’s shoulders. She’s gone from being bright and happy to mad. Furious, even.

I get it. I know what it feels like to have someone say they’ll do something, then fail you. I know what it’s like to feel like you’re on your own all the time.

We pull up outside an Italian bakery, the car jumping up on the curb as Serena parks. She doesn’t seem to mind. She hops out of the vehicle, leaving the keys in the ignition. “Back in five.”

I watch her disappear through the bakery’s glass door as Robbie turns to look at me from the front seat. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine. If she needs somewhere to stay, she can stay at my place. I’m never there, anyway.”

Robbie’s shoulders drop as he lets out a relieved sigh. “This isn’t how I wanted to do this. I know I’m asking a lot. We’ve only known each other a few months, and—”

“It’s fine,” I interrupt, shaking my head. “Really.”

I can hardly believe the words that are coming out of my mouth, but then my eyes are drawn to the bakery door. Serena bursts through, holding a white box and licking cream off her finger. Is it possible to be jealous of a finger? Fire spears my gut like a sharp blade. She opens the passenger door and plonks the box on Robbie’s lap.

“Hold those and be careful. Mom will kill me if I wreck them.” She slams the door and circles around the front of the car toward the driver’s side.

Robbie glances over his shoulder at me, grinning. “Two dozen of us for the whole weekend. You think you can handle it?”

“I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

Serena opens the driver’s side door and slides in, slamming it closed before clicking her seat belt on. She pushes the handbrake down and swerves back onto the road, accelerating fast as we head toward Robbie’s house.

As Serena drops us on the sidewalk and drives away, I watch her leave. Heat still lingers in the pit of my stomach, and I wonder what exactly I’ve just gotten myself into.

When we get inside, Robbie points to a door just off the living room. “Spare bedroom,” he says. He points down the hall. “Bathroom. You can take a shower before we head to my mom’s house.”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah. Pre-Thanksgiving dinner with just the immediate family tonight, and then a full day at her place tomorrow with everyone.”

I nod and wheel my bag into the room. I strip off my pilot’s jacket and hang it up in the closet, hooking my hat on the hangar with it. I loosen my