am the stupid moth, wanting his light so badly I’m risking everything I thought I knew to have it.
“You like it?” he asks, smiling shyly at me as we sink onto the new couch.
“I do. Thank you.” I pat the leather seat next to me. “What happened to the last one? Did they take it to a lab to determine how many women you’ve bagged on it? Was the number so astronomical they’re nominating you for the Bagger of the Year award? Are you going to wear a suit or go nude? You know, keeping the theme going and all.” I smile sweetly at him.
He gawks at me. “I didn’t think that smart mouth could get any smarter. I missed it.” He leans over and taps my chin, planting a soft kiss to my lips. On the table his phone starts to ring. He releases me and leans over to check the number. “I don’t recognize it.”
“It’s probably Becca. Answer it.”
“Rain, baby? How are you in two places at once? I didn’t know you were a magician.” He chuckles darkly at her no doubt colorful response. “Becca, you need to know one thing. I love your sister. I do,” he insists. “Get used to it. I don’t want there to be this animosity between us. Rain doesn’t deserve it. I’ve put her through enough without her sister adding to it.” He pauses for a long time while Becca lays into him.
I can hear bits and pieces. Scumbag. Not good enough. Manwhore.
“In that case I guess we’re going to have to make her choose. Who do you choose, Rain?” he asks, but he hangs up the phone. “Don’t answer. I would never make you choose between your sister and me.”
“What did she say?”
He runs a hand down his face tiredly. “What did I do to her?”
“Me.”
He smiles and shakes his head. “She’s going to call the police if I don’t give you back.”
I gawk at him. “I’m a grown woman. I can make my own choices. She told me to live. I’m living.”
“She doesn’t want you to live with me.”
“Too bad!” I growl. “I almost want to get away from Jacksonville, from her and her negativity. If I see her she’ll plant doubts in my thoughts. She knows what I fear. We can’t stay in this apartment forever.”
He’s quiet for a while. We both eat and watch television. This city has bred my doubts. It’s here they began. I start to hyperventilate, thinking of the years of torment my parents put me through. The uncertainty they created in my heart. It’s their fault I can’t take this man right now and say “Yes, Kent.”
“I want out. Get me out of this city.”
He touches my knee. “Shh,” he soothes. “Where do you want to go?” He looks away, like he knows exactly where we can go, but doesn’t want to go there.
“Where can we go?” I shove him. “Tell me.”
He relents in a rather unsexy manner. “Tampa. My parents have been nagging about my birthday and when I’m coming home. I wasn’t planning on going after you left. We could go there. If you want. Only if you want.”
“What about Willow?”
He blinks. “I don’t give a shit about Willow anymore. You shouldn’t either. Willow was my pain and my past, but not the issue. There’s a bigger issue. You’ll see why what she did killed me.”
I frown at him, trying to piece it all together. I have the pieces, but don’t know where they go. “Will it kill you still?”
“It’ll kill me forever. It’s no reflection of me and you, so don’t make that face. It’s between me and him.”
“You and who?”
“Do you want to go? Mom and Dad will be happy.” He doesn’t sound happy. “If you don’t want to go, then say so. Please say so,” he begs. He smiles hopefully. “I’d rather have lunch with your sister with a gun between us.”
I can’t help feeling it’s about Willow, and though I won’t show it, I’m pissed. I want her gone once and for all. “I want to go to your birthday party.”
His face falls but he tries to mask it with a weary smile. “I’m bringing a girl home. This ought to be interesting.”
I take a deep breath to expunge Willow from my thoughts. She’s in there. Some rodent nestled into my brain. She’s eating at me, at my happiness. What if when he sees her she’s all he wants again? I can’t imagine falling in love with someone