even I had to research some of them to figure out what they were.
“Ugh, we need to get that plumber back out here,” Adela said. “The tap won’t stop dripping. Can you imagine the water bill?”
“It’s included with our rent, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but still sucks for the landlord who’s paying that sucker.”
She had a point. “I’ll call them on my break.” I finished my coffee and closed my textbook before rinsing my mug in the sink. “I need to go, but I’ll grab some milk on the way home.”
Adela stuck her head out of the bathroom, her toothbrush hanging from her mouth. “You don’t have class until tomorrow.”
“I’ve picked up extra shifts. Gloria’s off for the week.” I combed my fingers through my hair. “Sinus infection.”
Adela disappeared, and I heard her spit and then the running of the tap before she returned. “She suffers from allergies but works in a freaking flower shop?”
I laughed. “That’s what I said, and Gloria said we don’t choose who and what we fall in love with, even when it’s a hazard to one’s self.”
Adela cackled, ducking back into the bathroom. “What a woman.”
“That’s what Sabrina said.” Adela laughed again as I grabbed my bag and shut the door behind me.
I jumped down the steps, then hit the sidewalk, the mist from last night’s rain heavy in the autumn air. We were leasing a three-bedroom apartment. Though it was old, it was well kept and nestled in the outskirts of the business district of Raslow.
Another reason it felt like the perfect fit was due to its proximity to home. It was a fifty-minute drive down the highway. Not that I had a car yet, but Adela did. I’d wanted to leave, but I didn’t want to leave completely.
There’d been nothing but radio silence from Everett, but then again, I hadn’t expected any different, and what I’d said to him was true. I was fed up with this feeling hollowing out my insides. Dad said last he’d heard from Hendrix, they were heading farther north to a series of gigs they’d lined up before Christmas.
Another perk that being away from home provided was a break from the memories. No longer did I stare across the street at the run-down house where he’d lived, or the walls of my own where he’d spent most of his time, growing, learning, and making me fall.
Finally, for the first time in over a year, I found it easier to breathe.
Cursing interrupted my thoughts, and I stopped, staring back at a guy who was kicking the tire of his car. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, no.” He groaned, threading his hands behind his head over his jet-black hair. His eyes were almost the same shade, which made his luminous smile blinding and hard not to notice on that chiseled, clean-shaven face. Not that he was smiling now.
Aiden Prince.
We shared the same business class. He was also on the college baseball team.
“Shit,” he continued. “Stinking, putrid shit.” Then he turned and saw me standing there.
I winced at being caught and offered a wave, hoping the flush in my cheeks receded.
His lips pursed, those dark eyes narrowing. “You,” he said.
“Me?” I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yeah, you.” He swung his legs forward, prowling toward me with a glimmer in his gaze. “I’d bet if you were standing exactly where you were not even five minutes ago, the bastard who wrote me this ticket”—he flicked it in the air—“would’ve been too distracted to even remember what day it was.”
I coughed out another laugh. “Distracted, huh?”
“Yeah.” He sidled even closer until the scent of his caramel, woodsy cologne reached me, and I could make out a faint smattering of freckles across his straight nose. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re kind of really fucking beautiful.”
I’d always thought of him as lean; muscular and tall, but lean. However, having him this close, standing feet above me as he stared down into my face with crooked lips and fanned out lashes, I discovered I’d been way wrong.
He was a muscular giant.
My voice was scratchy as I muttered, “That a pick-up line of yours?”
His straight teeth slid over his lip as he studied me. “Uh-huh, I just go round getting tickets on the regular to pick up the ladies.”
I laughed again, and his head tilted.
My cheeks tinged under his inspection, growing warmer as he said, “Do that again.”
“What? Laugh?” I snorted, then laughed at the fact I’d snorted. Dear God.