Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Tonight, he was different. Was it because of Cam?
The movie began, and I moved my eyes to the screen. I knew enough about the Marvel world to follow along. Cam had made me watch all the movies, but I still didn’t really care about it. I simply watched them to have something to do with Cam.
I was more aware of Dean that anything else. The times I glanced his way, he was engrossed in the movie. Then, his phone lit up, and he stepped out of the theater. I had a hard time concentrating on what was happening on the screen when the time went by and Dean didn’t return. Just as the credits began to scroll did he step back into the room. I watched as he stretched and yawned.
Cam jumped up, thrilled with the ending, and didn’t seem to know Dean had been missing for the entire second half of the movie. I said nothing as Cam chatted happily with Dean about the Marvel world and what he and I had just watched. Dean did a good job, following along.
He led us to the door and out to the elevator while they talked. He didn’t look at me or say anything. I had become invisible, it seemed. When the elevator doors opened and we stepped inside, Dean remained where he was.
“Thanks, Dean! Good night!” Cam said to him just as the doors closed.
I said nothing at all, but then again, Dean hadn’t even glanced my way.
twenty-one
dean
I hadn’t been back from California a full day when Mrs. Jo called me to tell me she had a pie for me and I needed to come get it. When I had returned, I’d intended to catch up on the sleep I had missed while under the same roof as Kiro. However, telling Mrs. Jo I couldn’t come down at the moment wasn’t an option either.
Grabbing a discarded shirt from the chair in my bedroom, I made my way down to Mrs. Jo’s apartment. It was eleven on a Thursday, so that meant Brielle wouldn’t be around. She’d be working. I wasn’t sure where Cam went when she worked or if he was in their apartment … or was school back in session? I didn’t know when they started school around here, but I knew Nate had gone back last week. Didn’t matter though. Seeing the kid wasn’t an issue, but staying the hell away from his mama was.
I’d been unable to get her out of my head while in California, but the distance had helped me think through things. I wasn’t what she needed, and she was no longer a hot fuck I wanted in my bed. She was a mom with a great kid who she was raising alone.
Who knew respecting a woman could screw your head up? I wasn’t sure I’d ever taken the time to respect a woman I had fucked or planned to fuck. This was all new to me, and I didn’t know the best way to deal with it. That was why leaving the morning after our movie night had been so vital.
I had felt her looking at me in the theater. I knew she wanted me to look at her. If I’d have sat beside her, she wouldn’t have minded. She had softened toward me after I gave Cam some time and attention. But damn if I was going to take advantage of her because she was grateful to me. Getting the hell out of that theater had been the only thing I could do. If she’d have looked at me one more time, I wasn’t sure I could have kept my distance.
Mrs. Jo’s door opened before I even knocked.
“Come in; come in,” she said brightly.
Her apartment smelled like apple pie and vanilla. I followed her inside, and she closed the door behind us.
“When I heard that motorcycle of yours outside this morning, I went right on to cutting the apples I’d bought at the farmers market. You were gone for too long. I figured you needed a good Southern pie to remind you how much better it is down here. If’n I had to pick a coast and I hadn’t lived here my entire life, I’d still choose the East Coast. Life is just better here. Don’t know why you’d stay gone so long.”
She hurried into her kitchen, and I stood in her living room among the new furniture I had bought her. The place looked much nicer with the fresh paint and light fixtures.
“The way you were looking at Brielle last I saw you, I figured you’d be sticking around here more. But I guess finding out she’s a mama can scare a man off. She’s a package deal and all,” Mrs. Jo said as she walked back, holding a pie with a hand towel under the plate.