When his voice
grows, I catch the syllables, but I don’t understand the words.
He’s speaking to her in French.
She answers back in the foreign language, fluent. He kisses
her head, and then she spins around and kisses his lips, standing on the tips
of her toes.
Lily turns to face me at this, and her eyes grow wide and
eager. I want to, Lil. God, do I want to. Now’s the best time to talk to Rose. Even if it’ll break her moment with
her boyfriend, it’ll save me from rejecting Lily again.
“Rose,” I say.
She drops to her feet, but Conner keeps his hand tangled in
her hair, intoxicated by Rose’s commanding movements. She possesses him, but he’s
equally as possessive of her, which I still find strange. I thought for sure
Rose would devour any man she touched, but they have this symbiotic
relationship instead of the parasitic one I share with Lily.
“Yes?” she asks.
My throat swells at the thought of asking her for help. Even
as the words rest on my tongue, saying them is so fucking hard. So I turn to
Connor. “Have you heard anything from the private investigator?”
“He’s working on tracing the messages. We’ll see if we can
find any leads.” After the wave of texts in the car, that’s not exactly the
news I wanted to hear. I don’t like waiting around. I only have patience where
Lily is concerned. Waiting for her to choose me over a quick lay—that was hard,
but I endured it. Waiting for this guy to rip apart our lives—that, I’m not
taking so well.
“Lo,” Rose snaps. Her hand flies back to her hip. She could
tell I was dodging. “Spill.”
I inhale. “As you know…” I rub the back of my neck, heat
flushing my body all of a sudden. I’m not used to that. “…I don’t have a
college degree, so getting a job that pays better than minimum wage is going to
be a challenge.”
The silence lingers, waiting for me to continue, three sets
of eyes boring into me in curiosity and hesitation. They think I’m on the verge
of giving up, of throwing my hands in the air and saying I can’t do hard,
physical labor. I can’t flip burgers. I can’t fucking be a normal lower-class
guy who has to work for his money. I’ve never had to do that, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try. They think less of
me, and I haven’t given them reason to believe otherwise.
“I’d have no problem flipping burgers,” I explain, “but I
owe Ryke forty grand for rehab that I’d like to pay in a reasonable amount of
time…plus, you know, rent.” I pause again, half expecting Rose to bail me out
and say, you don’t have to pay rent, Lo,
you’re practically family. But I forget who she is for a brief second.
Maybe her little meltdown over a vase tricked me, but she stands resolute,
strong, unwilling to let me take the easy road.
Good.
Still, I glare. Habit. “You’re going to make me ask, aren’t
you?” I say.
She smiles icily. “Last year in the Cayman Islands, you said
that not even the abominable snowman would want to fuck me.”
Lily gasps, “You did not.”
“I did.”
She punches my arm. I mock wince. Yeah, I deserved that.
Connor stays completely impassive. But he holds Rose closer,
as though silently saying I’m wrong. Clearly guys with insanely high IQs want
to fuck her.
I let out a deep breath. Here it goes. “I’ve already been
scouted by modeling agencies before,” I explain. “You’d be an idiot not to use
me in your menswear campaign.” Way to go,
Loren. Call her an idiot. That’s definitely the way to land a job. Jesus
Christ, no wonder you’ve never had one.
“I remember that,” Rose says stiffly.
“How come you’ve never modeled if you were scouted?” Connor
asks.
“I may have walked into the interview drinking straight from
a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.” I was fucking with the agency, wasting peoples’
time and mine. I didn’t really want to model. I still don’t, but it’ll be quick
money. And this is a chance for me to redo my past
grows, I catch the syllables, but I don’t understand the words.
He’s speaking to her in French.
She answers back in the foreign language, fluent. He kisses
her head, and then she spins around and kisses his lips, standing on the tips
of her toes.
Lily turns to face me at this, and her eyes grow wide and
eager. I want to, Lil. God, do I want to. Now’s the best time to talk to Rose. Even if it’ll break her moment with
her boyfriend, it’ll save me from rejecting Lily again.
“Rose,” I say.
She drops to her feet, but Conner keeps his hand tangled in
her hair, intoxicated by Rose’s commanding movements. She possesses him, but he’s
equally as possessive of her, which I still find strange. I thought for sure
Rose would devour any man she touched, but they have this symbiotic
relationship instead of the parasitic one I share with Lily.
“Yes?” she asks.
My throat swells at the thought of asking her for help. Even
as the words rest on my tongue, saying them is so fucking hard. So I turn to
Connor. “Have you heard anything from the private investigator?”
“He’s working on tracing the messages. We’ll see if we can
find any leads.” After the wave of texts in the car, that’s not exactly the
news I wanted to hear. I don’t like waiting around. I only have patience where
Lily is concerned. Waiting for her to choose me over a quick lay—that was hard,
but I endured it. Waiting for this guy to rip apart our lives—that, I’m not
taking so well.
“Lo,” Rose snaps. Her hand flies back to her hip. She could
tell I was dodging. “Spill.”
I inhale. “As you know…” I rub the back of my neck, heat
flushing my body all of a sudden. I’m not used to that. “…I don’t have a
college degree, so getting a job that pays better than minimum wage is going to
be a challenge.”
The silence lingers, waiting for me to continue, three sets
of eyes boring into me in curiosity and hesitation. They think I’m on the verge
of giving up, of throwing my hands in the air and saying I can’t do hard,
physical labor. I can’t flip burgers. I can’t fucking be a normal lower-class
guy who has to work for his money. I’ve never had to do that, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t try. They think less of
me, and I haven’t given them reason to believe otherwise.
“I’d have no problem flipping burgers,” I explain, “but I
owe Ryke forty grand for rehab that I’d like to pay in a reasonable amount of
time…plus, you know, rent.” I pause again, half expecting Rose to bail me out
and say, you don’t have to pay rent, Lo,
you’re practically family. But I forget who she is for a brief second.
Maybe her little meltdown over a vase tricked me, but she stands resolute,
strong, unwilling to let me take the easy road.
Good.
Still, I glare. Habit. “You’re going to make me ask, aren’t
you?” I say.
She smiles icily. “Last year in the Cayman Islands, you said
that not even the abominable snowman would want to fuck me.”
Lily gasps, “You did not.”
“I did.”
She punches my arm. I mock wince. Yeah, I deserved that.
Connor stays completely impassive. But he holds Rose closer,
as though silently saying I’m wrong. Clearly guys with insanely high IQs want
to fuck her.
I let out a deep breath. Here it goes. “I’ve already been
scouted by modeling agencies before,” I explain. “You’d be an idiot not to use
me in your menswear campaign.” Way to go,
Loren. Call her an idiot. That’s definitely the way to land a job. Jesus
Christ, no wonder you’ve never had one.
“I remember that,” Rose says stiffly.
“How come you’ve never modeled if you were scouted?” Connor
asks.
“I may have walked into the interview drinking straight from
a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.” I was fucking with the agency, wasting peoples’
time and mine. I didn’t really want to model. I still don’t, but it’ll be quick
money. And this is a chance for me to redo my past
Similar Books
