Crushed by Amity Hope Page B

she wanted was to ask him … W hy Mia ? That girl had always been horrible to her . She was sure that it was because Mia had always had a thing for Reece. She ’d berated Cleo over everything f rom her clothes to her hair to the shadows under her eyes. Once she went so far as to childishly say , “Oh, Cleo, you look dreadful.  Like the walking dead. You must take after your mother.” She ’d never told Reece about that one. Some things were just too hard—too degrading—to repeat.
    She didn’t want him with Mia. Almost anyone but Mia. But with him having a girlfriend , it was one of the few things that help ed her to keep her self in check. It wasn’t as though she could say , Hey Reece, I don ’t like your current girlfriend. C ould you pick out one I feel more comfortable with?
    She decided it was safer to not ask the question. What was the point? Besides, she was sure Mia had been right there, waiting . Cleo had practically handed Reece over to her , tied up in a bow, ready to be snatched up . It made it easier to stay away from him knowing that he was involved with someone
     else. She just wish ed it was anyone but her .
    “ Talk to me about anything . We can do that, can’t we? Just talk? There’s no reason we can’t at least be friends.”
     When Cleo hesitated he questioned it. He looked defeated and his tone was resigned. “Or is that not okay, either?”
    “We can be friends,” Cleo a greed. T hough she couldn’t imagine how that would ever work. Not with the way he sent her heart fluttering and her stomach aching with missing
     him so much.
    “Good,” he said with obvious relief. “ So tell me about Luci. How is she?”
    “She’s good.” Cleo told him about her two new friends.
    “Twins. I bet Luci just loves that,” Reece said with a smile. “So is she liking middle
     school?”
    “She’s loving the library,” Cleo admitted, smiling back.
    She jumped when there was a tapping on the window behind her . She turned to see an elderly gentleman wrapping on the glass with his cane. She buzzed her window down.
    “ Are you two going to sit in there canoodling when there’s work to be done?” he asked.
    Cleo wasn’t sure exactly what canoodling entailed . She was pretty sure it was more than what she and Reece were doing at that moment.
    “No sir,” she said as her fingers slipped from Reece’s hand. “We’re ready to get to work.” She hopped out, not looking back at Reece . She couldn’t bear to see the look he ’d had on his face when he’d asked her to talk to him.
    “Grab a rake!” Janna cheerfully called.
    She pointed to where t hey were and Cleo snatched one up. Then she made her way over to a man she assumed was “Ala n”, the person in charge that they we re to sign in with. As soon as she had that taken care of, she worked as close to Janna as possible so that they could chat.
    Because if she was talking to her, she wouldn’t be able to chat with anyone else.
    The first time she felt someone’s hand on her bottom she ’d instinctively thought it was Reece’s. Janna’s wide - eyed look of surprise matched her own when she turned to find it was the elderly man with the cane. He winked and walked away. Over
     the next hour, he came back a few times and things just continued down the path of
     weirdness. Cleo was relieved when they were finally done for the morning.
    Reece’s face was a curious blend of fury and disbelief as they walked toward his vehicle . “Did that old guy keep grab bing your ass?” he asked her in a hard voice.
    “Um , yeah,” she admit ted as she hoisted her self up into the passenger seat . “He did it a few times .”
    Reece clenched his jaw . She knew with certainty that if the man wasn’t nearly a century old , he wouldn’t be taking it quite so well.
    “Don’t worry about it. It’s okay,” she said.
    He scrunched his face into something unpleasant. “It’s okay ?”
    She had to laugh because Reece was taking this way too