8
8
Dolly
The moment the door closed behind Micah, I let out a louder sob.
“Stop that. Do you hear me? You did nothing wrong,” Pepper said as her arms tightened around me.
I tried to stop the tears, but I felt like a complete fool. I’d been naive and stupid. Why hadn’t I questioned it? When had a man like Canyon ever looked my way before? I should have realized something was wrong. But I had wanted to belong to someone like him so badly that I ignored all the signs.
“I’m so stupid,” I whispered and bit down on my bottom lip to keep from letting out another pathetic sound.
Here I was, crying for myself, when Canyon hadn’t hurt me the way he had hurt Pepper. He’d truly caused damage with her. Taken from her. Yet she had remained strong. Tough. I could too. Right?
“You are not stupid, Dolly Belle Dixon! Do not say that again. I mean it. You are trusting. That doesn’t make you stupid. You have the most beautiful traits in the world. You’re kind, sincere, thoughtful, giving, and, yes, you are trusting. You see the good in everyone and believe that the rest of the world is just as genuine as you are. But they aren’t. And if I could change one thing about you, it would be that you saw the rest of us for who we are. No one is like you. At least, I haven’t met them yet.”
I leaned back to look at Pepper as I wiped my face with both hands. She had always said those things to me as if I were special. As if she envied me. Which was laughable because I wanted nothing more than to be exactly like her. Wild, brave, tough, brilliant, passionate, and stunning. Pepper Abe was the girl everyone envied. Not me. Yet she always made it seem like that was the case when she spoke of me.
“I should have questioned it,” I told her. “His interest in me.”
She shook her head. “Stop that. Now. I mean it. I won’t hear any more of it. It baffles me that you don’t realize how gorgeous you are. Of course a man like that would notice you. You are completely out of his league. Miles out of of his league.” She grabbed my chin and held my face so I couldn’t look away from her. “For once, listen to me. Believe me. Don’t let this bullshit that Canyon Acree did mess with your head. You were making progress.”
How had I done this? I always managed to get the focus on me. That was a flaw that I hated about myself. Pepper was the one who had been hurt the worse. This was about her. Not me, yet I had started crying like a baby, and she was focusing solely on me. I was not doing that again.
I swallowed hard, straightened my shoulders, and reached for her wrist, wrapping my fingers around it.
“Let’s drink and put this behind us. Forget Canyon,” I told her. “Unless you want to talk about it. What he did. I’ll listen.”
I wanted to be the one to comfort her for a change. It seemed our entire friendship, she had been the one protecting me.
She laughed softly and let go of my chin. “No. That is ancient history. The bastard spent five years in jail. I dare him to come near me. Right now, his life is in danger. There are people who will take him out the moment he steps out of line.”
I had met one of those people. I shivered, thinking about the man they had called Gage Presley. He had seemed completely unaffected by the idea of taking a life.
“Let me go pour us a glass, and you can tell me whatever you want to. We don’t have to talk about it if you choose not to, but if it will help, then please talk. Get it out,” she said as she stood up.
What was there to say? That I had thought I was in love. That he was the first man to treat me as if I was special. I had moved out of my momma’s house only a month before I met him. My first chance at getting to experience life without her hovering and controlling me, and I’d messed up that horrifically.
I shook my head. “No. I don’t want to talk about him.”
She nodded. “Okay then. We will drink, and you can tell me what my brother did and said from the moment he walked into the bar and found you. That I need details on.”
“There isn’t much to tell,” I explained.
She raised her eyebrows. “Really? Why don’t I believe you? My brother hasn’t seen you since you were a kid. He is a world-class flirt, and you are gorgeous. So, what did my brother say to you?”
My mood sank even lower. Pepper really saw me in a way no one else did. If only I preferred women and Pepper didn’t love sex with men so much, I’d have a wonderful relationship.
I shrugged and forced a smile. “He didn’t flirt with me.”
She frowned before turning and heading to the kitchen. “Either he was being careful, for fear of me, or you didn’t realize you were being flirted with. Either way, it doesn’t matter. He’s not for you. He’s a whore. A lovable whore, but still a whore.” Her voice trailed off as she left the room.
I sighed and sank back onto the sofa, then stared up at the ceiling. Why was I attracted to men who weren’t for me? Maybe Momma was right, and I needed to go on a date with Baker Gilham. He was a nice man. He had a steady job, and he always complimented me. He wasn’t wild or dangerous. He also wasn’t sexy, but then it didn’t seem like I attracted that kind of man.
“I don’t normally like bubbly, but this is pretty damn good,” Pepper said, interrupting my thoughts as she entered the living room again, carrying two wineglasses full of prosecco.
I straightened up from my slouched position and reached out to take a glass from her. “Thank you,” I told her.
She took the seat beside me, then drank from her glass.
“Do you think Micah is actually planning on staying here?” I asked her, hoping he had been exaggerating.
She nodded. “Yes. And you’re going to let him. Canyon is dangerous, Dolly. You need protection. If he decides that you are some sort of leverage, then he could take you. This time, it wouldn’t be the guy you thought you knew. It would be the real man. He’d use you to get what he wanted out of Micah and the rest of The Judgment. Which I assume is revenge for the five years he spent behind bars.”
I looked down at the sofa we were sitting on and couldn’t imagine Micah fitting on this very comfortably. I hadn’t bought it with the idea of guests sleeping on it. I had found it at a consignment store on sale and fallen in love with it. The small size was perfect for my space and me. Not for a man Micah’s size to sleep on.
Before I could voice my opinion, there was a knock on my door. I set my glass down and stood up just as Pepper did the same. She reached out and grabbed my arm.
“It’s a little too soon for Micah to be back,” she whispered.
I looked back at the door. “I can just look through the peephole,” I told her.
She was scowling at the door as if it had personally offended her. There was another knock then.
“Dolly?” the young male voice called out.
I pulled my arm free of Pepper’s grip, and she released me.
“It’s Jeremy,” I told her.
She nodded, recognizing the voice. Glad she wasn’t going to argue with me over this, I went to the door and opened it up. Although Jeremy was only eleven years old, he was still eye level with me. He’d had a growth spurt this summer and grown three inches.
“Dolly.” He beamed at me. “I came by earlier with my art stuff, and you weren’t here. I got worried.”
I stepped back to let him inside. “I’m sorry. I ran a little late. Pepper is here, visiting,” I told him. “Come on in, and I’ll get you a chocolate milk. When’s that assignment due again?”
He walked inside and nodded at Pepper before turning his attention back to me. “Not until next Wednesday. It’s okay. We can work on it tomorrow.”
The hopefulness in his voice tugged at my heart. He was needy for attention, and I seemed to be the only person who gave him any.
“Of course,” I told him. “I don’t have classes tomorrow, but I do work from nine until five. I got to fill in for someone. But I can make my homemade pizza for dinner.” I knew that was his favorite, and unless he ate with me or Mrs. Mildred, he didn’t get a hot meal.
He nodded, grinning brightly at me. “Yeah, that sounds awesome.”
“School started back last week, right?” Pepper asked.
Jeremy nodded.
“And they’re already giving you art projects? Geesh, that’s a little harsh,” she replied.
I agreed with her, but I hadn’t said that to Jeremy. He already hated school. I was trying to help him find a love for learning. I wanted him to do well and one day make a life for himself out of this one. His father was an alcoholic, and his mom had run off three years ago. Since moving in next door to them, more than once, I had taken his dirty clothes and washed them. His father didn’t seem to think about his kid needing clean clothing and food.
“Why is the door standing open?” Micah barked as his form filled the doorway.
My gaze snapped up to his, and I inhaled sharply. I wanted to be annoyed with his question, but when he stood there, in all his Adonis-like beauty, it was very difficult to breathe properly.
“Because Dolly has a visitor,” Pepper replied, clearly not affected by her brother’s appearance. Her tone suggested she’d like to hit him. “Jeremy, meet my brother, Micah. Micah, this is Dolly’s neighbor Jeremy.”
Micah dropped his gaze to the boy and nodded. “The art project,” he replied. “Dolly isn’t up for projects tonight. She’s had a long day.” He walked past Jeremy with a brown paper sack in his hand and set it down on the coffee table.
“Jeremy was stopping by to check on Dolly,” Pepper told her brother through clenched teeth.
Micah glanced back at me, then to Jeremy and smirked. “Yeah, I bet. Smart kid.”
Not completely sure what he meant by that, I decided getting Jeremy out of here before Micah said something inappropriate around young ears was the best thing to do. I turned my attention back to Jeremy, who was scowling openly at Micah.
“Thank you for checkin’ on me. I’ll see you tomorrow evening around six. Bring the supplies, and we’ll get started,” I told him.
He jerked his eyes back to meet mine, then nodded. “Yeah. Okay.” He started to turn, then paused. “I’ll be home if you need me.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling at the protective tone in his young voice. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings by laughing at him, but it was cute that he thought he could help me if needed.
“Thank you,” I told him. “But Pepper is here, and I am gonna be just fine.”
He seemed to relax at that, then headed out the door. I waited until he reached his apartment door safely before closing mine and locking it.
“You’re an ass,” Pepper said to her brother.
Micah smirked and shrugged. “What? It has been a long day, and Tink needs some rest. Not a horny little kid over here, bothering her.”
I gasped in horror at his words.
Micah chuckled at my expression, then raised an eyebrow. “Tink, surely, you know that kid is beating his dick to you several times a day. You’re his first crush.”
I grimaced. “Micah!”
I did not want to think about a child like that! I swung my gaze to Pepper, who was grinning into her glass. Why wasn’t she horrified?
When her eyes met mine, she laughed and then took a drink.
“Jeremy has no parent to take care of him. His father is a disgusting man who is rarely there, and when he is, he yells at him. I make sure he gets good meals and help with his homework.”
Pepper nodded her head. “Yes. Because you are one of the best people I know, and he is lucky to have you as a neighbor…but he is a boy, real close to the verge of adolescence, and, well, you didn’t grow up around boys like I did.” She sighed, still smiling. “Dolly, you are a gorgeous young female, helping him in ways no one else ever has. Yes, he has a major crush on you, and if he thought Micah was going to hurt you, he’d probably try and take him on even though Micah towers over him. He would do it for you. It’s cute as fuck.”
I stared at her. “He is ELEVEN!”
Micah laughed out loud then. “Yeah, Tink, he is. And at eleven, I was beating my dick on a regular basis. If I got a glimpse of cleavage, I got hard as a damn rock.”
“Why are you calling her Tink?” Pepper asked him.
He glanced at his sister. “Because she looks like Tinker Bell but with darker hair.”
I rolled my eyes. I was done with this day and Micah Abe. “I’m going to get a shower, then go to bed. Pepper, you know where all the blankets and extra pillows are for Micah if he is still intent on staying here.” I didn’t wait for a response and walked out of the room.
“Good night!” Pepper called after me.
“Good night,” I replied without looking back.
“If you get cold during the night, I’m available for cuddling,” Micah said loud enough for his voice to carry, and then it was followed by a laugh. “What? She might need me to warm her up.”
“I swear to God, I will throw you out of that window,” Pepper warned him.
I reached up and touched my heated cheeks. That was flirting, wasn’t it? Or was it just teasing?
Did it matter? Micah meant nothing to me. Not anymore.