Chapter 3 #2
Two years later, our meetups had sort of become our unspoken rule. Almost every closing shift Dry Cap or DC as I liked to call him, would show up, order his drink, and hang out to make sure I made it safely to my car.
For nearly a year, I refused other guys’ advances.
I waited for DC to make a move that never came.
I could never be in an actual relationship.
I learned the hard way that there are too many emotional expectations that I just couldn’t deliver on.
But sex was fun and uncomplicated, and well, my body wanted him.
But every night, he’d walk to his car, I’d walk to mine, and we’d go back to our lives as if nothing happened.
As if the spark crackling between us was a hoax.
Alex usually stayed at a friend’s house while I worked, but after that close call earlier, I wanted to keep my eye on her.
Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn’t shown tonight.
I hadn’t spoken a word about him to Alex.
I told myself it was because we’d be leaving eventually and it didn’t matter anyway, but that was a lie.
The truth of the matter was, I cared about him. Probably more than I should’ve. When his piercing eyes looked at me, it was like he was looking deep within my soul, seeing each fucked up layer. But instead of being repulsed by what he saw, he embraced it.
I rarely laughed at his jokes, but it didn’t seem to bother him.
Other guys I’d dated in the past couldn’t handle the blow to their ego, but DC didn’t seem to care.
He had this quiet confidence about him that made me feel at ease.
I didn’t have to worry about my reactions offending him.
Carla’s conditioning was still so deeply ingrained into me that my body still feared expressing emotions, even eight years after her death.
Overtime, I grew to be more comfortable with this formidable stranger than I was with my own flesh and blood.
Alex was my sister, and I loved her to death, but we couldn’t have been more different.
She was warm and trusting, while I was cold and suspicious.
She was tan, svelte, and cool blonde, while I was pale, curvy, and deep brunette.
She was spunky and outgoing, while I was quiet and closed-off.
But in him I found a kindred spirit. I enjoyed pretending that in a different life, he and I could be something more. Something beyond this pseudo security guard/confidante relationship that we had fell into so easily.
I debated asking him for help with Malcolm once, when one of Malcolm’s fits of rage resulted in a cracked rib, but I didn’t want whatever the dynamic between us was to shift.
He viewed me as a normal person, not some girl with a fucked up life.
The last thing I wanted was for him to take pity on me.
I couldn’t stand seeing that look in his eyes.
Almost as if thinking of him had brought him into fruition, the sound of the fan over the door kicked on, showing that someone had walked through the door.
“Be done soon.” I mouthed as Alex popped her headphones back in with a nod.
Butterflies swirled through my stomach the moment my eyes caught sight of his familiar 6’3 frame. As usual, DC came in dressed impeccably. He probably worked in law or finance because after two years, I had yet to see him without a sharp suit on.
Tonight was no different. He walked in the cafe wearing a perfectly tailored navy suit with a crisp white button-up shirt that made the healthy glow of his skin stand out.
“Hey DC, the usual?” I called out as I breezed by him.
I purposely kept things platonic with us after realizing that nothing more was coming from this. He didn’t need to know that my stomach did flips every time he walked into the room. Or that my traitorous pussy pulsed every time his seductive scent of smoky sandalwood and soft amber surrounded me.
Without warning, his large hand encased my arm in a gentle, yet solid hold, halting my movements. I whipped my head to face him. He had never grabbed me before and it was so unlike the polished man I knew. The look on his face was cold, dangerous, and lethal.
“Who did it?” He hissed as his sharp jaw ticked and his large body trembled with what looked a lot like rage.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, brows furrowed in confusion.
I had never seen this side of him before.
“The bruise that’s blooming on your face, Stevie.” He said, his fingers gently grazing the tender flesh. “Who did it?”
My hand involuntarily floated towards his. It had probably gotten worse over the last couple of hours. Shit. I had been in such a rush to get the hell out of there, I completely forgot to cover it up.
“It’s nothing.” I lied, faking a smile as I chewed the inside of my cheek. “I clumsily tripped right into a door knob this morning.”
It disgusted me how easily the lie spilled from my lips. I never wanted to lie to DC, but he had backed me into a corner. Omitting was one thing, but this was a flat out lie and it made me feel awful. But his pity would have felt worse.
“You tripped.” He deadpanned as his sharp brown eyes pierced right through me.
“Yes, so… the usual?”
I didn’t wait for a response. Moving towards the espresso bar, I could feel his eyes probing and assessing me as I made his drink.
The force of his gaze made me want to shrivel up into a little ball and confess all of my sins, but involving DC would only lead to more trouble.
I was leaving in less than two weeks. I could keep our secrets until then, even if he ended up hating me for it.
He’ll end up hating me anyway for leaving without saying goodbye.
DC left the shop without saying another word to me. I hoped that he’d be outside waiting, but after I locked up the shop, there was no sign of him.
I told myself that it was better this way. I was only prolonging the inevitable. Maybe seeing the mark on my face gave him an insight into how messy and imperfect my life truly was. He had no room in his perfectly tailored life for the chaos that consumed mine.
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