15. Smithy
Chapter 15
Smithy
“Are we seriously sitting outside of her apartment?” Cici asks with amusement in her tone.
“Obviously,” I mutter under my breath as I squint my eyes at the guy who just pulled up in front of Liliana’s apartment. “He looks like such a toolbag.”
“Oh, he does not! He’s really cute!”
I turn away from my stalking and glare at Cici. She can't be serious right now. I thought she was on my team, how is she complimenting the enemy?
“You’re not being helpful,” I growl.
“Actually, I am. I'm commenting without any sort of bias, showing you how well Liliana could do. Just because you don’t want to accept she’s going out with a hot guy, doesn’t change the fact she is.”
“Now he’s hot? I thought he was really cute ,” I mock her voice, making her chuckle.
“It’s weird seeing you so sour. You’re normally the happy guy. I'm not sure I’ve ever seen you in this bad of a mood.”
“Well, normally Liliana isn't about to go out with a guy on a date where he’s going to try to touch her and kiss her,” I growl.
We wait while the guy climbs the stairs and disappears inside Liliana’s apartment complex. I bounce my knee and check the time every millisecond, more than anxious.
“What is taking him so long?” I grumble under my breath. “He better not be trying anything with her. Maybe I should go check on her.” I reach for the door handle, but Cici stops me.
“You need to chill, Smithy. He’s been in there for about thirty seconds. If she’s not out in five minutes, I’ll let you go, but you’re going to ruin the plan and upset Liliana if you storm in there now.” She places her hand on my forearm and holds on tightly.
“Fine,” I groan, letting my head fall back so I can stare up at the ceiling. I try counting slowly to three hundred seconds, but each one is making me more and more anxious.
“Here she comes. See? He was only up there for about a minute. You can chill out now.” She pats my arm before releasing her hold on me.
I watch them move towards his car and see his hand on her lower back. I let out a growl before I can stop myself, making Cici laugh. I'm glad she finds this so funny, I'm seconds away from punching this guy in the face and I barely know him.
“Fuck,” I groan.
“What’s wrong now?”
“Look at how stunning she looks!” I motion towards Liliana. “He’d be stupid to not ask for a second date already.”
Winnie did a great job helping Liliana pick out a dress. The black fabric hugs her skin, showing off those amazing curves she has. The black heeled boots make her legs look long and sexy. They add so much to the outfit without taking away from it. Winnie knew exactly how to make her as tempting as possible, without making Liliana look like an easy lay.
I'm just about to complain about this guy again, when Liliana looks in our direction. We both drop as low as we can in our seats and hide.
“Do you think she saw us?” Cici whispers like Liliana might be able to hear us.
“How am I supposed to know?” I grumble.
“You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a bad mood before.” She laughs again. “You’re pouting like a toddler because another boy is playing with your toy.”
“She’s not my toy. She’s my entire world.” I sit up just in time to see his car pull out of the parking lot. I put my SUV in drive and follow them from a distance.
“Then you better do something to make her yours, because even if she isn't interested in this guy, sooner or later she’ll be interested in another one. And when you lose her, you’ll have no one to blame except yourself.”
“You should quit your day job and become a motivational speaker. You’d do great. You’d motivate each person to go into a deep depression they’ll never be able to get out of.”
“Oh my gosh! Stop it. I'm trying to be honest with you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Liliana will be mine by the end of the night. I won't stop until she is.”
As soon as we pull into the parking lot, I'm reaching for my door. Cici stops me again and I growl at her, making her laugh again.
“I'm glad I'm such good entertainment for you.”
“I just keep thinking how similar you are to Cord. I never noticed it before, but if we were in this same situation with Macy, he’d be acting just like you. It’s funny.”
“Hilarious,” I deadpan. “Now, can we go in?”
“Not yet! You need to give them a chance to get seated before we go in.”
“Why? Why can't I just storm in there, throw Liliana over my shoulder and march out. You can stay and go on the date in her place since you think he’s so hot.” I roll my eyes.
“Maybe I should. There’s no reason for him to be lonely when I'm single and bored.” She grins.
“I'm going to tell your brother you have a crush on Covey.”
I’ve seen the way Cici and Covey look at each other, there’s no way they don’t have feelings for each other, but they haven’t acted on it… unless they’re just hiding it from Cord.
“Smithy! What the hell? I'm trying to help you and you’re threatening to get Cord sniffing around my personal life?”
“Well, you’re making me sad and angry.” I shrug. I’d never do that to her or Covey, but I’m so pissed off right now.
I can guarantee, if I were home, I’d be in my gym. I’d be punching my bag and probably keep going until my knuckles were raw and bleeding. Even then, I’d continue until I broke my hand or collapsed from exhaustion. Owen would not be happy.
“C’mon, let’s go in. They should be seated by now.”
We climb out of my SUV and meet at the hood. I place my hand on her lower back and lead her towards the restaurant just like that guy did to Liliana.
“I'm sorry. You know I’d never rat you out to Cord. I'm just pissed,” I murmur as we step through the door.
“I know. You’re a good guy, Smithy. If you weren’t so obsessed with Liliana and I wasn’t interested in someone else, I’d probably be trying to date you.”
“Really?” I ask as my brows climb up to my hairline. I never got those vibes from her. We’ve always been friends, but we’ve never flirted or showed any sort of interest in each other.
“Why not? You’ve got the best abs in the league.” She smirks.
“Did Macy tell you to say that?”
“No, but she does send out a best of the best list. I saw you were listed as having the best abs.”
A waitress leads us to our table and I keep my attention on Liliana as we’re seated. Her back is to me and as much as I wish I could see her, it’s probably better that she can't.
I'm not exactly sure how Liliana’s going to respond to me being here. She could be pissed I'm trying to ruin her date or she might be happy I'm finally making a move. I don’t know and I'm not sure I care, either way, she’s coming home with me tonight, not him.
We order drinks and give Liliana a few minutes to talk to her date before Cici finally stands.
“I'm pretending I'm going to the bathroom. When I come out, I’ll act like I'm shocked to see Liliana here. Let me chit chat with her and I’ll see what I can find out. Ok?”
I breathe a sigh of relief. Cici’s been more helpful than I expected her to be. She’s helped keep me calm and collected when I wanted to bolt into Liliana’s apartment. She’s kept me from barging into the restaurant and ruining everything. Now, she’s come up with a game plan I never would’ve thought of.
I’ll have to do something more than go to the charity event with her as a thank you.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Be like every guy our age. Go on your phone and ignore the world around you. But don’t text her.” She points a finger in my face. “You’re so desperate it’s almost comical.”
“You’re so sweet. How are you still single?” I arch a brow.
“If you keep throwing insults around, I’ll make sure you stay single too,” she singsongs.
I watch her walk away and chuckle when she sways her hips a little more. She’s definitely Owen’s daughter. She has his confidence and this power I’ve only ever seen in people with the last name Powell. It’s like they’re raised to know the world is theirs to take.
As soon as Cici disappears, I turn my attention to my phone and clench my jaw hard when I hear Liliana’s sweet laughter. It’s taking everything in me to stay in my seat and not march over to her. I wouldn’t say a word, I’d just throw her over my shoulder and march out of this place. Cici would be left behind to entertain the guy and keep him away from us.
I get lost in scrolling through Liliana’s photos on social media. There are so many photos of us together and we look good. We look like a couple in every sense of the word. I just need to make that our reality.
I glance up when Cici calls my name and pretend to be confused. She waves me over and as I walk, my gaze collides with Liliana’s and a slow smirk spreads across my lips.
The smile she has aimed at me is the biggest one I’ve ever seen. My heart beats a little faster knowing she’s not pissed I'm ruining her date. Hell, maybe she was hoping I’d stop it.
But why go on the date if she wanted me to stop it all along?
“Hey, Sweets. I didn’t know you’d be here.” I lean down and press a soft kiss to her cheek, letting my lips linger a little longer than necessary.
“Of course you didn’t,” she murmurs with amusement in her voice.
I was right. She totally saw us sitting outside of her apartment. But once again, she’s not upset. She almost seems happy I'm stalking her. I think we need to have a talk tonight and make sure she knows it’s unacceptable for anyone to stalk her other than me.
“You look stunning, Lils,” I whisper in her ear, grinning when she shivers at the contact.
As soon as I'm invited to join them, I waste no time taking a seat next to Liliana and placing my arm along the back of the booth. I twist her long blonde hair between my fingers as I talk. I can't place a possessive hand around her, but I need to touch her in some way.
When Kevin asks about baseball and wants to know if I’ve always wanted to go pro, my mind drifts back to college. To the breathtaking blonde who showed up to every one of my games. I think she only missed a few and that was because she was sick.
If she missed a game, I made sure to take soup to her dorm afterwards. We’d lay on her bed and watch movies. Most of the time she’d fall asleep in my arms. I’d lay awake for hours trying to figure out how to make her mine. Even then, I knew she was all I wanted in life.
We chat throughout dinner and if I were being honest with myself, Kevin’s a nice guy. He’s exactly the type of guy Liliana deserves, but he can't have her. I'm not being honest with myself. I'm pretending he’s the evilest man to ever step foot on this planet. I'm not letting him have her no matter what.
When the check comes, I hand the waitress my credit card before she can even put the bill down and smile. I'm paying for everything. I don’t care about the money and I just want to get out of here so I can have Liliana to myself.
“Dinner is on me.” I smile, itching to leave and go home with Liliana, but I still need to convince her to come back to my place.
“You didn’t need to do that. I'm happy to pay for my meal and Liliana’s.” Kevin reaches for his wallet but I wave him off.
“It’s fine. We crashed your dinner.”
I quickly sign my name to the receipt when the waitress brings it back and stand. I smooth down my dress pants and smile when Liliana’s attention is drawn to me.
When her eyes return to mine, I hold out a hand and help her stand. She makes no move to take her hand back and I take that as an invite to make my move.
“Lils, I was actually going to call you when I got home. I need your help with something at the house. Would you want to come with me or are you guys doing something else?” I glance at Kevin and he shrugs his shoulders.
“I was going to take her out for ice cream, but since we had dessert here, I'm sure she doesn’t want more.”
I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. There’s a reason I ordered dessert as soon as the waitress asked. I knew he might be planning to take her somewhere else and I wanted to make that impossible.
The only person taking her home is me.