Chapter 14 #2
Terrifying in its own right.
“Aren’t we the pair,” I managed to say. “Want to talk about it?”
She shrugged. “I wasn’t interested in seeing anyone for a long time after I left here.
Guy number one dumped me after four years for still grieving the loss of my mom.
Said I was emotionally unavailable—and he was right.
Guy number two told me I was the one, then ghosted me after we slept together. Should I go on?”
My chest burned.
She smiled tightly. “Long story short? I’m never enough.”
Damn, I wanted to punch something. A freshly eighteen-year-old Hazel had been kicked out by her dad for making mistakes, then left behind by me, then abandoned by every guy who followed.
Of course, she believed she wasn’t enough.
She’d learned it the hard way. I wanted to go back in time and throttle every man who’d ever made her feel like she had to earn love.
“So…” She stood. “I’m on a man moratorium.”
I stood up as well. “You gave up sex?”
She snorted. “Sex and relationships aren’t the same thing, you know.”
We stood toe-to-toe. Her eyes locked with mine, heat radiating from the ground, the truth sitting between us like a loaded weapon.
“I’m not ready for the likes of you,” she whispered.
“Ditto.”
But we didn’t move. Didn’t blink.
Finally, she laughed low, shook her head, and walked away.
Later that night, I woke to Her Fluffiness sitting on my chest, glaring. It was still oh dark thirty in people time. But in cat time? Breakfast.
Grumbling at being owned by a cat, I padded to the kitchen, with her trotting along behind me, letting out a pleased chirp when I filled her kibble bowl.
And then I realized she had a note on her collar.
Last night I howled outside your neighbor’s window for thirty minutes. You owe her sleep and a full refund on her peace and quiet.
I stared at Her Fluffiness. “Seriously? We’ve talked about this.”
The feline turned her back on me and lifted a back leg to clean her lady town.
I flipped the note over and wrote.
Never been able to convince a woman to do anything she didn’t want to. But I always pay my debts.
“Mew.”
I slid her a look. “If you wake up Hank, you’re sleeping with him and his nocturnal emissions.”
She sniffed and stalked to the couch.
“Wise choice—” I froze, my gaze caught on something outside. I leaned in to see better.
Someone was crouched at the Pierce back door, eyeballing the lock, and my stomach clenched.
Hazel was inside that house, sleeping.
Shit.
I sprinted out, heart in my throat as I realized the asshole had given up on the door and was attempting to climb through the small open window in the door.
I moved closer but didn’t say a word, watching as she—yes, she—got stuck halfway through.
Since I knew exactly whose sweet ass I was looking at, I relaxed—not that I was going to let Hazel know that. “You’ve got two seconds to crawl back out of that window,” I barked, hard steel. “I’ve already called the police.”
“Liar,” she said, completely unfazed. “You’re a control freak who handles everything himself. You’d never delegate a takedown.” She wriggled, then cursed.
Yep, stuck.
Enjoying myself now, I leaned against the siding. She was wearing what I assumed were pj’s, albeit the smallest, silkiest pair of pj’s I’d ever seen. Every time she wriggled, trying to drop into the kitchen, those itty-bitty shorts got shorter.
And my view got better.
“Why are you breaking into your own house?” I asked idly.
“My dad bolted the door. Are you going to help me or what?”
“Trying to decide.”
“Oh my God, decide faster!”
I grabbed her hips, and here’s exactly how small her little silky shorts were—they didn’t cover nearly as much of her as my hands did.
“You going to stand there all day staring at my ass, or are you going to save said ass?”
I tugged but couldn’t get any leverage. Wrapping my arms around her, I tried again, and she shot out so fast, it was like we’d greased her up with butter. I fell backward, and we landed in a heap.
Best three seconds of my life.
This close, I saw that her pj’s had little hammers all over them. Across her chest read, I Nail Things. I snorted, and she wiggled like she had no idea she was killing me.
Only Hazel could weaponize pajamas.
I gripped her hips and held her still. “What were you doing? Because I’m guessing you aren’t out here looking for the Legend of Star Falls.”
She gave a single harsh laugh. “If those stars saw me coming, they’d blink out of existence.”
I hated that she believed that, but I was still in mission mode and needed answers.
“Fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest, which only plumped her breasts up and nearly out of the cami. My mouth went dry.
“If you must know,” she said, in a tone that I would bet a million dollars Her Fluffiness would use if she were human, “I have to pee.”
I blinked. “And you’re not using the front door because…?”
“I told you. My dad locked it,” she said in a duh tone. “And I don’t have a key for the bolt.”
My mind was not working. I blamed her pj’s. “Your dad locked you out?”
“Well, not on purpose. He accidentally hit the bolt. Or at least I think it was accidental. I mean, we both know it wouldn’t be the first time he kicked me out, but I didn’t get arrested or do anything to tick him off this time, so…”
I hated being confused. “Why are you outside if you have to go to the bathroom?” I turned and eyed her sprinter van, realizing the side door was open and I could see a mattress made up with bedding, rumpled…as if someone had just gotten out of it.
A toolbox sat beside the bed, half-open. A tiny framed photo of her mom balanced on the shelf above.
She was…living in her van. Alone. Hiding in plain sight. My gut tightened as an unhappy thought crossed my mind. “Don’t you dare tell me you’ve been living in your fucking van.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you.”
Sharp, biting humor got her out of a lot of situations, and she was a pro at it, but not this time. “You couldn’t come to me?”
“You’d have asked questions.”
“Damn right I would’ve asked questions! Like why aren’t you living inside with your dad?”
“It’s complicated. And it’s not forever.”
“You’ve been living twenty feet from my house.”
“I know.”
“I would’ve…” I shook my head. “I don’t even know what I would’ve done.”
“You would’ve tried to fix it. That’s who you are. But I don’t need fixing.”
I stared at her. “You could’ve told me. You should’ve told me.”
“I was scared.”
I hated that. “Of me?”
“Of what it meant to be back. Of what it meant to want to stay.”
That stopped me.
We were both quiet. Then she squirmed again. “Bathroom.”
I helped her up. “You can use mine. Then cookies.”
She hesitated, gaze catching mine like I’d offered her something too fragile to trust. “You always do this,” she said quietly.
“Do what?”
“Make me feel like I’m not alone.”
“You’re not,” I said. “You haven’t been. Not for a long time.”
She was quiet for a beat. “What if I told you stuff about me that would change your mind?”
What the hell was she holding inside? “Haze, there’s nothing you could say that would make me walk away.”
Her eyes went suspiciously shiny for a beat. She swallowed hard and looked away.
“Hey,” I said, my chest tight at the pain I’d seen in her gaze. Those beautiful eyes held secrets. Secrets I was guessing she didn’t want to keep anymore. “Whenever you’re ready,” I said quietly.
She looked away a moment, gathering herself. “I’d like to pee now, then eat cookies.”
“Priorities,” I said.
Her fingers tightened in mine as we stepped into the warmth of my house, like she didn’t want to let go.
Like maybe she was starting to believe it too.
And for the first time in a long time, I let myself believe this thing between us might not end in disaster. But hope is a tricky thing when you’ve been burned before. And I was already on fire.