Chapter 14
“Derek, take your shirt back.” I grab the bottom, ready to pull it over my head and throw it over the car to him.
He scoffs, pulling my rumpled AC/DC crop-top out of the back seat and over his head.
“Yeah fucking right. You think I want your ass hanging out for everyone in the grocery store to see?” He walks around the car, and I catch the full glimpse of him, the too-small shirt nearly ripping off his body and showing an ample amount of underboob, not to mention the bulging set of abs.
I sigh. He’s right. His shirt barely covers my ass, but enough that I won’t make any old ladies inside uncomfortable. Him, on the other hand? All eyes will be glued to him. I cross my arms over my chest. “I thought you could fight?”
He laughs, throwing an arm over my shoulder, pulling me against him, and kissing my cheek. My insides heat, and I blush, looking around the parking lot. “Wouldn’t be a good idea if I went full bear mode inside the Willy’s next to the chicken cutlets.”
“Excuses.”
“Yes, but a great one.” He lets go of me to retrieve a cart before we enter through the automatic doors.
“We could have gone home first,” I say as I catch the first gawker, a woman in her fifties, eying Derek from head to toe. I suddenly wish I could fight.
“This was on the way. I didn’t want to bother you by asking you to take me out again. Besides, I know you love looking at me with my titties almost slipping out.” He grins and bumps his shoulder with mine.
I blush and slap his arm. “I do not.” He simultaneously annoys me and flutters my insides at the same time. A true talent.
We head toward the meat aisle and Derek hungrily looks at the selection. “Didn’t you eat enough at the stream?”
He whips his eyes to me, taking a long glance from the top of my head to my toes. “Oh, I could definitely eat more. Always.”
How can I be so hot in so little clothing? I shake away his heated words, remembering we’re in public and Deep Water is a small town, so I must contain myself. “Do you have to eat more than an average man?”
He eyes the cuts, stacking slabs of red meat into the cart. “Yes. A fuckton more.”
“How can you afford all that?”
“Why do you think I don’t have my own place?”
“You spend all your money on food?”
“Yep.”
“Did you have like…a job?” It’s the most preposterous question, surface-level. I didn’t keep in touch with my family while in New York, least of all Derek. I know shit about his life after graduating, and even before that, really.
He laughs, looking at me. Instead of annoyance in his eyes, there’s a special sparkle, as if he loves my questions. “Yes.”
“Doing what?”
“I worked in construction.”
“Did you get fired?”
He shakes his head as a way to point to his almost-healed shoulder. “I can’t work with the injury, so I’m using all my savings to survive and staying with our parents in the meantime.”
We walk on, the cart completely loaded with meat. “Can’t you stay with friends or something?”
“Can’t. Ripped a guy's arm off, they kicked me out of the pack, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
“I didn’t tell Darrell what happened. I’m pretending I’m at risk of getting in trouble, and I need to hide out.
He couldn’t give two shits about me, but he’ll let me stay if it means saving his reputation.
” He leans down, puncturing the thin plastic of a case of chicken breast tenderloins. He pulls a piece out and takes a bite.
“Derek!”
“What?” he questions between chews.
“You can’t eat uncooked meat in public!”
“I promise you, Isabella. No one is going to assume I’m eating it because I’m a bear. They’ll just stay far away from me, which is how I prefer it.”
I shake my head. There’s no point in arguing.
Derek turns the cart down the chip aisle, shoveling bags into the wagon. “What about you?” he asks.
“What do you mean?”
“Why didn’t you stay with friends when you got laid off from your job?”
I shrug. “Guess I never really had friends, because once Lewis broke up with me, they were nowhere to be found. They were his friends first, after all.”
“Figures.”
“What?”
“Figures, he’d have shit friends since he is the human embodiment of shit.”
“Derek, he’s not…”
“Isabella?”
I flip toward the source. “Chrishell?”
She eyes me up and down, clearly taking in my t-shirt dress, the wet outline of my bikini imprinted.
Her smile fades slightly. “So funny seeing you here.” She steps closer as if to hug me, but then decides against it at the last minute.
I don’t blame her. I look crazy, while she looks fantastic.
She wears a light pink dress, photoshoot-ready makeup, and her hair is wavy perfection—my mother’s dream daughter personified.
“Yeah, what a small world.”
“I was just thinking about texting you to see if you want to join us for…”
Derek steps out from behind me, waving at Chrishell with a grimace.
“Derek?” she yells.
“Hey, Chrishell,” he waves meekly.
She pops her hand on her cinched waist. “Well, I’ll be damned. I never thought I would see you two out and about in public.” She eyes him up and down, stopping at his semi-revealed pecs. “Nice shirt, Derek.” She winks.
He chuckles.
I see red.
I’ve never been a jealous type, but now I’m completely rabid. I can’t get the image of them hooking up out of my head. “Yeah, well, we just fucked, so we wanted to get some snacks to regain our energy.”
Her eyes widen. “Are you fucking with me?”
“Nope, you were right. I am fucking my stepbrother.” I cross my arms over my chest, trying to display a confident persona when in reality I’m shitting bricks.
Oh my God. Why did I say that?
Chrishell flicks her gaze between us until understanding wells in her eyes. Her face morphs into complete horror—rightfully so.
“I…”
I want to take it back. I keep blinking, hoping the words slipped out during a realistic dream, but the fluorescent lights, the pinging sound from the cash registers, and the smell of industrial-grade floor cleaner all make everything that much more real.
“Damn, Isabella.” Derek laughs and musses up my hair.
Chrishell is still frozen, fumbling for words. This moment can’t get any worse.
Except it does.
“Isabella?”
I spot him at the end of the aisle, arms full of chicken broth, carrots, and celery.
“Jesus Christ,” Derek mutters, running a hand down his face.
“Lewis?”
Goddammit, why is everyone at Willy’s today?