Chapter 5 #2
My heart skipped a beat. Trooper had crashed at my place on more than one occasion as a friend. That was nothing new. But that damn kiss was still on my mind. Was I ready to sleep under the same roof with him after that?
I gestured behind me at the rumble of Pretty Boy’s approaching motorcycle.
“You know, I have protection already.”
“Yep,” Trooper said in a flat voice.
I frowned. There was something…off about him.
“Why are you acting weird?” I demanded.
He shook his head and sighed.
“It’s quiet.”
Now I was just confused.
“What?”
Trooper made a vague gesture as he rose to his feet, cupping my elbow and pulling me closer.
“This guy—Ritter. He’s subtle, like a shark moving under the waves. And I don’t like it. If he would just come out, guns blazing or throwing punches or swinging a knife around, I would know how to handle it. But this—”
“This is freaking you out,” I said as understanding dawned on me.
Trooper was scared.
That made my breath catch in my throat. I’d never seen him scared before. A muscle flexed in his jaw. My fingers itched to reach up and take his sunglasses off, to look him in the eyes.
“Let’s just lay low for a few days,” Trooper said. “Hotline can survive without you for that long, right?”
My knee-jerk instinct was to fight it. I couldn’t put my life on hold every time someone made me uneasy. The whole point of moving out of Lila’s apartment was to get back to my normal routine.
“I’ll call my staff and let them know they need to hold down the fort,” I replied. “But I bet you’re going to be bouncing off the walls before twenty-four hours is up.”
Trooper scoffed, guiding me to the front door. My stomach somersaulted as he rested the warm weight of his palm on my lower back.
“Me? You’re the workaholic. I can kick back with a pack of beer, a few pizzas, and binge watch sports all weekend.”
I made a noise of disgust.
“Not on my television. That’s reserved strictly for my extensive cheesy monster movie collection.”
He laughed.
“Fine. No sports. Can we still get pizza?”
“With black olives? Sure. I know you hate them.”
“They’re disgusting,” he said.
“You mean delicious.”
He huffed and shook his head, giving me a playful shove inside.
This was a hint of the normalcy I craved—our usual banter and teasing, volleyed back and forth.
I wasn’t thrilled about being cooped up indoors, and I imagined we would both go stir crazy before long.
But secretly, I was grateful that Trooper was here to put a smile on my face when I needed it the most.
Hours later, Trooper and I were yawning and struggling to stay awake for our fourth monster flick in a row. The coffee table was littered with food—popcorn and jelly beans, carrot sticks and partially eaten pizza crusts.
“I can’t keep my eyes open,” I mumbled, dragging myself off the couch.
“Hey,” Trooper protested, groggy. “You can’t leave. The credits haven’t rolled yet.”
“I’ve seen it six times already. I know how it ends.”
“Do you need me to check under your bed for monsters?” Trooper called after me.
I shot him a disapproving look over my shoulder.
“Do you really think I’m not tough enough to handle a monster on my own?”
Trooper’s expression softened. His gaze slowly drifted over me, before he shook his head.
“That’s not the point.”
I lingered there on the threshold of the living room, feeling something heavy sitting between us.
“Trooper,” I said. “I’ll be okay. You’re here, remember?”
He didn’t respond right away, almost as if he wanted to say something else. Then he nodded and gave me a salute.
“Call me if there’s any trouble, yeah?”
“Always,” I said with a smile.
Practically falling asleep on my feet, I brushed my teeth and changed into a tank top and shorts for bed. Crawling under the covers, I sank into my mattress, expecting to doze off within seconds.
Instead, I drifted in and out of consciousness. When I closed my eyes, I saw that butterfly. Tattered wings. Tucked under my windshield wiper. Blue and black like my hair. Blue and black like the dragonfly tattoos down my spine.
My breathing began to grow faster and faster, matching the increasingly frantic pace of my heartbeat.
Before I realized what I was doing, I gathered my duvet around me and drifted like a ghost through the house, into the living room illuminated by the half-moon at the window.
Trooper was sprawled on the couch, one arm tucked behind his head. He’d kicked off his boots during the first movie, and his cut was hanging on a hook by the door.
Seeing him sleeping so peacefully sent a wave of calm washing over me. I placed a hand on his chest, squeezing onto the couch next to him.
“Theo,” I whispered.
Not Trooper, his road name.
Not Theodore, the name his parents gave him. The name that never really seemed to suit him.
Not Teddy, the name only his big brother pestered him with.
Just Theo. My Theo.
His eyes flew open and his hand settled over mine.
“What is it?” he said, his voice edged with concern. “What’s wrong?”
For so long, I had prided myself on the fact that I didn’t need anyone. But deep down, I was tired of being lonely. My father walked away. My mother jumped from one boyfriend to the next. Even my best friend was busy with her family.
Everyone always had someone else.
And then there was just me. Alone.
“I want to stay with you,” I whispered.
A heartbeat of stillness filled the air. I didn’t dare breathe, waiting for his response. If he cracked a joke, if he laughed in my face or teased me—
Trooper didn’t do any of that.
Without a word, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, molding our bodies together. He rearranged the duvet around us like a warm, puffy cloud and cupped his palm to the back of my head.
Draped over him like this, I could feel every shift of his muscled body beneath me through our thin layers of clothing.
“Better?” he asked, his breath grazing my temple.
I nodded and lifted my head to look at him. Then I realized just how close we were, how intimate this was, entangled and entwined and twisted together like…
Like lovers.
Trooper cupped his palm to my cheek, brushing his thumb along the line of my lower lip.
“Would you kill me if I kissed you?”
A thrill jolted up my spine and heat flooded my body.
“I don’t know. Are you brave enough to find out?”
The words were barely out of my mouth before Trooper’s lips were on mine—just as hungry as I remembered.