Bang, bang, bang.
“Open up, Jem!”
I dumped my book on the coffee table, slowly unfolding my crossed legs to stand. I’d been home for all of an hour, so the timing of Miles’s visit had my head spinning.
Thomas had walked me home, but he didn’t kiss me, didn’t so much as touch me, and left with a stilted, “Until next time, Little Dove,” hanging in the humid air between us.
I’d watched him walk down the street and stood there as people bustled by long after he’d vanished around the corner.
“Hi.” My greeting was cautious when I opened the door to find a strung-out looking Miles.
His hair was messier than usual as though he couldn’t keep his hands out of it, and his eyes were rimmed in red as though he hadn’t slept in days. His shirt was wrinkled, and it was one he often only wore around the house. Never in public.
“Babe,” he rasped, collecting me to his chest in two quick strides.
Lost in the smell of him, the sunshine and sweat that lingered on his skin, it took me too long to step out of his embrace. When I did, he scowled and reached for me again.
“What do you want?”
“That’s obvious, isn’t it?” he snapped, then shook his head. “Sorry. You, I need you. This is driving me crazy.”
“Miles—” I started, but he cut in.
“No, don’t say it. Don’t say any of whatever it is you’re thinking. Just …” He drew in a loud breath, his huge body shaking as he set it free. “Come home. I’ve given you space, and you’re on summer break now. You can come home. We don’t need to talk, touch, or any of that shit. I just want you near me.”
The sound of footsteps in the stairwell had him spinning around and bracing.
My peripheral snagged on Thomas, who’d paused at the top of the stairs, assessing Miles as if he’d arrived at the zoo and had never seen such a creature up close before.
Oxygen vanished. My throat constricted. And still, the two males stared.
“Hey,” I called to Thomas.
Finally, he removed his gaze from Miles and skirted around him as though the predatory menace radiating off Miles was of little concern.
I forgot Miles. His anger. His betrayal. His eyes on us. Thomas swallowed up the space without even trying, and all I saw was the blue of his eyes as he stopped right in front of me, the tips of his black boots kissing my bare toes.
“You forgot this.” He handed me my phone, then bowed his head. Heat escaped his mouth and met the skin of my collarbone as he exhaled out, “Don’t let him touch it again.”
The words were whispered so low, it took me a few seconds to make out what he’d said, and then he was gone. His footsteps echoed up the stairwell, followed by the sound of the door below booming closed.
Staring at the empty stairs, I wondered if he was talking about my phone or me.
Then I remembered Miles, who seemed ready to chase and kill. But when he looked at me, it disappeared, and he looked like he wanted to puke as fear rounded his eyes, and they fell on my phone.
After a beat, he cleared his throat. “The guy from your school? The, uh, that dad?”
My head moved, nodding once.
He nodded too, eyes still on my phone. “I’ve gotta go, but I’ll be back.”
He raced down the stairs, taking them two at a time by the sound of the thudding.
Then I was left on my own, reeling, barefoot, and more confused than I’d ever been in my life.
The next day, I left the bakery to the feeling of eyes on me, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I swore I saw a flash of Miles’s red gym shirt and his unruly hair.
I’d planned to go home for the summer, but something kept me here, so I stayed.
But as the first week of break rolled into the second, the second about to meet the third, I gave up hope I’d hear from Thomas, and Miles’s behavior was starting to rattle me. He never came back to my apartment, but he’d decided it was okay to follow me?
In the drugstore with a box of tampons in hand, it might’ve been my hormones, but I’d decided I’d had enough. The box slipped from my fingers as I ran outside and went back the way I saw him. Some minutes later, I found him half standing in an alleyway.
“You’re following me, aren’t you?”
He tried to look like he was relaxing against the wall, typing on his phone as though he usually hung out in alleys. “Hmmm?”
“Cut the shit, Miles.”
“Okay, maybe I am.” He straightened.
I nearly growled. “Why?”
“Because … shit, Jem.” He groaned. “I can’t explain it all right now, but you need to come home.”
I rolled my eyes, about to storm back to the drugstore. I needed the freaking tampons, dammit. And a butt load of chocolate.
“Jem-Jem,” he said, his hand grabbing mine before I could storm off. “Have you seen that guy again?”
“His name is Thomas, and no.” I sighed, my blistering frustration falling away at his soft touch. “I haven’t.” Which bugged me more than I’d like to admit. Especially to my ex-fiancé.
“You can’t trust him.”
“Oh, like I can trust you?”
His eyes flashed with warning. “I’m serious. You need to stay away from him. I’ll explain why when I can.”
“This is getting ridiculous, Miles.” The heated wind knocked hair into my face as I turned to go.
“Yeah? Then why are you still here in the city and not at home with your dad? Huh?”
A hollow sounding laugh left me, and I shoved my hair out of my face. “What? Did you think I’ve been hanging around, waiting on you to grovel harder?”
“Fuck, your smart mouth makes me want to bend you over and fuck you senseless.”
“Well, you’ve blown any chance of that happening again, haven’t you?” Tears gathered, and I exhaled, trying to gain control of my whacked-out heart.
He saw them. “Hey, hey. I’m sorry. Are you okay?” Miles asked, crowding me against the brick wall.
“Just fine.”
He smirked, and I wanted to punch him. “You know I love it when you lie to me.” The humor dropped. “Really, though. Talk to me.”
I wouldn’t and couldn’t do that. “I’ve got my period. I’m tired and grumpy.”
His nose crinkled, but to his credit, he didn’t shy away. He leaned in, arms caging and lips brushing dangerously close to mine. The scent of cherry gum smacked into all my senses, and my stomach roiled.
Did he chew that same gum before he’d slept with that other woman?
The smoothness of his bottom lip hit mine, and my eyes squeezed shut, my body dissolving into the hard bricks behind me as I let him pry my mouth open.
Stubborn claws tore at my psyche. The need for a different flavor took hold and made my hands push at his chest before I kissed him back. “Enough. I’ll drop the ring off before I head home.”
While he stood there stunned, I ducked out of his hold and stormed back down the street.
It was time to go home.