Come to Me Quietly(28)

“You could get a job or something.” I raised a sarcastic eyebrow, figured I’d mess with him a little since he’d been giving me shit for all my losing hands for the last hour.

“Now, why would I go and do something like that? You know I don’t get out of bed before noon.”



I shook my head. “Dude, you’re so lazy.”



He laughed it off. “No, I did have a job lined up at the beginning of the summer, but it fell through. After that, I figured with all the classes I have to finish up next year to graduate, I might as well go ahead and take a couple of months off for myself.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I had a little extra money saved up, so it wasn’t that big a deal.”



“Like I said… lazy.”



“You’re such a dick,” he said through his laughter while he picked up his hand and organized his cards. “Seriously, though, like I told you last week, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you want.”



I took a swig of my beer, studied my cards. “What about Aly? You don’t think it bothers her that I’m staying here?”



Maybe I was digging, looking for some clues into this girl I couldn’t get off my mind.

An uncertain sigh pushed out of Christopher’s lungs. “Aly’s… ” He hesitated as he seemed to struggle to find the words. “… cool. And I think she’s fine with you being here. But she’s different. You get that, right? I trust you that you won’t mess with her, but you should know she’s not like the girls you and I go looking for. Just be careful around her, okay?” he added. “She’s a good girl.” His voice took on a tone of deep respect.

And I got what he was saying, the warning to stay away from his sister, that I wasn’t good enough for her. I mean, f*ck, I already knew that. He didn’t need to tell me twice.

The lock on the front door rattled, and Christopher and I looked up at the same time as the door swung open, our conversation coming to an abrupt halt when Aly fumbled her way in. She smiled. “Hey, guys.” She kicked the door shut behind her as she balanced a stack of take-out boxes in her hands. “Brought you some dinner.”



“Oh, nice,” Christopher said.

She was always so cute when she got off work, all disheveled and exhausted and a little red-cheeked from the exertion of being on her feet running around a hot kitchen all day.

It’d been a week since the night she took care of me. In that time, a sort of understanding had arisen between us. We’d settled into the feigned comfort of casual smiles and pleasantries. She’d ask me how my day was and I’d ask her about hers, but we’d keep it light. But under the surface remained a tension that stretched us tight, pushed us apart at the same time as it worked to suck us together. I knew it. I saw it in her eyes and felt it in my bones. I knew how easy it’d be to sink my fingers into her skin and into her mind. I knew how willingly she’d let me take.

And God, I wanted to.

I kept thinking it’d pass, that the newness would wear off, and I’d just see Aly. After work a couple of nights ago, I’d gone back to the little bar where I’d met Christopher. Only this time I stayed, went home with Lily, thought maybe I’d be able to erase a little of what I was feeling.

When I saw Aly the next morning, I felt guilty or some shit, an emotion I was all too familiar with, but this… this was different. It was f*cked up and wrong and misplaced, and I wanted to rip it from my consciousness. I owed Aly nothing, and she sure as hell didn’t owe me anything. But no matter how hard I tried to convince myself of that fact, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d done something wrong.