Love Thy Neighbor (Friend-Zoned)(35)

His eyes search me. We stare at each other for a long moment before I ask quietly, “What am I doing here, Ash?”

He rubs the back of his neck nervously and states, “This was gonna be hard, you know? Any way you did it would’ve been hard. We should just get it out of the way with everyone here, so you don’t have to explain it over and over. I was gonna wait til you were ready, but I can see you’re putting it off.”

I shrink into myself. I’ve been set up.

Avoiding his eyes, I focus at his shoulder. “That wasn’t your decision to make, *,” I say quietly.

Ghost reaches up, takes my chin in his hand and gently forces it up. I turn my pitiful gaze to his soft one. Anxiety settles in the pit of my stomach. I whisper, “I don’t want them all to know.”

His eyes flash in anger before immediately softening. Still holding my chin in his firm fingers, he says quietly, “You need to tell them, pretty girl. If you don’t tell anyone about it, it’ll eat away at you. You’ll stop seeing your friends and you’ll stop going out. You’ll be a fraction of the person you were without their support. You’ll lose that fierce about you and just become cold.” He exhales loudly and continues, “You’ll become me.”

He holds my questioning stare but doesn’t say a thing. I feel weak and exposed. I know I have to do this, but I was hoping to do it in a way that would tone down the situation. I tell him, “I can’t tell them.”

His face falls. He doesn’t mask the disappointment he wears. He drops his hand from my chin, nods once and replies on an exhale, “Okay. I’ll take you home.”

As he moves to step away from me, I take his hand and entwine my fingers with his. He looks up at me and I explain, “Shit, Ash. I meant I can’t tell them. I was kind of hoping that you…” I don’t finish the sentence. Realization dawns on his face. He knows what I want. My expression pleads with him to take on this responsibility.

With smiling eyes, he comes forward once again, grips the back of my neck in a firm hold and states, “All you had to do was ask, Hot Lips.”

With narrowed eyes, I ask, “Hot Lips?”

Ghost’s smiling eyes peer into mine, he nods his head and informs, “Hot Lips McGee, actually.”

I place my hand on my hip, my face set in disbelief. “You have got to be kidding me? That’s the best you could come up with?”

He lowers his head, his body shaking as he silently chuckles. “It’ll grow on ya.”

Leading us inside by our joined hands, I mutter under my breath, “Oh, sure. Like a freakin’ fungus.”

We walk down the hall together and just before we enter the main hall I pull him back by his hand. He stops and turns to me. I can’t help myself, I’m dying to know. “Why are you doing this for me, Ash?”

One side of his mouth quirks up, he lowers his forehead to mine and he quotes me, “You and me. We’re the same kind.”

And it melts my icy heart a little.

I grin and feel his smirk when he kisses my forehead. Before I can say a thing, he pulls away, winks at me and with joined hands leads me into the main hall.

The sounds of infectious laughter, teasing and conversation come to a halt when we enter. I lower my head, avoiding the questioning stares of my friends. Before anyone has a chance to say a thing, Ghost starts, “Okay. I called everyone here tonight because there’s something we need to discuss with everyone.” I know it sounds like Ghost is implying we’re here as a couple, but I don’t even feel the need to correct it. It actually feels good to have him speak about the two of us as an us. He goes on, “So let’s get straight to it. Two nights ago, Nat had a date with Cole. There was a disagreement and Cole felt the need to put hands on Nat.”

My throat clogs with emotion as I hear Tina, Mimi and Lola gasp in shock. I can’t stand feeling their stares on me. I inch behind Ghost, hold his tank at his hips and push my head into his back like an ostrich trying to stick its head into the ground. I’m immediately calmed by his hand rubbing mine.

Ghost waits a moment before he informs, “We’re getting this out in the open tonight. Whatever you want to ask is going to be asked tonight. As soon as we leave the club, no one brings it up again. Nat’s asked me to explain what happened that night so here it is…” He spends a good five minutes explaining what happened. With his gruffness and clinical explanation, my heart stops squeezing and the anxiety fades. He’s good at this. Feeling brave, I step back at his side, entwine our fingers and, finally, look up at my friends.

Tina stands in front of a clearly upset Nik, silently weeping, and immediately I feel the need to comfort her. I walk over to her with open arms, she sinks into me and I hug her while she cries. She whispers, “I’m sorry, honey. So sorry.” I hush her and feel arms come around my waist and neck. I look up to see Mimi and Lola have joined our group hug. Lola doesn’t say a thing. She doesn’t have to. Immense sadness is written across her face. Mimi says quietly, “If I ever see that son of a bitch, I’ll kick his sorry ass back to the hell he came from.”

Chuckling at her threat, I tell them “It’s okay, guys. I’m okay. Ghost helped me. He handled it. Both times.” I speak to the girls but look up and into his eyes, “He’s a good neighbor to have.”

The next few minutes are spent with me in the arms of each of the guys.