Toxic (Ruin, #2)(41)

Gabe was only as safe as he allowed himself to be.
And that was both alarming and enticing all at once.
Then again, scary things always were. Scary and beautiful were always interchangeable in my mind. Maybe it was because of the music.
“Whoa, lost ya there for a minute,” Lisa joked. “So, things at the Home? That boring? Or is it just my charming personality?”
“Sorry.” I felt my face heat, and I picked up a piece of pizza. It tasted like sand in my mouth, but whatever. “It’s been great. I mean, at first it was kind of uncomfortable, but now I love it.”
Lisa smiled happily. I’d always wondered why she didn’t have a boyfriend. She was one of those girls that, if you didn’t know them really well, you would assume was stuck up and rude. But she was the exact opposite.
“Good, I’m having fun too. Then again, I’m reading them stories, not teaching them how to play music, but we can’t all be that talented.”
I laughed and set my pizza down. “Well, we only have what? Six more weeks to go?”
She groaned. “Don’t remind me. Mr. Miller keeps hitting on me. I finally took away his walker and said I’d only kiss him if he could walk the two feet to meet me.”
“Oh no!” I started laughing hysterically. “Did he even try?”
“Yes,” she grumbled. “The dirty old bastard walked all the way up to me, then kissed me on the cheek and took his walker back.”
I laughed harder.
She threw a piece of pepperoni at my face.
“Anyway, the residents are pretty cool.” She shrugged.
This was my chance. To ask about Gabe or at least find out more details about Princess. I cleared my throat and began. “That girl, you know… the one in the wheelchair?”
“Which one?” She suddenly found great interest in picking the toppings off her piece.
“The one they call Princess.”
Her hand hovered over the pizza. “Yeah.”
“Her and Gabe… they seem really close.”
She sighed and gave me a helpless shrug. “Gabe’s like that with everyone.”
I felt my face fall. Was that what he was doing with me? Was I just like Princess? Was he just helping me because he wanted me to feel good about myself? About my music? Maybe that’s why he hadn’t called. I was… just like Princess… a charity case?
“No!” Lisa put down her pizza and held out her hands. “Not like that, I mean… No, no, no, you’re different.”
Yeah, the last thing I needed was to look desperate enough to try to pry details out of his cousin. “It’s fine. Let’s not talk about him.”
“Who?” The door opened and Wes’s head poked around. “Who are we not talking about?”
“Gabe,” Lisa answered honestly while I smacked her on the arm.
“He’s a crap cook. Don’t know what anyone would see in him anyway.” He winked at both of us and then stepped fully into the room. “Hey, Lisa, Kiersten needs help with… cooking.”
Lisa’s eyebrows knit together. “Cooking? What does she need help with?”
Wes looked between the two of us helplessly. “The pan?”
“Are you asking?”
“Can you just help?” He put his hands together in a begging motion. “Please?”
“Men.” Lisa shot up off the floor and left the room.
Wes sat down in her spot and took a piece of pizza.
“Yeah, you’re the worst liar I’ve ever seen.”
“Tell me about it.” He winked. “Anyway, we’re having a surprise birthday party for Lisa tomorrow night. I want you to come.” He held up his hand. “Correction. We want you to come. We all do.”
“But—”
“Nope, the only way you’re getting out of is if you have a high fever, get hit by a car, or you’re puking into a toilet. And even then I’ll need to see the thermometer, the doctor’s bill, and-or the puke.”
I hesitated a breath, taking in his piercing blue eyes and chiseled features. “You’re weird.”
He set the pizza down and leaned forward. Holy crap. How was Kiersten able to actually look at him in the face without falling over and swooning? It wasn’t that I was attracted to him or anything, but man, he was pretty.
“Yeah, well…” He shrugged. “Let’s just say I don’t want you to miss it, okay?”
“What time?”
“Five.”
“Do I need to dress up or anything? I’ll be volunteering tomorrow at the Pacific Northwest Group Home again.”
“Nah.” He waved me off. “Just wear clothes.”
“Good advice.”
He laughed. “I’m the king of advice, what can I say?”
“Aw, you two kids bonding?” Lisa said entering the room again. “Oh and Wes, Kiersten needed help with finding the cooking spray for the pan.”
He snapped his fingers. “That was it.”
Lisa’s eyes narrowed. “Sometimes I wonder about you.”
I took a sip of soda.
“It’s the drugs,” he said in a serious voice, causing me to choke on the leftover Diet Pepsi in my mouth.
“He means the good ones,” Lisa added.
I looked between them.
“Legal drugs,” Wes explained. “To keep me healthy. Just in case cancer tries to come back and make me its bitch.”
“R-right.” My voice was hoarse from choking.
Wes smiled that same blinding smile that belonged on every freaking billboard in America and pushed to his feet. “Alright ,ladies, have fun with your pizza party. I’m going to go help my fiancée in the kitchen.”