Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(47)

We both heard when the bathroom door opened, and Jonah walked out with nothing but a white bath towel wrapped low around his hips. Heather and I both stared, transfixed. Jonah looked like he was sculpted from stone with every muscle visible and defined. His skin was tanned and smooth, and my fingers twitched by my side with the sudden urge to touch him.

“This is low, even for you,” Heather said.

I looked up from Jonah’s chest to find him grinning from ear to ear, causing my face to flood with heat.

“Explaining things to Candy didn’t work for you, so now you’re flaunting your body instead?” Heather shook her head and looked at me, noticing my reaction. “Effective,” she added.

Embarrassed, I rolled my eyes.

Jonah put his hands on his hips, causing his biceps to bulge. “My bag is out here. I forgot to bring it in with me.”

“Right,” Heather said sarcastically as she grabbed the duffel bag and handed it to him.

With a smirk, he took it.

“Why do you need such a big bag?” I asked. “You were only going to stay one night, just until you talked to your father.”

“I haven’t been able to get in touch with him. Thought I’d get some stuff just in case this stretched into another night.” With that, he disappeared into the bathroom again.

“He’s too perfect for his own good,” Heather mused. “It’s a wonder his ego isn’t as big as the iceberg that took out the Titanic.”

I cleared my throat. “It’s big enough.”

“True that.” Heather chuckled and plopped back down on the couch to watch her television show.

“Why can’t he get in touch with his father? Doesn’t the guy carry a phone?”

She shrugged, looking more interested in her cartoon. “By the way, I meant that perfect comment in the most the platonic way possible.”

I came around and sat next to her on the couch. “Right. You couldn’t look away from him either.”

“It’s like staring at a work of art. That doesn’t mean I want to have sex with a painting. Anyway, being his girlfriend would be too frustrating. He never really lets anyone in. I didn’t even know what it looked like when Jonah was into a girl until I saw him with you. I didn’t think he had it in him.”

I turned to look at her. Nothing she’d said so far surprised me, except the last part.

“You want to know what I mean, don’t you?” Her smile turned sly.

I shrugged, feigning disinterest. “I guess, if you want to tell me.”

She laughed. “He pays attention to you is all I mean. He’s tuned in, anticipates when you need something, watches you when you’re not looking, glares at other guys when they look at you too long. I’ve never seen him do that with another girl. Like the time he followed you to the bathroom at the diner when your friend Theo got sick. He tried to stay in his seat, but he got all restless and kept worrying if you were okay. That’s when I knew someone had finally gotten to him.”

She thought she was making me feel good, telling me those things, and she was. But she was also poking at my regrets, making them fester.

“It’s not like that anymore,” I said quietly.

Her lips pressed together. “It could be. If he had his way.”

“Did he tell you that?”

“No, but I can see it.”

I made a noise of disbelief and turned to see what she was watching. After we’d both silently stared at Futurama for a while, Heather used the remote to turn down the volume.

“Jonah told me about Theo.” She glanced at me from the corner of her eye. “I was really sorry to hear that about him.”

My throat automatically tightened when I thought of Theo. All I could do was nod.

“I liked meeting him. He was funny, and kind of cute too.”

I smiled to myself, knowing he’d have loved to hear that.

“Does he have a girlfriend?”

My head slowly turned in her direction. “No. Why?”

“Just curious.” She shrugged.

When she looked back at the television, I decided I preferred coffee to Futurama and got up to make myself some.

“You could give him my number,” Heather blurted. “He could text me or something if he wanted to.”

I turned back to look at her, and she was picking at the chipped polish on her fingernails. “You want me to give him your number?” She’d thrown me, and I was hesitant to do it.

When she nodded, I cleared my throat and glanced toward the bathroom, wondering if Jonah was going to be back soon, hoping for an interruption.

“Is there a problem?” she asked.

“No,” I replied carefully. “You do know what he’s going through, right?”

“Yeah. I thought maybe he could use another friend.”

“A good friend? Yes. One who will bail when things get rough? And they will get rough. Not really, no.”

She scowled, offended. “Do I look like the bailing type?”

“No one looks like the bailing type until they’re actually bailing.”

Heather gave me a hard look, but it didn’t last long. “Look, I don’t think I’m going to bail. All I know is ever since that night at the diner, I’ve been thinking about Theo. And not because he’s sick, but because he’s him.”