“Sorry. I got home and went to sleep.” She held out his hoodie towards him.
“You went to sleep?” His voice was sarcastic as he looked at her, then at me. “So you’re telling me that Trevor Mayson drove you home and you went to sleep?”
“That’s what I said, Bill.” With her hands on her hips, she looked at me when I took a step forward. “I just want to know what you found out about my brother,” she sighed in frustration. I knew she was upset, so I stepped towards her, pulling her into my side. Her body stiffened until I rubbed the smooth skin of her arm, listened as she let out a deep breath, and her body melted into mine. I couldn’t help but to kiss the top of her head in approval.
“So you’re with him now?” Douche asked, and I give him a smug look; my way of telling him to “suck it, she’s mine”.
“Yes!” I growled, at the same time she answered, “We’re friends, Bill.”
“Best friends,” I said. She glared at me and I shrugged.
“Is this a f**king joke? I don’t even live in your town and I know about the Mayson brothers.”
“If you think he’s going to be faithful, y—” He didn’t get a chance to finish because I took a step towards him. He was starting to piss me the f**k off, and it was taking everything in me not to lay him out on his own driveway.
“I came here to bring you this.” She shoved his hoodie at him while coming to stand in front of me. “I just want to know what you found out about Tim.” I could hear the shakiness in her voice and knew she was on the edge. This shit with her brother was completely f**ked up.
“I don’t have any new information,” Bill said.
“You told me last night that you had a new lead.”
“I don’t.”
“If this is about Trevor—” she started, but he interrupted her.
“It’s not about him; it’s about you being a tease.”
“I'm not a tease,” she hissed, taking a step towards him. I pulled her back by her sweats before she could get too far. She looked up at me with murder in her eyes. I had the urge to kiss the f**k out of her, but I didn’t think she would appreciate it very much at that moment.
“I told you he was a douche,” I said on a shrug.
“Fuck you!” Bill said to me, and I laughed; this guy was a joke.
“Let’s go, baby,” I pulled on Liz’s sweats, causing her to step back.
“Pussy,” Bill said low. I pulled Liz behind me; I was about five inches taller than him; I bent down so my face was in his.
“Listen here, you little bitch! I'm being nice, but you keep pushing me and I will be forced to teach you some f**king manners. Don’t play with me; I guarantee that you will lose.” I bent deeper so only he could hear me, “Stay the f**k away from Liz; no phone calls, no texts, no visits. I hear you’ve made contact, you won’t like what happens.” I stood and patted Bill’s chest. “Good talk,” I said. Turning around, I pulled Liz with me and opened the door to my truck, lifted her, and sat her inside. I gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. Walking around to the driver’s side, I slid behind the wheel, leaving douchebag Bill stunned and standing in his driveway, clutching his hoodie to his chest.
“Sorry,” Liz whispered. I looked over to her; her forehead was resting against the window. I reached up, running my fingers down her arm. She had no idea how sweet she was; it made me want to lock her away so the f**ked-up world didn’t have a chance to contaminate her. It was hard to believe that she hadn’t become jaded by the way people treated her when she was younger, or the way some still treated her. She’s honestly one of the strongest people I know. Nico showed me a yearbook picture of her in high school; even with short hair and bad clothes, she was still pretty. She just looked run down, like she was fighting against the world. But looking at her in the truck, I couldn’t help but appreciate her beauty, not only on the outside, but inside too.
“How ‘bout we stop for coffee before we head out to see July?”
“Sure,” she shrugged, keeping her head to the glass.
“How ‘bout a cinnamon roll with that coffee?”
“Sure.” She still didn’t make a move to lift her head.
“How ‘bout a quickie in the bathroom while we wait for our coffee and cinnamon roll?” Her head finally turned and she glared at me.
“I'm not sleeping with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a pout, but not before I saw a small smile.
“Yet,” I said, and she giggled. I don’t think I had ever heard her giggle before; my stomach muscles tightened at the sound. Being around her, I had a permanent semi, but her giggle, and knowing that she wore my hoodie to bed, then seeing her in nothing but a towel with water still beaded on her skin, made me want to lick every inch of her. She had me with the worst case of blue balls ever; even when I was younger, it wasn’t this bad.
“You’re relentless,” she said quietly, but she didn’t make it sound like a bad thing.
“Hey,” Asher said, answering the door. He didn’t have a shirt on and I looked over at Liz to see if she was checking him out, but she only had eyes for July, who was also shirtless against his chest.
"Can I?" she asked, finally looking at my brother. I could tell that he didn’t want to hand her over, but relented. I'm sure November told him that she would kick his ass if he didn’t share.