His smile was soft, not like the blinding one he graced her with earlier. “No, it doesn’t freak me out, but you’d have to be blind not to see the attraction Abe has for you.” His words stopped her heart.
“What are you talking about?” Her voice was unsteady, and she wondered if Hunter heard it.
The way he watched her was a little unnerving. It was like he could see everything about her. “When you’re not looking, he stares at you, Sophia. It’s the look a man has for a woman he longs for.”
She was shaking her head before he even finished. “No, you have it wrong.”
“Do I?” There was a challenge in his voice.
Her spine straightened. “Does a man sleep around when he longs for another woman?”
Hunter’s whole posture was relaxed, like their conversation wasn’t affecting him the way it affected her. She supposed it didn’t, though.
“Sometimes, a man doesn’t know the prize he has, even when it is right in front of him.”
Sophia didn’t respond to that, didn’t know how to. “It doesn’t matter in the end, Hunter. I need to start my life. I can’t wait for something that may or may not happen. Abe has a lot of problems he needs to work out, and all I’ve been doing is going through the motions and essentially being his enabler.”
Hunter cocked his eyebrow at that, but she chose to ignore it and continued.
“I sit back and watch him drink himself into a stupor. I carry him home and have to put him to bed. I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked into his house and seen naked women strewn all over the damn place. I’ve never said anything, never told him how much he’s hurting himself. Maybe if I did, things would be different, but I think it might be too late for that now.”
Why she even told him any of this was beyond her, but it felt good to finally tell someone. She took a deep breath.
“Look at me, Sophia.” She lifted her head. Hunter was leaning forward, his hands outstretched and reaching for hers. She placed her hands in his and waited for him to speak. “I think you’ve been a really good friend to him. I have no doubt that he’s noticed that as well, but he is too blinded by his own grief and selfishness to see it. You’re beautiful and smart, funny and caring. You’ve looked out for him for years. I’ve seen it. Hell, everyone has seen it. I care about you, Soph, a lot, but I don’t want to start something if you aren’t sure about how you feel regarding Abe.” He gave her hands a gentle squeeze.
The dark depths of his eyes pierced the shell she erected around herself, and she felt a little bit of herself slip away. She wanted to try this with Hunter, wanted to see where it led. Too many of her years had been wasted on longing for something that might never happen.
She would still be there for Abe, still help him out, and hoped he did the same for her. Sophia just wouldn’t let her life be consumed by Abe Rochester any longer.
Returning the pressure on his hands, she said, “I’d like to move forward. I’d like to give us a try, Hunter.” He graced her with one of his blinding smiles, and she felt her heart melt just a little bit.
“That’s good, Soph. That is so good.”14“Motherfucker.” Abe threw the wrench he had been using across the garage and rubbed his bruised thumb.
“Hey, man, you know there is a law against abusing tools, don’t ya?” Red’s laughter was evident in his voice, but Abe wasn’t in the mood for this shit. He scowled at the older man and picked up the screwdriver. He had been working on the engine for the last four fucking hours, and he hadn’t gotten anything accomplished.
He came straight to the shop to work through what he was feeling after Kid’s call. All he could think about was where she was right now and who the fuck she was with on her date. He checked his phone about fifty fucking times, hoping that maybe she called or texted, but all he saw was a blank screen.
There had been plenty of times he thought of calling her, ruining her fucking date so all she could think about was him, but he wasn’t that big of a bastard. When he really reflected back on his time with her, really thought about all the fucked-up things he’d done, he knew he was the biggest bastard of all.
“You wanna talk, man?” Red got down on his haunches beside Abe, but his focus was on the motor Abe was working on. Abe was no one’s fool. He knew Red was trying to help him out, trying to be the person he was able to unload his shit on, all the while looking unconcerned. He was a good man, a really good friend, but Abe just didn’t think he could handle dishing out all his feelings.