“Dessert time!” Wendy announced as she entered the dining room holding a white cake decorated with berries and three small plates. She set the cake in the center of the table and then looked between us. “Who wants the first piece?”
Suddenly, the thought of having to sit here and small-talk over dessert with the tension radiating off Viper was too much to take. I wiped my mouth with my napkin and set it beside my empty plate before getting to my feet.
“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I need to get going,” I said to Wendy, ignoring the way Viper’s eyes bored into the side of my head.
“Already? But—”
“Thank you so much for dinner, and I’m sure the dessert is wonderful as well. More for Viper…David.”
I didn’t even wait around for Viper’s reaction, and it didn’t escape my notice that he hadn’t exactly jumped up and asked me to stay. As I grabbed my jacket and shrugged into it, part of me waited for him to follow me out, to tell me he was sorry for being a jerk and that we needed to at least try his mom’s cake or she’d be disappointed.
But when only the sound of Wendy’s voice, still in the dining room met my ears, the only one disappointed tonight was me.
I reached for the doorknob and looked over my shoulder to confirm what I already knew—that no one was following me—and then I stepped out into the night, shutting the door quietly behind me.
My cheeks burned even as a cool breeze greeted me, my hurt at Viper’s obvious dismissal mixing with the anger that had decided to rear its ugly head.
What the hell was his problem tonight? Everything had been fine on the way over here. We’d been joking and laughing, and it’d been all we could do to keep our hands off each other. Hell, I’d even told him he was extraordinary, and—
My feet stopped moving. That. That had been the moment when I sensed a change. When something had passed over Viper’s eyes, something I couldn’t read, and I hadn’t even gotten a chance to think on it, because Wendy had ushered me through the house to give me the full tour. But that was it. I’d bared the slightest bit of feeling, and Viper had freaked. He hadn’t bothered to talk to me about it, just boarded up the windows and put a “closed” sign on the goddamn door.
Jesus, why was he so scared to admit I was any more to him than some casual fuck? He had to know that wasn’t true, not anymore.
Cursing, I shoved my hands in my pockets and began to walk toward the subway, but halfway there I changed my mind and turned back. We needed to talk, and since he wasn’t following me and I wasn’t about to cause a scene in front of his mother, I’d wait.
I’d thought Viper was a lot of things over the time I’d known him: an intimidating rock god, a playboy with a sharp tongue, and an intensely passionate lover.
But I’d never, ever thought of him the way I did now.
As a coward.
Thirty-Seven
Viper
FUCK.
FUCK. FUCK. Fuck. The soft click of the front door shutting might as well have been a slam, as Halo exited my mom’s house and left without trying some of her famous tres leches cake.
I was such a fucking idiot. Wasn’t that what Killian had been telling me? Yeah, well, tonight I had to agree with him, and not only that, I was a giant asshole to boot. As I sat there silently admonishing my shitty attitude, my mom’s voice cut through.
“David?” When I didn’t answer, or look at her, she put a hand on my shoulder and shook me. “David? What’s going on? Why did Angel leave?”
“Halo, Mom,” I said, and shoved my chair back from the table. “His name is Halo.”
But even as I said it, the name got stuck on my tongue. It was so strange how a name made such a difference in how you viewed someone. Ever since I’d met Halo, I’d thought of him as Angel, and the only time that had changed was when I’d forced it. When I’d desperately been trying to create some distance, like now.
I think you’re extraordinary…
I got to my feet and threw the napkin on the table, and my mom grabbed my arm and dug her fingers in, halting me.
“Don’t you take that tone with me, young man. What’s going on with you two? One minute you were laughing, joking around, and the next you’re acting like a grizzly bear.”
“Nothing’s going on with us, and nothing can. Okay?” I pulled my arm free, and shoved a hand through my hair, frustrated. “Just leave it,” I said as I brushed by her heading for my jacket and the pack of cigarettes that were in the pocket.