He watches my mouth as I talk, but it seems to just get him more excited.
“I want to continue our arrangement from before.”
“For how long?” I ask before I realize what I’m doing.
He grins and cocks his head from side to side, like this is way easier than he thought it was going to be.
I shouldn’t have given him any indication that I was interested in continuing our arrangement. I should have just said no right away. But my big mouth always seems to get me into trouble.
“You tell me. You owe me at least one more day, but I don’t think you want to stop at just one more day. I’m good with another day, a week, a year. What do you want, baby?”
I hate how he speaks like he already knows the answer to the question that he is asking. He thinks I’m going to say I want a year. But I won’t give him the satisfaction of being right.
“You think you can come here, clean up my house a bit, and make me breakfast, and then all is forgiven, huh?” I grin, taking another bite of my pancake.
“I didn’t think I needed forgiveness because you don’t give a shit about me.”
I narrow my eyes, glaring at him. “You’re right. I don’t. But I’ve had enough pricks in my life to know that the only thing to do with them is throw them out with the trash, not make arrangements that only benefit one side.”
I get up from the table and walk to my bedroom. I pull out a suitcase and start throwing clothes into it.
I continue to throw clothes into my suitcase, not bothering to look at what I’m throwing in until the suitcase is filled with clothes. I can’t think straight. All I can think about is that Brody wants to have sex with me again. And, despite the pain that it will likely cause me, I want to fuck him again, too. But I can’t. I walk a few feet to my small bathroom and grab my already-packed toiletry bag from my last trip to LA. I toss it into my suitcase. I have to sit on the suitcase to get it to close.
Then, I look into my closet and find a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. I put them on and pull my hair up into a ponytail. I give myself a quick glance in the mirror and then grab my suitcase. I walk out of the bedroom, carrying my suitcase, hoping that Brody will get the hint and just leave me alone.
“What are you doing?”
I don’t look at him. If I look at him again, I’ll just start drooling over his shirtless, hard body. I’ll start remembering how good it felt to have his strong arms wrapped around
me and how good it felt to lick every inch of his chest. I’ll start caving, and I can’t afford to cave.
“I have a flight to catch. Don’t worry about the animals. I have a babysitter coming in a few hours to watch them. But make sure you take the snake back to the clinic.”
I walk to the door and throw it open, pulling my suitcase out behind me. The door slams shut behind me. I don’t say good-bye to my animals, and I definitely don’t say good-bye to Brody. If I spend one more second in the house, I might stay instead of leaving.
I walk to my truck and throw the suitcase in the back. I start it up and drive off. Only when I’ve driven a few miles away do I allow myself to look into the rearview mirror. He’s not behind me as much as I wish on some level that he were. I could really use some distraction even if I can’t do his arrangement. It’s wrong in more ways than one.
12
Brody
I don’t know if she really has a flight to catch or if she just packed and left in an attempt to get rid of me. But it won’t work.
I look at the box that hopefully still contains the snake as I grab my shirt and push it back on before I pick up the box and dart out the door behind Skye. I get a glimpse of Skye’s pickup truck driving off down the road in the general direction of the airport. I want to jump in my rental and chase after her, ensuring that she’s going to the airport. I would if it wasn’t for this damn snake.
I throw open the trunk of my car and place the box with the snake in it, keeping it as far away from me as possible. I slam the trunk and hop in the driver’s seat. I speed off down the road as fast as I possibly can. When I get there, I carry the box inside and hand it off to the receptionist, not bothering to wait for Alicia to come get it. I make the receptionist verify that the snake is still in the box and not in my car before I leave, but that’s all I wait for.
And then I’m back in my car, racing toward the airport, hoping that she didn’t lie to me and that I manage to stop her or at least get on the same flight with her.
Thank God for checked bags because that’s where I find her waiting in line—to check her bag. I watch her from a distance so that she won’t know I’m here. She’s oblivious to me as she stands in the line. And it gives me another opportunity to really just watch her. She looks so different from the last time I saw her in the Bahamas. She looked so normal compared to now. Now, she’s trying to blend in instead of stand out.
She finishes at the counter, and I immediately go up after her. Luckily, there is a young woman working there. With a little flirting, I get her to tell me exactly where Skye is headed—LA. And there just so happens to be several seats left on the same flight as her, so I buy a ticket. I could try to convince her to stay here and think more about my offer. But I doubt she would consider staying. This way, I get to find out more about her life and what she’ll be doing in LA.
The flight attendant calls for boarding, and Skye gets in line while I linger back. She still hasn’t noticed me, but I do know that I will be sitting about three rows behind her on the plane. I give her about a fifty-fifty shot whether she will see me or not.
I board the plane and immediately spot her six rows back, fumbling with her phone. I doubt she’ll even notice that I’m on the plane, which will give me the entire flight to plan on how I want to reveal to her that I followed her to LA.
As I start walking by her, she looks up. Her eyes widen as she realizes what’s happening. She opens her mouth to say something but doesn’t get it out before I casually walk past her and take my seat.