Was this how he normally greeted company? I hoped not. The chances of me living here with him for even a small portion of time were becoming slimmer by the second.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Quinton in a quiet voice.
He seemed genuinely surprised to see me. What were we doing here indeed? I wanted to give Quinton the stink eye but didn’t bother because I figured it would be lost on him. His dirty looks were far superior to anything I might be able to conjure up.
I was having a hard time keeping my eyes off of Dash’s ghostly pale legs. Did he have anything on under that robe? I shook my head. I didn’t need to know.
“If I had known you were bringing her here, I would have put some clothes on, damn it,” Dash grumbled. “Make yourself at home, Ariel. I’ll be right back,” he said without looking at me and then he and his fancy black robe disappeared into the house.
Quinton pushed past me and moved into the house. He looked at ease, relaxed. How dare he be relaxed when I was anything but.
I followed him into the house reluctantly.
He sighed heavily as he shut the door behind us. “What’s the matter with you now, Ariel? You’re frowning again. Why are you always frowning? Your life isn’t really so terrible at the moment that you feel the need to frown all the time, is it? If you’re not careful you are going to end up with permanent wrinkles.”
He was insane. That’s all there was to say. He should have told Dash we were coming, at the very least. And, honestly, I think he frowned more than I did. He was always so serious, so scary. Which meant he had no room to talk.
“I think my presence at his home has made him uncomfortable,” I told Quinton. “I have no desire to make anyone feel uncomfortable, Quinton.”
And, for goodness sakes, you should have called ahead to tell him you were bringing me here.”
“Ariel, Ariel, Ariel,” Quinton said, groaning. “You need to learn to take that stick out of your ass every now and then, and you need to relax.”
My mouth dropped open.
Oh no, he did not just say that to me.
I was going to kill him.
“Quinton,” I said slowly, making sure he heard every word I had to say. “If you don’t shut your stupid mouth right this second, I am going to super glue your lips shut while you are sleeping. I might even stuff something in there before I do it, too. Something that will leave a bad taste in your mouth for all of eternity. Something you might even choke on. Like a turd. Then, I’m going to super glue your lips shut. Honestly, of all the nerve. And you seriously expect me to want to hang around so I can what, put up with all of your bullshit? I don’t think so. Fuck that. You’re crazy.”
I shook my head and muttered angrily, “Stick up my ass. I’m so sure. What a dickhole thing to say to someone.”
“Wow,” Dash said from close behind me. “She’s swearing. The twins say she rarely swears. What did you do to her?”
I whirled around to find Dash standing not a foot away from me. I hadn’t heard him creep up on me. Something to remember, Dash was apparently light on his feet. Good to know.
And, he was a fast dresser too.
He’d put on black cargo pants, the kind with pockets on the side. He had on a white, V-neck t-shirt covered with an unbuttoned black and gray long-sleeved flannel. He’d forgot to put socks on. They all seemed to forget about socks.
His head tilted to the side as he studied me. I could just imagine what he saw. A crazy girl with cheeks flushed from anger with a squinty eyed look on her face. Not a pretty picture. Weirdly, he didn’t look appalled. He looked serious, but then again, I was pretty sure that’s how he always looked. But I was surprised to see a hint of curiosity on his face that matched his voice when he asked Quinton what he’d done to me.
Without taking my eyes off of Dash, I pointed behind me, in Quinton’s direction, and hissed, “He thinks I have a stick up my ass. Do you think I have a stick up my ass?”
“What I think,” Quinton said, “is that it would be unwise for me to answer that question.”
“What?” I hissed angrily.
Dash thought I had a stick up my ass, too!
Quinton started laughing.
“To be fair,” Quinton mused when he stopped laughing, “telling someone you’re going to super glue their mouth shut after you put a turd in there makes you seem a whole lot less uptight.”
“I thought Tyson said she was shy and quiet?” Dash asked, completely ignoring me and my anger.
I bowed my head and practiced deep breathing. I desperately needed to calm down. I didn’t know what was the matter with me but lately my emotions had been all over the place and I was quick to anger. Before, I tried really hard not to get angry about anything and I would have been mortified by how I had just spoken to Quinton. I still kind of was and felt like maybe I should apologize to him for it, but I had no intention of actually doing so because, at the same time, I knew he deserved it. If I didn’t speak up he would bowl right over me and I would eventually turn into his puppet. Nobody wanted that, well, at least I didn’t want that. Who knew what Quinton wanted.