“Mmhm.” I push my key into the lock, and shoulder my door open. “Enjoy doingnothing. Don’t be noisy, and stay away from the connecting wall.”
“You shy, Spencer?” She turns to me and grins. “Will we make you blush?”
“No, but if you get me too excited, I might knock on the door and ask to join in.” I nod toward Jay. “We’re pals from way back, and you’re cute. I know for a fact your legs stretch above your head, so… we could make do.”
Her eyes widen. Her smartassery falters for the first time in a long time. She thinks I’m serious, so she grabs Jay’s hand and drags him through their door. “I don’t partake in your kinda activity, Spencer.”
“Don’t be shy, Sophia!”
Growling, she turns at the door and slams it in my face with a loud crack.
Chuckling, I work on my own door.
I love her for Jay. I love her personality for him, her need to be in control, and his need to be taken care of. He’s a badass motherfucker when it comes to work. He doesn’t flinch, and he never misses his shots. So when he’s able to set down his tools and take a minute to chill out and relapse into his immature self, she’s his perfect girl.
But now I want to talk to my perfect girl.
I move through my door and close it at my back. My room hasn’t been restyled since the day it was built. A box TV sits on a small cabinet, and a round table sits beside that. Wicker chairs are pushed in beneath it, and have absolutely no hope of holding my weight, so I don’t bother trying. A kettle and toaster sit on the counter beside a folded hand towel, and beside that is a tiny, two-burner grill. There’s only one other door besides the door at my back, so it must lead to the bathroom, but before that, a queen-sized bed is pushed up against the wall – not the wall that joins Soph and Jay’s room.
The bed doesn’t look long enough for me, and when I sit down, it’s confirmed; I’m going to have to sleep diagonally. I slide a hand into my pocket and pull out my phone. It has no messages from Abigail. No missed calls. Not even a social media notification.
She’s too independent for her own good.
It’s time for her to be getting ready for work, not chatting on the phone, but I hit dial anyway and sit back to rest against the wall. I slept a couple hours through the night, but not enough to be able to stop the yawn that overtakes my body. I smile while my call rings. I smile because I missed her, because I’m able to call her when I miss her.
I’m not overseas right now, not in a war-torn desert, or on a secret mission where I can’t have access to the outside world. I’m simply on a road trip with my friends, with the hopes of finding a guy and shutting him down before he does damage to my family.
“Hello?” Abigail picks up hurriedly, the noise in her background making me frown.
I expected the morning news and soft whispers. But what I hear is music, voices, perhaps a reversing truck.
“Spencer?”
“Hey, Priss.” I relax back into my bed and smile at her voice. “What are you doing?”
“I’m just getting a delivery of flowers… Yeah, over there. Thank you! Sorry. I’m here.”
“It’s okay. You busy right now?”
“Sorta.” I can almosthearher shoulder shrug. “Not really. I have flowers coming in, but we do this most days, so my delivery guy knows what to do. Nadia is out front with the customers, I’m out back. All I have to do is sign for my delivery. I missed you last night.”
“Yeah?”
Thirty-three years. That’s how long it took for me to talk to a girl on the phone and want to curl up with a pillow while I smile and whisper. Thirty-three years it took to feel something in my heart no woman has ever made me feel, except perhaps my mom.
But different. Way different.
Thirty-three years to understand what Kane sees when he looks at Jess. And what Jay thinks when we suggest he and Soph work apart for a day.
They don’t want to. They don’t need to. And my teasing over time, I see now, won’t change a damn thing.
Teasing is tolerable, separating is not.
“I missed you too. A whole lot.”
“That makes me happy,” she murmurs. “Not that you’re sad, but that you were thinking of me. I wasn’t sure if you would.”
“Do you have five minutes to hang out?” I feel like everything is changing, because this is the first time in my life I’ve called a girl while traveling. In fact, it might be the first time I’ve called a girl… ever. “I don’t have anything important to say, so if you have to wor–”