She smiles and slides her heel along my ankle.Kill me now.“I see your family around. I see Kit, a lot.”
“Yeah.” I inch my foot back. “We send her to the store a lot. She likes to take care of us.” If it were Izzy sliding her heel along my leg, I might’ve already jizzed in my pants. But it’s not Iz. It’s Belle, and her touch makes me want to barf.
My phone starts again. Bobby’s name flashes. He’s being a dick. He’s sticking his nose into my business, and right now, as Belle stares at my cell like she wants to stab it with a steak knife, I decline and slide the phone away.
Her head tilts to the side. “What do you think he wants?”
Wow. Is it not rude to look at other people’s phones? “I don’t know, but he can text me if he wants to talk so much.” I pick up my beer and take a sip. This night was a fucking mistake. And my beer tastes like camel piss.
“Could be an emergency,” she suggests casually.
It could be. But I doubt it. If there’s an emergency, they’d make sure I knew. They wouldn’t tolerate a hang up. They’d march their asses in here and drag me out.
Unless they were too busy to come get me…
“Are you training to take your belt back? I watched your fight on the TV. It’s too bad you lost. I was rooting for you.”
Again, my phone rings with Bobby’s name, but this time, anxiety replaces annoyance. Now that she planted the idea of an emergency in my mind… “Sorry,” I tell a slit-gazed Belle. Swiping to answer, I slam the phone against my ear. “Hello?”
“Hey big boy, it’s Kitten.”
I bite my tongue and let out a sigh of relief. It’s just Kit,andshe’s playing. No emergency. “Hey, Princess. What’s up?” I sit back and pretend not to notice Belle’s glare. “Where’s Bobby?”
“He’s at home. Showering or something.”
“Oh, okay… So, where are you?”
“I’m… out.” I can hear the smile in her voice. Smiling is good. Smiling is fine. If Kit smiles, usually we’re all smiling. “I just wanted to know why you’re not eating? You look like you’re having a shit time on your date–”
My eyes snap up in confusion. “What?”
“Look behind you,” she whispers. My head snaps around so fast, I give myself whiplash. I expect to find Kit and Tink in ski masks and hoodies.
“He looked, didn’t he?” Tink snorts in the background.
“You totally looked,” Kit cackles. “Tell the truth, you looked, didn’t you?”
“You girls are dead meat when I get home.”
Her laughter turns serious in a heartbeat. “When are you coming home, Jim? We miss you. You shouldn’t be there.”
“I’m hanging up now, Princess. Catch you later.”
“Jimmy! Come home. Come back to us. Leave horse face there alone.”
“Who are you calling, babe?” Bobby’s voice rumbles down the line, which only elicits another round of giggles, then an abrupt hang up.
Jerks.
Belle’s red lips turn up into a sneer. “Is this the part where you feign emergency and ditch?”
“No. I’m sorry.” I switch my phone to vibrate and drop it into my coat pocket as it hangs on the back of my chair. “No, I’m not going anywhere. That was my sister, she just had a quick question about work.” Lie. “Something for the gym admin.”
I’m not going to ditch Belle, because that’s rude. But I’m also not going home with her tonight. I can barely tolerate a kiss on the cheek, so there’s no way in hell we can do anything more. I’d sooner vomit on her face than actually kiss her for real.
Jimmy Kincaid will remain a virgin for another night.
Awesome.