Shaking my head, I close my eyes and slam my head against the seat rest before answering him. “Showed up at my place last night. Hope came over with dinner, and the bitch kissed me while slamming the door in her face.”
“Shit, man. Seriously?” I nod. “How are you going to fix it?”
“I have no fucking idea. I spent all night on her doorstep. She isn’t answering my calls or texts. I’m not even sure what I can do at this point.” Blowing out a breath, I wait for his response.
“It’s barely been a day. Give her a bit of space and try again tomorrow with flowers and chocolate. Works with Till.”
“Hope’s not like that, man. If I give her a day, she’ll say fuck me and carry on with her life. I can’t risk that, and I don’t think she wants me to. There’s something about her that’s off. Different. Like one minute we’re laughing and talking, and then there’s this silence, and she’s hesitant to do anything. Hell, the first time I spoke to her, I made her cry because I said she hurt my feelings, and she thought I was serious.”
“Like she doesn’t know when you’re playing with her?”
I ponder his question. “Yeah. Sometimes it seems as though she's confused by what emotion my reactions are, and so she becomes timid. Is that even a thing?”
“I think so?”
We share a laugh, but the more I think about it, the more I realize how true that is. She always asks for confirmation about plans, giving me a way out. And when she thought she truly hurt my feelings by calling me rude that first day, it would make sense. I’m going to have to look more into it.
The rest of the day is filled with individual interviews with the family. And the son finally cracks and rats out who broke in—he owes drug dealers money and offered to pay his friends to do the dirty deed. That family has a long road of recovery ahead of them.
After clocking out earlier than expected, needing to try and fix things with Hope, I stop for flowers and dinner from the MShack she loves so much and hope to hell she opens the door for me when I knock.
As I approach our duplex, I see her brother sitting on my porch, waiting for me. That’s likely a no on her opening the door for me now.
Fuck.
“I warned you, man.” He points aggressively towards me as I get out of my truck. “What did I say? I said, don’t break her heart. She doesn’t have any more room in her life for an asshole like you, who can’t even spend a week with her before you fuck shit up.”
“You done?” For as big as Luca is, he doesn’t intimidate me. Theo and his special ops guys are bigger and badder. Especially Nix. That guy could crush any of us with his bare hands.
Standing face to face, I see the curtain in Hope’s window slide to the side, and when she sees me staring, she quickly let’s go.
“No, I’m not fucking done. Stay the fuck away from her. My sister deserves better than you or any other asshole.” He seems to deflate when I don’t share in his anger.
There’s no point in fighting the man. That will only upset Hope even more and push her further away from me. Not my goal. I want her as close as possible. As soon as possible.
“What happened last night shouldn’t have. My ex came by and decided to be a fucking cunt and gave the completely wrong impression to Hope. But you need to back off, so I can explain that to her.”
“Shit. Really?” Luca becomes less hostile now. “Why do they always gotta do that?” I don’t believe his muffled words are for me.
“Beats me. But they sure like to ruin the good things in life.” Stepping around him, I knock on Hope’s door, needing her to answer. After ten minutes of knocking, calling her name, and looking like the world’s biggest fool but not caring, I give up. For now. I won’t ever stop. I just need to figure out the right strategy.
“Will you give this to her?” I hand Luca the flowers, shake, and food. “I just need to know she’s alright.” Luca nods and unlocks the door, spending less than a minute inside before coming back out.
“She said, thank you.” I nod.
“Is there something I need to know about her, Luca?”
“Nothing I’m allowed to say.” I really dislike that answer.
“I could run her name through the system.” I won’t, but I have to know something. “There’s something with the way she reads emotions, right?” His eyes widen at my question, but he doesn’t answer, only confirming my suspicions.
“Give her a day. If you’re serious about her, Reed, don’t stop trying because she needs someone dependable. I can only give her so much.”
Shaking his hand, I feel like I have an ally in the man as I head inside my own house and putter around until exhaustion has me face down in bed.
Hope
I’m weary for so many reasons, in so many ways. My heart continues to cramp whenever I think about Reed, and all I can see is his lips on that woman’s. It’s like a broken movie reel that keeps flicking the same image in my mind, over and over. I can’t make it stop no matter how hard I try.