Little did Princeton know I had shot my shot, got what I wanted, and then fucked up in a blink of an eye. “Yeah, you got me.” He didn’t need to know any of that, though.
“Good luck, kid. She’s in the kitchen, like always.” Princeton nodded to the house. “Try to ask her out by one of the cameras in the kitchen. I’d love to be able to listen to her shoot you down.”
I was hoping to get her in her bedroom and not have an audience. “I’m not a kid,” I mumbled back.
Princeton laughed. “Yeah, you are.” He wandered back around the side of the house while whistling. I climbed off my bike and walked up the front steps.
Here goes nothing.
*
Chapter Eight
You have a tub…
Bristol
I hated dishes.
I needed to invent disposable pots and pans. You could bet your ass if I could cook and then just throw away my pots instead of cleaning them, I would invest every last penny into it.
Since that brilliant plan had no hope of actually happening, I dropped the pot with dried sauce into the sink and blew my hair out of my face. “I need a vacation,” I mumbled. And a big-ass margarita.
“Didn’t you just have off for two weeks?”
I clutched my hand to my chest and spun around. “Pie,” I gasped. “What are you doing here?” Seriously, what the hell was he doing here?
I had listened to everyone leave. Kane pooping more than his body weight had even surprisingly chased off Fayth and Indiana.
“Figured I needed to come see you.” He pulled out a stool and sat. Sitting down meant he wasn’t going to be quick to leave. But at least with him sitting at the island, I could keep distance between us.
Distance between Pie and me was good. I could keep my head clear when he was this far away.
Keep distance.
“Why did you need to see me?” I asked. I grabbed the dish towel and dried my hands. Figure out what he was doing here, and then he would be gone.
“I need a reason to come and see you?” he asked. He laid his hands on the counter and tipped his head to the side.
A couple of days ago, he didn’t need a reason. I would have gladly opened my door to him and let him fall into bed with me. That was when I was living with my eyes closed and not seeing what was happening.
I shrugged and tossed the towel on the counter.
“Did you hear what I said to Zig earlier?”
I shook my head. “What? When?” I kept my eyes on him and my breathing even. I hadn’t expected Pie to jump right to it, but this was fine. I was fine. Everything was fine.
Fine.
Pie tipped his head to the side. “Right after you and I had a moment in the pantry?”
Again, I shook my head. “No, I didn’t hear anything.” My heart couldn’t handle talking about this. Whenever someone was rude to me, I didn’t go back and visit it. When it was over, it was over and I never thought about it again.
Pie telling Zig that I wasn’t his type was something I didn’t want to ever think about again. I was moving on from it.
“You looked like you did,” he insisted.
I shrugged. “Nope. I popped my headphones in after I walked out of the pantry. I didn’t hear anything you said.” Lies. A huge lie. I was going to have to dig out my headphones from my room if Pie questioned me. Hell, I don’t think I even knew where my headphones were.