I grinned then.
“There was one point that I was doing like ten practices a week. Five sports and or extracurricular activities.” He laughed. “Banks was doing just as many. As was Darby and Ace.”
“Did Georgia not do anything like that?” Desi asked.
I shook my head. “Georgia was all about Nico. She did a few extra-curricular activities, but not much. By that point, she was into boys.”
Desi grinned. “I’ve seen her and Nico around town. They seem like they were meant to be together.”
“They were.” I paused. “Nico taught her how to get out of zip ties.”
Desi frowned.
“Okay?” she drawled.
“My dad zip tied us all up,” he said. “That day. He shot us, had us tied to our chairs, and then set the place on fire. If it wasn’t for her knowing how to get out of them… things might not be the same.”
She shivered.
“Life works in mysterious ways,” she said softly. “When I was eighteen, I was driving home. I came upon an accident scene, and I ended up saving their lives.”
I squeezed her neck, and she turned her head to look at me.
“I wasn’t supposed to go that way,” she said. “I usually went a different way home. A car pulled out in front of me, and I got pissed and went around it, but in doing so, I missed my turn. When I turned onto the next road, I had to pay attention to where I was at because I’d never been on that particular road before.”
I waited for her to continue, knowing that what she had to say next would be chilling.
And I was right.
It was downright freaky.
“A young child, two years old, ran out in front of me,” she said. “I almost hit her.”
I sifted my hand through a strand of her hair.
“She was bloody and confused. She just stood there in front of the lights of my car and stared.” She shook her head, causing it to rub suggestively against my semi-hard cock.
I ignored it and hoped that she didn’t notice.
“You know those old urban legends that say not to stop for kids? That sometimes gangs used them to help lure car occupants into abandoning their vehicle?”
I thought about that for a second, then nodded. “Like the legend where they stop, get out to check on the kid, then get mugged and their car stolen?”
“Yes.” She grinned quickly. “I kept thinking that was about to happen. I mean, I was on an unfamiliar road in the middle of a part of town that I’d never been in before. So I decided to call the cops. I was on the phone with 911 when I stepped out of the car and walked to the kid. She was like a deer in the headlights. When I finally got to her side, that was when I started hearing the parents screaming. They were in a car down a steep incline. You couldn’t see their car from the road at all.”
“Holy shit,” I said. “What happened next?”
“The parents were in bad shape. The mom was eight months pregnant with twins. She was in labor—which apparently was what caused her to wreck in the first place. The sister, who was also pregnant, was trapped. Mom couldn’t move. The baby got out of the car. God, when I walked up, the mother started crying saying thank you over and over again. It was scary and awful.”
“Did everyone make it?” I asked.
“Yes.” She smiled. “In fact, the twins were the first birthday cakes that I made and got paid to do it. Two cute little smash cakes. I’ve gone to their birthday parties ever since.”
“That’s really sweet,” I said. “And yes, funny how fate leads you to where you were meant to be.”
Her eyes came to mine.
“Is that what is happening here?”
I thought about lying. Thought about denying the attraction that I could feel taking over my every waking thought, then decided that I wasn’t about that life.
I didn’t lie.
I didn’t beat around the bush.
And I definitely didn’t deny feelings when I had them for someone.
Not that I’d ever felt like I was feeling before.
There was something about Desi that made my heart beat just a little bit faster.
“I have no clue what’s happening here,” I told her honestly. “All I know is that I want to keep experiencing it.”
Her smile was small, but there.
“I’m not opposed to spending time with you, but we should probably move slow,” she murmured softly. “I don’t think that you’d do me the same as Mal did me, but I’m still recovering from what he put me through.”
I touched the tip of her nose with my pointer finger.
“We’ll move as fast or as slow as you want to, D.”
Her smile was wide.
“You’re missing your show,” I teased.
She held my eyes for just a few seconds longer, then turned over in my lap and focused once again on the television.