“Your sass?”
I shoved his shoulders a bit and chuckled. “Your secrets, you doof.”
“Okay, okay. You tell me one thing I’ll tell you one, deal?”
“That’s fair,” I muttered through a small smile as I brought the rim of the coffee cup to my lips. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Really? That’s your go-to question? What are we, fifteen?” He was kidding, I could tell by the way he chuckled and laughed, his eyes roaming up and down my body, so I did the same to him. I could tell he was in shape by the way his tailored suit fit, but it was the bulge between his legs that caught my eye.
Damn, that bulge was big.
“Ouch.” I pulled the coffee cup away from my lips. I burnt my damn tongue, and it was all because of the package he carried between his legs. How did it show through his pants?
“Blow,” he said.
“I do. I just forgot.”
“You blow, huh?”
“Oh, who is fifteen now?” I giggled, and Godrick spun to his right until he was settled next to my side again.
“I deserved that. And black,” he said. “Black looks good with everything.”
Tossing my head back, I laughed so loud; it could have woken up the rats in the sewer. “Why aren’t I surprised? You look all dark and gloomy.”
“That’s not nice. I am not dark and gloomy. Dark, maybe. Gloomy? Not on a sunny day, anyway.”
My cheeks hurt from smiling so much. I never expected him to be funny. He seemed too serious for that with his bold black eyebrows and midnight irises, big imposing stature, and natural serious expression on his face.
“Brian?”
I groaned, not wanting to talk about him, but I made a deal. “I hate talking about him.”
“You don’t have to.”
“No, no. It’s okay. You deserve an answer for all the help you gave tonight. It’s the least I can do.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath, thinking back to the first time I met Brian. All the way back in high school. It was almost as if he and I didn’t happen, it was so long ago.
Godrick rubbed soothing circles between my shoulders and the anxiety that buzzed through my system eased. “I met Brian in high school. It was one of those love at first sight things—oh, sorry—you don’t believe in that.”
“Doesn’t matter what I believe. I’m listening to what you believe. That is what matters.”
That was oddly sweet. “Anyway, I met Brian freshman year, and we dated all through high school, college, and after. I thought we would get married, but thinking back on it, it was only because we were together for so long. My first. Why start over? Blah, blah. Anyway, I caught him cheating on me. I walked right in my apartment and saw him screwing some other girl. Come to find out he had been cheating on me for years.”
“Jesus, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine how that must have hurt you. I hate that for you. I wish I could have done something for you. It really pisses me off when men act like that.” I could tell by the sound of his voice that it bothered him. His jaw ticked from how tight he had his mouth closed and his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. I didn’t understand why he cared so much, but I liked it.
I liked his protective nature way too much.
I lifted my left shoulder and shrugged. “It sucked, and while it was easy to get over him, it wasn’t easy to get over his actions. It hurt so much to know someone who claimed to love me would do that to me. Anyway, over the next year, he stalked me, sent me notes, flowers, candies, showed up at my job, a few times he got rough with me.”
“He did what?” Godrick roared, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. Luckily, no one was coming or going to run into us since it was so late.
“It was kind of like tonight. He would grab me real hard and shake me to get my attention, but what made me get the restraining order was waking up in the middle of the night with him sitting on my bed staring at me. Logan applied to your job, we moved here, and I thought I’d be safe. I thought my life started over, and instead, it followed me. I don’t know how to get rid of him, Godrick. I don’t know what else to do.” My voice hitched, and the last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of him again. This man was my boss. “This is so embarrassing. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t ever be sorry for telling me about yourself. And if I can, I’ll talk to my friends at the local police department to see if anything more can be done about what happened tonight. I don’t want you to get hurt. You’re my responsibility now.”
“You mean as your employee?” I asked, stopping in front of my apartment building. “This is me.” I pointed behind me and rocked on my feet.
“You’re my responsibility now, Lucy. Mine.”