I swallow.
He flicks a strand of my hair. “You’re not wrong though,” he adds, shrugging. “It’s tiring to give a shit about what people do and think. It’s necessary though.”
One of my brows arches. “And what would people like me be?”
He smirks. “The mice. The quiet ones who don’t bother anyone. That’s who they go after, you know.”
I blink and whisper, “I can take care of myself, Kaiden.”
He glances around the room, lips pressing together, and then nods. “Yeah, Mouse. I can see that now.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kaiden Monroe loves frozen yogurt. Like smiling, it seems odd for someone as intense as him. He’s content as he spoons some of the cake batter froyo from the bowl, picking through the gummies he added to the top. Gummy bears!
The girl working the register keeps looking over at our table. Kaiden is oblivious, but I roll
my eyes. I vaguely remember seeing her in a study hall held by one of my old math teachers a few years ago. She graduated, I do know that much.
Kaiden notices my barely touched dessert and points toward it with the neon pink spoon. Considering the other option was purple, it makes me giggle. “You going to eat or what?”
I’m not sure why he cares. I insisted on paying, so it isn’t like he’s out any money if I decide to throw it away.
His eyes narrow. “What’s your deal?”
I shake my head, raising the spoon of chocolate fudge flavored yogurt to my lips to appease him. He grins and starts eating again, having over half his gone before I even eat a third of mine. It hasn’t even been three hours since we ate breakfast, so I’m not hungry.
Grandma insisted we take her car and ride around, so I showed him the old bookstore and we walked around the small strip mall. There are only a few stores and a tiny theater but considering the stores in town barely stay in business long, it gets a lot of people. Otherwise, everyone would need to travel two hours to go shopping.
We spent most of the morning in silence. Sometimes he’d make a comment, or criticism in his case, over something we saw in passing. More times than not, he just matches my pace and walks beside me without a word to say.
Yet, it’s…peaceful.
The cashier looks our way again.
Kaiden chuckles. “Friend of yours?”
He’s known the whole time? “No.”
He gives her a quick once over, in which she blushes and wiggles her fingers, before looking back at me with no interest in his features. “It’s a small area. You probably know everyone.”
I eat more of my yogurt. “Is that your way of asking for an introduction? Sadly, I don’t know her name.”
That’s not true. It’s Marigold. I remember now because her hair is the color of one, and her sisters are all named after flowers. Rose, Lily, and Marigold. Mama said her parents are hippies or something.
He chuckles and pushes his empty bowl away from him. “No need to be jealous, Mouse. I’m all yours.”
“What if I don’t want you?”
He shrugs.
That’s it.
Ignoring him, I eat about half my dessert before I’m full. Blotting my lips with a napkin, I ball it up and throw it into what’s left of my dish.
“You’re seriously not eating it all?”
“I’m full.”