Wrong For Me

Much to my surprise, his truck is gone when I come around the front to leave for the day.

“Headed out, sweetheart?” Hillock steps from the hall, moving to give me a small hug.

“I am. Exhausted.” I look up at him, and he gives a small smile. “You sure you remember how to lock this place up, Uncle?” I tease.

He shoves me toward the door. “Funny, child. Funny.”

I laugh and look back. “You know, Uncle, you’re not even forty yet. We’re almost the same age now.”

“That’s why I’m still single, and I mingle. Too young to settle down, just like your pops was.”

He winks, and my nose scrunches.

“Ew.” I laugh, and his smile turns warm.

That’s when I realize, this is the first time it doesn’t burn to think of my dad.

I smile back at Hillock.

“Go on home, Oakley. I got this.”

I turn for the parking lot, feeling a little lighter than I did when I got here today. Unfortunately, when I pull from the lot and glance in my rearview, no large truck in sight, a small pain hits my chest.

I guess I don’t hate him following me around as much as I thought.

This is the perfect time to run by the store while I don’t have a shadow there to question my need for the stop.

It only takes me a few minutes, and then I’m pulling up at home, Alec’s big black truck pressed against the curb. Guess he’s not worried about blocking me in anymore.

I grab my bags and steel my breath. Then, I make quick work of unlocking the door and plan to head straight for my room. I only make it past the entrance when Alec’s voice wraps around me from behind.

“She’s not here.”

I pause for a moment and then take another step forward.

“Thought maybe, if you knew that, you wouldn’t need to rush off to hide in your room for the night.”

I smash my lips together and keep going forward, quietly stepping into my room. I shut the door behind me, push my bags under my bed, and then drop on top of it.

She’s not here.

Why is she not here?

A knock sounds on my door that has my brows jumping.

Alec never knocks.

I wipe my sweaty palms on my jeans and move to open the door, inhaling deeply when I look up into his green eyes. Eyes that are sloped at the edges as they stare at me.

“Come eat with me.”

When I look to my feet, his knuckle slides under my chin, and he lifts my head. I fight back tears as he rethinks his words.

“I made dinner. She won’t be back tonight. Come out of your room, Oakley.”

My stomach growls right then, and the corner of his lips lifts slightly.

I pull away from him and step around him, heading for the kitchen. Sure, I’ll eat with him. I’m starved anyway.

When I see he’s made fajitas, I almost cry, but I hold it in and drop into the chair opposite of where he set a place for me, which was beside his. We sit and eat in complete silence, and it’s as soothing as it is devastating.

We stand at the same time and both begin to clean the kitchen. He moves much slower than me, which makes me think he’s trying to stretch out this simple, insignificant time together.

When his hand drops to cover mine on the counter, I snatch it away and turn for my room, but he steps up close, his hands gently grabbing on to my arms.

“Will you just … talk to me? Please. Fuck, Oakley. I miss you.”

“You don’t get to say that.”

“But it’s true. I fucking miss you. I miss riding to work with you, sitting by you, talking to you. I miss your eyes. I just want—”

“I don’t care what you want,” I whisper, tipping my head away when he tries to lay his against mine.

“Yes, you do. You miss me, too.”

“We live together, Alec. And we see each other every day at work.”

“It’s not the same, and you know it.”

“Are you fucking joking?” I jerk from his hold, spinning to face him. “Of course it’s not the same! It will never be the same! You ruined that. Not me. Go back to your room and wait for your wife.”

“I don’t want her.”

“Prove it!” I shout, sucking in a breath after I do. I don’t know why I said it. When he doesn’t do as I ask, it’ll hurt that much more. I clear my throat. “Right now. Call her and tell her not to come back here.”

“I …” He trails off, dropping his head to his chest.

“That’s what I thought.”

His eyes snap up. “You don’t know anything.”

“And whose fault is that, hmm? Mine for blindly trusting you when I don’t even know you?”

His face hardens, and he does his typical Alec thing—getting into my space to unnerve me—but I’m not allowing it right now.