Page 14 of Heat Wave
I pull back -or try to, since the island kind of has me pinned in between him and it- and brace myself. I’m telling him no. He could very well toss me on the floor.
“Abso-fucking-lutely not!”
“Why are we raising our voices? And cussing?” Their mom comes in and looks over at Waylon. “And mauling Oakley?”
“Mom, Waylon is trying to use Oakley as bait like she isn’t even someone we care about! Like she’s some stranger he doesn’t even know, so it’s alright for him to use!”
I try to jump up off his lap, but yet again, he holds me to him.
“Waylon!”
“Mom, I’m not treating Oakley like fucking bait. I’m trying to keep her safe, damn it.”
“Stop cussing, Waylon.”
“Waylon, I’m not going home with you just so we can ‘sell’ some story about how we’re together.”
“Then where are you going to go, because you can’t go home.” His words hit me hard, and I blink fast to try to keep the tears back. “Damn it, Oakley. I didn’t mean…,”
“She can stay with me! She’s spent days over here anyway. What’s a week or two until we can figure out her apartment situation?”
“Or I could go stay with my mom in…”
“No! The safest place for you to be is with me, Oakley. And that’s exactly where you are going to be! End of discussion!” His fingers sink into my hips, letting me know he’s there but not hurting me. “I don’t have hook-ups, I don’t have women over every night. There’s no reason you can’t come home with me until we figure this shit out. And I most definitely will not be using you as fucking bait.”
He sends a glare his sister’s way at the end, but for the most part, he keeps eye contact with me like each sentence, each word, is a promise.
“Maybe the girls just don’t want to invade your privacy, Waylon.”
“It’s only an invasion if I didn’t invite her, which I did, so…no invasion. No bait. Just me and you.”
Chapter Twelve
Waylon
It was harder to get Oakley to come home with me than I thought. She and Terry put up a good fight. Surprisingly, I had a champion in Mom of all people. She actually talked Oakley into coming with me. And now she’s here.
I open the door to my room and find her at the foot of the bed, standing in nothing but a bra. She whirls around instantly covering her chest.
“I’m sorry. I should have knocked.”
“No. It’s…it’s alright. You shouldn’t have to knock in your own house. In your own room.”
“Uh, no! You have the right to privacy, Oakley. No matter where you are.”
I say the words, but I’m not turning around to leave like I should be doing.
“I…feel really bad about taking your bed from you.”
“Don’t. It’s not your fault. You can’t help any of this. You didn’t ask someone to break into your house and do bad things.”
Her eyes lower, and I can tell she is thinking about what she found out while sitting in my lap.
As if to prove my point, she gives a weak smile before speaking softly, “I guess I need to go shopping soon.”
I sit on the bed and pull her to stand in front of me. I just want to distract her a little, take her mind off things she doesn’t need to be dwelling on. “If we’re going to pretend for everyone, we should practice.”
“Practice?” Her eyes come to meet mine, a little apprehension hidden in their depths.
