Page 17 of Entirely Yours
My head flops down. “No, I don’t.”
“Let me take care of you, Thea,” he murmurs, and now I’m really unsure if he’s talking about my hand or taking care of… other things.
Only the sound of our breathing fills the next few moments. I break the silence with, “I’m sorry I left the other morning.”
He doesn’t respond but I can sense him nodding.
“We could…” I clear my throat. “We could try again?”
Silence still. And I refuse to look at him and see pity, so I squeeze my eyes shut and continue. “Just one night, obviously. I’m not looking for anything serious.”
This time I get a hum in response.
“I’m not really a one night kind of guy,” he finally responds.
“You seemed fine with it the other night,” I shoot back, admittedly feeling slightly defensive.
I’m still not looking at him, but I can hear the confusion in his voice. “We never said anything about it only being one night.”
That catches my attention. I whip my head around to look him in the eyes. “What? Of course we did. I told you I was moving… I’m sure I said just one night.”
“We were interrupted by several different things that night.” He shakes his head and stands. “I never intended for it to only be one night.”
I watch him walk away, stunned. He rustles around in a few cabinets before coming back over with a pack of gauze and some paper towels. Silently, he wipes up the mix of blood and water that fell to the floor and then takes a clean paper towel and pats my hand dry before wrapping it lightly in gauze.
“How are you feeling?” he asks, helping me to a seated position.
“Confused.”
Jules smirks at that and helps me stand up. “Let’s lock up and then I’ll walk you home.”
“I don’t need to be walked home.”
He lifts an eyebrow. “Well, then I’ll walk a creepy ten feet behind you the entire way. Won’t be weird at all.”
Out of stubbornness, I lock up the studio and then let him walk behind me for about thirty seconds before I stop and turn around. “Fine, you can walk with me.”
He digs his hands into his pockets, a smug smile on his lips. We walk the block, quietly taking in our surroundings. I try really hard not to break the silence, because it’s not necessarily uncomfortable, just… confusing still.
When we are standing in front of my apartment door, Jules finally speaks. “You still owe me a coffee with your scratch-off winnings.”
I don’t think I could bring myself to trade in the scratch off for my five dollars. “I think actually, you owe me a coffee,” I reply.
“Great. It’s a date.” He winks before turning and walking into his brothers’ apartment, leaving me dazed in the hallway.
Twenty-four hours.
It takes twenty-four hours before I break down and knock on the door across the hall. Dad took Chloe to a children’s program at the local library today, so when I picked them up, I got her a snack and then marched across the hall before I lost my nerve.
Ben opens the door. “Hey, Thea,” he answers. “What’s up?”
“Is your… is your brother here?” I ask.
He smirks. “Which one?”
I roll my eyes so hard I think I might have a migraine later. “Jules.”
“Ah, but I’m the better looking one,” he tsks.
