Page 30 of Protect Me
Not entirely wrong. The hard, plastic seats edged into my back. I shifted uncomfortably and held up both hands.
“There’s nothing wrong with your choices. Grady is happily married. Hernandez too.” My lips pulled up—saying the words felt too weird. “And you’re with Dahlia for life, or whatever. Personally, I don’t get it, but I’m happy that you’re happy.”
Bastian lifted an eyebrow. A thousand words seemed to cross his expression, then fade. He shook his head, exasperation palpable.
“Yeah,” he murmured. “You’re right.”
My brow lifted in shock.
“I’mright?”
“You don’t get it.”
My glare brought further amusement. He shrugged with one shoulder, then lounged back. His long body didn’t quite fit in this little booth.
“You want advice? Here’s my advice: Don’t screw it up. Stop pouting. If you want the girl, go after the girl. Your track record is perfect.”
“It won’t work. Not this time.”
He had the gall to appear impressed. “Sounds like you finally found a keeper.”
His laugh ripped through the room as I flipped him off.
ChapterNine
KATELYN
Leslie’s nails tapped the top of the counter as she regarded her calendar, then me. Blonde hair dangled in front of her face on either side, pulled out of her eyes in a half-ponytail on top of her head. A frown marred her lovely features.
“Sorry, Kate. The loft is booked. You know how crazy summer is.”
“All summer? No availability?”
She shook her head.
Right. Not that I should be surprised. My mind drifted to my apartment, where everything lay in boxes near the front door, neatly stacked. Everything I owned on this planet could be packed into my little car. For some reason, that made me unaccountably sad.
“Okay. Thanks for checking.”
She lowered the calendar and tilted her head. “Something you want to talk about?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Just asking for a friend.”
A bright smile put her off my trail, but only because the door opened and a customer drifted inside. Leslie wandered into the office while I returned to the register, my stomach a hot mess of nerves.
If it hadn’t been summer—if they’d just evicted me three months earlier or later—I might have had a prayer at finding last-minute accommodations. As it stood, I had no hope of finding a place to stay, even if money hadn’t been an issue.
It definitely was an issue. I had unresolved debts with Kinoshi to pay, and potentially more upcoming now that Tim was back out of jail. The last five years had been a comedy of errors while I attempted to hold down a normal life, a job, and the costs of a desperately-needed therapist. The lack of stability led me right back home to Pineville.
I smiled at a mother-daughter pair that stepped up to the counter, then proceeded with their orders. Once they left, my gaze drifted outside. No, I couldn’t keep watching the sidewalk. Couldn’t expect Tim to show up at any moment, even though today was the day they released him.
Wasn’t there a probation period, or something?
Did he gorighthome?
For all I knew, he was already home and enjoying dinner and a steak, or still in the jail waiting for a ride. A vague glimmer of something reminded me that his parents had both died in the last five years. Stroke, for his father. Lung cancer for his mother.
All the work that I’d been through with my therapist—a close friend and colleague of Vinita’s whom she’d worked with before—surfaced through my mind in layers. While therapy had served me well over the past several years, knowing Timothy was out in the world hit me like a cold wave.
