Page 35 of ILY
Or Thorne.
And then I freeze. Across the parking lot, sitting behind the steering wheel of a car that has been on my property a lot this week, is a very familiar face. And it’s obvious from the way he jolts that he didn’t expect to see me.
Well, fuck this. Maybe heisa stalker.
That thought makes me happier than it should.
I send him a wave, and he tentatively sends one back.
“Alright, Mr. Thorne. I’m gonna find out what you’re doing watching me right this instant,” I mutter.
I stomp toward him, my chin held high, my dick mostly hard, and promptly step the wrong way and fall face-first onto the pavement.
CHAPTER NINE
THORNE
WatchingLeaf fall onto the pavement, not even bothering to put his hands out, has me rushing from my car to help him. God, this guy cannot catch a break, can he? Maybe this is why he ended up a criminal. Maybe he got so beaten down that he ended up snapping.
Maybe Michael was just a poor victim in all of this.
Or maybe he’s not a criminal after all. Maybe this is all just one big misunderstanding.
Either way, it does nothing to deter me from rushing to his side and helping Leaf sit up. He has a gash on his cheek and dirt on his clothes, but other than that, he’s okay.
I think.
“Well, that was embarrassing,” he murmurs. “I blame bootcamp and happy himbos who want to work out at the butt-crack of dawn.”
“It’s eight o’clock.”
“It might as well be five a.m. I’m half-dead.”
“Well, after that fall, you might be.”
Leaf sighs and lets me help him up. His knees are a little scratched, but nothing major. That could have been a lot worse.
“Anyway, I saw your car in the parking lot, so I thought I’d say hi,” I lie. I’d seen the words on his lips as he was walking over, so I knew he was suspicious.
Leaf blinks at me. “How?—?”
‘Lipreading,’ I sign. I don’t tell him I was trained in it before I started losing my hearing.
He huffs for a beat. “Seriously, are you stalking me?”
“I—”
“Because if you are, that’s very hot, and I would definitely tell you to keep doing it.”
I let out a small laugh. God, why is he like this? And why do I like that about him so much? Maybe it’s because I’ve been alone for too long, working behind a desk, staring at horrific things all day.
Or maybe it’s been a while since someone has looked past my hearing loss and at the person I am.
A guy who can do that can’t be bad. Right?
“Stalking is such an ugly word,” I tell him, deciding to opt for the truth. “I was following you.”
“Stalking, following. Doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s not unwanted. Unless you saw me in that bootcamp thing just now. Then we’re going to pretend like today never happened.”
