Page 85

“I brought you something.” She thrusts her arm out between us, and I look down to see a brown paper bag hanging from her fingers.
“What is it?” I say even though I can see Benny’s logo stamped on the side.
“A bagful of snakes.” She smiles again, pushing it into my empty hand. “Or maybe it’s a breakfast burrito.”
A bagful of snakes. I said that to her once. Hearing her say it now, knowing she remembers that night, does something to me. Unlocks a door I slammed shut a long time ago. Reminds me of all the things I’ve been chasing around my head all night. The way she glared at me when I called her Hennie too many times for her liking. The freckles between her toes. The way her voice sounded when she read to me.
The way it felt when she ended it between us.
I don’t want to do this anymore.
“Thanks.” Taking the paper bag from her, and toss it in the general direction of the desk without looking away from her. “Now why are you really here?”
She doesn’t answer me. Instead, she moved deeper into the room. Her gaze goes everywhere at once, taking it all in. About a dozen computers, all cobbled together from a crate of discarded parts. An entire wall converted into a chalkboard, covered in complex equations. Broken bits of chalk. Books. Discarded pencils. Scraps of paper tacked to the wall. I wait for her to say something about it. Ask me was the hell happened to me. When I finally cracked. It’s an easy answer. I know exactly when it happened.
It was the day I finally accepted that I lost her and I would never get her back.
Finally, she settles her gaze on me. “This used to be Tess’s room.” That’s it. That’s all she says.
“I know.” I down the rest of my drink and reach past her, setting the empty glass on my cluttered desk, next to the bag. It probably wouldn’t go over well if I threw it. “What are you doing here?” I ask it again, this time pushing it between clenched teeth.
“Nora said I broke your heart.” She lets her gaze drift across my shoulder and down my arm where it gets snagged on the tattoo inked into the inside of my arm. I fight the urge to hide it. “I’m pretty sure she wants to kill me.”
“Nora wants to kill everyone.” I laugh, even though just thinking about it makes me want to scream. “Is that why you’re here, Daisy?” I cock my head, leaning into her just enough to knock her off-kilter. “Were you hoping to find me crying into a gallon of cookie dough ice cream while watching the Notebook or some shit?”
She flushes, red splotches erupting across her chest and neck. “No—”
“Because I don’t own a television and I fucked you out of my system a long time ago.” I make myself say it. I make myself lie because my bricks are slipping faster than I can lay them down. She’s worming her way in, inch by fucking inch and if I have any hope of holding the line, I’m going to have to go full-tilt asshole. I’m going to have to hurt her. “You get that, right? I’m over you.” I don’t know who I’m trying to convince more—her or myself. I just know I want to mean it. I want it to be true. “Whatever weird, convoluted thing I had for you is long gone.”
Her shoulders stiffen against my words. “You’ve made that abundantly clear.”
“Well, then…” I say, letting my gaze do a slow crawl up the length of her. As soon as it hits her breasts, her nipples tighten beneath the thin silk of her blouse and my cock jerks in response. Usually, I can control it, flip it on and off like it’s on a switch. Not anymore. Not when it comes to her. “What do you want?”
“I came to have your answer.” She blurts it out, forcing herself to look me in the eye. “About my proposal.”
“Your proposal?” I take a step toward her, the corner of my mouth ticking upward when she retreats—a half-step backward that bumps her into my desk chair. “Refresh my memory—to which proposal are you referring?”
That damnable tongue of hers slips out and licks at the freckle near the corner of her mouth.
My freckle.
Suddenly, I’m not sure how I’m still standing here. How I’m not dragging her to my bed and looking for rope. How I’m not pounding her so hard with my cock that she couldn’t walk away from me again, even if she tried.
“Oh, wait—” I can feel my grin slip into something less friendly. “You mean your how-about-you-fuck-me-for-money proposal?”
She gives me a fast, relieved nod like she’s glad I didn’t make her say it. “Yes.” Her hand comes up, fingers finding the diamond stud in her ear. “I understand you’re reluctance, but if you no longer harbor a thing for me, as you called it, then I don’t see why we can’t come to some sort of agreement.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes.” She nods, her fingers still fidgeting with her earring. She must take my non-response as a positive sign because she keeps talking. “If you’re in agreement, I’d like to set the terms. Get everything situated so I can schedule—”
Did she just say schedule?