Page 20 of Death, Interrupted

“Fuck it,” I muttered, and pushed down my pants to take a piss in the alley behind the fucking grocery store. If there’s anything I should ever get punished for, it’s for shit like this.

After emptying my bladder and feeling April harshly judging me in silence, I rolled my eyes at her and at myself for being such a weirdo, before heading into the store.

Inside, I grabbed a basket because it’s what people do when they’re not stalking. I caught a glimpse of Sumner, who stood by the produce. I drifted toward the apples, with my helmet still on, and pretended to compare varieties like a man who cared about apples. Who even likes apples?

She picked up a bunch of cilantro, sniffed it, put it back, then grabbed another because the first one had clearly offended her. God, she looked so pretty as she tried to decide which bunch to take.

As she continued through the store, I kept my distance as much as I possibly could. For some stupid reason, I felt an intense pull toward her, almost like needing to just stand next to her. Or hold her. Yeah, I wanted to hold her. Tell her that everything will be okay.

But I did my best not to have her see me. She was standing in the tea aisle now, looking at the millions of different options. Why would she need tea, though? Maybe she felt a bit under the weather. Or maybe tea helped her relax in stressful situations. Though she didn’t look too stressed. Just…sad.

She reached for the top shelf and stretched up on her toes, and I moved instantly, wanting to help her, but I stopped when she got the box on her own. She dropped it in the basket without much care, then kept going.

The cereal aisle seemed to have bothered her, because she walked through it with an annoyed expression on her face, sighing and shaking her head at the options. As she stood in the next aisle, I pretended to study cornflakes. She still hadn’t noticed me, and we continued to do this dance all the way to the pasta, where she grabbed a pack of spaghetti.

Finally, she stopped in the middle of another aisle. Tissues to the left of her. Paper plates to the right. I planted myself by the end-of-aisle display, studying the wet wipes, and watched her out of the corner of my eye. She stood with her back to me, but had her head turned toward the tissues. Did she need them? Had she been crying these past few days? God, I hoped not.

She started to turn slowly, lowered the basket to the ground, and I was caught off guard when she looked me dead in the face.

“Sly.”

Shit.

Shit shit shit shit shit.

She said my name and didn’t even look surprised. I was caught, and I couldn’t move. Maybe she said my name out of habit. What habit, I don’t know. But maybe she had been thinking about me all week. Maybe I had left such a big impression that she just randomly said my name out loud at random times. Yeah, that’s it. I still had a chance to leave. Just turn and leave, Sly.

I ignored her and slapped my visor down, then tilted my head back, reaching for a box of wipes.

“Sly!”

Shit. Now she sounded pissed. Nope, not gonna stay here. I was stalking her, and she had just caughtme, and I was going to hell. I surely wasn’t making myself liked by her after all this, so the best option for me now was to just leave.

“I swear to God, if you leave, I will throw something at you.” I took the threat very seriously.

With my body tensing, I put my basket down and slowly stepped into the aisle to face her. Letting out a heavy sigh, annoyed with myself, I finally said, “Hey, wow…what a crazy coincidence seeing you he—”

“Don’t.” She crossed her arms over her chest and shifted all her weight to one leg. “Don’t you dare act like you haven’t been watching me all week.”

Right.

Perfect.

So I hadn’t been subtle at all.

Good to know.

She frowned at me, her eyes searching my helmet. As much as I loved looking into her eyes, I was glad she couldn’t see mine. She’d see shame, and I wasn’t a man who was good at showing uncomfortable emotions.

Her brows rose. “Are you just gonna stand there and say nothing? I at least deserve an apology.”

I muttered a curse under my breath and lifted my visor first before deciding to take off my helmet altogether. I owed her that much.

“You’re not subtle, you know that?” she asked, not giving me a chance to speak. Which I was okay with, to be honest. I had no fucking idea what to say to her that could in any way justify my behavior.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah?” Her brows rose further. “That’s all you have to say?”