Page 57 of Gator
“Good, now tell me what was really wrong earlier.”
I licked my lips nervously. I wanted to tell him, but what if he thought I was being needy, or moving too fast, or was too dramatic? Most people usually did once they got to know me.
“Mon petit. For this thing between us to work, we have to communicate. I know it’s still new, but I’m a firm believer in starting as you intend to go on.”
He wasn’t wrong, so I took a deep breath and jumped in with both feet. “I asked you if it was time for me to go home, and you said not yet.”
His brows furrowed. “Okay, did you want to go home?”
“No, but I wanted you to at least act like it mattered to you if I did. You just said not yet and talked about safety like it didn’t really matter to you if I left or not.” I was trying to keep my voice steady and act like I wasn’t so… well, so me, but I could hear the pitch of my voice rising.
Then, to make matters worse, he laughed. He actually fucking laughed at me. I reached for the door again because I wasn’t going to sit here and be laughed at when I actually put myself out there, something I never did anymore. I pushed the door open, but before it was enough for me to get out, he reached across me and pulled it back shut.
“Julius. Don’t go. I’m not laughing at you.”
I raised one eyebrow. “Really?”
“I mean, not just at you. I’m laughing at us.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re upset because I didn’t act like it matters if you wanted to go home, while I’m sitting over here all worried that you do.Mon petit, understand this right now. I don’t want you to evergohome.Iwant to be your home.”
My eyes filled with tears at that, but I hurried to swipe them away. I sniffed and then sat up straight. “You can’t say shit like that to me when my friends are inside watching us, waiting for us to come in.” I motioned towards the restaurant where, sure enough, three faces were staring right at us from the window.
“Let them watch.” He reached for me and pulled me into a kiss. I relaxed against him and let myself get lost in the feeling of his mouth against mine.
After a minute, I pulled back and took a deep breath.
“Let’s go in and eat before I make you take me straight home instead.”
“I like it when you call it home.”
“Good, since you basically just asked me to move in with you.”
“I did, but I didn’t hear you agree.”
I knew it was fast, and I knew if any of my friends told me they were moving in with a guy this quickly, I would tell them they’d lost their mind, but if that was the case, then call me crazy, because I was doing it.
“I would love to live with you, Gator.” He reached for me again, but I backed up against the door. “Nope, don’t touch me. If you do, we’re never going to make it inside for food.”
We walked into my friends whistling and cat-calling us like a gaggle of drunken sailors, but it didn’t bother me. I would’ve done the same thing if it was one of them, so instead I just pasted on my best Julius Petros smile, placed my hand on one jutted out hip, and said, “Don’t be jealous I’ve got such a good man.”
Alberto eyed Gator up and down. “Oh, sugar, trust me, we’re all jealous. How did you get lucky enough to find him, and where can I get one?”
“Oh, Gator’s one of a kind.” And to prove my point, he gave me a kiss and pulled out my chair for me.
He grinned at my friends as he took his seat. “Trust me, boys, I’m the lucky one. Now, what’s good to eat? I’ve never been here before.”
Chapter seventeen
Gator
Thursday rolled around, and we still didn’t have any idea where Wade Roarke had disappeared to. I was all too aware of the fact that Julius was the only thing that actually tied him to the kidnapping and thus to the trafficking ring, but the longer it went with no sign of him, the more likely it was that the whole operation had cleared out of Vesper.
Not that I let my guard down completely. Julius was way too important to me to risk his safety at that point, but I did agree to station one of our guys outside the salon while he worked instead of me sitting inside all day on the condition that he kept the back door locked at all times.
We’d made a couple of trips to Julius’s place to get some of his things, clothes mostly. I swear I’d never seen so many shoesin one closet in my life, something that made me grateful my bedroom had two closets.