Page 12 of Look My Way (Bloody Desires #1)

Zavier

It’s exactly twelve thirty-five when Liam walks through the front door of the restaurant.

He pushes his glasses up his nose, gaze bouncing all over the room until finally landing on me.

There goes that sweet blush I love so much.

His hair is getting a little long, and he brushes the front strands from his eyes.

It’s the perfect length to pull on as he looks back at me, screaming my name.

Would he like that? Me hurting him because it feels good.

Because he likes proving to himself and others around him how much he can handle.

How strong he is. Doing some more digging, I’ve learned about his illness, and it makes sense why Daniel was treating him like he’s about to break at any moment.

His forced smile was all I needed to see to know he needs a break from it, though.

My mom battled cancer most of her life and was the strongest person I knew. She never let her bad days hold her back and didn’t like being defined by the struggles she battled daily. They were a part of her but not all that she was.

Daniel always treats him like he’s sick, doesn’t he? Or does he do what my dad did to my mom? Using it to control Liam, to keep him under his rules and thumb.

“Hey,” he says with a partial smile, pulling out the chair across from me. Taking a seat, he scoots forward, placing the tips of his fingers on the menu in front of him.

“Hey back,” I quip, resting a cheek on my closed fist with my elbow on the table. “Glad to see you got my note.”

“I did. That was very sneaky and very Lake House .”

I tilt my head. “ Lake House ?”

Shaking his head, he snorts. “It’s a romance film, and they communicate with notes for most of it.”

“Oh. I haven’t seen that one. Is it any good?” I play with the straw in my cup, lowering my face to the table.

His lips move from side to side, and he shrugs. “It’s alright. I’ve only seen it once, and it was so long ago I don’t even remember how it ended.”

“Sounds like that’s an opportunity to watch it again with someone who hasn’t.” I flit my eyes to him, studying the blush spreading down his neck.

“I . . . maybe.”

“How about next week sometime? You can come to my place, and I’ll even allow you to pet my dust animals,” I say between deep chuckles.

He sputters a laugh. “Okay. I’m free Thursday.”

“Thursday it is. I get off work at six. Is eight okay with you?”

“Yeah. Eight is fine.” He goes without blinking for too long.

Will Daniel not be home, or is he trying to figure out a way to sneak away without the creep noticing?

I can help him with that if so, but I might take things too far, making him go away for good so we no longer have to worry about which days he’s working.

Then all my carino’s days can be with me.

“Eight it is. You have the movie, or should I rent it?” I sip my Pepsi, which is now watered down from how long it’s been sitting as I did nothing but watch the door from the moment I got here.

“I have it. My sister got it for me for my birthday a year ago. She does that. Likes to add to my huge DVD collection with her dollar-bin finds.” His face relaxes and he flips the page of his menu, his finger moving over the plastic covering. “What do you usually get here?”

“The caldo or carnita tacos. I’ve only been here twice, though, so I think I’ll try something new this time. Maybe the chicken flautas.”

“Chicken flautas sound good.” He nods, closing the menu, and looks behind him when the waitress appears asking if he’d like something to drink. She quickly disappears after he orders a sweet tea, and his attention turns back to me, eyes dropping to the table in between meeting mine.

“So how many DVDs would you say you have in your collection?”

He shifts in his seat, eyes shining. Does he not get to talk to others about the things he likes?

Daniel does come across as a self-absorbed asshole and someone who only cares to hear someone when the conversation revolves around him.

He barely let Liam respond yesterday, speaking before he could or cutting him off.

A warning look came when he finally got a word out.

“Over two hundred, I think. Daniel doesn’t think I need any more, but it’s not like I’m taking them over to his place.”

I bite my tongue when I have the urge to suggest he leave whatever he wants to at mine as long as it’s something of his. “Does Daniel not like the same movies you do?”

He lets out a soft sigh. “He doesn’t care for movies at all. He’ll watch one with me sometimes, but he says they’re a waste of time and why live through others when we can experience so much more in our own reality.”

“He really said that to a writer?” I huff a laugh, my brows bunching together.

He smiles and then laughs, lifting his hand to his mouth. “It’s kind of funny, huh? Daniel doesn’t really care for what I do for a living anyway.”

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah. Speaking of which . . . Did you get a chance to finish that book I gave you?”

“I did,” I say, sounding coy. I read it every chance I got—lunch breaks, waiting in line for my food, and in the tub.

He’s really talented, and his storytelling consumed me, keeping me on the edge of my seat while also leaving me smiling and laughing.

I downloaded a few more once I was done, reading them on my phone and finishing one in my truck when I got here way too early.

They all had a common theme, aside from the murder and mystery.

One MC was always lacking something in the bedroom and in his love life before the other came along.

“And?” He interrupts my thoughts, straightening himself in his seat in anticipation.

“I loved it. Remy reminded me a lot of myself when I was in my twenties—so lost and searching for something more, not knowing what it was until it came around.” Apparently, that didn’t happen when I thought it did either.

Liam really spun my whole world on its axis, showing me how lacking my life still is.

I have my hobbies, but they aren’t my passion.

Neither is my dream job I accidentally landed one day. No. He is.

“You say that as if it was so long ago,” he says playfully, tapping his fingers on his phone.

“For all you know it could have been thirty years ago and I have a really good skin regimen going on.”

He makes a high-pitched sound with his throat. “In that case, I need to know your secret because these crow’s feet are really starting to come in.”

“I think you’re aging quite well.”

His lips part and then close, fingers lifting to push on his glasses again. The waitress returns with his drink, and he quickly takes it from her, turning away from me as his face pinkens. “Don’t look away from me , ” I want to say. Keep looking this way—keep looking my way.

“You guys ready to order?”

I look at Liam, motioning for him to go first. His eyes widen as he’s taken back when I do.

“I’ll uh, take the flautas.” He fingers the corner of the menu, eyes falling away from the woman and back to me as her attention also shifts.

“I’ll have the same.” I stack our menus together, fingers grazing over Liam’s, and I struggle to sit still in my seat with the way my body’s buzzing.

I leave my hand next to his for a second longer before handing the menus to the smiling waitress.

She takes them, wrapping them in her arms as she struts away.

“So, are you really thirty years older than me, or are you one of those people who likes to act like three years going by is a whole century?”

“You asking my age?”

“I am. You’ve asked lots of questions about me today, and I think we better shift the attention to you before I leave with a complex.”

“I’m thirty-nine.”

“Really?” he says with disbelief in his tone.

“Really.” The expected move would be to ask him next, but I already know the answer. “And you’re twenty-six.”

He doesn’t look at all surprised by my knowledge. “You looked me up.”

“I did, but it wasn’t—”

“In a creepy way?” he finishes for me, sounding teasing.

“Exactly.” I let out a nervous laugh. What?

I don’t get nervous. I don’t fall hard for others like this either, or at all.

There’s a reason, but it no longer matters when he’s around.

Being in a relationship means letting your guard down, and I promised myself that would never be me.

Love makes you lose sight of things. Who says that’s what this has to be between us, though?

“I googled your author name to find more of your books.”

“Yeah, I figured. Those bios have too much damn info sometimes, and then there’s the readers who add more as they find it.”

“That’s what comes with being famous,” I chirp, taking another sip of my drink.

He rolls his eyes. “I may have twenty books published but I’m far from being famous. I have acquired some readers who overstep boundaries, but that just comes with the territory of being an author, big or small.”

“I’ve seen your ratings and reviews. You’re a bigger deal then you realize.” I wink, slower at wrapping my mouth around my straw this time, my tongue circling the plastic.

He watches me closely, chest rising and falling heavily.

Those pretty lips rub together, and before I can ask him what he’s thinking, the waitress comes rushing over with our food.

Steam drifts off the plates as she sets them in front of us.

Liam’s eyes are no longer on me but on his fork, pushing at his rice.

His lips are rubbing together again. This is his hungry face.

It wasn’t directed at food a minute ago.

“This looks and smells so damn good.”

“Did you skip breakfast?” Based on what Daniel said the other day, it sounded like it might be a habit of his. But who knows. I don’t trust a single damn thing coming from that asshole’s mouth. I don’t trust him.

“No. I ate eggs. But I didn’t eat much for dinner, so that could be it, and writing makes me super hungry too.”

“Get a lot of words in today?”

“Yeah,” he says with a pleased look, taking his first bite of rice mixed with beans.

His sweet hums have me vibrating in my seat and I’m quickly growing addicted.

I want to hear them all the time in everything he does.

“I think I might actually meet this deadline, but I’d hate to say that too soon and jinx it. ”

“There’s no such thing.” I reach for a taquito, chewing at the end, and his fork pauses above his plate.

“What do you mean?”

“That whole jinxing crap. If something’s going to happen then it’s going to happen, especially when it’s out of your control.”

“I mean, it could be.”

“You’ll get it done. Look how good you’re doing already. If you need someone to bounce ideas off and hype you up, you can always give me a call.”

“Don’t say things you don’t mean,” he muses.

“I never do. Call me anytime. For anything.”

“Anything, huh?” His lips purse.

“Anything.” I lay my hand over his wrist, his pulse singing to me. “If you want to tell someone how blue the sky is that day, then I’m your guy.”

He laughs, biting his lower lips as he looks down at our joined bodies. I slowly pull away, wanting to immediately be back where I was as soon as I do. I don’t ever want to take too much, unless it’s offered, but I’m so close to reaching that point. There’ll be no going back once I do either.