Page 14 of Tempt Me

Probably hers, too, and by the throbbing in my fingers, I was sure some of mine as well.

I didn’t have much clothing here, anything I did have was in my bedroom, and unless I wanted to wake up that girl and have two frazzled females up my ass, I was shit out of luck.

“I have a towel. In the bathroom. It’s down the hall.”

She looked at me like I was an alien, and when I gestured to her attire, her cheeks flushed a pretty pink, and she bolted.

I didn’t feel a damn bit of shame watching her fine ass run away, and I chuckled to myself when she made it to the bathroom and slammed my door so hard I wondered if it broke the hinges.

“You’re welcome,” I muttered.

I stood up, looking around at the trash bin my apartment had become. There was beer, piss, blood, and trash all over the fucking place.

“Son of a bitch,” I repeated and headed toward the bathroom.

I heard a thump from down the hall, and I had to wonder if the Little Voyeur was going to try to slice me with a razor or something.

I tapped on the door, listening for any signs of trouble.

“You, okay? I will drop you if you swing at me again. Fair warning. I don’t like headaches, woman. And you are a big one.”

There was more rustling from inside the room, and I hesitated. Taking a chance on the slicing, I put my ear against the door and listened.

She was…crying.

Ah hell.

I tapped on the door again, wishing Ezello was here to console the chick. I didn’t know what to do with the crying. When Xeny was a baby, she put on the waterworks, and I used to sing to her. I didn’t know why she seemed to like my voice, but I sang “Tennessee Whiskey” every night I had her in my arms.

She didn’t seem to mind that her dad was serenading her with a song about a breakup and alcoholism, so maybe this girl wouldn’t either. I cleared my throat, feeling majorly uncomfortable and far beyond my wheelhouse.

My guitar was in the bedroom, so my voice alone would have to be heard.

Sitting down on the opposite side of the door and leaning against it, I let the song’s tune free. The bass of my tone was a hum in the quiet space. It was weird to sing after so long, but for some reason, it felt…right.

I held my chest, my Xenia close to my heart. I gave that song all I could, rolling over the melody with my raspy ass voice. When I finished, I waited to hear, leaning off the wood and trying to pick up on any sniffles.

I didn’t expect the door to creak open, the ferocious little blonde peaking her tear-drenched eyes through the crack.

“You sound beautiful…and I love that song. My brother. He used to sing it to me.”

I remembered the name on the tombstone.

“Noah,” I said, and her bright eyes flashed with surprise.

“Yes…how did you know that?”

I thought better of telling her about the hallucinations of my dead daughter and what she showed me, so instead, I shrugged.

She cracked the door wider. My bath towel wrapped around her sexy legs as she sat crisscrossed by the door.

I stayed where I was, not wanting to spook her further.

“You’re not the only one who looks into others, Little Voyeur,” I teased, seeing myself smile in the reflection of her eyes.

She contemplated that, chewing on her ruined lip. The action made me resist biting it myself.

“Why were you in the cemetery? Did you lose someone, too?”