Page 105 of Under Her Skin

“And yours is that you are a control freak.” She sits down on the opposite end of the sofa and looks away fromme.

Iremain quiet,hoping she’ll calm down and realize this is her issue with being left alone with nothing but strangers as her mother walked away from her, and nothing more than that. She sits back after a few minutes of intensely staring at thefloor.

I scoot over a tiny bit and her eyes go narrow and I wish I would’ve waited a little longer. “Out!” she shouts as she jumps up and points to the front door. She runs into the bedroom and I hear things being tossedaround.

When I go in, I find her throwing my things into my bag. I walk up and nudge her away with my shoulder. “I’ll do it. I’ll leave. If that’s what you really want. I’ll leave,baby.”

I wish I could be mad at her, but all I feel is a deep sadness as she shoves away her feelings for me. I turn to her after I have all my things packed. She walks away and opens the frontdoor.

She looks at me with so much hurt and anger in her eyes. “Blake, take a look at your own things before you go taking a look at mine. Figure out how you should move on from the death of your parents before you think about fixing me. I’m not broken, I’m merely a human who has gone through shit, much likeyourself.”

She’s right, and I just realized how right she is. “I’m sorry, Rachelle. You’re right and I can be no good for anyone until I deal with my ownissues.”

I walk towards my car and she makes a little sound that has me turning back to see her sad eyes. “Blake.” She hesitates as tears start to fall down her pink cheeks. “Have a nice life.” She closes the door, leaving me alone with what I’vedone.

What have Idone?

Kip

“The kid’s barely walking and already I’m tripping over his shit!” I shout as I hold my toe I stubbed on Pax’s toy truck which apparently is made out of realsteel.

Peyton frowns at me. “I think it’s time to stop using foul language,Daddy.”

Pax takes his toy from me and looks up at me with a smile. “Dada,” he says. “Chit.”

I raise my eyebrows as Peyton glares at me. “Gotta go meet Blake. See ya.” I run from the room and out to the garagedoor.

I climb into my tall, four-wheel-drive pickup truck. Blake called and wants to meet for drinks at a little bar nearby. Seems he and Rachelle have had a bit of a falling out and he needs someadvice.

His little rental is parked in the parking lot as I pull up and he gets out once he sees me. He waves and I hop out of my truck and make my way to him. “Hey there, bloke. Sorry to hear ‘bout your bad times. She’s a tough one, I can tell ya thatmuch.”

He looks at me like I’ve said something looney. “I asked you if she had something wrong with her when I first laid eyes on her and you said there wasn’t. You sang her praises if I remembercorrectly.”

“Did I?” I ask as I clap him on the back and we walk into the bar. “I’m nearly positive I told ya she has intimacy issues. Didn’tI?”

“No, you did not, Kip!” Blake says as he walks into the dark bar in front ofme.

“I.D. please,” the doorman asksBlake.

“He’s of age and with me,” I say and the doorman waves uson.

Blake turns back, wallet in hand. “No covercharge?”

“Not for me, mate.” I steer him to a corner booth and he settles in one side while I take the other. “So tell me what allhappened.”

“I have no idea where to start,” he moans and looks sosad.

“Ya know, it happens to us all, mate.” I tell him as the waitress comes to our table with a bottle of Hypnotic and two shotglasses.

“You didn’t even order,” Blake says as he looks across the table atme.

“They know what I like. Do you like this?” I ask with a gesture to the light blueliquor.

He shrugs. “I’ve never hadit.”

I nod at the young waitress in the tight shirt and short skirt. “That’ll beall.”

IwatchBlake and notice he doesn’t even look at the beautiful girl as she walks away. “Damn it man, you have it bad for our Rachelle. Your work is cut out for ya, I’m afraid.” The way his eyes sag at the corners lets me know he has genuine feelings for Rachelle. “Tell ya what I think will do the trick,mate.”