Page 110 of Pretty Little Lies

Going to the kitchen, Torin follows and places the bags on our small dining room table. “Whatcha makin’?”

“Lasagna.”

“Cairo makes a killer lasagna.”

I turn and lean up against the counter, crossing my arms again because that seems to keep me grounded lately. “Does he now? I wouldn’t trust it because he might poison it.” Torin’s lips heave as he closes the distance between me and him, but I stopthat shit before he can get too close. “If my dad looks over here, he’ll see the intruder in his home.”

“He a good shot?”

“Was. Until his stroke.”

Torin bobs his head. “Yeah, I heard about that. How’s that going?”

“You really wanna know about me, Pretty Boy?” He bites down on that bowed bottom lip of his, clearly remembering himself saying the same exact thing to me at the after party of the South Shore fight.

“Clearly,” he deadpans.

“Knowing me means learning weaknesses.”

“I thought you wanted peace.”

“I do. But I’m looking for the twig.”

His face scrunches. “The what?”

“That thing people say with the twig. An olive branch.”

“A branch and a twig are two different things, Wildfire. And you just spewed your first weakness. You know shit about outdoorsy stuff.”

My lips curl into a smile. “Darn. Now you know that when you kill me, a stick would be the best weapon.”

Torin shakes his head. “You need your head examined.”

“Obviously—” I grab the oven mitt off the cheap brown laminate of our countertop. “I slept with you twice.”

His hand clutches my hip as I begin to turn around to check the oven, his body blocking everyone and anything that might see what I’m doing. Those lucid gold eyes suspend me to my spot. “You wanna try for three?”

“Is that what you came here for? Because I can?—”

“I already told you why I’m here. Looking at your ass is just an added bonus.”

My chest flutters nervously because I don’t fully believe him.

I can’t.

Too much is at risk here. And Torin is just the thing that could destroy me, fuck a stick, a branch or a twig.

“Can I check dinner or…” Torin takes a small step back and allows me to do what I need to finish up dinner. He sits at the dining table in Ellie’s chair, intently watching my every move, and I definitely feel the heat of his gaze every time I bend over.

Pig.

Anyway, I get Ellie and Mae fed. Ellie hasn’t stopped eyeballin’ him, even after he introduced himself, suspicious in her own right and mistrusting any newcomer who enters our lives.

Just like me.

We may not be blood related, but it doesn’t change the fact that my sisters have taken after me. That they’ve put their guards up a little in a world that can be so cruel.

Torin comes with me to meet Dad again, and they bullshit about football for a little bit while I grab my bearings from Torin being in my damn house. I’m almost tempted to call Nessa and drag him out of here.

---