Page 21 of Depraved Desires

A smile tugged at his mouth, and he nodded. “This is my favorite place to eat.” He jerked his head toward a booth near the back and I reluctantly followed him.

It was no surprise that he brought me here. It had a southern vibe to it and fit Rocky to a T. There was even a fucking guitarmounted to the wall near where we were walking with some signature engraved into it.

Rocky slipped into the far seat, leaving me to sit before him with my back facing the rest of the room. As I sank down into the booth, I was surprised at how comfortable it was. Whoever owned this place must take very good care of it.

An older woman was fast to approach us, laying out two menus onto the table. The corners of her eyes creased when she smiled, revealing a set of teeth that were old and worn. Despite her appearance, she had a warmth about her, that seemed to brighten the atmosphere.

“Rocky,” she beamed. “It’s been a while.”

The guy in question smiled back at her fondly. “It has. I’ve been busy with school, and…other things.” His gaze slid over to me, and my stomach rolled.

Was I part of the reason he hadn’t seen his sister too? What happened to me was recent, but if it was preventing him from living his life, then I didn’t want to interfere. He shouldn’t have to feel obligated to help me just because I put myself in a messed-up situation.

The woman fixed her gray eyes on me, surprise contorting her features as if she was just now noticing me. Must have been from old age—not that I knew much about that. The only old people I’ve really come across were school staff and crack heads.

“What happened to that one girl?” she asked, sending another blow to my stomach. Nausea coiled around my gut, and suddenly, my appetite was diminishing by the second. “Oh…what was her name?” She frowned, the wrinkles around her mouth becoming prominent. “Dixie!” she blurted, snapping her fingers.

Dixie…

Why did that name sound familiar?

“We still hangout. I just saw her a few days ago.” He glanced at me again, a weird look crossing his face. Clearing his throat, he returned his attention back to the woman. “I don’t mean to rush you,” he began. “We’ve just been out all day and we’re starving.”

For some reason, I felt like he was intentionally trying to change the subject which also raised alarm bells. Did he have a girlfriend? If he wanted to, he could get any girl at the academy, so it wouldn’t come as a surprise. But if he did, it would be odd that he hasn’t mentioned her yet.

“Oh, right!” she continued, taking out her notepad. “The usual, I’m presuming?”

A breath of laughter escaped him, and he nodded before turning to me. I hadn’t even had a chance to look at the menu, but she didn’t seem to care about that in the slightest. In fact, it felt like she was judging me. Maybe it was my hair color, or all the piercings in my face—though I only had three.

“Just a burger, fries, and sweet tea,” I mumbled before turning my head to peer out the window.

Rocky and the woman exchanged a few more words before she collected the menus and disappeared to go put in our order. As I sat here, watching the cars go by, my mind spun. Something felt wrong with me—like my personality as a whole has changed and I didn’t know who I was anymore. Usually, it took a lot for things to get under my skin, andjealousycertainly wasn’t something I was accustomed to.

Being around Rocky was different somehow. It felt like he actuallysawme. He was kind, non-judgmental, he listened, and he actually seemed to care. For unknown reasons, I knew he could be trusted. As a friend anyways. As attracted to him as I was, relationships were out of the question.

“You good?” Rocky’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I turned my head to look at him.

“Yeah, I was just thinking…” I trailed off.

He always seemed to know when I was lost in thought and as much as I admired him for caring enough to check in on me, sometimes I wished he wouldn’t.

“About?” he pressed, his gray eyes peering into my green ones.

Sighing, I dropped my gaze to the table. There’s no way I was going to tell him that he was what I was thinking about. That would make things way more complicated than necessary.

So instead, I shrugged. “Just thinking about relaxing back at the hotel.” While it wasn’t a complete truth, it did sound appealing, so did that save me from being a liar?

“Yeah, well…good luck with that.” He smirked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

Confusion burrowed through me. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Before I could ask, the waitress returned with our drinks and promised to have the food out shortly. My mind was still stuck on that last comment, so as soon as she left, I shifted in my seat as curiosity got the better of me.

“What did you mean bygood luck with that?” I demanded, raising an eyebrow.

“We have one more place to go, and we’ll be there for a while.” He pulled the wrapper from his straw and plopped it into his drink before wrapping his lips around it.

Now my interest was definitely piqued. We’ve been out and about all day and he’s already spent so much money on me. What else could he possibly have planned?

I didn’t want to sound like a nosey bitch, but he was being way too vague, and I wanted to know. “Like what?” I continued, fishing for more information.

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