Page 59 of The Love Bandits

I consider this a moment, my heart thumping faster because I feel like I’m on the cusp of something. “I might be interested in something like that.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

LAINEY

“Do you think Rosie is really going to move?” Claire asks. “She’s been acting jumpy about it. About everything, actually. And she asked me to cut her hours at the bakery this week.” It’s late afternoon on Sunday, and we’re sitting on her back porch, drinking wine on the side-by-side deck chairs as we check out the view of the rolling blue mountains under the bright, nearly cloudless sky. The leaves have started to change, and the air is deliciously crisp. Declan and Rosie are at Jake’s old building, checking out Joy’s spare bedroom.

I laugh. “Considering she told me about all of the animal sex sounds you’ve been making all around the house, yes, I do.”

Claire cradles her head in her hands, her blonde hair splaying out around them, but she honestly doesn’t look too embarrassed. Then again, maybe she’s proud. Jake nearly made me lose myself yesterday, and it’s the only thing I can think about. Would I want to shout it from the top of one of those mountains if I actually let him make me come? If, for the first time in seven years, I let someone else rock my world?

My gaze travels to the house next door. The thought of his nearness makes my skin prickle.

When I woke up this morning, I was basically plastered all over him on the couch. There’s no way he’s not going to need an Advil given I was lying on top of him, and he was essentially sleeping sitting up, his arm wrapped around me. In a weird way, it felt more intimate than what he’d done to me the night before, so I figured it would be best to leave and do some thinking. Not that I’ve gotten very far in said thinking.

Nicole and Damien promised to keep an eye on him so I could do my unspecified chores. But what has he been doing all day? Sketching in his book?

Looking at whatever was tucked into that bag?

I’ve stayed away all day on purpose. First, by going to the pet store to buy more shit Professor X probably doesn’t need. Secondly, by helping Claire out at the bakery, which is only open from eight to twelve on Sundays. Then, I invited myself over for a late lunch.

I feel a little bad about leaving Jake at Nicole and Damien’s mercy all day, but I can’t go over there right now. Not until I get my head screwed on straight. Telling Claire about everything that happened last night has been part of that attempt.

“Okay, that’s fair,” Claire finally says, looking back up. She catches me staring at the cabin next door and says, “It’s not like you to practice avoidance.”

I sigh. “Is this your way of trying to get rid of me?”

“You know I want you to be with me forever and ever. Today’s no different. It’s just…maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you enjoyed yourself. You know, blew off some steam. You’ve been so angry since you and Todd broke up.”

I nearly drop my wine. “Seriously? I thought you were going to talk sense into me. This man is literally a thief.”

She shrugs. “He’s still probably better than Todd.”

Laughter bursts out of me. “Tell me how you really feel.”

She shrugs a second time, her expression guilty. “I should have told you before, but I was deep into my people-pleasing era. And you hear about people getting shut out of their friends’ lives for being too honest about their partners, and I couldn’t take losing you. Not for anything.”

“You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried,” I say, reaching out to squeeze her shoulders. “And it goes both ways. I should have been more proactive about getting you to quit your shitty job. You were there for as long as I was with Todd.”

“But it was different with him,” she says, pausing. “He was… He didn’t want you to have anything of your own, and he got off on making you feel small. I hated him for that. I still hate him.”

“Me too,” I say, holding my wine glass out for a cheers, then lifting it to the sky after we clink. “May his big dick wither and fall off. May he get gonorrhea of the ear.”

“Amen,” Claire says with a smile.

“It was my fault, though,” I add bitterly. “I’m like my parents. I let my head get turned by all the things he had. By all the things I’d have if I married him. I let myself care about that.”

“So what? Who wouldn’t want unnecessary kitchen appliances?”

I shrug. “But I don’t need to resort to sleeping with a thief to get over it. For all I know, everything Jake’s said to me is a lie.”

But I don’t really believe that. As with most people, there’s more to Jake Not-Jeffries than there appears to be. He’s a thief and a practiced liar…but he’s also a brother. An artist. The first man to almost make me come in years.

Dangerous.

“I’m definitely not encouraging you to marry this guy,” Claire adds. “You could just enjoy yourself. Youshouldbe enjoying yourself. You were with that jerk for seven years.”

“Nicole’s rubbed off on you.”

---