“You should take a shower from being in that hot tub.” What I don’t say is I want you to scrub off Jonesy’s touch. “There’s some extra toothbrushes in the top drawer of the vanity.”
“Okay.” She shrugs my leather jacket off and I hang it off the back of a barstool.
“First door on the left.”
She mumbles something in return and shuffles into the bathroom. Only when I hear the water run does some of thetension leave my body. I’m losing my mind. She’s got me so twisted up. It’s taking every ounce of self-control I have not to barge into the bathroom to do the job myself. To make certain there’s no trace of that prick left. The idea of her with anyone who isn’t me makes me rage. Jealousy seeps from my pores.
I don’t know what I’m doing. I’m in over my head with her, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to walk away a second time. While she showers, I have a terrible yet genius idea. I don’t know if she’ll go for it, but right now it’s the only solution I can come up with. A temporary hell.
While I wait for her to get cleaned up, I turn the television on, settling on some horror shit. Tits and gore splash across the screen.
“Hey.” Kiesha pokes her head out of the bathroom. “Do you know if there’s a hair dryer?”
“Doubt it.”
She trudges into the living room, scrunching her hair with a towel.
“Feel better?”
“I don’t know.” She sits next to me, propping her feet on the coffee table. I smile at the sight of her glitter pink nail polish. The same shade her little sister painted mine a few weeks back. Most of it has worn off now. Sabrina was mad about that, too.
“Are you hungry? I can get delivery.”
“Not really.” She pulls the hem of her shirt over her knees then lays her head there.
“If you’re tired, you can sleep in the bed. I’ll crash here on the couch.”
“Is that why you brought me here?”
“Truthfully, I don’t know what I’m doing. But when I saw you with him, something inside me snapped. It was like I couldn’t breathe. Killed me.”
“Then why?”
“Why am I still with Sabrina?”
“Make it make sense. Because when you look at me, I can feel it. I can see it. You don’t love her.”
“I love Sabrina, but I’m not in love with her. Two very different things.” I lick my lips and run a hand over my head. The killer on the screen strikes someone in the chest with an axe and Kiesha screams and turns into my shoulder to hide her face.
“It’s just a movie,” I murmur, instinctively wrapping my arm around her shoulders.
She peers up at me, her eyes wide and glistening. “I don’t like scary movies. Not since…” she trails off and I don’t need her to finish her sentence. She means since the shit with her father went down.
“Why didn’t you say something?” I reach for the remote, killing the eerie music that fills the background.
“I didn’t think it would bother me.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“There’s nothing to say.”
“You’ve had a lot happen.”
“I’d ask how you’re doing, but I heard you and Sabrina are moving in with Smoke and Ember.”
Chapter Sixteen
Jimmy swallows hard and avoids my gaze.