Page 18 of Taming Bull

Monica huffed out a breath. “Promise you’ll clean up after him?”

Ohmigod, she was going to let me get him. “Yes! Of course.” I couldn’t have kept the excitement from my voice, even if I’d wanted to.

“I mean it, Lily. If I find one pile of shit in my yard, he’s gone, and I will draw and quarter you.”

Wow. Her threats escalated quicker than normal. “Isn’t that the penalty for treason?”

“Don’t question me.”

“Right. Drawn and quartered. Totally reasonable. I promise.”

“I can’t believe I’m letting you talk me into this.”

“Deep down, you’re still going for that purple heart.” Monica had been a fighter pilot who’d been wounded, but not while in action. It was a touchy subject that I poked at every chance I got, hoping someday it wouldn’t be sore anymore.

“Yeah, yeah. Just get home so I can meet the mutt.”

Hanging up, I pocketed my phone, adjusted my bag of groceries, and hurried back over to Johnny. Kneeling beside him, I sat my bag on the ground and smiled. “Hey.”

He didn’t respond.

“I have an idea that might allow you to still hang out with BB, if you’re interested.”

That got his attention. He looked up at me with eyes full of hope and swimming with tears. “What is it?”

I probably should have run my suggestion by his mom first, but screw it. I’d gone too far to back down now. “If you let me have BB, I can give your mom my phone number and we can meet up sometimes so you can still see him. As long as it’s okay with your mom.”

Shelly watched me from a few feet away. “You’d be willing to do that?”

“Yes. Absolutely. I don’t want Johnny to have to lose him completely. There’s a park not far from here. I’d be totally down to meet up there once a week.”

Johnny’s eyes grew round as he looked from me to his mom. “Can we?”

She swallowed back emotion and nodded. Then looking to me, she said, “Thank you, Lily.”

5

Bull

“WHAT THE FUCK man?” Tavonte asked, his expression full of disgust, like I had some sort of airborne disease and had just sneezed in his face.

Keeping my gaze on him—and trying my damnedest not to watch the sway of Lily’s fine ass as she walked away—I feigned ignorance. “What?” I asked.

Over the past two weeks, Tavonte and I had spent enough time together to form a mutual respect. There was a bro-code that clearly stated he needed to let me handle my own business and stay the fuck out of my personal shit. But the way his eyes narrowed told me he hadn’t gotten the memo. “Lily.” He belted out her name like it was a complete sentence, accompanied by the universal hand gesture forwhat the fuck?Just in case I still didn’t get his message. I did. Loud and clear. I wanted to punch myself in the face for the way I’d made Lily’s smile falter and hurt flood her eyes.

I felt like the biggest asshole on the planet.

But I was only trying to protect her. To protect both of us.

I shrugged, still pretending I didn’t know why Tavonte was spitting and gesturing like a fucking cartoon character. The situation sucked, but my hands were tied. Lily and I couldn’t be together, and it was high time we both accepted it and moved on.

But I missed her.

Over the past two weeks I’d picked up my phone at least a dozen times to text or call her, only to remember that I couldn’t. I had to let her go. Life wasn’t the same without her. She was like an amputated arm I kept trying to engage, only to be reminded that it was gone. I wondered if she felt the same. Then she’d shown up with doughnuts to bridge the ever-widening chasm between us, but I couldn’t let her do that.

Hurting her now would save us both a world of pain in the future.

As Tavonte followed me back through the waiting room’s side door to the auto shop, I could practically feel the heat of his anger simmering just beneath his skin. This thing between me and Lily had nothing to do with him, but he was fully engaged. “You got nuthin’ to say for yourself?” he asked.

---