Page 48 of Crazy Love

“Is that where you learned your trade?”

“Yep. Had a great mentor in there too. Kept me out of trouble while I was inside.”

I’m relieved he didn’t come out with a horrific prison story you often hear about from documentaries and horror movies. “Does prison work?”

Anthony scoffs. “Well, I never went back after my stint and that was ten years ago.”

“That’s good.”

“Prison didn’t change me. I just got better at not getting caught.” He shakes his head as if he’s thinking back to his younger self. “I only spent nine months in there. That’s nothing compared to what it could’ve been. I think Patty hoped I’d straighten myself out, but instead, I became a headache for him. For almost ten years, he’s stressed about me. I think he’s stressed about me since the day we met.”

I don’t miss the guilt riddled on Anthony’s face, the way his lean arms flex with tension.

“So, what straightened you out?”

“Patty’s incessant, overprotective nature. Therapy.” Anthony takes a deliberate breath, before exhaling loudly. “Chloe.”

My ears prickle at the mention of that name. Hazel mentioned a Chloe during last year’s fallout with Patrick. From memory, she was his ex-girlfriend and died in a tragic accident, but she didn’t mention her again.

Anthony turns his body towards mine. “Chloe was Patrick’s girlfriend. She and I were on the couch together one day when Patty was at work. A car came flying through the living room window and took her out before I knew what happened. God knows how it missed me.”

He looks like he wants to say more, but the internal struggle is so evident on his face, that I place a hand over his. “It’s not your fault, Anthony. Shit happens sometimes.”

Anthony’s eyes dart to mine, pain riddling his features. The pulse tics so vehemently in his jaw, I’m almost certain he could burst apart at any minute.

“We don’t have to keep talking about this,” I assure him. “But I’m glad you told me.”

Anthony’s eyes glisten. “Me too.”

My gaze darts to the ball which he’s squeezing vehemently in his fist. I touch his hand and he uncurls it, allowing me to take the ball. “I haven’t got a stress ball in my collection yet.”

Anthony finally smiles and my chest almost bursts with the relief on his face. “Is your collection helping?”

I reach into my jeans pocket and pull out the elastics he sent me. “They’re never far away from me these days. A distraction I never knew I needed.” I glance at him. “Is that why you sent them to me? Because you knew I needed a distraction?”

Anthony’s gaze slams into mine. “I sent you those things so you wouldn’t forget about me.”

My heart skips a beat.

Without thinking twice, I lean in and kiss him firmly on the lips, the butterflies in my ribcage battering furiously. His hand skims my jaw and finds its way into the hair at the nape of my neck, shooting a dance of tingles down my spine. He guides my mouth open with his tongue, sliding it across my bottom lip and pulls me closer to him. My leg accidentally knocks over the glass bottle of apple juice in the process.

“We knocked the apple juice over,” I murmur against his mouth.

He pushes my hair back off my face. “Fuck the apple juice.”

27

ANTHONY

“I love to win.”Kali bats her eyelashes with a smirk on her face.

“I can tell.”

She smiles smugly, holding a fluffy red lobster toy under her arm.

After our picnic and make out session on Tamborine Mountain, I managed to pull myself away from Kali and pack us into the truck. We drove back to the Coast, my hand on her thigh for most of the journey. She traced the tattoos on my wrist and fingers absentmindedly and fuck if it didn’t feel awesome. I could’ve driven like that for hours.

I ended up pulling into an arcade a few suburbs away from Kali’s house, thinking a bit of competition couldn’t hurt on our first date. We made everything into a game, especially the basketball and racing challenges.

---