Page 5 of Needing Your Love
I didn’t really care what people thought. It was his constant fibbing that irked the hell out of me.
I’d spent years looking out for Jimmy since DHHS had deemed his dad capable of parenting and the house livable. Jimmy had been the first kid to insist on ride alongs, and I’d gotten to know him pretty well—or, at least, what he allowed me to see through the facade of confidence and cockiness he wore as a shield to protect the tender boy beneath.
He’d been deprived of and needy for attention, often crying wolf after that first time I’d gone over to check on him and his dad. Made it hard to trust the kid, that was for damned sure. More often than not, he got in trouble at school, and arealwidesmile would stretch his lips when he saw me striding in like the hero he’d claimed me to be since his father couldn’t be bothered to answer the principal’s call.
A soft spot in my chest had remained after we’d split our first chocolate bar, a weakness that didn’t allow me to brush him aside as the years passed. I kept a supply of Snickers in my console during the cooler months, because the one person I could count on to be in constant need of me was that boy.
His smile remained in my mind when I finally crawled between the fresh sheets of my bed. He would be eighteen tomorrow, and although he told me once he dreamed of having an emotional connection with a man someday and riding into the sunset toward his happily ever after, I wondered over his plans for the immediate future.
He’d assured me that didn’t include college of any sort. Other than working at Mary Wallace’s consignment and gift shop, he didn’t seem to have any thoughts on pursing anything greater for himself.
The boy could be a con man, take his skinny ass down to Boston, and make a killing schmoozing his way into rich men’s lives and their wallets. No doubt he would thrive under a sugar daddy’s care, but the idea of him leaving to pursue his desires didn’t sit right in my guts.
Wasn’t sure why, because I’d have been better off not having to deal with his lies on an almost weekly basis.
Soft.
I snorted at myself and rolled over, burrowing my face in my pillow and allowing sleep to finally claim me.
A loud knock pulled me from a dream of Darla of all fucking people. Guessed paying off her debt hadn’t rid me of her memory like I’d hoped for.
Grumbling, I blinked at my alarm clock to find it was only a few minutes after midnight.
The rap reached me through the house again. It couldn’t be Jamie—he had his own house key.
“If that’s Darla, I swear to fucking God…” I muttered a few more curses, thankful I’d changed the locks. The last thing I needed was her crawling back and begging for forgiveness or a second chance. While I felt bad for the woman’s upbringing, I wanted nothing to do with her. Once bitten, twice shy and all that shit. Wouldn’t ever trust her again. She hadn’t only left my heart jaded, but my thoughts turned suspicious toward just about everyone else too.
A peek out my bedroom window showed a beaten-down vehicle I was well acquainted with parked by the curb and its blond owner below on the stoop.
Frowning, I pulled on a pair of sweats but didn’t bother with a shirt before hurrying down the stairs.
The knock came again, more persistent.
I yanked the door open, and a rush of cold air slid over my sleep-warmed skin.
Jimmy huddled in tight jeans and a long-sleeved shirt like he usually wore to hide his scratched arms. His hair was an artful mess of blond waves as though styled even though it was past midnight.
I had expected disingenuous tear-filled eyes, but his blue irises were bright, lacking the haze of alcohol I tended to see more often than not these days. Pink flushed his cheeks, and he shifted on his feet. The boy was up to something…
A knot twisted my stomach as I stepped outside onto the stoop with him. “Everything all right, Jimmy?”
“Fine,” he breathed the word with a smirk I’d been receiving a lot over the previous year or so.
My gaze narrowed, lips pressed flat. I should have invited him in from the cold, but my sixth sense and enhancedsuspicious nature kept us in the night air. “What trouble are you up to tonight, boy?”
His smile faltered, and a hint of vulnerability flashed in his eyes before disappearing completely. The usual facade of confidence he wore slid into place, and I readied for whatever shit he was about to spew. “I want to give you something.”
Darla had said the exact same words on the night she’d manipulated me into sleeping with her.
Surely, I’d heard Jimmy wrong.
“What?” I snipped through my tight jaw.
Jimmy trailed a fingertip from my sternum to my belly button before I realized he’d moved.
I caught his wrist, electrical charges skittering up and down my spine.
He closed the distance between us, and I stood my ground, the cold settling into my bones. His wrist was thin, small in my wide palm, and the look he gave me after tilting his head up to hold my gaze hit me like a boot to the groin.
