Page 94 of Never Gonna Lie
“But that’s half the fun, isn’t it?” Mia pouts, crossing her arms over her chest.
Walking over to my dad, I kiss him on the cheek, shouting back to Mia as I head out of the kitchen, “Behave.”
The chuckle I get from her isn’t very reassuring, but she’s not my problem today.
After taking a break from work and school, today marks my first shift back at the Honey Pot. I’m feeling a little anxious about how it’ll go, but knowing Leo’s keeping an eye on me helps ease the nerves. I didn’t love the idea of leaving Dad on his own for too long, but James insisted someone would be with him the entire time. I’ve honestly seen more of Caleb, Noah, and Theo in the past few days than I ever expected.
James didn’t take me going back to work so well, though. Our nightly FaceTime call consisted of him telling me I should take more time off, but—much to his dismay—I didn’t agree.
“James, I’m a twenty-year-old woman, for goodness' sake. I may have been kidnapped, but I have a perfectly good security guard who can take care of me. Don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be.”
“Your safety is my main priority, Raven. You’ve been kidnapped and someone tried to kill you.”
I soften at his tone, smiling. “I’ll be safe, I promise.”
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you,” he mumbles into the phone, sounding like a toddler who just had his favorite toy taken away from him.
“I ran off last time, pretty boy. I was in a vulnerable position. I won’t do it again.”
Leo greets me at the door. He’s been glued to my side, and I’m not sure if that’s because of what happened and he feels guilty in some way or if James has upped my protection without my knowledge.
“You ready?” he asks, leaning against the doorframe.
“Yup, just gotta grab my bag.”
We settle in the car and head off down the highway before he speaks again. “How are you feeling about going back to work?”
“Good,” I reply. “I need to get back to some kind of normalcy.”
“I feel like it’s my fault, if I was there?—”
I cut him off, knowing exactly where he’s going with this. “Leo, no. You couldn’t have known that was going to happen. None of us did, and I don’t blame you in the slightest.”
He clenches his jaw but doesn’t say anything else, choosing to concentrate on the road.
We finally arrive, and I get back into the routine of making drinks for students and teachers alike. It’s soothing in a way, being back, but also nerve-racking. When I was asked to take the trash out into the alleyway, I froze. Leo could somehow sense my distress from across the room because he got up, no questions asked and came to my aid. He didn’t utter a word as he walked with me to the alley and stayed next to me the whole time.
“It’ll get easier each time you do it,” he’d said, a soft smile on his face.
After the last customer of the night leaves, I start cleaning and tidying things away when a knock on the door has my head snapping up from behind the counter.
James.
I squeal and run to the door, throwing myself into his arms. He tugs me closer, and I wrap my legs around his waist as he picks me up. He puts his head into the crook of my neck and breathes me in.
“Hi, baby,” he whispers before planting a gentle kiss on my lips.
I groan and swipe my tongue across his bottom lip, deepening the kiss. I feel like it’s been years since I last saw him, but it’s only been a couple of weeks.
Breaking the kiss, I mumble against his lips, “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” he chuckles, gently placing me back down on my feet.
“What are you doing here? I mean, not that I’m not happy to see you,” I ramble, “it’s just with getting away from my dad, work, and school, and—” James places a finger to my mouth. I purse my lips and tilt my head.
“Theo’s with your dad tonight,” he says with a wicked grin and a look full of promise that goes straight to my clit.
A wide smile of my own spreads across my face. “Is that so?” I purr.
