Page 32 of Absolutely Pucked
He didn’t meet my gaze when he answered me. “I just needed a minute to get warm. Everything went to hell in a handbasket, and I know I don’t deserve it—especially from you—but you were the first person to be kind to me in so long.”
Fuck. Fuck my fucking life. Fuckeverything.
“You know you can’t stay here, right?” I said. “Does Tucker even know?—”
“No,” he answered before I could finish my question. “He doesn’t know I’m here. I was hoping I could get on my feet a little bit before I saw him again.”
I scoffed. “What exactly are you expecting? Because bro, I know what you fucking said to him in Vegas and?—”
“Shit. Yeah.” He bowed his head lower. “Not my worst moment, but far from my finest. I thought…you know what, it doesn’t matter what I thought. I was the one who did all the damage. I’m not expecting anything, but there’s a lot he doesn’t know.”
“Trying to spin your bullshit?—”
This time, he looked up at me, his eyes pleading. I shut my mouth so hard I almost bit my tongue off. “It’s not bullshit. There was a lot I didn’t know until recently, and he deserves the truth.”
There was a question burning in my chest, and I couldn’t hold it back. “Is that for you or for him? Because disrupting his life when he’s finally fucking happy seems pretty on brand for you.”
Killian sucked in a breath, then deflated. “I…you’re right.”
Once again, that was not what I was expecting him to say. Everything Tucker had ever told me about his brother seemed so…wrong. The Killian I knew about was an arrogant, whiny, spoiled brat who didn’t like the idea of Tucker ever getting to be happy. And up to this point, his actions had proved that.
So he was either having his come-to-Jesus moment, or Tucker was wrong.
Or both.
“What happened to you?” I blurted, dragging both hands down my face in frustration. This situation was too much. “Why are you living in your car?”
He laughed quietly. Bitterly. “Well, I’m not now. It was stolen today. And let’s just say that this is probably the karma I earned for being such an absolute shithead to Tucker after he lost almost everything.”
I straightened. He had said that before, hadn’t he? About his car being stolen? “Dude. We need to call the cops.”
Killian immediately paled and shook his head. “Uh. No. No, thank you. I don’t…it’s not like it was doing me any real good.”
That was obviously a lie. The car was his house right now. And that thought made my stomach squirm. “Are you in trouble with the cops? Did you do something?”
He shook his head quickly. “No. Look, could I just maybe crash on your living room floor for the night? There are shelters and stuff in town, and hopefully by the end of the week, I’ll have an interview at a shop where they won’t kick me out for going to grad school.”
I blinked at him. “Who…you know what, never mind. But dude, you’re a lawyer. Why are you trying to get a job in a shop?”
“Because that’s all I can do right now.” His tone showed just how broken he was feeling right then. “Butseriously, it’s fine if you can’t let me stay here. There’s a place not too far up the road that?—”
“No.” I was going to regret this, but before I could talk myself out of my next words, Nugget hopped off her dinner perch and immediately jumped into Killian’s lap. She didn’t wait for him to hold her. She climbed up his chest, set her paws on his shoulder, then buried her face in his neck. I could hear her purring from where I was sitting.
“Um.” He went doe-eyed just like everyone did when Nugget showed love, and he tentatively put his hands around her back. “Does she do this a lot?”
“No,” I answered honestly. “She doesn’t. This usually takes months, if not years.” Letting out a deep sigh, I glanced at the front door, then said, “Look, let me help.”
“That’s not why I’m—well, that is why I’m here. But?—”
“Will you shut up and let me speak?” I demanded. His jaw clicked with how fast he closed his mouth. “Better. Now, I’m going to help because I’m the soft-hearted asshole who can’t throw a man out into the streets, even if he probably deserves it. You can thank Nuggs for this because she is my guide to who is and isn’t a good person, and you won that round. I have a guest room, and you can sleep there. And I actually might know a job if you’re willing to do shitty manual labor.”
He pinked and scratched Nugget’s neck, making her smash her face against him. “I’m not that strong.”
“It’s not really heavy lifting. More like stocking shelves and hating life.” I might be able to convince myshitty-ass store manager to hire a stocker if I presented one to them ready and willing to get to work. “The pay sucks, but it’s steady hours. Late nights sometimes though.”
“I’ll take anything. But I can’t commit to forever,” he told me.
“How long?”
