Page 72 of Hell of a Mess
“That’s not necessary,” Lace replied. “You have plenty to choose from.”
“Except you don’t ever eat anything,” Gathe pointed out obnoxiously.
The way Lace tensed beside me only heightened the protective reaction she alone seemed to trigger.
“What she eats isn’t your fucking concern,” I snapped.
“Yeah, uh, Gathe, why don’t you go see if Gwen is almost done?” Mal suggested.
“Why me?” he asked, not moving.
“Because you can’t control your damn mouth,” Locke said, speaking for the first time since I’d arrived.
Gathe sighed and stood up. “I was just glad she was eating.”
“Kitchen, Gathe,” Mal cut him off before he said anything more.
I turned my head back to Lace, who seemed nervous again. She fidgeted with her cast as she stared down at it, resting in her lap. I laid a hand over her busy fingers and gently squeezed.
“It’s fine. Everyone here cares about you. That’s all,” I reassured her.
The way she looked at me, as if she wanted to memorize my face, was just about to do me in. Why had she left me? She wasn’t comfortable here. They might be her family, but she was better with me.
Thirty-One
Lace
He was here. He’d come to see me. I was almost positive it was because Mal was worried that I hadn’t been eating. But I didn’t care. He’d come. He cared. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck and not let go. There was a thrill at the sight of him and happiness that came from him sitting so close to me, looking at me, talking to me.
I listened quietly, soaking in the sound of his voice as he talked to Locke and Gathe about whatever game it was they were watching. It sounded as if there was heavy betting around it. When Mal announced that dinner was ready, the men all stood up, Gathe being the first one to shoot to his feet.
Luther glanced back down at me. “You coming?” he asked with a teasing glint in his eyes.
Standing, I nodded, sure I’d go anywhere he asked me to. However, he didn’t begin to move toward the door like theothers had, and I waited with him. Once they all left, he turned his gaze back to mine.
“Now, see, if you hadn’t left me, you’d be eating and sleeping properly.” His tone was husky as he spoke in a low voice.
With the pad of his thumb, he brushed the area below my eyes. “Don’t like seeing these dark circles.”
I shivered from the touch, and he stilled. His eyes seemed to study me before drifting down to my mouth. For a moment, I thought…I thought he might kiss me. I held my breath, thinking if he did, I might possibly faint. God, I hoped not.
Then his hand was gone, and he nodded his head toward the door. “Better get in there before Mal comes storming back into the room, bitching.”
He motioned for me to go first, and I did, reluctantly. I wanted to stay in here alone with him. I’d missed him, and seeing him again was only going to make that ache worse when he left.
His words replayed in my head.“…if you hadn’t left me, you’d be eating and sleeping properly.”
And I stopped, then turned back to look at him. Did he think I wanted to leave him? If he did, then I had to clear that up.
“I…” Pausing, I tried to put the words together in my head so that they made sense. That he would understand without me sounding like a whiny baby who had run off because he had been gone too long. “I left because I thought I was a burden. When you didn’t come home, I was afraid it was because I was there.”
He said nothing. With his silence, I began to worry that I’d been right. He had only been teasing me earlier.
“It’s gonna get cold,” Mal’s voice called out.
Luther lifted his eyes from me to look over my head toward Mal.
“Yeah,” he replied, then placed a hand on my back and turned me around before leading me to the dining room.
