Page 34 of Somebody to Save
“Or how about this—do you know her middle name? Or the color of her eyes?”
Rather than answer, Owen narrowed his eyes and straightened like he was trying to make himself taller against Beckett’s formidable frame. Like he was struggling to hang on to that anger in the face of his own inadequacies.
“Whatever. Like you know the answer to those questions.”
Beckett tilted his head, and I wanted so badly to see the look on his face.
“October fourth, Wren, and she has the most stunning green eyes I’ve ever seen.”
SIXTEEN
NOVEMBER 1ST
Addison
Owen’s argumenthid my surprise. But thankfully, he realized his defeat. He grabbed the flowers he’d brought and turned back toward the door.
But of course, he couldn’t leave without having the last word. “I can let the past go, Addie, so I’m still holding out hope. You’re supposed to be mine.”
Anger whipped through me, and if he hadn’t walked out of my apartment then, I was worried what I might do.
Hurrying around Beckett, I slammed the lock behind him and groaned in relief and frustration as I leaned against it. Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths.
“Oh my gosh,” I muttered in disbelief. I mustered the courage to peek open my eyes. Beckett was still standing in the middle of my living room like a statue, with his hands in his pockets and an unnervingly neutral expression.
“I’m so sorry you had to?—”
He removed one hand from his pocket and held it up to me as he shook his head. “Please don’t apologize, especially on his behalf. He doesn’t deservethat.”
“No, and I’ve already done enough apologizing for him to last a lifetime,” I muttered under my breath. “At least you got a good laugh out of it. I can’t believe he got my name, myfreakingname, tattooed on his armandmisspelled it.”
Hoping we could forget everything that just happened and go back to the way it was before Owen traipsed back into my life, I paced into the living room and scooped up a pile of magazines haphazardly stacked on the coffee table. I’d been using them to start brainstorming my vision board for the next year, and I was bound to knock them over sooner rather than later.
I dropped the stack on the side table instead.
“Your apartment is exactly what I expected,” Beckett mused. He glanced around my little place that, in such a short time, I’d managed to make my own. There were paintings and prints on each wall, and I’d put up a fun, renter-friendly, floral wallpaper behind my blue velvet couch.
I liked my space to be filled with color. It made me happy when I felt like anything but.
“You like it?”
His smile was genuine, and I loved the way it felt across my skin. All my anxiety and worry that Owen had messed everything up slipped away.
“I love it, Bubbles. Wait, what—” Crossing into the kitchen, I stopped short and glanced back behind me. Beckett’s eyes were wide, and he was staring, unmoving at the other side of the living room just next to my couch. “Is that—is that a snake?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said. Spinning back around, I kicked off my heels before I crossed to his enclosure. He was basking on his log, perfectly positioned under the heat lamp I’d put on a timer. I smiled at how content he appeared. “This is Oli. He’s a piebald ball python. A friend in college needed to rehome him, and I took him. I’ve always loved snakes, and he’s a super rare morph, so…”
My words trailed off when Beckett didn’t respond. I lookedback at him to find he was frozen, still standing in the middle of my living room with his mouth agape.
“Wait,” I said quickly, looking from Oli with his occasional unpigmented white scales and otherwise brown and orange color back to Beckett. “Are you scared of snakes?”
Shaking his head, Beckett scoffed and scrubbed a hand against his mouth. But he didn’t look away from Oli. Like he was nervous Oli would escape and slither across the floor, finding some way to grow five times his size and gobble Beckett up in one swallow.
“Not—notscared. I just didn’texpectto see—I didn’t expect you to have—to have a snake.”
I nodded slowly and ran my tongue over my teeth, trying to hide my smile. His stammering was cute, especially when it came from such a large, consuming man. Never did I fathom that Beckett would fear anything, let alone my little, unassuming snake.
“Okay, sure, whatever you say,” I said with a little laugh. “He’s not going to hurt you.”
