Page 58 of His Property

He wants me here. He asked, nobegged,me to come talk to his sister, so what am I afraid he’s going to do? Throw me out? Tell me all his problems were magically solved in the last twenty-four hours, so he no longer wants anything to do with me?

No. I maywanthim, but heneedsme. He’s not throwing me in his basement, and he’s not tossing me to the curb. He’ll be happy to see me.

Right?

I need to stop overthinking this.

I set the bags down when I get to the front door and take several deep breaths, straightening my sweater. I can hear a TV on inside, but no light streams out through the window.

With one last breath, I jab the doorbell with my finger and back up a step.

The noise from the TV silences, and the door squeaks on its hinges as it swings open. Victor’s eyes widen as he stands shirtless with sweatpants hugging his hips. One hand on the door, he glances over his shoulder.

He opens the glass storm door and slides through it, gently shutting it when he’s on the front porch.

“Hey,” he says, his brow furrowed. I force my eyes to stay on his face instead of dipping to his bare chest. I get why he didn’t want me to see him with his shirt off before, but his abs and the distinct ‘V’ at his waist makes up for the scars. Tenfold.

“Hey.” My tone is too high-pitched, and I wave unnecessarily as I shuffle. I can feel my nervous smile being too wide, so I try to take it down a notch. “Merry Christmas.”

Victor dips his chin. “Merry Christmas. What are you doing here?”

My heart thuds in my ears, and I breathe as quietly as I can so he can’t tell I’m nervous. I doubt it’s working.

“You said you wanted me to talk to Gabi.”

“Today?” He raises a brow.

I shrug. “I did Christmas last night with my dad and finished up hours ago at my mom’s. Is this a bad time? Sorry, I should’ve texted you first to ask if you had plans. It was a spur of the moment decision, but I shouldn’t have been presumptuous.”

Victor’s lips twitch, and he glances at my feet that won’t stay still. “It’s cool. We were just about to go caroling and bake cookies, but you’re welcome to join us.”

“Oh,” I say, smiling nervously. “That sounds like a lot of fun. I’d–”

“I’m kidding, Mae.” Victor laughs and shakes his head. “Jesus.”

He opens the storm door wide and stands to the side of it before nodding toward the doorway. “Come on in.”

My mouth opens and closes, but I just pick up the bags and give him an awkward smile before walking inside. Victor follows me in and shuts the door behind him.

“Gabi, we have company!”

I glance around like I haven’t been here before. The TV is paused and Bruce Willis’s mouth is frozen mid-speech. I recognize the image fromDie Hard.

“Tell her to eat shit and die!” Gabi yells from a room down the hallway.

My jaw drops, and I look at Victor who’s frowning apologetically.

“Sorry, she doesn’t mean you. We’re expecting other company.”

I nod, but I have no idea who I could be that would make Gabi respond that way.

“It’s Mae!”

Victor holds out his hands toward me. “Here, I’ll take your bags.”

“Oh, sure,” I hand them over, and Victor raises his brows as he peeks inside them.

“You on your way home from the grocery store?”

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