Page 7 of Havoc

Back in the kitchen she stood staring at the money with both hands over her mouth.

“Pack a bag,” I said.

“What?”

“You’re done sleeping here.”

“I have to open the shop in the morning. If I hide, she wins, and I told her no.”

“You’ll open your shop. I’ll take you there myself. You’re just done sleeping here.”

“Then where am I sleeping?”

“My place.”

Color came up her throat and into her face.

“I could go to Brynn’s,” she said.

“Brynn’s place isn’t safe enough. Her front door opens with a credit card. I’ve done it.”

“Of course you have.”

“My place, Bolton. No arguing about this.”

She found an overnight bag in her bedroom closet and started pulling clothes off hangers. Jeans, shirts. She opened the top drawer of her dresser. Lace. A whole goddamn drawer of it, in every color. I was standing there staring at it before she interrupted my less than wholesome thoughts.

“Can I pack my own underwear in peace, please?” Ava-Rose said. Her face was bright red. “Go wait in the hall.”

I went and waited in the hall.

When she came out, I put the money and the pink ticket in my saddlebag and strapped her bag to the back of the bike. I set my helmet on her head and buckled the strap under her chin. She watched my face the whole time I did it.

It was a long ride out to my place. The road was dark and empty, and the desert gets cold fast at night. She held on tighter than she had in town. A few miles out she laid her cheek against my back, and her hands slid up under my cut and took hold of my shirt.

I watched the mirrors for headlights the whole way. It gave me something to think about besides her hands being on my body.

I lived in a simple one-bedroom place, on an acre south of town. I’d spent my money on the shop out back, where I built bikes. The house had a couch, a bed and a coffee maker and not a whole lot else.

“You take the bed,” I said. “Towels are in the bathroom.”

She nodded and shut the bathroom door. I sat down on the couch in the dark and listened to my shower run, and I tried hard to think about something else.

She came out in one of my T-shirts.

“I’m really sorry, I hope you don’t mind. I forgot to pack something to sleep in. I found this in your room. Is it okay if I borrow it?”

It came halfway down her thighs. Her hair was wet down her back and her legs were bare, and I hardly knew where to look.

I’d seen Ava-Rose in a bikini top when she and my sister were sunbathing. I’d seen her in a prom dress, but somehow, my own shirt was worse than both of them.

She got halfway to the bedroom and stopped in front of me.

“You’ve only got one bed.”

“I know.”

“I can take the couch, honestly, I don’t mind.”