Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 86158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86158 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Goin’ to your room?” I asked. I tried to be nonchalant but must have missed the mark because she looked at me for a long moment without speaking.
“Yeah,” she said quietly. “See you in the morning?”
“I’ll be gone before you wake up,” I reminded her.
“After work, then,” she said with a small smile. “Night, Bishop.”
“Night, honey.”
I didn’t expect to fall asleep, but sometime after I heard her leave the bathroom and go into her room, I passed out. I slept so hard that I nearly missed my alarm going off. As it was, I didn’t have time to shower and had to just throw some clothes on and rush out of the house to get to work on time.
When I got to the house we were working on, I nearly groaned.
Charlie’s mom was doing her daily walk through a little early, and there was no way I could slip by her without notice.
“Hey Bishop,” she said cheerfully. “I got coffee for the crew!”
“Cool,” I replied. “Thanks.”
“You don’t have to do that, Farrah,” Harry reminded her as he came from inside the house. “It’s not gonna make us go any faster.”
“I’m just being nice, Harry,” she replied, putting a hand on her hip. “I’m sure you guys are going as fast as you can.” She smiled at me and raised her eyebrows like we were in on some private joke.
“Thank you for the coffee,” he grumbled.
“My pleasure,” she said forgivingly. “Now, what are you working on today?”
“Gus,” Harry said, raising a hand to stop me as I tried to pass them. “I want you on drywall in the kitchen today. I know the work sucks, but you’ve got an eye for detail and I don’t want those bozos fuckin’ it up.”
“Got it,” I replied, hiding my irritation. Drywall was dirty ass work and by the time I got home I was going to be covered from head to toe in dust.
“Don’t forget your coffee!” Farrah called.
“Thanks, I’ll grab some in a bit,” I said, moving quickly away from them as it dawned on me that I hadn’t cleaned the scent of Charlie off my skin.
I hadn’t even washed my face.
As soon as I was across the house, my lips began to twitch. At least that was one bright spot in what I was sure was going to be an exhausting and filthy day. If I inhaled hard, I could still smell her on my lips and chin.
Three days later, though, the smell of her was gone, even from my sheets, and I still hadn’t seen her. I knew she’d been in the house, because I saw shit she’d used and moved, but I hadn’t actually been in her presence. She was gone until after I’d crashed for the night and still sleeping when I left for work.
It wasn’t until day four that I finally ran into her as she was leaving.
“Where’s the fire?” I asked as she nearly ran me over.
“You’re home,” she said in surprise, jolting to a stop.
“Usually happens when I’m done with work,” I replied cautiously.
I’d gotten off a half hour early because we were waiting on the cabinet guys to install everything, and as I watched her laugh a little too hard at a comment that wasn’t even funny, I had a sinking feeling that she’d been trying to avoid me.
“It’s like that, is it?” I said, opening the door wide so she could pass me.
“Like what?” she asked innocently, putting her backpack on her shoulder.
“Avoidin’ me?”
“Of course not,” she said instantly. She scoffed like she was offended, and I stiffened. “I told you I had a ton of shit going on before we—before.”
“Right.”
“I can’t afford to—”
“Be distracted,” I said flatly. “Yeah, I got it.”
“Bishop,” she replied in exasperation.
“Thought you were headed out?” I asked, glancing at the open doorway.
“Don’t be like that,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“I’m not into playin’ games,” I replied. “You got places to be, go.”
“I’m not playing games.”
“You’ve been avoidin’ my ass,” I argued, kicking off my boots.
“I’ve been busy.”
“You couldn’t say, hey Gus, I got a ton of shit happenin’ the next couple days. If I don’t see you, thanks for the fuck?”
“Well, no,” she said stubbornly. “Since I’ve never and will never call you Gus.”
“Right, that’s what you took from that sentence.”
“I’m sorry you thought I was avoiding you,” she said, shrugging. “I didn’t realize you needed me to check in with you.”
I stared at her. She was completely missing the point—on purpose—and I wasn’t going to keep up the back-and-forth. Charlie was the shit and she had everything I’d ever wanted in a woman, including being the hands down best lay I’d ever had. If she was willing, I was pretty sure we’d make a successful go of it. But I had absolutely no interest in whatever high school bullshit she was pulling.