I tried to smile but it was more of a grimace. “Kids, huh?”
She grinned at me wickedly. “Eventually. And who said you had to father them, anyway?”
I tickled her, punishing her for teasing me. She yelped once, then clapped a hand over her mouth and glared. “I am at work, sir!”
“Yes, you are. Be professional, Daisy.” I flinched like I was going to tickle her again and she squeaked in her throat. This felt so easy. Way too easy and way too familiar. So much so that it was almost heartbreaking. I didn’t let her see any of that on my face, though.
“Sorry, sorry,” I whispered. “I’ll be good, I promise.”
“Mm-hm. You better be.” Her eyes twinkled and her lips twisted with suppressed amusement. “At least for now. You know what the best part of moving out is going to be?”
“What?” My heart sank, but I kept the feeling off my face. Again, I wasn’t going to be the one to shoot down the dreams she was building up in her head. Not now. Not while she was at work.
Sidling over to me, Daisy lowered her voice to a sound barely above a sigh. “Being with you in an actual bed. You know… I don’t think we’ve ever done that?”
“Where’s the excitement in that?” I wrapped an arm around her and nuzzled her head. “It’s always more fun if you risk getting caught.”
She giggled and shoved me lightly away. “Not at work, Kash!”
I raised my hands in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry. But…I was serious about it being more fun if you risk getting caught.”
She shook her head and flicked a warning gaze in my direction before sliding another book onto the shelf. That dreamy look was back in her eye again. “Where would you like to live?” she asked.
Anywhere, as long as you’re there. But what I said was, “I don’t know. I kind of like it here.”
It was a damn lie and she knew it. She narrowed her eyes at me suspiciously. “What’s going on, Kash?”
I kissed her quickly, tasting her lips like they were the last meal I’d ever have on this earth, slow and deliberate. When Daisy pulled back she was completely out of breath and pretty damn close to panting. “Nothing’s going on,” I told her. “Just looking at all my options. Speaking of which, can you help me get logged in on a computer? I promise I know what ‘lowercase’ means.”
She laughed, and I was thankful. She was easy enough to distract. Well, from some things. If I told her about the stipulations I’d learned about from my PO, she’d be brooding on the problem until it had passed or was solved. I didn’t want to be the kinda guy who walked back into her life just to lay more problems than necessary at her feet.
She walked us over to a free computer and took a lot less time getting me signed up than she did with Mr. Johnson. She was so professional about the whole thing too. It struck me then that I’d been doing an absolute shit job sneaking around with her, screwing her in the truck like a damn teenager and here she was, all grown up. She’d done it without me, and I without her. We were different people now than we had been before. Holding on to the same reckless dream seemed insane. Getting out of this town wouldn’t solve anything. We would have to live with ourselves wherever we went, carrying our losses and vices with us.
Maybe it was good that I was stuck here. It would force us to face the ghosts and skeletons of our pasts and overcome them together. Daisy would have to learn to stand up to her father. I would have to learn to get along with people who hated me. It would be good for everybody, right? Character building and whatever.
I twitched irritably in my chair but suppressed the part of my mind which was rebelling against my newfound perspective. I checked the status of my applications but got nowhere. Either I was at the bottom of a stack of applicants, or the hiring manager had seen my name and tossed the application out of hand. I wouldn’t blame them, not with all the bad press I’d been getting.
I scribbled a note for Daisy and folded it up, writing her name on the outside in big bold letters before tucking it between two rows of keys on the keyboard. There were ways to give her what she deserved, but I would need longer than the occasional stolen afternoon. It was time to implement part two of my plan.
Chapter 14
Afternoons are over. The father is convinced of your piety. Look to your window when the beast has succumbed to the sleeping call of vices. The next step awaits.
I’d read Kash’s note three times. At first, I was just confused, then mildly annoyed, then highly amused. Leave it to him to write an unintelligible poem rather than just tell me to sneak out tonight after my dad passed out. I shook my head at the note and chuckled.
“Good lord, Kash. The entire world is a stage, I guess?”
Honestly it was a relief. Squeezing time with Kash into my afternoons had dramatically impacted my schedule. I still had responsibilities at home, and between the chores and the grocery runs and beer runs and spending time with Kash I’d been running myself ragged. Sneaking out after curfew would free up my time immensely.
Besides, he was right. It had been days since Dad had even bothered to check on me at night, and the way he reacted the night before told me that he’d gotten over whatever it was that was bothering him before. Now as long as I could still fit through my window…
“Oh,
