“I’m sure the vet will do everything he can to save him,” I say as I place my palm on the back of his leather cut to rub supportively.
“I haven’t had a dog or any pets in almost twenty years.”
“Oh yeah?” I say with a smile he can’t see because he’s still using his arms as pillows. “Why not?”
“Because my mom’s boyfriend killed my last dog.”
“Goodness, I’m so sorry, Phillip,” I tell him as my hand stills on his back. “Was it…was it an accident?”
“No. It was my fault.”
I wait for him to say more, but he doesn’t. He just opens the passenger door and slumps down inside, shutting it behind him.
No wonder he was so torn up about hitting a dog. He still feels guilty about whatever happened to his last pet because he thinks it was his fault it died. I think the man must have a heart as big as he is.
And while I can’t exactly afford to spend a thousand dollars on a strange dog, I know that it was money well spent. I just hope the vet can save him, for Phillip’s sake.
Chapter Ten
Fiasco
I don’t know why the fuck I told Joanna about Rosie. She probably thinks I’m a monster now. If she didn’t already.
I can’t believe I didn’t know that Nash paid her to take care of me. All this time, I thought…hell, I don’t know what I thought. But then I remember the envelope he gave her the day I left her house. Of course the MC paid her. She wasn’t missing work and trying to keep me alive out of the goodness of her heart.
“So, I guess I should take you to your house?” Joanna asks once she’s sitting in the driver seat of her car.
I wince, because on top of the shitty night it’s already been, now I have to be even more humiliated when Joanna sees where I live.
“Phillip?” she asks. I still haven’t gotten used to hearing her use my real name. It’s been so long since anyone has called me anything other than Fiasco, idiot, or stupid bastard.
“Yeah, my apartment,” I agree and then give her the directions.
I start to have her drop me off before she pulls into the complex, but my embarrassment of her seeing the rundown shithole is nothing compared to how fucking tired I am, too tired to walk even a few extra steps.
“Thanks for putting up the money for Ace,” I tell her when she pulls up in front of the door instead of a parking spot as if she knows how weak I feel. “I’ll pay you back.”
“That’s unnecessary, especially if it involves robbing a store,” she says with a smile.
“I’ll pay you back with legal cash then,” I promise her and then look out the car window to the crumbling building. “It may just take a while.”
“Will you need a ride to work tomorrow?” she asks.
I shake my head. “No, I’ll have Wirth pick up my bike; and until it’s fixed, I can drive my Thing.”
“Oh. Okay.”
For a second, I wonder if Joanna asked about giving me a ride because she wanted to see me again, but that’s just stupid. She only took care of me because Nash paid her to and she’s a nice person. She’s too good for someone like me. Too smart. Too beautiful. I can’t help but look at her face in the glow of what few streetlights still work in the parking lot. God, I wish I could ask her to come up to my apartment with me. Even knowing she would most likely say no, I would take the chance if my apartment wasn’t a disgusting wasteland.
“Sorry I had to bother you tonight,” I tell her.
“I’m not,” Joanna says.
I don’t know if she means that or is just being kind.
“What were you doing in my part of town when you live over here?” she asks.
Shit. Of course she’s smart enough to notice that. “I was…I was coming from work. We’re putting a roof on a place out near you.”
“Oh.”
Hopefully she believes that lie. It’s not like I could tell her the real reason, that I was hoping to catch a glimpse of her through her windows. That’s too damn creepy to admit.
“I noticed you have some scrapes on your arms. Do you want me to park to help you clean and bandage them?”
Crap. It does sound like she wants me to invite her up to my apartment. But I doubt it’s for anything half as dirty as the things I want to do with her. Besides, she’s just doing what she does for a living – trying to help. I can’t even imagine someone as incredible as her even sitting on my pathetic mattress on the floor, the only furniture I have, much less letting me touch her on it.
“No, that’s okay,” I reply. “Thanks for everything, angel.” I lean over and kiss her cheek before making myself climb out of her car and up the steps to my apartment without looking back, afraid that if I see her gorgeous face again, I may drop to my knees and beg her to come upstairs with me.
Joanna
Well, that settles that – Phillip doesn’t want me.
I gave him several chances to invite me to stay the night with him, and he turned me down. Now I feel so ridiculous for even pushing the issue.
The disappointment soon fades to what feels like anger.
So, when I get home, I call Casey and tell her everything that happened tonight with Phillip and that it’s all her fault that I made a fool of myself.
“It doesn’t make sense,” she says over the phone. “Why wouldn’t he ask you to come up after such an ordeal? He obviously was upset and could use some…comfort.”
“Because he’s not interested in me that way.”
“Then why did he kiss you before he left your house the other day?” she asks.
“I have no idea! But the kiss on the cheek tonight makes it
