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“Sure, I have nothing to hide, but only if I can ask you questions too.”
“Fine, there is not much I haven’t told you anyway.”
My heart soars. I like that she tells me things she hasn’t told other people.
“Favorite color?” she starts. I look into her eyes.
“Green—favorite food?”
“Don’t have one. I’m not a picky eater…What is your favorite childhood memory?”
“Every adventure I went on with Killian, Joey and Connor.” She grins at my answer. Relief flashes through her eyes. She’s glad I had an easy childhood, and God, I wish she had one too.
“What is one thing you haven’t done, what you would like to do?”
“Ride a bike.”
She had told me about that a few days ago, when we were picking up her car. I made sure to remember her words. She’s doing so much for me. The least I can do is teach her how to ride a bike. She taps her chin and asks, “celebrity crush?”
“Don’t have one. What happened with Kane?”
She groans, hiding her face in the throw pillow.
“I knew you wouldn’t let it go.”
“I told you I would kill him.”
“You told me you weren’t a serial killer, but with the amount of times you wanted to murder someone today, I’m starting to question that.”
“Don’t worry, Sunshine.” I wipe a pizza crumb off her lips, her eyes watching me the whole time. I grin as her cheeks heat up. “I would never hurt you.” My words come out teasingly, but I hope she can hear the underlying promise.
“Oh, I know, you’re just murderous for other people.”
“Hey! Says the one who threatened a guy at the beach.”
She cocks her head. “I don’t regret a thing. He had it coming.” She sets the empty plate on the table.
“Back to your question, he came here, started talking nonsense about how I grew up, and said that I wasn’t so funny the last time he saw me, which makes perfect sense. I mean, my brother had just died, and then I wanted to go inside, and he grabbed my arm.” She holds up her arm for me to see. “Which caused this.”
“Will you…?” I trail off, not wanting to sound too overbearing, “Would you let me know if he came by again?” She stays quiet. “He’s bad news, okay? He was fired a few years ago when they realized how dirty he was. I don’t want to be overbearing, but I don’t want him to hurt you again because—”
She cuts me off, grinning, her fingers wrapping around my wrist. I stare at it. “I’ll call you.” She promises. She lightly taps my arm before letting go, grabbing the TV remote. She switches to a channel where a woman uses sign language.
“How long have you known sign language?”
She scrolls through some action movies before clicking on one and reading the description. “I learned it after I got hurt.” She gestures to her throat. “It damaged my vocal cords. I had to learn how to talk again, but it still hurts sometimes, so I learned it in case it hurts so I can use it. Asher learned it too. We use it sometimes, even when my throat doesn’t hurt, so we don’t get rusty.
“Does your throat still hurt?”
She shrugs after clicking through another movie, this time changing genres.
I guess we’re watching a romantic comedy tonight.
“Sometimes, but I’m used to it now.”
“Can I ask you something?”
There is this one thing that I’ve been wondering ever since she moved here.
