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My display of possession on Charlie was my hand around her lower back, even as we sat there on the couch. She sort of leaned into me, almost like she needed to sap some of my strength for herself.
She could have it. She could have whatever she needed from me. I’d rip my own heart out and give it to her, if she asked for it. But that’s the thing about Charlie: she never would. She never wanted to inconvenience anyone, never wanted to be a burden.
At least, that’s how she was with everyone else. Me? Oh, she could hit me with her car and demand my help with her stalker while batting those pretty eyes.
“Yeah, I was in the neighborhood,” Dave was busy saying.“I heard you got engaged. Congrats, you two.”
I half-listened to Claire’s response, but mostly my attention was on Charlie. This whole thing was supposed to be about us, about me, about her parents and her sister getting to know me, but now that Dave was here, it was like the entire thing was thrown into disarray.
It was kind of amazing, how easily everyone ignored Charlie, and therefore me. It must be something they were used to doing, and that wasn’t something I could ever understand. Who in their right mind would ever want to ignore Charlie? Maybe it came easy to them, but I just didn’t get it.
After a while, James got up to cook, and only then did the attention turn back to me and Charlie.
“So,” Dave started, leaning forward on the wooden chair. “What is there to know about you, Ian…” He trailed off, like he wanted me to tell him my last name.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew he’d look me up, either right now or later, when he got home. Do his due diligence since apparently he took great interest in Charlie’s love life. “Smith,” I said lamely, picking the most common last name ever.
Good luck finding me, shitface.
“What is there to know about you, Ian Smith?” Dave repeated, using my fake last name. Out of everyone, he’d been the only one to keep glancing in our direction, even when the topic of conversation was about him. It was more than clear he didn’t like me too much.
I had no idea why. When I wasn’t terrorizing a stupid little rich girl for killing my cousin, I was fucking charming. Everyone always loved me. Everyone. It never failed. It’s why I got away with everything. No one looked at me and thought:Now that one there’s a serial killer.
I answered every question Dave had, being my perfectly charming self. I told him how we met, though all the details were vague to keep in line with what we’d told Charlie’s parents. I told him I worked as a contractor with a concrete crew—and that wasn’t much of a lie. I was good with my hands.
All in all, I think Dave asked me at least thirty hard-hitting questions, but by then, it was time to eat.
Nothing like having burgers and homemade fries that were meant to be cooked on a grill. Call me crazy, but it just wasn’t as good when it was cooked inside. I didn’t complain, though. I smiled and thanked the cook, Charlie’s dad, and I told him how good it was.
By the end of the night, I couldn’t say whether or not I’d impressed any of them. I think they didn’t like me because of the age difference. Ten years—which was really more like twelve—was apparently too much for the Mulanie family.
Hey, it wasn’t like I went after her because of her age, and it definitely wasn’t like I wanted her because I had some creepy Lolita complex. I’d done my best to convince myself that I did not like Charlie one bit. This was all just… an accident.
Or fate. I guess it depended on how you looked at it.
The rain and thunder had stopped by nine, and that’s when I decided it was time to go. Charlie offered to drive me, and I could tell she was itching to get out of her parents’ house, so I agreed.
That’s when Dave made a crack at me, saying, “Almost thirty years old and no car?”
“I live close, and I like the exercise,” I told him as Charlie and I stood up. I grabbed her hand and squeezed it, wordlessly telling her the night was almost over.
“But wasn’t it raining earlier? Don’t tell me you walked in the rain?” Dave was suspicious, more suspicious than anyone else. When all I did was smile at him, he got up and stretched. “I’ll need to move my car, then. I parked behind Charlie.” He reached into his jeans and got out his keys. Old keys, the kind that jingled.
Claire and Tyler left an hour or so ago, due to the longer drive they had to get home. Emily and James followed us all to the door, and Emily actually hugged me. “It was good to see you again, Ian,” she said. “Hopefully we’ll see more of you now.”
All James did was huff and nod along with his wife. I wasn’t sure if he agreed with her or not, but it didn’t matter.
“Thank you again for dinner, it was delicious,” I said, flashing my million-dollar smile at them. Charlie’s hand was still in mine, and she stood beside me, not saying a word. In fact, now that I was thinking about it, she hadn’t said much all night. She grabbed her keys off the ring hanging by the door.
Dave went out first, and we followed. He walked toward Charlie’s car, not his own, and once he reached it, he turned around and offered me his hand again. “It was good to meet you, Ian,” he said. The porch light was on, its yellow hue illuminating his features in a way that made him appear unnerving.
A little creepy, if I might say so myself.
The hand he’d extended was the one I currently used to hold onto Charlie’s, so I’d need to let her go to shake it. If I had to guess, that’s exactly what he was hoping for.
But I couldn’t ignore it, so I had to let her hand go to shake his one last time. This time his grip was steel from the get-go, but I anticipated it, matching his strength with my own. I met Dave’s stare, and as he shook my hand, he leaned in and whispered, “You better take good care of her now, Ian, because if you don’t, her father isn’t the only one who’ll come after you with a shotgun.”
I grinned at that, acting like it was a joke. And maybe it was, but even if it wasn’t, I wasn’t afraid of Dave or James. They could both come at me at once and I wouldn’t blink. Guns weren’t everything. They only helped the hunter when the hunter had some skill. An idiot wandering the forest with a rifle would scare away all the deer within a two-mile radius.
