Unbearable (the TORQUED trilogy Book 2) (21 page)

He backs up giving me space. “Okay.”

And we part, just like that, much different from Valentine’s Day last year. I can’t help but wonder why he felt now was the time to corner me like that, but then again, maybe he needed closure?

AFTER PACKING SOME clothes, I make the drive to Lebanon and pick up a pizza on the way over to Red and Lenny’s. I’m actually excited for a girl’s weekend with Nova when Tyler texts me.

Tyler: Free tonight?

I do get a little giddy that he’s texting me, despite knowing it’s just for sex.

Me: I’m watching Nova. Red and Lenny went to the beach.

Tyler: Want help?

I know where this is going. He’ll come over and pretend to help only because he wants some and then when he gets it, he’ll leave. Red probably won’t appreciate that much.

Me: I have to ACTUALLY watch her. Not just bumping uglies.

Tyler: My dick is NOT ugly.

Me: meh.

Tyler: what the fuck does that mean?

I don’t reply. Mostly because I think it’s funny and I know what he’s going to do with that. He’s gonna show up.

Sure enough, thirty minutes into watching Nova, Tyler’s knocking at the door.

“Uncle Ty, what are you doing here?” Nova opens the door, motioning him inside.

He looks at me, then Nova, smiling. “I heard there’s a party here.”

I snort from my place in the kitchen where I’m cutting another slice of pizza for Nova. I don’t say anything until he’s in the kitchen and Nova’s asking him to stay the night with us in the fort she’s planning on building in the living room.

He glances around, wearing jeans and a T-shirt that clings to his massive biceps I want to run over and touch. “I’ve always wanted to sleep in a fort.” He waggles his eyebrows at me. “Can’t wait.”

See, this is the problem with Tyler and me. He won’t give me what I want but I enjoy his friendship so much I constantly set myself up to be hurt by him.

Standing next to me in the kitchen now, so close his warmth surrounds me, he whispers in my ear. “Is this okay? Or should I go?”

“I’m not having sex with you,” I tell him, rolling the pizza cutter through the slice of cheese pizza.

He chuckles and it’s low, the sound flowing through me because the soft chuckle gives my stomach a flip every damn time. “Who said I was asking?”

Sure he’s not. I remember the bathroom and by the look in his eyes when our gaze meets, he remembers too. It’s why he’s here, I think.

“I came to see about a text message,” he whispers, his voice so dangerously low goose bumps form.

I roll my eyes. “Jesus, I was kidding.”

“Damn right you were.” Tyler grins and it looks good on him. I miss his smiles. “How’s school, Nova?” His stare sweeps to hers. She’s in the fridge digging out the root beer I brought over for her.

“Not awesome.” She sets the soda on the table next to our plates and then grabs another paper plate for Tyler. “I want to talk about just getting a job or maybe being a stay at home kid but Red says no.”

Tyler chuckles, the corners of his eyes crinkling with humor. “Why don’t you like it?”

“School just isn’t for me.” She leaves it at that and smacks the table with her hand. “Sit next to me, Ty. We can eat pizza together.”

It’s amazing how much I miss Nova and her quirky behavior when I’m away at school and don’t see her during the week. I swear she gets bigger every time I see her and her attitude is more like Red every day. She’s got his dry sense of humor.

We’re at the table, eating pizza and Nova’s telling us everything she doesn’t particularly like about school. Tyler’s attention is fully on her, listening to her every word.

Lost in my head, the night flies by with the three of us playing Monopoly for what seems like hours. Naturally, I win. No one can manage money down to the very last cent like me. Hell, Nova bought everything she came across and Tyler was more into being ahead of everyone on the board than actually playing the game. His car always had to be in front of my thimble.

Nova decides after Monopoly that she wants to have ice-cream sundaes so Tyler takes her, hand in hand, to the kitchen. She stands on a chair, watching his every move and asks, “Uncle Ty, are you afraid of anything?”

He shrugs and takes the lid off the ice cream. “Spiders. I don’t like them.”

“Daddy hates snakes.”

“I know. It’s the only time I’ve seen him scream like a little girl.” Scooping a large chunk of ice cream into her bowl, he waits for her to say if she wants more. She nods so he gives her one more scoop. “Are you afraid of anything?”

She shrugs. “Not really. My daddy is a super hero so I don’t have to be afraid of anything.”

Tyler grins and taps her nose with his finger leaving a dot of chocolate ice cream on her nose. “I wouldn’t be afraid of anything if my dad was a super hero either.” Taking two more bowls from the cupboard, he scoops ice cream into them while Nova watches intently. “So he’s like Batman?”

“No.” Nova grabs for the whip cream on the counter beside the ice cream I set out, considering her super heroes carefully. “He’s like Ironman because he has a hole in his chest. But Mommy healed it with her heaven powers when he was hurt and gave us Lenny.”

“Lenny’s pretty special, isn’t she?”

Nova’s face lights up. “She is.”

When he’s finished with the ice cream, Nova and him pour on the toppings and bring the bowls to the table where I’m sitting watching the two of them. Tyler takes a bit of his ice cream and then looks at Nova. “So why are you giving your dad a hard time lately if he’s a super hero.”

Nova rolls her eyes, midbite of her chocolate sundae. “Because he’s making me go to school. I don’t want to go. I want to be a stay at home kid like Uncle Rawley.”

“You don’t want to be like him, Nova,” I add, hoping she never turns out like him. Rawley knows he’s a horrible example, but he claims if you can’t be a good one, be a horrible example of what not to do. His logic, not mine.

GETTING NOVA IN her pajamas before we are set to watch
Frozen
for the second time tonight is something else. We’re in her room, digging through her dresser when she strips down to just her panties and I notice the kid has a wrench in her underwear.

“Ollie gave me a wrench,” she says, pulling it out to set on her nightstand.

“Why did you put it in your underwear?”

“Does it look like I had any pockets?” She raises an eyebrow. “I had to put it somewhere.”

She is Red’s kid so I’m not all that surprised by this.

Once dressed in her jammies, her and I go back out into the living room where Tyler is in the fort waiting for us, still fully clothed. I’m glad he’s stayed because he’s made the night so much better. Not that we wouldn’t have had fun without him, but Tyler has a way about him that makes everything more fun.

For nearly two hours, we lay in the fort watching
Frozen
and eating popcorn, most of which Tyler throws at me because deep down, he’s still a boy and when you want a girl’s attention, you throw things at her.

“We gotta get her to sleep at some point,” I tell Tyler once
Frozen
is over and Nova restarts it again, knowing this kid is never going to go to bed if we’re playing with her. Fuck us for being the cool aunt and uncle who don’t force her to bed at nine. It’s midnight and I can’t understand why she hasn’t passed out. Could have been from all the sugar we gave her.

“This movie’s not very good. What’s with all the singing?” Tyler’s lying against the pillows in the fort, Nova across his lap, his hands combing through her hair trying like hell to make her sleepy. “I have an idea,” he says, nodding to her room and sitting up. “Go grab her bear and blanket she always sleeps with,” he whispers.

I forgot she had a special bear and blanket she refuses to sleep without. When I’m in her room, I hear Tyler turn on some music.

I walk into probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Tyler slow dancing with Nova as he holds her against his chest and sways in the kitchen. They’re dancing to Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” and I nearly cry.

Her head is on his shoulder, her eyes blinking slowly like she’s close to sleep and he’s singing softly to her. They continue this for the entire song and when it’s over, Nova’s asleep, just like that.

“How’d you do that?” I whisper, setting her bear on the pillows.

Tyler twists his head to the side after brushing his lips over her forehead. “Do you remember the week Nevaeh died and Red locked himself in his room?”

I nod. I was only sixteen when Nevaeh died but I remember my brother’s pain during those first few weeks like it was yesterday, knowing nothing would ever be the same for him. He was so broken and out of it, I didn’t even recognize him anymore.

His head tilts sideways and his brows knit together as though he’s in pain. “I helped your mom with Nova that week, and the only way I could get her to sleep at night was dancing with her in my arms. And then she’d sleep right on my chest for hours.”

“You’ll make a good dad someday,” I tell him, my hand on his shoulder, rubbing it softly. I wrap Nova’s blanket around her before Tyler lays her on the sea of pillows on the floor.

Tyler nods, setting Nova down but there’s a sadness in his expression that says he’s bothered by something I said. He stares at Nova for a moment and the sadness remains.

Standing, he steps back, his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. “I should go home.”

“No, you told her you were staying. Don’t bail on a five-year-old.”

It gets him and he sits back down but doesn’t say anything.

Fuck, did I say something to upset him?

When we’re both lying down, I finally ask him, “Why’d you come here tonight?”

“Because you called Wang ugly,” he teases and then breathes in deeply, he takes a moment to think about the question and then says, “I like spending time with you.”

Be still my heart.

The look on his face captivates me as it always does. Instantly, he has my full attention, my heart pounding oddly fast.

He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip and then lets it go. With a grin, his fingers brush the edge of my bra strap, teasingly, lightly tickling over my collarbone.

He brushes my hair behind my ear as his eyes roam over my face lit by the My Little Pony nightlight with splashes of pink and purple. “I’ve told you, I do have feelings for you.”

I touch his purple-lit cheek. “Just not girlfriend feelings.”

“Well—” His head twists and he kisses my palm. Something in the way he looks at me unnerves me, makes my skin tingle and my breath hitch. “—I don’t have girlfriend feelings for anyone else either.”

I tip my head. “There’s that.”

He didn’t try to have sex with me either.

There’s that, too.

Maybe he’s wanting a change of subject, I’m not sure but he smiles and motions around the pink and purple sheets hanging up by a baseball bat stuck between couch cushions. “You know, the last time I was in a fort was when I was eight years old.”

I laugh lightly, covering my mouth so we don’t wake Nova. “Were you with a girl?”

He nods a bit arrogantly. “Two actually.”

“Not surprised.”