He blinked innocently. "No, I can't. Please finish."
I rolled my eyes and said, "I started jumping up and down, and one of those times I guess I did it high enough that I reached the chandelier. I scraped off the top of my head, and the very edge of my forehead."
He frowned. "Your hair seems to cover the spots just fine."
I shifted my bangs-that I grew out specifically to hide the lovely designs on my forehead-and showed him my scars.
He whistled between his teeth. "Groovy scar."
I smiled, but it didn't reach my eyes.
"Thank you for turning it down," I said, making my way to stand.
He helped me to my feet and looked down at me.
That was when I realized that not only was he now shirtless, he was also pantless.
"You're … " I hesitated, searching for the right words. "You're nearly naked."
He nodded.
"I pressed the pant leg against your scalp to stop the bleeding." He paused. "I didn't have anything else to use."
That was when I realized that I was still clutching his pants in my hands.
I offered them to him, but the moment I did, I felt a fresh wave of blood ooze down my forehead.
"Dangit," I grumbled, putting it back. "Is it bad?"
He shrugged. "It'll stop eventually. You just took the top layer of skin off the side of your forehead.
Wonderful. Just freakin' great. Perfect.
"I have a date today," I moaned. "He's going to love seeing this."
Something changed in his complexion, and I blinked, trying to ascertain what it was. The moment that I did, he smoothed out his features into an impenetrable stare.
"Who's the date with?" he questioned.
I shrugged. "I don't know. It's a blind date set up by Krisney. Since she's back, she's determined to have me dating again."
"Again?" he questioned. "You mean you stopped at one point?"
I nodded. "I did. At first, I dated a few men from the church, but since they go there, my dad is always in the back of their minds. They treat me like I'm a kid, or a woman who's a preacher's daughter, then wonder why I don't enjoy the date."
He started to chuckle, and it was then I realized that I'd been staring at his abs, which jumped when he laughed. Which were mighty close to the boxer briefs he was wearing. Which covered his impressive …
I looked away again, my mind really starting to run.
Oh, God. He had a big cock. He was also not hard.
What would it look like if he … I shut down those thoughts again.
"You're dating the wrong guys then," he pointed out. "If you were dating the right ones, they wouldn't give a fuck who your father was. They'd be caring about who you were."
I smiled, and the move made my forehead throb, which reminded me that I was standing in the middle of the man's kitchen-which might I add was going to be fantastic when he was done-with his pants pressed to my forehead.
I dropped the pants from my head and handed them back.
When I felt the drop start, I brought the tail of my shirt up, thankful that I was wearing a stretchy one, and pressed it to my head.
"I'll see you around, Tate."
He watched me go, not stopping me this time, and I found myself disappointed.
I wanted him to ask me to stay, but even I knew how stupid that would be.
I was the daughter of a man who hated his guts, and he was the man who hated my father.
I wasn't fond of my father, either, but he was still my father.
That would never change.
And even if it did, which I knew it wouldn't, Tate would never go for a girl like me.
Chapter 9
Here's a condom. I thought since you were acting like a dick, you might want to dress like one.
-Tate to Hennessy's date
Tate
It was purely coincidental that we ended up at the same place to eat twice that week.
It also saved her life.
This time I was with Baylor instead of Ariya.
Hennessy most definitely wasn't with Krisney.
"Aren't you tired of tacos yet?" Baylor asked.
I shook my head. "Not really."
I fucking loved the tacos here. They also had a hamburger for the days that someone wasn't feeling tacos. It was made out of buffalo, however, and it took some getting used to.
I loved it now, though.
I was eating three tacos, as well as the burger, and inhaling the chips and queso that we'd gotten when she walked in with him.
I didn't know the man. In fact, I'd never seen him before in my life.
But I could tell with just one glance what kind of man he was.
One that her father would approve of.
"You want anything else to drink?"
The same server that I'd repossessed the car from served us, and I could tell within seconds that Baylor was nervous as hell.
He kept watching her like she was about to burst into tears at any moment, and if Hennessy hadn't been sitting two tables over with her date, I would've found it humorous.
However, I couldn't find anything humorous when I knew the moment they walked in that this date had the recipe for disaster in the making.
"I'd love another beer," Baylor muttered to his nearly empty mug. "Thanks."
His muttered reply had me smiling, despite wanting to lean over the empty table in between Hennessy and I and pull her into my lap.
"You're being transparent," I said the minute she left. "You got it bad for the girl?"
Baylor raised his lip in a silent snarl. "Go fuck yourself right off a fuckin' cliff."
"Inventive." I chuckled.
"Fuck you."
I rolled my eyes, and they landed on Hennessy.
She was staring at me, but the moment our eyes met, she quickly looked away.
"Speaking of being transparent," Baylor drawled. "You couldn't have it any worse right now."
I flipped him off and picked up my drink, putting it to my lips, and taking a healthy sip before replying, "I probably could," I admitted. "But I won't."
"Sure, you won't," he countered. "Just like I don't have it bad for a girl that has trouble written all over her."
That was the truth. We were both screwed.
"Here you go," the waitress said. "Anything else?"
I shook my head, and she left as if being there any longer would cause her to say something she might regret.
It made me want to laugh. Especially when I saw the anger written all over Baylor's face.
"How's your house coming?"
I shrugged. "Can't get much done at night anymore."
"Why?"
My eyes slid over to the woman.
"She came over last night, well this morning, and complained about the noise. Since I don't get off until sometime after eight most nights, I don't have very much time to work on it."
He grunted in understanding.
"Get up early."
I thought about that for a moment, and immediately discarded that idea.
"Got enough of that in prison," I admitted. "The idea of getting up earlier than eight o'clock literally makes me want to puke up these awesome tacos."
Baylor snorted. "You're so full of shit."
I was.
I wasn't going to throw up, but I damn sure wasn't going to entertain the thought of getting up early. Staying up late was easy. Getting up earlier than eight, to be into work by eight thirty, wasn't something I was willing to consider.
"Do you like to eat tacos?"
I looked over at hearing Hennessy's date ask her that, and got to watch her stuff half of her taco into her mouth.
"Yes," she said through a mouthful of food.
"I could take them or leave them," her new friend admitted. "I'm more into refined food. Food you have to eat with a fork and a knife."
"Like steak?" she asked.
He shook his head. "Negative."
Her brows went up.
"You don't like steak?"
He shook his head again. "I'm a vegan."
Hennessy's eyebrows furrowed.
"Would you like any more?" the waitress asked.
"Yes," Hennessy whispered. "Thank you, Lark."
So that was the girl's name.
My eyes went to Baylor to see his eyes fixated on the waitress's backside. He'd also taken notice of her name, because his eyebrows went up.
"I'd like some, too," Hennessy's date smiled at the server. "Like hers, only vegan, please."
Could vegans eat cheese?
I pulled out my phone and Googled: what do vegans eat?
The first thing that popped up was ‘a type of vegetarianism that excludes meat and all animal products.'
My immediate thought was ‘what a miserable existence.'
My second was that Hennessy's date had no fucking clue what was going on.
I'd witnessed him eat not one, not two, but four tacos. Each of those tacos had cheese on it. Cheese was a byproduct of milk, which was derived from a cow.
Did he know what being a vegan entailed, or was he just playing her?
My curiosity was caught, and seeing as Baylor was looking behind my head at the mirror that I knew to be there, which had a prime view of the woman he'd been staring at for the majority of the night when she wasn't looking, I didn't feel bad.
Instead, I turned my eyes to the two people at the next table over, and studied them.
Hennessy
This was a disaster.
I couldn't focus on the man in front of me, because of the man beside me.