“Shithole?” I finish her thought for her.
She winces. “Well, no. But not something so…normal.”
“I may not need seven-hundred-thread-count sheets, but I like my space, and that includes a nice house.”
She twists, looking around the neighborhood. “I figured you more for an apartment or downtown loft type of guy.”
I laugh. “Sweetheart, did you see a downtown loft anywhere for me to even live in if I were that type of guy, which I’m not?”
She shakes her head.
“Can we go in now?” I ask her, seeing as she hasn’t moved an inch away from her car door. “I’m tired, and standing out here having a conversation for the entire neighborhood to hear really isn’t my thing.”
“They can hear us?”
“I installed security cams, which include speakers, on every house on this block. They see and hear everything.”
She wrinkles her nose. “You did that?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Security.”
“From all the criminals?” she stammers, clutching her purse to her side.
“From whatever. Ain’t any bad shit in this neighborhood because we make sure there’s no bad shit. It’s the modern-day version of community watch. Eyes and ears everywhere.”
“Figured out here everyone sat in their windows with their shotguns, waiting for the bad to come to them.”
I laugh. “Total city girl.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“It ain’t. Now, let’s go. Cameras, remember?” I remind her, and that gets her ass moving, slamming her door and heading toward me.
“Well, come on.” She shoos me toward the door. “Wouldn’t want all the prying eyes to have something to gossip about tomorrow.”
I shake my head, walking in front of her. “You will not be gossip.”
“I’m sure I’m not the first woman you’ve brought home.”
“Won’t be the last either,” I mumble into the door as the lock disengages.
She stays five feet away from my back but follows me inside. “Here,” she says.
I turn, spotting my license in her hand, and take it back. “I’ll grab you some blankets and pillows. No feathers, though,” I tease, turning on the lights as I move down the hallway. “You should be comfortable enough to get a few hours of sleep.”
She stands in the entry, not having moved more than a few feet inside the house. “Why are you helping me?”
“My dad always taught me to help others, especially women, when they’re in need. And if I’ve ever met anyone in need, it’s you, babe.”
“I hate that.” She scrunches up her nose again.
“Hate what?” I pull down a pile of blankets and pillows, carrying as many as I possibly can, hoping something will satisfy the city girl.
“Babe.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you won’t be here long enough to have to hate it much longer. Mean no disrespect with the word.”
“I mean, I’ve been called worse, but it’s just so…archaic.”
“I’m a man. I make no apologies for that.”
She sighs, following me into the living room when her feet finally come unstuck from the tile. “The inside is prettier than the outside,” she says, her eyes moving around the room, soaking in my space.
I drop the pile of pillows and blankets on the love seat before starting to prep the couch for her. I have two spare bedrooms, neither of which are set up for company, and that’s done on purpose. “I don’t know what kind of men you’ve been with. Don’t know where you come from. Don’t care either. But babe shouldn’t make your face twist up like it does. Especially not when you have a douchebag like Janison.”
“Jamison,” she corrects me. “Like the whiskey but spelled differently.”
“Whatever,” I mutter, tossing the pillows on one end and covering the couch with another blanket. “Bathroom’s down the hall. You need anything, don’t wake me up. I got nothing to hide. You need water, get it. You need to piss, go. You’re hungry, good luck because all I have is frozen shit, chips, and some granola bars.”
“I’ll be fine,” she insists, standing stock-still, staring at me. “Thank you.”
“Pains you to say that, doesn’t it?” I tease, giving her a smile.
“No,” she lies.
“You wanna get out of that?” I ask as my gaze dips to her shorts and lacy tank top.
“I can sleep in this.”
“I have an old T-shirt and shorts that might fit you.”
“I’m fine,” she tells me again, setting her purse down on the coffee table right in front of the pillows. “If I could sleep in my car, I’m pretty damn sure I can handle a couch in my shorts.”
“Suit yourself,” I mutter, walking away. “Night.”
“That’s it?” she asks.
I turn my head, glancing over my shoulder, and raise an eyebrow. “You want something else?”
“Well. I…no.”
“Good.”
“I only figured…”
“Babe, I’m tired. Can we save the chitchat for a time when I’m not seeing double, dead on my feet, with five tacos in my belly weighing me down?”
She nods. “Night.”
“Night, babe,” I say, throwing in another babe because she hates it.
She mutters something to herself, no doubt calling me an asshole along with an entire slew of curse words.
I kick off my boots, strip out of my shirt and pants as soon as I’m inside my room, and climb into bed. I give no shits there’s a chick down the hall. Hot or not, I don’t want a piece of her and whiskey’s trouble.
My eyes are barely closed when her cell phone goes off, the ringer set so loud it could wake the dead.
“I don’t know where I am,” she tells the person on the phone. “I mean, I know the address, but I don’t know where in the hell in Florida I am.” There’s a long pause. “I started driving, headed north until the city lights fell away.” Another long pause. “I don’t know what I was thinking. Clearly, I wasn’t, but he offered me a place to stay, and it was either this or a parking lot.”
The hardwood floor creaks, and I know she’s on the move, pacing back and forth in the living room.
“He seems really nice, though.” A few seconds go by before she starts talking again, and I lie in the darkness, waiting for her next words. “He told me to send you his information in case. I don’t think a criminal would do that, Kimberly.”
Jo laughs, the sweet sound echoing down the hallway. “I highly doubt he’s a sex trafficker. Stop with your nonsense. I’m too tired to get into it with you. Let me call you in the morning, and we’ll talk about what to do with Jamison.”
What to do with Jamison? I’m not sure what that means, but he deserves to be dropped on his ass for the way he talks to her, along with what he did to her. I’ve known so many chicks like her, and she’ll probably be back in his arms tomorrow night, willing to forgive him for anything.