Playing Patience (19 page)

I was afraid to answer the question.

“Well, I didn’t mean to make her worry, but as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.” I held my arms out to my sides to show I was fine. “I’m sleepy as hell and I fully plan on going home and passing out, but other than that, I’m fantastic.”

I stepped around him and started toward my house, but I didn’t get far before he grabbed my wrist and pulled me back to him. His nostrils flared as he stared down at me with pinched lips. His face was turning red and I was afraid I was about to feel the wrath of Zeke.

“Answer the question.” His words were a sinister whisper.

I met his stare until I couldn’t anymore and I had to look away.

“Yes, but it was fine. See? I’m fine.”

He dropped my arm and shook his head at me. Still, his angry eyes burned into my flesh.

“Do us both a favor and stay on your side of the world. Don’t come to The Pit. Don’t come to Finn’s house. Just stay the hell away from all of us.”

And then he turned and walked away.

His words hurt. They hurt way more than they should have. I felt them snake around me and squeeze until I couldn’t breathe. Just a few hours ago he was melting me, but with those words he did more than melt me. He seared me and then turned me to ash.

His tires squealed once more as he drove away. All that was left of him were two burnt rubber marks on the road in front of me.

Fifteen

Zeke

Fear wasn’t the sound of my dad’s heavy footfalls as he came down the hallway ready to beat my ass. Fear wasn’t waking up from my repeating nightmare of my mother’s dead eyes. No, those things knew nothing of fear.

Fear was looking around Finn’s house for Patience and not finding her. It was asking her friend Megan where she was and her saying she had no idea. The truth was I never knew what it meant to be afraid until the moment I thought about her trying to walk home from Finn’s party and being raped and murdered.

Megan called her phone over and over again and we all went out searching for her. For hours we searched, until finally I saw her walking to her house. The relief I felt when I saw her blond hair in the gray dawn was so extreme, I couldn’t put it into words even if I wanted to.

As I drove away from her, I couldn’t remember what it was I said to her. I just knew I was pissed off. I was pissed at her for being stupid enough to walk alone in the dark in Finn’s neighborhood. I was pissed because she was just casually walking while Megan and I were in a full-blown panic. I was pissed because she was able to put me in a full-blown panic to start with.

Thankfully, I’d set out on my own to find her. The last thing I wanted my friends to see was me flipping out over the fact that I couldn’t find some chick. And I
was
flipping out. I’d never felt that kind of anxiety. My fingers still felt stiff and numb from gripping my steering wheel so hard for so many hours.

At one point, I almost ran out of gas, but thankfully I’d finally started making some money from Javier and I was able to fill up and keep looking for her.

Halfway to my house my memory started filling in and I could remember telling her to stay away. Her staying away would be a good thing, but at the same time, the week without seeing her had been hell. I didn’t know what was happening to me and I fucking hated all these conflicting issues bouncing around my head.

Then the guilt started to set in—another emotion I’d never experienced until Patience. I felt bad for yelling at her, but I was so mad at her for putting herself in danger I couldn’t even see straight. She was the queen of bad decisions and coming near me was one of her worse yet.

I had her cell number in my phone since Megan insisted I program it just in case. Once I made it to my yard, I pulled out my phone and sent her a text.

Me: I yelled at you b/c what you did was stupid.

It wasn’t exactly an apology, but it was as close as she was going to get. An hour later I got a response.

Patience: Should I bring you a napkin? You might have some apology on your chin.

I laughed. I liked the fact that she could dish it out. I also liked the fact that she got me. I didn’t want to admit it before, but she definitely got me. I didn’t have to send her an apology for her to know my text was my way of apologizing.

Me: Smartass.

Patience: Mean ass.

Me: Goodnight, Snowflake.

Patience: Goodnight, Zeke.

I passed out as soon as I got in my bed and didn’t wake up until after two that afternoon. Once I was fully awake, I got a shower and headed out. I passed my dad in the living room and, as usual, he said nothing to me. Either he was hitting me or he was ignoring me. I’d made some pretty good money selling drugs for Javier so far so I wouldn’t be living here much longer anyway.

When I showed up at Finn’s house, I walked in on Chet and Megan making out on the couch.

“Don’t y’all have homes of your own?” I said as I set my guitar next to Chet’s drums.

“So are you and Patience okay?” Megan asked, as she wiped her mouth and adjusted her top.

“We’re fine, but there’s no me and Patience,” I said as I fell onto the couch.

“Oh, okay. Whatever you say.” She grinned at me.

“Seriously, we’re just friends.”

“I saw you two together last night in that corner.” She nodded to corner of the room. “Looked like more than friends to me.”

Finn came in and saved me from having to respond, but the truth was I didn’t know what the hell Patience was to me anymore. I just knew I didn’t do the girlfriend thing and if that’s what she was looking for, she was looking in the wrong place.

She quit coming to Boy’s Club. I guess she took what I said seriously when I told her to stay away. The week went by slow and it sucked entirely too much ass. We played The Pit on Friday night and I saw Megan, but still no Patience. So when I ran into her at Finn’s house party the following night, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tiny bit excited. I could see on her face that she was excited too.

“Long time no see, rich girl.” I teased her.

She rolled her eyes.

“My name’s Snowflake.” She grinned.

Damn, she was fun to flirt with.

“So did you miss me?” I nodded at my friend Connor who walked by and said hey.

“I missed you about as much as you missed me.”

I couldn’t help myself. I had to say something sweet.

“That much, huh? Damn, I must be pretty special.” I winked.

Her smile spread and I got a satisfied feeling. I liked making her smile. Something told me she didn’t do it often at home.

“Yeah, must be.” Her cheeks turned pink. She reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear shyly. “You guys should play. We need some music in here.”

She was right. The place was entirely too quiet.

“You just like to watch me play.”

“Maybe.” She shrugged and looked up at me through her lashes.

I loved it when she did that. She looked so fucking hot when she flirted. There was no more denying anything. I liked Patience, too damn much if you asked me, and I missed her. Damn, it was hard to admit that to myself, but worse things have happened.

We hung out together most of the night and I sneaked in a touch every now and again. Not once did she jerk away from me, and I was glad to see she was becoming comfortable with me. When Megan drank too much and passed out on Finn’s couch, I smiled to myself because I knew I’d get to take Patience home.

Once I got her in my car and we weren’t surrounded by a bunch of people, I could really turn up the flirting. Usually, I was the big flirt at Finn’s parties, but it hadn’t even occurred to me that I didn’t pay any attention to any of the other girls who were there. At one point, Stephanie, the redhead, even tried to throw herself at me, but I hardly noticed.

“I think she does this to me on purpose,” Patience said as she rolled down her window.

“Why would she leave you stranded on purpose?”

“I never get stranded because you always take me home. She only drinks too much when you’re around.” She peeked over at me.

That could only mean one thing.

“So she drinks too much to get us alone?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Did you tell her you liked being alone with me?”

I really hoped that was the case because I loved being alone with her.

“Not exactly in those words.”

“Then what did you tell her?”

My car felt too big. I wanted her to be closer to me. I looked over at her and her eyes connected with mine. It wasn’t safe to drive with her in the car. It was hard as hell to keep my attention on the road when she sat just a few feet away.

“It’s not important.” She shook her head.

“It is to me.”

And it was. It was entirely too important. Why the fuck was it so important?

We were getting closer to her house and it seemed like the closer we got, the more nervous she got. Something was definitely going on at her house. I wished to myself that she’d open up and tell me so I could help, but then again, I never talked about my problems at home so I couldn’t really expect her to talk about hers.

“Zeke?”

I loved the way she said my name—like an emotional plea, like I was the only thing she ever wanted to hold on to. It made me feel important; it made me feel needed.

“Yeah?”

She twisted the ends of her hair nervously. “Would you take me home?”

“I am taking you home, babe.”

I was hoping she’d say something else. I’m not sure what else I wanted to hear, but the way she said my name was so deep and desperate. I felt like there was something else she wanted to say to me.

“No, I mean will you take me to your home. Can I stay with you tonight?”

Just like that, my car shrunk five sizes and she felt so close I could feel her body heat against my side. What was she saying? Did she want to have sex with me? I couldn’t deny the fact that I’d been thinking about having sex with her from the word “go,” but there was a problem and the problem was I knew my dad would still be awake. I couldn’t take her there. I didn’t want her to see that.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, snowflake.”

I watched her face fall and I felt awful. I didn’t want her to think I didn’t want her because God knew I did, but I just couldn’t take that chance.

She put her head down and fiddled with her fingers. “I don’t want to go home.”

And then I understood. It wasn’t that she wanted me; she just didn’t want to go home, and if she didn’t want to go home, there had to be a damn good reason.

“How about we go to the park for a bit?”

A tiny smile lifted the side of her mouth. “Okay.”

So I went to the park close to the Boy’s Club and we parked, but instead of making out, like most people did, we talked.

“So how’s your mom doing?” I asked.

“She has her good days and her bad days. Cancer’s a bitch.”

“Agreed.”

I didn’t have to tell her that my mom died from cancer as well. When she looked over at me and nodded, I knew she knew. And that’s how the next hour went. She told me about her sister, Sydney, and how close they were. She told me about her love of soccer and about the game she played earlier that day. As tiny as she was, I would’ve never known she was such a badass at soccer.

When it was my turn to talk, I told her about how the band got started and about the guys. I made her laugh a few times when I talked about Tiny and the girls that loved him. She asked questions, but nothing too personal and nothing I wasn’t willing to answer. She was so respectful of my privacy and I appreciated her for that. Not once did my dad or her dad come up. I was thankful she didn’t ask about mine and I knew better than to ask about hers.

“Have you ever had a girlfriend?”

“Nah, just girls I’ve screwed around with.” I shrugged and stretched out my legs.

“Yeah, I heard you have a different woman every night.” She laughed, but it sounded forced.

“I used to, but not since I’ve met you.”

Her eyes crashed into mine. I wasn’t sure why I confessed that. Maybe it was because we’d been talking for so long and I was comfortable with her. I don’t know, but the minute the words left my mouth her eyes lit up. They were fluorescent-blue pools of emotion and I could tell my confession pleased her.

“Really? Why?”

I knew she’d ask me that and the truth was I didn’t know why.

“Maybe I’m waiting for you.” I looked over at her and grinned.

She took a shaky breath and looked away.

“You shouldn’t do that,” she said softly. “I don’t think I could be like the girls you’re used to.”

Good. I didn’t want her to be anything like the girls I was used to. I wanted her to be Patience, my snowflake, her own unique self. There was no one like her and I wouldn’t want her any other way.

“Good,” I said.

She shook her head. “No, not good.”

I reached over and pulled her closer to me. Her palms landed on my chest and she looked up at me. I didn’t miss the nervous expression on her face or the fact that her body shook a little.

“Yes, it’s very good.” I ran my fingers through her hair. “The first time I saw you I knew you were different. I think you’re perfect just the way you are.” And I meant that. I really did, but that didn’t mean I wanted to say it out loud.

I was already cursing myself for saying something so lame. Why was I sitting in my car sweet-talking this girl when what I should’ve been doing was trying to get in her panties?

She reached up and pushed my hair out of my face with her finger. She was so close I could feel her warm breath against my mouth. Her eyes glowed in the darkness as she stared up at me.

“I’m far from perfect. Trust me. I’m the most flawed person I know.” She turned away.

Cupping her chin, I turned her to face me again. Her lips looked so plump and moist, even being turned down in a frown. I wanted her to smile. I wanted it like I wanted my next breath, and I wanted to kiss her. I’d fought with that one for a while, but I definitely wanted to kiss her.

“Patience.” Her name came out on an exhale.