I wrinkled my nose and turned away.
Once the Godzilla of the laundromat was gone, Fred returned with a mop and bucket, apprehension on his face. “You really don’t need to do this, Neo. This is my place.”
Isn’t that what I said?
“No worries, Fred. I’ll have this cleaned up in a few. Sorry for the trouble.” Neo looked at me, expectation in his gaze.
Clearing my throat, I glanced at the man who had thrown me into the suds. “I’m sorry as well.”
Fred muttered something beneath his breath and shuffled off behind the counter.
Neo sighed. “What were you thinking?”
“I thought you left without saying good-bye,” I blurted out, tugging the lapels of his leather jacket closer around me. It smelled like him.
He paused but didn’t look up. “So did I.”
We said nothing else as he transferred the large load of laundry into another machine and turned it on to finish what I’d started. Then he picked up the mop.
“I can do that,” I offered.
“Sit,” he barked, pointing to a bench.
I sat.
He worked fast, mopping up the suds and water, and frankly, when he was finished, the place looked cleaner than before.
Setting everything aside, he glanced up, eyes latching onto something outside. Without saying a word, he took off, rushing out onto the sidewalk.
Panic assailed me. Was he leaving again without saying good-bye?
Just as I was about to run after him, the door reopened and his dark head appeared, followed closely by Fletcher who carried a small case, making me wonder what was inside.
“Hey, Ivory.” He waved. “Heard you had some trouble with the machine.” He snickered.
I rolled my eyes.
“Sit here and wait until it’s finished and then bring it all home,” Neo said, pointing to the dryer where their clothes were now tumbling dry.
Fletcher nodded and then waved to the man who was staring from the counter. “Hi, Fred!”
“Good to see you, Fletch.”
Why was that man nice to everyone but me?
Reaching into my lap, Neo’s hand wrapped around mine, tugging me into his side. “C’mon, let’s go.”
Outside, the sun was lower in the sky, making the gray, heavy clouds seem even darker. The hand Neo wasn’t holding curled in on itself, tucking farther into the sleeve of his jacket.
“You know them?” I asked, glancing back at the laundromat.
It was a horrid place I really hoped I wouldn’t have to go in again.
He stopped walking, turning to face me as his eyes roamed my face and body as if inspecting every inch. “Everyone knows everyone in the Grimms, which is why you shouldn’t be wandering around out here. You stick out like a sore thumb.”
“I’m wearing a hat,” I argued. And I certainly didn’t look like myself in these crazy clothes.
Wrapping his fingers around the dark bill shading my face, he asked, “Whose is this?”
“Beau’s.”
A rough sound vibrated the back of his throat, and he pulled it off my head.
Gasping, I ducked, using his body like a shield. “You just said I stick out like a sore thumb, and now just look. You’re ripping off my disguise!”
“A hat won’t hide your storybook looks, princess.”
He thinks I have storybook looks?
Let’s not mince words. I knew I was beautiful. I worked hard to maintain myself. But somehow, hearing it from him made me feel it. Even standing on this dirty street in soaked, ill-fitting clothes and chopped-up hair, I felt it.
Sudden movement brought me out of my feelings but slammed me into new ones when Neo’s hand slipped inside the leather jacket. The backs of his fingers brushed against my side, and my breath caught, body freezing in place as tingles danced across my skin.
Feeling his eyes, I lifted mine, and we stood in the center of the sidewalk in the fading light of day, eyes fighting each other for something I couldn’t understand. Tension tightened my throat, and shyness nipped at the back of mind. I desperately wanted to avert my gaze, but I couldn’t tear mine away from his even as a fine blush crept up my neck to bloom across my cheeks.
His hand was still inside the coat, barely brushing against my side. A forgotten touch that was anything but.
Blinking, he drew away, bringing with him a knit beanie in a shade of gray. I couldn’t help but watch his long fingers when he lifted the cap and pulled it down over my head. He took his time adjusting it, settling it over my ears and making sure it was pulled down to practically cover my brows.
“Your hair is damp,” he murmured, feet shifting so close that his sneakers bumped mine.
I opened my lips to tell him I washed it, but nothing came out but a breathless sigh.
When he finished fiddling with the hat, he didn’t step back. We stood there practically sharing air, neither of us moving as the world went on around us but we ourselves were frozen in time.
When I felt the pull between us loosen, I tipped my chin back, gazing up at the baseball hat now on his head.
“That one concealed my face better,” I told him.
His eyes caressed the beanie. “That one is mine.”
A knot swelled up inside my stomach, so big and so tight it pushed against the bottom of my ribs. It ached, but not the kind of ache I wanted to run from.
An ache I’d never felt before.
“I’m glad you came back,” I whispered.
Dark orbs bounced between my light ones, making my throat bob with every swallow. “You are?” His voice was raspy too.
I nodded. “Because now I get to say good-bye.”
24
Neo
* * *
“Let’s go,” I demanded, tugging her up the street behind me.
“Go?” Her voice was breathless, and her wet shoes slapped against the pavement. “We need to talk. I want to say—”
“Later,” I snapped. If she said the G-word one more time, I was going to lose my mind.
Fuck. I’d already lost my mind. I spent the entire day running away from her, trying to remember who and what I was and hoping she wasn’t at the apartment when I got back.
I’d gotten my wish, and then what?
I nearly lost my damn mind. The ache I’d felt. The fear. Thinking she was gone and I’d never see her again.
When I realized she was still here, I couldn’t get there fast enough, and when I saw her lying in a pile of suds, flinching away from the people standing over her, I nearly lost control.
Yes, I knew she had to go.
I wasn’t ready for good-bye.
I didn’t know what it meant, and frankly, in this moment, I didn’t care. My pulse hammered with thoughts of her, adrenaline chasing desire in my veins, and her hand was so incredibly small in mine.
When we passed by the Rotten Apple and my apartment, I felt her twist around to stare back. “Where are we going?”
“Your clothes are soaking wet.” I reminded her, my words punctuated by the jingle of a bell on an opening door as I ushered her into a small shop.
The floors were concrete. The window behind us looked out onto the sidewalk, and the lighting in here consisted of florescent bulbs without any covers.
Racks of clothes crowded the space, and a few shelves against a crumbly looking brick wall held even more folded garments.
Ivory’s nose wrinkled as she gazed around. “What is this place?”
“I figured this would be like your motherland or something.”
She scoffed. “Hardly.”
“You’ve never been to a secondhand shop before?” I asked, curious.
“Of course.” She sniffed, as though I’d somehow offended her. “Vintage pieces are great compliments to any wardrobe.”
“I’m not talking about ten-year-old Chanel,” I said sardonically.
Her entire face brightened, blue eyes lighting up beneath the beanie she wore. “You like Chanel too?
”
Either my tone went totally over her head or she was choosing to ignore the way I’d poked at her. She was cute, though. How someone so achingly beautiful could even look cute was a surprise to me, but then I realized it was the beanie. My beanie.
“Pick out something to wear.” My voice was gruff. “You’re going to get sick running around like that.”
Her small hand clutched the front of the flannel buttoned up around her. I barely had time to feel cocky about the fact she was wearing my shirt because I noted the dark stain on the Band-Aid around her finger. When she’d said it started bleeding again, she wasn’t being dramatic.
“Does it hurt?” I asked, feeling my eyes darken as I stared at the injury.
Pulling her hand up, she looked at the wet bandage, which was starting to come loose. “It stings.”
Without even thinking about it, I snatched her hand, roughly jerking her toward me. Stumbling, she fell into my chest as my hand curled around her much smaller one.
“Neo.” Her voice was breathless. My name tumbling off her lips made it even harder to think straight.
Her fingers were cold against my lips, but instead of recoiling, I pushed closer, offering the warmth of my mouth. The hand that had curled into my shirt when she fell against me gripped tighter, and her eyes widened.
Our stares connected. My lips caressed the bandage, and her pupils expanded. A floating sensation erupted inside me, and my free hand curled inside the jacket around her narrow waist as if she were the only anchor that could keep me on the ground.
I heard her swallow, watched her bow-shaped lips quiver.
Kiss her, my pulse whispered, making the hand against her waist grip tighter.
Her eyes started to flutter toward her pale cheeks, and slowly, I lowered her hand from between us. Our chests rose and fell heavily. Every single breath she took I felt.
My face began to lower…
“Neo!”
I jerked back so fast Ivory went spinning out of my grasp, tilting dangerously toward the concrete floor.
“Ah!” She gasped, then followed it up with an, “Oomph.”
“I got you,” I whispered, holding her above the floor, lifting her to stand on her own two feet.
“This is a surprise to see you in my shop—oh!” The woman who appeared from the back suddenly noticed the small woman standing close to my side.
The woman looked at me in shock, her wide hazel eyes asking silent questions.
“Izzie, this is, ah, a friend of mine. We had a mishap down at Fred’s, so I brought her in for some new clothes.”
“Haven’t seen you around here before.” Izzie never minced words.
“She’s new in town,” I put in quickly. Who the hell knew what Ivory would blurt out? And frankly, I’d cleaned up enough of her messes for one day.
“I love your hair. It’s very chic,” Ivory told the store owner. “Who is your stylist?”
Izzie was taken aback for a moment before reaching up to finger the ultra-short blond pixie she’d had since I’d known her. “Oh, well, I cut it myself.”
“Yourself?” Ivory gasped, stepping toward Izzie. “That’s amazing! I would probably die without my stylist. I mean, just look.” She went on, plucking at the hair sticking out from under my hat. “It’s been only a few days since I saw my stylist last, and just look at what’s happened!”
Izzie glanced at me, and I shrugged. I didn’t know how to deal with her either. Sometimes she was like an alien from another planet.
And other times, I wanted to pin her against the wall and kiss her silly.
“So, ah, you’re here for some clothes?” Izzie asked Ivory.
“Well…” Ivory glanced around nervously.
“Yes,” I put in, placing a palm to the small of her back and directing her toward a nearby rack of clothes. “Pick something.”
Ivory began wandering around, sifting through racks, and making some faces that frankly amused me. To be honest, her snobby, spoiled behavior stopped offending me not long after we met. Probably because I realized she didn’t mean it in a snotty way. It was just how she was.
The more I was around Ivory, the more I realized there wasn’t a mean bone in her body. If anything, she was sheltered and naïve. She’d grown up with a platinum and diamond spoon in her mouth and didn’t know anything else. I couldn’t exactly punish her for being the product of her environment when I was also a product of mine.
Careful there, Neo… Sounds like you’re trying to blend two worlds into one.
“Where’d you find her?” Izzie asked, sidling up to my side. She was taller than Ivory. I didn’t have to look down to see into her eyes.
“I told you she’s a friend from out of town.”
Izzie snorted. “And I’m the queen’s long-lost daughter.”
“I always knew you were too good for the Grimms,” I quipped, winking.
She laughed, lightly slapping my chest. “Charming as always.”
“Oh my God!” Ivory gasped from the back of the store somewhere.
Pulse spiking instantly, I took off, rushing around the racks, trying to see where she’d disappeared to. She was so small that all the displays hid her from sight.
“Princess!” I demanded, feeling as though hours had passed instead of seconds.
“Neo!” she exclaimed, and I spun, my shoulders sagging in instant relief.
She was tucked between two racks, my hat and jacket making it even harder to see her slight frame. Wide blue eyes stared at me with glee as she clutched a hanger in her hands.
“Look at this!” She bounced forward, waving whatever she had in her hand. “Look at what I found!”
“You’re yelling like that over a sweater?” I demanded, my heart rate still not back to normal.
She gasped. “This is not just any sweater! This is an authentic Aurora cardigan.”
“An a-whatta?”
Ivory tsked, lowering the fabric. “I guess you wouldn’t know. You wear flannel.”
Raking my eyes over her body, I smirked. “So do you.”
Completely unamused, she turned to Izzie who was standing just behind me. “You know Aurora, right?”
Izzie shook her head. “Should I?”
“As the owner of this fashion establishment, you should absolutely!” Ivory grabbed the sleeve to look at the price tag. Her gasp made both me and Izzie jump. “Twenty dollars!”
“Damn, Izzie, don’t you think that’s a little steep?” I muttered. Leave it to the princess to find the most expensive shirt in the place. Did she have an antenna on her head for money?
“Steep? She’s practically giving it away!” Ivory exclaimed, holding up the hanger. “Look at the stitching, the detail on the hem. The fabric! And it’s nearly in mint condition. It just needs a good dry-clean, and it will be an essential piece to any wardrobe.”
All I saw was a white button-up sweater with some fat stripes on one arm.
Ivory held it up, marveling at it some more, then flipped it around to look at the back, which had a large A on it. “Original Italian buttons and the signature A on the back.” She sighed dreamily. Hugging the garment to her chest, she said, “It’s just perfect.”
Oh my God, she’s being cute again. I have to stop this.
“It’s too expensive,” I declared.
“You said to pick something,” she countered.
“Not that.”
“But—”
“No.” My money, my call.
The plump red flesh of her lower lip jutted out, and she hugged the shirt closer to her body. The leather jacket seemed to envelop her and the damned shirt even more, and it made me think of how she might look if it were my arms around her instead.
I sighed heavily. “Fine.”
Her face brightened once more, and she clapped for herself. Or maybe it was for me.
Good God.
“Get some pants and come on. You’re going to freeze to death.”
She went off behind another r
ack, and I called after her. “And stop exclaiming like you’re being kidnapped at everything you do and see!” In a much lower voice, I muttered, “Fucking giving me a heart attack every time.”
Izzie was staring at me like I was the alien and not Ivory.
“What?” I snapped.
“You got it bad.”
Shit, not her too. “I do not,” I deadpanned.
“I’ve never seen you like this with anyone,” Izzie remarked, then tilted her head. “Actually, I’ve never seen you with a woman ever.”
I stepped closer, allowing a glint to come into my eyes. “Now that’s not true, Izzie. You’re a woman.”
A pink blush blossomed on her high cheekbones.
I should stop right now. Truth was I’d always known Izzie had a little crush on me. She was beautiful and from my world. But I never pursued her. I never pursued any woman because I was better on my own.
“I never thought you noticed,” Izzie murmured, taking a step closer.
Alarm bells went off in my head. Was she actually turning my charm around and using it to hit on me? Why now? Why after all this time?
“Almost done!” Ivory called out.
Izzie’s eyes flicked away and then came right back to mine, a small smirk on her lips and a slight glint in her stare.
Was she jealous?
Her hand slid up my chest, but I kept my eyes locked on hers. “Well, if you aren’t interested in her, maybe you might be interested in me,” she practically purred.
“Iz.” I grabbed her wrist, stopping the perusal of her hand. “You aren’t interested in me.”
“I think you know that’s not true.” She arched into me.
I did know.
What I hadn’t known was just how much I was not into her until this very moment.
She might be beautiful, and she might be from my world… but I didn’t want her. I never would.
I caught her just before her lips locked with mine. My palms wrapped around her shoulders, holding her back. Surprise lit her catlike eyes, and they narrowed vindictively.
“I’m sorry, Izzie. I’m not interested.”
Cocking her head to the side, she studied me. “That girl is high-maintenance, noisy, and completely wrong for you.”
“I know.”
Ivory White : A House of Misfits Standalone Page 13