Say You Love Her

by Z. L. Arkadie

  He looks at me strangely before heading out. Angelina must have told him all about me. I’m the loser guy she fucked briefly, who she caught in an uncompromising position. She doesn’t even look my way as she and Maggie walk down the long corridor to the nurses’ station.

  Now that I’m back in my seat, I can’t stop squirming, changing positions every thirty seconds or so. It feels as though Angelina and Maggie have been gone forever, but it’s been more like fifteen minutes. Lars hasn’t made it back. There’s no doubt that I want to talk to this guy before Angelina returns. Does he know that I love her? Does he know that she belongs to me? Her hair’s grown back some since the last time I saw her. Long or short, it doesn’t matter—she’s still beautiful, and sexy.

  “Why don’t you go for a walk?” Vincent says while thumbing out a message on the screen of his cell phone. He’s been answering email ever since Maggie left. “You’re squeaking in the chair.”

  I guess I’m disturbing him. “Sorry about that,” I say and scratch the back of my neck. I’m anxious as hell.

  He narrows his eyes. “What’s going on with you?”

  “Nothing. Just… Why the fuck did she bring this guy with her?”

  “You’re referring to Angelina? Daisy’s sister?”

  I sigh forcefully. “Forget it,” I say.

  “You like her?”

  “You’re right, I need to walk.”

  Angelina and Maggie enter the room. I stand still as they approach. Vincent watches me with his eyes skewed. He seems curious about how I’m going to interact with Angelina.

  “Hi, Charlie,” she says, finally speaking to me.

  Maggie sits back down next to Vincent, and they kiss.

  “Hi,” I say, getting reacquainted with the slight dimple in her chin and the cherry lips that I want to kiss so badly. “How is she?”

  “She’s still asleep.”

  I wonder what she’s thinking as she gazes into my eyes that way. “How are you?” I ask.

  “I’m fine,” she says.

  “You look good.”

  “Thank you. You do too.”

  “I’ve been working with your father.”

  “I know.”

  “I missed you,” I say.

  The sound of footsteps takes her attention away. She turns around. Here comes Lars with a bag of warm fried food.

  “I brought you a cheeseburger and fries,” he says. And just like that she smiles weakly and walks away from me.

  Angelina and her new boyfriend sit across the room. They keep rubbing arms and at times their legs touch. They haven’t stopped talking since they’ve sat down. He looks at me a lot. I can’t hear what she’s saying, but I must be the bad guy in their conversation.

  Maggie snaps her fingers to catch my attention. “Charlie.”

  I tear my eyes off of them and put them on her. She frees herself from Vincent to sit next to me.

  “Who do you think that guy is to her?” she asks.

  “You know what—someone told me she was a man-eater. I didn’t believe her, but maybe she is. She sure as hell chewed me up and tossed me the hell out.”

  “Charlie, he’s gay,” Maggie says.

  Then Lars and Angelina peck on the lips. He takes the bag he carried in with him and walks out.

  “That didn’t look gay to me.”

  Maggie grunts. “That was a brotherly kiss. They’re close friends, but she’s not his type.”

  “How do you know?”

  “She told me.”

  “And you’re just now saying something?”

  “I wondered if you were capable of figuring it out yourself. Obviously you’re not, but she’s still upset with you.”

  “Did she say that too?”

  “No, but I can tell.”

  Vincent frowns curiously. He’s been trying to keep up.

  “Remember what I told you, babe?” Maggie says.

  “You were talking about Charlie?”

  “You told him?” I yell.

  “Not really… I kind of gave him clues. He was in bed with me when Monroe called.”

  I shake my head. “Can anyone keep a secret in this fucking family?”

  Maggie huffs. “You know what? I should never have told you anything. I’m ready to go. I’ll come back tomorrow. Call me if anything changes. Got it?”

  “All right, Mags, I’m sorry.” It’s clear that I’ve just pissed her off.

  “Forgiven. But I’m still leaving. I really need to sleep in a bed.”

  Heels stomping against the floor alert us of a new arrival. “What? I can’t hear what the fuck you’re saying. What?” Heloise Krantz says harshly. She’s talking on a cell phone. “Then fucking adjust.” She looks at Maggie. “That way?” she asks her, pointing down the corridor. Maggie nods. Heloise goes. “Take that shit off my schedule. My daughter is in the fucking hospital. Don’t do anything…”

  We hear a nurse call, “Ma’am!” and Heloise’s feet continue to beat the floor without slowing.

  Maggie and I raise our eyebrows at each other. Then she leaves with Vincent. I still need to process the fact that they’re engaged. I never pictured Maggie as a married woman. I still doubt she’ll ever walk down the aisle. I gaze across the room at Angelina. We’re staring at each other. I can picture us tying the knot.

  Two women walk in. They’re both studying me as if we know each other. I sure as hell hope not.

  “Is this where we can find Daisy Lord?” one of them asks.

  I rise to my feet. “Yes. Her room is down the hallway, but the last time I checked she was asleep. Although she’s probably awake now that her mother and my brother are in there with her. You can check with the nurse.”

  They smile. “You’re Belmont’s brother?” the pretty red-haired woman asks.

  “That would be me.”

  “I’m Penny, and this is Dena. We’re Daisy’s friends.” Dena looks like she’s Spanish with long brown hair and brown skin and eyes. They’re still smiling.

  “Could you show us where to go?” Dena asks.

  I turn to take a glance in Angelina’s direction, but she’s gone. My stomach drops. Where the hell did she go?

  I point down the corridor. “Just go that way.” I realize that they wanted me to walk with them, but I have to go look for Angelina. I can’t let her get away from me again.

  “Oh,” Penny says, surprised that I didn’t take advantage of their subtle invitation to get to know them better.

  I turn away from them, but as soon as I do, there’s Angelina.

  We both stop where we are. Daisy’s friends are still behind me. After a beat, they walk away. So now it’s just Angelina, me, and whatever the hell causes the tightening in my chest, right where my heart is, whenever she’s near.

  Chapter 17

  Just Say It Already

  “Where’s Lars?” I ask, now that we’re standing face to face.

  “He’s staying with a friend.”

  Whew, that’s a relief. Whether he was gay or not, Lars and Angelina looked much too cozy, and it made me uncomfortable. “Where are you staying?”

  “At Daisy’s and Belmont’s.” She dangles the keys. “I have these.”

  “Stay with me.” I blurt it out before I know what I’m doing.

  She wrinkles her nose and says, “I don’t think so, Charlie.”

  “There’s no one at Jack’s place, and we’re in this together so we might as well stick together.” I mentally kick myself for sounding cheesy as hell.

  She stares off into the distance. She’s so pretty—just genuinely blessed with the sexiest facial features. My eyes dip down to take a look at her tits. They’re as I remember them. She catches me looking, and I quickly raise my eyes to her face.

  “I was waiting for you to call me back. Glad I wasn’t holding my breath.” I grin.

  “It’s just that…” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

  I take her by one of her hands as both of Daisy’s friends return and m
ake themselves comfortable right where I was sitting. Touching her again does things to my dick.

  “So is this it for us?” I figure I should ask.

  She takes a quick glance at the two women sitting behind me and then scowls. “If so, then what? You move on?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  She rips her hand out of mine. “I guess not.”

  The old Charlie wants to storm away from her, pissed off from being rejected repeatedly, and determine which of Daisy’s friends to lose myself in first. Maybe Penny. She’s a redhead. But I realize the “self-loathing” aspect of taking that route. Not only that, but I have no real desire to go down that road.

  “Angelina,” I say, taking a forceful tone. “You’re staying at my house. You can talk to me or not, but I’m not going to let you stay at Jack and Daisy’s by yourself.” I’m taking a stand here.

  Her lips part as if she’s going to object. After a lengthy pause, she sighs. “What the hell ever.”

  I want to jump for joy, but I contain myself. Man, she’s a tough one. If she only knew how I felt for fucking real, then she wouldn’t be so sour at me. At least she shouldn’t be.

  She smiles. “So Joella opened her eyes.”

  I grin. “Yeah, she did.”

  “Is she small?”

  “A little bit bigger than my hand.”

  She takes my hand and spreads my fingers. “Good. You have big hands.”

  I detect the double meaning.

  I would recognize Jack’s footsteps anywhere. Here he comes. I hate that I have to turn away from her to see him. We were finally getting somewhere.

  “You guys go home,” Jack says as he approaches. “Daisy’s going to sleep after Dena and Penny leave.” He slaps a hand on my shoulder. “I told her you came into the room to see her. She agreed to wait until tomorrow to see you.”

  “I can live with that,” I say. “Is Heloise making you want to overdose on the oxygen?”

  Jack snorts a chuckle. “She’s Daisy’s mother, what can I say? But the friends we’re taking off the visitors list. They can see her when we’re out of this damn place.”

  “What about you?” Angelina says. “Do you need me to bring you anything? Perhaps your favorite pajamas?” She smiles and so does Jack.

  “I’m fine, Angel,” he says. “I have everything I need back there. I’m not leaving here without either of them.”

  Shit, seeing him like this is killing me. I wish I could convince him to go home, take a shower, and get some sleep while I pull Daisy duty for him tonight, but I know I can’t. I’ve done a lot of soul searching since the whole Monroe incident. Our father was in charge of providing for the household, taking care of the monetary responsibilities, and making sure we lived up to an unrealistic ideal of who a son of Charles Lord should be. That meant there was a lot of emotional fallout, and that’s where Jack took over. He was in charge of my and our mother’s emotional happiness. I guess he discovered that he had a knack for it and that’s why he’s never stopped taking care of me and everyone else in the goddamn world. It fucking floored me when I came to the realization that Jack was more than my brother; he’s been my father. That’s why I resented him—a man and his father are never going to be on equal footing. The resentment started when he left our mother and me alone with that man after he graduated from high school. I’ve been punishing him for it ever since, like a fucking little boy. I felt as though he owed me something, and the truth is the opposite. I owe him.

  I lay a big hug on him. “I love you,” I say.

  At first he’s stunned, but after a beat he hugs me back. “Love you too, Chuck.” He looks at me with concern after I let go of him. “Are you okay?” he asks.

  “Yeah, I was just thinking maybe I should stick around for the night.” Shit, I’m willing to give up being alone with Angelina just to make sure he has someone for him finally.

  “I told you—Daisy’s going to be asleep,” he says.

  “I know… I thought maybe I should stick around for you.”

  Now he’s really examining me as if I’ve lost my marbles. “Thanks, but I’ll be asleep too,” he says.

  I nod stiffly. It’s just like Jack to turn down support for himself. His eyebrows are still pulled together as though he’s still trying to figure out what the hell has gotten into me.

  “That’s fine,” I say. “But you know what to do if anything happens.”

  “I’ll call you, definitely,” he says as if he’s making a promise.

  “I left Jacques a message,” I say.

  “Me too,” Angelina says.

  “I did too,” Jack says. “Oh, I wanted to ask you—how did working for him work out for you?”

  “It was great. We’re hooking up again in a couple of weeks.” I glance at Angelina. “We’re working on the next project in New Orleans.” I can feel her reaction. She’s excited to hear it.

  Jack grunts, intrigued. He can barely keep his eyes open.

  “Listen, I don’t mind being the bad guy. Do you need me to kick Heloise Krantz’s ass out of there for you?”

  He chuckles and so does Angelina.

  Jack winks at us. “I’ll get rid of her, but it’s kind of good that she’s here snapping at the nurses, asking for the doctor, and making sure I’m buying the best specialists I can afford. Daisy needs to see how much her mother cares.”

  Jack gives Angelina and me one more hug before he goes. I’ve hugged him twice in one day after not having done it since I was probably thirteen years old. It feels good to know we’ve come this far together, and I’m ready to improve how we move forward in the future.

  Angelina and I walk out together, and she’s very quiet, as though she’s lost in thought. We make it to the elevator.

  “I’m in the garage. Where are you parked?” I ask her.

  “I’m in the garage too.”

  “Is it your car or a rental car?”

  “It’s my”—she draws quotes—“California car. I leave it parked in a lot in El Segundo.”

  “El Segundo? You can just leave it in my garage from now on.”

  Her smile is huge; it’s one I haven’t seen since we were in Louisiana.

  “You’re different,” she says as the elevator doors open. We step out into the parking structure.

  “Am I less self-loathing?” I ask.

  She lowers her head and chuckles. “Daisy told you I said that?”

  I nod. “She did.”

  “Are you?” she asks.

  “Am I less self-loathing?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe you should see for yourself.”

  I’ve seen the look in her eyes before. I’ve been waiting a long time to see it again.

  “So you’re going to be in New Orleans with my father?”

  “Did you like the sound of that?” I’m flirting shamelessly.

  She snorts. “I do.”

  “You want to come?” Damn. I hope she caught that double meaning.

  Angelina chuckles. She caught it.

  The garage is dusky. A car speeds past us, and its tires squeak. I can’t apologize for the whole Monroe incident another time. I don’t even want to mention it. However, I know that’s what’s making her keep her distance.

  “Why don’t you ride back with me?” I say.

  “It costs too much money to leave my car here overnight.”

  “You don’t have to worry about that.”

  “Actually I do. It’s the principle.” She’s chewing on her bottom lip and her arms are folded in front of her. I’ve noticed that she does that when she’s waiting to be convinced to see things someone else’s way—in this case, my way.

  “I beg to differ. You’re saving money on gas and releasing fewer fumes into the environment. And I can use the company.”

  And just like that she throws her hands up in surrender.

  First we collect her suitcase from the trunk. I’ve never known a woman who travels as light as she does.
r />   “How did your friend get out of here?” I ask as I put the suitcase in my trunk.

  “One of our friends picked him up.”

  I step up behind her to open the car door. I try not to look at her ass in those jeans, but I can’t help it. They’re really tight. I think they’re the stretchy kind. “‘Our friends’?”

  She tenses up as my dick brushes her ass. “Yes,” she croaks.

  We’re stuck in an awkward position. My hand is on the door latch, but I can’t open it because she’s standing between it and me. Angelina smells so damn good, and if I took my other hand and wrapped it around her, I could cup a handful of plump tit.

  I watch her shoulders as they rise and fall.

  “Are you going to open the door?” she whispers.

  “I can’t.” I slide my hand along the curve of her hip. “You’re in the way.”

  “That’s because you’re in the way.” She chuckles.

  I step back, and she quickly steps to the side. I open the door. Angelina avoids any kind of contact as she gets in.

  It’s late in the afternoon, but the sunlight still burns my eyes. I put on a pair of sunglasses, which let me sneak little peeks at my passenger without getting caught. I check out the way she sits with her hands smashed between her thighs. Every now and then she shakes her right leg. Angelina’s nipples are poking the red L and the Y in the word Lucky that’s written across her shirt. I remember her bras being so thin that you can hardly tell she has one on. It’s set in stone: I’m going to dine on her tits for an hour straight the next time they’re in my mouth. Then she bites her bottom lip. I’m going to chew on that too.

  I clear my throat and adjust in my seat. My dick has gotten harder, and it needs more space in my pants. “So when were you going to call me?” I ask. Since I’m stopped at a light, I watch her undistracted for a moment.

  “I don’t know—probably soon,” she says.

  Ouch. I snort cynically. I’ve had blue-ball nights just thinking about her. “I didn’t mean a damn thing to you then, right?”

  She faces forward. The light turns green and I take off so quickly that my engine roars, but I get a hold of myself and slow down.