Page 152 of Trusting You
40
Locke
Lily’s Birthday
I stare at the unsent text message, wondering if it’s enough.
Of course, it is. It contains an address and a time. That’s all I need.
Do it already. Hit send. Not like it’s a dick pic.
I don’t send those, ever. Don’t need to. I get my point across just fine in real life. Yet…sending this text might as well be a dick pic because the response could be just as emasculating.
What if she doesn’t show?
Nah. Carter’ll come. If not for me, then for Lily.
Carter’s at the cafe for the moment, collecting the paintings that didn’t sell. Pierce, a mystery I have yet to shake hands with, offered to keep three on display, since he liked them so much—or more likely, enjoyed Carter too much.
Dude. I’ve got to kick this jealousy. I don’t enjoy such insecurity writhing around in my gut. It’s in competition with my disintegrating blood clot for space. I can only do one or the other, and even then, I’ve still got a limp.
I’m walking well enough that I start work next week, meeting with Coach, setting up a training schedule for the upcoming semester. I’m excited—not nervous—because I have nothing to prove on the field, but I’m hopeful. Ready to begin torturing fresh blood, a pastime I didn’t know I enjoyed until Asher employed it regularly on me this past week. Can’t wait to be on the other side of that.
Hit the fucking send button already.
Fine. Done.
I stuff my phone in my back pocket, spinning Lily in her stroller. We’re downstairs, away from the dreaded stairs, and Ben has taken both Lily and the stroller from my apartment to this spot. I hopped the last staircase step on one leg and settled behind him.
Ben turns.
“Ready?” he asks.
“As I’ll ever be,” I admit, and he helps me lift the stroller outside.
* * *
Ben spendstime assisting me in setting up the space. There’s not much to decorate since the place itself is decoration enough. The colors are blinding, the noise deafening, but I make sure a frozen Pina Colada sits in waiting on the table.
“She good in this high chair?” Ben asks, eyeing where Lily sits, surveying her like a mom inspecting her kid’s private school uniform for the first time. “It looks a little flimsy.”
It’s nice, seeing him attach to Lily like a barnacle over this past week, become the mother she never had. I grin, about to tell him as much, but he preempts me and says, “Shut up.”
“She’s fine,” I say. “She’s adapted to these wooden things as easy as she’s become a city kid.”
Ben takes his hands off his hips. “If you say so. But as soon as she figures out how to stand on it, this thing is gonna topple like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.”
“As much as your architectural knowledge thrills me, you need to get lost. Carter’ll be here any second.”
“Right. The cock-block shall be removed.” Ben bends to kiss Lily on the cheek. “‘Bye, Princess Hayes. And good luck, soldier. Can I say one thing?”
“No.”
“This is cute.”
“Be gone.”
“Really heart-warming. My insides are cotton candy—”