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She plucked the sketchbook from my lap, and for the first time, I didn’t hate that she was seeing something so unfinished.
“You need to take this to class tonight,” she said in a firm voice.
“Hell no,” I said, leaning forward to grab the sketch book. She pivoted with surprising ease for a woman with a serious spinal injury.
“I already have my sketch for class,” I huffed.
Rowan shook her head. “It’s a nice picture of Chris, but no. This is the one you need to take.”
“I can’t,” I said and bit my tongue to keep from crying.
“This,” Rowan said, holding up the sketch, “is real and raw and—”
“Personal. Which is why I can’t take it to class.”
“Ah, sis,” Rowan said, sitting on the couch beside me and wrapping me in a hug. “That’s exactly why you should.”
Chapter sixteen
Theo
“I can’t wait fortomorrow,” Aries said, drumming his hands at a jarring staccato on the counter.
“Big plans for the weekend?” I asked. My first client couldn’t get here fast enough. I wanted to slam Aries’s hands against the wood to quiet the cutting flick of his wrists. It was too early for so much energy, especially after lying awake for hours worrying if I’d see Poppy in class tonight. She’d left my apology text on read for days, which I understood. She needed space. If she showed tonight, it meant I had a chance at keeping her friendship. If she didn’t, I’d know I’d lost the brightest part of my life.
“Yeah,” Aries said, his hands finally resting on the counter. “So, um, what’s Poppy’s favorite restaurant in town that won’t eat half my paycheck?”
“What?”
I’d heard him fine, but I needed him to repeat it while I pinched my forearm hard enough to bruise, just in case I was still asleep and had slipped into my worst nightmare. The pain released some of the tension in my chest, but as soon as Ariesopened his mouth and started talking, my lungs felt like they were being squeezed in a vise.
“I’m taking her to dinner tomorrow. I told her we were getting takeout and watching a Hitchcock film, but that feels a little too friend zone, you know what I mean? Plus, I realized I don’t have a TV. Inviting myself over to her house didn’t feel right. So, I figured we’d eat at a restaurant and see where the night takes us. That Church place looks nice. Is it any good?”
“It’s a bar,” I gritted out.
“Yeah, but they serve food, right? The only other place within walking distance looks pricey. White tablecloths and shit.”
“Poppy has a car,” Max said, stepping into the front and joining the conversation. He’d clearly been listening while he set up his station.
“Yeah,” Aries said, scratching his neck like he’d just gotten stung by a mosquito in the middle of winter. “But I want to do this right. Having the girl drive on a date doesn’t sit well with me.”
“That’s fucking stupid,” I snapped.
Max cleared his throat. “What Theo means is a woman like Poppy doesn’t care about that. She loves driving her hearse.”
Aries nodded, but then asked, “Is the food that bad at Church?”
“No,” Max said, blowing out a breath. “But it’s a bar, son.”
Well, that hurt. In all the years I’d known him, Max had never called someone else son. I shouldn’t feel like I owned the word, but now I wondered what it really meant to Max if he’d attach it to Aries after only knowing him a short time. Guess it’s just a word he used with anyone he mentored.
“So what?” Aries said, drawing himself up.
“You’re still new in your recovery. It’s best to avoid temptation.”
“Bet Theo went there when he got out.”
I did. The first night, actually. None of us were twenty-one, but Aiden’s big sister Fiona bought enough pitchers to get him and Cal hammered. When I didn’t drink, they accepted it without comment. I ate my weight in fried food before making sure they had sober rides home since my license had been revoked. Then I texted a girl I’d known in high school and spent the rest of the night and the morning releasing a year’s worth of sexual tension before Max arrived at Marked.