There was something about the question. The genuine curiosity in Jasper’s feelings coming from Thomas made me pause and wonder if Goldie was right.
Thomas was a hard nut to crack, given how quiet he was. But he was never anything but respectful and honorable. But was he gay? Or bi?
“Yeah,” Jasper said, with a slight squeak to his voice, belying the confidence he always showed off when he interacted with men. “Yes.” He repeated, firmer this time. “I’m good. I appreciate it.”
“No problem.” Thomas said, walking over to the passenger side of his truck in the parking lot and opening the door for his guest. Was that just a polite gesture or something—deeper?
Jasper stood in place next to me, his mouth opening and closing as his feet stayed frozen, shocked by the display.
“Go,” I whispered to him, nudging him with my shoulder. “You don’t want to miss your chance.”
Jasper looked over his shoulder at me, and then his feet shot off as he all but ran to the side of Thomas’s truck before jumping up into the passenger seat.
I hid my grin as Thomas shut the door and walked around to the driver's side, a peculiar flush to his cheeks as he waved at me.
Well damn.
She was right after all. But I guess Goldie usually was.
I broke the rules;I didn’t go straight to Tanner’s place. But only because I couldn’t show up empty-handed. That was rude.
My mama raised me better than to show up at a man’s door, empty-handed, demanding to be fucked.
I chuckled to myself even as the thought ran through my head. I was seriously messed up, but I didn’t even care.
I locked my car and ran into the grocery store intending to grab a few ingredients to make dinner with after I gave Tanner his dessert first.
There was no way I was going to be able to wait for dinner to be ready before I got off again. Rhea had started a fire in my belly that was far from being put out now that it raged with need and desire.
Pushing the cart through the store, I grabbed a few items that I needed, keeping my head down so people would leave me the hell alone so I could be quick. Normally, I was always down for a yap session with friends at the grocery store.
Right now was just not the time.
I stopped at the meat counter, eyeing up the cuts of steaks they had on hand, trying to figure out which one to fuel Tanner up with when a hushed whisper tickled my ear from behind me.
You know the kind. The one with a tone to it that instantly sparked off tingles in your gut because it was the kind of whisper you weren’t supposed to overhear, but the people speaking it wanted to be heard.
The kind of whisper that never had any good news on the other end of it.
“I don’t know about you,” the voice said as I glanced over my shoulder to where two women stood at the seafood counter, shoulders close, voices hushed. “But it seems far too convenient for me to just go along with.”
“No way,” the second lady said with a quick shake of her head as she stood up straighter like she didn’t want to be part of it. “She’s too honest for that. Too good. There’s no way.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as if someone had rubbed a balloon across it, as the steaks in front of me no longer mattered, even as I stared at them.
I didn’t know who they were talking about, but it was the kind of small-town gossip that ruined people.
“Think about it for a second,” The first woman said, pulling lady number two back down to whisper with. “She’s not from here. She showed up a few years ago, and then, bam! Weird stuff started happening.”
Oh, my god.
Me.
They were talking about me.
Cedar Bluff didn’t get many fresh faces; there was no way they weren’t talking about me.
But what the hell were they talking about. Weird stuff?