Page 110 of Someone Like Me
She slams against me, hugging me tight. She doesn’t say a word. It doesn’t take me long to figure out it’s because she can’t.
And as my arms close around her, I have no doubts about my purpose. The one job I have right now is to make it better.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
EVIE
I bury my nose into the clean cotton of Drew’s shirt. It radiates his warmth, and I let myself hide in it.
It feels like my skull is a cannon that’s just been fired. A thousand times.
“My head is killing me.”
His arms, snug around me, shift until his hands cradle my head. “Yeah?”
His big palms shielding my head feel good. Like he might be able to keep it from exploding. I manage a nod. “It happens when I get really stressed.”
Drew makes a disapproving grunt. I hear it rumble through his chest. “Didn’t go so well, did it?”
I inhale through my nose and sigh out the exhale. “Not really, no.”
We’re quiet for a minute. It’s fine by me. My eyes are closed. The softness of his shirt presses against my forehead, and his hands hold my head. I’m good right here until the throbbing stops.
“You don’t have to come over if it’s too much.” His voice is low, sturdy, but I can hear resignation in it. Like he’s disappointed but doesn’t want to let it show. I lift my gaze and take him in. Even in the dim light of the streetlamp, I can see he’s frowning down at me, concern deep in his dark eyes.
“I want to come over. I don’t want to be anywhere else.” The tightness in my throat threatens to swallow my words, but they’re so true. Despite my parents’ pleas, I can’t go home, and while Janine’s house is welcoming enough, the circle of Drew’s arms is the only place that feels right. “Janine gave me the night off. Can I sleep over again?”
The side of Drew’s mouth quirks. “You really have to ask?”
For the first time in hours, my smile is easy. “Let’s go.”
Always excited for a walk, Gemini goes manic when we peel off the road and head up the drive toward Drew’s apartment.
Drew leads me to the stairs where Gem’s claws make an unholy racket. It’s enough to make us both laugh.
“Oh, God, I’m sorry,” I try to whisper above the noise. “I hope he doesn’t wake Mrs. Vivian.”
Drew grunts again as we reach the top. He pushes the door open and Gemini scrambles inside, tail whipping with excitement.
“We didn’t wake her. Don’t ask me how she does it, but she seems to know everything that happens around here.”
I think about the box of condoms in my backpack and bite my lip. “Really?”
His gaze meets mine, a glint in his eye. “Don’t worry,” he teases, “I’ve already done a sweep for cameras.”
His joke catches me off guard, and I laugh again. I’ve been with him less than ten minutes, and already I feel so much better.
“Here, let me take that,” he says, reaching for my bag and my mat carrier. I slide it off my shoulder and hand it over. He sets it down beside the armoire and then looks around his apartment with deliberate scrutiny. “I wish I had somewhere for you to sit that wasn’t a kitchen chair or the bed.”
I offer him a one shoulder shrug. “I can sit anywhere. The floor is fine.”
I’m about to drop into a lotus sit when he grabs my elbow. “You’re not sitting on the floor,” he says, a wry arch to his brow. Then he points to the futon. “Sit on the bed.”
And before I can respond, he’s plucked one of the kitchen chairs from the table. Drew places it facing the foot of the bed and sits on it. He eyes me with a patient stare, clearly waiting for me to take a seat. I sink onto the futon and curl up in easy pose, legs crossed and back straight.
Wagging, and still taut with the excitement of being somewhere new, Gemini approaches the bed and bats a paw against the frame, asking permission to jump on.
“Get up there boy,” Drew says, slapping the mattress. Gem doesn’t need to be told twice. He hops up, turns around a couple of times, and curls up beside me, his ridged back pressing against my thigh.
