Come to Me Quietly (Closer to You #1)(54)
Author: A.L. Jackson

Aly would be worth any lie if I knew I wasn’t slowly destroying her, if there was even a chance that what was happening behind her door wasn’t going to end in ruin.

“God, do you always have to be the responsible one all the time? You kill my buzz just looking at you.” Christopher smiled, all easygoing and cool.

“Shut up.” Shame spiked, but I just laughed.

A key rattled in the front door lock.

That shame evaporated and a thrill of exhilaration took its place. I’d been missing her like crazy today. I didn’t know what it was, but I couldn’t wait to see her.

I jerked my head around to see her face just as she pushed open the door. She rested her foot against the bottom to prop it open as she jostled her key free from the lock, smiling up at me. Her hair was up in a high ponytail, and the long pieces that had fallen free framed her face, her cheeks tinted with red from a day of work. Welcome shone in her eyes.

Warmth spread just under my skin, and my heart pounded a little harder than I wanted it to. God, no wonder Christopher had noticed the way I’d been looking at her because there was no stopping the smile that pushed to my face.

“Hey, guys,” she said a little breathlessly as she stepped inside. She nudged the door to fall shut behind her, then yelped when it was smacked back by a huge hand holding it open at the top.

Aly whirled around just as I scrambled to my feet. Aggression shot through me, fast and hard. I figured the quickest way to get to her was by jumping over the back of the couch because someone was about to get their ass kicked.

“Damn it, Gabe, you scared the shit out of me,” she shouted.

Aly’s words stopped me in my tracks.

Her hand was pressed to her chest as she heaved her surprise from her lungs, while Dickhead stood in the doorway grinning as if scaring the hell out of Aly had been the highlight of his f**king day.

I wanted to smash him in the face.

“Sorry.” He laughed it off. “I didn’t mean to startle you like that.”

“It’s okay.” Aly shook herself as if shucking the jolt of fright from her body. “I just didn’t hear you come up behind me.”

He pressed his lips together, his hands in his pockets as he rocked back on his feet. “So, listen, I thought maybe we talk a little bit?” Warily, he glanced into the room at me and Christopher. Christopher was in about the same position I was, one knee on the couch and both hands on the backrest as if he’d been ready to rocket himself over it, too, before he realized it was this ass standing at the door.

Gabe shifted in clear discomfort.

That’s right, f**ker, you are not welcome here.

Aly seemed to hesitate, glancing at us over her shoulder, before she spoke. “Yeah, sure, of course,” she rambled, lifting her hand to point down the hall. “We can go in my room.”

Okay, that sounded like a really f**king bad idea.

I looked over at Christopher for backup, but he’d just turned around and plopped his lazy ass back on the couch with a resigned sigh.

Aly headed toward her room. Dickhead kept two steps behind her wearing that same smug smile on his pompous face that I would be all too happy to erase for him.

Neither of them said anything before Aly snapped her door shut behind them.

Shit. I stood in front of the couch, shifting my feet, still on edge. How the f**k was I supposed to just sit here and not do anything while he had Aly behind closed doors?

“I don’t know what she sees in that guy. Dude is a complete douche bag,” Christopher said as he mindlessly flipped through stations on the TV.

“Maybe we should go in there and check on her or something?”

“They’ve been in there for five seconds, Jared. I hardly think that warrants checking on.”

“I don’t like it. That guy’s an ass**le.”

Incredulous, Christopher chuckled. “You think I like it? You know I can’t stand the thought of her with some guy, but she’s been seeing him for, like, six months or something… at least he’s been hanging around that long. And it’s not like she’s fifteen. I can’t tell her she’s not allowed to have guys over.”

So it was fine for Dickhead to be in her room but not me?

I wanted to laugh at myself. As if I didn’t know the answer to that question? I’d been in jail, an addict, and Gabe was the f**king pretty boy college student.

But I hated it, knowing he was in there with her, hated that I didn’t know what was being said or what was being done.

Forcing myself to sit, I focused my eyes on the TV and my ear on her room, hoping that I could at least keep myself planted on the couch and not bolt for her door.

I mean, I trusted Aly with everything, even when I had nothing to give. I’d let her touch me, allowed her fingertips to memorize my sins, let her ask and dig and suggest f**king impossible things like reconciling with my dad.

We’d never talked about what this meant, these nights that were only temporary. But I’d always imagined they counted. That in them we were something. I couldn’t begin to imagine being with another girl while I was with Aly. Not a f**king chance. I only wanted her. I guess I’d just assumed the same for her, and she’d have cut this ass**le off the second she’d come to me, the moment she had stripped me bare when she’d offered herself to me.

Anxiety gripped me by the throat.

No sound could be heard from her room, something about this apartment that I normally viewed as an asset, but right then detested. Gabe with her in there was enough to drive me mad, enough to chase every rational thought from my already f**ked-up mind.

All this time she’d remained innocent. Pure. I couldn’t stomach the thought of her with someone else. Of someone taking her, touching her and loving her and giving her everything I couldn’t, even though I knew that was exactly what she deserved. Exactly what she should have.

It only got worse as time passed. The unspent aggression I’d been slammed with earlier flared and surged, and I was f**king bouncing in agitation, trying to sit still on the couch when all I wanted to do was bust down her door and toss his ass out of the apartment.

Christopher dropped the remote to the cushion. “I’m going to get out of here. You sure you don’t want to come?”

“No, I’m good.”

At this point, he couldn’t drag me out of here.

Christopher inclined his head in the direction of Aly’s room. “Glad you’re here, anyway. You can keep an eye out for her.”

“Yeah, of course.”