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bedroom.
    “Now?”
    I laughed. “Is that what you’d be willing to do to
stay?”
    “What the fuck do you meaning by willing? I think
about you all the time. In my head, we’re already together.”
    Her words nailed me hard in the gut, but I refused
to let her see me weak. “Your fantasies ain’t the real world, kid.”
    “Don’t call me that. It’s your way of saying I’m
not good enough for you,” she said, frowning ugly at me. “If you need
remembering, do it silently.”
    Fuck, I loved when she stood up to me. She was
nervous, though. About going to my bedroom. About staying with me. Mostly, I thought she was afraid I’d change my mind and kick her out.
    “I have this feeling,” I told her after taking a
big swig of beer, “that once I get you in my bed, I won’t want you leaving it.”
    “What’s wrong with that? Is fucking one woman for
too long bad for your reputation?”
    “Screw my reputation. Also, what I’m thinking about
with you isn’t simple fucking, and besides, you’re not a woman.”
    Jodi took my last comment as an insult. “And you
think I’ll magically turn into a woman once I’m eighteen? Or are you just
waiting for it to be legal? I think it’s probably legal in Tennessee already.”
    I laughed. “Do you really think I give a shit about
the fucking law?”
    Walking with my beer to a tiny table near a window,
I smiled at Jodi thinking the law kept me from sweeping her up and walking us
to bed.
    “I’d prefer anarchy or street justice than any laws
The Man designs. The fucking law,” I said, still chuckling.
    “Why wait?” she asked without joining me at the
table. “Do you think you’re protecting me?”
    “You? No, baby, I’m protecting myself by waiting.”
    Looking confused, Jodi finally sat in the spare
chair. “I don’t get it.”
    “When I was your age, I was a fickle bitch. Thought
I knew everything too. What did I tell you when you were having issues with
those bitches at school?”
    “In five years, it won’t matter.”
    “Yeah, and I can see me getting all wound up over
you, and then you deciding you need to experience life more than an old fogey
like me can give you.”
    “Old fogey,” she muttered, smiling. “So you don’t
want to hook up because I could dump you.”
    “My old man heart can’t survive you stomping on
it.”
    Still smiling, Jodi studied me. “How long will you
wait before your old man heart can take the chance with my fickle one?”
    “I don’t know. A decade? A year? A day? Hell, maybe
I won’t last an hour.”
    Jodi’s gaze softened, revealing her insecurities
about this situation. I was the first real guy in her life. I ought to wish she
came with more experience and baggage to make us equal. Instead, I liked
knowing I was the only man to make her feel this way. She was certainly the
only woman to make me feel this fucking weak.
    “So I can still stay here?”
    Giving her a nod, I downed the rest of the beer
while wishing I’d bought a coffee pot. Most days, I went down to the local
diner for coffee and breakfast.
    “What about your plan to wait?” she asked, watching
me like a hawk. “Won’t waiting be harder if I’m here?”
    “No, because I rarely am. Besides, I need to keep
you safe,” I said, standing up. “I know enough about your mama to know she has
men coming in and out at all times of the day and night. That’s not safe for
you. Not with those men thinking you and your mom are a package deal.”
    Jodi gave me a little snarl, and I knew she hated
those men. She might even hate her mother.
    “Put on your shoes. I’ll take you to breakfast.”
    Jodi’s pissed expression faded, and she smiled
slightly. “Thank you for letting me stay here.”
    “You can have the bed,” I offered, opening the door
for her.
    “No thanks.”
    “Don’t play the martyr.”
    Jodi followed me down the stairs to the front lobby
of the apartment. “You’re too big to sleep on the couch. I can’t imagine how
hard it