Loch (The Powers That Be Book 3)

by Harper Bentley

  I didn’t need him clouding up my mind. “I know what I’ve got to do,” I replied a bit angrily as my brow came down. But he was right. It wasn’t just that I was scared. I was sick about what I’d planned on doing and it made me feet horrible about myself. And to be honest, I didn’t want Loch to see what a horrible person I was for wanting to hurt him. So if I just walked away, he wouldn’t find out which I knew was the coward’s way out, but that’s exactly what I was. “I’ll make the call in a bit then it’s done.”

  Dakota sat up straight at hearing that news. “Then you can go with me to the party!” When I raised an eyebrow at him, he went on. “Fuck. I’ve already asked Darian Conway. I guess I could call and tell her something came up.” Then I practically saw the lightbulb go on over his head as he looked at me. “Or you could both go with me!” His look now turned lurid which my “get real” face challenged. “C’mon, Sim. It’d be fun.”

  Vegas snorted. “Only one having fun in that scenario’d be you, Dak.”

  “True that, bro,” Dakota retorted, bumping his fist to Vegas’s before realizing what was said wasn’t completely a compliment. “Hey…” he mumbled with a frown.

  Vegas grinned then told him, “Nah, you should probably stick with this Darian chick. I’ll bet she’s hot.”

  “Hell yeah, she is!” Dakota was off and running telling us how perky and bouncy her boobs were and how tight her ass was.

  Since Vegas seemed to be enjoying the detailed description, I made my way back to the office to finish eating, leaving the guys to their pervification over poor Darian. I sat in Thorne’s chair and after finishing the last of my fries, sighed. Now was as good a time as any, I thought. So wiping my hands on a napkin I then took a drink of soda before I straightened the papers on Thorne’s desk. Then griping myself out for stalling, I grabbed the store’s phone instead of mine to maybe catch Loch off balance because he wouldn’t know it was me which would make it easier to do what I had to do. Or at least that sounded like a good plan.

  I looked at my contact list on my phone and punched in his number then waited as it rang hating that I was doing this because I really liked Loch. And under any other circumstances, maybe we could’ve worked out but I’d gone and ruined everything by being a conniving asshole.

  “Hello?” Just hearing his voice made my insides get all gooshy.

  “Loch?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Hey, it’s, uh, Celeste,” I said, closing my eyes, now hating my middle name.

  “Hey, babe. Was just gettin’ ready to text you my address.” I heard the smile in his voice and wanted to kick myself.

  “That won’t be necessary,” I whispered.

  “You already know where I live?” He sounded surprised but happy too. God!

  “No.”

  Silence. Then, “What’s going on?”

  I took a deep breath and stated, “It’s not going to work with us. I can’t see you tonight… or any other night, Loch. I’m sorry.”

  I heard him whisper, “The fuck?” then I got dead air.

  I hung up and closed my eyes as a single tear fell down my cheek. I wiped it away angrily knowing I didn’t deserve to have any emotions when it came to Loch because I’d been nothing but a scheming witch since the first day I’d talked to him after class.

  After sitting and staring at the wall for a good twenty minutes, I finally took a deep breath, telling myself I’d done the right thing and went back out onto the floor to see that the truck had come, Vegas and Dakota had put everything out and were now in front of the huge TV arguing over some video game on the screen. From what I could tell, it was a military type game and Dakota’s character kept getting killed while Vegas yelled at him to listen.

  Not wanting to get in the middle of it, I elected to sit behind the counter, elbows on top and chin in my hands, watching the guys and feeling sorry for myself for having lost the best thing that’d come around in a long time. After a bit, I sat up heaving out a huge sigh then looking out the windows saw that it’d started pouring rain which matched my mood perfectly. Good thing it was only fifteen minutes to closing because I needed to get home to have some serious gloom and doom time. I adjusted my position, only one elbow on the counter now and resting my head on my hand as I stared out at the dreary evening. My pouting spell went on for some time until I heard the bell on the front door jingle. I let out an annoyed huff, not wanting to deal with any customers especially teenage boys who were our usual patrons, and sitting up turned to the door then gasped so hard I almost fell off the stool.

  Loch was standing there glaring at me, his amber eyes blazing with irritation, his hair dripping wet, jaw muscles jumping as drops of rain rolled down the sides of his face and off that freaking square jawline onto his soaked gray t-shirt.

  As I stared back, I was torn between running to him, telling him everything and what a fool I’d been or running to the back to lock myself in the office.

  Office. The office sounded good.

  Just as I made my move to go, I swear, he advanced so freaking fast it was like he teleported to me because one moment I was moving from behind the counter to run down the hallway and the next, his arm was around my waist jerking me back into him making me yelp out a big “Oomph!”

  It was then I knew the extent of the trouble I was in because as he held me against him, my back to his front, his head bending so that his mouth was at my ear and I heard him hiss, “Wanna tell me what the fuck’s going on?” I found that I liked that he’d come for me.

  Shit.

  I was so screwed.

  Confession Number Eight

  There are moments in life that you don’t want to end. You want them to last forever so you can soak it all in, commit everything to memory so that later in life you can pull these memories back up and smile.

  This wasn’t one of them.

  I stood there speechless, my body stiff as a board and plastered to Loch’s, which wasn’t wholly unpleasant. And as I was deciding whether I’d like to retain that part as a memory for my later years, he jerked me against him more tightly, I guess signaling that he was waiting for an answer.

  “Uh…”

  His arm got tighter around my waist and I wanted to tell him that if he thought that was punishment for my not talking or his way of prompting me to talk, then he was so wrong. I mean, really? Let’s see… turn to face him and talk or continue being held against his strong, rock hard body. Duh. Nothing tough in that decision at all, even though he was dripping water on me, but I didn’t care one bit.

  “Celeste…” I heard him warn and it was then I noticed that Vegas and Dakota had come up, both not looking very happy that I was being detained by someone they didn’t know.

  “You wanna step off, man?” Vegas snarled dangerously giving Loch a very pointed look. Dakota took a step forward his menacing look just as scary as Vegas’s. Whoa. I didn’t know they cared that much about me.

  “It’s okay, guys,” I offered, finding it hard to act carefree seeing how I was encased by the muscular arm and held against the equally muscular body of a man who I’m sure was mirroring my two coworkers’ intimidating looks.

  Vegas’s assessing eyes held mine. “You sure, Simone?”

  I nodded letting him know I was fine.

  “Just give me the word, Simone, and I’ll drop him,” Dakota added, and from the look on his and Vegas’s faces, I knew they’d pounce if I gave them the go ahead.

  “It’s okay, guys,” I said.

  “Simone?” Loch asked.

  And I froze, I mean, completely stopped breathing and everything.

  Shit.

  Shit!

  I hadn’t even realized they’d used my real name and now I felt Loch’s body go solid behind me.

  “Yeah, Simone St. John,” Dakota provided, narrowing his eyes at Loch. “I’ll bet you’re the guy who was fuckin’ rude to her at that dance when you we
re young, aren’t you? Well, she and her roommate Marcy decided to get you back for it. Fool you into thinking she was someone else then she’d slam the door right in your face. And guess what, man? You fell for it. Are you a dumbass or what?” He snorted.

  I stared at Dakota shocked that he’d just laid it all out there. Loch’s arm dropped from around my waist and I felt him step away from me. All I could do was stand frozen, still staring at my coworkers because no way could I turn and look Loch in the face now. As I kept my eyes on Vegas and Dakota I saw they were both watching him then I frowned when both their eyes cut to the door which was when I heard it open. Then spinning around, I watched as Loch walked out into the rain with not even a glance back.

  Shit!

  A moment of indecision blasted through me as I stood there biting my lip. I wanted to go after him and tell him what an idiot I was, how stupid I was to even think of hurting him.

  But in the end, I decided it was for the best to let him go.

  And I paid majorly for that decision. My chest got tight and it felt like I was sipping my air in through a straw. Then my vision closed to a pinpoint, the black creeping in, and reaching for something to steady myself before I passed out, I felt someone take my hand then a strong arm went around my waist and I was being led to the barstool.

  Vegas.

  “You all right?” he asked as he helped me sit.

  It took me a moment to focus then I saw his worried face as he bent down in front of me. I nodded weakly, my breaths still raspy, then I heard him tell Dakota to get me some water. Momentarily, Dakota came back with a bottle of water, opened it and handed it to me.

  After taking a few sips I got my wits about me and mumbled, “Thanks,” as the backs of my eyes stung.

  “You good?” Dakota asked, eyebrows raised.

  “Yeah,” I answered in the affirmative as I shook my head in the negative. It wasn’t hard to see that even though my mind was in one place, my body, my heart, was in another.

  “It’s gonna be okay. It’s all taken care of now,” Vegas remarked with a frown.

  I looked at Dakota. “I was gonna try to be a bit nicer about it,” my voice cracked, “but I think you pretty much took care of things.”

  “Just told it like it was. Dude deserved it for being a prick to you,” Dakota clarified.

  I sucked in a shaky breath as I nodded. “Well, I’m sure he hates me now.”

  Vegas rubbed my back. “You knew the whole thing was pretty shitty,” he said quietly.

  “I know,” I agreed.

  “Just gotta pick up the pieces now,” Vegas suggested.

  My shoulders dropped and I hung my head as the tears began to fall. “I’m so stupid.”

  “You’re not stupid, Sim. Look, you’ve helped me a lot with Annica.” He ducked his head trying to get me to look at him. “Now it’s my turn to help you.”

  I finally looked up to see he’d taken his hat off and was scrubbing his hand over his shortly cropped hair before returning the cap. He’d done that a lot when he asked for advice on the girl, Annica, who he wanted to ask out and I knew it meant he was uncomfortable with my crying. Dakota was nowhere to be found.

  I let out a deep sigh as I brushed the tears from my face. “How can you help me, V? Were you telling the truth earlier? That if a girl did this to you, you’d really wanna talk to her again?”

  “Depends on if she’s hot or not. If so, yeah, but probably not right away. If not, hell no! I’m handing the bitch her walking papers!” Dakota popped back in from where he’d gone to get away from the pathetic crying girl.

  “Shut the fuck up, man,” Vegas snapped at him. “If the girl’s puttin’ out, you know you’d forgive her either way.” Vegas looked at me. “Were you puttin’ out?”

  Good grief.

  “No!” This made me start crying again for some reason and again Dakota disappeared.

  Vegas held his hands up to his sides. “Okay, sorry. Look, here’s the deal. You basically lied to him, right? I guess it all comes down to how much he hates being lied to.” He shrugged.

  This made me cry harder. “Then I’m screwed.” Screwed came out more as “screw-ooh-ooh-ooh-ed.” I explained, “When we went to the Pool Party…” now I was really boohooing, “I went to call Marcy and tell her I wasn’t going to hurt him. When I came back, he was talking to a girl. Then he told her he was done with her!” I was sobbing now. “He told her… he told her to leave him the fuck alone!” I saw Dakota come up and disappear again. Vegas handed me some tissue that I guess Dakota had retrieved from the restroom. “He said she’d tried to be someone she wasn’t when she was with him. He considered that lying and basically said he hated liars.” I wiped at my tears then started doing that stupid hiccup-y crying thing where you try talking but it’s like you can only get one syllable out at a time. “So… bas… i… cal… ly… we’re… done.”

  “He’s got to care, Sim. I mean, he did come all the way over here just to see what was going on,” Vegas declared.

  I could’ve hugged him for being so sweet to me. “Y-you… th… ink?”

  He nodded.

  I thought on this for a moment and since I was pretty much finished bawling, Dakota reappeared. “That’s true,” he agreed. “If it were me and I got a call or text from the girl explaining everything, that’d help a lot.”

  I perked up a bit because that sounded hopeful. “R-really?”

  Vegas nodded before he grinned. “But then I’d expect her to put out.”

  “Hell yeah.” Dakota nodded also grinning.

  I had to chuckle at my horny friends as I ran the tissue under my eyes.

  “Text him then call him,” Vegas repeated. I wrinkled my brow and he said it again, “Do it.”

  “Yeah. Couldn’t hurt,” Dakota added.

  I nodded, finally pulling myself together. “Okay. I’ll call him. Thanks, guys.”

  “You need more guy advice, you know where to find us,” Dakota answered then went to shut down the video game they’d been playing and turn off the TV.

  “You’ve got this, Sim,” Vegas, who’d stayed behind encouraged.

  “Thanks, V,” I said as I stood then pulled him in for a hug. “You’re the best,” I told him when I pulled back.

  He smiled almost shyly then went to grab the carpet sweeper to make a few passes over the area where traffic was heaviest. I got the money bag out of the drawer under the register and filled it with the day’s proceeds. When Vegas came back behind the counter to put the sweeper away, I had to know. “What if he won’t talk to me? What if he really does hate me?”

  He lifted a shoulder. “Won’t know until you try,” he answered then went to lock the front doors.

  I nodded hating the mess I was in then walked back to the office to lock the money in the safe. The guys met me in the hallway and we all walked out the back door. As I pulled the key out of the lock, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Turning, I saw Dakota’s patronizing face right there.

  “I know you’ve had a bad night, Sim, but this should cheer you up. My offer’s still on the table for you to go to the party with me. I know Darian will understand and we might even be able to hook you up with someone cool. If not, you’re more than welcome to hang with us.”

  I let out a sobby laugh and scrunched my nose up. “Uh, thanks, Dakota, but I’ll pass.”

  “You got my number if you change your mind.”

  We walked to our cars, Dakota to his 2001 Taurus, which always made me smile to see someone with such a cocky attitude driving such a tame car, and Vegas to his 1970 Torino which definitely fit his personality, all muscle car badass.

  I got into my Jeep but before I closed my door, Vegas hollered, “It’s gonna be fine, Sim. Have faith.” I turned to see him giving me a thumbs up and gave him a small smile back wishing I could be as confident as he was.

  ~*~*~*~

  On my way home, Marcy
texted letting me know she was staying with Adam which was fine by me because I found I was mad at her for ever suggesting Triple C and I probably would’ve said something not very nice to her. Even though I knew my situation wasn’t all her fault, she’d been the one to egg it on so we needed to have a talk soon to straighten things out.

  As I pulled up into the drive, I decided to call my brother since I hadn’t talked to him in a couple weeks. I also needed to hear a friendly voice with all the turmoil that was my life at the moment.

  “What’s up, baby sis?” he answered which made me smile.

  “Hey, Tris. Just getting home from work. What’s going on?” I unlocked the front door of the rent house and went inside.

  “Nada. Sky and I are just chillin’ by the pool, havin’ some frou frou shit she’s making me drink.”

  I heard Sky giggle and knew she’d smacked him when Tris laughed and said, “Ouch!”

  They were so cute together and I’d always wanted a relationship like theirs. But I’d be willing to bet that Sky hadn’t pulled the crap on Tris like I had on Loch.

  “Sounds fun,” I mumbled as I plopped down on the couch.

  “What’s wrong?”

  I took a breath and let it out. “Guy problems.”

  “Lemme let you talk to Sky.”

  I laughed at how quickly he passed the phone to his girlfriend.

  “Hey, Sim, what’s going on, sweetie?” Sky asked in her very cool raspy voice that reminded me of Polly Draper’s or Cathy Moriarty’s. I’d always envied what Mom called Sky’s whiskey voice because she sounded awesome when she talked.

  “Hey, Sky. It’s kind of a long story.”

  “I’ve got time. Your brother’s getting smashed on girly drinks anyway.”

  I heard her snort as Tris retorted, “I’m all man, baby! Gimme Lagavulin any day to this shit!”

  “I know you are, baby. And I love that about you. But let me talk to Simone right now, okay? So what’s the deal?” she asked.

  I told her everything from beginning to end. She’d known a little about how I’d retreated into myself when I was younger, she just didn’t know the cause of it.