I rolled my eyes and pulled a pen from my apron. Wordlessly, I added my initials to the adjusted entry and turned to leave the locker area.
"You're welcome!" he called to my receding back.
A minute later, I was out in the dining area, running my butt off with the other girls. I still owed Josie an explanation of what I'd seen outside. But between the packed dining room and Keith's new habit of popping in and out of the waitress station, talking to her was nearly impossible.
In a way, I was glad. I wasn't sure what to say.
Just before my shift ended, I was going from table to table, refilling the salt shakers when Josie sidled up next to me.
"Alright," she said in a hushed tone. "I got the scoop."
It was almost dawn, and most of the tables were vacant.
"Scoop?" I said, glancing around the nearly empty restaurant.
"Scoop. News. Whatever," she said, waving away my confusion. "About the guys in the trunk." She put her hands on her hips. "By the way, you were supposed to be giving me these juicy details."
I grimaced. "Sorry about that, but Keith's been dogging me all night."
"No kidding," she said. "He's like your own personal shadow. What's up with that?"
I shrugged.
"Forget Keith." She grinned. "You're gonna love this."
I paused in mid-reach, the salt shakers forgotten. "Yeah?"
"Totally." Josie looked around. "Well, remember the guy at the bar?"
"Which one?"
"Older guy. Name's Bruce. But that's not important. Anyway, he got the whole story from one of the cops."
"Really? How?"
She shrugged. "They're buddies or something. But check this out. According to Bruce, those two guys ended up locked in their own trunk because of this stupid fraternity prank that got totally messed up."
I stared at her. "Messed up? How?"
"Apparently," she said, "they were supposed to end up at some sorority bash, and got dropped here instead. Can you believe it?"
No. I couldn't believe it. I knew better. Less than twelve hours earlier, those same two guys had tried to drag me into that same dark sedan. But instead, they'd been handed their asses by Lawton and his brother, and then locked in their own trunk.
No way I'd be sharing that little nugget though. "What about the ski masks?" I said.
This ought to be good.
"Oh that's the best part," she said. "So apparently, they were supposed do some panty-raid, burglar skit when they got there –"
"Where?" I asked.
"The sorority house. But they ended up here." She grinned. "In their underwear. God, what a couple of dumb-asses."
I stared at her. That had to be the dumbest story I'd ever heard. "And the cops actually bought that story?" I said.
She squinted at me. "Why wouldn't they? You can't make that shit up, right?"
Time to change the subject.
I stopped to give her a serious look. "Can I ask you something? You did hear Keith say he was clocking me out, right?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Because according to him, he was just sending me on break. Wanna hear what he did? He tracked me down in the parking lot and practically dragged me back inside."
Josie grinned. "Ohhh, that. I know why."
"Why?'
"Because remember Sonya, how she wasn't looking so good?"
I nodded.
"Well, maybe ten minutes after you left, she threw up in Keith's office."
I leaned forward. "On Keith?"
"No." Josie frowned. "In his wastebasket. Unfortunately. Still, she had to be sent home. We won't be seeing her for a week or two."
"So that explains it," I said.
"Yeah, good news for you, huh?"
"How so?"
"Two words," she said. "Job security."
I felt my shoulders slump. It was a sad day when you had to wish the flu on your co-workers just to make ends meet.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
I summoned up a smile. "Nothing. Just a long night, that's all."
"Alright, here's something that'll crack you up. Want to know what else happened in the parking lot?"
I felt my body tense. "What?"
"You know who Lawton Rastor is, right? Remember, you let me wait on him a few weeks ago?"
Mutely, I nodded.
"Well, some guy I waited on claims he spotted him in our parking lot, beating the crap out of his own car." She laughed. "Crazy, huh?"
"Well, he does have that reputation," I mumbled.
"Know what?" Josie said. "I don't even care. I'd totally do him, anyway." She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "Oh my God, those abs. Want to know what I want? To cover him with chocolate sauce and lick it off." Her voice got husky. "Drop by drop."
I tried to laugh, but it came out wrong. More like a whimper.
Josie opened her eyes to study my face. "You feeling okay? You're not coming down with the flu, are you?"
I shook my head. "Not me. I can't afford to."
I also couldn't afford to think about any other girl, including Josie, licking Lawton anywhere. He and I were done. But if I were honest, the idea of him with anyone else was making me more than a little sick.
Or maybe, if I was lucky, it was just the flu.
Chapter 17
The tall, iron fence was as daunting as ever, but the gate was open. Cast in the shadows of thick overhanging branches, I stood on the darkened sidewalk, gripping a cold fence spire in each hand.
My stomach churning, I stared at the massive brick and stone mansion that I'd come to know all too well. The house was utterly dark, except for the barest glimmer of light coming from a single room on the lower level.
I knew that room. Lawton's study.
I glanced at the circular drive. No cars. Not even the one he'd practically destroyed. But that didn't mean he wasn't home. He did have a huge garage after all.
He was definitely inside. He had to be. It was nearly dawn, and the grounds were wide open. Was he asleep? My gaze narrowed. Did I care?
No. In fact, if I dragged him out of a sound sleep, all the better. This meeting was his idea. Besides, I didn't walk here in the darkest part of the night just to turn around and scuttle back to safety without finishing this once and for all.
I pushed away from the fence and made my way along the sidewalk and through the open gate. Too soon, I stood at his front door. But before I could even ring the doorbell, the massive front door swung wide open, revealing Lawton in all his tattooed glory.
He was a dark silhouette against the dim interior. He wore black jeans, a dark gray T-shirt, and an expression filled with such longing that I felt myself swallow.
I took an involuntary step back and looked up at him. He stood absolutely still, framed in the doorway, with his hands loose at his sides and his eyes on me. Slowly, his lips parted. "Chloe."
There was a reason I'd come here, and it wasn't only because he'd cornered me into it. If I played my cards right, I'd be putting all this behind me. No more drama. No more temptation. No more Lawton.
I summoned up the meanest smile I could muster. "Lawton."
When he spoke, his voice was so low, it was barely audible. "You came."
I made a sound of disgust. Like I'd had a choice. "You wanted to talk? " I said. "Well, here I am."
Something in his face eased. His muscles uncoiled, and he took a step toward me.
I held up a hand, palm out. "Not that kind of talk."
He stopped. Behind him, the door remained open, apparently forgotten as he stood between me and the breathtaking place he called home.
His voice was thick when he asked, "Wanna come inside?"
"Uh, no." I gave him a look. "That didn't work out so well for me last time, now did it?"
Funny how getting handcuffed in a guy's basement made you rethink his notion of hospitality.
If I were smart, I probably wouldn’t be here in the first place, especially at this hour. But fool
ish or not, I still believed he'd never hurt me, at least not physically. Mentally, well, that was another story.
If I gave him half the chance, the damage could be infinite. It was my job to make sure that didn't happen, not tonight, and not ever.
He glanced down at the thin hoodie I'd thrown on over an even thinner long-sleeved T-shirt. "But it's freezing out." He flicked his head toward the inside of his house. "C'mon. Please?"
I raised my eyebrows. "Afraid of a little cold, are you?"
Slowly, he shook his head. "It wasn't me I'm thinking about. Cold, hot –" He shrugged. "I don't care." His voice softened. "I'm just glad you're here."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh please. Save it for someone who believes that sort of thing, okay?"
"Baby –"
"Stop." I gave him a hard look. "Listen, whatever reason you seem to think I'm here, that's not it." I steeled my resolve. "I'm here because you didn't give me any other choice, remember?"
He glanced toward the driveway. His eyebrows furrowed. "Where's your car?"
"At work."
"Why?"
"Because," I said, "the stupid thing wouldn't start. And I had to beg the busboy for a ride home." Technically, it wasn't my home, but that was beside the point.
The whole thing had totally sucked. Josie had been long-gone, and no else lived remotely near this neighborhood. I knew exactly why. They couldn’t afford it.
Then again, neither could I.
I wasn't a surgeon, a CEO, or even a billionaire bad-ass like the guy standing in front of me. I was just the house-sitter. Not that Lawton knew that.
Maybe he'd never know that. And that was fine with me. Because if I were truly honest with myself, I didn't want him to be missing some temporary house-sitter with barely a penny to her name. I wanted him to miss the girl he thought I was.
I didn't want his pity, and I sure as hell didn't want his charity. I wanted him to eat his heart out.
It was totally messed up. I knew that. With our relationship ending, it shouldn't matter, but somehow, it did. It mattered a lot.
Chapter 18
Standing at his front entryway, the silence stretched out. He glanced again at the empty driveway. His mouth tightened. "You should've called me."
"Yeah?" I said. "Well, maybe I didn't want to owe you a favor."
"You wouldn't have owed me anything."
"Yeah, right."
I knew exactly how these things went. He'd rescue me with a ride, and I'd feel obligated to be nice to him. I didn't want to be nice to him.
He looked toward the street. "So you walked here? Alone?"
"Why not?" I said. "I've done it before. Besides, I'm just on the other side of your fence."
He gave me a dubious look. "So you climbed it. That's what you're saying?" From the tone of his voice, it was pretty obvious he knew the answer to that.
"No. Of course not."
His so-called fence was twice my height and made of iron. It practically had spikes all along the top. I'd be stupid to go that way. Besides, I'd already tried that once. It didn't work out so well.
In front of me, he was still giving me that look. "So you took the long way. By sidewalk."
"Well, I didn't fly here," I said, "if that's what you're wondering."
"It's a fifteen-minute walk," he said.
"So?"
"So it's the middle of the night."
"No. It's early morning."
His jaw tightened. "So you want something bad to happen to you? Is that it?"
I forced out a laugh. "What do you consider bad? Because it seems to me that something bad can happen just about anywhere, anytime." I shrugged. "Driveways, parking lots—" I gave him a look. "Basements."
He briefly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was a glassy quality that hadn't been there before. "You should've called me," he said. "Chloe, I'm serious. Don't do that again, alright?"
"Look," I said. "You were the one who forced me to come here."
"Forced you?"
"Cornered me. Whatever." I crossed my arms. "So here I am. How I got here isn't all that important."
"It is to me."
"Yeah? Well, from now on that's your problem, not mine."
My words hung in the air. His lips parted, but he said nothing. The look in his eyes made me feel about two inches tall.
I was hateful. I knew that. But I had to be hateful. It's what he deserved, and not only as retribution for what he'd done. He deserved to know where we stood. And honestly, I was too mad, too tired, and too torn up to tell him nicely.
I stiffened my spine and broke the silence. "Listen," I said, "I've had a long night, so can we skip the part where we debate why I wouldn't be calling you for favors?"
His expression froze somewhere between wariness and fatigue. "Alright," he said. "But there's something you deserve to hear. At least come inside, alright?"
"No. I don't think so." I glanced at his front door, still open. Apparently, billionaires didn't worry about little things like bloated utility bills or the furnace giving out. I couldn’t even imagine.
I tried not to think about it. If he was too stupid to close the thing, who was I to care? Besides, he had to be colder than I was. His T-shirt looked even thinner than mine, and he wasn't even wearing a hoodie.
I glanced at his arms, bare except for thick athletic tape, wrapped around his wrists. I'd seen the tape before, wrapped around his hands the few times I'd seen him beating the crap out of his punching bag. Had he been lifting weights? In the middle of the night?
I glanced again at his arms. Even relaxed, the powerful lines of his biceps and forearms were a stark reminder that he wasn't just some harmless neighbor guy. He was a brute, even if he'd always been beyond gentle with me.
Well, except for that one time. And even then, he hadn't hurt me. Not exactly.
Somewhere deep in the house, I heard the low hum of the furnace.
"Aren't you gonna close the door?" I blurted out.
Shit.
Pathetic. That's what I was. If I couldn't resist warning the guy about inefficient heat usage, how the hell would I resist the haunted look in his eyes? And how would I resist telling him that the past few weeks had been the happiest of my whole life? Or confessing that when he held me long into the night, I'd felt safe and warm for the first time in forever?
Lawton's attention never wavered. "Screw the door," he said. He leaned a fraction closer. Something about the way he moved reminded me of our first almost-kiss. My heart ached at the memory.
And then, I heard a sleepy female voice call out, "Lawton, who's at the door?"
I froze, too stunned to move, and not just for the obvious reasons.
I recognized that voice.
Chapter 19
In front of me, Lawton froze, and any remaining color drained from his face. He glanced behind him and quickly back at me. "Chloe," he said, "it's not what you think. I swear."
But then, just behind him, I saw the girl who went with the voice.
Brittney. She was nearly naked, clad in see-through panties and a matching bra.
Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. It was even harder to think. I stood, rooted in shock, as my gaze darted from Brittney to Lawton and back again.
She gave me a sly smile. "Oh. It's you."
Lawton looked ready to kill. "You were supposed to wait upstairs," he told her.
She blinked at him. "Oh. Was I?"
"And where the hell are your clothes?"
She raised her arms in a slow, leisurely stretch. "Mmm…I dunno. Upstairs?"
I wanted to slap him – her too while I was at it. Or at the very least, I wanted to say something clever and cutting. But when I opened my mouth, all that came out was an odd, strangled sound. I clamped my mouth shut and whirled to go.
Lawton grabbed my elbow. "Chloe, wait! Please?"
I whirled back to face him. "So this is why you invited me here? To throw this in my face?"
"There's no this." Hi
s expression was anguished. He turned to Brittney. "Go on, tell her." He gritted his teeth. "Right now."
Brittney smiled. "Tell her what?"
Lawton bared his teeth. "You tell her right now why you're here, or the deal's off. Got it?"
She lifted a bare shoulder. "Whatever you say."
"And for God's sake," Lawton said, "put on some fucking clothes, will ya?"
Her lips formed a pout. "But they're dirty," she said. "And besides, it took her forever to get here."
I was shaking. This was a bad dream. It had to be. Except, in my nightmares, it was usually me in my underwear – standing at some bus stop, or maybe in the mall. That was nothing compared to this.
Lawton gave Brittney a warning look. "You've got five seconds," he told her.
"Oh alright. Fine." She looked to the ceiling and mumbled, "I'm here to apologize."
"In your underwear?" I said. "Yeah. Nice story."
"Brittney," Lawton said in a low warning tone, "you can do better than that."
Already I had heard enough. I'd seen enough too. More than enough actually. Brittney went for the clean-shaven look. All over.
"Don't bother." I gave Brittney the most dismissive look I could muster before turning away. "I don't want your apology."
"Wait," Brittney said.
Against my better judgment, I turned around.
She turned to Lawton. "If she doesn't want me to apologize, our deal still counts, right? I mean, because I tried. And she said 'no.' You saw that, right?"
Oh, that was rich. Suddenly I didn't care if she was nearly naked or wearing a clown suit. I wanted an apology, and I wanted it now.
Chapter 20
I pushed past Lawton and stormed into the house. I stopped in front of Brittney. "On second thought," I said, "I'd just love an apology." I crossed my arms. "And I sure hope it's a good one. Because unlike some people, I've got standards."
Her lips pursed. "Hey, I've got standards too."
"Yeah, except yours are too low to measure." I turned to Lawton. "A few hours ago, wanna know what I caught her doing?" My voice rose. "Boning my boss in the back seat of his car."
"Hey!" Brittney said. "We weren't boning. We were doing other stuff."
Rebelonging (Unbelonging, Book 2) Page 6