Rebelonging (Unbelonging, Book 2)

by Sabrina Stark

  "Yes," he said. "It did."

  "Why?"

  "Because I meant what I said. For what I did to you, I deserved a good ass-beating. Still do. But somebody wouldn't take me up on it. So that car, it was the closest thing I had."

  I thought of all his possessions – the breathtaking mansion he called home, the fleet of late-model vehicles, the clothes, the electronics. The logic made a weird kind of sense. Of everything he owned, the car was probably the only thing that was truly irreplaceable.

  Still, it was majorly messed up. Who does that sort of thing?

  "You shouldn't have done it," I said.

  "You're right," he said. "I shouldn't have done it. But I'm not talking about the car."

  I didn't know what to say. My head was swimming. "Speaking of cars," I said, "I've got to leave for work in a little bit, so I'll catch you later, alright?"

  "Alright," he said. "We're still on for tomorrow, right?"

  "Yup, it's a date."

  Oh crap. A date? I didn't know what our plans were, but it seemed far too early, or maybe too late, to be thinking of this as a date.

  I heard the smile in his voice. "A date, huh?"

  Crap. He'd caught that?

  Distracted, I mumbled something about meeting up sometime in the late afternoon, and then disconnected the call.

  Lawton did funny things to my brain. And even funnier things to the rest of me. What he did to my heart, well, there was nothing funny about that.

  Pushing Lawton out of my thoughts, I picked up my phone again and gave Erika another try. Again, she didn't answer. This time, I couldn't help myself. I left a message, mostly an apology.

  But all of that was forgotten, at least temporarily, a couple hours later when I walked into work and checked the schedule.

  I found Keith in his office, thumbing through a catalog. I marched up to his desk and looked down. Two girls in micro-bikinis smiled up at me.

  "Thinking of getting a two-piece?" I said.

  He flapped the catalog shut and shoved it into his top desk drawer. Then he glared up at me and said, "You think you're real funny, don't you?"

  "You know what's funny?' I said. "The fact that I'm only scheduled for two nights next week."

  "So?"

  "So, I usually work five."

  He shrugged. "It's a slow time of year. What do you expect?"

  "I expect you to live up to your end of the agreement."

  "Oh yeah." He smirked. "What agreement is that?"

  "You know which one."

  "Oh stop griping," he said. "You haven't been fired. Have you?"

  "No. But how am I supposed to make any money working only two days?"

  "Sorry, not my problem." He glanced at his desk drawer. "Is that all?"

  "No." Damn it. I really didn't want to do this. I leaned in close and lowered my voice. "Because you know damn well I could make it your problem."

  He looked only mildly interested. "Really? How so?"

  "Oh for Pete's sake, do I really need to spell this out?"

  "I'm all ears," he said.

  "Fine. That little picture of you and Brittney? I bet the district manager would just love to see it."

  He nodded. "Yep. I bet he would." He put on a sad face. "Except they won't. How sad for them."

  "What do you mean?"

  He gave me an oily grin. "Rumor has it, that cell phone of yours? Big memory problems. Missing pictures, wrong data. Oh well, that's the breaks, huh?" He made a shooing motion toward the door. "Back to work now."

  Damn it.

  I glared at him. "You broke into my locker. Didn't you?"

  "Me? Why would I do that?"

  "To delete that picture, that's why."

  "Sounds like somebody's a little paranoid," he said.

  This time, I was the one smiling. "You know what? You're right. I am."

  His eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

  "Yeah. Totally. That's why I texted that nice little picture to a friend of mine before it disappeared from my phone." I put on my own sad face. "Awwww. How sad for you."

  His gaze narrowed. "You're bluffing."

  "You sure about that?" I crossed my arms. "So. About that schedule?"

  "Oh alright," he muttered. "I'll change it before your shift is done."

  "Good. Because I'll be checking."

  "But just so you know, it's not because you threatened me. It's because –" suddenly, his face brightened "—because you deserve this."

  I squinted at him. That weasel was up to something. I just knew it. "When you change it," I said, "remember to give me more days, not less."

  "Not a problem," he said.

  Damn it. He still looked too happy. "Five days," I said. "Not three, not four. Alright?"

  "Yup. Got it." He glanced toward his office door. "So, you gonna be waitressing any time soon?"

  Wordlessly, I turned around and marched toward the door. Just before I got there, I stopped and turned around. "And none of those two-hour shifts either. I want full shifts, like I usually get."

  "Yeah, yeah," he said, reaching into his top drawer for the catalog. "Shut the door, will ya? I got work to do."

  Two hours into my shift, I still hadn't figured out his angle. I knew how Keith worked. He'd find some loophole, and I'd be screwed.

  Thank God I hadn't been lying. I had texted the picture to Erika. But between our argument and everything else going on, I never confirmed she still had it.

  She wouldn’t delete it, would she?

  I was still mulling this over when I hustled toward my next table and was hit by another unwelcome surprise.

  Skank. Party of one.

  Chapter 29

  I stopped a few tables away and stared. What was she doing here?

  I dashed back to the waitress station and caught Josie. "I need to trade tables," I said.

  "Let me guess," she said. "The blonde at table nineteen?"

  "Yeah, that's the one."

  "Sorry, no dice. She asked for you personally."

  "How do you know?"

  "I was there when they seated her."

  "Oh crap," I said.

  I glanced out toward the table. I'd met only two of Lawton's groupies in person. One was Brittney, and the other one was sitting out there at that table.

  I'd waited on Amber exactly two times. Both times, she'd been with Brittney. The first time they'd gotten drunk and danced on their table, hoochie style. The second time, they'd come for the sole purpose of giving me a hard time.

  Well, I'd just about had it. Maybe she was the customer, but I was way past caring. She'd hassled me at work. She'd hit on my boyfriend. She'd planned – or at least gone along with – that so-called prank.

  When I reached her table, she had the menu propped up in front of her and was looking around expectantly.

  I skipped the usual greeting and got straight to the point. "What are you doing here?"

  She blinked up at me. "Was that a real question, or a funny waitress question?"

  I didn't crack a smile. "A real question."

  "I'm here to apologize." She glanced down at the menu. "Hey, what are your specials tonight?"

  "Are you serious?" I said.

  "Yeah," she said. "The fish tacos, are they good?"

  "We don't have fish tacos," I said.

  "Oh, poo. I was really in the mood for them." She ran a manicured fingernail along the menu's appetizer section. "The crab cakes, are they made with real crab? Or fake crab?"

  "Real crab."

  "You sure?" She wrinkled her nose. "Because fake crab tastes way too fishy."

  "Forget the crab," I tossed my order pad onto the table and crossed my arms. "I believe I heard something about an apology?"

  Amber gave a breezy wave of her hand. "Yeah, but I figure I'll do that after dessert."

  "Let me get this straight," I said. "supposedly, you came in here to apologize. But you're making me wait on you first?"

  "Why not?" she said. "The food's good, and I’m total
ly starving."

  "You know what?" I said. "This is the worst apology, ever. No." I held up a hand. "Make that the second-worst apology, ever."

  She grinned up at me. "Brittney, right? She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I heard how that went."

  "From who?"

  "Lawton's brother, who's totally luscious by the way." She licked her lips. "I figure with Lawton off the market, I should probably go after him. What do you think?" She cocked her head. "Am I his type?"

  "How should I know?" And then the full impact of her words hit me. "And what do you mean Lawton's off the market?"

  "That's what I hear," she said.

  "From who? Brittney?"

  "No way. I'm totally over her." Her eyes brightened. "So you've gotta tell me, did she really apologize naked?"

  "Semi-naked."

  "God, what a slut."

  I stared down at her. The statement seemed awful strange coming from someone who probably matched Brittney guy for guy.

  "Did you hear?" Amber said. "Brittney's totally cut off."

  "What do you mean?"

  "No more parties, no more V.I.P. tickets, none of that stuff. She's out like a trout. Blacklisted, totally."

  I shook my head. "I don't get it."

  "Well, that was the deal," Amber said. "Brittney and me, we had to make things right with you. And if not?" Amber slit an imaginary knife across her throat. "Cut off. Like yesterday. Lawton's got a lot of friends too. So it's not just him neither."

  "So let me get this straight," I said, "if you didn't apologize, he was going to turn you into some kind of social pariahs?"

  Her eyebrows furrowed. "What do man-eating fish have to do with anything?"

  "Not piranhas," I said. "Pariahs. You know? Social outcasts?"

  "Ohhh. Yeah. That's it." She brightened. "So here I am!" She glanced down at the menu. "Maybe I should have breakfast food, like French toast or something. What do you think?"

  "I think," I said, "that this so-called apology isn't going so well."

  "Oh, alright," she said. "Jeez, if you're gonna be all picky about it." She closed her menu and set it off to the side. "I'm sorry about our prank. We thought it would be funny, but obviously, it wasn't, and I'm really super sorry."

  "Wow," I said, "that actually wasn't that bad."

  "Thanks," she said. "I've had a lot practice."

  "But I still don't understand how you'd call it a prank."

  "Oh, it totally was," she said. "You know, like a steal-the-mascot thing. See?"

  "No, I don't see. I'm not a mascot. I'm a person. And honestly? I don't think that stealing an animal is much better."

  "Most of the time," Amber said, "it's just a statue or something. It's not like we'd kidnap a dog or anything. Jeez, what kind of people do you think we are?"

  "Well, you tried to kidnap me," I said, "so I probably shouldn't answer that."

  "Too bad we didn't get the chance to do your car. You might've found that funny at least."

  I stared down at her. "What do you mean, do my car?" And then it hit me. Those two guys and their sedan. Their car had been vandalized, spray-painted with profanity. "Oh my God," I said. "You were gonna paint my car, too?"

  Her eyebrows furrowed. "Paint? No way. That stuff doesn't come off. We use shoe polish."

  "Shoe polish?"

  "Yeah. One trip through the car wash, and it's gone."

  "So your friends," I said. "Those two guys. Was their car painted? Or was that just shoe polish too?"

  "Shoe polish, totally," she said. "Their car's fine now. Joey and Paul are still pissed, but hey, that's guys for ya. No sense of humor."

  I felt myself swallow. Pissed or not, their car was fine. My car was fine. The only car that wasn't fine was Lawton's. And he'd done that at my prompting, even if that hadn't exactly been my intention.

  "So," Amber said, "do you accept my apology or what?"

  "I guess so," I said.

  "Awesome," she said, reaching for her menu. "Because I'm in the mood for pancakes. You serve them all day, right?"

  An order of pancakes and a spiked orange juice later, Amber was gone. And she actually left me a pretty decent tip.

  I still wasn't sure how I felt about her so-called apology, but I had to give her credit for trying. If nothing else, she had been wearing clothes at the time, which was more than I could say for Brittney.

  When my shift was over, I went to the back room and checked the schedule, posted on the back bulletin board. Looking at it, I felt my blood pressure spike and my gaze narrow. Keith changed the schedule, alright – just not in any way that would make me happy.

  "That little weasel," I said.

  Chapter 30

  Josie was passing through on her way to the back door. "What now?" she asked.

  "That stupid Keith," I said. "Get this. I'm on the schedule for five days next week, but for three of them, I'm on training duty."

  "Oh man, that sucks," Josie said.

  "Yeah, and check this out. Wanna know who I'm training?"

  Josie sidled next to me and looked. Her brow wrinkled. "Brittney Adams? Is that the blonde who came in to see Keith the other night?"

  "Yup."

  Josie winced. "Ouch. Poor you."

  "No. Poor Keith," I said. "Because right after I'm done here, I'm gonna strangle him."

  "Good luck with that," she said. "He left like an hour ago."

  I looked around. "Then who's in charge?"

  Josie shrugged. "Got me. The day shift manager starts at six."

  "But that's not for another hour," I said. Even for Keith, this was beyond strange. "So there's no manager on duty?"

  "Not anymore." She grinned. "Unless you want the job."

  "Hell no," I said. "What I need is a real job."

  "Hey, you and me both."

  "Do you know, I sent out like twenty resumes last month?" I said. "Not that it did any good."

  "You think you got it bad?" she said. "My brother? He's got a master's degree. Wanna know where he's working?"

  "Where?"

  "Flannigan's. As a bartender."

  "Really? He can't find anything better? What's his degree in?"

  "Psychology."

  I gave her a sympathetic look. "Not the best-paying field, from what I hear."

  "Got that right," she said. "He's better off tending bar. With tips, anyway."

  I could totally relate. It was the same dynamic that kept me waitressing. Probably Josie too. She had a bachelor's degree in something or other, for all the good it did her.

  We said our goodnights, and I headed back to my locker. Twisting the combination, I thought of Keith tampering with my cell phone. Somehow that weasel had gotten into my locker, and I needed to find out how.

  But in the meantime, I definitely needed a new lock, something with a key this time.

  Pulling out my cell phone, I found a new voicemail from Erika. It was short and to the point. "Call me as soon as you get this. Or else."

  I glanced at the clock. It was five in the morning. She didn't mean now, did she? I checked the time of her message. Three o'clock in the morning. Just two hours ago.

  Well, she must've meant it, right? I gathered up the rest of my stuff and headed out to my car. While waiting for the engine to warm up, I gave her a call.

  We were still talking by the time I pulled into the Parkers' driveway a half hour later.

  Turns out, Erika's parents were cutting off her financial support, right after the current semester.

  "Are you sure they won't reconsider?" I said.

  "Not a chance." She gave a hollow-sounding laugh. "Guess I shouldn't have flunked that last history class, huh?"

  Erika was on her fifth year at college, going into a sixth. She'd changed her major three times and was back to undecided.

  "I'm really sorry," I said. "What are you gonna do?"

  "I guess I'll have to find a job," she said.

  "First time for everything, huh?"

  "Yeah, I guess. So anyway, tha
t's probably why I blew up at you. I’m really sorry."

  "Nah, don't be sorry," I said. "I was a total crab-ass. I had it coming."

  "That's for sure."

  "Heeeey!"

  Alright," she said. "Enough about me. What'd you decide about that man of yours?"

  "Nothing yet," I said. "But we've got plans for Monday."

  "What kind of plans?" she said.

  "I don't know. He just said he had something to show me."

  "I know what it is," she said.

  "Don't say it," I warned.

  "His massive cock."

  I groaned. "I knew you were gonna say that."

  "Oh c'mon," she said. "Give the guy another chance. You know you want to."

  "Maybe," I admitted. "But just because I want to, it doesn't mean I should."

  "This is what you should do," she said. "Go out with him, do whatever, have a good time. See what happens." Her voice turned serious. "I've known you a long time, Chloe. You haven't had a lot of fun in your life. Maybe it's time to just let go for once, you know?"

  I did know.

  Erika's life had been full of fun. Maybe too much fun, the way it sounded. But look where it had gotten her. If her parents didn't change their minds, she wouldn't be a whole lot better off than I was.

  "Maybe," I said.

  "Stop saying 'maybe.' Say 'I'm Chloe Malinski, and I'm a sex machine.'"

  I laughed. "I'd never, ever say that."

  "Then don't just say it. Do it."

  "I'll think about it," I said. "But hey, before we go, here's a question."

  "What?"

  "Remember that photo I texted you the other night?"

  "The one of that couple in the back seat? Yeah, I remember. The guy looked exactly like your boss. Same tie and everything."

  "Actually," I said, "it was my boss."

  "No way!"

  "No lie," I said. "So anyway, you still got it, right?"

  "The picture? Not anymore. I mean, I figured it was just a joke." She hesitated. "It wasn't?"

  My heart sank. Here, I'd been counting on Erika to keep it. But had I actually told her to keep it? No. I hadn't. It wasn't her fault it was gone. It was mine.

  "Yeah, just a joke," I said.

  Too bad the joke was on me.

  Chapter 31

  Nervously, I paced the living room. It was just after two o'clock on Monday afternoon. Lawton had called me a couple hours earlier to finalize our plans. What those plans were, I had no idea.