She flashed me a bright smile. “Of course.”
“Right this way, please.”
I turned and headed back to the storage room. She followed, her heels tantalizingly clicking against the hard floor. Who wore high heels for a day of community service?!
Girls like Grace Wells, that’s who. Girls who had never done a day of hard work in their life… and who would never think to unless there was some kind of major pay off there.
Once the door was closed behind us, I spun around and faced her. She stood only a couple of feet away, gazing up at me. Automatically, my torso swayed towards hers. I jerked back. Apparently my sex drive still hadn’t gotten the memo that Grace was a girl who needed to be avoided at all costs.
I lowered my voice and tried to keep it as controlled as possible. “What are you doing here?”
She looked at me like she was confused. “Volunteering. You heard Brie.”
I studied her face, looking for a hint of some other truth there.
“You don’t believe me,” she said, her eyes becoming sad. “Because of the other day.”
I clamped my teeth together. Grace took in a deep breath and let it out, her shoulders shaking. My arms itched to go around her, but I stayed still, playing a trick on my body by pretending I was a statue.
“No,” I answered. “Sorry, but I don’t.”
She smirked slightly. “You don’t sound very sorry.”
A growl started deep in my chest, and I suppressed it before it surfaced. God, I wanted to wipe that silly expression right off her lips. Alone there in the storage room, there were a hundred different ways to do it; countless ways to kiss her; a dozen surfaces I could lean her over and get to work showing her what happened when she didn’t keep her attitude in check…
I snapped back to reality.
This is not the time for fantasies, Luke, I chastised myself.
Grace crossed her arms, her breasts noticeably pushing together even despite the loose top. “I didn’t know you owned this place. Honestly.”
“I don’t believe that for a second.”
Even though I wanted to. God, I wanted to be wrong about her. But if Tuesday had taught me anything, it was that a scorpion doesn’t change its true nature. Grace came from the same world I’d fought years to escape. And even then, at twenty-nine years old, I would still find, at random moments, it was still with me. Whenever I looked at someone on the street or in a public building and passed judgment on them, thinking they were somehow lesser than me since they waited for a bus every morning or mopped floors for a living, then I knew that the programming I had been raised with was still alive somewhere deep down in me.
I came from a world where we were taught that everything in life was fair; that you got what you put out; that real hard work had an exponential effect. I was taught that those who lived in poverty were in such circumstances because they just hadn’t tried hard enough or because they just didn’t care.
It wasn’t until I started traveling the world that I saw otherwise. Poverty was the result of a failure of humanity as a whole. The systems that were in place didn’t allow for just anyone who wanted more to rise above. A seventh of the people in the world still went to bed hungry every night. Many people didn’t know where their next meal would come from or if they would even be able to keep their children alive.
It had been hard to return to New York after my brush with reality. None of my friends, too preoccupied with skiing trips and the stock market, seemed to care about the things that I suddenly cared about.
And so I’d done the only thing that seemed right and left that life behind. I’d moved to the most random and small town I could find, and I’d committed myself to doing what little good I could in the world. Community First was only the first of what I hoped would be many more food pantries. I’d committed my life to it, leaving behind the people who just refused to see what was truly important in life.
People like Grace.
She stared up at me, batting her eyes. A little jolt of electricity went through my body. She knew what she was doing. How could a beautiful girl like her not? Certainly she’d done the exact same thing multiple times before with other men and was now an expert at the art of seduction.
She was trying to hook me and reel me in.
“You know,” I told her. “Your name is pretty ironic.”
She wrinkled her nose. “That’s not very nice.”
“Why are you here?”
“I told you.”
“And I don’t believe it.”
I was done with the conversation. I took a step forward, meaning to go around her and back through the door to the front, but I stopped after just one move. The pull between us was palpable; the heat searing. I could hear her breath moving in and out of her lungs and her chest rose sharply as I froze.
Her dad can’t even take care of her. That’s what Mark had said.
So was that what this was all about? Was she just looking for another man to be her sugar daddy?
I scoffed, and she lifted her eyes to look at me. Something rumbled in my core, a deep, primal yearning.
I had to get the hell out of there.
Pushing off from my heels, I catapulted myself through the door and into the front area.
“Be back soon,” I told Brie and Ricardo, not even looking at them.
I blew through the front door and was in my SUV within a matter of seconds. Safe on the side of the building with no windows, I let my forehead drop onto the steering wheel.
Damn that woman.
CHAPTER NINE
Grace
I shut my eyes and counted my breaths, waiting to see if Luke would come back. The sound of the front door slamming said that probably wouldn’t happen.
“Ugh,” I said to myself. So close and yet so far. The man wanted me. It was clear as day.
And I wanted him desperately too because the short exchange — heated as it had been — had left my nether regions tingling.
It really wasn’t fair. Not only would the man not even give me a chance to prove myself, but he was a living and breathing sex God. Being around him was like being on a diet and having a Big Mac hovering from a string right in front of your face.
I bit my lip, trying to quell the waves of desire. I’d have him sooner or later. I’d have his body, and I’d have his money. There was nothing to worry about.
Taking another shuddering breath, I went back into the lobby area. Brie stood behind the desk, shuffling through some papers. Ricardo still leaned against the counter, drinking a soda. He straightened up when he saw me. He was a slightly chubby kid, probably not more than nineteen and he was clearly already enamored with me.
I smiled at him. Maybe there was a way I could get his infantile infatuation with me to work to my advantage.
Brie glanced over her shoulder at me. “Oh, Gracie. Come over here and I’ll show you the filing system we use.”
Gracie?
“All right.” I took my spot next to her. “Where did Luke go?”
“He didn’t say,” Brie answered. “But I’m sure he’ll be back soon. You know, I think he’s just not been sleeping very well.”
I couldn’t help but feel a bit of pleasure from the news. Hopefully, Luke had been up late at night lost in fantasies about me.
Brie went over the filing system several times, afraid I wouldn’t remember. Considering the names were all alphabetical, I was pretty sure I had it down.
“Ricardo,” she said once I’d sworn to her for the fourth time that I understood the system, “Why don’t you go get started on sorting? It’ll be a pleasant surprise for Luke when he comes back.”
“Okay,” he said, slurping down the last of his soda. I smiled at him, and he blushed as he scurried into the storage room.
The bell on the front door tinkled, and I whipped my head that way, expecting Luke. It was a small, red haired woman, though, not more than a few years older than me. She wore khaki pants and a black polo with a name t
ag on it. She looked nervous as she slowly walked up to the counter. Her hands clutched the strap of her purse, and she wore a timid smile.
“Hello,” Brie said.
“Hi,” the woman said in a tiny voice. “I’m Tracey Montgomery. I’m picking up today for the first time.”
“Oh, yes,” Brie responded, throwing her hands up in the air. “I remember you from the other day. Now let’s see…” She bent down to one of the filing cabinets before straightening up. “Grace, why don’t you get Ms. Montgomery’s file? It will be good practice.”
“Okay.” I opened up the drawer with the ‘M’s and extracted the right folder. “Here we go.”
“Good, good,” Brie said like I was a small child. “So open it up and just confirm that all the information is filled out. I’ll go in the back and find her box.”
Brie shuffled away, and I flipped the file open. Tracey Montgomery. Single. Employed part-time at one of those fast food chains I wouldn’t eat at if you payed me a thousand dollars. Three kids: a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a nine month old.
“Wow,” I said, setting the folder on the counter. “You like kids.”
She looked at me oddly. “What do you mean?”
I gestured at the folder. “Just, you know… you have three.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. Either she was about to laugh or bite my head off. I looked away, praying Brie would come back soon and relieve the wildly uncomfortable moment.
A phone rang from inside Tracey’s purse. I watched surreptitiously as she dug into her bag to retrieve it before reading the number.
“Hello?” she answered. A muffled voice came from over the line. “Oh,” Tracey said. “What was his temperature?”
She paused, her hand coming up to her mouth. The voice on the other end was talking again, and Tracey started gnawing at her thumb nail. I noticed for the first time just how pretty she was. With a light smattering of freckles, bright skin, and high cheekbones, she could have passed for a print model.
Minus the awful fashion choices.
“Can’t you give him some fever reducing medicine?” she asked into the phone.
Another few seconds passed, and I heard Brie banging around in the back.
Tracey sucked in a sharp breath. “A hundred and one… Okay… No, I understand. I know. I’m on my way.”
She hung up and stared at the counter top, clearly perturbed. The silence hung thick and heavy. I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to say something.
“Rough day?” I asked.
She looked up at me, her lips drawn tight. “I have to go pick up my son from his daycare. He has a fever.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Oh. Fevers suck. But hey, sick days can be fun. I loved getting to stay home when I was a kid.”
She nodded, and her eyes brimmed with unshed tears.
I bit my tongue. Clearly the woman was just not in the mood to be cheered up.
Fine. Whatever.
I turned away from her just as the storeroom’s door opened. Brie came out with a cardboard box full of boxes and cans of food. A bag of diapers peeked out of one corner and a stack of cans from another.
Brie passed the box to Tracey, and the other woman accepted it.
“Thank you,” she said.
“You’re welcome, dear. Have a wonderful day.”
Tracey turned and hurried out the front door, the little bell tinkling cheerily behind her.
Brie clapped her hands together. “All right! Let me show you how the computer works.”
*
Luke didn’t come back that day, at least not while I was there. Brie let me go after a couple hours, telling me to get a good weekend’s worth of rest in preparation for Monday.
By the time I got back to the house — not an easy feat when you’re riding a bike in high heels — I was spent. It was still early afternoon, and neither Uncle Joe or Aunt Ginger were back from work yet.
Collapsing onto the couch, I closed my eyes and let my mind wander. It immediately went to the storage room, to the moment when Luke had stood only inches away from me, his face hovering tantalizingly close.
I’d partially expected him to kiss me.
I’d also known that it was too soon. Just my showing up at Community First clearly wasn’t enough to convince him of anything. He still had a bias — one which I was pretty sure didn’t have anything to do with me. Basically, he was judging a book by its cover.
Never mind. I’d get to him sooner rather than later.
Pulling out my phone, I checked my text messages. Despite the fact that I’d texted Eli twice over the week, he’d never once responded. Either he was dead and none of my friends had thought to tell me, or he was avoiding me.
The last option really got my blood boiling. Yeah, I was moving on, and the day Eli saw mine and Luke’s wedding announcement in the New York Times he would be sorry. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t hurt. There was literally no reason for him to spurn me. For God’s sake, all I’d done was go away to school.
My heart skipped a beat. What if Eli knew the truth about where I was?
What if everyone back in Los Angeles knew?
Quickly, I pulled up Rainy’s number and called her. The phone rang and rang. When she didn’t answer, I threw it down on the couch.
She could have been doing any number of things, I knew, but I had a horrible sinking feeling that she was ignoring me. Call it intuition. Or bitch radar.
And I knew that I couldn’t just wait around for the hour that I discovered, through someone else, that my best friend had betrayed me.
My phone rang, making me jump. It was Rainy.
“Hello,” I coolly answered.
“Hey. I was getting a pedicure with Morgan.”
“That’s nice,” I snapped.
“What’s wrong?”
“Have you told anyone about where I am?”
“What? No. Of course not.”
I gnawed on my bottom lip, not sure whether or not to believe her. She was an actress, after all — even if she wasn’t a very good one.
“What’s going on?” Rainy asked, her voice grating. “Why are you being so paranoid?”
“Because,” I snapped. “I haven’t heard from Eli at all since I left L.A. He hasn’t responded to any of my text messages.”
A short silence followed. “Maybe you’re texting him too much.”
I guffawed. “I’m not a dumbass, Rainy. I know how many text messages are too many. I’ve only sent him two.” I sighed sadly. “He knows I’m not in New York. I just know it. The thing is, you’re the only one I told about where I was going.”
“Grace,” she said, drawing out the word. “I didn’t tell anyone. I swear.”
I played with the silver ring on my finger, twirling it over and over. “Really?”
“Yes. Really.”
I half believed her. “So why is he ignoring me?”
Another silence followed. She knew something. Something she wasn’t willing to share.
“I have to go,” she announced. “I have an audition to get ready for.”
“What? Are you serious? You’re just going to leave me hanging like that?”
“I’m not leaving you hanging.”
“Then tell me whatever it is you’re hiding!” I shouted into the phone. “You know something, and you’re afraid to spill it.”
I heard street traffic on the other end of the line. The honking made my heart ache. I wondered which nail salon she’d gone to and if it was the one we always used to visit together. Somehow, the thought of her going there with Morgan instead of me seemed like the ultimate betrayal.
“Forget about Eli,” she said. “You’re moving on anyway. You told me so yourself. You’re going to marry that billionaire banker dude.”
“Yeah, because I have to,” I snapped, selectively leaving out the part about me actually having the hots for Luke. “You seriously think I want to be in this situation? I didn’t ask for any of this, Rainy.”
&n
bsp; “I didn’t even know you were that serious about Eli.”
“It’s not about that.” I petulantly kicked at the carpet with my heel. “There’s got to be some reason he’s ignoring me, and I want to know why…” A new thought suddenly occurred to me. “Oh my God. Is he seeing another girl?”
“He probably has been for a while. You and he weren’t exactly exclusive. You weren’t even officially dating.”
For God’s sake. Whose side was she on? “That’s not the point!”
“Okay, fine. He’s seeing someone.”
I let the news sink in. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt like I thought it would. After a few seconds ticked by, I realized I truly was good and over Eli. Which was nice, because it would probably make pursuing Luke all the easier.
“Grace?” Rainy asked.
“I’m cool,” I said, nodding my head to prove it to myself. “You know what? I don’t even care. You were right. I’m going to marry Luke anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Good,” Rainy said, her voice sounding lighter.
I leaned against the couch’s back and drew my legs up. “So who is she?”
“Oh, she, uh… I don’t really know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
Rainy knew everyone — and I mean everyone who was anyone — in the L.A. social scene. She’d been going to Madonna’s annual Christmas party since she was fourteen. She had P. Diddy on speed dial. She hung out with at least one person from a Disney show gone by on a regular basis. If she didn’t know a person, she knew someone who knew them.
And then it hit me. Yep. There was that ton of bricks.
“It’s you,” I whispered.
She didn’t answer.
“Oh my God.” I gasped for air, but the tightness in my chest only grew stronger. “Since when?”
“Um, well…”
“Rainy! I said since when? Jesus, I haven’t even been gone a week.”
“We’ve just hung out a few times since then, okay?” she said, her voice rising in defense.
“What does hanging out even mean?” I went on, not waiting for her answer, since I already knew I wouldn’t like it. “And what about before then, huh? Did anything happen before then?”
Wrecked (Crystal Book Billionaires) Page 8