A few blocks later, the stitch was gone, so she started to run again. The eyes that she felt on her had to be her imagination in overdrive. Even so, she made it back to Jillian's house in record time. She slowed down, took the stairs two at a time. As she fit her key in the lock, she heard the unmistakable rumble of a motorcycle engine. Caroline's hands shook but she managed to get the door open. She slammed it behind her, pressed her body against it and trembled. The engine slowed but didn't stop. Caroline risked a peek out the window but only saw the back light. “Shit.”
“Caroline, you okay?” Jillian's voice made her jump and scream just a little.
“Fine. I'm fine,” Caroline said hurriedly. “I got myself all freaked out, convinced that someone was following me.”
“Maybe running at night isn't the best idea for you,” Jillian pointed out. “I was just about to smoke a joint. Care to join me?”
Caroline had smoked before but she didn't indulge often. “Yeah. I think that I need a glass of wine, too.”
<#<#<#<#
“Ms. Anders, it's a pleasure to meet you.” Ryan Richards, owner of the local building supply company, extended his hand with a wide smile. “Come on and sit down. I'm glad that you were able to come by.”
Caroline had put in the application at RBS right after Baked had been beaten to death. She'd assumed when she hadn't heard back that the position had been filled. It was a prime position with weekends off, regular work hours and a small office. The duties were pretty basic, Caroline knew that she could do the job in her sleep if given the chance, she just hadn't expected that she'd get that chance. “I was glad to hear from you.”
“I've looked over your resume. I'm impressed. Clark and Sons is quite a well known law firm, and you worked with them for nearly six years.”
“It was a great company. I left because I needed a change.” And she'd needed space from the son in the title but that was besides the point.
“I gave 'em a call. Can't be too careful these days. Got to check references.”
Caroline kept a smile on her face and wondered what he'd been told. As far as she knew, her former best friend was still the head of Human Resources. “Of course.” She began to wonder why the man bothered to call her down.
“I'm going to go out on a limb and say you and the woman I talked to had some issues.” Ryan consulted a paper in front of him. “Kimberly Clark?”
“You could say that.” Caroline was starting to become confused as to where this conversation was going. “Mr. Richards, I...”
“Call me Ryan. All of my employees do.” He smiled at her. “I know a bitter bitch when I hear one. I don't put any stock in bitter bitches. Now, I've been in Baked enough times to see that you're a hard worker, have a good head on your shoulders. You know how to answer a phone? Take a message? Set appointments? Work a spreadsheet?”
“Yes. Yes and yes.” Confusion was being replaced by something very much like hope. “Are you offering me the job?” It was better to ask than to jump to a conclusion. Caroline held her breath, and then Ryan Richards nodded. She blew any shot of playing it cool when she laughed, though to her credit, she did not do a giddy hand clap.
“I think Monday will be good for you to start. Take the rest of the week and the weekend to get settled. I know you just moved.”
Elation faded. “How do you know that?”
“Buster mentioned it when I saw him earlier. He asked if I'd filled the position, said he knew someone who had applied and that he thought you'd be a good fit here.” Ryan frowned. “Is that a problem for you?”
That was a fantastic question, actually. Was it a problem for her that Buster had put in a good word for her? It was actually pretty sweet of him, but Caroline had the feeling it had been more than a good word. Nightshade had influence. “If he didn't mention me, would you have called me for the interview?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in Ryan's reply. Not even a split second, so Caroline believed that he was telling the job. “Truthfully, the applications have just been sitting here. I keep putting off going through them, there's always something else to do.”
“I don't want to sound crass, but we haven't discussed salary yet.”He named a wage that was better than she'd expected and would include health coverage, even vision. “Well, starting Monday you'll have plenty of time to do everything else.”
“Fantastic.” Ryan grinned. “We open at nine. There's usually some breakfast here for the guys. Bagels or whatever, if you could pick those up I'll reimburse you out of petty cash. There's four of us, well, five of us now.”
Caroline left feeling accomplished and actually a little excited. The mess in Ryan's office had made her twitchy, but most of it looked like things that needed to be put in order and filed. The idea of that made her calm. It was a job that she could do.
It was only a few blocks to the bus stop, another perk, and it was only once she was sitting back and letting her mind wander that she thought about Buster again. She wanted to thank him for putting in a good word for her, and he'd mentioned that he was working at the Mason place. It felt weird to just stop by, so she called his phone first.
There was no answer. Caroline decided that if he was working, he might not hear it. Impulsively she got off a few blocks from the Mason place. Hopefully he wouldn't be angry at her random visit, but she didn't think he would. Since their first dinner date, she'd seen him at least half a dozen times. They weren't all dates. Sometimes they'd just sit in Jillian's kitchen and have coffee or grab a burger when he took a break.
She'd expected to see trucks outside the Mason house, hear the sound of hammers or saws or whatever was used to rebuild a home from the ground up, but there was nothing. The closer she got, the more she realized that no work had been done since the last time she'd run by.
Caroline must have remembered wrong. Buster must have said that they were working somewhere else, and she hadn't been paying attention. He'd had his hands on her at the time, so her mind did tend to wander. She took out her phone again. This time, instead of calling, she sent him a text asking him out to dinner.
She was nearly home when he replied. Caroline stopped walking to be sure that she'd read the text properly. “I'd love to have dinner, but we're going to be stuck at Amelia's for a while. It'll be too late. Tomorrow instead?”
“You lying fuckhead.” Caroline didn't respond to the text. She shut her phone off and continued to walk. Lying was something that she couldn't stand. The truth, whatever it was, was always the better choice. Always.
<#<#<#<#
There were few things as relaxing as a cold beer, a good book and utter silence. Jillian was at work and had promised to bring home pizza. Caroline was digging into a bag of chips to hold her over until then and trying not to get crumbs on the screen of her tablet. She was in the middle of a fast-paced thriller set in New Orleans just after Hurricane Katrina when a knock on the front door made her jump.
At first she wondered if Jillian had forgotten her keys, but a look through the peephole showed her a much more masculine visitor. She opened the door for Buster despite the fact she was hardly dressed for company in her oversized pajama pants and promotional tee shirt from Baked. “Hey.”
“Hey. I never heard back from you.” He stepped inside the house. “Cute outfit. I was going to suggest we got out and get something to eat, but you look like you're in for the night.”
“That was the plan,” Caroline replied. Part of her wanted to just ice him out, tell him that she was busy and he needed to go, but it wasn't the mature thing to do. Even though he'd lied, it didn't mean that she should do the same even by omission. Lying was a thing for her, a thing that ate away at her insides and kept her up at night.
“If you're hungry, maybe we could order in. Hang here?” He stepped closer. He smelled of the road and cigarettes. The combination shouldn't have been appealing but it was, especially combined with the way he was looking at her.
“I'm not sure that's a good idea.” Caroline
took a deep breath and forced the words out before the horny part of her brain started to call the shots. Just from her proximity to him, she could feel warmth spreading through her. It had been a good long time since she'd been with a man. She'd never been with a man like Buster.
“Why not?” Again, he moved closer. Close enough that she could reach out and touch his arm if she wanted to. She wanted to, but she needed to focus, be straight with him. “Okay, here's the thing. There are only a few things which are deal breakers for me, Buster. Lying is one of them.”
“What are you...” He came even closer to her. His dark brown eyes were narrowed as if he were trying to figure out for himself what she was talking about.
“Don't.” Caroline shook her head and took a step back. “There was no one working on the Mason house yesterday. I went past and saw the place deserted. So, when you texted me that you were there, working late and couldn't go to dinner, it was a lie.”
“It was,” he admitted, which caught Caroline a bit off guard. “Look, there are things that I can't tell you. I said I was at the Mason place because it was the easiest thing to say. I can't talk to you about Nightshade business. I won't.”
“Then tell me that.” Caroline felt a little stupid that it hadn't occurred to her he might be doing something Nightshade-related. She'd been around long enough to know that the club was involved in a lot of different thing. She was pretty sure that Wayne had put money into an envelope once a week and handed it over to Nightshade. She'd always figured that it was the price of doing business. “I don't need the details. I just need the truth.”
“You've been lied to before,” he observed as he closed the distance between them again.
“Who hasn't?” Caroline countered. Her pulse began to pound as she hoped that he wouldn't ask for more details. She didn't want to give more details. Sure, there would be a point in the blossoming relationship where they would trade war stories. It was to be expected. She just hoped like hell it wasn't for a very long time.
“Fair point,” he replied. “Aren't you going to ask why I can't tell you?” Buster stepped closer to her and Caroline swallowed hard. At that second, it was easy to see how he could be considered intimidating. And it turned her on.
“I figure it's about Nightshade so no, I'm not going to ask.” Caroline tilted her head back so that she could meet his eyes. She bit down on her bottom lip to remind herself not to shift up onto her toes and bring her lips to his.
“You're not the least bit curious?” He placed his hands on her hips, something he'd done before; he was very hands-on with her. At first, it had made her nervous. It wasn't like anything she'd experienced before, not that she had an abundance of experience, but there had only been two serious relationships in her life. Now, it sent a tingling warmth through her.
“Maybe a little,” Caroline admitted. “Not enough to push when you just said you can't talk about it. My ex was a lawyer so he could never really talk about his day, either.”
“A lawyer, huh? That must have been exciting.” His grip on her hips tightened.
“Not really. There were stuffy dinner parties full of pompous assholes who enjoyed a good circle jerk. So, let's not talk about it.” Caroline tried to ignore the tingle spreading through her from the simple touch. “Oh! I remember what I wanted to talk to you about.” It was hard to believe she'd nearly forgotten. “Did you bully Ryan Richards into offering me the job at his company?”
“Did I bully him?” He looked amused at the accusation. “First off, I'm not a bully. I didn't intimidate him into hiring you. I merely mentioned I knew someone who had applied.”
“Thank you.” Caroline took a breath to steady herself. She didn't think that she'd ever been this close to him for this long. “I think I'm going to like it there, too. Looks like there's lots to do.” Waves of heat, and need, raced through her from where his hands gripped her.
She saw the kiss coming and was glad for it. He was the first man with a beard that she'd ever kissed. She loved the feeling of it against her skin, the way it almost tickled. Heat flared deep inside of her at the thought of feeling it against her skin in other places. He was the one who pulled back. He was always the one, which was probably one of the reasons they hadn't slept together just yet.
“What are you in the mood for, Caroline?'
The question caught her off guard. Her head was still muddled from her close proximity to him, so it took a beat for her to realize he was talking about dinner. “Surprise me.”
“Come to the bar with me tomorrow night.”
“What?”
“You said to surprise you. Come to the bar with me tomorrow night. It's Friday. It'll be fun.”
“Okay.” Caroline surprised herself by answering before she'd thought it through. But maybe he was right, maybe it would be fun. She was only nervous because she didn't know what to expect. It seemed silly to ask him, so she'd just have to be surprised.
He seemed pleased that she agreed, leaned in for another kiss, and they actually had a really great night. It was quiet conversation over Chinese food. Buster didn't stay late. He said that they had a job in the morning.
After he'd left, Caroline cleaned up, locked up and headed into her bedroom. She was really starting to think of it as her bedroom, which carried a sense of relief. She liked the feeling of being settled. Once she was in bed, she was asleep in no time, until she was woken by the sound of raised, angry voices.
Fear flooded through her until she was able to recognize the voices. Ace and Jillian, and they were tearing into one another big time. Caroline shifted to search the bedside table for her headphones. If they were finally about to go at it, she didn't want to hear Jillian hitting any high notes.
“It's about time.” She chuckled to herself as she swung her legs off of the bed to check the top of the dresser for her headphones. It was her opinion that the two needed a fight and a fuck, in that order. It was obvious to anyone around them that there was a connection, even if Jillian refused to admit it. Caroline didn't get why she'd hide how she felt. One time she'd asked, and Jillian had refused to answer.
“I can't fucking do this anymore,” Ace's voice, and anger, carried through the thin walls. “I'm tired, Jillian. Tired of going back and forth with you. And the other day...”
“Don't you bring that up. I've told you, I don't want what you want,” Jillian shouted back, her voice shrill. “I don't want you.” Caroline jumped as she heard something smash.
“Fine! Fuck you then.” Ace roared the word, and the front door slammed seconds later. His bike roared to life, sounded as angry as he was.
Caroline felt tears well in her eyes. She'd heard the lie in Jillian's voice, and that drove her out of bed. She suspected that at some point, someone had hurt her friend badly, badly enough to skew the way that she dealt with things. She hesitated at the door as she heard sobs but decided she wouldn't let her friend cry alone. “Jillian?” She called out to not startle her.
“Don't come out here. There's glass. I don't want you to get cut,” Jillian called out. “Before you ask, I'm fine. I'll clean this up and you should go back to bed.”
“I'll help. It'll go quicker that way. We don't have to talk. I'm good without talking.” She entered the living room, looked down at the demolished glass coffee table. “Besides, it's looks like you already cut yourself.”
“Where?”
“Here.” Caroline touched her own cheek.
“Some of the glass flew,” Jillian wiped her hand over her cheek. “I'm fine. You want to get the dust pan and broom? I'll grab the trash can.”
“Sure. No problem,” Caroline replied, though she suspected this mess was going to take more than that to clean, but it wasn't the time.
<#<#<#<#
Caroline finally settled on an outfit. She had on her favorite jeans, the boots she tended to always wear if she knew that she was going to be on the back of the bike, and a flowing shirt with a scooped neck and a tank top underneath, just so that she wasn
't showing too much skin. She was dressed, ready and waiting for Buster in the living room.
Jillian came out of her room. “Hey, you like nice.” There was a cheer to her voice that seemed forced. “Buster taking you out to dinner again?”
“Actually, we're going to the bar.” Caroline braced herself for some sort of snarky response from Jillian, but instead, her friend didn't even react. “I said that we're going to the bar.”
“I heard you. Do you have any extra dental floss? I ran out and I don't feel like going to the store.”
“I've got those flosser things. I left them in the bathroom, feel free to use them.”
“Thanks. Have fun tonight.”
“Jillian, wait.” Caroline spoke up as her friend started back towards her room. “How are you doing?”
“I'm fine, Caroline. Why wouldn't I be?”
Denial was apparently Jillian's new zip code. “I thought that you might be upset because of last night.”
“Yeah, well I found that coffee table at a garage sale. It wasn't expensive. It was a pain in the ass to clean up, though.” Jillian seemed to misunderstand the question, but Caroling knew that she was doing it deliberately.
“You got that at a garage sale, really?” Caroline wouldn't push her. She couldn't. It would be cruel.”
“Yes. Back when I had a car, of course. It would have been super awkward to try and carry that thing across town.”
“The stuff that happened with Ace...” Caroline tried to figure out how to word what she wanted to say.
“Don't.” Jillian held up her hand. “Look, I like you, Caroline. I like us being friends, so I'm going to tell you something straight. Don't talk to me about Ace. Not now. Not ever. There was nothing between us. Nothing. Whatever he wanted, it wasn't what I wanted. Okay?”
Caroline didn't believe a word that her friend was saying but she didn't say that. Instead, she smiled. “Got it loud and clear.”
“Good. Seriously, have fun tonight. Buster is... he's a good guy. Just do me a favor and be careful.” Jillian frowned. “Stay close to him. He'll keep you safe.”
Through The Weeds (Nightshade MC Book 2) Page 5