“What are you doing tonight?” Stratton’s back to me and he was fiddling with something from the pantry.
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I’ve been reading for a couple of hours, but I was thinking about going out or something, anything.” I stretched. “I’m feeling pretty bored, actually.”
Stratton raised his eyebrows. “I’m impressed,” he said slowly. “You come to the rescue and now you’re just bored again?”
I blushed. “Not like that,” I admitted. “I just really want to get out of here.”
Stratton looked at me and cocked his head to the side. “Leda wants to get out of here,” he said with a smirk. “Okay. Let’s go to Franklin’s and drink some beer, okay? You will drive.”
I grinned. He had no way of knowing, but I’d actually been craving Franklin’s all day. And the quiet, old-man kind of bar was just perfect for how I was feeling. I didn’t want to attract any attention, especially since I was going with Stratton. The last thing I needed was to run into someone from school.
Stratton looked surprised when I agreed. I told him to be ready in twenty minutes, and as soon as I was locked in my room again, the panic set in. I looked like I’d just woken up, and there was no way in hell I wanted to go out looking like that. But if I got too dressed up, he’d know it was for him. Ugh, I groaned to myself. Being a girl is so hard.
Eventually, I settled on clean black jeans and a navy blue pullover sweater. It wasn’t really one of my favorite outfits, but Megan always talked about how great my boobs looked in that sweater, so I thought maybe Stratton would appreciate it. When I looked at my face in the little mirror over my desk, I couldn’t believe how happy I looked. But I also looked flushed, so I added some matte powder and a few coats of mascara.
Stepping back and inspecting myself, I felt satisfied. I looked pretty good, for me at least. Especially since I was in the horrible habit of wearing yoga pants to class after the second or third session.
Thankfully, Franklin’s was practically empty. Stratton led me upstairs to the big copper bar and pulled two stools together. I hauled myself onto one and looked at the rest of the bar; there was no one even close to my age there. The bartender came over and smiled at Stratton. I recognized her from school. He charmed her with a couple of words (okay, a request for a beer) and she blushed and fumbled as she slid the foaming mug across the surface of the bar.
Stratton smirked at me after she’d turned around. “Leda,” he said in a teasing voice. “I don’t think she was able to concentrate very well.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t make me regret this,” I warned. He grinned and took a big gulp of beer. I could smell it on his breath and for some reason, I was all the more tempted to press my lips to his. Especially if he kept staring at me with those piercing blue eyes.
“What are you doing for the summer?”
I frowned. “I don’t know yet,” I admitted. “My parents want me to come home and babysit, but I’m not sure if I can stick around with them for another summer. It was hard after college. You know, all your friends are moving out and getting jobs and you’re stuck in your childhood bedroom.”
Stratton gave me a funny look and for a moment I didn’t think he’d understood what I’d said. Then, he said: “It must be a strange feeling.”
I nodded. “It is, I guess. But probably not as stressful as flying overseas every time we have a break from school. What are you doing over the summer?”
“I’m going to be a tour guide, in Munich,” Stratton said. “It’s a beautiful city, Leda, have you seen it?”
“I love Munich!” I gushed. “My parents took me there when I was twelve. It was really beautiful.”
“It’s better when you can drink,” Stratton advised. He raised his mug to mine and we clinked. Beer wasn’t my favorite thing to drink, but sometimes it tasted really good and now happened to be one of them. I didn’t really know how people managed to drink it without just pouring it down their throats, though.
“I bet,” I said drily. “Have you done this before? The tour guide thing?”
Stratton shook his head and looked up at me with his eyes sparkling. “No,” he replied. “First time for everything.”
“That sounds so much more fun than babysitting,” I whined. “Lucky duck.”
Stratton cocked his head to the side. “Duck?”
“It’s an expression,” I said mildly. “Don’t worry about it. Do all the tour guides hang out together?”
He threw his head back in laughter and I admired his pearly white, even teeth. “We drink so much beer,” he said with a grin. “It’s the most fun in the world. Hey, Leda, you should come visit! You and Megan, you bring some more girl friends, okay?”
I frowned. An image of shirtless Stratton, chugging a beer bong, popped into my mind. In my head, he was surrounded by a bunch of European girls that all looked like supermodels. I couldn’t even imagine how I would act in that situation. I’d always sort of hated parties, and if I felt dumpy next to Stratton, I couldn’t imagine how I’d feel around lots of other women.
“I don’t know,” I said dubiously. Stratton finished his beer and slammed the mug down on the counter. The bartender perked up and walked back over quickly, smiling at us.
“Another one?”
“Two, please,” Stratton said. He gave her a sideways grin and I stared at his dimples. If he wasn’t so freaking cute, maybe I wouldn’t feel like an idiot every time we talked. I didn’t think I could ever keep my cool around Stratton. He was disarmingly handsome.
After she’d refilled our beers, I turned in the stool. “Do you like to travel?” I asked, taking a sip of my brown ale.
“Yeah,” Stratton said, nodding. “Poland and the Czech Republic are cool. I went last summer, to both, with a friend.”
My mind immediately conjured up a “friend” for Stratton: some flawless, tiny, German blonde. “Sounds fun,” I said mildly.
“It was great, Aachem and I backpacked for days.” He gave me a wide grin. “You would have liked it, Leda. We were both reading the Odyssey on our trip.”
“I didn’t know you liked the classics,” I told him, feeling surprised. Stratton gave me a long, hard look.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Leda,” he pointed out. “You think I’m a jerk.” He grinned at me and took a big gulp of beer. “Which I’m not really, not when you get to know me.”
I blushed. I didn’t know that he’d picked up on why I didn’t trust him, but now I felt guilty for acting like an asshole. “I’m sorry,” I said finally. “You’re right, I don’t know you very well.”
“But we are friends now, right?” Stratton held out a hand for me to shake and I grasped it warily. “We know each other now, a little bit.” The feel of his skin was warm and dry and I savored his touch on my bare hand. I liked the way my small hands looked dwarfed in his. They were big, and veiny, and covered with hair, and watching him squeeze my fingers, I imagined him running hands down my body, caressing my breasts…
“Leda?” Stratton leaned in close and looked at me. I jumped and felt a blush rise up my neck.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was spacing out. But you’re right; we do.” My mind flashed back to Scott, and the giant bag of cocaine that we’d stolen from his room. “Where did you hide…you know?”
“With a friend,” Stratton said darkly. “I didn’t want to keep it in the house. I’ll give it to you tomorrow if you still want to hide it somewhere.”
I swallowed hard. “I think I might just dump it in the woods,” I said honestly. “Scott’s going to look everywhere if he thinks that we’ve hidden it somewhere. We won’t tell him we got rid of it, but keep him sweating until he believes us.
“I think he already did believe us,” Stratton admitted. “I’ve never seen him look so mad, or scared.”
“Me neither,” I said. “We did a good job.”
“You did a good job,” Stratton pointed out. “I didn’t say anything.”
&nbs
p; “That’s okay,” I told him. “I probably owed you a favor anyway.”
We finished our second drink and I was starting to feel a little warm and buzzed. Stratton went to the bathroom and I got our check and a glass of water.
“Is he your boyfriend?” The bartender whispered to me, leaning in confidentially over the hammered copper. “He’s really cute.”
I swallowed. “Definitely not,” I said. “We’re housemates.”
“Oh my god,” she breathed. “You live with him? That’s so cool.”
“It’s really not,” I lied.
“Can you give me his number? I love his accent so much!” She blushed furiously and bit her lower lip.
“Sorry,” I told her. “I think he’s seeing someone.”
Stratton came back from the bathroom, whistling, just as I settled up. We put coats on and trudged out to my car in silence. He was being quiet; the atmosphere seemed to have changed somewhat. I couldn’t lie, I still found most of his behavior completely repulsive, but today had really shown me a new side of Stratton.
Chapter Five
Stratton
“You’re being quiet,” I observed as I watched Leda drive. She pursed her lips, but didn’t look at me. There was a strand of dark hair clinging to her cheek and I felt a sudden urge to brush it away.
“I’m driving,” she replied in an acerbic voice.
“Back to the old Leda, I see,” I teased, sticking out my tongue. She didn’t answer me, or turn around, and I sighed and stared out the window. It had gotten dark while we drank at Franklin’s. There wasn’t a lot of traffic on the roads, and I realized with a start that summer was almost here.
I was looking forward to going home, although I wasn’t looking forward to seeing my mother. She was incredibly controlling, and the main reason why my older brothers and I had gone to an international boarding school. She was always pushing us—not necessarily to do the best things we could, but to do the things she wanted for us. I guess I didn’t think much of coming from that conservative a family until I moved to America and saw the liberal homes of my friends. It was mind-blowing to me that not every parent got to dictate their child’s profession. It was something I never would have considered, not before coming here.
“Stratton,” Leda cut into my train of thought in a sharp voice. “Do you think Scott’s full of crap?”
We pulled into the driveway and I watched the yellow headlights bounce over the garage doors. “I’m not sure,” I admitted. “I think he is a liar, but I think he is dangerous.”
“Yeah,” she agreed absentmindedly. “I kept thinking he was this big teddy bear, until I remember he was dealing coke out of our house.”
I shuddered. One hint of a drug problem and I would have been on a plane faster than I could exhale. Leda didn’t know that I’d gotten into trouble a few times at boarding school, and if I fucked up now, my student visa could be revoked instantly.
“Stay away from him,” I warned her suddenly. “Even if you think he is really soft. Don’t trust him.”
Leda turned in her seat and gave me a weird look as she cut the ignition. “Okay, you over-protective weirdo,” she said in a playful voice. Then, she actually smiled. I couldn’t believe it.
“Wait, are you smiling?” I teased, leaning over in the car and holding her cheeks in place. She laughed and tried to push me away but I held on, pulling her face close to mine. The moment suddenly felt charged; Leda’s eyes looked big and serious and her breath was coming in beer-scented heaves. She looked pretty and intense in a way that I’d never thought of her before, and the realization was jarring.
“You’re weird,” she managed to spit out, pushing my hands away and climbing out of the car. I sat there for a moment, feeling dumbly excited. I’d had fun with her, and although I wouldn’t have believed it if you’d told me before, I was looking forward to spending more time with her. When you got past the ice-queen bitch exterior, she wasn’t so bad.
“Stratton!” I heard her call from the porch. “Hurry up, I don’t have my house key!”
Leda’s pretty eyes flashed in annoyance as I took my time getting out of the car and climbing up the front steps. There was a crash from within the house and I felt a stab of fear in my chest. I looked at her but she shrugged and frowned, then pointed to the door knob. I fumbled with the key before shoving it in the lock and pushing the door open. There was a loud crash and Leda jumped in the air. I gently pushed past her and walked inside.
“Stay here,” I whispered. “I’ll check it out, okay?”
She nodded, her eyes wide open with fear. I swallowed and stepped into the house. There was a lot of thumping and pounding coming from Leda’s room and I snuck down the hallway. Her door was slightly ajar and I swung it wide open to find Scott, on his hands and knees digging through her closet. Leda’s room was a disaster; the curtains had been ripped and torn down from the windows, all of her books were scattered on the floor (a lot of them missing pages), and her clothes were thrown all over the bed. Scott didn’t even turn around when he heard me enter the room, and I stood back and puffed my chest out.
“Get the fuck out of here,” I said in a serious tone. Scott didn’t turn around. I stepped forward and grabbed the back of his shirt collar, dragging him out of the closet. He looked up me with wild, frantic eyes.
“Where is it?” Scott begged, sinking to his knees. I tightened my grip on his shirt and used all of my strength to pull him out into the hallway. “Where is it, man, just tell me! Please, I’m desperate!”
I leaned down and got close to his face, curling my lips into a snarl. “You never go in her room again,” I hissed under my breath. “We’re calling the cops, right now. You better leave, Scott.”
Scott’s eyes flashed in anger and he tried to shove me back but I held him firm, shoving him against the wall and wrapping my free hand around his throat. “You don’t fuck with her, you understand? You leave her alone.”
Scott paused and he opened his mouth to speak. I shoved my hand against his throat even harder, feeling him squirm under my grip. His heartbeat was pounding and I tightened my grip, watching his eyes dart nervously from side to side. “Okay,” he finally croaked. “I’ll leave.”
“That’s right, you scum,” I hissed in his ear, dragging him down the hallway by the collar of his shirt. I opened the front door and tossed him out onto the porch. Leda shrieked and I gestured for her to come inside and stand behind me. She scurried in the house and I protectively stepped in front of her with my arms out.
Scott looked up at us with wide eyes. He turned on his heel and ran down the stairs, stumbling but managing not to fall. Leda tugged on my sleeve and looked up at me with scared eyes.
“What did you do?” She asked, searching my face.
“What I had to do,” I replied. “He was in your room, searching. The damage looks pretty bad, come on, let’s go see.”
Leda sniffled but allowed me to put my arm around her shoulders and guide her down the hallway. The damage was even worse than I’d thought; I’d probably been too distracted by Scott to notice that the sheets were ripped from her bed and some of her clothing was in tatters. I heard her swallow hard and instinctively, I wrapped my other arm around her and pulled her close. Leda didn’t resist; instead she curled up against my chest and buried her head in my armpit. Her whole body was racked with sobs and I held her tightly to me, stroking her back and her hair and muttering soothing nonsense into her ear.
Taking a deep breath, I rested my chin and face on the top of her head. Leda’s hair was soft, and it smelled like vanilla and strawberries. I closed my eyes and imagined the two of us drifting off to sleep after making love. She leaned heavily against me and I clung to her with both arms.
“It’ll be okay,” I whispered into her ear. “He’s gone now. He’s not going to come back.”
Leda pulled away from my chest and looked down. I watched as she hurriedly wiped her nose on a sleeve of her blue sweater. “Are you sure he can’t c
ome back?” She whispered. “What if he has his keys with him.”
“Then we’ll call a locksmith,” I replied, rubbing her back. Her shoulder blades stuck out like lovely wings, and I imagined what she would look like without a shirt on. There was a slight stirring in my groin as she sighed and leaned against me, pressing her face into my t-shirt. Not wanting her to feel the growing bulge in my pants, I shifted my weight back but she misunderstood and pressed closer. Quickly, I stepped back.
“What’s wrong?” Leda looked up at me. I shook my head.
“Nothing, but we should call a locksmith now if we’re going to,” I said quickly. “And what about the police? Do you want them to show up?”
Leda frowned. “I think so,” she said carefully. “I should email our landlord, too.”
BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 131