Crushing on the Bully (5 page)

“Because I’m busy,” Clarissa rolled her eyes.

“Doing what?” her manager asked.

“Stuff,” Clarissa said.

“Is this
‘stuff’
important?” Maggie asked.

“Maybe,” Clarissa said, glancing back over her shoulder at Skull who had joined his friends at the bar.

“It’s only for a couple of hours, Clarissa,” Maggie sighed.

“I want double pay,” Clarissa said.

“Will it put you into overtime?” the other woman asked.

“Nope, but I want it anyway. You’re interrupting my day off,” Clarissa said.

“Not going to happen, kiddo,” Maggie laughed, “When can you be here?”

“I have to go all the way home and change, then take a taxi over,” Clarissa said trying her best to sound exasperated.

“I can pick you up,” Maggie said.

“When did you get back in town?” she asked.

“This morning,” Maggie told her, “I’ll tell you more when I see you. Where are you by the way?”

“I’m only about a couple blocks from the shop, I’ll meet you there,” Clarissa said.

“That’ll work. You don’t need your uniform. I just need someone to do inventory,” Maggie said.

“Kay,” Clarissa sighed, “See you soon.”

Clarissa hung up the phone before she told Maggie to do the damn inventory herself. She had been away in Vegas for two weeks and it was time for
her
to get back to work.

“I gotta go,” Clarissa told Skull, “That was my boss. She wants me to do inventory. It doesn’t take long so we can hang out again later if you want.”

“Wanna meet me back here?” Skull asked.

“Okay, then you can finish teaching me to play,” Clarissa grinned, “but I gotta go because I stupidly told her how close I was.”

“Later,” Skull grinned, “Oh, one more thing.”

“What?” Clarissa said and turned back to face him. His lips moved against hers hard and fast. Skull’s tongue quickly parted Clarissa’s lips and danced with her own. When he pulled away Clarissa was blushing again.

“Later,” she said and ran out of the bar.

Clarissa’s pulse was still racing when she arrived at work.

“Hey, Maggie,” she sighed and clocked in, “How was Vegas?”

“Loud and bright,” Maggie laughed.

“Did ya have a good time?”

“Yeah, it was fun, but I’m exhausted,” Maggie laughed.

“Too bad,” Clarissa teased, “You don’t get a vacation to recover from your vacation.”

“I still have sick time,” Maggie laughed, “So you know the deal, kiddo, inventory reports.”

“Yeah,” Clarissa sighed.

“Clarissa?” Maggie called after her.

“Yeah?” Clarissa called back.

“Just one more thing, quit going to biker bars,” Maggie laughed.

“Are you stalking me?” she asked, feeling that Maggie was getting more involved in her personal business than she had the right to.

“No, I was just driving in when you got off the bike. Who was the guy anyway?” she asked.

“A friend,” Clarissa said and stormed off into the store room.

“Be careful,” Maggie said following behind her, “I’m not trying to tell you what to do or anything, Clarissa, but guys like him can be trouble. If he’s hanging out there, he’s most likely trying to join their little gang bullshit and that’s bad news.”

There was an awkward pause.

“Why am I telling you this?” Maggie laughed, but Clarissa could tell that it was fake, “You’re a bright girl. You already know these things. So I’ll leave it alone for now, but promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I’m always careful,” Clarissa sighed, although she wasn’t sure she was telling the truth. She had been a little reckless recently, but not too much. She hadn’t done anything too dangerous and the guys at the bar didn’t seem like criminals. Her mother would tell her that she was just being naive, but since when did she actually listen to her mother’s advice? Well, sometimes she did, but it wasn’t something Clarissa liked to admit.

Two and a half hours later Clarissa had finished the inventory reports and mopped the floor of the storeroom after spilling a box of those little plastic creamers that she hated. A few of them had been crushed by the fall and turned the floor into a milky mess. Sighing, Clarissa clocked out and headed into the restroom to wash the sweat from her face.

Once she the task was complete and she had brushed her hair, Clarissa decided that she didn’t look much worse for wear. She walked past Maggie without telling her goodbye. The sky looked dark so Clarissa decided to take the back streets back to the bar in an attempt to beat the rain. She hoped that Skull had really waited for her, because she wanted to see him again. A small part of her wanted to just climb onto his bike and cling to him. Clarissa was beginning to enjoy the feeling of riding on the back of Skull’s bike. It made the world take on a surreal quality as her worries were left in the dust.

Clarissa turned into an alleyway hoping that it wasn’t a dead end, because if she could cut through she’d come out right next to the bar. She froze when the sound of knuckles cracking against flesh reached her ears. Clarissa had been lost in thought and watching her feet as she walked. It took effort to take a deep breath and look up, because she didn’t want to. She didn’t want to see the blood and gore, but more than that Clarissa didn’t want to admit she knew the owner of the boots she was staring at. The boots the attacker was wearing.

Clarissa forced herself to look up and gasped in opened mouth shock. Skull drew his fist back and hit the guy again. He had his victim pinned against the brick wall of the bar and the guy was struggling, but couldn’t get away from him.

“Skull!” she finally managed to say, but her voice cracked and barely sounded above a whisper.

Clarissa backed away slowly as Skull froze and lowered his fist that was just above to collide into the guy’s face again.

“It’s not what it looks like, Bookworm,” Skull said.

He had a bruise on his cheek and the knuckles of his free hand were swollen and spotted with blood, but Clarissa couldn’t tell whether it was his or the other guy’s.

“Don’t follow me,” Clarissa said, clutching her purse to her side, “I mean it, Skull, don’t follow me. This is done! This through! It hasn’t even started, but I can’t... I just... Don’t follow me!”

Clarissa turned and ran as quickly as she could. She could hear Skull following her, but she didn’t slow down. She was sure that he would concoct some bullshit story that explained it all if she gave him the chance, but she wasn’t going to be that girl. Clarissa wasn’t going to be the naive girlfriend. Her feet moved of their own accord and she soon arrived back at the shop. Maggie was locking up for the evening and looked up when she heard Clarissa approach.

“You okay, kiddo?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Clarissa said forcing her feet to stand still, which proved difficult with the adrenaline that was pumping through her veins, “Can I get a ride home?”

“Sure,” Maggie said, but didn’t ask any more questions.

Clarissa leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes to hold back the hot, angry tears that were threatening to make her dissolve. She inhaled slowly and deeply feeling her lungs with as much air as they would hold and held it until they burned then she exhaled. The deep breathing granted her a few minutes of composure, but that was all she needed, just long enough to thank Maggie for the ride home and sprint up the stairs to her apartment. She locked the door behind her before collapsing onto the sofa.

Clarissa was angry at Skull for being a jerk, but that didn’t seem fair. She knew he was a jerk from the beginning. He was a bully and she had still allowed him to get close to her. Why had she been so stupid? How was it even possible? Hadn’t she carefully guarded her heart closely since Justin left her for the possibility of loose college chicks? Why had she allowed this to happen? Skull had fooled her and she had been stupid not to see it coming. Just because he was semi-sweet when they were alone didn’t mean he was a nice guy nor a good person. She retrieved her cellphone and dialed Julie’s number.

“Hello?” Julie answered.

“Julie,” Clarissa cried into the phone.

“OMG, Rissa are you okay?” she asked.

“No!” Clarissa said and shook her head even though her friend couldn’t see her, “I’m so not okay.”

“What happened?” Julie asked.

Clarissa quickly brought her up to speed on what had happened since their fight at the mall.

“I told you he wasn’t good for you,” Julie said.

Clarissa bit her tongue, Julie had told her, but she hated that her bestie sounded so smug about the situation. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t want to get into another argument with Julie.

“It’s going to be okay,” Julie said and Clarissa could hear her car keys jingling, “I’m going to stop and rent some romcoms and some ice cream. I’ll be there soon. It’s okay.”

“Thanks, Julie, but I don't feel like watching anything and besides, I don't even own a television!” Clarissa sighed.

“I'll bring my portal DVD player! No depressed girl in like, well, the history of girls has ever felt like watching romcoms, it's just what you do, because it helps,” Julie said, “You'll see.”

“Fine, whatever,” Clarissa said, “I'll see you when you get here.”

Chapter Five

It had been a month since Clarissa had talked to Skull, but sometimes late at night she would catch herself thinking about him. This was particularly true if she heard a motorcycle drive by. She still hadn’t bought a new car and her old blue clunker had lost its battle. It now rested in peace at the junk yard, which paid Clarissa four hundred dollars for it.

She had planned on saving the money to buy a new one, but she had to use it for taxi rides around town when Julie couldn’t take her somewhere. It was better to use that money, the car money, than to break into her savings account, where she had hoarded away money for school sometimes literally a dollar at a time.

Fortunately, tonight Julie had been able to drop her off after work. Clarissa had just gotten out of the shower when someone knocked on the door. She glanced at the coffee table and saw Julie’s fashion magazine. Clarissa snatched it from the table thinking that her bestie had returned to retrieve it.

“Here it is,” she said swinging the door open, holding tight to the blue towel that she had wrapped up in.

“Thanks, but I think you have me confused with someone else, Bookworm,” Skull said.

Clarissa blinked and slammed the door shut. Skull looked like he had come out on the bad side of a fight. His lip had been split and he had the start of a black eye. Clarissa raced into her bedroom and changed into her pajamas then sat down on the bed. No, she wasn’t going to talk him. She hadn’t missed him, not really. She had only missed his bike. At least that’s what she had told herself again and again, because she didn’t want to admit how much she had missed him.

Clarissa did think it was possible to miss someone so much when you barely knew them. She lay down on the bed and hugged her favorite pillow close to her. He was most likely running from the police or something. Why else would he show up at her apartment after a month all beat up? Did he think she was going to hide him from the police? The jerk just wouldn’t take the hint, even after she had told him very bluntly that she wanted nothing more to do with him.

Skull knocked on the door again and Clarissa startled. Her heart pounded against her rib cage fueling her racing pulse. With shaking hands she forced herself out of bed and back to the front door.

“What do you want?” she snapped as she tore it open.

“Can I come in?” Skull asked.

“No, go away,” Clarissa said and crossed her arms, “I was there in the alley remember, Skull? I was there. I saw what you did to that poor man and now you show up here looking like the mafia beat you up.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Bookworm, if the mafia was after me I wouldn’t be standing here. Haven’t you ever watched a mob boss movie?” he chuckled and then winced.

Clarissa bit back the sympathy she felt for him when he wince and retorted sharply.

“I don’t watch television, remember?”

“Yea, I know, but television would educate you about some things,” Skull said. His brown eyes looked like he was teasing her, but he didn’t laugh. Clarissa guessed that he didn’t want to cause his face any more pain than it was already experiencing, “Can I come in or not?”

“I don’t want to learn about the mafia,” Clarissa frowned, “but get in here before my neighbors start talking.”

Clarissa grabbed his wrist and pulled him inside before slamming the door shut and locking it behind them.

“Should I be expecting the cops to show up looking for you?” she asked, letting go of his hands.

“No,” Skull shook his head, “I got into a disagreement with one of my brother’s friends.”

“So did your brother or his friend beat the hell out of you?” Clarissa asked.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Skull said.

“You can’t do this, Skull,” Clarissa snapped.

“Whoa, whoa, Bookworm, my head hurts, babe! Please don’t yell!” Skull said moving a hand to his temple.

“This is my apartment and I’ll yell if I want to!” Clarissa shouted. “Seriously! You can’t just show up here looking like you’ve been in a bar fight and not tell me what the hell happened!”

“I told you what happened,” Skull said, “Now can you not yell?”

“Sit down,” Clarissa said and grabbed Skull by the arm and led him to the sofa and pushed him onto it, “I’m going to go see what I can find to clean you up.”

Skull didn’t reply and Clarissa didn’t stick around to wait for an answer. They needed to get ice on his eye and antiseptic on his lip and other various cuts and scrapes.

“What am I doing?” she quietly asked herself as she plundered through her medicine cabinet looking for anything that might be useful, “For all I know the cops are going to come knocking my door down any minute now.”

Clarissa shook the thought away and resumed her searching. Her fingers wrapped around the cool surface of the bottle that held the antiseptic and she sighed in relief.

Upon arriving back in the living Clarissa turned on the bright reading lamp that sat next to the sofa.

“Too bright,” Skull said and moved to turn it off.

Clarissa slapped his hand, “No!”

“Whatcha’ hitting me for?” he asked.

“Leave the light on,” Clarissa said gently. Skull was acting weird and she considered calling an ambulance.

“Have you drank tonight?” she asked.

“No, Bookworm, I haven’t,” Skull said, “but I think I have a concussion or something, because my head hurts.”

“That’s what I need to look at, Skull,” Clarissa sighed and titled Skull’s face up towards the light so that she could look at his eyes. His pupils were slightly dilated.

“Can you just finish this so I can sleep?” he asked.

“Nuh-uh,” Clarissa shook her head, “I’ll get you cleaned up, but you’re not going to sleep yet.”

“What do you mean I’m not going to sleep yet?” Skull asked.

“You have a concussion—that means no sleeping,” Clarissa said as Skull pulled away from the cotton ball soaked in antiseptic that she was gently dabbing against his split lip, “Now hold still or I’ll swat your hand again.”

“Vicious,” Skull laughed and winced again, “Don’t make me laugh.”

“Well, don’t make me be all brute-like,” Clarissa grinned and cupped his chin, “Now hold still.”

“Ouch!”

“Shh...” Clarissa cooed to him, “I know it hurts, but that’s what you get for fighting.”

Skull didn’t protest further and Clarissa was able to finish quickly.

“Wait here, I’m going to go get some ice for your face,” she said.

“Where else would I go?” he asked.

“I don’t wanna know,” Clarissa said and walked into the kitchen.

She grabbed the icepack out of the freezer drawer and began to empty ice cubes into it. Clarissa wasn’t sure how she felt about Skull showing up here after what happened in the alley, but she was glad he was okay. She had spent the last month worrying that he had been arrested or worse. After she refilled trays back into the freezer Clarissa headed back into the living room. Skull’s eyes were shut and he was resting his head against the back of the sofa.

“Eyes open,” she said and gently place the icepack against his eye.

“I’m awake,” he said and pulled away from the cold.

“Well, keep your eyes open and hold this,” Clarissa said moving his hand up to the ice pack, “I need to go get more antiseptic.”

“For what?” Skull asked.

“Your hands,” she said examining his swollen knuckles.

“Are you trying to kill me?” he asked, “I just need to some sleep.”

“And you’ll get it as soon as your pupils return to normal,” Clarissa said, sprinting back into the bathroom.

After she cleaned the cuts on Skull’s hands Clarissa sat down next to him and leaned her head on his shoulder. She was exhausted and her feet were killing her, but she knew she had to keep Skull awake.

“So what have you been up to, Bookworm?” he asked, moving his arm so that he could hold her hand.

“Nothing much, the normal, which is working,” Clarissa said and fought the urge to pull away from him. Her mind was screaming that she should throw him out on his ass, but Clarissa’s heart wouldn’t allow it. Even if she hadn’t liked him so much, Clarissa didn’t think she could turn away an injured person if she was able to help.

“That sounds boring,” Skull said. Clarissa could tell that he was suppressing a laugh.

“I stay too busy to get bored,” Clarissa shrugged, “What have you been up to?”

“School and stuff,” Skull shrugged.

“What stuff?” Clarissa asked hopefully.

“Just stuff,” Skull laughed and winced.

“What are you majoring in?” Clarissa asked, desperate to find out something more about him.

“Does it matter?” Skull asked.

“Why do you keep so many secrets?” Clarissa asked.

“I don’t, not really,” Skull shrugged.

“Yes, you do, Skull,” Clarissa said, “You live like you have more than one life or something.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve never really answered any of my questions, not the important ones at least. You evade them again and again,” Clarissa sighed.

“I do not,” Skull protested.

“Do too,” Clarissa frowned.

“We all have things we don’t like others to know, Bookworm,” Skull said.

“True, but for you that seems to be everything,” Clarissa sighed.

“No, it’s not!” Skull snapped, “Can’t you just mind your own damn business?”

“Well, you become my business when you show up on my doorstep bloody and beat up! It becomes my business when I’m on my way to meet back up with you and I find you beating the bloody hell out of some guy in a damn alley way!” Clarissa yelled.

“Chill out,” Skull sighed.

“This is my damn apartment and I don’t have to chill out! I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to, this is my home!” Clarissa shouted.

“Fine!” Skull shouted back as he stood up, “I’m outta here. I shouldn’t have come here in the first damn place!”

“You can’t leave, moron! You have a concussion!” Clarissa said and stood up.

“Shove off, Bookworm!” Skull said and started towards the door.

“I’m not letting you drive right now!” Clarissa said and slid in between him and the door.

She looked up at him and felt guilty for starting this conversation tonight. He was hurt and despite her hunger for answers, she should have at least waited until the morning.

“Get out of my way,” Skull said.

“No, Skull, no,” Clarissa said shaking her head, “You can’t drive right now. Come on, let’s sit down. I won’t ask any more questions tonight.”

“Fine,” Skull said and turned around. Clarissa entwined her fingers through his and led him back to the sofa.

“See you can just sit here and rest,” she said retrieving the icepack from the floor. Clarissa bit her lip. In her shock she hadn’t made him remove his boots. She was going to have to rent a machine to do the floors, but she’d worry about that later, “Here’s your icepack.”