Losing Control (19 page)

“W
hy are you lookin’ at me like that?”

Bianca shook her head and looked away. She had been staring at Layne, she realized. Taking a drink of her Margarita and dipping a chip in their queso, she looked back at him. “You probably think I’m crazy, but I feel like I know you from somewhere else besides the club.”

From where he sat on the other side of the table Tyler smirked, as did Jagger.

“Go ahead, assholes, laugh it up.” Layne took a drink from his beer bottle and ran a hand through his hair. Reaching over to the side of the table, he grabbed a toothpick and put it in his mouth, chewing on the end.

“What’s so funny?” Meredith asked. She had also gotten the feeling that she knew Layne from somewhere, but didn’t know where.

“Yeah, why are you guys acting like it’s some secret?”

Layne cleared his throat and lifted his eyebrows. “You might remember a few years ago—it was all the rage for members of the service to ask celebrities to their balls?”

“Oh yeah,” Meredith smiled. “That girl who got Justin Timberlake to go to hers…let’s just say I’m still jealous.”

He did his best to ignore that. “Well I was one of those people. I’m an ex-Army Ranger. I asked Jessica Shea to accompany me to my ball. She said yes, and it made a huge splash because she had never accepted one before.”

“I still don’t know why she accepted yours,” Jagger broke in, talking around a chip in his mouth.

Layne flicked his straw paper at the other man and couldn’t help the grin that tilted the corner of his mouth. “Me neither, but she did.”

“I remember now, the two of you did a talk show right?” Bianca asked, leaning back in the booth against Jagger’s side.

He nodded. “We did.”

It was obvious that he wasn’t comfortable with their line of questioning, but she couldn’t help asking one more. “Have you stayed in touch with her?”

Both Tyler and Jagger leaned forward. They had wanted to know the exact same thing, but had never had the guts to ask. He was so closed off on everything that had taken place during his time in the military that no one wanted to disturb the grip on reality that he had.

“Yeah,” he admitted softly. “The two of us email and text a lot. We got to be friends and have stayed that way.”

“No shit?” Tyler drug out the words so that they seemed to be a couple of syllables apiece. He was surprised, much more surprised than he had thought he would be, by this new member of theirs.

“No shit.”

The waiter came over, bringing their food, and they all waited a few minutes for it to get delivered. When the right plates were sitting in front of the right people, Meredith turned in her seat to Layne and opened her mouth. He held up his hand. “No more questions. I’ve already told you guys more than I’ve told anyone in years. Just leave it alone.”

The woman who had once been a reporter wasn’t used to being told not to question something. Everyone could tell by the way she opened and shut her mouth numerous times that she struggled with not prying. Tyler laughed and flashed her the most amazing smile that Bianca had ever seen. He put an arm around her shoulder, almost as if he was holding her back physically from asking the questions that had come to her mind.

“It goes against everything in me not to ask you anymore questions, Layne. But I learned the hard way what prying can get you. Just tell me this and I’ll leave you alone. One day can I ask you all the questions I have?”

There were snickers at the table.

Layne regarded her closely, tilting his head and pulling his eyebrows together. “You know what? I think one day I might tell you everything you want to know. I’m not sure why, but I get the feeling you wouldn’t steer me wrong.”

A triumphant, almost gloating, smile appeared on Meredith’s face. “That’s all I can ask—that you keep me in mind. The rest of y’all can suck on it.”

This was nice, Bianca realized a few minutes later. The conversation had died down while the group of them concentrated on eating their food. Having friends was more fun than she expected, especially since these friends also included guys. The dynamic of the group was different than what she was used to, and it surprised her to realize just how much she enjoyed it. Being at the club and being around only females wasn’t what many thought it was. With women came backstabbing and name calling. Here, there was a nice, equal split. She didn’t have to worry about being talked bad about if she wasn’t wearing makeup.

“Señoritas! Shots?” Their waiter asked as he came over to check on them.

The two ladies looked at one another, neither sure what they should do. Bianca wasn’t aware if there was any kind of club etiquette that she should follow. Meredith looked like she was contemplating if she wanted to add anything else to the smorgasbord already on her stomach. In the end, neither one of them made a decision, Tyler held up his hand.

“Bring us two shots of Patron.”

Bianca lifted her eyebrow in surprise. “High rollin’?”

Tyler looked at her head on, his face so serious when Bianca realized maybe she shouldn’t have said that.

“I was just kidding, I didn’t mean to offend you, I swear.”

He awarded her with a semblance of the smile he’d given to Meredith earlier. “I do have a sense of humor,” he told her, laughing as she squirmed in her seat. It was obvious she was uncomfortable under his gaze.

The waiter brought the shots to the table and then egged on the two women. “Señoritas! Drink!”

“Yeah, c’mon, don’t be cheap dates,” Tyler grinned, watching the two women.

“What the hell.” Bianca shrugged, clinking her shot glass together with Meredith’s. “Bottom’s up.”

The two of them took their shots together, finishing almost at the same time, and then sucked on the lime that had been brought along. “That shit’s strong,” Meredith choked, her face twisted in a sour expression.

“Bring ’em two more,” Jagger grinned at the two of them, much the same way Tyler had.

“Y’all tryin’ to get us drunk?” Meredith asked.

“We’re just a group of friends havin’ a good time,” he answered.

“It’s not even nighttime yet, it’s in bad taste to get drunk, Jagger,” Bianca chided. “I’ll do one more and then I’m done.”

The waiter came back with three drinks on the tray and put two in front of Bianca. “He only ordered one.” She shook her head, pointing to the new beer bottle that sat next to her shot.

“This was ordered by the Señor over there.” The waiter pointed to another table.

She screwed her brows up in question. There was now no one sitting at that table. “What?” she asked, glancing around.

“I think he just left, but he told me to give you this.” The waiter handed her a folded up piece of paper.

“What the fuck is that?” Jagger asked, leaning over. The tone of his voice told her that he wasn’t happy about this.

“I dunno,” she said as she quickly took the shot that Jagger had ordered for her. Opening the piece of paper, her stomach dropped. “It’s nothing. Just somebody being a dumbass,” she smiled reassuringly at Jagger.

“You sure?”

It was obvious he didn’t believe her, but he was willing not to push it in front of their friends. Especially given the good time they were having.

“Totally sure.” She leaned over, giving him a kiss on the lips to show that she wasn’t upset. “But right now, I gotta go to the bathroom. Excuse me.” She grabbed the bottle of beer, planning on throwing it away.

Bianca got up from her seat and walked to the back towards the bathrooms. As she passed the door that lead to the back exit, she saw Money Bags outside, standing there with a group of people. She watched for a few moments as the others left, leaving him there by himself. This could very well be a bad idea, but she knew she had to do something to stand up for herself. Opening the door, she walked out, shivering in the cold, but determined to do something about this.

“Mr. Tucker!” she yelled, walking over to him with the beer in her hand.

“Bianca,” he answered her. His eyes were lecherous as she approached. That was the best word to describe them. This man made her very nervous, and as a rule men didn’t really make her nervous. She had dealt with her fair share at
Wet Wanda’s
to know she could take care of herself.

“I appreciate the beer, Sir, but I don’t really like beer and I don’t need you to give me one. Given you’re a superior over me, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t seek me out any longer – especially at
Wet Wanda’s
.”

He laughed, the sound hollow. “Given the fact that you’re entering the school system as a teacher, I really don’t think you have any leverage on what you can ask me to do. One word from me and your morality clause can be invoked and you won’t teach a day in this school district. Is that what you want?”

She swallowed loudly. Anyone who knew her knew that all she wanted to do was to teach. “No,” she croaked out, hating the tears that pooled in her eyes. Alcohol always heightened her emotions.

“Then I think you should go back in there and forget we ever had this conversation. I can do anything that I want to do, so you might as well just get used to it.”

Biting down on the words that came to mind, she tried to remind herself that this was about more than just these few moments. This was about the rest of her life. She didn’t want to ruin it, she had worked too hard to get this far. Turning on her heel, she made her way back to the restaurant.

“Tell Jagger I said ‘hi’,” he called back to her. As she got to the door, she threw the bottle of beer towards him, feeling a little bit vindicated as it crashed to the ground – far enough away from him that he wouldn’t feel any of the liquid on him, but she figured he got the sentiment.

Stumbling through the door, she made the turn to the restroom, tears leaking from her eyes. She hated this, hated feeling like a piece of shit. All her life, she had worked for something good to happen to her, and now it felt as if it was beginning to slip through her fingers. Locking herself in a stall, she leaned against the door and fought against the sobs. Having a panic attack wouldn’t help anyone. It took long moments, but she finally regulated her breathing and got herself under control.

“Hey, you okay?” Jagger asked as she came back to the table. “You were gone a little bit.”

“I’m good, maybe just more tipsy than I thought,” she laughed in an over exaggerated way.

He grinned at her, his eyes taking on a soft look. “We can leave here in a minute. Sorry about trying to get you drunk.”

She leaned over, kissing him on the cheek and snuggling against his side. When his arms came around her, she thought that just maybe this would all be okay. Maybe it would all work out. There were no guarantees, but at least with him in her corner there was a much better chance than there had ever been.

When the check came and there was only one delivered to Jagger, she didn’t even argue when he paid for it all.

“Y’all helped us out today and I appreciate it,” he explained, plucking down a debit card for the whole meal.

“Well then we got tip,” Tyler said as he reached into his wallet, Layne doing the same.

As they all left and Bianca got on the back of Jagger’s bike, she allowed herself to imagine that this was the way her life was going to end up. With everything she had, she hoped she was right.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“I
t’s colder than a well-digger’s ass out here.” Jagger shivered as he pulled his bandana up around his mouth and breathed heavily into it.

“No shit.” Layne stomped his feet to try to get some warmth into his body. “This weather makes my damn leg hurt,” he grumbled.

“Well you’d never know it by lookin’ at you. You’re a fighter.”

Layne had heard that his whole life, and while he agreed, it sometimes just annoyed him. “I’m not special at all. Some of my friends didn’t make it back from over there.”

“You think that’s why you joined up with us?” Jagger asked, pulling a cigarette from his pack. He held it in his hand, appearing to contemplate whether he really wanted to light it or not. That would require him to move his bandana over and might make him more cold.

“Don’t know,” Layne shrugged. “Maybe I just have a death wish and I never really knew it.”