Pretty Toxic - A New Adult Romance (Imperfectly Yours) (14 page)

Chapter Thirty Six

“. . . I can’t stand the way Paige is looking at me.”

Paige can’t look at me like a normal person. She always has a smirk on her face. She thinks I’m a fool for falling for her brother. I know it. The glimmer in her eyes give it away. It makes me feel like an idiot.

I move uncomfortably in my chair.

“Nice place,” she grins. I can’t tell if she’s being serious or sarcastic. “You come here often?” She glances around at the restaurant’s decor. Aunt Scarlett and I have been coming here since I was little. The murals on the wall of the Italian country side weren’t chipping back then.

“I like it,” Danes says. I nod. Maybe a quiet little Italian place with an all you can eat pizza buffet wasn’t the best idea. Scarlett mainly brought me here because it’s cheap.

“The garlic bread really isn’t that bad,” I add.

Dane waited in the car until I picked a restaurant. What else was I supposed to do?

A waiter approaches our table at the perfect moment. I’m running out of things to say and I can’t stand the way Paige is looking at me.

“You guys ready to order?”

“Yeah,” Dane nods. “It’ll be the sausage and tomato pizza for me.”

“Just a house salad,” Paige says quietly.

“Um.” I haven’t exactly decided yet. “The spaghetti I guess.”

The waiter nods and takes our menus.

“A whole bowl full of carbs,” Paige comments. She raises her eyebrows. “You must have a crazy metabolism.”

I try not to blush.

“Just because she doesn’t eat like a baby bird,” Dane mutters. Paige glares at him.

“Whatever.”

“So,” I sigh. “Where are your parents tonight?”

A moment of silence graces our table.
Crap.

“I’ll answer that one,” Paige speaks up. She brushes her blond hair to the side. It reminds me of Mrs. Haskell. She gets the same exact look on her face. “Mom and Dad don’t do the whole
normal family outing
thing. They would have to actually like each other for that.”

Danes glares at her. I sit back and fold my arms. I’ve clearly opened a can of worms.

“Paige,” he says through his teeth. “Not now.”

“What?” She smirks. “If you insist on her
being part of the family, there’s no use in hiding it.”

“Fine,” Dane surprisingly agrees. “Let’s start with you then and where you were last Thursday afternoon.”

She scowls.

“So Mikki.” Paige changes the subject. “I’ve seen you on campus before. What exactly are you studying?”

I cough to give myself time to think. Is this a trick question? You never can tell with Paige. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about law but I’m not sure that I want to be in school that long. I take a deep breath.

“Just generals for now,” I lie.

“Undecided,” she comments. “It seems like lots of kids our age are undecided.”

“Including you?” I ask.

“Especially her,” Dane chimes in.

“And you.” She glares at her brother. “Tell us, what are you planning on doing now that you’ve been kicked out of college?”

I turn and look at him. I’ve been wondering about that myself but Dane and I never get around to talking about things like that. There’s always too much drama going on. Paige raises her eyebrows.

“I’m still figuring that out,” he responds.

“Uh huh.” Paige sits up straighter and glances around the restaurant. “I came here once. Sophmore year.”

“Really?” I can’t see her in a place like this. Maybe someone forced her.

“Yeah,” she laughs. “Surprised?”

Hell yeah,
as Zanna would say.

Our waiter appears and places a bowl of garlic bread in the middle of the table. I wait before I reach for one. Dane shrugs and takes a piece. I grab one as well. Paige eyes the bowl before repositioning herself in her chair and looking away.

“Come on,” Dane comments. “Try one.”

“No thanks,” she shakes her head.

“Forget that lame diet stuff and just try a piece.”

“Dane,” she scolds.

“Whatever,” he smirks. “You’re ridiculous, you know that.”

“Let it go,” I blurt out, placing a hand on his arm. I always hate it when Aunt Scarlett calls out my eating habits, especially in front of people. Some days food is the farthest thing from my mind. I glance over at Paige. She looks at me curiously, then leans closer to the table.

“So,” Paige clears her throat. “What are we doing after dinner?” She pauses and looks at Dane.

Chapter Thirty Seven

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“You’re joking,” Jemma raises her voice. The two of us are talking in the break room . . . again. I finished all my assignments for the day in two hours. I really need to stop doing that. The boredom in killing me. “You spent all night with Dane and his psychotic sister?”

“It was dinner and a movie.” I take a sip of tea. “Well sort of. We started watching a movie but ended up playing Texas hold ‘em instead. Paige insisted on taking all of Dane’s chips.”

Jemma’s eyes go wide. She grins and looks down at her steaming mug of coffee.

“Well,” she sighs. “All I’ve gotta say is watch out for yourself. Dane’s a hottie but his sister is another story. One wrong move and she’ll ruin you.”

What more can she possibly do?

I admit I was skeptical at first but Paige slowly warmed up to me. I barely noticed it until she hugged me at the end of the night. Dane just stared at her, not sure whether to be happy or upset. The night didn’t go the way I thought it would. Maybe that’s because neither Dane’s mom or dad showed their faces all night. I didn’t have the guts to ask about them again.

“Dane doesn’t seem to listen to her,” I comment. Jemma laughs.

“Dane doesn’t call the shots, hun.” She plays with the charm bracelet on her wrist. “Trust me.”

“How do
you
know so much?” Jemma’s history with the Haskells’ is still unclear. I know she used to be Paige’s friend once but that’s about it. She’s been a little hesitant to say any more.

“I just know,” Jemma replies.

“How long were you and Paige friends again?”

“Too long.” She sighs and looks away. “So when’s your next Haskell get together?” She quietly laughs to herself.

Dane mentioned doing something over the weekend. I was so thrilled things had gone well that I agreed to do whatever he wanted. I just hope I’m still lucky next time. My stomach goes sour again thinking about hanging around Paige. What if she’s playing some sick joke on me? Trying to get me to warm up to her so she can humiliate me in front of Dane.

I don’t want Jemma to be right.

“We should get back to our desks,” Jemma says quietly. “Before boss man has a cow.”

I follow her to the door. She grins and looks back.

“Of course
you
wouldn’t get in trouble . . . you’re sleeping with the owner’s son.”

*          *          *

“How was your day?” Aunt Scarlett asks. She insisted on picking me up from work today.

“Boring,” I respond. “If it weren’t for the paycheck I would have quit a long time ago. I’m not really learning anything.”

“Well . . .” She zooms around the corner and towards our apartment complex. “Some jobs are just like that. Why do you think I started my own business?”

“Because you kept getting fired,” I mutter. She partly smiles and tosses her shiny hair over her shoulder.

“That’s another good point.” She finally shows off a full smile followed by a laugh. I run my fingers through my hair. I wish my hair looked as shiny as hers. Sometimes it’s like her hair is glowing.

After five minutes of listening to the radio in silence, our front door comes into view. Scarlett looks ahead and slams on the brakes. My heart leaps. I look over at her. Her eyes are wide. She forces herself to keep driving forward. Her hands grip the steering wheel tightly.

A man is standing on our doorstep. He turns around and from a distance looks Aunt Scarlett in the eye. I can see her jaw clench.

“Um were you expecting someone?” Scarlett says firmly. The tone of her voice is completely different than it was minutes ago.

“No,” I respond. I take another look at the man. His face is strikingly familiar. My stomach churns. What is
he
doing here?

Mr. Haskell watches us pull into a parking spot. I hate looking him in the eye. I feel like he knows what I’m thinking. It reminds me of
what happened at Bristlecone. I just want to forget all that and move on. Why won’t he just let me move on?

“I’ll get him to leave,” Scarlett mutters before opening the car door. “Go straight into the house, okay.”

I nod.

The two of us get out of the car at the same time. I look down at Scarlett’s hands. They’re starting to shake but she quickly composes herself.

“What are you doing here, Matt?”

“You and I need to talk,” he responds. He glares at me. “This concerns the both of you.”

“Mikki,” Scarlett says. “Wait for me inside honey.”

I bite the side of my lip and reluctantly go inside. I close the door and run to the window. I can hear mumbling. I slowly open the window just a crack in hopes of hearing something.

Aunt Scarlett raises her voice.

“You can’t be serious,” I hear her say.

“Do as I say or she’ll pay for it, Scar. I know you don’t want that.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” she responds.

“I told you what happened,” he says quietly. I lean in closer. “I told you about the repercussions.”

“But-”

“This isn’t hypothetical,” he continues. “It’s all real this time.
Very
real.”

Scarlett sighs.

“Fine,” she agrees.

“I’ll see you tonight.” He nods at her and glances over at the open window. My heart feels like it has stopped beating. He raises an eyebrow before walking away.

Scarlett walks briskly into the house. I jump back from the window.

“What did he say?” I ask.

“Pack a bag,” she answers. Her cheeks are flaming red. “I guess we’re going on a little trip.”

Chapter Thirty Eight

“He wants me dead for what I saw.”

I could hardly sleep last night when Scarlett told me the news. I’ve been trying to pack all morning. Mr. Haskell somehow talked Aunt Scarlett into a spur of the moment cabin retreat.
Strange
. I tried to ask her more about it but she’s acting weird. My heart beats faster when I’m around her. I think she knows about Bristlecone. That has to be it. Why else would she agree to drive me up to the infamous Haskell beach house?

I’ve heard stories from Zanna about the wild parties and lifetime supply of liquor in the cellar. My heart pounds when Scarlett lightly knocks on my door. I grab another t-shirt from my dresser and throw it into my suitcase.

“Are you almost ready to go?” she asks. The tone of her voice is soft and a little frazzled.

“Sure.” I roll my eyes. “I still don’t understand what’s going on though.” I throw the thought out there again just to see if she might tell me the truth this time.

“I told you.” She folds her arms. “This is a special request that . . . well you and I could use the time away, yeah?”

“Is
he
going to be there too?” I narrow my eyes. I know it’s not a good time to bring it up but I still can’t help picturing her and Mr. Haskell in the alleyway together. I still shudder thinking about that night.

“Who?”

“You know who I mean.”

She takes a deep breath. A look of disappointment crosses her face.

“Mikki, I don’t want to get into this right now.” She clears her throat. “I told you it’s not what you think.”

I bite the side of my tongue. She just won’t admit what she did was majorly low. Not to mention disgusting. I roll my eyes and continue packing.

“What am I supposed to say when I call into work?” I ask.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Matt said he’d take care of it.”

I glance at her, trying not to look too cross.

“Sorry,” she corrects herself. “I mean
Mr. Haskell
.”

“I don’t know what else to bring.” I stare down at my suitcase. I grabbed every type of outfit I could think of and my bikini. I might as well get that summer tan I’m always complaining about not having. I haven’t been to the beach once this summer . . . okay that’s a lie. I have been once.

And Dane was there too.

“I’m sure what you have is fine,” she responds. She walks forward, changing the look on her face to one that doesn’t wrinkle her forehead. “Come on.” She n
udges me. “Think of this as a free vacation. We’ll be relaxing on the beach. No work. No school.”

I nod but in the back of my head I can’t help but wonder why Mr. Haskell is practically forcing us to leave. My heart starts racing again. I try taking controlled breaths.

Bristlecone.

This
has
to be all about Bristlecone.

How can I relax when I know that someone is looking for me? Someone with a thin face and devilish eyes. The man that looks like an evil skeleton haunts my dreams all too often. He’s here in town. He wants me dead for what I saw.

“Um hello?” Scarlett waves her hand in front of my face. “Care to share?”

“Oh,” I gulp, noticing that I zoned out for a minute. “Sorry, just tired.”

“Well hurry up. You can sleep all you want on our drive. It’ll take a few hours.”

*          *         *

The Haskell beach house is a half a day drive up the coast. It sits on its own private beach. My eyes are wide as we pass extravagant houses with perfect yards. I look at the GPS. We are only a few minutes away. We pass another heavenly view of the beach with blue water and perfect sand.

“Have you ever even been in a place like this?” I say quietly.

“Not for a long, long time,” Scarlett answers.

We turn down a narrow street. I can see a giant
, white house in the distance. The windows sparkle in the sun and the rolling waves give it the perfect backdrop.

“That’s it,” Scar mutters. “That’s the one.”

I’m speechless as we pull into the driveway. Our car looks uncomfortably out of place. Aunt Scarlett pulls out the house key out of her pocket and hands it to me.

“Here,” she says. “Go see if you can open one of the garages.”

“If I can find the garage,” I comment.

The sea breeze feels good in my lungs. I can hear the ocean as I turn the key and unlock the front door. The entryway is exactly what I expected. I take a small step and marvel at the perfectly placed furniture and display of porcelain plates in the living area. Every room looks like it’s straight out of an interior design magazine.

I break my gaze with the swirling stairway and head down a hall that looks like it might lead to the garages. I open a door and press the button against the wall. A garage door slowly opens and Scarlett pulls in next to a shiny, blue BMW.

“How much do you think
that
set them back?” Scarlett comments as she steps out of the car. She opens the trunk and pulls out our luggage. “I’m beat. See if they have any food in the pantry.”

I nod.

I close the door behind me and wander around the lower level until I find the kitchen. Again, it’s nothing less than what I expected. Perfect and bigger than our entire apartment. I open the door to the walk in pantry. They have everything and anything we could find at the grocery store. Aunt Scarlett will be pleased.

My heart jumps when I hear the doorbell ring. I hear Scarlett hauling our things down the hall.

“Was that you?” I hear her yell. I walk towards the front door. Aunt Scarlett walks up behind me.

“No,” I reply.

“Well . . . he didn’t say anything about company.” She looks at me and inches closer to the door. “Hmmm.”

“Maybe we should just ignore it,
” I suggest.

The doorbell rings a second time followed by a loud knock.

“Hello?” I recognize the voice on the other side of the door. I rush to open it.

“Mikki-“

Before Scarlett can protest I open the door with a beaming smile.

“Hey.” Dane grins and steps inside.

“Dane?” Aunt Scarlett exclaims.

“Yeah.” He glances in my direction. My heart flutters. “You didn’t think you’d be here all alone, did you?”