Rebelonging (Unbelonging, Book 2) (35 page)

He lost his balance and toppled over too,
landing halfway between Amber and Brittney, who dove for each other
with the ferocity of rabid squirrels fighting over the last
nut.

By now, the crowd was going nuts, with the
woman watching in wide-eyed horror, and the guys cheering them on,
except for the guy with the necktie, who took a heel to the gut,
thanks to Brittney's flailing legs.

Frantically, I glanced around, looking for
Keith, a phone, something. But what I found was Shaggy, standing
there with his cell phone in his hand and a giant grin spread
across his face.

"Sweeet!" he said.

"Oh for cripe's sake," I said, continuing to
scan the restaurant.

I caught sight of Lawton, strolling in the
front door. He stopped short at the sight of Brittney and Amber
rolling around on the floor. I followed his gaze.

When a sticky blue stand of Brittney's hair
whacked Amber in the face, Amber grabbed a fallen squirt-bottle of
ketchup and aimed it at Brittney's face. Brittney shoved Amber
aside just in time, and a geyser of ketchup streamed upward,
raining down on both of them and pelting the nearest spectators
with tiny red splatters.

By this time, both of the girls were covered
in food-goo from the tops of their formerly blonde heads to the
tips of their decidedly non-sensible shoes.

I heard a male voice off to my left say,
"Somehow, I thought this would be sexier."

"Got that right," another male voice
said.

And then, I heard a third male voice. It was
Keith, who bellowed out, "What the hell is going on here?"

He waded in, separating the two girls amid a
chorus of booing from the male spectators. I felt a hand on my
elbow, and looked to see Lawton standing next to me, an amused
smile playing across his face.

"So," he said in a low, amused voice. "How
was
your
day, honey?"

I glanced at Brittney and Amber, who'd been
hustled to opposite sides of a long booth for eight. "Eh, same ol',
same ol'," I said.

Amber's eyes lit up. "Lawton!" she called.
"Yoohoo! Over here!"

Slowly, he turned to look.

"Have you heard?" she said. "I'm gonna be a
bridesmaid!"

Lawton's face lost all its expression. He
glanced at me. I didn't know what to say. He turned back to Amber,
and his gaze narrowed.

"Oh c'mon," she said. "It's not like it's a
big secret or anything."

Lawton looked down toward the floor. He gave
a slow shake of his head. And then, he turned to face me. He
reached out, taking both of my hands in his. Slowly, he sank to his
knees.

I was having a hard time catching my breath.
All around us, the restaurant had grown utterly silent.

"Chloe," he said, gazing up at me. "This
isn't exactly the way I had it planned, but it doesn't change the
way I feel. I love you more than life itself."

"Lawton, noooo!" Brittney yelled.

"Chloe," Lawton said. "Will you marry
me?"

The day of the catfight was my last day
waitressing – and not because I said yes a thousand times over.
Lawton was my dream guy, and he was really mine. My heart said yes,
and my mouth followed – no overthinking, no hesitation, and no more
pretending.

As far as waitressing, I didn't quit. I was
fired spectacularly amid ketchup splatters and pancake goo.
Officially, it was for inciting a riot in the dining area.
Unofficially, I'm pretty sure it was for calling Keith a pompous
dipshit when he told me that
I'd
be the one paying for all
catfight-related damages.

As for Grandma, she quit her fake mailing job
the very next week. In her handwritten letter of resignation, she
mentioned a new job, one that pays ten times better. She's still
doing mailings, but instead of kittens and cooking supplies, these
new flyers feature punching bags, sparring gloves, and other
martial arts fitness gear.

Her favorite so far? Nun-chucks. She bought a
pair the very next week and uses them for cleaning her rugs.

Coincidentally, a few weeks before
Thanksgiving, Loretta had been fired from her job too, not that
she'd told anyone. The rumor? Her colleagues found her impossible
to work with. Go figure.

Fortunately for everyone, she found a new job
to replace her old one, something that's enabled her to keep the
house and Grandma's cottage, but also keeps her travelling all over
the country. She's now the official food critic for an obscure
publication dedicated to exotic cuisine.

The pay is good, but from what Josh says,
it's not turning out quite the way Loretta hoped. Her editor, a
mysterious recluse named John Livingston, chooses all the featured
food. And his tastes are, well, let's just say, a bit on the
eccentric side.

So far, Loretta has tasted fried rat, bat
soup, maggot cheese, and my personal favorite, codfish sperm – not
that
I'd
ever try such a thing. But hey, at least it's not
oyster gravy, right?

I finally learned how Keith was able to
tamper with my phone. According to Josie, a random building
inspection turned up two hidden cameras – one in the restaurant's
locker area and one in Keith's office.

The way it looked, it was the first camera
that gave Keith a sneak peek at my locker combination, but it was
the second camera that gave him a whole lot of grief. The first
camera he knew about, but the second was a mystery to everyone,
including the restaurant's owners. No one will say specifically
what kind of footage it captured, but let's just say I wasn't the
only person fired that month.

These days, Keith is working as the midnight
manager at Sal's Shrimp Shack in the seedier part of town, where
the only thing more fishy than the food are the late-night patrons.
As for Brittney, she's gone to Hollywood, hoping to capitalize on
her instant fame, resulting from a certain catfight video that went
totally viral, just like Shaggy predicted.

And that wasn't the only video that went
viral. Shaggy's footage of Lawton's proposal gave Shaggy over a
million hits in the first month alone, and made him a small fortune
when he sold the video stills to tabloids worldwide. He now has his
own cell phone, his own internet channel, and his own locksmith –
just in case Jen decides to change the locks again.

Just as Lawton predicted, Bishop is growing
on me. But that didn't stop me from giving him just a little
payback for all the hassle he'd given me in those hectic weeks
leading up to the engagement.

Call me a sap, but I did agree to let Amber
stand in the wedding after all. I simply couldn't resist, and not
because she wouldn't take no for an answer. Mostly, it was because
the idea of Amber chasing Bishop from one side of the reception to
the other was just a little too hard to resist.

True, they didn't actually stand up together,
with Bishop as Lawton's best man, and Erika as my maid of honor.
Still, Amber gave Bishop one heck of a chase – not that it did any
good. Turns out, he's a one-girl kind of guy, and his one girl
couldn't be more different than Amber in every way.

As far as the Parkers, they're still missing
in action. Maybe they'll show up. Maybe they won't. But one thing's
for sure, they'd be smart to look over their shoulders.

The word on the street is that some very
unhappy people are out looking for them, and not just to collect
some money. Apparently, those certain people don't take too kindly
to delinquent deadbeats beating up on their unique breed of
collection personnel.

As for me, I've never been happier. I've got
the man I love, who loves me right back. And as far as my career,
it's on a definite upswing. These days, I'm using my accounting
degree nonstop. As it turns out, managing a billion-dollar business
is no small task, especially when you're never quite sure who you
can trust.

But Lawton trusts me, and I trust him. And we
have no more secrets, including the fact that my hunch was correct
about his oath to give karma a helping hand. So together, we watch
each other's backs, along with all those other more interesting
parts. The way I see it – and a certain little dog would agree – a
girl couldn't ask for more.

The Only Thing More Dangerous than the Bad
Boy You Left Behind is the Man He's Become…

If she was such a good fortune-teller, she
should've seen it coming. But part-time Tarot-reader Selena Moon is
as surprised as anyone when Jim Bishop, the bad boy she left
behind, returns from who-knows-where to reclaim the one girl he
could never forget.

Torn between her new life in the South and
family obligations in the North, Selena has no time for love,
romance, or any other complication. And who can blame her? The
first guy to claim her heart, along with her innocence, spoiled her
for the safer, easier guys who came after.

Armed, dangerous, and still smarting from
Selena's teary rejection years earlier, Bishop vowed never to
return to the city of his youth, where he excelled at two things –
getting into trouble and making a mess of things, particularly his
relationship the only girl he ever loved.

She's fearful of repeating the past. He's
never been afraid of anything – until now. Because with murder and
mayhem surrounding Selena, fate, along with an unwelcome rival,
might steal her away before he finally has the chance to win her
back for now and always.

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From the Author

Thanks so much for reading. Also, thanks in
advance to those special readers who take the time to leave a
review. I read and appreciate every one. Romance readers truly are
the best!

© Copyright 2014 by Sabrina Stark. All rights
reserved. This book and any portion thereof may not be reproduced
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