Rebelonging (Unbelonging, Book 2) (5 page)

I shook my head. "No. I'm pretty sure I know
way too much already."

Unsteadily, the two guys crawled out of the
trunk. They looked beyond ridiculous, especially with all the
jewelry – thick gold necklaces, expensive looking wristwatches, and
giant rings that glittered on almost every finger.

They'd worn the same kind of the night I'd
first met them. I'd been their waitress, unfortunately. They'd been
the customers from hell – drunk, rowdy, and obscene, just like
their dates, Brittney and Amber, the skanky duo.

"Look at those rings," Shaggy said. "See,
they
are
mobsters." He turned to smirk at me. "Goes to show
what you know." He held out his hand, palm up. "I'll take my ten
bucks now."

I glanced down at the hand. "Dream on," I
said.

Besides, those guys weren't mobsters. They
were two player wannabees who had tried to kidnap the wrong
girl.

Me.

On instinct I backed up, trying to melt into
the crowd. As far as I could tell, neither guy had noticed me. And
for some reason, I definitely wanted to keep it that way.

When the guy in the black briefs finished
climbing out of the trunk, he turned to face the crowd and yelled,
"What the hell are you looking at?"

On the side opposite us, a heavyset woman
spoke up. "You tell us, Loverboy!"

The crowd burst into fresh laughter.

"Hey, Loverboy!" Shaggy hollered over the
distance. "Take off the mask, will ya! Show us your face!"

The guy lifted both hands, extending both
middle fingers. "Fuck off, asshole!" he yelled. "I'm not showing
you dick!"

The nearest cop grabbed him by the shoulder
and hustled him toward the police car. A moment later, he and his
friend were shoved unceremoniously into the backseat. The car door
slammed behind both of them with a decisive thud.

"Why would I want to see his dick?" Shaggy
said. "God, what a dumb-ass." He held out his cell phone and
started circling the vandalized sedan, stopping every few seconds
to zoom in on something or other.

Nearby, the rest of us watched as the police
cruiser pulled slowly out of the lot, leaving the tow truck driver
to deal with the defaced sedan.

I never did see the guys' faces. But unlike
Shaggy, I didn't want to.

But there
was
someone I wanted to see.
And probably not in the way he wanted.

As I stood shivering in the cold parking lot,
an even colder rage settled over me. I hated drama. For years, I'd
been trying to escape it – the drunk-ass mom, the psycho
stepmother, a dad who was indifferent at best.

Even tonight, I'd forced myself to walk away,
not just from Lawton, but from the chance to give him hell for what
he'd done. And he had done plenty.

So what does he do? He brings drama literally
to the doorstep of where I worked. What the hell was he thinking?
Did the guy think at all?

I looked around. He had to be here somewhere.
I just knew it.

Maybe I hadn't given him what he deserved
earlier, but I sure as hell wasn't going to miss the opportunity
now.

That fucker had earned a piece of my mind.
And drama or not, it was time to give it to him.

Away from the heat of the closely packed
bodies, the temperature dropped hard. But I barely noticed as I
stalked through the parking lot. Methodically, I went from row to
row in search of Lawton's vehicle, whichever one he might be
driving tonight.

Near the restaurant, the crowd was already
breaking up, with most of the gawkers straggling back into the
diner, chattering to each other as they went. The few exceptions
fanned out into the parking lot, where they got into their vehicles
and drove off one by one.

As for me, I wasn't going anywhere. If Lawton
was here, I'd sure as hell find him.

Finally, I spotted what I was looking for. In
the very back row, there it was, Lawton's vintage muscle car. I was
no car expert, but I'd recognize that thing anywhere.

Its bold, masculine lines screamed pure power
-- just like its super-charged engine, and just like its owner.

The car was one-of-a-kind. From what Lawton
told me, he had restored it himself, taking months to get every
detail just perfect.

I still didn't get it. Why would he do such a
thing? If I had that kind of money, I'd just buy something
fantastic and be done with it.

But then again, I wasn't a car buff. And
besides, I could barely check my oil.

I would've spotted the car sooner, except for
a tight grouping of tall vehicles in the previous row. Was Lawton
hoping to hide? If so, he was going about it all wrong. If he
didn't want to be noticed, he should've driven a different car.

I stalked up to the car and rapped against
the driver's side window. When it slid down, I felt my lips purse
in annoyance.

It wasn't even Lawton. It was his dick of a
brother.

He studied me with a marked lack of
enthusiasm. "Can I help you?" he said.

I glared down at him. "Where's your
brother?"

"Which one?"

"Oh, cut the crap," I said. "You know which
one."

"My guess? He's out looking for you."

"Nice story," I said. "But I saw him earlier.
And then he disappeared. So he sure as hell isn't looking for
me
."

"Yeah? You check
your
car lately?"

My car was in the back parking lot. Actually,
I hadn't checked. But that was beside the point. I knew the
brush-off when I saw it.

"You know what?" I said. "You two are
assholes. You know that, right?"

He shrugged. "Pretty much."

"Those guys in the trunk?
You
brought
them here, didn't you?"

"Well, they sure as hell didn't drive
themselves, if that was your other theory."

"Why
here
?" I demanded.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea."

"You dick," I said. "I'm gonna lose my job
over this."

He glanced briefly toward the restaurant.
"Doubtful."

"Listen." My voice rose. "I don’t give a shit
what you idiots think! I'll get fired just as soon as those guys
tell the cops I was involved somehow. Word'll get back to the
restaurant, and I'll be out on my ass before morning."

Bishop looked unimpressed. "Look," he said,
"I admitted to being an asshole. And possibly a dick –"

"Which you are," I said.

"Yeah. But idiot? Now you're just reaching.
Here." He motioned me closer. "Lemme give you a hint."

I didn't budge.

He continued anyway. "If you wanna insult
someone," he said, "you've gotta have an element of truth.
Otherwise, it's just a waste. You end up looking stupid." He
grinned. "So who's the idiot now?"

"Oh for God's sake!" I yelled. "Will you just
stop already!"

"Hey!" An all-too-familiar voice sounded just
behind me. "What the hell are you doing to her?"

I whirled around. And there he was, close
enough to touch, close enough to kick.

Lawton.

Breathless, I stared up at him, trying to
recall all the insults I'd been practicing in my head. But my brain
was worse than empty. Instead of coherent thoughts, it contained a
jumbled pile of nonsense, like someone had shredded a crossword
puzzle and scattered it at my feet.

As my brain churned, I tried not to notice
Lawton's absolute perfection, those stormy eyes, his chiseled jaw,
a body to die for. But one thing about Lawton, he was impossible to
ignore.

He was giving Bishop a murderous glare.
"Answer me!" he said.

Behind me, I heard the car door open. I
turned around to see Bishop slowly getting out of the car.
Automatically, I moved to the side. Bishop shut the door behind him
and tossed Lawton the keys.

As if by reflex, Lawton snagged them in
mid-air.

Bishop turned toward the restaurant. He
started walking.

"Hey!" Lawton called after him. "Where do you
think
you're
going?"

Bishop didn't turn around, but his voice
carried across the cool night air. "To get a burger, beer – hell, a
cab, I dunno. You guys work it out. I'll catch you later."

"Hey!" I cupped my hands around my mouth and
hollered "There's nothing to work out, dipshit!"

No reaction. No twitch. No hesitation. No
nothing. I glared at his receding back. That jerk. He must've heard
me. He was just like his brother, maddening beyond description. I
wanted to scream.

Next to me, I heard Lawton's amused voice.
"Did you just call him a dipshit?"

I whirled to face him. "You think it's
funny?"

He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Nope.
Not me."

"Then why are you smiling?" I said. "God, you
are such a—" I shook my head. "I don't even know what to call
you."

His smile faded. Slowly, his gaze traveled
the length of me as if cataloguing my body parts, as a doctor, not
a lover.

"You're okay?" His voice caught. "You look
okay." He reached for my hand. "But what are you doing here?
Shouldn't you be home?" He visibly swallowed. "In bed or
something?"

I yanked my hand away. "Oh, because some
psycho locked me in his basement?" I laughed, a foreign, hysterical
sound. "No big deal. Happens to me all the time. Life goes on,
right?"

His face crumpled. "Baby–"

"I already told you, don't call me that." I
pointed toward the restaurant. "So why'd you do this here? You
want
me to lose my job? Is that it?"

"No. I get it. You love this job. I know
that."

"Oh yeah.
That's
why I'm working here.
Because I love it soooo much."

His eyebrows furrowed. "You don't?"

"Hell no," I said. "But I still don't want to
get fired." I reached up to rub my temples. "I can only imagine
what those two guys from the trunk are saying right about now." I
closed my eyes. "God, what a nightmare."

"They're not saying anything," Lawton
said.

I opened my eyes to look at him. "What are
you? Some kind of mind-reader? Admit it, you don't know squat."

"I know one thing," he said. "They won't
talk."

"Why?" I said. "Because they're too afraid
that I'll talk too? Yeah, like that's gonna happen."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," I said, "that I don't want to get
dragged into some police station." My voice rose. "I don't want to
be sitting there all night, telling my pathetic story of how they
tried to drag me into a car and –" I let the sentence trail off.
What
had
they been planning to do, anyway?

"Hey, don't worry," Lawton said. "Nobody's
dragging you anywhere. They won't talk. And you won't have to
either."

"How can you be sure?"

Lawton's voice was quiet. "Because they know
better. They're not gonna say one word about you."

I glared up at him. "Yeah? How do you
know?"

"Because if they do," he said, "they'll find
themselves dropped off someplace worse next time."

My gaze narrowed. "What next time?"

Lawton shrugged. "Depends on them."

Tonight, they'd been dropped off in a crowded
public place. There'd been people and police and even some
paparazzi club wannabe. I looked around. "What could possibly be
worse than this?"

His face hardened. "My old neighborhood."

From the look on his face, I didn't have to
guess what kind of place it was. I didn't want to think about it. I
didn't want to talk about it either.

"So answer me this," I said. "Why, of all
places, did you bring them here, where I work?"

"You wanna know why?" he said. "Because this
is exactly where they were gonna drop you."

I felt my forehead crease. "What?"

"Yeah," Lawton said, an edge creeping into
his voice. "They were gonna strip you down to your bra and panties
and dump you right here. In this parking lot." His jaw tensed.
"Want to know what they called it? A prank. Just a fucking
prank."

"Seriously?" I said. "That's all they were
gonna do?" Compared to what I'd feared, yeah, it sucked. But it
wasn't half as bad as the other scenarios that had run through my
mind.

"All?" he said. "Isn't that enough?" He made
a strangled sound deep in his throat. "God, Chloe. They hurt you.
They scared you."

"Yeah." I gave him a hard look. "And they
weren't the only ones, now were they?"

"No." His voice was quiet. "They
weren't."

"So what
was
all this?" I said. "Your
idea of justice?"

"Something like that." His gaze bored into
mine. "We did exactly to them what they were gonna do to you.
Seemed fair enough."

"Fair?" I made a scoffing sound. "Yeah, but
you didn't stop there, did you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," I said, "that you also beat the
crap out of them. And, you ruined their car. So it wasn't exactly
an eye for an eye, was it? "

He gave me an incredulous look. "You're
sticking up for them?"

Was I? In truth, those guys got exactly what
they deserved. And I sure as hell didn't feel sorry for them. But
if Lawton was expecting me to run into his arms just because he
delivered some well-deserved payback, he had another thing
coming.

Tonight, a handful of people had suffered.
Me. Those guys. But as far as I could tell, one person who hadn't
suffered one single bit was Lawton. After what he did, not to those
guys, but to me, he didn't deserve my understanding. And he sure as
hell didn't deserve some kind of hero's welcome.

So, was I sticking up for those guys? Did it
matter? I shrugged.

"You
are
serious. Aren't you?" he
said. "After what they did to you? You think that's alright?" He
turned to glare across the parking lot. "Because I'm not gonna lie
to you, Chloe. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. And if they ever
pull that crap again, especially with you, they're not gonna get
off so light."