“Sounds like someone I should meet,” he said with a smirk that made me want to rip his balls off.
Despite my recent misgivings about how a relationship with her could affect Winter in the long run, a primitive caveman deep inside my chest growled, Mine. Clark would never go after her—I knew that as well as I knew my own name—but my reaction to him showing an interest in her with that smirk on his face was primal.
He chuckled when he saw what was sure to be the murderous expression on my face. “Yeah, I’m definitely looking forward to meeting her.”
I shot him another glare, but Winter was already talking again and didn’t keep quiet about how great Tiffeny was until we got to the day-care center. She insisted on taking Clark on a tour before they got started for the day.
He went along willingly, and when he dropped back into the passenger seat after they were done, he crossed his arms. “I think that maybe’s it’s time I meet this Tiffeny of yours. Don’t you think?”
Considering the protective surge that had flared in my gut earlier, I didn’t think.
But I knew I was being idiotic and that in reality, I wasn’t a damn caveman, so I gave in. “Sure. Let’s go swing by her shop.”
Tiffeny looked up when the bell jingled as we walked in. Her lips curled into a wide smile that lit up her eyes when she saw me, but I didn’t see so much as a flash of recognition there for Clark. It was weird seeing someone not go starstruck by him as soon as he entered the room.
“Hi.” I walked right up to her and pulled her in for a hug. She buried her head in my chest and looped her arms around my neck, the sweet, nutty smell of her shampoo wafting from her hair. I wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed when I breathed in a little deeper. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” she said, her voice slightly muffled by my shirt before she took a step away and tipped her head back. Questions darkened her blue eyes, but she didn’t ask what I knew she wanted to, like why she hadn’t heard much from me since Friday night. “You?”
“Good.” I took her chin in my hand and planted a single, chaste kiss on her lips before jerking my chin at Clark. “This is Clark, by the way. My best friend. Clark, Tiffeny.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” he said, extending a hand toward her. “In the interest of getting it out of the way, would you like a picture with me or my autograph?”
“No.” She frowned, her head pulling back as those blue eyes took him in while she shook his hand. “You’re the lead singer, right? Frontman. Whatever it’s called.”
So she had recognized him. She just didn’t care about who he was. I liked that. Laughing at how taken aback he was, I clapped him on the shoulder. “What’d I tell you? She’s special.”
The tops of Tiffeny’s cheeks became streaked with red while Clark observed her with wide eyes. “So you’re the unicorn, huh?”
“Unicorn?” She frowned and pursed her lips to the side. “I mean, I’ve had a few dreams about being a unicorn and more than a few about being able to fly, but as far as know, I’m still just a plain old human.”
Clark’s eyes widened even further. Then he busted out laughing and let his trademark swagger melt away as he collapsed into a booth. It left just Clark behind, and I was thankful for that. I wanted to see how they would get along as themselves, not with Clark’s persona in place.
“I like you,” he said between laughs. “I can see why the Grimes family holds you in such high esteem.”
She shrugged, but there was laughter dancing in her eyes as well. “Thank you. I’m here every day if you need free entertainment. Now, what can I get you? Ice cream is compulsory here.”
His gaze slid to the blackboard above the counter displaying the daily offering. “You’ll find no complaints about having to eat ice cream from me. I’ll have two scoops of salted caramel, one banana toffee, and two vanilla pepper.”
“All in the same cup?” Her brows lifted. “Because I’m not sure I can allow you to do that with my creations.”
“You’re saying no to me?” It looked like his jaw had been unhooked from his body. “You really are a unicorn. Alrighty then. Three separate cups, but I still want to try them all.”
“You got it.” She swung her gaze to me. “Let me guess. Double scoop butter pecan?”
“Yeah, but I’ll also try the vanilla pepper. I’m not sure if it sounds awful or awesome.”
“Hopefully awesome.” She tucked a lock of her loose hair behind her ear and shrugged, a smile playing at the corners of her lips as she winked at me. “It’s the first time I’ve made it and you’re the first people to try it, so I’m afraid you’re my guinea pigs today.”
“Bring it on,” Clark said and patted his stomach. “I’ll try every flavor you’ve got, as long as it’s not kale.”
“Ah, you must be fresh off the plane from LA.” She was still smiling. “Poor you. Don’t worry. I wouldn’t dream of sullying my shop with kale.”
Clark’s laughter followed us when I walked with her to fill our order, my hand on the small of her back because I just couldn’t not be touching her. I was seriously in danger of developing a Tiffeny addiction.
Being in her presence again, it was difficult to imagine that I’d spent the last few days wondering if we had any kind of future together. With her right next to me, smiling and bantering with Clark as she filled his cups, I couldn’t imagine not having a future with her.
I still wasn’t ready to drop down on one knee for her or anything as serious as that, but I sure as fuck wasn’t ready to give her up. If I was being honest with myself, I’d have admitted days ago that doing it now would’ve hurt Winter even worse than if Tiffeny and I eventually didn’t work out.
There wouldn’t have been any real reason I’d have been able to give either girl for doing what I was doing, and they’d both just have ended up hurt, pissed, or both.
I leaned into her, brushed a kiss to her cheek, and was surprised when she turned at the last second to catch my lips.
She smirked up at me. “Somebody missed me, huh?”
“Yeah, but I know you missed me more. You should have seen your face when we walked in here.”
Clark groaned. “Can I have my ice cream before you two disappear into the back to reunite passionately?”
“We’re not going to reunite passionately.” Tiffeny scoffed. “We were just going to drool over each other right into your ice cream.”
He froze, blinking at Tiffeny like he couldn’t believe she was real before he was laughing again. He even slapped his knee this time.
She gave me a sidelong glance as we carried the filled cups to the table. “What’s with him? He keeps looking at me like I’m crazy.”
“He doesn’t think you’re crazy. You’re just the first person who has treated him like he’s a real, normal person in a very long time.”
“But he is a real, normal person, isn’t he?” she asked.
“Yeah, he is,” Clark said, his laughter subsiding. “But he doesn’t get treated like it by anyone but Callen, Winter, and the guys very often.”
Before I could explain, Tiffeny’s landlord—or douchelord, as I thought of him—shoved his way through the doors. “What is going on in here?”
“I’m serving customers,” Tiffeny said, but her voice rose at the end like she was asking a question. Her chin came up then and all traces of good-natured laughter and banter disappeared. “What can I do for you, Mr. Nicholson?”
A cool, almost cruel smile lifted his lips as he slid his gaze to Clark and me. “If you think these guys being here is going to intimidate me, you’re wrong. You and I are going to spend some time alone together soon. It’s hardly fair that you’re giving it away for free to these two when I’m offering something in return.”
“You know, I didn’t think it was possible for you to be more of an asshole than you were the last time. You’ve just proven me wrong.” My fists clenched at my sides and my blood started simmering. “Tiffeny isn’t spending any time with you unless she wan
ts to, and in case you haven’t noticed, the lady said no. Do yourself a favor and fuck off before I make you, okay?”
The douchelord’s face turned white, then almost purple as he pierced Tiffeny with a glare. “Your rent just doubled, young lady.”
Clark was at my side in a heartbeat, his arm shooting out and keeping me in place. He knew I was about to get beyond pissed off and stepped in to diffuse the situation.
After having known him for more than half my life, I used to think there was nothing Clark could do to surprise me anymore. He’d proven that assumption wrong so many times, I’d stopped making it years ago.
Regardless, when he pulled wads of cash out of the inner pocket of his leather jacket, even I had to raise an eyebrow. His voice had a dangerous, cutting edge to it when he stepped forward and got in Nicholson’s face.
“How much is her rent for six months?” he asked.
Nicholson gave him a much higher number than I thought was justified for the space Tiffeny occupied, but Clark didn’t try to negotiate or bat an eye. He simply licked a thumb and started counting.
When he had a fairly fat lump of bills in his hand, he swiftly lifted the lapel of the other man’s jacket and slid it into his pocket. He even patted over the cash as he let the jacket fall back into place.
“That’s her rent for the next six months. Do us all a favor and get the fuck out of here like my friend suggested.” When Nicholson didn’t move, Clark’s lips curved into a smirk and his eyes turned to ice. “Or are we going to have a problem?”
Chapter 26
Tiffeny
I was positively reeling as the door slammed shut behind Nicholson. It was like the last few minutes had been a dream, a fucked-up dream where my landlord had propositioned me in front of my sort-of boyfriend and his best friend, but a dream nonetheless.
My hands shook. It felt like I couldn’t quite drag enough air into my lungs. What the hell was that?
A big, strong hand closed on my shoulder before I was pulled against a wide chest. Giving myself a mental shake, I blinked and looked up into forest-green eyes. Callen’s brow was furrowed with concern. “You okay?”
I nodded, releasing a shaky breath. “Yeah, I’m fine. I guess I just can’t believe he went that far, you know? It’s not every day a girl gets extorted.”
“That guy’s an asshole,” Clark growled behind me.
I spun around in the circle of Callen’s arms, coming face to face with the man who’d just forked out thousands of dollars for me. “Thank you. I don’t even know what to say except that I’ll pay you back every cent. I promise.”
“No, you won’t. Really, that was the best thing I could have done with that money. It would have gone to much less honorable causes if I hadn’t used it on your shop.” He waved his hand, winking at me before his expression darkened and his eyes slid up from mine to meet Callen’s. “We’re going to have to do something about him.”
“I know,” he said, his deep voice rumbling in my chest from how tightly he held me. “Let me work something out.”
Gently pushing his arms away from my waist, I stepped away from him and shook my head firmly. “You’ve both done way more than enough for me. I’m not letting you get any more involved in my problems than you already are.”
Clark opened his mouth, but I shut him down. “No, that’s the end of it. I’ll take care of it myself. I do want to do something to thank you, though. Have you got time for lunch? My treat.”
Both of the rock stars standing in my humble ice-cream shop nodded, and for a second, it struck me how bizarre the situation was. There were two honest-to-God celebrities standing in the middle of my store, I was seeing one of them, and they’d just defended me against a major creep trying to extort me and turn me into a prostitute at the same time. Then they proceeded to pay my rent for the next six months.
What the hell happened to my quiet, boring life?
On the way to the restaurant, I tried to bring up paying Clark back again, but he wouldn’t hear of it. I wasn’t going to let it go, but I dropped it for the moment. Somehow, I would get his banking details and pay him back anyway.
There was probably so much money in his account that he wouldn’t even notice, but I’d still know I’d done the right thing. Speaking of which. “Tell me if this is asking for too much information, but how the hell did you just happen to have that much money on you?”
Clark lifted a shoulder and smirked. “I signed a deal on a new album I’m recording and that was some of the advance I got. It’s part of the reason I’m here.”
Callen slid into a booth at the beach-side cafe I’d chosen for lunch. “I think she meant to ask why you had it all in your pocket.”
He laughed, giving us another shrug. “I like to know I’m covered in the event the urge to do or buy something takes me.”
“You know you’ve got a card for that, right?” I asked.
“Yeah, well, some establishments I like to visit prefer cash.” He winked. It seemed to be something he did often, which would have made him a total ass if he didn’t pull it off so well.
The man was smooth and charismatic as all hell. It wasn’t really my thing, but it was easy to see why he was as popular as he was.
Plus, he was genuinely nice, which had come as a bit of a surprise.
Clearing his throat, he shifted his attention to Callen again. “I have your half of said advance as well, by the way.”
“I haven’t done anything, so keep it.” He picked up the menu and looked at Clark over the top of it. “I’m not taking your money.”
“Think of it as incentive for helping me with the album,” Clark said, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he leaned forward. “You know you are going to and you know you already have. Therefore, it’s not my money. It’s yours.”
Confusion prickled at the back of my mind. As far as I knew, Callen didn’t have any plans relating to music at the moment. I had asked him about it just the other night, but the way Clark was talking made it sound like Callen was working on his album with him.
Raising my brows in question as I glanced over at him, I frowned. “You’re working on his album?”
He sighed, dragged a hand across the stubble on his jaw, and sent Clark a sharp look. “No, I’m not. I’ve written some songs he can use if he wants, but that’s it.”
“That’s a lot,” Clark said. “It’s kind of hard to release an album with no songs on it.”
“What are you going to have to eat?” Callen asked, very obvious in his attempt to redirect the conversation. “I’m thinking of going with a cheese and bacon burger with a salad.”
“Dude, you might as well leave the salad if you’re having that burger. Just order fries and get it over with.” He rolled his green eyes, his amusement showing in the quirk of his lips. “I’ll have the same, but I’m going with a double burger and extra fries. If you’re going to have a heart attack, so am I.”
“I’m not going to have a heart attack from one burger. If anything, I’m going to have one the first time Winter goes out on a date.”
“Keep eating like this and you’ll have that heart attack before she ever gets asked out. Shit, since she comes to me if anything happens to you, maybe I shouldn’t get the burger.”
“Get the damn burger,” Callen said. “You’re going on tour soon. You’ll get enough exercise to work off your one transgression.”
Clark’s expression brightened. “You’re right. I’ll be getting tons of exercise both on and off stage.”
Callen chuckled and shook his head at his friend. “Yeah, I don’t think a heart attack is going to get you. It’ll be an STD.”
Clark clutched his chest in faux outrage. “How could you? You know I always wrap it up.”
“Yeah, but those things can fail, and at the rate you go through them, it’s only a matter of time before it happens to you.”
“Hasn’t happened to me yet.” He turned to me. “Ignore him. I’m not nearly as bad as he makes me ou
t to be. You need to give me some fresh dirt on him, though. He hasn’t given me anything to give him shit back about in a long time.”
I smiled coyly and tapped the menu lying on the table in front of me. “You know, I think I’ll have a burger too.”
“Good choice, babe.” Callen draped his arm over my shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to my temple before shooting his friend a shit-eating grin. “My secrets are safe with her.”
“Oh, I see how it is.” Clark pouted, winked at me again, and then turned to give the waitress approaching our table a megawatt smile. “We’ll have three double bacon cheeseburgers with fries, extra fries, and I’ll have a beer.”
“Me too,” Callen said.
“Me three.” I picked up my menu to hand it to the waitress, but she was staring down at Clark with stars in her eyes. A flush crept onto her cheeks, and her lips parted, but it seemed like she was too starstruck to say anything.
Suddenly, it made a lot more sense why the guys had been so surprised about the way I had treated Clark. If this was the reaction he usually got from strangers, I now understood why they’d made such a big deal over me not making a big deal about him.
Clark’s smile didn’t fade, but I saw a flash of something that looked a lot like disappointment in his eyes before he shook it off. As if someone had flipped a switch in him, he was suddenly all cocky confidence and smooth swagger.
“Hey, sweetheart, you a fan?”
She nodded, still without uttering a single word. Or taking down our order for that matter. Clark got to his feet and I saw her knees buckle at his proximity.
Thankfully, he saw it too and slid his arm around her waist. “Would you like an autograph or a picture? Maybe both?”
Her brown eyes widened as she nodded enthusiastically. With trembling hands, she pulled her phone out of the front pocket of her apron and handed it over to him.
Clark pulled her in closer, turned that smile of his on the camera, and snapped a few pictures before handing it back to her. When that was done, he bent over and dug around in the pocket of his leather jacket again, coming back with a sharpie.
Keeping Secrets Page 18
