“This is between me and Nora.”
“No, I’m between you and Nora and my patience isn’t going to last much longer.” The warning was issued low and threatening. Spencer was definitely not the kind of guy to throw out empty threats, but Nathan was an arrogant asshole. A few inches shorter than Spencer and somehow he still managed to look down at him, and then flicked an amused smirk at me.
“Seriously, Nora? This is the guy you’re going to use to get back at me?” he returned a narrow-eyed gaze to Spencer. “Have we met before? You look like one of my former clients, but then again most of the guys I represent all look the same.” Nathan was a criminal defense attorney, and he was a dick, if that wasn’t already evident.
Spencer didn’t rise to the bait, but I think Nathan’s jab had been intended for me anyway. What he didn’t get though, was that Spencer out-classed him every single day of the week.
“Come on Nora, let’s go.” Spencer turned his back to him, a very blatant move to show Nathan just how few shits he gave about anything he had to say. Nathan got that message loud and clear. It was all over his red face and I drove the message home further when I took Spencer’s hand and started to climb in the truck again.
“You’re going regret this, Nora,” Nathan spit. I felt Spencer tense and then turn slowly.
“Are you threatening her?”
Nathan ignored him, fixing me with a cool stare. “You know I’m right. This is a mistake.”
The outer porch door swung open, drawing our attention. James stepped outside and he had that look like he was craving a fight. Fan-freaking-tastic.
“Just coming to see if you need any help taking out the trash, Nora. What kind of house guest would I be if I didn’t do my part?”
“I think we’ve got it covered,” I said tightly. The last thing I needed was for this to get any more out of hand.
Nathan’s head snapped back to me. “When did you turn into such the slut, Nora?”
I had to grab Spencer’s arm to keep him from using it to rip Nathan’s head off. Unfortunately, I couldn’t grab James so there was no one to stop the hard fist he landed to Nathan’s face. I winced for him and Nathan stumbled back, groaning and holding his nose.
James turned to Spencer. “Get her out of here and I’ll get rid of him.”
Spencer nodded once and the next thing I knew, he was picking me up and dumping my ass in the truck. I didn’t even have time to protest before he shut the door and walked around to the driver’s side. I could hear Nathan yelling threats of a lawsuit at James.
“We can’t leave those two.”
“Yeah, we can.” He started up the truck.
“Nathan’s the kind of ass who will probably call the cops because James hit him,” I argued.
“Somehow I doubt he wants the cops involved, and Raynes can handle him,” was all he said and then he pulled the truck out of the drive and around Nathan’s Porsche.
“You sure you want to go through with this date?” I sighed. “I promise I won’t hold it against you if you drop me at the end of the drive and get out of here.” The night was off to a rough start, and this was only a second date. I could only imagine what was running through his head, but then again Spencer wasn’t like most guys.
“Why would I do that?” His eyes remained fixed out the windshield as he pulled out of the drive and onto the street.
“I don’t know. I’m sure you could find a less complicated girl to take out. One without delusional exes and over-protective friends hanging around.”
The hint of a smile cracked his serious expression. “Don’t want less complicated, sweetheart. Want you.”
Well damn, that did funny things to my stomach and I was the one trying not to crack a smile. He glanced at me and I knew I wasn’t doing a very good job at suppressing my grin. It was like a ripple effect. I watched his spread before he turned his eyes back to the road, and then I was biting my lip futilely.
“Now would probably be a good time to tell me where we’re going.”
“Follow Eldridge to Broadway.” I guided him the couple miles to our destination. When he shut off the truck in the parking lot, he turned a bemused expression on me.
“Here?”
“Mmhmm.” I undid my belt and hopped from the truck eagerly.
“Laser tag?” He came around the truck, eyebrow quirked.
I cocked my head and smirked. “Afraid you’ll lose?”
He let out a low chuckle. “Oh sweetheart, this is going to be fun.”
Once inside, Spencer refused to let me pay even though it was my idea. We were outfitted with our gear and guns while the rules and gameplay were outlined for us. Trading a few final taunts, we were each led to a different entrance into the dark arena and turned loose. Just inside were the re-spawn points or home bases. Currently they were operating with three teams inside. My vest had been activated to the blue team and Spencer to green. I had my gun at the ready, my finger on the trigger, as I began navigating each turn inside the lowly-lit maze. Hearing footsteps ahead, I ducked and poked my head around the corner. A red vest was raising his gun to hit a fellow blue. I got my gun up and pulled the trigger before he even had his laser sighted on his target. His vest beeped and the lights started blinking.
He emitted a low curse and he started backtracking to his home base. My blue teammate gave me a nod and then disappeared around another corner. No radio communication in this game so we had to rely only on our own senses. I was determined to get to Spencer before he got to me. Back in college, Em and I came here with our group of friends almost weekly, so I was no amateur. Even though they constantly changed the maze up, I was still familiar with the basic layout inside and feeling confident. I took out another red and three greens without taking a hit. I’d had a couple near misses, only just managing to duck out of the way and return fire. I think one of the red players I’d taken out was gunning for me, because he popped up twice more, his sights set on me. He almost had me pinned down before someone on the green team appeared and took him out. Then I stepped out and took out my green rescuer. No mercy in war, even if it was only laser tag.
I’d yet to see any signs of Spencer. I headed deeper in, and passed three blues on their way back to our home base to re-spawn. It appeared that I was headed right into the thick of it; no doubt that’s where I would find Spencer.
I stuck my head and gun around a corner to check that it was clear. Seeing no enemies, I hurried ahead, scanning the area as I moved. I was just about to turn another corner toward the sounds of heavy laser gunfire when I felt a presence behind me. Before I could turn, strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me back against a lean body.
“Gotcha,” he whispered.
Damn it.
He managed to get the drop on me.
One arm maintained a firm hold on my waist while his other hand snaked up my vest to grab my chin and tilt my head, exposing my neck. He lowered his face to the crook of my neck. He nuzzled me there and then I felt him skim his nose along my jaw up to my ear. A warm tingly sensation swept through me. He wasn’t playing fair, but two could play this game.
I let out a soft groan and relaxed into his hold. I might have even pressed my backside into his groin ever so slightly. Hey, all’s fair in love and war, and this was war. He squeezed me tighter to him and I heard his deep inhale just before his warm lips came down on my neck. I used his moment of distraction to subtly shift my gun in my hand so that it was pointed up, and then I slowly moved it back, hoping it was aimed at his vest.
Finally realizing what I was doing, he stilled and started to pull back. I took my only shot and fired. A satisfying beeping followed and I knew his vest registered the hit. I felt his body rumble with a low chuckle as he pulled me tighter against him again. I sucked in a sharp breath when he nibbled my earlobe between his teeth and tugged.
“Bad girl,” he whispered, and then released me with a gentle shove. I laughed softly, but when I turned to face him, he was nowhere in sight, havin
g already retreated toward his team base. I took the victory and continued into the fray, only to round a bend and come face to face with Spencer, his vest not flashing. We both had our guns raised in an instant.
I frowned. “You cheater, how did you get your vest re-set so quickly?”
“What do you mean? I haven’t been hit.”
“I just hit you!”
His brow furrowed and he looked down briefly at his vest then back up at me. “You haven’t even fired. How could you have hit me already?”
“No, not just now, but a second ago. Back there.” I pointed over my shoulder with my thumb.”
“Then it wasn’t me you hit, sweetheart. I wasn’t back there.”
What. The. Fuck?
He used my momentary distraction to fire and my vest lit up.
Sonuvabitch.
I grabbed Spencer’s arm and started dragging him back through the arena toward the maze exit. He put on the brakes.
“Why are we leaving? Don’t tell me you’re a sore loser,” he said playfully, but when I spun around and he caught my expression, which was anything but playful. His turned serious. “What’s wrong?”
“Some creep in here . . .” I looked around, not sure how to say it. “He . . .”
Spencer set his hands on my shoulder and leaned in close. “He what?”
“Someone, I thought it was you, came up behind me and grabbed me. Then he started . . .”
“What?” he repeated, this time more intimidating.
“He was touching me and kissing my neck.” I averted my eyes and was thankful that the low lighting hid my flush from his eyes.
“What the fuck?”
My thoughts exactly.
He grabbed my arm and started tugging me toward the exit. As soon as we were out of the maze, he found the nearest employee and confronted him. “You need to shut the game down.”
The employee looked startled. “Is there something wrong sir?”
“Yeah, you’ve got a fucking creep in there who put his hands on her.”
The employee with the name badge that read Matt, looked at me concerned. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “It just freaked me out. I thought it was him at first. The guy came up behind me and grabbed me and touched me intimately.” I left the details at that.
The guy’s frown deepened and he looked around for a moment like he wasn’t sure what to do, then looked back at me. “Did you see the guy’s face?”
I shook my head, “No, I didn’t.”
“Well, I’m not sure what we can do. I could shut down the game and bring everyone out, but if you don’t know who it was, I’m not sure what good it would do, if he’s even still in there. Our games run constantly, which means people are in and out constantly. I’ve had a handful of people leave the game in the past ten minutes.”
I looked at Spencer, who didn’t look pleased, but wore a look of resignation.
“I’ll let my manager know we had a complaint, but like I said, there’s not much we can do with it. I’ll ask some of the other players when they come out if they noticed anything like that,” he offered.
“Thanks. He might be on the red team. I can’t say for sure, but there was a player on the red team who seemed to be gunning for me. I don’t think he liked that I took him out.”
“If something like this ever happens again, make sure to try and get a look at the person. If you could tell me for sure that he was on the red team, I could pull up every red player that your gun tagged and try to get a name, but I’ll let all of our staff inside the arena know to be watching.”
There wasn’t anything else we could do, so I let Spencer take my hand and lead me out to the parking lot. I could see his eyes scanning as if he expected my mysterious groper to jump out and yell “gotcha” again. I couldn’t suppress the shudder that rolled through me, and it wasn’t one of those delightfully naughty shudders, but a disturbing, I feel dirty, shudder.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah. Freakin’ perverts. Probably some horny teenager getting his rocks off.”
Spencer let out some unintelligible grunt.
I sighed, “I promise my life isn’t usually this drama filled.”
Only then did his face soften and he lifted his hands to my face, holding it gently between his palms. His lips came down on my forehead. “Not your fault, sweetheart. Just tired of not being able to keep these assholes away from you.”
“It’s not your job,” I said softly, hoping to ease whatever guilt or obligation he was putting on himself.
With light pressure from his forefinger he tilted my chin up, lifting my gaze to his. “Maybe I want it to be.”
I closed my eyes and exhaled a soft groan. I curled my fingers in his jacket and dropped my forehead to his chest. “Could you not be perfect for like, I don’t know, ten minutes? You’re going to give me a complex.”
I felt his chest rumble with quiet laughter, but his arms wrapped around me and then I was cradled to his chest. “Don’t worry, your illusions will be shattered soon enough. If you don’t mind, I’d like to hang onto this impression you have of me while it lasts.”
We stood like that in the parking lot, huddled together for a moment longer, while I mentally pondered what his flaws might be. Maybe he snored. Or left the toilet seat up. Or maybe he had six ex wives or was a Metallica fan.
“So where to next, sweetheart?”
I was reluctant to let him pull away, but we couldn’t stand in the parking lot all night. I eased out of his arms, keeping my fingers buried in his jacket, and tipped my head back. “I don’t know about you, but I could go for a slice of Bellingham’s best and a cold one.”
“That sounds about perfect.”
It wasn’t until we were in the truck and he made a wrong turn that I realized we had a problem. “Umm, Alfie’s is back on Broadway.”
“Alfie’s?” He looked across the cab at me with a confused frown. “Why the hell would I go to Alfie’s when the best pie in Bellingham is at Westside?”
“Westside?” I sputtered. “No way. Alfie’s is far superior.”
“Girl, are you out of your damn mind? I haven’t even been here that long, but I’m pretty sure everyone in the city knows that if you want beer and pizza, Westside is the place to go.” He was a guy so of course he would say that. Westside Pizza was a pizza joint and sports bar that was joined to a brewery. While they made good pizza, nobody did it like they did it at Alfie’s.
“See, now I think you’re letting yourself be persuaded by the beer. Sure they have the best brews, but if we’re talking strictly pizza, Alfie’s is where it’s at.”
He made a turn, correcting our course, all while grumbling under his breath that I needed a pizza education.
Fifteen
Alfie’s was everything you’d expect a hip, funky pizza joint to be; laid back, good music– not too loud– good drinks, even better pizza and not ridiculously spendy. We snagged a booth in the back and right away a server was there to take our drink orders and give us menus. The drinks were the easy part; our server was back with those in no time, but after a ten minute debate about pizza toppings, we had no choice but to compromise and order a half and half pie. Just because it’s meat, doesn’t mean it has to go on the pizza. Spencer was not of the same opinion, and more than that, he didn’t believe that pineapple had any place on a pizza.
I’d found his flaw.
The nerve of him. Pineapple makes everything better. Okay, maybe not everything, but certainly pizza.
“What’s going on in that brain of yours?” Spencer pulled me away from my silent judging.
“Just wondering if you paid that kid inside the arena to harass me so you could try to get the drop on me,” I fired back.
He snorted a laugh. “I think you’re underestimating my supreme laser tag skills and your ability to wreak havoc on the judgment of the male population.”
My eyebrows shot up. “We’ll get back to your supreme skills in
a minute, but what do you mean, wreak havoc on the male population?”
“Your affect on guys, Nora. I’m starting to fear for my safety, because it seems that you drive them to the brink of crazy and then push them right off the ledge with your feminine wiles.”
It was my turn to snort, and I almost choked on the sip of beer I’d taken. “Feminine wiles?”
He simply grinned and raised his own glass to his lips.
“Okay, back to the laser tag comment, I think I want a rematch, then we can compare skills.”
“Oh, sweetheart, I don’t need a rematch to know that my skills surpass yours.”
I glared. “Oh, you think?”
“I know, and you would too if you had bothered to glance at the leader board before we left. I was sitting at thirteen kills and zero lives lost. You my dear, made a valiant effort, but finished at just nine kills and one life lost. Therefore, I win.”
“The hell you do. Like I said, rematch. We didn’t get to finish that game. Besides, I don’t believe you even got thirteen kills.”
“Any time, babe, and I’ll be happy to give a repeat performance.”
“Yeah, we’ll see,’ I muttered. Then I brightened when another idea came to me. “Do you paintball?”
A grin spread over his lips. “Be careful what you get yourself into, darling.”
“Bring it on. Next Saturday. I’ll take the day off. There’s a place Em and I used to go with James, a section of woods near their parents’. You can use James’ gun if you don’t have one.”
“Nothing like a little home field advantage,” he remarked.
“If you’re so good it shouldn’t matter.”
“Fine. Challenge accepted, but I hope you have good protective gear.”
Our server returned with our pie, but not even the wonderful smell of bread, cheese and sauce broke the stare down we were having. His lips twitched and my eyes narrowed. He was the first to reach for a slice. I followed up, almost burning my fingers and dropping it on my plate when some of the cheese and sauce dripped on my fingers. I sucked it off and then looked up at Spencer who was not hiding his grin.
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