Keeping Claudia (Toby & Claudia Book 2)

by Suzanne McKenna Link

  Blood red lips parted, revealing unusually pointed eyeteeth like a vampire’s. “Take a fucking picture. It lasts longer.”

  My eyes darted away, and mildly shaken, I fell back a step. People here were not what I was used to.

  An hour later, the set ended, and Toby hopped down off the stage. Before he could come to me, Vampire Girl closed in on him, her fingers presumptuously curling around his forearm as she leaned in to whisper in his ear.

  April nudged me. “Who is that?”

  “I... I don’t know,” I said.

  April latched onto my arm and, without any indication of her intention, lurched forward with me in tow. Dario dutifully tagged along.

  “Hands off, honey. He’s already spoken for,” April hollered and carted me forward as verification.

  Vampire Girl pelted April with a glare before turning it on me. The daggers I saw in those bottomless, dark brown eyes chilled me. Had there not been a room full of pesky eyewitnesses, I’m pretty sure she would have bled me lifeless. Toby tugged me from April’s tight-fisted grasp and pressed me into his side.

  “Leah—Claudia, April, and Dario,” he shouted over the din, making the most informal of introductions.

  Seeing her head-on, the body art and piercings fostered my memory.

  Dan, the band’s singer, broke into our little snug cluster and hugged Leah from behind. “Leah, sweetheart, there you are.”

  Leah chafed in Dan’s hold, but just when it appeared she was about to do him bodily harm, she twisted around and kissed him. The smooch quickly escalated—hands grabbed, tongues flashed. I stared, morbidly fascinated, as the lanky, blond-haired singer and Vampire Girl openly groped each other.

  Without looking at them, Toby led me away, snaking us through the crowd to the bar.

  April pressed forward, confronting Toby. “What the hell was that? How do you know that bitch?”

  “Jesus, relax, you little Cuban spitfire.” Toby threw back at her. “Claudia’s heard of Leah.”

  April shot me a curious look. It was true. Toby had met Leah while I was away at school. She was the same pretty, tattooed girl I’d seen back in February. When I’d see them together, I naturally assumed they were dating. I remembered feeling that sharp needling in my chest when I’d thought he’d moved on. Not much later, when we celebrated my birthday in Carlsbad, Toby told me there hadn’t been anyone in his life since me.

  “I saw her once, but we never formally met. What was that attitude about?” I sniffed.

  “Nothing. Forget her.” He rubbed my back and turned his attention to our friends. “My, aren’t you two just adorable,” he razzed them. “Flawlessly coiffed as usual. Perfectly matched Latino lovers.”

  “It takes time to look this good, ese.” Dario smoothed the collar of his green shirt, a color that coordinated with the green of April’s casual maxi dress.

  “Claude, we seriously need some muy suave matching outfits like them,” Toby said and kissed the side of my face.

  “After seeing that shirt, I’ll bet you wish you had a smidge of our fashion sense,” April tossed back, the typical banter a sign we’d bypassed the tense moment.

  “We’ll have to work on that. First, I need to hit the ladies room.” I grabbed April’s hand because social outcast that I was, even I knew girls didn’t go to the bathroom alone. We blazed a path through the mob and jumped into the quickly growing line of full-bladdered women. I did a little tap dance to hold it in. A blonde girl in a slinky, low cut dress, having finished her business, left a stall, the back of her dress hitched up awkwardly. She’d tucked the hem into her underwear.

  April giggled, but I tapped her arm. “Hey, your dress.”

  “Omigosh. Thank you!” She laughed, but blushed furiously as she fixed her wardrobe malfunction. She was far too pretty for the heavy layer of makeup she wore. What’s more is she looked too young to be in the bar in the first place.

  Like the pretty blonde, the other women who hugged the wall waiting for a stall were all in costume with painted war faces and cleavage and butt cheeks on display.

  “Is it me, or is everyone here selling it hard?”

  April hooked her arm in mine. “Whatever. Dario and Toby see all these girls with their hoo-has and what-nots hanging out, and they only want us, ‘cause we’re their lobsters.”

  It was obvious that April had been watching reruns of Friends, her all-time favorite sitcom.

  “At least you and Dario come from similar backgrounds. Toby and I, we’re like totally different species of crustaceans,” I said.

  “Right. He’s a lobster. You’re a crab,” she said matter-of-factly.

  “Shut up.” I pinched her forearm and laughed.

  “Then stop it.” April said, leaning into me. “You’re exactly what he wants. And needs. You guys are a perfect fit—his rough to your gentle, his relaxed nature to your exacting one.”

  I gave her a sidelong look. “The yin to his yang?”

  “Milk to his cereal, bread to his butter,” April said. “Cheese to his macaroni, shoes to his socks. I could do this all night.”

  I shook my head. “I know you could, but please don’t.”

  There was part of me that really wanted to believe that Toby and I were made for each other, but we were just so… different. Was I really what he wanted? Months from now, would we discover our differences were too insurmountable to continue? Exiting the bathroom, I checked my cell for messages. A guy leaving the men’s room in the same alcove wasn’t looking where he was going and bumped into me. My cell went flying.

  “Oh, my God, what a klutz. I’m so sorry.” He quickly scrambled to retrieve my cell, continuing his apology. April sighed with impatience behind me. Unlike the majority of the guys there, he was a bit older and dressed nicely in a button up shirt with belted shorts and tan designer leather skips. He was clearly as much a misfit at the Monkey as me.

  “It doesn’t appear to be damaged.” He examined the phone, apologizing again before finally looking up at me. His mouth popped open and the ongoing loop of apology ended. “Well, hello,” he said offering me his hand. “I’m Andrew.”

  April grabbed my cell and shoved it into my partially extended hand. “Have a nice night, Andrew.”

  Anything I might have wanted to say was nixed as April seized my elbow and drew me away.

  “C’mon, Crabby, our lobsters await.”

  “You just alienated me from one of my own species.” I glanced over my shoulder to find Andrew’s eyes following me. He was only one guy, but I had to admit I was the teeniest bit satisfied Toby wasn’t the only one with admirers.

  I spied Toby through the crowd, his attention focused in my direction. When our gazes met, the corners of his mouth crinkled upwards. A wave of warmth nestled in my lower regions. He did want me. He’d made no secret of that. But a perfect fit? I wasn’t so sure.

  Chapter 3 • Toby

  I leaned against the bar and took a swig of my beer. This was Claudia’s and my first public expedition since we’d officially gotten back together. When we first went out, back when she was my mother’s paid home aide, we spent most of our time at my house. I never had to share her with anyone but Julia. Despite the victory of winning her back, the past hovered over us like a dark cloud. This go-round seemed doubly as important and with higher stakes—my last chance to make an impression. Unfortunately, I felt like a graceless buffoon in mittens carrying a prized piece of crystal. I worried that if I let up or looked away for even one second I’d drop it. And lose her again. Forever. It was a fear I refused to voice aloud to her, to anyone. Acknowledging it was like giving it wings to fly. So I checked it, kept it in a permanent chokehold.

  As if he could read my mind, Dario piped up. “You okay, man? You look worried.”

  “Nah. I’m okay,” I brushed off his concern, but I could tell he wasn’t buying it.

  “Look, April is Claudia’s best friend, and according to her, Claudia ain’t looking in nobody’s direction except yours.”r />
  “Thanks, bro. Here’s to our girls.” I raised my beer, and he tapped his glass to mine.

  Sausaged in a leather vest, the girth of his beer gut hiding strong muscle, our band's drummer, Bones, caught me in a side headlock and messed up my hair. “Hey, pretty boy.”

  “Your pits are fucking ripe, dude.” I shoved him off and attempted to retame the wavy mess with my fingers. “Hope to hell I don’t smell like you now.”

  Since I’d gotten Bones a job with the construction company I worked for, he’d been like a little kid pestering me to hang out with him more.

  Bones laughed and motioned to the end of the bar. “Who’s the cute redhead over there that can’t take her eyes off of you?”

  I scanned the bar and locked eyes with Hannah, an old girlfriend from high school. We hadn’t dated for long, but she’d taken the breakup hard. Looking at her now, it wasn’t hard to remember why I’d dated her.

  Bolstered by my notice of her, Hannah came over. She hugged me and showed me the large diamond engagement ring on her left hand. I didn’t mean to appear disinterested, but as she talked, my eyes kept wandering over her shoulder in search of Claudia.

  “I want her number,” Bones said when she walked away but became distracted when a sexy number en route to the bar pushed her way between us, rubbing her shapely body against me. I looked down at her, and she smiled and said hello.

  I’d been at the Monkey often enough over the last several months to know the typical clientele—barely legals cutting loose, slamming down staggering amounts of alcohol and squandering the majority of their weekly pint-sized paychecks on one night out.

  I’d been guilty of the same stuff, so I also knew all too well what the girl’s intentions were. I stepped away from the girl’s open invitation, sucked in a breath, and pushed through the crowd.

  In my pocket, my cell vibrated with an incoming text, and I checked the message. Claudia’s new contact photo flashed across the screen. It was a selfie we’d taken at Cupsogue Beach. She was rocking a white bikini, the large brown beauty mark on her right hip, the one that drove me completely crazy, in full view. I had an arm wrapped around her waist and was kissing the side of her face. I got a rush just looking at the picture. When it popped up on my screen, my heart did a drumroll. Every damn time.

  As it did now.

  Claudia’s text was gibberish, though. True butt dial style —a succession of Z’s, P’s, and few silly words, such as ‘poop’ where her cell tried to make sense of the random input. With a chuckle, I looked across the barroom floor through the knots of people. I spotted her and April talking to an overdressed, yacht club chump. They didn’t linger long enough to have a real conversation, but I could see how they were drawing all the eyes of the vultures in their vicinity.

  I headed toward them, but I’d only gotten a few feet when I was cut off.

  “Fuck me if it isn’t Toby-Mofo-Faye.”

  The old nickname could only come from one person. Rob Pace. My former high school classmate looked much the same. He opened his arms as if he expected a dude hug, but the sight of him set my teeth on edge. Back in school, Pace was a dick, the kind that put me off in a big way. His mother and father were busy professionals who mostly ignored him. Poor little Robby had grown up a rich, spoiled brat with all the comforts of our town’s upper crust, but he wore his resentment for his parents’ neglect like a badge of honor and developed a fondness for pushing the envelope, forcing teachers, the school district, and even the community to pay attention to him. He’d been caught numerous times doing shit most kids would have found themselves in juvie for, but his parents always made it all go away.

  “Pace,” I acknowledged him coolly. “You work here or something?”

  His attire, stylish dress clothes and a loosened blue tie around his neck, told everyone he didn’t just work there, but I refused to play nice.

  “Owner, actually. Part of the family biz.” The casual brag was typical Pace style. He took my hand, gripping it tight, and pumped it. “So, how ya been?”

  I didn’t treasure the idea of shooting the shit with him. But that wasn’t why I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with him. Leah might remind me of the girl who put a bullet in heart, but it’d been Pace who’d pulled the trigger. He couldn’t possibly have thought I’d forgotten it. Or forgiven him for it. That day would never come.

  “Kinda busy,” I said and tried to move on my way.

  Pace blocked my way. “Listen, I want to talk to you about the band. Love the sound. You might’ve heard we got room for one more group on the schedule. It would be an awesome boost for you guys. You’d be synonymous with the Monkey, and that’ll make you look good. But that name, Young Cranky Old Guys, well, shit, man, it really sucks. We can work on that, put our heads together, and tweak it—”

  “Not possible. We’re really booked up,” I interrupted. I was lying and totally out of line, but there was no way I was working for him. Dan would be pissed, but if he got wind of the offer, he’d be all over it like a fly to a horse’s ass.

  “That’s too bad. Well, good to see you, man.” Pace cuffed my back like an old chum.

  “Fuck you, asshole,” I mumbled under my breath, resuming my path to Claudia.

  When I was close enough, I reached out. As if she knew that I needed it, she stepped forward and kissed me. The press of her mouth reassured me that everything was still all right.

  I motioned toward the schlep they’d been talking with. “That guy someone you know?”

  “Just met him. His name is Andrew.”

  April pressed to her side. “What’sa matter? Afraid we couldn’t find our way back?”

  I was too frazzled to return April’s poking fun.

  Unaware Dario had followed me, he stepped into the fray. “He’s worried Claudia might find herself another stud in the crowd.”

  “Cut it out,” I snapped, my tone sharp. I hated how stupid and anxious I sounded.

  Claudia gave me a look.

  Rolling my jaw, I flattened my voice. “I’m just ready to leave.”

  A short while later, the guys and I broke down the set, and with my guitar case in hand, Claudia and I parted ways with Dario and April in the parking lot.

  Claudia slipped her hand into my free one. “Hey, you know April and Dario were only kidding around with you, right? I hope you know there's no one else I'd rather be with than you.”

  I stopped and turned to her. I was doing a good impersonation of a guy who didn’t have his shit together. She deserved better.

  “I’m sorry. I do know that. That you’re here with me sometimes seems too good to be true.”

  “What can I do to make it real for you?” The concern in her eyes put an arrow through my heart.

  “You don’t have to do anything. Not. One. Thing,” I said and kissed her forehead. I would try harder.

  I drove through the crowded parking lot toward the exit. Claudia cleared her throat.

  “I saw a girl you used to go out with in high school. April said her name’s Hannah.”

  “Yeah. Haven’t seen her in years,” I said.

  “She’s very pretty.”

  “I only dated pretty girls back then.” I reached for her hand and intertwined our fingers. “Now I’m only interested in beautiful girls. Well, one in particular, anyway.”

  “It’s weird how I know practically nothing about any of the girls you dated.” She dropped our connected hands in her lap.

  “You already know more than most. What else do you want to know?”

  “Well, everything, I suppose. The biggest problem in my parents’ marriage is that they didn’t get each other. My mother became unhappy, and she started doing things behind my father’s back. Not cheating or anything so clandestine, just stuff that she didn’t share with him, and eventually it led them to be more like two strangers living together instead of two people who loved each other.” She squeezed my hand. “Promise you won’t hide stuff from me the way she did with my father.
It’d break my heart if we become like that.”

  “Uh-huh,” I said, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. There was stuff in my past—stuff better off shoved in a box and kicked under the bed never to see the light of day. Stuff I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to share with her. Not without sending her running out of my life for good.

  When I pulled out onto the main road, the Jeep’s headlights captured two lone figures in its beams. One turned, his profile washed out in the concentrated illumination.

  “Holy shit.” I slowed to a crawl. “Roll down your window.”

  “Who is that?” Claudia asked as I pulled alongside the pair, but at the sight of them, she pushed back in her seat with a breathy, “Oh.”

  Brothers Ray and Eddie Rudack came to an abrupt halt, guardedness in their expressions when they looked our way.

  Ray looked crumpled as usual. His mud-colored hair stood up in uneven waves, and his baggy clothes were too large for his slouched, spindly frame.

  “You bums need a ride?” I yelled out Claudia’s window, happy to see my old friend.

  “No fucking way!” Eddie Rudack, still the annoying little brother, launched himself at the Jeep and reached inside to grab at me.

  “Holy fuck. Down boy.” I batted the kid off. Over his shoulder, Ray hung back.

  “Rud-eee!” I called out to him. “Get your sad ass over here.”

  Ray moved slowly, crossing in front of the Jeep to my side. Cars whizzed by, beeping, but I hopped out and crushed him in a hug. We weren’t typically hugging buddies, and Ray was awkward. I expected it. It’d been a long time since I’d seen him, and an unexpected boatload of emotions struck me right in the gut. Ray had been the one who’d gotten me to my feet the morning after Julia died.