Luna chose that moment to step up to our table, looking at the two of us curiously, as if we were a horribly mismatched pair that didn’t make sense together. And I guessed that maybe we were. Not that I cared. All I cared about was that Abbie was sitting across from me and I had a small window of opportunity – one I didn’t intend to waste.
“Are you guys ready to order?” Luna chirped.
Abbie stared down at the menu as if lost, but then looked up and said, “I’ll have an iced tea and a Panini Caprese, please. No fries. Just a side salad will do.”
Luna took her menu and turned to me. I had no idea what a Panini Caprese was, but decided it was easier than trying to figure something else out.
“Same, except I’ll take the fries. No salad.”
Luna looked surprised, as did Abbie. But what in the hell was I supposed to do? Try and interpret the menu for myself? With Abbie sitting across from me, taking all of my attention and making it hard to think, I didn’t think I was capable of doing it. Besides, the damn thing looked like it was written in goddamn Chinese anyway. I would have preferred something like wings or a burger. Or hell, if Abbie was so insistent on a sandwich, a cold cut sub from Max’s Deli would have done the trick. But since that wasn’t an option and I was stuck in this place, I figured it was better to just go with something simple. If nothing else, at least I had fries.
“Would you like iced tea, as well?” Luna asked me.
“Oh no, I'll take a Coke.”
She nodded, and took the menus as she rushed away from the table.
“I'm guessing I can't get some rum in that Coke here, huh?” I winked at Abbie, trying to lighten the mood. Or at least take the sour look off her face.
She smiled, looking slightly amused, but did so without laughing. “King, I'm just going to get right to the point. We can't see each other again. What happened the other night between us, it was great and I really enjoyed myself, but – ”
“It was better than great,” I added, giving her a lascivious smile. “You are pretty damn amazing. I haven't had a throw like that – ”
She held up her hand to cut me off and blushed, looking down at her hands in her lap. “Yes, yes it was all that, I won't deny it. But we can't let it happen again. I'm not an idiot, I know you're not the settling down type, and let's face it, I am. I want more than just a fuck buddy, King. I want something more. Something real. And oh yeah, I'm also not into whatever it is you do – all the illegal stuff. I don't want to get caught up in all that. I've got too much going on and the last thing I need is to get tangled up in that sort of – lifestyle.”
“I understand, but listen, Abbie – ”
“No, you listen to me, King,” she said, finding that spark inside of her again.
It was the same spark that caused her to scream and yell at me and the boys that first night when we were in her parking lot and she was pissed off. She looked around and pitched her voice low, but I could still see that fire smoldering behind her eyes. And damn if it wasn't a turn on. Of course, if I was being honest, everything about this woman was a turn on.
“You need to tell me the truth,” she hissed. “Is there anything else at my place I should know about? Anything illegal? Anything the cops might be looking for? Anything you did that might get me in trouble?”
“No,” I said flatly.
“Promise?”
“Would my promise really mean much?”
Staring blankly at me, she sighed. “Probably not. But it's all I have at the moment. I have to take you at your word.”
“You have my word,” I said. “There is nothing else you need to worry about.”
“Yeah, I'm not entirely sure about that yet,” she said. “I need you need to tell me something and I need you to be honest. Who were those other guys out there? The Hispanic men? Do I need to be concerned about them coming back and causing trouble for me? Do I need to worry about them hurting me?”
There's no way I could tell her about the Incas. The less she knew, the safer she'd be. I couldn't guarantee anything as far as they were concerned, but I could – and would – do everything in my power to keep them from causing her any trouble. Hopefully my word would be enough for her. “They're dangerous men, Abbie. The type of men you don't want to get involved with – ”
“More dangerous than you and your friends?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Far more dangerous,” I said, lowering my voice and leaning closer. “Personally, I'd rather not be involved with them, but I have to be. I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice, King.” She leaned closer, too, her eyes staring deep into mine.
I wanted to pull away, to sit back, but found that I couldn't. Abbie held me firmly in place with nothing more than her gaze. Damn, when did I allow myself to get so caught up in this girl? And why? What was so special about her? I couldn't place it, but as I stared into her eyes, I wished I'd made better choices in life. Choices that would have allowed her to see me as more than just a thug or a criminal. Yes, some women out there liked bad boys – it was a stereotype I'd used to my advantage on more than one occasion.
But women like Abbie were different. They were smart enough to know how dangerous we could be, and they knew to keep their distance. And yet, despite knowing I had about a snowball's chance in hell, I'd allowed myself to get completely wrapped up in someone who wasn't willing to get involved with someone like me. What were the chances? I was more of the one and done type when it came to women. Move them along as quickly as possible. But with Abbie, it was completely different and it was screwing with my head.
Hell, maybe I liked her because she was smart. Or part of me wondered if it was because deep down, I knew I could never have her, that she'd reject me.
“Yes, I do. I admit that, Abbie. I know I've made some bad choices in life, but some were thrust upon me. There's a lot you don't know about me. You think I want to live this sort of life? You think I really want to live the type of life that could get me killed any time?”
She shrugged and I could tell by the expression on her face that she – or at least part of her – thought I really did enjoy this lifestyle.
“Okay, maybe when I was younger this life appealed to me. I enjoyed the whole outlaw aspect of it, I'll admit that. But I'm older now. Wiser. And believe it or not, I'm ready to settle down.”
A look of surprise flitted across her face, but Abbie quickly caught herself and smoothed her expression back into a more neutral posture. Her iced tea had come, but instead of drinking it, she twirled the straw around in the glass, focused on the small whirlpool she was making. It was clear that she was doing everything in her power not to look me in the eye or to even speak to me.
I took the fact that even though she'd said her piece, she didn't get up and leave as encouragement to continue, that maybe she was actually listening to what I was saying, so I kept going.
“I know you're going to believe what you want to believe about me, Abbie. But I'm telling you I'm not a monster. I was only making this deal so I could retire and get out of this lifestyle once and for all. I want out so I can stop looking over my shoulder, so I can settle down and focus on my bar and, more importantly, living a quiet life.”
Abbie shook her head as if answering some silent question in her head. I stared at her, waiting for her to say something. Anything. The longer her silence went on the tighter and more painful the knot in my stomach became.
“I'm not that type of girl, King. I'm not the kind of girl who would ever be comfortable in your world,” she said softly, taking the napkin from her lap and placing it on the table in front of her. She stood up, continuing to shake her head, her whole body trembling. “Just promise me there's no more trouble coming my way.”
I slumped back in my seat and sighed, avoiding her eyes. “Yeah, I promise.”
“Okay, then,” she said, sliding out of the booth before I could stop her. “Then this is goodbye, then. I can't see you again, King.”
And she walked over t
he counter, said something to Luna, handed her come cash and was gone before I even knew what hit me.
She was gone. Abbie had just walked out before we'd even gotten a chance to eat these overpriced sandwiches together. I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut and there was a pain in my chest that I hadn't felt in a long, long time.
Luna came over and set my plate down in front of me, giving me a sympathetic smile before turning and walking away, leaving me alone in the booth.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ABBIE
Heading back to the office, I knew I look flustered. Hell, I felt more flustered than I had been in a long time. Meeting King on my lunch break had been a bad idea. A very bad idea. And I was busy kicking my own ass for it. I walked away from the meeting both turned on and annoyed, but that was my own fault. What had I been expecting to happen? Meeting someone like him – someone who drove me absolutely insane like he did – on my lunch break when I had to tell him I would never be able to see him again? Ugh. Just ugh.
But when he said he wanted out of that life, my heart argued. That's what they all say when they want to get laid, my brain countered.
I decided it was probably smarter to side with my brain on that one. King wanted to retire and get out of the outlaw lifestyle? He was what, late twenties? Early thirties? I thought he was older than me, but not by much. And to think at that young age, that he already wanted out of that life seemed unbelievable, to say the least.
But there had been something in his eyes, and in his voice, when he spoke about wanting out that rang true to me. There had been a sincerity and a genuineness there. Either he was a very good, very convincing liar, or he really meant what he was saying.
I shook my head and mentally chided myself. No, I had to stay away from him. For my own good. He was a bad guy, who did bad things, and hanging around with him would only be inviting those bad things into my own life. And I had too much self-respect, not to mention too many other priorities to want to get caught up in that kind of garbage.
“Abbie, can I see you in my office, please?” my boss called out as I walked toward my cubicle.
I turned and found Jack staring at me with his beady little eyes, looking me up and down. Inwardly, I groaned. I wasn’t in the mood to put up with my asshole boss, not after what just happened with King. But what choice did I have? When the boss calls you in, you have to go. Unless you were looking to find yourself unemployed, anyway.
“Sure thing,” I said. “Let me just – ”
I meant to say, “Let me put my purse away,” but that’s when I looked down and realized I didn’t have my purse with me. I paid at the diner, though – clearly I'd had it then. So where did it go? I quickly thought back to when I'd left the diner. I sat my purse down on the counter as I paid for the sandwich I never got to eat. I apologized to the waitress and I'd left. Dammit. My purse was probably still sitting on the counter.
Dammit. I didn't have time to run back and grab it. I could only hope our waitress noticed it and put it aside for me.
Jack was still watching me. I had no excuse now and I sighed. Instead of going back to my cubicle, I stepped into Jack's corner office. He closed the door behind us, and I felt his gaze on my ass even without turning to look at him. It was just this greasy, physical weight on my backside that I couldn't help but feel as he leered at me. Shuddering, I tried to remind myself we were still in the office. There were others around. He couldn't do anything inappropriate to me here, not when there were so many eyes around. Not even he could get away with something like that – could he?
“Listen, Abbie,” Jack said, opening up a file, shaking his head and giving me a dramatic pause. Scratching his chin, he looked up at me, a frown on his face. “I've been going over your records, preparing for your performance review and I need to be honest with you here. Things aren't looking good.”
My head was spinning. “What do you mean? My clients have been nothing but happy with my work – ”
“Are they?” Jack said, pretending to read something in the file and frowning at it. I knew he was pretending, though, because there wasn’t anything like that in his file. It simply wasn’t true. “Late submitting work, required numerous changes, full of errors – and the list goes on and on, Abbie.”
“I’ve never been late with a proposal,” I said through gritted teeth. My heart was racing. This wasn’t simply a case of somebody making a paperwork mistake. This was a case of him flat out lying. But why would he do that? Why would he make something up that was demonstrably untrue?
“You know we have that promotion coming up – Sam is leaving at the end of the month – and right now, it looks like Asher is going to be up for it. I like you and I’d really like to see you there, personally, but I can’t justify it with reviews like this.”
“May I see the file?” I asked, trying to keep my voice low and steady, despite the fact that my heart was beating a mile a minute.
“I’m sorry, but the clients expect confidentiality when they leave feedback,” he said, shutting the file and slipping it into a locked cabinet – as if I might sneak in his office and steal it.
“I’m telling you, Jack, I was never late. Not once. I'm early and am always willing to work with clients to make sure they're happy and satisfied. Errors? No one ever pointed any out to me, and I'd like to see what I've supposedly messed up on so I can improve. I believe that's only fair, don't you? If you're going to knock my performance, I am owed that much.”
I forced myself to slow down, control my breathing, and keep my anger under control. I knew he was full of shit and I wanted to scream, but I couldn't let Jack see me coming unraveled. I couldn't give him the ammunition or leverage to use against me. My fists were balled up at my sides and my face was burning, so I knew I was flushed with anger. But there was no way I would let Jack win. This promotion was supposed to be mine. I'd busted my ass and had fucking earned it.
Asher needed me to take him by the hand and guide him the whole way on everything. He needed me to continually press him to meet deadlines and he was always coming to me for help on something he didn't understand. There was no way he should be made PR Director. He couldn't do the basic fundamentals of the job with without my help. He couldn't do a damn thing on his own.
“Abbie, I'd really like to help you, but I don't know if I can,” Jack said, leaning forward and steepling his fingers in front of his face. His gaze fell on my cleavage and he made no attempt to hide it. “I personally believe you'd be better in that position than Asher. Hell, I believe you'd be better in any position – I mean, better than Asher, of course.”
The innuendo wasn't lost upon me. I sat up straight and tried to hold myself together, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. Willing myself to count to ten in my head. “You'd really put Asher in the role, knowing full well he can't even write a basic marketing plan without me proofreading it and fixing it before submission? We both know you usually send his documents to me before sending them back to the clients. And yet, knowing all of that, you still want him to head up the department? I guess I don't understand the logic here.”
Jack shrugged, licked his lips and continued to openly leer my cleavage, even though I adjusted so he couldn't see much of anything from where he was sitting. He was still trying, though – or at least making it look as if he was trying. He wanted me to catch him, hoping for some sort of reaction. It was more than clear that he'd fabricated this story about dissatisfied customers simply because he was hoping to use is as leverage, hoping and praying that in a fit of panic, I'd offer up my body in exchanged for this promotion. I could see the hunger in his eyes as well as the hope that I'd just decide to get naked right then and there.
As I looked at the disgusting pig in front me, I realized there were only a few women in higher-up positions – all of them attractive and young – and maybe it wasn't fair, but I suddenly found myself wondering about how they'd gotten there. It made me wonder how many had given in to Jack's implied price tag for a
promotion. Given the fact that he seemed entirely comfortable asking for that kind of a quid pro quo, I had to believe that more than a few had given it up to get ahead.
“Not everything is fair, Abbie,” Jack said, finally bringing his gaze up to stare into my eyes rather than at my tits. “Which is why I'm offering you a chance to prove yourself, prove that you're ready to be directly underneath me – in more ways than one.”
My body stiffened. Here it comes, I thought to myself.
“Meet me tonight at my place. Don't worry, it's just dinner. We can talk about a few strategies I have to help you lock in this promotion. And I can guarantee that if you get it, there is an ample pay raise that goes along with it. You can always decline, of course. But if we can't find some way to work this out between us, I'm going to have no choice but to submit this review to my father and the others above me. I have people I must answer to, as well, and I can only do so much when it's in their hands. My dad isn't as friendly or as amenable to compromise as I am, you see.”
HANDS OFF MY WIFE_Black Cossacks MC Page 10
