“Lo Mein,” he quipped.
I guess “Jackie Chan” called and wanted to fork up the dough after all. This was a good thing because I needed a distraction, something to focus on. I needed to get my fucking patch too.
“Thank fucking God, because I’m starving,” I ground out. “See you in twenty,” I said, before disconnecting the call and clipping the joint.
Time to go do what the fuck I was made to do. No more sitting around dwelling on some girl. That shit was for pussy’s not a fucking Knight.
Chapter Eight
I never waste an opportunity to bust Bianci’s balls. I don’t know what it is about the guy but it’s so easy to piss him off—you just need to know which buttons to push. I happened to be an expert and thoroughly enjoyed fucking with the retired gangbanger. That was my excuse, and I was sticking with it.
Tormenting Bianci.
It was the reason I followed Pipe when he came to pick up Lauren’s car from Xonerated. It was also the reason I offered to help with the tires, and it was most definitely the reason I robbed the keys once it was fixed and towed it back to her.
Not because I wanted to see her again.
Not because I was hoping she was ready to collect and beg me to fuck her.
And most certainly not because I’ve been jerking off to the memory of fucking her with my fingers.
I crossed the line when I got my dick sucked by one of the whores hanging around the Dog Pound. I actually asked her to put on some black-rimmed glasses, and if she was opposed to dying her blonde hair, black.
Not cool.
So fucking not cool.
I climbed out of the truck, lowering her car off the tow and parked before making my way toward her apartment.
I annoyingly knocked on the door, ignoring the calls of her coming, because that wasn’t the way I wanted to hear her say the words. I had that shit planned out, and it definitely didn’t involve her answering a door. Fucking her against the door? Different story.
“Riggs?” she half-screeched, half-stammered, very cute. So were the knee socks and sweater she was wearing. She lifted her hand to her head, attempting to control the nest that seemed to sit on the top of it.
“What’re you doing here?” she questioned, pushing her glasses further onto the bridge of her nose.
I love those fucking glasses.
I held her keys up, dangling them like they were a steak and grinned at her.
“Good morning, Kitten,” I said as my eyes worked her body over before they settled on hers. “I dig the hair,” I teased.
She lifted her hand automatically to the bun on top of her head, causing me to chuckle as I stepped closer to her and wrapped one arm around her tiny waist.
So innocent, so goddamn innocent.
I bent my head, touching my mouth to her cheek.
“How did you get my car?” she asked, pushing me away so she could look at me.
“I stole it,” I replied honestly. Pipe was probably combing the lot and flipping his shit because Bianci would be picking up the car in an hour. Lucky for me, I won’t miss any of the festivities because I planted a camera in the lot before I left. I wasn’t stupid. That shit could be my ticket to winning America’s Funniest Videos.
Been trying to win the grand prize for years now.
“You stole my car?” she asked confused.
I shrugged my shoulders, running my hand over my knit skull cap before narrowing my eyes in wonder.
“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” I asked.
“Sorry! Of course,” she stuttered. “I’m sorry…it’s just I’ve barely spoken to you since I left and now you show up at my door claiming to have stolen my car. I need a minute to catch up,” she explained, moving aside so I could walk inside.
The talking thing was bullshit but I let it slide. Sure, I didn’t actually call her but I’ve been keeping it light and easy, sending her texts with funny memes and shit. She always LOL’s right on back so she can’t say she didn’t get them.
“Your brother had Pipe pick it up from the gym so he could work on it. Being the prince I am, thought I’d deliver it to you in person,” I explained, with a smile before walking into her kitchen. I felt another pair of eyes on me and glanced over my shoulder to see Mia.
Good, glad she’s home. I can finally give her a piece of my mind.
“Who’s Pipe?” Lauren questioned.
“One of the brothers. It’s owned by the Satan’s Knights but Pipe runs the joint, it’s his gig,” I explained, rummaging through her fridge.
Oh, we’d never work. I may not have a fridge in my apartment but if I did, it would be fully stocked with all the gourmet things I’ve grown accustomed to. Like, those little packs of chocolate pudding, whipped cream, chocolate milk, of course beer and cold cuts for fancy dinners and such.
I would not have cottage cheese in my fridge. What kind of bullshit was that?
“Are you two on some sort of starvation diet?” I asked, slamming the fridge closed and tipping my head toward Mia, finally acknowledging her presence.
“Hey Mia, where’s your towel?”
“Your towel?” Lauren asked, her curious eyes snapped toward her roommate.
“Last time your friend stopped in I was just getting out of the shower,” Mia explained, looking back at me.
“Lucky towel,” I said sarcastically.
“We have cereal,” Lauren offered.
I bit the inside of my cheek, crossing my arms as I considered her offer but she was probably pushing some Kashi whole grain crap on me. I was more a Captain Crunch kind of guy.
“Get dressed,” I said, finally.
“Why?”
“I drove two hours to bring you your car, Kitten, think the least you can do is accompany me to breakfast,” I said, leaving out the fact I wouldn’t mind a quickie in the bathroom either. I turned toward Mia. “You hungry towel girl?”
She shook her head.
“You two go ahead. I have to run out for boxes,” she insisted, grabbing her own keys from the counter before smiling back at Lauren.
“You know, I don’t know if I should thank you or tell you it was a really shitty thing you did, leaving your friend in a bar by herself,” I called out to her.
“Riggs!” Lauren exclaimed, her fishbowl eyes narrowing at me, and I’m sure if I was in arms reach she would’ve smacked me.
“What? It’s true. Doesn’t make her a bad person, just makes her a selfish one,” I turned to Mia. “No hard feelings, towel girl, I think you’re great, a real catch, but that was foul,” I said, raising an eyebrow, daring her to disagree.
“Mia and I discussed it, Riggs, and it’s none of your business,” Lauren scorned.
“I disagree,” I stated, placing my hands on my hips. “It most definitely is my business, since I’m the one who picked you up and rescued you in your time of need,” I objected, before looking back toward Mia. I was laying it on thick and I don’t think either girl knew for sure if I was being serious or not.
“Don’t let it happen again,” I said, before reaching behind Lauren and squeezing her ass. “Hurry up, I’ll wait outside.”
I saw the flicker in my Kitten’s eyes and hurried out of the apartment before she morphed into a ferocious kitty.
“Do you always eat this much?” I asked, as I watched the waitress place Riggs’ breakfast in front of him. Seriously, I think he ordered the whole left side of the menu.
“He’s a growing boy,” the middle-aged waitress teased, placing the final plate, stacked high with flapjacks, in front of Riggs.
He grinned up at her.
“Thanks doll,” he said, with a wink before turning his gaze back to me. “She gets me,” he added.
I reached for the pepper, shaking some onto my eggs as I peered at him.
“Your cholesterol must be through the roof,” I commented, tipping my chin toward the five eggs he had in front of him.
“Aww, you’re worried about me,” he said, placing a han
d over his heart. “I’m touched, babe.”
I rolled my eyes and dug into my breakfast as my phone rang inside my pocket book.
“It’s my brother,” I said, swiping my thumb across the screen to answer it.
Riggs clasped his hands, rubbing them together excitedly, his grin firmly in place.
“Go ahead, answer it,” he encouraged. “Put it on speaker,” he added.
Crazy.
“Hi, Ant,” I said, lifting a piece of bacon from Riggs’s six plates and took a bite.
“Lau, listen, I got bad news,” he started.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked knowingly, as I peered out the window into the parking lot and looked at my car.
“I had the car brought to a mechanic,” he continued, as Riggs covered his mouth trying his hardest not to laugh.
“It’s worse than we thought?” I asked, playing along. Because if you couldn’t beat them why not join them.
Riggs, dropped his hand from his mouth, leaned over the table and kissed my lips quickly.
“Marry me and have my babies,” he whispered, pleased with my eagerness to taunt my brother.
Crazier.
“Not exactly,” Anthony said. “Your car is missing from the lot. I don’t know how it happened and Pipe is trying to get a hold of Riggs so they can play back the surveillance cameras,” he growled into the phone.
I could picture the veins bulging at his temple as he tried to hold his composure and had to admit, Riggs was onto something, busting Anthony’s chops could be fun.
“That’s funny, because I’m looking at my car right now,” I said, smiling because it was hard not to when the man in front of me had such a contagious grin.
“Lauren, what are you talking about?” Anthony asked, annoyed.
Riggs leaned over and took the phone from my hand.
“Hey, boss man! What’s shaking?”
“Riggs, what are you doing with my sister?”
“Just dropping her car off, runs like a dream. You should throw Pipe an extra hundred for doing such a good job. Or you could just give it to me when you see me, you know, for my services,” he said, winking at me.
“Put Lauren on the phone, NOW,” Anthony shouted into the phone.
“Oh, calm down, will you? And I will only give her back the phone if you promise not to yell at her,” he antagonized, as he shoved a piece of toast into his mouth.
“PUT LAUREN ON THE PHONE RIGGS,” he yelled again, causing everyone in the diner to turn around and look at what the commotion was all about. I grabbed my phone, hastily taking him off speaker and put the phone back to my ear.
“Ant, you’re making a scene,” I whisper-yelled into the phone.
“I’m making a scene? How am I making a goddamn scene?”
“I had you on speaker phone,” I explained. “Look, I appreciate you fixing my car, Riggs was nice enough to deliver it to me as soon as it was done so I didn’t have to wait. It all worked out so why are you going crazy?”
“What are you doing with Riggs?”
“Having breakfast,” I said.
“Are you sleeping with him?” Talk about cutting to the chase. My brother didn’t beat around the bush that’s for sure.
“Ant!” I shouted, causing Riggs to raise an eyebrow. “Not that it’s any of your business, but no I’m not. He brought me my car, that’s it.”
“Don’t do it Lauren, he’s not your type,” my brother said softly.
“What’s that supposed to mean? How do you know my type?” I questioned angrily. I really should’ve hung up the phone instead of taking part in this ridiculous conversation. But I wasn’t about to let my brother dictate who I did or didn’t sleep with. And what was this shit about Riggs not being my type? That burned my ass because my brother knew nothing about my dating life. He was in prison for the duration of my only serious relationship and never even met my crackerjack ex-boyfriend.
“Come on Lau, you know the type of guy I’m talking about. Riggs isn’t the guy you’re going to take home to mom for Sunday dinners. Shit, even if he was, they’d probably kill each other. You like things nice and orderly, and Riggs is chaos in its purest form,” Anthony continued. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Thanks for your concern big brother, but I can handle my sex life without any help from you,” I sneered.
Riggs started choking on his eggs and I handed him the water as I rolled my eyes.
“How about we talk about something of relevance—like if you’ve convinced Mom to move back to Brooklyn,” I suggested, angrily, sliding out of the booth to pound Riggs on the back. Poor guy was coughing up a lung.
“You’re on your own with that, I tried,” he grunted. “She doesn’t want to come back home, says she likes it up there. She promised to stay out of your hair while you studied for your finals, though,” he mumbled miserably. “I’ve got to go, glad your car is on the road again. Stay safe,” he added.
“Ant,” I breathed, hating that he seemed mad at me. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I really appreciate you fixing the car for me,” I said.
“No problem,” he clipped. “Bye,” he added before disconnecting the call.
I stared at the phone in shock, dropping it onto the table before sliding back into the booth across from Riggs.
“He hung up on me,” I fumed.
“That didn’t go quite like I planned,” he admitted. “In my head this whole thing was way funnier.”
“He thinks we’re sleeping together,” I blurted.
“And you feel guilty because you’re misleading him? We can fix that, Kitten,” he joked.
“Is everything a joke with you?” I asked, lifting my eyes to his, seriously questioning him.
His grin disappeared and his eyes locked with mine.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted. “I’m just stressed out and I think everything is finally catching up to me. I appreciate you bringing my car even if your ulterior motive was to fuck with my brother,” I whispered and then I snapped. I felt my eyes fill with tears as the lies, the guilt of them and the stress of not knowing where I go from here all surfaced.
“I had a plan!” I blurted. “It was a good plan too, becoming a nurse, making a lot of money, making my family proud,” I cried, not caring I was having a meltdown in front of Riggs. I couldn’t hold it in anymore and he was there so—the poor bastard was invited to my pity party, hell, he was the only fucking guest. “It was a good fucking plan,” I repeated. “And I could’ve done it too. I had the grades, I scored the internship at the hospital, even in pediatrics like I wanted,” I sobbed, reaching to take the napkin he offered me and wiped at my cheeks. I’m sure tomorrow I am going to want to crawl into a hole for this but the dam was already broken and out of my control.
“So what changed?” he asked, surprising me with the sincerity I found in his voice.
“You ever see a baby born with his lungs outside of his chest?” I asked, lifting my eyes to his. “A little person, so helpless, relying on you and a team of doctors to help him make the twenty-four-hour mark. You don’t even have a chance to process that you and your colleagues are playing God with this precious little baby’s life. All hands are on deck and everyone has a job to do even the new intern. Granted, I was just assisting the registered nurses, but I was there, I was a part of that baby’s team. I watched as his dad cried outside the room, wishing there was something he could do, something he could change, hating that we were the people who could help his son and not him.”
I shook my head, closing my eyes, as the memories assaulted me. It was a game changer for me, the pivotal moment in my life, realizing I wasn’t cut out for the life I thought I wanted. I wanted to believe in medicine. I wanted to heal. But I couldn’t watch people die. And a doctor isn’t God, doctors can’t save everyone, sometimes people just die.
“My shift was over and by that time the baby was critical but stable. His mother still had yet to hold him and his father struggled to make the right decisions. The n
ext morning, I returned to work, and the baby had passed away,” I whimpered. “I cried for days, didn’t go to school, and I called in sick to the hospital. I couldn’t do it, Riggs, I couldn’t become a nurse because I’m too weak. I’d get too close to my patients, and I’d lose it every time I lost one. It’s inevitable, people die. We all can’t live forever but that baby didn’t even live one day.”
“I don’t know what to say,” he admitted. “I’m sorry you lost a patient, Kitten. I’m sorry those folks lost their baby,” he soothed, as he reached across the table and took my hand in his.
“Me too,” I whispered. “I can’t do it Riggs, I can’t be a nurse,” I confessed.
“Then don’t be,” he said simply. “So, you had a plan, plans change. Shit happens, Lauren, that’s why there are things called detours. So take your detour and I promise you, you’ll get where you’re going eventually,” he urged.
“I’ve made such a mess of things, Riggs. I’ve been lying to my mother and Anthony for months. On top of breaking my mother’s heart—”
“Your mothers got thick skin, she’ll get over it and if she doesn’t…then it’s her problem. I learned a long time ago you can’t live your life pleasing others,” he interjected. “You will have to tell them sooner or later, no reason to prolong it and drive yourself crazy. Babe, you’ll be fine. Trust me, it all works out in the end.
“You sound so sure,” I scoffed.
“I stopped traveling the path I thought I was supposed to be on and took a detour. It led me straight to the right road, the one I was destined for. Best decision I ever made, and I have no regrets. I’m sure I should have some, maybe even a little remorse too, but I don’t,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Not for my old life and not for the people I left behind. I choose who I let into my life, and those people accept me for the man I am. They are who I worry about, who I am loyal to and they are who I don’t want to disappoint.”
“Your club,” I said, reading between the lines.
He nodded.
“Take the detour, Kitten,” he coaxed.
He made it sound so simple. He made me wish I could. I just needed a little more time to figure it out. To plan what I would say. As much as I wanted to be a free spirit like Riggs, I didn’t know how. I didn’t know how to live life with no direction.
The Tempted Series: Collectors Edition Page 94
