Calming the Riot

by Karen Renee

  Twenty minutes later, Liar pulled into Andrea’s complex with a box of half-a-dozen donuts in one of his saddlebags, and a to-go cup of black coffee wedged in next to it. It dawned on him as soon as he placed his coffee order that he had no idea how Andrea took her coffee, so he played it safe by ordering it black and picking up plenty of creamers and sugars to doctor it later. Fleetingly, it occurred to him that this might have been a bad idea. He shoved the thought out of his head as he spied her Honda in the parking lot. That was a good sign, but then he remembered she said she walked everywhere she could. He left the coffee and donuts in the saddlebag until he knew she was home.

  He knocked on her door and rang her bell to no answer. Tearing his hand through his hair, he wondered if she had walked to her shop. Then he remembered that the sign in her window said she was closed on Sundays. The sun glinted into his eyes through the heavy oak tree branches and Liar decided to walk over to the community pool. The gate had no special security on it to prevent any Tom, Dick or Harry from going into the pool. That was the first thing wrong with this situation. Little did Liar know, the further he prowled into the pool area it would be the least of what was wrong with things.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Andrea

  I was lounging by the pool in late October. Maybe it made me petty, but there was something exhilarating about snubbing one’s nose at the seasons while living in Florida. In a few weeks, actually it could be a short as a few days, I wouldn’t be able to do this until late February, so I knew I had to soak in all the vitamin D my body could take while I still could. As soon as I was awake, I put on my sunblock and a modest tankini, grabbed my iPod and a towel. I was the first one at the pool for a little while anyway. It was a great morning, and I was listening to “The Summer” by DJ Pippi & Tuccillo when a shadow crossed over my face.

  I’d have thought it was weird, but ten or fifteen minutes ago a couple of men had come to the pool as well. I figured one of them needed the small table to my left, but the shadow didn’t move. I opened my eyes and couldn’t believe the sight before me. Liar was standing over me with a serious scowl on his face. Part of me wanted to giggle at the seriousness on his mug, and another part of me wanted to cower away from him. Then I got angry not only at myself for such a ludicrous reaction, but also at him for just standing there.

  “Can I help you?” I asked as politely as I could muster since he was harshing my mellow vibes. Again!

  He rolled his lips into his mouth as though he were biting them, and then he rolled them back out to almost a pout. “Our appointment?” he asked.

  “We don’t have an appointment,” I said, and we didn’t because I don’t work on Sundays.

  I thought I heard Liar growl. “How about you at least get the hell out of here, so I don’t have to beat the asses of the dickheads staring at your tits and legs.”

  I looked at him askance, and then I glanced around the pool, and sure enough, there was a guy with his shades pointed in my general direction. On the opposite side of the pool was a blond guy wearing aviator sunglasses and when I looked at him, he gave me a pearly white smile. Well, I guess there’s a first time for everything.

  “First time for what, babe?”

  I grimaced. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to say that thought out loud.”

  He took in a deep breath, and when he let it out, his entire face had cleared. “I have donuts.”

  I pressed my lips together for many reasons. First, it was the last thing I expected a muscular guy like him to say to me. Second, he said it like it was his version of a peace offering. Third, he was looking at me expectantly, like I was supposed to be thrilled about the prospect of donuts from him. Taking a page from his book, I took a deep breath and schooled my features. “Well, good for you, Liar.”

  A thought hit me. “Come to think of it, with a name like Liar, you wouldn’t be lying to me about donuts, would you?”

  I watched his chest inflate with another deep breath, and I sensed he was getting annoyed. “Can we just get back to your place? I got you a coffee, but I didn’t know how you took it, and it’s getting cold. So, let’s go.”

  The giggle I held in check earlier escaped, but I gathered my towel and iPod and followed him out of the pool area. For the first time, I felt like there were eyes on me as I left. If I got to visit the pool again before November, I would definitely be more aware of the men in the vicinity.

  I unlocked my front door while Liar gathered the pastries and drinks from his bike. It was all I could do not to exclaim to him, “Who knew you could transport two drinks on a bike!” This was mainly because I remembered Jackie having a hard time with something similar when she and Volt had just started dating. Of course, he didn’t drive a ‘touring’ bike back then. Come to think of it, I wasn’t sure he did still, but I could see that Liar’s ride was equipped for longer distances. It had a windshield for one thing, and he plucked a coffee cup out of an actual cup holder near one of the grips.

  Walking into my apartment, I left the front door ajar so Liar could come in behind me. When I heard the door click shut, my nerves assaulted my belly. I had eaten a yogurt before hitting the pool, so I could stand to eat, but having this picturesque man in my personal space was more than I could handle. My damn fingers were still itching to touch him, but after the cold and hot vibes I had received from him I needed to protect myself. Getting involved with a man like Liar would be dangerous, to say the least. While I didn’t like to make men pay for the mistakes of those before them, it could not be denied that I had been well and truly taken advantage of in the past. I’d be damned if I let his good looks blind me to common sense.

  “Why do you have donuts?” I asked.

  He paused, and I could tell he was weighing his answer. “Thought you might like…some sweets—”

  “What were you really going to say?”

  A sly grin ghosted his lips. “You might like something sweet this morning. Realized that could be a double entendre, so I revised it.”

  My cell rang, and I pressed the buttons needed to make it vibrate instead. I glanced at the box of unopened donuts and the coffee cup, but even though I “silenced” it, my damn phone vibrated and clattered on the counter louder than the damn normal ring tone.

  Liar’s brown eyes were almost flirty with me. “You should get that, babe. In my experience, people don’t call back to back without somethin’ important to say.”

  “That’s very wise of you, but if you knew this woman, you’d take that back.”

  The phone stopped ringing…for three seconds, and the incessant sound resumed. I was well and truly exasperated when I answered.

  “What do you want, Shayla?”

  “Jesus! Get your panties outta your asscrack, chick. I was—”

  I closed my eyes at her brash statement but interrupted her. “Last I checked, you need me to do you a favor, and you’re telling me what to do with my panties?”

  Liar’s large fingers darted toward my face to get the phone from me, but I dodged him.

  “Ugh, fine. You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Anyway, Martin said you’d be in the right to work the floor. He’s got security, so as long as you have a copy of the order and this guy’s name, it’d all be cool. Think you can cover for Paula? I need to know or find someone else.”

  “Why does he need a copy of the restraining order?” I asked reflexively. Glancing at Liar, his entire expression had hardened. He shouldn’t have been privy to this conversation, but at the same time, there was no way for him not to hear my side of things.

  “I don’t know. That’s between you and Martin. Now, are you in or what?”

  I sighed. The holidays were dicey in my experience. Gift certificate sales could see a spike, but routine appointments took a nosedive as people scrimped money for ‘real’ gifts. The extra tips from the poker room business could help me out. Shayla’s attitude still bugged me though, so no matter what it said about me, I decided to make her squirm.

  “Give me u
ntil tomorrow afternoon to think about it,” I said and disconnected.

  “What’s with a restraining order and why do you have one? Who are you restraining?”

  “It’s nothing.”

  “It’s not nothing.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” I tried.

  “Did you hear the last four words I said to you outside?”

  “‘I have donuts’ is only three words.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed. “Last night, Andrea. I said, “I’m comin’ for you.”

  I didn’t want to discuss that, so I tapped on the donut box with my finger. “Any chocolate in there?”

  “Do Harleys have pipes? Of course, I got chocolate donuts in there,” he said as he opened the box.

  I selected a chocolate glazed and put it on a paper towel. An extra towel came off the roll, so I set it in front of Liar and picked up my donut. Liar’s warm eyes watched me closely as I bit into the donut. Ignoring his gaze on me was proving to be pretty difficult, but he gave me a minor reprieve.

  He looked to my living room, but asked, “So, what’s the favor you’re doing for this person?”

  “With the holidays approaching, Shayla needs me to cover for Paula at the poker room and vice versa. They work the room on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings,” I replied.

  “A restraining order plays into that, how?”

  Apparently, this man was a dog with a bone. I swallowed my donut. “Like I said, it doesn’t matter.”

  Liar crossed his arms on his chest. “It matters. Who’s the restraining order against?”

  “Fine, it might matter, but it isn’t any of your business,” I said popping the last of my donut in my mouth.

  He leaned his crossed arms on to the breakfast bar that separated us in my small kitchen. “I know you’re not dense, so stop trying to act like this isn’t happening. Told you twice, I’m comin’ for you. Means you are my business, which means when I ask you who the restraining order is against, you tell me.”

  I laughed, but I hadn’t washed down the last of the donut, so I found myself in a coughing fit. Liar shoved the coffee cup at me, but I shook my head. Little did he know: I was one of those crazy people who didn’t drink coffee. I turned on the tap and grabbed a juice glass. Once there was enough water in it, I quickly gulped it down.

  “You can ‘come after me,’ but that doesn’t mean I’m your business. Maybe I don’t want anything to do with you,” I said. The last part of that was a blatant lie, but I had to hope he didn’t know that.

  He straightened from the counter, and his hands went to his narrow hips. “Volt know about this R.O.?”

  My head tilted, and my gaze slid to the right as I pressed my lips together.

  Liar chuckled and headed to my futon with his phone in his hand. I swallowed more water not knowing what he was up to, but when it became clear, I realized this guy didn’t mess around when he was after something.

  “Hey Prez, you know Andrea has a restraining order against someone?”

  Fuck! I hadn’t even told Jackie about all of that. Now I was in for it. I beelined to him and tried to get the phone away from him, but he had even better evasive maneuvers than I did. While I couldn’t hear what Volt had to say, I could well imagine.

  “No, I don’t know that. She won’t tell me. Says ‘it’s nothing,’ which we both know is female bullshit.”

  I stood with my hands on my hips and said, “It is not female bullshit, Liar!”

  Suddenly, Liar thrust his phone in my direction. I grabbed it and put it to my ear. “Volt, don’t worry about it. It’s fine, really. Liar’s just overreacting.”

  Volt chuckled menacingly. “It’s so ‘fine,’ how come Jackie doesn’t know anything about this? Cause if she did you know damn good, and well she’d have told me about it too. That means she doesn’t know, and you’ve kept it from her, so she won’t worry. Now, who is this asshole?”

  “Henry,” I said pleadingly.

  “Don’t you ‘Henry’ me, Andi. Who is it? Actually, don’t tell me, tell Liar. He’ll let me know. You don’t tell him. I’ll get Jackie to get the goods instead.”

  My sigh held a hint of a growl. “You don’t play fair, Henry Adler.”

  “Restraining orders aren’t things I play around about, Andi. Tell Liar about it. Later.”

  Handing Liar his phone back, I said, “His name is Gil Grant or Gilbert Grant. I used to work the poker room with Shayla and Paula more regularly last year. This guy took a shine to me and was friendly. Another guy at the same table requested a massage when Gil’s was over, and the other guy asked if I had my own shop because he wanted to send his wife for a full body massage. That’s how Gil found out where I operate regularly. He came by without an appointment one afternoon. My last client of the day had left—”

  As I told my tale, I was oblivious to the mounting tension in the room. When Liar interrupted me, I was shocked by his anger. “He hurt you?”

  “No,” I said quickly. Liar’s eyes communicated his skepticism. “Okay, not in the way you mean and certainly not that day. I managed to get him out of my place because I needed to get ready for my shift at the poker room. That pleased him, but I felt his eyes on me the entire night. The following Sunday, I had a rare appointment with a client who works for the railroad. His schedule is crazier than an insane asylum which was why I opened up on a Sunday, anyway, when I came in to set up, Gil was waiting in the parking lot, but I didn’t know it.”

  “What do you mean, you didn’t know it?”

  I plopped into an armchair adjacent to the futon. “You’ve been to my place. There’s parking on either side of the building. I never used to pay attention to cars parked on the opposite side. Gil was in his car on that side. When he saw Mark come in for his appointment, I guess Gil made some assumptions.”

  Liar’s jaw was clenched, but he asked through gritted teeth, “He interrupt that appointment?”

  “No. He waited until Mark left. Then he barged in and started yelling about how he was getting what was his.”

  I noticed Liar’s hands were balled into fists. “You said he didn’t hurt you.”

  “He didn’t, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t try. It was January, which was damn lucky for me because Tyler, a CPA in the office upstairs from mine heard the ruckus. He came down and clocked Gil over the back of the head with my massage chair. Might be why I struggle to fold the damn thing these days, but it damn sure saved the day that day.”

  Liar

  A fuckin’ chair wielded by a CPA should never have to save the damn day. No woman of Liar’s would ever have to worry about that kind of shit. It took him a moment to get his temper under control. He sipped some of his coffee to stall.

  “You got a gun now?”

  “No. I don’t like guns. I have a cute stun gun instead.”

  Rather than roll his eyes, he looked at the water feature hanging on the wall. Girls. Only a woman who was a girl at heart carried a ‘cute’ stun gun rather than a Smith and Wesson or a Sig Sauer. Cute didn’t give you stopping power the same way hard cold lead did. Or at least that lead would be cold until it came barreling out of the shaft of the gun. Though, he had to admit that a stun gun was better than nothing.

  Andrea shot out of the armchair on his right. “I’ll go get it. It looks like a flashlight and actually has one, but if he comes ‘round again, he’ll be in for a nasty surprise.”

  Before she could step away, Liar grabbed her wrist and pulled her down. He had to scoot to his left quickly so she would land next to him. Otherwise, she’d be in his lap. That would be good and bad because he wanted her on his lap, but he damn sure couldn’t be trusted if she were. She plopped down next to him with a slight squeak.

  She turned to him with narrowed eyes. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Twining his fingers with hers, he said, “I don’t need to see your stun gun. I’ve seen ‘em. Has this guy been ’round lately that he needs this nasty surprise?”

  “No,
but that doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop carrying my stun gun.”

  “Nor should you. I’m tryin’ to figure out if he’s got the message to stay away from you.”

  “Basically. It was dicier when I tried to keep working the poker room floor, but in the end, I decided it wasn’t worth it.”

  Liar did not like the sound of that. Her livelihood should never have been threatened by this asshole, but he knew better than to focus on that with Andrea. There was a defiant look in her eyes, so he decided to change the subject.

  “You like your donut?”

  Her dark brown eyes narrowed a touch, but she only nodded at him. He chuckled. “I noticed you didn’t touch the coffee I brought for you.”

  She pulled her lips in and pressed them together. Blowing out a breath she said, “I don’t drink coffee. It’s too bitter.”

  Suddenly, Liar noticed her index finger was moving over the top of his hand almost in a pattern. “Sorry about that. I didn’t know.”

  She chuckled. “How on earth could you. I noticed you didn’t eat a donut, and I definitely don’t need to eat five more of them.” Her finger stopped rubbing on his hand. “Actually, you should have a donut while I change out of this tankini.”

  She sounded like she was mortified to be in his presence in a bathing suit, and it made him laugh. Pulling her hand out of his, she stood up, but even though he was laughing, he pulled her back down. Only difference was this time when she hit the futon, he pulled her body flush with his. “Baby, you were showin’ more skin last night than you are right now. There’s nothin’ for you to be embarrassed about.”

  Her head tilted up to him and her eyes bulged at him. He could smell her sweet breath, and the coconut scent of her sunscreen, all of it was turning him on. Kissing her again wasn’t on his agenda for today, but he did it anyway. It was even better than the night before. She wasn’t operating in a state of shock from his lips on her, and she was nearly aggressive with him. Her body turned toward him, and her free hand glided up his arm, his shoulder and into his hair. When she let out an excited moan, he pulled himself away before things could get any hotter.