by C. A. Harms
On a normal day, I would never tell a patient that I planned to suck the spit out of their mouth, but this was a little boy. Little dudes loved that stuff, the nastier the better. “Then this…” I held out the scaler, and again he shrank back. “I roll it along your tooth and scrape off all the little critters that are hiding behind your gums and in the creases between your teeth.”
His eyes widened, and it’s my turn to laugh.
“You don’t want creepy crawlies hidden in between your teeth, do you?”
When he shook his head, I looked up at his mom, who was standing back, letting me lead this visit. She too offered me an encouraging smile, and I proceeded. “I promise you, Lucas, that I won’t hurt you. But we need to clean those critters from your teeth so they don’t eat away at the enamel. So if you work with me, I think I could let you help hold the suction. How’s that sound?”
I held out the suction and knew that most likely by the end of this visit I would regret giving him free rein of the tool. I also knew that desperate times called for desperate measures.
With great caution, he took it from me and slowly opened his mouth as he moved his body to the center of the chair.
Almost an hour later and with my shirt soaked from Lucas figuring out how to spray the water, I exited the room, leaving behind a child with clean teeth.
This week had been discouraging. I knew I was in a funk from missing Stephanie more than usual. In her place at the office, they hired a girl that I could honestly say I despised. Holly Martin, cheerleader, Prom Queen, and an all-around drama driver…she fed on it. She was flashy, conceited, and conniving. If there was gossip, you could find Holly at the root of it. Oh, and did I mention she was, correction, is a sleaze? The kind of girl that looked for unavailable men so she could have the satisfaction of knowing she was able to make them stray. I was pretty sure when the would-be home-wrecker was created, Holly was the exact replica of what they had in mind. Fine, she was pretty, but she used those looks whenever she could, not to mention she flirted with the patients and the doctor. It was ridiculous, and now she was in my space. I’d worked for this dentist’s office since right out of school, and I used to love it…not so much anymore.
“There is a cleaning in room four,” Mary the assistant said as she rounded the corner, almost colliding with me. “He’s handsome, too.” She wagged her brows, and it surprised me. Mary was so conservative and generally on the quiet side. She walked away fanning her face like she was overheated, which made me smile, wondering if maybe I was the one that made the office stuffy. When Stephanie was here, it was so easy to isolate ourselves and only talk to one another. After she left, I went on the same way, only with a one-man team. I guessed I should give the ladies here a shot.
Pulling my wet shirt away from my body, I headed toward room four, ready for my next cleaning. I only hoped this one went smoother than the last.
As I passed over the threshold, I stumbled a bit when I saw the one and only Landon Layne sitting in the chair before me. If that wasn’t bad enough, there at his side was Holly, cooing and awing over him like a starstruck teenager. The way she was bent forward I was sure would allow her smock to gap open and give him full view of her oversized breasts made me nauseous.
“Oh hey, Chloe.” I was snapped out of my disgust when she addressed me. “Sorry to barge in on your patient, but the minute I knew it was Landon in the chair, I just had to say hello.”
I forced a smile and refrained from looking at Landon. I could almost imagine the disappointment in his eyes when he realized that it was me who would be doing his cleaning and not Miss Big Hooters Holly.
“Landon and I dated not that long ago.” The sour feeling I felt earlier only intensified. “I don’t know why I ever let this handsome man go.” I remained frozen in place as she touched his shoulder and leaned over a little more. “I must have been a fool.”
My nose twitched as I fought the urge to gag.
“Well, not that I want to, but I better step out so Chloe here can get on with your cleaning. But you better look me up for that drink you owe me.” When she pressed her lips to his cheek, I had to look away.
He dated her? A girl who was my age, yet I was the fucking kid. It infuriated me to think that she was good enough, but I wasn’t worth the effort.
Before she stepped out, she threw a few more flirtatious comments in his direction, and I ignored them both as I gathered my tools. When it was just the two of us remaining, I stood over him and pinned the bib around his neck. The intoxicating scent of his cologne made my chest feel heavy, but I did my best to remain professional.
“Tough day?” It just got a whole lot tougher. “It appears like you got in a fight with a hose and lost.”
“Five-year-old boy that was afraid of a cleaning.” I kept my voice low and clipped. Doing my best not to make eye contact, I grabbed the scaler and brought it up to his mouth.
“I ended things with her.” I arched my brow before hurrying to wipe the expression from my face. “It lasted two mo—”
“It’s really none of my business and also not important.” Before he had the chance to say more, I motioned for him to open his mouth and waited for to him to oblige.
“You don’t like me much, do you?”
I swallowed hard and felt the heat rush to my cheeks.
“I don’t even know you.” I knew more than I was putting on. I’d asked a lot of questions and paid attention to the answers that were given, but he didn’t need to know that. “I’m just really busy today.”
Also extremely frustrated that I got the fucking kid category but McSlutty got dating material. Go figure. I guess my tits needed to go up two sizes in order to become an adult in his eyes.
Every time he attempted to talk, I would either suction him or hurry to continue on with scaling his teeth. I didn’t want to hear about his tryst with Holly. It made me sick to think of the things the two of them had done together. When I was done, I offered him a cup of water and told him to rinse and spit. Of course he even had to make that appear sexy, which only managed to make me even angrier.
I’d had enough.
“You can make your next appointment with the front desk.” I tossed his bib in the garbage on my way to the door.
“Chloe.” When he said my name, I paused with my hand on the handle. “Maybe sometime you and I—”
“Don’t.” I refused to look at him. Twisting the handle, I opened the door, and just before I exited, I turned my head to the side, focusing on the carpet at my feet. “I don’t think I’m quite old enough to run with your crowd. Being a kid and all, I should stick to what I know.”
As I exited the room, I swore I heard him call out my name once more, but I didn’t pause to find out.
I was ready for this day to be over. I needed to drown in a bottle of wine and a hot bath.
Chapter Six
Landon
“Well, look who finally decided to show up for work.” Lifting my cooler out of the back of my truck, I didn’t even acknowledge Rhett or Terrance. Both smug sons of bitches always giving me shit. “Sitting at home watching reality TV with a bag of Doritos in hand while us big boys are here doing all the hard labor.”
“Yeah.” I chuckled as I lowered my cooler the ground and repositioned my ball cap on my head. “Because putting out fires and saving people isn’t manual labor that matters.”
Instantly, Terrance shut up, but Rhett grinned from ear to ear. He might give me hell whenever he could, but the guy knew I worked my ass off. Twenty-four hours on, forty-eight off, and during that forty-eight, I worked for Reed Construction. I loved my job as a firefighter, but the income wasn’t enough to survive. Not if I wanted to buy property and build my own home one day. So I worked, a lot, and I saved all I could.
“So did you hear how Chloe’s date went last night?” I felt my heart rate spike as I looked at the two of them carrying on a conversation like I wasn’t there. “Ripp was bragging about it for hours, talking about taking her
up to the lake afterwards.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” In two strides, I was standing before them, both shifting their gazes to meet my own. “After that sack of shit groped her at Mike’s wedding, she still went out with him? I told him to stay away from her.” My pulse was racing. “She won’t even talk to me, but him?” I felt my irritation rage within me. “Hell, all I did was make sure she got home safe after drinking far too much, and he mauls her on a dance floor in front of family and friends. I guess being a gentleman doesn’t count for shit anymore.”
My rant gave the two of them exactly what they were hoping for. I noticed it far too late when they each smiled from ear to ear, glancing between one another before looking back at me.
“She didn’t go on a date with him, did she?”
Rhett slowly shook his head, crossing his ankles and leaning back against the truck. “Sure got a rise out of you, though, didn’t it?”
“Fuck off.” Grumbling, I walked away and left the two of them pleased as they chuckled at my reaction.
I went and got my teeth cleaned just to get the chance to be near her, only she still shut me out. The plan backfired when Holly walked into the room just before Chloe. The way she flirted openly and went on about us dating. I’d hardly call the short time we shared anything to brag about. We’d shared one kiss, and it was all I needed to know that she and I were completely incompatible. Nothing sexy about a girl practically eating your damn face when she kissed you. It ended before it even began, and I brushed her off the next few times she’d asked to do something. Eventually, she got the hint. Problem was she made it seem like she ditched me to Chloe, and worst part was Chloe wouldn’t even let me explain.
It was almost like the universe was against me when it came to my kitten. I called her mine because there was no way I would stand around and allow someone else to have her.
Busying myself with work, I chose to ignore the assholes as they spent the entire day hassling me, talking about not only Ripp, but another guy that seemed to be interested in Chloe. Every time they brought up Mason, a guy that worked as a pharmacy technician in town, flirting with Chloe, I swore my blood pressure spiked.
“He doesn’t seem to think she’s too young for him, either.” It’s that comment that had me turning on Terrance.
“I never said she was too young. I still have no fucking clue where the whole kid shit came from. I never called her a kid.” Neither of them seemed convinced. Frustration poured through my veins. My mind rolled over that night, the way she flirted with me as she placed her hand against my chest. How she leaned in closer, her entire front forming to my own. She fit perfectly, her head resting on my chest, just over my heart. When she tipped her head back and looked up at me with those soft baby blues of hers, her lips so full and inviting, I could have made a move. I could have taken full advantage of her invitation, but then not only would my mother have laid me out, but I would have been beaten within an inch of my life when all these assholes found out. Not to mention what her father would have done. The man was ready to make Ripp disappear for grabbing her ass; I shivered at the thought of what he may have done if I’d actually taken his drunk daughter up on the invitation for drunken sex that night.
“I think Chloe may remember it differently.” I’d gone through the night over and over in my mind more times than I could count. Each time I came up empty. Rhett waited for me to respond, and I wished I had some way to explain how or why she thought that was how I looked at her.
“I guess that means Chloe and I need to have a talk.”
“Good luck with that.” Rhett chuckled as he hammered in the last nail in the stud I held. “Every time you’re around, that girl runs away like her ass is on fire.”
“About that.” Rhett looked back over his shoulder and waited for me to continue. “I may need you to help a guy out.”
“Hell no.” He turned around, fully looking in my direction, holding a hand out before him. “I help you and I get in trouble with AJ. I love my girl. I also love when she’s happy. Me blindsiding Chloe to help you out will only piss off AJ, which means life at home won’t be so happy anymore.”
“Pussy.” Him and Mike both would lay down over a puddle just so AJ and Maddison could walk over their backs to keep their shoes dry.
“Hell yeah, I am.” He didn’t even attempt to deny it. “AJ can be mean when she wants to be.”
I couldn’t see it. The girl was always so sweet.
“Besides, the word Landon is forbidden around the ladies.”
“What?” What in the hell?
“Not only do you have to convince Chloe you aren’t an ass, you have to convince all the other ladies, too.”
“And you don’t plan on offering me any help, do you?” I already knew the answer to that.
“Nope.” Reaching down, he lifted another board and shrugged. “Why would I want to help you when watching you squirm and grovel will be so much more satisfying?”
“Dick.” I knew the chances of getting Mike to help me out would be less likely than Rhett. Looked like I was on my own.
Chapter Seven
Chloe
I’d spent hours cleaning, scrubbing floors of my tiny apartment, wiping down cabinets that were not even dirty. My drawers had never been so organized. That was something I did when my mind refused to quiet. Sitting still was not an option, because sitting still allowed me to think, and right now I needed to busy my thoughts, distract them from a certain someone who had no right to conquer my mind and ransack my sanity.
All I could see now when I looked at Holly was her and Landon sharing some romantic evening together. The both of them smiling and laughing, which led to deeper moments, and those caused a feeling inside of me I wasn’t familiar with. Jealousy. Murderous visions of me rearranging her pretty face and not feeling a single ounce of pity for doing so. This was not me. I was not this person. I was nice and loyal; I had never wanted to hurt someone more than I wanted to hurt her, even though the issue lay more with Landon than her. After all, he was the one who labeled me as a kid.
Kid. I had never hated that word more than I did now.
This made me sick as well as pissed me off. He had the right to date whoever he wanted to. I had no claim on him. But I also didn’t deserve a dismissive comment like being too young for him when he was running around town banging girls who were the same age.
I would never again hear that horrendous word without wanting to run over Landon Layne with my Tacoma. It may not be as big as his full-size obnoxious Ram truck, but I was sure it would still hurt bouncing off the hood.
A light knock had me pausing with my hand held high toward the ceiling fan in my kitchen. I wasn’t expecting anyone. Looking down at my disheveled appearance, I cringed. I was a mess.
Tiptoeing across the kitchen, I peered out through the small peephole and saw a young boy on the other side. He held an arrangement of flowers in front of him, and instantly I was positive he had the wrong apartment.
I tucked my hair behind my ear and smoothed out my wrinkled shirt, as if it mattered. Reaching for the lock, I opened the door and peeked through the crack.
“Ms. Rigdon?”
“Yes.”
“I have a delivery for you.” Was he for real? Allowing the door to gape open further, I stepped out and scanned over the arrangement, looking for confirmation on the clipboard he held.
“You had to have read that wrong.” There was no other explanation.
“No.” I looked up at him and watched as he slid his finger over the sheet. “It says it right here.” Again I looked at the clipboard when he pushed it out closer. “Chloe Rigdon, apartment 3B.” Sure enough, that was the name and address written out, but again I was still confused.
“Who the hell would send me flowers?” I never meant to ask that out loud, but he simply shrugged as he held them out. I didn’t miss the humor dancing in his eyes as his lips tilted up in a smile.
Taking the flowers in hand, I commit
ted to memory the bright colors and the fresh scent. I was so enthralled with the beauty that I didn’t hear the boy say goodbye or even see him turn to walk away. The only indication that he had left was the ding of the elevator just as I looked up to see him step inside. He offered a wave, and I backed into my apartment, letting the door close behind me.
Rounding the bar that separated my kitchen and living space, I set the vase down and began looking for the card.
Hidden beneath the spanning colors was an envelope with a small note tucked inside.
I’m not such a bad guy. Just give me one shot to prove that.
Landon
My heart rate soared, and I felt my throat grow tight. I didn’t know what to think, but I also knew that I didn’t like being toyed with. I understood that he and I would be forced to be around one another on occasion, but that didn’t mean he had to go to this extreme. We could be civil without actually having to be friends. The last thing I wanted was for him to take pity on me.
Leaning in before I could stop myself, I breathed in the aroma and felt myself smile uncontrollably. I had never received flowers from anyone before.
My phone rang from somewhere in the apartment, and reluctantly, I backed away from the beautiful arrangement in search of the obnoxious device.
Grace flashed across the screen, and I was instantly thankful to have someone to help me figure this out.
“Hello.” I looked back up to the flowers that remained on my counter only ten feet away, and again I smiled. It was almost uncontrollable. I didn’t want to feel such joy because this wasn’t some lovesick man trying to impress the girl of his dreams. It was just the opposite, a guy who felt the need to ease the strain between friends. If you could even consider us to be that—acquaintances was more like it.
