Chapter 26
I'd just drifted back to sleep when the sound of Chucky's barking jolted me awake. Groaning, I flopped onto my side and wrapped the pillow around my head, mashing it tight against my ears.
It was no use. Even muffled, there was no ignoring it. When I heard the ding-dong of the doorbell, I hurled the pillow against the wall and stumbled out of bed.
There was only one person it could be. Lawton.
So much for giving me some space.
I jumped into my rattiest sweatpants and marched downstairs, leaving a trail of profanity in my wake. By now, Chucky was going nuts, barking his furry head off and skidding across the hardwood floors as he ran from window to window.
Grumbling, I snapped on his leash before getting within ten feet of the door. I'd learned all his tricks the hard way, and I wasn't about to fall for them again. With Chucky securely at my side, I stomped to the front door, flung it open, and bellowed, "What!"
Erika stood, blinking in the dappled sunlight. "So, uh, is this a bad time?"
Before I could form an answer, a furry land-rocket shot past my ankles. I looked to my hand. The leash was still there. Chucky wasn't. Instead, he was tearing full speed ahead toward the front sidewalk.
"Chucky, you come back here!" I hollered.
Giving Erika a frantic look, I plunged barefoot out of the entryway to sprint after him. The ground was frozen, sending shockwaves of icy jolts into the bare soles of my feet. Still, I pursued Chucky across the front yard, twice around a giant pine tree, straight through a dormant flower bed, and back toward the house.
Halfway to the front door, he stopped long enough to let me almost reach him. But just as I leaned down to scoop him up, he gave a yip and raced toward driveway.
I threw up my hands. "Fine! Go! See if I care!"
Ignoring my tirade, he circled my car and skidded to a stop near the driver's side door.
And then it hit me. My car. What was it doing here? Last time I'd seen it, it was stalled at the restaurant. Wasn't it?
I was mentally scratching my head when suddenly Chucky's body tensed. His ears twitched, and his nose turned toward the house.
A moment later, he took off at full speed toward Erika. She was crouching near the front entrance holding something in her outstretched palm. It looked suspiciously like a breakfast biscuit.
When Chucky dove for the biscuit, she scooped him up, biscuit and all, and dashed into the house, slamming the door behind her.
Wordlessly, I stalked up to the door and twisted the doorknob. It didn't budge. What the hell? I tried again. Nothing. I hollered through the door. "Hey! Erika! The door's locked. Let me in, alright? "
A moment later, the door flew open. Erika stood with insanely messy hair and Chucky held tight at her side. "What!" she screeched, barely keeping a straight face.
I glared at her. "Is that supposed to be funny?"
She grinned. "Yeah. Totally. Wasn't it?"
Probably on any other day, it would've been. Today, not so much. "You know," I said, "I'm really not in the mood for this."
"Oh c'mon," she said. "I rescued your dog, didn't I?"
"He's not my dog." I jostled my way inside and slammed the door behind me. My feet were numb, and the rest of me was only slightly less miserable. I looked down to see clumps of dirt lodged between my bare toes. "Stupid flower beds," I said.
I trudged into the living room, leaving a trail of dirt behind me. Just great. I mentally added floor-cleaning to my to-do list. I sank onto the front sofa and buried my face in my hands.
Erika flopped down on the recliner across from me. "That was your biscuit by the way."
I looked up. "Yeah. I figured."
"Want half of mine?" She held out a white paper bag.
I gave it a dubious look. "Does it have bacon?"
"Sorry."
"That's alright." I waved the bag away. "You go ahead. Eat. Honestly, I'm not hungry, anyway."
She reached into the bag and pulled out the biscuit. "Rough night?" she said, unwrapping it and taking a bite.
"You have no idea." I glanced over at Chucky, settling into his favorite basket. If only I had a basket. I'd probably never come out. I returned my gaze to Erika. "So what are you doing here?" I said. "I thought you were heading back to State."
"Yeah. I'm on the way now, actually. But I couldn't find my dorm key. You haven't seen it here, have you?"
I groaned. "Oh crap. I'm sorry." I vaguely recalled seeing a strange key last night while rushing around getting ready for work. "I meant to call you, but…" I shook my head, not sure where to start.
So I started at the beginning and kept going.
When I was done, Erika sat in stunned silence. I'd just told her everything that had happened since I'd seen her last, starting with the so-called kidnapping attempt and ending with everything Lawton had told me during the walk home.
Her mouth hung open. "And all this happened since I saw you last?"
I nodded.
"But that was only last night."
"Tell me about it," I said. "So now, Lawton wants another chance. But I'm not so sure."
She laughed. "You liar."
"I'm not lying," I said.
"You are, too. You're totally nuts for him."
"Maybe. But he's a total psycho."
"Oh, c'mon. He's not that bad. At least not the way you tell it."
"Oh yeah?" I pulled up my shirt sleeve and thrust out my wrist. "Look." The bruises had darkened overnight, making the raw skin that much more ugly. "You believe me now?"
Her gaze narrowed. "That a*shole."
"Exactly."
"So," she said, "you think he'd do it again?"
I didn't even have to think about it. "No. Definitely not."
She leaned back in her chair and said, "Hmm…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.
She shrugged.
"Look," I told her, "you know how this goes. As soon as some girl thinks, 'Oh, he'd never do that again', that's when she's totally screwed."
She raised her eyebrows. "Because?"
"Because they always do."
"Uh-huh," Erika said. "Except you just said he wouldn't."
"Don't listen to me," I said. "I mean, what if I'm one of those girls."
"Which girls?"
I launched into a high-pitched imitation. "Sure, Bobby cheated on me like a dozen times with my sister, but I'm telling you, he's a changed man. He told me so and everything."
Erika gave me a look. "Trust me. You are so not that girl."
"Yeah? How do you know?"
"For starters," she said, "you're not exactly the most trusting person in the world."
"I'm not so bad."
"Yes, you are."
"Okay, fine. But maybe there's a good reason for that."
"Maybe," she said. "But here's a question. When you told Lawton you were just the house-sitter, what did he say?"
"Are you kidding?" I said. "I didn't tell him."
She pretended to scratch her chin. "Hmmm…I wonder why that is."
"You know exactly why," I said. "I promised the Parkers. Remember?"
"But you told me," she said.
"Yeah, but you're different."
"Why?" she asked.
"You just are."
"As flattered as I am," she said, "there's something you need to hear."
"What?"
"Alright." She leaned forward in her chair. "I hate to tell you this, but you brought a lot of this on yourself."