Chapter 46
Distraught by this latest weirdness, it was impossible to fall back asleep. So instead, I spent the next few hours alternating between anger and worry. Something very wrong was going on here, and I had no idea what to do about it.
The more I thought about it, the more I decided that Mrs. Parker's explanation was a steaming pile of crap. It was pretty obvious that no money was coming, at least not in the near future, and I couldn’t afford to support things on my own.
If this kept up, I'd be feeding Chucky out of my own money. Forget buying groceries for myself.
And Lawton was back in town. We were spending the day together. It was every girl's dream. My dream. But my house-sitting nightmare kept intruding.
A little before noon, I got dressed in casual clothes and grabbed Chucky's leash. With Chucky lunging ahead of me, I trudged to Lawton's house feeling so weighed down, I could hardly move.
If I were someone like Brittney, I'd probably just ask Lawton for some money and be done with it. To be all nicey-nice about it, we'd probably call it a loan. But we'd both knew the truth.
And then, what exactly would he be paying me for? Sex? Companionship? Obviously, he could get all of that for free. But I didn't want to be one of those girls, a dependent, a hanger-on, a groupie. I wanted to be something different.
When I reached Lawton's front door, I rang the bell and waited. Chucky was already going berserk, straining at his leash and pawing at the door like he couldn't wait another minute to get inside. I knew the feeling.
Although I'd never want to burden Lawton with my troubles, the thought of feeling his strong arms around me was almost enough to keep me going.
But when a minute went by, and he still hadn't answered the door, I looked around, feeling awkward as hell. It was such a contrast from that one night, when he'd answered before I'd even touched the bell. Had the newness worn off? So soon?
I gave it another minute, and then reluctantly rang the bell again. A couple minutes later, Lawton finally answered. But instead of a face filled with anticipation, what I saw was so different and foreign, that I took a small step backward.
Oblivious to Lawton's demeanor, Chucky bounded forward. Whining and yipping for attention, he pawed at Lawton legs. With a half-smile, Lawton crouched down to ruffle Chucky's fur.
"Hey Buddy," he said. "I know what you want." Standing, he reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a silvery bag. He shook it at Chucky, who went absolutely nuts. With a low chuckle, Lawton pulled out a handful of treats and let Chucky devour them down to his heart's content.
And then, as he crouched down with Chucky, he looked up. Our eyes met.
"I'm glad you're here." he said.
Funny, he didn't sound glad. And he didn't look glad either.
"Is something wrong?" I said.
He stood and brushed Chucky's crumbs off his jeans. "Nope."
I waited for him to elaborate. He didn't.
I glanced back toward the street. "Still up for a walk?" I looked around. "Or maybe you wanna do it another day?" I tried to sound like this was no big deal, even though the thought of trudging away alone was almost more than I could bear. "I mean, if this is a bad time for you—"
"It's not. Wanna come in?"
In spite of his words, the tension was radiating off him in waves. As for me, I'd been tense long before I'd even touched that doorbell. I looked down and spotted Chucky quivering with excitement. The way it looked, we all had some energy to work off.
"I'd like to come in," I said. "But do you care if we walk first?"
"Nope." Lawton held out his hand, palm up.
I looked down. My eyebrows furrowed.
Lawton broke the silence. "Leash?" His mouth tightened. "Unless you want to take him."
"Oh," I stammered. "Sorry." I placed the leash in his open palm. Our fingers touched. His hand was warm and solid, but oddly unresponsive.
It was a brisk fall day with leaves skittering around our feet. By unspoken agreement, we headed out on the usual route.
"So," he said, "you got your call last night, huh?"
"What call?"
"Never mind," he said. "Forget it."
"Oh," I said as realization dawned. "You mean that business call?"
"Yeah," he said in a cold, flat voice. "The business call."
I glanced at his profile. There it was again, that studiously neutral expression.
"You don't believe me?" I said.
"I never said that."
"But you're not saying you do, either."
He shrugged. "What do you want me to say?"
I was so not in the mood for this. "I don't want you to say anything," I said. "Not if you're gonna be like that."
"Alright. If that's what you want." And then, true to his word, he didn't say a single word for the next two blocks.
I gave him a sideways glance. This was so not how I imagined today going. Between the visit from that property manager and Lawton's odd demeanor, this whole day was feeling like a bad dream.
Maybe it was a bad dream. If I was lucky, I was still in bed. Maybe I'd wake up to find money from the Parkers and Lawton back to his normal self.
Then again, Lawton was anything but normal no matter what kind of mood he was in. And it wasn't just his amazing body or movie-star face. It was that lethal dose of unbridled energy and raw power. It should've made me run. Not to him. From him.
Today, that energy felt nearly explosive, like too much heat was confined in too little space. I'd seen him fight. I'd slept with him, loved him, laughed with him, and yeah, more than once, cried over him.
But the energy falling off him now, I couldn't place. Obviously the late-night phone call had set him off. I tried to see it from his point of view. The call was late, sudden, and unexplained. If I were being honest, I had to admit, I might feel the same way.
I softened my voice and tried a new approach. "You're mad about that call last night, aren't you?"
He shrugged.
"Okay." I blew out a breath. "You know I'm just staying in that house, right?"
He nodded.
"Well, that call last night. It was from the home-owner, just some financial thing that couldn’t wait."
"At midnight," he said, more a statement than a question.
"It wasn't quite midnight," I said, trying to keep my tone light.
"Uh-huh. And how about this morning?"
"What about this morning?"
"Forget it."
Ahead of us, Chucky was straining at the leash. I spotted a chipmunk darting across a brick walkway. Chucky went berserk, trying to reach it for about five seconds, until he spotted a big gray housecat lounging on the other side of the street.
Chucky lunged toward the cat with all his tiny might, straining at his leash and barking his fool head off. The cat looked oddly unconcerned.
I raised my gaze to Lawton and caught him looking in my direction. Still walking, I gave him a smile, the secret one we always shared when Chucky spazzed out.
Except this time, Lawton didn't return the smile.
And then, something else caught his attention. His gaze left my face, and his expression darkened. I turned and saw exactly what had caught his attention.
In the Parkers' driveway sat a slick black Mercedes.
Up ahead, on the Parkers' porch was an unfamiliar man in a flashy business suit. I wasn't expecting anyone. Then again, I hadn't been expecting a lot of people who'd been showing up lately.