Chapter Five
Alyssa
I closed the door to the store and leaned against it. There
wasn’t much to clean up, considering we hadn’t been very busy.
After my counseling appointment, I came back to the store to work.
Dad and Mom both decided to go home and have some
dinner. But I wasn’t hungry; besides, someone had to stay and lock
up.
I went to the counter and put away the free samples. We had
just made a new flavor. It was salted caramel popcorn. I had
wanted to try it, but the smell kept me away.
Grimacing, I threw it in the trash and gathered up the tossed
wrappers. Within a few minutes the back counter was cleared. The
sun was beginning to set. I went to the windows to pull the blinds,
when a flashy car caught my eye.
What the heck was Demetri doing back at work?
I knew his schedule. Okay, so I hated myself that I knew his
schedule. But he only worked until four every day. It was already
past six. I was still trying to decide how pathetic it was that, after
only a few days, I knew exactly when the guy arrived and left
work. Clearly, I needed to find a hobby or something.
Like a peeping tom, I drew the blinds farthest from the door
then peeked between them. Demetri’s car was parked by the taffy
store, but he was nowhere to be seen.
I squinted and opened the blinds wider.
Weird. Did he go inside?
I was just getting ready to open the door and step outside
when a hand hit the window in front of me.
With a curse, I fell back to the ground taking an entire row of
taffy with me.
Lucky for me, the blinds to the door weren’t closed, meaning
Demetri, the bastard, saw everything.
Though to be fair, he did look a bit shocked as he ran into
the store and helped me to my feet.
“Trying to kill me?” I brushed his hands away, but he kept
prodding at me as if I was some sort of science experiment gone
bad, so I shoved him. It just seemed like it was the right thing to do.
And honestly, it felt good to hit him. Maybe I was packing a lot of
rage for the rock star. But nobody should have it as easy as he did.
Good looking? Rich? All he had to do was smile, and he had the
world at his feet. Maybe it was jealousy that while I was stuck at
my parents’ store, he had the whole world as his oyster, yet chose
to get high and nearly kill himself instead of doing something with
his life.
“I’m so sorry.” Demetri dropped to the floor and began
putting the taffy back into the buckets.
“You’re sorry you scared me? Sorry you nearly gave me a
heart attack? Or sorry you caused me to bruise my butt?”
Demetri looked up into my eyes with his smug smile. “Your
butt, huh? Want me to take a look? Wouldn’t want any permanent
damage.”
“No thanks.” I rolled my eyes and knelt down next to him.
“You can go. I’ve got this.”
“This…” He pointed to the mess at our knees. “Is all my
fault. Honestly, I was just trying to scare you, not kill you or
destroy your taffy. Hey, what flavor is this?”
“ADD much?” I snatched the taffy from his hand.
“ADD? Hey, that’s like our band name, AD2…” He grabbed
another piece of taffy from the floor. “How about this one? What’s
this flavor?”
“Oh my gosh! Just leave!” I snatched the taffy from his hand.
He shrugged. “I have nowhere to go, and this is going to
take you at least another hour. Plus, it’s the least I can do after
nearly killing you at the ripe old age of…” His voice trailed off as
he looked at me with seductive eyes.
I felt myself flush as I looked away. “Eighteen. I’m
eighteen.”
“Me too.”
“Congratulations, you’ve found common ground. Now we
can get married.”
“Ah, the other one.” He snapped his fingers in the air and
grinned.
“Huh?”
He unwrapped a piece of taffy. “The other sarcastic client
Mrs. Murray had today. Thanks for that, by the way. By the time I
got to her she had already had her fill of sarcasm for the day. And I
ate an entire bowl of popcorn to keep myself from spilling all my
feelings.”
“An entire bowl?” I divided the taffy into piles, so I could
put them in the right buckets. “And you’re still hungry?” I pointed
to the taffy he was unwrapping.
“Oh this.” He put the trash in his pocket and popped the
taffy into his mouth. “I told my friend, Nat, that I’d stay clean,
right?”
I nodded.
“So, I have this thing. Every day I stay clean, I try at least
three new taffy flavors. Gives me something to look forward to and
all that.”
“That’s depressing.”
He laughed. “If you only knew.” His eyes sparkled just a bit
before he scratched his forehead and swallowed the taffy. “So what
flavor did I just eat?”
“I don’t know, give me the wrapper.”
He pulled it out of his pocket and placed it in my hand. I
purposefully ignored the fact that his touch lingered longer than
necessary and lifted the wrapper to my nose. “Blueberry
pancakes.”
“Whoa. Taffy super powers. Nice.”
I laughed. “To be fair, you have the taffy jingle super
powers, so we’re kind of even.”
He smiled back at me. My heart nearly stopped. His deep-set
dimples brought attention to his mouth, and when I looked at his
mouth, I felt things I hadn’t felt since Brady. I cleared my throat
and continued putting taffy into piles.
Demetri sighed. “Right, so I’ll just help you sort all this.”
We worked in silence. Demetri ate two more pieces of taffy,
each time asking me to please sniff the wrapper, because it was the
most exciting thing he’d seen in weeks.
It was hard not to laugh around him.
“That it?” He picked up the last bucket and shoved it onto
the rack.
“Yup.” I looked around the store.
“Can I ask you something?” Demetri looked at me then
down at his feet. Was he nervous?
Amused, I crossed my arms. “You may ask me something,
yes.”
“Promise not to laugh?”
“No.”
“Promise not to feel sorry for me.”
At that I did laugh. “Easy. I’d never feel sorry for a celebrity
who owned a car more expensive than my house, but since it seems
to piss you off more, yeah, I feel real sorry for you.”
His shoulders seemed to sag a bit. “Fine, at least promise
you won’t blog about what I ask you.”
“That, I can promise,” I agreed. “That is, if you promise to
leave.”
He rolled his eyes and ignored my jab. “What’s it like to
have friends? Actual friends. The types you can tell anything to, the
ones that you do stupid shit with and stay up all night with just
shooting the breeze?”
That was not what I was expecting him to ask. Stunned, I
could only stare at him as I told my mouth to work and form
words.
He cursed. “Forget it.”
“No, wait.” I grabbed him before he could leave. My hand
was on his thickly muscled forearm. I swallowed the dryness in my
throat as I looked into his eyes. I expected to see some sort of
smugness or at least the familiar cockiness, but all I saw was pain.
Deep-rooted pain.
I knew that look.
It was the same look I saw in the mirror every single day.
And I knew because of that look, now I felt bad that I promised
him, because in that moment I did pity him. I pitied anyone who
had that look in their eyes, because I knew what it meant. I knew
what it held. I knew what its future was, and it was a very, very
lonely future.
“Honestly?” I pulled back my hand. “I used to know what it
was like. It was nice. But I don’t really have friends anymore.”
“Why?” His eyebrows drew together in confusion.
I wanted to tell him everything, tell him how they’d
abandoned me after the accident. That I was considered broken,
and after a while my friends couldn’t handle being around me. It
was too hard for them, too hard for me, and eventually too hard for
everyone in this sleepy town.
“They moved away,” I lied and gave him a weak smile.
“Besides, I have a career.” I nodded to all the taffy and offered him
another smile.
He smiled with me. “Yes, I can see that.”
“Good.” I nudged him. “Anyway, thanks for helping me.”
“Well, it was my fault to begin with, but you’re welcome…”
I knew he was searching for my name.
I bit my lip and sighed. “Alyssa, my name is Alyssa.”
Did he just blush? Demetri looked down at the floor then bit
his lip. I wondered if he had the same nervous habit. “I like it.”
“Me too.”
“Don’t you want to know my name?” he teased.
“I know your name.”
His face turned serious. “Can I tell you anyway?”
“Sure.”
“Demetri.” He held out his hand. I took it. His hand
engulfed mine. It was like shaking hands with a giant. A very hot
giant.
“Nice to meet you, Demetri.” His name felt good on my lips.
I wasn’t sure if I should kick him for it or just pretend like I didn’t
care that he had such a crazy effect on me.
He released my hand and pushed the door open, then
turned around. “So I’ll see you around then?”
“I’ll be here.”
“And I’ll be over there.” He nodded toward the corner.
“Singing.”
“Don’t forget your bucket,” I teased.
He roared with laughter. “Goodnight, Alyssa.”
“Goodnight.”
Holy crap. I was in some deep, deep trouble.