This wasn’t a game anymore. “You need to tell me. Did he or didn’t he?”
She was quiet for a long time. I’d decided that if she took off, either I was following her home or the two of us were going to finally meet face to face. The fact that I’d violated this poor little girl’s trust didn’t even matter. She could hate me and run away from the church for all I cared, so long as she was safe.
I pushed with a stern tone. “Talk to me. Did he or didn’t he hurt your sister?”
“She won’t tell me. But I saw him come out of her room in the morning, and she told me I had to lock my door at night, that he’d promised he wouldn’t bother me if she was nice to him from now on.”
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! “We need to go to the police. I’ll go with you.”
“I need to go home now.” I could see through the lattice that she had stood.
“Wait!” I yelled.
She stilled. “Why did you come today if you don’t want my help?”
“Because it feels safe here with you.”
“You trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Then I need you to do something for me.”
“Okay.”
“Get your sister and come back here.”
“I can’t. Benny’s going to be home soon.”
“Then tomorrow. It’s Sunday. What do you usually do on Sunday?”
“Benny usually goes to work in the morning. My sister and I play music. We’re not allowed to play it when he’s home.”
“When he leaves for work, come here. I want to speak to you and your sister. Together.”
She was quiet for a while. When she finally did speak, her voice wasn’t convincing. “Okay.”
“You’ll come? And bring your sister?”
“I’ll try.”
I waited until I heard the door to the confessional and then the church open and close. It would probably take a few minutes to unlock her bike, and I knew the direction she came from.
The last thing I wanted to do was scare her when I followed her home. But if she didn’t show tomorrow, I needed to know where I was going.
Rachel
Mind-blowing sex had after effects. It was not even nine o’clock, barely halfway through my shift, and I was dragging my ass. Even that thought, though, made me smile to myself. I’m dragging my ass. The ass that Caine had his hands all over last night…and this morning.
Ava caught me daydreaming. “Oh my God. You had sex with Davis.”
“What are you talking about?”
She tossed her tray on the bar next to some random guy who was immediately interested in our conversation. “I can see it in your face. You’re normally all…” She waved at her face while she scrunched it up to look like she might be in pain. “…uptight looking. Now you’re not.” She slapped the back of her hand against the guy drinking his beer and asked his opinion. “Am I right? She definitely got laid.”
The guy examined my face carefully.
“Please ignore her.” I walked down to the other end of the bar where no patrons were sitting. Ava followed and took a seat on an empty bar stool.
Getting back to work, I wiped down the counter, attempting to ignore her, but she just kept staring at me with a goofy smile.
Sighing, I stopped. “What?”
“You’re really not going to tell me anything?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“So something did happen with Davis. Spill it!”
“Davis and I went to dinner last night.”
“I knew something happened. You have that look on your face like you’re in love or lust.”
I hoped it was the latter that gave me butterflies in my stomach every time I thought of Caine West, because I was certain the former was not a good idea. Ava took my starry-eyed, glazed-over face to mean the latter.
“Sex looks good on you.”
Luckily a couple walked in and wanted to be seated, providing a temporary reprieve from Ava’s grilling. Even though she had a big mouth, I knew she’d never tell any of my secrets—that wasn’t what kept me from telling her the truth. As silly as it sounded, I just wanted to keep what had happened between Caine and me to myself. I wasn’t ready to overanalyze what was going on. I chose to remain in my own private, ignorant bliss for as long as I could.
That wouldn’t be very long, though.
Around nine o’clock, I was shaking up a Cosmo in a silver shaker, not paying attention, when Ava’s voice surprised me. She spoke in that sing-songy way that most girls grow out of around the time they ditch their training bras.
“Hiiii,” she lilted. “I wonder what brings you here tonight?”
I looked up to find Davis at the end of the bar, shrugging out of his jacket. Guilt smacked me in the face. Damn it. Why hadn’t I responded to his texts this afternoon? He waved, and I motioned that I’d be a few minutes. There was nothing keeping me from walking down there, so I had to create some reasons. I filled a customer’s beer and chatted with him for as long as I could, then offered to close out a tab for a guy who wasn’t nearly ready to leave. That was the extent of my customers, so I was almost out of stalls when I saw Ava coming toward the bar. Hopefully she had a drink order.
“Go take a break. I’ll cover for you.” She winked. “And I don’t have any reason to come into the stock room at all, if you happen to want some privacy.”
Guilt fueled my panic. As I glanced down the bar, Davis smiled, none the wiser that my armpits were damp, and I felt slightly nauseous.
“Actually, can you help me with something in the kitchen?”
Ava’s brows furrowed. “Sure.”
“I’ll meet you back there in a minute. Let me just get Davis a drink.”
“Okay. But you’re acting strange.”
“Just go.”
“Fine.”
I took a deep breath and walked down to the end of the bar. Forcing a smile, I said, “Hey. This is a surprise. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“A good surprise, I hope.”
Ummm. “Of course. I just need to take care of something in the back. What can I get you to drink? You want the usual?”
“That sounds good. Thanks.”
Somehow I managed to mix Davis’s Tanqueray and tonic without spilling it and serve it with a smile. “Be back in a bit.”
Ava was waiting in the kitchen. “What’s going on? You looked like you were on cloud nine ten minutes ago, and now you’re miserable since Davis showed up? I take it you weren’t expecting him.”
I paced back and forth. “No, I wasn’t.”
“What’s bothering you? Did you not have a great time last night?”
“No, I did.”
“Okay…”
I rubbed my forehead. “Davis and I went to dinner. We had a nice time, but I was confused, so I called it an early night and went home.”
“That’s it? I could have sworn I was looking at post-coital haze before.”
“You were.”
“What am I missing?”
I stopped my pacing and looked at my friend. “I slept with Caine after dinner last night.”
“What? Caine…as in Professor West?”
I nodded.
“I’m confused. I thought you had dinner with Davis?”
“I did. And then I went home. Earlier in the day Caine and I had an argument at school…sort of. When I got home from my date with Davis, Caine was waiting for me. He wanted to talk. We had another argument and—”
Ava grinned. “Pissed-off sex is the best. Fuck me like you hate me.”