Forget You (11 page)

* * * *

Dreams of seeing Ryker crashing on the wicked
bend in slow motion, and me struggling to get to him, but never
being able to, kept me tossing and turning all night. I woke
drenched in sweat, wondering if going to the track hadn’t been the
best idea. Maybe it had been too soon for me.

After I lay there for a while, I finally
decided to get up. There were only two hours until I normally would
wake to go for a run anyway. I slipped out of bed, and padded
through my dark apartment toward the living room. Switching on the
TV, I watched the last two recorded episodes of
The Walking
Dead
I had, and then changed into my running clothes.

I turned on my iPod and cranked up the volume
up on the Dubstep station I loved listening to. I didn’t even take
a moment to stretch. Instead, I barreled down the concrete sidewalk
at full speed, hoping to outrun the nightmares still churning
through my mind, and the emotions attached to them.

When I made it back to my place, I was
dripping from exhaustion and my mind was swimming with thoughts of
Eva. I had nearly forgotten about our date. She would be expecting
something unique, or at least fun, after the first date I’d
randomly created for us.

This time, I was going to have to get a
little more creative though. I needed to step it up a notch.

EVA

Do you like going to the mall?

I reread Sawyer’s text a million times,
wondering where the joke was within his question. We had a date
tonight. There was no way he was planning on taking me to a mall,
which was so high school. Then I remembered going to the arcade and
making s’mores over a candle flame while overlooking the
highway.

Shit, maybe the mall was going to be our next
date after all.

Yeah, but the closest one is in Carver. ~
Eva

Norhurst was a college town while Coldcreek
was a standard, cookie-cutter small town—there was no mall in
either. Carver, the next town over, had a mall, but who wanted to
drive there and go shopping for a date?

Awesome. That’s where we’re going for our
date tonight.

Apparently Sawyer. Great.

Should be fun. ~ Eva

Slipping my cell back into my apron pocket, I
scooped up the baskets of wings and fries booth four had ordered,
and made my way over to them. Smiling, I set their food down and
asked if they needed anything else, all the while thinking solely
of Sawyer’s date destination for tonight.

What. The. Hell.

Mindy bumped me with her hip as I walk past
her toward the kitchen. “Hey, what’s with the constipated look on
your face?”

“I’m not constipated.” I frowned. “Just
confused.”

“About?” She refilled a pitcher of sweet tea,
and grabbed a pile of napkins from the counter.

“I’m going out with Sawyer again
tonight.”

“What’s so confusing about that?” She
smiled.

“At first, he said the date would be a
surprise. I was fine with that, but then he sent me a text asking
if I liked going to the mall.” I grabbed some straws, and crammed
them into the front pocket of my apron to busy my hands. “Why would
we go on a date to the damn mall? I just don’t understand why he
has to create these immature dates for us. I mean, why can’t we do
stuff that’s more…normal?”

“Normal sucks. You’ve done normal before,
right?”

“Yeah, numerous times, and you’re right, it
does suck.” I bit my bottom lip. “But, juvenile dates can’t
continue to go well either.”

“Says who?” She eyed me.

“Me. I’m not a humorous, life-is-so-fun type
person.”

Mindy arched an eyebrow. “I haven’t known you
for long, but I can totally see that. Maybe it’s time you loosened
up some. Maybe the dates Sawyer plans are just the kind you need.”
She pointed at me to emphasize her point.

Mindy walked away with her words of wisdom
still lingering in the air behind her. I scoffed, and picked up the
check I’d prepared for table two a little while ago. Yeah right,
like I was going to take dating advice from someone shacking up
with Wes Keeton every night.

* * * *

Sawyer was at my apartment ten minutes early.
I was beginning to see that either he was on time or early, but he
was never late. This was a good thing, considering I’d dated guys
who were sometimes two or three
days
late for dates in the
past.

“Hey,” I greeted him as I opened my apartment
door.

He smiled, and nodded. “Hey yourself.”

There was something about his glittering blue
eyes and broad, beautiful smile that made me grin even wider. He
was dressed in a pair of light-colored jeans, brown shoes, and a
thick blue jacket that was zipped high enough to expose a patch of
his brown and white stripped polo beneath. He looked good, real
good.

“Come on in.” I motioned for him to step
inside, and out of the bitter cold. “Let me flip some lights off,
and grab my stuff.”

“Take your time.” He crammed his hands into
the pockets of his jacket. “I know I’m here a little early.”

After scooping my purse and keys up off the
kitchen counter, I flipped a few light switches, and walked toward
him. “I’ve noticed that about you. You’re never late; you’re either
early or right on time.”

“You’ve noticed that about me, huh?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I mean, I know we’ve only
hung out a couple of times, but I’m willing to bet that’s you in a
nutshell—always on time.”

“This is true.” He grinned. “The only problem
I’ve found with being punctual is that, generally speaking, there’s
no one ever there to appreciate it.”

Pulling on my jacket over the outfit I’d
bought at Paige’s Closet, I chuckled. “I can see that being an
issue.”

As we stepped outside, I locked the door
behind us. My stomach knotted as we made our way to his car. To say
I was nervous about how much fun this date might
not
be was
an understatement. No one had taken me to the mall on a date,
ever.

Climbing into Sawyer’s car, my exposed skin
met the lingering warmth that had been trapped inside. I was glad,
because it had to be around twenty-five degrees outside.

“To Carver we go.” Sawyer smiled.

“Right,” I said, unsure of what more I could
say.

Sawyer backed out of the parking space, and
shifted into drive. As we pulled onto the street, I was grateful
there hadn’t been any accumulation of snow or rain lately, because
if so, there would be no chance I’d go on a road trip to Carver. It
wasn’t that Carver was far away; it was that I didn’t drive in the
elements well.

“So, I figure once we get to the mall, we can
grab something to eat from the food court,” Sawyer said, pulling me
from my thoughts.

“All right.” I shifted to glance out my
window.

Yay, nothing better than food court food,
especially on a damn date.

Before long, we were searching for a parking
space outside the mall. Once we finally settled on one near the
Belk entrance, we climbed out and walked inside.

“What do you feel in the mood for?” Sawyer
asked as soon as the food court came into view.

“Um.” I skimmed the neon signs hung above the
little restaurants. “I guess pizza.”

“Sounds good.” He unzipped his jacket, and
started in the direction of the green awning for the pizza
place.

An Asian woman with a tray of breaded meat on
toothpicks asked us if we wanted a sample as we passed her. I shook
my head, and politely declined.

“Good call. You never can tell if what
they’re offering is beef or fried cat.” Sawyer placed a hand
against the small of my back, and steered me around the crowd of
people toward the pizza place.

“Or who has walked past and sneezed on them,”
I added.

He chuckled. “My thoughts exactly.”

Once we ordered our pizzas and found a place
to sit, I calmed down some. Maybe this wasn’t going to be as
horrible as I’d initially thought. The loudness of the place made
any awkward silence between us seem bearable, and the food was
good.

“So, what are we doing here exactly?” I asked
after finishing half my extra-large pizza slice.

Sawyer took a sip of his water, and locked
eyes with me. “I wanted to do something a little different. Have
you ever heard of a mall dare?”

My eyebrows knitted together. “Mall dare?
No.”

“Well, when I was in high school, my brother
would drive me and a few friends here at least a few times a month.
We’d spend hours doing stupid dares and keeping score of them. When
we were ready to leave, we’d tally up our scores, and whoever lost
by the most points would pay for beers on the way home. My brother
had this wicked awesome fake I.D. that he used to buy the
stuff.”

There was a sense of nostalgia lighting up
his face as he spoke of the memory. I enjoyed seeing this side to
him more than I cared to admit. The idea of a mall dare captivated
me completely.

“That’s hilarious! I’ve never heard of doing
something like that before,” I said.

“It was pretty fun.” A wistful look flickered
across his face. I noticed then that he always got the same look
whenever he mentioned his brother.

It made me wonder if his brother had passed
away. The desire to ask danced on the tip of my tongue, but I
swallowed it with a sip of soda. Obviously, that would be a
personal, mood-killing topic. For whatever reason, this made me
think of all the other questions I’d neglected to ask over the last
two dates.

“Do you live with your parents still?” I
questioned him, and then took a small bite of my pizza.

Sawyer’s face twisted. “That’s a random
question, but no. I have my own apartment.”

Relief trickled through me. My mind bounced
from question to question as I thought of what I should ask next.
Job, that’s what I needed to know. Obviously, he was in the
National Guard, but I wasn’t sure if it was a salary job.

“Do you have a job?”

“Is this twenty questions?” He smiled, and
took another sip of his water. “If so, I’m game. And yes, I do have
a job. You know I’m part of the National Guard. I’m military
police. I only get paid when I’m deployed someplace though, and for
one weekend a month for training. For my civilian job, I work at a
men’s clothing store in Coldcreek called Sharp Suites.”

“I’ve heard of that place,” I said. Honestly
though, my mind was stuck on the whole military police thing. I was
dating a police officer? No wonder he didn’t make every date about
taking me to a bar to get hammered.

My mind drifted to thoughts of what he would
look like dressed in his military garb. Oh hell, Lauren would eat
this shit up! She had a thing for sexy soldiers that ran nearly as
deep as her thing for muscles and tattoos. Thinking this reminded
me of my next important question. I knew Sawyer had muscles, but
now I was wondering if he had any tattoos to go with them.

“Do you have any tattoos?” I grabbed my
drink. Playing with the straw, I stared at him as I waited for his
answer. Everything else had been answered correctly, by my
standards, and I found myself silently praying this answer would be
right too.

Sawyer’s lips quirked into a slow smile.
“Tattoos? Is that something you’re in to?”

“I’m the one asking the questions here,” I
countered in a failed attempt to deflect how desperately I wanted
his answer to be yes.

His brows rose to his hairline at my tone.
“Okay. Yes, I do.”

My heart kick-started. Damn, Sawyer was
perfect on paper. He didn’t live with his parents; he had a car, a
job, muscles, and tattoos. Lauren would be proud I’d found someone
bona fide.

I arched an eyebrow. “What of and where?”

There was a serious need to know festering
inside of me. He pulled off his jacket, and placed it on the back
of his chair. My eyes fixated on him as he pushed up the sleeve of
the long John beneath his polo shirt and flashed me a script tattoo
along his forearm. Leaning over, I read:

With pain comes strength

Reaching out, I felt along the smoothness of
the words without thinking. Was this a military thing, or just a
lifelong reminder?

“What made you decid to get those specific
words?” I pulled my hand away, and leaned back in my seat, eager to
know his reasoning behind it.

Sawyer tugged his sleeve back into place, and
shrugged. “It’s the truth. The things that hurt us the most make us
stronger in life. It also goes hand in hand with my military
training. The pain from pushing myself physically and mentally only
helped to make me stronger in the end.”

I had a feeling the words meant more to him
in the first aspect than the second.

“It’s beautiful,” I said.

“Thanks.” He chewed on the inside of his
cheek as though he were lost in thought.

“Do you have any more, or is that the only
one?”

The trance he was under lifted and his eyes
locked with mine again. He grinned. “Are you a tattoo junky?”

“I’m the one asking the questions for the
moment, remember?”

“Right, I forgot.” He chuckled. “I have one
more. I can’t show it to you in public though, at least I don’t
think.”

I tilted my head to the side. “Oh
really?”

“Yeah, it’s definitely in one of those
you-show-me-yours-I’ll-show-you-mine places.”

“Ah, okay. Maybe some other time, then.” I
grinned, liking the flirty tone to his words more than I
should.

“I hope.” He flashed me an impish grin.

Dear God, me too. Thoughts of where this
mystery tattoo could be spread through my mind like a wildfire. I
hoped it was somewhere nice, like somewhere along the sexy V I was
positive I remembered him having. My teeth sank into my bottom lip
as I continued to think of all the places it could be.