He Belongs With Me (12 page)

She hung on my words. “Focus on what, honey?”

I gulped. “Leo.”

“Oh,” she said, as if she totally understood my dilemma.

“What do you mean ‘
oh’
?”

“I always figured you and Leo would end up together, honey. That's what my ‘
oh’
means.”

“Well, he's in New York with Clara.”

“Oh shit,” she cursed. “Why we headin' to spy on Dean then?”

“Because I can't like Leo. I shouldn’t be thinking about him as more than a friend…
ever
. And I certainly shouldn’t be wishing bad thoughts on my sister just because she’s suddenly spending time with
my
best friend. And I loved Robby once. Maybe I could love him again. Maybe if I focused on him, I could forget about Leo.” I groaned dramatically. “Sorry, I don’t even know what I’m saying. I’m just really confused.”

After getting my confession out in the open, this annoying stinging feeling welled up behind my eyes and a stray tear slipped down my cheek. Not much in this world made me cry and I rushed to wipe it away, willing myself to stop being so pathetic. Anita reached across the truck's middle console and lovingly squeezed my shoulder with her manicured fingers. “Everything will work out, baby girl. I promise.”

We approached Mike's Pub and Anita forced the shifter down into second before turning the truck into the gravel parking lot. With her horrible driving skills, I wondered if we should have just taken my Porsche instead. If we needed to make a quick getaway, we’d be screwed.

“What's the plan?” Anita asked. “A stakeout?”

“No, I changed my mind—let’s just go inside. We can order a round of margaritas and see what happens.”

At the word ‘margaritas,’ Anita cut the car engine and moved halfway out of her seat. “I'm likin' the way you think. Hand me my pocketbook off the floor there, doll. If things get outta hand, I'll need it to hit him upside his beautiful head with it.”

I laughed, hoisting over the heavy monstrosity. “What do you have in there, bricks?”

“Just two—at the bottom. It's not just a tampon and makeup carrier, you know? It's also a weapon against sexual predators. There are lots of creeps out there, Maggie. You always gotta be prepared.” She reached her slender arm deep into the bottomless bag, digging for something. When she finally found what she was looking for, she handed it to me. Pepper spray. “Don't be afraid to spray him in the eye if it comes to that.”

“What?” I clutched the tube in my hand.

“You might have loved him once. You might even end up lovin' him all over again. But that doesn't change the fact that he lied to you. Not only that, he's a beautiful man. In my experience, the beautiful ones ain't very trustworthy. So let’s poop or get off the pot.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Do I even want to know what that means?”

She chuckled. “It means…let's go have us some margaritas and confront the man.”

“Oh, God help us,” I muttered.

Leaving Anita's car, we walked across the empty gravel parking lot. As we approached the door, I noticed a white piece of paper that wasn't there the other night.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT WE WILL BE CLOSED FOR UPGRADES NOW THROUGH JULY 1ST. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENINCE DURING THIS RENOVATION PERIOD. PARTY SAFE, BLUE CREEK.

“Well, I’ll be darned,” Anita cursed. “Mike's doesn't even close on Christmas!”

“I know the apartment complex he lives in. Would it be too stalkerish to go there next?”

“Yes, that would qualify,” said a voice from behind me.

I sucked in a sharp breath. Oh. My. Good. Ness.
Robby.
His voice had a distinct grittiness to it, almost like a country singer's, and there was no mistaking it. Maybe his looks had changed, but no warm-blooded woman could forget that deep voice. Why had I?

When I turned around, I found him standing so close that I could almost feel the heat radiating off his tan skin. How had I missed him there? I normally wasn't this spacey. He wore a gray sweatshirt with the sleeves cut off at the shoulders, exposing his rather large and impressive biceps. He also had on gym shorts and sneakers, but I wasn't looking down. No, I was looking straight up and into his pretty golden eyes. The reality of being face to face again after so many years hadn't affected me at Dad's party when I didn't know it was Robby, but seeing him now felt like stealing a moment back from my past.

“Hi,” I muttered to the older, taller version of Robby currently standing in front of me. Time had changed his outward appearance, but mostly I wondered how much the inner Robby had changed too.

“I owe you an apology,” he said, getting straight to the point. “I should have been honest with you from the start. It was unexpected seeing you again and I didn't know how to react. And then when you asked me to be your date...well anyway, I'm sorry.”

His apology took me by surprise. Not many people in my life ever took the time to slow down and apologize for their actions. Andrew would have never dared to utter such words. And Leo...well, apologizing for him would mean admitting he was wrong. Leo very rarely admitted that.

I nodded at Robby, not sure how to respond to his sincerity, and decided to introduce Anita instead of saying anything else.

“This is Anita,” I told him. “The Anita who told me about you.”

Anita had been very quiet for the last couple of seconds, but now she blushed cherry-red and stifled a giggle. She reached out her hand for Robby to shake, and smiling at her reaction, he politely shook her hand. “Nice to meet you,” he told her.

“Nice…um, you too,” she said and that was all she said. Normally she couldn’t be quiet to save her life and now she was being
abnormally
quiet.

Robby smiled, acting almost…
flattered
? This surprised me. For as strikingly handsome as the guy was, I would have guessed him to be more accustomed to getting this type of reaction out of women. Maybe he was only being polite.

“So,” he said. A panty-dropping smile filled his face, one that he directed at me. “Am I forgiven?”

Did he expect me to just let everything go so easy? Fat chance. Maybe other girls in his life gave up everything for that smile, but not me. “No. But maybe I'll think about it.”

“Want to think about it over lunch?” He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the front door to Mike's as if he owned the place.

“I already ate lunch.”

“Second lunch then?”

I huffed. “That's probably a bad idea.”

“It's only lunch,” he said, rubbing his thumb over the stubble on his jaw line. He'd been clean-shaven the other night, but today it looked like he hadn't taken a razor to his face since the last time I saw him. The scruff seemed to suit him though. “And besides, you owe me a favor.”

“Your favor is void!” I snapped at him. Anita was right, he
had
lied to me. But I came here looking for answers, and who better to ask than the mystery man himself?

“Why are you back in Blue Creek,
Dean
?”

The smile and the fun left his face. “I’ll explain everything, just have lunch with me. What's thirty minutes and a couple sandwiches going to hurt?” He reached for the handle to Mike's and opened the door wide. I peered in to see an empty bar on the other side of the door's threshold. The lights were out and the place looked dingier than ever.

“In here?”

“Sure. I'm cooking.”

“Fine.” I grabbed Anita's hand in mine and pulled her inside the bar with me. “But Anita's coming with. Oh, and we don't want sandwiches. We want margaritas.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he joked. “Two margaritas, coming right up.”

Anita, more familiar with Mike's than me, made her way into the dark and straight toward the bar. She dropped her heavy purse on the countertop and plopped down onto one of the rickety barstools. Robby flipped on the lights and then he disappeared through a swinging door into what I assumed was the kitchen. I sat next to Anita and took small, steady breaths, trying to calm my racing heart.

“Honey, you're hyperventilatin'. You gonna be okay?”

The sound of Robby coming back from the kitchen kept me from answering. He pushed back through the swinging door, a black apron now tied around his waist and a bottle of Patron in his hand. He looked me over, but his stare didn't just linger on my face. His eyes took in
other
parts of my body too.

“Eyes up here,
Dean
,” I snapped at him. “If you're going to ogle my chest all day, then I'm going to leave.”

That same playful smile resurfaced on his lips. “I gotta ask this, but don't go nuclear on my ass, please. I mean you no disrespect, but are you wearing some kind of special bra or have you had your breasts....ahem,
enhanced
? Your red dress the other night was pretty and all, but it certainly didn't show off your assets the way that shirt does.”

I sprang to my feet. My fingers squeezed tight, the little black tube of mace that Anita had given me still sat dangerously in my hand. “You can't ask a person that!”

“Relax. All I'm saying is that your boobs at fifteen were much smaller than what you’ve got going on now. I'm just curious, that's all. You're Daddy's a rich man. I wouldn't be surprised or upset if you had surgery—it’s a non-issue to me.”

“Maybe they grew! What the heck kind of conversation is this?”

Anita stifled a giggle, but I wasn't laughing.

“Clara's didn't grow,” Robby retaliated. “I only saw her for a moment, but she didn't have the same as you. I'm not trying to piss you off, I'm just—”

“OH. MY. GOD! You were checking out my sister while you were on a date with me?!? And what is so darn special about Clara all of sudden anyway?”

The giant smile grew to even bigger proportions on Robby's face. “Don't worry, I have no interest in your sister. But you're not answering my question. Have you or haven't you?”

And then I did it! My blood boiled over, my head exploded, and the pepper spray in my hand grew a mind of its own. I lifted the little tube in the air, totally clueless on how to use the dang thing, and sprayed in Robby's direction. It worked—a little too well. Except instead of shooting Robby in the eye, I shot myself.

THE PAIN. I COULD only focus on the pain. And the fact that I wanted to castrate Robby. Or Dean, as he kept insisting I call him. “You can put me down now,” I grumbled, beating my fists on
Robby's
back. I refused to call him what he wanted—even in my thoughts. “Just because my eyes are on fire doesn't mean I'm an invalid.”

He ignored me, carrying me fireman-style. He had my body slung across his broad shoulders—one of his hands cupped around my arm and the other gripped high on my thigh—as he hurried up the front stairs to my house. Dad was going to eat his foot when he saw us. I pounded harder on his muscular back. “Come on already. Just let me walk.”

“Get the door, Anita,” Robby commanded. “Please.”

My eyes burned out of my skull and I had to claw at them again. Pain shot through me and I squealed, momentarily forgetting Robby's ridiculous caveman-macho act.

“Don't rub!” Anita shouted.

“I can't help it!” I whined.

Robby grunted. “The door, Anita.”

She ran around us and lunged for the door, but the handle slipped from her grasp as someone opened it from the other side.
Dad.
The color drained from his face the instant he spotted the three of us.

“What the... what happened?”

“Pepper spray.” Robby moved past Dad into the house with me
still
flung across his shoulders. The water at Mike's Pub had been shut off for the renovations that were supposed to be starting soon. My house had been the closest option for water. Robby kept saying we needed to flush my eyes out. I didn't care what we needed to do—I just wanted the pain to stop.

“You pepper sprayed my daughter?” Dad shouted, chasing after us.

“She pepper sprayed herself, sir.”

Robby, who was still familiar with the layout of my house, took me straight to the kitchen. Once we got to the sink, he set me down on the ground and flipped on the water. I practically dunked my head under the faucet—the cold felt amazing. I continued to flush my eyes with water, relieved for the small amount of comfort it brought. I couldn't help but notice—even with everything else going on—Robby's hand rested on the small of my back. I didn't push it away because I’d be lying if I didn’t say I found it almost comforting.

Dad hovered on my other side, inspecting my eyes. “How did this happen? Somebody better start explaining—now.”

“I asked your daughter if she'd had her breasts...um,
enhanced,
and she tried to spray me,” Robby confessed.

Dad chuckled. “That's my girl.” Then to my utter embarrassment, he added, “But you were right, she did. About a year ago now.”

“Daddy!” I screamed. “You can't just announce that to people! And would everyone please stop discussing my breasts?” I didn't dare glance back at Robby. He probably was either appalled or pleased with himself, neither of which I wanted to see.

“What?” Dad defended. “Everyone and their mother already knows, Maggie May. And that doesn't even matter. Who gave you pepper spray anyway?”

Anita cleared her throat. She stood at the edge of the kitchen, her purse still in hand, looking more nervous than I'd ever seen her. This was a woman who typically radiated confidence, but maybe it was weird being in my house when she only ever interacted with my family at work. “That would be me. I'm real sorry, Reed. I should have shown her how to use it. I thought—”

“It's okay, Anita. This isn't your fault.”

“That's enough water. We need milk now,” Robby murmured in my ear. He left the sink to go to the fridge, found the milk, and then poured some on a paper towel. He came back and pressed the wet milk-towel against my eyes. “Better?”

“A little,” I mumbled. Actually, it felt amazing. But I couldn't let
him
know that.

I hated that Robby now knew about my boob job. I wished nobody knew. If Clara would have given in and had the surgery, then no one would have had to know. It's kind of hard to tell people 'oh yeah, they grew' when your identical twin's chest didn't. Dad would have let Clara get the surgery too—no big deal—but no. Clara had called me fake and said I was ridiculous for even asking her to do it, shoving an even bigger wedge between us over the matter.