Lies in Love (5 page)

“I
could use a drink myself.” And with those words, a waitress
magically appeared.

Talia
wondered if he had some sort of alcoholic, psychic connection with
the staff.

“I’ll
have whatever’s on tap and, Petal, what would you like?”
He halted the waitress for her response.

Grinding
her teeth, Talia growled, “A vodka martini with a slice of
lemon.” She watched the waitress turn to leave, but was
suddenly stricken with an idea. If
he
was buying, she was going to make this torment just a tad more
tolerable. She reached for the waitress’s arm to stop her.
“Make that two vodka martinis, please.”

The
waitress nodded and hurried away to the bar.

“So,
what do you do, Petal?”

“Why
do you insist on calling me that?” Landon’s pet name was
grating on her nerves.

“You
don’t like the name Petal?” That evil smirk of his
resurfaced.

“Not
especially.” She caught herself chewing on the inside of her
lip.

“What
do you like?”

“I’m
not playing this game with you.” She wrung her hands under the
table and continued. “I don’t know what you’re
after, buddy, but I’m not interested. I neither want nor need a
man in my life and I’d appreciate it if you’d take a hint
and get lost.”

As
if on Landon’s cue, the waitress returned with their drinks.
She placed them on the table and, as soon as Landon paid her, hurried
away. Landon raised his glass to Talia, paused in expectance, and
then took a drink when she didn’t mimic his action.

“Thank
you for the drinks, now could you please leave?” Talia tried to
show a minuscule amount of civility.

“I’d
rather not.” He paused to take a drink of his beer and began
his inquisition again. “So what is your affliction with men?
What about us makes us so repulsive?”

She
leaned across the table and furrowed her brow to chide, “For
starters, you always think with the wrong head.” Talia watched
as he clearly feigned resentment. “Besides, relationships are a
waste of time. They are just a poor excuse for dependent people to
find someone else to rely on when they can’t stand on their own
two feet. I have no need to rely on anyone but myself.”

“Wow.”

Landon
didn’t say anything else, which surprised her. He didn’t
have some witty rebuttal or a reason why she was wrong, just
wow
.
She knew she wasn’t getting off that easy. “So as you can
see, I don’t need you to come over here and do, whatever this
is. Thank you for the drink but you’re more than welcome to
leave.”

“What
if I don’t want to leave?” His voice sounded sincere. It
scared Talia to death.

“Why
would you want to stay? I’m clearly not up for whatever you’re
looking for. You’re wasting your time.” She suddenly felt
sweat form on her hands and she couldn’t make herself look him
in the eyes any longer.

“Believe
it or not, I’m enjoying your company. I want to get to know
you, if for no other reason than because you intrigue me.”

Talia
flushed. He was wearing down her resolve and she couldn’t stand
it. She hated that she’d said as much as she had. He had no
right knowing those things about her. During a pregnant pause between
them, Camey arrived. An exceedingly pleasant smile was plastered on
her face.

“Hey,
Talia, who’s this?” She only turned to glance at Landon
briefly, his charms evidently not affecting her.

“No
one,” Talia muttered, hardly loud enough for Camey to hear.
“It’s late and we have a big day tomorrow so I think I’m
going to go.”

“But
it’s still early. I don’t think Sara’s ready yet.”
Camey gave Landon an inquisitive gaze before looking back at Talia.

“It’s
okay. I’ll catch a cab.” Talia moved to stand but Camey’s
response stalled her.

“Wait,
I’ll go with you. Just let me get the girls.”

“No,
you guys stay. I’m sure Reina hasn’t gotten her fill of
Wade just yet. I’ll head home alone.”

“Absolutely
not. I’ll go with you. Just let me tell the girls we’re
leaving. I’ll make sure Sara doesn’t leave Reina here
alone.” Camey’s eyes flashed to Landon and then back to
Talia. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

She
didn’t give Talia a chance to respond as she raced back
downstairs, leaving Talia to endure a couple more minutes of Landon’s
company. Feeling her resolve had returned, she sat up a little
straighter in her chair and stared him down.

“You’re
really going to leave?” Landon looked offended.

“There’s
no reason to stay. The conversation was lackluster
at best.”

“You’re
intimidated by me.” He wasn’t asking.

“I’m
not.” Talia quickly turned away, knowing in that moment there
was no hiding the truth from him. He knew what she was about and it
scared the shit out of her.

“You
are.” He scratched his hand across the stubble on his jaw.
“You’re trying to hide from something and you’re
afraid I might unravel what’s hidden beneath this persona
you’ve built.”

Talia
couldn’t understand why he had to dig, why he couldn’t
just leave well enough alone. “Stop. You don’t know
anything about me and I wish you would stop presuming you do. Just
leave it alone. Leave me alone.” She jumped up from her chair
and raced for the stairs, running into Camey at the landing.

“Where
you going so fast?” Camey steadied Talia as she wavered.

“Are
you ready?” Talia snapped. She had to get out of the club. She
had to get away from
him
.

“Yeah.”
Tilting her head, Camey looked first at Talia, then over Talia’s
shoulder.

“Petal,
wait.”

Talia
began her descent down the stairs, sensing Landon’s nearness.
She was done trying to shrug him off. Realizing she hadn’t
taken a full breath since he sat at her table, she hurriedly left him
behind, rushing outside where the air was lighter, praying she’d
be able to breathe easier.

Once
outside, the cold wind battered her, knocking her against the icy
wall. She stood waiting to see who would join her, speculating that
Reina and Sara couldn’t be troubled to leave the club this
early. She wasn’t surprised when Camey appeared alone, huffing
from trying to keep up in her mile-high fuck me heels. If Talia had
been wearing those shoes, she wouldn’t have made it out of the
car, much less lasted in a club for any considerable amount of time.
She was relieved to see her burst through the door and join her on
the sidewalk as a cab pulled to the curb. Talia didn’t say a
word. She fell into the cab, the heater blasting hard against her
face, and waited for Camey to climb in to give directions. Her voice,
as well as her anger, were caught somewhere in her throat.

When
the cab was on its way to Camey’s apartment, Camey turned her
attention to Talia, who couldn’t bring herself to speak. “So
who was the hottie? He looked like he was really interested in you.”
Camey nudged Talia’s elbow with her own, waiting for a
response.

Talia
forced the words to the surface and spoke, “He wasn’t of
consequence.”

“Really?
He seemed like he was totally into you. Are you sure you don’t
want to go back and get his number?”

Talia
could see Camey’s anxious grin out of the corner of her eye
before she turned to rebuke her. “Why would I want his number?
I have no time for him or any other man. Now can we please drop it?
I’m tired and I’d love nothing more than peace and quiet
right now.”

“Humph.”
Camey fell back into her seat, chewing her bottom lip.

Talia
was grateful she’d let it go. She couldn’t stand another
minute of thinking about Landon and his sparkling sapphire eyes or
the way his dirty-blonde hair complimented them as the lights of the
club changed those thick locks from blue to purple to red. “Damn
it.” Talia leaned forward in her seat and called to the driver,
“Can you pull over?”

“You
gonna be sick, lady?” He pulled to the curb and Talia jumped
out of the car.

It
was nearly midnight; the streets were growing quieter as the night
dragged on and Talia just needed the fresh air. She couldn’t
sit another minute in the back of the stifling cab.

“Talia,
what are you doing?” Camey had rolled down the window to call
after her.

“I
just need to walk a while. I’ll be fine.”

“I’m
not leaving you out here. Are you nuts?” Camey opened her door
and began to step out of the cab when the driver called after her.

“Lady,
are we going or not?”

“Hold
your damn horses.” Camey held the door open as she analyzed
Talia’s face. “Come on, Talia. It’s freezing. You
don’t even have a jacket. Whatever’s bothering you, you
can work it out at home. Please, just get back in the cab.”

Talia
looked up and down the dark street. Some of the street lights in the
distance were out and the shadows looked more frightening than
before, reminding her that she would be completely alone if the cab
left. Hesitantly, she fell back into her seat.

“Onward
Jeeves,” Camey called to the driver.

The
remainder of the drive was quiet. Camey’s apartment was just up
the block from Talia’s, so Talia walked the last bit alone. She
knew the neighborhood well; she’d be safe.

Before
she was out of Camey’s sight, Camey yelled after her, “Text
me when you get home.”

Talia
waved back at her and continued on. She saw the glow of her living
room light as she grew closer. She focused on that light and scolded
herself for neglecting to turn it off once again, but she was
thankful for the beacon that led her. Her scolding emptied her mind
of thoughts of Landon briefly and she was grateful. She didn’t
understand why he had to disturb her evening. He should have left
well enough alone. And, while she hoped she’d never see him
again, deep down his face was still emblazoned in her mind.

She
reached her apartment and climbed the stairs in the alleyway behind
the flower shop to her meager home above, anxious to sleep off this
night, hoping desperately that his face didn’t haunt her
dreams.

When
she was inside the door she texted Camey before she changed for bed.
Sleep was her only escape from this disaster of an evening. She
wanted this to all be a distant memory when morning arrived.

Camey
walked through the back door of the shop to a deafening silence. Sara
and Reina were moving hastily in and out of the cooler pulling
arrangements to load into the delivery van. When Sara noticed Camey
had arrived she stopped in her tracks and hastened to her side.

“Finally.
My sister is on a rampage.” Sara pulled Camey into the cooler,
trying to appear busy while questioning the previous night’s
events. “What the hell happened last night? Talia has been
impossible this morning. She’s already reamed me out three
times.”

“I
don’t know. When I asked her who Landon was, she told me no one
of consequence. He was doing a really good job of looking interested,
but she just wouldn’t budge.”

“Well,
we’re going to have to run interference between her and the
wedding planner if she continues on this tear. We can’t afford
to lose any clientele, especially not one of this magnitude.”
Camey quickly quieted when Talia entered the room.

“Good,
you’re finally here. Some of these arrangements are subpar and
since you put them together, I thought you could fix them. Get them
up to my standards before we make the delivery.” Talia gave a
snide scowl and walked out of the cooler with a large arrangement of
hydrangeas and roses in hand.

“Holy
shit, you weren’t kidding.” Camey inspected the remaining
arrangements waiting to be removed from the cooler and could find
nothing wrong, so she returned to the workroom to find her presumed
mistakes.

Talia
ripped tulips, roses, and hydrangeas from one of the main
centerpieces placed on the metal workstation in the middle of the
room. “This is all wrong. These tulips are completely the wrong
color and the hydrangeas…” Talia scornfully rebuked
Camey. “Could you have chosen uglier hydrangeas? I can’t
believe Sara even signed for these.”

Camey
cautiously moved closer to her, wanting to better examine the
offending flowers. “Talia, these hydrangeas are beautiful. I
don’t understand what the problem is.” She felt her voice
waver standing toe to toe with Talia.

“Beautiful?
Are we looking at the same flowers?” Talia snatched a single
hydrangea stem from the table and shoved it in Camey’s face.
“Look at that.” She pointed to a slight blemish on the
edge of one of the many petals. “Do you see that discoloration?
That is not acceptable.”

“It’s
barely even noticeable and I believe that the imperfections make the
flower more perfect. They add just a hint of character to an
otherwise somewhat dull flower.”

“I
can’t believe I allow you to work in my shop. You have
no
idea what you’re talking about.” Talia began selectively
placing a new batch of tulips back in the arrangement and tossed the
imperfect hydrangea in the trash. “I’ll finish these up
since you seem to be rather incapable at the moment. Why don’t
you help the girls get the rest of the flowers loaded into the van?
We need to leave in thirty minutes.”