PROTECT and SERVE (A Bad Boy Billionaire Romance) (45 page)

When I finally dragged myself out and toweled off, no happier than I’d been before, I ran my hair drier and checked my text messages.

Nothing.

I was pretty full from all the food earlier, so I didn’t feel like snagging anything meaningful to eat. There was also some homework to do, but I didn’t particularly care about it right now.

Instead, I grabbed my emergency pint of chocolate ice cream from the freezer, huddled down with a blanket, and parked myself in Natalie’s usual spot on the couch.

I hadn’t made it more than an episode or two into some mindless sitcom when the door finally opened. Natalie slid inside, her boyfriend’s lips all over her as she let them both inside. He was pinning her wrists up against the wall and kissing her neck when her eyes fell on me.

“Heya, girl… don’t worry, we’ll drag this back to the bed… room…”

She recognized the pint of ice cream on the coffee table, and pushed her hands against Jared.

“Fighting a little tonight, huh?” He asked huskily, diving in for another kiss.

She took his cheeks into her hands and looked him in the eyes. “I’m afraid I’m gonna have to skip this one, babe.”

“Wait, what? Why?”

She nodded her head towards me. “Babygirl’s pulled out the emergency ice cream. I’m afraid that tonight’s not
Sexy Night
anymore
.
Now it’s
Roommate Night.
”

He looked disappointed, pulling back and running his fingers through his hair. “Okay. Alright. Fine. Goodnight.”

Jared threw a nasty look my way and stormed out, throwing the door shut as he left. I felt my spirits crumple into dust at the display of anger over my emotional state.

“Ignore him,” she sighed, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry for ruining your night,” I muttered, moving my legs as Natalie dropped to sit down beside me on the couch.

“Nah, you didn’t ruin anything,” she reassured me. “Honestly, you might have just done me a favor.”

“How’s that?”

Natalie blew at her bangs in exasperation. “He’s cute, and he knows how to handle that dick of his, but
good lord, is he a complete idiot
,” she chuckled. “After that little stunt there… I’m pretty sure whatever I saw in him is gone now.”

“Well, at least there’s that. I’m gonna be frank, I’m not really sure what you ever saw in that guy.”

Natalie gave me a smirk. “Yeah, well, hey! Silver linings! I haven’t been single in ages. Maybe it’s time to get my slut
on, you know? I could
totally
pull off a revolving bedroom door. I wonder if I can call Daddy’s contractor to get a literal one installed…”

She paused when she saw my expression.

“What, too much?”

“
You’re
too much,” I smiled, pulling her into a big hug. “Look, you can call him back. I’ll be fine.”

“No, dude. You’ve gotta tell me what’s…” Natalie paused, her face falling. “Oh shit, it’s the
wedding.
That was
today.
Okay, yeah. I’m gonna dock myself some points for misplacing that vital piece of information and bringing my guy home–”

“Nat, it’s
okay
,” I reassured her.

“Oh yeah? I’m not convinced,” she replied, letting her eyes trail towards the melting pint of ice cream. “Anyway. Give me a minute. Let me change into something a little more comfortable, and then I’m coming back out here, ordering a pizza, and we are
talking it out.
”

“I’ve already eaten,” I shrugged.

“First off, okay, but it’s fucking
pizza
,” she laughed. “It’s like dessert. There’s always room for it. Secondly, if you insist, that’s just more for me, but I’m
starving.
”

Natalie jumped up, whipping out her smartphone. I could hear her placing a pizza order in her bedroom as she changed, and she finally walked back out in expensive, silky pink pajamas as she hung up the phone.

“Cool. It’s on the way.”

She slumped down onto the couch, her back against the armrest, and looked at me with the most endearingly sincere eyes I’ve ever seen.

“Alright, Clara. Tell me
everything
from the top…”

W
hen I arrived
the following morning, Clara was waiting for me in the spot where I’d left her the previous night. I’d connected the spare helmet at the back, and I handed it to her as she walked up towards me.

“See if that fits,” I instructed.

She slipped it on. “It’s not exactly
snug, but it’ll definitely do,” she told me, before eyeing me curiously. “Who exactly does this
belong to?”

“It’s my old one. I outgrew it eventually.”

“Really?” She sounded impressed. “Must have been ages ago. How long have you been riding?”

“Since
long
before the marines,” I answered.

Apparently satisfied with this, she climbed onto the back and put her arms around me again, straddling the seat tightly. Once I decided that she was properly secure, I kicked off.

Clara was surprisingly close that morning. I don’t mean that just physically, with her arms actually wrapped around me, but emotionally, too. As we sat in Psych class, still working off of my textbook, her cold exterior seemed to have melted away somewhat.

She laughed at the jokes I made, didn’t shy away from eye contact, and didn’t make a move when I scooted my chair a little closer to her (under the guise of easier book sharing, of course).

“Okay, what’s gotten into you?” I asked her after class, guiding her to the side once we left the building.

“What do you mean?” She tilted her head.

“Yesterday, you were full-on
ice princess
, but today… you’re acting as if everything’s perfectly fine between us.” I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. “What changed?”

Clara sighed. “It’s just… a combination of things, really.”

I crossed my arms boldly. “Enlighten me.”

“Well…” Clara bit her lip tentatively, gazing up at me. It had the distinct effect of making my cock twitch in my jeans, although I tried to ignore its sudden alertness. “Look, all that
destiny
crap you fed me last week… I couldn’t help but think that you maybe had a point.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. I mean, we had our night together, and I loved every second of it. But then our parents were getting married, and I needed to extract myself from you.
Then,
they actually
got
married, and there was no way you and I could have a future together. But no matter what, I just can’t get rid of you, can I?”

“I’m not following…”

“The car,” she reminded me. “The whole reason why you’re bringing me to school, right? I have the perfect opportunity to cut you loose and let that just be the end of that, and then
this
happens. Now, I’m stuck in a position wherein I have to rely
on you… which I don’t like, but it conveniently keeps us together.”

“That’s true,” I thought aloud. “So… what does this mean, then? As far as how things are going between us, at any rate.”

Clara smiled softly. “It means that… I think I want to keep seeing you.”

“You spoke to that friend of yours, didn’t you?” I grinned. “Your roommate. The girl from the bar.”

“…She
did
have some compelling arguments, yes,” Clara wistfully explained. “We stayed up half the night talking about stuff. I went to bed feeling
way
better about everything.”

“Remind me to buy that woman flowers,” I grinned like an idiot. “When she told me that she made a hell of a wingwoman, I didn’t know the half of it…”

“Yeah, getting my best friend on your side from the start is sort of a plus,” Clara laughed. “But look… just like that night we shared together, this doesn’t mean I’m promising you anything. I need you to understand that.”

“No, I get it,” I nodded, scratching the back of my head. “We’re just taking it slow for now, right? No need to complicate things any further than they already are…”

“That’s right.”

The tone of Clara’s voice was relatively noncommittal, but her face was saying it all. She was positively
beaming.

We realized the time, and that we were both going to be late for our prospective following classes. Parting with a strong hug and a quick kiss, we separated away from each other, reinvigorated with energy for the day.

Unfortunately, bad news came later on. My buddy at the auto shop rang me back while I was in the student union building, seated in comfortable furniture and gazing out the large, glass wall over the campus. I was waiting on Clara’s last class to wrap up, and my mechanically minded friend didn’t exactly have anything reassuring to tell me.

“Alright, let’s hear it,” I started. “Have you got anything good to tell me?”

“Wish I did, dude.”

He sounded exasperated.

I frowned tentatively. “It’s that bad?”

He took in a sharp breath of air. “Yeah… the way it’s looking now, the engine’s totally fried. Her oil was not only really low, but filthy as shit. Did she miss some oil changes or something?”

“Yeah, I think she might have mentioned that…”

He chuckled with exasperation. “Should have stayed on top of that shit. Whole engine’s gotta go. Now, this being an old clunker, she might want to consider just getting a new car altogether.”

I sighed. “I don’t think she’s not going to be able to take that option.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you what I tell
everybody
when I see an impending mess as bad as this one: tough shit. I’ll try and pull some strings because it’s you, but even if I found a used, compatible engine that wasn’t going to absolutely crucify her bank account, this thing’s gonna die from something else. I give it half a year… maybe a year, tops.”

“So, it’s either spend thousands on an engine and buy some time, or spend at least that on a newer vehicle. Either way, she’s out of pocket a substantial little sum.”

“Sure looks that way, bro.”

“Alright, Kevin. Thanks for everything you’ve done. I’ll talk to her, and we’ll sort it all out.”

“Later, dude.”

I hung up the line angrily.

As soon as the problem had happened, I’d known that it was going to take a miracle
to fix it. Unfortunately, having her come back around had apparently filled the miracle quota for today.

I was still trying to figure out what to do when Clara came into view. She was climbing the wide steps outside, ducking into the union building and scanning for me. As she spotted me in the seating area, she stomped towards me with a look of clear, overwhelming stress painted across her face.

“What’s the problem?” I asked.

Clara slumped down in the chair to my side. “Just… unreasonable teachers,” she muttered. “Couldn’t they just consult each other on the homework front? Instead of
bombarding
us with it, all at once?”

“Pretty sure that’s not how it works,” I chuckled lightly.

“Guess not,” Clara muttered before pulling herself to an upright, seated position. “Alright, so, have you heard from your guy yet?”

My face immediately fell.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she groaned, slumping back into the cushions. “
Goddammit!
Why is this turning out to be such a bullshit day? Everything’s been going downhill since I saw you last…”

“Well, what can I do to make it up to you?” I asked her. “Surely there’s
something
…”

She caught my eye and chuckled. “Maybe not tonight. I’m going to be buried under assignments for the next day or two anyway…”

“Oh, you’ve got
plenty
of time before then,” I smiled. “You seem stressed. Just give me an hour or two of your time to help you unwind, yeah? Wouldn’t you enjoy that?”

Clara glanced over mischievously.

“Well… I
suppose
that could work for me.”

I made sure that it did...

Two hours later, after an incredible simultaneous orgasm that left us both completely spent. We were laying together in bed. She and I were just the way I liked us best – grinning together, drained from great sex, without a stitch of clothing on us.

I was already on my back again, and my lover was curled up against my chest. Absentmindedly, my fingers played with the hair on the back of her head.

“God, Dalton, that was just as incredible as before,” she murmured softly.

“Oh yeah? Satisfied, love?”

“Am I ever…”

With a satisfied groan, I glanced over at my alarm clock.

“Huh. It’s later than I thought.”

“Is it?” She asked, lifting her head.

“Yeah, it’s already half past five.”

“Half past five, huh…” Clara murmured. “That’s strange, I feel like there’s something important that I’ve forgotten, something like…”

Her eyes widened.

“Oh no. Oh fuck. No. Please no.”

“What? What is it?”

Clara was leaping up from the bed, clearly frazzled. I didn’t like how stressed she was getting, all of a sudden.

“Oh god, it’s
work
,” Clara finally groaned.

“Work?” I asked. “Wait… you didn’t…?”

She’d forgotten to contact her boss.

“Yeah…” She held her face in her hands. “I can’t believe it. I
completely
fucking forgot to email Arnold last night, when I came home… and I stayed up talking to Natalie. I was supposed to be there over
an hour ago.
”

Clara dove for her phone and practically went catatonic when she saw her notifications. “Oh shit. Oh
shit
, I’m in trouble…”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I told her. “Look, just apologize to him, and everything will be okay.”

“That’s not how this works,” Clara lashed out. “Look, my car’s a mess that’s apparently broken down, now I’ve been totally distracted from my
job
, and for what? Sex?”

I didn’t like where this was going.

“Clara, look. I’m sorry. I’ll help you.”

“I don’t
want
your help,” she muttered.

“Be that as it may… I know that you’ve had a rough time of things lately. Between the car thing, your job, school, our parents suddenly
marrying, your feelings for me…”

She glanced at me with irritation. “No, go on,” she snarled. “Please. Feel free to rack up
additional
ways that my life is fucking up right now. Really. I want to hear them.”

I rose from the bed, and she didn’t move.

“Clara. Don’t shut me out.”

“I’m not shutting you out,” she grunted.

“You
are.
Look at you.”

She looked down. Her arms were crossed, her stance was defensive, and she looked ready to absolutely come unglued at me.

Clara stayed like that for a moment… and I was afraid that she’d only snap harder.

Instead, she began to relax.

“Look, I’m sorry, Dalton,” she whispered as I came over to hold her close. “You’re right. There’s been a lot on my plate the last couple of weeks. I didn’t mean to try and take it out on you. It’s just that… I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

“I know,” I murmured, rubbing her shoulders as she remained pinned against me. “I understand. This has been a lot for you lately.” Pulling back, I lifted her chin with my finger. “But here’s the thing – I’m going to be right there with you, all the way.”

She nodded softly.

“Listen. First thing’s first. We can fix
your car. My guy tells me that he can
maybe
find a used engine to plug into it. I can cover that.”

Clara’s eyes widened.

“No. I can’t let you do that.”

“Look, you need a car, and I have a ton of money,” I shrugged. “What’s a few thousand dollars to me right now? Sure, it’s a lot of money, but I’m not going to miss it. I’d rather see you mobile and happy.”

“Still… I’ll find a way to pay you back.”

“Chiefly unnecessary,” I responded.

“Doesn’t matter,” Clara shook her head. “I can’t expect you to make that kind of sacrifice for me, even if you
want to
and you
have the money.
”

“Fine. Point conceded,” I reassured her. “As for the rest… school is going to suck, and our parents being married is going to suck too. Those, I can’t really help you out with. But you’ll have my support for as long as you want it…”

“I appreciate that,” Clara whispered, nestling her cheek into my chest. “But what about work?”

“You’re going to have to suck that one up,” I answered. “Make the call. Figure out what you have to do to keep yourself on the payroll. That
privilege
of yours that you mentioned before is probably gone by now, though.”

“Yeah…” She muttered. “Definitely.”

“So, do the right thing,” I continued, handing Clara her smartphone. “Don’t put it off. Reach out to your boss
now
, kiss ass, and keep yourself with some income. Work your way back up into his graces.”

Clara took the phone from my hand and smiled up at me. “You’re really great, you know that?”

“I can be,” I shrugged.

“When you’re not seated at a table with a bunch of marines and making a complete
ass
of yourself, at any rate,” she chuckled. “What was it you told me the night we met?”

“Oh, I told you a great number of things.”

“I’m thinking of something in particular. You asked if I had a menu, and then you were going to have me–”

“Stand on it, and I’d ask for some of
you.
Yeah, I definitely remember that.”

Clara pulled up her contacts list on her phone and navigated towards her boss. “It’s funny to think of how much has changed since then,” she thought aloud. “I thought you were a total prick, and even a short while later, my roommate was trying to send you away… but now, here we are.”

She lifted the phone to her ear and let it dial.

I thought about that too. A lot
had
changed since Clara and I had first met… but I was happy with it. It was great to finally have someone to push all of my attention into, as opposed to just cycling through girls in my bed.

“Hi, Arnold? Yes, it’s me… I know… I’m really sorry. My car… okay, sure.” She paused, pulling the phone away from her ear for a moment. “He’s putting me on hold so that he can go somewhere quieter.”

I nodded, listening for every cue in her tone.

“Right. I’m calling to apologize for tonight. I was supposed to email you yesterday and notify you that my car broke down, but I didn’t get the opportunity to reach out until now… uh-huh… yes sir… I understand… of course…” Her eyes widened, but I couldn’t tell if they were from surprise or fear. “Right… no, I get it, I understand… yes sir. Thank you, sir.”