ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (116 page)

              “Oh I’m not.”

              A salesman had finally spotted them and was hurrying to greet them.  He was young and had the hungry expression of someone that lived only on commission. 

              “What can I do for you gentlemen?”

              Hank motioned towards Liam with his thumb.  “He needs a car.” 

              “What did you have in mind?”  The young man motioned towards a Mustang that had a price tag that matched Liam’s new salary.  “How about this baby?” 

              “Yeah, that’s nice,” Liam said dryly.  “But a little out of my price range.”  He scanned the cars and found a cute red Focus.  He marched towards it with a grin.  It had a spoiler and a sunroof.  Audrey had always wanted a car with a spoiler and a sunroof.  Their current car was ten years old and had neither.  Audrey said it was a granny car.  It was still in good shape, but this one was more of what she had always wanted. 

              Liam cupped his hands and peered through the driver’s side window.  CD player, auxiliary jack for her iPod, AC, power everything; oh yes, this would do nicely.

              Do nicely for what exactly?  He thought.  For whatever happens.    

              “I want to test drive this one.”  The young man’s disappointment over the Mustang was completely gone as he grinned and trotted off to get the keys and dealer tags. 

              Hank watched his friend with respect.  He knew Liam better than to think that he was trying to buy Audrey back.  He saw that Liam honestly just wanted to give her something nice.  Maybe it was a guilt gift of sorts, but in Hank’s eyes it was a good start.  He slapped him on the back. 

              “You’re a good guy, Lamb.” 

              Liam touched the side of the car and shook his head.  “No, I’m not really.” 

              Hank’s smile faded.  In all the years of knowing Liam, he had never heard him sound so small and lost. 

              Audrey woke to her phone ringing.  The number looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place where she had seen it before. 

              “Hello?”  She mumbled.

              “I could say I’m not disappointed you haven’t called yet, but I would be lying.” 

              “Luke?”  She rolled over and looked at the clock.  6:00 a.m.

              “Sure is!  Hey, are you heading over to the library today?” 

              “Umm…no, I’m going to work.  I haven’t been there in a while.” 

              “Oh.  Well, what time do you get off?” 

              “Five.” 

              “Oh, ok!  How about some dinner?  It will be my treat.”

              “I don’t know…” 

              “Come on.”  His voice held a hint of teasing.  “It’ll be fun.” 

              Audrey put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes.  Maybe having dinner with him to begin with was a mistake. 

              “Let me think about it, ok?  I’ll call you when I get off.”

              “Ok.  Talk to you then.”  The disappointment was now real and audible.

              Audrey laid in the bed for another five minutes and decided to get up.  Sleep wasn’t coming back any time soon.  A horn blew in front of the house, and Audrey went to the bedroom window to try and see where it was coming from, thinking perhaps it was actually blowing at a neighbor’s house.

              Audrey wrapped her robe around her as she walked through the kitchen.  The sun had just begun to lighten the sky.  The horn blew again.  No, this was definitely in front of her house.  She pulled the curtains back and stared in disbelief at Liam in the driveway beside what she was sure was a brand new red car.

              She opened the door slowly and padded out to him with nothing on her feet but her socks. 

              “Liam?  What are you doing here?”  She couldn’t ignore the flutter in her stomach from seeing him, but she kept her face from showing any emotion beyond curiosity. 

              “I was thinking about the car situation.” 

              Audrey wrapped her arms around herself against the cold.  “Ok, what does that mean?”

              Liam could feel himself bristling.  He really wanted this to go well.  He looked over his shoulder to where Hank was waiting in the sedan.  He turned back to her questioning face. 

              “I need a car and you do too, so I bought one.” 

              Audrey felt something like bile rise in her throat.  “So, you wanted to show me your new car?  Fabulous.  It’s great, Liam, truly.”  She turned to go back inside, her face hot with anger. 

              “Audrey, no!  Wait!” 

              She turned back, not bothering to hide her annoyance. 

              “The new car is for you.  I’m just here to drop it off and pick up the other one.” 

              Her eyes widened and her eyebrows shot up.  She looked at the car and motioned to herself with her hand.  “The new car is for me?”

              Liam nodded.  His throat constricted when she put her hand over her mouth, like a little girl, to hide the smile.  She walked over to the car and looked inside.  The new car smell whooshed out as she opened the door. 

              “It’s really nice, Liam.” 

              “Yeah, I thought so.  The seats are light, but they’re scotch guarded, or at least the salesman said they were, and the warranty is really good.  It was a program car, so it only has about a thousand miles on it.” 

              Audrey sat in the driver’s seat feeling over whelmed, but suddenly suspicious.  Did he think he could buy his way back into the house?  She looked up at him and frowned. 

              “What?”

              “Liam, I can’t afford a car payment on what I make at the diner.” 

              “I’m not asking you to afford it.  You can’t afford the mortgage either, but I’m not asking you to pay that either.” 

              They stared at each other until she got out of the car and folded her arms across her chest. 

              He looked at his watch, and ran a hand through his hair.  “Look, we have to get to work.  Do you need anything out of the other car?”  He said and handed her the new car key.   

              Audrey shook her head. She waited until he got into the car before she approached the window.  It was hard to believe that (so far) there weren’t any stipulations or strings attached. 

              “Thank you, Liam.” 

              His eyes were sad, but he didn’t offer anything else except, “You’re welcome” before backing out of the driveway.  Audrey raised her hand and waved to Hank, then as quickly as they had arrived they were gone.  The sky was turning pink as she walked back into the house clutching the new car key in her hand.  She sat at the kitchen table thinking about the weirdness that had become her life.  Who would have ever thought Liam would drive up with a new car for her to drive?  She wouldn’t have in a million years. 

              When Audrey walked into the diner she was expecting to be glad she was back, maybe be able to honestly say she had missed the place.  No, what she felt was nauseated. 

              Chester was now the only day cook and seeing as how he was the owner too, he was in an even fouler mood than normal. 

              “About time you came back to work!” 

              “Nice to see you too, Chester.” 

              She tied her apron on and clocked herself in, then with a deep breath she walked back past Chester and onto the busy diner floor. 

              Liam stared at the cork board they were using for the Monkey case.  It was the name they now called the case involving the murders of the two VCU students, Lauren Brady and Mya Chui.  Lauren’s ears had been filled with concrete, and Mya’s lips had been crudely sewn shut.  It was like the popular pictures and statues of the three monkey’s representing, “hear no evil, see no evil, and speak no evil.” 

              A photo of each girl with their names were pinned to the top of the board.  Other notes and a map of the city with red thumbtacks showed where their bodies were found were also pinned to the board.  The hardest part was photos of the bodies post mortem.   

              Liam sighed and placed his hands on his hips.  He turned and looked at Hank and Ramirez.  “I don’t get it.  We have absolutely nothing!  There wasn’t sexual assault, not even so much as a bite mark, yet they were both found in their under ware.  They didn’t share any classes or friends.  Hell, they aren’t even of the same ethnic origin!  What serial killer does that?” 

              Ramirez shook his head.  “Most serial killers kill within their own ethnicity, but occasionally they won’t.” 

              “We don’t know who or what to look for!  It could be a woman for all we know!” 

              “Doubtful.”  Hank put in.  “It took some strength to take that first girl down.  She was an athlete, and tall.” 

              “Drugged?”  Ramirez countered.

              “Toxicology came back clean.” 

              Ramirez grinned and pulled the straw from his mouth that he had been chewing on.  “Very good.”

              Liam gave him a dark look.  “Don’t start with the tests again.” 

              Ramirez shrugged.  “Hey, you guys are still green, I have a right to check.” 

              Liam turned back to the board and stared into the eyes of the girls before they were dead.  Both girls were attractive, although they looked very different.  Both girls were good students, although Mya was straight laced, whereas Lauren was known for occasional drinking.  One girl was a virgin the other was not.  One had been a freshman, the other a sophomore.  There was no rhyme or reason.  The only two consistencies were that they were both held for at least forty eight hours, and they both had ligature marks on their wrists and ankles where they had been tied up.  Lauren had died of blunt force trauma to the head, but Mya had been strangled.                                                                                                                 Liam lowered his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.  A thought about Audrey going to that very campus floated into his mind.  Audrey.  Why hadn’t he bought her some mace at least? 

              Audrey rolled her last set of silverware at 4:45.  She was beat.  After more than a week at home, her legs and feet were screaming bloody murder.  She couldn’t wait to get home and soak in the tub.  (Once she called Luke and politely declined dinner.)  It wasn’t that she didn’t want to see him exactly, it was just that she was feeling confused after seeing Liam that morning. 

              Chester yelled to the back that she had another table.  Audrey rolled her eyes.  “Can’t Priss take it?  I get off in fifteen minutes!” 

              “No, Priss can’t take it!”  He yelled back trying to imitate her voice. 

              Audrey stomped to the swinging door and pushed her way into the diner.  She froze.  The only occupied table in her section, was occupied by Luke.  He looked up from the menu with shock on his face.

              “Audrey?”

              “Well, isn’t this a surprise.”  She said and laid a napkin rolled set of silverware beside his arm.  There was something odd about him being there right when she was about to get off.  “I guess you changed your mind about dinner?” 

              The look of panic was so fleeting Audrey wasn’t sure if she had seen it at all. 

              “No, I just figured you were going to say no anyway, and I was hungry.”  His smile seemed genuine.  “What a great coincidence!” 

              Audrey swallowed and plastered a fake smile to her lips.  “Yeah, it’s quite a coincidence.” 

              “So, do you want to have dinner?”  He laid the menu down.  “I can wait to eat.  It’s no problem.” 

              “Actually, no…I was going to call you when I got off…like I said I would.  It’s my first day back, and I’m pretty beat.” 

              “Oh ok, maybe next time.”

              Audrey took her ticket book out and held her pen above it, waiting for his order.  “So, what can I get you?”

              “Chocolate shake and loaded fries.”  He put the menu back in its holder by the window.  “Hey, after you get off, let me at least buy you a shake.” 

              Audrey considered for a moment, chewing the inside of her lip.  “Yeah, sure.”  

              His smile didn’t vanish until she was out of sight. 

              Audrey sipped the thick milkshake, but didn’t really want it.  She simply wanted her bathtub filled with hot water.  Luke was doing his best to keep her engaged in conversation. 

              “I guess I better let you get home.” 

              “I’m sorry, I’m just not very talkative right now”

              “You seem preoccupied.”

              Audrey dabbed her straw in and out of the milkshake, while slowly turning the glass with her other hand.  It was the old fashioned style glass, which was tapered at the bottom and expanded back out to form its own base.