Shameless (12 page)

“I don’t mind,” he said brightly.  “I was
worried about you.  You’re never sick.  Why don’t you show me the way to the
kitchen and I’ll heat up your soup while you sit and rest.  I picked it up from
that deli down the street.  I know you love their soup, Maddie, don’t try and…”

He trailed off as Riley, wrapped in the blanket
from the couch, appeared in the hallway.  Riley stared silently at him as Tim
cleared his throat.  “Oh, I didn’t realize you had company, Maddie.”

“Um, Riley this is Tim, he’s a lawyer at my
firm.  Tim, this is Riley, my, um,” I hesitated – what the fuck was Riley to me
anyway?

Tim was staring at me, one blond eyebrow
arched, and I smiled weakly.  “He’s my roommate.”

“Oh!  I didn’t know you had a roommate,
Mads,” Tim said before holding his hand out to Riley.  “Tim Macklin.  Nice to
meet you.”

Riley’s gaze darkened at his casual use of
my nickname and he stared with distaste at Tim’s outstretched hand before
lifting his eyes to mine.  There was anger and something else – it almost
looked like hurt but that was ridiculous – in his gaze and I gave him a
perplexed look.

“Nice to meetcha,” he grunted to Tim.  He
turned and walked down the hallway to my bedroom, slamming the door behind him,
and Tim glanced at me.

“He’s…interesting.”

“Yes,” I said nervously.  “Listen, Tim, I
really appreciate you bringing me soup but I don’t want you to get sick and – “

“I won’t,” he said.  “I never get sick.  I
drink this juice concoction every morning that keeps everything away.  I
invented it myself and you should let me make it for you sometime.  I guarantee
it’ll keep you healthy.  Is this the way to the kitchen?”

He wandered down the hallway and
disappeared into the kitchen.  I followed him and he smiled at me before
pointing to one of the chairs.  “Sit down and I’ll heat this up for you.”

Feeling a little shell-shocked, I dropped
into a chair as Tim found the bowls and poured soup into one before popping it
into the microwave.  We waited silently as it heated and he handed me a spoon
before setting the soup in front of me.

“Eat, Mads,” he urged.

I took a sip of the soup to be polite and
smiled at Tim.  “Thanks, it’s good.”

“You’re welcome.”  He sat beside me and
crossed one leg over the other, tugging on the leg of his pants to straighten
them.

“Do you think you’ll be back to work
tomorrow?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Good,” he said.  “I missed seeing your
face at the office today.”

“Tim, I – “

“You know, Maddie, I’ve been wanting to get
to know you better for a long time.”

I blinked in surprise.  Until today, Tim
had never shown anything but professional interest in me.  He was handsome
enough but his blond hair and slender body did nothing for me.  I probably
outweighed him by seventy pounds and I couldn’t imagine dating him or, hell,
having sex with him.

You’d snap him like a twig the first
time you were on top
.

I smothered my sudden bout of hysterical
laughter.

“Tim, that’s, um, really nice of you but
I’m not looking to date anyone right now.  I just got out of a pretty serious
relationship and – “

“You and your fiancé broke up three months
ago,” he interrupted.  “A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be sitting home alone
night after night.”

“Pretty girl?”  I raised my eyebrows at
him.  Being called a girl, like I wasn’t a grown woman with a law degree, made
my hackles rise.

He gave me a sheepish look.  “Sorry, I mean
a beautiful woman like you deserves to have a little fun in her life.”

“Well, that’s nice of you to say but like I
said, I’m not looking for – “

“Don’t say no right away,” he interrupted
again.  “Just think about it, okay?  We have lots of things in common.”

“Like what?”  I asked, unable to hide the
disbelief in my voice.  “Until today, we’ve never spoken outside of work.”

He smiled charmingly at me.  “We’re both
lawyers aren’t we?  We’re both intelligent and passionate about our jobs. 
Hell, you’re a much better lawyer than me – I could stand to learn some things
from you.  And,” he smiled again, “I can show you how to eat properly.”

“Show me how to eat properly,” I repeated
slowly.

“Yes,” he leaned forward eagerly.  “I’m a
bit of a health nut and I know of so many ways to improve your body and your
health with nutrition and exercise.  You’re a gorgeous girl but I could really
help you be the best, leanest and healthiest version of yourself.”

I stared blankly at him before standing
abruptly.  “Tim, I’m sorry but I think you should go.  The soup has upset my
stomach and I need to lie down.”

“God, I’m sorry.”  Tim stood and I shuffled
backward when he tried to take my hand.  “I didn’t mean to make it worse,
Mads.  I really thought the soup would help.”

“Yeah, I know,” I said.  “I’ll see you
tomorrow at the office, okay?”

“Sure.”  He followed me out of the kitchen
and grabbed his jacket from the hook.  “I’ll email you my personal cell number
when I get back to the office.  Just call or text me if you need anything,
okay?  I don’t mind at all.”

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” I replied.

“Right.  Okay, well, take care of yourself
and I’ll see you tomorrow,” Tim said as I opened the door and he stepped out
onto the porch.

“Bye, Tim.  Thanks again.”  I shut the door
and leaned against it, shaking my head in disbelief, before returning to the
kitchen.  I poured the soup down the drain and threw away the container.  Riley
was still in the bedroom and I waited a few minutes before joining him.

“Riley?”

He was lying in the bed with his back to
the door and I touched his blanket-covered shoulder gingerly.  “Riley, it’s
lunch time.”

“I’m not hungry,” he grunted.

“You need to eat,” I said.  “Come to the
kitchen and I’ll make you a sandwich.”

“That asshole still here?”  He asked.

“No.  He had to go back to work.  C’mon,
Riley, you need to eat something.”

“I said I wasn’t hungry,” he said harshly. 
“Leave me alone for God’s sake, Maddie.”

“Fine,” I snapped and stormed from the
bedroom.

* * *

R
iley

I laid in Maddie’s bed and stared at the
ceiling.  I could hear the low murmur of Roman’s and Maddie’s voices and smell
the delicious scent of chicken stew.  My stomach growled loudly but I ignored
it.  I had stayed in the bedroom all afternoon and refused to come out when
Maddie had knocked on the door to tell me dinner was ready.

I was being an asshole, I knew I was, but I
was still reeling from hearing Maddie call me her roommate.  Her fucking
roommate – as if I hadn’t had my fingers in her pussy not two minutes before
that. 

I shifted, muttering a curse under my
breath at the twinge of pain in my side, and continued to pout.  I hated that
asshole, Tim, from the moment I saw him.  His stupid hair gelled to perfection
and wearing a fucking suit that probably cost more than my bike.  Why the hell
he thought he could just walk into my woman’s house and –

Your woman?  Maddie isn’t your woman and
don’t start thinking she is.  Her little roommate comment made it perfectly
clear that she doesn’t want her coworkers and friends knowing that someone like
you could be more than just a friend to someone like her.

I uttered another curse.  Of course she
didn’t, and why would she?  I was lucky she hadn’t called the cops the minute I
showed up on her doorstep with a fucking gunshot wound.  She had a fucking law
degree and I was a high-school dropout who dealt drugs for a living.

You can change.  Frank and everyone else
in the club is dead.  You could go back to working construction, maybe even get
your GED, and show Maddie that you’re a good guy.

Except I wasn’t a good guy, and a normal
job and diploma wouldn’t make me one.

I sat up gingerly and threw the covers back
before heading to the bathroom.  Starting to think that I could have something
more than a fuck session or two with Maddie was a bad idea.  My life was fucked
up and I had no right to drag her down with me.

I was easing back into the bed when there
was a knock on the door.

“You decent, pussy cat?”  Roman called
through the door.

“Go away,” I snapped.

The door opened and Roman stuck his head
into the room.  “Nope.”

He kicked the door open with his foot and I
stared at the tray of food in his hands.  There was a bowl of chicken stew, a
salad and a glass of water and he carried the tray of food to the bed, setting
it on my lap.  A large plastic bag dangled from his wrist and he sat it on the
floor before shutting the bedroom door and leaning against it.

“Thanks,” I muttered.  The food smelled
amazing and, my stomach growling again, I dipped the spoon into the rich broth
and started to eat.

“I wanted to let you go to bed without
dinner.  I mean, if you’re going to act like a spoiled little brat we should
treat you like one, right?”  Roman said.

I ignored him, hoping it would shut him up
and make him leave, but he stayed where he was and snorted laughter.  “You’re
lucky that Mads is tender-hearted.  She’s in the kitchen worried sick about you
right now, by the way.”

“I’m fine,” I muttered.  “She doesn’t need
to worry about shit.”

“That’s what I told her.  I told her that
life always seems to work out for dickheads like you.”

“Work out for me?”  I barked harsh
laughter.  “In case you forgot, I was fucking shot a week ago and nearly died.”

He shrugged.  “Yet here you are, playing
the big bad biker routine and treating the only person who probably ever cared
about you like a piece of shit.”

“Fuck you, Roman!”  I snarled. 

“What’s the matter?  Don’t like hearing the
truth?”

“If you think I’m so bad for Maddie then
why the fuck did you help me?  Why the fuck haven’t you called the cops?”

“I didn’t say I thought you were bad for
Mads, I said you’re treating her like a piece of shit and you need to apologize
or leave.”

“Fine, I’ll leave.”  I shoved the tray to
the side, slopping soup over the edge of the bowl and climbed naked out of bed,
holding my hand against my side.

“Where are you going to go?  Huh?”  Roman
asked.  “You’re basically homeless and broke.  You need Maddie.”

“I don’t fucking need anyone!”  I snapped. 
“I’ll be just fine.”

“Bullshit,” Roman said mildly.  “You’re
going to run because you’re afraid to say sorry to Maddie for acting like a
dick?  Jesus, find your fucking balls, dude.”

I glared at him and Roman sighed loudly. 
“Listen, man, I know your life has been tough and I understand – “

“No, you don’t,” I interrupted.  “You
couldn’t possibly begin to know or understand.  Not someone like you.”

He studied me for a moment.  “No, I suppose
I can’t.  But here’s what I do know – Maddie, for whatever reason, cares about
you and is beating herself up thinking she’s hurt your feelings somehow.  You
need to put on your big boy panties and apologize to her.  She’s done nothing
wrong and, even if in your mind she has, you fucking damn well suck it up and
apologize anyway.  That woman out there didn’t just save you from a prison
sentence, she saved your goddamn life and you’d better not forget that.”

“I haven’t,” I said quietly.

“Good.  Then it should be easy for you to
apologize.”

He pointed to the bag sitting on the
floor.  “I picked you out some clothes and some toiletries.  Razor,
antiperspirant, that sort of thing.”

He studied the beard that was starting to
sprout on my face.  “You should shave that off.  You’re much prettier without
it.”

I rolled my eyes and said gruffly,
“Thanks.  How much do I owe you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said.

I scowled at him.  “Tell me how much it
was.”

“I said not to worry about it.”

“I don’t need your damn charity,” I said.

“Think of it as my way of saying thanks for
saving Maddie at the bar that night.”

“Fine.”

He suddenly grinned at me.  “See you later,
pussy cat.”

He grabbed the doorknob and stared at me
over his shoulder when I called his name.

“I’m not good enough for her,” I said
hoarsely.

“No,” he said solemnly, “probably not.  But
you can give her what that douchebag of a fiancé never did.”

“What’s that?”

“You’re a smart guy - you’ll figure it
out,” Roman said softly.  “Good night.”

* * *