Good Girl (Playroom) (36 page)

“Hmm…,” Kieren purrs and leans over the top of the table, trying to get closer to me, “That’s a good thing, because I want to fuck you, too,” he whispers.

“I won’t use you like that, Kieren, especially after what you told me last night. I’m not saying that Devon is my future, but right now he’s my present, and I’m not going to ruin it.”

“You’re in this lifestyle now. You know there is a difference. You’d have to understand it or you’d go nuts knowing Auggie fucks like a bunny.”  I wince, even though Kieren didn’t mean for it to hurt.

“Auggie is irrelevant,” I mutter.

“Oh, yeah…” Kieren says, intrigued, as he points over my shoulder. I slowly turn to see Auggie across the diner, intently staring at us- jaw clenched, fingers fisted and white knuckled, eyes glowing a green flame. Across from him sits a properly cowed Tina with tear-stained cheeks.

“Oh… so wh
y didn’t you tell me she was Auggie’s sister?” I accuse.

Kieren’s face brightens and he cockily smirks. “Spanky, I was bragging about ya because I thought you were a total badass for beating the shit out of your master’s sister. I think I fell in lust w
ith you the moment you took Tina down like an injured gazelle. Now…” he sneers at me, “I think I’m taking your nickname away. It’s not so badass if you didn’t know.”

“What can I get you,” our waitress interrupts with a nasty tone.

“Coke, cheeseburger and fries,” I sweetly say and she scowls.

“Same, Leila,” Kieren bats his impossibly long eyelashes at her and she smiles back at him in adoration.

“One of yours, I presume, Stud?” I say the second she’s out of earshot.

“Nope, believe it or not,” Kieren
replies. “Not my type. So… why is Auggie irrelevant, and why does he look like someone killed his dog?”

“Auggie doesn’t have a dog,” I grunt.

Kieren snorts. “I wasn’t calling you his bitch, Willow,” he apologetically says. “What happened?”

“Somehow, with Auggie’
s Jedi mind-powers, he knew we were stoned. Auggie was waiting for me when I got home. No explanation or excuses allowed. He told me to leave, and he already had my bag packed, and it was waiting for me on the porch. Auggie wouldn’t even let me in the house. The conversation isn’t worth repeating.” More like I can’t say the words without bawling my eyes out. Clover was right, yet again. I woke up feeling scorched.

Kieren spends the next few minutes glaring at the man in question
, and looking at me with sympathy and guilt. When our food arrives I breathe a sigh of relief. Kieren’s tension was ratcheting up by the second.

“Are you going back? Where are you staying? You can stay with me. Ca
n you afford your own place?” Kieren fires off like an interrogator.

“Whoa…” I chuckle. “I went to my sister
’s. I won’t impose on you guys. Your house is packed as it is. Plus, I’m sure Auggie put word out to your dad. I can’t afford my own place, either,” I sadly admit.

“What
do you do with your money?” Kieren’s eyes scrutinize me and I know what he’s thinking. Obviously, I’m not spending it on clothes or makeup. Since all my shit fit into a backpack, I’m not spending it on stuff.

“Tuition is steep, and I refuse to take the money from my parents. Most of my income goes to school.” I shrug,
what are ya gonna do
.

“Oh, s
o you’re a smarty-pants now,” Kieren picks on me. “Are you going back?”

No need to ask, going back to where…

“Auggie hasn’t asked me to, and I doubt he ever will. But if he did, I would go back. I’ve thought of nothing else. I know it looks like I’m living off of Auggie. But I put years’ worth of rent into the remodel of the Spook House. When Auggie kicked me out… it fucking hurt. Yes, it’s Auggie’s house, but he kept telling me and Robbie that it was our home, too. Auggie didn’t mean it if something so little made him throw me out,” I say in anger and whimper beneath my breath, “Just like those three little words, he didn’t mean those either.”

“I’ll catch ya later, Kieren,” I choke out and pull a wad of ones from my front pocket, and toss the cash on the table.

“No,” Kieren whispers as he grabs my wrist. “Don’t go all girl on me now, Willow.” The concern in Kieren’s voice draws tears to my eyes, but the smirk that follows confuses the hell out of me. He cockily flashes a grin behind me, and then pierces me with his calculating gaze.

“Go out with me tonight, Spanky. If Devon’
s free, he can join us, too.” It sounds like Kieren’s speaking to me, but in reality he’s speaking to the man who just placed a possessive hand on the small of my back. It takes everything in me not to jolt at Auggie’s touch.

“We need to have another meeting, and th
is time we should play,” Kieren suggestively propositions me, but his eyes are on Auggie.

“Yeah, I think I’d like that,” seductively purrs from my throat, and Auggie’s fingers clench on my back. “We need to name our little group. It’ll give you something to do while you’re playing with your monkey wrench.”

Kieren’s warm laugh bubbles up his chest- I shiver a bit. He’s starting to sound like Malcolm. He hasn’t reached toe-curling levels yet, but he’s damn close to panty-dropping.

“I’ll
try not to strain my brain,” Kieren chuckles. “I look forward to our evening. Meet us at our house at ten tonight.”

“Will do,” I say in parting, and walk
away.

Auggie’s hand drops from my back, but it returns before I get to the diner’s front door. His large palm encompasses the nape of my neck and his fingers circle my throat. He steers me down the street toward
Revamped
.

“Auggie, your touch is highly inappropriate right now,” I warn. It’s doing crazy-bad things to my emotions. I don’t know if I want to bawl like a little bitc
h or rejoice, because clearly Auggie is wicked jealous.

“The only time I have to talk to you is between here and the shop. No way am I let
ting go. You’ll hear me out,” Auggie threatens. To punctuate his point, his fingers tighten while his other hand reaches out and grips my hip.

“I can tell that it’s eating you alive that I won’t let you control me any longer,” I gloat.

“Be careful of Kieren,” Auggie warns. “He leaves wreckage in his path.”

“Don’t overestimate him, Auggie,
” I sigh out in displeasure. “Kieren’s my friend.”

“Don’t underestimate Kieren
, Willow, and he’s not looking for a friend.”

“Don’t underestimate
me
,” I heavily stress, “Like you always do. I see Kieren clearly for the first time. I see everyone clearly for the first time- everyone… You’re blinded,” I accuse.

Auggie’s
hand draws me to an abrupt stop. I recoil on my feet. “What?”

“Blinded? And I don’t want to control you, Wil
low. I want you to be happy,” Auggie murmurs.

“You’re blinded by your view of everything, Auggie. Something tells me you were a know-it-all at eight
een, as you are at twenty-eight. But how much growth has you done in that time frame. I think you’ve blinded yourself. You sure as hell don’t see me clearly,” I hiss.

I shock Auggie
by breaking his hold. While he stands in stunned silence- speechless- I walk back to work.

~Chapter Thirty-Three~

“Let’s do a game night tonight,” Robbie excitedly says, and it twists the knife in my back- grinds that fucker in deep. “Isis and Malcolm are coming over. We could play Euchre. I call dibs on you being my partner. Auggie can find his own- brothers come first.” Robbie grins at me.

“I can’t. I ha
ve plans with my friends,” I sadly mutter. I’m not sad that I’m hanging with my friends. Hell, I’m thrilled that I can finally say that I have friends, let alone say I’m hanging with them. I’m sad because I’d love to combine all of us and play a tournament, but I’m not allowed in the house where the games are being played. My age group would totally kick those old fogies’ asses.

“Malcolm can bring his kids,” Robbie whines.

“I have class tonight. We aren’t meeting up until later,” I say to dissuade him.

“Great! We’ll do it afterwar
ds,” Robbie cheerily says.

Auggie’s hawk-like stare drinks in our interaction. I’ve painted myself into a corner and th
ere is only one way out of it. “I can’t,” I hiss. The venom in my voice causes my brother to flinch.

“Jesus, Willow,” Robbie sounds hurt. “I just want to spend some time with my sister. Is that too much to ask?”

In the face of Robbie’s guilt, the only weapon at my disposal is the truth. “I want to spend time with you, Robbie. You can come out with us tonight, if you’d like. I’ve been banished. I can’t go to the Spook House,” I mumble under my breath.

“What?” Robbie
says, leaning closer to me. “It’s your home, how can you
not
go there?”

“Willow,” Auggie’s tortured voice fills
Revamped
.

“I-” the front door smashes against the wall, silencing whatever was going to spill from my mouth. The bell no longer
dings, because it falls to the ground- broken.

“Augustus, you motherfucker!” Devon scre
ams, charging across the shop. Devon’s blue eyes are furious. His chest rapidly rises and falls underneath his uniform. I haven’t seen Devon since he ran away last night. My breath catches in my throat. Devon finally looks like Officer Mason- he’s aged years over night, and he’s wicked pissed, if not a little frightening.

“Ugh,” Auggie grunts as a fist connects with his jaw. His dazed expression screams that Devon’s training was well paid for. “What the hell?”

“Devon!” Robbie calls, and yanks him back. “What the hell?”

“How could you do that to Willow
, you arrogant bastard? How?” Devon screams into Auggie’s face. “If anyone needs to grow up, it’s you!”

“Devon,
please don’t,” I beg. “It’s Auggie’s prerogative. I shouldn’t have told Kieren.”

“Auggie’
s prerogative, really? Did he even let you explain?” Devon pulls himself away from my brother and yanks his shirt back into place with the flick of his wrists.

“What’s going on?” Robbie calmly asks.

“I broke one of Auggie’s rules. A rule that he offers no second chances on, and I accept that. I’d do it again, even after knowing the consequences. Last night I came home after smoking with Devon and Kieren, and as a result, Auggie kicked me out of the Spook House. I accept responsibility for my actions.”

I can’t look at my brother’s crest-fallen expression. I busy myself righting my stool, from where it fell sideways during the commotion, and I shut my laptop down. It looks like I won’t be getting any work done today. 

“How could you do this to Willow, and just because of some pot?” Robbie says, alarmed. “She grew up in an environment where it was the daily norm. What’s the big fucking deal?”

“Did you
even let Willow explain? Did she tell you why we did it?” Devon’s shaky voice breaks on a whimper.

“This conversation is over. It has nothing to do with anyone but Auggie and me. It’s his house and he has the right to decide who lives there.” I try to calm the situation.

Auggie sits on the floor where Devon’s punch dropped him. A panicked expression mars his face, his eyes rapidly dart from person to person. Devon and Robbie take my lead when I sit back on my stool. They fall into the nearest seats they can find.

“Where are you staying?” Robbie whispers.

“Clover’s,” I reply, and at the same time Auggie says, “At home, our home.”

“Don’t,” I exhaustedly warn Auggie
.

“You’re coming home. I’ve regretted it since the moment the words flew out of my mouth. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to fix this without looking like a sniveling coward. I was jealous
and scared, and I acted without thought. I’d apologize, but you already said it wouldn’t do any good.”

“What do you have to be jealous over?” Devon voice screams that he’s the one that should be jealous of Auggie, not the other way around.

“You- Kieren, you and Kieren. No matter what I do, I’ll look like a prick trying to control Willow. My hands are tied. Willow and I can’t be friends, and we can’t be lovers- not while I’m her boss and master.”

“You’re a stupid fucker, you know that, Auggie?” Devon humorlessly laughs. “It’s you who’s holding
back on all of that. I see Willow bonding with my brother, but I’m not jealous. I hate admitting this, but I was ecstatic when Ren told me what you did. I thought to myself, it’s about time that Willow sees Auggie for the immature bastard that he is. A second later, I felt bad, especially when Kieren said that you made her cry. That’s what propelled me to punch you in your smug fucking face.”

“You think I don’t know I’
m a worthless piece of shit? Willow’s too good for me. She deserves a life like Clover and Sam had- you saw what this kind of life did to your mother. Do you want that for Willow? I can’t give her that life, Kieren can’t give her that life, but you can.”