Toxic Bad Boy (20 page)

Whistling loudly enough
for her to hear, I opened the first door after hers. It was a
bedroom filled with boxes, so I closed it to try the next, a
closet. Across the hall from it was an open door showing a
bathroom. At the end of the hallway the door opened to a spacious
master bedroom.

Her dad obviously favored
the color green. I went into the walk-in closet and grabbed one of
his belts from the row of hooks. Jeez, the man had dozens of ties
alone.

Back at Gianna’s door, I
inserted the pointy part of the belt buckle into the tiny hole in
the doorknob, pushing away the dirty metaphor which came to
mind.

As I rattled it, waiting
for a
click
,
Gianna yelled from the other side, “Don’t you dare, Caleb!” The
eventual clicking sound coincided with my name.

Her room was decorated in
yellows and blues. It was obviously the room of the princess of the
house with the fancy-ass furniture, a canopy bed and set of ornate
dressers and night stands. She sat cross-legged in the middle of
her enormous bed, her expression supremely unhappy.

“
Where’s Chance’s room?” I
asked.

Her face relaxed
marginally at the mention of her brother. “Down the opposite
hallway.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Your
dad makes good money cutting up peoples’ bodies, huh?”

Blue eyes narrowed. “He
has a trust fund.”

Wow, no wonder Julie got
knocked up in high school. She’d made bank out of the divorce from
my dad, also. A thought struck me. “Do you have one?”

“
A trust fund?” she asked
warily.

“
Yeah.”

“
Yes, a smaller one, but I
don’t get it until I’m twenty-eight. Too bad, it could’ve come in
handy when I move to Australia next year.”

I sat on the bed, causing
her to edge away. “We’re moving to Australia?”

“
You’re staying her
and
moving on
!”

“
But you love me,” I said
calmly, reaching out to play with a strand of her hair. “Soft. Take
out the ponytail.”

She jerked away, scooting
off the bed. “I can’t do this with you, Caleb.”

“
Do what?”

“
You know,” she said
stubbornly.

“
You’ll have to explain it
to me. So far you’ve confused the shit out of me with your lying
and games. You look beautiful, by the way.”

“
Shut up!” She made for
the door, probably to find a room with a better lock.

“
Are you my girl,
Gianna?”

Her feet stopped walking
away, her head turned to the side so I could see her profile. “Not
anymore.”

“
Don’t listen to your
head, listen to your heart. Are you my girl?”

She faced me, her
expression tortured. “I can’t be your girlfriend,
Caleb.”

“
Sure you can. Come here
and be my girlfriend.”

Her head shook in panic,
blue eyes pleading. “I can’t be with you.”

“
You’re with me right
now.”

“
No, Caleb, I can’t
be
with you.”

After a moment,
understanding hit me. “You’re talking about sex.”

“
Yeah,” she choked
out.

I’d had enough. I went to
get my girl. Leading her to the bed with no resistance, I sat her
on the end of it next to me, the least threatening spot.
Tentatively, I brought my palms up to hold the prettiest face I’d
ever seen. “I’ll take you any way I can get you,
princess.”

Amusement entered her eyes
and I guessed why.

“
You didn’t tell me your
dad called you that.” Waving a hand at the ridiculously majestic
room, I continued, “You’ll have to tell him you’re no longer his
princess. You belong to me now.”

“
He’ll kick your
ass.”

“
He can try.” I rubbed a
thumb over pink lips. “You shouldn’t have lied to me.”

Salty tears welled,
changing the blue into an ocean of pain. She covered my hand with
one of hers. “I can’t be what you need, Caleb.”

Her lips hesitantly
meeting mine was a personal miracle. “Sex or blue balls, you’re
still my girl.”

“
Caleb!” Her cheeks
blushed, making her skin go redder combined the previous crying.
“Do you have to be such a pervert?”

“
That probably won’t ever
change.”

She rubbed her cheek
against my palm, seeking a deeper touch. “Caleb, I’m scared of it.
I think I’d freak out.”

It made sense. I’d read
about it in a couple of psychology texts and discussed it with Dr.
Adler during our sessions. She’d reiterated what the books had,
that women could become averse to being intimate after a sexual
assault.

“
Are you still attracted
to me?” I asked her.

Her eyes widened before
she made a face. “It’d be hard not to be. You’re hot,
Caleb.”

I laughed, bringing her
head against my chest. “Good to hear. I’ve been celibate for eight
and a half months, Gianna. I can wait a while longer.”

“
How much longer?” she
asked, tilting her head back to look up at me. “Wait! You’ve been
celibate? I thought you had sex with that chick at the
party.”

Thank fuck I
hadn’t.

“
No, I couldn’t go through
with it. My dick was feeling it, but my heart,”
and stomach
, “protested.” I wouldn’t
mention the fact that puking my guts out had been what stopped my
drunk ass.

And I wouldn’t tell her
about Norah yet. Things had gone a bit farther with Norah and I’d
just got my girl back.

She slapped my chest.
“Dammit, Caleb! You’re not supposed to tell me your stupid dick was
into some other girl!”

“
First off, don’t ever
call it stupid, you’ll hurt its feelings. And second, I was wasted
and horny after eight months imprisoned. Let’s not forget I
couldn’t go through with it because my heart belongs to you, little
liar.”

Her eyes dropped to my
chin. “Are you mad at me?”

“
Hell yeah, but I’m also
happy to have you back. I can be mad later.” I jostled her in my
arms. “Now tell me you’re my girl.”

She giggled through
saying, “I’m your girl.”

“
Tell me you love me,” I
ordered.

Her laughter stopped and
her fingers stroked my face. “I love you, Caleb.”

“
Good, now erase Gage from
the contacts on your phone.” I pulled her cell from my pocket,
handing it over.

“
Gage is my friend,” she
said sternly. “Besides, I think you’ll like him once you really get
to know him.”

“
I won’t be able to resist
kicking his ass again next time I see him.”

“
You’re not allowed to
kick my friends’ asses, Caleb.”

“
Well, not in front of
you,” I teased. “And to answer your earlier question, I’ll wait as
long as it takes.”

“
What if it’s eight more
months?” she asked in all seriousness.

I managed not to wince.
“Eight years if that’s what it takes.”

She grinned. “It won’t be
that long.”

“
Thank fuck,” I muttered.
“Now since it won’t be sex, what are you going to do to make it up
to me?”

Her shy smile only had me
wanting to do nasty things to her more. “Cuddle and watch a
movie.”

Keeping my face blank, I
said, “It’s a start.”

*****

You haven’t
called.

The text message was
expected, but also unwanted

Is it because we didn’t
have sex?

Her second text was just
ridiculous. I’d been the one who backed off from actual
screwing.

If I was going to make it
clear things were over before they’d begun, I would do it face to
face. Only wimps broke up with a chick over the phone or through a
typed message.

Which was why I’d stopped
by the gallery.

Approaching the entrance,
I saw her through the window. She wore another of her skintight
dresses, this time in white. Her glossy brown hair hung loose in a
dark wave down her back.

The bell on the door
chimed as I stepped inside. She looked over, smiling when she saw
it was me and said something to the customer studying a
painting.

Her walk was pure sex and
I was actually surprised when it produced zero response in me.
Seemed like my dick wasn’t into it anymore. I always knew it wasn’t
stupid.

“
Caleb!” She grinned,
reaching out to brush her fingers along my arm. “I would kiss you,
but I’m at work.”

Not returning her
greeting, I scanned what I could see of the gallery. Another
potential customer, an older woman, browsed in the back.

“
Do you have a break
soon?”

She glanced down at the
delicate watch on her wrist. “Twenty minutes until my lunch
break.”

“
There’s a cafe a block
over,” I suggested.

“
Wildflower
Cafe?”

“
Yeah, meet me there?” I
asked, dreading it but wanting her to hurry so I could get it over
with.

Her excited expression
fell, finally realizing I wasn’t quite as happy to see her as she
was me. “Okay.” Despite her assertion of professionalism from a
couple minutes ago, she came in for a kiss. I swerved, pecking her
on the cheek and turning on my heel.

If it had been Gianna I
waited for, I would’ve ordered a sandwich for her so it’d be ready
and she’d have more time to eat. I definitely wasn’t ordering
anything but the cup of coffee I drank. It was unlikely this would
go well and I’d planned for a hasty retreat. At least I’d been
polite enough to order her coffee. Hopefully she refrained from
throwing the hot beverage on my lap.

The door of the cafe also
had a bell on it. It dinged as Norah entered, her face expectant.
“Did you order yet?”

“
I was waiting for you,” I
replied calmly, setting down my cup.

Relief seeped into her
eyes. “Aren’t you going to kiss me now?” She hadn’t sat down,
instead standing there stubbornly.

I felt like a jerk doing
this, but it was one date and most chicks would’ve let it go when
the guy hadn’t called for the entire week afterward. “We need to
talk.”

“
Great,” she muttered, her
expression becoming pouty as she lowered herself into the metal
chair.

“
I got back together with
my ex,” I informed her as nicely as possible for a guy like
me.

She snapped forward and a
hissing sound escaped her mouth. I recoiled on instinct, expecting
her to shoot venom into me with her fangs. “You didn’t say anything
about a girlfriend.”

“
Why would I? We were
broken up.”

“
And you were on the
rebound? You couldn’t have been together long, you just got out of
juvie.”

“
We’ve been together since
last fall. We only broke up for two weeks,” I defended. Normally
I’d tell a chick to fuck off, but I felt mildly bad at messing
around with Norah when she’d been expecting more.

“
You led me on, made me
think we had a connection.”

“
The only connection we
had was my fingers inside you.” The words were harsh, but this girl
was freaking out on me after
one
date
.

“
You wanted me,” she
asserted, her face becoming softer. “You were aroused.”

I leaned back, spreading
my legs casually. “Any hot chick can give a guy a hard
on.”

Her face expressed concern
I wasn’t buying. “If you and your girlfriend broke up, don’t you
think it was for a reason?”

A perfectly good reason,
my girlfriend had been assaulted and was more than a little
hesitant at resuming our intimate relationship. But that was none
of Norah’s fucking business.

“
We’re solid, me and my
girl. No worries.”

“
You love her?” she asked,
fidgeting in her seat as she glanced away.

“
She’s the only girl I’ll
ever love.”

Green eyes flashed fury
and envy. “Lucky girl,” she snapped sarcastically.

This particular situation
was new to me, not brushing off a girl, but telling one that I
loved another. “I’m sorry if you were hurt.”

It was hard to tell if her
tears were from anger or anguish. We barely knew each other, so
feeling anything other than anger would be ridiculous.

“
I really like you. What’s
so special about this girl?”

Holy hell, she had to be
delusion.

One date!

“
Do you really want me to
answer that?” At her nod, I reluctantly explained vaguely,
“Everything is special about her.”

“
What’s her name?” she cut
in.

“
You know what? I’m not
doing this.” No way was I giving Norah my girlfriend’s name. This
chick was borderline delusional. I got to my feet with the
intention of leaving.