"Hard-ass," I said. "Fine. Here's my guess. You fix things."
He raised his eyebrows. "Like cars?"
"Oh shut up. You know what I mean. You right wrongs."
"Interesting theory."
"It's more than a theory," I said. "Look what happened with me and those two guys in ski masks. You and Bishop, you did to themexactlywhat they were gonna do to me." I bit my lip. "Well, I guess not exactly, since you beat them up too, but I'm thinking that's mostly incidental."
"Mostly incidental, huh? Where have I heard that before?"
"Stop distracting me," I said. "Am I close?"
"Keep going," he said.
"Alright," I said. "So then with the Parkers, they were trying to getmein trouble for the things they did. But the way you worked it out, they're not just on the hook for all that money, but also for beating up a couple of their enforcers."
"Since when," Lawton said with a grin, "do you talk about enforcers?"
"Since I started hanging out with the likes of you."
"So you're saying I'm a bad influence."
"Definitely." I edged up to lean my forehead against his. "Am I right?"
"Ask me in three months," he said.
"Why? What happens in three months?"
"You'll see."
Chapter 72
Until things settled down, Lawton insisted on driving me back and forth to work. Just as well, given the sorry state of my car, which now had its own place in Lawton's massive garage.
He offered to buy me a new car, and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that the offer was tempting. But I still didn't want to be that girl, bought and paid for, no matter how crazy in love I was, or him with me.
As for Chucky, he wasmydog now, and no one was going to tell me differently. Somehow, Lawton had magically acquired papers to prove it, even if he wouldn't say exactly how he'd made that possible.
Chucky loved hanging out at Lawton's place, and Lawton seemed to love having him there. So that's where we were staying, except of course, for when I was visiting Grandma and Josh or waitressing.
Work was getting crazier every day. The flu had passed, and we were once again fully staffed. For me, this meant shorter shifts on the worst nights. Shaggy was there practically every night, standing there with his stupid cell phone as if waiting to catch me and Lawton getting naked in a corner booth.
When I confronted him about that story he told me – about producing that infamous sex tape – he said, "I didn't lie. You just assumed."
"Yeah, I notice you didn't correct me," I said.
He shrugged. "You can't blame a guy for trying."
Oh yes I could. But still, he haunted my shifts like some kind of paparazzi poltergeist. After a while, I sort of got used to him, mostly because he irked the snot out of Keith, who hated to be filmed while pretending to work.
Exactly ten days after Thanksgiving, I was nearing the end of a six-hour shift when I saw Amber near the waitress stand. Looking around, she was busily tapping her foot like she'd been kept waiting a lot longer than necessary.
As usual, she looked like a million bucks. Her long blonde hair was loose and sleek over her shoulders, and she wore an expensive-looking silvery cocktail dress that fell in stylish folds just above her matching silver pumps. All in all, she looked way overdressed for dinner just about anywhere that didn't offer valet parking.
I kept my head down and rushed past her, eager to avoid whatever it was that brought her here.
"Chloe!" she called. "There you are!"
