I wasn't a surgeon, a CEO, or even a billionaire bad-ass like the guy standing in front of me. I was just the house-sitter. Not that Lawton knew that.
Maybe he'd never know that. And that was fine with me. Because if I were truly honest with myself, I didn't want him to be missing some temporary house-sitter with barely a penny to her name. I wanted him to miss the girl hethoughtI was.
I didn't want his pity, and I sure as hell didn't want his charity. I wanted him to eat his heart out.
It was totally messed up. I knew that. With our relationship ending, it shouldn't matter, but somehow, it did. It mattered a lot.
Chapter 18
Standing at his front entryway, the silence stretched out. He glanced again at the empty driveway. His mouth tightened. "You should've called me."
"Yeah?" I said. "Well, maybe I didn't want to owe you a favor."
"You wouldn't haveowedme anything."
"Yeah, right."
I knew exactly how these things went. He'd rescue me with a ride, and I'd feel obligated to be nice to him. I didn't want to be nice to him.
He looked toward the street. "So you walked here? Alone?"
"Why not?" I said. "I've done it before. Besides, I'm just on the other side of your fence."
He gave me a dubious look. "So you climbed it. That's what you're saying?" From the tone of his voice, it was pretty obvious he knew the answer to that.
"No. Of course not."
His so-called fence was twice my height and made of iron. It practically had spikes all along the top. I'd be stupid to gothatway. Besides, I'd already tried that once. It didn't work out so well.
In front of me, he was still giving me that look. "So you took the long way. By sidewalk."
"Well, I didn't fly here," I said, "if that's what you're wondering."
"It's a fifteen-minute walk," he said.
"So?"
"So it's the middle of the night."
"No. It's early morning."
His jaw tightened. "So youwantsomething bad to happen to you? Is that it?"
I forced out a laugh. "What do you consider bad? Because it seems to me that something bad can happen just about anywhere, anytime." I shrugged. "Driveways, parking lots—" I gave him a look. "Basements."
He briefly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, there was a glassy quality that hadn't been there before. "You should've called me," he said. "Chloe, I'm serious. Don't do that again, alright?"
"Look," I said. "You were the one who forced me to come here."
"Forced you?"
"Cornered me. Whatever." I crossed my arms. "So here I am. How I got here isn't all that important."
"It is to me."
"Yeah? Well, from now on that's your problem, not mine."
My words hung in the air. His lips parted, but he said nothing. The look in his eyes made me feel about two inches tall.