Brittney smiled. "Tell her what?"
Lawton bared his teeth. "You tell her right now why you're here, or the deal's off. Got it?"
She lifted a bare shoulder. "Whatever you say."
"And for God's sake," Lawton said, "put on some fucking clothes, will ya?"
Her lips formed a pout. "But they're dirty," she said. "And besides, it took herforeverto get here."
I was shaking. This was a bad dream. It had to be. Except, in my nightmares, it was usuallymein my underwear – standing at some bus stop, or maybe in the mall. That was nothing compared to this.
Lawton gave Brittney a warning look. "You've got five seconds," he told her.
"Oh alright. Fine." She looked to the ceiling and mumbled, "I'm here to apologize."
"In your underwear?" I said. "Yeah. Nice story."
"Brittney," Lawton said in a low warning tone, "you can do better than that."
Already I had heard enough. I'd seen enough too. More than enough actually. Brittney went for the clean-shaven look. All over.
"Don't bother." I gave Brittney the most dismissive look I could muster before turning away. "I don't want your apology."
"Wait," Brittney said.
Against my better judgment, I turned around.
She turned to Lawton. "If she doesn'twantme to apologize, our deal still counts, right? I mean, because I tried. And she said 'no.' You saw that, right?"
Oh, that was rich. Suddenly I didn't care if she was nearly naked or wearing a clown suit. I wanted an apology, and I wanted it now.
Chapter 20
I pushed past Lawton and stormed into the house. I stopped in front of Brittney. "On second thought," I said, "I'd just love an apology." I crossed my arms. "And I sure hope it's a good one. Because unlike some people, I've got standards."
Her lips pursed. "Hey, I've got standards too."
"Yeah, except yours are too low to measure." I turned to Lawton. "A few hours ago, wanna know what I caught her doing?" My voice rose. "Boning my boss in the back seat of his car."
"Hey!" Brittney said. "We weren't boning. We were doing other stuff."
"Whatever." I turned back to Lawton. "So for your sake, I hope you wore a damn condom." I made a hard, scoffing sound. "You know what? On second thought, I hope you didn't. Because you deserve whatever this skank gives you."
Lawton's face crumpled. "Baby." With two long strides, he closed the distance between us. He reached for my hand. "I didn't wear anything."
I snatched my hand away. "How nice for you."
"Because," he said, "I didn't have to. She's only here for one thing."
Yeah, and it was pretty obvious whatthatwas. "Exactly," I said.
"Not that." He turned toward Brittney. "She's here," he said, speaking very slowly and clearly, "to tell you how very,verysorry she is."
"In her underpants?" I said. "Do I look stupid to you?"
With a muttered curse, Lawton strode over to the front closet. He reached to the top shelf and pulled out a navy stadium blanket. He hurled it at Brittney. She didn't move to catch it. The blanket hit her torso and slid to the floor.
"Cover up," he said. "Or get out. Your choice."
