"No," he said. "I don't see."
"But it was just a joke," she said. "I don't get why everyone's freaking out about it." She adjusted the blanket and gave a dramatic sigh. "But just because you asked, I apologized anyway. So are we good now or what?"
I turned to Lawton. "So this wasyouridea?"
He pushed a hand through his hair. "Yeah, but—" He gave Brittney a hard look. "It was supposed to go a lot better."
Brittney threw back the blanket, and tapped her bare foot against the floor. She gave me a half-hearted look. "So you do accept my apology or what?"
"Hell no," I said. "That was the worst apology, ever."
"Hey, it was my first one," she said. "I thought I did pretty good." She turned to Lawton. "Didn't I?"
He crossed his arms. "No."
Staring at her, I felt my gaze narrow. "Just how long have you been here, anyway?"
She hesitated a split second before giving Lawton a long smoldering look. "Hard to say. We kind of lost track."
"That's it," he told her. "Get out."
"But I'm not dressed!" Brittney said.
"Whatever. Keep the blanket. Just get out."
"But I don't have my car," she whined.
Lawton reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a cell phone. He tapped out a quick message, and barely a moment later, there was a knock at the front door. Lawton strode toward it and flung it open. A uniformed driver stood at the ready.
"Take her wherever," Lawton said.
The driver glanced in my direction. "Yes sir."
"Nother," Lawton said. He pointed toward Brittney. "Her."
Oh God, how humiliating was this? He literally had so many girls, the driver was losing track.
"Of course," the driver said with a surprisingly straight face.
With Brittney protesting all the way, the driver hustled her, blanket and all, outside into a dark SUV. Lawton and I watched silently as it pulled down the drive and out the front gate.
From somewhere upstairs, I heard a male voice say, "Well, that went good."
Chapter 21
I glanced up and spotted Lawton's brother, lounging against the bannister. He wore dark sweatpants and no shirt, revealing a torso that might've made my mouth water if I were some other girl in some other place. His short, dark hair was mussed, like he'd just crawled out of bed.
I gave him a dirty look. "Eavesdropping again?"
"No. Trying to sleep." Absently, he scratched his lean stomach. "For all the good it did."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, I'm soooo sorry if we ruined your beauty sleep."
Looking up the stairway, Lawton's eyebrows furrowed. "This is a private conversation," he said.
"Private, your ass," Bishop said. "Bet half the neighborhood heard."
"Fuck off," Lawton said, and then glanced quickly at me. "Sorry."
