By now, I wasn't the only one glaring at him. "No," Lawton told him. "You aresucha dick. You know that?"
The guy shrugged. "Pretty much."
Lawton returned his gaze to me. "Now c'mon, tell us what happened."
"Nothing," I said. "It's fine. It's just –" I lifted my hand in a vague gesture. "It's just all really stupid." I glanced toward the guy who stood nearby, looking off toward the Parkers' with a cool, calculating gaze, as if searching for something there that didn't quite belong.
I knew what didn't belong. Me.
I glanced at Lawton, and then back at the stranger, wishing he'd go away.
He didn't.
"Don't pay any attention to him," Lawton said, squeezing my hand. His voice was very calm, with a barely concealed edge I'd never heard before. "You running from someone?" He glanced toward the Parkers'. "Someone in the house?" His voice darkened. "Want us to take care of it?"
I shook my head, almost wishing therewassome kind of intruder in the house. At least then I wouldn't feel like such an idiot. "No," I mumbled. "It's nothing like that."
His voice was eerily quiet as he said, "A boyfriend, then?" His trip tightened. "He hurt you?"
"God no," I said.
"Hey, Lawton," the other guy said. "Maybe instead of interrogating her, you could bring her inside, hose her off or something."
I turned to give the guy another dirty look. "Hose me off? Seriously?"
"Forget him," Lawton said, releasing my hand and reaching out with both arms. "Now c'mon, let's get you inside."
"No!" I shrunk back. Since he'd miraculously shown up outside, maybe I didn't need to go to his house. Not anymore. Not when I knew who was probably inside. My stomach clenched. Brittney and Amber, and who knows how many other people. Maybe even all girls.
Lawton stopped in mid-reach. "No?"
"I mean, thanks. But –" I bit my lip, considering the whole mess. Just inside his property line, we were a long ways from his actual house, and the view of the mansion was mostly blocked by shrubbery, so it's not like I had any real way of knowing what was going on up there.
"But what?" he asked.
I glanced toward the house, seeing nothing but greenery, but envisioning throngs of people and a driveway packed with cars. What if Brittneywerethere? God, the humiliation. I couldn’t stand it, now that I had another option. "I can't."
His gaze was troubled. "You sure?"
I nodded. "Maybe we could just sit in your car or something?"
He stared at me. "My car?"
"Yeah," I said. "Itdoeshave heat, right?"
"Um, yeah?" he said.
"And then," I said, "you could just give me a ride. See? Problem solved."
"A ride?" His eyebrows furrowed. "Where?"
"Um, well, I'm not sure yet."
Gently, he reached a hand to my face. His skin felt warm, and I couldn't stop myself from leaning into him, at least a little. His hand felt nice.Sonice. What would the rest of him feel like?
"How's your head?" he asked. "You bump it on the way down?"
"What?" I pulled back. "No. Of course not." I glanced toward the house. "It's just that, well, you probably have people over, and – "
