I didn't believe it for one minute, but it was no use arguing. "We're getting off track," I said. "You never answered my question."
"Which one?"
"Why didn't you invite me to your party? And I want the truth, even if you think it's something I don't want to hear."
"Alright," he said. "I figured you'd bring someone."
"What?"
"Yeah." His voice was quiet. "And I didn't want to see it, still don't want to see it."
"Someone?" I said. "Like a date?"
"Date, boyfriend, whatever."
I stared at him. "I don't have a boyfriend. And the only person I've been dating is, well –" I shrugged. "No one. Not really." I'd almost said I was dating Lawton. Obviously, that wasn't quite the case.
"Uh-huh," Lawton said.
"Are you calling me a liar?"
"I don't know what I'm calling you." He glanced away. "You know what? Just forget it."
"Forget it?" I said. "Is that what you want?"
"Yeah," he said, "that's why I'm hanging outside your place like some kind of idiot."
"I don't get it." I shook my head. "Until last night, I thought we were just friends. I didn't realize you even thought of me that way."
He gave me a dubious look. "You're kidding, right?"
I gave it some thought. I wasn't stupid. I'd seen signs of his interest. But for all I knew, he treated every girl that way. "I don't know," I admitted.
"Do you know how many times, walking with you, I've wanted to reach out and touch you?" he said. "Wanted to see you look at me the way I feel like looking at you? So yeah, I could've invited you to the party, but then, I'd have wondered who you'd show up with. Because I knew if you brought him –" He shook his head. "It wouldn't end good."
"For the last time," I said, "there is no him."
"Then who do you live with?" he asked.
I didn't answer.
His jaw tightened. "Some guy?" He said "some guy" like it was a dirty word.
"I don’t live with anyone," I said. "Not really."
"Is he out of town or something?"
I felt myself still. The answer was complicated. I didn't want to lie to him. But stubbornly, maybe stupidly, I couldn't simply dismiss my confidentiality agreement with the Parkers. Lawton's brother had already broken into their house once, and I wasn't eager for a repeat performance.
Would the guy really break in a second time? The odds were infinitely greater if he knew the owners were out of town. And what was their side venture? If it was some sort of robbery ring, I'd be incredibly negligent to advertise the fact I was just some house sitter posing as something more.
In spite of Lawton's oh-so-pretty words, I knew very little about him. And what Ididknow was a mixed bag at best. I was falling for him. I was falling for him hard. And the way he talked, he might feel the same way. But that's all it was. Talk. For all I knew, he'd told Brittney the same things just before he got her naked too.
I didn't want to think so. But I'd be foolish to dismiss it out of hand.
Maybe Bishop was right about one thing at least. Maybe it all came down to my pulse. I had one, so Lawton wanted me, maybe more so because he thought I was off-limits.
"I'm waiting," Lawton said.
