“That your male?”Roan asked, his voice tight.
She turned to look at him.“My male?”she asked slowly.
“Your boyfriend,” Rafe quickly corrected.“Lover?”
Lola choked as she attempted to swallow.“What?No.”Lola suddenly felt the urge to get as far away from not just Antonio– Spikey and Green-Haired Guy, but Roan and Rafe, and NNP– for that matter.She wanted to hide in her room and escape into a book, pretend weird things hadn’t invaded her life.No matter how curious it all made her.Her idea of adventure hadn’t included bodyguards, sex traffickers, and an Italian guy who couldn’t take a hint and had freaking kissed her in front of customers without her permission.She was so going to kill Antonio.Or Katy would maim the hell out of him, then tell Sal, who probably would kill his son.He might want Antonio and her together, but he wouldn’t put up with his son taking liberties that weren’t his to take.
“Okay, I’m going to put your order in, and I’ll grab your drinks,” she said.Quickly turning away, she walked as if her ass was on fire and she needed to find some water to sit in like yesterday.
“Did I just see Antonio kiss you?”Katy hissed as soon as Lola reached the counter.
“Yes, and I’m going to murder him, so plan to see me in prison and bring me books,” Lola said as she headed for the break room.“Sal, I need a large No Name Meat Explosion,” she called out.As she began to take her apron off.
“What are you doing?”Katy and Maddie asked at the same time.She hadn’t realized they’d both followed her.
“I’m seriously not feeling good, and in the spirit of honesty so Katy doesn’t lose her shit, I just need to get away from here.”
“Did those guys do something?”Maddie asked, her spine stiffening.
Lola grabbed her arm.She needed to keep her friend from running at Roan and Rafe with who knows what intentions.“No.They didn’t do anything other than inform me that Katy suspicions were freakishly accurate.I mean what the hell, Katy?”
Her friend's eyes widened.“They are in a gang?”
“Do you have some sort of psychic ability that you’ve nevertold usabout?”Lola asked, her voice sounding unfairly accusing.Of course, Katy wasn’t a psychic.Lola didn’t even believe in such a thing.
“I was just blowing smoke,” Katy said.“In what freakish universe would I be even remotely close at something like that?”
“Stranger things have happened,” Lola said as she thought about the things she’d seen.It was all too much.“Can y’all cover for me?I’m sorry,” she said as she grabbed her bag.“I just, I don’t know.But I can’t be here right now.”
“We get it,” Maddie said and gave her a hug.“Should you walk home alone?”
“It’s the middle of the day,” Lola pointed out.“And those other guys said they’re bodyguards and have been keeping an eye on those other guys.Just tell them I don’t feel well and I’m headed home.I have a feeling they’ll make sure Spikey Spiky and Green Hair don’t leave and follow me.”Roan and Rafe gave off some serious ‘we will take you down’ vibes and seemed sincerely worried about her.Why?Other than just maybe they were those type of guys who really did want to remove bad guys who posed a threat to anyone, not just Lola.
“We got you,” Katy told her.“But call us the minute you get home.”
Lola nodded.“I will.”
“I will hunt you down if you don’t, Lola Katz,” her feisty friend warned.“Don’t make me come after you.”
Maddie shoved their friend.“Dude, she’s already got people after her.She doesn’t need you on that list.”
Katy looked at her.“I’m not hunting her down to make her my sex slave.No matter how hot she is.Even I have morals.”
Lola rolled her eyes.Leave it to Katy to attempt to make the intense situation a little less stressed.“I’ll be fine and I’ll text.”She grabbed her bag and went out the back door so she wouldn’t have to see the four guys weirdly interested in her.Seriously, she was nobody.Yet she had a stalker, a gang of freaks and two bodyguards, suddenly very interested in her.Maybe she shouldn’t have wished for excitement in her life?
“Love you guys, thank you.”
“You know you don’t have to thank us,” Maddie called back.
“Just don’t get your fine ass abducted,” Katy added.
“On it,” Lola said as she pushed the door open and headed out into the noonday heat.
Lola made it two blocks when two forms stepped out in front of her causing her to stumble back in order to keep from running into them.It was Spiky and Green Hair.Her heartbeat sped up as Roan and Rafe’s words ran through her head like a news alert.In her mind’s eye, she saw her face hanging up on one of those cork boards with all the missing people, her eyes vacant and her hair a mess.Why did those pictures always make the missing people look like it was their mugshot, even if they’d never had a mugshot taken?
“Can we have a word with you?”Spiky asked in his stupid, British accent.Stupid because it was still attractive.Focus, Lola.
“Considering you’ve nearly knocked me over in order to do so, I kind of get the feeling I don’t have a choice in the matter,” she answered honestly.
