She would give up on him. She’d figure out what she was up against and leave him alone. It was what everyone did when they saw his true colors.
Then again, she hadn’t given up on Anthony, and he’d been gone for years. She even said there’d been no trace of him.
“I’ll tell you what. How about I get a real job, and you forget about Anthony?”
That got her attention. She studied his face as if looking for deception before turning back to her food. “I’m not going to forget Anthony.”
Zach stabbed a link sausage on his plate with as much force as the fork would allow. “Why not? Lauren, he’s a loser. He’s gone.”
“Because he saved me.”
“Okay, well consider yourself saved again. Don’t go after him.”
She dropped her fork, letting it clatter to the plate with a tinkling metallic sound. “You don’t get it. He protected me every day. He put himself between me and danger over and over again. I can’t forget that.”
Zach mumbled a curse and brushed a hand over his head. If the tone of her voice said anything whenshe talked about Anthony, it was that she was nowhere near ready to let go. “He’s changed.”
“No. He hasn’t. He’s still the same boy who took the beatings meant for me. He saved his food so I could eat. He’s the one who kept us together when we got shuffled from one foster family to another. He made sure I was hidden whenever my dad wanted something to punch.” Her voice lowered like the calm after a storm as she whispered, “He took every hit that should have been mine.”
Zach froze. The perfect woman sitting in front of him wasn’t perfect. His chest caved in as he pictured a little girl, abused by a man like his dad. She wasn’t an untouchable angel. The devil had already laid his hands on her.
He cursed again and balled his hand into a fist. She wasn’t going to let the guy go. There were too many feelings involved, and she wasn’t interested in hearing the truth. “Fine. It’s your life, not mine.”
She ate in silence, and the itching beneath Zach’s skin reached a crescendo. Why was she so stubborn? She was going to get herself killed if she didn’t let it go, and all he’d done to save her that night would be for nothing.
When the waitress placed the check on the table, Lauren reached for it.
“I can pay for my own breakfast,” he said, reaching for the paper.
She pulled it just out of his reach. “Forget it. You’reabout to be working for me. Consider it an extra twenty minutes of labor.”
He leaned back against the seat. She’d given him a logical out, but it wasn’t enough. He did have the money to buy a plate of bacon and eggs, but that one transaction would wipe him out. Depending on Lauren wasn’t an option. If he had to get a job just so he could get out from under the debt he owed her, he’d do it.
The rest of the drive to Blackwater was silent. Neither of them reached for the radio or spoke a word. He was right. She wasn’t his friend. She was his landlord. He was indebted to her, and the realization made him want to punch his fist through the window of the minivan.
The sun hid behind the tall trees as she turned onto a gravel path. A small, single-story house sat isolated and quiet in the woods, and she parked in front of it.
“Welcome home.” She shifted the vehicle into park and killed the engine before jumping out like the devil himself was after her.
Zach grabbed his backpack and met her on the creaky porch just as she unlocked the front door. Despite the midday hour, only a dim light snuck through the tree canopy that lay over the house.
Lauren turned and handed the key to him. “Please don’t lose it.” She pushed inside without meeting his gaze.
The musty smell greeted him as he stepped inside.Thick navy curtains hung over the small windows in the main room, and the brown carpet was worn down by the door and led a path to the small kitchen. No frames or decorations hung on the walls, and the only thing in the living room was an old brown couch and a scuffed wooden end table.
“Welcome to the seventies,” Lauren said as she moved further into the house. “That’s the kitchen. There’s water in the fridge. I’ll make a grocery store run this afternoon.” She pointed to a door on the other side of the kitchen. “Laundry room is there. I’ll need to use this one until mine gets fixed.”
Pushing past him, she headed for the other side of the house. “There are two bedrooms here and a bathroom between them.” Finished with her grand tour, she turned to face him, clasping her hands in front of her. “Any questions?”
“Nope.” The sooner she left, the sooner he could wrap his head around the new life he’d agreed to out of necessity.
She marched to the door without making eye contact. “Great. I’ll be back later.”
And just like that, she was gone again.
Zach tossed his backpack on the stained carpet and rested on the couch with a flop. He was alone again, just as he was meant to be.
6
