To watch them all scramble for their lives.
To rush in and save her.
To make her see me like she did before.
But I can’t jeopardize her life.
At least, not this time.
With a grunt, I turn away from the seemingly festive scene inside and begin to walk away.
Tonight is definitely a night for orange.
Chapter 11
I'm feeling a little abandoned.
Tanner excused himself to go to the restroom about forty-five minutes ago and I’m still waiting for him to come back. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ditched this entire scene since he seemed genuinely unhappy being here, but I would have appreciated a little warning.
It would have given me a reason to go home too.
I let out a sigh as I glance around the room from where I’m still standing at the bar, a glass of wine in one hand, while my free arm is wrapped around my body. I could always make small talk with Dom and the rest of his police staff, but it would probably lead to questions as to where his son went, and I doubt he’d be impressed if I told him my suspicions.
I shoot back what’s left in my glass, turn to place it on the bar-top, and wave the young bartender over. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if he left me holding the tab either, but I really just want to go home now.
She smiles at me as she approaches and takes the glass before she walks toward the small point of sale device and begins to tally up my bill. I guess I should have known that something like this would have been open bar, however, fancy little shindigs that I feel the most uncomfortable being at should foot the entire bill.
I don’t mind paying to get in because I know that money goes to help the foundation we’re supporting, but damn. Open bar and a “required donation” to get in is going to put a dent in my vacation fund.
The bartender comes back and slips a receipt in front of me, face down, and walks away to take care of some older, clearly drunk gentleman that’s hollering for her attention.
I take a deep breath as I flip the paper over, kind of worried about how much a few Midori Sours and a glass of wine is going to cost me, but when I scan the paper, I see that Tanner settled the bill before he left.
“Ready?”
I jump and bite down a scream at the voice that comes from the left of me because I wasn’t expecting it. Also, I don’t think losing my cool in a room full of Ventura County’s finest would impress anyone.
“You scared the shit out of me,” I tell Tanner hotly in as low a tone as I can manage.
“Sorry,” he replies indifferently. “So, are you ready?”
I roll my eyes at him and nod.
Tanner holds out his arm, and I grip it despite the mood he’s put me in, letting him lead the way to the front doors. On the way out, I glance over at Dom and wave with an apologetic smile on my face. He shrugs, returns my smile, then shakes his head as he goes back to the conversation I seemingly interrupted.
We walk in silence to Tanner’s car.
I don’t really think I have much else to say to the man that abandoned me in a room full of rich, blue-collar socialites, and I hope that maybe he’ll give me a small explanation on the way back to my place.
It took twenty-seven slow, painful minutes for Tanner to drive me home. It seems like he deliberately took his time, stopping at every red light that flashed the yellow warning first. I can tell he’s got something on his mind, but he hasn’t said one word to me yet about anything.
Once he pulls up in front of my place, I lean over and kiss him on the cheek as a way to thank him for the evening, even though there wasn’t really anything worth remembering about it.
“Makena,” he calls out when I close the passenger door behind me.
I glance at him over my shoulder and wait as patiently as I can while he steps out of his car, then walks around the front toward me.
“Listen, I’m sorry about tonight. I think maybe if it hadn’t been forced on the both of us, I would have actually had a better time and wouldn’t have gone off to snort a few lines to keep from losing it.”
Well, that explains that, I think, taking a step back. Seems Dom’s oldest—I’m assuming anyway—had to do some blow to get through the night. Unfortunately for him, that’s not my scene, which kind of sucks considering how gorgeous he is.
“It’s okay,” I tell him softly. “It was fun for the few moments that it was, I guess.”
He chuckles and scuffs his shiny, expensive black shoes against the walkway. “This is probably not gonna go over very well, but can I come in?”
My eyes widen slightly, an eyebrow arches incredulously, and Tanner holds up his hands with a laugh.
“I promise I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to. To be honest, I just wanted to relax a little bit before driving back home.”
I look him up and down with a critical eye before I shrug, then turn to lead the rest of the way to the front door. He can hang out on the deck while I go to sleep if it keeps him safe for his drive back.
It’s the least I can do since he picked up the bar tab.
Chapter 12
From the first minute flame, it takes twenty-seven minutes to engulf a building in beautiful destruction. I’ve spent a portion of my time finding the perfect spot to allow my rage at being tossed aside for another man to run wild.
It’s old, abandoned, and a little worse
