A Perfect Mess (5 page)

“If hard work is all you do, then you’re not acknowledging the great power around us and in us.”

Looking mutinous, she said, “Do they have to be mutually exclusive?”

I released a breath, a pretty exasperated-sounding breath, and her face only got more mutinous. “Because it’s a narrow view, Aubree. It gives you no choices, no options. Hard work is it.”

“So expanding my universe, becoming one with it, is all about fun.”

“Yes, completely.”

She tilted her head, and I couldn’t help but notice the way it made all those auburn hair of hers tumble about her pale, delicately-defined shoulders. “Okay, thanks, Obi Wan. There’s just one flaw in that.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Only one? And here I had my piece of paper all ready to take notes.”

She tried to keep her expression serious, but I saw her fight the smile again. “Really, you can count to two? I’m
so
impressed.”

I laughed out loud and nudged her under the table. She nudged me back.

I pantomimed a pencil, wet it with my tongue and pantomimed writing. “One,” I said really slowly. “I’m sure you’ll help me with the next number when I’m ready.”

This time she kicked me. “Ouch,” I said, grabbing my shin.

It was her turn to smirk. “I thought you said there needed to be a balance.”

Aubree wasn’t like other girls. She thought about things and gave me answers that had meaning or challenge. Another thing I already liked about her. “Ha! Tripping me up with my own words. Work plays a part in it, but, Aubree. Let me blow your mind. What if your work is your fun? What then? Would you consider it hard? Fun? Even work at all?”

She was quiet for a moment, as if she hadn’t even considered that. She looked at me as if she was having some kind of revelation. “You’re dangerous, Booker.”

“In what way?”

“In a lot of ways, but you’re a word master—persuasion is powerful. It’s almost magical…if I believed in magic. I would say that was fun for you. But, believing what you say takes conviction. I’m not sure if you’re just feeding me bullshit to get me to go to your party, or if you’re just…”

“What?”

“Interesting.”

My heart tumbled over when she gave me another considering look and reached for the bill. Before she could get it, I snatched it up. “Breakfast is on me.”

“That’s nice of you, but I really should pay my fair share.”

“As a word-master, I would suggest that you get that word out of your vocabulary.”

“What word?”

“Should.”

She shook her head at me. “Okay, Booker. I won’t argue with you, because I need to get to my Aunt Lottie. Uh, thank you.”

She walked out the door while I stood in line impatiently waiting my turn. Finally, I just dropped a fifty near the register and burst out of the diner door, looking for her. When I found her I froze.

Aubree had crossed the street, and her path was now blocked by a hulking Daniel Langston, deceptively handsome, and six feet, two inches of just plain mean. Not the kind of ring-your-doorbell-and-run prank kind of mean, but evil mean. He wore his blonde hair combed straight back from his face, drawing attention to his eyes, which were the color of amber, and to his controlled, cruel smile. I wanted to plant my fist in his face. Already, at nineteen, lines of indulgence were etched beside those tawny eyes and around his weak mouth.

Adrenaline shot into my bloodstream. I crossed the street quickly and heard him say, “Where you been at, Aubree? Too bad about your aunt.”

Aubree looked up at him, her brows pulling together in annoyance, her face pale. When she reset the Einstein bag on her shoulder, her fingers were trembling. An irritated spark ignited a fire in my belly.

“You know where I’ve been. This town is always a hotbed of gossip. And you sound
soooo
sorry about my aunt.”

When she tried to go around him, he stepped into her path again. “Don’t you have time for an old school buddy?”

Aubree laughed harshly. “We were never
buddies
, Daniel, and this is getting old. Move out of my way.”

“I was just wondering. Back last summer before you left for school, did you happen to see my brother? Damien always had a soft spot for you…or should I say hard spot?”

I watched her turn paler, and I damned Daniel and his no-account brother to eternal Hell. My own personal philosophy was live and let live. But when Langston messed with people weaker than him, I couldn’t look the other way. And now the bastard had gone too far. He was hurting Aubree.

“No. I didn’t see him. We both know how your brother felt about me.”

All pretense of good cheer left Daniel’s voice when she shouldered past him. “You little fucking do-gooder. Don’t turn your back…”

His tawny eyes were cold and flat as gold coins. She kept walking. He jumped after her and fastened his big, hammy hand over her shoulder, preparing to spin her around.

The fire that had burned low leapt inside me. I came up behind him and wedged the toe of my sneaker in front of the bastard’s ankle. As Aubree twisted away from the man’s touch, I jerked back, and he went sprawling face-down into the gutter. His breath gusted out of him in a painful grunt.

“Oh, hey, I’m sorry, Danny boy,” I said without a drop of sincerity. “I guess I wasn’t lookin’ where I was goin’.”

Langston shoved himself up onto his hands and knees, coughing and spitting dirt in between curses. He shot a nasty look at me over his shoulder, his face almost purple beneath the layer of gritty dirt.

“Langston, watch your tongue. There are young’uns around here. What would your daddy, the pillar of the community, say to that?”

“I should have known you’d be sniffing after her, Outlaw. Like a cur in heat,” Langston snarled. He hauled himself to his feet, trying in vain to dust his clothes off. His eyes locked on to me in a stare as hard and cold as the hounds of hell. “You trying to polish up that white trash reputation?”

“No, my reputation has to do with an almost two-hundred-year old relative. What’s your excuse?”

“I don’t have to take that from you, Outlaw,” Langston said, his voice low and thrumming with anger. He took a step toward me.

“Go ahead, Langston. Take a swing. Please.” I said, just as low, but my voice was calm as the gulf before a hurricane. My brothers hated it when I talked like that. They knew it meant I was about to blow.

“Mr. Big-Shot-Best-Selling-Author. You’re nothing but a no-account, conceited piece of trash. All the money in the world can’t change that.”

“Naw,” I said, one leg cocked, my right hand propped on my waist. I heaved an exaggerated sigh. “You’re a fine example of that.”

He swung and, in a snap, I blocked and had Langston by the shirtfront, slamming him up against the side of the building. I let my mask of humor drop and set the fury free to burn. “A man is what you ain’t, Langston.” I ground the words out between my teeth, my face inches from his. “You, you’re a piece-of-shit coward. Me, I’m a con man. I’ll give you that. I tell lies for a livin’. But don’t be thinkin’ I’m the guy who only uses my words as weapons. I’m also the guy who’s gonna kick your balls up to your throat and knock your teeth down to meet ‘em if you
ever
lay a hand on Aubree Walker again.” I let the fury show for a moment longer, then flashed him a patented ungodly smile, courtesy of one of the unholy Outlaw trinity. “Have I made myself perfectly clear, Langston?”

Slowly I loosened my hold on Langston’s shirtfront. Forcing myself to smile affably, I made a deliberately botched attempt to smooth out the fabric and brush off some of the dirt, then stepped back and dropped my hands to the waist of my jeans.

“Maybe you better go on home and change.”

I spied the ice cream truck coming down the street, heard its cheery music. I took a step back and flagged it down.

Dismissing Langston entirely, I dug some bills out of my pocket and paid for two Fudgsicles. I could feel Langston’s eyes boring into my back, but I didn’t give a damn. There was nothing that coward could do to me. I already had a bad reputation in this town.

I shot an inquiring look at Aubree.

“You want a cold treat, sugar?”

“You’re messing with the wrong man, Outlaw,” Langston said, his voice shaking with rage and humiliation. “You don’t want to tangle with me.”

I flicked a glance at him. I was completely bored with the whole scene. “Right. I got better things to do with my time.”

Langston shook his head, a strange look of utter confusion on his face. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” he muttered, then turned on his heel and stalked off.

Aubree watched him walk away, then turned toward me. Her face got paler. She was visibly shaking, and it looked like…yup, her knees gave out. I caught her and supported her over to an empty bus bench. Her eyes were still closed, and I noticed how long and thick her lashes were, the delicate bones of her face.

“Hey, sugar. You okay?” My arm tightened around her, the fragrance of her like the sweetest scent, intoxicating. She was tiny, soft, and feminine, and I had to fight to focus, fight to keep my head from dipping down, taking her parted lips, absorbing her gasp like honey on my tongue.

“It’s like seeing a ghost,” she said softly. “They look so much alike, just like you and your brothers do.”

“Yeah, they were double trouble, both of ‘em evil twins in every sense of the word.”

“You rescued me, again,” she said.

“I’m no hero.”

“For someone who claims not to be a hero, you seem to spend an awful lot of time coming to my rescue.”

“Naw, I just hate Langston. You gave me an excuse to get in his face.”

Told myself I didn’t want her reading anything into my actions. But the truth was that I didn’t want to look at those actions too closely myself. I didn’t want to dig too deep for the reason behind the rush of anger I’d felt when Langston had put his hand on her. I didn’t own her, would never have any claim on her, and therefore had no business feeling jealous or protective.

It was a simple conditioned response, protecting someone weaker from being harassed by someone stronger. That was all it was.

I glanced at Aubree as I unwrapped the ice cream, trying to defuse her concentration with a teasing smile. When she opened her mouth, I popped it in.

She took a bite and shook her head. I unwrapped mine and chuckled to myself.

The disaster was averted. At least for now.

Chapter Three

Aubree

I narrowed my eyes at him as he tried to weasel out of my question. I wanted a straight answer. “I know the town considers you bad just by association, although I could never figure out how someone’s reputation can be predetermined by one person way back in their family history. It’s the same logic used to shame Germans today into thinking that, because Hitler was a bad guy back in the 30’s and 40’s, and many of his generation looked the other way, they’re still guilty by association. We both know that isn’t true.”

I wanted him to be either good or bad so I could pigeonhole him. But he was a chameleon, changing in the blink of an eye, the changes throwing me off balance and always leaving me wondering which Booker was the real Booker Outlaw.

“I think you ought to make up your mind,” I said. “Are you a good guy or a bad guy?”

He met my gaze, his eyes dark and shining. “That all depends on the situation, sugar,” he murmured, his voice low and rough—Southern smooth, persuading a woman to reach out and touch him, luring her closer.

My heart pounded, nerve endings he had awakened and tantalized the night before stirring restlessly. I frowned at him. “A jack of all trades, huh? I don’t need to be saved.”

Booker leaned across the bench, daring me to hold my ground. I didn’t move, though I couldn’t help it that my shoulders tensed and my jaw tightened.

“You’re not a very good liar, Aubree,” he whispered.

I shied away from that word. I abhorred lying, and I’d had to lie to Daniel about his brother, also concealing a greater sin while doing it. What did that make me? A hypocrite? I hated that my own morality was out of my control. But there was nothing I could do about that.

On the other hand, Booker was near enough, and daring enough, to kiss me. The very idea touched off a dangerous, melting warmth in my middle. He confused and confounded me at a time when I needed to stay focused.

“You better finish that treat fast, Booker,” I said sarcastically, “before your hot air melts it.”

I only now got it that his arm was around me. I had been too focused on his face and what he was doing with that Fudgsicle to notice. Here we were out in public, too, right outside the post office. Enough people had seen that fight between Booker and Daniel that I was sure the story was moving like wildfire through the town. I was already in the local busybody news with my aunt in the hospital. It was high time I checked to see if my car was finished.

“I’ve got to go, Booker, pick up my car, and visit Aunt Lottie.” I shrugged off his arm and rose, then draped my tote over my shoulder.

He watched me with that lazy expression. Why did it have to look so damn sexy on him?

“You couldn’t get a glass company to come out and fix it on your property?” He finished the ice cream and dropped the stick into the trash. I did the same.