Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (13 page)

“How about this
place?” Elijah asked.

It was called Mean
Margaritas, and it was big, with a lot of outdoor seating.
 
Plenty of people were eating and
drinking, but there seemed to be room for more.

“Sounds good,” she
said.
 
“Let’s eat.”

They went inside and a
girl who looked no older then eighteen sat them at a small table looking out
onto the strip.
 
A moment later,
their waitress stopped by and asked if they wanted drinks.

Elijah ordered a Coke
and she ordered a diet Coke.
 
The
waitress left, and then they were quiet again.
 
Elijah was looking out on the
street.
 
Tourists strolled
past—some with children in tow, others in rowdy groups, looking for
action.

“So, what’s your plan
now?” she said, finally.
 
“I mean,
you must have had a reason to come to Florida, right?”

Elijah nodded, but
didn’t meet her gaze.
 
“Of
course.”
 

She wanted to ask him
what exactly that reason was.
 
After
all, he knew a lot more about her than she knew about him at this point.

But he seemed to be
putting a wall up—she sensed that he didn’t want to talk about it.
 
He didn’t want to talk about anything,
apparently.

The waitress brought
them their drinks, as Elijah and Caelyn studied the menus.

“I think I’m going to
get the Mean Burger,” she said.

“Same,” Elijah
replied.

“Great.
 
And how would you like that burger
cooked?” she asked.

“I’d like mine medium
well,” he said.

“Same for me,” Caelyn
added.

“Oh, you two are
cute.
 
I love when couples get the
same meal—me and my boyfriend have totally different tastes,” the
waitress laughed, before taking their menus and walking off.

Elijah grinned at
her.
 
“Here we go again,” he
said.
 
The moment seemed to have
loosened him up.
 
He took a big swig
of his soda and leaned back in his chair.
 
“I could get used to this,” he said.

Caelyn nodded agreement.

The food was really
good, but by the end of dinner she was ready to call it a night.
 
Everything was catching up to her now,
and she felt heavy with food—and most of all, tired.

The waitress brought
the check and Caelyn went to pick it up.

“No way,” Elijah
said.

“Let me pay just this
once,” Caelyn cried, trying to take the check.

The waitress laughed,
watching them argue over it.

Elijah grabbed it out
of her hands.
 
“Listen, I got
this.
 
You can pay me back when you
get a job.”

“Oh, come
on—you don’t have a job either,” she said.

“Well, I don’t need
one right now.”

The waitress looked
at Caelyn.
 
“You’re looking for
work?” she said.
 

Caelyn waved her hand
at Elijah, shaking her head.
 
“Yes,
I’m currently looking,” she said.
 

“What kind of work?”

“Anything.
 
I thought maybe waitressing,” she said,
grimacing as she said it.
 
She was
half-expecting the waitress to laugh and tell her how impossible it was to find
waitressing jobs around the area.
 

“Well, you might just
be in luck then,” the woman told her.
 
“We’re actually hiring right now.
 
We lost a couple of girls last week and Kenzie is looking to replace
them right away.”

Caelyn straightened
up, feeling suddenly more awake.
 
“Really?”

“Yeah.
 
If you want, I’ll introduce you to her
before you go.”

“Oh, wow, that would
be awesome.”

The waitress
grinned.
 
“Well, I am pretty
awesome.”
 
She nodded to the
check.
 
“I’ll come back for that in
a minute,” she said, and then turned and left.

Caelyn turned to
Elijah.
 
“Wow, wasn’t that so cool?”
she said.

He nodded.
 
“Yeah,” he said, but not very
enthusiastically.
 
“Very cool.”

“Is something wrong?”

He took a final sip
of his soda.
 
“Nope.”
 
And then he took out his billfold,
counted out the money, and put it with the tab.
 
“We’re good.”
 
He stood up.
 
“I’m gonna hit the bathroom,” he said.

She watched him go,
puzzled by his behavior.
 
Maybe he’s
just tired, she thought.
 
But she
knew that couldn’t explain all of it.
 
He’d been acting strangely ever since they’d gotten to town.

While he was away,
the waitress came back to pick up the bill, and she brought Kenzie with
her.
 
Kenzie was short, with dirty
blond hair pulled back in a ponytail.
 
She was pretty, but her face was sort of weathered, and she had a look
in her eye that said she didn’t want to be messed with.
 
“I hear you’re looking for a waitressing
gig,” Kenzie said, sticking out her hand.

Caelyn took it and
the woman’s grip was like a vice.
 
“Yeah,” she squeaked, as Kenzie squeezed and then released.

“Well, I’m the owner
of this little establishment, so you’re talking to the right person.”

“Oh,” Caelyn said,
gulping nervously.

“Any experience?
 
It’s okay if you don’t have any.”

Caelyn explained how
she’d waitressed at Friendly’s in high school.

Kenzie asked her why
she didn’t have a job at the moment, and Caelyn hesitated to answer.

“Listen,” Kenzie
said, her blue eyes penetrating.
 
“The only thing I expect is the truth.
 
Don’t lie to me.”

Caelyn decided to be
honest.
 
“I left college,” she
said.
 
“I drove here and just
arrived today.
 
So that’s why I’m
not currently employed.”

“You left
college?
 
Where did you go to
school?”

“Cambridge, in
Boston.”

Kenzie laughed.
 
“Come on, you’re serious?”

Caelyn nodded.
 
“You wanted the truth.”

“And where are you
planning to live?”

“I don’t know.
 
We’re in a hotel right now.”

“You and your
boyfriend?”

“We’re just friends,”
she said.
 
“I’m not sure what I’m
going to do next.”

Kenzie looked
pained.
 
She sighed, kneeling
down.
 
“Look, Caelyn.
 
I’m not sure what your story is.
 
But you seem nice and you must be a hard
worker if you got into Cambridge.
 
So I’ll tell you what.
 
You
can work here for as long as you want—“

“Really?” she said,
her eyes widening.

“I’m not done yet,”
Kenzie said.
 
“I even have a room
you can stay in, it’s got its own door, like a little unit off the side of my
house that nobody’s using right now.”

“I can’t ask you to
do that for me,” Caelyn said, blown away by the offer.

Kenzie stood up.
 
“You’ll find I’m fair but I expect my
girls to work hard,” she said.
 
“If
you work hard, you’ve got a job here for life.
 
Okay?
 
And if you decide to go back to school,
I won’t be mad.”
 
She grinned.

Elijah was returning
to the table as the conversation ended.
 
He eyed Kenzie warily, and she him.
 
“This must be your friend?” Kenzie said, and her voice carried an odd tone,
as if she immediately found him wanting in some way.

“I’m just a guy,” he
replied.
 
“No big deal.”

Kenzie nodded.
 
“Sure.
 
Just a guy.
 
Well, okay, guy.
 
Can’t say I have a job for you—“

“I wasn’t asking for
one.”

“But you,” she said,
turning to Caelyn, “are good to start tomorrow.
 
Eleven a.m. sharp for orientation and
training.”

“Absolutely,” Caelyn
said.
 
“Thanks again.
 
Thanks so much.”

“After work tomorrow,
I’ll show you that room I was telling you about.”

“Okay,” Caelyn
smiled.

Kenzie waved, walked
off to another part of the restaurant.

As they left Mean
Margarita’s, Elijah was walking slightly ahead of her.
 
He was heading toward the motel, but
going at a quick pace.
 
Caelyn
struggled to stay with him.

“Hey, slow down,” she
said.

“I’m tired, I want to
get back to the room.”

“What’s wrong with
you?”

“Nothing.
 
I just told you, I’m tired.”

Caelyn grabbed his
forearm, and he finally slowed.
 
His
eyes met hers and now she could see the hurt in them.
 
“Elijah, something’s wrong.
 
Why won’t you just tell me?”

He stopped
walking.
 
“So you got a job, that’s
cool.”

“I thought so,” she
replied, wiping a strand of hair that had blown into her eyes.

“But what was that
stuff about her showing you a room?”

“She mentioned that
she has a spare room in her house—“

He interrupted with
harsh laughter.
 
“Of course she
does.”

“What’s that supposed
to mean?”

He just shook his
head and started walking again, albeit a little slower this time.

“Elijah, she
said.
 
“What’s wrong with her
showing me a room?”

“For free?” he said.

 
“She didn’t say.
 
But at least it’s something.”

“And what do you have
now?
 
Are you sleeping on the
street?”

“No.
 
You paid for a room, but—”

“Oh, I guess it’s
nothing, though.”
 
He waved her off.

“Elijah, I’m totally
confused.”

“That lady is a
creep,” he said.
 
“The minute I saw
her, I got a bad vibe.
 
I don’t know
what her deal is, but I don’t trust her.”

“I don’t see what’s
so bad about her offering to let me stay somewhere for awhile.
 
Maybe she’s used that for other
waitresses in the past.”

“I’m sure she has,”
he laughed.

“I don’t get it.”

“Of course you
don’t.”
 
He didn’t elaborate.

They walked in
silence until they got back to the room.
 
Once inside, the room felt small and almost claustrophobic.
 
Elijah spread out on the bed and turned
the TV on, while Caelyn sat in a small, rickety chair nearby.
 

She looked at him,
her leg bouncing up and down nervously.
 
“I don’t understand what I did to get you so upset.”

He wouldn’t look at
her.
 
“I guess you’re happy with how
everything played out.
 
You don’t
have to try and smooth it over now, Caelyn.”

She took in his words
and then a flood of anger jolted her to her feet.
 
“Happy with how things played out?
 
Do you think I chose any of this?
 
I’m just trying to survive.”

His eyes met hers
briefly, then went back to the TV.
 
“That’s the thing.
 
You don’t
have to try and survive, because if things go bad here, you’ll always be able
to call Mom and Dad to help you out of it.”

“I’m sorry I don’t
have enough street cred for your liking, Elijah.
 
And I’m really sorry that ever since we
got here, you’ve been acting like a total baby.
 
But please—please don’t try and
convince me that these are all my problems.
 
Because I know that you’ve got plenty of
your own.”

His eyes hardened and
his jaw set in the way she’d become accustomed to seeing when he was
angry.
 
“You just keep telling
yourself that, Caelyn.”