Bound Together (4 page)

“It was an accident. I
didn’t see you because I was looking for my apron. You clearly
didn’t see me either. What’s your excuse for not seeing me through
a glass door?”

He gawked down at me,
raised his eyebrows and shook his head. I stood my ground and
stared right back at him. Opening his mouth to respond, he was
interrupted by a frantic looking Lorraine who had left her spot at
the counter and was now striding over to us. She scanned our faces
and then held her hands to her mouth. “Oh my goodness Jared. Are
you alright? Do you need to go to the hospital?” Well at least I
knew the name of the man I had just assaulted with a coffee shop
door. He took his fingers away from his nose and checked to see if
it was still bleeding. It wasn’t. Lorraine led him to the office
and I followed, feeling like I should apologize again, even if he
had acted like a jerk. I stood in the doorway and watched Lorraine.
There really wasn’t
that
much blood. What a baby. Jared was sitting on the
chair at the large desk facing Lorraine, as she wiped him down with
a damp cloth.

Once she’d finished
cleaning him up she lifted his chin so she could inspect his nose.
“There. Good as new and as handsome as ever.” She said smiling at
Jared before giving me a warning look as she walked out of the
office. Yep. I
was
in trouble.

I rolled my eyes and
stared at a now clean and composed Jared. Lorraine was wrong, he
wasn’t handsome. He was gorgeous. He had piercing blue eyes that
were peeking out from beneath his long dark lashes. He had a dimple
in his chin and beautiful light brown hair mixed with a few wisps
of blonde; giving it a golden appearance as the light caught each
strand. It was cut short and he obviously used some product to give
it that ‘I just crawled out of bed look’. As he stood, I couldn’t
help but admire his amazing physique. He was tall with broad
shoulders and his white shirt, which was now stained with hot
coffee, clung to his body. I could see his impressive chest and
rock hard abs underneath the now ruined shirt. My cheeks were
feeling warm and I hoped he didn’t catch me blushing.

I watched as he began
wiping himself down with a tissue, trying in vain to get rid of the
stain. I gave a loud sigh and walked over to him. Staring at the
floor I began to make my apologies. “Look. I’m really sorry about
the door. And your shirt. And your nose. But it really was an
accident. I don’t make it a habit to walk around backwards. I was
late for work and...”

He stopped rubbing at his
shirt for a moment and set his gaze on me. He held up his left hand
to silence me.

“Wait. You work here? At Lorraine’s?”

I nodded. His head fell
back and he closed his eyes tightly. He ran his hands over his face
and then stared down at me. “Well I’ll be sure to send you the bill
for my now completely un-wearable Armani shirt. The nose that you
damaged, unfortunately I will have to live with.”

What a
jackass
. I was apologizing and he was
giving me such a hard time. Jeez was he always such a
jerk?

I fisted my hands on my
hips and with a furrowed brow I glared up at him. “Hey! I already
apologized and I’ll be happy to pay for your shirt to be cleaned.
It was, after all, my fault. But if you think for one moment that
I’m going to stand here and put up with your attitude then you’re
very much mistaken. You’ll find me in here most afternoons so
please do drop by when you have something
useful
for me. Like the bill for
that shirt.” Gorgeous or not, he was still a jackass.

I turned on my heel and
stormed out of the room. He was clearly stunned into silence
because he never responded. I wrapped my apron around my waist and
began collecting coffee cups off of the empty tables. He breezed
past me a few minutes later. Reaching out for the handle on the
door he glanced back at me and shook his head before leaving. What
a rude, ignorant, jerk-wad!

Chapter
4

Playing the
Game

Amy rolled around on her bed clutching her
stomach. She’d been laughing so hard for the past five minutes I
thought she might lose control of her bladder. Tears were running
down her face as she tried to calm herself. Sitting on the edge of
her bed she wiped her eyes.

“So let me get this
straight. You’ve been here for one week. You’ve met two smoking hot
guys and somehow you have managed to land flat on your back in
front of one and then ruin a very expensive shirt and break the
nose of the other.”

She brought her hands up to
her mouth, trying to hide her laughter. I cringed and pinched my
eyes tightly closed. “Yes. But in my defense we don’t know
for
sure
that I
broke his nose. It just...bled…a bit.” That was it. Amy was in
hysterical fits of laughter again. She slid forward off the bed,
her ass landed on the floor and she began to roll onto her back
laughing hard. I was glad someone found this funny because I was
mortified.

Lorraine had been rather
lenient with me. She’d given me a warning about being late but had
also said that if the job and school work were too much, she could
work out a new schedule for me. I appreciated the thought but I
assured her that it would not happen again. As for the assault on
Jared, she had simply chuckled and told me to watch where I was
going in future. I also assured her the Jared incident
was certainly
never
going to happen again
either.

I laid on my bed and
stared at the ceiling. Amy had finished her hysterical floor show
and was now a little more composed. She got up and sat by the edge
of my bed.

“You going home for the
weekend Layla? Because I heard there’s a great party going on over
at one of the frat houses. First week freshman party. We should
totally go!” It sounded fun but I had promised dad I would go home
for the weekend. Plus I wanted to see how he was doing on his own.
I sat up and shook my head at her. “I can’t go. I promised dad I’d
visit for the weekend. But you should totally go. Meet people. Meet
guys. You’ll fit right in.”

I smiled and patted her on
the shoulder. “Besides it will give you plenty to tell me about
when I get back on Sunday. We could discuss it over some take out
and junk food.” That seemed to work. She returned my smile and
nodded. “Ok, but you don’t know what you’re missing.”

It had been a long day.
With the incident at the coffee shop and the whole week of meet and
greets, I was exhausted. Lying on my bed with my arm shielding my
eyes I was just staring to allow myself to doze when someone
knocked loudly on the door. Amy was immediately on her feet. I sat
up and glanced over at the door “Who the hell is that?!”

She strode over and opened it.

Standing in our door way
was Oliver. He was wearing a pair of loose jeans and a hoodie. He
smirked at me as Amy gave him a questioning look.

“Hey Layla.” He walked into
the room and right past a stunned Amy. She fisted her hands on her
hips and stared at him. “And
you
are?” He turned to face her and let out a small
laugh.

“Oh yeah, sorry. Oliver. I
live across the hall. I met Layla here on moving day. You must be
the roommate.”

“Amy.” She glared at him
and then turned her attention to me. I shrugged and gave her a half
a smile.

“Flat on my back.” I said.
She snorted a laugh, suddenly knowing
who
Oliver was. He sat down by the
edge of my bed “Anyway, I just came over to see what you were doing
tonight. There’s a bar a couple of blocks over and its open mic
night. I was just about to head over with my roommate Nick and
thought you might wanna get outta here for a while.”

Amy looked at me with hope
in her eyes. It was obvious she was desperate to go. Other than the
coffee shop, I hadn’t been off campus and it was Friday night.
“Sure. What the hell. Give me five minutes and I’ll be ready.” I
said.

Amy winked at me and
turned to Oliver. Grinning at me he nodded, stood up then walked
out the door. Amy closed it behind him and jumped up and down
enthusiastically. “Oh my god this is going to be so much
fun!”

* * *

The bar was heaving with
people and the smells of sweat and bitter ales coming from the
overflowing crowd was pungent but not repulsive. One look around
and I could tell that the décor had clearly not been modernized in
quite some time. The dark mahogany bar and large wooden pillars
were thick with dust and had several gouges in them which were
probably caused by numerous fights and brawls. The walls were
covered with old photographs of singers like Elvis and Johnny Cash.
There was a sign lit up in florescent blue over the stage with the
name ‘Benny’s’ across it and I immediately assumed that was the
name of the bar. Instruments were set up and a single microphone
stood next to a black chalkboard which had the words ‘Open Mic
Night’ scrawled across it. Waitresses were darting between tables
and the bar, frantically taking orders. Every table was crammed,
including our own. Oliver and Nick had invited a couple of the guys
from our building to join us but Amy and I were the only females in
our little group.

We sat at a table near the
stage and the guys immediately started talking about the need to
find a girl and get laid. Oliver looked over at me and half smiled.
I rolled my eyes at him. Men. Always looking for an easy piece of
ass. It didn’t bother me, but for some reason, I found myself
hoping that Oliver wasn’t like that. He leaned in and whispered in
my ear, “Just ignore them. They’re all talk and no action.” He
winked at me with a sexy grin on his face. I felt my cheeks flush
and hoped that he didn’t notice. His hot breath on my neck made my
hairs stand on end and my body suddenly stood to attention at the
sensation of it. I nodded in the direction of three scantily
dressed girls who were now approaching the guys. I let out a small
chuckle, “I hope not or those girls are going to be
very
disappointed.”

He laughed and shook his
head, picking up his glass and smiling. “Yeah I guess you’re right.
So, how about you Layla? You got a guy back home writing you sweet
letters and calling you every day?”

Tipping my head back, I
let out a snort of laughter. “Nope. I’m single and have been now
for over a year.” I wanted to add, “That’s right Oliver. I’m on the
market”, but decided to leave a little feminine mystery for him to
toy with.

I had been with Josh, my
high school sweetheart, for two years. He was my first everything.
First kiss, first love and the first and only guy I’d ever slept
with. But, the summer before senior year he’d gotten a job working
in his dad’s shop. We saw each other less and less and I knew we
were growing apart. He would hardly call and when I called he was
always too busy or on his way out. Mel had suggested we go to the
beach to “get me out of my stupid, mopey mood”. I’d agreed and it
had made me feel a little better. That was until I saw Josh walking
down the beach holding hands with a long legged, bikini wearing
girl from the cheerleading squad. They stopped and I saw him kiss
her deeply. I marched over, shoved him hard in the chest and told
him I never wanted to speak to him ever again. And I never did.
Senior year he transferred out of state to live with his
mom.

Oliver leaned forward,
putting his elbows on the table. “What happened?”

I glanced at him then back down at the drink
in my hand. “The usual thing. Young. First love. Guy turns out to
be a cheating slime ball.”

He put his hand over mine
and smiled.

“Well, I’d say he’s an
idiot and a real douche.”

I knew he was trying to
reassure me
but the touch of his hand on
mine was giving me sinful ideas
. I thought
about his hand sliding up my arm to my neck, caressing it as he
kissed me with those beautiful lips. I could feel myself blushing
again. What was wrong with me?! I nodded and smiled back at him as
he removed his hand from mine. Oliver wasn’t like the other guys. I
could tell. But boy did I hope
he
wasn’t just all talk. I could use a little action
in my life.

I was just starting to
relax and enjoy myself when a large, balding man walked onto the
stage, bellowing at the crowd for the first sacrifice to come and
take the mic. People were talking amongst themselves without paying
him much attention and a few heads turned his way but no one seemed
to be brave enough to volunteer. Then, out of nowhere, Amy’s hand
shot up like a rocket. I stared at her with wide eyes. What was she
doing?

“We are!”

I nearly choked on my
drink. Who the hell were
we
? I glared at her and prayed she
meant the royal we and not
me
and her we. The guy at the mic smirked and
invited her up. She quickly got to her feet and grabbed my hand,
which I tried frantically to release but her deathlike grip kept me
captive in her palm.