"C-c-c-can I h-help you, officer?" the teenager with pink striped hair asked.
"Ice," he said through clenched teeth.
"Ice?" she repeated, sounding confused as she shot her co-workers a questioning look.
"Yes, ice and lots of it," he said as the pain doubled, almost dropping him to his knees. What a f**ked up night. It really couldn't get any worse, he thought as he watched the three anxious employees stumble over each other as they tried to fill his order.
"See! I told you we'd find him!"
"No, I told you! Besides, I'm the one who found him."
"You're such a liar!"
"You're such a slut!"
"Takes one to know one!"
The bimbo twins had found him, he realized with a groan. This really was not his night.
Chapter 18
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Fine," Tristan said distractedly as he opened his car door and carefully climbed out.
With a sigh, she pulled the keys out of the ignition, grabbed her purse and did the same. She was more than ready to put this whole bizarre day behind her. Her day had started with harassing phone calls, Tristan stealing her much needed apple fritter and dealing with his ass**le ways. It hadn't exactly been a pleasant experience. If that wasn't bad enough he decided to end the day by confusing her and acting like he wanted her.
That is until all hell broke loose at her favorite barbeque restaurant. She still couldn't figure out how Tristan not only knew who the guy was from just a look at the man's back, but also knew what he was up to. The whole thing had been scary and admittedly impressive. Tristan had moved with the confidence of a man twice his age and even when it was more than obvious to everyone that he was injured, he still did his job and kept them all safe. It also didn't hurt that the whole thing made him look incredibly sexy and she hadn’t been the only one who’d thought so.
While he'd pointedly ignored the paramedics’ demands that he be seen at the hospital, every single woman there and a few she was pretty sure weren't so single, fussed over him and offered to make him a homemade meal as a thank you. A few of the more forward women had leaned in and whispered something in his ear that seemed to annoy him, which somewhat appeased her since she had a pretty good idea what they were offering him.
She hated not being able to fuss over him and comfort him. She really hated watching other women do it, but she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He'd made it very clear that he didn't care about her. He wanted her that much was obvious, but he really didn't care for her. She knew that wouldn't bother some women enough to keep them from giving into years of fantasies, but she just couldn't make love to a man who didn't give a damn about anyone, including her.
"I'll see you tomorrow morning at seven-thirty," she said as she turned to make the short walk home. Since he couldn't make it to tonight’s group therapy session, her father had decided that he would attend the meeting in the morning or he shouldn't bother showing up to work until he was cleared to return to full duty.
"Why don't you come inside?" he suggested, surprising her.
"Why?" she asked, not bothering to hide the suspicion from her tone.
"Because I think we need to have a talk," he said, gesturing for her to come with him.
She let out a tired sigh as she shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm really not in the mood for a lecture tonight or whatever it is that you have planned," she said, once again heading towards her house, but she didn't get very far.
"We're not putting this off any longer," Tristan said as he took her hand and gave it a gentle pull in the direction of his house.
"Putting off what any longer?" she asked, wondering exactly what he planned on yelling at her about now. Was he pissed that she hadn’t run out of the restaurant when he’d told her to? Or maybe he was going to try bullying her into vacating their office. Then again, he might just want to take this opportunity to tell her that he didn't care what Hank said, he wouldn't be following any of the rules. If it was the latter then they really didn't need to have this talk, because she’d already figured out that he was going to make her life a living hell and do everything that he could to get her fired.
"We need to talk about-"
"Is that....is that p**n o music?" she asked, cutting him off and frowning as she tried to make out the music coming from the other side of his front door.
"No," he said through what looked like a painfully clenched jaw. "I keep the television on to make burglars think that someone's home," he explained tightly as he dropped her hand and pulled out his keys.
"I see," she said, doing her best to hide her smile. "By making them think that someone is enjoying some alone time?" she asked sweetly as he glowered down at her.
"No."
"If you say so.........," she said with a shrug that clearly stated that she didn't believe him.
"I don't watch that shit," he said a little loudly as he opened the front door with a lot more noise than she thought was really necessary. Before she could tease him again the music abruptly changed to the theme from Gilligan's Island.
He sent her a triumphant grin as he closed the door behind them and walked down the hall, pausing only long enough to send a rather odd glare at something in the empty living room. Okay, that was a little weird, she thought as she reluctantly followed after him.
"Do you mind telling me what you need to talk to me about so that I can get on with the rest of my night and maybe get something to eat?" she asked as she followed him into the obscenely large kitchen. It really was too big for a bachelor.
"We can eat while we talk," he said, opening the freezer door and pulling out a white container overflowing with ice cubes. He placed the container on the counter, uncaring that ice went flying as he grabbed a kitchen towel and began filling it with ice.
"It's been a long day, Tristan. Any chance that we can just get to the point?" she asked with a tired sigh as she walked over to the counter and took over the chore of filling the cloth with ice.
"You don't want to eat first?" Tristan asked, sounding a bit nervous.
What exactly did he have to be nervous about, she wondered as he gave her what appeared to be a hopeful smile. Whatever it was, Tristan clearly wanted to put it off for a while. Who would have ever thought the day would come when Tristan Black was nervous about anything? She certainly hadn't. He wanted to put off whatever it was that he wanted to talk about so of course she decided that she was rather anxious to hear it now.