Chapter Nine
It wasn’t a romantic movie. They didn’t sit snuggled together either. Ethan sat on the complete opposite end of the couch and their fingers never touched once while reaching for the popcorn. Cady had a good time though, both because she enjoyed the movie, and because she was learning more about Ethan Shaw – not a cop.
She learned that he liked to talk back to the screen, just like she did. She learned that he had a sick sense of humor when faced with the macabre, just like she did. She learned that he seemed to have an extensive knowledge of weaponry based on some of his comments, not like her, but that was okay too.
When the screen flashed back to the DVD menu, she waited for him to kick her out, but Ethan didn’t say anything. Instead he took their dishes to the sink and washed and dried them, putting them away and tossing the garbage from the popcorn.
Cady rose and stretched, knowing she couldn’t put it off any longer. Time to face the music. “I should probably get going.”
“Isn’t that my line?” His brows came up in surprise, a slow smile spreading. “Tired of me already, huh?”
She liked his smile, it made the less than perfect quirks of his face come together in a much more pleasing manner. “I have to get ready for work.”
“Now?” Ethan glanced at the time. “Where do you work?”
There it was. “Spanky’s.” His smile faded, and she knew he recognized it. From the looks of it, he didn’t approve either. “I’d better go,” she smiled tightly, edging towards the door. “I had a nice time tonight.”
“Me too.”
“You seem surprised.”
“I guess I am.”
“Just what a girl longs to hear.” Cady gave him a sour smile and he laughed.
“I told you, I wasn’t looking to pick up girls last night.”
“Uh huh, and I wasn’t looking to pick up anybody either, remember?” she pointed out, leaning against the door. “It must be fate.”
“I believe we make our own fate.”
Her face twisted into a wry grin. “That sounds like a bumper sticker.”
“Doesn’t make it any less true.”
Maybe he had a point. She decided to try again. “I know we don’t know each other…”
“On an epic scale,” he nodded, coming to join her by the door.
“But you can trust me.”
His face wrinkled into an exaggerated grimace. “Ooh, see, I never trust anyone who says trust me. Or honestly.”
“Well… you can trust me, honestly,” she grinned. “I hope you give me a chance to prove that to you.”
“I shouldn’t. I should’ve made you leave last night.”
They were close, when had he moved so close? Not that she objected, but she’d started to think he was afraid of getting near her, like he might catch something. “So, why didn’t you?” she asked, hands pressed to the door, trapped behind her waist.
“I honestly don’t know.”
She smiled, his choice of words leading her to believe he did know, somewhere deep down inside. Ethan’s hand rose, and she held very still, not wanting to do anything to spook him. His fingers brushed the side of her shoulder in the ghost of a touch, and her fingers pressed against the scarred door in anticipation. Would he try to kiss her? Her lips parted in invitation, giving him the signal that it was all kinds of fine with her, but Ethan pulled back, brows drawing together.
“You don’t owe me anything, you know,” he said.
“That’s a matter of opinion, but that’s not why I stayed here with you last night.” Did he think it was?
“As for me saving your life, it wasn’t about you, it was about stopping him,” he insisted, taking another step backwards, completely breaking the mood. “You just got caught in the middle.”
“Wow, you sure know how to take the romance out of it, don’t you?” Cady sighed. What was with him? It was like he didn’t want her to like him.
“This isn’t romantic, this is dangerous. More than you could possibly imagine,” he scowled. “The fact that you could even…”
“Hey, I know this isn’t a movie,” Cady interrupted, not in the mood for a lecture. She’d wind up with one as soon as she got home. “I get that you’ve got dark, dangerous secrets. I get that whatever it is, it didn’t end for you when that guy died in the parking lot. I get it better than you give me credit for. But that doesn’t mean you have to push me away either. I’m not asking you for anything other than the chance to know you better.” Her teeth caught at her bottom lip the instant the words were out of her mouth, bringing back the memory of the fevered plea… I only want to know you.
“You might not like what you find when you get to know me better.”
She saw the sadness in his blue eyes, the absolute faith in his belief, but there was something else… something that made her want to leap before looking for once. “Oh, I don’t know, something tells me you might be worth the risk.” The melancholy in his gaze mingled with hope, and she decided they were getting way too heavy. “If you’re worried about disappointing me, then don’t be a tool,” she smirked. “Walk me home.”
There was a smile on his lips as she turned to open the door. “You live next door.”
“Then it’ll be a short walk.” It was indeed, just a few steps from his shabby green door to hers. Cady lingered in her doorway, not quite ready to say goodbye. “We should do this again sometime. Only with less blood and passing out, and more popcorn.”
“You’re not like any girl I’ve ever met before,” he said with a trace of wonder, and she took that as a good sign.
“You’d better believe it.” Cady waited to see if he would make a move, leaning ever so slightly towards him, but the door jerked open behind her, throwing her off balance as her brother’s imposing form filled the doorway.
“What the hell is this?” Ian demanded.
He did look pretty intimidating, towering over both of them, the dark, spiky hair and goatee lending a touch of menace to his already thunderous expression. That was why he was able to make his living as a bouncer at the Sugar Shack with a minimum of confrontation; Ian Garrett cultivated that look to his advantage on a daily basis. Cady was used to it though, and knew his bark was worse than his bite. Luckily, Ethan wasn’t the least bit spooked by her brother’s tone either.
“This is Ethan, you know, our neighbor,” she smiled sweetly.
“You’ve been next door this whole time?”
“Ethan, this is my brother, Captain Obvious,” Cady blithely continued the introductions. “You can call him Ian.”
“Do you have any idea what time it is?” Ian ignored her attempt at humor and to her chagrin, Ethan jumped on board the overprotective train.
“You didn’t call and tell him where you were?”
“I sent a text. It’s not a big deal.”
“Not a big deal?” Ian glowered. “I spent all afternoon calling around the hospitals. I even called Uncle DeFazio.”
“That seems a bit premature,” she replied, surprised he’d taken it that far. “Did he give you the spiel about waiting more than twenty four hours?”
“I asked him to check the morgue.”
“Aww, Ian… you’re blowing things a little out of proportion, don’t you think?”
“Damn it, Cady, it’s just inconsiderate!”
“I have to agree with your brother on this one, you should have called him. I’m sorry if you were worried, man.” Ethan chimed in, and remorse started to creep up on her, staining her cheeks with guilt. She hadn’t thought he’d be that worried. Ian wasn’t mollified by Ethan’s apology though, in fact, it seemed to irk him even more.
“Was I talking to you?” He jabbed a finger into Ethan’s chest. “No. I’m talking to her.”
“Hey, I don’t want any trouble.” Ethan took a step backwards, hands coming up, spread wide.
“Then maybe you shouldn’t
have been plugging my sister all day and night.”
“Ian!” Oh God… could he be more embarrassing?
“You’ve got it all wrong,” Ethan insisted. “I was just making sure she got home alright.”
“Yeah, you’re a real gentleman, I can tell.”
“Ian, that’s enough.” Cady shoved at his chest, pushing him back into the apartment before his temper got the better of him. “So what if I was out all night? I’m an adult.”
“Barely.”
“I’ll be inside in a minute.” Giving him a final shove, she shut the door, closing her eyes for a second before she turned to face Ethan, offering an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry about that. He’s not always such an asshat.”
Ethan didn’t seem to be too bent out of shape about it though. “He’s just worried about you. You should have called him.”
Cady nodded, suppressing the eye-roll she could feel coming. “Yeah well, I should get inside. He’ll feel much better after he gets it all out. I’ll see you later, okay?” She looked for some sign that her brother hadn’t scared away the already skittish guy, but his response gave her no clue to what he might be thinking.
“Sure, later.”
Waiting until he slipped inside his apartment, she took a deep breath before she entered hers, steeling herself for Ian’s inevitable tirade. He didn’t disappoint, but she knew from experience he’d wear himself out after a while. The more she tried to argue her own side, the more he’d dig in, so she let him talk while she nuked a Hot Pocket. The trick was to make it look like she was listening to his every word, even though he’d already started to repeat himself.
“What is all over your clothes?”
It took Cady a minute to realize he’d asked her a question and she looked down at the dark stains on her jeans. “Oh, it’s blood. I’m not really sure whose, but it was that kind of a night.” She kept her voice light, the better to disguise the truth.
“Why can’t you ever be serious? I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you.”
“Because you’re serious enough for the both of us. My serious contribution to the household is getting ready for work, which I have to do now or I’ll be late.” She wrapped the food in a paper towel and brought it into her room, hoping he wouldn’t follow. No such luck.
“I thought we talked about you finding a real job?”
Back to that again… “The money’s real enough. I don’t see you complaining about that.”
“You know I don’t want you working there.” Ian paused at the doorway, not quite invading her space as she pulled out clean clothes.
“Yeah well, the opportunities aren’t exactly falling at my feet these days, so I take what I can get. You don’t see me complaining about your job.”
“I’m not the one stripping. I just make sure the scum stays away from them.”
“I’m not stripping either!” she bristled, wondering if Ethan could hear them through the wall. That was all she needed.
“Might as well be,” he muttered. “Cady, you could do so much better…”
“I’m not having this conversation with you again. I’m going to be late.” Indignity fueled her anger, because she knew he had a point. Not that she was ashamed of working at Spanky’s exactly, but it certainly wasn’t what she’d dreamed of doing with her life. Every time Ian talked about something better, it just reminded her of what she’d lost. Grabbing the bundle of clothes in her arms, she pushed past him to the bathroom, half eaten pizza pocket in her teeth.