11. Nate
Chapter 11
Fuck, fuck, fuck. You are a fucking idiot. A self-absorbed prick with your head so far up your own asshole, you can lick your frigging tonsils.
I should have realized someone who works their butt off all week for a jerk like Bernard, then spends their weekends slaving away at a supermarket checkout isn’t exactly flush with cash. But that isn’t the only reason taking Dex to my go-to haunt was the wrong move. Dex is different, unique, special. She isn’t a fame-hungry sycophant with grabby hands who wants to be treated like a princess, if only for a couple hours. If I’d stopped for one second to think about it, I would have guessed her reaction to me flashing the cash.
I risk a glance sideways. Dex is staring out the side window, a faint blotching on her neck, although I can’t tell whether it’s from embarrassment or annoyance. Her hands are lying still in her lap, her fingers laced together, and she’s chewing the inside of her lip.
Five minutes later, I pull off the highway and stop in front of a local diner. “Better?” I ask, turning to her with a grin.
She grins back at me, her eyes lighting up. My abdomen clenches, lust an inferno, charring my insides. She’s just so fucking adorable. It’s taking all my willpower not to push the seat back, lie on top of her, and drive my cock home where it fucking belongs.
“It’s perfect,” she says, her hand already on the door latch. “Come on. I’m starving.”
“If my ass sticks to the plastic seat, you’re in deep shit,” I say, getting out of the car to the sound of Dex’s throaty laugh. My dick responds, pushing against my zipper. I should have locked the doors and let instinct guide me.
We head toward the diner, with her hand firmly clasped in mine, and I push the door open. A bell above the door tinkles, and I refrain from rolling my eyes. The podium is unmanned, although a sign states: Please wait to be seated.
On one side is a line of booths covered in red plastic, as I guessed, and on the other, a line of tables, some seating four, others two. At the counter, sitting on a chrome stool, is a guy dressed in scruffy, dirty clothes, nursing a steaming cup of coffee. Possibly homeless. Sadly, LA is full of people down on their luck, often through no fault of their own, the world having forgotten they exist. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was a veteran. For a country that honors its serving military, we sure treat our veterans like shit.
The waitress bustles over. “Just the two, is it, lovelies?” And, as I could have scripted, she squints, then squeals loud enough to attract the attention of every single diner.
Just fucking perfect.
“Oh, my God. Wait there. Don’t move. I have to get Susan.” She dashes off, her white sneakers squeaking on the checkered floor. “Suze!” she yells. “Get out here now! You’re gonna want to see this, babe!”
I glower down at Dex, whose grin can’t get any wider, and I mutter in her ear, “You owe me a blow job for this, Titch.”
She licks her lips. “Doesn’t sound like much of a punishment.”
I almost groan. “Fuck me.”
“Later,” she whispers as the waitress comes barreling toward us with another woman—a platinum blonde in her mid-fifties, I’d guess.
“Oh. My. God,” she cries, grabbing my hands. “Oh, I love you in that show.”
“Thanks.” I paste on a winning smile. “That’s nice of you to say.”
“I need you to sign something.” She cackles and gives me an over exaggerated wink. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ll keep it clean.”
Dex stifles a laugh, hiding it with a cough. At the rate she’s going, I’ll be getting blow jobs for a month. I give her the side-eye. Her forehead crinkles, all innocent.
“He wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t. Isn’t that right, Nate? Anything for your fans.”
I’m gonna kill her.
“How about a napkin or your cap?” I suggest.
She whips off the cap—thank fuck—and thrusts it at me, along with a pen. I check her name tag, address it to her, and sign my name.
“Can you add a couple kisses on the end?” she asks.
Dex snorts.
“Sure.” I hand it back to the waitress with a broad smile. “Could we take the booth at the very end? My friend and I have a few things to discuss.”
“’Course you can, sweetheart. You sit yourselves down, and I’ll bring the menus across.”
“Thanks.” With my hand firmly pressed in the small of Dex’s back, I propel her to the far end of the diner. Her body shakes beneath my palm, and one look at her face tells me it’s with laughter, not desire.
“Keep going, Titch, and you’ll be giving me that blow job right here.”
She sticks out her tongue. “You’re not that brave.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Try me.”
She ignores me and slips into the booth. I follow her, sitting on the same side. “What’ll you have?” I say, scanning the menu.
“The Dino burger.” She licks her lips, and I wish it was my dick. “And a chocolate milkshake.”
I can’t contain my amusement at how relaxed she is, how normal, a complete about turn from the way she acted at the restaurant. “You’re much more comfortable here, aren’t you?”
“Yep. I’m a sweats and sneakers kind of girl.” She gives me an impudent grin. “I bet you’re not feeling as comfortable, though.”
She’s wrong. I’m more at ease sitting in a cheap diner with her than I’ve been with anyone in years. Ever since my life turned upside down, I’ve avoided intimacy with anyone, especially my family, in case I slip up and share what I know.
I nudge her playfully with my shoulder. “Actually, you’re wrong. I admit, I fucked up taking you to Alessandro’s.” I shrug. “I guess I wanted to take you someplace special. But if you’re happy here, then so am I.”
“Even with Susan fawning over you.” She laughs. “Your face was priceless. I bet you thought she was going to ask you to sign her boobs.” More laughter. “Now, that I’d have paid to see.”
My insides warm at her genuine happiness. When I picked her up at her place, her mouth had been pinched at the sides, and she’d seemed tired, and more than a little overwrought—which I hadn’t helped by taking her to the wrong restaurant. But now, even though she’s still paler than I’d like, her color has picked up, and she looks a lot better. Freer somehow.
I curl a hand around the back of her neck, leaving my other free to explore. “Oh, Titch. Payback time.”
“Wha… oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” I flick my thumb over her nipple for a second time. “Why do you think I chose this seat?”
“What can I get for you, lovelies?”
Dex jumps and tries to squirm out of my reach, but I hold her in place as I lazily turn toward Susan, proudly wearing her baseball cap with my signature scrawled across the peak.
“Two Dino burgers and two chocolate milkshakes. Also, if that man at the counter hasn’t eaten, tell him to pick whatever he wants and put it on my tab. If he has, you bill me for it and refund his money.”
“Oh my.” Susan slaps a hand to her chest. “That’s real nice of you. I’ll be back soon with your burgers.”
“No rush.” I turn back to Dex. “Now, where were we, Titch?”
“I can’t believe you did that,” she says, her eyes all soft and misty. “Carry on like that, Nate O’Reilly, and I’ll believe you’re a nice guy.”
I shrug, even though I’m secretly pleased at her response. Making Dex happy is fast becoming my favorite pastime.
“Even if I order one of everything off the menu, it’ll still be cheaper than two steaks at Alessandro’s.” I want to ask her to expand on the comment she made about being short of money, but instinct tells me I won’t get anywhere. Not with the direct approach, anyway. Lucky for me—and unlucky for her—I have a plan for exactly how to make her talk.
Susan comes across with our burgers and shakes, and Dex’s eyes light up.
“They look fabulous,” she says, sending a grin Susan’s way.
“Best thing on the menu. And there’s a piece of apple pie waiting after that. My treat for being so generous to Dave.” She jerks her head back toward the man now tucking into a burger of his own, along with a huge side of fries. “He’s ex-military, you know. When you think of what he did for this country, too.” She shakes her head sadly. “Terrible how we treat some of our veterans.”
I make a mental note to stuff a bunch of bills in Dave’s pocket as we leave.
Dex and I finish our burgers and the promised apple pie, then she flops back in her seat and rubs her belly.
“I couldn’t eat another thing.”
I wrap her ponytail around my hand and tug her head back. “That’s too bad, Titch, coz you owe me a blow job.”
She blinks. “You’re not serious?”
My lips brush hers. “Deadly. Not here, though. I want a blow job, not a rush job.”
I stand and wander over to the counter to pay, sliding five one hundred-dollar bills into Dave’s pocket. I give Susan a large tip, which earns me a dazzling smile, and a kiss on the cheek. Weirdly, I don’t mind at all. In fact, I might bring Dex here again.
As we walk to the car, I don’t have to look at Dex to feel her beside me, almost buzzing. Good. Because tonight, Dex is gonna spill what her issues with money are.
And I’m going to fix them.