Chapter 12
“How did she get in?” came the panicked demand as Garrett stood there, trying to figure out what just happened as he glanced from the employees huddled in the corner, trying to comfort the two marines who wouldn’t stop crying, to the college kid who refused to stay out of Kristen’s way and-
It was probably for the best if he didn’t glance back at the college kid, Garrett thought as he shifted his attention back to the manager demanding to know why the system didn’t flag Kristen’s name to the woman in question as she went to open her mouth to say something only to rethink that decision and settled for giving the large officers surrounding them a hopeful smile.
He honestly had no idea how this happened.
One minute, they were watching a video telling them how Jack The Ripper avoided capture, and the next…
“They kept missing clues,” Kristen pointed out, only to wince, clear her throat, and add, “I’ll just shut up now,” when the announcement was met with horrified expressions.
“Look,” the officer, who’d spent the last thirty minutes trying to calm the manager down, said as he approached them, “I’m not exactly sure what happened here, but as long as you promise never to come back, you’re free to go.”
With a sniffle, Kristen said, “Bless you,” only to clear her throat as she stepped behind him, which, considering the murderous glare the manager was sending her, was probably for the best, Garrett thought as he glanced back at the two Marines and-
Decided that it would probably be for the best if he didn’t think about what happened when they kept putting in the wrong code for the lockbox.
With that, he cleared his throat, murmured, “Excuse me,” and reached back for Kristen’s hand only to bite back a smile when she latched onto his arm and refused to let go.
“If it helps, I’m really sorry?” Kristen said with a hopeful smile that died quickly when Susie, who hadn’t stopped crying since they’d managed to break down the door to the control room, broke free from the officers trying to calm her down and raced back to the small room behind her, where she once again barricaded the door from the sounds of it.
“We should probably go now,” Kristen said, which, given the way the manager was watching her every move, was probably a good idea.
Not sure what else there was to say, Garrett cleared his throat, moved to turn around only to think better of it when he noted the way the manager’s murderous gaze flickered between Kristen and the fake axe in the corner along with all the fake weapons the employees used to scare guests, and settled for moving back until they reached the entrance and-
“We should probably move faster,” Kristen said when the manager finally managed to get around the cops and dove for the fake, and he was really fucking hoping that it was fake, axe.
Definitely time to go, Garrett decided as he grabbed Kristen’s hand and headed for the exit.
He wasn’t surprised when he spotted several officers following them a few minutes later or even when he heard one of them call for backup, but he was absolutely fucking stunned that Kristen was the reason behind it.
His family had a long history of getting banned from restaurants, bars, food trucks, and grocery stores. He’d even managed to get banned a few times over the years, but he had to admit that he’d never seen anyone, not even his Uncle Jared, make a decorated Marine cry that quickly before.
He was definitely impressed, terrified, but impressed.
Kristen didn’t say anything as they quickly made their way back to the truck, which was understandable given what just happened. She simply worried her bottom lip between her teeth, stole the occasional glance behind them, winced, cleared her throat, and urged him to move faster.
When they reached the truck, he held the door open for her, noting the way the officers watched their every move. He waited for her to get settled before he closed the door, made his way around the truck, and-
“We probably shouldn’t mention this again,” he said when she opened her mouth.
Nodding, Kristen said, “That’s probably for the best.”
She could do this.
She could do this.
She could do this, Kristen kept repeating in her head as she sat there, forcing herself to ignore the laptop sitting on the nightstand next to her and focused on whatever it was that was playing on television.
When she found her gaze darting to the laptop a few seconds later, she took a deep breath, held it for thirty seconds, and then slowly exhaled as she-
Once again found herself sending hopeful glances at her laptop.
Reminding herself that she only had nine more hours before she could once again make her way across the street so that she could write, Kristen released a shaky breath, nodded for some reason, shifted to get more comfortable and once again found herself looking at her laptop.
Maybe today was enough to finally destroy her writer’s block once and for all? Kristen found herself wondering as she felt her fingers twitch with the need to grab her laptop and find out. She-
Knew damn well that nothing had changed.
As soon as she came home after the unfortunate incident that took place at the mall that she was going to pretend never happened, she immediately settled on the couch with her laptop only to spend the next four hours staring at the screen, trying to figure out why this was happening to her.
Anytime she tried to write by herself, nothing. Not a single word. But when she was with Garrett…
God, her fingers couldn’t seem to keep up with the words racing through her mind.
Thanks to Garrett, she’d managed to write eleven thousand words today and if he hadn’t stopped her, she probably would have written eleven thousand more.
It reminded her of all those times when he used to sneak into her room late at night when they were little.
Even then, she couldn’t seem to keep up with the stories playing in her head, each one more desperate than the last to make its way onto paper while her hand struggled to write faster.
Things got better after she bought her first laptop when she was sixteen.
It had taken her two years of babysitting, raking leaves, shoveling driveways, and the occasional shift at Dixon’s Bakery helping her aunt, but it had been worth it.
She was able to get the words out faster, keep her stories organized, and edit her books without having to rewrite her stories over and over again until they were perfect.
She took her laptop everywhere and was on it every chance she got.
She wrote on the bus, in class, during lunch, on her breaks at work, at the dinner table, and late into the night.
It was the reason she decided not to go to college, knowing that between classes, homework, and work that she would probably never get a chance to write again.
So, she decided not to go to college and went to work with her aunt at Dixon’s Bakery instead.
While she chopped fruit, measured ingredients, and kneaded dough, she ran ideas through her head, came up with stories and imagined all the possibilities.
She wrote during her break, hoping that it would be enough to hold her over until she got home and could spend the rest of the night writing.
It never was, but she kept going.
She put in long hours, writing until three in the morning most days, only to drag herself out of bed two hours later for work.
No matter how tired she was, and god, she’d been exhausted, as soon as she got home, she was writing again.
She had no idea if her books would even sell, and honestly, she didn’t care if they did.
She loved writing, more than anything, and the fact that she couldn’t do it anymore without the bastard across the street was absolutely destroying her.
She hated this.
But right now, she hated not being able to write more, which meant that she was going to do whatever it took to fix this, including waiting eight hours and forty-two minutes until she could write again.
“What’s another word for desperation?” came the absently murmured words as Garrett lay there, wondering why the woman he’d dreamed about last night was in his bed.
“Despair, sadness, hopelessness,” Garrett said as he rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was imagining this.
Nodding, Kristen continued typing while he lay there, running his eyes over her, taking in her long dark hair pulled back into a messy bun, the way that she worried her plump bottom lip between her teeth as she typed before taking in her Goonies tee-shirt and-
“Did you go to bed last night?” Garrett asked as he reached back and turned off his alarm just as it was about to go off.
“I thought about it,” Kristen mumbled, completely lost in whatever it was that she was writing.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Garrett said around a yawn as he shoved the covers off and sat up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed as he glanced back at the clock. “What time did you break in?”
“Sometime after midnight,” came the absently murmured answer as Garrett did the math and realized that he must have fallen asleep right around the time that she broke in.
“I guess you owe me three hours then,” he said, glancing back at her in time to watch her eyebrows pull up into an adorable frown.
“For what?”
“For using me for my body,” Garrett said, shrugging it off as he got up and made his way to the bathroom just as the outraged sputtering began. Smiling, because she was honestly too fucking adorable for words, he closed the door behind him and focused on getting ready for work.
Ten minutes later, he was standing in the shower, going over everything that he needed to do today when the small woman, who’d most likely spent the last ten minutes pacing his bedroom and grumbling adorably to herself while she waited for him to hurry up, threw the bathroom door open.
“That wasn’t part of the deal,” Kristen said, making his lips twitch as he took in the pillow she had pressed against her face and knew without a doubt that she was struggling against the urge to beat the shit out of him with it.
“Did you use me for my body so that you could write?” Garrett asked, reaching for the bottle of shampoo as he watched her.
“I kept you company out of the goodness of my heart, ensuring that you were well-rested for the day ahead,” Kristen said, the pillow nodding solemnly along with her.
“That was very generous of you,” Garrett murmured as he ducked his head beneath the spray of hot water.
“I know,” she said, making sure to add a heartfelt sigh at the end there.
“Five hours,” Garrett said, focusing on squeezing shampoo into his hand.
“How the hell did you come up with five hours?” Kristen demanded after a slight pause.
“Two hours left over from yesterday and three for last night,” Garrett said, washing his hair before he dropped his head beneath the spray of hot water again.
“I believe we already discussed your two-hour fine after you stole my lunch,” she said, making his lips twitch.
“You knew better than to leave your food unprotected for more than thirty seconds around me,” Garrett said, reaching for the bottle of conditioner.
“Three hours,” Kristen countered.
“Five.”
“Two,” came the immediate response that had his lips twitching.
“Five.”
“Goddamn it!” came the frustrated growl seconds before the pillow hit the shower door as the adorable woman, that he’d missed more than anything, stormed out of the room, leaving him unable to help but smile as he mentally prepared himself for the day of glaring ahead.