17. Leo
Leo
“I’m headed to work now,” Lucy says.
I look up from my phone as I stand in the kitchen, waiting for the pot of hot water on the stove to boil.
“Are you hungry? You wanna take some food with you?” I ask.
Her mouth curves up into a soft smile.
“What?”
“You’re always making sure I’m eating enough. It’s really sweet.”
“Can’t help it. It’s another thing my mom instilled in me. Whenever we have people over, she’s constantly shoving food in front of them.”
Lucy chuckles softly. “She sounds adorable.”
She crouches down and pets Wally, who’s sitting at her feet. He tries to lick her face, but she leans back and smiles. I notice she’s wearing a lot of makeup. More than I’ve ever seen her wear before. Her hair is styled differently too. It’s a little wavy, like she curled it.
She kisses his head. “Be good for Leo and the guys, okay?” She stands back up. “His leash is hanging in the coat closet, in case you want to walk him. You don’t have to though. I walked him a little while ago.”
“We’ll definitely go for a walk.” I smile at Wally. I grab a treat from the bag on the counter and toss it to him. He catches it in his mouth.
“You’re a spoiled boy,” she says to Wally while scratching behind his ears.
“He deserves it.” I still feel bad that he was stuck in that shelter for so long. He probably missed Lucy so much.
I watch him follow her to the front door. She grabs her jacket and gives him another kiss and a pet on the head.
“I’ll be back later. Be a good boy, okay? Love you.”
I smile at her sweet words to Wally. When she leaves and closes the door behind her, he whines at the door.
I watch him, feeling pity for the poor guy. He’s probably so sad to see her leave after spending the whole day with her.
I walk over to him, lean down, and give him some pets.
“It’s okay, Wally buddy. She’ll be back.”
He stops whining but keeps looking at the door. I stand back up and turn to head back into the kitchen, but my gaze catches on Lucy in her car. She pulls off the blue T-shirt that’s her diner uniform, revealing a low-cut, red lace top.
I frown. That’s weird. Why would she change out of her diner uniform when she’s about to work a shift there?
She backs out of the driveway and drives down the street in the direction of the diner.
I head into the kitchen to grab one of the bones I ordered for Wally. His tail wags when I set it down on the ground. He lies down and happily chomps away.
A few minutes later, Blake walks in with his girlfriend, Briar.
I nod “hi” at them as I sit on the couch eating the noodles I cooked. Briar beams when she sees Wally.
“Oh my gosh, he’s so cute!”
Wally runs over to her, his tail wagging, excited to meet a new person. He licks her hands and her face as she laughs.
“Told you he was super friendly,” Blake says.
Briar sits on the floor to play with Wally while Blake sits next to me on the couch.
“Where’s Lucy?” Blake asks.
“Yeah, I can’t wait to hang out with her,” Briar says. “She was so funny, how she busted your balls when she waited on us at the diner last night.”
“She’s at work.” I stand up to take my empty bowl to the kitchen and notice the house key I gave to Lucy earlier sitting on the kitchen counter. She must have forgotten it.
I text her.
Hey, you forgot your copy of the house key. Want me to come to the diner and drop it off to you?
It’s a few minutes before she texts me back.
Lucy: Crap. I can’t believe I forgot it.
Lucy: Actually, I’m not at the diner right now. I’m working at my other job.
Me: That’s fine, I can head there. I’ve got the whole night free.
Lucy: No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine without the key tonight
Me: But you said you won’t get back until late. The house will be locked in. You need a key to get in.
Three gray bubbles appear, then disappear.
I frown at my phone screen, wondering why she seems so hesitant.
Lucy: Okay, sure, if you really don’t mind dropping them off, here’s the address. Just text me when you get here, and I’ll run out to the parking lot and get them from you.
She texts me an address. I’ve never been to that area before, but I know it’s a pretty rundown part of town. Why is she working there?
I tuck her house key in my pocket and grab my car keys.
“Hey, Lucy forgot her keys. I’m gonna go bring them to her,” I say to Blake and Briar. “Do you guys mind hanging out here with Wally while I’m gone? And maybe take him for a walk?”
“Yeah, no problem. We were gonna hang out here the rest of the night anyway,” Blake says.
I tell them thanks and head out. I drive to a seedy part of the city. It’s mostly liquor stores, vape shops, and cash advance places.
When my GPS directs me to pull into the crowded parking lot of a strip club called Gentleman’s Delight, I’m confused.
This can’t be right. But then it hits me. This is why Lucy had her hair and makeup done…Why she was wearing a sexy top underneath her diner uniform.
She works here too.
I don’t have a problem with strip clubs. They’re not really my thing, but if people wanna go there, to work or to enjoy themselves, that’s fine. I don’t care.
But I’m not sure Lucy wants to work here.
If she didn’t have a problem working here, she would have told me.
I’m about to text her that I’m here when I see a couple of twenty-something guys stumble across the parking lot past my car.
“Hey, do you think that redheaded waitress is working tonight?” one of them says.
My ears prick up.
“I hope so. She’s hot,” the other says.
“Bet you twenty bucks I’ll be taking her home at the end of the night.”
“Nah, man. She’s gonna be riding my dick, not yours.”
They both laugh. An ugly feeling spikes through me. They’re talking about Lucy. They’re placing bets on who’s going to sleep with her.
Fuck that.
I hop out of my car and head into the strip club. The dimly lit space is crowded and loud. I make my way over, scanning the space for Lucy.
After a minute, I spot her at the bar, balancing a bunch of drinks on her tray.
The guy sitting at the bar right next to her stares at her ass.
He licks his lips. When she turns around and catches him gawking at her body, she goes pale.
A second later, he looks at her face. He just shrugs at her.
Jesus fucking Christ, does this guy have no shame?
Does he just go around leering at women?
I’m too far away to hear him, but I can read his lips perfectly as he gawks at her, a smug look on his face.
“You’re hot.”
She flashes a strained smile, then walks away.
Protectiveness slams through me. It feels like adrenaline, but sharper, angrier.
I don’t like this. Seeing her here, seeing how many men are openly staring at her body, like she’s a piece of meat.
Why does she work here? She’s uncomfortable just being here.
I make my way over to her. When she sees me, her eyes go wide, and she stops suddenly.
“Leo. What are you…” She closes her eyes and shakes her head, like she’s trying to refocus. “You were supposed to text me from the parking lot.”
I hand her the key to the house. “Why are you here?”
Her sapphire eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”
“You said you were working at the diner. You lied. Why?”
I’m careful to keep my tone steady. I don’t want her to think I’m angry. I’m not. I’m just worried about her. I don’t like that she’s working here. And I don’t like that she lied to me about it.
She huffs out a breath. “I need money, Leo. Where else can a woman my age with zero education make good money quickly?”
Okay, I guess that makes sense. I still don’t like it though.
“It’s dangerous for you to work at a place like this,” I say.
She laughs and rolls her eyes. “You think I don’t know that?”
“You shouldn’t be here.”
She tilts her head at me, her gaze fiery. “Oh, you wanna tell me what to do now?”
I tug a hand through my hair, frustrated at why she’s mad at me. “No, I just think you should be smarter about where you work. You’re putting yourself in danger being in a place like this.”
The second I say it, I regret it. I sound like a judgmental asshole.
She purses her lips like she’s pissed and starts to slowly nod her head. “Easy for you to say. You don’t know what it’s like to have to actually work.”
She starts to walk off, but I catch up to her and grab her arm, stopping her.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I say, my tone on the edge of hard.
“You don’t have a job,” she bites. “Because your parents pay for everything, don’t they? Because you’re a hockey golden boy and the one job you do have is smacking a puck around. Lucky you.”
Her smartass tone sets off a wave of frustration. But she’s not wrong. I don’t work. I get money from my family to pay for everything I want and need.
“I should have known you’d be like this,” she mutters.
“Like what?”
“Bossy. Controlling.”
I start to talk, but she cuts me off.
“You do nice things, but you don’t really mean it, do you? You just do it to control people.”
Her words hit me like a punch to the gut. That’s not what I want. Not even close.
“You’re just like all those other guys,” she says under her breath. I can barely hear it over the music playing in the club.
What other guys? What did they do to her?
An ugly feeling gnaws through my gut. All I want is for her to be safe, but it came out all wrong.
She walks off.
“Lucy, wait. That’s not—”
“Thanks for pretending to care about my safety.”
She walks over to a table and drops off their drinks. A guy hands her cash, and she smiles when she tells him thanks.
She heads over to another table and sets down the rest of the drinks on her tray. But then the guy sitting closest to her sets a hand on her hip. He glides his fingertips down the curve of her ass, and she freezes.
Rage rockets through me. What does that handsy motherfucker think he’s doing?
A half-second later, I recognize him. That’s the guy from the parking lot who was bragging to his friend about how he was going to sleep with Lucy.
She starts to step away from him, but he grabs her waist and pulls her against him.
That rage inside of me multiplies by a thousand.
He’s touching her, and she doesn’t like it. But he won’t stop.
I shove through the crowd over to their table.
I’m gonna break his fucking hand.