Page 21 of Throttle Therapy

“Again, not your business.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.If it has to do with Jenna, it’s my business.”She folded her arms across her chest.“If it affects her, it affects me.Are you getting her this job so you have a better chance to smash her?Will you have her fired when she refuses you?”She tilted her head to one side as she watched him.“Maybe she’s better off staying where she is.Especially if she’s going to be expected to sleep with anyone to keep the job.”

Roadkill clenched his jaw and reminded himself that this girl didn’t know him and that she was trying to protect Jenna.

“The job comes with no strings.If she loses it or leaves, that’s entirely up to her.I just hate to see anyone deal with what she has been.”

“What’s she been dealing with?”Lacey asked with narrowed eyes.

Shit.He’d said too much.He realized now that Jenna would never have told her sister what that fuckwad of a boss was doing to her.

“Her boss is a jerk.Surely, she’s told you that.”

Lacey studied him for several seconds, as if she sensed he wasn’t telling her the entire truth.But he kept his gaze steady and his face blank.He knew how to keep people from reading him, he just hadn’t been prepared for this slip of a girl to be able to read him so easily.

“Is that all?”the girl asked, showing far more wisdom and suspicion than the average fourteen-year-old girl or boy.

He nodded once, not willing to tell the girl more, especially if Jenna hadn’t told her.He knew enough about Jenna to know that if he told her sister things she’d been keeping from the girl, then he would end up on her shit list, and right now, that was the last place he wanted to be.

She didn’t look away.He got the feeling she didn’t entirely believe him.That was okay.He could work with skepticism.He’d face hostility from the girl if he had hope of making her feel better about him.He wanted Jenna that much.

“Where you want to go for lunch?”he asked, trying to change the subject.Maybe if he could distract her, at least for a little bit, he could start to earn her trust.

“I don’t know.”She looked away.

Now that didn’t seem right.She didn’t hesitate to meet his gaze when she was questioning him about her sister, now that he asked what she wanted to eat she wouldn’t look at him.Was she not used to eating out and was embarrassed that she didn’t know?He knew they were struggling, and it made sense they wouldn’t have the money to eat out often, if at all.

“No worries.I know the best place in town.Not only are their meals to die for but they make the best selection of pies, around.”He glanced at the girl to see if he’d caught her interest then continued.“What’s your favorite kind of pie?”

She didn’t respond, but he only half expected her to.So he kept talking.

“Personally, my favorite’s pecan.And Mm mmm, Miss Glenda makes the best pecan pie I’ve ever tasted.”

“What else does she make?”

“More than I can remember.She does a few fruit pies, but more southern stuff like Chocolate Chess, Lemon Icebox, Coconut Cream, Sweet potato, I don’t remember what else, but I know I’m missing a bunch of them.”He wanted to ask what Jenna’s favorite was but if the girl wouldn’t tell him what she liked, why would she tell him anything about her sister?Especially with how protective she’d already shown herself to be.

“I like Chocolate Chess, but I’ve only ever had Mama’s and Jenna’s.Do you think I would like the one Miss Glenda makes?”

Roadkill fought to keep the small smile off his face.It was just a pie, a preference and a question but in reality, it was a lot more.It was a step, if a small one, to her trusting him.

“I bet you will.How about we wait until you’re sister’s done, then go find out?”

Lacey slumped in her seat.“She’s gonna say no.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Because we don’t have the money.We never have the money.”

“Hey.That’s why we’re here.I have no doubt she’ll walk out of there in a few minutes, with a new job, with plenty of hours so that she doesn’t have to worry so much about money.That you can afford to do something fun once in a while, like get pie at a restaurant.”

She watched him for long enough that he was starting to wonder what she was thinking.He was busy trying to decide what he could ask her next to get to know her a little better, because he could tell she and Jenna were a package deal.If he wanted to get to know Jenna, he needed to get to know her sister.He needed Lacey to like him too.

“You go to school here in town, right?”

She nodded.

“What do you think of school?”