Page 58 of Good Girls Beg

"Why were you cranky?" I asked, sucking on the last of my smoothie.

He frowned at me. “What?"

"When I saw you outside the grocery store you swore to yourself," I said. "Were you angry about anything in particular?" I might be poking a hornets’ nest, but I couldn't resist asking.

"Right." He bit into his wrap. For a moment I thought he wasn't going to answer. Then he said, "I thought I had another job to do after the grocery store. I was wrong."

"You were pissed off because you got to take an early lunch break?" I asked. "I could be wrong, but I think most people don't mind."

"I have a routine," he said carefully. "I don't like to have lunch too early. I have my day planned in my mind."

I could relate to that. Plus, it explained a few things about him right there.

"You get upset when your plans are disrupted," I suggested. "It stresses you out?"

"I guess so," he said. "But I adapt. I've always had to adapt." His blue eyes were glazed, thinking about something. I couldn't tell whether it was bad or not, just something that grabbed onto his mind in the moment.

"That sounds about right," I said. "The world doesn't like to adapt to us." I watched him carefully. I seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Trying to figure out these men.

"The world doesn't give a shit," Oak said.

"The world, or someone in particular?" I asked. I remembered what he said about babysitters. What was that about? Did he have one as a kid? One who didn't like him ordering food for them? Was it something else?

"That's none of your business." Oak shoved his plate aside, what was left of his wrap sitting in the middle. He pushed himself to his feet and headed for the door.

I gaped for a moment before I rose, intending to follow him, but he was gone, walking past the window and off down the street before I could take a step.

I sank back in my seat and let out a breath. Apparently it was more than a hornets’ nest I poked, it was an open wound.

My food turned in my stomach. If I thought he'd react that way, I wouldn't have asked. He knew I didn't mean anything malicious by it, didn't he? I was trying to figure out what made him tick. Apparently he did more than tick, he also exploded. If you could call stomping off an explosion. It wasn't as though he turned the table upside down, threw things or went on a rampage. No, this was more like a cold fury than a burning hot one.

"Your friend has gone?" the server asked, stopping beside the table.

"He's not my—" I started to say. "He had somewhere he needed to be in a hurry." I hoped my smile was convincing. I wasn't going to tell her the truth, that was for sure. Whatever the truth was.

"Are you expecting him to come back?" She popped out her hip and placed her hand on it.

"I don't think so.” I looked down at the remains of his lunch and silently cursed. He said he'd pay for lunch and now he was gone, leaving me with the check. Asshole.

The server gave me a sympathetic smile. “Should I give you a minute?”

I was about to say yes, when I had a better idea. I gave her a sincere smile.

"No that won't be necessary. Can you send the tab to Egger Security?”

At some point it would cross the desk of Fade or Hel. When it did, there’d be questions. Would they ask me or go straight to Oak? Would they even notice a relatively small amount? What kind of question was that? Of course Fade would. It was his job. Besides, anything to do with me, he'd make it his business.

I wasn't sure what he or Hel would say and I didn't know what Oak would either. He walked off like a petulant kid because I asked too many questions. I overstepped by being curious about things I shouldn't be curious about.

Should I give up trying to get to know these men?

I sighed to myself. No, I didn't want to get to the end of the year and still be living with complete strangers. Fuck that.

I suspected, no matter how much I learned about them, there’d still be uncovered mysteries, but I didn't want to be completely in the dark. Why should I? They seemed to know more about me than I knew about them. If you asked me that was unfair. As unfair as…as walking away in the middle of lunch.

That gave me an idea.

Giving the server my best smile I said, “Can I get a piece of cheesecake?" If Oak wasn't going to stick around to police my lunch, then I was going to enjoy it. Not to mention, if I wasn't paying, I might as well have the most expensive dessert on the list. Right?