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“Sir, are you aware that keeping someone from leaving a place they desire to leave can be charged as kidnapping?” said the officer who reached out to grab Earl’selbow.
“Kidnapping?Kidnapping? You havegotto be kidding me,” Earl said, but he let the man guide him toward the Jeep. “I didn’t lay a fuckingfingeronyou.”
Lilac scoffed. “Not todayanyway.”
“You asked for it,” he said as the guard opened the Jeep door. “You think a sorority bimbo like you would get a job like the oneIoffered you if you hadn’taskedforit?”
“I wasn’t in a sorority,” said Lilac. “But I’ll thank you not to throw the term around as an insult.” She checked out her nails then, as cool as acucumber.
Earl was still shouting something unintelligible as he got into the Jeep and the guard shut the doorclosed.
“Do you want to file a report?” asked the walkie-talkie guard. “We can call in someone from thecounty.”
Lilac exchanged a look with Nolan. “Yes,” Nolan said. Lilac seemed unsure. “At least… Ido.”
The man turned, talking into his walkie-talkie oncemore.
“I don’t want…” said Lilac. Shesighed.
“Hey,” said Nolan, putting a hand on her back. “You didn’t ask for any of this, I know. But it’s here and… We ought to make sure he gets what hedeserves.”
“He’s fired,” said Lilac. “That’s enough. Plus, his wife kicked him out.” Sheshrugged.
“And if he tries to use this incident against you?” asked Nolan. “Against us?” Oh, boy, would he have some explaining to do to his dad. “Let’s get the papers filed. We don’t have to presscharges.”
Lilac turned around, both her hands resting on his chest. “I’ve got you,” she said. “My lawyer… Whatever you need.” She looked up and met his gaze then and Nolan felt, surprisingly, that she wasall therein the moment with him. There wasn’t a shadow weighing her down. There wasn’t the cavalier jovialness of a girl just looking for a casual fling. She had his back. Whatever that meant, as friends… As something more… She understood him now. Shecared.
And despite how he’d tried to keep it casual for her sake, there was no question that he felt the sameway.
He took her into his arms, resting his chin lightly atop her head. “Let’s start over,” he whispered as the walkie-talkie guard finished talking to his partner and made his way back toward them. “Let me take you on a date to TildyWorld.”
Lilac chuckled then—hard. “Is that ajoke?”
“No,” said Nolan. “Just you wait andsee.”
Chapter Nineteen
It’d beena harried few days. Calls to Lilac’s lawyer and reports to file. Lilac hadn’t wanted to press charges, and Nolan had followed suit. Ironically, Earl had wanted to pursue charges, though the guards and police had directed him to an attorney rather than doing much of anything themselves. Nolan vouched for Lilac and Lilac vouched for Nolan—no one cared that Earl was shouting obscenities about them being a couple. Plus, there was security footage, so Earl wastoast.
A couple. Lilac hadn’t ever thought of herself as one half of a couple. It was too final, tooconfining.
Only now, she actually felt freer than ever. “What are you up to this fine Saturday morning?” Gavin sipped a coffee casually as he gazed into his phone’s video camera from a place Lilac had never seenbefore.
“Um, where the hell are you?” asked Lilac, her tone more playful than her wordssuggested.
“Nowhere special,” said Gavin. “Just the boss’ townhouse.” He took another sip but kept his eye on the camera, waiting for thereaction.
“You little Jezebel,” said Lilac, making Gavin actually spit some of his coffee back into the cup. “So you and Gabriel are… a thing now? A full-fledged officialthingy?”
Gavin wiped his lips. “Well, when you put it like that, it’s suddenly ten times lessromantic.”
Before Lilac could say more, Pembroke of all people dialed in, asking to join the call. Gavin welcomed her, curiosity plain as day on her face. “Hey, Pem,” hesaid.
“Hi,” said Pembroke, grabbing hold of a swath of blue hair that flew at that moment across her eyes. Wherever she was, it waswindy.
“Where are you?” asked Gavin, studying herimage.
Lilac instead focused on the bigger issue that came to mind. “Did you change your blue streaks into entirely bluehair?”
