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He was so confident it bordered on cocky. Arrogant.
“I did suffer some trauma last night, in case you forgot.”
Calvin blinked and his expression changed instantly. “I haven’t forgotten a damn thing. Just wondering how much you remember.”
“Everything,” I whispered and refused to close my eyes. “You killed that guy.”
“I did,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Are you okay?”
“I slept, but not well and not continuous, but I’m all right. Fine, really.”
Cal nodded casually and flipped the pancakes, the scent of butter reminding me that we’d left last night before I even got a chance to eat dinner.
“Fine, huh?”
I nodded, notching my chin high into the air, daring him to question me.
“Good to know. Did you take something?”
I shook my head, still angry and frustrated and bewildered about my missing pills. And other lost items. They couldn’t all be gone. I just got them yesterday. I must have left them in the car. Or Cal took them out of my purse.
My funds were low and there wasn’t much jewelry left to sell off, unless of course I got lucky and found a job right away. That was unlikely to happen and definitely not in Glitz, which meant I’d have to start looking in Vegas proper or maybe even Mayhem.
“No Calvin, I didn’t take anything, even though my ribs still kind of hurt.”
The pain was a lie, and he didn’t believe me anyway, so I let the matter drop and poured a second mug of coffee.
“Good. How are you feeling? Really, I mean.”
“Fine,” I sighed. “Not good, but I’ll be fine, Calvin. You don’t need to worry about me. Why are you worried about me anyway? You don’t even like me.”
He smiled and quickly flipped the pancakes onto a plate and added four more to the griddle. “Who says I don’t like you?”
I barked out a laugh and took a spot at the table, as far from him as possible.
“Only my basic understanding of human behavior, like your words and your expressions, oh and your body language. It all says that you don’t like me very much.”
Cal stroked his jaw, and I did my best not to notice how strong and chiseled it was.
“Honestly, the almost college graduate was a little hard to bear. You were just so bubbly and sure of yourself, so damn judgmental. This new Bonnie has her flaws, one glaring flaw in particular,” he joked around a smile before turning to flip over the last batch of pancakes. “But she’s feisty and mouthy and tough. I kind of like her.”
Kind of. It stung and it shouldn’t have because I didn’t want Calvin and I barely liked him. Sure there was some low level attraction, but he was a good looking, intelligent male. And clearly my taste in men could use an upgrade, so Calvin Ashby was the last man I was thinking about. “What’s the catch here, Calvin? The real catch.”
He shrugged and brought the stack of pancakes to the table, returning a moment later with coffee, syrup and soft butter. “The catch is that you seem like you could use a friend. Here I am, offering. Bonus points because I actually do know what you’re going through.”
That was a deal that sounded good on the surface. But so had Squeaker’s deal, until I was sneaking off to snort heroin up my nose a few hours after meeting him. “But why? Why are you offering this Cal? The truth. Please.”
“The truth?”
“And nothing but the truth.”
His lips curled into another of those irresistible grins, and I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop the answering smile that threatened to appear.
“I don’t know. Other than you seem like you could use the help. If you don’t want my help, say the word.”
He seemed sincere, but still I hesitated. Did I really need help and did it have to come from an Ashby?
Sure, they’d been helpful since my life fell apart, but I was sure they had something to do with my problems, in some way. They lived a life of chaos, which only brought more chaos, a fact my parents had drilled into me from the moment we moved to Glitz and they became aware of the Ashby family name.
I couldn’t toss out all of their life lessons just because a few had been wrong. Terribly wrong, but still.
“I don’t know Cal.” His help, like all help, probably came with strings. “What do you expect from this, in real terms?”
Cal took the seat across from me and stared for so long that I started to squirm uncomfortably. “Just what the fuck are you asking me Bonnie?”
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Sex. Do you mean for me to pay my way in sex?”
“What?” From the way his jaw dropped, he seemed offended. I regretted the question, but it had to be asked.
