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Every kiss with Creed was earth-shattering. There were no easy kisses with a man like him; something I’d learned in the beginning. Even the short ones took hold of your soul and refused to let go until the kiss was over.
“So, where are we going?” I asked, unable to help it. Beating around the bush wasn’t my specialty anymore.
He tossed a glance in my direction, smirking. “You’ll see.” He got us on the road, not saying a thing more, refusing to tell me the details. “We do have to make one stop, first.”
I tried asking him about where this stop was, but he wouldn’t say. So, I settled into the seat and watched the blocks go by. I couldn’t lie; I was a strange sort of excited. It wasn’t often that Creed wanted to go out and do something, especially on a Friday night. It was almost like tonight was a special occasion or something.
As it turned out, the pitstop was the Hooting Owl, and I was told to come inside with him—which I found a little strange, but I went along with it. After all, the Hooting Owl did have a place in my heart. It’s where I first saw Creed after a long ten years of missing him.
The inside of the bar wasn’t busy. A pair of people stood in the back, playing pool and drinking beer, but that was it. Not its busiest hour, but I assumed once the afternoon wore on and night fell, it’d get a hell of a lot busier.
As we walked in, we saw Jeff was working behind the counter. He was currently scrubbing something down with a damp towel, but when he noticed it was us, he stopped and grinned. “Hey, guys! Long time no see.” His brown eyes shifted to me, and he nodded in my direction.
It wasn’t really a long time. I came here to do homework when Creed was gone on jobs; I’d come to know Jeff pretty well. I think Jeff was the only guy Creed trusted around me—relatively. He got insanely jealous anytime any other guy so much as looked at me or breathed in my general direction.
“What can I do for you today?” Jeff asked, his gaze shifting to Creed.
“Is she here?” he asked.
“She’s in the back.”
Creed looked at me. “I’ll only be a few minutes. Wait here.” With one stern look to Jeff, he walked off, heading to the back of the bar, toward the door that was labeledemployees only. He wasn’t an employee here, but from what he’d told me, his boss at the Guild frequented the place. The Guild might own the Hooting Owl or something. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure on the details.
As I slid onto a stool near Jeff, Jeff deadpanned, “Well, I see he’s as chipper as ever.”
I smiled. The wordchipperwasn’t something I’d ever use to describe Creed, but I didn’t correct him on it.
“So,” Jeff paused, leaning his elbows down on the counter, “how are your classes going, little lady? I hope you’re not letting that one distract you too much.” He was only a few years older than Creed, so probably around fifteen or so years older than me, but once he’d taken to calling me that, there was no stopping him. I was now a little lady to him.
I mean, I was short, yeah, but I wasn’t a child. Come on.
“They’re going. Since it’s my third year, I’m taking a lot of higher-level classes. Feels like I have a paper a week to write.” Anyone could hear the misery in my voice. I didn’t mind writing papers, but when it was all I seemed to do, it got old.
“I can’t even imagine. I hate reading the labels on shit. I’d be fucked if I had to do half the stuff you do,” Jeff said.
I laughed quietly. We talked for a bit more, but then Creed emerged from the back, an expression on his face I couldn’t read. I’d been around him enough to know it was his business face; he wore a pretty good mask when he was dealing with work.
Although, even now, I had no idea why he’d have to talk to his boss here and not at the Guild’s actual physical location. I could ask him, but I wasn’t stupid. The Guild didn’t sound like a normal company, and with how secretive he’d been about it when I’d first come to him, I knew there had to be more. It was dangerous, and that’s all I needed to know.
Creed headed straight for me, and when he reached me, he slipped a hand on my lower back. “Let’s go,” he said, and with a quick glimpse at Jeff, he added, “See you.” He didn’t really mean it. Creed didn’t have friends, nor was he in a rush to get them. Before me, he’d lived a very solitary life… although, he had forgone his solitude once a month for Hailee, but I did my best not to think about that woman and what they did together before my arrival back into his life.
As he led me away from the bar counter and out of the bar, I asked, “Where to now?”
All Creed did was smirk.
Him and that smirk. He was lucky he smirked so well, lucky that it only made his unbelievably good looks more mischievous.
He brought me back to the car, and we drove away, to our next destination. I had no idea where we were going, but it wasn’t home. I knew that much.
Turned out, we were going to some fancy shop on the floor of a medium-sized high-rise somewhere downtown. A clothing store, but not one just anyone could stroll into and pick from the racks. This place had no racks to be browsed; there were simply mannequins and workers who checked in the back to see if they had your size available.
Creed and I walked up to the woman behind the register toward the front. “I called earlier,” he said. “For Taylor.” He reached into his back pocket to pull out his wallet, flashing a gold credit card.
The woman smiled at us. “Oh, yes. I remember. Come in the back. I have everything ready.” She didn’t take the credit card; I assumed she’d take it later to charge him after we… did whatever we were doing in the back.
We followed her through the store. There weren’t many other people there, and the type of customers that were didn’t seem like the kind of people who’d break into a cash register. And, let’s be honest: a cash register at a place like this probably didn’t have much cash in it to begin with. Most transactions were so expensive it was all plastic.
Around a corner, we came upon a waiting room of sorts, where a group of sofas and chairs were, facing a small area with a half circle of well-lit mirrors. Deeper in was a changing room.
