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Tildy scowled. “There is no us,” she said quietly. “And why did he give you this? To leave me alone?”
Hawk wasn’t sure why he was so pissed off at her dismissal of him. “If there’s no us, why do I need to leave you alone?” he challenged.
Tildy narrowed her eyes at him. “You’re the one who’s always saying I’m nothing to you.”
He started at that. “I never said that!” he insisted.
Tildy shrugged like she didn’t care. “It’s true though. What’s the money for, Hawk?”
Hawk had come into the bank pissed at Tate, but it was Tildy who was getting his back up even more. God damn, he thought. Maybe, once you made love to a woman, they knew how to push your buttons too. “He’s paying me to sleep with you!” he spat.
Tildy actually paled and he felt like an asshole for being satisfied about it.
“He’s…what?”
“He said he wants me to keep you distracted. And out of trouble. And he’ll pay me to do it. To do you.”
“W- what did you say?”
“Nothing. He just walked away.”
“Why are you here?” she pressed.
Hawk gaped at her. “This isn’t about me! Do you not care that he did this? Are you really going to marry some guy who pays men to fuck you, like some kind of twisted form of prostitution?!”
“Because I have so many other options?!” Tildy shot back. “No job, no place to live, nothing. I don’t even own the car I drive, Hawk!” Hawk stared at her until she finally demanded, “What?!”
His lip curled into a sneer as he shook his head. “I’m just trying to figure out which one of us is the whore.”
He shouldn’t have said it. The second the words were out, he’d have given anything to take them back. Watching Tildy’s face crumple was heartbreaking. Tildy wasn’t a whore; she was afraid. Her parents had made certain she was dependent on them for everything. Leaving them must have seemed as impossible to her as flying to the moon and back.
“Tildy-” he said, as he started toward her.
She took a step back, away from him, and put her hand on the doorknob. “Just get out.”
“Tildy-”
“Just leave!” she hissed and slammed the check into his chest. “And take that with you. You should cash it,” she bit out. “At least then I’d be worth something.”
Chapter 50
Tildy picked at the green dress, tugging it down a little. It had seemed fabulous in the store, probably because her mother hadn’t wanted her to buy it. It was a great dress and that was the problem. She hadn’t considered being next to Tate for the entire evening. In fact, stupidly, her only thought at the time was what Hawk would think of the dress, but Hawk wasn’t here.
She shifted uncomfortably as Tate’s hand ran solicitously down her back. He had practically been mauling her all night. Anytime he thought he could get away with it, he reached down and cupped her ass. When she turned to tell him to knock it off, she instantly recognized the look in his eyes. Tate was none too subtle when he was interested. Tildy had wrestled him off her on more than one date in college. Tate was always pushy, but never forceful, so she never felt afraid on those dates, but she felt it now.
Maybe not fear, precisely, but dread. Tate had that look again tonight. As Tildy glanced at him again, she realized that it was a harder, more determined look this time. There would be no half-hearted wrestling in the front seat of his car and then Tate practically dumping her at the curb when she refused. Tate caught her watching and leaned toward her. She glanced down, surprised, as he pressed something into her hand. It was a plastic keycard. She gasped a little and hid it behind her leg.
“Don’t worry,” he told her, smiling. “I told your parents I’d like a little alone time with you after the party. I told them I haven’t seen much of you these days. They were very sympathetic.”
Tildy gripped the card tightly in her hand and tried to think of some excuse, but failed.
“Try to look slightly more enthusiastic when the time comes,” Tate admonished, taking another drink. He looked down at his watch. It was another hour, at least, until the party was over. “I’m bored. Go to the bathroom,” he ordered her.
Tildy looked up at him, aghast. Surely they weren’t going to have sex in a public restroom. He grinned at her as if he was reading her thoughts. “Please,” he snorted. “Let’s not be that crass. Go take your panties off.”
Tildy felt the blood drain from her face and she looked away. She eyed the people around them. Had any of them heard? She thought she might die of embarrassment on the spot. Tate leaned down toward her again.
