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Chapter TWENTY-TWO

Lena is working, of course, and I remember that Kate recognized that shirt as one Lena had given him, but I'll think about all that later. Right now I have to focus on work, on tips and good service, and getting my rent together.

They're letting me have a full section today, and I'm excited as the shift starts. Mollie is on with me, along with another girl named Susan, and we make a pretty good team. Lena is behaving for the moment, and when I head back to the soup bar just as we start to get busy, I catch Tyler's eye. He grins back at me and comes over to pretend to give me instruction about the service.

He glances over his shoulder. "I can't stop thinking about last night. That was the hottest sex I ever had."

My one worry is that we didn't use a condom. Rookie mistake. But I give him the smallest of smiles. "Maybe tonight will be even hotter." I look over my shoulder to make sure we're out of earshot. "Guess what?"

"What?" He leans into me, only our arms touching.

"In the rush last night, I didn't pack any panties."

He looks at me, and those bars of red heat show on his cheekbones. "What do you mean?"

I raise an eyebrow and ladle soup into a bowl, settle it on my tray. "What do you think I mean?"

A harsh sound slips between his lips. "What if you bend over too far?"

"I won't." Thinking we're still playing, I tease him. "But what if I did, by accident?"

"Don't even say that!" His eyes blaze. "I can't believe you did this. Why didn't you tell me so we could go by your house?"

Stung, I pick up my tray. "Because I thought you might enjoy it." I push by him. "Excuse me."

As I carry the tray out into the restaurant my heart is pounding and it takes everything I have not to cry with humiliation. I serve the soup and I feel air on the backs of my thighs, so I stiffen, trying to be sure nothing shows. Tyler has followed me out, and I feel his glare from across the room, judgmental and furious.

"Can I get you anything else right now?" I ask my customers.

"This looks great, sweetheart."

Carrying my tray at my side, I check a couple of other tables on my way back toward the kitchen to pick up another order. Tyler catches my arm just above the elbow as I pass, his grip fierce. "I need to talk to you. Let me take you home and we-"

I yank my arm out of his grip, and my mind is a whirl of images. Jake calling me a cunt when I was there supporting the band even though I was so exhausted I wanted to fall over. Somebody-somebody I trust and who supposedly was either my friend or my boyfriend-landing a punch that blacked my eye and flung me into the hands of a couple of nasty guys who thought they could do anything they wanted to my body. I think of Rick breaking into my house.

And more, I think of Tyler creating trust and beauty between us, and now he's snatching it away. My lungs feel shredded with a mix of hatred and love, loss and betrayal, and...courage.

Very clearly, I say, "Fuck you, Tyler Smith. I am not some windup doll you can program to do your bidding." I glare at him intensely. "Do you hear me?"

He lets me go. I glance at the bar, where Lena is watching us without any expression at all.

I ignore them both and get busy with what matters. My job. Me, myself and I.

* * *

But of course there has to be more, because that's the way life has been lately. One thing after another after another.