Page 4 of Austin
“Your family doesn’t know that you’re working here, do they?” He held her gaze, waiting for her response, his expression hard. She’d forgotten how blue his eyes were. Piercing blue. Pirate blue.
Going to cause her a world of trouble blue.
“No.” She finally found her voice to confess. “They don’t know.”
Once again, the corner of his amazing mouth tilted up. Damn but she’d fantasized about that mouth in high school—although she’d been too self-conscious to ever let anyone know. Not even her twin.
“I figured if they were aware, I would have heard about it from Whitney the last time we spoke—which wasn’t that long ago.” He gave a short, harsh laugh as he tipped his head back to take in the garish neon sign on the rear of the old brick building blinking on and off above Kristen’s head. “I guess I could say something about how the mighty have fallen.”
She opened her mouth, determined to force some words out, to start her plea for understanding, when the door squeaked open behind her. Deke stepped out into the parking lot, rolling his shoulders before coming to a stop.
“You okay?” he asked Kristen without looking away from Austin, who seemed less than impressed with the security man’s bulk.
“I am,” she murmured. Or she would be, once she managed to square things with Austin, explain herself. Ask him not to tell her family, that she hadn’t told them everything going on in her life. Hadn’t wanted to add to their stress. Hadn’t wanted to admit that in a way she was a loser.
Austin touched his hat at Deke in a respectful way. “I was just going.”
Kristen’s eyes went wide. He couldn’t go. They weren’t done. “I’ll give you a ride.” The words blurted out on a note of desperation.
“No thanks.” He gave her a curt nod and headed off across the parking lot toward the street, favoring one leg ever so slightly. If Deke hadn’t been there, she would have chased after him, but Dekewasthere, so Austin escaped around the end of the high fence bordering the parking lot, leaving Kristen feeling on the edge of nausea. She had to tell her family before he did.
“Saw you on the cameras,” Deke said, jarring her back to the here and now. “Thought the guy might be giving you grief, but I guess you know him. Everything okay?”
“Yeah. Fine,” she said automatically.
Deke frowned down at her, his expression stern. “You better get yourself home.”
“I will.”
Deke waited until she was safely in her roommate’s car before heading back into the casino. Kristen waited until the door shut behind him before she closed her eyes and leaned her forehead onto the steering wheel, acid churning in her stomach. The past two months had taught her about the futility of dying a thousand deaths, worrying about whatmighthappen. The problem in this case, was she was certain itwouldhappen.
Right or wrong, Austin had an ax to grind and he would rat her out because he could. Most-Likely-to-Succeed Kristen would soon be known as Lied-to-Save-Her-Pride Kristen. And not a white lie. This was a huge lie of omission.
She should have told her family she’d been laid off immediately after it had happened, but her dad had broken his leg in a nasty fall only a few days prior and, on top of that, she hadn’t wanted to disappoint her parents…to confess to them that their little overachiever had crashed and burned professionally.
It was stupid, looking back, but she’d been blindsided by her termination and her first instinct had been to hole up, lick her wounds, then find a new job and confess to her familyaftershe turned a difficult situation around. The only problem was the “new job” part…and time’s nasty habit of slipping by too quickly. But her family had been focused on her father’s recovery, so it had been easy to keep the truth quiet while she forged ahead with her half-baked scheme. Easy and stupid and out of character.
Now Austin knew the truth.
Her stomach churned.
She started the small car, settled her hands on the steering wheel, then sat staring at the brick casino wall as the engine idled. She had to tell her family, and she had to do it soon.
Before Austin beat her to the punch.
