Page 16 of The Lies You Love
CHAPTER SIX
Auden
He leaves without making plans for tonight, though he did kiss the ever-loving shit out of me before he vanished. Hopefully, that means he’ll call me at some point. Ramsey fucked Beck’s friend in the restaurant bathroom and scolded me all the way back to the shop for not standing up for myself. Women like her don’t understand that it doesn’t come naturally. I’m broken. Some days I feel worthless, and other days I fix the invisible queen crown. Today I feel flabbergasted and hesitant.
I’m about to lock up the shop for the night when a man rushes through the door. “Do you guys sell anything other than pet shit?” He has an accent and bright blue eyes.
I smile. “I’m afraid not. What exactly are you looking for? I might be able to tell you where to go.”
“Milk. Bread. Eggs. There’s nothing on this block, and my girlfriend will kill me if I come home without the stuff she asked for.”
I cringe. “You’re right. There isn’t a shop close, but a few blocks over, there’s Dean’s.” I glance at my watch. “You might have to catch a ride if you want to make it before they close.”
“Why does everything close so early here?” He’s half laughing, half annoyed. “This place is like the upside down. Nothing is as it seems.”
Businesses are just bouncing back after the recession, and he’s right; everything does close early. Dean’s is a specialty food store, so it’s definitely not open around the clock.
I chuckle, making a quick assessment that this man is safe. He’s told me he has a girlfriend, so I know he won’t try to have sex with me, and he has an accent. “I have to agree, but Dean’s does cater to the older population, and well, it’s already past their bedtime.” I pause, weighing the consequences of offering him a ride, and decide I don’t have anything else to do, so being a good citizen is a good way to balance out the sins from last night. “Do you want me to run you over there? I was about to lock up.” My heart hammers and I’m not sure why. “It’s no big deal. I swear.”
Because I’m nervous another man might turn me down. I’m pathetic on new levels. I usually don’t drive to work but needed to run to the bank tonight, so I drove to be safe.
“You would?” His eyes light up. “That would be right-o, mate.”
“Sure. Wait outside. I’ll pull around. We have fifteen minutes to get there.” I check my watch. “I’m sure we can do it.”
His smile is megawatt, and I already feel like I’m doing a good deed before it’s happened.
“I’m Hudson, by the way.”
I smile over my shoulder. “I’m Annie.” The lie comes easily, and I regret it, but Hudson is already outside, so I flick off the lights that fall upon my name and photo on the wall that give me away.
Locking the back door first, I circle back to the front going through my mental checklist I do every time I close. The zippered cash bag next to the register doesn’t have much, so I decide to leave it for another deposit. I snatch up my purse, find my keyring, and set the alarm. I push on the handle of the door to test it and notice Hudson is standing off to the side, admiring the storefront next to mine. It’s a knife store and the window displays an extensive, gleaming collection of Japanese knives. They sell various blades in every shape and size. He seems engulfed in his thoughts as he stares.
“Ready?” I call out.
Hudson shakes his head. “Wow, those are some impressive blades! I didn’t know this store was here. I’m ready! Thank you for taking me. Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Not at all.”
I check my phone. Still no word from Beck. I’ve begun to wonder if he was trying to placate me earlier, if that was actually a parting kiss, one meant to stop me from embarrassing him in front of his friends. It was a blow when he didn’t acknowledge me, and worst still was the way he looked at Ramsey. The emotion in his gaze sent my heart to the pits of despair. Ramsey is beautiful in every way I’m not, and her hidden talent is getting any man she wants. Beck is off-limits because she knows I’m into him. I didn’t exactly tell her how into him I am, though, so I wonder if there could be more to the way he looked at her. Is she next for him? Because I’m too clingy? Because I’m not enough?
Hudson makes idle chit-chat about the neighborhood we’re in as we walk to my car parked on the other side of the street. I unlock it, and he hops into the passenger side. The drive is quick, but with a stranger in my car, I’m feeling uneasy, like this wasn’t a great idea. He’s cheerful enough, but the way he’s looking around my car like he’s studying a map makes my skin crawl.
“I’ve not been in this make of car before. Cars back in Australia are similar in some ways and not in others,” he says, explaining my complaint away. “How fast does it go?” He looks at me, grinning so wide I can see it in my peripheral vision.
“Not fast,” I deadpan, cracking a grin. “It’s not made for speed, it’s…reliable.”
Hudson nods. “Kind of like you, huh?”
I bristle. “What do you mean?”
The chill in the air returns, except this time, my whole body responds. Turning the wheel, I stop short of Dean’s because there is a group of people loitering outside a game shop. Well, they’re teens, but at least I’m not alone.
Hudson puts his hand on the handle of the door, and rubs his fingers along the edge of where the glass window meets the door, and stops when he sees me watching. “I mean, you seem reliable. Giving a ride to a stranger and all. Very kind of you. Thanks again.”
He pops open the door and walks off in the direction of Dean’s, giving the teens a wave and some weird kind of fist bump on his way by. He doesn’t look back, nor does he acknowledge me as I drive past him on my way to my apartment. I call Ramsey the second I leave my parking garage, because I don’t get service down there and tell her everything about the creepy Australian to whom I gave a ride. I wince when she sighs. The sigh that tells me she’s annoyed.
“You’re an idiot, Auden.”
