Page 44 of Corrupting Ivy

“I don’t thinksheeven knows what happened.”

“Well, what did you do?”

My eyes narrowed. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry at an old man in my life. “What did I do? Walter? Really?” I’d used his first name for the first time to his face. And if that weren’t a glaringly obvious indication of how steaming mad I was that he blamed me for that woman’s actions, I don’t know what is.

He flapped his towel in the air, then shuffled back to the stove. I will not yell at my boss, the man who has been nothing but kind to me since I rolled in here like a tumbleweed lost in the wind. Why did it feel like such a betrayal that he said that to me? Maybe because it was. I opened the janitor’s closet and donned the biggest rubber gloves and poured piping hot water into the yellow mop bucket, along with a cup of Pine-Sol and bleach. I wanted it extra pungent. Why did we convince ourselves that the stronger the smell, the cleaner the surface?

“I’ve got this, deary. Why don’t you go home,” Barbara said, helping me out once again.

“I can’t let you clean that up.”

She wrapped her hands around the mop and smiled. “Hun, I used to work as a CNA in the hospital before retiring after thirty-three years. I think I can handle this.”

“Thank you,” I said, chuckling, then hightailed it out of there, and into my apartment, where I threw myself on my couch and screamed into the decorative pillow that smelled like Randall.

No wonder why Remy and he warned me off. His family was psycho. How could I judge him based on his mother’s mental instability? If people did that to me, I’d have no one. Okay, I have no one right now, but that’s a personal choice.

My door cracked open.

Dammit. I really need to lock that thing.

Randall stood at the door, gripping the handle with white knuckles. “Are you okay?” I put my face back in the pillow, tearing my eyes away from his veiny forearms.

I’m doomed.

Randall closed the door with a quiet click. Then the couch dipped down beside me.

“I asked if you were okay.” He swiped my hair from one side of my neck to the other, exposing my face as his fingertips brushed my skin. His touch sent shivers of warmth down my body.

I tucked my arms under my pillow, then propped my chin up on the pillow. “I’m fine.” Turning my head to the side, I took in his tight jeans, hugging his muscular thighs and his shirt, stretching to sustain his thick biceps. “It’s not like this was my first rodeo with her.”

“It wasn’t?”

“No.” I twisted to my side and rested my head in my hand, my elbow buried in the pillow. “The last time, we had to call the Sheriff.”

“Did she hurt you?”

“Not this time. Last time, she actually hit me with the plate.” I held up my hand and showed him the faint scar where the ceramic cut my skin.

His finger touched the pale flesh with the most tender caress. Randall pulled his brows together as he stared at my scar.

A moment of silence passed, and I bit my lip, keeping myself from ruining whatever moment this was between us.

Randall cleared his throat. And then the moment was over. I swallowed hard, then stood, leaving him sitting alone, his elbows on his knees, and gathered up my dirty clothes. “I guess we can do that laundry now.” Stuffing them into a cotton bag Walter provided for me, I met him at the door with a pocket full of quarters. “Ready?”

If I didn’t get out of this apartment, I’d suffocate in the anticipation plus the anxiety that came along with it. I needed to keep my mind off this shit-show and laundry was a great way to do that.

He ran a hand down his face, then took the bag from my hands, his fingertips once again brushing mine. Heat curled around me, making me forget about his relation to the woman downstairs.

Didn’t I convince myself to heed those warnings?

Hell, who was I fooling? I only cared when I was alone. The moment he stepped into my line of sight, all caution went out the window, and I forgot the pep talk I’d given myself.

I was well and truly screwed.

“This way.” He placed his hand at the small of my back, leading me toward his truck. “I had to get my clothes once I got Rhonda on her way home.”

He opened the passenger door for me, then tossed my bag in the back seat and got in.

---