Page 36 of Unbelonging
"So?" he said. "I'll get rid of 'em."
I shook my head. "You don't have to do that."
"No big deal," he said. "It'll take just a minute."
Again, I glanced in the general direction of the house. "How manyarethere?"
He shrugged. "Not that many."
From a few feet away, the other guy gave a snort of laughter.
Lawton gave him a dirty look. "Don't you have something better to do?"
"Well," the guy said, "I figure in a minute, I'll be asking fifty or so people to get the hell out of your house. So 'til then, I figure I might as well take it easy."
Lawton flicked his head toward the house. "Hey, do that, will ya?"
"Take it easy?" the guy said.
"Quit messin' around," Lawton said. "No. Go back to the house, and get rid of 'em. I dunno, use your dick powers for good, not evil, or something."
"Well, this should be fun," the guy muttered, turning to walk toward the house.
"Hey!" Lawton called after him. "On your way back, cut the lights, will ya?"
"Sure thing, Romeo," the guy said without turning around.
I stared after him. Lawton was right. The guywasa dick. Definitely.
But Lawton wasn't looking at him. He was looking at me. "Come here," he said, reaching out to gather me in his arms. He wrapped his arms tight around me, and I soaked up the solid warmth of him.
"You're freezing," he murmured into my hair. "Sure you don't want to head inside now? It's a big house. You wouldn’t have to see anyone, if that's what you're worried about."
I shook my head. With my luck tonight, I'd run smack-dab into Brittney and become the life of the party, and not in the fun way. Besides, I didn't want to move. Not yet. A part of my brain whispered not ever, but that part was obviously insane. It was best ignored.
"You sure?" he asked.
I nodded, burrowing closer to him. Suddenly, I felt like crying, but I didn't know why. It wasn't sadness. Not anymore.
Chapter 22
A moment later, the floodlights went off, leaving the backyard once again bathed in dark shadows. For a long time, we were quiet. His skin was warm, and his embrace was steady. I was no longer trembling, at least not from the cold.
I looked up at him. "You don't really have fifty people over, do you?"
"Eh, I didn't really count 'em," he said. "Probably not fifty though."
"So, who are they?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Friends, acquaintances, that sort of thing."
The way he talked, it wasn't a houseful of girls looking to get naked with him. I'd love to know for sure. But short of asking him, unless I were willing to ask, or march up there to see for myself, I had no way to really know.
"Wait a minute," I said, pulling away. "They've been drinking, right? You can't turn a bunch of people out on the streets all boozed up."
"Don't worry about it," he said.
I couldn’t help it. I did worry. If something bad happened because I'd stupidly let myself get locked out of the house, I'd never forgive myself. "But what if they hurt someone?" I asked.
