Page 19 of Property of Stone
She’d take his simple grunt as a yes.
When he passed the exterior door she and Patch used earlier, she paused. This was where they parted ways.
He stopped abruptly, twisting his head to look over his shoulder.
“Well, thank you again.”
“No.”
No?“No, what?”
“Comin’ with me.”
Sure, sure.She’d get right on that because she had nothing better to do except hang out with an outlaw biker like they were besties. An everyday occurrence for her, right?
Wrong.
“Go with you where? Is there another exit that’s closer to my car?”Please say yes.
“Need coffee.”
That sounded like a personal problem and not one she needed to deal with. She already had her caffeine limit earlier. “I appreciate the invite, but Ireallyneed to get going.”
“Came here to thank me, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then, come with me.”
Umm.How exactly did he want her to thank him? She already expressed her gratitude in words. She certainly wasn’t going to do it a second time with action.
Going with him wherever he was headed would be a dumb idea. But then, so was coming to this place. Or insisting he meet with her. “I’m good. I don’t need coffee.”
“Stepped in to help you. Spent thirteen months in a cage like a fuckin’ animal. A few more minutes of your time don’t even compare.”
Damn it.He was using her guilt against her.
What was one more bad decision?
He came closer, wrapped his long, tattooed fingers around the nape of her neck, gave it a gentle squeeze, then steered her down the hallway.
She took a last parting glance at what could’ve been her escape. “Just coffee, right?”
“Yeah,” came his deep grumble.
“Are you hiding a Starbucks somewhere in this building?”
He snorted and kept moving. At the end of the hallway, he hooked a left and into what turned out to be the school’s former cafeteria. Similar to outside, the garbage cans were overflowing, and trash, like cigarette butts, were strewn all over the floor and the old brown folding lunch tables with the attached round, red seats. Those were a flashbackfrom her past. She remembered those dinosaurs from when she was in school.
“Juicy, get me some fuckin’ coffee!” he shouted, then winced. “Gotta get the taste of your pussy outta my mouth.”
Nice.“Mouthwash would work, too,” Taryn mumbled under her breath.
“Don’t forget to add the Jack,” he ordered.
The brunette who had come down the stairs with him ducked into the kitchen behind the school’s original serving line. Juicy was nothing like the lunch ladies Taryn remembered.
“Sit.” James, or Stone, or whatever he was called, pointed at one of those round, uncomfortable seats she remembered turning her ass numb during lunchtime.
