Cheater (Curious Liaisons, #1)(27)

Steak.

Business trips!

It was like my imminent homelessness meant nothing to him!

I was exaggerating.

But still!

He was an ass!

But it wasn’t his threat that had been the last straw—it was the look on his face while he’d said it, like he’d just seen a ghost or maybe he was spooked to see a demon when he looked into the mirror. God only knew how many of those he had hanging off his body, what with all the sin he invited. Because I had to face the truth—he was a down and dirty cheater.

I don’t know why I had such a hard time believing it when it slapped me in the face on a daily basis—via his updated calendar notifications on my cell.

There was no way that heaven was smiling down on Lucas Thorn and offering up top-notch guardian angels to do protection duty.

I wasn’t going to get paid for another week, so extras like coffee were out of the question, which just made my anxiety that much worse because I was completely exhausted.

Especially since Kayla had decided to call—again—to ask if she could visit. It wasn’t like Kayla lived in the wilds of Alaska, but she did live in Bellingham, which was a good two-hour drive from downtown. And since Kayla was a horrible driver and had road rage like something you’d see on Cops, it was probably better for everyone in Seattle for her to stay in Bellingham every weekend instead of visiting me.

A nagging voice reminded me that it wasn’t necessarily her driving skills that gave me anxiety—but the fact that I’d have to see her.

Face-to-face.

The girl I could never live up to.

The one who used to make it painfully obvious that I never would.

And the one with a boyfriend she had cheerfully dangled in front of my face. The hard part was she was always so sickeningly sweet, I was never sure if she was malicious or just plain ignorant of the fact that I’d had a thing for him.

Ugh. Four years later. And it still haunted me.

Seeing her just reminded me of all the things I’d tried to forget and put behind me. She was always so passive-aggressive that by the time we were done hanging out, I was emotionally spent.

The office building loomed ahead of me. I squinted up at it, covering my face with part of my hand as the sun cast its glare against the glass.

“What are we looking at?” Lucas whispered in my ear.

I let out a little yelp and jumped away from him, and I would have run into a passing biker if Lucas hadn’t pulled me out of the way with his coffee-free hand.

“Must you be such a pain in the ass?”

“Must you try to kill me?” I fired back.

He rolled his eyes. “Let’s go.” He started walking, hauling me with him.

We weren’t walking in the direction of the office.

“Um, Thorn—”

“I will seriously shove this Starbucks up that skinny ass if you don’t stop talking and just listen for once in your life.”

I shut up and followed, but only because he’d said “Starbucks” and was very purposefully moving in the nearest outpost’s general direction. If I looked pathetic enough, would he buy me coffee?

That was what my life was coming to.

Pity coffee.

My shoulders slumped at the thought when we walked into the building. The smell of fresh baked goods hit me with full force, and my stomach growled loudly, saying to everyone, I’m a hungry bear and may eat my young. Out of the way, please!

I followed Lucas to the line, still tempted to speak, but I figured if he wanted noise from me, he’d say something like, “You may grace me with your voice now, Avery.”

Even though I wasn’t talking, every time I heard someone order pumpkin bread I sighed, loudly, so loudly that the barista eyed me cautiously. Chill, Starbucks, I’m not going to steal a piece of pumpkin bread.

My mouth watered.

I mean, I wasn’t that desperate.

But if I took two, maybe three, steps toward her, yelled “Fire!” and then screamed nonsense about a bee attacking me, the pumpkin bread she had in hand would probably fall to the ground, and it would be wasteful if I didn’t rescue it from the ants.

All creatures deserve food—but pumpkin bread was too good for ants, too rich, and they’d explode all over the floor from the richness and it would be my fault—for saving the barista’s life, right? From the bee?

I think I just confused myself.

“Why are you breathing so heavy?” Lucas asked from my right.

I snapped out of my pumpkin-bread daydream and shrugged. “Sorry, low on sleep.”

He gave a noncommittal nod and then it was his turn. Greedy little bastard already had one coffee—now he was getting another one! “A venti macchiato and a large coffee with room for cream, two slices—”

I elbowed him hard in the ribs.

“Sorry, um, three slices of pumpkin bread, thanks.”

He handed the barista his card, while my greedy eyes locked on the pumpkin bread as the barista placed it into a bag and gave it to him.

With an exasperated sigh, he shoved the bag into my hands. “Just leave me one bite.”

“No promises.” I was already digging into the bag, my mouth watering as I followed him around the counter with a little pep in my step.

Lucas grabbed our drinks and motioned toward one of the tables. I sat, stuffed more pumpkin goodness into my mouth, and managed to chug some coffee almost all at once.