Bayou Rouges: Dirty Part 12

"I wasn't going to tell him anything."

"And what demands are you planning to lay on me?"

"Just one." She held a finger in the air.

"What is it?"

She pressed her palms into the table. As she leaned toward him, he felt her breathy whisper on his face, "I never want to speak with you again." She stood, walked toward the door, shut off the light, and left the room.

To say he was more than a little confused would be a lie. He was completely stunned. Yet, he couldn't believe for a moment that she was just going to let this go. He went after her, finding her standing at a desk, flipping through some envelopes.

"I don't understand you."

"You're free to go, Sawyer. I will try to stay out of your way, if you'll please extend me the same courtesy." She sniffled.

"Look at me," He inhaled loud and frustrated.

"Just go, Sawyer."

His hand on her shoulder, he turned her to face him. Her cheeks were tear stained and her lashes were wet. "What do you want from me?"

"There's the door." She pointed.

He ran his hands over his face. He'd not wanted to hurt her. "It's best this way, Courtney." His fingers stroked her elbow.

"About thirty seconds ago I realized you're right. Why are you still here?"

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Fine."

She kept her eyes down, shielding herself from him. With a finger beneath her chin he lifted her blue gaze to his brown one. "I told you I don't have time for a relationship. I have responsibilities that keep me from doing what I want or like to do."

"Yes, you mentioned that a time or two."

"Well what's with the tears?"

"I expected you to be busy and unavailable, but I never expected you to treat me with utter disdain and dismissal."

He grimaced at her definition. "I'm sorry. I just don't have time to play games. I need clear expectations."

"I get it. I don't play emotional games." She grabbed her purse and keys. "Are we done here? I'd like to be."

"Are you okay?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to be telling your father or anyone else about"- Her blue jewels simmered at him now. "I've already given you my word that I won't. Please leave."

He huffed and plodded away. He definitely had zero time in his schedule for difficult females.

Courtney watched Sawyer walk away in the dark, and then she flopped down into the chair at her desk. Truth to tell, her lady parts were a little worse for the wear. She shifted in the chair, eager to feel more evidence that he'd been there. When she felt him she smiled.

"What do you have to be smiling about, Courtney?"

She dropped her head into her hands and moaned as she rubbed. She'd been worried things were going to be awkward. "Awkward silence would have been better than flat out dismissal."

She heard the bachelorette party girls leaving for the night and looked up from her desk to peek out the window. The girls all howled like hyenas when a group of three males approached them.

"Hey baby, what are you doing here?" One of the guys approached the girl wearing the sash and kissed her.

"I missed you."

"We're going to be married tomorrow."

"I still missed you tonight."

"You can't crash the party, Garrett," one of the bachelorette girls shouted.

He held his palms up in surrender. "Not crashing, just checking in with my girl."

He kissed her again and escorted her into the waiting limo where the party had disappeared. The bachelorette rolled down the window and leaned out. "I love you, Garrett Brown!" Their hands held until the limo pulled from the curb. Garrett waved to her, even stepped from the curb and stood in the middle of the street to keep waving, while his two guy friends laughed from the sidewalk. Once the limo was out of sight he joined his buddies.

"Dude, you've got it bad."

With his curly brown hair blowing against his forehead, Garrett smiled, "I know I do, but you would too if she were yours." He slid his hands into his pockets.

The trio proceeded to walk up the street, leaving Courtney with her mouth agape at the window. "Ugh!" She gathered her bag and keys and locked up the place.

In her car, she turned the ignition over and then put it into drive. Her situation was f.u.c.ked. What had she thought was going to happen after having s.e.x with him? Was he supposed to magically realize how much he needed her in his life?

She drove home thinking about her foolish behavior. What hurt most was, as it turned out, he wasn't the guy she thought he was at all. She'd thought him to be so different from the others. She laughed out loud at the situation. He was worse, prejudice against her for something she had absolutely no control over-her family's money and who her father was. He seemed to care about those two things much more than any man she'd been with before.

Pulling up to the house she smiled. Thank G.o.d she wasn't living alone...at least not tonight. Inside, she walked to the kitchen for a bottle of water and maybe some whiskey. Tequila shots, anyone?

She'd wanted to call Clara and tell her everything that had happened, but she couldn't very well do that without breaking her promise to him. She sighed in front of the fridge.

"Rough night?"

She swung around and settled eyes on her brother Everett. She skidded over to him and squeezed him in her arms. "Everett. I'm glad you're here."

He rubbed her back. "So really a rough night." He smiled.

He was eating iced circus animal cookies and milk. Those cookies had always been his favorite. "You could say that. Why aren't you at Fiona's?"

"We watched Spider-Man in the theater. She fell asleep with Ryder."

"He's great. She's great. I'm happy for you." She took a stool at the bar next to him and he pushed the bag of cookies across the counter in her direction.

"They are. I hope I can be great for them in return."

"You are, Everett. You're a wonderful man. I wish I could find someone as wonderful as you."

"Wow. That's meaningful coming from you, considering our history of rope burns and noogies." They laughed and he popped another cookie in his mouth. "You look blue, girl. What's going on?"

She rested her head on her stretched out arm and brought a pink cookie to her mouth. "I messed up tonight."

"Does this have anything to do with Sawyer from dreamland?"

She gasped. "Everett!"

He chuckled. "Come on, you talk about him in your sleep, so I figure this has something to do with him."

"You shouldn't sneak up on people when they're asleep."

"You were in the den. Oh, Sawyer. Yes! Oh, Sawyer." His voice was high in pitch as he tried to mimic her.

She slapped his arm repeatedly until he shut up. "I don't think I'll be having any more dreams about him."

"No?"

She held the pink-iced animal cookie between her fingers on the granite. Everett galloped a white-cookie animal over to touch noses with hers. "What kind of name is Sawyer anyway?"

"The best kind."

"You really like this guy."

"I did."

"What happened to change that?"

"You know how Travis wanted to marry me because I was great for his stock?"

Everett nodded.

"Well, I met this physician the other day and when he found out my last name he started bloviating about how wonderful it was to not really have to work or worry about money and student loan debt."

Everett's lips thinned out as she told her story. "I met this guy, Sawyer. He's a hardworking man-has like three jobs, and he renovated his home with his bare hands. I thought...now here's a guy who doesn't care about money or my name or what my name means within the community, but I was wrong. So wrong." She shook her head and huffed. He went bananas when he found out who I was. Turns out one of his big jobs is the David Restaurant. Dad's name on his paycheck sent him into a b.i.t.c.h fit."

"Why?"

"I sort of lied at first and told him my last name was Jones."

Everett's eyes bugged. "You did?"

She nodded.

"Why does he work three jobs?"

She shrugged. "Why does anybody? I guess he needs the money."

"What are the jobs?"

"He accepts delivery and keeps the kitchen at Clara's, he works construction, and every now and then he'll take off to go and track a boar or an alligator. He captures and sells them to some guy who comes by. One time he brought a boar to work in a cage. He'd just caught the beast."

"That's actually kind of cool." Everett stood and poured her a gla.s.s of milk.

"I was hoping for something stronger."

"I'm not done." He grabbed a bottle of Amaretto and brought it to their picnic.

"I love you." She leaned over and placed a kiss on his cheek.

He grinned. "I know, I'm your favorite of the three."

"You are my favorite."

"You're a s.l.u.t! You and mom tell each one of us that we're your favorite!"

She leaned back with her chin on her chest and cleverly smiled. "There's no harm in that."

"There is."

"I had s.e.x with him," she admitted.

Unimpressed, Everett pa.s.sed her one of his concoctions. She sniffed and then sipped. "Mmm. Good."

"Let me guess. You had s.e.x and then it all went to h.e.l.l?"

"He wanted to know what my demands were." She winced as she recalled the determined look in his brown blazing eyes. He'd been prepared to throw himself at her mercy to keep their connection a secret.

"Demands?"

"For keeping my mouth shut."