3.
Janet moaned, rolling over in bed. Her head hurt. Those sea breezes had punched more of a wallop than she"d imagined. She stared at the clock by her bedside table.
The minute hand clicked over to 7 AM.
What the h.e.l.l was she doing up at 7 AM???
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG.
Somebody was knocking on her door. No, knocking was too polite a word. They were pounding. Like her head.
"Oh G.o.d... Come in..."
"Janet, open the door this instance!"
She shut her eyes tightly. She must have thrown the latch last night in her inebriated state. She"d been in another world last night when she got home. Thinking about him.
She"d tossed and turned half the night. Feeling his eyes on her, even hours later. Did he like her? Want her? Or was he judging her and finding her lacking... She must seem like a silly girl to a man like him. Then again, he was loyal to Kaylie and they were the same age. But she was a very different person than her quiet friend.
Argh! Who knew men could be so confusing? In college it had been straightforward and obvious if a boy liked you or not. Now she was all hot and bothered by a man who may or may not despise her...
BANG BANG BANG BANG.
"I"m coming! Jesus!"
She rolled to her feet and tentatively walked toward the door. She felt a bit off kilter but found her sea legs quickly. She almost giggled. Being hungover was a lot like being on a swaying boat.
She unlocked the door and opened it to see her mother standing in the hallway with a sour expression on her face. As usual.
"Janet, if you are going to live in this house, then I expect you to be up at 7 o"clock."
"Uh... okay mom."
"And I expect you to be a productive member of this household, if not society!"
Janet didn"t say anything. She was standing there in her panties and a camisole looking at her mother"s face. There was no love there. Just... regret. Her mother had never wanted children. She"d never said so but Janet had overheard her yelling at her father late one night. Everything that had gone wrong in her life was all his fault.
And Janet"s. Just for existing.
"If you aren"t going to work, you will be doing ch.o.r.es! I made a list. It"s in the kitchen."
Her mother turned and abruptly walked away. Janet eyed her bed longingly then sighed and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. She just knew her mother was going to make her life a living h.e.l.l until she got a job.
But who was going to hire her? An ex dancer slash college drop out with zero experience under her belt? She considered asking Kaylie if Mae needed anyone at the diner but was almost afraid to. What if she was a terrible waitress? What she really needed was to get out of this house. She felt like she was suffocating here. Her parents didn"t really care about her. They just cared what the neighbors thought.
By ten o"clock Janet had swept, mopped, vacuumed, raked and weeded under the rose bushes. Her mother had hovered over her almost constantly, riding her without mercy. Janet"s resentment had grown to a boiling point around 3 pm, but since her mother had conveniently disappeared around that time, a patch of weeds had gotten the brunt of it.
Now she was just exhausted. She crawled into bed, still in her work clothes.
Her phone buzzed. It was Kaylie.
"Mall tomorrow?"
Janet grinned sleepily and quickly tapped back "Yes! What time?"
"2 ish? We"ll pick you up."
"Perfect!"
Janet rolled onto her back. Tomorrow couldn"t come soon enough.
Jack waited outside the south entrance of the mall, leaning on his bike. He didn"t usually go to places like this. The smell of plastic and perfume made him uncomfortable, as did all the normal people. The Sp.a.w.ns weren"t normal, they were the one percent. Above and apart from the throngs of average people. Jack did his best never to mix with the regular folks. He hardly mixed with anyone. But Dev had asked him to, and Jack always did what Dev said.
Plus he"d get to see her again.
He"d nodded unenthusiastically when Dev asked him if he was free to go the mall. The freaking mall. But then Dev had mentioned that Kaylie"s hot little friend Janet was going.
Hot was the wrong word. The girl was scorching.
He"d been thinking about her for two days now. That body, the red hair, those remarkable aqua eyes... those pouty cherry red lips that begged for his mouth and tongue. Jesus, he hadn"t had this many b.o.n.e.rs since he was 15. He didn"t like it. It was disconcerting for someone like him who liked to be in control. He scowled and adjusted his package in his jeans.
Down boy.
It wouldn"t do to walk around the mall with a stiffy. He almost smiled. Actually, that wasn"t a bad idea. What would the normals say about that?
Devlin"s SUV turned into the parking lot and Jack stood up. Then he sat down on his bike again. What the h.e.l.l was wrong with him???
Devlin parked and Jack watched as the girls climbed out. First Kaylie, her golden brown hair shining in the sun. A long pale leg stepped out of the backseat, and then another. Janet was wearing shorts today. Tight little denim shorts that hugged her hips and a.s.s. And Jesus, what an a.s.s.
She was leaning back into the SUV to grab something- her bag. He swallowed as her sweet little bottom was thrust even more prominently into view. f.u.c.k, now he was really getting hard. He looked away and forced himself to think about something distasteful. His childhood. Basically any moment from the age of 3-14 would do. Before he"d been big enough to fight.
It worked. His body calmed down and he exhaled in relief. He raised his eyes again just as they came toward him.
Janet felt her heart leap in her chest at the sight of him. He was here. The Viking. He was looking at her with a slight scowl, as if he"d just tasted something bitter, like biting into a lemon.
Well, there goes her theory that he liked her. He certainly didn"t look like he"d been thinking about her the way she"d been thinking about him for the past two days. She wished she"d known he was going to be there. She would have taken more time with her hair, her makeup, her outfit...
As they got closer she could see that he was staring at her legs again. No, higher. He was staring at her, right between her legs. He looked hungry. She almost fell over in shock.
"Hey man."
Jack nodded in greeting but he didn"t move his eyes from her body. They slid up slowly, inspecting her. She felt her legs getting rubbery as his gaze flicked over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s and finally lifted to her face. She licked her lips nervously and his scowl increased.
What was going on with this guy?
Heat pooled in her belly. Just by looking at her he"d turned her to putty. Not that he appeared to care one way or the other. She literally could not figure out if he liked her or hated her. Or maybe it was a little bit of both. She decided that it would be better to ignore him. Completely. She tossed her hair and walked into the mall.
"Come on Kaylie. Don"t forget to keep an eye out for any help wanted signs."
She could have sworn the scowl on his face got even deeper when she walked past him. She didn"t even glance back to see Kaylie and the guys follow her into the mall.
Jack stood outside the store as Kaylie and Janet tried on clothes. He"d been inside, standing with Dev until Janet had tried on a slinky red dress that molded to her curves. He"d felt like he"d been kicked in the stomach.
She looked ridiculous- like a dancer on one of those stupid TV shows. It was way too provocative. He wanted to rip it off of her. He could picture the torn dress in his hands as she stood naked in front of him.
He"d never wanted anything so badly in his life.
Arousal had come crashing through him. He couldn"t figure out why. Not only was she obviously a spoiled little headstrong brat, but the girl was going out of her way to ignore him. Unless... did that mean she liked him? Girls did stuff like that all the time from what he"d heard. He moaned. The last thing he needed was some little stuck up girl messing with his peace of mind. Best to ignore her. She"d go away eventually. They always did.
Unless one of the other guys claimed her for themselves. He frowned, not liking that idea. He did not like it at all. In fact, he hated it. But that"s what would happen if she kept hanging around the club. He was sure of it. He"d already heard some of the other Sp.a.w.ns talking about "that hot little redhead piece." Being a friend of Dev"s old lady made her off limits for the rough stuff, but plenty of guys would be happy to call her their woman.
Not Jack of course. He didn"t want anything permanent. Especially not with her. But the thought of her with another man irked him for some reason. Maybe he could discourage her from coming around. That would solve the problem. If he didn"t have to see it, he didn"t have to deal with it.
They came out of the store, Kaylie swinging a bag in her hand. Janet"s hands were empty. That meant she hadn"t bought that skimpy piece of fabric they were calling a dress. Good. He didn"t think he could handle seeing her walk around in it. She"d liked it though. Why hadn"t the girl bought herself a dress?
That"s what girls did, wasn"t it?
Janet had been scanning the mall for help wanted signs since she walked in. It was a shame her parents had cut her off. That dress had been really cute on her.
She grinned to herself. Jack had certainly thought so.
The big man thought he was being subtle but she"d caught him staring at her almost constantly. Maybe he did like her, but he had a stomach ache? That"s probably what it was. She smiled deviously as she imagined handing him a bottle of pepto bismol and a tablespoon.
"Look Jan- there"s a help wanted sign!"Kaylie was pointing to one of the restaurants in the food court. Janet almost rolled her eyes. Great. It was a Hooters, one of those restaurants where the girls had to wear skimpy outfits while they waited tables. She was definitely not into doing that.
That"s until she caught the look on Jack"s face. He disapproved clearly. He probably thought a girl like her wasn"t good enough to be friends with Kaylie. She squared her shoulders and smiled at her friend.
"Perfect."
Jacks scowl seemed to get even deeper if that was possible. She smiled and strode across the food court.
Jack stared as Janet filled out the application. She was going to get hired, that much was obvious. She looked over joyed to be put on display like a piece of meat. The girls that worked there were half-naked. He didn"t think a girl like her should be working at a place like that.
She was too good for it.
Clearly though, the manager was thrilled with her. He kept touching her arm and smiling at her. But he wasn"t smiling at her, he was smiling at her b.o.o.bs.
Jack wanted to kill him.
"If you would just try this on in the back, I can take a picture and send it to headquarters."
Janet giggled and disappeared into the back with the uniform. Dev and Kaylie were sitting at the bar with their heads together. They were always like that, totally in tune. Jack walked over and tapped Dev on the shoulder.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
Dev and Kaylie both snapped their heads up and stared at him.
"What man? You mean Janet?"
"Yes. She shouldn"t be working in a place like this."
Devlin looked baffled.
"Why not? The girl needs a job. Her parents are being real hard on her since she dropped out."
Kaylie lifted her shoulders in a graceful shrug.
"They don"t need anyone at Mae"s right now unfortunately."
Jack didn"t say anything. He just walked away to stand near the door that Janet had disappeared into. They were missing the point. Janet chose that moment to walk out of the storage room in the tightest orange shorts and the smallest top Jack had ever seen. It was cropped to show her flat midriff and way too small. It hugged her gorgeous t.i.ts, pushing them up and out until they practically spilled over the top. He felt the blood rushing to his groin as hot l.u.s.t sliced through him.
And anger.
The whole place was hooting and hollering like animals at the sight of her. Janet smiled and c.o.c.ked her shoulder at the crowd, preening. Jack had to stop himself from throwing his jacket over her. A group of college guys at a nearby table started chanting.
"FRESH MEAT! FRESH MEAT! FRESH MEAT!".
Jack felt his blood begin to boil. Devlin was beside him in an instant.
"I see what you mean, man. Come on Janet, let"s get out of here."
Kaylie scooped up Janet"s clothes from the storage room and grabbed Janet"s arm. She had the good sense to look a little concerned when one of the guys reached out to grab her breast. Jack shoved him backwards with one hand and then elbowed his buddy in the chin when he tried to intervene.
Without turning Jack drove his heel down into the little s.h.i.t"s foot and heard a snap. The guy let out a blood curdling wail. Jack ignored him and threw 20 bucks on the counter top. For the uniform.
It was over in less than a minute.
Janet was shaking as they practically ran out of the mall toward the parking lot. Once they were outside she wrapped her arms around her bare midriff. She hadn"t been expecting that. They"d made her feel like a stripper. Worse, they"d made her feel like she was for sale.
Thank G.o.d she hadn"t been alone...