“It will if you make it.”
“Okay.” I shrugged as he pushed the last of the snow off my windshield. “See you later tonight then?”
Something about his demeanor was putting me off.
“Yep.”
Curtly, he got in his car and drove off.
I took a deep breath once I got inside my car and gripped the steering wheel.
Why was he being so weird again? Hanging out with Shane was like a Katy Perry song. He was hot then cold, yes then no.
Shane was confusing me and I needed to satiate my curiosity.
I could see his car a few blocks down as I pulled out of the parking lot, so I decided I would follow him and see where he was going.
I reminded myself of my mantra from earlier today. Answers. I was going to start getting them, no matter what it took. I’d never followed anyone before like this, but I couldn’t take it anymore.
Staying back a safe distance, I kept him in my sights until he turned onto Old Copper Mine Road.
He pulled into a random driveway. I parked a safe distance away, then got out and peered at him between two evergreen trees. My heart pumped like crazy when I saw a blond woman walk outside to greet him. I was too far away to make out her figure clearly, but she seemed quite attractive.
I knew it.
I felt so nervous I was shaking, and not from the cold. I was just nervous as hell, not believing what I was seeing.
Is this your booty call, Shane? Or a steady thing?
She wrapped her arms around him, and then they went behind a post on the porch, so I couldn’t make out what they were doing. I needed to get closer.
Luckily my coat was white, and in the snow it was like camouflage. The house was on its own block, and I managed to sneak around behind the fence, where I would still be within earshot of them. I could make out their figures through a crack.
“The kid’s still sleeping. I don’t want to wake him up just yet,” the woman said.
“Well you’d better.”
“Right. Well you know, you could just come inside and I’ll warm you up real quick. You know I don’t kiss and tell.”
Booty call confirmed.
Just then, I heard more footsteps join them on the porch. Little footsteps.
“Oh! My little angel is up. Well isn’t that perfect.” She let out a sigh.
I knew that sigh: it was the I was about to get laid but our kid cockblocked us sigh.
Was this her kid? Or their kid?
“How does this always happen?” she asked. “I’ll have him back by six, don’t you worry.”
I could hear the kid’s footsteps head back inside.
“And we can do a lot more than just have dinner,” she emphasized. “You know that.”
My blood pumped like crazy. I’d heard everything I needed to know.
Apparently, my M.O. was attracting ridiculously good looking, narcissistic, psychopathic men with a penchant for lying.
Just like my damn ex.
I wasn’t going to stand for it any more.
I got back in my car, and then watched as Shane got in the car with--was that his son? Or just the son of the woman he was screwing?
My blood boiled as I followed them for a few miles, until we came into a clearing and arrived at the Black Mountain Sportsplex, where I’d done some figure skating lessons when I was little.
Part of me wanted to park right next to Shane and confront him right in the parking lot, but I had to see this through to the end. Was this his kid, and he was taking him to practice?
I watched as he walked to the doors with a giant bag of gear. Once he was safely inside, I got out and went in myself.
I felt hands wrap around my waist the moment I stepped inside. My adrenaline pumped as the man guided me into a bathroom in the otherwise empty lobby and locked the door.
Glancing up, I saw Shane, and my heart started to throb. A mix of relief and nervousness that I’d been caught rolled through me.
“You just felt the need to follow me on my route to hockey practice?” He shook his head. “Did you really think I wouldn’t see you in the rear view mirror the whole way?”
A surge of adrenaline poured through me, and I straightened my back, reminding myself of the self-resolve I’d promised myself not one hour ago in my father’s house to get to the bottom of this.
“Why wouldn’t you tell me where you were going? Why were you being so shady?”
He blew out a deep breath, sounding frustrated. “Why do you need to know what I’m doing every single second of the day?”
Holding my nerve, I approached him and grabbed his wrist. “Who’s the woman?”
“Are you fucking serious?”
“Is he your son?”
“What. The fuck. Are you talking about?”
“The woman I saw you with on Old Copper Mine Road.”
“You mean the druggie whose son I pick up because she doesn’t have the mental fortitude to bring her son to practice most days?”
“I heard, though, she invited you in…”
“I knew you were crazy, but you’ve got to be kidding me here.”
“I just want to know what’s going on with you. You won’t tell me anything! It’s like I’m talking to a brick wall or something!” I pleaded.
Even so, I felt my resolve weakening. I’d been oh so wrong.
What was I even thinking, following him like this? This wasn’t like me.
“We’ll talk tonight,” he said. “But you owe me.”
“Owe you? How so?”
Moving toward me, his hand trailed down my stomach to my hips. “The key is under the mat at my house. Head back to my place, and have dinner ready for me when I get home. And I want you to be wearing something sexy. If you look this hot when you are just in your loungewear, I want to see you all dressed up.”
Need flared through me.
I had never in a million years expected him to be as direct as this.
I took a shallow breath as he fisted up a ball of my hair, pulled my head back gently, and kissed me forcefully on the neck, causing an electric chill to fire through my body.
“You’re asking me to be your…little stay at home hook-up tonight? So I’m your little wifey who makes dinner for you?”
“All I’m asking you to do is to heat up the chili. And stay the fuck off the roads tonight because they’re saying twenty-nine inches of snow. The something sexy, well, Florida, that’s just for me and the trouble you’ve been putting me through.”
I averted my eyes, looking down, not sure what to say. At the end of the day I had no reason not to trust him. And I couldn’t deny that I wanted him. I wondered if those thoughts he had mentioned started with me wearing something sexy.
“Got it?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know if I have anything sexy.”
“You’ll find something. I’ll be home after I’m done coaching the team.”
He unlocked the door, smirking.
“Oh and Natalie,” he said, still blocking the door.
“Yes?”
Leaning in, he whispered. “Make sure it’s something that’s easily torn off.”
12
Natalie
AS I HEADED BACK to Shane’s house, Christmas music played on the radio even though it had passed. My cheeks burned.