Sweetest Sin: Bad Boy Bundle (45 page)

"Nah," I said. "It was already dark out. You wouldn't have been able to see much. Plus it started raining a little bit. I'll take you for a walk tomorrow if you want."

She smiled and poured water into the coffee pot. "That would be nice Timmy. I would enjoy that."

I turned around to lean on the counter and finish my food when I saw Marti glaring at me from the doorway. My lips curled into a smirk and I nodded.

Marti huffed and stormed out of the kitchen.

"Well," said Grams. "What do you think that was all about?"

"No idea. She's probably just nervous about tomorrow." I lied.

"You're probably right."

Headlights bounced up the driveway and lit up the kitchen.

"Who's that?" I asked.

"I don't know."

"You expecting anyone?"

"I don't think so. Maybe someone left and is coming back?"

I squinted out through the window and tried to look through the headlights. A large man sauntered up toward the front door. Seconds later, the doorbell rang. Soon after, Marti galloped across the house squealing.

"Oh, I guess that must be Cody," Grams said.

I nodded and tossed my plate into the sink.

"Timmy," she scolded me. "You know better than that. You rinse that off and then come out."

"Sorry," I mumbled and turned back to the sink while she stepped out of the room to catch a glimpse of Marti's groom.

Jokes and laughter floated in from the other room. I finished rinsing off my dish and placed it on the dish rack to dry. Towel in hand, I walked out toward the front door to see the poor soul who had asked to spend the rest of his life with Marti.

I nearly choked on my breath.

Asshole from the beamer. His eye still swollen shut and bruises covered his cheek. I ducked back behind the door frame and listened as he told everyone what happened to him.

"I was driving to get here and I saw a car pulled over in the rain. So, being the good samaritan that I am, I pulled over and tried to help. But when I stepped out of the car, they got the drop on me. Three guys jumped out of the car and started beating me."

"Holy shit," said Gary.

"I think they were after my car," the asshole tried to explain further. "But luckily when they threw me off the road and I rolled down into the ditch, I had my keys with me so they couldn't."

"That's horrible," Marti sympathized.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I laughed at the thought that Marti couldn't have picked a better man to marry.

"Did you call the police?"

"I was going to, but by the time I climbed up back up to the road they were gone. I didn't have a license plate number or anything. I couldn't even describe the car or the guys. So I decided to just head here. But I was having some trouble seeing. And then I got pulled over for swerving because the police said that I was swerving. But when they saw that I was bleeding they insisted that I had to go to the hospital. They refused to let me go anywhere else until I was checked up. And the people at the hospital insisted that I stay there until they could make sure I didn't have any serious injuries. They were worried about concussions and fractured cheek bones and...it doesn't matter. I'm just so glad to be here now."

"Oh, you poor thing," Marti whined. "I'm so sorry."

"Doesn't seem right. You know? It's just not fair when bad things happen to good people like that. I bet those guys never got caught or anything." Aaron spat out his opinion.

I glanced around the kitchen trying to figure out a plan. Would I be able to run through the living room to the stairs before anyone saw me? Chances seemed pretty good with virtually everyone crowding him at the front door.

I took in a couple deep breaths and decided to go for it.

"Hey Timmy! Come meet Cody!" Grams yelled out to me as I hit the bottom step.

Damn it.

I turned around and stared at Cody. He smiled through the small crowd. If he was able to recognize who I was, he didn't make any signs of it.

"Hey," he said and held his hand out.

Shit,
I was trapped. I glanced up the stairs, hoping Angela wouldn't come down.
Well, he can't say anything about it now. Not without admitting to everyone he's a liar.
I accepted his hand and shook it.

"Hey man. Tough break with the three guys."

"Yea. You know, I just have to hope that it catches up to them. Or that they learn and change their ways before it's too late."

"That's pretty big of you."

His smile grew bigger. Less genuine. Everyone fell for it. "Well, I just like to believe that our world can always be better. And it starts with me."

"It starts with you...?"

"Being better."

"Ah." I turned to Grams. "I was just going to change real quick and then I wanted to take a look at Angela's car. If there's time tomorrow I was going to try to work on it."

"Oh, that's so nice of you Timmy. It's out in the garage."

"Thanks Grams."

I smiled again at Cody and nodded to excuse myself up the stairs.

I ran to Angela's door and knocked. "Angela?"

"What's going on?" Marti said from behind me.

Son of a bitch
. "Nothing," I said. "I just needed to see if she had her keys so I could look at her car for her."

Marti squinted at me as if she didn't believe me. My heart raced and my gut twisted into guilty knots.

"And that's it?" she asked. "You just want her keys?"

"What else would it be?"

Her glare bore into me. I could hear Angela shuffling around in her room, but the light still hadn't flicked on yet. Then Cody walked up behind Marti.

"Hey, you said you had to work on a car? I thought I could offer to help you."

"You want to help me?"

"Yea. Marti said Angela was her sister. I'm going to be part of the family now so I thought I'd try to make a good impression."

"Thanks. But I don't need any help. I got it." I walked down the hallway further and stepped into my room for a change into some old jeans and a tee shirt. When I got back out into the hallway, Cody was still standing there. Smiling.

"I don't mind," he said.

"Suit yourself." I trotted down the stairs, hoping he would follow me before Angela opened her door. I still couldn't tell whether or not he recognized me. But I was pretty sure he'd be able to recognize Angela. And I wasn't sure what his game was.

He followed right behind me. Marti right on his heels.

"Why are you so worried about her car tonight?" she asked. "Why can't this wait until tomorrow?"

"Babe, it won't take long," Cody assured her. "We're just going to go take a look so we can see what it needs. Once we have a good look, then we'll be able to figure out exactly what it needs and we'll be able to schedule a time to get it fixed so it won't interfere with the wedding. Trust me, it's better that we do this now and not tomorrow."

She did not look happy. Her glare turned to me and she scowled as if I were trying to keep him away from her on purpose or something.

"Fine," she said and stormed back up the stairs. "If that's what you really want to do the night before you get married."

I took in a deep breath and raised my eyebrow at her. "You might want to rethink heading out to the garage," I told him. "I don't think she's happy that you're choosing to spend time working on a car instead of spending the time with her."

His smile was unwavering. Fake as ever. "You're probably right," he said. "I'm already late getting here. Don't want to make her any more angry. Maybe I can catch up with you tomorrow. We can work on the car together then?"

"Sounds good," I said as I sped down the stairs.

I ran outside and into the garage before I took my next breath. There was a chance he might not recognize me at all. But I was pretty certain he'd be able to recognize Angela from that night. I had come up from behind him in the rain. And I didn't exactly give him a lot of time to study me. On the other hand, he had plenty of time to memorize Angela and her car. I didn't much like the idea of finding out what he would do to her if he saw her here.

She needed to leave. And I needed a plan.

Steel hissed through the air seconds before connecting with the back of my head. White spots blurred out my vision as I fell over onto the car.

"Hey asshole," Cody whispered. "You didn't think I was going to just let you get away with attacking me and leaving me on the side of the road like that. Did you?"

I scrambled to find my footing. My eyes still refused to focus as the tire iron came back down on the side of my face.

"So what really happened?" I mumbled as I pressed the back of my hand against my bleeding lip.

His blurry form held the tire iron up over his head again. I rolled over onto my side as it cracked down on the floor. I reached up and grabbed his wrist, pulling him down and slamming his face against the car door before throwing him away from me.

I grabbed the tire iron and pulled myself under the car. "What did you do? The police were supposed to bring you in for questioning. What, did you pay them off? Bribe them to let you go?"

"How did you...?" His voice trailed off.

Fuck.

He stopped to look at the car. "She's here? Are you fucking kidding me? Of all the luck."

His eyes lit up as he studied Angela's car. I came up behind him and swung the tire iron at the side of his rib cage. If I could knock the wind out of him, maybe I could sneak Angela out past him.

Cody screamed and bent into his side as I drew the tire iron back. I pelted him again with it; once on the arm and once between his shoulder blades. He ducked around the car and landed in front of the shelf. He started throwing anything he could grab over his shoulders. Boxes of nuts, bolts, and screws took flight before he finally gave up on his aim and grabbed the sledgehammer.

He swung around with all his might. I ducked as it slammed against the wall. My foot swept up under his knee, knocking him off balance. As he faltered and tried to regain his balance, I rushed in and tackled him. Driving him back into the shelf until he dropped the sledgehammer. He tried to grab my wrists, to peel me away from him. I pulled my head back and thrust my forehead into his nose.

He yelled and managed to push me away from him to grab his bleeding nose.

I turned toward the door. If the truth was going to come out, he could figure out a way to explain it to everyone. I was going to get to Angela and get her out of here before he had a chance to find her.

I nearly fell over when he jumped on my back and wrapped a rope around my neck. He jumped back and pulled. I tried to relieve the pressure, digging under the rope with my fingertips and pulling against him. Nothing worked.

Feeling in my fingers faded and I lost my grip as I fell to my knees. His scowl turned into a grin as his foot came up and knocked me back into the dark.

***

There was too much laughter and yelling downstairs for me to feel comfortable trying to sneak down for some food. I knew there was no way I would make t all the way to the kitchen without being seen. I grabbed a book from my bag and decided instead to read.

The comforters felt amazing around me as I snuggled into the bed. I sank down into the pillow and smiled as I cracked the book open.

Then someone knocked on my door.

"Damn it," I whispered.
Who the hell can that be?

"Angela?" I heard Tim's voice on the other side.

Are you kidding me?
It seemed like he was trying to get caught. As if he wanted everyone to find out about us. Why would he be here right now? I was exhausted and my knees were still weak from earlier.

I started toward the door, determined to tell him no to whatever he would request. Hoping I would be strong enough to turn him down.

"What's going on?" I heard Marti's voice drift in from the hallway just as I was about to open the door. I stopped in my tracks and pressed my ear against the door.

"Nothing. I just needed to see if she had her keys so I could look at her car for her," Tim answered Marti.

Nice save,
I thought. It was actually believable.

I turned around and crawled back into my bed. It didn't matter if Marti believed him or not, there was no way I was going to head out there now. Marti would be watching my door like a hawk now that she knew Tim was being nice to me. I didn't much like the idea of running into her again tonight. Her invasion of my shower was enough.

Sweet slumber took over.

I had no idea how long I was actually out for. And I wasn't sure what woke me up. But whispers outside my door caught my attention.

I rolled over. No light shining in under the door. The hallway light was off. Whatever was going on out there, it didn't concern me.

At least, I didn't think it did.

"Why the hell were you out there working on her car to begin with?" Marti's raspy voice was too loud to be considered a whisper. "Now look at you. You've got a new cut on your face. Your eye is even more swollen. What the fuck were you doing out there?"