Ordinary (Anything But) (3 page)

“Honor.
I don’t pay you to stand around talking to your friends. Get moving,” Richard tossed over his shoulder as he strode for the kitchen, his overabundant gut jiggling as he moved.

She rolled her eyes. “I
gotta go before I get fired.” Honor grabbed Anna’s cool hands. “But I
promise
I had a really good reason for unintentionally standing you up. I’ll explain later, okay?” Only she didn’t know what she would tell her friend and she didn’t know if she should tell her the truth.

“It had better have been a boy. That’s all I have to say. Nothing else is forgivable.”

Honor dropped her friend’s hands. “Uh…”

Anna leaned closer. “Honor Alexis Rochester, it
was
a boy, wasn’t it?” She let out a squeal and clapped her hands.

“Sort of.
But not in the way you think. Annalise Quinn Becker,” she added.

“Who was it? Was it Ryder Delagrave? He’s liked you, like,
forever
.”

Honor recoiled so fast she jabbed her hip against the sharp corner of the bar counter. “No.
Of course not. I can’t stand him.” Honor rubbed the sore spot she knew would bruise. “Anyway, he doesn’t like me either. He’s not nice, and
no
, I don’t like him. At all. Just to reiterate. The thought is absolutely
crazy
.”

Anna studied her friend.
“Hmm. You know what they say about the ones that protest so much.”

“They really mean what they’re saying?”

She twirled around, saying over her shoulder as she walked through the door, “Something like that. I’ll be waiting to hear all the details. Call me later.”

Honor inhaled deeply, trying to calm the thundering beat of her heart. Ryder did
not
like her. She knew that. Why didn’t anyone else realize it? He was mocking and rude and…odd. And everyone knew she couldn’t stand him. So he was good-looking. Big deal. There were lots of good-looking boys in the school. It didn’t mean he was
nice
. Why would Anna act like maybe she did like him, but didn’t want anyone to know about it? Was that what people thought? Honor really hoped not. That would be terrible, horrible. She swallowed, feeling ill.
Stop thinking about it. Get back to work.
Honor straightened her shoulders, took a deep breath, and forced her lip muscles into a ghost of a smile.

“Honor!” her boss bellowed from the opening between the kitchen and bar.

She jumped. “Coming already. Geez.”

Honor strode to table three, took one look at the customer, and
immediately turned around. Dismay hit her, hard and fast. He’d probably heard that whole conversation with Anna. Her life was over—completely
over
. She couldn’t face him, couldn’t go to school again, and especially couldn’t bear to look at him. She wanted to go back in time and
not
have the conversation with Anna she just had. Of all the bad luck for him to be there, at that moment, probably overhearing everything they’d said. Today was full of bad luck, at least for Honor. She could feel his eyes on her back, branding her with their intensity, studying her like he always did. He was so creepy. Why was he always watching her? Honor’s stomach felt queasy and her skin hot. What did he
want
from her?

“So di
d you hear all that?” she asked with her back still to him.

“Yep,” was his
cheerful reply.

She took what was meant to be a calming breath. It didn’t really work. “Wonderful.” Honor turned and offered a stiff smile in case her boss was watching. “What can I get you?”

Ryder smiled at her, looking amused. “Hello, Honor.” He lounged in the chair like he didn’t have a care in the world. He probably didn’t. His family was rich, he was good-looking, and girls sighed when he passed by. What could he possibly have to worry about? “How’s it going?” Ryder continued.             

“It
was
going okay.” Pen posed over notepad, she waited.

“And now?”
Laughter danced in his eyes.

She frowned. Since when did emotion of any kind other than mockery appear in his eyes? It mad
e him almost…real, not so fake. “Not so much.” Honor motioned with the pen. “Most people order a drink or food or something when they sit at a table here. I imagine that’s why you’re here. So what do you want?”

Ryder chuckled, the sound disconcerting coming from him. Ryder didn’t laugh. He
ridiculed
. What was wrong with him tonight? “Do you really need to ask that?”

Honor narrowed her eyes at him, annoyed when shivers went up and down her arms at his intimate tone. “What is
that
supposed to mean?”

He opened his arms, palms up. “I always get water. You should know that. You’ve waited on me before. That’s all.” Ryder gav
e a faint smile. “You know; hydration and all that.”

She inwardly seethed, the smile on her face turning brittle. He was so
annoying.
“Do you know what you want to eat or should I come back?”

“Please come back. I so enjoy our visits.”

Honor shoved the pad of paper and pen into her apron, imagining it was a pillow over Ryder’s face. “Don’t try to be charming. You’re not. You’re completely wasting your attempt at charmingness on me. I’m immune,” she said.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She tossed her hands in the air. “Who are you trying to kid? You don’t talk to me, you
mock
at me. Your tone is sincere, but your eyes are not. You say weird, inappropriate things to me
all the time
. Today was a perfect example.” Honor lowered her voice as she said, “I’m a disturbing kind of guy? Really? Who talks like that? And another thing! You never say what you really mean and you always mean something else and it’s very…irritating.”

“I think you just said the same thing twice using different words. And I don’t think
charmingness is a word. I could be wrong.” He paused. “But I doubt it.”

Honor jutted a hip and placed a hand on it.
“Because you’re always right?”

“No.
Because I’m never wrong.”

She caught a glimpse of his straight white teeth that had probably cost his parents thousands of dollars to make look that way. Everything about him was well-polished and smooth. That was probably the thing that bothered her most about Ryder. He didn’t have any imperfections, at least not any visible ones.
His personality on the other hand—
that
was a huge, whopping, unable to ignore,
flaw
. Honor whirled around and stomped over to the bar with a clenched jaw.

The bartender, Eric Jones, lifted a brow at her.

“Water, please. With extra spit,” she added in a loud voice.

Eric was in his thirties
and a quiet guy. He was short and chubby with brown hair and eyes. Honor only knew the basics about him and that was the way he seemed to like it, but from what she’d determined, he was a sweet guy. Of course, he never said anything, so it was easy to find him likable.

“Honor,” her boss admonished, looking around. “Don’t say things like that.”
             

“Sorry. I was kidding.
Really.” Honor ducked her head when Richard McDermott continued to glare at her. She glanced over her shoulder and Ryder saluted her, that maddening smile on his lips.

She grabbed the glass of ice water and slammed it down on the table.
“Ready to order?”

Ryder lifted one finger as he sipped from the straw,
his full lips somehow making it a sensual act. Honor looked away. “Mmm. Delicious. Just the right amount of spit.”

She felt her face heat up and had a crazy urge to laugh. “What do you want, Ryder?” Honor asked in exasperation.

“Are you sure you want me to answer that?”

Honor swallowed, flushed all of a sudden with his gaze so intent on her. She hadn’t dated a lot, but she wasn’t co
mpletely immune to innuendoes. “What do you want to
eat
?”

He slowly pushed the glass away. “I would like to buy you dinner. When’s your break?”

“No.”

Ryder looked down, but not before she caught his self-deprecating smile. “Somehow I knew you’d say that.” He looked up.
“Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

Honor looked over her shoulder, made sure her boss wasn’t around, and leaned down to be at eyelevel with
him. “What game are you playing at?” She studied his face, looking for a hint of his ulterior motives in his features.

He motioned her closer. Honor hesitated and
finally did so. “I don’t…play games,” Ryder said softly.

She backed up, frowning.
That was such a lie. All he’d done was play games with her since the day she’d met him. He was the cat, the predator, and she was the mouse, always trying to outrun and outsmart him. To think of their interactions as anything else was unimaginable. He got off on making her uncomfortable and she didn’t understand why.

“If you don’t tell me what you want to eat right now
, I’m walking away and I’m not coming back.”

Ryder ran a finger along his lower lip. Honor’s eyes were
involuntarily drawn to the motion. She quickly moved her gaze to the table. “Surprise me.”

She opened her mouth and
then snapped it shut. “Okay. Fine.” Honor stormed away, ignoring Eric’s curious look. She untied her apron and slapped it on the counter. “The guy at table three wants a plate of raw onions. I’m going on break.”

Jerk,
went through her mind as she rushed down the short, dark hallway to the back door. Honor shoved the door open; her hands jarred at the impact, and let the door slam shut behind her. It was dark and the glow of streetlamps illuminated the area surrounding her. There was a dumpster behind the building and a small parking lot. She sucked in the cool air, letting it absorb some of the heat from her skin. She hated Ryder, she really did. He liked to frustrate her and he was a prick.
I wish he would leave me alone.

Honor paced back and forth, loose gravel scraping the bottoms of her shoes, a hand to her head. She wanted the night to be over with. She wanted to go home
and forget everything about that day. It had pretty much been the most horrible day ever, second place only to her father dying, which would always be the worst day ever. Nothing could compare to that day. Her chest tightened and her throat felt like it was closing. Honor drew in a breath, held it, and released it. She did that over and over, emptying all thoughts from her brain, until the tears stopped forming, and she was in control once more. She straightened her shoulders and hoped the bar’s dim lighting would mask her red-rimmed eyes.

When she got back i
nside, Eric handed her a twenty-dollar bill. She took it, a frown on her face. “What’s this?”

“Your tip from table three.
He must like onions a lot.” He turned away to get a customer a beer.

Honor crumpled the money in her hand. She didn’t want a tip from him. Honor didn’t want anything from him and fully planned on returning it the first chance she got. She shoved it in her pocket and went back to work.

Honor turned away from Christian’s empty desk
and looked at Natasha, but Natasha had her head lowered. Something really weird was going on. She faced the front of the classroom and swallowed thickly. All day she’d been searching for Christian, but as history was the only class they shared, she hadn’t been too surprised when she hadn’t seen him. Honor knew he spent a lot of time in the English room working on the school paper he wrote an article for. That was where Christian usually was when he had a free period and at lunch time.

Not that she spied on him or anything; she’d seen him in the room on her way by a few times in the past. But
not today—today he hadn’t been there any of the numerous times she walked by, simultaneously looking for him and trying not to be too obvious about it. Christian was quiet, a loner, and kept to himself. But he should have been in class. He should have been
somewhere
in the school.

Mrs. Logan handed Honor the paper she’d made a halfhearted attempt at last night after work and her late night phone call to Anna. She looked at the red C+ and sighed. Honor hadn’t told Anna anything but superficial information, nothing about Christian, and not much about Ryder, other than her complaints about him bugging her all the time. Anna thought it was funny.
She thought Ryder liked her and Honor liked him. Anna thought a lot of things. Honor felt eyes boring into her and turned her head. Natasha quickly looked away.
What is her problem?

When the bell signaled the end of class, Honor grabbed her books and bolted out of her chair. “Natasha!”