Out Bad (6 page)

He spent the drive home trying his best to put the woman and
her little boys out of his mind even though experience told him it wouldn't be
possible.  It just hit too close to home.  Was too much like the life
he lived.  Survived anyway. 

That was why he couldn't just walk away from a situation
like that.  He wanted to make things right.  Not just to try to make
up for what he did as an adult, but to make up for what he couldn't do as a
child.

He couldn't help his mother.  He couldn't make their
life better. 

And he couldn't stop his father.

The only thing that managed to stop Calvin Parker was a
massive coronary at forty-five.  Even then it was too late.  The
years of damage he inflicted on his wife left her broken and living in fear of
eternal damnation, until she died.

By then Joe was long gone, never looking back at the
hypocritical preacher who would raise his bible with one hand and swing a fist
with the other, the stink of whiskey tainting the commandments he spewed.

Joe shook his head, the memories scattering.  He had no
choice but to leave it all in the past.  The abuse.  The
poverty.  And sadly, the woman he couldn't save.

"That isn't going to work."  Gwen rubbed her
eyes trying to will away the headache forming deep inside her brain.

"What do you mean?"  The man on the other end
of the line sounded confused.  That's exactly why Gwen was dealing with
him.  A confused owner did not make for a successful company.

"I mean it hasn't worked so far.  It's not going
to work now.  You keep following the plan we laid out and let me do my
job."

"Is there somebody else I can talk to?"

He didn't have to explain what he meant.  She knew he
meant someone with a dick.

"There is no one else to talk to Mr. Roberts.  I
am the top of the food chain when it comes to things like this." 
Gwen leaned back in her office chair and rolled her head from side to
side.  Why was she even talking to this man right now?

It was Saturday for Christ's sake.  She looked at the
clock on the wall.  Hell, it was Saturday evening.  A time when most
people were with the ones they loved.

She was at work.

"You know what?  Monday morning I will have my
boss, the owner of the company call you.  Unfortunately when situations
like this come up, he usually calls to tell you we can't help your company
after all.  You see, he hired me because I am very good at what I do and
he does not have time to handle things like this, so if I can't make you happy
then there is no reason to continue our professional relationship."

She smirked at the dead air on the other end of the
line.  Mr. Roberts could kiss her skirted ass right now.  She was not
in the mood for his shit today.

"That's not necessary.  I will follow up with you
next week."  The line went dead in her ear.

"Whatever."  She shoved the receiver back in
place.

She was done.  She grabbed her purse and shut off the
overhead lights in her office.  The room was still bright with the late
afternoon sun pouring through the wall of windows that overlooked the empty
parking lot.  She'd worked hard to get here, busting her ass, working
longer and harder than anyone. 

She'd thought as the CFO of the business financial
management division of a large company, she would feel some sort of
satisfaction with her life.  Feel like she was getting somewhere, even if
it wasn't where she always thought she'd be.

Things change.  People die.  Life goes on and you
have to find a way to work with what's left, and Gwen was left with her career.

She shut the door to her office and headed to the
elevator.  She stepped onto the asphalt, the heat lines rising from the
pavement visible in the humidity lingering in the air.  The reprieve from
the stifling heat she'd enjoyed the night of Heath's party was long gone and
back was the heat so heavy you could barely breathe.

Gwen opened her car door and leaned in to start the
engine.  The air was still set to blasting from her drive in.  Even
at eight this morning, the wicked heat of July had her sweating.

She gave it a few seconds before tossing her purse onto the
soft leather of the passenger seat and climbing in.  The heat radiated
from the seat and quickly seeped through the thin fabric of her skirt making
her butt sweat.

They had seat warmers.  Why in the hell hadn't someone
invented a seat cooler? 

She shifted to one side while she was stopped at a red light,
letting the cool air blow under her butt, then she switched cheeks. 
Finally, the car started to feel cool just as she jumped on the interstate.

Going home didn't sound appealing, but neither did sitting
alone in a restaurant.  Even shopping, which had become her standard
weekend activity over the past few years, didn't interest her tonight.

She coasted past her exit, taking the next instead. 
There was only one place she wanted to be tonight. 

She pulled up in front of Gabbi's beside the same commercial
van she'd parked behind at Heath's party.  They must know someone who--

Oh no.

Not tonight.  Tonight she just wanted to see her sister
and her nieces without the distraction of... of...

She kicked her car into reverse right as he rounded the
corner, his hair pulled back, a white ribbed tank top streaked with what could
be any number of things.  Whatever it was, it was also covering his hands
and smeared on one side of his neck.

He saw her immediately and raised one filthy had in a two
fingered wave.  She'd been caught.  She lifted her fingers off the
wheel giving him a small wave back.

Damn.  She struggled to keep her eyes off him and her
wits about her every time she'd seen him before.  Now that he was dirty
and sweaty and oozing everything she thought made a man a man, her already
elevated stress level was off the charts.

"Hi, Gwen."  He rounded her car just as she
was forcing her body out the open door.  "I would get that door for
you, but..."  He held up his hands in explanation.

"It's okay.  I can open my own door." 
She shut it behind her.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should have
to."  He repeated his words from the night of the party, his voice
soft. 

His eyes stayed on her, making her want to squirm in her
Jimmy
Choo's
.  Instead she straightened her
spine, bringing herself almost up to his height.

"Sometimes you don't have a choice."

She fought to keep her eyes on his face and quickly
lost.  She'd never seen this much of his skin before and it was just too
tempting.  Her gaze traveled down his barely stubbly neck, over the width
of his shoulders and stopped at his arms.

He quickly lapped one arm over the other, crossing them
against his chest, effectively blocking her view of the tattoos covering his
skin.

"Auntie Gwen!"  Caroline and Cassondra blew
past Joe and wrapped their little arms around her legs.

"Hey girls!"  Gwen swiped at the wisps of
hair clinging to Cassie's forehead.  "You're all sweaty.  Have
you been playing outside and having fun?"

Gabbi came down the front steps, her hair just as stringy
and sweaty as the girls'.  "No one's having fun."

"I am."  Joe's eyes were still on Gwen, his
arms still wound across his chest.

"No you're not.  Go."  Gabbi pointed
back at the side of the house he'd appeared from a few minutes earlier.

"You're a slave driver."  He gave Gabbi a
wink as he passed her by.

Gwen watched as he turned the corner at the edge of the
house.  Before he disappeared he looked back, at her.  Her hand flew
to her stomach and pressed in, trying to subdue the tiny flutter that always
came to annoy her when that man was around.

"What are you doing here?"  Gabbi's voice
snapped her attention from the now empty spot she didn't even realize she was
continuing to watch.

"I was on my way home from work and decided to swing by. 
See what was going on."  She wiped at her forehead to clear the tiny
dots of sweat that kept popping up.

"What's going on is the air's freaking out."

Gwen looked down at her nieces and was a little ashamed she
hadn't already noticed they were in their bathing suits.  She looked back
up at her sister.  Tiny rings of mascara lined the skin under her eyes and
her cheeks were flushed a deep pink.

"Are the guys fixing it?"  She glanced back
at the side of the house imagining Joe lifting an air conditioning unit, his
muscled arms tight, the sun glinting off the dampness clinging to his skin.

"Not fast enough."

Gwen drug her eyes back to her sister.  She looked
miserable.  The girls looked miserable.  "Come to my
house."

"I can't believe I didn't think of that." 
Gabbi squeezed her temples.  "I think the heat fried my brain."

"Yeah, you probably should have gone there hours
ago."  Gwen looked down at the girls where they'd sprawled across a
shady spot on the lawn.  "You guys want to come play in Auntie Gwen's
giant bathtub?"

****

"You're sure she doesn't mind if I come?"

Heath laughed.  "She's not the one you should
worry about."  Heath paused, then laughed harder.  "Hell, I
really don't know which one you should be more worried about."

"What in the hell are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about.  I
warned you.  If you think Gabbi doesn't know what you're up to then you've
lost your damn mind."  He glanced Joe's way, giving him a once over
before turning his eyes back to the road.  "Hell, if your thinking
what I think you're thinking, then you probably have lost your mind."

"How's that?"  Joe glanced out the window as
they turned into a subdivision.  A nice subdivision.  A really nice
subdivision.

"Gwen is a handful."

Joe cocked his eyebrow.  "Gabs is a handful."

Heath grinned.  "Yeah she is."  He was
silent for a minute, that grin still plastered on his face.

Heath pulled up along the curb and put the car in
park.  "I just don't know that she's the kind of handful you're
looking for."

Joe had already stopped listening and was staring out the
SUV window at the house they were parked in front of.  He'd known Gwen was
successful, but he'd obviously underestimated her.  Significantly.

A little part of him had still held out hope that she would
at least be a little impressed by him, his accomplishments, but now he knew for
sure.  All the security he'd built up, the money he'd saved, the business
he owned, the house he lived in.  None of it would matter to her.

"I tried to tell you."  Heath leaned across
the car looking out the window with him.  "Gwen's not what you're
looking for."

Joe ignored him, opening the door and climbing out onto the
lush grass of Gwen's front yard.  He walked to the driveway, a pristine slab
of stained concrete that led to a two-car garage, and along a stone walkway
that curved gently across the front of the large two-story brick and stone
house.  The front door opened just as he stepped onto the covered porch.

Gwen stood, illuminated against the dusky evening by the
lights of the house behind her.  Her hair was loose around her shoulders
and her face was scrubbed clean.  She wore a tank and a pair of cotton
drawstring shorts that bared ninety-nine percent of her long legs.

She smiled at him and stepped back, pulling the door wide
for them to come in.  He followed Heath in and was just stepping close to
Gwen when a loud voice boomed from the top of the open foyer.

"Please tell me you got it done."  Gabbi
stood at the top of the steps looking down at them.

"Yes baby, we got it done."

"I wasn't going to come home if you didn't." 
She reached the bottom step and Heath grabbed her up.

"We can't have that."  He nuzzled her neck
and Gabbi giggled.

"Gross."  Gwen spun on her heel and walked
further into the house, disappearing through a doorway.

"Heath quit."  Gabbi shoved at him as she
looked after her sister.

Heath dropped his arms.  "It's been years
Gabs.  How long are you going to do this?'  His voice was hushed,
clearly not meant to reach Gwen.

"I don't know Heath."  Gabbi glared at
him.  "How long would it take you?"

Joe shifted from one foot to the other, not quite sure what
was happening, but positive whatever it was, was about Gwen.  He cleared
his throat.

Gabbi shifted her glare to him.  She stuck her finger
in his face.  "Stop."

How in the hell did he end up involved in this?

He held his hands up.  "I haven't done
anything."

Gabbi rolled her eyes.  "Whatever."  She
stomped back up the stairs.  "I'm
gonna
get
the girls."

Joe looked at Heath.  "What in the hell was that
about?"

Heath shook his head, patting his pockets.  "I
forgot my phone in the car.  I'll be right back."

Joe stood alone in the entry not really sure what to
do.  Did he follow Heath?  Should he stay put?  What he wanted
to do, might not be the best idea.  Actually, after what just happened it
was probably the worst idea, but he had made his fair share of bad
decisions.  What was one more?

 He followed Gwen.

She stood at the kitchen sink, her back to him, looking out
the window into her backyard.  He'd barely cleared the doorway when she
spun his direction, looking completely different than the Gwen he'd seen
before.

Her eyes were red, almost as if she'd been crying.  Her
already fair skin was pale making the bright green of her eyes stand out even
more.  She looked upset.  She looked a little lost.  She looked
broken.

And then it was gone.

Her face shifted, any hint of emotion evaporating. 
"Would you like a beer?"

He was baffled.  Gwen had changed right in front of his
eyes from one extreme to the other.  Again.

He was beginning to wonder if Heath might be right. 
Maybe Gwen wasn't what he was looking for.

She was confusing.  She was unpredictable.  She
was high-strung.

And she was intriguing as hell.

"I would love a beer."  He smiled at her,
getting only a nod in response.

Gwen opened the fridge and pulled out a brown bottle. 
She grabbed the hem of her shirt and used it to twist the cap off before
handing it to him.

He watched her as he tipped the bottle to his lips.  A
woman who drove a Beemer and lived in a house like this, but twisted off a beer
cap like a man. 

She turned and shot the cap into the open trash can with one
hand while she opened the fridge with the other.  "I think I could
use one too."

She twisted the lid and chugged a good amount before tossing
her cap in with his then leaned back against the gleaming granite
counters.  Her eyes darted to him, then quickly away.  She chewed her
bottom lip and took a breath to say something.

But she didn't.

She blew the air back out before taking another drink. 
She took another breath.  "I ordered pizza.  It should be here
so--"