Page 8 of Lawton

Screw that.

Brittney's voice cut into my thoughts. "Lawton!"

I looked down at her. "What?"

Brittney gave a small huff. "Talk about rude." Her head swiveled to the sidewalk, where the two girls were laughing a couple of blocks away. Brittney pursed her lips. The look on her face said it all.

I was a pig.

Yeah. Whatever. Oink oink. Now get the fuck out.

"Look," I told Brittney, trying to be civil, "you just can't just drop in like this."

Next to Brittney, Amber spoke up. "I told her that, Lawton. Honest. But she wouldn't listen."

Brittney gave a dramatic sigh. "Aw come on. We drove all the way out here. We're not leaving without a tour." She turned to Amber and said, "Right?"

"Right." Amber frowned. "I think."

I wanted them gone, but I didn't want a scene. The reason was simple.Shemight see. The girl with the terrier. My reputation was bad enough already. No need to reinforce it.

Desperate to be rid of them, I said, "Come back Friday. I'll, uh, grill or something."

Brittney's gaze narrowed. "You're not gonna cancel on us again, are you?"

I wanted to cancel. And I wanted them to get the hell out of my way. The way it looked, I couldn’t have both. "You've got my word," I told them. "Now I've gotta go. Alright?"

Ten minutes later, they were finally gone. From now on, I decided, I'd make better use of that big iron gate that kept gawkers away. I'd moved out here for a reason, and it wasn't to be hounded by girls who couldn't take a hint.

From my front closet, I grabbed the nearest tennis shoes and tugged them onto my feet. I rushed out the back door and headed through the trees toward the rear of my property.

I had three acres of woods surrounded by a tall, iron fence that matched the front gate. In the far corner, there was a narrow, gated opening, hidden by hedges, unless you knew where to look. I strode toward it like a man on a mission.

Hell, Iwason a mission. And I had a plan.

I was going to intercept those girls.

Judging from their route, they'd circle the block and end up walking along the outside of my fence. When that happened, I'd be ready.

My plan, if you could call it that, was to wait until they passed. Then I'd slip out of the hidden gate, walk up behind them, and see what played out.

Maybe I'd be just the new neighbor guy, out for a walk, catching up to say hi. That's what normal people did, right?

Chapter 6

I heard them coming from a block away. The friend was laughing. "Oh come on, Chloe. Youknowyou want him."

Chloe. I felt myself smile as the name hit home. Somehow, it fit.

"Oh stop it," Chloe said with a laugh. "He's a total train wreck."

I recognized the voice, just like I recognized the laugh. The thing I didn't recognize was the tone. Or maybe, I didn't want to. The way it sounded, they were talking about me, and not in a good way.

"Yeah," the friend said, "but he's ahottrain wreck."

"Who cares?" Chloe said. "Some pretty boy with a death wish? Who needsthat?"

Standing like a dumb-ass behind my fancy hedge-row, I let those words sink in. Pretty boy. Death wish. I didn't want to be pretty, and sure as hell didn't want to die.