Lauren

 

The afternoon could have gone better. I had hoped to get down the hall and to the lobby before Michael saw me, but, of course, I should have known better. I couldn’t let that detective friend of his talk with Tanner, everything would have fallen apart, and I worked too hard to keep it all together. I just needed to have a quick word with him before Michael came flying down the stairs.

 

I doubted I had a single word out before he and that detective found me. At least they stayed away. At first when I had gotten the call from the guy pretending to be a cop, I thought it was legit, but when Michael told me about Bixby being the guy on the case, I knew what it was. Tanner heard about the accident and was just trying to get me alone.

 

Thing about Tanner was he could have just called me himself and said he wanted to talk. I had nothing to hide from him or reason to be frightened. I would have met him. In public, of course. I wasn’t a complete idiot. And not as naïve as Michael still believed me to be.

 

I hadn’t expected him to show up looking like some character out of The Matrix, but with Tanner you never really knew what form he would be taking. The man changed personas with the wind. One week he was punk rock, the next a tough biker guy. I’d had to break it to him, he’d gotten the biker look all wrong, but he didn’t take my advice.

 

After Michael went away to juvie and dropped me from his life, I had kept searching. I didn’t care where I went so long as there was a possibility to find Michael. That was how I found Tanner. He had some dangerous contacts, guys who would make my skin crawl when I saw them, but each one of them held their own function in Tanner’s world.

 

He’d heard about my accident; concerned one of his business associates was gunning for me, he’d reached out. I tried convincing him that wasn’t the case, that it had something to do with my damn internship, but he thought it as stupid as I did. He tried to convince me to let him talk to the cops, to see what info they had so he could do his own digging. I tried to assure him I had it handled, but, just like Michael, he didn’t think I could do it. I reminded him of all the years I worked with him, not once did he have to come to my rescue. That reminder only irritated him more. Tanner never liked to be proven wrong.

 

It surprised me that Michael didn’t demand answers after his detective friend left us. He knew every word out of my mouth had been a lie, and having just turned my ass raw the night before with the very vocal lecture about honesty and other expectations, I half expected him to haul me over his bike to deliver another spanking. He didn’t. He barely talked to me on the way to the shelter, not that a conversation was easy to keep up with over the rumbling of his motorcycle. When he dropped me off, he didn’t even get off his bike. He just pulled his sunglasses down to the tip of his nose and told me to wait on the steps after my shift. If he weren’t there when I was done, I was to stay on the steps or go back inside.

 

Glad to not have to fight with him about the meeting with the detective, I agreed easily. I watched him ride away before I went inside, with something feeling off. Maybe guilt over not being totally honest with him? Hiding something from him?

 

My shift at the shelter flew by. It usually did when I worked with the kids group for the afternoon. A few of the moms told me again I should be getting my degree in education, not architecture. By the time it was time to go home, I was beat. Playing with kids took up a lot of energy, and keeping my patience going when teaching them to read took up the rest.

 

Walking out onto the steps and seeing Michael sitting on his bike staring at me, put me on edge. He wasn’t smiling. The sun had already dipped behind the buildings, casting a dark shadow over him and his bike.

 

Taking a deep breath, I walked over to him. “Think you can take me home tonight?” I asked when he scooted up on the bike to give me room, but didn’t say anything. Maybe he was finally done with me. He’d had his fun, but now that he saw I wasn’t the easy going, naïve little girl he knew from the past, he decided to move on. That was fine with me, or so I told myself. I wasn’t going to be anyone’s fuck toy. No matter how good it felt, I was worth a hell of a lot more than that.

 

“No.” He handed me my helmet without looking at me.

 

“I want to go home, Michael.” I swung my leg over the bike and settled in behind him. All I wanted to do was take a bath and sleep until morning. I didn’t have more energy to fight with him.

 

“Fine.” He revved his engine, and before I could think to question how easily he gave in, he tore out of the lot and headed to my building.

 

I should have known better than to think I’d gotten my way. Asya is home.” I pointed to the light in my apartment. “I’ll be good from here.”

 

“Yeah. Right.” He huffed and got off the bike. I let him follow up the steps to the front door and tried again to let him off the hook. “My place, my bed, remember?” He pointed to the door. “If you want to stay here, fine, we’ll stay here.”

 

“Asya is here, you can’t do anything…you know…like last night,” I warned him, and he laughed.

 

“Worried about a spanking for all that bullshit you spewed earlier? That’s good.” He took the key from my hand when I still hadn’t opened the door. “There are plenty of other ways to punish you that don’t require my belt. Much quieter ways.”

 

“I wasn’t spewing bullshit.” Even I didn’t think I sounded convincing, but lying to Michael was new for me. Hell, lying to anyone was pretty much out of my box of comfortable things to do.

 

“Let’s get upstairs.” He looked up and down my block while he held open the door for me.

 

I wanted to tell him there wasn’t anyone watching me, that I was safe, but it would have fallen on deaf ears.

 

Asya greeted us with a smile as she walked around the apartment, getting ready for her late shift at the bar. “I’m closing, so won’t be back ’til sunup.” She threw a wink at me while Michael had gone to the washroom. “How’s it going with him?” She tossed her lipstick into her bag.

 

“There’s no him. He’s just being an overprotective ass.” I dropped my backpack onto the couch and began digging out my notes.

 

“Hey, Asya.” Michael came out into the living room. “You might want to spend a few nights at your boyfriend’s place. I don’t like the idea of the two of you staying here right now, not until we figure out this car accident stuff.”

 

“Is Lauren staying here with you?” she asked with a grin.

 

“I’d rather she come back to my place, but she’s being bit stubborn.”

 

“She is right here.” I waved a hand in the air.

 

“Sorry.” Asya laughed. “Okay, I’ll stay over there. Maybe the four of us could grab dinner tomorrow night? It’s my night off.”

 

“I have to work.” I cut in before Michael had to come up with an excuse to ditch the double date.

 

“Of course. You’re always working. When’s that internship starting?”

 

“Not ’til the fall.” I settled on the couch, pulling my feet under me and opening my book. She finished grabbing her stuff and waved her goodbyes.

 

“See? See how she agreed so nicely to stay somewhere safe?” Michael leaned against the arm of the loveseat.

 

“Asya loves sleeping over there. If she didn’t feel so guilty about leaving me without a roommate, she would have moved in with him a long time ago.” I kept my eyes on my book. “I have to finish this paper for tomorrow, so why don’t you busy yourself somewhere else.”

 

“Your attitude is a bit thick tonight, don’t you think?”

 

“Michael, I’m tired. I have to finish this, and I don’t have the energy to argue with you.”

 

“Just tell me one thing and I’ll leave you to your homework.”

 

“What?” I looked up at him.

 

“Why didn’t you tell me you dated the VP of Chicago’s Fallen?”