ARROGANT BRIT (A BRITISH BAD BOY ROMANCE) (10 page)

It ate up a couple of hours, but the place
had never been any cleaner. Although I was a little lax for someone who had
once scrubbed floors with toothbrushes, I still expected – nay,
demanded
– clean surfaces and minimal
dust. Still, it was funny to me that it took the combination of a grimy guest
and a cute girl to properly kick my ass into gear on the home cleanliness
front.

After a brief break in front of the
television with a well-earned cup of tea, I noticed my phone ringing to the
side.

It was Clara.

I wasn’t really feeling a phone call, so I
let it ring to voicemail. Whatever it was, she could either leave a message, or
just text me.

When it rang
again
, I filled with dread.
Something’s
wrong,
I thought to myself as I hesitantly answered the phone.

“Clara?”

“Dalton, we, uh, need to talk…”

I didn’t like the fearful tone of her voice.

“Oh yeah? Is something the matter?”

There was a pause on the other end of the
line. By the time she responded, I already knew what she was going to say.

“So… apparently, our parents are engaged.”

No,
I thunderously growled
internally.
No. I was SO FUCKING CLOSE.
Don’t you DARE rip this away from me, right at the cusp of victory…

“Is that so,” I replied as impartially as I
could.

“Yeah,” Clara answered. “Mom just called me a
little while ago and excitedly told me the news. She said that she was going to
wait until tomorrow to tell me, but she was too thrilled to sit on it.”

If only you’d kept your fucking
mouth shut one more day,
I bitterly thought about my future stepmother.

“Well… that’s not exactly great.”

“No, not really,” Carla commiserated. “You
want to know the
really
fucked up
thing, though?”

“What’s that?”

“Apparently, they’re on some sort of crazy
deadline. Because of your grandfather, they want to do this thing
fast
.”

“…How fast are we talking?”

“Uh, Tuesday?”

If there was ever a time that I could
physically feel my spirits fall, it was that moment. The weight of my soul came
crashing down upon the jagged rocks of fate, writhing in startled pain until
there was nothing but hallow emptiness left.

“Tuesday.
This
Tuesday? But it’s
Saturday
,” I
grumbled furiously down the phone.
“What
the hell are they thinking? Why are they rushing this?”

“From what it sounds like, your grandparents
being present is sort of really important to your Dad,” Clara elaborated sadly.
“It’s a done deal. Plane tickets have already been bought. She says she picked
that day because we’re both out of school, and apologized if that screws with
any plans either of us had…”

Oh, it definitely screws with my
plans. But it wasn’t TUESDAY that I was particularly worried about…

I pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Alright. So, we’re going to be in some
slapped together little wedding on Tuesday, then,” I grumbled to myself. “This
isn’t fucking fair. Why? Why couldn’t they have let us have this one fucking
night together?”

Clara remained quiet on the line.

“I’m sorry,” I replied, relinquishing my
pride. “It’s just… tonight was important to me…
really
important. Now it’s gone.”

“I’ve been thinking about that,” she replied
hesitantly. “You see, Mom got off the phone about fifteen minutes ago, and
that’s all that’s been on my mind since… I kind of came to a decision that’s
better for the two of us.”

Great,
I morosely thought to myself.

“We should do it.”

Wait.

What?

“You… did I hear that correctly?” I asked,
hanging on her every syllable now.

“Yeah. I thought it over, and I asked Nat for
a second opinion. She’s with me on this. It’s fucked up that we can’t do
anything about our attraction with our parents going
way
ahead of schedule… and you’re right. It’s not fucking fair at
all.

“So I decided that I’m okay with it. I want
to see you. Let’s make it a night to remember. We don’t have much time, so
going slow isn’t really a factor anymore… I can’t and
won’t
promise you anything, but I still want to spend the night
with you.”

Like a phoenix from the ashes, my inner
Dalton furiously burst up from the unforgiving, jagged rocks. My spirits rose
up high, swelling with rejuvenation, power, and unstoppable tenacity.

YES,
I thought to myself.

JUST. FUCKING. YES.

I struggled to keep my voice even, as if the
night hung tenuously in the balance. “If you’re okay with it, then I’m okay
with it.”

“I’m okay with it,” Clara promised.

“Alright then,” I replied, attempting to
shove every ounce of excitement back down into my core. “I’m really happy to
hear that. Since we didn’t eat together this morning, do you want to maybe
start with dinner?”

“Dinner actually sounds kind of nice,” Clara
responded. “I’m still kind of full from a sandwich a little bit ago. When did
you want to meet?”

I pulled my phone down and glanced at the
time. It was mid-afternoon… plenty of time to make some arrangements.

“How about seven o’clock?”

She thought on it. “That could work.”

“Awesome. What do you want to eat?”

“Something delicious.”

“Heh. Well, there’s that new seafood place in
town… the one over on Haverty Avenue. I hear that they actually do a
surprisingly good
fish and chips
,
although it’s kind of hard to fuck that up…”

“Seafood at seven. Sounds like a plan.”

“Awesome. I’ll see you then.”

As I hung up the phone, I felt completely
invigorated. Not only was the night still on, but Clara was understanding of
the possible consequences… and I no longer had to try and hide our parents’
engagement from her.

Although, I hadn’t expected them to already
schedule the wedding… and my grandparents were going to be flying in shortly.

My grandparents,
I thought with trepidation.

The thought of encountering them again put a
terrible taste in my mouth. I didn’t fear them, either of them… but they held
the keys to my destiny in their back pocket.

A night with Clara…

Our parents’ wedding in two days…

It was a lot of new information to process.
Things were escalating quickly, and they were forcing my hand when it came to
the girl that I wanted. With anyone else, I would have been fine with moving
things along at this brisk pace… but I was afraid of pushing her too hard and
shoving her away forever. The stakes were higher than I liked – a
lot
higher.

My fists clenched at my side.

I’d have to play this one close to the chest.

Chapter 10

The restaurant Dalton had mentioned was this
new place called
La Villa Peche.
It
was a smaller spot, fitting for a college city like ours, but I’d heard that it
served exquisite food priced higher than the hipsters and students could
reasonably afford.

Although we didn’t discuss it, I still
classed myself up for the occasion. With Natalie’s help, I chose a slimming
black ensemble, even doing my hair and makeup for over an hour.

“You look
marrrrvelous
,”
she cooed in that silly regal accent again.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you glam up,”
Jared mentioned when I stepped out into the open den. “You look, like,
really
good.”

The surprised look on his ordinarily dull
face told me he was being sincere. As if I needed any secondary gratification,
Natalie quickly tugged at the back of his hair.

“Now, now, remember that I’m
literally right here,
” she chuckled in
faux jealousy. “But yeah, my girl cleans up well.” She looked up at me with a
smirk. “She should do it
way
more
often. You know you can make yourself freaking amazing without going to dinner
with some older British army dude.”

“I never really have a reason to,” I
shrugged. “It’s time consuming. The only time I ever really put makeup on is
for work and, well, I know I’m just going to sweat half of that, so I barely
bother.”

Natalie jokingly rolled her eyes. “Hopeless.
Hopeless,
girl.” She turned to her
boyfriend, her hand on her hip. “Do you see what I’ve gotta put up with here?”

Jared was blatantly checking me out again,
and she sighed dramatically. “Alright, buddy. No blowjobs tonight.”

“Wait, what?” His eyes finally snapped back
off of me. “I was just admiring her! Platonically! You can’t
do
that! Can you?”

My best friend and I shared a knowing look.

“Keep that attitude up, and
this,”
she motioned up and down her
curves, “is all going on
lockdown
. We
are talking ‘
joining a nunnery’
levels
of sexual deprivation. I’ll see to it that my downstairs is drier than a
cinderblock if you keep digging this hole of yours. A
desert
will be wetter than I am tonight…”

“But you’re insatiable,” I teased her. “How
the fuck are you planning on pulling that one off when you can barely keep your
hands off of him?”

Natalie laughed with mock glee. “Oh, you
spunky little
bitch
, don’t you
dare
undermine me in front of my
boyfriend! He doesn’t have to know that!”

Jared looked confused.

“Wait. Does this mean we’re having sex?”

Natalie and I shared a look again.

“And you say
I’m
the hopeless one,” I replied, shaking my head as I grabbed my
keys.

As I closed the door behind myself, I heard
her shout after me: “
THAT’S IT, CLARA,
I’M FUCKING HIM SIDEWAYS IN YOUR BED. BOOM.”

That’s why I was still grinning like an idiot
as I sat down in the outside waiting area in front of the restaurant, even if
there was a significant line in the lobby and an hour-long wait.

Dalton arrived on his motorcycle not more
than a couple of minutes later, kicking down the stand and stepping free from
his throttling ride. As he spotted me, he crossed the parking lot dressed in an
ensemble of casual clothes, complemented by dress shoes and a sleek blazer that
surprisingly worked with his outfit.

“You look… absolutely stunning,” he murmured,
checking me out before glancing down at his own clothes. “Maybe I should have
consulted you before I threw this on…”

“Don’t worry about it,” I replied warmly,
standing up from my seat. “You look really good too, all things considered.
Now, let’s grab ourselves a table. I put us down, but it’s… going to be a
while.”

“Oh, don’t you worry about that,” he smirked.
“I called hours ago and set a reservation. We should have something ready in
under five minutes.”

I admit it; I was just a little impressed.

We sat down together at an intimate table,
and our waitress was over shortly to introduce herself and take our drink
orders. I didn’t miss that she was having a hard time taking her eyes off of
Dalton –
especially
as soon as he
opened his mouth and let that rich accent pour out.

I wasn’t all that jealous. It was just a nice
little reminder that, despite the complications of our lives, I was seated at
dinner with one of the hottest guys around.

I ordered the blackened tilapia with steamed
garlic vegetables, and Dalton requested the
fish
and chips
with tentative anticipation. While we waited on the food, we made
small talk, asking about homework assignments and expressing surprise at our
psychology professor’s commitment to immediately presenting challenging
assignments.

Despite how busy the place was, the ticket
times were on point. We were just wrapping up our salads – a house salad for
myself, and a Caesar salad for him – when the foodrunner stepped over, whipped
open a tray rack, and began dispensing plates. I spotted other dishes on the
tray; after ensuring that we were fine for the moment, he whisked them away,
several tables down. I glanced over and spotted someone I hadn’t expected:

Jeremy.

We made eye contact briefly, and I instantly
turned away. I’d almost completely forgotten about him by now, with Dalton’s
presence in my life.
What the fuck is my
ex-boyfriend doing here?
I cursed my vicious drop in luck.

Dalton seemed to notice that I was bothered,
and his eyes slid over my shoulder. After a second, my heart collapsed in my
chest as I realized
why.

“Clara? Oh, I
thought
that was you!”

Jeremy was standing behind me. I stole a
horrified glance up at him. He was still overly tanned, built broadly with a
surfer’s body and a pair of glasses that previously made him look dignified and
intelligent… but now only made him look like a creeper.

“Hullo,” Dalton smirked confidently. “You a
friend of hers?”

Jeremy clasped his hand onto my shoulder, and
I flinched. He laughed haughtily at my reaction before withdrawing his touch.

“Yes, this is my ex-girlfriend. I’m Jeremy,
by the way. Sorry to interrupt, I just thought I’d swing by and catch up for a
moment…”

“I’m afraid we’re kind of busy at the
moment,” Dalton raised an eyebrow. “I’ll have to insist that this happen at
another time.”

I made the mistake of turning back to Jeremy.
His eyes burned down into mine, peering deep into me with that razor-sharp
perception that he’d always had.

I always hated when he did that.

It made me feel like I couldn’t keep any
secrets from him… because he always saw right through me, straight down into my
core.

“Yes, yes, sorry to bother you on your, uh,
date,” Jeremy smiled, although nothing in his eyes was grinning. “I just wanted
to swing by and tell you that I’m glad you’ve moved on. You
deserve
to be happy. Why, after that
nasty business before, I was afraid you’d
never
date again… but, that’s not my place.”

He turned to Dalton with a smug smile and
shrugged. “Anyway, enjoy your meal. I’ll see you around, Clara.”

“No, you won’t,” I gritted my teeth.

“I think I will,” he promised quietly before
turning on his heel and sauntering back to his table. I glanced over my
shoulder at him, noticing that he never looked back.

I sensed Dalton stiffen up behind me.

“Okay… who the fuck was
that?
”

With an exasperated sigh, I turned back to
him. “That’s my, uh, ex-boyfriend,” I replied. “We dated for just under two
years. He’s not exactly a high point in my life.”

“How long ago did you two break up?”

“I’m not talking about this right now,” I
told him, trying to keep the edge out of my voice.

Dalton silenced himself, staring at me with a
mixture of surprise and irritation. I could already sense the night slipping
away from me, and it was all thanks to that absolute asshole.

Why the fuck did he have to be
here?

“You’ve lost your appetite,” Dalton observed,
watching how I wasn’t touching my food. “It’s because of him, isn’t it?”

“I
said
I’m not talking about it,” I replied angrily. “But yeah. I’m not hungry
anymore. Can we just go? I don’t want to be here.”

Dalton looked hurt, and I realized that it
wasn’t Jeremy who was fucking up the night… it was
me.

“Wait, no, I didn’t mean–”

Dalton was already getting the attention of
our server, who had chosen that moment to pass by the table. “The check, if
you’d please.”

“Oh, of course,” she replied, glancing at our
plates. “Was everything alright? Do you two need boxes?”

“Everything’s fine, we’ve just had a change
of plans. And yes, boxes would be grand.”

“Very well then,” the waitress nodded, subtly
checking him out again before scampering off towards the nearest terminal.

“We can stay here,” I tried to backtrack. “I
just… it was a knee-jerk reaction. Tonight doesn’t have to end like this. I’m
sorry that I overreacted, it’s just that that guy–”

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied
dispassionately. “Anyway, the night’s not over. So what if dinner didn’t work
out? We’ve still got the rest of the evening.”

“What’s… the rest of the evening?”

Dalton chuckled. “You’ll see.”

He paid the waitress as I boxed up our food.
After we were done, he pulled me close and whispered into my ear: “Follow me.”

I did as I was told as he led me outside.
Despite my best intentions, as we crossed towards the door, I couldn’t help but
glance towards the bastard who’d thrown a kink into my entire evening.

Jeremy was watching me over a glass of wine,
sipping quietly with a slight, mischievous smile on his face. There were a
couple of other people with him – friends of his, who were all following me
with their snarky, insidious gazes.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried
my hardest to ignore the looming pit in my stomach.

“Alright, we’re not going too far from here”
Dalton indicated once we’d stepped outside. “Like I said, just follow me. If a light
cycle separates us, I’ll just pull over. Fair enough?”

“Fair enough,” I confirmed.

“Good,” he smirked. “Right this way…”

I climbed into my faithful old car as he
mounted his motorcycle. Twisting the key in the ignition… nothing happened.

No. Not now. Don’t you dare do
this now.