I was going to ask him if he wanted to have lunch with me and by “lunch” meant let me grope him somewhere privately while I tried my best to apologize and explain all the crazy and frantic thoughts that had been hounding me since seeing him with his arms around my sister. He vanished before I could. That put me in a very sour and grumpy mood for the rest of the day. I knew it wasn’t logical since I had been the one playing hide-and-seek all week, but I couldn’t help it. Luckily the first shipment of stuff for the store came in late in the afternoon and I got to go upstairs and paw through T-shirts, tank tops, jackets, thermals, and old-fashioned button-ups to see how everything turned out.
The guys had come through in spades with the designs. Along with Rowdy’s gypsy and Rule’s sacred heart, Nash had given me a brightly designed koi fish and, for Phil, an angel that was done in pinup style with tattooed and pierced wings. The older Donovan would have been tickled pink by his son’s tribute to him. The designs were fantastic and unique. I just knew people were going to eat them up and this was just the start. I fully intended on making these boys have their own brand that could go on so much more than T-shirts. They were all so talented and had survived so much to get where they were. They deserved notoriety and recognition for being some of the best in the business.
I was in clothes heaven and already thinking about the next wave of designs and apparel as well as getting an online retail site up and running when I heard boots on the stairs. I knew it was Rowdy and looked at my phone to see what time it was. I was surprised to see that the rest of the afternoon had passed while I was up here sorting and organizing and it was well past time to do the cash-out for the day and go home.
When he cleared the top of the landing I noticed he had the bank bag in his hand and that there was a determined slant to his normally smiling mouth.
“Everything downstairs is done. This is ready for the safe. Do you have anything else left to do up here?”
I was going to break down some of the boxes the clothes had come in and try and make a path between my piles so Cora could get through, but that wasn’t anything that couldn’t wait until Monday. I didn’t want to squander my chance if Rowdy was finally willing to talk to me after his chilly treatment all day. I hated that I deserved his brush-off.
“No. I’ll finish up on Monday. I’ll come when the shop is closed so I can take my time with it.”
He nodded and stepped around all my piles of goodies delicately to get to Cora’s office. He went inside and came back out carrying a small black bag. He locked the door behind him and walked over to where I was waiting. He wrapped his long fingers around my wrist and without saying a word pulled me after him down the stairs, telling me to hit the lights as we went. As usual I had on heels, so being dragged down the stairs was slightly precarious and he wouldn’t answer me when I asked him what he thought he was doing. He didn’t even let me go to lock the front door of the shop. Instead he told me to dig the keys out of his pocket and do it for him. Not that I minded the task but I still thought he was being weird and evasive.
“What’s in the bag, Rowdy? I told you we could talk after work, so why are you acting so surly?”
“Surly isn’t even the tip of the iceberg, sugar.”
I knew he had to be really mad if he was using one of his throwaway terms of endearment on me. He further perpetuated that belief when he hauled me to his SUV despite the fact I was peppering him with questions and complaining about my car being in the lot across the street.
He literally lifted me up into the passenger seat and buckled the seat belt around me like I was a little kid. He opened the back door and tossed the black bag on the seat next to another one that I noticed was already there. He made his way around the vehicle, and once he was settled into the driver’s seat, he finally turned to look at me.
“Poppy came and got your car when she brought me that bag for you at lunch. Since you’ve been avoiding me all week I’m taking you somewhere where there is absolutely no place for you to run and we’re going to figure this shit out. If you want to ignore me for two more days that’s fine, but you’re going to be bored out of your mind.”
He turned to look out the windshield and I noticed a tic thumping in his strong jawline.
“I told you I was ready to talk.” I crossed my arms over my chest because I didn’t like being ambushed and I hated feeling chastised.
“You also told me you weren’t going to bail on me again and that’s exactly what you did this week.”
It was true and I couldn’t deny it.