“Fuck, I got no clue what Cole sees in you, apart from your tits and ass.” He followed close behind and I did my best to ignore him. I had him pegged for the kind of man who loved to get a woman all worked up and then toy with them, and I refused to give him the satisfaction of that.
I stepped outside and recognised the dark haired woman from the other day – the one who’d been arguing with Scott when I’d bought him cake.
Her angry eyes came to me and then shifted to Wilder who stood in front of me. “So, I need that money back I gave you the other day. Turns out my brother got his drugs from someone else and they’re still threatening him over non-payment.”
Wilder squared his shoulders. “I don’t know anything about any money you gave us.” Gone was any trace of the fun and easy-going Wilder, and in his place was a man I wouldn’t want to have problems with. His tone made it clear he wasn’t interested in discussing this any further.
She crossed her arms over chest and rested most of her weight on one leg as if she was settling in until she got what she came for. “I gave the dude with the lips the cash. Go ask him for it.”
The dude with the lips?
“Babe, he’s not here and won’t be back for a few days at least, so I suggest you come back then and speak to him yourself.”
Scott does have good lips; I would agree with her there. Kissable lips.
“No, I suggest you call him and get it for me. Dealing with asshole drug dealers is not the way I wanna spend my time ‘til your dude gets back.”
I had to give her credit for her perseverance.
Wilder’s back muscles shifted under his fitted t-shirt as he shoved his fingers through his hair. She was clearly irritating him, but he held his cool. “I’ve got a shitload of things to get through today and hassling Scott for your cash isn’t one of them, but I can see you’re not planning on moving that ass of yours until I do.” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket and stabbed at it.
I stepped next to him while he waited for Scott to answer. His annoyance was painted on his face and I watched as he directed his frustrated gaze at the woman. When Scott didn’t take the call, he left a message and hung up. “Not much more I can do until he calls me back. Give me your number and I’ll let you know when that happens.”
She stared at him for a few more moments and I thought she wasn’t going to let this go, but then she snapped at him. “Fucking hell! You’re not the only one who has shit to do. I’ve got a million things to do today, one of them being to
pay those assholes off before they hurt my brother, and in amongst all this shit, I’ve gotta deal with the fact I don’t have a car to get me where I’ve gotta go.” As she exhaled a long, shitty breath, she rummaged around in her bag.
“I could help,” I blurted. When Wilder’s head snapped around to face me, I almost wished I hadn’t opened my mouth; the glare he directed at me was pure annoyance mixed with a little anger.
“No, you can’t, Harlow. Scott will fuckin’ kill me if I involve you in this.” He threw a don’t-argue-with-me look my way, and I did my best to ignore it.
“Look, you don’t have time to wait around for Scott so I could do that.” I turned my attention to the woman. “And I have a car so I could drive you where you have to go. I just need to be at work in a few hours.”
She stared at me like I had two heads. “You serious?”
“Yep.” Besides, I really didn’t want to be on my own today while Rogue tailed me. I looked back at Wilder to find him shaking his head at me. “That’s sorted, Wilder. I’ll call Scott and leave a message for him to get in touch with me instead of you. That frees you up to do whatever you need to do.” I flashed him a smile trying to win him over.
In the end, he muttered to himself and then said, “I’m not dumb, Harlow. I know you totally smoothed me over with that charm of yours. Next time I see you, I’m gonna need cake if we’re gonna continue this type of relationship.”
I frowned. “What type of relationship?”
A smile tugged at his lips. “This thing we’ve got going where I let you get away with shit that I shouldn’t. And don’t try and tell me I don’t, ‘cause I know I do.”
“I’ll totally bring you cake next time.” I grinned at him. “And thank you for making me forget for a little bit just how sick I feel.”
“Can we get a move on?” The woman interrupted our conversation, reminding me I had places to go.
“Where do you need me to take you?”
“Woolloongabba.”
She seemed to be a woman who didn’t waste words and that suited me fine today. The less speaking we did, the better.
Without a backwards glance at Wilder or Rogue, I headed to my car. Once inside, I sent a text to Scott to ask him to call me instead of Wilder and then I turned to the woman who had settled into the seat next to me. “I’m Harlow.”
Untrusting brown eyes stared back at me. “Scarlett.”
Again, very economical on the words. “Where in Woolloongabba do you need to go?”