I swallowed a laugh.
His head snapped back to look up at me. “Ally, what the f**k?”
I answered his “what the f**k” with, “Kiss Helen good-bye, you thieving, ass**le cokehead.”
Then I stepped off the toilet, pushed out of the stall and moseyed out of the bathroom, ignoring Zach making desperate fumbling noises in his stall and calling my name.
I took the back exit.
It was closer, for one. Zach wouldn’t expect it, for another.
And I wouldn’t have to see Ren as I walked through the restaurant, for last.
* * * * *
I sat in my Mustang outside Ren’s place, staring at his door.
His house really was great. It looked like it could be in The South. It had that kind of grace with a veranda, big multi-paned windows, a brick paved walkway and lush landscaping. It had a welcoming settled feel like old houses did. I liked it.
You look good tonight, honey. Beautiful.
I sighed.
A simple compliment. And highly effective.
It works in a big way for me.
My thing worked for Ren.
Well, one could say Ren’s thing worked for me, too.
Big time.
And he’d apologized for being a dick. Straight up. I’d been a bitch, stupidly spitting in the eye of the tiger by making an idiot remark about his drink after he’d approached to apologize. Then he didn’t push the drink issue and apologized.
Class.
I got pissed you took off when I wanted more.
He wanted more.
Well, one could also say I wanted more, too. Hell, my Lelo Lily was constantly on her charger, she was used so much, me on my back in my bed, my Lelo between my legs, Ren in my head.
Fuck.
It was going on summer so the days were longer, but it was full-on dark so it was really late.
Still, I threw open my door, folded out of my car and clicked on my high-heeled sandals across the street (I hadn’t changed, for a reason that would hopefully work for me), up Ren’s brick paved front walk and to his ash green front door.
He had a doorbell so I didn’t pound. And anyway, I wasn’t pissed. I just rang the bell, and seeing as I could see light filtering around the drapes to my left, I figured he was up.
Ren didn’t strike me as early to bed, early to rise.
He wasn’t.
The door opened and there he stood wearing the trousers from his suit (dark blue with a hint of a shine, perfect freaking fit) and his tailored shirt (blue, gray and black stripes on white, open at the collar, rolled back at the cuffs; hot).
“Ally,” he greeted, staring down at me, and strike that on the list of one of the many things that did it for me with Ren.