Tied - Part One by Ellen Callahan Read Free Book Online Page A

scene,” Whitney said, waving her hand at the group of fighters and friends.
     
    Cara gasped as if she’d just had a great idea. “We should hook her up with someone! Oh, Boxer would love her.”
     
    “Or Jersey Jon, or Braddock,” Whitney listed off. “We love playing matchmaker.”
     
    I’ll bet. I cast my eyes around for Lockett and spotted him in a circle two-people deep. No way was I elbowing my way in there. I tried and failed to catch his eye. So much for hot chocolate. How do I get out of this conversation? “Guys, thanks, but I’m not interested in seeing anyone right now. I’m really just concentrating on finding a job-”
     
    “Everyone girl says that, honey, but none of us mean it,” Whitney said with a wink.
     
    “But I do mean it.”
     
    Cara elbowed me playfully. “One night with a fighter and you’ll change your mind,” she said. “Trust me. These boys know how to show a girl a real good time. Let us find you one, okay?”
     
    Yeah. One that isn’t Lockett. “Maybe some other time. Nice meeting you.” I drifted away, praying that they didn’t try to follow. Luckily the two girls did have some manners and they let me go.
     
    I was about ready to sneak on out and get on the train when Lockett suddenly pushed his way through his crowd of friends and grabbed my hand.
     
    “Let’s go.”
     
    I followed him outside, bundling myself back up in my winter coat while he didn’t even put on a sweater or a jacket at all. It was still winter, and windy, but the man didn’t seem to feel it at all.
     
    “Wait up!” I called, my arm getting caught on my way out the door.
     
    He laughed as he came back to me. “Sorry,” he said, “I think I’m part Yeti.” He tugged my coat over my shoulder so I could find the armhole and finally zipper myself inside.
     
    “What about your friends?” I asked, “Everyone’s still in there.” It was true - we were the first ones leaving.
     
    “I see enough of them.”
     
    “You see enough of me,” I grinned, “I do live with you.”
     
    “Hmm. Good point. Guess it’s time to go make some new friends, instead.”
     
    He was joking but it was still bothering me - why on earth did he want to hang out with me? It was such a pathetic thing to ask, I couldn’t just come right out and say it. So just enjoy it, quit questioning things .
     
    But he read my mind. Or at least, he read the confusion on my face. Linking our elbows, he said, “So what’s a guy like me doing, harassing a girl like you?”
     
    “A fair question.”
     
    He stopped us and turned me so that I was facing him. Looking down at me, his face was suddenly serious. “I don’t really know, myself,” he said. He ran a thumb over my bottom lip. My breath caught in my throat. “I just know I can’t stop thinking about kissing you.”
     
    “Unexplainable attraction,” I muttered, “I don’t get it, either. You aren’t my type.”
     
    “Yeah? Who’s your type?”
     
    “Bookish boys. Poetry readers. English teachers.”
     
    “Mmm. I know how to read.” His thumb dipped between my lips - just a bare fraction. Just a hint. I tensed.
     
    But he broke away. “I promised hot chocolate.”
     
    “You did.”
     
    He chuckled to himself as we walked. “Who the hell gets hot chocolate after winning a fight while the rest of his friends party and drink half the night?”
     
    “Maybe you got hit in the head a few too many times.”
     
    We walked in silence for a couple of blocks. It wasn’t too late yet and the streets were busy. They were bar-hoppers, mostly. Young people in small groups laughing and jostling each other down the sidewalks, a few older folk, weary after working all day.
     
    Lockett shocked me when he pulled me aside. He pinned me to the side of the building - somewhere between two windows, a restaurant and a shop. “What are you doing?” I asked, looking at the pedestrians behind him. Nobody even glanced our way.
     
    “I was going to spend