Free Safe by Ryan Michele Page A

table, or why hold my hand?”
    I was learning quickly that she was fun to tease.
    She glared at me. “Hold your hand.”
    “Because they’ll think you’re with me and stay away. They know better.”
    “What does that mean? They know better?”
    “They just do. Can we talk about this later before they all try and snatch you away?”
    “Ha. Ha. Let’s go.” Sadie kept ahold of my hand as we made our way to our table.
    Everyone was staring at us, except for Renzo who was smiling. I wanted to punch that smug look off his face.
    “Lauryn, can you move over one?” I asked.
    “Why?” Lauryn asked perplexed.
    “So I can sit by Sadie.” Duh woman … move it!
    Lauryn turned to look at Sadie. “You want him to sit by you?”
    “Yeah, for a few minutes then we gotta head out.”
    “I’m not leaving yet,” Lauryn growled.
    “I didn’t say right this minute.”
    “Fine. Whatever.” Lauryn moved down a seat.
    The conversation at the table could have been how everyone was abducted by aliens and wanted to take over the world. I had no idea. My eyes were on her. She was a true beauty, and the more she talked the more I wanted to know.
    I learned that she loved cheese fries smothered in bacon. She was the same age as Lauryn, and she was waiting for her aunt to get back to start working at the boutique she owned.
    I didn’t talk much except for the occasional grunting and shaking my head at the men that had the balls to try to come up to Sadie. They retreated quickly.
    She mesmerized me. The more she talked, laughed, joked, and kept pulling me closer to her, the more I needed a break.
    “I’ll be right back,” I told Sadie in her ear. She just nodded.
    What in the hell had gotten into me? I needed to get away for a few minutes to clear my head. I couldn’t feel this pull toward her. I hadn’t felt this way for a long time, but that ended so badly, and I hadn’t ever been the same since. I came to the realization that I couldn’t give women what they wanted, so that was why I stuck to sex only.
    Heading back to the table, I was abruptly stopped by an arm on mine. Looking down, I saw Meg. Damn .
    “Hey Landon. Great show,” she purred.
    “Hey Meg.”
    “You wanna head out to your truck for a bit?”
    There was a time when I would say, “hell yeah,” but not when the smell of vanilla was pulling me. “No thanks. I gotta go.”
    Turning toward our table, my eyes locked with Sadie’s. Her eyes were vacant, like she had disappeared somewhere else. “Hey, you okay?” I asked, sitting next to her. She shook her head. I didn’t know if she was telling me no or shaking herself out of thoughts. I got my answer soon enough.
    “I’m fine. About ready to head out.”
    “What’s wrong?” Surely she wasn’t pissed about Meg.
    “Really nothing. Just ...” She blew out a breath. “Several guys coming up to me … No big deal. I handled all of them. I’m just getting tired. Anyway, you have things to get to. You don’t need to be babysitting me.” Sadie tipped her head in the direction behind me. I knew she was talking about Meg.
    This was nuts. “Meg is an old friend—”
    Sadie cut me off before continuing. “You owe me nothing. Please don’t think you need to justify anything to me. Really, I’m just tired.”
    “I wish you’d let me explain.” Damn it, I was doing that begging thing again. If I could, I’d kick my own ass.
    “It’s fine.” Sadie nudged Lauryn. “You ready to go?”
    “Hell no! It’s just getting started.” Lauryn was always so happy. Put a few beers in her, then times that by ten. I heard Sadie sigh.
    “Come on. I’ll take you.” The words fell out of my mouth before I could stop them.
    “No. I’ll stay.” Her response was immediate. I was a bit taken aback by the abruptness, but didn’t say anything. We joined back in the conversation about music we all liked, and the night flew by quicker than I wanted it to.
    I also needed to find out why she didn’t want to be