Breaking Even Read Online Free

island. After the police caught him
the second time, he had traveled from Calliope to Nassau in a police boat. He
had spent four miserable hours chained to a bench below deck in a room with
four drunks. Lindsey could have prevented that. She could have told Ricardo
Salzana to free him. Instead, she had abandoned him.
    He would show her the consequences of
leaving him in jail. When he had fulfilled his obligations to Miguel, he would
show her. She would wish she had never met him.
     
    #
     
    Lindsey saw Ben
waiting outside the restaurant. He swept her into an enthusiastic hug. Lindsey
didn ’t
know if he held on too long, or held her too close, but she shied away. She
still didn't anyone to touch her—at least not anyone but Ric.
    “You’re letting your hair grow,” Lindsey
told him, noting the sweep of bangs that hung down over one eye. His hair had
lightened over the summer. Her mother would have called it dishwater blonde.
What had been just a little bit of stubble was now a full beard. “And a beard.
What’s this?”
    He rubbed his hand along his chin.
“Something different. What do you think?”
    “It makes you look older. I didn’t say
that I didn’t like it. I’ll have to get used to it.”
    “Your hair’s longer, too,” he said.
    Lindsey pushed it back behind her ears.
“I’m debating cutting it. I might let it grow for a while.” But not as long as
that blasted wig.
    “I like it longer,” he said. Lindsey had a
feeling that Ric did too. She cringed at the raw feelings that erupted when she
thought about her island pirate. Not a good sign that she missed him this much
already.
    “Remind me again why we had to have
dinner? I told you that I needed more time to get finish packing.”
    “You know how Kayla is. Come on, she
already has us a table.”
    Kayla and another girl sat at a booth in
the corner. Kayla stood up to say hello, and as usual, she towered over
Lindsey.
    “Kayla, it’s good to see you again.”
Lindsey tried to sound festive.
    “And it’s good to see you as well,” Kayla
said. Unlike Ben, Kayla offered neither a hug nor a handshake. She just stood
with her hands on the table. “I don’t believe you’ve met my roommate Brittany
Clarke, of the Atlanta Clarkes.”
    I suppose if I knew who that was, I would
curtsy. “Nice to meet you,” Lindsey offered.
    Brittany smiled and nodded. Her expression
wavered between a smirk and a sneer.
    Kayla grabbed the conversation back like a
dog snarling around a bone.
    “Lindsey,” she said, pronouncing a hard D,
“you can sit there.” She gestured to the opposite corner of the booth, against
the wall.
    Lindsey didn’t know why the four of them
had to jam into a booth. She preferred her space, but she slid inside anyway
and hoped she didn’t have to go to the bathroom. Why did she feel like this was
a second-rate job interview?
    The few times she had come here with Laura
she had never noticed the pub lighting over the booths. Kayla was so tall, her
face was completely in shadow. Lindsey felt like she sat under a heat lamp.
    The waitress took their orders: an iced
tea for Lindsey, craft beer for everyone else. Kayla and Brittany each ordered
a grilled chicken salad with dressing on the side. Ben chose the cheeseburger
plate. Lindsey picked the meatloaf with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans
with cornbread.
    “Extra bread for the table?” the waitress
added.
    “We don’t do carbs,” Kayla and Brittany
said at the same time.
    “I’ll eat theirs,” Ben said, grinning, not
phased in the least.
    Now she remembered why she hadn’t made
more of an effort to socialize with Kayla. Lindsey smiled at Ben, feeling a
little bit better about the evening. At least he was trying to put her at ease.
She missed Ric. He had never been pretentious with her.
    Lindsey felt her phone vibrate and glanced
down to see Ric’s picture flashing. Irritated, she sent it to voice mail. She
had told him she would call him back.
    “Do you need to get