Here And Now (American Valor 2) by Cheryl Etchison

who gathered at the front desk to watch the show. Well, unlike them, he had shit to do. Like take Mrs. Hembree’s blood draws to the lab for instance.
    Avoiding the elevator, he headed for the stairwell at the opposite end of the hall, far from the waiting room. Typically he took the stairs two at a time, but this time he dawdled. Even chatted with the lab tech for a bit to waste a few more minutes before heading back downstairs.
    By the time he returned, the group at the desk had dispersed, the show clearly over. While he waited on Mrs. Hembree’s results, he decided to take lunch and just so happened to find Rachel in the break room.
    “So . . .” He pulled his food from of the refrigerator and sat down at the table. “What did you say to her?”
    She looked up from her magazine. “I promise I was very nice to her. So much so I got complaints from the peanut gallery. I guess they were hoping for a catfight.”
    Assholes. Every last one of them. But he couldn’t help but smile at the visual it painted.
    “So . . .” She closed her magazine and crossed her arms atop the table. “About Monday.”
    “No can do,” he said while stabbing a piece of cold steak onto his fork. “Have three classes and an exam. It’ll have to wait until Tuesday.”
    “But I can’t wait until Tuesday.”
    “What’s the rush? Do you have to be out of your place by the end of the day or something?”
    “Yes. No. Not really.” She avoided eye contact by staring at the tabletop. “I just don’t like the idea of having to spend one more night with Curtis.”
    “Your boyfriend?”
    “Ex-boyfriend,” she corrected.
    “Oh. He doesn’t know you’re moving out.”
    She shook her head.
    “So tell him you’re picking up an extra shift and go stay somewhere else. What about staying with your parents?”
    “You’re joking, right?”
    “Okay, a friend, then.”
    “My only friend who isn’t married with children recently stopped returning my calls and texts. No idea as to why.” She pushed back her chair and gathered her things from the table. “It’ll be fine. I can tolerate him one more night, I guess. Just be ready to go first thing Tuesday. I need to have all my stuff out of there by the time he gets home from work; otherwise, he’ll destroy what’s left once he realizes what’s going on.”
    “Hang on a second.” Lucky called out to her before she went back to work. “If you need a place to stay, you can stay with me. I’ve got a spare bedroom.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “I’m sure.”
    “Damn,” she said, smiling. “I almost feel guilty about blackmailing you into helping me.”

 
    Chapter Five
    R ACHEL WAS SURPRISED to learn Lucky was living in the same house he grew up in, not more than a few blocks from the playground where he played basketball with her little brother. The neighborhood was filled with homes that were nearly eighty years old, but not the historical kind with fancy stained-glass windows and architectural details that had renovation snobs frothing at the mouth. These were utilitarian, bare bone kind of structures that were nothing more than one giant square box with more boxed-off rooms inside. Located just a stone’s throw from the cemetery and the railroad tracks in the run-down part of town, these homes weren’t anything special when they were built and they sure as hell weren’t special now.
    His house, however, stood out from the others on the block. Whereas most were likely rental properties with landlords who didn’t care about anything else aside from whether you paid the rent on time, this house was loved. No peeling paint. No broken steps or railings. No half-dead trees in the yard.
    She parked along the street and made her way across the stepping stones leading to the front of the house. Without warning, the door swung open before she reached the bottom step.
    “So you’re my girlfriend now, huh?”
    “You wanted me to get rid of her,” she said, not really feeling the