Leftover Love by Janet Dailey

reached into his pocket and tossed some change on the table.
    “She’s not with me,” Creed told the pair, then slid a dry and challenging look at Layne. “Sorry, but I’m not going to be your patsy. If these boys are bothering you, you’ll have to get rid of them by yourself. You’re a big girl. I’m not going to fight your battles for you.”
    Her mouth dropped open in shock. Too stunned to speak, Layne watched in numb disbelief as Creed walked away from the table. He was actually leaving.
    The clatter of chair legs being dragged across the floor sharply broke her dazed astonishment. She turned to see Mike and Bob preparing to sit down and join her at the table, laughing at the way she’d been abandoned.
    “Shame on you for pretending to be meeting him,” Bob mocked. “Why, anyone would think you didn’t want our company.”
    It took a lot to make Layne lose her temper, but once lit, it had a short fuse. And the way Creed had just walked out on her had been the igniting spark. She pushed stiffly from her chair before either of the two could sit down.
    “I’ve had it with both of you!” Her low voice trembled with the seething rage of her anger. “I’ve done everything, short of being downright rude, to make you understandthat I want you to bug off! I’m not interested in flirting with you! I don’t want your company! And I don’t want you following me!”
    They were stung into reacting. “You don’t have to get so uptight about it,” Mike protested with sullen resentment at this public rejection.
    Layne was so furious she was vibrating. She was angry with these would-be Romeos for starting this whole thing and angry with herself for creating a scene in the restaurant. But most of all, she was mad at Creed for abandoning her and forcing her to be so brutal when the whole thing could have been handled with a little tact.
    “Nothing else seems to get through your thick heads!” she retorted. “If you so much as look at me again, I’ll call the police and have you arrested.”
    “We never did anything to you.” The one called Bob scowled at the threat. Both of them were trying to edge away from her, embarrassed by the onlooking witnesses and trying not to show it.
    “Then just stay away from me!”
    Angrily, Layne grabbed up her purse and gloves and swiftly crossed the restaurant to storm out the door. She didn’t bother to button her jacket. Her blood was running too hot to feel the chilling draft of winter air.
    Outside, she paused only a second to scan the lot of parked vehicles. Layne had no trouble spotting the tall, dark shape moving among the shadows toward a pickup. She pushed off the steps and crossed the graveled lot at a running trot, catching up with Creed as he approached the driver’s side of his truck. She stopped next to the left front fender.
    “What was the idea of abandoning me like that in there?” Layne demanded. Creed halted short of the driver’s door, angling his body toward her. “Why wouldn’t you help me get rid of those two?”
    His glance made a small sweep of the area just beyond her. “I don’t see them around, so you must have managed on your own.”
    “No thanks to you.” Her anger was taking on an impatient facet.
    “What did you expect me to do? Maybe get into a fight with those two punks over you?” Creed suggested and released a short, audible breath that derided the idea. “No thanks.”
    When he reached for the door handle, Layne crossed the last few steps to grab at his arm and stop him from leaving. “What is it with you?” she demanded. “You haven’t liked me from the start. Why? What have I ever done to you?”
    “You’ve got all the rest tied around your finger. Why don’t you be content with that?” Creed challenged in a low, harsh voice.
    “What are you talking about?” She was impatient with his avoidance of a direct answer.
    “You flattered Mattie into hiring you, saying you’d write a story about her. Hoyt grins like a