Awakening Her Racy Passion [Racy Nights 9] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (24 page)

Ria excused herself to the bathroom, and Julie came with her. While Ria was washing her hands, Julie stood close to her and lowered her voice, even though no one else was in there. “Just curious, but how many minutes are you going to claim for gossiping tonight?”

Ria’s pulse raced. “I wasn’t gossiping. The guys said they’d only consider it gossiping if I started a topic that didn’t involve something that was general public knowledge. The gang from Philly is public knowledge.”

Julie shook her head, and was about to speak again when Marisol came in. She crossed her arms and grinned at Julie. “Are you giving her hell? Good for you.” She cut her gaze toward Ria. “You are in so much trouble. Didn’t you feel me kick you under the table?”

“What? No. You kicked me? When?”

“I kicked you twice. How drunk are you?” Marisol laughed. “And Julie glared at you. More than once. You didn’t notice that, either?”

“But I didn’t gossip. This stuff is public knowledge.”

“No, it’s not,” said Julie. “It’s something that Sean told Wyatt, and Wyatt told you. Even if everyone else at the table tonight knew it, you didn’t know they knew.”

Ria leaned against the sink because she was suddenly dizzy. She’d blown it.

Marisol put her arm around her. “It’s okay. You were drinking. We all were. Well, except for Olivia. It got out of hand, that’s all. We were all gossiping. And isn’t that the point, anyway? Simply to make you more aware of it?”

“They are going to be so disappointed in me.”

“No they won’t be. There was no damage done. You didn’t hurt anyone by your words.”

Ria looked from one to the other. “Are you sure? Do you really think they’ll see it that way? Oh God…how many minutes do I have to claim?”

Julie snorted. “Minutes? I’d say at least an hour.”

Marisol nodded. “An hour for sure. And that’s being conservative.”

“Are you freaking kidding me? That’s three hundred swats. I’ve taken one hundred before, but never that many. I’m not even sure I can. Do you really think they’ll make me do it?” She giggled at her own words, until Marisol made a sound of exasperation.

“Ria… stop it. Now you have to make that sixty-one minutes.”

Ria cried out in frustration. “Oh my God. It’s time for me to go home.”

“Just text them and tell them what happened. Get it over with. Trust me, it’s the best way.”

Julie nodded. “Yep. Just like ripping off a Band-Aid.”

“But you sure won’t be sitting for a while,” said Marisol. “Good thing you can do your job at Luke’s while standing up.”

For reasons Ria didn’t understand, that image made her giggle. As soon as she started, so did Marisol and Julie. When the three left the bathroom, they were still giggling. Once they were back at the table, the group all decided that since it was a week night and most of them had to get up early for their jobs in the morning, they’d call it a night after dinner.

The plan had been that Ria would text the guys as soon as it was safe to do so, whether that was in the parking lot at the restaurant if she was driving home, or back at her own apartment if she went to someone’s house after dinner, and let them know how it had gone tonight.

Ria waited until she’d driven home, then sent both men a text message, wondering if Wyatt would still be awake, or if Trent was out on a call. She had to split it up into four separate messages to get all the details in, and she was crying by the time she finally finished. Peppi was asleep, and she didn’t want to wake her, so Ria crawled into her bed and waited to hear from one or both of the guys, hoping they weren’t too upset with her.

She felt like she’d taken a giant step backwards, and right now wished they were both here so they could reassure her that she hadn’t done that at all. But what if that’s what they thought, too? What if they decided she’d never really change, or was too damn immature for them to waste further time on? She was so in love with them. What if she’d done all this, and given her heart away, for nothing? She was her own worst enemy. Would anything ever really change?

Ria woke to the sound of her alarm. She’d set it for nine in the morning because she had errands to run today before working tonight. She sat up in a panic as she grabbed her phone. She’d obviously fallen asleep quickly last night, despite her worries. Had the guys been texting or calling her? She found two text messages, both sent early this morning. The first one was from Trent.

Hey sweetie, don’t sweat it. This is a learning experience, remember? Been a busy night. We’ll talk as soon as possible in person. Can you get off Friday night again? I can, and Wyatt and I think that would be a good time for your punishment.

He’d added a couple of winking and smiling emoticons, but Ria’s heart sank as she read it. She hadn’t expected to get out of the punishment, but the overall tone of his text was impossible to decipher. Was he upset? Disappointed? Had he expected this to happen? She read Wyatt’s text.

Ria, I know you’re crying. I can feel it. Please don’t. We’ll talk about it later. Try to get off Friday again, if you can. Trent is going to do the same. We can’t wait to see you again.

That was a little better, but still gave her hardly any clues about how they felt. She called Luke and woke him up in doing so. After apologizing, she asked for Friday night off.

“Yeah, Alexa said you’d probably need the whole weekend, actually.”

“What?” She was confused for a second, and then realized that Alexa had probably told Chase and Luke what had happened. They had all probably told their Doms. Well, this was what she’d wanted, right? To be part of their close-knit circle. And now she was.

That should make her happy, but right now the only thing that would ease her mind would be to look into Trent’s and Wyatt’s faces. She had to know they weren’t upset with her.

“Did you think any of them would keep quiet about it?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Then why are you so upset?”

She hadn’t confided in Luke since she was ten, when she’d had a secret crush on one of her classmates. She’d asked him why boys acted like such jerks to girls. Even at that age, Luke had never been like that. He was the guy all the girls had loved because he was such a good friend and an easy companion to talk to. He was here now, right on the phone, and he would understand how she felt. “I disappointed them. I just know I did.”

“Have you talked to them since last night?”

“No. I only have a text message from each.”

“Then you don’t know that they’re disappointed in you. Just wait until you see them face-to-face. Guys hate to talk on the phone, and they hate to text even more. I can’t judge anything about Alexa’s frame of mind unless I can look into her eyes. We have a rule that nothing important is discussed unless it’s done in person. We only discuss things on the phone for emergencies, and even then it’s short and to the point. Same with Chase. He won’t even acknowledge text messages.”

Ria smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate that. Okay. So, can I have the whole weekend off?”

Luke laughed. “Yes, because I know you’ll be useless anyway with the all the swats they owe you.”

It was beyond embarrassing to realize her brothers knew that she’d earned approximately three hundred swats for her unbridled girl talk last evening. It was like being at home again with all of them, and getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “Thanks. Talk to you soon.” As soon as she disconnected the call, she hugged her knees and tried not to let the nostalgia of happier times at home wash over her.

She hadn’t spoken to her parents at all since moving out. Maggie had called her twice, listened without commenting on why Ria had left, and then told her that she was old enough to live her own life and make her own decisions, and that no matter what happened, she wouldn’t allow her to be bad-mouthed at home during Sunday dinners. Maggie had always been the most logical and level-headed of all of them, even as a child.

She’d never really spoken much to Rosa anyway, so it wasn’t like anything was that different now. But as for Rafe, she knew she needed to break the ice and talk to him again. A proper talk, with an apology. She had yet to do that, and Ria was certain that Marisol kept him apprised of everything she did and said. Rafe wouldn’t approach her first. He was too proud. She would need to make the first move.

She’d hadn’t talked to Teresa, either, but Peppi had. Peppi said that Teresa was seeing Julie now as well, and Ria marveled at Julie’s professionalism. How did she do it? She had the dirt on so many Racy residents, yet she never breathed a word to anyone. Not even without using their names, or disguising them in some way so she could tell their story anyway. What must it be like to have that much integrity and self-control?

Would she ever truly learn to temper this part of her personality, or was she fooling herself? Ria finally got out of bed and showered, then decided to visit Tye Me Up before doing anything else. Her visit was long overdue, and maybe she could buy something sexy to wear Friday night? It wouldn’t get her out of her punishment, but the guys would enjoy it.

She drove slowly down Lawnview Drive, not because she was particularly interested in looking at the shops under construction, but because she had to in order to avoid all the cars and trucks parked on both sides of the street, and the scattered debris lying in the road. What a mess. But, it was still better than the way it had looked before, with boarded-up buildings or empty lots. When this was done, it would be beautiful.

She parked in the newly-paved lot behind Tye Me Up and got out. There were several cars here, and while she recognized all of them, she didn’t want to go inside with so many customers in there already. The day was cold, but she thought a quick walk in the alley behind the houses to look at the progress on some of the shops might help improve her mood.

Next door, Pearl’s shop still had yellow police tape around it, and the area where the fire had started was boarded up. Ria felt sorry for Pearl. She’d probably had dreams of working in her brand-new shop by now, but it was all up in the air and might never happen for her. Not only that, but from what Wyatt had said, she was afraid in her own hometown. That just wasn’t right. Not for any of them.

She made her way to the end of the row and realized no one was around. It was just after noon, so she guessed most of the workers were eating lunch. She knew they all went to Nan’s Place together because she’d heard people remark on how Emma was enjoying the increased business since the construction had begun.

Two of the shops near the end were nearly done. Ria didn’t know what they were going to be, but she wanted to get out of the cold for a moment, so she slipped inside the closest one through the partially open back door. “Hello?” She didn’t want to surprise anyone inside the house. When she received no answer, she began to walk around.

It looked like it might be a future clothing store, from the configuration of shelves and metal racks stacked up against one far wall in the main part of the house. She hoped it would be something upscale. It was a pain having to drive to Indy or Chicago for anything really nice. They really needed more clothing stores in this town.

She was about to leave by the same door that she’d entered when movement in the alley caught her eye, through the back windows. Ria watched for a moment, waiting to see if the four men were coming toward this house, but they weren’t. She moved closer to the windows and had to bite back a gasp. Two of them were the men that Gina had described.

One was tall with a scruffy beard and a cap on his head. The other was shorter and heavier. Ria couldn’t see his eyes, but that was all right. She didn’t want them spotting her. She didn’t know the other two men, but they were dressed in jeans and heavy shirts, as if they might have been working outside in this weather. She peered around the open door to see where they went, and when they moved aside the yellow police tape on Pearl’s shop and went inside through an opening off the alley, Ria took out her cell phone.

* * * *

Wyatt had just finished eating his sandwich and was about to walk over to the jail cells to interview a client when his cell phone rang. It was Ria, and while did want to talk to her about last night, this wasn’t the time. “Hi there. I wish I had time to talk about last night, but I don’t. Can I call you when—”

“This isn’t about my gossiping last night.” Her words cut him off, and his entire body went cold at the tone in her voice. “In the bar last night, Gina described two men that everyone has been seeing in town. No one seems to know who they are, but I just saw them go into Pearl’s shop with two construction workers. They went right under the police tape.”

“What? Where are you?”

“I’m in the alley behind Tye Me Up. What should I do? No one is supposed to be in there, and these are the same men we all were talking about last night.”

“Okay. Stay calm. And get inside Tye Me Up so you’re with other people. I’ll call Sean.”

“Okay. Yes. I’ll do that right now. Thank you, Sir.”

She still sounded panicked, and Wyatt felt helpless. “Ria, you’re okay. Get inside with other people around. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Wyatt hated to disconnect her call, but he had to get in touch with Sean or one of the others, and it had to be done now. He reached Sean first, and told him what Ria had just said. After he disconnected that call, he stared at his phone for a long time, wondering if he should just drive over to Lawnview Drive.

He had a very bad feeling about this, and he didn’t usually get premonitions. He texted her, asking if she was inside, and then he waited until she texted back to say she was heading there now before he went in search of his client. But he still felt uneasy, as if she was still in danger, or something else was off.

* * * *

Ria felt like shit lying to Wyatt, but technically she was on her way to Tye Me Up. However, first she needed to get out of this shop without being spotted. If she went back the way she’d come, through the alley, those men could too easily leave Pearl’s shop and see her. No one who wasn’t working on the houses would have any business back here. She shouldn’t have walked this far down the alley, and she shouldn’t have come inside this shop. What the hell was wrong with her? When would she ever learn?