Love of a Rockstar (24 page)

“Well, this will get the reporters off our back,” I said sarcastically, just as the cameras started flashing.

I SLID A sideways glance over to Luke whose jaw twitched with anger. This day was already bad enough with the reporters hounding us, but Finn made it a thousand times worse when he threw the chair through the window. Speaking of Finn, I watched as he struggled to get back into his car. There was no way he was capable of operating a vehicle right now. It was lucky enough he drove over here without injuring anyone.

I laid my hand on Luke’s arm. “I don’t feel comfortable with Finn driving. Can you stop him please?”

A spark that promised violence ignited in Luke’s eyes. “Gladly.”

“Peacefully,” I said, but my words were swallowed by the clicks of the cameras.

Luke shoved his way through the crowd and down to the bottom of the lawn where Finn’s car rested.

“Who is the man who threw a chair through your window?” a reporter shouted.

I rolled my eyes, done with being polite. “He’s my long lost brother who came back from the grave.”

A heavy silence fell over the journalists as they decided whether I was serious or not. Raised voices from Luke and Finn made me crane my neck to the side, but my small stature made it impossible for me to see anything. I had to get down there before fists were thrown.

“It was a joke.” While I didn’t call them idiots, it was implied. “Now, if you will excuse me, and get the fuck off my property.”

I stalked off, accidently pushing a women in a red skirt to the ground. She landed in a mud puddle with a look of horror. Normally I would have apologized, but she was invading my privacy. It served her right.

“Bitch!” she screeched. “This skirt cost me more than your car.”

I didn’t doubt her statement. My VW bug was found in a junkyard at a low price of $900 dollars. It was in desperate need of a paint job, but the engine ran great and the airbags worked.

I looked back at the mud splattered woman. “If that’s the case, then I am sure you can buy a new one.”

Eyes wide, she sputtered her outrage as I took off toward Luke and Finn. When I got closer, I noticed their faces were inches away from each other. If you didn’t know any better, you would think they were about to kiss.

I waved my hands in the air to get their attention. “Hey, don’t make…”

My sentence petered out when Finn shoved Luke’s chest, which escalated into an upper right cut to Luke’s nose. His quick reflexes saved his face from any damage. Thank god.

Finn swayed on his feet. “You humiliated me,” he yelled.

Luke stared coolly at him. “I think you’ve done a fine job of that on your own”

A deep roar erupted from Finn’s throat as he charged like a bull seeing a red cape. Luke stepped to the side, causing Finn to stumble. This was probably one of the most pathetic fights I had seen. Finn was so drunk that the odds were heavily on Luke’s side. I almost wanted to pour myself a tall glass of ice tea and watch the drama unfold. Key word, almost. The reporters were still mere feet away, taking notes.

Finn glared unsteadily at Luke’s face. “You had no right to propose to my girlfriend. She is my girlfriend! Not yours.”

A dark smile danced over Luke’s lips. “Is that so? Then why was she in my bed last night?

Finn swung his head over to me with a look of anguish. “Is this true Marlene?”

Shit
. My gaze strayed to the ground in guilt. Finn never deserved any of this. I shouldn’t have agreed to date him and instead kept him out of the tornado that was my life.

“Look at me!” Finn shouted. “Look at me and tell me you didn’t sleep with him!” When I didn’t comply, he let out a low moan. “No, I can’t believe this. You said no.”

At the sound of pain in his voice, I looked up. Finn was clutching his stomach as if I had punched him.

Luke regarded him with sympathy. “Hey man, I am really sorry. I had no right to move in on your girlfriend but I love her. Always have.”

Finn’s eyes flashed with anger. “You humiliated me. I told everybody I was taking my girlfriend and her daughter to Paris. Then this happened. Everybody will think of me as a hapless fool.”

A reporter called out to Luke with his camera posed. “Luke face this way.”

While Luke was distracted, Finn took the opportunity to throw a bone crunching punch into Luke’s cheek. His face swung to the side in slow motion. I let out a squeal of distress and grabbed the hose next to my feet. Turning on the water, I aimed the spray directly at Finn’s crotch, then let it travel to his mouth, which was open in surprise.

He held his hands in front of him. “Whth the furge?” he gurgled.

I tilted my ear. “What was that?”

The deluge of water continued to assault him until I felt as if he was properly soaked. I lowered the hose just as Luke threw the last punch, Mike Tyson style. Finn clutched his nose as his knees collapsed onto the grass.

All 6’2 of Luke rose over a down-for-the-count Finn. “Go home and sober up. This fight is over.”

Grabbing my hand, Luke tugged me back to the house and ignored the questions being thrown at him by the media.

Halfway inside the doorway, he turned around to face the crowd. “If you all don’t leave in five minutes, I will make your lives a living hell.”

The menace in his voice made them scatter like ants. Sometimes I wished I were tall, had tattoo sleeves, and looked as though I could seriously kick somebody’s ass. Then my threats wouldn’t fall on deaf ears. When we got inside, the bruise on Luke’s cheek had turned a frightening shade of black and blue.

“You need ice,” I stated.

Luke stared out the broken window to the scene we left behind. I quietly stood behind him with my hands at my sides. Finn brushed off his jeans and hoisted himself off the ground. As if he could sense my eyes on him, he turned around. It dawned on me right then, Finn never loved me. Growing up in a life of wealth and privilege, his ego had remained intact for twenty-six years. His parents looked at him as their golden child, he was the star quarterback in high school, and girls fell for his puppy dog eyes that promised a life of security. His reaction toward the news of me sleeping with Luke wasn’t the result of a broken heart; it was due to a shattered ego.

Luke scowled. “You know why I never liked him? Everything he does in life is about getting ahead.”

Stealing another glance out the window, I saw Finn was gone. His car sat skewed on my lawn, the only remnant of today’s fiasco. The next day, a tow truck came and removed the damaged vehicle, erasing Finn from my life for good.

MY GRANDMOTHER ENTERED the living room, broom in hand. On creaky knees, she bent down and started to clean up the broken glass.

Luke gently placed his hand on her lower back. “I’ll get it.”

She looked up and brushed her thumb over the bruise on his cheek. “You are a good man. You weren’t always, but I can see you have changed. You care for your family.”

“I do.”

My grandmother got along with Luke better than my mother did, but she never outright expressed how she felt about him. I knew it meant a great deal to Luke to get approval from her and to finally feel welcomed into our small clan.

Handing the broom over to him, my grandmother stood. “Good, because if you hurt them again, Ted will cut your balls off.”

“Grandma,” I said as I held back a laugh. “You can’t say something like that.”

She glanced over at me, innocent as a saint. “Why not? It’s the truth. Ted has experience in castrating bulls.”

At that moment, my grandmother’s fiancé wandered in with a sandwich piled high with deli meat. I had known him for all of a day and he was already helping himself to my fridge. The gall.

With his mouth full, Ted spoke, “If y’all are lucky enough, you will get to see it. Performing surgery on a bull is fascinating.” A piece of chewed up lettuce fell onto the floor. “Oops.” He picked it up and popped it back into his mouth.

I cut my gaze over to my grandmother to see if she just witnessed what I did. Completely oblivious to his lack of manners, she was looking at him like he walked on water. My grandmother had it bad.

“Where should I put this?” Luke held out the dustpan littered with glass

“In the trashcan out back,” I replied.

He followed my orders and disappeared into the yard. I didn’t notice earlier, but he walked with a slight limp. Finn might have done more damage than I thought.

Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, Ted threw out his empty plate and patted his stomach. “I think it’s time we take off. The roads get rough at night.”

“You live in the suburbs. How rough can it get?” I asked my grandmother.

“I live out in the country with Ted now.”

So that was why she wasn’t as readily available to babysit. She no longer lived a ten minute drive from me. I was hurt that she didn’t inform me of this major life change.

“Geez, thanks for telling me,” I said.

Seeing past my snarky comment, she wrapped me in a hug. I breathed in her heady perfume of lavender and marigold.

My grandmother tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “You don’t need me anymore,” she said as she pulled back.

I clung on, not ready to let go of my lifejacket, which was what she was for the past four years. The thought of being set free in the rocky waters of parenthood made me want to hold on a little bit tighter.

“You have Luke now sweetie. You’re not alone,” my grandmother soothed.

“Yes I am. He’s leaving tonight for nine months.”

She extracted my arms from around her waist and gripped me by the shoulders. “He’s coming back. We both know that, so stop playing this insecure woman. It’s not attractive.”

Her words were the slap across my face that I needed. These past four years were proof I got along fine without Luke. What were another nine months?

A heaviness lifted off me. “Thanks grandma.”

She snatched her purse off the couch. “Anytime, darling. I’ll let you have some alone time with your man now.” With a wink, she headed out the door with her fiancé in tow.

Ted tipped his cowboy hat. “Have a nice night.”

A couple of seconds later, Luke reappeared empty-handed. “We still need to board.

“We will deal with that later. For now, you need to ice your face.” I took a couple of steps toward the kitchen, then looked back at him. “Also take off your pants.”

He grinned. “You know I am always up for a roll in the hay but my face is killing me.”

I rolled my eyes. “I want to take a look at your leg. You were limping.”

“Oh…OK.”

Grabbing a bag of peas from the freezer, I sat down next to Luke who had followed my request and taken off his pants. He was wearing boxers that looked eerily similar to the ones from last night.

“Please tell me you don’t recycle underwear.”

Luke grabbed the cold compress, pressing it against his cheek and flinched. “Damn that’s cold.”

The longer I stared at the pattern on his underwear, the more convinced I became they were the same pair. How disgusting. My compulsive cleanliness made me want to wash them in scalding hot water with bleach.

“I am sorry, but I have to wash your underwear,” I blurted. “I just have to.”

Used to my craziness, Luke shrugged. “OK, but I need to put something else on.”

I still had some of Luke’s clothes that he’d forgotten in his mad dash to leave me, including fleece pajama pants that I wear to bed at night.

“OK, I’ll be right back.”

As I was about to get off the couch, Luke stopped me. “Marlene.”

I looked over at him and saw an inner struggle play over his face until he finally slacked against the couch with a sigh. “Why Finn?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Honestly?”

He hesitated, seeming unsure he actually wanted the truth. If I were him, I wouldn’t want it, but then again, sticking your head in the sand doesn’t solve anything. Finally, he gestured for me to continue.

I took a deep breath. “He was safe.” My eyes wandered over to the broken window. “Although I had no idea he was capable of such destruction.”

“Safe? How so?”

I shrugged. “My heart was protected with him because I didn’t love him like you. When we are together, I feel as if I have no control. You consume me.”