Rock Chick 05 Revenge (49 page)

“You say he’s there?” I asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Can you please put him on the phone?”

“Maybe you need to deep breathe,” Shirleen advised.

“Please put him on the phone.”

She sighed and put me on hold.

For some reason, of all the shit that had gone down between Luke and I, this was something I could not allow. I’d let him be a pretty pushy, tough guy, macho man with me but I could pay my own goddamned way.

“Yeah?” Luke said.

“It’s Ava,” I told him, sounding snippy.

“I know, beautiful,” he replied, sounding like he was smiling.

I ignored the melty feeling in my belly at his calling me “beautiful” when he sounded like he was smiling. I liked it even before I knew he meant it in every way it could mean. It was
way
better than “babe”.

“Did you pay for the repairs on my Range Rover?” I asked him.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” he answered.

I felt my hold on my temper slip. “Luke, it’s
my
car.”

“Ava, you’re
my
woman.”

I ignored the melty feeling that gave me too. “So?”

“So you’re my woman, I take care of you.”

“Luke –”

“This isn’t up for discussion.”

“It sure as hell is!”

“I’m thinkin’, as payback for the hickey, I want you in that pink teddy thing tonight.”

Was he for real?

“Luke!”

“Later.”

Disconnect.

Argh!

I fought the urge to throw my phone through the window but instead I called Ally.

“Hey,” she answered.

“Yo,” I said.

“You okay after last night?” Ally asked.

“I’m officially Luke’s woman after last night.”

“Yep, that’s the way since the dawn of time. Two men want the same thing, they fight over it and winner takes all.”

“What with struggling with Iron Man Mace, I wasn’t keeping close track but it didn’t seem like anyone was winning.”

“Luke won when he behaved like a Neanderthal, elbowed you in the head and still, without a peep from you, you got in his car with him.”

Yikes.

I had to admit, that was true.

“What was that about Luke thinking about someone else when he was with you?” Ally asked.

Shit.

I knew I’d have to get into that.

“Luke explained I had the wrong end of the stick,” I told her.

“Well, chickie, just to warn you, the girls have been chewing over that all night and all morning. Roxie thinks you think it’s her. Jules is pretty certain you think it’s her. Who was it?”

“Jules,” I answered. “I saw them together and got the wrong impression.”

“That’s what I figured. Listen, Jules and Luke had a thing. It was brief, she thought Vance had broken up with her. Once she found out that Vance –”

My stomach plummeted. “What?” I whispered, interrupting her.

Silence for a beat then, “Oh shit.”

“What did you say?” I asked.

“Ava –”

“What kind of ‘thing’ did Jules and Luke have?”

“It was nothing.”

Oh… my…
God
.

“What kind of thing?” I repeated.

“It only lasted a couple of days.”

My heart was racing and I was pretty certain I was going to throw up.

“Ava? You there?”

“I have to go.”

“Ava.”

“Later.”

I disconnected then I punched in Luke’s cell number.

“Babe,” he answered, sounding amused. “I want you to call in but you don’t have to do it every five minutes.”

I didn’t dilly dally. “You had a thing with Jules when she thought Vance broke up with her.”

Silence, then he hissed, “
Fuck
.”

He didn’t deny it.

Shit!

I felt an ugly feeling slide through my body, a feeling I’d felt once before in my life. It was the day my Mom sat Marilyn, Sofia and I down and, while crying and carrying on, she informed us Dad had left us.

I pulled myself together and said, “You forgot to mention that last night.”

“Ava –”

I heard a knock at my front door. “My car’s here. I have to go.”

“Leave it, we have to talk.”

“Life’s too short, Luke. I’m through talking.”

Then I disconnected.

I ran to the front door and got the keys to my car from a black guy wearing greasy, blue coveralls. My phone rang while I did this but I ignored it and it stopped when the answering machine kicked in. No one left a message.

Then I ran upstairs, got dressed and shoved clothes in my workout bag. My phone rang again while I did this but I continued to ignore it.

Then I ran out to my Range Rover, tossed my bag in and took off.

* * * * *

I had a feeling Luke would come looking for me so I went to a different gym and paid for a day pass.

While working out I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt.
 

However, there was no denying that we’d had several hot and heavy discussions about a variety of things and not once did he mention he had a “thing” with Jules, no matter how short.

Furthermore, not only was Roxie Luke’s first guess about who I thought he had feelings for, Roxie also thought that and I wanted to know why.

After my workout I showered, dressed, went and sat in the Range Rover and opened my phone.

I had seven missed calls. Two were from Luke, three from Ally, one from Shirleen and the last one from Jules.

So, of course, I called Daisy.

“Sugar, everyone is lookin’ for you. Where are you?” she answered.

“In my car, listen Daisy –”

She interrupted me. “Ally is freakin’ out. She let the cat out of the bag but, girl, it sounds a lot worse than what it was. Jules is upset. She wants you to understand what happened –”

I interrupted right back. “I want to know about Roxie.”

“Roxie is freakin’ out too! She likes you with Luke, we all do. This could get weird, like it was weird for awhile when Vance and Luke both were –”

I didn’t want to hear about Vance and Luke and Jules, I wanted to know about Roxie. “No, I want to know why Roxie thought it was her that I thought Luke had a thing for.”

“Pardon?” Daisy asked.

“Last night, when Luke and I were arguing about it, his first guess as to who Ren meant was Roxie. Ally told me Roxie thought I thought it was her. Why would both of them think that?”

Silence.

“Daisy, please, tell me,” I begged.

“Sugar, I know you’re lookin’ for a way to protect your heart. But you’re lookin’ in the wrong direction. I have to tell you the best way to protect your heart is to trust it to a man who’ll take care of it for you.”

Right. Like such a man existed.

I did not
think
so.

“Last night and this morning, Luke and I talked a lot,” I told Daisy. “He said a lot of shit to me, all of it I wanted to believe. The problem is, he declared he was through talking this morning and it seems there’s a lot he left out. I can’t trust my heart to a man who’d keep something from me. Especially if it’s about people in his life which will mean, if I stay with him, they’ll be people in my life. That means in the Rock Chick Hot Bunch tribe I’ll be the chump and I don’t want to be the chump. Can you understand that?”

Daisy said softly, “I can understand that.”

“Please then, tell me.”

She sighed. “First off, you have to know these girls are not your usual girls. The Rock Chicks are special and the Hot Bunch know that.”

I kept silent and waited.

“Okay then,” she went on. “Luke threw down with Roxie when he was playin’ her bodyguard. It wasn’t a big deal. He just told her he was interested if it didn’t work out with her and Hank.”

The news hit me like a blow.

Strike one.

“Then he kind of fell for Jules when they were trainin’ and workin’ together. That went a little further because Luke went for it after everyone thought Vance broke up with her and then went out of town so he wasn’t keepin’ his eye on things. Nothin’ came of it, mainly because Jules had already given her heart to Vance, but somethin’ special grew out of that for Jules and Luke. Ava listen to me, it’s somethin’ sweet and special and totally innocent that grew out of it. Vance and Luke are friends and –”

Strike two.

“Any more I should know about?” I asked, interrupting her. “Jet, Indy, anyone?”

“Sugar,” Daisy said softly and she sounded disappointed. “Don’t be like that.”

“So let’s play what if. What if Vance
had
broken up with Jules? Where would Luke be now?”

“What if is a stupid game. He didn’t break up with her, end of story.”

I knew where Luke would be now, I knew by his relentless, tough guy, macho man pursuit of me. He “fell for Jules” as Daisy put it. If Vance had broken up with her, right now Jules would be in Luke’s loft and he’d be contemplating when he would let his and Jules’s daughter date if she looked like Jules (likely it’d be at age forty if she looked like Jules).

Then it hit me, Jules was pregnant. Hell, if she was with Luke she would be pregnant with
his
baby.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, almost certain I was going to puke.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Daisy mumbled.

“I have to go,” I said again.

“Come over to my house, we’ll talk,” Daisy replied on a rush. “I’ll get the girls over –”

“Later, Daisy.”

Yeah, much later… as in never. To cut off Luke, I had to cut off the Rock Chicks completely. And I liked the Rock Chicks a lot.

And that was strike three.

“Wait!” I heard Daisy cry before I disconnected.

I tossed my cell into the passenger seat, put my hands on the steering wheel and rested my head on them.

You think she should talk to him now? Hear his side of the story? Listen to him explain about how he tried it on with half the Rock Chicks? How he broke it off with Sandra Whoever-she-was without batting an eye? How he didn’t mention any of this shit during his “straight talk”?
Bad Ava taunted Good Ava.

Good Ava didn’t answer. She was too busy quietly crying.

* * * * *

I turned off my phone and went to a travel agent. I booked a last minute trip to an all-inclusive in St. Croix, leaving the next morning at oh-dark-thirty.

I went to a card shop, bought a card, paper and a pen and wrote Sissy a long note, explaining everything. Then I went to an Internet Café, e-mailed my clients and told them I had a family emergency that would mean I’d be out of town for two weeks and I looked up the address for Nightingale Investigations on the web. I posted the card to Sissy, care of Nightingale Investigations. Then I went to the mall and bought a bunch of new stuff for my trip, including luggage because mine was at Luke’s.

Then I went home, scanned the street for Luke’s Porsche or any black Ford SUVs and finding none there I parked in my garage. I lugged my bags inside and took them upstairs. I was going to spend the night in a hotel close to the airport.

I dumped my shopping bags on the bed and rolled the suitcase beside it. Then I walked downstairs and arranged my purse and all the paperwork I’d need for my trip, including my tickets, on the dining room table. After that, I went to the kitchen to get a drink, a heavy one. I was going to call a taxi to take me to the hotel so I could get as drunk as I liked.
 

And I was going to get
way
drunk.

I was mixing it, my back to the kitchen door, when two arms closed around my waist.

Shit.

I hated it when Luke moved so quietly.

“Let me go,” I whispered and even to my ears my voice sounded broken.

“Not until I teach you a lesson.”

My body went solid.

It did this not because it was Luke who was speaking.

It did this because it was Noah Dexter who was speaking.

Fuckity, fuck, fuck,
fuck
.

* * * * *

I fought him.

I lost and got hurt doing it, so hurt, I lost consciousness for long enough for him to carry me downstairs to my creepy basement.

The fight had been ugly. I kicked, screamed, bit, punched, tugged and tumbled.
 

He mostly punched and he was better at it.

Before getting knocked out, I felt wetness on my face that I was certain was blood coming from a tear in my lip or from my nose or both.