I looked at Sissy and said, “Yeah, she’s hanging in there. You find Bobby?”
“Not yet, we’re still lookin’.”
Shit.
Luke went on. “You get her story?”
I was beginning to realize that I couldn’t live in a pretend world of happiness and ignore everything that was going on around me. It was one thing when it was happening to me, it was quite another when it was happening to Sissy. Luke had been right again, this shit was not going away.
I got up with my latte, walked to the book counter, leaned a hip against it and told him Sissy’s story. I finished on, “Do you know what’s going on?”
“I’m piecin’ it together but none of what I’ve got is leadin’ back to you.”
“What do you have?”
“I’ll tell you when I get home tonight.”
It was then I remembered I had a date with Ren that night.
Oh crap.
Why was my life so complicated?
“Erm, Luke?”
“Babe, I gotta go,” he sounded distracted.
“No, Luke, wait.”
“What?” Now he sounded impatient. Not a good way to start.
“Um, I have plans tonight. I’ll be… out.”
Silence.
I took this silence as Luke remembering my plans.
Then he said, his voice quiet and lethal, “You come to me when you’re done.”
Ee-yikes.
Luke kept talking, his voice quieter and more lethal. “He touches you Ava, there’ll be trouble.”
Yep, he remembered my plans.
“I’m sworn off men, remember?” I told him.
I heard muffled movement and I should have realized that he was somewhere he couldn’t talk and he was seeking privacy. I should have also realized that this was one of the many warning signs Luke gave me before rocking my world. Instead, like a dork, I just stood there waiting for him to talk.
Then still in the ultra quiet, lethal voice, he said, “I keep hearin’ that line coming from you and then the minute I get my mouth or hands on you, somethin’ different happens. Ava, you’re the hottest fuckin’ piece I’ve ever touched. I find out that heat isn’t just for me, I’m still takin’ my fill. Zano can have you when I’m done.”
I felt pressure crawling up my throat because what he said was just not nice.
I was, of course, forgetting that tough guy Luke Stark was simply giving what he considered were the ground rules for “his woman” going out to dinner alone with another man. The fact that he wasn’t throwing a he-man shit fit was practically a miracle.
Still.
“Lucas Stark, you better watch your mouth,” I hissed.
“You come to me when you’re done,” he repeated.
I did not think so. “I’m staying the night with Sissy and her Dad.”
“You do, it’ll be embarrassing for you when I drag your ass out of there.”
My heart stopped. “You wouldn’t dare,” I breathed.
“Try me.”
I wasn’t going to try him. No way. He’d do it and I knew it.
“You’re a jerk,” I snapped.
“Tonight, you’re mine.”
Disconnect.
Argh!
I turned back to the Rock Chicks and they were all looking at me.
Finally Roxie said to Sissy, “Doesn’t seem like Wednesday’s looking too good.”
“Lee’s got today, he’s going to be bummed,” Indy said.
“I got in on the pool late, my day’s Friday,” Jet put in. “The way this is going, I’m thinking of buying a KitchenAid mixer to match my blender.”
“Oh! I love those!” Daisy exclaimed, turning to Jet. “Which color you gonna get?”
I looked to the ceiling as the Rock Chicks discussed Jet’s forthcoming KitchenAid appliance purchase.
Then I thought, my life sucks.
Chapter Fourteen
You Missed It Again, Babe
After I got off the phone with Luke, I planned my day carefully.
I hung with the Rock Chicks, Tex and Matt at Fortnum’s all afternoon and I made a call to Shirleen. Duke, Indy’s second-in-command, came in and even though I hadn’t seen him in months, smiled at him and yelled, “Hey Duke!” he scowled at me and disappeared in the books.
“What’s that all about?” I asked Indy.
“He’s not a big fan of the ‘during’ part of a Badass Motherfucker Courtship. He prefers the ‘after’,” Indy explained.
I couldn’t say I blamed him.
Detective Jimmy Marker stopped by at Luke’s request. Sissy and I told him about the car chase and the recent kidnapping attempt and I took that opportunity to explain that my first kidnapping was a “misunderstanding” – news that made him stare at me hard.
He gave me a lecture about talking to the cops next time I nearly rolled my car over onto I-25 while being pursued by a bad guy. Then he and Duke carried on a loud conversation about “how these boys need to get their heads examined”. Then Detective Marker left.
Matt and I dropped Sissy at her Dad’s and we both stayed while Sissy told her Dad the latest story. Then we stayed while Sissy’s Dad hit the roof. We left after he calmed down.
Sissy walked us to the door and gave Matt a look. Matt correctly interpreted this look and stepped outside of hearing distance.
I turned to Sissy. “What?”
“Remember when you pretended not to care when you didn’t have a date to the senior prom?”
Oh no, where was she going with this?
“Yeah.”
“Well, tonight you’re going out with one of the hottest guys we know and then you’re going home to the hottest guy ever. How’s them apples?” She gave me a big smile, so pleased for me she didn’t seem to remember she got punched in the face that day for the first time in her life.
I shook my head. “You’re a dork.”
“And you’re a knockout.”
I shoved her shoulder. She shoved mine back.
After a few more shoves, Matt and I left.
Matt took me to Luke’s loft and I held my breath until the elevator doors slid open and we saw Luke wasn’t there. As the place was under surveillance, Matt didn’t stick around. He was itching to get into the search for Bobby. I spent a few moments sending good vibes to Bobby and encouraging vibes to the Nightingale Boys to find him, and fast. Then I called Shirleen as scheduled.
“Shee-it,” she answered instead of saying hello. “You still gonna do this?”
“Yes,” I told her.
She sighed. “I’ll be there in ten.”
I’d called her from Fortnum’s and as she was my Rock Chick and Badass Motherfucker Courtship Mentor, she was bound by Rock Chick Law to help me (yes, it was weird but at that point it worked for me).
She picked me up in her Lincoln Navigator (seriously, Lee had to pay his employees well if his receptionist had a Navigator) and took me to my place. She hung out watching TV while I got ready for my date with Ren.
Halfway dressed, my phone rang.
I looked at it scared to death it would be Luke. It said “Dom calling”.
What the hell?
“Yes?” I answered.
“Ava, don’t hang up,” Dom said quickly.
“You’re a dickhead,” I told him.
“Our last thing didn’t go too well…”
I wanted to shout “Ya think?” but he kept talking.
“I’m sorry about that but Ava, you gotta listen to me. There’s some serious shit goin’ down. You and me, we gotta get out of town, you gotta meet me at –”
“Fuck that, Dom. You’re nuts.”
“No, this is some serious shit.”
“Yes, it’s your serious shit. Keep me out of it,” I snapped.
“That’s what I’m tryin’ to do,” he snapped back.
“Can you please tell me why I’m in it?”
“They’re tryin’ to get to me.”
“No kidding, they??
?re trying so hard, they nearly kidnapped Sissy this morning. Punched her in the nose, blood everywhere. We thought it was broken. She was a mess.”
Silence.
“Dom?”
“What’d you just say?”
“Some big guy in a dark blue SUV punched your wife in the nose this morning while trying to kidnap her.”
Silence again.
I was losing patience, and time, quickly.
“Dom! I don’t have time for this.”
“He hit Sissy?” Dom asked quietly.
Something about the way he said it made my mind still. “Yeah,” I told him.
“He’s got at least a foot and probably a hundred pounds on her.”
“Do you know this guy?” I asked but he ignored my question.
“And he hit her?” Dom was sounding a bit scary.
“Dom, tell me, who is this guy?”
Dom still wasn’t listening. “You say her nose isn’t broken?”
“She’s fine. It’s swollen, her eyes are black but she’s okay.”
Was I reassuring Dominic Vincetti about his wife’s well-being? Was it me who’d stepped into an alternate universe?
“I’ll call her,” Dom told me.
Oh no.
“Dom, don’t,” I said.
“Later.”
Disconnect.
Fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.
I looked at my alarm clock on the nightstand and it was already seven o’clock. I wanted to call Sissy but I didn’t have time. As it was I rushed through my final preparations.
I had decided to go gung ho for the night. I was telling myself this wasn’t an in your face to Luke after his last tough guy speech. I was telling myself this was for me. That even though I had sworn off men, it didn’t mean that I couldn’t look cute.
I was wearing a black skirt, so tight it fit like a glove and cupped my ass. Its hem hit me at the top of the knees and had a front slit that went to mid-thigh. I topped it with a black, ultra-wide, low scoop-necked, long-sleeved, stretchy t-shirt that also fit like a glove and had a long hem so it came down well over the waistband of the skirt and gathered around my waist. I put on tons of silver bangles and charm bracelets on my right wrist and hoops at my ears but didn’t add rings and necklaces (in the latter area, I was going to let my cleavage do the work). I finished with pointy-toed, pencil-heeled, sling-backed, black pumps. I left my hair long and wild, had done my makeup in “Drama!” and spritzed with my expensive perfume.
I walked into my living room and Shirleen was lazing back on my couch, eating yogurt out of a container. Her eyes bugged out when she saw me.
“Girl,” she muttered low. “You are playin’ with fire.”
“I’m just going out to dinner.”
“And I’m just sayin’ you best pop by here before you go back to Luke, change your clothes, wash your face and hope he never finds out you went out with another man wearin’ that outfit.”
“It’ll all be fine,” I assured her.
“Yeah, that’s what you said about our visit to Uncle Vito. Now he’s plannin’ your weddin’ to his nephew.”
This, I had to admit, was true.
There came a knock at the door.
Shirleen looked to the heavens. “Here we go,” she said as if warning God to brace.
I went to the door and opened it. Ren stood there.
Ren was just like Dom in the tall, lean-hipped, broad-shouldered, thick, dark hair departments. Ren’s hair had no wave like Dom’s did, though. His eyes were a fantastic espresso color and, even though I pretty much knew that he knew he was hot, he didn’t strut like his cousin. He was just… cool. Way cool. Yumalicious cool.
He was wearing a well-cut, dark-brown suit, a light-brown shirt and his muscular throat on show. I’d always loved his throat, there was something about it that made you just want to taste it.
“Ava,” he said.
My eyes went from his throat to his face. “Hey Ren.”
He was looking in my eyes. Then he did a body sweep and his gaze came back to mine.
When it did and I caught the hungry look in his eye, I had to stop myself from putting my hand to the door to hold myself up.
Boy was I screwed.
* * * * *
Carmine’s on Penn had a cozy atmosphere, was always packed to the gills, had white paper over the tables so you could draw on it with crayons they provided and didn’t have menus. Their dishes were listed on blackboards on the wall but none of the items made any sense unless you had been there before. The waiters explained the dishes then wrote your order in crayon on the white paper on your table.
I didn’t need the waiters to explain the dishes. I knew exactly what I wanted. I just hoped it was what Ren wanted because the food was served family style.
Ren and I had chit chatted on the ride there in his black Jaguar (seriously sleek ride, totally super-fly). He valet parked and we were seated at a cozy table a deux. We chit chatted before ordering and chit chatted while eating the delicious garlicky rolls.
Ren was easy to talk to, he might have been hot as well as way cool but there was something mellow about him, laid-back and he gave the impression he gave a shit about what you said.
Our big bowl of caesar salad was put on the table when Ren asked, “So how are you doin’?”
Considering we were into the salad stage, I didn’t figure this was an opening remark.
I looked at him and tried to judge how safe he was. Luke had thrown a new light on the Vincetti-Zano family. Still, I’d spent a lot of time with them. When they took in Sissy, they took me in and they were always really nice to me. There were a lot of them I liked and one of the ones I liked the most was Ren.
“Do you know what’s been happening?” I asked.
He sat back ignoring the salad, eyes serious. “Tell me.”
I served up the salad and told him. Then I told him more while eating the salad. Then I told him some more while eating a second serving of the salad.
While I talked, I could feel Ren’s laid-back mood slipping into something a lot scarier.
The big salad bowl was taken away and I just stopped myself from nabbing one last crouton as the server took it when Ren said, “Why didn’t you call me?”
I looked at him a little surprised. We knew each other but weren’t exactly close. He wasn’t like a bestest best friend who you called when you found a great fingernail polish or when you got kidnapped, especially when his family was doing the kidnapping.
“Why would I call you?” I asked.
“This is family business.”
“I’m not family.”
“Sissy’s family.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
He sat back and said with finality, “I’ll take care of it.”
I leaned forward. Time to get down to business.
“What, exactly, are you gonna take care of?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” he returned casually and I could tell he was ready to move on to another subject.
I didn’t think so. “Well, considering the fact that, for some bizarre reason, I’m involved, I can’t help but worry about it.”
He just looked at me.
“Why am I involved?” I went on.
“Because Dom’s a dickhead,” he answered.
I couldn’t argue with that either, but still. “That doesn’t give me a lot to go on, Ren.”
My hand was resting on the table and Ren put his over mine. I looked at his hand and noticed it was nice, strong and well-veined. His hand didn’t look like the hand of a man who wore a suit.
I looked back to him, shrugging off thoughts of his hand when he started speaking. “Dom’s been talkin’ about you a lot. I won’t repeat it and I’m sorry to have to tell you this because I know it’s gonna piss you off, but he’s made it pretty clear he’s moved on from Sissy and even more clear who he’d like to move on to.” At this news, my fingers curled in and fisted angrily under his and he twisted his hand so
that our palms were facing and his fingers were laced in mine. I was hoping that Luke didn’t have cameras installed in Carmine’s because I was pretty certain if he saw Ren and I holding hands, especially like that, there’d be hell to pay and I’d be the one paying.
Ren kept talking. “He has some troubles with some not-so-good guys. Fucked with the business, fucked with the family. Vito’s pissed but he’s trying to sort it out because Dom’s family. In the meantime, Dom’s disappeared. They want Dom and are tryin’ to flush him out so I suspect that’s why they’ve gone after you. And today, finding Sissy available, her.”
I gently pulled my hand away and sat back, looking to the floor at the side of the table as I vowed quintuple-revenge against Dickhead Dom.
“You’ll be safe,” Ren was saying and I looked at him. Laid-back Ren was history, his eyes were sharp and he even looked angry. I’d seen a lot of Ren’s looks but this was a new one and, I had to admit, even if it made me a freak, it was hot. “I’ll assign Santo to you and Lucky to Sissy,” he finished.
I blinked at him as our family style meal was served (Ren let me pick, Chicken Montana with asparagus, sun dried tomatoes and Gorgonzola sauce, I’d let the healthy living mojo have the night off).
“What do you mean, assign –” I asked.
Ren interrupted me. “Bodyguards. Santo and Lucky will look after you two.”
Oh shit. This was not good.
“No, really, that isn’t necessary. I’m covered.”
Ren’s eyes caught mine. “By Stark?”
Hmm.
He seemed very interested, his eyes no longer angry but still sharp and very alert.
“Um… yeah,” I answered.
Ren went in for a direct hit. “You seein’ him?”
Well there we were, the moment of truth.
Was I seeing Luke Stark?
Was I seeing Luke Stark?
Crap.
“Kind of,” I hedged.
The tips of Ren’s lips went up slightly and I knew he found this amusing. “Stark doesn’t strike me as a guy who would ‘kind of’ be seein’ a woman like you.”
“What’s that mean?”
Why did I ask? Why, why, why?
“A man like that has a woman like you, there’s nothing ‘kind of’ about it.”
“Do you know Luke?”
“I know him. Not well, but I know him.”