The Fate of Us (The Broken Lyrics Duet Book 2)
Page 19
“Don’t those things usually need to be signed for when they are delivered?”
I look at him quizzically.
“I’m divorced too. All those documents required signatures on delivery.”
I hadn’t thought about that and I’m guessing Carson didn’t either, considering he didn’t know the mail had been sitting on his desk for a few days. Unless his secretary signed.
“If there is no proof they were delivered, it won’t hold in court.”
“You’re right. I’ll have my brother look into it.”
“You think she is hiding something else too?”
I nod and tell him all about her expensive car and clothes and the way she is acting.
“She sounds crazy. Did she escape the psych ward?”
Marcus’ comment brings a smile to my face. The first I’ve had all day. “It feels like it.”
“But you can’t find any information on her?”
“Nothing. His P.I. is going crazy but there is no trace of her on any records.”
“I’m guessing you both assume she changed her name.”
“That’s why Carson wanted me to have her move in. But I haven’t been able to get into her purse.”
“Does she like to go out for drinks?”
I look over at him confused. “I don’t know. I mean she has gone out a few nights.”
“I can help, man.”
“How?”
He parks in front of my brother’s house and turns off the engine. “I could stake your house. See when she leaves, follow her to a bar, and you know.”
I laugh at that. “You are going to seduce my ex-wife?”
“If it gets you out of this funk, I’ll do what I can.”
I shake my head and smirk. “It might be the only thing that works.” I look at my brother’s house and turn back to my partner. “Carson has a P.I. watching my house. He can follow her and I’ll let you know where she goes.”
“Nothing like good old fashion police work.”
I open the car door and step out. “Thanks for the ride. And listening.”
“We’re only as good as our partner.”
I nod at him and shut the door before heading into Carson’s house.
26
Anna
Seraphina braids my hair as I sit on the floor in front of her sipping a lemon martini.
My fifth lemon martini.
To be honest it’s mostly vodka.
And I’m pretty drunk.
I spent five hours crying after I left Noah this morning. Then three hours yelling and being pissed off at the world before Seraphina poured me a glass of straight vodka and told me to shut up.
Now that I’m sufficiently hammered I feel calmer.
Sort of.
I’m not seeing red anymore. But my heart feels like it’s been covered in ice and shattered, the pieces melting slowly, no hope of ever being put back together.
I’ve made Seraphina watch documentaries the last few hours even though she hates them. She tried to get me to watch crime shows but they reminded me of Noah.
Everything reminds me of him.
Hell, I am wearing one of his shirts now because I just can’t let him go. He loved me deeply and I felt that love all the way to my bones. I worry that now my heart has shattered, my bones may shatter too. Because his love was everywhere inside of me.
“Girl, you better not be crying again.” Seraphina pulls on my hair.
I hiccup and swallow down the tears. “I’m not.”
She finishes up the second Dutch braid on my head. “Liar. We need a total subject change. Why don’t you tell me about Nashville?”
“I’ve already told you everything.”
She pulls on my shoulders and peers over me. “Not everything. Tell me about that hot singer who you spent the week with.”
I roll my eyes at her and push her away. “You make it sound like something else happened besides songwriting when you say it like that.”
She raises her brows up and down at me. “Is that what they are calling it these days? Songwriting? I need to get my innuendos straight.”
I stand up and grab my empty glass, half stumbling to the kitchen. “You do have a boyfriend. Do you not remember?”
She follows me into the kitchen. “Who, Darnell?”
“Already forgotten after picturing a tall, sexy, blond-haired, brown-eyed cowboy?” I tease.
“Sounds dreamy,” she whispers resting her elbows on the counter and placing her chin in her palms.
I throw a lemon at her. “He’s twenty years old.”
“Age is just a number.”
“And what about Darnell?”
She flutters her hand at me as she walks to the fridge and pulls out a bottle of chardonnay. “Darnell who?”
I stare at her in shock. “What do you mean Darnell who?”
She shrugs and pours a heavy amount of wine into her oversized glass. “I didn’t want to tell you when you were in Nashville. But I broke up with him.”
“What?” I shriek. “But you two were like fire and gasoline.”
She gulps down a huge amount of wine and smirks. “It was hot and heavy. Chemistry was never our problem.”
“Then what was?”
She bites her lip and looks at me, honesty in her eyes. “I want to be someone’s priority. Not their backup plan.”
I sip my martini, this one with triple sec in it, figured I should slow down. “I don’t think you were his backup plan.”
“It was the same shit as last time. He wants me to go on tour with him. I told him I have a business here and I can’t leave. He said I wasn’t willing to make sacrifices and I told him he wasn’t either.” She stops and finishes the glass of wine that was half full. “Then he said his music was always first and if I couldn’t wrap my head around that then we could never be together.”
“He did not say that!”
“Fucking asshole sure did. I slapped him, kicked him in the balls, and stormed out of his house.”
“You did not!” I say, mouth agape.
“You bet your perfect peach ass I did.”
I wrap my arms around her in a tight embrace. “You are a badass, my friend.”
Her arms go around me. “Why are men such assholes?”
“Because they think with their dicks.”
“Mmm. You’re right.”
I pull away from her and reach for the shot glasses she has displayed on a floating shelf next to her kitchen. “We should get drunk.”
“You already are.”
“We should get drunker. Fuck, men.”
Sera smirks at me. “Says the woman head over heels in love with a man who is head over heels for her even with his recent behavior.”
“I’m not talking about Noah anymore.”
“Fine. But we can’t get too drunk, we have to teach tomorrow.”
I clench my stomach. “Ugh I think we both have food poisoning from that takeout.”
Sera grabs a bottle of tequila out of a cabinet and raises a brow at me. “You’re right. I’m not feeling well either. I’ll text the other instructors.”
We both laugh and take shots to drink away the problems in our love lives.
Sera heads to the living room and turns on the YouTube app on her television. “Now let’s watch that sexy singer. Cole who?”
I shut my phone off and slam it in a drawer at the bar. Noah has been relentless. Texting me to come home. I want to. More than anything I want to fall asleep wrapped up in his arms and wake up to that sexy smile on his face. But I am not comfortable with the situation. I don’t want to be around Claire.
I went to the studio two days ago to work on a song that’s been in my head for a while. Mason was able to get me some recording time in so I could send it to Austin. Mason let me know more of what’s going on with Claire. I’m pissed that Noah didn’t tell me but Mason said he didn’t even think he had the whole story. Noah and Carson have been tight lipped on the whole thing.
“Another text from lover boy?” Liam asks me.
“Stop calling him that.”
“Fine. Officer McDreamy?” He grins as he dries a glass.
I wipe down the bar and smile. “It’s Detective McDreamy now.”
“And has he used those handcuffs on you yet?”
I blush as I remember that day with the handcuffs. How special that day was. How happy I was. “I don’t want to talk about him.”
“He’s been texting you ten times a day, Anna. And that’s just when you are at home. Who knows how much he texts you when I can’t hear that damn chime on your phone go off.”
I moved in with Liam four days ago. After spending two nights on Sera’s couch and waking up with a stiff neck, I couldn’t do it anymore. Luckily, it’s the beginning of April and one of Liam’s roommates moved out of the house he rents. I have a fully furnished room and a private bathroom. Liam told me I can stay there as long as I want rent-free and that he won’t look for someone to move in until I move out.
“Other people text me, you know.”
“He texts you more than anyone else.”
I prop my hip against the bar. “How do you know?”
Liam gives me a strange look and then heads to the end of the bar to serve a customer before answering me.
Another patron waves me down and I grab another drink order, pondering Liam’s lack of response.
We start to pick up and I don’t get the chance to talk to Liam much and bug him for an answer as the typical Friday night crowd pours into the bar.
I’m busy making a pitcher of margaritas for a table when I do a double take at a familiar head of strawberry-blond hair. I spill tequila all over the bar when she turns and I see Claire’s face.
What the hell is she doing here?
“You okay?” Liam asks me, gesturing toward the spill.
“Yep, okay. I’m just fine,” I mumble as I dump the pitcher and start over.
I keep glancing toward Claire. Liam must notice because his eyes follow mine. “Is that the ex-wife?”
I don’t know how he figured it out. “Huh?”
“Come on, baby girl, I’ve never seen so much malice in your eyes as when you looked over there.”
I finish the pitcher and set it at the end of the bar at the waitress station. I watch as Liam walks over to Claire, checks her ID, and pours her a glass of wine.
He walks up to me as I pour a few beers for a group of college kids. “Maybe not.”
“What?” I ask, not paying attention to him.
“Her ID said Marie and I know the ex’s name is Claire.”
“Marie?” I ask as I glance back over at the woman I thought was Claire.
“Guess not,” Liam says and walks away from me.
I bring the beers over to the guys and stare at Claire. I am so confused. That is definitely her but why would she have an ID that says Marie.
“Am I wrong?” Liam asks me.
I shake my head. “No, that is most definitely Claire. I can tell from the dirty looks she is sending me.”
“Weird. Her ID said Marie and it was her picture.”
I shrug not knowing why she would have a different ID. “Maybe she goes by her middle name.”
“Maybe. There wasn’t one on the ID.”
“Can you serve her for the rest of the night?”
Liam wraps an arm around my waist. “Whatever you need, baby girl.”
An hour passes and Claire is still here. Liam has kept his promise and served her but Liam took a break and a new customer sits down to her right. “Fuck me,” I mutter as I walk over to grab their order.
“Are you moving out anytime soon?” she says to me before I can walk away.
“Excuse me?”
She trails a finger around the rim of her wine glass. “Noah and I would appreciate if you moved your stuff out.”
I scoff. I know I should walk away but this bitch pisses me off. “As far as I am concerned that is still my home.”
“Doesn’t seem like it since you look like you moved on.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your coworker. You two seem quite friendly.”
I hold back so I don’t blow up on her. “Oh you mean my friend.”
“The way he wrapped his arm around you looked awfully friendly.”
I clench my fist at my side. “That’s what friends do when they have your back.”
She raises a perfectly sculpted brow at me. “Whatever you say. I just want your stuff out. All those instruments are blocking my way in the sunroom.”
“As far as I know, Noah is doing you a favor by letting you stay there.”
She sneers at me. “Then why is he finding comfort in me since you moved out.”
I take a deep breath as I hold back my anger. “I needed space from you.”
“Well Noah seems to be perfectly content cozying up to me while you are gone.”
“I don’t think Noah is anywhere near you. He is pushing me to get Anna back home every day,” Liam says from behind me.
I look over my shoulder at him, not sure if he is lying or telling the truth.
“My husband is not leaving me for you.”
I lean over the bar at that and get as close to her face as possible. “He is not your husband.”
“Sure felt like it this morning as he fucked me.”
Liam pulls me back just when I am about ready to jump over the bar. “You should leave.”
“I am a paying customer. I am not leaving. In fact, I would like another merlot,” she says, finishing her glass.
Liam grabs her glass and pulls me away. “She is trying to get to you,” he says.
“I hate her.”
“Why don’t you switch with Cass.”
I glare at him.
“Just until she leaves. You can serve, she can bartend.”
“Fine,” I say as I storm off to find her. I am too old for this petty bullshit.
For the next thirty minutes I wait on tables impatiently waiting for Claire to leave. I have no idea why she is here. Maybe she found out I work here and will do whatever she can to piss me off.
I can’t help but watch her whenever I get the chance. She openly flirts with the guy next to her and it drives me wild.
I bring drinks to another table when I see Noah’s partner walk in and take a seat next to Claire. I watch them interact for almost an hour before he leaves with her.
Cass finds me and takes over for me and I head back to the bar.
“That was strange,” Liam says to me as he grabs some beers.
“What was?”
Liam wipes down the bar. “That she was here, talked a bunch of shit about fucking Noah, and then leaves with someone else.”
“That was Noah’s partner.”
Liam glances at me and stops what he’s doing. “Even more weird.”
I nod. “I don’t think he knows about her or who she is. Noah takes a while to open up to people.”
“Well baby girl this just proves my point even more.” He uses his thumb to point to the door. “If that woman was dead set on keeping Noah, she wouldn’t be going home with random men. I think she knows that Noah only has eyes for you. She is trying to get under your skin.”
“Maybe.”
Liam grabs both my shoulders and leans over so we are standing eye to eye. “Anna, I am ninety-nine percent sure that man wants to marry you. Don’t give up on him.”
I gape at Liam. Noah doesn’t want to marry me. We’ve been together for a handful of months. We just moved in together. He can’t really think I am the one. Right?
I get cut at one in the morning which is fine by me. I am tired. Physically and emotionally. I wish life could go back to how it was on my birthday or our time at the beach. T
hose moments with Noah are etched in my brain. Both of us with our guards down, opening up to the other. I miss that connection with him.
Hell, I just miss him.
I am in love with the man despite the shit that went down with Claire. I know Liam is right. I know Noah still loves me. I can see it in his battle for me every day. Maybe I should give in. But I cannot deal with Claire. I want it to be just Noah and me. So we can find us again.
I round the corner of the building and walk through the parking lot. I stop dead in my tracks when I find my window smashed in.
Who the hell would do that? My car is a piece of shit and I never keep anything of value in it.
I investigate the broken window and find a note laying on the seat. I’ve spent enough time around Noah to know I shouldn’t touch it. I call the police and then carefully lean over the window to see if I can read the note.
I gasp and step backward when I do.
I loved him and you took him away.
What the fuck? Who the hell would do this?
My mind immediately goes to Claire. She was here tonight and she had a few choice words for me. And it would make sense that she would say those things. I am beginning to think she is crazy.
The cops show up ten minutes later and ask me a handful of questions.
“Where were you? Did you see anyone? How long has your car been here? Do you have any enemies? Did you have sexual relations with a man in a relationship?”
The questions go on for five minutes. And they are all pointless. Considering I am as baffled as them.
“Can you just take the evidence and let me go. I’m tired and I want to go home.”
The officer looks at me. “Ma’am, do you know something we don’t.”
“Give her a break,” a familiar voice says.
I look up and see Niko walking toward me. I smile at him, glad I have a friendly face here instead of this asshole who thinks I had something to do with this. The temperature is dropping and I’m cold standing around in shorts and a light hoodie.