Tangled: Contemporary Romance Trilogy

by Dee Bridgnorth

  “I wonder if she’ll scream when she comes,” I mused.

  Tansy’s gasp was so deep and so loud that it seemed to suck all of the air out of the room. “Lena! That is disgusting!”

  “I know, but she’s totally faking it anyway.” I glanced at Ray. “What do you think?”

  “Totally fake,” he agreed. Then he tilted his head and began to rub his chin. “It looks like a scene from a really bad porn film. You know, where they’re about to do it right there in the street.”

  “This is a porn film,” I decided. “The script says that the couple is totally obsessed with their exes and can’t help but try to use each other in order to make their exes jealous. But it’s going to backfire and then the two of them will fall in love.”

  “A MEA,” Ray told me with a nod of his perfectly coiffed head. “Total MEA.”

  “MEA?” Tansy frowned. “I’ve heard of an HEA. Everyone knows what a happily ever after is. But I’m never heard of MEA.”

  “Miserably ever after,” Ray told us. “It’s totally a thing. I promise. And really, people like them deserve it. Don’t you think? They make everyone else miserable. So why not make each other as miserable as possible?”

  “Hmm.” I couldn’t really fault him on that. In the meantime as we discussed this bit of semantics, the make-out session had gotten more intense. “I think they’re getting turned on because we’re watching.” I could not keep the faint revulsion from my voice. “Look at that!”

  Karl was grabbing Trinity’s thigh and lifting her leg up over his hip. The two of them were humping each other like a couple of teenagers in a high school hallway. I pursed my lips and wondered if I had looked like that when I kissed Karl. I felt like I probably hadn’t looked that way. I didn’t go all uninhibited in public like that. Or at all, really. It wasn’t like I didn’t enjoy intimacy, but it was supposed to be private.

  “Oh my word!” Bob Abernathy’s voice shocked all three of us.

  It should have been hilarious the way that Tansy, Ray, and I all spun around and looked guilty. But it wasn’t. Bob’s gaze was glued to the scene going on up against his windows and for a second I couldn’t believe that he was actually angry about it. I figured it would be more like him to be jealous that someone other than him was getting a piece.

  But Bob surprised me. The man was muttering something under his breath as he marched toward the front door. He pushed the door open and then whistled a loud, shrill note that actually made my ear drums protest.

  “Hey!” Bob shouted. He used the flat of his hand to pound on the inside of the window in order to get their attention. “Get off my property! Go get a freaking room. Now!”

  Of course Karl and Trinity broke apart then. Both of them were swiping the backs of their hands across their mouths as though they needed to get the spit off. It was kind of vile. Karl waved at Bob in the most disrespectful manner possible. It did not help his case.

  “I’m not joking!” Bob raged. “Get off my property or I’ll call the police and I swear that Trinity doesn’t want to deal with the police here in Chesterfield a second day in a row. They start to get pretty irritated with people like you! This is indecent. If you want to engage in this kind of behavior, go and get a room somewhere!”

  “What’s the matter, Bob?” Karl sneered at Upscale Bob even as he whipped Trinity around and pressed her back to his front. Karl was openly fondling Trinity’s chest in the most ridiculous and tackiest high school boy fashion possible. “Are you jealous?”

  “Are you out of your mind, Kitson?” Bob’s tone dripped derision. “I suppose you think it makes you a big player to paw at a woman like that in public. Hell! Even I know that’s just tacky!”

  Ray snorted. “Well, I’ll be damned,” he whispered. “Maybe Bob isn’t the worst perv around, huh?”

  “I heard that, Fines,” Bob growled over his shoulder.

  Ray gave a squeak and his teeth made an audible click as he zipped his trap. I could not help but wonder if this whole thing was just about over yet. I was so done. So done with Karl and Trinity and this horrible bullshit fake hate romance.

  Bob slammed the door, but not before Karl and Trinity waved to us all. Karl was nodding and grabbing her butt as though this were some kind of big deal. I was supposed to be, what? Jealous? I certainly didn’t want him grabbing my ass in public.

  Karl and Trinity scampered off exactly like teenagers running from the principal. They got into Karl’s car and disappeared out of the parking lot. Once they were gone I could feel everyone staring at me. It was horrible. All three of them were looking at me as though I were supposed to be upset or something.

  “I don’t care about this, guys,” I assured them all. “Really.”

  “Are you sure, honey?” Ray pulled me into a hug. “Because this is just awful. I can’t even begin to imagine.”

  “Yeah?” I snorted. “Because I have to tell you that this wasn’t my first glimpse of that unholy union. They were making out in my front yard last night less than ten minutes after they met.”

  “What?” Tansy stomped her foot and put her hands on her hips. “What is wrong with that man?”

  “So many things,” I told them. “So very many things. But that’s okay. Right? Because if they’re all nice and involved with each other then they can just forget about me.”

  Bob put his arm around me. For once it didn’t actually feel creepy. Not that I wanted to snuggle there or something, but at the moment it was more of a fatherly gesture than anything else. Then of course—because he is Upscale Bob—he had to ruin the entire moment. “So do you have that closing paperwork done yet?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes. Bob. I’ve gotten almost all of the inspections scheduled so far. The termite guy has to get back to me. That’s all I’m waiting on.”

  “And have you informed the buyer yet?” There was a hitch in Bob’s voice. I was almost sure of it. So was Ray and Tansy because they were staring at him. What the hell?

  I frowned at Bob. “No, I haven’t informed the buyer of anything. You’re the one who does that. At least usually. Did you want me to inform him?”

  “No!” Bob said hastily. Too hastily. “I just thought… Since the two of you seem so chummy… Well, that’s just fine then. I think this is good. I’ll call the buyer and let him know how things are progressing.” Bob started to walk off. At the last second, he turned around. “Did you email me the stuff I need? You know, to call the client?”

  “Yes, Bob.” I did not bother to hide the eye roll. It surprised him. I could tell. I’d never really let myself show him how annoyed he made me before now. Maybe it was time. Maybe it was time to be honest all the way around.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Damion

  There was no hard and fast rule about the way this real estate deal had to go. My offer had been accepted seventy-two hours ago. I was paying cash. I had already decided that. But before I went any farther, I wanted my parents to see the place. We pulled up in front of the property after checking in at the guard gate and confirming that our names were on the list. All of us. I loved it. This was going to keep Trinity out of my life. I could just feel it.

  “I don’t know, Damion.” My mother had that look on her face. We were standing in front of the three-story red brick house with the swirly twirling double chimney piece sitting atop a steeply pitched roof covered in pale gray shingles. “It just looks so big! What on earth are you going to do with such a huge house?”

  “Store my cars,” I joked. Of course, this was mostly funny because we had driven here in their car since I didn’t actually have one right then. I looked around for Bob. I had expected him to meet me there to unlock the place. “It’s already empty. Thankfully that means I can move in immediately. I guess the current owner already moved out of state due to a job change.”

  “Oh. Well that’s convenient I suppose.” My mother was sixty-five and looked like the Hispanic version of June Cleaver all the way down to her pretty skirt and blouse. He
r hair had long ago gone white while her skin was still a warm caramel color. Her ancestors were old Spanish. This had been quite a sticking point for my mother and father when they had married. “Do you think that you should really be purchasing such an expensive home? It seems like a waste!”

  My father had been examining the brick work as though he were a certified stone mason. Now he turned and looked back at my mother and me. “I think they cut some corners here, mijo. This brick looks like it needs refacing.”

  “I’ll make sure they check that in the inspection, Dad.” It was always easier just to agree with my father than to disagree. “What do you think of the driveway?”

  Dad turned around and scratched his thick hair. He still had a full head of hair even though it was more silver than black nowadays. A little commuter car pulled into the driveway even as my father squatted down to give it a good looking at. I felt a shock run through my entire system as I realized that it was Lena in the car and not Upscale Bob.

  Lena opened her car door and stepped out onto the driveway. She took one look at me and then beamed at my parents. “You must be Mr. and Mrs. Alvarez.”

  My mother took the hand that Lena offered, but looked suspicious instead. “Isabella Alvarez,” Mama said carefully. “And you are?”

  “My name is Lena Schulte. I’m an assistant in the realty office that is assisting Mr. Alvarez with his home purchase. My employer, Mr. Abernathy, sends his regards. He’s in a meeting with the listing agent of this property discussing a few details.”

  “Oh? What’s that?” My mother’s face actually puckered. I felt a bit annoyed as I anticipated a tongue lashing from my mother about this gringa who acted so presumptuously when she wasn’t even the real estate agent.

  “I hope it’s this driveway!” My father called from a spot about three feet in front of Lena’s bumper.”

  “That would be correct, Mr. Alvarez,” Lena called back to my father. Then she turned to me and handed over a thick binder filled with something labeled Inspection Report. “Your father is probably referring to the street creep that’s caused a bit of cracking in this aggregate driveway. We’re going to address that and see if we can get the purchase price down enough that you would have no trouble hiring someone to address the problem.”

  “Street creep?” I felt like a moron. Clearing my throat, I scratched the back of my head. “What is that?”

  Lena turned and gestured to the cul de sac in the quiet residential neighborhood where my potential new house was located. “Cul de sacs are great, but they also create a situation where you have lots of traffic turning sharply in one area. So the concrete from the street is constantly pushed up against your curb, which is then pushed up against the driveway, which then causes cracking.”

  My father popped up like a jack in the box in front of Lena’s car. He pointed at her and then smiled at me. “You’d do well to listen to this girl, mijo. She knows what she’s talking about.”

  “Well, thank you!” Lena turned her warm smile on my father and shook his hand. “And can I just say that I think it’s great that the two of you are having a look at the property before Damion purchases it? It’s just such a nice way to have your family help you when it comes to such an important decision.” Then Lena turned and winked at me. Had she meant to do that? “Not that you can’t decide what you need in a house.”

  “I’ll admit that the security was pretty much the only thing I thought of,” I told them all. At least I was speaking to all of them, but I was really only looking at Lena. She was the one I wanted to talk to. “But then Lena understands that kind of problem. So I know she had that in mind when she suggested this area.”

  “You were the one to suggest this neighborhood?” My mother’s voice is still lightly accented after all these years. I think she keeps it that way out of pride for her heritage than anything else. Not that I mind, but sometimes she can use it to sound kind of snobby. Right now though, I couldn’t decide what my mother thought of Lena.

  “I did suggest the neighborhood,” Lena told my parents. “But your son chose the house. There’s another one available in here that I might have picked for myself. But that’s the beauty of having two different options. He can really pick the one that he needs for himself.”

  The two women continued to chatter about what men want and what men need in a house as Lena opened up the front doors and let my parents into the foyer. I couldn’t help but notice that the house had an entirely different feel with Lena here. The place was welcoming. And that was pretty hard to do when the structure and the rooms lacked furniture.

  “I think your mother has found a new friend.” My father snorted and elbowed me in the side. “Where did you find this girl?”

  “I walked into the real estate office and she was just there,” I told my father. “She’s great though, isn’t she?”

  “She’s certainly smarter than any other woman you’ve been interested in.” My father did not make that sound like a compliment. “That last woman. Bah! When she comes into the garage I think that we should cut her brake lines and rig her car to blow up just to do the world a favor!”

  My father muttered something else uncomplimentary in Spanish and left it at that. I chuffed out a huge sigh and wondered if I should be worried that my parents seemed to like Lena a little better than they liked me right now.

  “So,” my father said slowly. “Is it true that you’re selling your local office and moving somewhere else?”

  For just a moment I was pretty sure that I’d heard that wrong. Why on earth would he be asking me that? Where had he heard such a thing? I cleared my throat. We were in the living room. The light was spilling through the huge wall of windows that overlooked the pool deck. It was a gorgeous view. I was pretty sure that my father was impressed with the house. He just wasn’t going to say it. But I didn’t want him to be impressed. I wanted him to like it.

  “Dad, where did you hear that rumor?” I tried to make it sound nonchalant. It wasn’t. I really wanted to know.

  My father shrugged his shoulders. I could hear my mother and Lena chatting like old friends in the kitchen. “There was a man who went to the garage. He didn’t get the information that he wanted from Valentino. Not a surprise. So he came to our house and asked us lots of questions about you and our business. He wanted to know if you were leaving St. Louis. It upset your mother. Then you called and said that you were buying a big house here and she figured you wouldn’t be doing that if you weren’t going to stay.”

  My temper was starting to boil. This was not good. A man came to interview my parents? From where? That lame ass Gateway Business Weekly magazine? Who in the hell did this guy think that he was? You did not go around trying to pry into someone’s business like this!

  I don’t remember what made me remember that Lena’s sister worked for that other consulting firm. I wondered if Lena had heard anything from her sister about someone trying to pry into the lives of company employees for insider information. Had someone poked into Lena’s sister’s life?

  “I’m sorry, Dad.” I felt like I owed my father that at least. “Nobody should have been contacting you to try and get information on my business. And I’m sorry that they upset Mom.”

  My father only shrugged and pushed his way through the kitchen into the utility room. “This has a big washer and dryer, mijo! I don’t think you own enough clothes to use this!”

  “Is that your way of suggesting that I give it to you and take your old one?” I asked drily. My father was a wheeler and dealer on the best of days. There was no doubt that he would take a deal if he thought he could get one. “Because if you’d like, I’ll be happy to get you a new washer and dryer.”

  “We don’t want that.” There was something hard in my father’s eye. “It’s only if you don’t need something.”

  “I see.” Meaning that the manner of the gift was the determining factor, not the gift itself. “So you’ll take my washer and dryer, but I have to take yours as a trade?”


  “Exactly.”

  “Dad, I have the money to get you a new washer and dryer. It’s not a big deal. I’m paying cash for the house. I have money. We’ve talked about this. I told you that I would happily pay off the mortgage you and Mom have on your house.” This was one of those things that irritated the heck out of me. Of course, he didn’t know that I owned his house anyway and that the payments that they made to the mortgage company just went into a savings account. Every year when I did their taxes I just kind of glossed over the mortgage interest part, figured out what their benefit would have been, and then reimbursed them out of my pocket.

  “We don’t take charity from our children!” My father drew himself up. He was looking belligerent now. I knew better than to keep arguing about this. It would just upset him that much more. “You and Valentino have worked hard for your success.”

  I felt my knees buckle. “Oh, so now we’ve both worked hard?”

  Dad seemed to need to qualify that statement. “Your brother works harder, but then that’s because he’s building up the business that I left him. It’s a tough way to make a living.”

  “I see.” There it was. The whole thing that my father could not get over about one of his sons refusing to follow in his footsteps even though there would not have been enough business or money for both of us in the garage. I pressed my lips into a tight line because I needed to keep my mouth shut. I needed to. But I couldn’t. “Dad, you need to know that I bought the garage from Valentino. I own that garage. I bought the building so that Valentino could have enough cash to buy new tools and equipment when the place was about to go under. He was going to get a bank loan and I didn’t let him do it. I didn’t want a bank anywhere near that building or that garage.”

  There was a long, heavy pause. I could see the thoughts and emotions warring it out on my father’s face. He was horrified. I don’t know why I’d told him that. I hadn’t intended to. I didn’t want him to think that Val wasn’t working hard. My brother worked his ass off. But owning a small engine repair shop in the city didn’t pay much these days. When Val had considered either getting a bank loan on the building or taking on a partner, I had saved him the trouble.