Dirty Little Secrets

by Elise Noble

  A laugh burst out of me. “Honestly? I’ve barely given him a thought since yesterday afternoon. But yes, he sent me a plant and another note. Left it outside Deals on Wheels. So I guess I should be worried, but what terrifies me is that I’ll never see Luca again.”

  “So call him. Right now, you’re scared of something that might never happen.”

  “But what if it does?”

  “Once you have actual facts, you can react accordingly. Bury your head in the sand for long enough, and you’ll suffocate.”

  What Darla said made so much sense, but there was a part of me that wanted to put off speaking with Luca. Because if he was going to devastate me, I didn’t want to find out. Suffocation might even be preferable.

  But Darla was still staring at me.

  And deep down, I knew she was right.

  Time to put my big-girl panties on.

  The phone rang once, twice, and then Luca picked up. At least it hadn’t gone to voicemail. I moved to the corner of the store to get some privacy and prayed.

  “Hey.”

  Just the sound of his voice made my knees go weak. “Are you okay?”

  “Shouldn’t that be my question?”

  “You were the one bleeding.”

  “Yeah.”

  One word. That was it. The silence stretched so long that I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “Are we over?” I blurted.

  “Fuck, no.” Then a note of caution entered Luca’s voice. “Unless you want us to be?”

  “Oh, thank goodness. I got so worried, and you didn’t answer my message, and…”

  “Because I wanted to speak to you in person. I don’t do well with trying to put this shit into writing.”

  “Where are you?”

  “In the forest behind the picnic ground.”

  That was practically next door. Well, three buildings away. The Craft Cabin was next to Annie’s Hair and Beauty, which was next to Mary’s Coffee House, and on the other side of the coffee house was an empty lot that had once been a bait and tackle store, but it had burned down when I was in elementary school and nobody ever rebuilt. Grass and bushes had taken over now, and Mart and Mary who owned the coffee house had set out picnic tables so their patrons could sit outside when the weather was good.

  But why was Luca there?

  Then it hit me, and my chest seized.

  “Oh my goodness, you slept outside last night? Aren’t you freezing?”

  The weather had turned unseasonably cold, and rain had been falling since I woke up. The thought of Luca hunkering under a bush made me angry at Aaron all over again.

  Luca’s laughter was unexpected. “Outside? Nah, I got a bed at the Peninsula.”

  “The Peninsula?”

  “Figured I deserved room service after the shit Aaron pulled. The receptionist got snooty about the blood, but then that Belinsky guy showed up and bought me a drink.”

  “Then why are you in the forest?”

  “I’m waiting for Asa Phillips to finish his cigarette and get off the phone so I can come see you. He’s standing under the awning outside the coffee house.”

  Since Asa would be going from the coffee house to work with Aaron, that was a smart idea. “I’ll sneak out to the parking lot for a few minutes. Darla won’t mind.”

  “Don’t leave the building until I get there.”

  “Okay, I won’t. I promise.”

  “Five minutes, sweetheart.” A pause. “I missed you last night.”

  “Missed you too.”

  I must have been smiling when I put the phone down because Darla had an “I told you so” look on her face.

  “Good news?” she asked.

  “He’s here. Well, not here, here, but outside. Can I take a short break? I know I just arrived, but I’ll make up the time over lunch.”

  “No problem, hun. Use the back room if you want. I’ll hold the fort out here.” She tilted her chin toward her laptop screen. “We had nearly fifty orders overnight, but most of them are straightforward.”

  On impulse, I flung my arms around Darla again. She’d proven to be a good friend through all of this. And thank goodness I was working with Darla and not Paulo today. Paulo would be either digging for details on the exact circumstances of the argument because gossip could never be juicy enough for him, or on his way to Deals on Wheels to berate Aaron for ruining Luca’s good looks.

  Five minutes passed before Luca knocked softly on the back door. I let him in and then locked it behind him again. Safety first. He’d drilled me well.

  “It’s so good—” I started, then gasped as he flipped his hood back. His nose was swollen, both eyes bruised. One of them was bloodshot, and although I wanted to kiss him, I didn’t dare because the left side of his lip was scabbed over where Aaron had split it. “My gosh. You look… You look… Do you need to go to the hospital?”

  “Nah. I’ve been better, but I’ve also been worse. I put some ice on my nose once I got to the hotel last night. The swelling’s gone down now.” He spread his arms, and I walked into the hug. Almost cried again, but this time with relief. “Go easy. I don’t think my ribs are broken, but they sure are bruised.”

  “Why did you let Aaron do this? Why?”

  “He needed to get it out of his system.”

  “But—”

  “Shh. It’s done. If I’d seen Romi in the position you were in last night, I’d have lost it too.”

  I laid my head against his shoulder, careful not to press too hard. While I might not have agreed with their methods, I guess I could understand why they’d gone at it. When they were teenagers, they’d let their fists do the talking, Luca more than anyone.

  “We lost our last two days,” I said, breathing him in. He’d showered this morning. Whatever shampoo they gave out at the Peninsula, it smelled nice. Lime and mandarin and something sweet. Honey, perhaps.

  “We’ll have plenty more days.”

  “How? You’re leaving.”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  I raised my eyes to his. “You’re not?”

  Luca pressed his lips against my forehead. “I can’t. Not when you’re here.”

  “But Aaron—”

  “Will get used to the idea.”

  “What if he doesn’t?”

  Luca sucked in a breath, then winced. I winced with him.

  “We’ll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. I only know we have to try.”

  “What Aaron said about other women…”

  “Maybe I did get crazy in New York. Back then, I was spending most of the year in the damn desert, and the only attention my dick got was from my hand. So when we went out to bars and women started throwing themselves at me, yeah, I let them. But none of them were you. That’s why I was never interested in more than one night. Brooke, I love you. And I can’t just go back to Africa and act as if the last month didn’t happen.”

  “You…you love me?”

  “Always have, always will. Fuck, why are you crying? I thought women liked that stuff?”

  “We do. We definitely do.” I didn’t know which parts of him were safe to touch, so I had to settle for kissing him on the cheek. “I’ve been in love with you forever.”

  “Then we’ve got most of what we need. The rest is just logistics.”

  He was right. Love was the foundation. We could build on it over time, and it would only get stronger.

  “Where do we go from here?”

  “Figure the next couple of months are gonna be tough, but we’ll get through them. Let Aaron do the brother thing. Don’t push him away. Once he realises I’m not competition, that there’s room in your life for both of us, he’ll come around. And while we’re waiting for him to do that, we’ll catch that motherfucker who hurt you.”

  “How?”

  “I already called Colt. We plan to start by keeping an eye on Steve. He’s the best candidate right now, and either we’ll catch him or we’ll rule him out.”

  “Be careful.�
�

  “I’m—” Luca gave a wry laugh. “I was about to say I’m always careful, but after last night… Maybe in twenty years, we’ll be able to see the funny side.”

  “I hope so.”

  “In the meantime, you need to watch your back. Stay at Deals on Wheels and make sure Aaron sleeps outside your door. Get him to drive you to work, and if you need to go anywhere else, make sure Aaron or Colt goes with you. This fucker’s out there, watching. Waiting. And if he puts his hands on you again, I’m gonna do jail time.”

  “I promise I won’t go anywhere alone.”

  Luca’s expression softened. “Good. I’ll call you later, okay? How do you feel about phone sex?”

  “Addy always says I should try new things.”

  “Remind me to thank her.” Luca cupped my cheeks in his hands and pressed his lips to mine. “Stay safe, Brooke. I love you.”

  This time when I walked into the store, I was grinning like an idiot.

  30

  Brooke

  It would take time, Luca had said.

  So far, Aaron hadn’t mentioned last night once, but he was trying hard to be nice to me. After he picked me up from work, he’d driven us to North Bend to collect dinner from La Cantina because he knew it was my favourite, but all that did was remind me of Mexican night with Luca.

  “Did you go to the office today?” I asked as we spread the food out over the workbench. Yes, I still wanted to kick Aaron in the shins, but I forced myself to see the bigger picture and stick to Luca’s game plan. Aaron actually looked as bad as Luca, although not quite so bruised. The dark circles around Aaron’s eyes came from exhaustion rather than fists, and his hangover hadn’t been kind either.

  “For a couple of hours. Asa told me to go home and get some sleep.”

  “And did you?”

  “Not really.”

  I sank onto the couch, trying to block out the bad memories. Colt had done a good job on the bloodstains, so at least I didn’t have those staring me in the face.

  “Maybe if you took a pill? Or drank some of that herbal tea?”

  “Can’t. Colt said I needed to stay alert. Damn, Brooke, why didn’t you tell me?”

  “We already went through that.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Aaron gave a heavy sigh. “I know. I hate that you’ve been dealing with this alone for so long.”

  “If I’d thought it would turn out like this, I’d have said something. But I wrote off that night as a moment of gross stupidity, swore I’d never put myself in that position again, and tried to push it to the back of my mind. Reporting it to the police would have meant rehashing it over and over, and I just wanted to forget. And it’s not as if they’d have caught the person. They still can’t catch him, and he’s been following me all over town.”

  “Then they’ll have to try harder. I called the sheriff earlier, and he’s promised to assign more manpower to the case. They’re going to start checking out people on the local sex offenders’ register and look into similar crimes. Colt said he’d be surprised if it was the first time the guy’s done this.”

  I shuddered at the thought. Had other girls suffered the way I was suffering? Did they feel that prickle of fear every time they stepped into a social situation? Had they changed their habits to ensure they didn’t have to travel home alone at night? Did they have the nightmares? The low-level anxiety that never quite dissipated?

  I wanted to tell Aaron that Luca had been helping too. That he’d kept me safe and made my living arrangements more secure. But now wasn’t the time, so I kept my mouth shut.

  “Thanks. How are you holding up? After Clarissa, I mean.”

  A shrug. “She says she’s sorry, that it didn’t mean anything.”

  “You spoke to her?”

  “She called me.”

  “Do you know who the guy was?”

  “Someone she works with. Now I realise why she spent so many late nights at the office.”

  “Wow, that really sucks. Want me to make you a voodoo Clarissa doll? I have plenty of pins.”

  “Tempting.” Aaron managed a half-smile. “What stings is that I honestly thought we were good together. We both had our careers, and she didn’t mind when I got caught up in a case. She was smart. We liked the same food, the same music, the same shows. She was great in— Never mind. You don’t need to know that.”

  No, I definitely didn’t.

  “You might have had the same taste in TV, but you had different values. She cheated, and you stayed faithful.”

  Aaron’s phone screen lit up, and he groaned.

  “Is that her?”

  “The third text this evening.”

  “Why don’t you block her?”

  “Because… I don’t know. I just don’t think I’m ready to do that yet.”

  “Why?” Surely he couldn’t mean…? “You’re not thinking of taking her back, are you?”

  Silence.

  “Aaron, no.”

  “She said it only happened twice.”

  “Twice. So she couldn’t even claim it was a drunken one-off. And she was messaging with him while you were on vacation.” He moved to pick up the phone, but I snatched it away. “Forget it. Forget her.”

  “I’m not sure I can.”

  “You want to hear the truth? I don’t like Clarissa. I never liked Clarissa.” Since he’d been brutally honest about Luca last night, I figured I’d return the favour. “She’s smug and annoying and she thinks she’s better than everyone else.”

  Aaron’s eyes widened. “What? But I always thought you got along okay?”

  “Well, now you know that we didn’t.” I tucked the phone down the side of the couch cushion, out of reach. Away from temptation. Not just Aaron’s but mine too. Good thing I wasn’t drinking tonight, or I might have been tempted to tell the witch what I really thought of her. “You want more guacamole?”

  I hoped Aaron’s weighty sigh might signify the release of Clarissa’s hold over him. She didn’t deserve to stand on the pedestal he’d put her on.

  “A man can never have too much guac.”

  “Aaron found out about Luca? Holy shit! I didn’t say anything, I swear.”

  “Yes, I know that.” I tried to keep things vague for Addy, but she filled in the gaps all by herself and dissolved into laughter. “It’s not funny.”

  “You’re telling me you had Luca’s disco stick in your freaking mouth, and your brother walked in? That’s, like, one of those stories you read on the internet and think ‘no way, never happened.’ Was it big? It was enormous, right?”

  “Addy!”

  “Sorry. I mean, no wonder Aaron went bananas. He must’ve had a really bad day. Clarissa’s such a bitch. Like, she probably barks at fleas in her sleep.”

  “A total bitch. But I’m worried that Aaron’s not quite as over her as we’d like him to be. She told him she made a mistake—twice—but it’ll never happen again.”

  “Yeah, right. A dog doesn’t change its spots.”

  “I think that’s actually a leopard.”

  “Whatever. Dogs have spots too. Brooke, we have to fix this. Aaron deserves better.”

  “Agreed.”

  “So you have to stop him from giving in to her tail-wagging while I do some investigation.”

  “Uh, what?”

  “I know where she works. I have friends. Ergo, I can find out whether it really was a two-off. I bet you a pitcher of margaritas that it was more like a ten-off.”

  “I’m not allowed a pitcher of margaritas at the moment.”

  “Fine, you can have a glass. I hear Applejack’s has started serving the best margaritas. Let’s catch up for a progress meeting next week.”

  “I’m not allowed to go to Applejack’s either.”

  “No, you’re not allowed to go to Applejack’s alone, and you won’t be. I’ll be there. Hell, bring Aaron too. We can tell him all Clarissa’s dirty little secrets and hook him up with a new girl at the same time. What’s the name of that girl
who bought the bar?”

  “Taya?”

  “She’s pretty. And he likes the strong, independent type.”

  “I don’t even know if she’s single.”

  “C’mon, it’ll be fun.”

  “I’m not sure…”

  “You don’t need to be sure. I’m sure. Next Wednesday—save the date.”

  Dinner promised to be a disaster, but Addy was a force of nature. Arguing with a tornado would be easier. And I had to admit that asking around about Clarissa wasn’t a terrible idea. Like Addy, I didn’t believe it was the fleeting affair she claimed either, and I definitely didn’t want her as a sister-in-law. If Aaron was hesitant to cut her out of his life, then it was my sisterly duty to help by handing him the knife.

  “Fine, Wednesday. But I’m not getting drunk.”

  “Let’s settle for tipsy.”

  “Addy…”

  “Enjoy your dirty phone sex with Luca.”

  “Wait, how did you know…?”

  “Just a lucky guess. Toodles!”

  31

  Luca

  “You’re still here?” Nico Belinsky slid onto the next bar stool, still wearing a tie at eight o’clock in the evening.

  “I needed somewhere to stay for a few weeks, and this seemed like as good a place as any. Nice gym, by the way.”

  That was an understatement. In my experience, most hotel gyms consisted of a treadmill and an exercise bike slung into a dusty corner with one of those “jack of all trades, master of none” weight machines if you were lucky. The gym at the Peninsula was an athlete’s paradise. I’d spent an hour lifting free weights this morning and then gone for a swim in a pool actually big enough to do laps in.

  The rates weren’t cheap, but I’d thought “fuck it” and booked a room for three weeks anyway. I wanted to stay close to Brooke, and my years living in CHUs and tents and shitty cabins had let me build up my bank balance. I’d have to find a job in the next few months, but I wasn’t in any burning hurry.

  “Thanks. I drew up the specifications myself. Drink?”