Brutus shook his head in confusion. "I'm clearly missing something here. You keep saying 'was'. Is he married or not?"
Exasperated, Kelly said, "No, he's not anymore, but he was and didn't tell me. I was sleeping with him while he was married but I thought he was divorced. You know how I feel about women who sleep with married men. I can't believe he allowed me to become one!"
"Shit, I knew you could get a quickie wedding in Vegas but I didn't know you could get divorced so fast."
"He says he was on his way there to sign the papers. He says he thought it was a done deal, that as far as he was concerned, he was already divorced. He hadn't even seen her for six months. But I guess she put up a fight or wanted him back or something. I don't know, but his story was that instead of signing, she kept delaying things."
"And?"
"When I got here yesterday, there was a message from him on my phone saying it was done. She'd signed, a judge had signed and he was officially divorced."
"That's great! Now you can be together!"
Kelly shook her head sadly. "How? What he did was wrong on so many levels."
"Kell, you know I love you, but not everything in life is so black and white." His warm hands clasped hers. "This wasn't some happily married dude cheating on his loving wife and telling you he was single. This was a guy on his way to sign his divorce papers. Do you know how long it takes for a divorce to be finalized? Girl, you need to get over yourself and see this for what it is. A chance at a new life with a guy you're totally sprung for."
Could Brutus be right? She'd felt so betrayed by Rick, like he'd put her in this unthinkable position of being the other woman, that it she thought it would be impossible to forgive him. But how could she be the other woman if their marriage was already over?
It was all so confusing and she didn't want to think about it anymore. Besides, she had more pressing things to worry about, like how she was going to get home with no ID or money, or how she was going to eat. Only when Brutus grabbed her hand did Kelly realize she'd been worriedly rubbing her forehead.
"You've had a long day. Why don't we talk more tomorrow, m'kay?"
Kelly nodded wearily, a sudden exhaustion hitting her like a piano dropped from the tenth floor. She just hoped she'd have the energy to walk back to the apartment.
~ * ~ * ~
All available sleeping spots were filled to capacity that night, owing to Brutus' roommates bringing home several friends to crash. Brute offered to sleep on the floor but Kelly insisted they share his bunk bed. She was big but he was small, so they fit well if they spooned. They'd slept in the same bed on several occasions over the years, mostly after one or the other had enjoyed that night's beverage selection a little too eagerly. Besides, it was comforting to have someone lying next to her.
As Brute's breathing slowed and evened out, Kelly lay curled up next to him for hours, wondering what her future would bring. She had very few options other than returning to her apartment, which seemed practically mansion-like after spending time in this shithole.
The biggest obstacle was coming up with the cash to get there. Brutus would help if he could, but it didn't take a professor of logic to see he had nothing to spare. Rick would no doubt send her whatever she asked for but her pride wouldn't allow that. Beth would probably help but Kelly had no way to reach her since her purse had been stolen. Even before then, actually. What had happened with Beth?
She pushed the unanswerable question away, focusing on her most immediate problem: money. One person would help her without question, without expecting anything in return: Greta. She'd use Brutus' computer to get the gallery's number tomorrow and beg Greta for a loan. Abuela was the answer. With her mind finally at ease, Kelly slipped into the welcome embrace of sleep.
~ * ~ * ~
Light kisses grazed her face, pulling her up from the depths. Large, rough hands held her head gently, lovingly, as soft, full lips traced the outline of her jaw, her brow, her lips. Warm breath caressed her ear. "I found you and I'm never letting you go."
Rick! How had he found her? As a hand raked down her body to cup her breast, she found she didn't care how he'd tracked her down, just that he keep touching her, loving her. God, she'd missed his touch!
"Oh, Rick," she sighed. His lips closed on hers, slowly taking her breath away, his hands never leaving her body. They burned, leaving smoldering skin in their wake.
She needed to touch him, feel him, show him how much she loved him. Her hands ran up his smooth chest, outlining each muscle and ridge she knew so well, his warm skin making her palms tingle. She pressed herself into him, wanting to feel his excitement, his need for her.
"Kelly..." His voice was was a soft breeze, his touch a whisper.
"Oh, Rick..." Her hands slid lower. She wanted to hold him, take him. How could she have left him? It all seemed so trivial now that she was in his arms again.
His hand grasped hers as she massaged his growing bulge. "Kelly..." His tone had turned urgent, as urgent as her need to have him inside her, filling her.
She rubbed harder, moaning softly. "I love you so much."
"I love you, too, my darling, but you've got to stop."
"Why? It feels so good."
"Because you don't have what it takes to satisfy me."
The bulge her hand was saying otherwise. "Mmm, what's that?"
"A great big, purple-headed cock."
Kelly snapped awake. Brutus was grinning over his shoulder at her, his hand pushing hers from his crotch. "Oh, fuck me!"
He rolled his eyes comically. "I think we've already gone over that, Kell. I'm just not that into you."
"God, Brute, I'm so sorry!"
His giggles at her embarrassment were contagious. Soon they were both rolling around the bed, laughing hysterically and clutching at each other while they tried to catch their breath.
"Shaddup!" hissed the roommate on the bottom bunk.
A shoe hit the wall next to their heads, thrown by the roommate on the couch. "Shut the fuck up already!"
Trying to hold back the laughter only made them laugh harder. Candy stomped out of her room and flicked on the light switch. "Hey! Assholes! Some of us have to get up early to go fry up some shit for the tourists tomorrow. Unless you want hash brown nuggets shoved so far up your ass they shoot out your nose, I'd suggest either shutting the fuck up or getting the fuck out."
Applause broke out from every corner of the apartment. Candy snapped off the light and stomped back behind the partition, mumbling, "Fucking assholes," as she went.
Brutus and Kelly lay grinning at each other. "I'm really sorry, Brute," she whispered into his ear.
"I'm pretty sure it wasn't me you were dreaming about, am I right?" he whispered back.
Her lopsided smirk said it all.
"Girl, what are you doing? The guy's divorced now. What's holding you back?"
She honestly wasn't sure anymore. If she was truly honest with herself, the divorce thing was just the catalyst, a good reason to leave. If she was honest, she'd admit that she was worried Rick would break her heart, that he didn't — couldn't possibly — love her as much as she loved him. If she was honest, she'd tell Brutus that running away on her own terms, before she got hurt, seemed like the smart move at the time.
Instead, she just shrugged.
"Okay, roll over, missy. We don't want a repeat performance of that little scene."
Kelly shifted and Brutus' arm wrapped around her, comforting her.
He leaned in and whispered in her ear. "Night, Kell. And just remember," he said soberly, "if you wake up with a cock up your ass, you started it!"
Kelly brayed, resulting in another shoe landing all too close to her head. She clamped a hand over her mouth and snuggled in, happy that Brutus was back in her life.
Chapter Eighteen
Kelly woke to Brutus climbing over her to crawl out of bed. He held a finger to his lips and motioned for her to follow him. They tiptoed into the bathroom and closed the doo
r.
"I need to get to work but these schlubs will sleep till noon, most likely. You wanna come with me? I'll feed you, and you can use my laptop and phone to figure out what's next. Hopefully that includes calling Mr. Right...I mean, Knight."
An hour later, Kelly was sitting at a long, crowded counter, nibbling on an English muffin and sipping a cup of Earl Grey, wishing she had a change of clothes. She'd cleaned up as best she could but the beautiful silk dress was in desperate need of a cleaning after her adventures the day before.
Brute's laptop was set up in front of her, and the webpage for the Pinyon was staring back at her. She had no idea what she was going to say to Greta, but it was almost eight in Vegas, so the timing should be perfect to catch her before she got too busy.
Butterflies battled like gladiators in her stomach as she dialed the number and punched 'send'. When Greta's familiar voice answered, Kelly had to fight the urge to end the call and cry into her poached eggs. As it was, her voice trembled when she spoke.
"Abuela?"
"Kelly, is that you? Oh, dear, I was hoping to hear from you. Are you okay?"
Kelly tried to maintain some control of herself, but tears streamed down her face as she told Greta all that had happened since she last saw her.
"I don't suppose Beth has been there looking for me, has she?" Her breath hitched in her throat at the end.
Greta paused. "No, she hasn't," she said tightly
"Do you think she's okay? I mean, she's not lying in some ditch somewhere, is she?"
Another pause. "No, I'm almost certain that she's perfectly healthy." There was an edge to the older woman's tone. It was so sweet of her to be worried about Kelly.
"I don't know what to do, so I was hoping...Shit! I really hate to ask, Greta, but could you spare..."
Greta cut her off sharply. "Say no more, my dear. Just tell me where you are."
"Oh, Abuela, thank you so much! I'm staying with my old friend Brutus — remember me telling you about him? Anyway, let me ask him what address you should mail it to."
"No, where you are right now. I'll have it delivered."
"Oh! Um..." she relayed the address on the front of the menu.
"You just sit tight, Kelly, and know that you're loved."
Greta rang off, startling Kelly at the brevity of the call, but warmed that the woman had grown to care for her so much in such a short time.
Brutus sped by with a pot of coffee, filling up all the empty cups on the counter. He paused long enough to say, "How's it going, hon? Good? Okay," before speeding off again.
Kelly pecked at her meal while she surfed the web, somehow landing on a page full of photos of Rick. Her heart lurched with longing for him. She traced the jawline of one with a finger, a sad smile playing at her lips.
Some were smiling back at her, some were glaring, but in most, different gorgeous women dangled off his arm, mocking her. They were all frighteningly thin, dressed to the nines, and clinging to him like barnacles. These were the type of women a man like him wanted, not a big girl like her.
She sighed in resignation. Ending it was for the best, she thought as she started to close the laptop. But something on the screen stayed her hand.
She leaned in close but the image was so tiny she couldn't quite make out the details. She tapped the mousepad to open the photo. Up popped a giant close-up of an impossibly handsome and clearly inebriated Rick posing with a gorgeous redhead in front of a wedding chapel. The caption under the photo read: "Richard and Elizabeth Knight announce their marriage."
Kelly was spinning down a tunnel of misery and disbelief. Her stomach clenched and she was having a hard time catching her breath. She wasn't sure if she was going to pass out or puke, neither of which she wanted to do in the middle of the cafe, so she raced for the blessedly empty bathroom.
Locking the door behind her, Kelly slammed her back against the door as if the devil himself was on her heels. Tightness clenched at her chest, her heart was racing. The world turned upside down and she found herself on the floor, hugging her knees and rocking back and forth, gasping loudly for breath.
She remembered what Rick had her do when she was having a panic attack at the cabin: take nice slow breaths, hold them for a few seconds and release them through pursed lips. Concentrating on her breathing pushed everything else out of her mind, and a part of her hoped she wouldn't have to stop, wouldn't have to face reality.
When her breathing normalized, Kelly leaned back against the door and rested her head on her knees. Sobs tore through her as her disbelief turned to puzzlement then to pain and finally anger. How could she have been so stupid?!
The rattle of the doorknob brought her back to the present. "Occupied!" she shouted thickly, trying to keep the tears out of her voice.
"Kelly, it's Brute. Let me in. Now!"
As soon as Brutus was in the room, she was in his arms. "Brutus, I'm an idiot! You were right."
Stroking her hair, he tried to comfort her. "I never said you were an idiot. What are you talking about?"
Kelly pulled away, moving to the sink. Grasping the sides of it, she stared down the grimy drain. "I should have known better, but I was so desperate...I thought this was different..." It was impossible to continue.
"Talk to me, Kell?" He rested a hand on her shoulder.
She spun around, grief etched on her face. "It's her, Brute."
"Who?" He was baffled.
"Liz. She's Liz. What an idiot!"
"Who's Liz?"
"Rick's ex-wife, Liz," she babbled. "Elizabeth. Liz is Beth. Beth is Rick's ex-wife. E-Liz-a-Beth Knight. You were right. She was playing me. She never set up a show, never called in a favor. She didn't care about me, she only cared about getting me out of town and out of Rick's life. God, how did I not see it?!"
Understanding dawned on Brute's face. "Shit, sweetie, how could you? It sounds like she was quite the actress. But why would she do that if they were at the end of the divorce?"
Kelly shook her head, unable to fathom the viciousness of Beth's — Liz's — actions. "I have no idea. Rick did say something about how she was forcing all the delays just to piss him off."
Brutus nodded. "And what would piss him off more than luring his new lady love away? Brilliant."
Kelly shot him a dark look.
"I'm sorry, but the woman is an evil genius," he insisted. "Listen, you don't deserve any of this pain but I can't stay in here much longer or my boss is going to have an aneurism."
He handed her a bottle of mouthwash. "Here. I brought this in just in case you were praying to the porcelain god. Clean yourself up, splash some cold water on your face, and come back to the land of the living, m'kay?"
His devilish grin gave her hope that the world wasn't a bottomless pit of suckage. He opened the door just enough to slip out, but before closing it, he poked his head back in. "Oh, and you have a delivery."
Kelly assessed her reflection. There was no hiding that she'd been bawling her eyes out, but who was she trying to impress out there anyway? She'd never see any of these people again in her life — at least she hoped not. She'd collect the money Greta sent and go directly to the bus station, do not pass go.
Depending on how much there was, maybe she could even afford the train. That would be nice. Long rides on the bus were highly overrated.
As for Beth/Liz, Kelly would just have to accept the fact that she'd been duped. The reason didn't matter as much as the outcome: tearing Rick and her apart. Liz was the winner and Kelly was the loser she'd always assumed she'd be from the moment she met her hot biker.
It was time to face the world. She was face-down in the sink splashing cold water on her eyes to minimize the puffiness when the door opened. "I'll just be a minute," she burbled through the water. Whoever it was closed the door quickly, obviously not meaning to interrupt.
She didn't want to hold up anyone who needed to use the restroom, so she reached out blindly for the paper towel dispenser but couldn't find it.
&nbs
p; "You need some help with that?"
Kelly froze. Her heart leapt into her throat and her entire body flushed at the sound of his deep voice. Heedless of the water stinging her eyes, she turned to gape at him, water dripping off her chin. "Wha..."
She'd meant to ask him what he was doing there, how he'd gotten there, how he found her. But he was leaning against the door, arms crossed in the sexiest manner, and she lost the ability to form words. She launched herself into his arms and their lips met in a desperate, crushing kiss.
Rick's hands burrowed into her hair, grasping her as if she might try to run. It was hardly necessary, since there was nowhere on earth she'd rather be than in his arms. Salt from the tears streaming down her cheeks flavored their kiss, until Rick broke free.
"Kelly, I'm sorry," he murmured in her ear. "You have to know I never meant...I never thought it would...I'm sorry." He buried his face in her neck, his nuzzling sending currents of need through her.
Her arms were clenched around his neck so tightly she worried she might be cutting off his circulation, but she was unable to loosen her hold. She never wanted to let go of him again.
They stood swaying, breathing each others' scent, in the tiny bathroom. Kelly's body would occasionally contract in a half-sob, half-laugh as she tried to process everything.
Rick finally pulled back, his gaze raking every inch of her face. "Are you okay? I searched for you everywhere in the Lower East Side. Checked all the hospitals, called as many hotels as I could find, walked the streets half the night until the Soto Gallery opened so I could find out if you'd been there. I've been out of my mind."
He held her face in his hands like a priceless treasure, drinking her in, brushing back stray hairs. She grinned as he peppered her damp skin with kisses, just as he'd done in her dream. "How did you find me?"
"Greta. I went down there yesterday afternoon to see if she knew where you'd gone. She only knew what I did, that you had some mysterious show here set up by this Beth person."
A storm swirled in his sea-green eyes. "Kelly, I need to tell you something about Beth."
Vegas Knights Page 16
