“Who do you think you are?” Rob said.
“You know who I am, Rob. I’m Grant Lucas. My job, my only job, is to look after Lacey Eden. If you were the right man for her, that would be one thing, but you’re nothing more than a scumbag piece of shit.”
“Fuck you.”
“Yeah, fuck me,” I said. “I know about your plan to rip her off, too.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your little debt at the loan company. What is it? Two million and change?”
There was a look of complete shock on his face. “How do you know about that?”
“Let’s just say, I think they’re going to be pressuring you a lot harder for their money in the near future.”
“What?”
“And you better come up with a new plan to get it for them, because Lacey is off limits.”
“Lacey is my fiancée.”
“No she’s not, you piece of shit. You had your chance with her, and you blew it.”
“So what? You’re going to tell her who she can and can’t marry.”
“No. You’re going to call off the engagement, Rob. And if you don’t, I’ll make it so that your life won’t be worth living.”
The woman’s voice called out again from upstairs. “Rob, what’s going on?”
“Just a minute, Cassie,” Rob said. “It’s just some business.”
“Should I call the police?” I said.
“No,” Rob said. Then he went quiet. He looked at me. “What do you know about my debt?”
I shrugged. “What’s to know? You’ve got some addiction you’ve been financing by borrowing money from them. I don’t need to know the details.”
Rob laughed. “You think you’re real clever, don’t you, Grant. Coming in here, telling me what’s what. Forbidding me from marrying Lacey.”
He was standing next to his desk and in a single, fluid motion, his hand reached for a drawer. Instantly, I leapt toward him, but I wasn’t fast enough. He grabbed a gun, a nine-millimeter, and pulled the trigger. I was diving for him, in midair, when the bullet tore through the flesh of my left shoulder, sending me into a spasm of agony.
I landed on Rob and grabbed his gun arm before he could fire another bullet. I brought him to the floor, the gun sliding across the ground away from him. I punched him once, hard, in the face, and a second time in the gut.
“That’s for Lacey, you son of a bitch. If you ever go near her again, I’ll kill you.”
He looked up into my eyes, my blood flowing down my arm and onto him, and he knew I meant it.
“All right,” he said.
“You call her, make some excuse, and tell her the engagement is off.”
“All right,” he said again.
“And Rob?”
“Yeah.”
“If she asks if you cheated on her, don’t tell her the truth. She doesn’t deserve to hear that shit again. Not from you. She’s been through enough already.”
“All right,” he said, clearly terrified.
I don’t know if it was the punches that knocked the fear into him, or the fact that he’d pulled the trigger of his own gun and put a bullet in me, but he was scared now. I wouldn’t have any more problems from him. He didn’t strike me as the kind of man who’d ever shot someone before, and it might have been the shock of seeing how small an effect the bullet had had on me, but I knew he’d back down. When it came to Lacey, it would take a lot more than a bullet to stop me, and he could see it in my eyes.
“You’re not going to hurt me?” he said, as I climbed off him.
“Not unless you shoot me again,” I said, a small smile on my face.
“You seem to be taking the fact that I shot you pretty well,” he said as he climbed back to his feet.
“Well, Rob, the way I look at it, as much of a dirtbag as you are, I owe you.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because until you came along, I never realized just how deeply I needed Lacey. I always thought I could live my life without her. Now, thanks to you, I realize that without her, my life is nothing. So for that, I’ll always thank you, even if you are a complete prick.”
“I showed you all that?”
“You showed me that there’s no one out there who will ever come close to loving her the way I do. Not even close. I’d die for her. I’d kill for her. And that’s the kind of love she deserves.”
“So you’re going to go home and ask her out?”
I laughed. “No, Rob.” I said. “I’m not going to ask her out. I’m going to go home, and I’m going to fucking claim her. I’m going to make her mine, and she’ll never even think about a guy like you again.”
Chapter 36
Grant
FROM ROB’S PLACE, I INTENDED to ride straight home, but I was losing so much blood from the gunshot wound that I had to see a doctor. I knew I couldn’t risk showing up at a hospital, not after pulling off a robbery the same night, so I dropped by a twenty-four hour pet clinic on the edge of town and walked in.
A receptionist in a cute nurse’s outfit greeted me.
“How can I help you, sir?”
She glanced at my hand, which was dripping blood, and then at the bullet hole in my leather jacket at the shoulder. Calmly, she took in the rest of my outfit, my gloves, my helmet, and my backpack. Her hand moved toward the phone.
“I know how this looks,” I said. “I’ve been shot, and I can’t go to the hospital because they’ll ask too many questions.”
“Yes,” she said, uncertainly. “Criminals come in looking like you.”
“What if I told you I’m not a bad guy?”
“They all say that,” she said, “and then they pull a gun on me.”
I looked around the waiting room. No one was there apart from her and me. I took my backpack from my shoulders and handed it to her. “The gun’s in there,” I said.
She took the pack and looked inside.
“Look,” I said. “I understand that you’re supposed to call the police, and I understand that you don’t know me, and don’t know what kind of man I am, so I’m just going to be straight with you.”
“Please do.”
“I do break the law from time to time.”
“No kidding.”
“But I don’t hurt people.”
“I’m sure,” she said.
“And I won’t force you to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I see.”
“But I am asking you for your help. I got shot tonight, by a man who’s engaged to get married.”
“That doesn’t sound like a situation in which you’d usually get shot.”
“Well, he’s engaged to my girl. The woman I’m supposed to marry. Do you understand that? She’s the love of my life, she’s the air I breathe, and she was going to marry him. She’s my girl. I swear it.”
“Does she know that?”
“I think she does.”
“Then why is she engaged to the other guy?”
“Because I’ve been a fool. I hesitated when I should have made a move. I’ve been in love with her my entire life, but I didn’t have the balls to tell her when I should have.”
“That’s pretty stupid.”
“Yes, it is, but I’m fixing it now,” I said. “Step one was to tell her fiancé he couldn’t have her.”
“And he didn’t like that?”
“He put this bullet in my arm,” I said, “if that answers your question.”
“But how am I supposed to know that you’re the one she’s supposed to be with, and not the other guy?” the nurse said.
“I’ll tell you why,” I said. “Because I’m truly in love with her. I’ve been in love with her since the moment I set eyes on her, and that was a very long time ago. I’m thirty-eight years old, but I first met her when I was twenty-one. Her father took me in, trained me in my trade, and we both grew up in the same house.”
“So that’s why you never told her you loved her?”
“Yes, because we were supposed to be a family. But in my heart, she was always the one. I just couldn’t see it. I didn’t allow myself to see it. And I let her go from man to man, always selling herself short. None of the guys she was with were ever good to her. When I confronted her fiancé tonight, he was with another woman. His secretary.”
“He was cheating on her?”
“Yes.”
“And they aren’t even married yet?”
“That’s the God’s honest truth,” I said.
“And what are you going to do about it?”
I thought for a second. “Well, for a start, I’m going to tell her what a fool I’ve been. Then I’m going to make it up to her for everything that I’ve done wrong in the past seventeen years. Then I’m going to give her the life she deserves.”
“That’s a lot.”
“But I can’t do it while I’m losing half a quart of blood per hour,” I said, raising my arm.
She looked at my shoulder, then at my face. She sighed. “All right,” she said, “but you can’t ever tell anyone about this. My boss would lose his license if it got out.”
“I won’t be telling anyone,” I said. “Is your boss here?”
“No, he only comes in if there’s an emergency. I can take out the bullet and patch you up.”
“All right,” I said.
I followed her back to the operating room. There was a sedated dog on the bed, asleep.
“What’s wrong with him?” I said.
“He stepped on a piece of glass. Someone was inconsiderate enough to leave broken glass where a dog might step on it.”
I removed my jacket and shirt and lay back on the table next to the dog. I gritted my teeth, clenched my fists, and twenty minutes later the bullet was out of my shoulder and the hole was stitched up.
“I still recommend you see a real doctor,” the girl said.
“I’ll be fine.” I reached into my bag and pulled out ten hundred-dollar bills and handed them to her.
“This is too much.”
“It’s the least I can do,” I said.
As I made my way for the door she called after me. “Don’t you want to stay for a few hours and rest? That was a deep wound.”
“You know I’ve got a girl to see,” I said. “I’ve waited seventeen years. I can’t waste another minute.”
On the ride home, I felt more alive than I had in a long time. The pain in my shoulder burned at first but as I got used to it, it grew easier to bear. I thought about Rob, and what I’d learned from him. I hadn’t been kidding. He really did show me what a fool I’d been, refusing to step up and tell Lacey I wanted her to be my woman. There wasn’t a man alive who could love her the way I did. I knew it in my bones. It just wasn’t possible. If every woman is given one man by God to be their soulmate, then I was Lacey’s. Waiting another second to tell her that would be a crime.
I pulled into a gas station off the highway and used the payphone.
“Is this Lombardi?” I asked, when it answered.
“Yes. Who the fuck is this?”
“This is the guy who just robbed your San Francisco branch.”
Lombardi started laughing, a hoarse, throaty laugh. “You dumb fuck. I’m going to kill you for this.”
“Hold your horses,” I said. “I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”
“What the fuck?”
“Listen carefully, because I’m only going to say this once. The bad news is that I’m going to rip off every single one of your other branches, all across the country, when you least expect it.”
“Fuck you.”
“The good news is that you can stop me.”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “How?” he said at last.
“You can forgive the debt of Rob Crawford. I owe the guy. If you forgive his debt, I’ll turn my attentions elsewhere.”
I hung up the phone. I didn’t know if the guy was going to accept the offer or not. To be honest, I didn’t really care. I’d done my part. I’d gained something from Rob Crawford. He was a douche, but he taught me a lesson I needed to learn. If the loan sharks wanted to cut him some slack because of it, so be it.
I rode on, toward Lacey.
Chapter 37
Lacey
CALL ME AN IDIOT, but I was all over the Internet looking at baby things. I know, I had a lot more important things to be doing than picking out a crib, but I couldn’t help myself. If you’ve ever been pregnant, you’ll understand. The baby was all I could think about. I should have been figuring out a way to break the news to Rob, or even to Grant who was the actual father, but instead, I was looking at picture after picture of every product you could possibly buy for a new baby. They also had maternity wear, vitamins and supplements to help the baby grow, even music you could play to your belly so that the baby was born with a head full of Mozart and Beethoven.
I was about to place an order for a couple of books for expectant mothers when my cell phone rang.
“This is Lacey,” I said, for some reason hoping it was Grant calling.
It wasn’t. It was Rob.
“Oh,” I said, “hi, honey. Did the jewelry store call you about the engagement ring yet?”
I’d been nervous ever since choosing it. I’d been in a funny mood at the time, and now I had no idea how he’d react when he got the news that I’d selected such an expensive diamond.
“That’s the thing I wanted to talk to you about, Lacey.”
“Is it the price? I can choose something cheaper. That was a pretty extravagant ring.”
“It’s not the price. It’s something else.”
“Well, what is it, Rob?” I said, starting to worry. “Has something happened?”
“No, nothing’s happened, it’s just … .”
“Just what?”
There was a long pause. “It’s just, I have to call off the wedding, Lacey.”
“What?” I said, as if he’d just slapped me in the face.
“I’m afraid so.”
“You’re afraid so? You only just asked me to marry you. I’ve told all my friends.”
“I’m sorry about that.”
“Why are you doing this?”
There was another pause, as if he was thinking of what to say. All the worst possible thoughts flashed through my mind. I’d been rejected before by men, but I would never get used to it. It hurt more than anything else. I knew what was coming next. He was going to say it was because I wasn’t beautiful enough. I didn’t measure up to the women at his work, like Cassie. I could picture her, her perfect body, her perfect breasts, her perfect face. That’s what he wanted. He was going to tell me he was already cheating on me with her, or someone just like her. He was going to break my heart, and then stamp all over the pieces, leaving them in tattered ruins so that I’d never be able to open my heart to another man again.
“It’s just too sudden,” he said.
“Too sudden?”
“I asked you to marry me so quickly, without thinking, because I was so attracted to you, Lacey.”
“I never even felt like you were that attracted to me. You’ve hardly touched me. We haven’t even, you know, had sex.”
“That’s because I was too intimidated by you.”
“Intimidated?”
“Yes, you’re the most beautiful girl I ever went out with. That’s why I proposed.”
“Really? I thought I didn’t measure up to the hot women at your clinic.”
“Not at all, Lacey. You’re way more beautiful than all of them. It’s just, I proposed to you without giving proper consideration to my position in life. I’ve got a lot of things going on at work. I don’t think I can commit to our relationship, and our marriage, and give it the attention it deserves right now. It wouldn’t be fair of me to hold you to the proposal.”
“So you’re calling off the wedding because you want to focus on your career?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Not because you don’t
think I’m good enough?”
“Not at all. If anything, you’re too good.”
My heart was pounding in my chest. This was the best breakup I’d ever had in my life. I was used to guys breaking up with me so that they could screw other women. It was a completely new experience to hear this, even if it still carried all the heartbreak of a breakup. The thing was, I wasn’t heartbroken. If I was honest, my heart wasn’t in the relationship with Rob either. It was something that had just happened. There wasn’t any passion in it for either of us.
Plus, it meant I wouldn’t have to think of a way to tell him I was pregnant with Grant’s baby. I supposed that was a relief of sorts.
“So it wasn’t the quarter of a million dollar engagement ring?” I asked.
Rob laughed. There was stress in his voice, but I think he was genuinely relieved that he didn’t have to deal with that ring.
“About that,” he said. “The jewelers called me. They said you’d selected a ring, but then they said that it had been sold to someone else.”
“What?”
“Yes, someone else bought it for his fiancée. I wouldn’t have been able to give it to you.”
“Someone else bought it?”
“Yes, and they called the very day you were in their shop, so whoever bought it, bought it the same day you looked at it.”
“Damn,” I said. “I’d have thought the lady at the store would have held it for me for a while at least. She knew I wanted it.”
“I guess at that price, they take the sale when they can get it.”
“Wow. That’s one lucky girl,” I said. “That ring was a one in a million.”
“Tell me about it,” Rob said.
“I only chose it because I was upset with you for not coming with me.”
Rob laughed again, but it was a pretty weak laugh. We wished each other well and hung up. All in all, I’d say it was the gentlest, most lighthearted breakup I’d ever been through. Which was a surprise given the fact that we’d been engaged to be married.
I put down the phone and let out a long sigh. I was relieved. I didn’t want to spend my life alone, not by a long shot, but deep down, I always knew Rob wasn’t the man for me. Plus, it meant I’d no longer have to wear the crazy make up and clothing he’d insisted on. I’d keep some of it, I liked looking good, but only the things I genuinely liked.
Wife Me Bad Boy Page 17
