Little Bird (The Tangled Series)

by Gaines, Liza

  “I’m sure. I don’t want it.” Savannah nodded again, more confident this time.

  Lee was so earnest and genuine; she didn’t doubt his intentions. Letting go of her own feelings of indebtedness wouldn’t be quite so simple, but knowing he didn’t expect repayment of any kind helped. Buying the painting just to spare her feelings had been a thoughtful, selfless act on his part. He’d had the ability to help and he did. She admired him for it.

  In fact, the more she considered her feelings, it wasn’t just admiration. She loved him. If she were being honest with herself, she’d probably been falling in love since the moment they met. Lee gave the appearance of being a cocky, arrogant playboy and he was good at playing the part. But that wasn’t the real him, or rather, it wasn’t all of him. He had baggage and vulnerabilities of his own and she was one of the few people he’d chosen to share them with. Until now, she hadn’t wanted to admit her feelings for him. It was too soon, too fast. Out of self-preservation she couldn’t acknowledge the way her heart swelled when she thought about him because it was a foregone conclusion she would get hurt in the end.

  She couldn’t deny it any longer. Not because he’d just spent a ridiculous amount of money on a painting, but because if their roles had been reversed she’d have done the same for him. Getting hurt didn’t seem so inevitable anymore.

  “I’m certain, Levon. Keep it.” Savannah smiled as she repeated her decision. Her sudden giddy excitement, after her earlier confusion and uncertainty, was a little like being buzzed after one too many glasses of champagne. She was happy and she couldn’t seem to contain it.

  “I have no idea what just happened in that fascinating head of yours but okay, if you’re sure.” Lee took her hand, lacing their fingers together, and started leading her back to the crowd. He stopped abruptly after they’d gone only a few steps. “Savannah, if things don’t work out with us, I’ll give the painting to you. You can keep it or destroy it or give it back to Joni. Whatever you want. If we’re not together it should be yours to do with as you like.”

  “Okay, thank you.” Savannah kept her response lighthearted but she hoped like hell that painting was never hers.

  Mike stood behind Ginny just inside the gallery, both hands on her shoulders as she shrugged out of her wrap. He was staring at the base of her neck and thinking of dipping his head for a quick kiss when he heard her sputter.

  “That son of a bitch.”

  Mike’s head came up and he followed his wife’s gaze to the center of the room where Lee and Savannah stood talking in a small group of people. They had their backs to the door. Savannah cozily nestled into Lee’s side, his arm around her waist and his hand casually resting on her hip. Mike and Ginny watched as Lee bent his head to whisper something in Savannah’s ear, his hand dropping to her bottom to goose her as she looked up at him with undisguised adoration.

  They’d come to Joni’s opening because she hung around the office visiting Savannah and babysat for them a few times, but Mike suddenly found himself wishing they’d stayed home. This definitely wasn’t going to be the relaxing evening out he’d hoped to share with his wife.

  “I’m going to kill him, Mike.” Mike nodded, completely understanding his wife’s anger but he was surprised when she added, “And after he’s dead I’m going to kill you.”

  He dropped his eyes to look at her. She was definitely mad. “Gin, I tried to warn her, to warn them both, but they’re adults and they’ll make their own decisions whether we like it or not.”

  Ginny looked up at him and glared. “For Christ’s sake, Mike, I love him as much as you do. He’s practically family. But you’re delusional if you can’t see this is going to be a disaster.”

  Mike gave his wife a bemused look. “I don’t understand you sometimes, Ginny. Anyone else criticizes him and you’d fight to the death to defend him but you’re also his harshest critic.”

  Giving Mike a level look Ginny amended her previous statement. “He’s family, Mike. You know why I’m the way I am with him.”

  Mike did know.

  Ginny and Lee were the same age, both a year older than Mike. They’d met on the first day of their freshman year at college because Lee shared a dorm room with Ginny’s twin brother, Jason. For the first few weeks they knew each other Lee had pursued Ginny mercilessly, mostly because he pursued every woman mercilessly, but she had flatly rejected him at every turn.

  It was on the night Ginny was raped that everything changed between them forever. She’d been walking back to her dorm late one Friday night, drunk and alone after leaving a house party, when she was attacked, raped and brutally beaten by a man who had apparently followed her from the party. That was before the days when everyone had a cell phone. After the attack, Ginny had fortunately managed to make her way to a nearby emergency phone, which were common on college campuses in those days.

  In a panic, scared and hurt and not knowing what else to do, she called her brother. Lee had been the only one home when she called and he almost hadn’t answered because he was entertaining his own current fling. But for some inexplicable reason Lee and Ginny would both later attribute to fate, something made him answer.

  It was Lee who went and found Ginny. It was Lee who took her back to his dorm and held her while she cried. It was Lee who convinced her to let him call the police. It was Lee who sat with her all weekend in the hospital until Jason, off on a drunken bender of his own, was finally located on Sunday afternoon. It was Lee who eventually convinced her to tell her parents about the attack. And it was Lee, along with her parents and her brother, who attended the trial with her every day. Lee had seen her through all of it and on the day her rapist was sentenced it was Lee she turned to first to hold her while she wept.

  After the attack, Lee never came on to Ginny again. In fact, Lee introduced her to Mike the following year. What Lee and Ginny had was too important to risk by involving sex and even Lee had been smart enough to realize that. They were family, but the best kind of family, the kind you made for yourself instead of the kind you wound up with as a quirk of fate.

  Their relationship wasn’t always easy. Sometimes they gave Mike a headache with the fighting and bickering and bitching at each other, but in the end they shared a connection that was stronger than blood and uniquely their own. They were fiercely loyal to one another, and Ginny never forgot that Lee had been there for her when no one else had been, her biggest ally and strongest supporter during the hardest time of her life. For his part, ever since that horrible night nearly twenty years ago, Lee had been there for her without fail anytime she needed him, no questions asked and no matter the reason.

  Cara had been jealous. She’d never understood the special bond Lee and Ginny shared. It had never bothered Mike though. He supposed that was mostly because he felt forever indebted to Lee for taking care of Ginny during a time when she desperately needed someone and Mike couldn’t do it himself because he hadn’t even known her. And of course, over the years, Mike and Lee had developed their own friendship. It had been a little rocky in the beginning but they’d become close in the end. Mike had no doubt if he and Gin were ever to separate Lee would sever ties with him without looking back. No matter how strong Mike and Lee’s own friendship, there was no doubt where Lee’s true loyalties lay.

  Mike couldn’t help but chuckle remembering the time Lee had given him a pretty good beating because he had been stupid enough to make Ginny cry.

  “You think it’s funny, do you?” Ginny’s voice pulled him back to the present.

  “You know I don’t.” Mike pulled her into a hug, explaining. “I was just remembering the time your personal security guard over there broke my nose because I forgot your birthday and made you cry.”

  Ginny did laugh then, remembering it herself. “That was the first year we were dating wasn’t it? I’m lucky the over protective goon didn’t scare you off.”

  “Well, I figured if a guy you weren’t sleeping with thought you were worth all that tr
ouble it was definitely worth sticking around to see for myself.” Mike kissed her nose before giving her an admonishing look. “I know you’re going to have it out with him about Savannah sooner or later. You’re the only one who can say anything to him anyway. I’d wind up with another broken nose if I tried even half the shit he lets you get away with. But not tonight, Gin. I mean it. You’ll just end up in a screaming match and ruin Joni’s party.”

  “I’ll try, Mike. But if he’s flaunting it all over the place I won’t be responsible for my own actions.”

  “You know he will be, if for no other reason than to poke at you because he’s smart enough to know you won’t like him seeing her.” Mike looked up and saw Lee and Savannah coming toward them. He took Ginny’s hand and they walked forward to meet them as he gave her one last whispered warning. “Behave yourself, Gin.”

  As the two couples approached one another, Mike watched Lee and Savannah together. Lee was smiling, confident and full of himself as usual, his arm draped comfortably over Savannah’s shoulders as she leaned into him. Savannah on the other hand looked pale and anxious, probably because she too realized this situation was a powder keg. When she turned her head to look up at Lee, seeking reassurance from him, Mike nearly choked. There was an inflamed mark on her neck and he was fairly certain he could make out teeth marks around the edges. That was some hickey and it was sure to set Ginny off. Mike sighed. They’d all be lucky if the brewing confrontation between Ginny and Lee didn’t wind up in The Washington Post.

  “Well, good evening, Mike,” Lee gave him a friendly smile before turning to Ginny, his expression becoming smug and unapologetic as he nodded in her direction. “Gin.”

  Mike shook his head, annoyed. Lee just couldn’t let the opportunity to needle Ginny pass. “I should have realized you’d be coming with Savannah tonight since you were going with her to her earlier appointment.”

  “Well, I had promised her a date. This seemed like the perfect occasion to follow through on that.” Lee gave Mike that infuriating smile of his, so arrogant and cock-sure.

  “You don’t date, Levon. You fuck women but you don’t date them. You haven’t been on a date in more than fifteen years.” Ginny’s voice was hushed so no one else would overhear, but her eyes were narrowed, jaw set stubbornly.

  Lee made a ridiculously exaggerated surprised face and looked at Savannah. “And here I was sure this was a date. Little Bird, did you think this was a date?” Savannah nodded meekly, and Lee looked back at Ginny with a shrug. “It appears you’re wrong, Gin. It’s a date.”

  Little Bird? Now that was interesting. Lee wasn’t really a pet name kind of guy other than the usual abbreviated names, like Gin for Ginny, and common endearments like sweetheart and honey. Mike had never known him to give a woman a pet name that was unique to that one person. Even more interesting was the way Savannah had softened and snuggled closer to him when he said it.

  Ginny directed a pointed look at the hickey on Savannah’s neck. “Seems to me you’re doing this whole dating thing out of order, Lee.”

  Lee cocked his head to one side and shrugged. “Well, you said yourself it’s been fifteen years. I can’t help it if I’m a little rusty.”

  “Enough you two. You’re both spoiling for a fight and I expect you’ll have it out eventually but now is not the time.” Mike knew it was likely useless to try and defuse the situation when they were both trying so damn hard to provoke each other but he had to make the effort, for Savannah’s sake and for the sake of Joni’s party.

  “Shut up, Mike.” It was Lee and Ginny, amusingly enough speaking in unison.

  “Okay, if you two insist on doing this now why don’t you let me take Savannah for a little walk around the gallery. No need for the two of us to listen to you two pissing at each other and I’d like to have a look at Joni’s paintings.”

  Lee looked down at Savannah with a raised brow. When she nodded, he bent his head, whispering something in her ear and brushing his lips across her temple before letting go of her. Mike offered her his arm and she took it, calmly walking away with him. Once they were well away from Lee and Ginny she looked up at him with wide eyes.

  “I thought you were going to be the one who started a fight. I even thought you’d probably fire me.”

  Mike smiled and patted her hand on his arm. “I’m not wild about it, kiddo. But you’re both adults and you can do what you want. That lecture I gave you the night I dropped you off at his place was mostly from Ginny, by proxy, and he got one, too, the first chance I had when you weren’t around.”

  They were on the other end of the gallery from Lee and Ginny and they stopped, turning back to look at them. Lee and Ginny were nose-to-nose having what appeared to be a rather heated argument.

  “I know, he told me. What the hell is up with the two of them? They look like they could kill each other.” Savannah chewed her lip anxiously as she watched them from across the room.

  “Their relationship is kind of complicated, but it’s special and important. It’s a long story and I don’t have time to tell it now but ask him about it later. He’ll probably give you some song and dance about it not being his place to tell you but you just tell him I told you to ask and he’ll probably give in.”

  Savannah gave him a sideways look, an impish smile playing over her lips. “He might lie to me about it. You know, like you did when I asked why he got divorced.”

  That set Mike back more than a little. As far as he knew, Lee had never confided the details of his divorce to anyone but him and Ginny and his sister.

  “He told you about it then?”

  Savannah nodded and he added, “All of it?”

  Savannah shrugged, obviously uncertain. She would have no way to know if Lee lied or left something out. “I think so. He told me they fought all the time, almost from the start. He told me about the abortion. And he told me he cheated with her friend.”

  “That’s all of it, kiddo. All the important highlights anyway. It would take years to tell you all the various and sundry ways those two tried to wreck each other, but that’s the Reader’s Digest Condensed version.”

  Mike was barely able to restrain himself from running over there and grabbing Ginny and dragging her out before she pushed Lee too far. If Lee confided in Savannah about his divorce, something far more than he or Ginny had realized was going on here.

  “Listen, Savannah, Ginny and I were wrong. I don’t know what’s happened between you two in the last couple days but I wasn’t lying when I said he doesn’t like to talk about his divorce. I don’t know of anyone he’s told but Ginny and me and his sister, not all of it anyway. It’s important he wanted to tell you.”

  Savannah nodded, not looking at all surprised. “I know. I mean, why would he want to tell many people about it? It doesn’t really cast him in the best light.”

  “How did you take it?”

  Savannah laughed and shrugged. “Not well.”

  “Flynn?”

  Savannah nodded. “Yeah. But we’re okay.”

  Mike was in the unusual position of knowing both of their secrets. He could only imagine how rough that conversation had been, but it seemed like they had actually talked it out and reached a place where they were both comfortable enough to try to go forward. That was a good sign, especially for Lee, whose communication skills often most resembled a bull in a china shop.

  “Do you remember that painting I told you about that Joni did of me?” Savannah drew him back to their conversation with a new topic.

  “You didn’t tell me, you told Gin.”

  “Same difference, since you obviously know. Anyway, Joni had promised me she’d never show it or anything. But the agent for this show insisted she include it. She’d finally agreed on the condition that it wouldn’t be for sale. I was so frigging embarrassed when I saw it. You have no idea.”

  Mike fought the urge to start looking around the room for the painting in question. “So what happened?”

  “Lee b
ought it.”

  Mike frowned, trying to work that out in his mind. Finally he said, “I thought you said it wasn’t for sale?”

  “It wasn’t which was exactly what Joni told him when he asked. But you know him. He can’t just take no for an answer so he pressed and Joni threw out twenty thousand dollars.”

  Mike chuckled, snatching two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and handing one to Savannah. “I sort of feel sorry for Joni.”

  “Yeah, you should have seen the look on her face when he said he’d pay that. I thought he was just buying it because it was me, naked and he’s a perv.”

  Mike laughed and Savannah laughed with him.

  “But then he told her he’d only buy it if it came down now.”

  “That’s not how these things usually work. He knows that.” Mike stared at her for a minute but she didn’t say anything, letting him sort it out on his own. “He bought it because he knew it embarrassed you.”

  “Yes.” Savannah nodded, looking up at him with a radiant smile.

  Mike took a deep breath, stunned by just how badly he had misjudged his friend. “Kiddo, I think we better go interrupt my wife before she eviscerates an innocent man who is falling hard for you.”

  Chapter Nine

  On the drive to Tangled, Savannah sat anxiously in her seat. She was nervous about what was going to happen at the club and not particularly excited by the prospect of meeting Lee’s ex-wife—who she already disliked. She’d expected Lee to be grumpy after his confrontation with Ginny, but he was surprisingly mild mannered about the whole thing. When she’d asked why he wasn’t upset about it he just told her that was a thing he and Ginny did. Savannah made a mental note to ask him when they had more time what the deal with him and Ginny was anyway.

  “This is it.” Lee was pulling into a gated parking lot.

  They pulled up to the closed gate and a man in a security guard uniform stepped up to the driver’s side of the car. The guard gave the Shelby a long, sweeping look before turning to Lee. “Nice car, man.” After Lee smiled and thanked him the guard said, “Names please?”