“What? In their car? You mean, talking on their phone while driving? I consider what I’m doing a public safety measure, they can put the phone down.”
“Then you stand around just waiting to harass the next person that walks into a store and shove your coffee in their face.”
“No, not the next person, just you. I was hoping that you would come in. You really are cute when you get angry, and I wanted to see if I could do it again. Remember? I’m all about public safety. Women should know what they’re getting into with you.”
“Let me guess, you’re single. Oh, wait, I’ve got it . . . divorced. You ran him off, didn’t you?”
The sexy woman flexed her fingers so he couldn’t help but notice her blood-red nails. “No, I buried him after I took him to the cleaners. Looking for a wife?” She turned and strode off, only stopping long enough to throw some money onto the counter. He watched her as she strode across the parking lot, slid into her car, and—
“Excuse me, you gonna make your coffee or not?”
Riley looked over at the teenager, who looked way too young to be drinking coffee, and scoffed before he fixed his cup and got in line to pay.
Damn it, why did she have to be so sexy? He had a horrid track record when it came to sexy women, they usually ended being raving bitches or psycho-freaks. His luck, she’d probably end up being a psychotic-freaking-bitch.
He sat in his truck in front of his sister’s large two-story Georgian home and made a few phone calls to ensure that his guys had everything under control, since odds were, he wouldn’t be out to the property today.
Once he was sure the job wasn’t going to go to hell, he headed around the house to the kitchen door. Riley raised his hand to knock but froze at the sound of a scream. Peering into the window, he saw his four-year-old niece crying on the kitchen floor. Riley lightly tapped on the window to get her attention and waved for her to come let him in. When she unlocked the door, he scooped her up, wrapped a firm hand around her head, and held her against his chest.
“Shhh, it’s going to be okay.” He didn’t have to ask what was wrong, he could hear for himself. Greg was shouting. If it weren’t for the little girl in his arms, he would be upstairs, putting himself between his sister and the asshole she called a husband.
“Goddammit, Loren, I provide you with everything and owe you nothing. I will be home when I get home. I did not marry you so you could turn into some kind of nagging wife. Now get a hold of yourself. I’ve got to get to work.”
“Loren, I’m here.”
“Oh, Riley, I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Noelle let me in.”
Riley heard heavy footsteps on the stairs.
He pulled Noelle closer and counted to ten . . . in Korean. He didn’t really know Korean, but he’d taken Tae Kwon Do as a little boy and tried to remember counting. Hana. Dul, he thought about the hand movements that went with each number. Anything that would calm his temper and keep him from marching over and knocking the living shit out of his brother-in-law. By the time he reached yeol, Greg had left.
“I’ll be right down. Just finishing my makeup.”
“I’m going to fix some coffee, want some?” Riley hollered up to his sister. He didn’t need any more coffee, but he did need something to distract himself.
“Sure.”
Riley could hear the tears still bubbling in his baby sister’s voice, but he’d wait until she came down to confront her.
After fixing two mugs, he set them onto the table and then made Noelle a bowl of cereal for breakfast.
“Daddy left.” Noelle shoved a mouthful of Rice Krispies in.
“Yep, he sure did.”
“I’m glad.”
“Why is that?”
“He’s always mad at me.”
“He’s not mad at you. He is just mad.”
Noelle shook her head with force. “He gets mad at me. When he comes home, Mommy sends me to bed so he doesn’t holler at me. If I wake up before him, I try to stay in my room or I come downstairs and eat my cereal. But I always stay quiet so he doesn’t see me.”
Yep, that did it. Riley officially wanted to murder Greg Delaney. Maybe he could find that bitch of a woman from this morning and introduce her to Greg. She could be his wife number two. That was, if he could ever persuade Loren to leave Greg.
What kind of man frightened his own daughter? Maybe he was biased, but Noelle was probably the sweetest, smartest kid in the world. She was definitely the prettiest.
“Is that mine?” Loren pointed to the extra mug and slid it over to herself.
“Yep. Take a seat. Noelle was just telling me about how her daddy doesn’t like her and how she hides from him.” Riley gave Loren a pointed look, letting her know that he expected details.
“Hey, No-No, would you like to eat your breakfast and watch television at the same time?”
Noelle didn’t have to be asked twice, she was scooting out of her chair and sliding her bowl with her.
“Be careful, don’t spill.”
“I won’t, Mommy.”
When Noelle was out of earshot, Loren turned to Riley and began. “I want to leave Greg, and I need your help.”
Chapter Three
Adeline
The ladies frequented the Bougainvillea Country Club in their mission to keep up their facade of normal businesswomen. They wanted to be considered as nothing more than ladies who lunched and relaxed. They spent time nurturing the relationships with the other couples, families, and individuals who were privileged enough to be members of Bougainvillea. Well, privileged enough to be able to pay the bargain price of twenty-five thousand dollars a year for membership. Adeline always choked over the annual cost. For four unrelated women, all of adult age, that equaled four independent accounts. Sure, the club prided itself on its award-winning golf course, which stretched for six thousand four hundred twenty-one yards with an impressive par seventy.
Strolling into the country club restaurant they smiled, shook hands, and said hello to familiar faces. They tried to make meetings there a normal activity so that it didn’t seem worthy of gossip when they were there. For Adeline, she made it a point to chat up everyone at the pool. She wasn't really interested in the actual activity so much as putting on her suit and looking hot as she lounged next to the pool with the attractive cabana boys. Melanie was the golf girl, and she felt it gave her an upper hand with the CEOs, since many of them ended up as enemies of the Iron Ladies. Sunday hung out on the tennis courts with her mean backhand smash, while Olivia seldom put down her camera, claiming to capture local flora and fauna. It didn’t really help with their networking, but she was really stockpiling material that someday might come in handy.
“Hello, ladies, it’s so nice to see you,” Mr. Brown, the club manager, greeted them as they walked into the restaurant. “Miss Oakes, that was a great game you played against Mr. Bennett on the course.”
“Thank you.” Melanie stopped to talk to Mr. Brown while Adeline and Sunday moved on to find a seat, stopping seconds later when a weathered but kind face caught their attention.
Adeline allowed a genuine smile to tug at her lips. “Hi, Mrs. Sawyer, how are you feeling?”
“Oh, sweet girl, much better, thank you.”
“Should you be eating that?” Sunday pointed to the chocolate lava cake on Mrs. Sawyer’s plate. “I worry about your diabetes.”
“If only my own children were as concerned about me as you four are.”
“Do me a favor and only eat half, okay? I know it’s hard to pass up but remember: moderation.”
Mrs. Sawyer nodded.
When they were out of earshot Adeline stared at Sunday. “Really? Why stop her? The woman is in her seventies.”
“Diabetes can kill her,” Sunday defended.
“Yeah, what’s it going to do, take ten years off her life? Newsflash, those ten years suck anyway. Let her have whatever the fuck she wants to have.” Adeline threw her hands up into the a
ir.
“Shhh,” Melanie hissed as she caught up to them.
The four of them steered clear of Mr. Owens, who was the one member who took the rumor of them being call girls a bit too far and had actually tried to buy a date with Sunday. Olivia, Melanie, and Adeline had been merciless in their taunts after that one, since it had been Sunday who’d started the rumor in the first place.
“There she is.” Olivia gave a chin nod toward the window, where she could see Loren coming up the walkway. “Way to go, look at her sexy-as-sin playmate. Yeah, I’d be divorcing that gouty ass wipe, too, if I could have a romp with him.”
Adeline couldn’t see the face of the man because he was wearing sunglasses and looking down but from this distance, she guessed he was a few inches over six feet, and with the sun shining down on him, she wasn’t positive whether his hair was a dirty blond or just a light brown. Whatever it was, it worked for him.
“See what I mean? This case is going to garner too much attention for us, especially if she already has a dicksicle on the side.”
“Adeline, don’t be so crass.” Melanie slapped Adeline’s arm.
“If she’s already having an affair, I understand Adeline’s point though. Can’t we just once have an easy client?”
“Easy?” Melanie scoffed. “I don’t think there is such a thing.”
“Just once I want someone to come to us, asking for help, only to tell us they’ve had the worst day of their life. I can hear it now, their ex got hit by a bus and they lost their job as a bus driver. Compared to some of these, shit, that would be easy.”
The other three tried to fight the laughter since Loren was getting closer and they wanted to come across as professional.
Loren wasn’t able go five feet without stopping to say hello to someone. Her recognizable face and position in the community was too much publicity for Adeline’s comfort. As she made her way closer to them, a pit in Adeline’s stomach grew. The man hadn’t looked her way yet, but there was something incredibly familiar about him.
“What’s wrong with you?” Melanie gave her a worried look.
“Umm, I think I know him.”
“Aww, shit, don’t tell me that you’ve slept with him?”
“No . . . worse, I’m pretty sure I threatened to bury him.”
Olivia choked on her water and coughed as she tried to clear her airway. In a haste to do something, Adeline bent and rummaged through her purse for something, anything. Sunglasses? She slid them on. Come on, come on, didn’t she have a scarf or a ponytail holder? Of course, she didn’t, because Adeline was in her uniform of the prim and proper Iron Lady who didn’t use ponytail holders.
“Ow.” Adeline jerked, and her head hit the table when Melanie kneed her in the forehead.
“Adeline, did you find what you were looking for? Loren is here.” Melanie’s voice sounded strained.
Adeline stuck her hand up and pointed her index finger. “One second.” She slid her hand along the edge of the table until she felt it, aha, her napkin. She snagged it and brought it under the table with her. She was just starting to fold it into a bandana when a head popped under the table.
“Can I help you find whatever it is you’re looking for?”
Adeline looked into the velvety brown eyes of the asshole from yesterday.
“No, I’m fine.”
“You?” His tone was one-hundred percent aggravation but the smirk on his face was pure amusement.
Adeline wanted to smack that look right off. “You?” She pointed at him. “What? You can’t even wait for her to get a divorce before you’re sweeping in? You are just like all the other men who think they have standards, you’re no different than those women who refuse to date guys who still live at home with their mother but have no problem dating a man that still lives at home with his wife. But you . . . you go after women who are still living with their husbands.”
“Adeline.” Melanie’s tone was clipped. “Please come up here, we can hear you.”
Adeline pulled back, tossed her sunglasses back into her purse, and then righted herself.
“Mrs. Delaney, what a pleasant surprise,” Mrs. Sawyer interrupted. “I didn't know that you were a member here, it’s such an honor.”
Adeline used this little distraction to try to calm her nerves because fuck it all to hell the man was gorgeous and if he hadn’t been such an uptight asshole the other day then she would have…ugh. She had no clue what she’d do because right now all she saw was pure infuriation.
“Oh, I’m just here to meet some friends.” Loren stumbled over the lie.
Melanie interrupted, “If you’ll excuse us, Mrs. Sawyer, we have a meeting with Mrs. Delaney.”
“Oh, they're such nice ladies. How did you all meet? I had no clue the four of you were such good friends with the mayor’s wife.”
Sunday stood and placed a gentle hand on Mrs. Sawyer’s shoulder. “Let me help you. Were you headed for your car or to the spa?” Sunday gently glided Mrs. Sawyer away from the table.
“She’s good,” Loren said, referring to Sunday’s tactics.
Olivia nodded. “Yeah, she is. She’s very diplomatic.” Olivia turned those last words to Adeline like an accusation before smiling at Loren. “You seem to be quite the conversation starter. Is this the norm for you?”
“Unfortunately Greg has a lot of business associates, half of whom want to stay in his good graces and the other half want to get there. Most of them think that I’m the in they need.”
“I see . . .” Adeline sincerely hoped that Melanie and Olivia were paying close attention, since Loren was saying exactly what she’d been trying to say all along. Since she walked in with the boy-toy-asshole, she was positive they needed to ditch her.
“It isn’t gonna be a problem if someone reports seeing me with you ladies, will it?” Loren asked, looking around with a worried expression on her face. “I don’t want to jeopardize the great work you ladies do.”
“Not at all. No one here knows what we do, though, I have heard some very creative guesses,” Sunday said as she slipped back into her seat.
“By the way, you didn’t introduce your friend.” Melanie held out her hand toward the man, but Adeline smacked Melanie’s arm away.
“Oh, how rude of me, this is Riley Thomas, he’s my brother.”
Adeline coughed.
Riley nodded. “Nice to meet you. Loren has told me several things, but she obviously left some things out.” He directed the last part at Adeline.
“I must have missed the last boat to Giveafuckistan.” Adeline had intended to say it in a whisper, so only Olivia could hear her, but Olivia was never good at staying quiet. No, she had to laugh out loud. Adeline stomped her foot on top of Livi’s.
“Ouch.” Olivia pulled her foot away from Adeline’s heel.
“Shhh.” Melanie glared at both Adeline and Olivia.
“I hope you don’t mind, but Riley wanted to come along to offer his support,” Loren’s tone clearly implied that she was needing the moral support that he offered her.
Riley groaned.
She gave her brother the mom stare.
What? Riley mouthed.
“Well, it looks like Adeline and Riley know each other.” Sunday smiled and gave Adeline a wink. No one else got to respond, because a waiter in a tuxedo with the Bougainvillea emblem embroidered on his lapel came up to the table.
“Membership number for the account please.”
Adeline recited. “Two-six-one-three. Add it all to my account, please.” Each member had their own number, and one of the many rules of Bougainvillea was that you had to spend a minimum of five hundred per month at the club or the amount was added to your membership fees. The girls elected to spend it in the restaurant.
“I’ll have a hamburger, medium,” Melanie said. “Loren? Riley?”
“Just a glass of ice water with lemon please.” Adeline arched a brow. “Just water? The menu is right in front of you.” She handed it over to Loren, who pa
ssed it to her brother.
“Just a cup of coffee, black.” Riley set the menu aside. “I hate when people ruin coffee with all that other shit.”
The waiter turned to Adeline. “Just a coffee for me, but I’d like whipped cream, milk, half and half, stevia, and bring some real sugar just in case I change my mind. Oh, and some cinnamon.” Adeline matched Riley’s tone. “I’m not a fan of plain and bitter.”
The water glasses splashed as Sunday and Melanie moved their legs to kick Adeline. Olivia was busy coughing and Loren’s eyes were wide as saucers.
Riley was in a stare-off with Adeline.
“Well, I’ll have the chicken salad sandwich please.” Sunday handed the menu over to the waiter.
“I’ll have the same.” Olivia pointed to Sunday, and they both cracked up laughing.
When the waiter left, Melanie scanned the nearby area. “I’m not sure what the hell is going on, but I’m going to ignore you two. Loren, we’ve decided to take on your case.” She met Adeline’s stare.
The relief that washed over Loren could be felt by everyone. Riley looked at his sister with love and affection, but he didn’t exactly look impressed with the ladies.
Melanie continued, “Considering you’re here, I take it you were made aware of our retainer fee.”
Loren eyed Riley, and he nodded. “That is another reason my brother is here, he has offered to pay the fee for me.”
At least he’s generous somewhere, Adeline mouthed, her face tilted away so no one actually noticed.
“Okay. But it isn’t quite that simple. You'll find that we work . . . how shall I say this, differently.”
“Differently?” Riley was no longer focused on just Adeline, but on all of them.
Adeline hated the fact that something about his voice resonated with her and sent shivers down her spine. Melanie, ever observant, gave Adeline a questioning look, but all talk had to pause when the waiter returned with their food.
“Such wonderful service, and it’s fast, too,” Loren observed.
“It’s how they compensate for ridiculous membership fees,” Olivia said before she took a bite of her sandwich.
Roadster (Iron Ladies Book 1) Page 3
