“Hey,” Mary Ellen called out when Liza was halfway up the stairs. The woman was leaning over the railing, her voice lower than usual. She pointed to her apartment and then motioned for Liza to follow.
Liza’s gaze automatically went to Rick’s window. It was too cold to be open. He was probably listening for her. Waiting to finish what he’d started earlier. She wasn’t in the mood. Even though he’d be pleased with news of the court date, and it might even shut him up for a while, she just didn’t want to deal with him right now.
She quietly ascended the stairs and went straight for Mary Ellen’s apartment. She stood in the doorway, looking fearfully toward Rick’s room.
“What’s wrong?” Liza asked, her head starting to pound.
Mary Ellen put a finger to her lips and quickly went inside. Even though the place was so tiny, it was immaculate. No toys laying around or dirty dishes sitting on the counter. The bed had been returned to being a sofa and the pillows were stacked neatly in the corner.
As soon as she shut the door behind Liza, Mary Ellen said, “He was looking for you night before last.”
“I know.” A sick feeling gnawed at her gut. “Did he come here?”
Mary Ellen nodded. “He thought I knew where you were.”
Liza muttered a curse and then took the other woman’s hands in hers. “I’m so sorry, Mary Ellen.”
“It’s not your fault.” She shrugged her slim shoulders. “He didn’t hurt us or nothing. Billy Ray over in twenty-one threatened to kick his ass and he took off real fast.” A small smile lifted the corners of her lips before she frowned. “But he’s really getting worse, Liza, and I’m afraid he’s gonna hurt you.”
“He won’t.” She gave her hands a final squeeze. “I promise.”
“You can’t make that promise,” Mary Ellen said, solemnly shaking her head.
“I won’t give him a reason to be mad, okay? Anyway, it’s almost over.”
“What is?”
“Look, in about two weeks he’ll be moving out.” Either way, no matter how the lawsuit’s outcome was determined, she’d be done with him. She didn’t want any of the money. She just wanted him gone.
Mary Ellen’s sad eyes widened. “And you?”
“Me, too.”
She shook her head. “But you’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”
Liza’s heart broke a little. They were hardly friends. “We’ll keep in touch, silly.”
The door opened and both women jumped.
“Is it time for dinner yet?” Freedom’s face was red from the cold, yet all she had on was a sweatshirt. “Hi, Liza.”
“Close the door, honey,” Mary Ellen said, already on her way to lock it.
“It’s okay.” The girl took off her red ball cap. “He’s still passed out.”
Liza exchanged glances with Mary Ellen. This kid was only eight. She shouldn’t even know those two words. Although at that age, Liza had known the term all too well. God forbid Freedom grew up to be a mess like her. “Look,” Liza said softly. “Next time you call the police.”
“I don’t have a phone,” Mary Ellen reminded her.
“Here.” Liza dug in her purse for her cell. She found her wallet and her sunglasses. Breath mints and a nail file. A hard candy had come unwrapped. She sifted through everything a second time. No cell phone.
It had to be here. She checked again. She’d had it just this morning before going to the store….
Oh, God. The last time she remembered having it was in Rick’s apartment.
Chapter 8
Evan saw her car parked in the lot as soon as he left the station the next day. She hadn’t returned his call, but that didn’t matter now. He should be angry. And he still was a fraction. But he wanted so badly to talk to her. Find out what had gone so wrong that she’d sneaked out of his house.
He got halfway to her car when she opened the door and got out. After glancing over her shoulder, she turned to glare at him, her face flushed. As he got closer, she met him partway between a late-model black BMW and a midsize SUV.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she asked, her voice low but furious.
“Liza…”
“You had no right contacting my attorney,” she said, her hand shaking as she pushed the hair away from her face.
“Calm down, Liza.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.”
He reached for her hand, but she jerked away. “All I did was leave a message with him.”
“What made you think I wanted to hear from you? The sex was great. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Jeez, Liza…” He looked around to see if anyone was within earshot. A couple of cameramen were walking toward them, but he didn’t think they’d heard her. He couldn’t see past the SUV. “Can we go someplace else to talk,” he asked, angry now himself.
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she said in a lower voice, and then glanced over her shoulder. “It was a one-night stand. Get it?”
“Actually, I don’t.” At this point, he wasn’t sure it mattered. She was a friggin’ whack job. What had he seen in her in the first place?
“Please, Evan,” she whispered, her lower lip trembling. “I can’t do this.”
He thought he saw her eyes well up, but she blinked and anything that might have been there was gone. That vulnerability was what kept him on the hook. She seemed tough one minute, and the next she looked as if she was going to shatter into a million pieces. “Liza, please tell me what’s wrong.”
She shook her head and backed up. “Nothing. I just have a lot going on right now.”
He followed her to her compact. Something was wrong. The way she kept looking over her shoulder…She was afraid of something. Or someone. “Give me ten minutes,” he said. “Just ten minutes.”
“I can’t do this, Evan. I cannot do this.”
He put up his hands in supplication. “Okay.”
Their eyes met, and he didn’t mistake the regret in hers. “You’re a good guy. I wish—” Shaking her head, she abruptly turned to the car door. And dropped her keys.
Evan moved quickly, snatching up the keys and then handing them to her. “If you ever need someone to talk to—”
Liza touched his hand. “You make this so hard.”
“Good.”
She almost smiled. “You’re crazy.”
“I thought I was boring.”
Her lips parted, her brows lowered in indecision and then she briefly closed her eyes and shook her head. “I’m the crazy one,” she muttered more to herself, and then said, “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. Anywhere.” She glanced around. “Let’s take your car.”
“Sure.”
“Come on.” She spotted his car and hurried ahead of him.
He didn’t know what the hell to think, but he’d figure it out later. He had to really move to catch up with her. “My house?”
“No.”
He opened the car doors. “I have several other rooms besides the bedroom.”
She gave him a small smile before slipping inside the car. “Take me someplace I’ve never been.”
Evan laughed. “Am I allowed any hints?”
She laid her head back and closed her eyes. “No.”
“Okay, then. I know just the place.”
* * *
Liza had to be out of her damn mind. If Rick woke up before she got home, he was going to go absolutely berserk. Mary Ellen and Freedom were safe. That was the main thing. Billy Ray had promised to keep an eye on them. The biker had to be three hundred pounds of muscle, with arms that were bigger than Liza’s thighs.
Fortunately, Kevin had left her a message to call him instead of giving Evan her number. Rick had intercepted the voice mail before she could retrieve her phone from him and he’d blasted her with questions regarding what Kevin wanted. But none she hadn’t been able to get around.
But the truth was, the smart thing for her t
o do was stay low for the next two weeks. Not give Rick any reasons to get suspicious or panic. That made him dangerous, and meant she should stay away from Evan.
What was it about him that made her get stupid? Or maybe it wasn’t Evan. Maybe it was anyone with a dick. No, that wasn’t true. She had no problem being alone, and definitely didn’t have trouble telling a guy to kiss off. But Evan was different. He made her laugh. He made her feel safe. That in itself didn’t make sense. Because there was no safe place. Not for someone like her.
“This time we’re eating dinner,” Evan said. “You like ribs?”
“Without the sauce.”
He gave her a mock glare. “What kind of Southerner are you?”
“Technically, I’m a Yankee.”
“Say it ain’t so.”
Liza smiled. “I was born in New York.”
They came to an intersection and he stopped at the red light and looked at her. “I thought you were from Florida.”
“We moved there when I was eleven. Before that we lived in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.”
“All before you were eleven?”
She frowned at him. “Don’t give me that look.”
“What look? I was waiting for the light to turn green.” Which it did at that moment and he made a left.
She let the conversation lag while she stared out the window. It was her own fault that he pitied her. She’d told him too much about her past, about her father. Evan wasn’t stupid. He’d put two and two together. So many moves in such a short period of time all related to her father’s drinking. And her mother’s lack of backbone. Weren’t mothers supposed to protect their children? Apparently Beverly Skinner had skipped that chapter from the parenting guide.
Liza laid her head back and sighed. She wasn’t going to go there. All that would do was make her angry, or worse, horribly sad. She couldn’t afford any negative emotions. She had to focus. Kevin Wade was right. She had to pull herself together before she went before the judge.
“You’re quiet,” Evan said, five minutes later.
“Enjoy it.”
“I’d rather talk.”
She heard the seriousness in his voice and wished she’d never gotten into his car. “I really don’t have anything to say. I’m just trying to de-stress.”
This time he lapsed into silence. After a few minutes, he asked, “I talked to Eve.”
“When?”
“Yesterday afternoon. I thought she might have a phone number for you.”
Just hearing Eve’s name was like a knife in the heart. She and Jane’s friendship had been the only truly good thing that had happened to Liza. And she’d allowed a man to destroy that. She wasn’t even worthy of their friendship.
She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “Why in the hell would you think that?”
“Because you were friends.”
“Were being the operative word.” She couldn’t take it anymore. Next time he stopped she was going to get out. Run as fast as she could.
“I think she misses you.”
“Drop it.”
Neither Eve nor Jane missed her. How could they? They thought she was the scum of the earth, and she didn’t blame them even the tiniest bit. She was the one who missed them. Terribly. The irony was that she’d always depended on herself, handled her own problems, but if she’d ever really been up against the wall, it was Eve or Jane that she’d go to for help. This was the biggest mess of her life, and she didn’t have a soul to turn to.
Evan pulled the car up to a curb behind a long line of cars and trucks. They were in a neighborhood she didn’t recognize and not a particularly great one. Mostly there were houses one after another, a convenience store on one corner and a gas station on the other. Was he taking her to a party? That would be absurd.
“I think this is as close as we’re going to get. Good thing it’s unseasonably warm tonight.” He shut off the engine, and then glanced down at her feet. “Tennis shoes. Good.”
“Where are we?”
“You’re going to like it. Trust me.”
“Trust you?” Was he kidding? She didn’t trust anybody. Not anymore.
“Can you do that?”
She looked into earnest brown eyes, remembered how good she’d felt in his arms. She couldn’t let her guard down again. “Let’s go.”
“Wait.”
Her hand on the door handle, she warily looked at him. She didn’t want to talk anymore. It was way too easy to talk to Evan, and she didn’t want anything slipping out that she might regret.
Cupping a hand around the nape of her neck, he leaned in and pressed his lips coaxingly against hers. She didn’t want to give in. Still, this was better than talking. Better than just about anything. His mouth was warm and minty and his skillful tongue made it difficult not to participate.
She leaned closer and placed a hand on his thigh for balance. He shifted and her finger grazed the bulge straining his fly. He slackened his hold at the back of her neck and drew his hand over her shoulder and down the side of her arm. When he got to her hand, he covered it with his and, interestingly, was the one who broke the kiss.
“I’ve been waiting two days for that,” he whispered and then briefly kissed her again before retreating.
“Glad you got it off your chest.” Her glibness was undermined by the shakiness in her voice.
He smiled, and she turned away and exited the car.
“I hope you’re not taking me to a party,” she said after he came around the car and they started down the sidewalk. None of the houses looked as if they were especially rocking, but she couldn’t see where else they’d be heading to.
“You’re supposed to trust me, remember?”
“Those were your words, not mine. I don’t trust anybody.” She looked away from the disappointment that flickered in his face. She wasn’t responsible for how he felt. Not her job.
They walked for a full block in silence, and then crossed the street and kept walking. She’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t intrigued. Although knowing Evan, they were probably going to a book club discussion or a poetry reading. Nothing wrong with either one. But definitely not her style.
Liza’s thoughts went back to Eve, and whether she’d mentioned Rick to Evan. She’d give just about anything to find out how that conversation went. To know how much dirt Eve had given up about Rick, and about what a damn fool Liza had been to put up with his arrogance. Well, she’d give almost anything. Not her pride.
By the time they reached the middle of the next block she saw a house at the far corner, sitting by itself, that was ablaze with lights. Even the trees flanking the driveway had small white lights spiraling up their trunks. Several groups of people milled around the front yard. Behind the house, smoke filled the air. As they got closer, she caught a whiff of grilled meat.
She looked over at Evan.
He was watching her, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “It’s not a party. It’s part rib joint, part bar. Very public.”
“Afraid I’m going to attack you?”
“Yep.”
“You wish.”
“Yep.”
Liza grinned. “Seriously, a restaurant out here in the middle of a neighborhood?”
“Not exactly. We had to park back there because I knew we wouldn’t get a closer space. But the house sits on the main drag,” he said, pointing at all the cars going by on the other side.
“I bet the neighbors are happy.”
He shrugged. “Poor zoning. I know I would’ve moved.”
Liza smiled at his blasé attitude. “Here I thought you were a Republican.”
“Maybe I am.”
“Hey, Evan.” A man holding a bottle of beer saw them approach the driveway. “Eric’s been looking for you.”
Evan lifted his chin in greeting. “Out back?”
The guy nodded and then returned to his conversation with two blond women who apparently weren’t bothered by the chilly air, eit
her, judging by their cute skimpy dresses.
Liza dismally glanced down at her old faded jeans and ratty black sweater. She hadn’t planned on going anywhere, much less someplace with Evan. Hell, what did she care? She wasn’t trying to impress Evan or anyone else. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she lifted her chin as she walked alongside Evan into the house.
What apparently once had been the living room was a mass of tables and chairs, not necessarily matching. At some point there had to be a wall separating the kitchen from the living room, but it had been knocked down and the two-person manned kitchen was now divided only by a counter, crowded with plates of potato salad, coleslaw and French fries. Sticking out from under each plate was an order ticket.
The noise level was high and annoying, and nothing like she thought Evan would appreciate. But he apparently came here often enough that five people had greeted him by the time they made it to the back door.
He’d introduced her each time, and each time the person looked surprised. The way she was dressed had nothing to do with it because as dumpy as she looked, mostly everyone else was in jeans, too. Made her wonder how often he brought a date with him.
He opened the back door, and they walked into a large enclosed patio. In the corner was a three-man band playing eighties rock. Not too loud, just enough so that you could actually enjoy the music. The rest of the floor was taken up with picnic tables. Beyond the enclosure were more wooden tables where groups of people sat, drinking beer, laughing and talking. Around the side of the house, two men stood over split barrels, turning slabs of ribs over an open fire.
The place was crowded but Evan steered her to an available table to the right of the stage. They received several interested looks as they weaved their way across the patio, and then she realized it was because everyone seemed to know Evan.
They’d only sat down for a few minutes when a dark-haired waitress wearing jeans and a tight, lime-green T-shirt brought them two light beers. “Hey, Doc,” she said, setting the bottles on the table and then wiping her hands on her jeans. “You eating?”
“Later.” He turned to Liza. “Okay with you?”
What She Really Wants For Christmas Page 8
