Tex parked and barely had the car shut off when he shot out, hauling ass over to Olivia. I followed as fast as I could which wasn’t very fast in four and a half inch, spiked heels.
“Shee-it, girl, you’re about five foot two and wearin’ pumps. You shouldn’t be doin’ transfers. It ain’t safe. Get outta my way, I got it,” he boomed to Olivia and I watched with surprise as he pushed her aside while he explained to Winnie, “Don’t worry. Jet taught me how to do this. Nancy, my girlfriend, Jet’s Mom, was still recoverin’ from a stroke when we got together. She’d get tired, she’d need her chair.”
Olivia and I stood back as Tex expertly transferred Winnie from car to chair.
“You’re good at that,” Winnie said when she settled in.
“Nancy don’t need her chair now,” Tex shared. “But it ain’t somethin’ you forget how to do.”
See, told you Tex was a good guy.
Winnie gave him a grin and patted his hand then looked at me. “You ready?”
No. No, I was not ready. But I had to be ready. Luke had given me one option, and I was going to take it.
Luckily, Daisy was right about Tod and Stevie knowing how to shop. Not only was I wearing the Fuck-Me Outfit of All Time, I had on Manipulate A Macho Man Underwear that would make John Rambo forget that Vietnam even existed.
Not to mention, Indy and Ally showed up at Roxie’s and Indy gave good hair and Jet was a dab hand at makeup – experience gleaned from her days working at a strip club. Daisy stepped in and did a cover up job of my black eye that was so good, if someone took a before and after photo, it would win awards.
Therefore I was vamped out like nobody’s business.
Indy had curled my hair in tight banana curls then she ran her slimed-up-with-hair-gunk-fingers through it, shaking it all around so my head was a mass of sexy, wild, soft curls.
Jet had done my makeup sultry, giving me dark, smoky eyes, barely there blusher and lots of lip gloss.
Tod and Stevie’s Fuck-Me dress was a deep, forest green. It was strapless and fit like a glove from cleavage to hips. It stopped just above the knee and on one side had a deep slit nearly up to my hip. The shoes were killer, totally sex on heels. They were black with pointed toes, high, pencil-slim, spike heels and a thin, complicated ankle strap that took me (and Roxie) ten minutes to figure out how to fasten.
But it was the underwear that made the outfit and you couldn’t even see it. You just felt sexy wearing it. Way sexy. Off the charts sexy.
The undies were two-piece in a deep green, one shade down from forest, a strapless bustier and skintight, satin panties. The bustier was covered in black lace and the panties were also heavy on lace in all the right places. The backs of the panties were cut high (not thong high, but close) so they showed lots of ass. The back of the bustier was dipped low so it showed lots of skin.
The underwear wasn’t the most comfortable thing I’d ever worn but what the hell. No pain, no gain.
“Yeah. I’m ready,” I answered Winnie.
“She ain’t ready,” Olivia muttered.
I decided to ignore Olivia. I had to focus and I didn’t need negative thinking.
We took the elevator up and went to the offices. Shirleen was sitting behind the reception desk talking on the phone.
When we walked in, her tawny eyes came to me, bugged straight out of her head and she said, “Dorothea, I gotta go. My girl’s here and shit… I don’t even know what to say. Words won’t describe it. I’ll get my phone, take a picture. You have got to see this.”
Shirleen hung up and dove under the desk, coming up with her bag at the same time digging out her phone.
“Shirleen, I don’t have time for pictures,” I told her.
“Girl, you want a photo record of this. Trust me,” she returned, pulling out her phone, dropping her bag on her desk and bleeping buttons, tongue sticking out the side of her mouth. “Now how does this thing work?”
“Give it to me,” Olivia said, sashaying toward Shirleen. “I got the same phone. I take pictures all the time.”
I looked at Tex, beginning to feel desperate. By my calculations I had, like, a minute before Luke and the boys “finished” with Noah.
“Will you go get Luke?” I asked Tex.
“Oh, Luke knows you’re here,” Shirleen informed me and the way she said it gave me goose bumps and not the good kind.
As if he knew (which he probably did) that it was his cue, the door to the inner sanctum opened and Luke was there. A man I hadn’t yet met was with him, slightly older than any of the Hot Bunch, blond military haircut, piercing blue eyes and the standard-issue, Nightingale Hottie tight-muscled, zero-body-fat body.
I didn’t have time to check out the latest member of the Hot Bunch, I only had eyes for Luke.
He was feeling the same way. He did a full body sweep, rocked back on his heels and crossed his arms on his chest. Then he did a slight shake of his head like he couldn’t quite believe me but one side of his mouth curled up in a half-grin as if he thought I was amusing.
Really not the reaction I was hoping for.
“Hey,” I said.
“Shit, Luke, you don’t put a ring on her finger, I will,” the blond guy said.
Now, that was the reaction I was hoping for.
“You got a wife and five kids,” Luke told him but didn’t take his eyes off me.
“Oh yeah, for a second I forgot,” the blond guy replied.
It was then I realized I wasn’t breathing so I forced the air out of my lungs.
“Babe,” Luke said, still not moving from his position just inside the room. “You wanna tell me why Mrs. Conrad and her granddaughter are here?”
I stopped breathing again.
Shit!
Get yourself together, girl! Bad Ava shouted.
You made this plan, you have to carry it through. Be strong! Good Ava encouraged.
I started breathing again mainly because I had no choice.
“I figured it’s not fair I get to have my word with Noah since he did the dirty on both Mrs. Conrad and me. I asked her if she wanted to say a few things and she did. So I invited her to the party. You don’t mind do you?”
The blond guy burst out laughing.
Luke did not. “Yeah, I mind.” Luke, as normal, was brutally honest.
“Well, that’s not good,” I forged ahead. “Mrs. Conrad and Olivia came all the way downtown from Aurora. It’s tough for Mrs. Conrad to get around. It would suck if she made this trip for nothing.”
Luke tore his eyes from me, he looked at Winnie and without remorse he said, “This is a closed party.”
“Luke!” I cried. He was ruining my plan!
“Got it!” Shirleen yelled and everyone looked at her. She had her cell phone pointed facing our direction and a little picture of me was on it. “That’s a good one too. That’s so good, I may make it my wallpaper.”
“Shirleen, we’re in the middle of something here,” I told her.
“Oh yeah, sorry,” she mumbled, bent her head and started beeping more buttons on her cell phone, likely sending my photo to half of Denver.
I looked back at Luke. “Can we talk privately?” I asked.
“Nothin’ you can’t say in front of Monty,” Luke replied.
My eyes moved to the blond guy. “So, you’re Monty.”
“That’s me,” he said.
“I’m Ava,” I introduced myself though he probably knew who I was. Still, I didn’t want to seem rude.
“I know that, darlin’. I manage the surveillance room. We monitor Luke’s loft and we monitor Fortnum’s. Seen a lot of you.”
My mouth dropped open. Monty smiled. I felt the heat hit my face. Monty’s smile got bigger.
“You monitor Fortnum’s too?” I whispered.
“Yeah,” Monty said. “You can thank me later.”
I blinked before I asked, very, very stupidly, “For what?”
“For not showin’ Luke the video of you crawlin’ on all fours
down the side book aisle.”
It was then Luke laughed.
Okay, abort plan, time for a new plan.
I turned to Shirleen. “I’m done here. We can leave. I need cookies. STAT.”
“Girl, I did not traipse around town, droppin’ off Tex, goin’ to your house to get your perfume –” Shirleen started.
“My house is two blocks from Tex’s,” I cut in.
“So? Then you had me callin’ everyone and their brother,” Shirleen shot back.
“You just called Olivia!” My voice was rising.
“Well, I didn’t do all that for you to give up at the first hurdle. Shit, girl,” Shirleen finished.
Argh!
I turned back to Luke. “Can we please speak privately?” I tried again.
He pressed his lips together, not with anger, more like he was trying to stop them from twitching. Then he said, “You got five minutes.”
He motioned toward the door and I walked through it then stopped. He passed me and I followed him to a door down the hall I’d never been through before. We went in and I saw it was an office, big desk, chairs in front, couch on the back wall; the same décor as the reception area. I stopped inside, close to the desk, and turned to Luke who’d closed the door behind us.
“You can’t stop yourself, can you?” he asked before I could say anything.
“What?”
“Cleared your debt this morning, less than eight hours later, they’re pilin’ up again.”
My eyes got wide. “What do I owe you for now?”
“Arrangin’ for Smithie to be taken out of a tree.”
Oh. That.
“That’s just one little thing,” I told him. “And you did that for Smithie more than for me.”
“Smithie was in the tree because of you.”
That was kind of true.
Hell and damnation.
“What else do I owe you for?”
“The debt you bought for struttin’ in here dressed like a man eater.”
“I’m not dressed as a man eater.”
His eyebrows went up.
Okay, so I was dressed as a man eater.
“Why do I owe you for that?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Ava Babe, I know the game you’re playin’ and you’re gonna pay for playin’ it.”
I crossed my arms on my chest. “And what game is that?”
“The same game you played this mornin’. You don’t want me to do somethin’ I want to do and you’re usin’ your sweet body to get it. As much as I like the view, babe, the intent behind it pisses me off.”
His words angered me so much I looked around for something to throw at him. Before I could find anything, Luke demanded, “Ava, look at me.”
My eyes went to him but I didn’t look at him, I glared at him.
He ignored my glare and went on. “We aren’t playin’ your game. You get your word with Dexter, then –”
I interrupted him. “For your information, this dress is not for you. It’s for Noah.”
That got a reaction.
At first I saw I surprised him which surprised me because I didn’t think Luke could be surprised. Then the surprise faded fast and I saw he was ticked off. I knew this because his eyes narrowed, his brows drew together and the air in the room started closing in because his ticked off energy was electrifying it.
“Come again?” he said low but I was too angry myself to be scared of him.
“See,” I started to explain. “I had vowed revenge against Dom. Every time Dom would do something jerky, I’d double it, triple it, whatever. I kept a running tally. Then once Noah hurt me, I transferred my revenge to him because he deserved it more. Then I started adding on whenever I’d find out he did something bad. I got up to octuple revenge.”
I twisted, dropped my purse on the desk, came back around, lifted up my hands and held my left pointer finger with my right hand and started counting down my plan.
“One, I walk in there looking fine. Not looking beat up and broken but looking good. That way, he sees what he gave up. He could have had me but he used me and threw me away. He might be too coldblooded to care but it’ll make me feel better.” I added my middle finger to my hand. “Two, I’m in there with you and he knows we’re together. You’re better than him, hotter than him, richer than him, everything more than him. I want to rub his face in it.” I added my ring finger. “Three, I’ll say what I have to say. I don’t know what that is yet but I’m winging this as I go along, I’ll figure it out.” I kept adding fingers. “Four, he has to see Winnie. He may be a snake but he can’t be so low that he won’t flinch when he’s confronted with yet another one of his victims especially when she’s in a better place with good people around her no matter what he did to her. Five, Winnie gets to have her say. Six is whatever you’re going to do to him. I don’t have a seventh and eighth part of my revenge yet but I figure I might kick him. With these pointy shoes, that’ll hurt like –”
I stopped talking because one second Luke was three feet away, the next second he was using his hard body to back me up until my thighs hit the desk and he was pressed in full frontal.
“What are you doing?” I cried, grabbing his upper arms in order not to stumble on my teetering heels.
His hands were on me, his head bent and his lips went to my neck. “I’m gonna fuck you, right here on Lee’s desk.” His voice was low again but not with anger this time, with something entirely different and a shiver slid across my skin. “The eighth part of your revenge is you walkin’ in there with your face soft, satisfied and sexy as hell like it is after I make you come.”
Ho-ly shit.
My special girl parts went into full spasm.
He was pulling up the skirt of my dress at the same time, stepping all over my plan.
“Luke! You’re going to mess up my makeup.”
My skirt was bunched around my hips and Luke’s hands were at my ass.
“I don’t care.” His mouth glided up my neck to my jaw.
“Someone can walk in,” I kept at it.
His fingers were moving across lace and satin, his head came up, he leaned back, looked at my hips and his body went still.
“Jesus,” he muttered as he slid the skirt up higher so he could get a better look. Then his eyes lifted to mine and they were ink. “Those for Dexter too?”
“No!” I snapped, slapping at his hands. “You’re ruining my surprise, for you, which was supposed to be for later on tonight.”
At that he grinned, not a sexy half-grin, an even sexier, full-on, white smile.
“Stop smiling at me,” I bit out, shoving my skirt back down. “I’m losing my revenge mojo here. I was all psyched up and you got all testosterone on me. Or more testosterone than normal”.
“Ava.”
I got my skirt in place and raised my eyes to his. His were still ink but they were amused ink and I knew his intent.
“Don’t you kiss me, you’ll mess up my lip gloss,” I ordered. “Jet spent ten whole minutes on my lips and I don’t want her time wasted.”
His arms came around me and his face got close. “You’re cute when you’re bossy.”
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling.
“Look at me, babe.”
I looked at him.
“The eighth part of your revenge can be him rottin’ in prison for the next decade.”
I sucked in breath and stared at him.
After a few beats I whispered, “You’re not going to kill him?”
He shook his head.
I kept staring at him then something hit me. “Were you ever going to kill him?”
His arms got tighter. “If I’d have seen him after I found out he touched you or when I found out he did it while I was in your house, maybe. Since then, no.”
Oh… my… God.
“Why on earth didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you were in less danger traipsin’ around with the Rock Chicks. Didn’t hurt that it served the adde
d purpose of keepin’ your mind off inventing ways to push me away.”
I should have known Luke wasn’t going to kill Noah. He was a good guy, hell, he was The Best Guy Ever.
Still, I was annoyed.
“I was worried to death you’d do something gonzo.”
His forehead came to mine. “Yeah, that’s what kept your mind off inventing ways to push me away.”
I could just not believe him. “You’re incredibly annoying,” I snapped, pulling my forehead away and putting my hands on his chest and pushing (which didn’t work, per usual).
He ignored my comment and started his own topic. “I’m gonna kiss you now.”
“You are not,” I said but his lips were coming toward mine and I couldn’t tear my eyes from them. “Luke, my lip gloss!” I protested right before his mouth hit mine.
In the end I had to repair my lip gloss and Luke had to wipe Jet’s application off his mouth with the back of his wrist.
Not to mention his kiss was so thorough, Luke was going to get part of his revenge because, even after shaky-handed lip gloss application, I was going to walk in to see Noah in the waning throes of a serious Luke Lip Fog.
* * * * *
“Who’s that?” I asked, staring at a guy I’d never seen in my life. He was sitting on the side of the bed in the small, sparsely furnished (read: bed only), secure room at the back of the offices, a room they called the Holding Room.
Hector and Vance were in with him. He had a fat lip, a swollen nose and was holding his torso straight like bending would cause pain but otherwise he looked healthy as an ox.
And he was not Noah.
Luke had walked in the room in front of me. Tex wheeled Winnie in the room behind me. Monty was standing outside.
I stopped at Luke’s side, Tex and Winnie stopped at mine.
“Fuck,” the man said, his eyes on Winnie.
“What do you mean, who’s that?” Hector asked me.
“I mean, who’s this guy?” I turned to Luke. “I’ve never seen this guy in my life.”
“But, that’s Jeremiah,” Winnie told me.
I turned to stare at her, thinking she might be confused but you could tell by the blistering look she was aiming at the guy she was far from confused.
Rock Chick Revenge Page 46
