Courted by Karma (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod)

by Ellen, Tracy

  ‘My name is Anabel Katrina Axelrod and I’m not a junkie. I love Luke Drake!’

  Amidst the cheering in my head and the mean mommy’s voice wondering if Luke has a middle name, I danced around my room straightening up bed covers and arranging throw pillows. I did my thing in the bathroom, threw open all the shutters in the living room, and went to the kitchen to brew coffee in the fifty cup coffee urn I use when having parties or sleepover guests. I had a feeling some people were going to require mega caffeine when they got their butts up today.

  Returning with the coffee urn in my hands from the pantry, I spied a sturdy red gift box tied with a cheerful yellow ribbon sitting on a folded note on the granite island. Recognizing the bold scrawl, I grinned as I set down the urn and hurriedly opened the note.

  Anabel,

  I don’t know how much more of your endless complaining I can take.

  Luke

  Laughing, I put down the note. I savored the box for a moment before untying the bow and opening the lid. Sitting on separate gold doilies were six pieces of Damaris Drake’s baklava.

  After getting the coffee perking, I poured myself a glass of apple juice and sat at the island. After deliberation, I picked two of pieces of buttery love to devour. Soon I had sticky, honey fingers and gleaming lips. Very reluctantly and using my palms, I put the lid on the box to save the remaining treats for my houseguests. I contented myself with sucking my fingers clean.

  Looking around my silent, clean apartment, I thought about my morning ahead. I had to make dressing, cook a turkey and a ham, get the table and myself ready, cook with Crookie, and have fun entertaining my Florida guests until everyone else arrived. It was only seven. All of this could wait a couple of hours. I planned on working out anyway, so with a huge grin, I decided to take Luke up on his offer of my first lesson in self defense.

  I left the sleepers a note and went to go get dressed. I recalled the limo waiting for my slightest command. Thrilled to realize I could bring my laptop and finish my February book order on the drive, I sent a quick text for a front door pick up in fifteen minutes. I thought about texting Luke, but didn’t bother since he was going to be in the barn all morning and gave me an open invite. Maybe I could ninja him and John.

  Twenty minutes later, I was tooling along in the Barbie mobile being driven by a new driver named Phil. After commiserating with him on the limo company’s cruelty in expecting their drivers to wear pink and black uniforms, I closed the dividing window and got to work. As I typed away on my laptop, I was feeling like a Mattel executive—if a Mattel executive went to work in a black sweat suit and running shoes, with their hair up in a messy pony tail and their hearts on their sleeve.

  I texted Maria, and per our agreement, verified by referring to a book she ordered that Blanca was fine. This was a formality. She knew if there had been problems, I would have called her late last night. Within a few minutes, she texted back that she was going over to Inez’s and was fine with her end of the plan. Satisfied with how everything was progressing so far, I took Maria at her word that she’s comfortable, relieved we don’t have to talk. I’ll await further developments later today from her.

  I hoped Blanca would have fun this morning. Mac’s dropping her off at Jazy’s farm on the way to Faribault for their early Thanksgiving with Diego’s family and friends. I’d given Jazy a credit card for Blanca to go shopping online. She’ll need some clothes and accessories to supplement the meager wardrobe she was able to sneak out in her small bag. According to Maria, her niece was an avid reader. I made a mental note to make sure Blanca got escorted down into the closed store later today. She could pick out a stack of books to take to the farm, too.

  My phone buzzed and surprised me out of my thoughts.

  “Hey, Stella-Belle. You’re up early, everything okay?”

  “Yes, everything’s fine, but I wanted to tell you some stuff Blanca told me last night that I think you should know.” Stella’s voice was an urgent whisper. “Blanca’s asleep out on the futon and I’m in the bathroom, so she can’t hear me.”

  “Sure, tell me, sweetie,” I answered encouragingly.

  “The man that’s after her, did you know he’s after a couple of her friends in the neighborhood, too? She’s freaking over this. What the hell, Auntie B! How can this dude do this and get away with it? All the adults are fucking terrified of him, too! Blanca said he’s known for cutting people up with this wicked, big knife he carries everywhere. Poor Blanca, she’s such a sweetheart. She’s feeling so happy to have escaped, but lost it last night over the guilt she has that her friends are stuck there still.”

  Keeping my voice even, I asked, “Stella, tell me the swear to God truth here. Who else have you told about this?”

  “Nobody! You said not to tell anybody about Blanca and I swear to God that I haven’t,” Stella answered immediately.

  “Good girl. Do not tell anybody, not even your mother, Diego, or Eric George about this conversation, okay?” I reassured her, “Not that they aren’t trustworthy, but this is bad stuff, Stella, and the less people involved the better it is for everyone. You dig?”

  Stella thought it over for a second and concurred, “I dig. I swear I won’t talk to anyone.” Her voice was filled with relieved satisfaction, “I knew it! You’re going to do something about this fuckhead man, aren’t you?”

  “Stella, what I just said goes for you, as well.” I went on firmly in a voice Stella knows brooks no argument, “No more questions. Do not reassure Blanca or mention that we’ve talked. Only reinforce her not to Facebook, text, call, or even send a psychic wavelength to any of her friends. This is for Blanca’s safety and ours now, too.”

  “Okay, I will,” Stella avowed fervently. I’m so seldom this serious with her that Stella knows how bad I consider a situation to pull the Authoritative Auntie card.

  “You were absolutely right to call me with this information. Thank you for being such an intelligent female.” I sighed. “Now, two more things before I hang up, my darling mother-to-be.”

  “Yes?” Stella prompted with a smile in her voice.

  “Have you started taking prenatal vitamins?”

  “Not since yesterday, no,” my niece responded dryly.

  I smiled. “Quit taking after your Aunt Jazy and being such a snarky pants. Go talk to your mother, Nurse Ratched. Speaking of intelligence, I believe you particularly don’t want to wait on the magnesium fortified calcium. That little tater tot crisping in your oven will suck her little mama’s brains and bones dry taking what it needs to grow.”

  Stella giggled. “Oh okay, Auntie Bel. What’s the second thing?”

  “Enough with the fuckenheimers. I had to cold turkey the swearing when you were a kid, at least until you were five and it became a lost cause. You can do it, too.”

  Stella snorted and protested, “Yeah, but you were only eleven when I came to live with you!”

  “I know! I agree it was much harder for me to quit, since I had so much more to swear about with older sisters and a tyrant of a grandmother.” I added prissily, “But you are a role model to Blanca now, and you should get used to curbing your potty mouth before baby Turquesa Isabella makes her first appearance when I’m in Africa.”

  I ended the call hearing Stella’s whispered shrieks “that her baby was no way in hell, correction heck, being named Turquesa Isabella!”

  My smile disappeared while I mulled over Stella’s report on the fuckhead bad man. I shook my head in disgust and got back to my laptop.

  I asked Phil to park the limo on the side of the road near the entrance to Luke’s lane. He would wait for me, as I didn’t know how long my first lesson would take. Leaving my laptop in the limo, but zipping my muted cell in the pocket of my sweat suit hoodie, I pulled up my red fleece headband to cover my ears. I waved goodbye to the driver and took off jogging up the lane.

  If I stayed off to the side, there was a relatively flat strip between the actual lane and the shallow ditch that I could run on
without possibly breaking a tibia. I laughed at the state of the lane in the daylight. It could be the surface of the moon. I stopped, took out the cell, and snapped a quick picture to send to Crookie later.

  It was now a gloriously sunny day with a cloudless sky. Patches of snow dotted the churned fields and pastures here and there, but most of it had melted. The ground was much drier today and not too spongy. If I avoided the low dips in the land, I could avoid spattering mud up the back of my running pants. I warmed up quickly in the beautiful morning air. Halfway up the lane, I pulled down my headband and unzipped my jacket to tie it around my waist. Underneath, I had on a red, long-sleeved T shirt.

  It would be fun to appear unannounced at the barn and see if Luke could be taken by surprise. I wasn’t holding my breath. Mr. Tricky probably has this whole place rigged with camera surveillance, or has an alarm system to warn if a body was moving around his property.

  Reaching the end of the lane, I glanced over towards the one-story brick house. I could just make out the bed of our truck in the driveway before the tangled Lilac branches obscured my visibility. It was tempting to go begging for more Baklava for breakfast. Instead, I kept jogging towards the huge, white barn in the distance.

  As I approached, I could see the entrance door at the top of the wide ramp was propped open with a cement block. It appeared that Luke was taking advantage of the fresh, balmy air and sunshine.

  Slowing down to a walk on the graveled drive, I looked all around his farmyard and wondered what other surprises these outbuildings held. Aside from the barn that dominated the landscape, there was a double garage, a Quonset hut, a curved-roof chicken coop, an eye-catching silo built of the same fieldstone and brick as the house, and two wooden buildings that were also painted white. I couldn’t identify what their purposes were from only their exteriors.

  Energized from the short run, I was excited to start my work out and couldn’t wait to see what Luke would have me do. The newness of what I was feeling about my Dark Prince was adding to my eagerness to see him. Grinning at my foolishness, I was wondering if he’s going to look different in my eyes today, or if he was going to notice anything different about me. Was I glowing and shining on the outside like I felt inside?

  ‘If I get any sappier, I may just puke.’ The voices all laughed along with me, and I think I even heard the mean mommy’s low chuckle.

  I skipped up the ramp and entered into the cavernous barn, pausing so my eyes could adjust to the difference in lighting from the bright sunshine to the shadowed entrance room.

  The Dutch door on my left was open, top and bottom. I walked soundlessly towards the little office, but froze mid-step when I heard that annoying seal bark. I stayed frozen at the sound of Luke’s low laughter following right after Svettie’s.

  I don’t know if it was in response to my bat-like hearing, but something inside me clenched at the pitch of that overheard laughter. It sounded teasing and intimate. It sounded wrong.

  ‘No, no, no!’ Everybody wailed at this thought.

  Walking a few steps closer to the open doorway, an inexplicable sense of dread rose up in me. Pulled relentlessly forward, I could not stop myself, even as I wanted to run away. Hearing Luke’s murmur and his deep, sexy laughter in response to that lisping, accented voice, I was compelled to eavesdrop again. I couldn’t resist.

  ‘No, resist! Run away and don’t listen!’ The voices were babbling and shouting.

  I ignored them and took the final step. Leaning against the wall, I could clearly hear the conversation taking place a few feet away.

  “…shouldn’t watch a man taking a shower, Svetlana. How would you like it if I walked in on you, hmm?” Laughter. “Never mind, don’t answer that.”

  Hearing a rustling noise that sounded like clothing, it wasn’t enough I could hear what was being said, but I had to see, too. I sank to the floor soundlessly, and on my knees, barely let my right eye clear the door frame.

  “Luke, do not tease me so. Nobody vill know out here, but us. I’ve vanted you for months. I can feel how you vant me.”

  Swallowing hard over the lump in my throat, the ringing in my ears, and the voices in my head, I have a side view of Luke and Svettie almost directly across from me. They were standing near the open doorway to the bathroom. Luke was wearing only a short towel around his middle and the taped bandage around his chest. From my vantage point this low to the floor, I wouldn’t say he had an erection like Svettie implied, but when her hand reached out and stroked him, I furiously assumed that flaccid state of affairs wouldn’t last long.

  Standing there barely covered by his towel, the water droplets glistened on his hair and broad shoulders when Luke casually took Svettie’s hand off him. The air of total coolness he purveyed while doing this made me blink. It was as if he’s had to remove women’s hands off his genitals so often that it was an inconsequential, unconscious act hardly requiring thought.

  He held her one hand aloft and shook it in mock ferociousness while scolding gently, “Svetlana, you know we can’t do this. I am your boss and will not take advantage of you.”

  I was reminded by his manner of his affectionate gentleness with her hysterical crying fit in the barn yesterday. If he didn’t want her sexually, then I was at a loss to understand why he hadn’t shut her down more forcefully. This was a highly charged scene. I could feel the desire Svettie felts for Luke shimmering in the air. If she invited him to share a bed last night, obviously this wasn’t the first time she’d come on to Luke.

  The longer I watched and the more time it was taking Luke to disengage from Svettie, the harder it was getting to swallow past the lump in my throat and see past the red film over my eyes.

  Svetlana’s dark hair was hanging loose and she was dressed in a short robe or a cover up. It was hard to tell what exactly she was wearing from my sideways view, but its bright orange and very skimpy. Her long legs were bare to the knees, and then there was the ubiquitous white fur boots that I was now convinced were actually a permanent part of her legs.

  “You vill not be taking advantage!” She cried passionately. “You are the owner of the company, Luke. Nobody can tell you vat to do. It is because of An-a-bel, isn’t it?”

  Luke’s muscled shoulder moved and his tone was dismissive, “No, this has nothing to do with Anabel.”

  The Russian shrugged the colorful robe off her shoulders, presenting her pale, nude body like an orange sherbet push-up pop to Luke’s gaze.

  I felt dizzy with all the unfamiliar, seething emotions crashing through me. Raw possessiveness, fierce jealousy, unfathomable hurt, but above all, irrevocable despair.

  Luke briefly looked down the length of Svettie once and said softly, “Jesus, Svetlana, put your robe on. I said no.”

  I’d seen and heard enough.

  Leaning back and looking around me blindly, I noticed Jazy’s barn boots against the wall where I’d left them yesterday morning. Right now, yesterday seemed like a million years ago. Hell, fifteen minutes ago seems like a far off dream compared to the nightmare images I now have strobing through my mind.

  You’d think I’d be grabbing those boots and whaling away on Svettie or Luke, and I was surprised at myself, too.

  I did grab the boots, but my best friend Anna was wrong. I had no desire to fight over Luke. What I felt was much worse. I needed to get away.

  So I did.

  Taking careful steps to exit the barn as quietly as I’d arrived, I was aware of Svettie starting to cry piteously in the background.

  Hugging a boot under each arm, I started running full out the minute my feet hit the ramp outside. I didn’t let myself think or stop while I ran as fast as I could. My feet pounded the ground in time to the refrain pounding in my head, “Please, just get me home, Please, just get me home.”

  No matter how fast I ran, the lane seemed endless, but I finally arrived at the pink limo waiting patiently on the road.

  Throwing the boots in through the door Phil held politely open, I was a
bout to throw myself in when a car honked. I looked up in a daze.

  I didn’t recognize the silver sedan. It slowed to a stop alongside me. I was in such a numb state; I didn’t react at seeing John and the senior Drake’s.

  John and Damaris both rolled down a window, but other than giving me a sharp, searching look and a small nod of hello, John didn’t speak.

  In the front seat, Paul leaned forward to see past John and smiled genially. “Good morning, Anabel! Are you coming over to have some coffee with us?”

  From the back, Damaris added her greetings with a warm smile and I smiled back automatically. Then I heard myself lie without compulsion when she asked if I was arriving or leaving.

  “Oh, just this minute arriving.” My driver earned a big tip because he didn’t bat an eye. “I was going to come and work out with Luke, but I just got a call from my cousin that I’m needed at home. Guess I’m not going to be working out after all.” I smiled politely at Luke’s father, “Sorry I can’t stay for coffee, but we’ll see you all later, right?”

  Damaris smile dimmed, as she looked at me searchingly with her piercing brown eyes. She must be good with prevaricating witnesses on the stand because I had to glance away while feeling ashamed for my phony smiles and lies.

  Luke’s mother said slowly, “Yes, we’ll be over at two. I’m looking forward to getting to know you better, Anabel.” I glanced back and saw the slight frown between her brows, so like her son. I dredged up a smile because I was really bummed we won’t be getting to know each better. With a ghost of a smile, she said in her quiet way, “I have a feeling you and I share the same fighting spirit, dear. I hope you don’t mind, but Luke and John shared what you and your family have done for Blanca. I’d like to talk to you more about this later today, if that’s okay with you?”

  “Sure,” I agreed.

  At this moment, I’d agree with anything to get them to leave. This was agonizing for me, knowing I won’t be getting to know them or probably ever see them again. Luke’s parents teased me about the pink limo, and then with friendly waves and another nod from the silent John, they drove off and turned into the lane from hell.