Masked Indulgence

by Michelle Love

  ‘I’m sorry, okay-y-y-y,’ her voice wobbled as she sobbed, ‘I just wanted to see you.’

  Lila dropped her arm but not the knife. ‘Who are you?’

  The woman looked up finally, and Lila saw she was young, about Lila’s age, and very pretty – when she wasn’t covered in snot and tears.

  ‘Are you Lauren?’

  Noah had told her about his ex-girlfriend months ago, when Lila was still going through rehab. The girl nodded.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said again and scrambled to her feet. Lila took a step back and raised the blade in front of her. Lauren held up her hands.

  ‘I promise, I never intended to hurt you…I’m sorry about before but you did just hit me in the shoulder.’

  ‘You broke into my home.’

  Lauren nodded, looking at her curiously. ‘Who are you?’

  Lila took a deep breath in. ‘Lila Tierney. I’m…with Noah now.’ Almost unconsciously, her hand moved to her belly, protectively and Lauren’s eyes followed.

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Lauren’s eyes filled with tears again. ‘Noah’s?’

  Lila nodded. ‘Look, Lauren, could you just…go? Or tell me what you want? If you leave now, I won’t tell Noah – or the police – this happened.’

  Lauren nodded but dipped her head shyly. ‘Just a couple of questions before I go and I won’t bother you anymore.’

  Lila sighed. ‘What do you want to know?’

  Lauren studied her. ‘Where did you meet Noah?’

  Lila hesitated. ‘At work. His work.’

  ‘You’re a doctor?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘A patient?’

  Lila hesitated. ‘Not any more. Look, Lauren, I’m sorry but you really have to go now.’

  ‘I will, I will, just…do you love him?’

  Lila’s expression softened. ‘Very much.’

  ‘And he loves you?’

  ‘That’s what he tells me.’

  Lauren smiled sadly. ‘He never once told he loved me.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Lila said evenly. Lauren nodded and walked to the front door.

  ‘I am, too. Sorry if I hurt you, I didn’t see you were pregnant. Good luck with it all.’

  ‘Goodbye Lauren.’

  Lila closed the door after the woman and leaned back against it, shaking her head. ‘The world is full of fruit loops, little Matty,’ she said to her bump. She was getting used to that name – if it was a boy, he might have to be called Matthew, she pondered now as she locked the door and this time remembered to set the alarm. She locked the balcony windows – how the hell did Lauren climb up this high? Crazy.

  She padded back to bed but couldn’t sleep, instead staring at the ceiling. All the adrenaline had left her body now, and the shock of the assault began to sink in.

  ‘Jesus,’ she whispered to herself. Will I ever be safe again? Every time she felt settled, something happened to rock her equilibrium. Eventually she fell into an uneasy sleep, full of nightmares and dreams of being stalked by an unknown menace.

  Lila flipped the pancakes onto a plate, covering a yawn as she listened to Noah and Charlie talk. Noah had come home a couple of hours after Lauren had left and one look at his face told her that Mackie didn’t make it. She held out her arms and he had gone into them, holding her tightly. They held each other until they both fell back to sleep and when Charlie had rung their door bell, they both groaned.

  Charlie grinned at them both, their hurriedly tugged on clothes and bed-head hair. ‘Should I give you an hour? I can come back.’

  Noah and Lila waved away his suggestion. ‘You’re family,’ Noah said and Lila shot him a grateful smile. Her two favorite men in the world were getting along and that made her unbelievably happy.

  But now, of course, they had to go and spoil it by talking about Riley. She wondered if she should tell them that she’d slept with Riley that night so long ago. God, am I a slut? She shook her head. Both of the men in this room, Riley, Richard, a couple of guys when she was younger. By modern standards she was practically a novice.

  ‘So, best thing to do is take normal precautions, lock doors, set alarms, don’t go walking alone at night.’

  Lila turned and stared at Charlie and he grinned. ‘Thought that would get your attention.’

  Lila waved the pancake slice at them both. ‘You two know I’m in the room, yes?’

  Noah snorted with laughter. ‘Lila Belle, it’s your safety we’re concerned about, is all.’

  Lila turned back to the stove, hiding a guilty expression. She’d promised Lauren she wouldn’t say anything….ah, screw it, the woman had broken into their home.

  ‘Well, in that case, you might want to tell your ex-girlfriend not to break in in the middle of the night.’ She dumped a plate of pancakes on the breakfast bar a little too hard. Noah blinked.

  ‘Excuse me?’

  Lila sat down and looked at both men. ‘Lauren. She shimmied up the side of our building last night, came in through the balcony. I had to throw down with her.’

  Noah bugged at her. ‘What the actual fuck? Why didn’t you say anything? I’ll fucking kill her…’ He stood up but Lila grabbed his hand.

  ‘Sit. Down. Now. No biggie,’ she stared him down. Noah sat.

  ‘Whipped,’ muttered Charlie but Lila glared at him. Noah looked between the two of them then rubbed his face trying to wake up enough to think clearly.

  ‘Let me get this straight. Lauren broke into this house last night?’

  ‘Yup.’

  ‘And you, what, wrestled?’

  ‘She was snooping around, I ambushed her, she choked me, and I kicked her in the lady nuts.’

  Charlie spat his coffee out, choking on laughter.

  ‘This isn’t funny,’ Noah snapped at the laughing man. ‘Jesus Christ, Lila.’

  Her face softened. ‘It’s fine, babe. We calmed down, talked stuff through. She’s a weird one but no harm done. Mostly. I may have fractured her shoulder with your lion’s head thing.’

  ‘This just gets better.’ Charlie looked at Noah’s set face and shut up again.

  ‘You have to tell me stuff like this. Where the hell was security?’

  ‘To be fair, they weren’t expecting Spider Woman.’

  Noah sighed. ‘We’re moving. If someone can get in that easily...’

  ‘No way, I love this place.’

  Noah shook his head. ‘We’ll talk about this later.’

  Charlie cleared his throat. ‘That’s my cue.’ He stood and Lila hugged him, pouting.

  ‘You really have to go?’

  ‘’Fraid so, munchkin.’ He hugged her back tightly. ‘I’ll see you both soon.’

  ‘Sure we can’t take you to the airport?’ Noah shook Charlie’s hand.

  ‘Thanks but no, cab’s easier.’

  ‘He hates goodbyes,’ Lila rolled her eyes, ‘He cries. You should see it, it’s like Love Actually.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ Charlie waved her teasing away. ‘Take care of each other.’

  When Charlie had gone, Lila knew Noah would want to return to the subject of Lauren so she pre-empted him. ‘So, you should have maybe told Lauren about the bambino.’

  Noah sighed. ‘I don’t see that it’s any of her concern; we were over months ago.’

  ‘Still, your really quite recent ex has a baby on the way. That’s gotta sting.’

  ‘Do you care?’

  Lila considered. ‘I suppose not. I felt sorry for her.’

  ‘Don’t. She’s a viper, don’t trust the innocent little girl act.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t. Look, can we not talk about her anymore?’

  Noah smiled and wrapped his arms around her. ‘Good idea. Thank god it’s the weekend. What shall we do?’

  She laughed at his suggestive grin. ‘Well, apart from that, we could see if your dad and step-mom want to come out to the cottage with us?’

  Her voice shook at the end, nervous, but Noah grinned widely.
‘Really? You ready?’

  Lila kissed him and nodded, her eyes excited. ‘I’m ready.’

  Manhattan

  Tinsley Chang cheered as Charlie made his way into the bar that night. ‘At damn last,’ she said, going to hug him, ‘Man, I want all the gossip.’

  Charlie chuckled, but lowering his tone, he glanced around the busy bar. ‘Any sign of Riley?’

  She shook her head, her smile fading. ‘No, dude, I’m sorry.’ She looked over at Mikey who was behind the bar. ‘Dude, I’m taking off, you all set?’

  Mikey waved her away. ‘Go on and leave me, you thankless wench.’

  Tinsley laughed then dragged Charlie out onto the street. ‘We’re going to my place. I bought some micro beers and we can order pizza and we are going to talk, Sherman.’

  ‘Pregnant.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Lila is pregnant.’

  ‘Like I said.’

  ‘Six months pregnant.’

  Charlie sighed. They’d been over this again and again but Tinsley was still looking at him as if he’d gone mad. ‘I don’t know what else to tell you, Tins.’

  ‘With the hot doctor’s baby?’

  ‘You think he’s hot?’

  ‘Is the sky blue?’

  Charlie was a little irked and didn’t hide it well. Tinsley prodded him. ‘You’re still my favorite, Chuckles. So, she’s happy?’

  ‘Getting there, I think. She’s freaking out about what to tell the Carnegies. Talking of whom…how’s your man, Harry?’

  ‘Half a world away,’ Tinsley said matter-of-factly. ‘We’ve talked a few times. Mostly about how great Melbourne is.’ She smiled to herself. ‘Makes me kinda homesick.’

  ‘For Australia or Carnegie?’

  Tinsley considered. ‘Harry and I had a great time but I think we weren’t meant to be long term. I don’t do long term.’

  Charlie huffed out a laugh. ‘I know that.’

  She sighed and pulled her legs up under her. ‘You were my longest…thing.’

  Charlie grinned. ‘Why, thank you.’

  ‘Don’t be gross.’ But she giggled. ‘But seriously, I’m just doing my own thing lately. This Riley thing is really getting to me though. Woods came to see me.’

  Charlie looked up sharply. ‘He did?’ Woods was Riley’s brother; the two had an antagonistic relationship and Charlie had never warmed to the guy. Pretentious, arrogant – the opposite of easy going, affable Riley.

  ‘Wanted to know if I’d seen Riley. I thought you’d talked to the family?’

  ‘Not yet, not until we known for sure that Riley’s a suspect. God,’ Charlie ran a hand through his hair. ‘It’s driving me crazy, not knowing and – ‘

  He stopped as his cell phone buzzed. ‘Gimme a sec. Yeah?’

  Tinsley watched his face as he listened. It changed from annoyance to concern.

  ‘Yeah, yeah of course, I’ll be straight there.’

  He shut off his phone and turned to her. ‘It’s Cora Carnegie. She got caught in the middle of a drugs bust.’

  ‘Oh, no, poor kid.’

  Charlie sighed and stood. ‘I’m sorry, Tins, I have to go.’

  ‘Of course.’ She walked him to the door but as he stepped out, she stopped him. ‘Listen, if Cora…doesn’t want to go home tonight, bring her here. It’ll give her some space, to think, to rest without…you know.’

  Charlie smiled down at her. ‘You’re a peach.’ He hesitated then kissed her, full on the mouth, brief, quick, then jogged down the hallway to the stairs.

  Tinsley closed her door slowly, her emotions in turmoil. She didn’t want to get involved with anyone so soon after Harry and especially if it would risk the friendship she and Charlie had built but…that kiss. Damn…

  Tinsley shook her head. She was still reeling from the news about Lila and the baby. Tinsley grinned to herself and wished there was some way she could get in contact with Lila, talk to her. Charlie had said Lila wanted to get in touch but she needed to talk to the Carnegies first, explain. Tinsley didn’t envy her friend that conversation.

  She didn’t envy that conversation at all.

  Seattle

  Lauren gave a squeak of shocked surprise as Noah gripped her upper arm and steered her into the nearest coffeehouse.

  ‘Sit down and shut up,’ he snapped at her as he summoned the waitress and ordered black coffee.

  ‘I don’t drink coffee,’ Lauren tried to hide her nervousness. Noah looked about as angry as she’d ever seen him and it didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Unconsciously, she touched her shoulder, still badly bruised from where Lila had struck her a few nights ago.

  ‘It’s not for you,’ Noah retorted then relented and ordered a chamomile tea for her.

  Lauren tried a winsome smile. ‘You remembered.’

  Noah’s expression was thunderous. ‘You’re lucky you’re not sitting in a police cell. What the fuck did you think you were doing breaking into our home in the middle of the night?’

  Lauren dropped the pretense. ‘Fucking bitch, I knew she would rat me out.’

  ‘You don’t say a word about Lila, do you understand?’ Noah’s tone was low, dangerous and Lauren looked away from the fury in his eyes.

  ‘I just…wanted to see who replaced me. And, goddammit, Noah, you should have told me she was pregnant.’ Tears welled in her eyes and she made a show of brushing them away.

  The waitress came with their drinks, her eyes flicking between the two of them, obviously curiously about the tension. Noah gave her a wintry smile and thanked her, and the waitress, disappointed moved away.

  ‘I don’t owe you a damn thing, Lauren. You and I were over months ago, before I even met Lila.’

  ‘Exactly,’ she hissed. ‘And yet she’s already pregnant? You bastard, you know how much I wanted a baby.’

  Noah sighed. ‘But I didn’t want children with you, Lauren. Hell, I didn’t want them with anybody until I met Lila. I’m sorry if that sounds cruel but you and I were not destined to have a happy ever after. We want different things.’

  Lauren was quiet for a long moment and when she met his gaze, her expression had turned to one full of spite. ‘I could always tell her you were still banging me after you met her.’

  Noah wasn’t troubled. ‘She would know that wasn’t true.’

  ‘Psychic, is she?’

  Noah gave her a humorless smile. ‘And when would you say this so-called ‘banging’ occurred?’

  Lauren smiled. ‘In between you first banging her and when she got pregnant.’

  Noah grinned then. ‘Here in Seattle, was it? Did I swing by your apartment after seeing her?’

  Lauren’s bluster faltered. ‘Noah…’

  ‘Thing is, Lauren,’ Noah was enjoying himself now, ‘unless you invented time-travel in a very fast jet plane, that would be physically impossible. Not only was I in New York, but there was no time between the first time Lila and I were first intimate and the time she got pregnant.’

  Lauren’s eyes grew wide and her smile turned nasty. ‘Wow, that’s fast work. I’ve got to give it to her, that’s fast gold-digging work.’

  Noah’s eyes were dark. ‘Lila has no need to desire for my money; don’t judge her by your standards, Lauren.’

  Lauren flushed red but lifted her chin. ‘I don’t need to; getting knocked up on the first date speaks for itself.’

  ‘I was already in love with her,’ Noah said softly, quietly and with such feeling that Lauren couldn’t help the gasp of distress.

  Noah sighed, reached into his pocket for some bills to pay for the coffee. ‘I’ve said what I came to say, Lauren. Stay away from Lila, stay away from me.’

  Lauren narrowed her eyes. ‘And what if I don’t?’

  Noah smiled coldly. ‘Then Daddy Dearest will find out what a psycho his darling daughter is and bang goes your trust fund. Believe me; it wouldn’t take much to convince him.’

  ‘You wouldn’t,’ she hissed at him, eyes blazing.

&nb
sp; ‘If you ever come near me and Lila again, I have his number on speed dial. Remember that.’

  And he was gone. Lauren was suddenly aware that other people in the coffeehouse were staring at her. She lifted her chin, stood, threw some money for her tea on the table– she was damned if she would let Noah pay for her – and stalked out.

  Fucking, fucking, fucking bitch. She should have known Lila Tierney would tell Noah about the break-in. Well, she would pay for that little indiscretion…because Lauren knew who Lila Tierney was and soon, so would the rest of the world.

  Manhattan

  Charlie came by the nest morning. ‘How is she?’

  Tinsley beckoned him into the kitchen. ‘Still asleep,’ she said, ‘and I don’t think she’s at all happy about being here.’

  Charlie looked confused. ‘But she said she didn’t want to go home.’

  Tinsley rolled her eyes and smiled at him. ‘You are clueless, Charles.’ She stuck her head around the door to check Cora wasn’t around then turned back to him. ‘She wanted to go home with you, Charlie.’

  Realization dawned and he groaned. ‘Oh, god.’

  ‘Exactly. Being shacked up with your ex-girlfriend is not what she planned. Still, she went straight to bed, not very chatty either. Will she be charged?’

  Charlie shook his head. ‘She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, she hadn’t even been using, thank god.’

  Tinsley felt a pang of jealousy at the fondness in Charlie’s voice but turned away to hide it.

  ‘I can’t tell you how grateful I am you offered to let her stay here,’ Charlie said softly, and he touched her back, stroking down it. ‘Her coming home with me would not have been a good idea.’

  Tinsley looked up at him and he smiled. ‘Cora’s not the one I’m interested in,’ he whispered and bent his head to kiss her. Tinsley closed her eyes and sank into the kiss, winding her arms around his neck. God, she had missed this man, his machismo, his strength. Harry had been a wonderful diversion and one she would never forget but…Charlie Sherman….damn…