by Lyssa Layne
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Heartbreaker
Shampoo. That’s the reason this happened. I ran out of shampoo. I could have just sucked it up and used my shower soap until that runs out too, but no, I wanted to have new shampoo. My shampoo. The kind that smells pretty and makes my hair all shiny. That’s really all it’s got going for it anyway. Shine and scent. It’s unruly and even unkind under certain weather related conditions. I wasn’t prepared to give up the scent and shine. Not now. Not when Lucas comes around and likes to smell it and stare at it for no apparent reason other than it seems to put a goony looking grin on his face. I like knowing he got it from looking at me. Maybe shampoo isn’t the reason. Maybe his goony grin is. Either way, here I sit.
My tire blew out halfway between my shop and Walmart. All because some idiot didn’t tie down his ladder and it came flying out of the back of his pickup, just to land neatly in my lane, where I ran over it. My little car is not equipped to handle such obstacles. Speed, that’s it’s strong point. Stupid debris in the road, not so much.
I guess I can blame the ladder too. Shampoo, grins and ladders. All three are dead to me.
“Hey, why isn’t Sketch answering her phone?” I ask as soon as Cherry picks up the shop line.
“Probably because you have a rule about not having phones on while needles are out,” she replies dryly.
“That’s a stupid rule. What if there’s a fucking emergency?”
I can hear the tapping of keyboard keys. She’s only half listening, half handling the office crap she hates but I make her do anyway because she’s the closest thing we have to a manager. “Do you have a fucking emergency?”
“My tire blew out. I’m stuck on 44. You know, the road with nothing on it except and an end and a beginning? And I’m nowhere near either.”
“Shitty.”
I groan loudly. “You’re not helping. Is Princess around?”
“Yeah. Everyone’s here.”
“Is she also with a client?” The words come out of my mouth in slow motion whale speak. Cherry is driving me nuts today. Serves me right for asking her to redo the calendar and reschedule half of our appointments. Not like I wanted it any more than she did, but I’m still not the one stuck making all those calls.
“Yes. Everyone is with a client. Except me. I’m with the phone. And the computer. And the typing. And the calling. And the angry people who hate to hear no.”
“I get it. I gave you a sucky job. I’m sorry. And thanks for nothing.” Then I hang up. Pathetic or not, I’m about to call my niece. She’s the only other person who comes to mind when I think cars. She’s a little badass. Even had her change my oil last month. She’ll know how to fix this.
“Where you at?”
“Casa McNealy. What’s up?”
“I have a flat tire and Sketch is busy. Can you like, talk me through this or something?” I mean, it can’t be that hard. People deliver babies over the phone all the time on TV, I can definitely apply the same method to changing my tire.
“Oh no, not baby blue,” she cries into the receiver.
“I like how you care about my car and all, but where is the concern for your aunt?” I huff.
“What, you called me, right? Talking. Breathing. How much concern should I show?”
I’m about explain just how much when I hear that undeniable baritone I’m becoming so attached to and it sends a quiver through my core in an instant. “Is that Liv?”
There’s a brief exchange between the two. Then, Lucas is on the line. “Where are you?”
“44. Halfway between the interstate and Walmart.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen. Sit tight.”
And then it’s back to waiting.
Lucas beats his own estimations and shows up in nine minutes instead of fifteen. It still felt like nine hours, but I’m not an ungrateful ass, so I don’t mention it.
“How many people did you call before I happened to walk in and intercept your pleas for help?” he asks walking toward me from his truck.
“Just Sketch. And Princess. Then Madi.” I can see where this list isn’t playing out in my favor.
“Were you ever going to call me?”
I shrug. “I’m not used to calling you.”
He stops in front of me, his thumb reaching out to lift my chin to meet his bossy face. “The next time you need rescuing; I want you to call me first. You’re not the type of woman who’s going to give me a hell of a lot of chances to swoop in and be her knight in shining armor. Don’t go screwing me out of what few opportunities come along.”
“You want to be my knight in shining armor?”
His lips stretch into a smile just as he leans in to kiss me.
“I want to be your everything,” he murmurs, “but yeah, I’ll settle for knight in shining armor in the meantime.”
Now I’m the one all dopey eyed and goofy faced like I’m straight out of a Harlequin novel. “In my defense. I don’t usually have to call. You have a way of just showing up when I need you.”
“That’s not a bad defense,” he nudges my nose with the tip of his playfully. “Alright. Let’s see about this tire.” His hand slips into mine as he leads the way to the other side of the car and the back tire hanging from the rim in shreds.
He lets out a low grunt of multiple curse words as he assesses the damage, then, in his true get shit done fashion, he takes on the task of not only fixing my tire, but also teaching me as he goes. I briefly feign dumb, helpless girl, but it only causes him to sneer at me in disgust. So, I suck it up and learn how to change my damn tire. I can’t see how I’ll ever need to know how to do this, what with SuperLuke always keeping an eye out for the Liv-signal in the sky. I know, I’m overlapping my superhero metaphors here, but I’ve got a hot guy engaging in physical labor using his hands and shit and getting dirty all in the interest of saving my ass. I can’t be expected to think clearly under these conditions.
Lucas
“That new tattoo is coming along nicely,” Memphis says, pointing at my back. We’ve just finished sparring. Our fifth session this week. He likes it because he’s sitting on nearly eight years of pent up anger. Normally I just appreciate a workout that requires more attention than the treadmill does, but after the last few weeks, not to mention my mother’s breakdown yesterday, the appeal for me has become increasingly closer to his. Punching things really takes the edge off when you’re stuck feeling like the world is turning dark and there’s nothing you can fucking do about it.
“Yeah. Should be close to done after tonight.” Not sure if she knows it, since there was no mention of it while I was changing her tire earlier, but I’ve got a session with Heartbreaker this evening. Scheduled it with Cherry as per her instructions last time she freaked and kicked me out of the shop. Of course, I went for later rather than sooner, to drag out the time she’d be stuck with me. I wonder how many more times we’ll have to go through that particular process. With the shift happening between us we should be close to done with it by now.
“What time are you going in?”
“Around eight. Why?”
He shrugs. “Juli’s been bugging me about wanting a tattoo. Thought maybe I’d bring her by to meet the girls.”
“And scare her right out of it, or what?”
Juli’s a straight up rodeo princess, tiara and all. She can handle herself around horses and cattle, but I don’t get the feeling she’d fare so well around the girls at Pink.
His face distorts into a painful grin, because he knows I’m right. “She wants a damn butterfly or some other generic shit. I’ve tried to talk her out of it myself, but I haven’t had any luck.”
“Maybe because you’re a walking talking poster boy for getting inked. The girl’s nuts about you, so I’m not surprised she wants to go and get a tattoo. Probably only doing it for you in the first place.”
He grabs a towel from his gym bag and wipes his face. “What the hell for? If that mattered to me, I probably wouldn’t be
dating her in the first place.”
“Does she know about Riot?” Even at sixteen, she already had several tattoos. All hidden unless you went to the beach with her. Then they were pretty undeniable. Makes sense now, knowing she’s Sketch’s sister.
He shakes his head, a darkness settling in his eyes. Her name does that. I should have known better. “No. And she doesn’t need to either, so keep your trap shut.”
“What about Sketch? You don’t worry she might say something if you take your new girlfriend in to see her?”
His brows rise up about an inch into his forehead. “I see you and Heartbreaker talk about more than just your non-existent relationship.”
“Really?”
He shakes his head, tossing the towel back onto the bag on the floor. “No. Sorry, man.” He rakes his fingers through his hair. “It’s just…I don’t like talking about her, and I didn’t realize you knew she and Sketch were sisters.”
“Honestly, I was a little surprised you never mentioned it.”
“I don’t like talking about her,” he repeats the same statement to me.
“And you don’t think that maybe bringing Juli around will make you have to talk about her?”
“No. Sketch doesn’t like talking about her either. That’s why I go see her; because we can not talk about her together.”
I guess that makes sense.
“So, then Juli’s getting a tattoo.”
He nods, still brooding.
“And for the record, I broke out of the friend zone two days ago so take your smartass comments and shove ‘em. We’re a thing now. I got the girl.”
The change in topic does little to change his mood though. “Trick is going to be trying to hang onto her.”
He’s not wrong. She’s probably not going to disappear one night like Riot did, but I can’t deny that Heartbreaker is likely to have an escape route planned at every turn for a long, long while to come.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Heartbreaker
“Madi?” I stop dead in my tracks when I see her in the lobby. “What are you doing here? I thought I told you not to come by the shop while your father’s in town.”
She scowls. “Can we not call him that?” She drops her backpack in one of the chairs behind the reception desk. “Ash and Hayes had a family thing and I was bored sitting at the house alone.”
“What family thing? You’re family.”
“A Rob family thing.”
“Oh.” And here it is. The moment keeping the news about Marcus from Pru biting me in the ass. I knew it would arrive at some inopportune time or another and now it has. “Well, can’t you crash whatever they have going on?” If Pru knew, she would have insisted. Anything to keep Madi out of Marcus’s path, even if it means dealing with her in laws and their snide comments about Pru’s sister and said offspring.
“No way, dude. Last time I crossed paths with Rob’s brother and his snotty little wife, I nearly wound up body slamming that chick into the ground.” Madi sidles up to Cherry, who’s been doing her best to pretend she can’t hear us while she types up next week’s schedule on the computer. “Are those next week’s appointments? Is Sev Straight in there anywhere? I know he’s coming to town.”
“Don’t- don’t do that.”
Her eyes widen, as if she could possibly convince me of her innocence. “Do what?”
“Call him Sev like you know him or something.”
“You do.”
“Yeah. Because I do know him. Seen him naked, know him. It’s different.”
She smirks. “So that’s the criteria? I have to see him naked to call him Sev? I can work with that.”
Oh good God. “Time to go.” I pick her backpack up out of the chair and start to usher her out of the small reception area and away from the computer screen, which I know for a fact has Sev’s name on it as we speak.
“You’re no fun anymore.”
“I’ll be more fun when you’re no longer a minor,” I inform her on our way toward the back door. “I’m gonna drop Madi off at the house real quick. I’ll be back before my next appointment.” I stop briefly. “Wait. Who’s my next appointment?”
“Lucas,” Cherry calls back from the front.
“Perfect.” At least I can find ways to make it up to him if I’m late.
“You know, you’re kind of a hypocrite, Aunt Liv. Getting it on with a guy ten years younger than you and then having half a coronary when I express interest in a guy who’s barely old enough to buy liquor.”
“Nine.”
“Huh?”
“He’s nine years younger, not ten. And Seven’s age is not the issue here. Yours is. As soon as you turn eighteen you can run out and start boinking ninety-year-olds for all I care.”
She laughs. “Yeah, right. Eight measly little months are going to take you from overbearing aunt to I couldn’t care less if you have sex with Santa’s creepy uncle? I think we both know that’s complete bull.”
I’m doing my best not to crack up as well when we step into the back lot and wind up face to face with my brother. All sounds of laughter die instantly.
“I thought you weren’t supposed to be here until tonight. Don’t you have a fucking home? A scummy motel room? A cardboard box, or better yet, a fucking rock to crawl under? Why the hell am I tripping over your ass every time I walk out of this door?”
I can feel Madi tense up behind me, holding onto my arm, almost like she’s little again.
Marcus notices her almost instantly. It’s been years since he’s seen her, but she looks just like her mother. His blood seems to drain from his face, turning it pale as if he’s seen a ghost. Then he recovers with ease, hiding any remnants of possible feelings he might have felt.
“Well, if it isn’t the apple of my eye, all grown up.” The tone of his voice sends shivers down my spine. Sometimes I swear I don’t even know who he is anymore. It scares me. He scares me.
“Drop dead, Marcus,” Madi spats from behind me.
He feigns his hurt and shock over her words. Neither are even remotely believable. “This is how you talk to your father? And you,” he points at me, “you’re just going to let her? If this is how you’ve been raising her, maybe you’re not suited to be her guardian after all.”
My blood is rapidly rising to a boil, but I grit my teeth and force my way through this conversation anyway. “He’s right, Madi. Mind your manners.”
“Fine. Drop dead, Marcus, please.” She smirks. “Happy?”
“Very much. Thanks.” I turn toward my brother. “There. All better now?”
He’s about to come back at me with another argument when a black sedan catches his gaze as it pulls into the parking lot, heading for the warehouse. Every cell in my body is screaming to get Madi the hell out of here. The feeling only gets worse when I realize my brother is having the same exact reaction to seeing his boss pull up.
“Go. Now,” he hisses through clenched teeth and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I do exactly what he says.
“Stop pushing me,” Madi grumbles as I shove her into the passenger seat of my car.
“Get your head down.”
“Have you lost your ever loving mind?” She’s glaring at me like I’m a crazy person, but I don’t have time to make myself seem saner right now. I have to focus so I don’t fumble with the keys or draw any unnecessary attention to us by peeling out of the lot, or worse yet, hitting the truck parked behind me.
“Just do what I say, Madi.” I glance in the rearview mirror and see Marcus hurrying over to meet his boss, who chooses this particular moment to point at my car as I’m taking off. “Shit.”
“What the hell just happened?” She’s scared now. I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I guess if it’ll keep her ass as far away from the shop as possible, I’m counting it as a positive.
“That man who just pulled up in that fancy car? Yeah, your dad works for him. Or they’re partners or something. I don’t fucking know. All that matter
s is that he’s bad news. Scary as fuck bad news. So you need to do what I asked you to in the first place and not come by the shop right now.”
“Okay!” That annoyed teenager vibe is kicking in again. It’s a natural defense to everything. I learned that a long while ago.
“Thank you.” My heart is still racing even though we’re not even on the same street anymore. I suddenly wish we lived farther away. More distance between us and that creep would really be welcome right now.
“Aunt Liv?”
“Uh-huh?” My gaze keeps running back to the rearview mirror. I know I’m being paranoid. No one’s following us. Marcus probably already handled it, whatever there was to handle. I just wish he hadn’t looked so scared. Show fear and you’re dead. He never shows fear.
“Are you in danger when you’re at work? Are you guys even safe there right now?”
Probably not.
“Of course.”
“Are you lying?”
“Of course.” I turn toward her and force myself into a toothy grin. “Look, I’ve got it under control, K? Just trust me. And for the love of cake, stay away until I tell you it’s safe to come by again.”
She nods, her lips pressed together tightly.
We drive in silence for the next several blocks. Then we’re home. And safe. And we know it.
“Any chance you’ll tell me it’s safe sometime before next week?” Madi asks as she’s getting out of the car.
“Highly unlikely.”
“Because of scary dude or because I’m not allowed to drool all over Seven Straight until I’m the big 1 – 8?”
“Both. Now get inside and lock the door behind you. I have to get back to work.”
“Be careful.”
“Always.” I smack my lips together and kiss the air, pointing this display in her general direction. She in turn rolls her eyes at me and waves before slamming the door shut and heading for the house. I watch until she disappears inside. Then I hurry back to the shop. The sooner I get back, the less likely it is that Lucas will require an in depth explanation regarding my tardiness.