“It wasn’t as bad as you think,” I told him.
“Ava, honey, get yourself cleaned up.”
I went into the hall and stood in front of him. “He didn’t rape me or anything.”
“Don’t talk now, we’ll talk later. You want me to help you clean up?”
I was getting panicked. “Lee, don’t tell Luke he touched me. It wasn’t that bad.”
His hands came out and his fingers went into my waistband. Wordlessly, he pulled me to him and then did up the button on my pants that I’d forgotten about. After that, he cinched the belt.
This was so sweet, so gentle, I had to swallow down tears again.
I put my hand on his chest and leaned into him. “Lee, you tell Luke, he’s gonna go gonzo.”
Lee nodded. “He’s gonna go gonzo.”
“Please, he just, put his hand… and then put his other hand…” I stopped. “And then he took care of himself just using me to rub against.”
God, this was embarrassing.
As I was talking I’d been avoiding his eyes. When I was done, I looked at Lee.
Oops.
I was thinking that Lee didn’t think that was any better than being raped. I was thinking that because the fury waves were pounding again and his face, which had been gentle until now, had turned hard as stone.
“You’re not gonna go gonzo, are you?” I whispered.
“I’m keepin’ a very fuckin’ loose hold on going gonzo, Ava.”
I swallowed again, this time at the anger vibrating in his tone. “I don’t want you boys to get into any trouble for me,” I told him.
“Only person’s got trouble right now is Noah Dexter or whatever that fuckin’ guy’s name is.”
“Lee.”
His hand came up and his fingers wrapped around my head and the third hot guy in a day (or a little more than one, I didn’t know what time it was, I just knew it was dark outside) leaned forward and put his forehead against mine.
Lee’s forehead lean was a lot different than Luke’s or Ren’s.
Lee’s was scary.
“You ask him to touch you like that?”
I shook my head, mainly because I couldn’t find my voice.
“So he did it against your will.”
I nodded my head.
“A man doesn’t put his hands on a woman like that against her will. A man doesn’t put his hands on a woman at all against her will, but especially not like that. A man does that, that man earns retribution. Automatic. A man does that to a woman I know, the woman of a friend of mine, a friend I trust and respect, that retribution turns ugly.”
Yikes multiplied by about two thousand.
“What are you gonna do?” I whispered.
“I’m gonna do whatever I have to do to protect Luke while he does whatever the fuck he wants to do.”
“What if I don’t want him to do it?”
His face lost some of its scary-stony quality and went slightly gentle. “Sorry, honey. You’re gonna have to let us work this out. It’s a guy thing.”
After he finished speaking, to my shock he kissed my forehead, let me go and then flipped open his phone, hit a couple of buttons and put it to his ear.
“Get cleaned up,” he murmured softly to me. Then his head came up but his eyes didn’t leave mine when he said, “Luke. I found her.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Precious Cargo
Since he lived so close, Tex was the first to arrive.
Lee sent him to help me clean up while Lee did whatever it was that Lee was doing (my guess, searching my house for rope to fashion a noose).
Tex sat me on the toilet seat and cleaned up the blood, put some Neosporin on my cut lip, took me downstairs and got me an ice pack for my swollen eye. He was mostly silent during his ministrations but his mouth was tight and his eyes were shining with what could only be described as controlled hellfire.
For your information, I didn’t look too bad except for the blood down my shirt and rimming my nostrils, my torn lip and my eye which was already bruising. In the grand scheme of things I decided to think of it as “not too bad”.
Even so, after looking at myself, I transferred my sextuple revenge from Dom to Noah, the double extra, loser, rat-bastard.
By the time we got downstairs, Lee had all the lights blazing. I suspected he did this for me since I’d been locked in a pitch black room for however many hours. All I could think was that he was definitely on the very short Good Guy List.
Matt was the second to arrive. He took one look at me and his face got red.
Lee said one word to him, “Focus.”
Matt nodded his head once and then he focused. I could actually see him focus.
Hank and Roxie arrived next. Tears filled Roxie’s eyes when she saw me and she came right up to me and grabbed my hand, holding on tight.
“Thought she might need someone who had been there,” Hank muttered to Lee.
Okay so Hank just earned a place on my Good Guy List too and, as I was being so magnanimous, Matt’s angry red face earned him a place as well.
Tex was already on it.
“How are you doing?” Roxie asked me, leading me to my couch.
“I’m fine. Everyone’s overreacting. This isn’t a big deal. I knew Noah was a jerk, he just proved it irrefutably,” I told her as we sat down.
She looked at Hank but Hank, Lee, Matt and Tex were all looking at me.
“Seriously you guys, this isn’t a big deal. It isn’t as if this is a big surprise. He had already screwed me over once,” I announced.
The door opened, I held my breath thinking it would be Luke but it was Vance.
Then I sucked in breath again when Vance got a look at me and his body went visibly tight.
I feared for my lamps because Vance looked like he definitely wanted to throw one of them (or possibly all of them). Instead he looked at Lee and said something bizarre, “I call a shot and I don’t even care if he’s conscious when I get my turn.”
At this, it was Roxie’s turn to go tight.
“Everyone’s got a fuckin’ shot on this one,” Tex said, sounding pissed off.
“Shit,” Hank muttered under his breath.
“What are they talking about?” I whispered to Roxie as I set my ice bag aside.
“I’ll tell you later,” she answered softly. “Do you want me to get you a drink? Herbal tea or something?”
“I’d love a Fat Tire,” I told her. “I’ll get it,” I got up and asked loudly, “Anyone want a beer?”
Roxie, Tex and the Hot Bunch were all looking at each other but I ignored them and headed toward the kitchen. I could swear I saw Lee’s eyes crinkle in a sexy smile that didn’t quite involve his mouth when I passed him. I didn’t know what that was about but I wasn’t in the mood to ask.
“Just me then,” I said as I hit the kitchen.
When my head was in the fridge, I heard Roxie say, “Maybe she’s in denial.”
“I’m not in denial,” I called into the other room.
“Damn,” Roxie whispered loudly.
I got myself a beer and walked back into the living room taking a long pull. This somewhat hurt my lip (okay, so it hurt my lip a lot) but I powered through it.
When I hit the living room again, Lee came up to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders curling me into his body.
It was then I saw that I got blood on his shirt where I had wiped my face.
“I got blood on your shirt,” I told him.
“Forget it,” he returned. “Look at me, Ava.”
My gaze lifted from his shoulder to his eyes. Close up I could see he had nice eyes, warm, chocolate brown.
“You okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You should go upstairs, lie down, talk to Roxie,” he suggested.
“I’m fine.”
Lee looked at Hank. “Maybe we should call Victim’s Assistance.”
“I’m fine,” I repeated, a lot louder and
a lot snottier this time.
Lee looked back at me. “Okay, honey. You’re fine,” he said this in the way all men speak when they’re dealing with a stubborn, unreasonable woman. I just stopped myself from rolling my eyes.
Instead I offered, “I’ll clean your shirt. I’m good with stains. I can Shout it out like a pro. If I didn’t go into graphic design, I was going to go into dry cleaning.”
The eye wrinkle came back, it was a lot better close up, in fact it was positively magnetic.
So that’s why I was standing wrapped in Lee’s arm and staring at him like a lovesick puppy when the door opened and Luke walked in.
Everyone, including me, looked at Luke.
Luke looked unhappy. Not, “oh, they are out of my favorite donuts at LaMar’s” unhappy but a lot worse.
“Hey,” I said.
Luke’s eyes never left me even when he walked forward and even when Lee’s arm dropped from around me. We lost eye contact only when Luke pulled me into his arms and I had nowhere to put my face but against his chest but I chose the side of my face that wasn’t bruised and battered. He held me close but he didn’t hold me tight. He held me like you hold a newborn baby, gentle and with care.
Wow.
I forgot I was mad at him and on my way to St. Croix and I melted into him.
“I’m fine,” I repeated softly.
“Babe,” was all he said.
“Let’s give them a minute,” I heard Hank tell the crowd.
Lee got close and I lifted my head up and looked at him. The eye crinkle was gone, his face was totally serious and I knew what he was communicating.
I shook my head but he nodded his. I knew this meant, if I didn’t tell Luke he would.
“I want it to come from me,” I told Lee.
That’s when Luke’s arms got tight. Lee just nodded again, looked at Luke then he was gone.
I tilted my head back to look at Luke. If it was possible he appeared even less happy. Then his hand came to cup the bruised side of my face.
“Jesus, Ava,” he muttered.
“Really, I’m fine. It’s not as bad as it looks.”
He bent his neck to rest his forehead against mine. “You wanna share what that was about with Lee?” he asked quietly.
“Not really,” I told him and his body went still. “But I’m going to anyway,” I whispered.
I watched, fascinated, as he slowly closed his eyes, took in breath through his nostrils and then opened his eyes on his exhale while his body relaxed again. This moved me at the same time it shook me. This small thing said a lot. It said a lot about Luke, a lot about how he felt about me and a lot about how much.
Even with all the drama I felt my stomach go melty and I really wanted to kiss him.
Instead I broke out of his arms, put down my beer and came back to him.
Then I put my hands on either side of his neck and looked in his eyes. “First, you have to promise me you won’t throw any lamps.”
“Ava.”
“Promise.”
His arms went around me. “Promise,” he said.
“And…um.” My eyes slid away and his arms got a little tighter so they slid back. “You have to promise you won’t hurt anyone, as in, maybe kill them or something.”
This time, his body went solid as a rock.
“Luke –”
“He touched you,” Luke interrupted me and his voice was flat, dead and the way he spoke freaked me out.
“Luke,” I repeated.
“That’s why everyone’s here before me. Why I saw Eddie’s truck pullin’ up when I was walkin’ up to the house. Lee was preparin’ because he knew –”
“Luke,” I said again.
“Fuck,” Luke hissed, the dead, flat voice long gone, anger taking its place. My hands went tight on his neck when I felt the air in the room go scary dangerous as I realized Luke was preparing to go gonzo.
Time to tame the wild beast.
“Look at me, Luke. Please look at me.”
He looked at me but only for a beat. Then he crushed me to him, his arms pressing the air out of my body as he buried his face in my neck.
“Fuck,” he repeated against the skin of my neck. “Did he…?”
“No,” I whispered. “It wasn’t as bad as that.”
I put my arms around him and held on tight.
Then I said, “I don’t want you to do anything stupid. I don’t want you to get into trouble for me. Just call Vance off Noah. My face will heal and we’ll go back to fighting all the time. It’ll be like it didn’t happen.”
His head came up, he pressed his temple against mine for a second then his mouth moved to mine and he kissed me softly on the lips. He lifted his head to look at me and I saw his eyes were not gonzo, they were gentle. One arm stayed around me while his other hand came up to my neck and his thumb stroked my jaw.
“Tell me what happened,” he said using The Voice. This time The Voice was tinged with a sweetness that, tied up with all the other emotions I was feeling, simply undid me.
Still I fought it. “We’ll talk about it later. Maybe tomorrow,” I stalled.
“I need you to tell me now.”
“It wasn’t as bad as you probably think.”
His face dipped closer to mine. “My beautiful Ava,” he whispered and my stomach got tight. “Please, tell me now.”
I couldn’t help it. He called me his beautiful Ava and he said “please”.
I told him.
Almost everything.
I left out the part about it happening while he was in the house. I figured that could wait for later (read: never).
As I told him, he showed no reaction. He kept me close, his thumb stroking my jaw, his eyes never leaving mine.
When I was done talking, he kept looking at me without saying a word.
“See,” I said. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“I’m gonna kill him,” Luke responded in a matter-of-fact voice that said he was indeed, going to kill Noah.
It was my turn to go rock solid. “Luke!”
“He’s dead.”
I grabbed fistfuls of Luke’s tee at his sides. “Please don’t. Please, Luke. It happened to me, not you. I don’t want you to do anything gonzo.”
His thumb quit stroking and his fingers tightened at my neck. “Yeah, Ava. It happened to you and you’re handlin’ it great, babe. You’re doin’ great,” he said softly, bent down and brushed his mouth against mine. I closed my eyes and relaxed into him.
Then his head came up and I opened my eyes again. “But that’s right now, beautiful. Later tonight, tomorrow, a week from now, it’s gonna hit you, it’s gonna haunt you and I won’t be able to stop it. It’s done. And you’re mine. You’re mine to watch over, you’re mine to take care of, you’re mine to protect. I didn’t protect you. I gotta live with that and it’ll make it a whole fuckuva lot easier to live with knowin’ he paid a price. Someone hurt you, someone touched you,” he said this between his teeth, losing hold on his control for a moment then I watched him gain it back again before he went on. “And that someone is not gonna get the chance to hurt you, or any woman, again.”
“I’m asking you Luke, please leave it alone.”
“I’m telling you, beautiful, I can’t. It just isn’t in me.”
I burrowed deeper into him and shared what was really on my mind. “What if you get hurt? He said he had a gun.”
“Only one’s gonna hurt is Dexter,” I opened my mouth to interrupt but he kept talking. “Ava, beautiful, I won’t get hurt. You’ve got nothin’ to worry about.” His mouth came to mine. “Nothin’ to worry about,” he repeated.
My arms went around him and he kissed me. It was light, gentle and only hurt a little bit. When his mouth disengaged, his forehead came to rest on mine again, our noses side-by-side.
“You wanna sleep here tonight or at the loft?” he asked.
“The loft,” I answered.
“Then let’s get you home.”
He moved away from me but put his arm around my shoulders and started moving to the door. I halted and looked up at him.
“Shouldn’t we call the police?” I asked.
“No police. This is gonna be off the radar.”
A chill went up my spine.
Then I remembered something. “But, Hank and Eddie are police.”
“And?”
“Aren’t they going to have an issue with this being ‘off the radar’?”
“Lotsa shit is off the radar that Hank and Eddie know about. They don’t like it but I suspect they don’t lose any sleep over it.”
All of a sudden I was tired and I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. I wanted to sleep and yes, I was happy to admit, I wanted to sleep pressed up tight against Luke’s strong, warm, hard body and I would have put that in writing if he’d asked me (luckily he didn’t).
“Let me get my purse,” I said.
His arm dropped and I got my purse. When I was close enough again, his arm came back around my shoulders and we walked into the front yard where everyone was standing.
“We’re going to the loft,” Luke told Lee.
Lee nodded.
Luke looked at Tex. “You’ll lock down the house?”
Tex nodded.
Luke dug in his pocket and tossed Tex my keys. Then his eyes went back to Lee.
“Meeting first thing,” Luke said.
Lee nodded again.
I glanced at Eddie who was looking to the heavens.
Then I glanced at Hank who was looking at me. “Roxie will be over tomorrow,” Hank told me.
“Thank you,” I said and looked at Roxie. “Thank you,” I repeated.
She smiled at me, came up and kissed my cheek. “Sleep well, honey. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she whispered.
Then Luke pointed me to the Porsche but I pulled away and walked to Lee.
I didn’t say thank you to Lee. I just wrapped my arms around him, got up on my toes and kissed his cheek. I looked him in the eye a beat, hoping he understood without me having to say it (and I was pretty certain he did) then broke free and did the same to Tex. I didn’t break free from Tex as easily, mainly because he engulfed me in a bear hug before letting me go.
“Thanks everyone,” I said quietly to the crowd, feeling like a big dork but knowing at least a gesture should be made (I mean, it was late) before Luke’s arm came back around my shoulders. He took me to the Porsche and we were gone.
Rock Chick Revenge Page 36