Rock Chick Revenge (Rock Chick #5)(115)

“You say he’s there?” I asked.

“Uh, yeah.”

“Can you please put him on the phone?”

“Maybe you need to deep breathe,” Shirleen advised.

“Please put him on the phone.”

She sighed and put me on hold.

For some reason, of all the shit that had gone down between Luke and I, this was something I could not allow. I’d let him be a pretty pushy, tough guy, macho man with me but I could pay my own goddamned way.

“Yeah?” Luke said.

“It’s Ava,” I told him, sounding snippy.

“I know, beautiful,” he replied, sounding like he was smiling.

I ignored the melty feeling in my belly at his calling me “beautiful” when he sounded like he was smiling. I liked it even before I knew he meant it in every way it could mean. It was way better than “babe”.

“Did you pay for the repairs on my Range Rover?” I asked him.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” he answered.

I felt my hold on my temper slip. “Luke, it’s my car.”

“Ava, you’re my woman.”

I ignored the melty feeling that gave me too. “So?”

“So you’re my woman, I take care of you.”

“Luke –”

“This isn’t up for discussion.”

“It sure as hell is!”

“I’m thinkin’, as payback for the hickey, I want you in that pink teddy thing tonight.”

Was he for real?

“Luke!”

“Later.”

Disconnect.

Argh!

I fought the urge to throw my phone through the window but instead I called Ally.

“Hey,” she answered.

“Yo,” I said.

“You okay after last night?” Ally asked.

“I’m officially Luke’s woman after last night.”

“Yep, that’s the way since the dawn of time. Two men want the same thing, they fight over it and winner takes all.”

“What with struggling with Iron Man Mace, I wasn’t keeping close track but it didn’t seem like anyone was winning.”

“Luke won when he behaved like a Neanderthal, elbowed you in the head and still, without a peep from you, you got in his car with him.”

Yikes.

I had to admit, that was true.

“What was that about Luke thinking about someone else when he was with you?” Ally asked.

Shit.

I knew I’d have to get into that.

“Luke explained I had the wrong end of the stick,” I told her.

“Well, chickie, just to warn you, the girls have been chewing over that all night and all morning. Roxie thinks you think it’s her. Jules is pretty certain you think it’s her. Who was it?”

“Jules,” I answered. “I saw them together and got the wrong impression.”

“That’s what I figured. Listen, Jules and Luke had a thing. It was brief, she thought Vance had broken up with her. Once she found out that Vance –”

My stomach plummeted. “What?” I whispered, interrupting her.

Silence for a beat then, “Oh shit.”

“What did you say?” I asked.

“Ava –”

“What kind of ‘thing’ did Jules and Luke have?”

“It was nothing.”

Oh… my… God.

“What kind of thing?” I repeated.

“It only lasted a couple of days.”

My heart was racing and I was pretty certain I was going to throw up.

“Ava? You there?”

“I have to go.”

“Ava.”

“Later.”

I disconnected then I punched in Luke’s cell number.

“Babe,” he answered, sounding amused. “I want you to call in but you don’t have to do it every five minutes.”

I didn’t dilly dally. “You had a thing with Jules when she thought Vance broke up with her.”

Silence, then he hissed, “Fuck.”

He didn’t deny it.

Shit!

I felt an ugly feeling slide through my body, a feeling I’d felt once before in my life. It was the day my Mom sat Marilyn, Sofia and I down and, while crying and carrying on, she informed us Dad had left us.

I pulled myself together and said, “You forgot to mention that last night.”

“Ava –”

I heard a knock at my front door. “My car’s here. I have to go.”

“Leave it, we have to talk.”

“Life’s too short, Luke. I’m through talking.”

Then I disconnected.

I ran to the front door and got the keys to my car from a black guy wearing greasy, blue coveralls. My phone rang while I did this but I ignored it and it stopped when the answering machine kicked in. No one left a message.

Then I ran upstairs, got dressed and shoved clothes in my workout bag. My phone rang again while I did this but I continued to ignore it.

Then I ran out to my Range Rover, tossed my bag in and took off.

* * * * *

I had a feeling Luke would come looking for me so I went to a different gym and paid for a day pass.