Rock Chick Revenge (Rock Chick #5)(60)

“I can’t. It’s red,” I said.

“Lay on your horn, girl, and go,” Shirleen yelled.

The guy started coming again. I laid on my horn and went. As I entered the intersection, cars screeched and swerved. To avoid one, I pulled a left into the heavy, three-lane traffic on Hampden Avenue.

“Don’t stop, just go, keep honking and drive,” Daisy advised.

I did as I was told, weaving in and out of traffic. I went fast, cars honked, swerved out of my way, threw me gestures and the whole time the SUV followed me.

“I can’t shake him!” I cried.

“Keep drivin’,” Shirleen told me.

“I’ve done this before, I got experience. Go to a police station,” Daisy said.

“I can’t!” I yelled.

“Why not?” Sissy screeched.

“If I go to a police station then Luke will know I’ve been out and he’ll freak.”

“Better Luke freaks than we die,” Shirleen put in.

Easy for her to say, she wasn’t facing “payment” and “punishment” tonight.

Hell and damnation.

“Hold on!” I shouted and then I drove faster, weaved more and on the overpass to I-25 at the last minute I swung a huge, tight, very illegal uey.

It was not good at all to swing a huge, tight uey on a highway overpass in an SUV.

SUVs rolled easily. Very easily.

We teetered on two wheels, visions of us flipping over the overpass onto the busy highway below flying through my head, every last one of us screamed at the top of our lungs, we slammed back down on four wheels and I motored.

The SUV following us missed the uey and I kept driving like a madwoman, bent over the wheel, eyes glaring at the road.

I drove this way for awhile then Sissy said quietly from beside me, “Ava, you’re kind of scaring me.”

I slowed.

“I think we lost him,” Daisy murmured, looking behind her.

“Shee-it,” Shirleen breathed.

“I need cookies,” I declared.

* * * * *

I dropped a shaking Sissy off. She wandered into her Dad’s house looking dazed.

Shirleen and Daisy followed me to Luke’s. I went in and they drove off, Daisy behind the wheel of my Range Rover.

The back of the Range Rover was damaged. Shirleen and Daisy were taking it to “a friend” so he would fix it, thus hiding the evidence from Luke that I’d been out, doing stupid shit and getting into trouble.

I went up to the loft directly to my computer, flipped it on and decided to work and not think about any of this.

I had no idea who this new person was who was after me and I was just going to pretend it didn’t happen. I was going to find a happy place in my mind and live there forever. I was going to forget about hot guy, macho man Luke Stark wanting to get in my pants, about Dominic Dickhead being a jerk, Uncle Vito ordering people to be murdered and me to be kidnapped, and the upcoming call from Ren Zano, which would lead to a big wedding and lotsa babies.

I had walked into Nightingale Investigations on a Thursday. It was Sunday and my life wasn’t just pretty f**king complicated, it was completely out-of-control.

I managed to quit shaking. I did this not with cookies because, after a very thorough search of Luke’s kitchen, I found that Sandra Whoever-She-Was hadn’t stocked Luke’s cupboard with cookies, only healthy eating crap which didn’t do anything to stop the shakes. I did it by alternately working, tidying Luke’s loft and drinking diet liberally mixed with splashes of Sailor Jerry.

I finally was able to focus and was coming close to finishing my deadline project when I heard the elevator doors slide open. I turned in my chair. Luke walked in silently, eyes on me.

Or, I should say, his dangerously shining, dark blue eyes were on me.

Uh-oh.

I slowly stood and turned to face him. He walked directly to the semi-circular bar and dropped a pair of cuffs and what looked like a weird gun on it.

I stared at the cuffs and the weapon, thinking upsetting thoughts.

He rounded the bar and came into the kitchen area. He stopped, put a palm on the counter and leaned into it. The whole time he did this, he kept his eyes on me.

“Hey,” I said, trying for innocent and casual. “You have a good afternoon?”

“Come here,” he replied and he did not use his soft, gentle, affectionate voice.

Eek!

“Everything okay?” I asked, still clinging onto innocent and casual with all I had.

“Come here,” he repeated.

Okay, innocent and casual weren’t working.

“What’s going on?”

“Ava, if you make me say it again…”

I went silent.

He moved, just slightly but it was enough to make me jump. This made him smile, not a Sexy Luke Smile, a Dangerous Luke Smile.

“Luke, tell me what’s going on!” I demanded, beginning to freak out.

This was not smart. He bit his bottom lip with his teeth and looked away from me. When his eyes came back to me, my body went still.

Oh dear, Good Ava muttered.

Holy SHIT! Bad Ava exploded.

One could say I knew Luke pretty well. I hadn’t been around him in a long time but I had watched him grow up (with avid interest). His Mom was friends with my Mom. He and I had shared some laughs and some intense moments. Still, you didn’t have to know Luke to know that grown up, tough guy, macho man Luke was barely controlling what appeared to be a very scary fury.