Rock Chick Revenge (Rock Chick #5)(61)

“Was it good?” he asked.

I blinked, not expecting that question not even understanding it. “What?” I asked back.

“When you touched yourself, was it good?”

My mouth dropped open and my lungs seized.

Ho-ly crap.

“How did you –?” I breathed.

“Cameras,” he told me and my body jerked. My eyes swung around the loft but Luke started speaking again and they went back to him. “You won’t see them. I had the place wired, surveillance put in so when I wasn’t here with you, the boys could watch out for you. When I’m not here, they’re monitoring the loft.”

Ho-ly crap.

“Did they see –?”

“Jack turned it off. He knew I’d break his neck if he watched you do that. He gave you some time. Apparently too much time. By the time he turned on the cameras, you were gone.”

I was certain I was going to die. I actually wanted to die. The very idea of the Nightingale Investigations men knowing what I’d done, it was mortifying.

“Where’d you go?” Luke asked, breaking me out of thoughts of how best to off myself.

“I spent some time with Sissy,” I told him immediately and that wasn’t a total lie.

“And Shirleen and Daisy?” Luke pressed.

I didn’t know how he knew this, but I thought it was safe to say, “Um… yes.”

“Spent some time being pursued by a dark blue SUV down Hampden Avenue? Your back bumper completely f**ked up. Losing him after nearly rolling onto I-25?”

Holy crap!

How did he know this shit? It was just bizarre.

I kept my mouth shut. I thought that was the sensible way to go.

“It was reported to the police, by about two dozen other drivers. In detail, with license plates and descriptions of the people in the vehicles.”

Crapity, crap, crap, crap.

“Luke –”

“Come here,” he said quietly and his voice was not affectionate, it was lethal.

“I don’t think I want to,” I told him.

“That may be the smartest decision you’ve made today,” he said back.

Okay. Hang on a second.

Firstly, he was not the boss of me. Secondly, I was a free woman. I could do what I wanted, when I wanted, where I wanted, with whom I wanted. I didn’t need his permission for one goddamn thing. Thirdly, no one asked him to be Mr. Over-Protective. He’d given himself that role. He even put cameras in his house, cameras he didn’t tell me about which was a serious invasion of privacy beyond making me move in with him, sleep beside him and the list could go on (and on). Fourthly, he was not the boss of me.

I’d had enough.

“You’re not the boss of me,” I told him.

“Ava, I’ll give you one last chance to get your sweet ass over here.”

“No!” I snapped. “I’m not going to be freaked out by you. I’m not going to be pushed around by you. And I’m not going to be told what to do by you. I’m alive, I’m breathing. So are Sissy, Daisy and Shirleen. I don’t know what happened and I don’t care. I’m ignoring everything, including you having your buddies watch me when I didn’t know they were doing it. I’m ignoring everything. I’m going to live my life and let all this shit blow over.”

“You haven’t clued in yet but this shit is not gonna blow over. Who was the guy in the SUV?”

“I have no idea. I’ve never seen him before. Maybe he had road rage. Maybe I pulled out in front of him and didn’t notice it. Who cares?”

“I care.”

“Well I don’t!” I snapped.

“Why are you all of a sudden the focus of some seriously scary shit?”

“How should I know?”

“Maybe because it’s happening to you?”

“Well, I don’t know!” I yelled. “I don’t even want to know!”

He glared at me. I glared back.

We were locked in another Luke vs. Ava Glare of the Century Contest when my phone rang. I was kind of glad it did because I was about to back down from the glare and this gave me an excuse.

To save face, I made a “huh” sound and grabbed my phone from the desk, flipped it open and put it to my ear. “Yo.”

“Ava?”

“Yes?”

“It’s Ren.”

Oh f**k.

My eyes snapped to Luke. “Hey,” I said.

“Hey, Uncle Vito told me about Dom. You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You okay after Uncle Vito sent his goons after you?”

I blinked in surprise at his question and turned away from Luke. “What?”

“Santo and Lucky are idiots. They were supposed to be cool, tell you it was Vito who wanted to see you. Not scare you half to death and send you running through traffic on Broadway.”

Wow. That was news.

“Sorry about that,” he went on like he apologized for mistaken kidnappings every day.

I moved away slowly and went to the window at the side of the loft. All the while, I was very conscious of Luke watching me. “Um, that’s okay.”

Did I just tell Ren it was okay that his uncle had me kidnapped? Maybe I was nuts.

“Listen, Ava, don’t worry about Dom. I’ll take care of him,” he assured me.