Rock Chick Revenge (Rock Chick #5)(66)

It took awhile but I fell back to sleep.

* * * * *

I woke up in the same position as ever when I was in bed with Luke and I immediately remembered I was in the throes of my Silent Treatment.

Without a word and without looking at him I rolled away. I threw my legs over the side, went directly to the kitchen to nab a diet, got my stuff and went to the bathroom. I didn’t come out until I was dressed and ready for my day.

When I got out of the bathroom, the bed was empty. Luke was in the kitchen making coffee, chest bare (of course), wearing his sweatpants from last night.

I went about the business of making myself toast and calling Sissy to ask her to come and take me to the gym (she decided to come with me). All the while I acted as if Luke didn’t exist.

I was wiping my hands on a kitchen towel after rinsing my plate when Luke tagged me around the waist, backed me against the opposite counter and moved in, hands on the counter on either side of me.

I tilted my head back to look up at him (silently).

“How long you gonna keep this up?” he asked.

I just stared at him.

His hands moved from the counter to either side of my neck, thumbs of both hands stroking my jaw. This felt nice and the warm look in his eyes was so killer, my dedication to the Silent Treatment took a direct hit.

Sucking it up, I recovered.

He kept talking. “I f**ked up, Ava, I apologized. Not much more I can do.”

I kept staring at him.

One thumb slid along my lower lip and he watched it go then his eyes came to mine.

Gently he said, “Someone apologizes and they mean it, you should accept. Doesn’t say much about you if you don’t.”

I swallowed because he sounded disappointed in me and I never wanted Luke to be disappointed in me. In fact, I spent six years of my growing up life twisting myself into pretzels so that I would make him anything but disappointed in me. Not to mention, an entire year of my adult life changing my appearance to make sure, when he saw me again, he wouldn’t be disappointed in that either.

It wasn’t like a slap in the face but it didn’t feel good either.

Right after I had that thought I got angry because I wasn’t the one who cuffed me to his bed and left me there way longer than expected with nothing to do but worry and freak out. I didn’t want or ask to get kidnapped, shot at, manhandled, ordered about, taken to the verge of orgasm twice to be left wanting. In fact, I’d made it perfectly clear I didn’t want any of those things.

Furthermore, he had a scary job where he got called late at night to do scary things. And that scary job or the old “doing crazy shit” one got him that vicious scar slicing across his belly because he sure as hell didn’t have it when he left the neighborhood (I would have noticed or his Mom would have told my Mom). I wasn’t going to ask about it because I really didn’t want to know. Even if I wasn’t sworn off men, I didn’t know if I could hack being with who Luke had become. But I had to remind myself, I was sworn off men.

I just kept staring. The buzzer went. Sissy.

I slid away from him, grabbed my workout bag and headed to the elevator.

When I got in, hit the button and turned, he was leaning against the bar, arms crossed on his (bare) chest, eyes on me.

The doors slid shut.

* * * * *

I spent the rest of the day seeking advice.

Sissy (next to me on a stair machine in the gym):

“I’ve already told you what I think about Luke. In regards to Ren, just tell him you’re with Luke, he’ll back off. In regards to scary guy trying to run us down, just talk to Luke, he’ll take care of it. Simple.”

Okay. No.

Next!

Riley (after my workout and I cornered him even though he still looked pissed off at me, which, I might add, if Luke lost Riley as my friend I’d tack another ten years onto his Ava Barlow Silent Treatment Sentence):

“Jesus, Ava, what the f**k?” he breathed when I shared most of the story leaving out all of the sex stuff and Luke’s brutally honest proclamations. Then his face went gentle and I saw for the first time that Luke was right. Riley wanted to f**k me.

Jeez.

What was going on? How on earth did this happen?

“Do you want to stay with me?” Riley asked.

Hell no!

“Thanks, Riles. That’s sweet of you but I can’t,” I said softly.

Next!

Shirleen (at Fortnum’s, where Sissy and I went after the gym to get one of Tex’s unbelievably divine coffees):

“Child, tune out your head and follow your heart.” Her tawny eyes had gone soft.

Following my heart meant holding onto Luke and never letting go, that was until he got tired of me and scraped me off or he got filled with bullets and killed in a gunfight.

Not gonna happen.

“What are you doing here? I thought you had a day job,” I asked Shirleen. She was relaxed in one of the couches at the front of Fortnum’s where the espresso counter was.

“I’m pickin’ up orders for the boys in the surveillance room,” she said, tossing back another gulp of her cappuccino.

I hoped “the boys” weren’t hankering too much for their coffee, by the looks of Shirleen they were going to wait awhile.

Next!

Tex (while handing me my skinny, vanilla latte):

“Go on vacation…”