Chasing Shadows (First Wives #3)(32)

“There you are.” Trina’s voice penetrated Avery’s brain. In a few steps, she was beside Avery, hands on hips. “Who are you talking to?”

“I’ve got to go,” Avery told Liam.

“That’s him, is-isn’t it?” Trina slurred her last words.

When Avery didn’t comment, Trina reached for her phone.

Avery attempted to grab it back and gave up when Trina put the phone to her ear. “Is this Liam?”

Trina grinned like a kid. “Uh-huh . . .” She pulled the phone away from her ear. “He sounds cute.”

Avery tried to grab her phone again, failed. “What are we, thirteen?”

With her ear back to the phone, Trina went on. “I’m not drunk. Okay, maybe a little. Oh, don’t worry. My fiancé’s bodyguard is right outside.” She pulled the phone away from her face again. “He’s worried about me. Isn’t that sweet?”

“Give me the phone.” Avery placed her palm out.

Trina lifted a finger in the air. “You’re coming to the wedding, right?”

Avery’s jaw dropped.

“Well, consider yourself invited. I can’t wait to meet you.”

Avery mouthed the words I’m going to kill you.

“Oh, good,” Trina said. “Okay, I’m going to give the phone back to Avery and hide. Nice chatting with you.”

Avery yanked the phone from Trina’s hands.

“You’re welcome,” Trina said before disappearing behind the door and into the club.

“She’s drunk,” Avery told Liam.

“I like your friend.”

“Good thing I do, too, or I’d kill her.”

“Is there really a bodyguard there?”

Avery thought about Jeb. “Yes.”

“I feel better.”

“Because I can’t take care of myself?”

“Someone is jumping to conclusions again. No . . . I of all people know you can fend for yourself. But a gaggle of drinking females always gathers the attention of drinking males. And since I’m a couple of states away, it’s nice to know someone has your back.”

“Oh.” He really was sweet.

Someone knocked on the glass, jerking her attention back to the party.

Lori waved her back inside.

“I have to go. I’m in charge and need to order more lap dances.”

“Lap dances, huh?”

“Yes. Where almost naked men strut and women scream.”

“You’re torturing me.”

“I am? I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

Avery opened the door to the club, and the thump of the bass strangled their conversation.

“You’re right. I’m not. I’ll text you later and let you know if we need bail money.” She hung up.

“Avery! Get your blonde butt over here and say hi to my friend,” Lori yelled.

It was Avery’s turn for the dancing cowboy in a leather Speedo.





Chapter Fourteen

It took twenty-four hours to sober Trina up enough to send her off with her fiancé and for Avery to fly back to LA. Avery scrambled to cram a full work week into three days and agreed to meet with Liam for a sparring match during her Tuesday krav session. He’d checked in with her twice since the strip club: once after she’d sent him a text with the local sheriff’s department’s phone number as a hoax, saying he could find her there for the next seventy-two hours, and the other time after she’d gotten off her flight back into LA on Sunday night. Now she was racing from her condo to the studio, determined to be on time.

She was five minutes late.

“You’re making a habit of this, Grant,” Brenda snarled at the door.

Liam caught her attention with his smile.

Was it her, or had his shoulders grown in the week they’d not seen each other?

“How was your date?” Avery asked Brenda in an effort to change the subject.

“Your warm-up is on the board.”

Already dressed in spandex, Avery dropped her gym bag at the door and lifted her arms over her head to stretch as she walked farther into the room. “Hey.”

“Hey back. You look surprisingly vertical, considering the weekend.”

Avery glanced at the warm-up. Fifty burpees . . . again?

She sat on the mat, put her legs out in front of her, and reached for her toes. “I wasn’t the one who was toasted. That was Trina. And Lori, surprisingly.”

“Lori the lawyer?”

“Yup. She almost never lets loose that way.” Finished with her stretches, Avery stood to start her routine. “Are you finished with the burpees?”

“Haven’t started.”

“Waiting for me?”

He lowered his voice. “If I finished before you got here, I’d be forced to watch you do yours.” His eyes traveled the length of her. “That’s distracting.”

Heat traveled up her neck.

“Less talking. More doing!” Brenda yelled from her office.

Avery jumped in the air and then shot to the ground for a push-up. “I’m going to buy that woman a T-shirt that says that.”

Liam followed her burpee lead.