My phone rang on the way to the hospital. It said “Sissy calling.”
I flipped it open and put it to my ear. “Yo,” I said.
“Some big, beefy guy is here,” Sissy informed me, sounding kind of breathless. “Says his name is Lucky and he’s my bodyguard. He doesn’t look like one of the hot guys. I just screamed in his face and closed the door. He’s outside, standing by his car. What do I do?”
Damn, damn, damn.
“Ren set it up,” I told her. “He’s not one of the Hot Bunch. He’s one of Ren’s um… people.”
“Oh. So he’s okay?” Sissy sounded less panicked.
That was a question I couldn’t answer. “I think so,” I said.
“Did they find the Hot Bunch guy that was missing?” she asked.
I bit my lip and watched Luke drive for a few beats.
“Ava?” Sissy called in my ear.
“Luke and I are going to visit him at the hospital now.”
Silence then quietly she said, “Shit.”
She could say that again.
“Dom’s a dickhead,” she whispered. “He started all this and now someone is in the hospital. Someone we don’t even know.”
“Did Dom call you?” I asked, remembering my conversation with Dom last night.
“Yes, like, five times,” she said, now sounding pissy. “I didn’t answer.”
Shoo. At least that crisis was averted.
“Well, don’t answer if he calls again. We have to talk. I’ll call you after we get done at the hospital.”
“I want to know everything. What a date with Ren is like. How Luke was when you got home. Everything. I’ll meet you at Fortnum’s,” she said.
There was something about Sissy calling Luke’s loft “home’ that freaked me out. I didn’t feel like freaking out in Luke’s Porsche with Luke in it (again or ever really). I needed to freak out privately with lots of bags of cookies available.
“Sounds good,” I said instead.
I was about to say good-bye when I heard her say, “Ava?”
“What?”
“Did Luke give you the business?” she asked.
I looked at Luke again. He was driving, calm, casual, practiced, eyes on the road, seemingly oblivious to our conversation.
I looked away. “Yeah,” I answered quietly.
She screamed so loud I had to pull the phone away from my ear. I glanced at Luke when I heard him chuckle.
Fuckity, f**k, f**k, f**k.
* * * * *
I stood outside Bobby’s hospital room facing the wall, forehead resting against it.
Just a minute before, I saw that Bobby was a big guy and looked like a younger Tex, except less crazy (though how would I know if Bobby actually was less crazy, considering he was lying in a hospital bed in a coma). I couldn’t help but feel the blame that Big Bobby was lying in a hospital bed. Still, I vowed sextuple revenge against Dominic Dickhead.
I felt a strong hand slide under my hair and rest at the back of my neck then, “Babe.”
I straightened, turned and looked at Luke but he didn’t take his hand away. Lee had been with Bobby when we got there and now he was standing by Luke but his eyes were on me.
“What’s in that head of yours?” Luke asked quietly.
“I just vowed sextuple revenge against Dickhead Dominic Vincetti,” I told him.
One side of Luke’s lips went up. Lee’s eyes did an amused crinkle.
“And I feel it’s my fault,” I went on.
Luke’s grin faded and so did Lee’s eye-crinkle.
“If I hadn’t walked into your office –” I started to continue.
“Quiet Ava,” Luke said softly.
Lee spoke more words. “Ava, most of the time, my men volunteer for their Rock Chick assignments and do them on their own time. Bobby was on his own time, a favor to Luke. He knew what he was doing and he wanted to do it. It isn’t your fault that some shithead brought you trouble. Don’t take it on your shoulders, it doesn’t belong there. What happened to Bobby belongs on the shoulders of the guy who hit him in the head with a baseball bat.”
Well, that was honest, succinct, to the point and made sense.
Still.
I closed my eyes and Luke turned me into his body by putting pressure on my neck. I put my hands to his waist and rested my forehead on his chest.
“Later,” I heard Lee say to Luke.
“Yeah,” Luke replied.
After some time slid by, I lifted my head and looked at Luke. “I need cookies,” I told him.
His face got that almost-soft, still-hard look, his eyes going warm and he bent his head to kiss my nose.
* * * * *
Sissy had spread the word and by the time Luke and I (and Silent Santo) got to Fortnum’s, everyone had congregated. Everyone being Indy, Ally, Daisy, Jet, Roxie, Shirleen, Sissy (and Silent Lucky, her bodyguard and my other kidnapper), Tod and Stevie.
The minute Luke and I (and Silent Santo) walked in, all eyes swung to us.
“Babe,” Luke said, sounding amused.
I turned to him, my back to the Rock Chicks (and g*y guys). “Don’t leave me here. Take me to Australia. Now.”
He looked down at me. “Don’t think I’ll find Dom Vincetti in Australia.” A shiver slid through me as Luke got close and his hand went to my jaw, thumb stroking my cheek and f**k buddies or not, it was nice. “I don’t want you leavin’ here, not even with Mancini. You gotta go somewhere, you call me.”
I nodded. Not because I was giving in to Luke’s tough guy, macho man demand but because I didn’t want to be kidnapped again.
He kissed my nose then he was gone.
No sooner had the door closed behind him when Tod squealed, “Girlie, get over here. Spill. We want details.”
Again, I had to ask, why me?
I walked to the Rock Chicks and flopped on the couch by Shirleen. Ally peeled away and got me a skinny vanilla latte. When my coffee arrived, I sipped and told them about Dom calling, Ren’s date and Luke giving me the business.
I didn’t go into detail.
Shirleen narrowed her eyes on me. “Girl, so far I’ve lost a hundred bucks on you. I gotta get somethin’ outta that hundred. I want it blow-by-blow. You don’t give it, I’ll cuff you to somethin’ my damn self.”
I stared at Shirleen. She looked serious, as in seriously serious. I didn’t want Shirleen to cuff me to something so I sighed and gave them a blow-by-blow.
When I was done, Sissy said, “Oh my.”