“Yeah.”
I found that my hands were holding onto his waist and there was no way to put them between us so I grabbed at his tee and tried to shove.
He didn’t move.
“Luke, forget finding dirt on Dom. You’re fired. I’ll hire another investigations agency.”
“First they’ll have to find Vincetti, which they won’t do nearly as fast as Vance’s gonna do and he’s already working on it.”
“Goddamnit,” I shouted, foiled again.
He did the half-grin. I glared at him.
“Don’t fight it,” his voice was soft, gentle and affectionate and I had to claw at my anger to keep it with me, I liked that voice so much.
“Please go.”
The grin didn’t fade but he did let me go to move away about two inches. Then he dug in his pocket, pulled something out and shoved it in the front pocket of my Levi’s.
His eyes came to mine and he said, “See you tonight. You get drunk, you call me. I’ll come get you.”
I didn’t answer, I just glared at him. He ignored the glare, touched my nose with his finger and then he was gone.
Oh my. I’ve got goose bumps, that was INTENSE, Good Ava told me.
I think I had an orgasm, Bad Ava shared.
I slid down the wall and put my head on my knees.
Yep, I was right, my life just got pretty fucking complicated.
Chapter Six
What I Don’t Get
Once I got off my ass, I called Sissy and told her about the state of her living room (and her pottery) and told her not to come home. Whatever Dom was caught up in, I wanted her to be far, far away from it.
Then because she was my bestest best friend, I told her about Luke. Every last detail about every second from the minute I walked into the Nightingale Investigations offices to the minute he walked out of my house, including being there during the shooting, which made her scream a little bit.
“Wow,” Sissy said when I was done, sounding like she’d just run the hundred yard dash.
Wow didn’t cover it.
“You don’t have to worry, Sis,” I told her. “I get the impression from Luke’s loft and Porsche and what I saw of the Nightingale Investigations offices, people pay a high premium for their services. They’ll find Dom and get the dirt on him. You just stay safe with your Mom.”
“Okay,” Sissy said then she paused and went on. “Ava?”
“Yeah, honey?”
In a very quiet voice, she whispered, “Luke called you a knockout.”
I hadn’t let that penetrate until the moment Sissy repeated it to me.
“Holy crap,” I whispered back.
“I think you may want to rethink your vow to hate men forever,” Sissy advised.
Not gonna happen.
“Yeah, and maybe Sandra Whoever-She-Was rethought her vow to give up on men when she got hooked up with Luke and filled his fridge with healthy food thinking thoughts of a long and happy life together. Now she’s crying her eyes out and eating her way through a three pound bag of M&Ms.”
Sissy remembered what Luke looked like as a teenager. Sissy knew Sandra Whoever-She-Was was definitely crying her eyes out with a three pound bag of M&Ms.
“You have a point,” she conceded. “We’ll see how this goes.”
I didn’t say anything because I knew how this was going to go, this wasn’t going to go anywhere.
I got off the phone with Sissy and dug in my pocket to see what Luke gave me. His remote, a key and a business card with his name on it and his home and cell numbers written in black ink on the back.
I picked up the phone, called his office and shoved the card in my back pocket.
“Nightingale Investigations,” Shirleen answered.
“Hey Shirleen, this is Ava Barlow, from yesterday?”
“Girl, how’re you doin’ today? Heard you spent the night with Luke.”
I sat, stunned speechless, and stared at my computer.
Then I said, “Matt’s got a big mouth.”
“They all got big mouths, girl, learn that quick. These boys talk more than a pack of women. I lost fifty bucks on you.”
I was stunned speechless again, this time it didn’t last as long.
“What?”
“See, Lee nailed Indy the first night they were together. Not nailed her nailed her but she was in his bed. Eddie, with Jet, it took a few days. Hank and Roxie, like, a day. Vance, like three, but Jules was a virgin and he had to interrupt the festivities once to go out and shoot someone.”
I was blinking rapidly and feeling kind of faint at the amount and sensitivity of information Shirleen was imparting, not to mention what it might mean to me.
“So we had a pool. Everyone threw down money on when they thought Luke would nail you. Mace won five hundred dollars.”
Ho-ly crap.
“So,” she went on. “Did he nail you nail you or did you two just sleep?”
For some reason, I answered her unbelievably nosy question. “We just slept.”
“New pool!” she shouted.
Oh my God.