Luca

“It is to me, I wanna know. Call it pay back for the rent I’m not gonna be charging you.”

She wasn’t letting this one go any time soon.

“I’ll pay rent, you don’t have to put me up for free.”

I tried to reason with her but it was no good.

“No way. You’re a friend and I don’t take rent from friends staying over. Besides it’ll be fun to have a roomie for a bit. So….a name?”

“Fine.” I relented. “Teresa Burman and no I don’t know where she is now. Only that she left town with a nice pay check from Sanchez for ratting me out.”

“Oh don’t worry Chloe, karma has a way of making a bitch pay.” She grinned and I shook my head.

“Whatever, as long as you don’t get your hands dirty over it. Believe me, she’s not worth it.”

Staying with Gina turned out to be more fun than I thought. She was so laid back and chilled she made my shredded nerves disappear and my nightmares began to wane. We bonded over movie nights and wine, pizza and sharing our dirty little secrets. It felt good to have a female to confide in again, and one I knew I could trust whole heartedly.

She told me one night during one of our chats that Luca had been messaging her to check up on me.

“Can’t even find the balls to ask me himself.”

I responded expecting her to agree with me but to my surprise she jumped to his defence.

“He’s giving you space Chloe. He loves you but it’s not his way to come round here or crowd you. You know that already though.”

I shrugged, “Maybe that’s the reason I’m so mad at him.”

“You’re mad at him? Jeez Chloe give the guy a break! I know he fucked up with the way he talked about you that day, but don’t you think after everything he’s done since then he deserves to be forgiven? What do you want? Blood?”

I couldn’t answer that without sounding like a crazy female with weird standards so I said what I felt in my heart.

“All my life I’ve chased that man. Put my heart on the line and had it broken more times than I care to reme

mber. I’m not doing it anymore Gina. If he wants me it’s his turn to put himself out there. Me, I’m done. My chasing days are over.”

I sat back trying to look confident in my reasoning.

“Okay Miss Independent. Well you could be waiting a long time if I know Luca. Putting himself out there is the last thing he’d do. Hell I don’t think he’s ever done anything remotely risky in that way in all the time I’ve known him. He’s always so…so…guarded.”

“Yep he is. That’s why he’s gotta do it my way. I’m not the little woman, he wouldn’t want me if I was. So…it’s my way or the highway.”

I poured us both another glass of wine from our second bottle of the night.

“Chloe, you are an enigma wrapped in a puzzle and coated in a riddle. Even I struggle to work you out and I’m a woman. Luca…he’s got no chance.”

Gina sipped her wine as she frowned over at me.

“Gina, even I can’t work me out most of the time.”

I decided that finishing the second bottle was the most I could manage that night. Everything always looked better after the second bottle of wine, life became less…complicated. Me…I was as complicated as they came when it came to my feelings and the whole love thing. I blamed my Mum she was a hard woman and never really wanted me. I was her bargaining chip that’s all; a threat to hang over my Father’s head. I wasn’t loved by her, hell she couldn’t wait to get rid of me once my Father died. No, I’d spent enough of my life being used and now it was my turn to take back control.

Chapter 39

I’d been back in the land of the living for a few weeks now and things had fallen into a happy routine. Medical school had turned down my request to re-join my classes for the same academic year and play catch up. Instead they had deferred me for another year and told me to ‘come back ready to take it more seriously’ and restart all over again. I felt pissed that they wouldn’t budge but then nothing worthwhile every came easy in life, I knew that. So I kept myself busy helping Gina with her accounts and keeping the business side of things ticking over for her. We made a good team. I had no idea what Luca thought of me joining forces with Gina, but then I hadn’t heard a thing from him or Freddie since I’d left them at the hotel in Colombia.

We’d started going out more too, partying at some local night clubs and bars. We’d invited Stacey from Luca’s club along with us a few times and she seemed really cool and chilled. She gave nothing away about her employer though, she really was loyal to the end. As well as Stacey, I’d been introduced to Gina’s best friend Tate, another red head who was as ballsy as they come. She didn’t take any crap from anyone. I liked our little foursome, on a night out we were formidable and we always had each other’s backs. It was during one of these nights out that things changed dramatically for me and I got the mother of all wake up calls.

“Ladies, tequila shots then Mojitos!” Gina sang as she passed out the drinks to us at our tall table. “Don’t forget lip, sip and suck!” She winked as she put a plate of limes in the middle of the table and passed round the salt.