I remembered one Friday night when I had taken a particularly bitchy girl to dinner, and she had complained about there only being two tomato slices in her salad. Lucky had smiled widely and asked her how many more tomatoes she wanted, listing the different types available. “We have Heirloom, Roma, Cherry, and Pear. Which ones would you like more of?” And then she had turned to me and winked—a sexy, innocent, knowing wink and I couldn’t stop myself from grinning back at her. Something my date had not appreciated. I laughed at the memory.
“I didn’t know you found my dating life so amusing.” Leo’s voice interrupted my flashback and I saw the concern in his eyes.
“Hey, you know. An ugly guy like you has it hard.”
“Well, you know.” He shrugged his shoulders and we laughed. Leonardo had always been the guy who had women hanging on to him wherever we went. It didn’t hurt that he was handsome and well-built. It seemed that women had a thing for strong men. Even when he was a doorman at a club, he had more women outside in the streets flirting with him than in the bar.
“Do you have any friends you could hook me up with, Lucky?” He smiled at her easily and I felt my breath release slowly, and some of my pent up tension disappeared.
“My best friend, Leeza, would love you.” She smiled and then looked at me with a clouded look.
I tried to make eye contact with her and she looked down. Something was still wrong. I could sense it. Was Leeza the one she had been on the phone with? What was going on? A dull ache filled my heart as I wondered if Lucky and I would ever fully be on the same page. I didn’t want to go through these feelings of panic and worry anymore. I didn’t want my head to pound constantly in confusion and concern, and I didn’t want to drive myself crazy every time something felt off. I wanted Lucky to come to me when she was worried or upset. I took another deep breath as I knew I was getting upset.
“So any dessert, Lucky?” Leo licked his lips and leaned towards her. “After that delicious meal, I’m feeling like some brownies.”
“Are you sure you want to ruin your perfect body?” She cocked her head and surveyed him. “How will you get all the girls if you stuff your face with brownies?”
“That’s why he spends so many hours in the gym,” I interjected with a smile. “If I spent five hours a day, I’d be buff as well.”
“Now you’re only half as buff.” Leo grinned at me, not sensing the tension between Lucky and me. Or if he was sensing it, he was being very careful not to make it worse.
“Let me go and see what we have for dessert.” Lucky gave me a hooded look and jumped up.
“I’ll help you check.” I jumped up behind her and followed her to the kitchen.
“What’s going on? Did you speak to Leeza?”
“How did you know?” She looked at me in shock. “Are you tapping my phone?”
“What?” My jaw dropped. “Am I tapping your phone? What sort of question is that?”
“How did you know Leeza contacted me?”
“I didn’t know. I was just guessing.” I looked at her in confusion. “Why do you think I’m tapping your phone?”
“Because you always seem to know what’s going on, and I think Leeza was trying to tell me that you’ve been stalking me.”
“What?” I laughed. “What are you talking about?”
“Leeza called me and said that she was worried.” Lucky’s brown eyes were huge and accusing. “I don’t really think you’ve been stalking me or anything. But you know, I couldn’t help but be worried ...” Her voice trailed off.
“Worried about what?” I frowned, fearing the worst. Did Leeza think we were moving too fast? Was she going to try and convince Lucky to leave me?
“I’m not sure exactly. She had a bad connection.”
“Call her back,” I commanded her angrily. “I want to know what she’s talking about.”
“I’ll call her later.” Lucky turned away from me and I heard her mumble something under her breath.
“What’s that?” I walked towards her and it took everything in me to not pull her towards me and ask her what was going through her mind.
“Nothing,” she sighed. “Let’s please finish dinner and talk later?”
“Fine.” I left the kitchen and walked back to join Leo at the dining room table. He sat there with an amused expression on his face and I scowled at him. “What’s so funny?”
“You’re so sprung on this girl. I never imagined I’d see the day.”
“Whatever.” I sat down and gulped down the rest of my beer. “So are you free to do the work?”
“You sure you want me to do this?” Leo frowned.
“I’m sure.”
“And you haven’t talked to Lucky about this?”
“She’ll say no.” I shook my head. “I need to make sure she’s protected.”
“I really think you should tell her what’s going on, Zane.” He leaned forward and stared at me. “She has a right to know.”
“Not now.” I was firm. “You don’t know her like I do. She needs to be protected and I can’t do it by myself. I need you to look after her for me. You need to protect her.”
“Zane, I don’t want to be dishonest.” Leo shook his head. “I really think she’s a good person. I don’t want to fool her. As a bodyguard, I need the person to know they can count and depend on me.”
“You need to be her friend first. You can’t tell her, understand?” My voice was low. “Do not tell her that I’ve hired you to be her bodyguard. All she has to know is that we’re friends.”
“I don’t feel good about this, Zane.” Leonardo frowned and I could see the tension in his shoulders. I was tense, waiting for him to make a decision. He was the only one I trusted with Lucky. I had to make sure that she was protected at all times, I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to her. I had to hire the best.
“I’ll do it because I like her, Zane. I’ll do it because you’re my best friend. But I must tell you, you’re going to lose her if you keep lying to her. I hope that one day soon, you’ll tell Lucky what’s going on. And I hope you do it before it’s too late.”
Chapter 4
Lucky
I felt awful eavesdropping on Zane and Leo, but something just didn’t feel right. Zane was acting crazy and possessive and I wasn’t quite sure if Leo was flirting with me or just being nice. Not that I wanted him to be flirting with me seriously, of course. That would make him a really shady friend to Zane, and I would hate for his best friend to be shady, seeing as his family wasn’t exactly the strongest. So I stood there and listened discreetly. Unfortunately, I couldn’t hear their whole conversation. The only words I had heard were, “Tell Lucky what’s going on” and my heart started beating like crazy. And then I started to feel angry; Zane was still shutting me out. After everything that had happened with Braydon, he still didn’t trust me. And I still didn’t know what the stalking thing was all about. I’d been very surprised when he asked me call Leeza. But maybe it had been a trick. Maybe he was tapping her phone as well, and knew what she was doing too. Maybe he knew she couldn’t answer.
I shook my head at my own thoughts. Stop being crazy, Lucky. I told myself over and over again. He’s not tapping your phone, and he’s certainly not tapping Leeza’s phone. I felt like I was going crazy and wondered if I wasn’t just plain crazy. I was crazy for all of it. I mean, really, what sane woman would up and leave college and move to another state with a guy she barely knew? But you knew him for three months, a voice whispered. Maybe you weren’t dating him and maybe you weren’t bosom buddies, but you got to know him. Three months is a long time. People get married after three months. You just moved for a job. Don’t be so hard on yourself.
I stood there debating in my head for another couple of minutes before I realized that I still had no clue what to serve for dessert. I quickly opened the freezer and saw a frozen apple pie and some ice cream. Bingo! I pulled the pie out and preheated the oven quickly. Who could say no to apple pie and ice cream?
As I stood there waiting for the oven to preheat, I realized that this couldn’t go on any longer. Zane and I needed to talk. Everything was all over the place—we were both all over the place. It wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t a great way for a relationship to begin. Not if it was going to be a relationship that lasts the long haul. We were like two birds with broken wings that couldn’t fly, living in the same nest. We trusted each other a little bit, but not enough to leave the nest to go and get food. And if we continued in this vein of not leaving the nest, one of us was going to starve. And I didn’t want to starve, and I knew Zane didn’t want to starve either. And now I had another concern: What if I was pregnant? I couldn’t bring a baby into a situation like this. But I also knew I couldn’t do it by myself. There were so many unanswered questions, and I knew it was time to be a grown-up and start asking them.
I peeked into the dining room again and saw that Zane and Leo were still talking animatedly. I was surprised to see that it was Leo who looked upset and angry and not Zane. Why was Leo upset? Maybe Zane had accused him of trying to flirt with me and he was sticking up for himself? Who knew? I couldn’t keep up with Zane and his moods. I wanted to go into the dining room and ask him what they had been talking about, but I decided to call Leeza first. I grabbed my phone and tried calling her again. I was really hoping to find out what she had been trying to tell me before I had a conversation with Zane.
“Lucky?” Leeza’s voice was airy and I frowned. How could she sound so happy and carefree when she had just been trying to tell me that my boyfriend was a stalker?
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Why are you whispering?” Leeza asked, confused.
“Because I don’t want Zane to know I’m on the phone.” My voice was exasperated. Sometimes Leeza just didn’t have a clue. “Now hurry up and tell me what you were trying to say before. I don’t have all day.”
“Before?” Leeza giggled and I heard a guy in the background. “I’m kind of busy, Lucky, can we talk later?”
“No,” I hissed, my face growing red with anger. “You made it sound really important, so I want to know exactly what you were talking about.”
“Oh.” She sighed and I heard her whispering. “I’ll be right back, Evan.” I heard what sounded like kissing and then she came back to the phone with a sigh. “Sorry, I was kinda busy.”
“Are you with Evan, the guy from the party you tried to hook me up with?” I asked, surprised.
“Yeah.” Her voice sounded happy. “He’s great and I just love being with him.”
“How do you even know him?”
“I met him months ago at a frat party.”
“You did?” I frowned. “You never told me.”
“Well, you know,” she sighed. “I didn’t think he was into me.”
“Okay, and …?”
“I met your Zane before as well.” Her voice was light and my heart skipped a beat. “I didn’t have time to tell you before.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, a few weeks before the party. He was with Evan and that DJ guy, hanging out with some guys I know.”
“And …?” Please God, don’t let her say that she slept with him. Please God no.
“And nothing much.” She paused. “Look, it might not be a big deal, and I wasn’t going to tell you, but he was the reason why I pushed so hard for you to go to that party that night.”
“What?” I frowned into the phone, feeling confused and overwhelmed. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t really remember exactly. But I was telling Evan how crazy you were and how you had left school to go to LA with some guy named Zane, and Evan was like, ‘Wow, stalking really works.’ And he reminded me of what had happened before.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Well, Evan had asked if I had any hot friends to bring to the party and I’d been a bit upset because I thought he had been into me and then I thought he really wasn’t, because if he was, why would he ask me to bring a friend? Well, who knows, I mean I—”
“Leeza.” My voice was sharp. “Get on with it please.”
“Oh, sorry. Well, he asked if I had any friends to bring and I guess I said something like I could bring my friend Lucky.”
“And?”
“And that creepy guy, Zane. Sorry, you know, your Zane? Well he looked at me hard and was like, ‘Lucky?’ Or something like that. And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s her name.’ I was like, ‘I can ask her to come, but she’s a waitress and works late nights, so I don’t know.’”
“Ok.”
“And then Zane was like, ‘Does she work at Lou’s Diner?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ At the time, I didn’t think about it. But that’s just weird that he knew that.”
“And?”
“And nothing. The conversation ended. But a couple of days later, Evan called me and he was like, ‘Can you try really hard to bring your friend Lucky? I’d like to meet her.’ And of course I was upset, but then he said he’d hook me up with some concert tickets, and so you know, I invited you.”
“I thought you wanted to hang out as roommates.” My voice was cold and dry as I tried to process all the information she was giving me.