“Who was secretly fucking you and Holt at the same time? While Holt was married?”
“I’m not telling you another goddamned thing. ” Jax rubbed his face with both hands. Christ he was tired. “You fight dirty. ”
“This is why your life never changes. ” Wes smacked the steering wheel as he took the ramp toward LAX. “You’re not willing to get out of your rut. If you want different results, you’ve got to use different tactics. You’ve got to decide where your priorities lie—exterior or interior. You’ve done the hell out of exterior, and it’s not working for you. ”
Jax closed his eyes and pressed his fingers against the lids. “Okay, I’ll consider it. Not saying yes. Just that I’ll consider and I’m not doing it blind. I want a picture or something. And information. ” He uncovered his eyes and glared at Wes. “And if you get me in more trouble than I can get myself into, you’re so dead. ”
Wes laughed and pulled in front of the Virgin America terminal. “It’ll work out great. When your head’s on straight, good shit always happens. ”
Jax wasn’t so sure.
Two
The Ferrari banked hard left and revved out of the turn. The rear tires fishtailed and squealed on Los Angeles’s famed Sunset Boulevard, skidding as the sports car gunned forward.
In the passenger’s seat, Lexi LaCroix reached for the handle along the doorframe and smiled at her best friend. “I should have called a taxi. ”
From the driver’s seat, Rubi Russo shot Lexi her evil you-love-it-and-you-know-it grin. “But this is so much more fun. ”
Lexi couldn’t hold back her nervous laughter, and Rubi joined in with a wild-child scream to the warm Los Angeles night through the T-top.
Every last cell in Lexi’s body bubbled with adrenaline as Rubi gunned the sports car down Sunset, weaving through the sparse traffic at midnight in the middle of the week. “It won’t be fun if you get another ticket, lose your insurance, and can’t drive at all. ”
Rubi flashed those wide, clear blue-green eyes, so sharp and striking against her light cocoa skin. Added the glimmer of perfect teeth in her silent I’m-going-to-take-that-as-a-dare look. “I can always move to New Hampshire. ”
And she jammed the gas pedal to the floor.
Squeal. Smoke. Streak. G-forces.
“Shit, Rubi. ” Lexi laughed the words as her body slammed back against the seat and adrenaline surged up her chest. “You know you can’t leave me, and you know I can’t live in New Hampshire. And I’d like us to get to the airport alive. ”
The plea drowned in Rubi’s triumphant scream as she sped toward the freeway on-ramp. Lexi tightened her fingers on the handle again and let the warm air whip her long hair into a witch’s nest through the open windows. The Ferrari’s powerful engine roared in her ears and shivered through the small car. Rubi’s sweet, effervescent giggle floated through the car, and Lexi drank it all in. Reveled in the rush. The relaxation. The abandon. The freedom.
If only even for a few delicious minutes.
Rubi shot onto the Los Angeles freeway, screaming the Ferrari past existing traffic, weaving among cars until she settled into the fast lane at a sane speed. At least sane for Rubi.
Heart ticking quick and hard against her ribs, hand frozen around the handle, Lexi glanced at her friend. This was one of those moments when Lexi wondered how they could be so close when they were so different in so many ways.
But one look at her too beautiful profile made Lexi remember how they’d met modeling here in Los Angeles many years ago, and how much they also had in common. They shared a physical beauty at opposite ends of the color scale—where Rubi was a mix of African-American, Japanese, and Caucasian, Lexi was an all-American blonde. In that way, they’d pulled a full house from the deck. As far as family, though, they’d both crapped out big-time.
In the end, that fact had enabled the two of them to build an even stronger bond, and for nearly a decade, they’d taken care of each other like family. They shared a far tighter relationship than most blood-related sisters she’d met.
Rubi’s elbow rested on the ledge of her open window, her hair sexily tousled, lids heavy and knowing. “You could have gotten there really alive if you’d fucked Jake in the back room at Stilettos. ”
Lexi’s belly burned with embarrassment, but she’d known this was coming. “Don’t even start. I never will, and you know it. ”
“But you wanted to. Admit it. He was so hot, and he was drooling over you. Did you see that package he was sporting in those jeans? You wanted to take him into the back room, push him down on one of the settees, and—”
“Rubi!”
“—rock him to some ear-shattering Nickelback. ”
Lexi’s body throbbed at the image Rubi created. But not because of Jake’s hotness or willingness to screw her in public. It was because Lexi had gone too long without a decent man in her life. She’d been working too long and too hard without a break and was under way too much pressure. “He was like…what? Twelve?”
“You know damn well he was twenty-one. The older woman–younger man thing is totally the rage. Besides, you’re only twenty-eight and you look twenty-two. ”
Lexi shot her a get-real look.