Colorado 03 Lady Luck (43 page)

This, I wouldn’t know until hours later and
events that led to heartbreak, was a very bad decision.

At the time, I just nodded because I was
beginning to shake and I needed to get home.

“I have perishables in the car,” I told him
softly.

He nodded. Then he said, “Sorry, Lexie.
Really sorry.” He tapped both hands on the edge of my window and
finished, “Drive safe.”

Then he lifted his hands in front of him,
stepped back and moved away from my car.

I tossed the stuff in my hand to the
passenger seat, put my car in gear and carefully checked all my
mirrors before I pulled out, terrified, in my state, that I’d not
pay attention and get hurt or hurt my baby so I paid acute
attention to my every move. And I did this until my baby was in the
garage and the garage door was falling behind her.

Home. Safe.

I sucked in breath.

Then I grabbed my purse, got out and flew up
the steps.

“Yo, baby doll,” Julius greeted from his
place camped out in front of the television.

“Uh… hey, Julius,” I muttered distractedly,
moving directly to the island, putting my purse on it and, with
trembling hands, digging for my phone.

“Hey, Lexie, you okay?” Julius asked and I
had my phone in my hand and my thumb was finding Ty.

“Uh… uh…” I put my phone to my ear because
I’d dialed Ty and my eyes went to him to see he’d made it to the
kitchen. When he saw my face he stopped dead. “Kinda… no.”

“Mama,” Ty said in my ear and I dropped my
head and looked at my hand holding onto the edge of the island.

“Uh, hey, honey.”

Silence then, “What?”

God, he could hear it in my voice.

“I got… um,” I swallowed. “I got pulled over
on the way home.”

Now I got total silence on the phone.

Silence on the phone but in the kitchen a
big, angry man rumbled, “Fuckin’ shit.”

When what I got over the phone lengthened, I
whispered, “Ty?”

“Please tell me you were speeding.”

“No.” I was still whispering.

“Fuckin’ with you?”

“Crabtree,” I confirmed. “Until another cop
stopped, named Frank and he –”

Ty didn’t let me finish. He bit off,
“Right.”

“Honey, I –”

“Later, babe.”

“Ty, I –”

“
Later,
babe.”

Then he was gone.

Shit.

Shit, shit,
fucking shit!

I dropped my phone hand and looked at
Julius.

Then I whispered, “I shouldn’t have told
him.”

Julius shook his head. “My woman got pulled
over by some dirty, cracker cop who was fuckin’ with her, makin’
her look like you do right now, which means you’re feelin’ exactly
what you look like you’re feelin’ right now, or worse, just so he
could fuck with me, she didn’t tell me, I’d lose my fuckin’
mind.”

I nodded. This was good.

Then I asked, “Is he gonna lose his mind
anyway?”

Julius held my eyes. Then he said, “Don’t
know, baby doll. But do know, he does, he won’t lose it at
you.”

“He’s got a lot to lose if he loses it with
someone else,” I reminded him quietly, my voice trembling.

“He does, Lexie, but he’s a man and it’s his
decision to lose it to make a point about someone fuckin’ with his
woman. You just gotta let him make his decision then you gotta roll
with it.”

It was then my whole body was trembling and
it wasn’t the only thing. There was wet trembling at my eyes.

Then I was engulfed in a bear hug, Julius’s
arms tight around me, Julius’s answers weighing on me.

I still didn’t know if I did the right
thing.

I would find out later, after I pulled
myself together, after Julius helped me bring up the groceries and
put them away and after I’d calmed down over a beer that I
didn’t.

Not at all.

* * * * *

Ty hit the backdoor and my eyes were already
there because I’d heard the Cruiser pull in under the house.

I felt hope. He was home. Not in a jail cell
with some dirty cop calling his parole officer to tell him to start
the paperwork to send my man back to California.

I thought this was good.

The expression on his face said I was
wrong.

I felt my face pale then I felt my breath
stick in my throat when his eyes found me and his powerful arm
slammed the door so hard the glass shook and it was a miracle it
didn’t shatter.

Instantly, Julius saw it, felt it or both
and he stepped toward Ty and whispered, “Walk.”

Ty didn’t take his eyes off me. His long
legs took him to the island opposite me; he stopped and put his
hands on top of it in a way that stated clearly he wanted to use
his hands for something else.

The minute his hands hit counter, he
announced, “Went to Tate.”

I nodded because I thought that was good.
Tate was better than losing his mind on Rowdy Crabtree.

Even so, I was confused because he looked
beyond pissed. He looked enraged.

“Went to Tate,” he repeated.

“Okay,” I replied.

Suddenly he leaned forward in a way that
made me lean back even though the island was between us and he
barked, “
Went to Tate, Lexie!
”

“Okay,” I whispered.

“Told me,” he went on and I shook my head,
still confused.

“Told you what?”

“Told me you played me.”

My breath stuck in my throat.

Oh God.

Oh God.

“What?” I pushed through the breath clogging
my throat.

“Couldn’t believe it, not you,” he
replied.

“Ty –”

“Not you,” he repeated.

“Ty,” I whispered, I’d started trembling
again, knowing this was bad, very bad, the worst and he moved, his
long legs taking him to the stairs and I watched, still confused
but also terrified. So terrified all I could do was stare at the
stairs and not move.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.
Cataclysmically wrong.

And I knew what that wrong was.

And I wanted my feet to take me to the
stairs so I could sort it out with Ty in private but I was so
terrified of what I’d done and his reaction to it I couldn’t get my
feet to move.

“I’ll talk to him,” Julius muttered but I
still didn’t move though I saw him at the stairs because I was
still staring at them.

And I stared at them feeling my breath stick
in my throat, my heart beat hard and fast in my chest, my palms
itch and my blood race, hot and frantic in my veins.

Then I saw legs and heard Ty rumble, “Not
your gig, brother.”

“Walk, listen to me –”

“Not your fuckin’ gig,” Ty cut him off,
rounded the stairs and came straight to the island.

On it he slammed down rolls of cash.

“Fifty K. Your pay. I’m outta here, you got
an hour to get your sweet ass outta my house.”

Yes. Yes. Something was wrong. Very
wrong.
Cataclysmically
wrong.

And I knew what it was. And I knew by his
face he meant every word.

Still, I whispered a shaky, “What?”

“
You played me, Lexie,
you... fuckin’… played
me,
” he growled, leaning
into me. “Goin’ to Tate and Deke behind my fuckin’ back. Spreadin’
for me to keep me distracted. Your pussy’s got no chain?” he asked,
his words pummeling me then he leaned back and clipped, “Bullshit.
Just as heavy as all the fuckin’ rest.”

Each word hit me like a blow.

“Ty, I –”

“
Played me,” he finished for me then lifted
a big hand and jabbed a long finger at me on every “you”.
“
You
did not rot in that
fuckin’
place for five years.
You
do not got a skin tone that
makes you a mark.
You
like black
cock but takin’ black cock, babe, does not make you black.
You
do not get to call the plays
with this shit.” He jerked his hand back and his thumb to himself.
“
I
do.”

“Listen to me.”

“Time to listen to you, Lexie, was fuckin’
weeks ago before you spread your fuckin’ legs, just like fuckin’
Misty and fuckin’ played me.”

His words hammering me, the blows so vicious
it felt in places my skin had split open, I still found the
strength to shake my head and take a step toward him saying,
“Please, lis –”

“
Do not get near me, bitch,” he growled and
I froze, my eyes locked to his, the blood going so fast through my
veins it felt like I was burning alive. “An hour,” he bit off. “I
come back, you are
out.
You aren’t,
Lexie, I’ll put you out.”

Then he turned, rounded the island and
prowled to the door.

Then he was gone.

An hour later, so was I.

Shattered

Ty

Ty Walker opened the backdoor to his house
and walked in to a big, seriously pissed off black man with tree
trunk legs planted apart and beefy arms crossed on his chest.

He knew he’d get that when he got home.

He also didn’t give a fuck.

He closed the door and looked Julius right
in the eye.

“She gone?” he asked.

“You are one serious dumb fuck.”

“She gone?”

“Oh yeah, brother, she’s gone.”

Ty Walker’s jaw clenched so hard he was
lucky it didn’t freeze shut.

He jerked up his chin and headed to the
stairs.

He was nearly there when Julius spoke.

“She loved you.”

That was bullshit. She didn’t.

She did, she wouldn’t have played him. She
knew what playing him would do. She knew, he found out, she’d be
right where she was now, wherever the fuck that was, but wherever
it was, he did not fucking care.

Walker kept moving to the stairs.

Julius kept speaking.

“You broke her.”

Ty rounded the railing and tried to shut him
out.

Julius kept at him.

“Never seen a woman break like that.”

Fuck, the man needed to shut
the fuck
up.

His foot hit the first stair.

“Shattered,” Julius called after him.

Walker kept moving.

He hit his room and stopped dead.

Right in the middle of the bed was fifty
thousand dollars in cash and four jewelry boxes.

Four.

She’d even left her wedding rings.

He stared at them then he closed his eyes
tight and dropped his head.

Then he opened his eyes, moved to the safe
in the closet, opened it and went back to the bed. He stowed the
shit, closed the safe and kicked himself that he didn’t come
upstairs with the fucking bourbon.

* * * * *

Two days later…

“Yo, Ty!” Wood called him, he looked from
the belly of the car he was working on and across the garage to
Wood who was turned, looking out a bay.

Walker’s eyes moved that way and then he
moved out from under the car when he saw Tate stalking his way.

Fuck.

Tate stopped five feet away.

“Lexie needs a couple of hours to get the
rest of her shit outta your house. For reasons I’m guessin’ you
get, she does not want to ask you herself and she does not want you
there,” he stated.

“Tell her to name the time and I’m gone,”
Walker replied instantly.

Tate stared at him like Julius stared at him
for an entire day any time he saw him until he’d connected with his
man and went back to California – like he thought Walker was one
serious dumb fuck.

Then Tate jerked up his chin and started to
go.

“Jackson,” Walker called and Tate stopped.
“Tell her the safe will be open. She’ll know why. And tell her
she’s plain stupid she doesn’t take what’s hers.”

“Great, I’ll continue this junior high
bullshit and tell her that, Ty. You got anything else I should
whisper to her at recess?” Tate asked, pissed as all hell, not at
his errand, not doing this for Lexie but because he was pissed at
Walker. And he was not hiding it.

“Nope,” Walker answered.

“Terrific,” Tate muttered, turned and
stalked away.

Walker moved back under the car.

* * * * *

Three days later…

Walker worked out hard and he worked out
long then he returned home late, giving Lexie plenty of time to do
her thing.

He parked the Cruiser by the Snake in the
garage. Then he took the stairs, braced for what he would find.

But when he got to the top of the stairs, it
was all there. The pitchers, the snow globe, the frames, the crock
with the spoons in, the fruit bowl, the KitchenAid, the toss
pillows.

Fuck, she didn’t show.

Fuck!

He needed her shit
out.

Now he had to call a still seriously pissed
off Tate.

Or stop acting like a fucking idiot and
continue perpetrating exactly the junior high school bullshit Tate
called it and phone his soon-to-be ex-wife.

He dropped his workout bag by the stairs,
reminding himself to sort it. There was no Lexie to take it away
and deal with it. Not anymore.

He headed upstairs and hit their room then
something made him stop dead.

His head turned and he saw the frame that
held the picture of them at The Rooster was gone. He felt his chest
compress and his gut tighten as he walked to the closet.

Her clothes were gone.

He retraced his steps down the stairs and
went right, to the guest bedroom.

Cleaned out.

He moved to the office.

Her computer gone. The frames gone. Her
print gone.

He moved to the other bedroom.

Void of everything.

He walked back up the stairs and to the
closet, looking down; he saw the safe was closed. He moved to it,
crouched in front of it and opened it.