Lured In (Dark Paradise, #1) (22 page)

“Oh. OK.” I smiled and pulled him close to me to lay my head on his chest.

“So what plans do you and Carmen have for this evening?”

“We’re heading over to your lounge to catch up with each other over a drink or two,” I said, feeling up his back again.

“I’ll make sure they take great care of you guys and put everything on the house.”

“I’m sure they will.”

We got off the elevator on G1, and Zach reached out to hold my left hand with his right hand as we walked to my car. We turned right toward my car, and I yelled out in shock, “What the fuck!”

All of my tires were slashed, and the windows, headlights, taillights, and side view mirrors were broken. She even keyed BITCH all over it.”

Zach let my hand go and pulled his cell phone from its holder. He strolled quickly and dialed Galloway.

“Come around to my parking space on G1 now.” He placed another call while I walked closer to my vandalized crystal-red 2012 Cadillac CTS-V wagon.

“Stan, where are you? Forget about that for now and get here to the Seventh Street location right away. Come to the G1 reserved section,” he demanded. He walked over beside me to put his right hand on my lower back.

“That crazy bitch! Look at what the hell she’s done to my car.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Zach said through clenched teeth, running his left hand through his curls.

Galloway came around and jumped out of the driver’s seat. Zach looked at him and motioned his head toward my car, with one hand still on my hip and the other still in his hair.

“Stan’s on his way. Take Abi over to Sens. She’s meeting Carmen for drinks.”

“No. I’m not leaving. I’m calling the police and filing a report against that psychotic bitch.”

“Abi, I told you I’ll take care of it. Now go with Galloway. Carmen’s waiting for you.”

“No! I’ll just call Carmen and tell her why I can’t make it,” I declared angrily, pulling my cell from my purse.

Zach took the phone from my hand and demanded again that I let Galloway drive me to Sens. Galloway leaned into Zach and whispered something in his ear, and Zach nodded. I tried to take my phone back from Zach while he was engaged with Galloway, but he quickly switched it to the other hand, stretching it out of my reach with his long arm.

“Please, Abi. Let me handle this! OK?” he yelled. He continued in a milder tone, “I need you to give me the keys to the car and let Galloway take you to meet Carmen. I’ll pick you up from there later and brief you on everything. OK, love?”

“Just give me my phone,” I said with an attitude.

“OK?” he asked, looking down at me, still stretching his arm out with my phone in his hand.

After I rolled my eyes and nodded my head, I turned my face away from Zach and held my hand out so he could give me back my phone. He pulled me to face him and told me to look at him. I continued to look away from him, and he positioned himself in front of the direction in which I was looking. He rubbed his forehead and nose against mine, kissed me on my lips, and apologized for my car being vandalized. Giving me my phone back, he told me to please go with Galloway. I pushed away from him, tossed my keys, and turned to Galloway, who already had the door to the backseat open for me. Zach replaced his hand on my lower back as I walked over to his Escalade. I got in, and Zach apologized again before he closed the door behind me. Galloway got in and drove off.

Sitting in the back seat, I called Carmen. “I’m on my way.”

“Why are you so late?” she asked. “You’re never late.”

“Taylor vandalized my car in the office garage.”

“What the fuck?” Carmen yelled. “How are you getting here?”

“Mr. Galloway—Zach’s driver.” I paused a while. “He’s married to her,” I told Carmen dryly.

She coughed and said, “Come again, Abi! Who’s married to whom?”

“Zach is married to Taylor. She came to my office, told me that she and Zach got married on May 16, 2010, and threatened to do harm to me and Gabi if I didn’t stay away from him.”

“You’re joking, right, Abi?”

“No. I wish like hell I was.”

Carmen cursed, shouted, and then asked, “How much longer before you get here?”

I looked outside the car window to see where I was, and told her, “I’ll probably be there in five minutes. I’ll see you when I get there.”

Galloway, obviously listening in on my conversation with Carmen, looked up at me in the rearview mirror.

“Excuse me, Ms. Winterfield, for crossing the line and listening in on your conversation. But I request permission say a thing or two.” I nodded my head, and he continued. “I’ve known Mr. McCon—Zach—since he was nine, maybe ten, and I can assure you that he is not married to her. And another thing—he loves you very much. He’s never been happier. Please give him a chance.”

We pulled up in front of Sens, and Galloway stepped out to let me out. I thanked him for opening my door, the ride, and the new information he had shared with me about Zach. The same bouncer from last time was at the door. He welcomed me back to Sens and told me that Carmen was waiting for me.

Carmen got up and greeted me with a hug and kiss on my cheek. “I’m sorry for being so late,” I said.

“It’s OK, Abi. How bad did she damage your car?”

“It’s in pretty bad shape. She broke all of the windows and the sideview mirrors and keyed BITCH all over it,” I said. She cursed as we sat down. “You have an amazing Matt-induced glow,” I said. She blushed.

“Have you looked in a mirror lately, Abi?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because you have a Zach-induced glow going on over there, Missy. He is really loving the color back into you.”

I smiled. “It damned sure doesn’t come without hurt, pain, and tears.” I looked at Carmen, who frowned in response.

“What the hell are you talking about, Abi? Is he treating you like—” She was cut off by a short, round waitress with red hair.

“May I start you off with something to drink?”

“I’ll take a bottle of 2008 Dom Pérignon,” I told her.

“It’s been that kind of day, huh?” Carmen asked.

“Oh, you have no idea,” I replied.

“Um…the Dom Pérignon is eight thousand dollars, and we don’t open tabs on high-priced items. I would have to secure a credit card from you before I can open a bottle for you,” the waitress said.

“Just put it under Zach’s name and bring it to us, would you, please?”

“Zach who?” she asked.

“McConnallay.”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that. And I’m sure Mr. McConnallay wouldn’t appreciate you trying to put your bill on his account.”

“If you want I could call him so he can give you the OK.”

“And I’m supposed to believe that any male voice through the phone is Mr. McConnallay. Ma’am, if you want the Dom Pérignon, you have to pay for it just like all of the other customers. If not, I would like to move on to attend to other paying customers.”

“Didn’t she tell you to put it on her man’s account? After all, he does own this place. Doesn’t he?” Carmen snapped at the girl.

The waitress looked me and Carmen up and down and asked me, “Do you plan to pay for anything or will I be adding it to Mr. Harrison’s account also?”

Carmen looked at her and was about to say something, so I intervened. “Don’t engage in a verbal match with her.” I looked at the waitress and asked, “Would you like my credit card or Zach barking at you later?”

“Your credit card will be fine,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Fine.” I handed her my credit card.

She came back with the Dom Pérignon and my receipt. I noted an extra twelve-hundred-dollar charge. “Where did this extra twelve hundred dollars come from?” I asked agitatedly.

“Oh, we have a mandatory gratuity fee of fifteen percent,” she said with attitude.

“Really?”

“Really. Will that be all?”

“No. I would like to order something to eat,” I said.

“And what would that be?” she asked, still putting out attitude.

“How about we have your job!” Carmen hissed in annoyance.

“Excuse me?” the waitress hissed back.

“You heard me. Your job.” Carmen stretched out the words. “You must really hate it here to talk to your boss’s woman like that.”

“Carmen!”

“Abi!”

I looked at Carmen and shook my head to stop her from antagonizing the poor girl. The waitress looked at me and asked, “What would you like to eat?”

“I could start off with you giving us menus so we can decide what we want to eat.”

She looked at me, exhaled loudly, and said, “I’ll be back with menus.”

I filled our glasses with the sensational, tantalizing taste of Dom Pérignon, and Carmen said, “So tell me what the hell is going on with you and Zach.”

“Where do I start? With Zach’s disappearing acts or me punching Lauren in her face? Gabe coming on to me and getting jealous—threatening to file for sole custody because of my relationship with Zach—or my folks bad-mouthing me at work? Me opening up to Zach about Connor and that night or Taylor coming to my office to tell me she is Zach’s wife, then vandalizing my car?”

“Damn, Abi. That’s a lot of shit on your plate to digest on your own.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I said in agreement.

“Tell me what’s happened from start to end.”

“My dad and stepmom invited Gabe to dinner, and he gawked at me all day. He even tried to use Gabi to get me to go to the movies with him.”

“Hold on, Abi. Are you telling me that Gabe asked you out to the movies?” Her face was filled with total surprise.

“Sort of. I was outside with him when he got really close to me and was damned near stuttering, ‘Abi, you look damn good, babe. Mmm mmm mmm.’ And knowing he was eating me up with his eyes, I turned so he could get a good view of my ass, which he groped and fondled, by the way.

“Oh my God, Abi. You let him feel your ass?”

“Yes, I did. I let him feel what he’s been missing and will never, ever have again.”

We laughed.

“Now the injudicious bastard wants you back?”

“And I guess because I didn’t put him in his place that night when he came on to me, he thought that was an open invitation to come into my house whenever he pleased to.”

“He did what, Abi?”

“He used his set of keys I never took back from him when we split and came into my house about three weeks ago when Gabi, Zach, and I were eating breakfast. It got really bad, Carmen—very intense.”

Carmen was about to speak, and I waved her off as the waitress came back the menus. The waitress stepped away to give us time, and we looked over the menu and continued talking about Zach and all of the drama surrounding him.

The waitress came back and took our orders. I ordered the porterhouse steak, medium well, with a jumbo lump crab cake, grilled asparagus, and home fries with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and bacon. Thinking back on the conversation with Galloway, I ordered two to go, one for him and one for Zach. I assumed that they hadn’t eaten anything since they flew back in town on short notice because of me and were now spending more of their time dealing with the car situation. Carmen ordered the T-bone steak, medium well, shrimp Alfredo, and grilled asparagus.

Carmen and I went back to talking about the resignation letter and Zach’s disappearing acts that I kept forgiving him for whenever he got close enough to placate me and lure me back in.

She asked, “What do your dad and stepdad think of him?”

“I haven’t mentioned him to them yet because we haven’t even discussed our relationship status with each other to officially say we are together. But Gabi seems to like him”

“Oh my God, Abi. I’m surprised you introduced him to Gabi so soon.”

“It just happened. It wasn’t planned. He had stayed over with me after I told him about the night Connor raped me.”

“Abi, sweetie, you finally talked about it with someone. I’m sure it was hard—to talk about it.” She put her hands over mine and gave me an ‘I’m-so-proud-of-you smile.’

“It was, but having Zach there made it a whole lot easier. He was very patient and attentive—I found complete solace in him. Though I thought he was going to disappear again after I told him, but when I woke up the next morning, he was still there, holding me tight in his arms. He even cooked breakfast for us.”

“Aww. I’m so happy for you, Abi. I’m glad Zach makes you happy and brought some comfort back into your life.” We both smiled and drank to Zach.

“So that’s the day Gabe walked in on you all eating breakfast?” Carmen asked.

I laughed with Carmen as I told her about that day. We were laughing so hard we had tears coming from our eyes.

“Whew! Oh my God, Abi.” Carmen wiped the tears of laughter from her face and took a sip of her drink. “Now tell me what the hell happened today with Taylor?”

“Oh my God…this bitch. First of all, she lied about a meeting with me to get through security. Then she came up to my office and told me that she’s Zach’s wife and that if I didn’t stay away from him she was going to do something to my face and/or me and Gabi.”

“That bitch is cray-cray.”

“Cray-cray as hell,” I agreed.

“So what did Zach say?”

“He was in Pittsburgh when she came to the office. But I called and told him what happened, and he rushed home.