Page 42 of Loco

I laughed, took her hand, and jerked her against me.

I’d show her a better way of sealing the deal.

Chapter 19

Millie

It had been a week since Loco had promised me that we were exclusive, and I was already wondering if I was a fool for believing him. After the explosive sex that we’d shared that morning, he’d received a call from Demon and had taken off on so-called club business. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since. Not even a phone call or damned text! I mean, how much effort did a simple text take?

The jerk!

I didn’t even have V to vent to. There was something going on with the Desert Rebels, and Bull had whisked her off to the clubhouse where she was on lockdown because of her association with him. Which made me wonder why I wasn’t on lockdown because of my association with Loco. Whatever. I doubted that anyone knew the extent of our involvement yet.

I tried not to be angry with Loco. Tried not to let my imagination run wild with what he could be doing. I didn’t want to become a clingy, whining female because I hated that kind of woman, and I was fairly certain that Loco wouldn’t put up with it either. He could have any woman he wanted, and did, so I knew I should count my blessings that he’d settled for me. Millie Jones. An average woman who made a living taking care of animals.

A woman who’d killed a man.

Eventually I would need to tell him that. We were in a relationship--kind of--and there should have been no secrets between us. Like the one I’d shared with Viola, though I hadn’t given her any details other than a promise that I wasn’t dangerous.

Stuart Little--yes, that was his real name--had been the manager of the upscale restaurant where I’d worked as a hostess when I was in my early twenties. He had become infatuated with me, stalked me, and then finally broke into my apartment and attacked me. During the violent confrontation I’d grabbed a kitchen knife and had stabbed him in the heart.

It had been self-defense. His family hadn’t been happy and had tried everything they could to get charges brought up against me, and when that hadn’t worked they’d retaliated with constant harassment and threats. His mother, specifically, had frightened me, and eventually I’d moved away. Therapy had helped me cope with killing Stuart, but it was something I would probably never fully get over.

Thoughts of what I’d done to Stuart were interrupted by Justin Timberlake’sCan’t Stop the Feeling, alerting me that I had a call. I put down my ice cream and reached for my phone, smiling when I saw V’s name. I guessed that she was calling to check on BS, her very shy Sphynx cat and my temporary houseguest.

“Hey, honey, you worried about BS already?” BS stood for Barbara Streisand, her grandmother’s favorite singer. V had inherited the cat when her grandmother passed.

Her soft laughter came across the line. “Now why would I be worried about her when she’s with you? I know she’s in good hands. Is she being good?”

I gave a snort. “Well, I know that she’s somewhere here in my apartment. I know that she’s eating, drinking and pooping, but so far she’s been in hiding.” I’d purposely kept the closet doors open so that she could find a place that she felt safe in. “In the evenings when it’s dark and quiet I can hear her moving around, and once she jumped up on my bed.” I laughed. “I laid there frozen stiff, too afraid to move and scare her, and I didn’t breathe until she jumped down.”

“I remember those days when I first got her,” V admitted with a giggle. “It took her forever to get comfortable with me.”

“So how’s it going on lockdown?” Was that disappointment in my voice? Maybe just a little because Loco wasn’t as worried about me as Bull obviously was about V. Of course, I didn’t really know what was going on.

“There’s been a little excitement.”

She didn’t provide any further detail. What I really wanted to ask was if Loco was there, but I was too afraid of the answer.

“Everyone, and I meaneveryone,is here.”

I could tell from her tone that there was something that V didn’t like about that. Was it the club girls that she was unhappy about?

Finally, I caved. I had to know. “Is Loco there?”

“Loco?”

I could hear the frown in her tone.

“Honey, I’m at LD’s clubhouse. Loco’s probably at his clubhouse in the desert.”

I rolled my eyes with a laugh. “I get so confused!” I admitted. “So are they on lockdown, too?”

“It is confusing. Two clubhouses, two presidents, men going back and forth.” There was a slight pause. “Not sure if they’re on lockdown, too. I think that whatever is going on is happening here in Vegas.”

She was holding something back, I could tell. Maybe she couldn’t talk freely. I decided to brush it off. “Well, you don’t need to worry about BS.”

“Thanks again for taking her off my hands. She would have needed therapy after spending any time in this place.” We both laughed. “Are you okay, honey?”

---