Emotionally exhausted and desperate to confide in someone, Lana capitulated with a sigh. “The tattoo on my back. It isn’t just a tattoo. It’s a…mark.” Memories blanked her mind. Her hands fisted and a tear slid down her cheek.
“Lana, look at me.” Jackie gently turned Lana’s face toward hers. “It’s okay. Let me see it. It’s been a long time since I saw it last. Maybe it’s not as identifiable as you think. I’ve always just thought of it as a tattoo.”
Lana rolled over and lifted her shirt and Jackie traced the mark lightly with her fingertips.
“What does it mean?”
“I can’t tell you. Not because I don’t trust you, but because it would be dangerous for you to know.”
Jackie brushed Lana’s hair back over her shoulder. “Why does it mean you have to run away? Does it link you to Levi?”
Lana nodded. “Rex saw it when he burst into the room. At least, I’m pretty sure he saw it. I did turn around pretty fast. But he gave me a look, like he knew what it meant. He just has to make one phone call, and I would disappear forever.”
Jackie tilted her head and gave Lana a curious look. “Sounds very ominous. But how can you be sure he saw it or even knew what it was? Maybe he saw it and thought ‘hey cool tat’ or ‘nice tramp stamp’ or ‘I want one of those’. Maybe he wanted to know who designed it so he can get one too. Maybe he has a tattoo fetish. Maybe he didn’t see it, but he thought you were all kinds of hot standing in James’s room, half-naked and all sexed up. You can’t throw your entire life away on a guess.”
Lana hesitated, hope blossoming in her chest. Jackie could be right. She had turned quickly. It had been an emotional moment. Could she have misread the look in Rex’s eyes? Nothing had happened to her so far.
She sighed and collapsed on the bed. “God, I hope you’re right. This is the happiest I’ve ever been. I love my work, Vancouver, my friends…you.”
“I would have followed you,” Jackie said, kissing away the rogue tear on Lana’s cheek. “Since I have no family, you’re all I’ve got, and I don’t give up best friends so easily.”
A hissed intake of breath from the doorway sent Lana rolling off the bed and into a crouch on the floor. Heart thumping, she reached for her hidden baseball bat and lifted her eyes.
“James.” She sagged against the dresser, even as she drank in his hard, muscular body encased in black leather and the black, kick-ass sunglasses hiding his eyes. Dark and dangerous. As usual. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to watch.” James pushed up his sunglasses. “Continue as you were. Just pretend I’m not here.”
“Did it ever occur to you to knock?” she growled.
“Not when I have a key.” He held up a shiny gold key and Lana’s blood boiled. She pushed herself up and popped the catch on the suitcase, then tossed a few clothes back into her drawers. Anything to keep her hands busy and not doing something violent and destructive like assaulting a police officer.
“You asked the locksmith to give you a key?”
He shrugged. “How else would I get in?”
Jackie flipped to her back and eased herself up on the pillow. “You two just crack me up. Don’t mind me. I’m just going to lie here and watch the fur fly.”
Lana glared at James. “I didn’t offer you a key. I didn’t invite you in. This is a private party so I think you’d better leave.”
“Not if the party involves more of what was going down on the bed.”
Jackie barked a laugh. “Sorry to disappoint, J—I’m gonna call you J because you just don’t look like a James to me—but I don’t share my sugar.”
“Neither do I,” he growled.
“I do believe he’s threatening me.” Jackie looked over at Lana who was tossing panties back into her drawer. “Your boyfriend is threatening me.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
James caught a pair of green lace panties midtoss. “I remember these,” he said, musing. “I thought I tore them off you.”
Heart pounding, pulse racing, body tense, Lana snatched the panties from his hand. What the hell was he doing here? Hadn’t she made it clear last night was the one and only night? Did he not get the message?
“I believe I uninvited you from my apartment,” she said, her voice cold. “I don’t see your feet moving.”
Silence. She followed his concerned gaze to her suitcase.
“Are you going away?” He tapped the suitcase with his finger, and his voice rose from low to midrange. “Are you leaving because of me?”