Lily rolled her eyes and kept driving.
"Did Detective Wright call earlier?"
"Yes. Forgot to tell you about that. He said that crazy Valerie woman confessed to everything. She's been following Dominic around for a long time. That's how she picked up on me. Apparently she thought if she could get rid of me, he would be all hers."
"That's insane."
"Very. She's damn sharp, though. I mean, she went to a lot of effort to figure out I dated Luke and take up residence with him while following Dominic and me all over the place. She even tailed him to Zodiac the night I went there and then back to his place afterward."
"Who slashed your tires?"
"She hired a kid to do it." Lily blew out a long breath.
Ava sighed. "The irony is that she was leading a double life with Luke, and he didn't catch onto it after he did the same thing to you."
"God. You're right. He deserves bad karma."
An hour later, Lily pulled into the parking lot beside the Miami clubhouse and got out of the car, stretching her legs.
As soon as they entered the stadium, they spotted Zia and headed toward her.
Zia jumped up to hug them both. She held on to Lily extra long and then met her gaze. "You okay? I can't believe what everyone is saying. That crazy woman has been coming here for years. She's a regular groupie. She was a little weird, but no one suspected she was so out of her mind."
"Yeah. It's insane. And the crazy thing is she'll probably get off easy. Property damage. Community service. Not likely she'll serve any time."
"Seriously?" Zia asked as they took their seats. "How is that possible?"
Lily sighed. "The courts don't have room for harassment cases in which no one got murdered, I suppose."
"That sucks." Zia leaned around to speak to Ava. "How're you holding up?"
"Better, now that I don't have to worry about Lily all the time. That woman added a whole new layer to the term stress."
"Let's discuss something less depressing," Lily suggested, grabbing both women by the arms and squeezing.
"Excellent idea," Ava agreed. "So who's the guy on third base?"
* * *
As Dominic shrugged into khaki pants and reached for his pale blue dress shirt, he eyed one of his best friends without turning his head to face him.
Xavier Monreal got dressed next to him, and he was putting extra effort into smoothing his shirt and adjusting his pants. "Was that her in the stands next to Lily? They looked like twins from where I was standing."
"Yeah. They look alike. But they're more like mother and daughter. Keep in mind that Lily raised Ava from a very young age. She's twelve years younger."
Xavier smirked. "You're glaring at me. You said she's twenty-two. You set me up with her yourself. If you didn't want me to go out with her, why did you arrange it?"
Dominic sighed and lowered himself onto the bench behind him to put on his shoes. "I trust you."
"You trust me?" He chuckled. "Now you're her father?"
"Feels like it all of the sudden." That was the truth. If anything happened and Ava got hurt, Lily would seriously be pissed. Why the hell had he set Ava up with Xavier, or anyone for that matter? He should have told her hell no.
This was dangerous territory. His own relationship with Lily was new and had been through several trials. Regardless of the outcome, the last thing he needed was another bump in the road between him and Lily.
"Look, relax man." Xavier turned sideways and faced Dominic. "It's just dinner. A double date. You'll be there too. Don't get carried away. Just because she's cute doesn't mean we'll hit it off."
He had a point. Ava had a head on her shoulders from everything Dominic could tell. Lily had said so often enough also.
"Maybe she doesn't even like Puerto Rican ballplayers with lots of money," he teased.
Dominic groaned. He knew for a fact Ava was going to like Xavier. Every woman liked Xavier. And Xavier liked women too. He dated a lot of women. The only reason Dominic had considered this possibility was because even though Xavier had a list of first dates a mile long, Dominic was pretty sure the man didn't sleep with most of them. He rarely dated a woman twice.
He seemed particular. Which was perfect.
"Just don't … " Dominic let the rest of that sentence trail off unspoken.
Xavier stood, ran a comb through his hair, and shut his locker. "Relax. I won't lay a hand on her. I get it. I'll wine and dine her, but I won't do anything to mess things up between you and her sister. You can count on me."