“Oh, fuck me!” he ground out as he trudged along the roadside, his boots kicking up water and squelching in the mud. She’d said she’d called him at home and gotten the answering machine.
He took a drink from the bottle, wondering what she’d thought as she realized he’d never changed their outgoing message. The one that he’d made with her the day they’d moved in together when they still lived in Dallas. He’d tried several times to record a new message, but each time he wound up just sitting there listening to her voice, rewinding several times until he heard it enough to work himself into a good, soul-sucking depression, needing her. Wishing she’d come home.
He’d known she might move on. Find another man who would want to make love to her. Feel her soft skin under his hands. Kiss her sweet lips. And there were two men, she’d said. Of course, just like in Divine, she’d be very likely to find two men in Lusty who’d love her enough to share her.
And she’d taken the time to call him on this evening of all evenings. It was a safe bet that since it was Valentine’s Day, her men had proposed to her earlier that evening. Which meant—
Oh, God.
They were probably making love to her at that very moment. He took another drink from the bottle and ground his teeth together before hollering into the wind until his voice disappeared.
* * * *
Lucy popped open her yellow sunflower printed umbrella as she and Patrick exited the Dancing Pony and hurried to Beck’s gray F-150. Patrick pulled the passenger door open and she climbed in, heart contracting as she breathed in Beck’s scent from the beat-up denim jacket she held in her hands. He’d rushed out of the club without it and now he was somewhere out in the storm with nothing to protect him but his shirtsleeves.
Patrick got in on the driver’s side and started the truck. He gave her a halfhearted smile as he patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, Luce. He can’t have gone far.”
Nodding, she scooted forward and put her hands on the dash so she could see out of the windshield. When he didn’t put the vehicle in drive, she looked at him expectantly. He glanced at the seat belt hanging unused by the door, his jaw set.
“Buckle up.”
“Come on, Patrick. I can’t see as well out the window if I sit back and buckle up.”
He obstinately shook his head. “Not moving until you do.”
“Stubborn and bossy. Just like my brother.”
Patrick scoffed. “As much as I like Seth, don’t be comparing us. There’s not a brotherly bone in my body where you’re concerned. Protective, definitely. Brotherly…”
He flicked a glance up and down her body and shook his head. His expression finished his statement. Her cheeks felt warm as she did as he asked, secretly pleased that he cared that much about her safety, and encouraged because he was talking about his feelings. She made a show of clicking the buckle and then made a grand gesture at it. “Can we go now?”
“Sassy thing. Yes, we can go.” They circled the large block the nightclub was located on and then expanded the search to all the main streets leading away.
She strained to see the road in front of them, feeling hypnotized by the rain blowing constantly at the windshield. “This is crazy, being out in this mess with no coat or anything. I’m going to kick his ass. And he wasn’t feeling well to begin with. Do you think he’s walking home?”
“We can head that direction and see.”
That route proved fruitless, and they went back to the Pony and started again as Lucy’s concern grew to panicky proportions. “What would make him just take off like this?”
Patrick sighed as he squinted at the road in front of them. “Beck is my closest friend but there are some things we…just don’t talk about, Luce. I respect his privacy and he respects mine.” His statement only raised more questions. He didn’t say anything else even though she waited quietly before she finally spoke again. Words she’d wanted to say for a while.
“You know all of our friends are wondering what the hell is up with us, right?”
“Hmm?” His show of nonchalance didn’t fool her at all.
“This is most unfair to you and that’s all you can say? ‘Hmm?’ I see the questions in their eyes even though they never ask. Well, Jayne asks, but I haven’t talked with her about it. They want to know if there’s something going on between the three of us.”
She put her hands to her cheeks to cool the heat that rose in them. They’d all be surprised to know that absolutely nothing had happened between any of them.
Getting more agitated, she said, “I don’t know what I was thinking. If he wanted more than friendship with me, he’d have acted by now.”