Saving Dallas 2 Making the Cut(10)

As soon as I hung up, Red called letting me know that she was on her way. That gave me about thirty minutes to figure out what in the hell I was going to do about everything else. My phone rang once again and I looked down to see Luke calling. I started to not answer, but who was I kidding? I wanted to hear his voice. I missed him already. Apparently my hard shell had a few cracks in it. I answered the phone in the bitchiest voice I could manage and with a simple, “Yeah.” Luke ignored my bitchy response.

“Hey, babe. I was wondering if you wanted me to send a couple guys over there to bury the rest of that barn. I looked this morning and it seems there aren’t any lines running under it. It shouldn’t be a problem and will only take a couple of hours.” Fuck me. Why did he have to be so nice? And why was he calling me babe? I walked to the back door and noticed that the large heap of burnt tin and wood was a grotesque sight, and an even worse reminder.

“That would be great,” I said, thoughts of Frankie tying me up and touching me invading my thoughts and causing me to involuntarily squint my eyes shut and steady my breathing.

“You okay, darlin’?” Luke asked me softly. All the fight in him seemed to be gone. I needed him, but I wouldn’t succumb to this shit again. “I’m fine. Red will be here soon. I’ll call you later if I have any questions.” I hung up the phone on him, again, before he could respond. I took another look outside, and this time my eyes were on the pool. What the hell. I didn’t need an expensive outfit to express my bitch persona. A bikini would do.

I changed into a black, barely there, strapless bikini and wrapped a beach towel around my waist. I grabbed some flip flops from the closet and headed out to the pool. The October air was thick and humid and at noon, the temperature was already in the eighties. The weather here was so unpredictable. We could have a frost by the end of the week. I decided to take the small hike down to the gate and re-program it.

As luck would have it, Red showed up at the exact same time, and I was able to try it out on her. Of course, I shielded it from her view-or so I thought. I jumped in the sleek, black Mustang that Red drove and rode with her back to the house. She hadn’t said anything other than, “Get in and I’ll give you a ride.” Red looked stunning, as always, in a pair of cut-off shorts and an orange tank top. I could see the strings of her bikini peeking out the top of her shirt and I smiled to myself. Red was planning to make herself at home and I liked it. I studied her profile as she drove us down the winding driveway to the house. Her long black lashes were curled perfectly around her large brown eyes. Her red hair was piled high on her head in a messy bun and her flawless, tanned skin seemed to glow in the sunlight. Beautiful.

“What?” she asked, making me jump. I was so engrossed in her looks that I didn’t even think about what an idiot I looked like for gawking at her. “I mean, I know I look good and all, but damn,” she said turning to smirk at me. She had been around Luke too long.

“Thanks for coming,” I said looking at my hands.

“Hey, no problem. I like being in the middle of shit. Especially, when it’s Luke’s shit,” she said winking. I smiled and shook my head. It would probably be best if I didn’t ask her to elaborate.

She pulled the car under the porch and it was then I realized that she didn’t have Neo.

“Where’s my dog?” I asked looking in the backseat like he might be there.

“You think that I would put that thing in my car?” she asked, looking at me like I was covered in warts. “Besides, he’s taken a liking to the club house. The guys want to nickname him, Devil.” Shit. Well, there goes my damn dog. Just like a man.

I led Red into the house, stopping in the kitchen to grab a drink. “You might as well mix us up something with some alcohol,” Red said, throwing herself onto one of the bar stools and thumbing through the box that Luke left. “The more I drink, the better I remember shit and the more you drink, the better you will handle it. I suggest vodka.”

I just stared at her with my practiced impassive face. Fuck. This was going to suck. I pulled out the bottle of vodka from the freezer, then located a couple of cans of Red Bull and made us drinks.

“You wanna lay out?” I asked, gesturing with my hand to her bikini straps peeking out the top of her tank.

Red looked to her shoulder, to see what I was referring to and smiled, “I was hoping to.”

I smiled back and then walked out the back door with her on my heels. For some reason this was slightly awkward, yet Red seemed completely at ease. I guess she should, considering it wasn’t her world that was about to come crashing down.