CHAPTER 5

Inspections for commercial buildings typically took a lot longer than for a residential. This latest sale was another big one. There were offices, multi restrooms, a kitchen and even a small gym. Valerie hoped that because it was an afternoon appointment, they’d hurry to get out of there early but no such luck. She’d been there for hours while the inspectors meticulously did their thing. She’d spent most the time on her laptop writing up more offers. Luke had been right about the Lemon Ridge sale. It had opened up doors for her. Since things had gone so smoothly, for a building that size, she was getting referrals left and right.

By all accounts, everything in Valerie’s life was going favorably. She enjoyed the kind of success that Luke said only seasoned agents got to enjoy. Her relationship with Luke moved along. Albeit, she’d made sure they were taking things cosmically slow. Luckily, Luke had turned out to be as patient as he was charismatic.

With the inspectors gone, Valerie walked around, making sure she locked up everything. Her hollowed heart made her feel guilty. She’d never been one to whine about the little stuff and was grateful for all the blessings in her life. Despite all the positive things going on, she still missed Alex terribly.

Almost done locking up, Valerie thought she heard footsteps. The inspectors were long gone. She’d watched them drive away. She stood very still and listened, but heard nothing else. This wasn’t the first time she got the creeps in a big empty building. She’d have to get used to it, because from the looks of things she’d be dealing with big empty buildings a lot from here on.

After double-checking a few more doors, she headed back to the table she used as her desk for the day. She slowed her pace when she heard the sound of footsteps again. She glanced around but saw nothing. With everything packed in her briefcase and her nerves on edge, a loud buzzing made her jump and clutch her chest. Her phone vibrated against the table.

“Shit.” She let out a relieved breath.

She glanced at the Caller ID. It was Luke. Deciding she just wanted to get out of there, Valerie ignored the call. She grabbed the phone and rushed toward the entrance of the building. She could call him once safe in her car.

The heels she wore caused her footsteps to echo noisily. That only rattled her nerves even more. When she turned the corner, rushing into the small entrance lobby of the building, she stopped cold feeling the icy chill to the very marrow of her bones.

“Hello, darling.” Bruce sat on the counter of the receptionist station smiling. “You really should lock the door, when you’re here alone you know. You never know who might stroll in.”

Valerie stood frozen, her heart pounding at her throat. She thought of the pepper spray in her purse and Isabel’s words echoed in her head. “What good is that thing going to be for you buried at the bottom of your purse? You need to carry it on your keychain.”

She cleared her throat and tried to conceal the alarm she felt. “I was just leaving.”

Bruce jumped off the counter, forcing Valerie to move. She started for the door. Bruce’s hand touched her elbow and she flung her arm away. He raised his hands in front of him to show he meant no harm and smirked. “Take it easy.”

Valerie continued to walk toward her car determined to not let him see that not only had he stunned her, which he obviously meant to do, but he’d managed to add to her already growing anxiety. Had he been following her around again? Because of their working relationship, she and Luke had gone out of their way to be discreet. And the parking lot of this building was too far away from the main street for him to have merely spotted it, like he claimed.

He caught up to her and they walked out side by side. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

Valerie forced a laugh. “I’ve no reason to keep anything from you.”

After making sure she locked the door securely, she headed back to her car but Bruce stepped in front of her. She took an irritated, but cautious step back and glared at him.

“Can you give me a sec, please?”

It would be dark soon, the parking lot was empty, and she knew she was no match for him. At this point she didn’t know what to expect, so, she decided to play along. That had always worked in the past.

“I’m not done.” He said firmly. The crazed look in his eyes brought back memories of her past with him. “Tell me something. This guy’s different than Alex, isn’t he? Is that the attraction?”

Valerie took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. Before things blew up between her and Bruce she shared with him about Alex. Of course that was before she uncovered the truth about him, and only after he opened up to her about what she now knew was a fake past. “I don’t know what you mean.”

The glimmer in his eyes went from smug back to crazed in a moment. “I see it, Valerie. See it in the way you look at him. It’s what you’ve always wanted isn’t it? A man who would want you and only you?”

“For ruining my life. You know I can’t even get a job now? Can’t see my kids.” His feral eyes took her in up and down. He cupped his hand to her chin as the corners of his lips rose slowly. “Oh, yeah, you owe me.”

His tone made her think of how easily he could go from calm to crazy in a matter of seconds. Valerie held her breath. She didn’t even know he had kids. She felt even stupider now for having gotten involved with a man she knew so little about.

It was dark now and the headlights of a car coming toward them made them both turn to it. Valerie took advantage of the distraction and started toward her car. The car was still moving in their direction. Bruce didn’t follow her.

He didn’t say anything until she was almost at her car. There was no hiding the disdain in his voice. “You ruined my life, Valerie.” His voice rose with every word. “You decide how you’re going to make it up to me, the easy way or the hard way. Just remember darling, it will happen.”

Valerie glanced at him as she got in the car but didn’t bother with a response. The car that distracted him was just passing through. She threw her car in reverse and skidded out of there. Once around the corner, what had just occurred sunk in, and she clutched her pounding chest. That could’ve been so much worse.

It wasn’t until she adjusted the rearview mirror that she realized her hands were shaking. She squeezed her hand into a fist and placed it on her lap.

Her phone vibrating in the cup holder made her jump again. One look at the caller ID and it confirmed what she had been dreading. Her nightmare was starting up all over again. She hit ignore and held her breath as she waited to see if Bruce would leave a message, but again he didn’t.

She called Luke on the way and told him how the inspection went. After giving it some thought, she kept Bruce’s appearance to herself. Luke didn’t know anything about him. She hadn’t told him. Not yet. If things got any worse, or if Bruce did even one more thing to spook, her she might. For now it was best to avoid making a big deal out of it. She’d give it a few days and pray that he only wanted to scare her but wouldn’t be stupid enough to actually do something to get thrown back in jail.

By the time she got home her nerves had calmed considerably. Isabel wasn’t there, as was the case ever since she’d started seeing Romero. She still insisted they were just going out as friends. Valerie laughed at that. She saw the way Romero gazed at her. She’d never seen him that way before. Sure she hadn’t been around him in a while, and it made sense that he’d matured some. In his days as a bouncer he was quite the ladies man. He met a different girl at every gig he worked.

She stood in the kitchen, struggling to get the pepper spray bottle onto her keychain when Isabel walked in the door followed closely by Romero. When they made it all the way in Valerie could see they were holding hands and she smiled.

Isabel was done up again, but Valerie stopped mentioning it since the Padre game. It was about time Isabel started showing off the goods. She wasn’t about to spoil it by making her feel self-conscious about it.

“Hey,” Valerie still struggled with the pepper spray bottle. “Where’ve you guys been?”

“The show,” Isabel headed toward the bedroom leaving Romero behind. “But I’m only here to pick up something we’re going to go eat now. You wanna come?”

Isabel lived the Bruce nightmare along side Valerie, and she knew he was out now. Valerie glanced at her and shook her head. She wasn’t about to get into it in front of Romero. The last thing she wanted was for it to get back to Alex that she’d been stupid enough to get herself in such a predicament. “No, I just thought it’d be best to have it handy. I almost forgot I had it until today.”

Valerie examined the keychain ring that was much too tight now with the pepper spray on it. She didn’t look up at him. “I just got a little spooked today, on my way to my car. It made me wonder if I still had this in my purse.”

“Someone spook you?”

She looked at him just long enough to see his eyebrow arch, then back at the keychain shaking her head. “No it was nothing I thought I heard something that’s all.”

Isabel walked out of the bedroom, and Valerie could not have been more thankful for the interruption. They said their goodbyes and headed out. Valerie had been so into rearranging the keys on her key chain she hardly noticed what Isabel had gone into her room to get. That is until she was almost out the door and Valerie’s jaw almost hit the ground.

She couldn’t say anything of course not in front of Romero. As soon as the door closed behind Isabel Valerie ran to her phone and texted her.

Was that an overnight bag you were carrying?!

A couple of second’s later Isabel texted back.

Maybe

Valerie laughed out loud in delight. She’d teased Isabel she would get cobwebs down there if she didn’t get any soon. Not that she was one to talk. Valerie had actually named her hand held companion Mr. Perfect. He did the job and was reliable without any of the heartache.

Isabel you whore!

Valerie stared at her phone with her hand over her mouth still giggling.

Friends with benefits =)

What a joke. Isabel had never had a friend with benefits in her life. There was no such thing as far as Valerie was concerned. For years she’d tried to refer to Alex as that, and he’d turned out to be the never ending anguish of her broken heart, exactly why Mr. Perfect had taken over that part of her life.

Valerie glanced at the clock, only nine. Technically, it had been early enough to catch a movie with Luke when he asked her on the way home. But she wasn’t feeling up to it. She didn’t want him to get used to seeing her every night. She wasn’t feeling that got-to-see-you feeling for him yet. Spending a quiet evening by herself would be fine. Besides, they already had plans for Wednesday night. That was good enough.

She took advantage of the time alone to work on Sarah and Angel’s painting. Every time she looked at the picture, she remembered the simpler times. She’d taken the photo herself. In the photo, Sarah and Angel were at the beach. Sarah was sitting between his legs leaning back into him. Angel’s chin was on her shoulder, showing off that famous Moreno smile with the deep dimples. Dimples just like the ones that tormented her.

An image of her and Alex just like this came to her. It was the summer after her freshman year in college. They’d been going back and forth but this was just after his first ankle injury so he’d had no choice but to take time off from everything.

She remembered that particular day especially because it was the day he said something that stuck with her even now. He’d told her he didn’t think he’d ever get enough of her. He said it was almost embarrassing how often he thought about her, that it bordered on creepy. She remembered laughing and accusing him of embellishing. But he’d been adamant, and had sounded so genuine. No one could look you in the eyes and lie that well, could they?

Then a few weeks later he disappeared on her again for almost a week and she’d wondered who else he was feeding those lines to.

Valerie sighed, shook her thoughts off and went back to painting—the one thing that helped her relax and get away from her endless thoughts of Alex. The last thing she wanted was to start associating it with him and start avoiding it. Before long she fell back into her rhythm. Her thoughts submerged deep into her painting. She kept at it for about another hour before going to bed.

*

Alex figured that when you ran your own restaurant with a full bar, it was kind of hard to justify going out to someone else’s restaurant and paying for alcohol. But lately he was there all the time. He needed to get out. With Angel and Sarah closing tonight, he knew the place was covered.

Eric was waiting for Sofia to finish her shift and had invited him to the new sports bar they were going to. Alex already said no, but was beginning to rethink it.

“You sure you don’t want to go?” Eric asked as Alex walked out of the office. “Romero said it’s pretty awesome. He and some of his guys have worked the security a few times already. He said it was crazy packed. They’re having open mic later in the evening. Stand up comedy. It’s supposed to be pretty good.”

“Is he gonna be there tonight?” Alex didn’t want to be there with just Eric and Sofia. The last thing he needed in his agitated mood was to have to deal with watching Eric’s hands and lips all over his sister all night.

“Yeah, this’ll be the first time he gets to actually have a drink and enjoy the place. You should come.”

Sofia walked out of the back pulling her purse over her shoulder. She’d obviously heard Eric because she added, “”Yeah, Alex. You really need to take a break from this place. Come with us. It’ll be fun.”

Alex mulled it over. He supposed a few laughs would do him some good. He finally agreed but insisted on driving himself in case he decided to duck out early.

The place was huge, with state-of-the-art flatscreens in all sizes everywhere. They’d definitely be getting more televisions at the restaurant when they expanded the bar. More and more people were starting to come in to watch games and just hang.

Alex scanned the place as they walked in. Certain areas looked like they could be reserved with their own pool table and several pub tables. Romero was in one of them racking up the balls on the pool table. A girl sat at one of the tables watching him.

It more than surprised Alex when he got close enough to recognize Isabel. She looked really different too. It made sense when Valerie first told him that Isabel was a middle school teacher, because she dressed every bit the part. But tonight she wore jeans and big heels and looked rather alluring.

“No way! They actually got you out of the restaurant?” Romero grinned at him from the other side of the pool table. As pleased as Romero seemed to see him, Isabel, on the other hand, appeared troubled by his presence and sat up straight. Maybe she was embarrassed about her less-than-modest new look

Alex’s eyes darted the two beer bottles in front of Isabel. Romero was holing his own bottle so the other was obviously Valerie’s.

“Just bring her another one,” Romero told the waitress.

Isabel glanced at Alex, and now he knew what had troubled her. She turned away quickly to talk to Sofia who made herself comfortable in the seat next to her. The anxiety made its way to his stomach. He hated that damn feeling. He turned casually back to the rest of the restaurant hoping to get the first glimpse of her out of the way before she was too close.

Alex didn’t even remember. He’d been so caught up this past year he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had sex. That fact alone spoke volumes about the meaningfulness of the experience.

The waitress walked in with their beers. She handed him a bottle with the kind of smile he always got from women. He reciprocated out of habit, but went back to looking for Valerie while Romero paid the waitress. His anxiety spiked when he spotted her near the entrance. Not just because she looked even more amazing than when he’d seen her at the shower, but because she wasn’t alone.

The sight of her with a guy who stood close enough to kiss her made him squeeze his beer bottle. Alex took a deep breath and a bitter swig of the beer. This wasn’t his idea of taking a break. He felt more angst at that moment than he had in all the weeks since the shower.

No way could he spend the evening around Valerie and her new man. He took a longer drink of his beer. He’d be out of there as soon as finished. Still gripping the bottle tightly, he had to concentrate on not breaking it. As much as he hated the sight he couldn’t move his eyes away from her and the guy.

The guy held her wrist but not in the way a boyfriend holds his girls hand. The moment Alex saw Valerie pull her hand away he stood up. He welcomed the new tension that seeped through him. Unlike the tension he felt from seeing her with another guy he knew exactly how to deal with this one.

They weren’t talking, either they were arguing. Alex should have been happy. Instead, he went on an instant state of alert. Her boyfriend’s aggressive expression and the fact that he tried to grab her hand again was all Alex needed. He put his beer down and started toward them.