Chapter 44

Together, Jake and I stood looking at her. Bianca was dressed in high red heels and a skimpy red dress that was way too sexy for a chilly Sunday morning. She threw back her shoulders and said, "Alright. Where is it?"

Jake gave her a cold look. "Where's what?"

"My dress." She looked toward me. "You told me to pick it up today. Remember?"

"Yeah. I guess," I said. "But honestly? I didn't think you'd actually do it."

She pursed her lips. "And why is that?"

"Well, for starters," I said, "because I haven't had a chance to get it cleaned or anything."

Next to me, Jake's gaze zoomed in on the key card, still in Bianca's hand. "Forget the dress," he said. "Where'd you get that?"

"You gave it to me," she said. "Remember?"

His jaw tightened. "No."

"Well, you did," she said. "I don't know why you're acting all surprised about it. I used it just last night." Bianca turned toward me. "Or didn't you bother to tell him?"

I turned to Jake. "Oh hey," I said, "Bianca stopped by last night."

"I didn't mean now," Bianca said. "I suppose you didn't give him my message either."

"What message?" I asked.

With a long-suffering sigh, she turned to Jake and said, "I'm terminating our arrangement."

I stared at her. "You never gave me that message."

"Yes, I did," she said. "I told you that I'm working for Vince Hammond now. Remember him? The guy you were drooling over last night?"

"Oh please," I said. "I was not."

"Whatever." Again, she turned to Jake. "I'll be sending you my final invoice. And you know what? Forget the dress. I'll add it to the bill."

"Wait a minute," I said. "Didn't he already pay for that dress?"

She turned to give me a little smirk. "Well, he sure paid for yours. Didn't he?" A nasty edge crept into her voice. "Tell me. Did he get his money's worth?"

My face grew warm. He had paid for my dress. And if she was talking about sex, he did, in fact, get his money's worth. But so did I, a few times over, in fact. But that hardly seemed the point.

Either way, the reminder still stung. It didn't help that Jake and I were literally on our way out the door to do even more shopping. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea after all. What was I, anyway?  

"Bianca," Jake said in a barely controlled voice. "Whatever you wanna say to me, go ahead, say it. But you're not dragging Luna into this."

"Well isn't that sweet," she said.

I looked from Bianca to Jake. Obviously, they had a history together. And obviously, that history extended well beyond their business relationship. "Come to think of it," I said, "I just remembered that, uh, I need to call my sister." I gestured toward the guest room. "I'll just, uh, be in there."

"Hang on," Jake said. "I'll walk you."

"Oh for heaven's sake," Bianca said, "it's just down the hall."

Jake gave her a cold look. "Or," he said, "you can get the fuck out now. Your choice."

"Fine," she muttered. "I'll wait."

Feeling slightly ridiculous, I started heading toward the guest room with Jake beside me. When I opened the door to the guest room and walked inside, he followed after me and shut the door behind him.

I forced out a laugh. "You're not planning to hide out in here, are you?" I lowered my voice to a mock whisper. "Because I'm pretty sure she'll find you."

Jake gave a slow shake of his head. "There's something I've gotta say."

"What?" I asked.

He reached for my hand. "I'm sorry. The thing with Bianca, it's complicated."

"Really?" I said. "I had no idea."

"I'm gonna take care of it," he said. "So don't worry."

"I'm not worried," I said in a voice that was hardly convincing.

He pulled me close, gathering my in his arms. Into my hair, he said, "This'll just take a few minutes. And then we'll go. Alright?"

I nodded against him, soaking up the feel of him, the scent of him. I wanted to melt into him and forget everything. Especially, I wanted to forget that another girl was waiting for him to discuss who-knows-what.

But a moment later, he was gone. And then, the yelling started. Or at least, Bianca was yelling. As for Jake, he wasn't saying a whole lot, at least not from what I could hear. What was he doing, anyway? Letting Bianca rage at him, so she'd get it out of her system?

If so, Bianca was definitely rising to the challenge. I heard phrases like arrogant jackass, reckless hothead, callous heartbreaker, and too many more to mention.

Desperate for a dose of sanity, I grabbed my cell phone and called my sister. When she answered right away, I breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Hey, it's me."

"About time you called back," she said. "I was almost ready to hop in my car and track you down."

I tried to laugh. "Well, you wouldn't be the first one today."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Didn't Bishop tell you?" I said.

"Tell me what?"

"He stopped by this morning."

"What?" she said. "Where?"

"Here," I said.  "At Jake's."

"Oh shut up," she said. "He did not."

"Wanna bet?"

"Damn it." She gave an irritated sigh. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Yeah. Didn't he mention it?"

"Well, not really," she said. "But he did show up with waffles. It was really weird, now that I think of it."

So he'd actually gone and done it? He had stopped to pick up waffles for my sister? For some reason, it almost made me smile. "Weird bad?" I said. "Or weird good?"

"Well, the waffles were great," she said. "Get this. He even remembered the extra butter. Isn't that sweet?"

"Yeah. That's Bishop," I said. "Sweet."

"Oh come on," she said. "You just don't know him like I do." I heard fumbling on the phone. "Hang on. I think he's out of the shower."

Oh crap. He was there? Now? Probably, I should have asked about that in the first place. This definitely wasn't a conversation I wanted him to be part of.

A second later, I heard Selena call out, "Hey, why didn't you mention your little trip this morning?"

I heard Bishop's voice call back, "I was just about to."

Selena groaned. "Oh cripes, not this again."

Soon, I heard Bishop's voice a second time, closer now. It was low, flirtatious even. "Hey, you were the one distracting me. Remember?"

Oh God. This was the last thing I wanted to hear right now, not with everything else going on. "Hey," I said, "I've gotta go. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"No. Wait," she said. "Why don't you come for a visit?"

"Because I don't have a car anymore."

"You don't?" she said. "What happened to it?"

"It's a long story," I said. "I'll tell you later."

"Then let me come get you," she said. "If you want, I'll leave right now."

I heard Bishop's voice in the background. "You mean we'll come and get her."

"Oh stop butting in," she told him in a hushed tone. "Let me talk to her, alright?"

"It's my brother," he said.

"Yeah," she told him. "And it's my sister." I heard fumbling again, and a noise that sounded a lot like a door thudding shut. "Sorry about that," she said. "So, can I come and get you?"

"Well, the thing is," I said, "I don't really have a place to stay."

"Oh stop it," she said. "Yes you do. With me." Her voice grew coaxing. "Come on. It'll be fun. I haven't seen you in forever."

I bit my lip. "I dunno. Maybe in a few days, alright?"

Outside the guest room, Bianca was practically screaming now. In a way, she sounded almost exactly like Maddie, except Bianca's words were a whole lot bigger and only slightly less profane. And, she wasn't naked.

At least as far as I knew.

"That girl yelling in the background," Selena said. "Who is that?"

"It's someone Jake does business with," I said. "That's another long story."

Too bad I didn't even know the story, not all of it anyway. But that did remind me of something. "Hey," I said, "A question. By any chance, do you know someone named Debbie?"

"No," she said. "Do you?"

How to put this? I tried to remember what Bishop had said – something about Debbie turning up naked in Jake's bed? Had Jake stolen one of Bishop's girlfriends? Was that the reason they didn't get along?

I was dying for more details, but I didn't want to upset my sister, so I tried to be vague. "I think she might've dated Jake. Or Bishop." I paused. "Or both. It sounds like she might've hung around their house or something?"

"Oh. Her?" Selena said. "No. If it's the person I'm thinking of, she didn't date either one of them."

Well, not as far as Selena knew, anyway.

"So who was she?" I asked. "Did you ever meet her?"

"Not really," Selena said. "She only lasted a few months. She was pretty rough, and a lot older than I was. But I guess that's to be expected, huh?"

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because," Selena said, "that was their dad's girlfriend."