“I won’t,” I sighed. Even if it f**ked up my relationship with Lucky, I wasn’t going to mess up this case.
“I’m sure you have an idea who Braydon’s partner may be.”
“Yes.” I thought back to all those nights hanging out with Evan and I couldn’t believe I had missed all the signs. He was such a kiss-ass with everyone, and now I knew why. My heart raced as I realized what Lucky had told me. Leeza was coming into town today - her best friend. Her best friend who had dated Evan. Oh shit! I had to make sure to tell Leo to keep an extra close eye on Lucky and Leeza. I didn’t want her going anywhere with that girl.
“Beaumont, are you there?” The Agent’s voice sounded tired. “Do what we asked and provide us with the information. That’s all we want from you, okay?”
“Okay,” I sighed.
“If all goes well, we may have enough evidence to make some arrests within the next week or so.”
“I sure hope so.”
“I gotta go, Beaumont.” And with that, the agent hung up.
I stared at the phone in my hand, my heart pounding. We were close to the end. I couldn’t believe it. I’d been a part of this case for so long and it was nearly over. I was close to seeing Braydon Eagle locked behind bars. I grimaced as I thought about him. While seeing him in jail would make me happy, it wouldn’t bring back Noah.
***
“So Leeza is your best friend?” I kept my voice light as we drove to the airport.
“Yeah, she’s one of my best friends. She was really there for me when my parents died.” Lucky looked out the window. “We’ve drifted apart recently, though.”
“Oh yeah? Why?”
“After I adopted my rules and stopped partying with her so much, we kind of grew apart. She kept going out and meeting guys and bringing them home, and well, I just worked a lot.”
“She’s like your family, now, then?”
“Family’s overrated.” She pursed her lips and cleared her throat.
“I take that as a no.”
“No, I don’t mean that. She’s a good friend of mine. Sometimes friends are better than family. Sometimes family lets you down and you just don’t know why.”
“You sound like me.” I looked at her, worried. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah.”
“You wouldn’t lie to me, right? It’s not the baby, right?” I reached over and squeezed her knee. “I know we’re both disappointed, but it’ll be okay. Everything happens for a reason.”
“How did you get to be so wise?” She half-smiled. “But it will be nice to see Leeza. Maybe we can have a girls’ day, and she can tell me what happened with Evan.”
“Are you sure they broke up?” I kept my face looking forward.
“Yeah, that’s what she said.” She played around with the radio and I resisted the urge to keep questioning her. Leeza had tried to cause trouble for Lucky and me, before. Maybe she knew that I had never been stalking Lucky. Maybe she wasn’t trying to be a good friend. Maybe she was just a bad friend, and Evan was using her to get to me.
“Remind me I need to talk to Leo before you all go to dinner tonight.”
“We’ll behave ourselves, Zane. I promise.”
“You’re always a bad girl, Lucky.”
“I suppose you want to bend me over your knee, huh?”
“And give you a good spanking? Yes.”
“I would not be surprised if you tell me you were a Dom in a previous life.”
“You’d like that, huh?”
“Not really.”
“What would you call me? Big daddy?”
“Oh my, Zane.” She burst out laughing uncontrollably. “Please never say those words again.”
“You don’t want to call me big daddy?”
“Hell no, I don’t. That sounds so pervy.”
“I guess you can call me Big Zaney instead.”
“I’ll call you Crazy Zane, more like—or Pervy Zane.”
“At least you’ll be calling.”
“You can’t stop me from calling.”
“Good.” I reached over and squeezed her hand. “I started writing your song.”
“Really?” She turned to me and grinned. “I want to hear it.”
“Not yet.” I laughed at her pout. “That won’t work, baby.”
“But, honey.” She sidled up next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. “Please.”
“Don’t scare me.” I glanced at her face on my shoulder. “You’ll make me think you’ve become a Stepford Wife.”
“I don’t want to get your hopes up.” She moved away from me again. “Well, whatever, I won’t tell you the lyrics I wrote for you either.”
“You did?” I was excited to hear that she had gone through with it. “Are you going to sing it to me?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It depends on how drunk I am.”
“Tell me the first line.”
“And …?” She raised an eyebrow at me.
“I’ll tell you a first line.”
“Hmmm.” She considered my offer. “I don’t know.”
“Okay, three lines then.”
“Three lines? That’s almost my whole song.”
“Really?” I turned the radio down and cleared my throat and started to sing.
“One day, people shall talk of this day, my love
One day, birds shall sing of my joy, my love
One day, the wind shall scream the truth to the world, my love …”
“Oh, Zane. I love it,” she gasped. “Sing some more. Please.”
“I’ll think about it if you sing some of yours to me.”
“You have to promise not to laugh.”
“I promise I won’t laugh.”
“Liar.” She wrinkled her cute little nose at me and I sighed as I saw we were approaching the airport. I wasn’t ready to share her with her friend. Especially because I had a bad feeling that Leeza wasn’t here just to hang out.
“Okay, now I can’t really sing, but here we go.” She cleared her throat and I looked over and saw that her face was red. I felt bad for asking her to sing when she was obviously not into it, but before I could tell her it was okay, she started singing.
“Zane, there has never been a man like you
Who has taken my heart and swallowed it up
I want you to know that you never have to doubt …”
She stopped and looked at me awkwardly. “I know it’s not as good as yours. I’m not a writer like you.”
“It was beautiful, just like you.”
“Suck up, why don’t you?” she teased me, but I could tell from the pink at the top of her ears that she was happy that I enjoyed it.
She certainly wasn’t a songwriter, but the imperfection of her lyrics hit me hard. I had taken her heart and swallowed it up. The enormity of those lyrics hit me like a ton of bricks. Lucky really loved me. There was no rhyme or reason to it. I couldn’t explain how I knew, but I just knew. A sense of calm filled me. She was in it for the long haul. She was in it for me. She was obviously uncomfortable, but she had sung to make me happy. I wanted to turn the car around and go home. I wanted to forget Leeza and her hidden agenda, I wanted to give up on Angelique, I wanted to forget about bringing Braydon to his knees. I wanted to be able to let go. For a moment I slowed the car, but then I heard the song that was playing on the radio. It brought me back to reality with a swift kick.
“Yesterday.” I looked at her, stating a fact and not asking for confirmation.
She nodded and smiled. “I love the Beatles. I hope it’s okay.”
“It’s fine.” I pressed my foot back down on the accelerator. I had come too far now. I had to do this for Noah’s memory. I had to do this for the brother I had lost, the brother who had never given up hope. I had to do this for the boy inside of me that still loved to hate the Beatles.
***
“Lucky, this house is amazeballs.” Leeza’s mouth dropped as she stood in the entryway of our bedroom. I tried not to let my annoyance show on my face. She had been talking nonstop since we picked her up, and hadn’t really asked Lucky how she was or what she was doing. Her favorite topic seemed to be herself, and I was mad that Lucky had such a selfish best friend. “And this room. Oh my gosh, could you see me in a room like this? Could you imagine the parties we could have here?”
I glanced at Lucky, who was sitting on the bed next to me, and I shook my head. There was no way in hell I was letting Leeza throw a party in my house. Even if I didn’t think she was somehow working with Evan. She just wasn’t trustworthy.
“Do you want to go downstairs and watch TV, Leeza?” Lucky jumped up and I watched as she walked towards her friend. She had the same swinging h*ps that she’d had in the diner, but now when I stared at her walking, I just felt a deep sense of contentment, as opposed to lust and wanting. I still felt the lust, but it was about more than that now.
“Not really.” Leeza walked over to the bed and sat next to me, flinging her blond hair back in what I could only assume was meant to be a seductive move. “I want to get to know Zane a bit better.” She smiled at me and I noticed that the smile didn’t quite reach her blue eyes.
“He has a business meeting tonight, Leeza. He needs to get ready.”
“He doesn’t have time for his guest?”
“What do you want to know Leeza?”
“Not much.” She lay back on the bed and sighed, and I looked up at Lucky and she stared at us uncomfortably. I jumped up and walked over to her.
“Your friend is crazy,” I whispered in her ear and she grinned at me before hitting me in the arm.
“Be nice,” she whispered back. “Leeza, get off the bed and let’s go downstairs.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” She jumped up and I noticed that she looked sad.
“Is everything okay, Leeza?” Lucky arched her eyebrows.
“Yeah. I’m just a bit down.” She pouted her lips and I reluctantly decided to ask her why.
“What’s wrong? Is there anything we can do?”
“I’m just sad ’cause Evan, you know, your friend Evan? Well, he dumped me.” She batted her eyelashes at me. “I’m a little sad. I thought he was interested in me.”
“Sex doesn’t equal interest, Leeza,” Lucky chided her friend and continued on. “You didn’t even really know him. And don’t get me started on that crap you said about Zane and how he was a stalker.”
“That’s what Evan told me!” Leeza cried out. “He told me I should let you know.” She pouted again as she looked at me. “How was I to know? I barely know him. You barely know him.”
“I know him a lot better than you do. Do you think I’m an idiot?” Lucky’s voice was taut.
“Well, you did just come here on a whim.”
“I don’t expect you to understand, Leeza, but I don’t want you trying to sabotage my relationship. You’re one of my best friends, and that won’t change, but I’m not the same girl, anymore. I changed a long time ago.”
“What did you do to her?” Leeza turned around and pointed at me. “Did you turn my best friend against me?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, coldly, irritated and annoyed. The last thing I needed was for this to become a volatile situation. I didn’t know what Evan was planning, but if he was as involved with this drug trafficking as I thought he was, and it went as deep as the FBI said it did, then Lucky was in some real danger with Leeza around.
“Leeza, let’s go downstairs.” Lucky grabbed her friend’s arm.
I put my hand up. “Wait.” I walked over to Leeza and gave her a big smile- a big, fake smile. I really wanted to interrogate her about what she knew, but I knew it wouldn’t be smart. “Maybe we got off to a bad start, Leeza. Hi, I’m Zane.” I offered her my hand. “I’m Lucky’s boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?” Her jaw dropped open. “I thought you guys were just sleeping together.”
“Leeza!” Lucky’s voice was angry. “Let’s go get a drink.”
“Lucky, you go downstairs. I want a quick word with her.” I smiled gently and waited until I heard her going down the stairs to speak to her friend. “You listen, and you listen good. I don’t know what game you’re playing, and I don’t know if you realize just how much trouble Evan is and what sort of trouble you’re dragging Lucky into, but you better believe that I’m on to you and what you’re doing. If I find out you have betrayed Lucky in any way, I will make sure you never see her again.”
Leeza stood there with her mouth hanging open and I saw some saliva escape from her mouth. She looked at me in shock and I thought my words really struck a chord. There was no way I was going to allow her to jeopardize Lucky’s safety or the case against Braydon and Evan. I gave her one last, hard stare, and stood by the open door, ushering her out of the room.
As I got ready for my dinner date with Angelique, the nerves in my stomach threatened to bring me to my knees. Angelique and I had a connection, and I couldn’t let it go. I had been excited about this night and this moment for a few months. Our relationship together hinged on this moment, and as much as I loved Lucky, I couldn’t let this go. I couldn’t let Angelique go. Not now when we had come this far.