0-69 in 5 Minutes (17 page)

“
I know.” She sighed her
disappointment. “But if I start, I might not stop and you're still
recovering from cracked ribs.”

“
Ah, sweetheart, I’m fine.
Not making love to you is going to be the death of me, not a
cracked rib and some bruises.”

“
Well then, play your
cards right and you might be rewarded after the reunion.” She
withdrew from his arms, grabbed her evening bag and floated down
the stairs. Tonight, she’d show the world the new man in her life,
for he was a man she could be proud of. Nothing was going to ruin
her night.

* * * *

Laughter filled the hotel convention room.
Old friends greeted each other and reminisced about the past. Of
course, some bragged about the fortunes they’d acquired. Some
complained about the fortunes they’d lost in the stock market. Val
did a bit of her own bragging about the handsome man on her arm.
She couldn’t believe just two weeks ago she’d met Noah in this same
room.

The night had gone smoothly. Noah left her
side and strolled to the bar to retrieve drinks for the two of
them.

Scanning the room, she
saw
him
.

Tyler stood in all his
pompous glory, laughing, drinking and passing out business cards.
She recognized his Armani suit. The one he’d bought instead of
taking her on a weekend getaway as he’d promised.
What a jerk!
How could
I’ve ever dated him?
She took a deep
breath to still her nerves as he paraded through the crowd and
approached her.

Nothing he says can hurt me anymore. Only
lies spew from his lips.

“
Tyler, you’re looking the
same as always.”
Arrogant and
overcompensating.

“
Why thank you. Might I
say you do, too? I thought you’d at least lose some weight before
showing your face to all your old buddies. But then again, you
never really cared about your appearance, why start now?” He
smirked as his gaze traveled over her breasts, down her legs and
back up again.

Breathe.

“
Always the jokester.” She
smiled, but inwardly she yearned to smack that smirk off his face.
It might be harder to control her anger than she’d thought. Two
seconds around him and already her muscles had tensed. At least it
was resentment and not fear or insecurity. She’d grown in those
respects since he’d left her.

“
On the contrary, darling,
I’m a realist.”

“
Now that’s paradoxical,
considering you work in an industry of illusion.” If she had the
drink Noah had ran off to get, she’d throw it in her ex’s face.
Where was Noah anyway? She glanced around the room.

“
Looking for someone?
Because I heard you had a new love interest. Or did he discover how
boring you are and take flight? It’s much better really that he
left you here instead of having to fake a headache later tonight.
It got old having to act it out night after night.”

“
For your information, he
went to the bar to get us both a drink.”

He laughed. “Been there.
Had to do that, before I could
do
that.
” His eyebrow rose as he did a once
over of her body again.

“
Do this?” She gestured to
herself. “I’m sorry, I can’t seem to recall. Your dick’s so small I
never felt a thing except your bad breath on my skin. And seeing
that I never got pregnant, I just assumed you’d always shot your
wad like a horny teenager before you got close to a real woman.
But, Noah, he’s all man. More man than you’ve ever creamed your
jeans for while filming your oh-so-tasteful flicks.” She held her
back straight and smiled, trying to remain calm. “Oh, look, here he
comes now.”

“
Hey, sweetheart. I got
you a white wine.” Noah handed her a flute, and slipped his arm
around her waist.

“
Well, well! Isn’t this
ironic.” Tyler laughed too loud, drawing attention.

Noah turned toward Tyler
and stiffened. “What are
you
doing here?”

“
I’m an alumni. And you
must be her pathetic date.”

“
Do you two know each
other?” Val saw the rage boiling inside Noah. His jaws were
clenched tight, every muscle in his body tensed and his eyes glazed
over.

“
We’ve met briefly, isn’t
that right Mr. Kittler?” Tyler held an arrogant stance and
laughed.

Noah put his beer bottle down on a table
with a thud. “I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you. It seems your
goons are not here to protect you this time.”

Tyler’s eyes widened and he went pale.

“
What’s going on?” She
looked between the two. Something about the situation screamed at
her, yet she couldn’t begin to imagine how they knew each other.
“One of you, tell me what’s going on.” She had to find out before
things got out of hand. The look on Noah’s face and his doubled
fists told her his temper threatened to spill over until he
pummeled Tyler into an oil stain. Not that it sounded like a bad
idea in different circumstances, but Noah still had a cracked rib.
One wrong blow and it could break, puncturing a lung. Fear gripped
her heart and squeezed.

“
Now boys, you wouldn’t be
fighting over little ole me, would you?” A blond bimbo slinked her
way between the two guys. She posed in her black halter with a
plunging deep “V” neckline mini-dress and stilettos. She took a
seductive sip of her champagne and her dress gaped open, leaving
nothing to the imagination.
Oh those boobs
are so fake.

Then recognition snapped
inside.
“You!”
That fucking bitch!
Her own anger
soared. She addressed Tyler. “How dare you flaunt that skanky tramp
in front of me? You asshole. As if watching you fuck her in my car
wasn’t bad enough, you show her off to my friends.”

“
Val?” Noah stared at her.
“Is he Tyler?”

Confusion clouded her mind. She placed her
fingertips to her temple, trying not to yell at him. After all, she
wasn’t mad at Noah. “I thought you knew that. Who did you think he
was?”

“
Well, obviously Noah
thought he was my boss. Why else would he be so upset?”

“
Shut up, Bambi,” Noah
muttered to the tramp but he continued to look into her
eyes.

“
Bambi? She’s your ex?”
She felt the blood drain from her face.

The tramp slid up closer to Noah. “That’s
just a technicality. We’re working things out.” She ran her finger
down his arm. “You look hot, baby.”

Val clutched her flute. Anger like she’d
never felt before coursed through her veins. Before she realized
what she’d done, Bambi stood drenched in white wine. Everyone in
the room stared at the four of them.

“
Ugh!” Bambi screeched.
“You bitch. I’d kick your ass if I wasn’t carrying Noah’s
child.”

“
What?” Noah and Val
bellowed in unison.

Val’s legs began to tremble. Her mind
whirled. She grabbed hold of a chair for support.

“
This is too sweet.” Tyler
laughed again. “I told you, angel, you’re boring. Your pretty boy
didn’t make it as long as I did.”

Noah landed a punch to Tyler’s jaw. Blood
spurted onto her new silk gown. Tyler dropped to his knees. A
scream lodged in her throat.

“
That’s for treating Val
like shit.” Then he kicked Tyler’s knees out from under him,
causing him to crash to the floor. “And that’s for burning down my
garage.”

Oh, my gosh!
Her head spun. The room closed in on her, making
it hard to breathe. What had just happened? Her ex and Noah’s ex
were together. Tyler had torched Noah’s garage. And what the hell,
Bambi was pregnant? With Noah’s child! She had to escape. This
couldn’t be happening to her. Not again. She had to wake up from
this nightmare.

She released the chair and took a step
backwards, trying to take it all in. But it wasn’t far enough. She
gripped the sides of her gown, tugging it up a couple of inches so
she could run. Out through the lobby and down the front steps, she
fled.

Fresh night air filled her lungs, but it did
little to help the throb in her head and the ache in her heart.
Noah had lied to her. Kept secrets from her. He said he was over
his ex. If she carried his child, she couldn’t be very far along
because her stomach was as flat as a board.

Of course, it could’ve happened a couple of
months ago and a lot can transpire over that amount of time. But
hadn’t he said they’d been split up for months?

Insecurity she’d fought to keep at bay crept
into her mind. Bambi might be a stripper. And nothing about her
body was real, but she was a knockout. Blonde and curvy. She was
everything portrayed in porn flicks. If men didn’t desire that,
they sure watched it enough to make one believe otherwise.

What was she going to do?
How could she keep Noah happy when he’d had
her
? She couldn’t compete with
modern medicine.

“
Val.” His deep voice
enfolded her. “Are you okay?”

She wasn’t sure if she should lean back into
his awaiting arms or run far away. Either way, her feet froze. Her
breath caught in her throat.

“
God, Val, talk to me.”
Noah moved closer and wrapped his arms around her waist.

What was there to say? Where would she
start? This was not a conversation she wanted to have on the
sidewalk in front of the hotel as cars whizzed by, but it was what
it was. She withdrew from his embrace and turned to face him. “What
happened in there?”

“
I had no clue Bambi was
with Tyler or that he was her boss.”

“
Boss? I thought she was a
stripper. Tyler films smut.” Nothing made sense to her.

“
She is. But she’s mixed
up in a lot of bad stuff. Apparently, Tyler is too.”

She shook her head, trying to make sense of
everything. “Are you saying Bambi’s a porn star?”

He stroked her arm. “I don’t think so. Not
yet anyway, but she might be on her way. She’s a drug addict, and I
think Tyler’s her dealer. He probably has his hands in the strip
club somehow. I’m pretty sure he’s not the big boss, but he came to
my house Monday looking for Bambi.”

“
Why would he come to your
house?”

He bit his lip, and she felt his arm
tense.

“
She was at your house,
wasn’t she?” Her heart stopped as she waited for the answer she
already knew.

“
Yes.”

She yanked away from his grasp. “How could I
be so stupid?” When would she learn? She’d believed everything he’d
said Sunday night as he “made love” to her. Then he’d slipped out
of her bed in the early hours of the morning and crawled into
Bambi’s.

Damn him!

“
First Tyler leaves me for
her. And not that him leaving was a bad thing, but now you.” Anger
and hurt fought each other, both wanting dominance. Pain stabbed at
her heart. Heat pumped through her blood.

“
No, sweetheart.” He
grabbed for her, but she averted him. “It wasn’t like that. I swear
to you.”

She must be a fool, but she yearned to
believe him. At least listen to his explanation. “What then?”

He let out a breath. Did that mean he’d
worried whether she’d give him a chance to explain? If so, that was
a good sign.

“
Bambi showed up at my
house the Saturday after we met. She was a mess, emotionally and
physically. Someone had slapped her around. Her lip was cut, eye
blackened and bruises everywhere.”

Even a tramp didn’t deserve that.

“
I let her clean up and
change before I came over for dinner. She told me she owed a lot of
money to her dealer and she needed a place to hide. I told her I’d
help her get the money and she could stay until I got it, but then
she had to go to rehab.”

Shock set in and anger
jumped to the top. “
My
money?” She pointed to her chest. “You were going to give my
money to her dealer. Who happens to be
Tyler
.”

“
I didn’t know that, Val.
Him and two other guys showed up Monday looking for her. They
wanted their money or her.”

“
And you couldn’t give her
back to them.” Had it been because he still had feelings for her or
because he wouldn’t let a woman be smacked around? She feared the
answer.

“
How could I? They’d
beaten her up once.”

“
So instead, they beat you
up and burned down your garage.”

He raked his hand through his hair. “Yes.
Sadie hid in the office with Emily. When they left, Sadie got me
out. Then she sent Bambi off in a taxi and called you.”

Hurt took over. “You got your ass kicked
over another woman-the same woman that fucked my fiancé in my
car-and you have the nerve to ask me to nurse you. How could you? I
trusted you.” She fought the tears welling up behind her eyes.

“
Because I don’t care
about Bambi like that anymore. I want you. I wanted you to be there
with me. Care for me.”

They were the words she wanted to hear, but
could she believe them? And he still hadn’t addressed all the
issues. “What about her being pregnant? Is there any truth to that?
Is it possible it’s your child?”

His shoulders slumped and he started to
pace. “She said she took a test this morning. But…” He shook his
head.