“Let me check it out, Sis. I’ll let you know.”

“Okay,” there was a pause then, quietly, “I hope Dom is okay.” I didn’t speak. “I know you don’t like him, and I know he’s a jerk but I can’t help how I feel.”

“I know, Sis. I hope he’s okay too.”

There it was again. Liar, liar pants on fire.

We said good-bye and I had barely put the phone down when it rang again.

I picked it up. “Yo.”

“Yo back at ‘cha,” Ally Nightingale said in my ear. “You comin’ to The Hornet?”

“Hey girl. Sure,” I told her.

“Cool, but you gotta give me something early. The girls are goin’ nuts. You know Luke?” she asked.

Shit.

“What girls?” I asked back.

“The Rock Chicks. Indy, Jet, Roxie, Daisy, Jules…”

My breath caught. “Jet, Roxie and Jules?” I asked.

Those were the names of Luke’s friends that he told me about and since not many people were named Jet, Roxie and Jules, they had to be –.

“Yeah. Jet works for Indy and she’s living with Eddie Chavez. Roxie is my brother Hank’s girlfriend, they’re living together too. Jules is with Vance, one of Lee’s boys.”

Holy cramoly.

See, what’d I say about Denver having a small town feel?

“So… Luke?” Ally prompted.

“I’ve known him since I was eight. He lived across the street.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

“Wicked, sister. Luke is hot,” she said.

Boy, did I ever know that.

“He works for my brother,” she went on.

“I know.”

“What happened yesterday?”

“I don’t know. He went gonzo on me. I haven’t seen him in years. I popped by and he just lost it.”

Silence then, “Girl, I know Luke pretty well. He doesn’t lose it unless he has a reason.” She said this with only a hint of accusation but I felt like a bitch.

Maybe I was turning into Marilyn and Sofia. I shivered and I shivered because that would suck.

Time to fight back the Barlow Bitch Pull.

“It’s a long story,” I confided. “We have some history. I made him a promise I didn’t keep and it was important to him.”

“You two work things out?”

“Not really.”

“You gonna work things out?”

I hoped not. I didn’t know what working things out would entail but I had a scary feeling it would entail Vibrator Infidelity.

“We’ll see,” I allowed. “I’ll tell you about it tonight.”

“Righteous. See you at seven.”

“Cool.”

We hung up and I sat looking at the phone with the very unhappy thought that my life was about to get pretty f**king complicated.

I had barely pulled up my files when the doorbell went. I sighed, walked away from the computer and down the stairs. I opened my door and Riley was there.

Really, he was seriously good-looking. I wasn’t into blond guys but if I was I’d likely have a crush on him.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey,” he replied on a white smile and lifted up a bag. “Noodles, veggies, no processed cookie-type food.”

“Damn,” I mumbled to be funny, and, as usual when I was trying to be funny, he laughed.

As I let him in the phone started ringing.

I took the bag from him saying, “I’ll see to the food, you get the phone.”

“No problem.”

I headed to the kitchen. Riley headed to the cordless in the living room.

I was pulling noodles and veggies out of the bag (which, I had to admit, looked good) to put on Fiestaware plates (cobalt blue for Riley, pink for me) when he walked in saying, “Sure, she’s right here.”

He took the phone away from his ear and said on a grin. “It’s for you.”

I reached for the phone. “What a surprise, Riles, you big dork.”

He reached out and nabbed the back of my head. Pulling it to him, he kissed my forehead. I went solid, phone in my hand and stared at him totally stunned. He’d never done that before. Sure, it was kind of brotherly and cute but it was a kiss.

To cover my freak out, I said, “Quit kissing me, Riley, you’ll give me cooties.”

“Fuck off,” he returned, still grinning at me.

I put the phone to my ear and said, “Yo.”

Silence.

“Hello?” I called into the silence.

“Who’s Riley?”

Fuckity, f**k, f**k, f**k.

It was Luke.

“Luke?”

“Who the f**k is Riley?”

Wow. He sounded pissed off. As in, extremely pissed off.

“Um… a friend?” it came out as a question, like I needed Luke to answer it for me.

“You didn’t tell me about any friends this morning.”

“You didn’t ask.”

“Okay, then I’m askin’ now.”

“About what?”

“How many friends do you have?”

“A lot of them.”

“I’m talkin’ about the ones who kiss you.”

Someone’s got the wrong end of the stick. Hee hee, Bad Ava sing-songed in my ear.

Oh dear, Good Ava said in the other one.

“I can’t talk now, I’m kinda busy.” I wasn’t playing games. I was acutely aware of Riley watching me and the fact he had just kissed my forehead and this was a weird situation I’d never found myself in. I honestly didn’t know what to do.

I felt unhappy vibes stinging my ear through the phone.

“Why are you calling?” I asked when Luke made no response.

“You forgot the remote and keys.”

“Erm…”

“You gonna be home for awhile?”

“I have company.”

“You gonna be home for awhile?” he repeated.

“Um, no, we have an errand to run after we have lunch.”

“We do?” Riley asked and I waved at him to shut up.

“You gonna be home after your errand?” Luke asked in my ear.

Shit.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be there at four.”

“Luke.”

He didn’t hear me say his name, he had already disconnected.

“My life is f**ked,” I told Riley, punching the off button on the phone with my thumb.

“Who was that?” he asked, his face morphing to concern.

“An old friend,” I blew it off, not wanting to delve deeper and certainly not willing to share. Thankfully, Riley let it go.