Solitude (Cunningham Security Book 4) Read online

  “I had to take a call,” he explained the reason for his disappearance. “Congratulations on becoming an aunt.”

  “Thanks. Are you planning to head back down there?” I wondered. “Ekko’s learning the art of breastfeeding right now.”

  He shook his head. “Levi and Elle said. I’ll let them have their time. I can visit them when they get home and get settled.”

  “I’m sure they’ll like that.”

  Lorenzo gave me a nod before he shared, “When you arrived earlier, I saw you were dropped off. I thought you might need a ride home.”

  “Right,” I muttered putting my palm to my forehead. “I completely forgot I didn’t drive myself here. Are you sure you don’t mind? I can get an Uber if it’s out of your way.”

  “It wouldn’t matter if it was. It’s not a problem.”

  I offered him a friendly smile, feeling ashamed that I’d acted so poorly to him before. Clearly, he was a decent guy. If I wasn’t his type, as hurt as I was about it, I couldn’t be angry with him.

  “I appreciate it.”

  At that, Lorenzo and I rode the elevator down to the ground level and walked side-by-side out to the parking garage. When we got to his truck, he opened the door for me. It was sweet and chivalrous, but I tried not to think too much about it.

  After he got in, I gave him my address and he backed his truck out of the parking spot. Five minutes into our silent drive, I rested my head back on the headrest, turned toward Lorenzo, and sighed, “I think I’m in love.”

  It was a good thing we were stopped at a red light because his body went visibly tight and his eyes cut to mine.

  I smiled and clarified, “With the babies.”

  The tension left his body as the corner of his mouth twitched. He turned his attention back to the light and I went on, “I know it down to my bones. In a matter of seconds, my whole life changed seeing those innocent little faces.”

  “I think that’s a normal reaction,” he assured me as he began driving again.

  “Yeah, but I don’t know if the rest of what I’m feeling is normal,” I mumbled.

  He glanced at me and asked, “What?”

  “I don’t know,” I started. “I’ve never in my life been a violent person, but the second I held Gracie in my arms, I knew I would do anything to keep her and her brother safe. I’d kill someone just to protect them, or die trying.”

  It was silent in the truck for such a long time, I began wondering if I should have kept that thought to myself.

  “Sorry,” I lamented. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.”

  Lorenzo pulled up outside of my condo. When he put the truck in park, he turned to me and said, “It’s fine, Jolie. What you said is real. Some people don’t have anyone strong enough to stand up for them. Nothing is ever going to come to harm those babies. Your brother alone will see to that, but it’s good that they’ve got more than just him to look out for them. They’re lucky to have you.”

  “So you don’t think I’m a crazed lunatic for feeling that way?” I asked, though I wasn’t sure why his opinion mattered so much to me.

  His voice was deep and filled with emotion when he replied, “I find peace in it.”

  I held his eyes a moment, allowing his unique choice of words to settle inside me. I put my hand on his forearm resting on the center console and said, “Thanks for the ride home, Lorenzo. I’m glad we could move past the awkwardness of the wedding.”

  His eyes dropped to my hand on his arm. When he brought them back to my face, he responded, “You’re welcome, Jolie. Take care of yourself.”

  I didn’t know why, but something about the way he said it made me feel like this friendship we forged was temporary. I had a feeling that Lorenzo had no intentions of continuing it after I got out of his truck. As much as it pained me to know that, I gave him a gentle squeeze on the arm and returned, “You too.”

  Then, I opened the door, grabbed my bag with my dress, and got out. It wasn’t until I was safe inside the condo and looking out the window that I realized something bigger was going on. It was easily a good ten minutes after I’d walked out of the truck and closed the door before he pulled away and drove off.

  It was finally Saturday, late afternoon, and I was standing outside the room I’d just finished an eighty-minute massage in, waiting for my final client of the day to emerge. Following any of my massages, it seemed like my clients took a bit longer to come out from the room.

  I always took that as a good sign that I’d accomplished what most of them were there paying for…relaxation.

  So, I didn’t mind that I ended up standing there longer holding a small cup of water in my hand. And I typically found that the longer they stayed in there, the larger their tip was.

  When the door finally opened and my client stepped out, I asked, “How are you feeling, Mrs. Mitchell?”

  “Divine,” she sighed.

  I held the cup of water out to her, “Happy to hear it. Be sure to stay hydrated today and I’ll see you in a month.”

  “I will, thank you. Have a great weekend,” she replied before she walked down the hall and through the door to the front reception area.

  “You too!” I called out.

  I went into my massage room and started cleaning up. I had to remove the table linens and round up the used towels from the hot towel foot treatment into my arms before taking them down the hall toward the back of the spa where we washed everything. Afterward, I went back and made up the table so that it’d be ready for tomorrow. Once I’d completed all of my job-related tasks, I went to the employees’ lounge in the back. Ava was standing there texting on her phone.

  “Hey, Jo. All finished?”

  “Yeah, I just got my room all taken care of, so I’m ready to head out.”

  “I’m still picking you up tonight, right?”

  I nodded. “What time is everyone meeting up?”

  Ava took in a deep breath and started, “Well, Niki, Michaela, Jennifer, and Tara are bringing their shenanigans to the party by no later than ten-thirty. Brandee, Susana, and Jenny said that that time would work for them, too. Amy, Joanne, Trudi, and Victoria are traveling the longest distance, so they’ll probably be a little later, closer to eleven.”

  “The boys are coming, aren’t they?”

  “Yep, but I have no idea if they’re arriving together or separately. They just said they’d be there. And considering they decided to take one for the team and stay close so all the ladies could leave early to get ready, I figured it was best to let them show up whenever is good for them.”

  “That’s probably a wise idea. So, when is my chariot arriving then?”

  Ava laughed. “Planning to meet your Prince Charming tonight?”

  Lifting my arms to the side as I shrugged my shoulders, I answered, “I don’t know, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s not likely.”

  “Our luck is going to turn around, girl. I know it’s coming soon.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “I’m not,” she confessed. “It’s just that I’m sick of buying batteries for my vibrator. It’s been entirely too long.”

  I tilted my head to the side and wondered, “How is it that we spend our days getting paid to make people feel so good, yet we’re left hanging night after night? This feels like some sick, twisted joke.”

  Ava threw her head back and burst out laughing. “We aren’t delivering daily orgasms, Jojo!”

  “Yeah, maybe not to our clients,” I huffed. “I’m just saying I need some physical intimacy soon or I might combust. People can tell me I’ve got magic hands all they want. They aren’t feeling very magical to me lately. I think it’s because I’ve become too well acquainted with them!”

  Ava continued to laugh. She walked toward me and threw her arm around my back to rest her hand on the opposite shoulder. “Let’s get out of here so I can pick you up early and you can get a head start tonight,” she suggested. “We’ll get there before the rest of the crew arrive
s, scope out the place.”

  With that, Ava and I made our way down the hall to the reception area. Antonio, or Neo as we called him, was the only one out front. Neo was one of our massage therapists.

  “We’re heading out,” I announced. “We’ll see you tonight, right?”

  “For the millionth time, yes,” he replied sarcastically.

  “Jojo and I are going to be there early to find her a guy. Her hands are tired from delivering too many self-induced orgasms.”

  I hit Ava’s arm with the back of my hand. “Seriously?”

  “What’s this about orgasms?” Ethan wondered as he walked out from the back.

  Ethan was our most highly sought-after male massage therapist. Some of our clients preferred a male therapist and he was always in high demand.

  I dropped my head back as I looked to the ceiling. “I love my friend, I love my friend, I love my friend,” I chanted in an effort to calm myself.

  “It’s been a while,” Ava went on. “Tonight, I’m her wing woman. Getting Jojo a guy is the goal, but if I’ve got to hang with the friend or something, I’ll do it for my girl.”

  “How many guys do you really think we’re going to find there by going early?” I scoffed. “Most people aren’t heading out at nine o’clock. And if they are, it’s certainly not the single ones.”

  Just then, the door that Ethan had walked through opened again and Samuel walked in. Samuel had always been a source of contention in the workplace. The other guys didn’t seem to mind him, but he made the girls crazy, especially Jennifer. Mostly, she was perturbed by the fact that he refused to answer to anything but Samuel. If you tried getting his attention by calling him Sam, he’d flat-out ignore you.

  I’ll never forget the time she went on a rant about his insistence of being called Samuel at our first team-building night out after he started working with us. Luckily, he wasn’t in the vicinity when she went off the deep end. “My name is Jennifer. Do you think people haven’t ever called me Jen or Jenny before? It’s not a big fucking deal. I mean, it’s not like his parents paid for the use of the U, E, and L that he needs to get their money’s worth. Your name is Samuel, dude. And Sam is a completely acceptable nickname!”

  Ever since then, a valiant effort had been made to make sure Jennifer and Samuel didn’t work together very often.

  “This conversation is done,” I announced, not needing to add Samuel to the list of people who knew about my lackluster or, more precisely, nonexistent sex life. “We’ll see you tonight.”

  Before she could get another word out, I grabbed Ava by the hand and dragged her out of the spa.

  “Go home and get ready,” I instructed. “While you’re doing that, try to figure out how you’re going to be a good wing woman. You can’t make me look desperate!”

  “I’ve got you, girl. Don’t worry.”

  At that, we both got in our cars and left.

  Three hours later, I was finally ready. I had my new cami dress on with a fabulous pair of shoes. I’d done up my makeup and put some big curls in my hair. Fifteen minutes after I finished getting ready, Ava arrived.

  She walked in and marveled, “I don’t think you’re going to need a wing woman tonight, Jojo. Holy crap you look phenomenal!”

  “Thanks, babe. You’re looking pretty hot yourself.”

  “Yeah, yeah, but I don’t have the curves you do. Wow, your boobs look amazing,” she exclaimed.

  I rolled my eyes and laughed at her.

  “You sure you don’t mind driving tonight?” I confirmed. “We could call for a ride instead so that you can have a few drinks tonight, too.”

  “I don’t mind,” she assured me. “But I want to go now, so I hope you’re ready to leave.”

  I grabbed my clutch, grinned at her, and marched over to the door.

  The next thing I knew, we were walking into Carter’s, a nightclub in downtown Windsor. It wasn’t yet bursting with people, but it was well on its way.

  Ava and I walked in and managed to snag two seats at the bar since nobody from work had arrived yet. She ordered a non-alcoholic beverage while I started with a vodka and cranberry.

  “Food to go with your drinks?” she wondered.

  “Probably not a bad idea,” I agreed. “Tortilla chips with some spinach and artichoke dip.”

  “Want to split that with some mozzarella sticks?”

  I grinned. “Mmm. Nothing better than bar food,” I replied sarcastically.

  We gave our food order to the bartender after she set our drinks down in front of us. Picking up her drink, Ava searched the area around us.

  “What about that guy?” She jerked her chin in the opposite direction. “The one with the blonde hair. He’s cute.”

  “Blondes aren’t really my thing,” I replied.

  She continued searching the room and asked, “Alright, well, what about the guy standing over there? He’s hot.”

  “Ava, he’s perfect for you. He’s too short for me,” I pointed out.

  She rolled her eyes at me. “You’re being picky now.”

  I wasn’t being picky. Aside from a guy needing to be a decent person, I believed you had to be physically attracted to any person you were going to be with. At five feet ten inches tall, and with the need to wear heels on a regular basis, I wanted a guy who was a bit taller than me. If he was any less than six feet two inches tall, it would never work for me.

  “I would tower over that guy,” I stressed. “He’s definitely cute, but there’s no way I could do it. A short guy is a hard limit for me.”

  She groaned her frustration at me.

  Our food arrived a few minutes later and we dove in. I knew it wouldn’t be smart for me to drink too much without having something in my stomach. As we ate, Ava kept her eyes peeled to the door, scouting for any possible suitors.

  While she was unsuccessful in this, I noticed when she lifted her hand and started waving. I turned to see some of the girls from work had arrived.

  “You finished?” she asked, nodding to the nearly empty basket of chips.

  I nodded.

  Feeling full and having had two drinks, I declared, “I need to use the ladies’ room. Can you take care of the bill? I’ll tell them to go get our seats and I’ll meet you over there then?”

  She nodded, so I pulled some cash out of my clutch and handed it to her.

  Carter’s always got crowded and we knew that if we hadn’t reserved an area, it wouldn’t have made for a very effective team-building event.

  Hopping down from my stool, I took off toward the restroom. As was not uncommon for the ladies’ room, there was a line. After waiting for a solid five minutes, it was my turn. I did my business and walked out of the stall to wash my hands. With my clutch tucked up under my arm, I felt it vibrate. I quickly dried my hands and stepped outside the restroom.

  Pulling my phone out, I saw Ava had sent several texts.

  OMG. I found the perfect guy for you. He’s not blonde and he’s really, really tall.

  A second text followed that.

  Jojo, this man.

  I started laughing until I continued on to her third text.

  I just approached him.

  Oh no. I was going to kill her. I knew this once I read her fourth and fifth text.

  He’s single. I’ve confirmed it. He seems like he could be interested in a good time.

  And he’s nice.

  I finally responded.

  What is wrong with you?

  She replied almost instantly.

  Nothing. Get over here. I’m still over by the bar. I’ll just make a quick introduction and skedaddle to our reserved area.

  I let out a sigh. As I walked over, I came up with a game plan. I figured if the guy was hot and seemed nice enough, I could have a drink with him. If not, I’d blame my inability to chat on needing to not ditch my co-workers.

  When the area of the bar where Ava and I had been sitting earlier came into view, I thought my eyes had to be deceiving me. Ava’
s back was to me as she was rambling on about something, likely me, to the man next to her. I had to give her credit. The guy was gorgeous. He wasn’t blonde and he was tall. There was one small problem, though.

  The man was Lorenzo.

  I took in a deep breath, let it out, and moved over to her.

  “…and it’s been a while for her. I just want her to have a good time tonight,” Ava said until she stopped speaking because Lorenzo was no longer paying attention to her.

  He caught sight of me, ran his eyes over the length of my body until they settled on my face, and never returned his attention to my outspoken friend.

  Ava noticed he was distracted and turned around to find me standing there.

  “Here she is,” she declared. “Jojo, this is…I’m sorry, what’s your name?”

  “Lorenzo.”

  “Right, sorry,” she muttered. “Jojo, this is Lorenzo. And Lorenzo, this is my friend, Jolie. Everyone calls her Jojo.”

  I looked to Lorenzo and asked, “Would you excuse us one second?”

  He gave me a nod.

  I grabbed Ava’s hand and dragged her a few feet away as she called out to him, “Save her seat!”

  When we’d moved out of earshot of Lorenzo, I leaned in and seethed, “What did you say to him?”

  Oblivious to what she’d just done, she was grinning from ear to ear. “First, I confirmed that he wasn’t here with anyone and that he wasn’t meeting anyone. Once I established that he was single and available, I told him, in not so many words, that I had a friend who needed some companionship before we had to buy stock in batteries.”

  I closed my eyes and stood up straight to pinch the bridge of my nose. “Please tell me you did not do that.”

  “Jo, have you seen him?” she cried. “That guy is gorgeous. I know you’d prefer to have a relationship, but if that guy can give your hands a break for the night, why not?!”

  “I know him!” I nearly exploded.

  She jerked her head back in surprise. “You know that guy and you haven’t hooked up with him?”

  Just then, a few more of our co-workers had arrived and walked up to us. I took in another deep breath and advised, “I’m going to go deal with the colossal mess you’ve just put me in. I’ll meet up with you in a few minutes.”