Page 106 of Lucas & Melissa Falling in Love
As I listen to his words, they bounce off me with no affect at all. I can’t muster even a twinkle of concern over the unveiling of this big secret, even if every damn thing about it becomes public.
“Very weak effort, Alden,” I say.
“I can make things very uncomfortable for you.”
“Give it your best shot. I’m not doing business with you. Ever. Again.” I turn to go.
I take two steps and he puts his hand on my arm.
Everything happens at once then. I freeze with the feel of his touch, the knowledge that he’s put his hand on me. Lucas and Bert come crashing through the door. I see Lucas take in the scene. Then all hell breaks loose.
“What’s going on here?” Lucas says as he sweeps past me and right up to Alden, nose to nose. Lucas towers over him, bigger and clearly stronger. Alden tries not to look intimidated, with his smug look back in place, but he does back up a step because he’s not stupid. He addresses Bert, who comes to stand near Lucas.
“We’re talking business, naturally,” he says. “As Bert suggested.”
I’m not about to let him get away with that.
I say, “He’s threatened totell allabout the fact that I’m adopted if I don’t agree to his terms for a loan. That’s what’s going on.”
“You misunderstand, Melissa.” His words are smooth, with no flicker of conscience. I know him, and lies slide out of him like the tongue from a snake.
But Lucas doesn’t give him a chance. With a quick strike, he shoots his fist forward and punches the lawyer smack in the eye. Alden falls back, toppling over the arm of the chair behind him. Bert rushes forward, apologizing, but I’m not sure to whom.
I race to Lucas’s side. He’s shaking his fist, cradling it, but he has a smile on his face, a fierce smile, and I can tell he’s masking the pain in his hand. “Let me get you some ice, let’s go to the kitchen.”
“Let’s wait to see Mr. Jones out of the building.”
George appears in the doorway.
“Shit. Looks like I missed the show,” he says. He’s holding a coat in his hand. Bert pulls Alden up from the chair.
“I think he broke a bone,” Alden says. “Call the police. I’m pressing charges.”
“You’re fine,” Bert says. He looks at me. “I’m sorry, Melissa. Lucas told me about your past dealings with Jones.”
George hands Alden his coat. “If you want to call someone, do it from home. You’re leaving now.”
I feel satisfied as I watch George and Bert walk him out of the room to the entryway and hand him off to Walter. Even as Alden complains, and none too quietly, with his eyes puffy and blackening, snarling his threats of a lawsuit, I have to speak up. I intercept him before he gets out the door.
“While you’re busy filing your lawsuit, just remember that you’re cementing your reputation. This will become a small town when the business community learns about who you are. Good luck.” I deliver my lines for the small group of us clustered near the door. Alden eyes me as best he can with his lids nearly swollen shut, then his gaze shifts to a spot over my right shoulder and I feel Lucas there, supporting me, backing me up, and I can’t lie to myself. It feelsreallygood. Like he’s my partner, not my puppet master.
There’s a lot of celebratory drinking between George, Lucas, and even Bert, so it’s no surprise when Lucas goes along with George’s insistence that he spend the night here. With me. By the time we get to bed it’s late and we plan to sleep in tomorrow.
* * *
But the nextmorning Lucas’s phone rings relentlessly, waking us, at nine a.m.
“It’s Barbara Bench,” Lucas says, glancing at the screen and picking up his phone.
“I have news I thought you’d want to hear,” Barbara says. Both of us still in bed, still naked, I listen over Lucas’s shoulder as he props himself on one elbow.
“I found Ms. Cooper’s mother. She has the birthmark.”
