Always Been Mine (7 page)

Who was he kidding? She probably wouldn’t listen to it anyway. With a full blown headache now, he decided to take an aspirin and call it a night. Maybe with some rest and a little luck, he could come up with something else.

Inspections for commercial buildings typically took a lot longer than for a residential. This latest sale was another big one. There were offices, multi restrooms, a kitchen and even a small gym. Valerie hoped that because it was an afternoon appointment, they’d hurry to get out of there early but no such luck. She’d been there for hours while the inspectors meticulously did their thing. She’d spent most the time on her laptop writing up more offers. Luke had been right about the Lemon Ridge sale. It
had
opened up doors for her. Since things had gone so smoothly, for a building that size, she was getting referrals left and right.

By all accounts, everything in Valerie’s life was going favorably. She enjoyed the kind of success that Luke said only seasoned agents got to enjoy. Her relationship with Luke moved along. Albeit, she’d made sure they were taking things cosmically slow. Luckily, Luke had turned out to be as patient as he was charismatic.

With the inspectors gone, Valerie walked around, making sure she locked up everything. Her hollowed heart made her feel guilty. She’d never been one to whine about the little stuff and was grateful for all the blessings in her life. Despite all the positive things going on, she still missed Alex terribly.

Almost done locking up, Valerie thought she heard footsteps. The inspectors were long gone. She’d watched them drive away. She stood very still and listened, but heard nothing else. This wasn’t the first time she got the creeps in a big empty building. She’d have to get used to it, because from the looks of things she’d be dealing with big empty buildings a lot from here on.

After double-checking a few more doors, she headed back to the table she used as her desk for the day. She slowed her pace when she heard the sound of footsteps again. She glanced around but saw nothing. With everything packed in her briefcase and her nerves on edge, a loud buzzing made her jump and clutch her chest. Her phone vibrated against the table.

“Shit.” She let out a relieved breath.

She glanced at the Caller ID. It was Luke. Deciding she just wanted to get out of there, Valerie ignored the call. She grabbed the phone and rushed toward the entrance of the building. She could call him once safe in her car.

The heels she wore caused her footsteps to echo noisily. That only rattled her nerves even more. When she turned the corner, rushing into the small entrance lobby of the building, she stopped cold feeling the icy chill to the very marrow of her bones.

“Hello, darling.” Bruce sat on the counter of the receptionist station smiling. “You really should lock the door, when you’re here alone you know. You never know who might stroll in.”

Valerie stood frozen, her heart pounding at her throat. She thought of the pepper spray in her purse and Isabel’s words echoed in her head. “
What good is that thing going to be for you buried at the bottom of your purse? You need to carry it on your keychain
.”

She cleared her throat and tried to conceal the alarm she felt. “I was just leaving.”

Bruce jumped off the counter, forcing Valerie to move. She started for the door. Bruce’s hand touched her elbow and she flung her arm away. He raised his hands in front of him to show he meant no harm and smirked. “Take it easy.”

Valerie continued to walk toward her car determined to not let him see that not only had he stunned her, which he obviously meant to do, but he’d managed to add to her already growing anxiety. Had he been following her around again? Because of their working relationship, she and Luke had gone out of their way to be discreet. And the parking lot of this building was too far away from the main street for him to have merely spotted it, like he claimed.

He caught up to her and they walked out side by side. “Did you think I wouldn’t find out?”

Valerie forced a laugh. “I’ve no reason to keep anything from you.”

After making sure she locked the door securely, she headed back to her car but Bruce stepped in front of her. She took an irritated, but cautious step back and glared at him.

“Can you give me a sec, please?”

It would be dark soon, the parking lot was empty, and she knew she was no match for him. At this point she didn’t know what to expect, so, she decided to play along. That had always worked in the past.

“I’m not done.” He said firmly. The crazed look in his eyes brought back memories of her past with him. “Tell me something. This guy’s different than Alex, isn’t he? Is that the attraction?”

Valerie took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. Before things blew up between her and Bruce she shared with him about Alex. Of course that was before she uncovered the truth about him, and only after he opened up to her about what she now knew was a fake past. “I don’t know what you mean.”

The glimmer in his eyes went from smug back to crazed in a moment. “I see it, Valerie. See it in the way you look at him. It’s what you’ve always wanted isn’t it? A man who would want you and only you?”

“For ruining my life. You know I can’t even get a job now? Can’t see my kids.” His feral eyes took her in up and down. He cupped his hand to her chin as the corners of his lips rose slowly. “Oh, yeah, you owe me.”

His tone made her think of how easily he could go from calm to crazy in a matter of seconds. Valerie held her breath. She didn’t even know he
had
kids. She felt even stupider now for having gotten involved with a man she knew so little about.

It was dark now and the headlights of a car coming toward them made them both turn to it. Valerie took advantage of the distraction and started toward her car. The car was still moving in their direction. Bruce didn’t follow her.

He didn’t say anything until she was almost at her car. There was no hiding the disdain in his voice. “You ruined my life, Valerie.” His voice rose with every word. “You decide how you’re going to make it up to me, the easy way or the hard way. Just remember darling, it
will
happen.”

Valerie glanced at him as she got in the car but didn’t bother with a response. The car that distracted him was just passing through. She threw her car in reverse and skidded out of there. Once around the corner, what had just occurred sunk in, and she clutched her pounding chest. That could’ve been so much worse.

It wasn’t until she adjusted the rearview mirror that she realized her hands were shaking. She squeezed her hand into a fist and placed it on her lap.

Her phone vibrating in the cup holder made her jump again. One look at the caller ID and it confirmed what she had been dreading. Her nightmare was starting up all over again. She hit ignore and held her breath as she waited to see if Bruce would leave a message, but again he didn’t.

She called Luke on the way and told him how the inspection went. After giving it some thought, she kept Bruce’s appearance to herself. Luke didn’t know anything about him. She hadn’t told him. Not yet. If things got any worse, or if Bruce did even one more thing to spook, her she might. For now it was best to avoid making a big deal out of it. She’d give it a few days and pray that he only wanted to scare her but wouldn’t be stupid enough to actually do something to get thrown back in jail.

By the time she got home her nerves had calmed considerably. Isabel wasn’t there, as was the case ever since she’d started seeing Romero. She still insisted they were just going out as friends. Valerie laughed at that. She saw the way Romero gazed at her. She’d never seen him that way before. Sure she hadn’t been around him in a while, and it made sense that he’d matured some. In his days as a bouncer he was quite the ladies man. He met a different girl at every gig he worked.

She stood in the kitchen, struggling to get the pepper spray bottle onto her keychain when Isabel walked in the door followed closely by Romero. When they made it all the way in Valerie could see they were holding hands and she smiled.

Isabel was done up again, but Valerie stopped mentioning it since the Padre game. It was about time Isabel started showing off the goods. She wasn’t about to spoil it by making her feel self-conscious about it.

“Hey,” Valerie still struggled with the pepper spray bottle. “Where’ve you guys been?”

“The show,” Isabel headed toward the bedroom leaving Romero behind. “But I’m only here to pick up something we’re going to go eat now. You wanna come?”

Isabel lived the Bruce nightmare along side Valerie, and she knew he was out now. Valerie glanced at her and shook her head. She wasn’t about to get into it in front of Romero. The last thing she wanted was for it to get back to Alex that she’d been stupid enough to get herself in such a predicament. “No, I just thought it’d be best to have it handy. I almost forgot I had it until today.”

Valerie examined the keychain ring that was much too tight now with the pepper spray on it. She didn’t look up at him. “I just got a little spooked today, on my way to my car. It made me wonder if I still had this in my purse.”

“Someone spook you?”

She looked at him just long enough to see his eyebrow arch, then back at the keychain shaking her head. “No it was nothing I thought I heard something that’s all.”

Isabel walked out of the bedroom, and Valerie could not have been more thankful for the interruption. They said their goodbyes and headed out. Valerie had been so into rearranging the keys on her key chain she hardly noticed what Isabel had gone into her room to get. That is until she was almost out the door and Valerie’s jaw almost hit the ground.

She couldn’t say anything of course not in front of Romero. As soon as the door closed behind Isabel Valerie ran to her phone and texted her.

Was that an overnight bag you were carrying?!

A couple of second’s later Isabel texted back.

Maybe

Valerie laughed out loud in delight. She’d teased Isabel she would get cobwebs down there if she didn’t get any soon. Not that she was one to talk. Valerie had actually named her hand held companion
Mr. Perfect
. He did the job and was reliable without any of the heartache.

Isabel you whore!

Valerie stared at her phone with her hand over her mouth still giggling.

Friends with benefits
=)

What a joke. Isabel had never had a friend with benefits in her life. There was no such thing as far as Valerie was concerned. For years she’d tried to refer to Alex as that, and he’d turned out to be the never ending anguish of her broken heart, exactly why Mr. Perfect had taken over that part of her life.

Valerie glanced at the clock, only nine. Technically, it had been early enough to catch a movie with Luke when he asked her on the way home. But she wasn’t feeling up to it. She didn’t want him to get used to seeing her every night. She wasn’t feeling that got-to-see-you feeling for him yet. Spending a quiet evening by herself would be fine. Besides, they already had plans for Wednesday night. That was good enough.

She took advantage of the time alone to work on Sarah and Angel’s painting. Every time she looked at the picture, she remembered the simpler times. She’d taken the photo herself. In the photo, Sarah and Angel were at the beach. Sarah was sitting between his legs leaning back into him. Angel’s chin was on her shoulder, showing off that famous Moreno smile with the deep dimples. Dimples just like the ones that tormented her.