Trinity (Moonstone Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter Four

Luke

Pulling on my shorts, tank, and running shoes, I grabbed my phone as I headed out the front door. From the room next to mine, Toby’s, came the unmistakable sounds of someone having early morning sex. And enjoying it. The girl he’d brought home with him last night was a screamer. I’d finally fallen asleep with my earphones in.

Running was good, a way to wake me up and shake the cobwebs away. I had class today and needed to focus.

I was gone for more than an hour, and when I returned I was hot and sweaty, in desperate need of a shower. Toby should be done by now and hopefully the girl had left. Sometimes he managed to get rid of them pretty quick, other times they hung around, clearly not getting the hint that Toby is a one-night stand guy.

Pulling my earphones out of my ears, I pushed open the front door and paused.

Trinity was sitting at my kitchen table.

For a moment I thought I was imagining her. But then I realized she was real. And only
then
did I realize why she was here.

Oh. Fuck. No.

From the bathroom came the unmistakable sound of running water and Toby singing an acapella version of
Bohemian Rhapsody
. The bedroom hung open and I could see the rumbled bed linen, evidence of the night they’d just had. I recalled the high pitched squeals of pleasure that had woken me last night, the panting, and the bed rocking.

Shit. No.

She was dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt. Her face bare of makeup and her hair tucked neatly behind her ears. The piercings were gone too, just a single stud in each ear. The only hint of her rock chic persona were the tattoos that traced up her arms. But even they looked sweet and somehow faded with this new image of her.

She was sipping coffee, turning through a newspaper, but looked up when I entered, her eyes going round as she recognized me.

“Oh.”

“You know Toby?” I asked and even to my ears my voice sounded tight. She knew Toby all right. She’d
loved
Toby only a few hours ago. Then I remembered this morning, hearing them as I left. Only an hour ago.

I put my hands on my knees and took in a deep breathe. I wasn’t sure if I couldn’t breathe from running or from the idea of Toby and Trinity…

“Not really,” she said with a casual shrug, “he comes into the coffee shop where I work every now and again.”

I blinked at her, surprised by her nonchalant response. She’d brushed me off so easily the other night when I asked for her number and yet here she was casually having sex with my flatmate who she barely knew.

“Right,” I didn’t know what to say.

“Do you um, want some coffee?” She gestured to the takeaway coffee cups on the table. “I bought a couple with me.”

I shook my head. “I’m good thanks.”

She nodded and went back to reading the paper. I felt like I’d been punched. The shower had turned off and now the bathroom opened and Toby emerged, with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

“Running again?” he grinned at me. “I tell you man there are more fun ways to stay in shape and get a workout.”

His innuendo was clear but I didn’t return the grin he threw my way. He’d just screwed Trinity. I hated him more than anything right now.

“You met Trinity right?” he asked now, throwing a cursory glance her way.

I nodded. “I met her the other night.”

“That’s right,” he said now as if only just remembering, “you were looking for her.”

Trinity’s head snapped up, but she didn’t say anything as her eyes searched mine. Just sipped her coffee and went back to the paper. She barely even looked at Toby. But then she’d probably had her fill of looking at him all night long.

I thought I might be sick. The visuals I was getting in my head of her and him…

“Hey is that coffee I smell?” Suddenly the bathroom door opened a smidgen more and a girl emerged, wrapped in a towel, her hair hanging wet and limp down her shoulders. “Oh god, Trin, you are a godsend!”

As I stared dumbfounded the girl bounded across the room and looked through the different cups of coffee. “Oh good, skinny latte.” She took a sip. “Give me five then we are out of here.” And then she bounded across the room to Toby’s bedroom, closing the door behind her.

I watched the scene and suddenly felt as if I’d won the lottery. Toby hadn’t slept with Trinity. It hadn’t been her that had kept me awake with orgasm after orgasm last night. It hadn’t been
her
.

“You all right man?” Toby asked now. “You look a little wierded out. Maybe too much running. I tell you, that much running ain’t good for ya.”

I nodded and then suddenly found the amusing side of the situation. I’d thought Toby had slept with Trinity. I’d been gutted. And now, now, I couldn’t believe the elation I felt right now. I wanted to sweep her up into my arms and hold her tight. And I would’ve except she was watching me warily over the top of her coffee.

“Fine,” I told him, “you finished in the shower?”

He stepped aside. “All yours.”

****

Trinity

I flicked through the pages of the newspaper although I barely read anything in front of me. When Luke had walked through the front door, all hard muscles and sweaty, I’d nearly died.

I didn’t realize he lived with Toby, but then I barely knew Toby or anything about him, except he was the biggest player on campus. And Luke was his roommate. Did that make him a player too? I really hoped not.

Turning back to the paper I tried not to think about the running water from the next room. He was naked, just a few meters from where I was sitting. I blinked, the words blurring on the page and my blood heating, just imagining him naked in the shower, with the water and soap suds running down…

“Thanks so much for coming, Trin,” Gwen said, emerging once again from Toby’s room, this time fully dressed. “I really appreciate it.”

“No worries,” I replied easily, “I was in the area anyhow.” I’d actually been parked down the road, behind the few businesses that edged the campus but I wasn’t going to tell her that.

“I left my car at the bar we were at,” she explained, “do you mind dropping me back there?”

“Nope.”

Gwen sat in the seat opposite me and sipped her coffee. “Man,” she said with a wistful look on her face, “that was one helluva night.”

“Spare me the details. Please.”

“If you knew anything, Trin, you’d want to know the details,” she said with amusement, “believe me. He is just as good as I’ve heard he is.”

I watched Gwen. “Oh no,” I said with a groan, “you are not going to fall for Toby Kingston. You are not.”

“Of course I’m not,” she growled, lowering her voice, “everyone knows he’s one-night stand material only. But man, he is the best one-night stand I’ve ever had!”

At this I laughed. “And you’ve had
so
many!”

Gwen smiled. “I’ve had, well, now I’ve had one. Go me. I bet that’s one more than you’ve had.”

I stopped laughing. “Not my thing.” I said simply and easily, hoping she’d drop it. No such luck.

“What one-night stands? Or sex in general?”

I was conscious that the shower had stopped running in the room next door. My mind was suddenly filled with visons of Luke once more, getting out of the shower, water running over his abs, his hair dripping wet. My mouth went dry.

“You know that Tony really likes you, right?” Gwen said suddenly, her voice soft.

“Tony is not really my type.”

“I know he’s got those connections,” she said, referring to Tony’s links to the underworld, “but he really likes you, and would take care of you. You need someone who will take care of you.”

I could take care of myself. I had done an okay job of it so far and had been doing it for pretty much the better part of my eighteen years. Before I could reply though the bathroom door swung open and Luke emerged. Like Toby he was dressed in a towel that wrapped around his waist, but unlike when Toby emerged, I couldn’t take my eyes from him.

Water traced over his body which was ripped. Seriously ripped. He worked out, judging by the broad, rounded shoulders and the abs which looked to be made of steel. A dark line of hair traced down from his belly button, disappearing beneath the towel.

“You’re still here,” he commented.

“We were just leaving.” I jumped up knocking my coffee across the newspaper and the table.

“Quick—” I glanced up and over at Luke who’d moved closer. “Give me the towel.”

“Um.” He grinned, his eyes flashing. “I
could
give you this towel if you like. I mean, if you insist.”

Gwen, who’d been watching quietly, suddenly burst out laughing and then ran off, closing the door to Toby’s bedroom behind her as she laughed even louder. My face burned hot and I didn’t dare look at Luke.

“I didn’t mean
that
towel,” I mumbled, scooping up some of the sodden newspaper, “I meant
any
towel. I’ve made such a mess.”

“Leave it,” he laughed, “I’ll clean it later. It’s my turn to clean anyhow.”

I nodded, my back to him and still not looking at him. My whole body burned now.

“You okay?” he asked after a moment.

No
. I wanted to tell him.
Not okay
. Not with you, standing there, wet, in a towel, naked, so close. Instead I drew a deep breath and turned around, plastering a smile on my face. “Sure. Just a little embarrassed that’s all.”

“You’d have been more embarrassed if I’d handed over the towel,” he teased, but this time I wasn’t embarrassed.

I smiled back at him. “I would have. Yes. Sorry.”

His eyes were roaming over my face and I realized he was looking for my bruise. It was almost gone, only the slightest purpling around my eyes and I’d covered most of that with a tiny bit of makeup. Then his gaze dropped slightly before meeting my eyes once more.

“Go out with me,” he blurted suddenly.

“I—” I began to decline but my voice died away. It wasn’t fair that he should ask me out now, when I was so affected by him. I didn’t want to be affected by him. By anyone.

“Don’t say no,” he said and he almost sounded like he was pleading, “say yes. Let me take you out. I want to take you out and talk to you.”

He sounded so sweet and so sincere. He wanted to talk to me. He was interested in me. That warmed me and I found myself smiling back at him, the voice that replied only vaguely recognizable as mine. “Yes. I’d like to go out with you.”

Chapter Five

Trinity

I dropped Gwen back at the club where she’d left her car and then made my way to work, parking my car out back in the employee lot. Once more I was careful with locking it up. I had everything in there. My life. I couldn’t afford to lose a thing.

Checking my reflection in the mirror, I straightened my clothes, hating that they were all rumpled from being quickly stuffed into my overnight bag. I’d driven past my house on the way to work but
his
car had been out front so I’d kept driving. A blue Mercedes. Shiny and new. The windows gleamed in the bright morning sunshine and it looked ridiculously out of place beside my mom’s beat up old car. In fact the Mercedes looked entirely out of place in our neighborhood and I was constantly surprised that it wasn’t vandalized or broken into. Maybe he had a force field around it or something.

Anyhow, the fact that
his
car was still there meant that I couldn’t go home yet. I wondered what she told him when I wasn’t there, where she said that I went. I wondered if she even cared where I went.

“Morning, sunshine,” Damien the head barista said as I walked inside and tied on my apron, “ready for another busy day.”

“Sure am,” I told him with a grin. Damien liked me to be happy and chirpy and I found that it was easy to be happy and chirpy around him. He was a sweet guy, the kind of guy that made friends easily, had been the star quarterback for the football team and held open doors and said please and thank you. He was a charmer and the college girls who came in adored him.

“Well giddy up, girl,” he said with a playful swat across my arm. “There’s customers waiting for their morning coffee and you know how grumpy they can get.”

After my shift finished later that afternoon, I made my way across town to where I tutored piano. I did this four afternoons a week and today I was tutoring a little girl called Priscilla who was incredibly sweet if not incredibly spoiled. I didn’t like coming to this side of town, didn’t like that maybe one day I would rock up on my dad’s doorstep to tutor a half-sister or something. Not that I would even recognize my half-sister anyway. We’d never met and as far as I knew, she didn’t even know that I or my mother existed.

Priscilla had been practicing and was getting better. We played together and then we practiced her favorite
Gwen
song before I packed up and left. I was headed over to my own practice now, which took place back on the other side of town at Molly’s house.

I sighed. I was going to need more gas. More money.

By the time I rocked up at Molly’s, everyone was there and they were rehearsing already. I rushed in, apologizing profusely for being late again, but they brushed it off. I was always late and they always forgave me without asking questions. I couldn’t have asked for better friends.

“So, Olivia has a new song,” Molly was saying, “a bit of a ballad, softer than the others. It’s good though, wanna try it?”

I nodded. Olivia was a talented song writer and I hated that we couldn’t just perform her original tracks all night. But we needed to make a name for ourselves first, Molly insisted, and then slip in the originals to build up our brand.

“Oh,” I read over the lyrics, “sexy.”

“She’s had inspiration,” Molly said with a giggle.

Some of the lyrics were quite risqué.

“Can you sing it?” Molly asked watching me. “I know it’s a bit much but I think that it could be seriously hot.”

“I’ll give it a go,” I told them,” but for something like this, with so much sex in it, maybe it would be better if someone sexier sang it.”

Four sets of eyes stared at me.

“What?” I asked when no one spoke.

“You
are
kidding right?” Olivia said, looking at me earnestly, “someone sexier than you? Like one of us?”

“Well, yeah.”

Olivia started laughing and was soon followed by the others. “Honey you seriously have no idea do you?”

I was missing something here.

“Trin, there are about a hundred guys every Saturday night who go home and get off to thoughts of you strutting across the stage in your sexy dresses. And there are just as many who go home to their wives and girlfriends and get off with
them
thinking of
you
.” Olivia said this all with a straight face.

“Don’t say that!” I cried. “That’s disgusting!”

“It’s the truth,” she said simply, “we are as popular as we are mostly due to you. You are what people come to watch. They might come to
hear
us but they come to
watch
you. Even the girls. Have you no noticed how many girls in the audience are now wearing tartan strapless dresses?”

I hadn’t. Nor had I really thought about how sexy I might look up on stage. I thought I was looking tough, rock chic, and maybe fun? But never sexy. Oh god never sexy.

“So you sing that song, you do your moves, and I tell you what,
you
sweetheart are gonna make us famous.”

The song was good. We practiced it quite a few times before we went back to rehearsing our regular songs. We had every Saturday night lined up for quite a while, including, Molly announced, a wedding in about six weeks.

I made a face at that. “A wedding? Who would book us for a wedding?”

She shrugged. “A contact of Tony’s. He saw us, heard us, and wants us to play at his wedding. We have to tone it down a bit of course, and he wants us to play a few more traditional, romantic wedding songs.”

“I’m not sure about this,” I said.

“Ten thousand.”

I snapped my eyes up. “Say again?”

“Ten thousand,” she told us, and I heard the collective intake of breathes from everyone. “He started at five and I said no because like you already said, we aren’t wedding singers. But then he kept going. I think he might have gone higher but I thought ten was pretty decent.”

“Ten thousand,” Shawna echoed, “just for singing a few songs?”

“We do have to sing a few Mariah Carey songs.” Molly glanced apologetically at me. “Sorry.”

I hated Mariah Carey. A few people had told me over years that I sounded like her which only made me hate her songs more.

“And Celine,” she added. I winced.

“Ten thousand, Trin,” Shawna nudged me and I looked over at her. She was grinning like a looney.

I sighed and giggled. “Dig me out some Celine and Mariah. I have some songs to learn!”

****

I left Mollys’ a little later and headed back into town. I had to find somewhere to park and sleep. I was desperately tired. I drove to the back of
The Bean
and parked in the employee lot where my car had sat all day. No one would come back at this time of night.

Getting out my phone, I rested it on the door handle beside me, 911 at the ready should I need it. Then I reached under my shirt and unhooked my bra, sliding it off and dumping it on the floor. I couldn’t sleep properly with my bra on. Leaning my chair back I grabbed the duvet from the backseat and pulled it over me. I was cozy and in a strange, kind of sad way, it felt like home being snuggled up here. So familiar. I’d been doing this for years. I’d been doing this back before I’d even had a car to sleep in.

My mother didn’t like having me around when Kent came to visit. Kent was my father, or so she told me, although she could be lying. He came every few weeks and stayed a few days. He always bought her presents and she was always in a great mood after he visited, but that didn’t last long as she realized that yet again she’d been dumped and he’d gone back to live his real life with his real wife and his real children. My mother had been his mistress for more than twenty years. But she was a stupid mistress. For twenty years she had lived in the hope that he would finally leave his wife and come to her, but he never did.

And for that, she blamed me.

I shivered under the blanket and pulled it up under my chin. I didn’t want to think about my mother. I didn’t want to think about
him
. I just needed to get some sleep and then maybe tomorrow I could go home.

****

A loud clanging sound woke me a little later on and I jerked upright. It was dawn, the early morning twilight lighting the sky around me. I rubbed my eyes searching the lot for what had woken me when I spied Magda by the bins.

Good old Magda.

She’d been homeless her whole life and I think she relished life on the streets. She looked to be at least eighty, although after doing it tough for so long I wouldn’t be surprised if she was only fifty or so. She’d just had a hard life. She glanced over at me through the windscreen and mouthed a sorry before she returned to searching the bins.

I sighed and lay back down, all thoughts of sleep gone. I wanted to shower and wash my hair. I hadn’t had a proper shower for days; I’d just been washing in the restrooms down by the lake, the ones people used to wash the sand off them after they’d been swimming. There was no hot water and it seemed like it was actually colder than any other water, but it was all I could do. But I really needed to wash my hair.

For a moment I thought about going to Molly’s. Years ago, when I’d first had to start leaving home I’d sometimes go to Molly’s house and she’d let me stay. Her parents didn’t seem to mind and they didn’t ask any questions nor did they ask me to go after a few days, but when I’d gotten my car I’d stopped going. It didn’t seem necessary anymore. I mean I did technically have a roof over my head.

Sitting the drivers chair up, I threw the duvet in the back seat and started the engine. Magda gave me a little wave as I reversed out of the lot and headed off campus. Maybe the coast was clear and I could go home now.

I came to a set of traffic lights and for some reason they decided to turn red even though there were no other cars around. I sighed and switched on the CD player, bringing the Mariah Carey album up that Molly had pressed into my hands last night when I’d left. It was her mom’s, she assured me, although there was a panicked gleam in her eye when she asked me to take care of it. I suspected it was secretly hers.

Immediately Mariah’s voice filled the car and I winced, turning the volume down. I knew this song. I’d heard it on the radio plenty of times, although I had no idea of the lyrics. I had six weeks to learn though. I would be the master Mariah impersonator.

Ten thousand dollars. Two apiece. It might as well have been a million the way it made me feel. That two thousand, coupled with the thousand I’d already saved would help me move out so that I had a
real
roof over my head, and not just for a few days at a time. I grinned to myself as Mariah began to wail.

Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by a rapping on my window and I jumped, screaming at the same time.

Luke
.

He was smiling at me through the window, obviously amused by my startled reaction. But honestly, who sneaks up on parked cars at dawn. I’d had my fair share of weirdo’s looking in my windows over the year’s thank you very much.

I rolled down the window.

“Hey,” he said, grinning at me, “didn’t mean to scare you.”

His eyes flicked past me to all my stuff in the car and something flashed in his face. Was that pity? Then I remembered my bra discarded on the seat next to me. I hoped he hadn’t noticed.

“I was just daydreaming,” I said.

“Yeah.” He grinned broader now. “Mariah can you do that to you. I never pegged you for a fan.”

“Oh.” I turned down the stereo; she was still whining and wailing, minimal lyrics really as far as I could tell. I could do that. “We have a gig in a few weeks and they’ve asked us to sing Mariah. And Celine.”

He nodded, still smiling, his eyes burning into mine. “Interesting. I’d like to see that.”

For some reason I blushed, even though he hadn’t said anything suggestive I looked down. I wanted to get away, wind up my window and take my shitty car and my shitty stuff away from him. Glancing back at him I noticed for the first time the sweat and the exposed muscles in his shoulders.

“My light’s changed,” I said, “and you need to run.”

He was still grinning. “Now more than ever,” he said cryptically, “we still on for tonight?”

“Oh. Yeah. Sure.” I’d forgotten I’d agreed to go on a date with him. Now I really needed to wash my hair.

“And you’re sure I can’t pick you up?”

“It’s fine,” I assured him, my voice tight, “I’ll meet you.” I’d had to insist that I meet him there. The last thing I wanted was Luke coming to my house, seeing where I lived, meeting my mom. And that was even if I could go home at all.

“I’ll see you tonight.” He straightened up and stretched his arms up over his head, exposing the skin on his stomach.

I bit my lip. “Yeah. Um. Tonight.”

Then he turned and ran and I watched him. The light had turned red again anyhow and I would just have to wait it out.