Chapter 11
Stone
One Week Ago
My phone rings on Bluetooth, as I drive away from Lark.
She wouldn’t say two words to me before I left her.
I know that she’s distraught, I can feel it with her, and I’m not entirely sure that it’s all to do with me buying that house.
We haven’t spoken in days, and I know that that can sometimes add salt to an open wound, even though things were fine the last time we spoke.
Lark is a private person. But she is sometimes easy to figure out.
I know that if it was a mistake, me buying that house, that she would’ve said so on the spot.
Even if she sugarcoated it, she would’ve told me that it was a mistake.
I think I know her well enough to come to that conclusion.
Something else is going on. I know that it isn’t about us, either, because she would never have agreed for me to take her on a drive.
However, whatever is going on with her, was definitely exacerbated by me buying that house.
But it wasn’t the sale alone, I’m sure of it.
I’m on my way back to the hotel, to meet with my developers, when my phone rings on Bluetooth.
It’s Axl Lennon, a man that I hear about all the time through my cousins and my brother, but I rarely hear from him directly.
I press the answer button and greet him kindly.
“I hate talking over the phone." Axl comments.
“I thought we’d catch up. Can you spare me a half an hour or so? "
“Sure." I tell him what hotel I’m staying at.
“Yeah, I heard. I can be there in twenty minutes if that suits you."
“That works."
Axl. Now, there is a man that’s a mystery to me.
He has been up and down and all around, and there’s never any telling when he’s going to go up or down again.
There’s no question about his genius, though, and as much as we both work from different industries, it’s very enlightening to converse with him about business.
I’ve always enjoyed chewing the fat with him.
I’m told at reception that the maids are in my suite at the moment, so I wait in the lobby. My phone rings and I see that Lucy is reaching out. “So, how did it go? Did you tell her the news?“ Her voice is odd. It’s not the happy tone that I heard earlier.
“It’s hard to say. I may have picked the wrong time to tell her. She’s in between meeting with some clients."
“Really. She called in sick this morning.”
It takes me a moment to digest that. “She did.” I confirm. My tone is more asking, not telling.
“I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, Stone. But she just called and asked to take her vacation immediately. Charles came to me, asking if I had heard anything from her. I told him that she had called in sick this morning, so that may have something to do with it."
Charles is Lucy and Lark’s boss. He’s a good guy. I’ve known him throughout the years. In fact, once when Lucy was off on sick leave, he assisted me with a sale.
“She what?” I’m confused, flabbergasted.
“You heard right. She’s got three weeks accumulated vacation. Even though she’s only been with us a short time, we use that as an incentive if you make a substantial sale in your first three months, which she did."
“And she just suddenly asked to take it? No explanation?"
“Nothing. Charles said she just asked for it via email."
"Jesus Christ. That's mind boggling."
She sighs and levels with me. "Look, Stone. I know that you and Lark have something going on, and I need to know if you know anything. It's my ass on the line if she's flying the coop."
Suddenly, this is no longer a concern about discretion. This is about Lark. Her safety, her wellbeing. "No. No, nothing like that. I'm sure of it. She adores you and her job, and it always comes first. That's' the truth."
"I figured as much." She mutters. "Seeing as you two have been canoodling under my nose."
"I'm sorry. She was very worried that she'd get fired. Lark was adamant that her and I being together in any capacity would be unprofessional and unacceptable."
Lucy scoffs. "What Neanderthal put that idea into her mind?"
"I'm not sure."
She's silent for a beat. "Oh, God. I remember why now.
" She chuckles. "It was her first day. This very attractive client of another partner who is no longer with this company, walked in, and Charles cracked a joke about sleeping with clients.
He was joking, but Lark didn't know it. I'm sure that's what it was. "
"Jesus. Fuck, I need to talk to her."
"Well, good luck. Her phone goes straight to voicemail.
I've left a couple of messages and texts, but she's not answering.
She sold to one of her new clients this morning, she said, and the other one is waiting for another property to be fit for sale, so she did pick the perfect time to go away. It's just the urgency that's alarming."
"I'm sure that she won't leave her clients hanging for long, Lucy." I assure her, although her calling in sick doesn't sound at all like Lark. "Did she say why she was calling in sick?"
"No. She just said that she needed a personal day, and who are we to judge? She's never missed a beat since the day she started. She's our top agent and has been since the beginning. Charles and I are just worried about her. Can you get in touch with her family?"
"She has a twin sister, but I've never met her. I know that she owns a natural beauty products store downtown. I may be able to find her."
"Let me know if I can do anything to help."
"Will do, Lucy. And thanks."
Axl arrives moments after the maids finish in my room. "You're looking good, Axl. I fucking hate that." I chuckle.
"I quit the hooch. All of it." He explains, like he's explaining how he made a fucking cake. It slays me how his quick decision lifestyle changes are so nonchalant to him.
"Yeah? For good? I know how much you love to party like a rock star."
He shakes his head. "Nope. Not anymore. Rush told me that if I lay off the goods that he'll try to get me in good with both Jagger and with Wesley Hopkins."
"You think you can pull it off?"
"It's been a couple of weeks, and I'm not even itching to do it again. I haven't even called the paparazzi for a while, either. But I'm not here looking for praise, so don't take this trip wrong."
He looks around, nodding, frowning, impressed. "Not bad, eh?" I say.
"Can't complain. Fuck, I bet you have to beat the chicks off with a stick staying at a pad like this."
"Not really. I hadn't noticed."
He gives me a look. "You're telling me that you haven't brought a chick up here?"
"That's an entirely different question, my man."
With a smirk, he nods his assent. "Way to go, dude. Fuck, that's the only thing that I miss right now."
"Getting laid?"
"Yeah. My fucking callouses are ridiculous. I haven't seen my hands this bad since before I had my own pit crew." He jokes. Then he changes the subject. "So, who's this chick you're bringing up to this lair, man? Has she got a hot sister you can introduce me to?"
"She does, but I haven't met her yet, and I have no idea if she's single."
He lifts a brow. "Yeah? What's she do? Her sister, I mean."
"As far as I understand, she owns a health and beauty business downtown, but like I said, I haven't met her."
"Did your girl show you any pictures of her at least?"
"No, but I do know that they're fraternal twins, so they look very similar."
Both brows lift. "Yeah? Is this chick of yours hot?"
"She's fucking gorgeous. But it's kind of complicated. I don't even know if she's my girl or not, that sort of thing."
"So, it's not serious."
"No."
"Would you like it to be?"
I consider that for a moment. "Yeah. But it's complicated."
"How do you mean?" He rests one leg over the opposite knee, as we sit on the couch by the fireplace. It's not lit, but it still gives off a certain ambience. Both Axl and I have a bottle of water from the bar fridge, and there's a fruit bowl, stocked to the top, with various fresh fruit.
I grab a banana from the top and peel the sides before speaking. "She's a realtor, and I'm a client of one of her colleagues. It's a colleague that she feels is responsible for her being hired."
"Ah, so she figures if you two are having a thing, that this other person is going to get their panties in a wad."
"Exactly." I take a bite of the banana, chew and swallow before speaking again. "Anyway, I've cleared that up with my realtor now, but, as luck would have it, Lark has sort of flown the coop, so I have to get in touch with her sister to find her, so that I can at least tell her this."
"She flew the coop?"
"Yeah. I bought a house, one of her listings, and she got all weird, and now nobody can find her.
This just happened today. I'm going to go find her sister later and see if she's heard from her.
I'm sure she's okay and all, but it's just strange behavior, and I don't know if it's because I freaked her out by buying that house from her as a surprise. "
"You bought it as a surprise?"
"Yeah. The previous owner was being an asshole. He put this place up for sale and it's fucking lopsided, man. He refused to fix it before putting it on the market. It looked bad on Lark, and I personally love the place save for the flaw, so I bought it."
"You were planning on hanging your hat here though, anyway, right?"
"Yeah."
"Cool." He changes the subject. "Hey, did you hear from Jagger about this lunatic that's fucking around, cancelling meetings, sending weird letters, and calling and hanging up?"
My face turns serious as I finish eating the last of the banana, and I rise to throw the peel into the trash bin by the wet bar. "No. I hadn't heard. I'm staying with Rush, though, starting tomorrow, so maybe those boys will bring me up to speed."
"You're not staying in this swanky hotel for longer?"