Chapter 21
JoJo giggled as she climbed off the back of Les’s motorcycle. “That was fun.”
“I told you a fast ride would help your mood.”
“I think it was the TPing of Donny’s front yard. He’s gonna be so mad when the homeowner’s association gets after him. You should have let me egg his house.”
Les chuckled. “I shouldn’t have let you do any of it. So as far as anyone is concerned, I wasn’t there. I did not aid and abet you vandalizing your ex’s property.”
They laughed as they strode into Mission Run.
JoJo darted up the stairs to her room.
Les strolled through the rec room to see if anyone was playing any video games. He left his helmet on the snack bar’s counter and headed into the kitchen.
“Hola, Tia. What are we making for dinner tonight?” He stretched, eager to start chopping something. Cooking was his Zen. It wasn’t a chore, it was therapy.
“Where the hell have you been?” Connie’s fury blazed from her eyes like flames.
Les stopped in his tracks and stared at her. What had he done?
“I took JoJo for a ride. She’s been really down lately.”
“JoJo? JoJo has been moping around here for months, do you really think taking her for a ride is going to change anything?” Connie snapped.
Les shrugged. Tia Connie was pissed, super pissed. He was pretty sure it had nothing to do with taking JoJo out on the motorcycle.
“Why didn’t you tell me your Tori glows?”
Connie’s words were like a sucker punch in his solar plexus. He put a hand over his middle and stepped back.
“What?” he gasped.
“That little girl was in here, crying her eyes out this morning because you hurt her. And you had the nerve to show up yesterday like some kicked dog, acting like you were the one wronged.”
Les had never heard Connie so worked up before.
“Tori was here? Why?”
“She came looking for you. You don’t deserve her.”
“She cheated on me, no, she cheated with me on another guy,” Les barked back.
“What was his name?” Connie asked. “What is your proof?”
“I saw her text message. She told him she loved him,” Les said. It hurt to admit, he still had feelings for Tori, and she used him.
“You didn’t even bother to ask if that was her brother?”
“She doesn’t have a brother,” Les countered.
“How do you know?” Connie narrowed her eyes and glared lasers at him.
His gut clenched. Tori didn’t have a brother. Right? Right? Shit. His insides twisted. He shook his head. He couldn’t remember a single conversation where she told him how many brothers and sisters she had, or if she had any. She knew about his cousins because they were always there in his business.
“That wasn’t her brother,” he said with conviction he wasn’t feeling.
Connie continued to stare at him. Disappointment, pursing her lips together. “No, it wasn’t. But you didn’t stop to ask her about it or listen when she tried to explain.”
“What the hell, Tia? Why are you jerking me around like this?”
“You should have stuck around and let her tell you what was going on instead of jumping to conclusions. You were wrong.”
“If I was so wrong, and that Sam guy isn’t her brother, who is he?”
“Samantha,” Connie enunciated every syllable with sharp edges.
Les felt the name stab into him. Samantha. Sam. He dropped to his knees on the floor, burying his face into his hands. What had he done? What had he done?
Tears burned his eyes. He assumed Tori would cheat on him, because why wouldn’t she? Why would she look at him and think he was something special? He was a fucking cook.
He looked up at Connie. “I fucked up, didn’t I?”
“She glows for you, doesn’t she?” Connie asked. Her voice was now soothing, like the aunt he was used to.
He nodded. “How did you know?”
“I don’t think she would have come to track you down and pour her heart out to me if she wasn’t very special. She’s in love with you.”
“Is that what she said?” Les asked. His chest tightened, and his heart rate sped up.
“She wanted you to know about Sam, and then she said if you decided you still didn’t want her after that she’d let you go. She was done trying to get you to notice her. And I could hear her heart crack into pieces with each and every word.”
Les pushed back to his feet. “I’ve got to go.” He looked around for his helmet. “I can’t help out tonight, I’ve got to go.”
“Go, go get your Tori, and beg her for her forgiveness, and then ask her to tell you everything about Samantha. And beg her forgiveness some more.”
Les hugged Connie. “Thank you, I’m going.”
As he ran out of the kitchen, he grabbed his helmet and stopped in front of Morgan’s office. The door was slightly ajar. He knocked.
“Come on in,” Morgan said.
“You got one of those DNA tests?” Les asked as he entered.
“Les, yeah.” Morgan reached across his desk and picked up a box and then held it out to Les.
Les tore open the box. “How do I do this?”
“You’re doing it now?” Morgan was on his feet.
“You still want it, right?”
“Yeah, but… You just spit into that tube.”
Les ran his gaze over the instructions. He spat into the tube and sealed it, and then placed it inside a sealable plastic back. He held it out to Morgan. “Sorry, that took so long.”
“Why now?” Morgan asked.
“Because assuming I have all the information when I don’t has led me to some avoidable mistakes. Time to fix that. I figured this is one of those things I should probably have known before now.”
Morgan nodded. “I think I understand. Your mate, does she have something to do about this?”
Les shrugged. “I don’t know if she’s mine anymore. I may have fucked that up. I need to go see if I can fix things between us.”
“Good luck, man. If she really glows, she’ll more than likely forgive you.”
“I hope, I hope.”
Les rode too fast on the winding roads that got him down the hill and onto Sonoma Highway. Traffic through Napa had him cursing himself until he could open the throttle and speed up the St. Helena Highway.
It was past dinner by the time he reached her apartment building. He jumped off his bike and took the stairs two at a time. His heart was in his throat as he reached her door, and then his stomach dropped. Something wasn’t right. Her door was open.
“Tori?” He nudged the door open, crouching low. He entered her apartment. There was no noise, but her tidy little place had been trashed. It was completely ransacked. He dashed to her room.
“Tori!”
She wasn’t here.
What the hell had happened? Had she tossed her own place in a fit of rage? Returning to the living room, he scanned over everything, looking for a clue, anything that could tell him what had happened and where she could have gone.
Her bag looked like it had been dumped out and dropped on the floor. He knelt down and ran his hands through the pile. Her phone was at the bottom of the heap.
He pressed the home button, not thinking he’d be able to get in, or anything, but he did it anyway.
He saw the most recent text Tori had sent to Sam. ‘I think Les hates me now.’
His heart hurt as he realized he had caused Tori so much pain. He swiped his thumb across the message. A series of the last few messages Tori had texted to Sam appeared, and small conversation bubbles.
‘I have so much to tell you. I love you Sam.’
‘I’m in love. I wish you could meet him.’
Tori was texting her friend, but for some reason, Samantha never seemed to respond. That didn’t sit right with him. Tori deserved better people in her life. People who prioritized her. And that included him. That changed now.
He wasn’t going to fuck up and lose her. He couldn’t. She was his future, he knew it.
So where was she? And why was her apartment wrecked?
He spotted a folded piece of hotel stationery. There was a footprint on it and a piece of tape, as if it had been taped to her door. He checked the front of the door. A torn piece of tape was still stuck to the wood.
He opened the note.
‘Tori, I’m at the hotel, need to see you. We’ll have dinner.’ And it was signed, Les. Only he hadn’t written that.
The note crumpled as he crushed it in his fist. The door banged shut behind him as he flew down the stairs and jumped on his bike, to speed to the hotel.