Hooked Up: Book 3 Read Free Page B

driver’s hand, not waiting for change, and dashed to Laura and James’s front steps, rapping hard on the brass doorknocker. Laura came out and grinned at me, flinging her arms around me as if we were two long-lost, passionate lovers. I held the box of books out and pushed my way through the door.
    “How lovely, Alex—you brought me a present; how sweet of you.”
    Once inside the house I shouted, “Pearl? Are you here?”
    Laura started laughing. “She just left.”
    I dropped the box on the marble floor; it landed with a thud. “Damn! How long ago?”
    “Ten minutes.”
    “Damn,” I cursed again.
    “She doesn’t want to see you, Alex, so I wouldn’t get your knickers in a twist.”
    I wanted to ignore her quip but heard myself ask, “She said that?”
    “Yes. She came to England, especially to see me.”
    “Bullshit, Laura.”
    “It’s not bullshit. She told me you’d split up, and that she’d had enough and was going to start dating other men. That she’d had time to mull things over in Hawaii. She said she didn’t have time for silly games and that she understood that you were too immature for her—she wants to go out with someone her own age.”
    I wanted to believe Laura was lying, but she knew about Pearl being in Hawaii—her conversation with Elodie had been before Pearl had even decided to go to Hawaii. Laura’s words stung like little poison darts. Perhaps there was an element of truth to them. I had been acting immaturely and it wasn’t a surprise Pearl wanted to date a more mature man. Fuck! I now regretted leaving her in tears in the backyard at her brother’s. Begging me to give her another chance, I pretended her words were empty. I’d behaved like a total, coldblooded bastard. In that moment—in Anthony’s garden—it hadn’t occurred to me that Pearl had choices; she could simply dump me. Dump me at the drop of a hat. She was gorgeous—she could get any man she wanted. What the fuck had I been thinking?
    I stood there, remembering how it was Laura that had intensified Pearl’s fear of Sophie, with that crazy phone call getting us into this mess. My eyes were pools of ice as they locked with hers. “I’ve brought your books back, Laura. The hotel gift-wrapped the box by mistake so don’t get any grand ideas. I’m leaving now, I’m going to get my car.” I strode down the hall, towards the garden that led to the garage.
    “Alex, wait!” Laura limped after me with her cane. “Why are you so pissed off? I thought we could have some tea and have a heart-to-heart.”
    “Yeah, right, Laura. I’m really going to drink your tea, laced with some bloody drug. You behaved like a fucking psycho last time we met, and what you did to Pearl was unforgiveable. Un-fucking-forgivable. You should go and get professional help—I’d offer to pay for a shrink but I don’t want to be involved with you in any way, whatsoever . Is the garage locked?”
    “It’s unlocked,” she said sulkily, as if what I told her was a surprise. “You know where the buzzer is for the garage door and you still have your own keys, I suppose. Alex, don’t be a spoilsport— come on.”
    I suddenly thought of something. “You didn’t give Pearl a cup of tea, did you?”
    Laura smirked.
    I grabbed her by the shoulders and found myself shaking her. I’d never hurt a woman in my life. Jesus! But the temptation to slap her was overwhelming. My heart was pounding, my breath unsteady. I stepped back, sucked in a calming lungful of air, let go of her, and said in a quiet voice, my teeth clenched, “Did you offer Pearl a cup of tea?” If I had been like Michael Corleone—as Pearl so often described me—I would have felt no qualms about having Laura eliminated. But I wasn’t. I respected a person’s life too much—God knows, I’d been responsible for enough deaths to see me well into the depths of Hell—I didn’t want another on my conscience. And however crazy Laura had become, we had shared something