Page 60 of Dirty Money
Her mother took her over, leading her to the bathroom and tossing her inside. “I’ll grab something from your closet. Shower!”
Aullie stood in the bathroom, the set of keys still in her hand.
What the hell just happened?
Rain had delayed the private jet from taking off for four hours. When they arrived at JFK airport in New York, it was ten at night. Hayley had been eerily quiet all that time. Weston didn’t seem to care, though.
“Care to share a cab, Weston?” she asked him as they walked out of the sliding glass doors.
“No, I’m taking one to Aulora’s. Like I said before, I’m sorry about things and how they’ve gone but I’m done with you, Hayley. I do hope you have a nice life.” He opened the door of a waiting cab and she got into it. Then he closed the door as her mouth opened to say something else. He didn’t want to hear it anyway.
Getting into the cab that was waiting right behind it, he gave the driver Aulora’s address and was headed that way. Pulling out his cell, he gave her a call. A call she didn’t answer. But he’d expected that.
He sent her a text.
-On my way to you.-
Looking at the phone’s screen, he waited for a reply but got none. When they pulled up at the apartment building, he saw her Accord in its usual spot and grabbed his small overnight bag and got out of the cab. Quick steps took him to her apartment.
Her door was slightly ajar. He pushed it open and found an older woman cleaning it. “Do you happen to know where the owner of this apartment is?” he asked her.
She merely shrugged and said one word, “Moved.”
“She moved?” he asked with shock reverberating the words he’d spoken.
She nodded. “Moved.”
“But her car is here,” he said as he leaned against the door frame.
The woman shrugged again and he turned to leave as it was pretty obvious he’d get nowhere with her. A call to the cab company had another car coming for him. He caught the cab and headed to the bar she worked at.
It was cold and rainy and Tackleman’s was packed for some reason. He headed inside and asked the hostess if Aullie was working to which he found out she’d quit earlier that same day.
He left, stunned and stricken. Instead of calling another cab, he called her as he stood under the flimsy canvas roof that covered only part of the entrance. She didn’t answer and he ended his search for her for that night.
A long ride back to his home left him wondering what the hell had happened to her. But that night wasn’t going to see him getting to talk to her, that much was obvious.
-You moved. You quit your job. You left without your car. I need to know you’re okay. Please let me know that. I won’t be able to sleep until I know you’re alive and okay, Aulora. Please.-He texted her then waited for a reply.
A beep let him know someone had texted him and he crossed his fingers before he looked at the phone.
-She’s fine. She doesn’t wish to speak with you.-
It was from her number but someone else was talking for her. That had him feeling a bit jittery. So, he texted back.
-I want to talk to her. If I don’t hear her voice, then I’m going to call the cops and report her as abducted!!!-
He hoped like hell that would get her to call him and when his phone rang, he answered it before it could make an entire ring, “Aulora!”
“I’m fine. Leave me alone, Weston,” came her sweet voice. Yes, it was heavily laced with anger but it was her voice and to his ears, it was sweet.
“Aulora, wait. I need to talk to you. You swore to me you’d allow that. We had a deal. I will hold you to it. You and I need to talk.”
“No,” she said. “And I’m blocking your number. I talked to your ex-wife. She told me everything. She told me that you were going to lie to me. She told me you and she had sex. There may be a baby in your future. I’m not about to get in the way of that.”
“She’s lying,” he managed to get in.
“She said you’d say that. She said you had sex then you felt guilty and told her you couldn’t be with her because you love me. But the fact is she could be pregnant and I’m not getting in the middle of that. You screwed someone else, that’s a deal breaker and this is over. You’ve had your say. I don’t owe you anything else.”
