Page 47 of Amore
“Us.” I waved my hand between us. “I’ll be gone for a long time, and it’s not fair to you—”
“Not fair to me? You know what’s not fair to me?” I swallowed, steeling myself for her wrath. “You’ve been fucking around with her for over a week—”
“No.” I shook my head. “It’s not like that.”
“Bullshit, Luke. You expect me to believe that you slept on her couch all those nights? Really?”
“I did sleep on her couch!” I argued.
“And last night?” she snapped. “Did you fuck her in your bed where you made love to me plenty of times?”
Made love?All we ever did was fuck. There was no lovemaking—ever.
“Are you fucking serious?” I roared. “She was attacked and almost raped last night, and you think we came back here”—I waved my hand toward my apartment—“and fucked?”
Candace said nothing.
I continued, “Like I said, Frankie needs me, and we’ve been best friends our entire lives.”
“Can’t she hire someone else?”
“There’s a lot more going on with her than just being attacked that I don’t want to get into, but no, she can’t hire anyone else. Plus, I want to do this for her because if anything were to happen to Frankie—”
“You love her.” It wasn’t a question.
I ignored her statement and said, “Like I said, she’s my best friend—”
“Wow,” Candace breathed. “Of all the men in LA, I thought you were a good one.”
“I am a good man,” I argued. “Why do you think I’m putting my career on hold to be a bodyguard?”
“You wouldn’t do it for just anyone. You love her.”
She was right.
“Look, we can go around and around all day about this, but I’ve made up my mind. You need to understand that and move on.” I opened the car door and started to walk away.
Candace got out, and I expected her to follow. Instead, she yelled, “You may think she’s your best friend, but she hasn’t talked to you in years. She’s just using you for your badge. Do you really think a famous actress would want to be with an average guy like you?”
I kept walking, not bothering to correct her. Maybe Frankie and I wouldn’t work out in the end, but that didn’t mean I wanted to be with Candace if it didn’t.
15
FRANKIE
Unlike the phoneconversation I’d overheard, I had no idea what was said while Luke and Candace went outside. I watched them get into her car, and then I busied myself by throwing away the raw egg, drinking my coffee, and emailing my realtor to tell her I was ready to put my house on the market. I called Emily and informed her what had happened the night before and that I was staying at Luke’s until we left for Canada. We needed to make all the arrangements since he was my bodyguard.
The magnitude of what could have happened if Luke hadn’t shown up or called the police hadn’t hit me yet. The eerie part was the guy never uttered a word the entire time. He grabbed me, threw me on the bed, and we wrestled until he pinned my arms above my head. He had no weapon, but it could have turned out much worse than it had. Thankfully, Luke showed up at the right time.
It didn’t take too long for Luke to come back from speaking with Candace. When he walked in the door, Amore rushed to him. “Hey, buddy. Need to potty?”
I smiled, my heart warming. “He really likes you.”
“And I like him, even if he’s friendly to everyone.” Luke bent over and started to pet Amore.
“Which reminds me. Should I look into those dog training classes you were talking about?” I asked.
“I think I can work with him. I’ve researched it.”
