Tearing Down Walls (Love Under Construction Series Book 2) (26 page)

As Peyton drove home, the thought about Vic and Laura. Then he thought about Nikki. And he hoped Vic was over her, because if he got Laura to open up and then couldn’t leave Nikki alone, well, that was the one thing that Laura wouldn’t survive.

Once Vic had gotten into his car, he started it to let the heater warm up. He was so tired that he didn’t notice the woman standing beside a car on the other side of the street, watching him as he left. She stood there and watched him drive away.
That kid from earlier?,
she seethed.
I’m a better fuck than her any day. He all but said so.

“A
re you fucking kidding me?” she shrieked. Vic was in the hospital hallway trying to produce identification for the uniforms when he heard Laura yell.

“Hey! What the hell’s going on in here?” he snapped, looking from Laura to Steve, who had a huge, shit-eating grin splashed across his chiseled face. “I could hear you all the way out in the hall. What have you done now, McCoy?” he asked, frowning. Even with a frown, he was still more beautiful than any other man Laura had ever seen, and she hated herself for thinking that.

“Look what this dickwad brought me,” Laura said, holding up a package, and Vic burst into laughter. “I don’t think it’s funny. At all. I’m starving here!”

“Well, you said you were tired of hospital food, so I thought I’d bring you something different!” Steve ducked as Laura chucked the military-issued MRE at his head, laughing the whole time.

“Get up, smartass,” Vic growled at him. Steve just stared at him. “I said MOVE!” Vic barked, and Steve stood and offered Vic the chair beside the bed. Vic produced a fast-food bag from behind his back, and Laura grinned. “I think this might be a little better.” There was a little snapping sensation in his chest when she smiled.

“Oooooo, roast beef with cheddar!” she squealed, rooting around in the bag. “I love this stuff! Thanks!” In the blink of an eye she had her mouth full and looked like she was going to have a food orgasm any second.

“How ya feeling?” he asked when she came up for air. “They tell you what they’re going to do with you yet?”

“Yeah,” she mumbled through a mouthful. “The doctor said I could go home tomorrow. Or somewhere other than here,” she added, trying not to look at either of the men.

“That means we’ve got to get busy and figure out what we’re going to do with her,” Steve said.

“Yeah. She can’t go home. So where are we going to put her?” Vic asked.

“Hey, guys, right here. I can hear what you’re saying.” They looked at her and she added, “Hello?” Then they turned away from her and went right on like she hadn’t said anything.

“We can’t take her back to Tony and Nikki’s. But I don’t think he’d look for her there, since he’s already found her there once. Wait. I’m overthinking this. Maybe.” Steve was pretty much thinking out loud, and he wasn’t getting anywhere.

“By now he’s run my plates and knows who I am and where I live,” Vic said. “And I thought having a car that distinctive was a
good
thing.”

“And he found her at Kelly’s. So that’s out.” Steve had an odd look on his face. “By the way, how much do you know about Kelly?”

“Very little. You’d have to talk to Nikki about her. Wait.” Vic shot Steve a look of total disgust. “Can you just stop thinking about your dick for a minute? We’ve got bigger problems than you getting laid.”

“Coming from you, that’s just rich.” Steve glowered at Vic. “I hear you were balls-deep in a twenty-five-year-old last night.” Vic turned three shades of red. They both turned as Laura started a violent coughing spell. “Choked, honey?” Steve asked, grinning. Laura’s eyes were watering, but it wasn’t just from choking. “Was it something I said?” Steve mocked.

Vic wanted to reach out, wrap his fingers around the blond attorney’s neck, and squeeze, but he also couldn’t figure out why. It was nobody’s business who he spent his time with, and besides, it had been Steve’s idea. And unless Peyton was right about her feelings, why would it matter to Laura if he was fucking half of Lexington? She didn’t give a shit about him. She was nicer to him than she had been, but that was about it.

“Very funny, McCoy. Need the Heimlich?” Vic asked Laura.

The idea of his arms around her waist made something between her legs throb. Laura looked at the food Vic had brought to her. Why would she care what he was doing and with whom? She didn’t care – did she? “No, no. I’m good.” She coughed a couple more times and got quiet.

Vic turned back to Steve. “Now, before you started running your mouth about something that’s none of your damn business, what were we discussing?” He was moving way beyond pissed. It was Steve’s club; Steve, of all people, should’ve known what was going to be expected of Vic, and now Steve was giving him shit about it? And in front of Laura?

“Hey, what about your secretary?” Steve asked, brightening.

“You mean my administrative assistant, shithead?”

“Yeah, fuckwad.” As soon as Steve said that, Vic growled at him.
Good god,
Laura thought,
could we have a little less testosterone in here and a little more common sense?

Vic thought for a minute. “To my knowledge he can’t know anything about Molly. She’s under the radar, so that might be a good alternative. I don’t think either of Tony’s kids’ houses would be a good idea – I’m sure he’s dug up info on them – but Tony’s got lots of employees, and he couldn’t have checked out all of them. One of them might be a good choice. Maybe Jason Miller; he just took a promotion, and he lives right down the street from Annabeth and Katie.”

“Okay, those are both good ideas. I’ll start making some calls.” Steve paused. “And by the way, I’m sorry for giving you shit about, well, you know. That’s your call, and I
am
the one who asked you to do it. If subs come in and want what I’ve heard described as your ‘incredible talents,’ then it isn’t any of my business.” He made a nasty face at Vic. “That’s between you and them. Fuck whomever you want.” Steve stood. “I’m going to check with the uniforms out here and then go back to the office. Laura, call me or . . . well, you know who you can count on.” He walked to her bed and kissed her on the forehead.

Once he was out the door, Vic turned a worried face to Laura. “He can be such an asshole. Hey, I’m sorry that . . .”

Laura waved her hands in front of him. “No. None of my business. Really. Your life. Don’t apologize to me.” Regardless what she said, Vic could see her shutting down.

“I’ve just been . . .”

“Again,” she said, shaking her head, “it’s none of my business. So please, don’t worry about it.” She continued to look at the food instead of Vic, and he felt some sort of interrupt in whatever was going on between them. A sadness like a dark winter night fell over him, and he felt like all the light had gone out of the room.

“So,” he said, standing, “if you need anything, just call me. I’ve got to get to the office, but I’ll check in later. Lexington’s not that far away.” He put his hand on her shoulder and thought about leaning in to kiss the top of her head, then decided not to.
Please, please, please,
her brain screamed,
kiss me. My head, my cheek, anything.
But Vic just said, “I’ll see you later. Do what the doctors tell you and take care of yourself.” He walked out, and Laura felt like everything shifted and rolled out the door.

Steve was about three hundred feet in front of Vic, but the bigger man’s legs were longer. By the time they reached the parking garage, Vic had caught up with Steve. He put his hand on Steve’s shoulder and, when the arrogant attorney turned, Vic grabbed him by his collar and pushed him backward against the garage wall, Vic’s nose a quarter inch from Steve’s. Vic found the look on Steve’s face delicious – beyond shocked.

“You ever do that again and I’ll kill you, McCoy, I swear.” The veins on Vic’s temples were throbbing, and there was a fury on his face that Steve had never seen before, and it scared the shit out of him.

“Calm down, Cabrizzi! Hell! What’s your problem?” he yelled at Vic.

“I’ll tell you what my problem is, McCoy! I . . .” The question squirreled around in Vic’s brain. What was his problem? All of a sudden, he couldn’t figure out why he was so damn mad. “Just don’t do it again, you hear me?” Vic turned Steve loose, then straightened his collar and brushed his shirt to straighten it too.

“What the fuck?” Steve shrieked. “You don’t get to just walk up to me and . . .” He looked at Vic’s face and realized there was something going on, but he wasn’t sure what. “Cabrizzi? What is it?”

“Shut up,” Vic hissed and turned to go to his car. Steve stood and watched him walk away. Was it possible that there really was something going on between Vic and Laura? He thought about Laura’s choking incident when he’d mentioned Vic’s Dom activities. Was Laura falling for Vic? Oh, god, that would be a complicated mess for sure.

Vic closed the car door and dropped his head onto the steering wheel. Confusion wrapped around him like a heavy wool coat. Why would he care what Steve said? He wasn’t ashamed of what he was doing, providing a service that was needed and making women happy in the process, not to mention that he was pretty damn happy too. But why had he blushed when Steve said it in front of Laura? Peyton had said that . . .

No. That couldn’t be happening. He was fucking sick of investing his time and emotions in women who couldn’t bring themselves to have any kind of real relationship with him. And Laura Butler was never going to give a shit about him. Vic backed out of his parking space and turned the car toward Lexington. After work he’d just head to the club. Every night there was different from the one before, and who knew? Maybe he’d wind up with another sub who wanted what he could supply, and was told he did so very well. Or maybe he’d find one who just wanted some discipline, give his dick the night off. But regardless, it beat sitting home alone.

“Can you come in here for a second?” Vic called to Molly from his office.

She appeared in the doorway, pad and pencil in hand. “What’s up?”

“You don’t need those. This is just a conversation, not an assignment.” Vic motioned for her to sit down in front of his desk, then thought better of it. “Hey, let’s move over here where we’ll be more comfortable.” He got up and went to one of the leather armchairs that Nikki had ordered for his office, and Molly took up a spot on the matching sofa. There was a thud as his boots hit the top of the coffee table, and he relaxed back. “So, how do you like it here? Feel like you’re getting the hang of things?”

“Yeah. Cheryl’s been a lot of help. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.” Molly kicked her shoes off and drew her legs up onto the sofa. “This isn’t that hard. I mean, the hard stuff, payroll, benefits, all that, the Louisville office does, so there’s not that much here that needs scrutinizing. And Albert’s helping me learn to read blueprints and talk to subcontractors and vendors, so I feel pretty good about that.” Albert was Vic’s foreman and a grizzled old vet of the construction business.

“I’m glad this is good for you. Am I paying you enough?” Vic grinned.

“Dear god, yes! I’m pretty comfortable.”

“How’s the divorce going?” When the words had gotten out, Molly’s face clouded.

“It’s going. You know, Vic, up until last week I thought there was a chance that Freddie would come back. But it’s obvious now that it isn’t going to happen,” she said, toying with the hem of her top.

“Would you have wanted him back?” Vic couldn’t believe she’d even entertain the idea.

Molly thought for a minute. “Yeah, I think so. I had a lot of years invested in the relationship. But this is for the best. Every time we passed a sixteen-year-old girl, I would’ve wondered what he was thinking.”

Vic groaned. “I gotta tell ya, I still don’t understand that. I don’t want a lover I’ve got to train.”
Wait – that’s exactly what I’m doing!,
he thought, chuckling to himself.

“He never was that good in bed, not like the other Walters men. Or at least not like what I hear Tony is,” Molly grinned.

“What’s been said about me?” Vic was curious to see what she’d say.