One thing they never did was ignore each other’s calls or texts. More than worrying about appearing rude, they knew that a lack of response would cause the other to be concerned, which was justified given their history.
When there was no immediate reply to her text message, she put the phone away. Dax had to be asleep by now; that was the only explanation for her message not prompting an instantaneous retort telling her that she was going nowhere with an ex-boyfriend. But she wasn’t keeping any secrets from Dax.
‘Dinner is out,’ she said. ‘I’m not going on a date with you, Saul. But you can take me to breakfast.’
‘It’s a start,’ he said, leaping out of the chair and going forth to open the bedroom door for her.
It was almost eleven AM, so it was closer to lunchtime, but Saul had done her a favour without any hesitation when she asked him to, so the least she could do was share a meal with him. She would do it out in public and wait for Dax to call because she was pretty sure his reaction to her text wouldn’t be immediately understanding.
Having Saul back in her life turned out to be fortuitous. When Ivy relayed her plan to get hold of Trudi, he jumped right on it and offered to help. A male voice would be more convincing than a female one, so Ivy accepted his assistance. They arranged to meet in her hotel room that night, at ten PM, to put the plan into motion.
Eager as she was to have Trudi where she wanted her, Ivy was preoccupied with Dax. He hadn’t called her. She knew better than most how much Dax loved his sleep. The man could sleep like the dead, and he could do it indefinitely. He’d had a long night talking to Mauri and making love to her, then met up with Serg and had another long night of enforcing. So she assumed that if he hadn’t gotten home until eleven AM there was a chance that he would sleep for about twelve hours, to make up for the sleep time lost over the previous two nights.
‘When is she coming?’ Ivy asked when Saul hung up the phone.
‘She’ll be here in an hour,’ he said, his triumphant smile brought him to his feet. ‘Where’s the mini-bar?’
‘You’re not getting drunk in here,’ she said.
‘Come on, it’s on your old man’s dime, right?’
‘You can leave,’ she said. ‘You’ve done your bit.’
‘Oh,’ he whined. ‘You’re not going to let me stay and watch the show?’
‘No, I’m not. I’m not hanging out in a hotel room with you to wait for a hooker.’
‘We’re not using the hooker, we’re luring the hooker.’
‘I am luring her, I could’ve done this without you. I told you that you didn’t need to come back, you offered to come and make the call from the hotel room because it was more convincing. Trudi probably heard that I was looking for her, and I’d guess she’s not desperate to see me.’
‘No,’ he said, standing up from the bed where he’d been sitting to make the call. ‘Probably not. Were all the stories true? That you were kidnapped and—‘
‘We can talk about that tomorrow,’ she said. Grabbing his arm, Ivy pulled him towards the hotel room door. ‘You need to get out of here because if Trudi sees you then she’ll assume I’m not too far behind.’
‘Just like the old days,’ he grinned.
With her palms planted on his back she pushed him forward and reached around him to open the hotel room door. ‘Get out of here, Saul.’ Except when she opened the door, there was a man right there on the other side of it. A man with an expression on his face that the devil would envy. ‘Dax…’
Still half tucked behind Saul, she came around him to stand between the two men, except Dax swept her aside and grabbed Saul to haul him out and pin him to the hotel corridor wall. ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ Dax demanded.
‘No, no,’ Ivy said, trying to pry Dax away. ‘You can’t do this here, Dax, come on, baby, let him go.’
‘I do know you,’ Saul said, his face reddened as recognition grasped him. ‘Oh shit.’
‘That’s right, buddy,’ Dax said, pleased that he’d been identified. She didn’t know how the men knew each other, and right now, she didn’t care.
‘Please let go of him, baby,’ she said, pulling on Dax’s arm. ‘Nothing happened, he didn’t touch me.’
‘Oh, God, no, no,’ Saul said, and she was surprised that he was acting like such a pussy. Usually he would happily fight with any guy who brought an argument to him. But from his hurried breathing and distressed expression, she would guess that he knew Dax wasn’t to be messed with. Saul’s focus fled Dax’s to land on her. ‘You married the goddamn Ravager, why the fuck didn’t you tell me that?’
‘You’re disrespecting my wife?’ Dax asked, pulling him forward to slam him back against the wall again.
‘No! No, no, no I’m Ivy’s friend, I was just helping her out, I—‘
‘Yeah,’ Dax said, yanking him forward then turning to toss him away down the hotel corridor. ‘Get the fuck outta here and don’t come back.’
Snatching hold of Ivy, he pulled her against him to pin her under his arm, then took her back into the hotel room. As soon as they were inside, he slammed the door and shoved her forward, out of his embrace.
‘What the fuck are you doing?’ he asked, looking around the place, probably for any signs of an indiscretion.
‘What the fuck are you doing?’ she asked, setting her hands on his chest and shoving him, though he didn’t budge. ‘You can’t treat people that way!’
‘Guys who come to my wife’s hotel room while I’m not here? You’re goddamn right I can!’
‘No,’ she said, putting her hands to her hips. ‘He came here to call for a hooker.’ Dax’s anger flickered to confusion before it returned to rage.
‘A hooker? So he came here to get laid?’ Dax whipped around. ‘I’ll break every one of his fucking fingers and—‘
She got between him and the door before he could get to it. ‘No, he called and asked for Trudi to visit this hotel room. I needed a male voice. I tried to track her down myself last night, but I couldn’t find her.’
‘Trudi?’
‘My old roommate, the one that set me up.’
‘Set you up?’
‘It was Trudi who recommended the job that got me nabbed by the Starks,’ Ivy said. ‘She was my friend, and I want to talk to her, I want to know why she would do that.’
‘Money, babygirl,’ Dax said.
That he used her pet name was a good sign. ‘I know that she got paid, but I have a feeling it was Carlos, her pimp, who put her up to it. I want to know why. I want to make her look me in the eye and… I just have to see her.’
‘You plan to hurt her? Is that what he was for?’ Dax asked. ‘You called your ex to enforce for you?’
‘No! I didn’t call Saul at all. He just showed up here this morning, just before I texted you, which I did, by the way, to prove to you that I am being completely open and honest. I figured you’d want to know ahead of time, or while it was happening, rather than find it out later.’
‘You still care about him?’
‘No,’ she sighed. ‘Will you please stand down red alert? Go sit on the bed.’
‘You didn’t fuck him?’
Scowling at him, she poked his ribs. ‘No, I did not, and you’re forgiven for asking me such an insulting question.’
Dax went over to sit on the end of the bed, he bent forward to unlace his boots, which she recognised as his preparation for getting comfortable. There was still a lot to talk about, and she trusted him to know that, but she suspected he had sex in his mind’s horizon.
‘Trudi is on her way here,’ she said. ‘You can’t be here when she arrives.’
‘Damn right I’m going to be here,’ he said, kicking off his boots and sliding himself up to sit at the top of the bed against the headboard. ‘I’m going to watch the whole fucking show. You’re never leaving my sight again.’
‘You’re overreacting.’