Before Lucky (Forever Love #2.5)(18)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“I doubt it.” I shook my head.

“Leeza will be there.” He pointed at a cute blonde who was sitting on the bed, eyeing me up and down. She was the sort of girl I would have hooked up with in a minute before I had met Lucky.

“Yeah, and I’ll try and bring my girls. Though, I doubt Lucky will be able to make it.”

“It’s going to be awesome, Zane. I heard he’s getting…”

“What did you say?” I looked over at Leeza with narrowed eyes as I cut Evan off. “You don’t think Lucky can come? Who’s that?”

“Lucky’s my roommate.” She straightened her shoulders and flung her hair to the side. “And one of my best friends. We used to party a lot together but now she works a lot, so I’m not sure if she can come.”

“Oh, that sucks.” I looked away from her, my heart beating fast. She couldn’t be talking about the same Lucky, could she?

“But I’m definitely coming, and I think my friend Shannon can come as well. She works, but in retail, so she can play in the evening. Lucky works as a waitress, so she has to work nights.”

“That sucks for her.” I licked my lips and turned to Evan. “I’ll try and make the party. It seems like it’ll be fun.”

“Awesome!” Evan’s eyes lit up and I almost laughed at how eager he looked. Poor sucker really thought he was going to get something out of me.

“I’m actually feeling pretty hungry. Maybe we can order some takeout? Where does your friend work again, Leeza? Maybe she can hook us up?” I turned to her casually and held my breath as I waited for her answer.

“Oh, Lucky works at some tacky burger joint on the beach. I doubt they do delivery.” She laughed. “It’s called Luke’s or Lou’s or something. Trust me, we don’t want to order delivery from there. But I do have the number to a sushi place.”

“I could go for sushi.” I sat down on the edge of the bed, and took a chug of beer, feeling happier than I had in a long time. It was all coming together now. I just needed to fit one more piece of the puzzle together and then I would get to spend some real one-on-one time with Lucky.

“Shall I call?” Leeza leaned in towards me, and I felt her br**sts brush against my arm.

“Yeah, you do that.” I jumped up. “I’ll be right back. Hey Evan, can we talk?” I gestured to him to follow me out of the room.

“Uh, sure.” He followed me out of the room, and paused. “You want some blow?”

“What?” I took a step back.

“I know a guy, he can hook us up.” Evan nodded eagerly. “I just gotta call. Whatever we want, he can get.”

“Yeah.” I stared into his eyes, and realized that he was most probably talking about Braydon. This was my moment. I could most probably find out exactly what I wanted to know from Evan, right here and now. But what if I did? Would he still be at the party next weekend? Would there still be a party next weekend? And if there wasn’t, what would that mean for me and Lucky? Not that there was a me and Lucky. But I’d come this far, and everything was falling into place. I was so close to having my first real date—well, quasi-date—with her. It wasn’t a date if she didn’t know I was going to be there.

“So, should I make the call?”

“I want you to make sure Leeza brings her friends to the party.” I paused, not believing that I hadn’t questioned him about the drugs. “Both of them.”

“I’m sure she’ll do what she can.” Evan looked confused and shrugged.

“I need you to make sure that both of them show up. Even the one that works at the diner.”

“What one that works at the diner?”

“Weren’t you listening?”

He gave me a blank stare, and it was all I could do to stop from shaking him. “Just make sure that she brings both friends with her to the party next week. Work your magic, however you can. And if you do, I’ll talk to my dad about getting you a role.”

“You’d do that?” His eyes widened.

“You scratch my back, I scratch yours.”

“Why do you care if she brings her friends?”

“Let’s just say I like to see hardworking people having fun.” I leaned towards him. “You make sure her friend Lucky makes it to the party, and do not let her know that I’m requesting it, and I’ll make sure you become the new it guy in Hollywood.”

“Ok, but…”

“I have to go now.” I looked at Leeza standing in the doorway staring at us, and I turned my face away from her quickly. I didn’t want her thinking she had a chance with me. She seemed like the sort of girl who went after what she wanted, and I had a feeling I was the person she wanted to be under tonight. I walked down the stairs quickly, holding my smile in until I got into my car.

Chapter 7

It was finally happening. Everything was coming together as planned. Evan had called me and told me that he had convinced Leeza to get Lucky to the party. He’d worked his magic and given her some money to buy Lucky a new dress to wear. He said it was a foolproof idea and that he could almost guarantee that Lucky would show up, and I agreed. What new girl would say no to a party if someone bought her a new dress to wear? I couldn’t think of many women who would turn that down. I was almost giddy with excitement as I walked to the diner. But I was also slightly sad. This was to be my last trip to Lou’s Burger joint. Special Agent Waldron was furious when I told him what Evan had said, and not because I didn’t pursue a line of questioning either. He thought Evan had brought it up as a trap to see if I was onto his friend Braydon. He said asking about something else, and pretending I wasn’t interested in the information about the drugs, was the best thing I could have done. Thank God, he didn’t ask me why I hadn’t asked, though. I think he knew. He was almost apologetic when he told me I had to leave Miami within a few days.

I walked into the diner ahead of Lila. I hadn’t even wanted to bring a date with me tonight, but I knew that it would have looked too suspicious if I hadn’t. I wished now that I had been more open and engaging with Lucky. Yes, we’d had a conversation here and there, but nothing that would warrant me asking her to come to Los Angeles with me. I knew that the best shot I had was to convince her to come work on the documentary with me, but I wasn’t even sure how to bring it up. She didn’t even know that I knew she studied history. That was why I had to get her to that party. If I had some one-on-one time with her, like a whole night, I could go into full-on Zane Beaumont seduction mode, and then I might just be able to convince her. There weren’t many women that could say no to my blue eyes.