The Last Husband (Forever Love #2)(15)
Author: J.S. Cooper

I peeked into the dining room again and saw that Zane and Leo were still talking animatedly. I was surprised to see that it was Leo who looked upset and angry and not Zane. Why was Leo upset? Maybe Zane had accused him of trying to flirt with me and he was sticking up for himself? Who knew? I couldn’t keep up with Zane and his moods. I wanted to go into the dining room and ask him what they had been talking about, but I decided to call Leeza first. I grabbed my phone and tried calling her again. I was really hoping to find out what she had been trying to tell me before I had a conversation with Zane.

“Lucky?” Leeza’s voice was airy and I frowned. How could she sound so happy and carefree when she had just been trying to tell me that my boyfriend was a stalker?

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” Leeza asked, confused.

“Because I don’t want Zane to know I’m on the phone.” My voice was exasperated. Sometimes Leeza just didn’t have a clue. “Now hurry up and tell me what you were trying to say before. I don’t have all day.”

“Before?” Leeza giggled and I heard a guy in the background. “I’m kind of busy, Lucky, can we talk later?”

“No,” I hissed, my face growing red with anger. “You made it sound really important, so I want to know exactly what you were talking about.”

“Oh.” She sighed and I heard her whispering. “I’ll be right back, Evan.” I heard what sounded like kissing and then she came back to the phone with a sigh. “Sorry, I was kinda busy.”

“Are you with Evan, the guy from the party you tried to hook me up with?” I asked, surprised.

“Yeah.” Her voice sounded happy. “He’s great and I just love being with him.”

“How do you even know him?”

“I met him months ago at a frat party.”

“You did?” I frowned. “You never told me.”

“Well, you know,” she sighed. “I didn’t think he was into me.”

“Okay, and …?”

“I met your Zane before as well.” Her voice was light and my heart skipped a beat. “I didn’t have time to tell you before.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, a few weeks before the party. He was with Evan and that DJ guy, hanging out with some guys I know.”

“And …?” Please God, don’t let her say that she slept with him. Please God no.

“And nothing much.” She paused. “Look, it might not be a big deal, and I wasn’t going to tell you, but he was the reason why I pushed so hard for you to go to that party that night.”

“What?” I frowned into the phone, feeling confused and overwhelmed. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t really remember exactly. But I was telling Evan how crazy you were and how you had left school to go to LA with some guy named Zane, and Evan was like, ‘Wow, stalking really works.’ And he reminded me of what had happened before.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, Evan had asked if I had any hot friends to bring to the party and I’d been a bit upset because I thought he had been into me and then I thought he really wasn’t, because if he was, why would he ask me to bring a friend? Well, who knows, I mean I—”

“Leeza.” My voice was sharp. “Get on with it please.”

“Oh, sorry. Well, he asked if I had any friends to bring and I guess I said something like I could bring my friend Lucky.”

“And?”

“And that creepy guy, Zane. Sorry, you know, your Zane? Well he looked at me hard and was like, ‘Lucky?’ Or something like that. And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s her name.’ I was like, ‘I can ask her to come, but she’s a waitress and works late nights, so I don’t know.’”

“Ok.”

“And then Zane was like, ‘Does she work at Lou’s Diner?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah.’ At the time, I didn’t think about it. But that’s just weird that he knew that.”

“And?”

“And nothing. The conversation ended. But a couple of days later, Evan called me and he was like, ‘Can you try really hard to bring your friend Lucky? I’d like to meet her.’ And of course I was upset, but then he said he’d hook me up with some concert tickets, and so you know, I invited you.”

“I thought you wanted to hang out as roommates.” My voice was cold and dry as I tried to process all the information she was giving me.

“I did, I did.” She paused. “But, you know. Anyways, I saw Evan a couple of days ago and he was all like, ‘Hey what’s up?’ But I was like, ‘You wanted to date my friend.’ And he was like, ‘No, no, no. My friend, Zane asked me to call you and to make sure Lucky came to the party, but to leave his name out of it.’ I was like, ‘Why would you do that? You didn’t seem like great friends.’ And he was like, “Well, Zane’s dad is huge in Hollywood” and you know Evan is trying to be an actor.’”

“I see.”

“Yeah, he’s hoping to make it as big as Braydon Eagle.”

“Uh huh.” Mentally, I was no longer paying attention to her.

“You know him, right? Handsome blond, I think I saw you talking to him at the party.”

“Look, I have to go, Leeza,” I sighed, frustrated. I needed to think about the information she had just given me. Zane had wanted me to be at that party? But he didn’t even really know me, aside from the diner. And he’d never let on, not for one minute, that he had orchestrated that whole event. What else had he done? I felt cold as I thought about him helping me when my car had broken down. Had he done something to my car so he could rescue me? I froze and took a deep breath. No, he hadn’t done anything to my car. I had known my head gasket was about to go. There was no way he could have made that happen. But maybe he had been following me. Because how was it that he just happened to pull up behind me? How long had he been following me? My hands felt clammy and I realized that I still had the phone next to my ear.

“Lucky, are you there?” Leeza sounded concerned.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Be careful, okay? I’m worried about Zane. I know he’s cute, and you’ve been a bit desperate, but I don’t trust him.”

“I have not been desperate!”

“Well, it’s been over a year.”