Skin Deep (26 page)

We headed upstairs to Jenna’s en suite and
plopped her down at the stool in front of her vanity. I played
assistant to Hayden, handing her items, but I drew the line at the
curling iron. No way was I getting blamed for burn marks across the
forehead! Hayden used her little hands to basically tie Jenna’s
hair in knots all over her head, and then proceeded to make Jenna
look like a whorish clown with makeup. She ended up with hot pink
lipstick (who even uses that these days anyway?) surrounding her
entire mouth, including her lips and teeth, lime green eyeshadow
(Jenna and I seriously needed to talk about her makeup bag) smeared
across her eyelids and high into her eyebrows, and red stripes of
blush decorating her cheeks.

Hayden picked up Jenna’s eyeliner and pointed
it toward her mother’s face. Jenna squeezed her eyes shut, bravely
allowing her to attempt to put it on. I snickered behind my hand,
earning me a glare from Jenna, when Hayden colored over her mom’s
eyes, then her forehead, like she was using a crayon.

She stood back with a flourish and nodded at
her mom like she was an artist acknowledging her latest
masterpiece. I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and snapped a
few quick pics, trying not to laugh out loud at Jenna’s face when
she looked in the mirror. I had to leave the room when Jenna
struggled to tell Hayden that she made her mommy look very pretty
but it was too fancy to wear around the house. She finally got the
okay to wash her face off and Hayden and I went downstairs while
Jenna cleaned herself up.

“Aun’ Emmy?” Hayden piped up in her little
voice.

“Yeah, baby doll?” I asked her, giving her a
quick squeeze as she cuddled into my side on the couch.

“Whas’ a gorgamsm?”

“A what?” I asked her, not understanding what
she said.

“A gorgamsm. I heared Mommy talkin’ bout it
on the ‘pone. Whas’ is it?”

“Um, I’m not sure, honey. What did Mommy say
about it on the phone?” I asked, kinda scared about the answer I
would get.

“Hers said it was sumfing that my Daddy gived
her an’ it was ‘mazin’ an’ made her toes curled up. If I have a
gorgamsm will my toes curled up, too?”

I choked, completely at a loss as to what to
tell her, but thankfully Jenna came down the stairs then. I quickly
jumped up and told Hayden that she should ask her mother about that
one before I kissed her cheek, patted Jenna’s arm as I ran past,
and bolted out the door.

I headed downtown to Skin Deep, intending to
surprise Luke. He was supposed to call me when he was done and on
his way back home and I would meet him there, but I figured, what
the hell? Maybe we could leave together if he got done before
Brandon and I would just let him use my car to get home in.

I parked the car and headed inside. There was
a young couple waiting in the lobby and I smiled at them as I
walked past the counter and headed toward Luke’s studio. I froze in
the open doorway as I surveyed the scene before me.

A colorfully tattooed and artfully pierced
woman was leaning into Luke’s chest, her arms wrapped around his
neck, and Luke’s hands were on her hips. She was a couple inches
taller than me, her arms sleeved in bright colors, her eyebrow,
lip, and nose pierced, and she was built like a wet dream. (Well,
what I imagined would make a man have a wet dream…what? Its better
than a brick shithouse!) She had long black hair, deep brown eyes,
and she was gorgeous, exotic looking, and
putting her lips on
Luke
!

My stomach flipped and my heart thudded
painfully in my chest as I spun on my heel and raced for the front
of the shop. I ran into Brandon as he was coming out from behind
the counter and he grabbed my shoulders, frantically asking me what
was wrong. I hadn’t realized I was crying until he asked me why I
was, but I didn’t answer.

I wrenched myself away from him, running flat
out for the door as I heard Luke shout my name behind me. I threw
myself into my car and tore out of the lot, trying to force myself
to not look back, but I didn’t listen. I saw Luke run out into the
street behind me in my rearview mirror, watching as he threw his
arms up in the air and then hung his head before I jerked my eyes
away from the mirror to try to concentrate on the road.

My cell phone began to ring in my purse on
the seat beside me and I ignored it. Without realizing it, I found
myself in the parking lot of Allie’s shop. I wiped the tears away
as best I could and walked inside.

I waved and shook my head at the girl ringing
someone out at the counter when she stared at me in concern,
opening her mouth to say something. I found Allie in her office
going through some boxes that someone had apparently brought in as
a donation. She looked up at me in surprise, a smile beginning and
quickly fading from her face as she took in my appearance.

I’m not a pretty crier, never have been.
Women in movies cry pretty, their faces don’t get red, their noses
don’t run…why can’t it be like that in real life? When I cry, my
eyes swell and become bloodshot and demon red, my face turns
splotchy, and my nose runs like a faucet. I can’t hide it when I’ve
been upset.

Without a word, Allie dropped what she was
holding in her hands, walked over to me, and enfolded me in her
arms, rocking me slightly from side to side. I buried my face in
her shoulder, letting the tears fall uncontrollably for a few
minutes before they subsided into hiccupping little sobs.

She pulled back from me, wiping my tears away
with her thumbs before asking, “What happened, sugarbear? Tell
Auntie Allie…”

I gave her the short version of the story and
without a beat she went out front and shut her store down for the
day. I followed her to her house, still blinking away the tears,
and ignoring my phone that had been ringing nonstop.

Allie and I sat curled up on the couch
together with huge portions of our special sundaes in our hands.
She shook her head at me as if trying to understand and began
asking questions again.

“So you walked in and saw her kiss Luke?”

I nodded pathetically, taking a big bite of
ice cream and wine cooler even though I felt like getting sick.
“She had her arms all around his neck and everything and his hands
were on her hips.”

“Emma, maybe it wasn’t what it looked like?”
she said hesitantly.

I shook my head and glared at her. “No, it
was exactly what it looked like! I trusted him, Allie! I let him
get under my skin after I even told him I didn’t think it was a
good idea. I…I told him I loved him, Allie. He told me that he was
different, that he wanted me, that I was his. But I’m stupid. I
knew better! I knew that I’d end up getting hurt. He’s just like
Douche Bag Brad!”

“What did he say when you told him you loved
him?” Allie asked me.

“He said, ‘I know’, that ass! I opened myself
up and that’s all he said! Cryptic caveman douche bag asshole…” I
muttered.

I sat my bowl down on her coffee table,
leaving the remains of my ice cream to melt. I leaned back and
closed my eyes, opening them again immediately when all I saw was
Luke and that bitch standing together. I glanced at my phone,
wondering if I should turn it on again, but deciding that I wasn’t
going to. If my family needed me, they would know exactly how to
find me.

Allie patted my hand and got up to take our
bowls into the kitchen. I heard her phone ring and heard her answer
it, speaking softly to someone on the other line. I pushed myself
up off the couch to go to the bathroom to blow my nose and wipe my
face, but I froze when I passed the kitchen.

“No, Brandon, don’t tell him she’s here.”

I waited to see what else she would say,
wishing I could hear Brandon’s side of the conversation.

“Well, she doesn’t want to talk to him or see
him right now. And I don’t blame her! How could he do-” she cut off
in mid-sentence.

“Yeah, right. You aren’t going to tell
me-”

“Oh, really? Well…I don’t know. You know
what’s going on, you know him better than me. If you say it
wasn’t…”

She was driving me nuts allowing him to speak
over her. I really wanted to hear what she’d been getting ready to
say!

“Okay. I’ll try. I can’t make any promises,
but I’ll call you back.”

“Okay, bye.”

I hurried toward the bathroom before Allie
could turn and see me eavesdropping on her conversation. I heard
her call my name and hollered back at her. She stood behind me in
the doorway of the bathroom and I looked at her in the mirror.

“Emma…”

“What, Allie?”

“Are you sure that you don’t want to talk to
him? Just see what he has to say?” Allie was pleading with me.

“I’m sure. Why would I want to put myself
through that, Allie? Who’s side are you on anyway?” I knew she was
on mine but Brandon must have told her something in order for her
to be trying so hard to get me to talk to Luke.

“Yours, Emma! But I think you should talk to
him! Give him a chance to explain some things to you, that what you
saw wasn’t what you thought it was!” She slapped her hand over her
mouth with a gasp and I narrowed my eyes at her in the mirror.

I turned around to face her, and asked, “Have
you been talking to him? I know you talked to Brandon because I
heard you. Is he putting you up to this?”

“No…well, not really. He asked me to talk to
you to try to get you to listen to Luke. Emma, he explained
everything to me and there’s no way you saw what you thought you
saw. If you don’t want to talk to Luke, at least talk to Brandon,
okay?”

I closed my eyes and nodded, opening them and
grabbing her arm before she could escape. “Brandon! I’ll talk to
Brandon, but not Luke. I mean it, Allie.”

She nodded and pulled away from me, already
digging her phone out of her pocket. About fifteen minutes later,
there was a knock on Allie’s front door and Brandon came in when
she opened it. He strode immediately to my side talking a mile a
minute.

“Emma, I didn’t bring him here, he followed
me. Please don’t be mad at me! I didn’t even know he had run out of
the shop into his car until I pulled up here and he pulled up, too.
I got him to stop outside and let me come in and talk to you first,
but I don’t-”

“Emma!” Luke interrupted Brandon, yelling my
name as he flung open Allie’s door and strode in like he owned the
place. “Emma, sugar, please talk to me!”

He came and knelt in front of where I was
sitting on the couch. I sat back away from him and pulled my hand
away as he tried to grab it in his.

“Luke, I don’t have anything to say to you. I
saw enough for myself, thank you.” My voice was icy but it was
taking everything I had in me not to break down and cry at the
sight of him there in front of me. Damn him for being so fucking
gorgeous!

“Emma, it wasn’t what you thought it was. I
promise, baby. Jadalee is a girl that Brandon and I have known for
a long time. She works for me sometimes when she’s in town, which
isn’t that often because she moved down to Miami to open her own
shop. She’s back just for a bit while her mom is having surgery.”
Luke’s voice was soft, cajoling.

“That doesn’t excuse the fact, or tell me
why, you were standing there with your hands on her, her hands on
you, and her lips on yours, Luke! Seriously! How stupid do you
think I am? I’ve been through this before with Douche Bag and you
knew that! I refuse to let that happen to myself again.”

“Seriously, it wasn’t what you thought it
was, even though I wish it was,” a snarky voice said from the
doorway.

Every eye in the room flew to the front door
where the dark haired bitch was standing, leaning nonchalantly
against the jamb like she belonged there. I let out a gasp and
watched as a million things happened at once.

Allie’s faced darkened with rage and she took
a step toward the front door; Brandon jumped to intercept her. Luke
sprang to his feet, his mouth opening and closing like a fish, and
I sat there in stunned silence, wondering what the hell I’d done to
deserve this.

Jadalee pulled away from the door frame and
wandered over to the couch where she plopped herself down by my
side. I glared at her before transferring it to Luke, who had
fallen to his knees in front of me again.

He gently took my hands in his before saying
softly, “I know you don’t want to see her, and I really was not
intending on her walking in here like she owned the place,” his
voice hardened and he glared at Jadalee before continuing, “but I
didn’t do anything wrong and she’ll tell you that. Brandon can tell
you, too.”

Jadalee rolled her eyes and said, “He really
didn’t do anything. In fact, if you’d stuck around long enough, you
would have seen that his hands were pushing me off of him. I had
just come in and had given him a hug. Yeah, so I tried to kiss him,
but so what? We’ve done way more than that before-” she broke off
at Luke’s growl, shooting him a cheeky smile.

Luke started talking before she could dig
herself, and him, deeper. “Yes, before you ask, we had done things
in the past, but that’s what it is, Emma. The past. One I told her
implicitly would not be happening. Ever. Again. Because I am so
completely and totally in love with my girlfriend.”

I felt the tears brimming in my eyes spill
over and beginning running down my cheeks and he reached up to wipe
them away. “Emma, I love you. Haven’t you figured that out
yet?”

“Well you sure have a funny way of showing
it, asshole,” I muttered, pushing his hands away from my face and
wiping my eyes with my sleeves.

“I’m sorry I hurt you, sugar. Forgive me?
Please?”

I closed my eyes against the pleading, yet
hopeful look in his, and whispered, “I love you, Luke. But I just
need to think for a minute, okay?” I opened my eyes and looked at
him, watching as his face brightened for a brief second before it
fell.