Chapter 40
Liz blushed and scrambled off of Lucky, turning to face Luke. Lucky sat up and ran a hand through his hair.
“Why are you here, Dad?” he asked, ignoring his father’s question.
“Well, something came up with Michael, so Caroline called me and asked me if I could come get Liz, then just as I was about to leave, Nikolas called. Something about Dom. So, I’m here for both of you.” He grinned wickedly, dying to know what happened, if his plan worked.
“Whatever,” Lucky said, standing up. “Just get us out of here.”
“Hey, I thought you’d be happy to see me!” Luke said. “After all, I’m your only ticket out of here. Unless you’d rather stay another night...”
“No!” Liz shouted automatically. “I mean, thanks for coming. We both want to leave, right Lucky?” She looked at him, warning him with her eyes to just go along with it for now, and yell at Luke later.
Lucky sighed, knowing she was right. “Look, we’re tired and hungry, and we just want to go home, okay?”
“Tired?” Luke asked, enjoying every minute of this. “How can you be tired? That bed looks kind of comfy to me!”
Lucky rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure it is, for one person, but not for two!” As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them, because Luke’s eyes lit up at the implication.
“Are you saying you both slept on that bed?” he asked, pretending to be shocked. “Well, with the other one broken, I guess you didn’t have a choice, did you?” He shook his head. “It’s a shame they don’t have better maintenance around here.”
“Can we discuss this later? Say, like, on the other side of the bars?” Lucky asked angrily.
Luke chuckled. “Okay, okay. Hold your horses and I’ll get the guard.” He walked away, shaking his head in amusement. Lucky turned to Liz and sighed.
“I don’t suppose you believe his story about why Carly and Nikolas aren’t here?” he asked.
Liz shook her head. “Not for a second. I can’t believe he would do all of that, just for some stupid matchmaking scheme!”
“Well, that’s my dad for you. He’s nothing if he’s not persistent. Annoying, isn’t it?’
She laughed. “Something like that. At least he means well, I think. He’s just wrong.”
“What do you mean, wrong?” Lucky asked, feeling somewhat disappointed.
“About us. I mean, we’re enemies, mostly. He’d have better luck trying to set me up with your brother.”
“Nikolas?” he asked, trying not to sound jealous. “Why him? Are you attracted to him or something?”
“No, not romantically, he’s not my type. But, at least I like him, and we can be in the same room together without fighting. And I love his daughter.” She smiled at the expression on his face. Was that jealousy? Nah, probably just some macho, competition thing that brothers have.
“Oh, well, I guess that makes sense,” he said, turning to face the bars again. “I hope he didn’t leave us here.”
“He wouldn’t do that....would he?” Liz said, a hint of worry in her voice, as she walked over to stand next to him.
“I told you, he’ll do anything if he’s really dedicated to something. Leaving us here would be going too far, though, so I can only hope he knows better.”
“Okay, kiddies,” Luke said loudly, coming back down the hall with one of the guards. “You’re free again. Just try to stay away from private property from now on, huh?” He smiled innocently at them, knowing full well that they had him figured out already.
“Good one, dad, try to play dumb,” Lucky grumbled, stepping quickly out of the cell. “We both know you were behind the whole thing, so you might as well give up the act.”
Liz stepped next to him, happy to be free again. Luke looked at both of them, putting on his best shocked face. “Moi? Now, why would I want my own son in jail? And Liz? She’s like a daughter to me, that would just be cruel!”
“Come on, Elizabeth,” Lucky said, shaking his head in frustration. “Let’s get out of here before he finds a way to keep us in that cell!” He started for the door, and Liz quickly followed, turning to look back at Luke one last time. He smiled sweetly and waved, trying to keep from laughing until they were gone from sight.
~*~
Lucky came out of his bathroom after taking a long, hot shower, and flopped down on his bed, sighing in relief. “Finally!” he muttered, sinking into the soft pillow for a long-awaited nap. He tossed and turned a few times, trying to get comfortable, trying to block out the memory of Elizabeth laying beside him.
“Stop it!” he softly scolded himself. “If you keep thinking like that, Dad’s going to win!”
After a few minutes of unsuccessfully trying to fall asleep, he groaned and got out of bed, walking into the kitchen. If he couldn’t sleep, at least he could eat. He opened the fridge and looked around for something that wasn’t expired, but was interrupted by a soft knock on the door. He walked over and opened the door, wondering who would be visiting him.
“Charisma!” he said, surprised. She looked him over, smirking at his state of undress: he was only wearing a pair of sweatpants, nothing else.
“Expecting someone else?” she teased, brushing past him into the small apartment.
“Please, come in,” he said sarcastically, shutting the door and turning to face her. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, I heard about your little adventure last night, and wanted to make sure you were all right. So, what happened?” Charisma sat on the edge of his bed and smiled innocently. She pretty much knew what happened already, but wanted to hear what he would have to say about it.
“Nothing,” he answered, sitting in a chair. “My dad set Elizabeth and me up to get arrested and thrown in the same cell for the night. I don’t know what he thought would happen, but whatever it was, it didn’t.”
She chuckled softly. “You and Liz in a jail cell together, overnight? That must have been interesting. I’m surprised you didn’t tear each other’s eyes out.”
He shrugged. “We pretty much slept the whole time, so we wouldn’t have to deal with each other.”
“Really? Who was on top?” she asked, trying not to laugh.
“What???” Lucky shouted, horrified by the question.
Charisma laughed and shook her head. “I was talking about the beds. Don’t they use bunkbeds in prison? I just wanted to know who took the top bunk! You need to get your mind out of the gutter, Spence!”
Lucky blushed, feeling silly for jumping to such a conclusion. “Oh, well, no, they weren’t bunk beds, they were on opposite sides of the cell.”
“So you pretty much avoided each other the whole time?”
“Um, actually, one of them broke, so we had to share the good one,” he said quietly, wishing she would just go away.
Charisma grinned. Now they were getting to the good stuff. “You shared a bed with her? Wasn’t that sort of awkward?”
“Not really. We’re adults, you know, we can share a bed without there being anything...sexual... about it.”
“Hey, who said anything about sex?” she asked. “I just thought it would be awkward with her shoulder being injured, that’s all.”
Lucky frowned, realizing he had just set himself up for that. “Right, well, she slept on her side, so it was okay. Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but I was getting ready to take a nap, so are you done grilling me yet?”
She smiled and stood up from his bed, her mission accomplished. “Tired, huh? I thought all you did last night was sleep!”
“Oh, well, it wasn’t a good sleep. You know, strange place and all.” He walked with her to the door, ready to push her out if he had to. “Good bye, Charisma!”
She chuckled and stepped out into the hallway. “Night, Spence. Sweet dreams!”
Lucky slammed the door and groaned. Why couldn’t everyone just leave him alone?
