Chapter Twenty-Two
Saturday morning, Maya had a visitor. When the doorbell rang, she froze. No one knew she was here except Carly. Who could it be? She walked quietly to the door and looked out the peephole to see an elegantly attired blonde that stood on the other side of the door. She wasn’t familiar. Maybe a neighbor?
“Miss?” she called.
Maya’s heart stuttered, and, for one crazy moment, she wondered if the woman could see her through the door.
“Are you home? The security screener said she thought you were here.”
Maya reluctantly opened the door. “Sorry. I was in the back room.”
The blonde nodded and extended a perfectly manicured hand tipped with bright pink nails. “I’m Katie Winslow, Mr. Thomas’ real estate agent.”
“Oh?”
“I came by to see if I could arrange a visit. I have a couple dying to view the place.” When Katie laughed, she flashed straight, white teeth. “I know Mr. Thomas temporarily took it off the market, but they really want something around this neighborhood. They’ve seen the pictures, and they love it.”
Maya stood aside. “Come in, please.”
“No time. Sorry.” Her blonde hair never moved an inch when Katie shook her head. “Would Monday work for you—assuming Mr. Thomas is willing?”
“I’ll be gone by then.” Maya swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m going home later today.”
Katie’s dazzling green eyes sparkled. “Excellent. So your lease is only temporary?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. I’ll contact Mr. Thomas.”
“Okay.”
“Have a nice day.” With a sunny smile that was nearly as bright as the yellow of her shorts suit, Katie hurried off down the hall.
Maya closed the door behind her and had made it halfway to the guest room before she realized she had to stop the realtor from calling Roarke today. She sprinted across the room and into the hallway to arrive at the elevator just in time for the doors to close in her face. She leaned her head against the cool metal and accepted she wouldn’t be able to catch up with Katie Winslow in time.
She trudged back to the apartment with her shoulders slumped. She had to be out within the next couple of hours. Thankfully, most of her things were still in cases. She had only to finish up with her things and arrange for transport to the airport. She hoped she could move up her flight, or she would have a four or five-hour wait at LAX.
***
An hour later, Maya had nearly finished packing her bags when the doorbell rang again. Her stomach jumped with nerves as she anticipated an angry Roarke on the other side. Maybe just a puzzled one. The best she could hope for was the realtor had forgotten something.
She walked to the door and looked through the peephole. Her mouth dropped open, and she fumbled with the lock to open the door a couple of inches. “How did you know where to find me?”
Bobby shrugged. “I followed you the first time you met with Thomas. I took a wild guess that you’d be here.”
She frowned at him. “Shouldn’t you be on the set?”
“We finished early this morning.” His mouth twisted. “Going to invite me in, or does your sugar daddy not allow visitors?”
“I don’t want you in here.” Maya started to close the door.
Bobby pushed against the wood and gained an inch at a time until he had forced his way inside. He took the door from her grasp and slammed it. “You bitch.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“What did you tell Scarpeti?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re babbling about. Now get out of here before I call the police.”
His smile was cold. “You can’t ‘cause there’s no phone here.”
“I have my cell phone.”
“I deactivated your service a couple of days after you left me.”
“You told me to leave.” Maya pushed the hair out of her eyes and wondered why she had bothered to counter his statement. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t wanted to leave him. “Whatever. Just go.”
He grabbed her upper arms in a tight grip. “What did you tell that bastard?”
“Nothing.” Maya tried to pull away, alarmed by the anger that emanated from him.
“Liar.” He shook her. “You musta told him something. He said he didn’t like how I treated you, and he’d heard shit about me.”
“You didn’t get the part?”
“No.”
Maya wrenched her shoulders free. “I’ve only met him once. He figured out what your game is, Bobby. You can’t blame your failure on me. I won’t let you anymore.”
Bobby slapped her. “I didn’t fail,” he screamed at her. “This is your fault. You’re going to fix it.”
“I can’t. I had nothing to do with it.” Maya cradled her stinging cheek. She backed away when Bobby lunged at her. “I’ll scream this place down.”
“These condos have thick walls.” He smirked at her. “Roni and I viewed an empty one in this building a couple of weeks ago. The realtor was quick to point out the level of privacy. We really considered it, but in the end, I decided I couldn’t live in the same building as you and your lover.”
Maya whimpered as she tried to put more distance between them. When her back hit the wall, she cried out. Bobby lunged forward and pressed his face into hers. “Let me go.”
“You have to fix things. I need that role.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Stop lying.” Bobby slapped her again. “I’m not leaving until you undo whatever petty thing you’ve done.”
He pinched her arm. “And you may not leave at all unless you get this sorted out. I’ve got hours.”
“My parents are expecting me. Carly knows where I am.”
“Nice bluff, but I know you wouldn’t go back to that hellhole with lover boy here in L.A., waiting in the wings.” Bobby pulled a cell phone from his pocket and punched in a series of numbers with so much force the phone warbled. “Talk to Scarpeti.” He thrust the phone at her.
She took it reluctantly. Nothing she could say would change the director’s mind. Her only hope was to dial Roarke’s number instead. She whimpered when Bobby pressed his cheek against hers so he could hear the conversation, making it that much more difficult to reach Roarke.
***
Roarke had just gotten out of the pool when he heard the phone in the house ring. He dripped water behind him when he padded into the kitchen to lift the receiver of the nearest extension. “Hello?”
“Mr. Thomas, this is Katie Winslow.”
“Hi, Katie.”
“I wondered if I could show a couple around the condo on Monday?”
He forced back a twinge of regret. It was time to put it back on the market. He had no further use for the place, and the memories would be too bittersweet to revel in. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
“Excellent. Can you be there at one?”
“You need me present?”
“I think this couple will make an offer on the spot. It will facilitate the process if you’re there. I like to have someone around anyway, but the current tenant said she would be gone by Monday.”
Roarke frowned. “Current tenant?”
“Yes. She said she was going home today, and the rental term was ending.”
“What did she look like?”
There was a pause before she answered, and she sounded uncertain. “She had long red hair. Quite pretty. Young…”
“Maya.” Roarke’s mouth moved, but no sound emerged. “She was going home? Did she say where?” To Bobby’s or back to Washington?
“No, Mr. Thomas. Just that she would be gone later today.”
“I have to go.”
“What about Monday?”
“I’ll call you back.” Roarke dropped the phone back onto the cradle, and then hurried upstairs to slide his feet into sandals and throw on a t-shirt. He didn’t even bother to change out of his swim trunks before he rushed from the house and slid onto the cloth seat of the Lotus. He didn’t notice the unpleasant dampness from his shorts as he sped through the afternoon traffic. He focused on his arrival at the condo before Maya left for good. He had to know why she had stayed there, and why she wanted to go home. Most of all, he had to know if they had a chance.
When he screeched to a stop at the curb in front of the building, Roarke yanked the keys from the switch and slid from the car. He didn’t remember to engage the alarm as he ran into the building.
“Mr. Thomas.” The security attendant smiled at him.
He nodded at the young lady. “Do you know if the tenant in my apartment has left yet?”
She shook her head. “Not that I know of. Her visitor hasn’t come down either.”
“Visitor?”
Her smile turned feral. “Sexy guy with long blond hair and a ripped body.”
“Bobby,” Roarke snarled as he hurried to the elevator. Why was he here? Had he come to plead with Maya to take him back? Had Roarke wrongly assumed Maya had left the jerk?
The elevator seemed to creep up the floors, and Roarke barely resisted the impulse to continuously press the “14” button. When the doors finally opened, he sprinted down the hall to his apartment and fumbled with the key as he ran.
To his surprise, he found the door unlocked. His anger and confusion started to fade as he grew concerned. Roarke pushed opened the door and entered the living room. He froze, and his eyes widened at what he saw.
Maya lay on the floor. She appeared to be unconscious. Blood covered her face, and her hair was sticky with crimson splashes. Bobby paced around her while he sobbed into his cell phone and babbled about Maya’s scheme to ruin him, and then begged the other person to stay with him anyway.
A red haze passed over Roarke’s eyes, and he threw himself at Bobby. He knocked the phone from his hand as they both fell onto the carpet, inches from Maya. He grabbed a handful of Bobby’s tank top to lift him. “What did you do to her?”
Bobby’s eyes darted around. “Nothing. I found her like this.”
Roarke’s fist slammed into his face. “I should kill you.”
Tears spilled from Bobby’s blue eyes. He pressed a hand to the cut on his mouth in an attempt to staunch the flow of blood. “Don’t hurt me,” he mumbled through his hand and swollen lip. “I have an audition Monday.”
Roarke fumbled for the fallen phone and grasped the edge of it to pull it closer. He heard a frantic voice on the other end of the line and hung up on her. His hands shook as he dialed 9-1-1.
“What are you doing, man?” There was an edge of panic to Bobby’s voice.
“Calling an ambulance and the cops.”
He shook his head at Roarke. “No, please don’t. They’ll put me in jail.”
Roarke hit him again. “You’re lucky I’m letting them deal with it.” As Bobby sagged against the carpet, the operator picked up. “I need an ambulance at 1427 Flower de Boliva. My girlfriend has been assaulted.”
Once he had hung up Bobby’s phone, Roarke knelt by Maya and felt her neck. A sob ripped past his throat when he found a strong pulse. “Maya, baby, open your eyes.”
She blinked up at him. “Roarke?”
He pulled off his t-shirt to gently wipe the blood from her forehead and eyes. “What did he do to you?”
“Hit me.” She felt weak and half-wondered if he was really there. Her hand trembled as she lifted it to touch his sable hair. “You’re here?”
“Yeah. Katie Winslow called me.” A shaky smile split his face. “She inadvertently let it slip that I had a tenant.”
Maya’s eyes closed as dread swept through her. “I’ll leave. I have a flight…”
He touched his finger to her lips as he heard sirens. “We’ll talk later. Right now, you need a doctor.”
Within minutes, someone pounded at the door, and Roarke reluctantly left Maya to let the two firemen enter.
“Where’s the ambulance?”
One of the firefighters said, “They’ll be here soon. We all answer calls.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Thirty seconds after their arrival, two EMTs entered through the opened door. They were quickly followed by two cops, who insisted Roarke speak to them rather than stay with Maya. He gave a quick statement but broke away from them as he saw one of the EMTs head for the door. “What’s going on?”
“We’re going to take her to the hospital for x-rays. You can ride along if you’d like.”
One of the cops came up behind Roarke. “Have you checked out the other guy?”
“Yeah. He’s groggy, but there’s no need for him to go to the hospital.”
“It’s okay to arrest him?”
“Knock yourself out.” He hurried from the apartment before they could ask any more questions.
Roarke started to go to Maya, but the officer put up a hand. “We’ll need a formal statement.”
“Tomorrow,” Roarke said brusquely. “I’m going to the hospital with her right now.”
The cop sighed. “First thing tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, sir.” Roarke hurried to Maya and the other EMT. “How is she?”
“She’ll be okay. Maybe a broken cheekbone though.”
Roarke’s rage bubbled up once more as he glared at Bobby. A surge of rage filled him, and he wished he had done worse than a couple of punches. “Will she need to stay in the hospital?”
“I doubt it.”
The other EMT arrived with a stretcher, and they carefully loaded Maya onto it. She opened her eyes and reached for Roarke as they pushed her across the carpet. “Don’t leave me.”
He took her hand. “I won’t.” Not ever, he swore silently.