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“Gabe!”
“ ’Scuse me,” he said, giving up on getting the door open and going back to his sprawl. “We could make love righ’ here. Big backseat.”
Cassandra groaned. “How can you—”
“Wha’?” He slapped the leather with his free hand. “Lynn…m’wife and me made Maddie righ’ here.”
“Gabe, I’m not—”
“Wha’?” He took a chug of tequila, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You don’ want my babies?”
It was hard to tell if Cassandra wanted to cry or crack Gabe on the head with that tequila bottle. “I don’t want you like this.”
He didn’t appear to hear her. “ ’S okay. I don’t want babies either,” he declared, then took another swig of liquor. “Proteshun. We’ll use con…con…con…”
“…doms,” Jay put in. “Condoms. So why don’t we get you out of that car, buddy, and I’ll drive you home. We can discuss your favorite brand and preferred size on the way.”
“Triple XL,” Gabe said, getting to his feet so he stood on the back cushions, swaying.
Jay took his tequila and handed it off to Nikki, then he helped maneuver Gabe from the car.
On the asphalt, the drunken man gave the group a serious look and pounded his chest. “Hung like ’n elephant.”
Cassandra rolled her eyes. “Dumbo, that’s what I’m going to call him from now on.”
“Hah.” Gabe staggered to her and slung his arm around her neck. “Funny. Funny Froo’ Loop. Still wanna do you, darlin’.”
“Yeah. I’m sure.” She started leading him in the direction of Jay’s Porsche.
“Really.” He looked over his shoulder, straight at Juliet. “Not like she said before. Any warm body won’ do.”
From what she could see of Juliet’s expression through her car windshield, Marlys figured that finding her waiting in her Miata outside the Malibu house was the capper on an already crappy day. Instead of pulling into the garage, Juliet turned off her car in the driveway. Poised for a quick getaway?
As she exited her seat, Marlys’s dog leaped out and ran for the driver’s side of Juliet’s where he hopped around like a pogo stick. When she emerged, Blackie threw himself against her.
Juliet shook her head as she made her way up the path to her front porch with seventy pounds of canine doing his unintentional best to trip her up. “Marlys, you need to put Blackie on a leash.”
“He was hoping you were someone else.”
Juliet’s progress hitched a little, and Marlys cursed herself for the slip. She didn’t want to think of Dean. She really didn’t want Juliet thinking she was thinking of Dean.
Marlys wasn’t weak like that. And she didn’t pine after something she’d deliberately sabotaged. Marlys wasn’t stupid like that either.
Tucking the box she carried under her arm, she followed the dog and Juliet into the house, then watched while the other woman turned on lights as she made her way through the shadowy interior. A routine she, too, was familiar with. Woman alone returns home to dark emptiness.
“Where’s Noah?” she asked.
Juliet tossed her purse onto the kitchen counter then glanced over with her freaky, two-colored eyes. “He lives elsewhere. Why are you here?”
Ouch. Marlys’s eyebrows rose. “Gloves are off?”
“What do you think? Dean told us what you’ve done. Seeding the scandal sheets—good God. And of course you’ve read the latest on the websites about the book party and the ugly accusation you made there.”
“Dean…” She wished she hadn’t said the name. It lingered on her tongue, sweet, like a Lifesaver, though she didn’t think its taste would ever melt away.
Juliet sighed. “Okay, I’m earning my heaven points by asking this, Marlys. Do you want to know how he’s doing? Maybe Jay—”
Marlys snatched at the name. “Jay Buchanan?”
The other woman’s face went watchful. Damn.
She tried her best to look innocent. “You know Jay Buchanan?”
“Yes.” Juliet leaned back against a countertop and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I hear he’s engaged now.”
“Mmm.”
“We went on a date once.”
A smile crossed her evil stepmother’s lips. “From what I hear, you and just about every woman in L.A. went on a date with Jay once.”
Marlys grinned. “From what I hear, too. How’d you meet him?”
Juliet shrugged. “Malibu’s a small place.”
