Read Online Bare-Naked Lola (A Lola Cruz Mystery) by Melissa Bourbon Ramirez - Free Book Online Page B

Loca . First of all, I did not come all this way to the ritzy part of town only to sit in the car with your dog. No way. If this is how the other half lives, I wanna see it. Like up close and personal. And second of all, I want to see what kind of woman lands herself a professional basketball player. I mean, it didn’t work out so good for Vanessa Williams, if you know what I mean, and what about Kobe Bryant? ’Course that’s the Lakers, so that may be the problem, but I think they’re all serial cheaters. I mean, what about Wilt Chamberlain?”
    “But look at Lamar Odom—”
    Reilly wagged her finger at me. “Oh no, don’t even get me started on Lamar and Khloe. They’re bucking the odds.” She rapped her knuckles on the car’s plastic interior. “Knock on wood.” She kept talking, as if I hadn’t interrupted.
    “So if your girl…Rochelle, right?” I nodded, and she went on, working herself into a tizzy. “If your girl Rochelle landed herself one of the few monogamous players out there, I just want to take a gander at her, entiendes ? You cannot make me stay out here. Uh-uh. No way.”
    “So what about climbing the fence?” I asked her, but I knew the answer. Exercise wasn’t one of her favorite pastimes. Yes, she was usually game for any sidekick P.I. duty, but that didn’t mean she was willing to risk her freedom by breaking into the gated community in broad daylight.

    “Uh-uh, no way,” she said again, and then she flashed me a flirty grin. “I save my athleticism for my teddy bear.”
    Salsa’s floppy ears perked up, but I peered at Reilly and said, “ ¿Qué dices? No, no, no.T.M.I.”
    She shrugged. “I’m just saying…”
    “A few months ago you were head over heels in love with Antonio. Don’t you think you’re moving a bit fast with Neil?”
    Her mouth gaped open. “No way, chica ! When you know, you know. Antonio was a diversion. He was eye candy. Nothing but a one-night stand—”
    “But you didn’t have a one-night stand with him!”
    “Your brother is smokin’ hot, Lola, but Neil? Neil is the real deal.” She winked and added, “He knows just what to do.”
    “ ¡Ay, ay, ay! ” I muttered, shaking my head. The girl had it bad. “I just don’t want you to be hurt.”
    “Don’t worry about me. I’m good. You just worry about Jack. What happened to him, anyway?” She turned in her seat, staring at me as if I were Jennifer Lopez. “Oh no! You didn’t break up, did you? Oh, tell me you and Jack are together.”
    I patted the air with one hand. “ Cálmate .”
    She rolled down the window of my CRV, sucking in a deep breath. “I’m calm,” she said, turning back to me. “Now, tell me.”
    Poppies growing on the side of the road gave me an idea. I turned onto Auburn Folsom Road and headed back the way we’d come, searching for a grocery store. “We’re not together,” I said, “but we’re not not together.”

    Salsa whimpered in the back as Reilly harrumphed. My peanut gallery. “Um, what does that even mean?”
    Buena pregunta. “Good question,” I answered, and then debated how to answer. “I told you about the Sarah thing. She’s like a disobedient child. Her family keeps coming to get her, but then she goes off her meds and sneaks away—”
    “To Jack,” Reilly finished.
    “ Exactamente .”
    “And he takes her back, or what?”
    “No.” To his credit. I knew he was trying to cut ties, but the girl was crazy. “He’s kicked her out.”
    “So what’s the problem? You know he’s into you.”
    Leave it to Reilly to cut to the chase. I gripped the steering wheel, wishing I could avoid the question. In the rearview mirror, I met Salsa’s melancholy eyes. She scooted forward, resting her jowls on the backrest of the seat. Sweet girl. She thought she was human, and sometimes I wondered just how much she really understood.
    “Come on. Spill it.”
    But I didn’t have to, at least not quite yet. I spotted a Bel Air Market and whipped into the