Luck Ch. 07

***

Angus didn't feel right about having to put Aries Stark behind bars, so the second he locked that jail cell, Angus was already in the process of trying to have him released. The only problem he had was the judge was being a stickler for the rules, and since Aries had skipped town for such a long time, he was reluctant to release him on his own recognizance

Now that they had pictures of Lana's corpse, they wanted to proceed as a normal homicide case and list her as murdered. Angus knew that was the wrong thing to do, just as well as he knew Lana was indeed alive. Her luggage was gone, all of her jewelry and personal items. Why would Aries take those things? He dam sure didn't need it; he had more money than Lana ever had. Did he do it to make it look as if she had been robbed? If he went to those lengths to make it look like she had been randomly robbed and murdered, wouldn't he be smart enough to at least remove the bloody letter 'A' from the wall? If Lana had indeed marked him as her killer with her last breaths of life than an intelligent murderer would have wiped it away before he even removed the body. There were so many strange angles to this case, so many weird complexities. It also didn't help that the gossip was already spreading, every weirdo within the state was in the police station confessing or accusing. He was also to find out very quickly that the people of their city had their own idea of what had happened and were spilling their guts to every reporter and news crew that asked.

Right now, Angus needed to focus on finding Ms. Lutz, since he was convinced she was still alive and well. He had a few ideas where to look, but he had to be careful and cover his own tracks.

***

"I'm going to see him and that's the end of it," Marz said to Luci, who shook her head.

"That's not a good idea, not yet."

"Bump that, I'm going. What's going on between him and Mimi is between him and Mimi, but he is my friend too Luci, did you forget that?" He asked seriously.

Luci was completely torn; she knew that the two of them had become close friends. Marz was a straight up type of brother who stood by his word, he had met few people like himself in life. Luci had to admit that Jack, despite his little lie about his identity, was also as straight up as they came. Hell, she loved Jack to death, it was hard for her to know he was rotting in jail and not go at least see him. But that was just not possible right now, Mimi would see that as a betrayal and she felt she had been betrayed enough. Luci refused to go there with her, and since Aries was not even allowed to be mentioned in a discussion, she decided to leave it alone for right now and not push it. She knew in her heart Mimi would see things clearly in her own time, she would realize and understand the reasons why Aries had done what he had.

Lyndsy on the other hand was another whole story, she did what she always did; what she felt was best for her friend.

***

"You're taking his side?" Mimi asked, looking at her friend in disbelief.

"No I'm not taking any sides—" Lyndsy tried to reason with an irate Mimi.

"Don't you think you should be taking MY side?" she blurted.

"NO! Your side is making you miserable! Your side is plain old fashioned stubbornness! You know he loves you-"

"How do you know? You don't know him!" she cried, throwing up her hands. "I don't even know him!"

"I do know him—"

"No, everything he said was a lie!"

"You can't fake love, I saw it"

"Yea, well he won awards for those acting skills." She shook her head, "I have to go."

"Mimi!" she grabbed her best friends arm, "I'm done with the 'we'll talk later' shit, I have been your best friend my entire life! You were always the most healthy, happy, positive upbeat girl I'd ever known. Than I watched that girl fade when your father died and your mother lost her mind, than I watched you almost completely fade away when your mother died, but I watched you pick yourself back up AGAIN and brush yourself off and continue with life the best you knew how. You never let life get you down, until that damn fire." The tears ran from Lyndsy's eyes like a dam had broken. "Then I watched you turn into some other girl, some one I don't know, and I can't even recognize my Mimi anymore. Than you met Jack."

"His name is not Jack."

"I could give a fuck what his name is!" she snapped in anger, she was baring her heart here and Mimi was still using only her stubborn part of her brain, well Lyndsy had more than enough of that. "You listen to me and you listen to me good Nomi Larue," she pointed a finger at her best friend, and spoke firmly. "I watched you come back to life, right before my eyes, the one thing I had been praying for, just to have you back to you and now because he lied, because he hid his identity, you go back to worse than what you were before? I will not stand by and silently watch you fade away like your mother!"

"Did you expect me to sit quietly and wait for him?"

"No but I expected you to at least take care of yourself," she returned, waving her hand before her face and frowning in disgust. "Fuck Mimi you stink, you haven't changed your clothes in days, you don't cook anymore and when was the last time you ate? Who are you? And since when do you not let people defend themselves or at least rationally explain why they did what they did? You should have at least given him a chance to talk!"

"Talk about what? The family he left back home when he ran away? Or maybe his pregnant fiancée? Come on Lyndsy what kind of a man leaves their pregnant fiancée? What kind of a man starts another life with another woman when he is expecting a child with his fiancée?" the tears flooded her face unabashed, soaking her shirt.

"I don't believe that she is his fiancée, that woman set him up Mimi."

"Do you know for a fact? How certain are you about anything concerning Aries Stark?" she questioned, then, shaking her head, realized what she was doing. "I'm sorry Lyndsy, I love you more than anyone on this earth, but your wrong about him, he tricked us." She hugged Lyndsy quickly, and then pulled back. "I gotta go, I'll call you in the morning," she said, then walked off.

Lyndsy watched her go before she plopped down in her chair, her head in her hands and her elbows on the table. Mimi had been through a lot in her short life, and Lyndsy had been there through every minute of it with her. There had been a few times when Lyndsy waited for Mimi to crack, but she never did. She was a natural survivor who had been able to bring herself back to form. Until now. It had finally gotten to her, all of it, she had been stripped of her parents, her business, her cat, everything she ever owned and now she felt she had been stripped of the only love of her life.

In return Mimi had always been there for Lyndsy, when ever she needed her, Mimi was always there. Growing up had not been a pleasant experience for Lyndsy and she had spent most of her life with the Larue family. Lyndsy even had her own room, but she and Mimi mostly slept in Mimi's room. Mimi's mother had finally bought another bed and put it in Mimi's room, so Lyndsy would have a bed in both rooms. She always did wonderful little thins like that and since Lyndsy's own mother really didn't seem to care to much, Mrs. Larue basically became Lyndsy's full time mother. She grew up side by side with Mimi and she was much more of a sister than a friend. So if Mimi had spent her childhood trying to take care of Lyndsy, Lyndsy decided after Mimi's father death that she would help take care of Mimi in return.

If only Mimi wasn't so hard headed she would be able to see that love hadn't left her, love was still there, ready and waiting for her to pull her head out of her ass!

***

Rip didn't have many friends in his life. His over zealous drive had intimidated, irritated, and frustrated most of his family, and pretty much any one he had ever dealt with. But despite his loner tendencies, he was not the least surprised to find himself becoming good friends with Aries. Aries really was a stand up guy, a genuine cut above the rest. He also happened to be the most honest person Rip had ever met.

Rip found himself consumed with guilt over many different reasons when it came to Aries. Seeing him now and knowing him, Rip realized Aries wasn't one of the stars who claimed fame was hard and ruined their job, all the while making fuck me eyes to the "hated" camera they constantly posed for.

Listening to this former gigolo speak of a love so true actually had Rip thinking of something other than the fame and riches he had previously been consumed with obtaining. Now Rip found himself actually day dreaming about that type of love, longing for a woman to come home to, to hold during the night, some one to just love. He thought about the day he discovered Aries and Mimi on that porch swing. That was the first day in his life that he realized sometimes true love could actually be seen. He wanted a beautiful curvy nymph to love him like Mimi had loved Aries.

"No- like she STILL loves Aries." he corrected his thoughts, ready to fix the blunder than solve part of the equation of his bad luck.

He knew he had to make things right again, and he knew exactly where to start.

***

"ARIES STARK ARRESSTED AFTER POLICE MAKE A GRISLY DISCOVERY AT LANA LUTZ'S UPPER EAST SIDE APARTMENT"

Was the headline on the front cover of the 'Celebrity skinz' magazine that was face up on the floor and soaked in Mimi's tears.

Mimi lay face down on her bed, her whole body shaking as she sobbed. She had refused to even think of him, she had thought she was doing so well; living day to day without crying had been a major accomplishment for her. She had refused to let the fact that he would go to jail even enter her brain, so she was floored by the news that he was actually arrested. She felt so torn, half of her wanted to run to him, to hold him and tell him he would be alright, that she had his back and she would NEVER leave his side. But the other half felt like the biggest fool for even considering it. The man was engaged, his fiancée was pregnant and living in his house, Mimi had seen all of the pictures of them together on the latest issue of celebrity Skinz. She dropped the magazine, and ran to the bathroom, her nerves so worked up she found her self bent over the toilet.

How could she let him just rot alone in that jail cell? They had shared such an intimately beautiful and meaningful moment together. He had taught her of feelings she never thought she could feel, and he had opened her up to a whole new life. But how did she know if he was even rotting alone, he probably had his fiancée to keep him company. From the pictures of them together, Mimi could see she was a gorgeous woman, just who you would expect a famous celebrity to be engaged to. She was as tall as Aries and as thin as a reed, so different from Mimi. Even though Mimi had lost an unbelievable amount of weight she was still very curvy, she felt insecure and fat compared to the woman who could easily pass for a model. Mimi could not compare, she knew she wasn't glamorous; she didn't even take good pictures!

What was she supposed to do? What if he really loved the woman? She couldn't bear to even think about it. What if he had gone back and taken one good look at her, and forgave her for what ever she had done that made him run away from her? What if he looked at Mimi with those new blue eyes in pity and says to her, "I'm sorry for hurting you Mimi, but I fell out of love with you."

***

He watched the beautiful girl walking up to her front door. Even though she was still a very stunning girl, she didn't look like the same girl he had watched with Aries that day on the porch swing. She had lost a lot of weight; dark circles haunted the eyes that once sparked with fiery-hot golden shards that lit her eyes up like the Sun. Eyes that could warm a man from the inside out while seducing him with her overwhelming love. A dark void had consumed that light, that contagious animalistic light that had illuminated her. Now it was gone and Rip knew she had him to thank for it. If only he had of waited and let Aries tell her the truth himself, he would have put it in a way that soothed her and she would be there by his side now.

"Miss Larue?" Rip asked softly. Mimi, jumped, startled, before turning to look at him. "Can we talk?" he asked. Of course she recognized the man that had shattered her entire world with the truth of her relationship, and the identity of the man she loved. She looked at him suspiciously, her eyes filled with hatred and resentment.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"First I want to apologize to you—" Rip began

"For telling the truth?" she cut him off.

"For telling it the way I did." He looked away from her penetrating eyes, "I should have let Aries tell you."

"Well, it's a damn good thing you did then, considering he never would have. If you'll excuse me—" she tried to step away but Rip laid a stilling hand on her arm.

"Please, just hear me out," he said, the desperation on his face forcing Mimi not to run off.

"Go ahead."

"He was going to tell you, he had all intentions of telling you, that's why he took you away to tell you," He almost stuttered, "but I beat him to the punch."

"He had plenty of opportunities to tell me before that."

"Look, I'm not going to defend what he did, but I do know one thing."

"And what's that?" she asked mockingly

"I know he loves you."

"How do you know?" she asked, hoping he would tell her something she could believe in, she wanted to believe!

"All you have to do is look at him and you can see it," he said, and the simple statement did what yelling friends, depression and anxieties could not, it sunk in. Her tears started to flow instantly. "He's in jail Mimi." He used the name he heard Aries call her. "He really needs you right now."

***

Aries sat at the small table in the visitation room, wishing no one had come to see him. It was too much of a hassle to get a visitor. Besides, right now, all he wanted was to be left alone, he could care less what the hell was going on with the case. As far as he was concerned, he was going to rot the rest of his life away behind bars. Life had been so ridiculous and unfortunate to this date; he expected nothing but a long thick string of unlucky events to continue to plague him.

The guard locked the shackles around his ankles, and cuffed his hands together then walked over to let his visitor in. Aries assumed it was either Rip or Detective Angus, since those were the only people he allowed on his visiting list. He didn't even look up as the guard opened the door, then Rip's familiar rushed steps pounded on the cheap tiled floor.

"I had to let you know, I have a serious lead on Lana's chauffer," he said. He stood to the side of the table not sitting down. Aries looked up to see Rip grinning ear to ear. "I'll be back tomorrow. With good news I hope," he finished, and then stepped away from the table, forcing Aries to look over at him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Aries caught a glimpse of an image so bright and unbelievable he hesitated before turning back to it. He exhaled as his eyes widened, and he tried to stand up but the shackles on his legs wouldn't allow it. He watched in disbelief and awe as she walked over, and sat in the chair across from him. Rip grinned like a happy cat, more than pleased with himself, and then quietly left the room.

Mimi sat across from Aries. Seeing him for the first time in so long had her wanting to burst out in tears, and hysterics, than rush over to him and hold him as close to her as she physically could. He looked like he had been to hell and back, and she just wanted to hold and comfort him. She wanted to tell him she had his back and she would never leave him again. But she would not walk over to him, no matter how badly she craved it. She inhaled deeply, controlling her emotions and trying to get a grip on herself. She wanted answers first.

He stared at her, wanting to break his chains, snatch her up, and kiss her until he felt better. Only she could make him feel better right now, but she was so damn ram headed. Her glowing skin was so warm and inviting, he could smell her from where he sat. He wanted to hold her more than anything, he wanted to strip her clothes off and touch every inch of her body in appreciation. He honestly didn't think she could become any more beautiful than she already was, but she had gone and defied the odds again.

"You look so different," she said, unaware of the slight frown on her face as she looked at him. It was the first time she had seen him in person with out his disguise. Sure she had seen pictures, but they hadn't done him justice. His hair had grown out, and she was tempted to run a hand through his inky locks, but it was his eyes that brought her the most grief and amazement all in one bewildering dose. They were the same eyes that expressed the way he felt about her. He could make her feel so special with just that look, they were exactly the same, but looked so different.

"Do you recognize me at all?" he asked, praying she recognized something.

"A little," she answered, studying his face like one would observe a stranger for the first time, and he didn't like that feeling from her. She had never seen him without his thick beard, so she could only ever imagine what the rest of his face looked like. But she wouldn't tell him that she recognized his lips immediately. She had kissed those full lips so many times; she knew the exact outline, the shade, the feeling. Damn she missed how they felt, like plushy, lush clouds pressing against her lips. "You have hair, you said you were bald."

"You said you didn't care." he answered.

"It's your eyes that are throwing me off," she responded quickly, changing the subject. Then, looking into the crystal blue orbs, she frowned and said, "They're so light, it's strange how a few shades make such a difference."

"You look as beautiful as ever." He changed the subject again, her inspection of him leaving a very unsettling feeling inside of him.

"Who is Jack Smith?" she cut to the chase.

"Just a common name," he answered honestly.

"You didn't kill him or anything did you?" she tried to joke to ease the thick tension, but it only made him feel worse.

"Do you think I killed Brad Lowell too?" he asked.

"I don't know who Brad Lowell is," she shrugged, "and even though you were on the run when you almost crashed into me, and you lied about your name, I don't see you as a murderer." "I'm sorry for lying to you," he said, filled with overwhelming relief—she knew him well enough to know he was not capable of murder.

"Are you engaged to that woman?"

"NO."

"Were you ever?"

"No."

"But the two of you were in a relationship together right?"

"For a short time."

"While we were together?"

"No, it was over between us long before I left, but she kept trying to make things work."

"Is she really pregnant?"

"Yes." He knew what was coming next.

"Is it your baby?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "She was sleeping with a few other men at the time."

"It's a possibility?"

"Yes," he answered, watching for the disapproval to appear on her face.

"Are you in love with her?" she asked, her heart on her sleeve and tears ready to fall.

"No, I've never been in love with anyone but you." Aries looked straight into her eyes, those pale blue eyes shocking her, showing her his love for her regardless of their color. variation in shade could not change the look of love. One perfect clear eyed look to let her know that he was telling the truth. She felt so relieved that she fought to keep the tears at bay.

"Why should I believe a word you say?" her stubborn streak reared its ugly head, yet again.