Nikki Worrell - The Enforcer (NHL Scorpions)

“Amen to that. But they’re yummy, too.” Lacey needed to get out of there, and Zoe needed something else to occupy her mind. “Let’s go shopping, Zoe. We can walk around downtown and hit some of the boutiques.” She was not going to sit home all day waiting for Steven to show up, and Jody wasn’t picking her up until five o’clock.

The girls decided to take the trolley instead of driving. The trolley was just two dollars each way and ran right past Zoe’s house.

The first shop they stopped in sold upscale cocktail dresses. Even though Lacey wasn’t looking for those kinds of clothes, she was starting to like wearing dresses and wanted to try something fancy on. She noticed that Jody couldn’t keep his eyes off her legs when she wore her sundress, and she had to admit, it was empowering. Her views had changed on her ‘no dresses’ rule. She used to believe that women looked weak when they wore dresses – like they needed a man around. But now Lacey felt dresses just may be a woman’s strength. She drew the line at heels, though. Sandals or flats only for her.

Zoe walked over to a little red number and held it up to Lacey. “Oh my God, Lacey, you have to try it on. You’d bring Jody to his knees wearing this!” Lacey stared at the dress in horror. There was nothing to it. She could never wear it in public, but she tried it on anyway, otherwise, Zoe would never have left her alone.

The dress (if you could call it that) was open in the front to just above her belly button. Strands of rhinestones that left most of her breasts exposed held the two sides of it together. “Zoe, get in here!” When Zoe was in the dressing room with her, Lacey asked, “How the hell do I keep my boobs in this?”

“Well, you tape them to keep them pushed up since you can’t wear a bra, and we’ll put that non slip tape stuff they sell so that the material doesn’t slip. Sexy you want, but you don’t want to have a nipple peek out at the wrong time.” Zoe had seen busty girls tape their boobs before when they couldn’t wear a bra.

“Tape them? You’re insane. Besides that, do you see the slit up the side? It comes all the way up to mid-thigh. And look at the back!” The back of the gown was held together by three thicker strands of rhinestones that hung on her back like a waterfall, and it was cut all the way down to just above her ass. If she sat down, she’d be showing more than she’d want to. “I’m not even sure Jody would like this. Remember his little issue? This dress will draw entirely too much attention.” Lacey wasn’t tooting her own horn, but she would definitely be noticed in the dress.

“I think that may be the best reason of all to buy it. Think of it as therapy for him.” In the end, Zoe convinced her to buy the dress and also a pair of black heels. Lacey agreed to buy a pair of two inch heels and no higher. She’d fall flat on her face if she tried anything higher. Of course, Zoe picked out shoes for her with straps that wrapped around her leg and went about two inches above her ankle. Lacey had to admit, she felt like a sexy vixen in the dress and shoes, but the outfit set her back almost four hundred dollars.

With her bags in hand, they left the store. “I cannot believe I let you talk me into buying this. Where in the hell am I even going to wear this stuff?” Thinking about Jody’s reaction to the outfit, she couldn’t help but want to show him. “I’m going to have to make him take me to some swanky restaurant.”

Zoe agreed. “It won’t be a hardship for him. You could ask him to take you to the moon, and he’d try to book a flight. The man has it bad.”

They walked around a little while longer, and Lacey bought another new outfit for the skating party. When it was close to two o’clock, they headed back to the trolley stop. That’s when they saw him. Steven was following them.

Zoe saw him first. When Lacey followed Zoe’s gaze, she almost dropped her purchases. Part of her honestly thought he was going to stay in London. What should they do? He was pretty far away on the other side of the street. A trolley was just starting to leave when Zoe yelled at it to wait. They ran as fast as they could and got on the trolley, leaving Steven trying to cross the street to get to them. And he looked pissed.

“Shit. I was hoping against hope that he wouldn’t come back. I don’t feel so brave anymore, Zoe. What should we do?”

Since her bravado had left the building, Lacey gave in and called Jody.

“Hi Lace, everything okay?” It had taken every ounce of self-control Jody had (and some he didn’t) for him to stay away from Lacey all day knowing that Steven was supposed to be back.

“Well, here’s the thing. Now don’t freak out.” Okay, maybe she shouldn’t have said that. As soon as someone says something like that, the person tends to do exactly what he or she was told not to do.

Hearing the uncertainty in Lacey’s voice, Jody grabbed his keys and headed out the door. “Where are you, Lace? Don’t argue with me either, just tell me where you are.”

For once, Lacey didn’t mind Jody’s tone of voice. “Zoe and I are on the trolley on our way back to Zoe’s. We went shopping in town and saw Steven. I guess he was following us. Apparently, I’m not a brave as I thought, so I called you.” A part of Lacey hated herself for her weakness. Calling Jody could backfire on all of them. He was like a ticking time bomb where Steven was concerned.

“I want you to stay on the phone with me until I get to you. I’m on my way to Zoe’s. If you don’t see my truck when you get to your stop, just keep riding the trolley, okay?” Jody hoped for once that Lacey would just do as he said. He admired her independence (well, most of the time), but this wasn’t the time to be stubborn.

When she immediately agreed, Jody felt his heart twist. Lacey wasn’t afraid of anything. She was always full of attitude, and he didn’t like to hear the fear in her voice. He was going to beat that piece of shit into the ground. He really hoped Steven was stupid enough to show up at the house.

Jody was already at Zoe’s by the time the trolley pulled up to its stop, and the girls stepped off. There was no sign of Steven yet. As they were walking up the stairs to the door, they heard another car pull up fast and a door slam. Jody told them to get into the house.

“Wait Jody, we don’t know if he’ll actually do anything. You can’t just attack him.”

“The hell I can’t. No one gets away with threatening my girl.” Lacey just knew Jody was going to do something stupid and get in trouble. This was such a mess.

The driver of the car came into view, and they saw that it was not Steven. It was Vlad.

Ignoring both girls, Vlad walked over to Jody. “Did he show up?” Vlad got tired of waiting for something to happen and decided to go sit guard at Zoe’s.

“No, but the girls saw him in town. He’s either still in town, or he won’t come near because we’re here. Let’s go in and see if he’ll come. I’d like to get this prick taken care of for good.” When Jody and Vlad walked up the stairs to go into the house, Zoe stopped Vlad with a hand to his chest.

“Thank you for your concern, but I don’t need you here, Vlad. I want you to leave.” Vlad didn’t answer her. He simply picked her up, slung her over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold, and walked into the house. Zoe was kicking and screaming, but Vlad continued up the stairs and flopped her down onto the first bed he saw. She propped herself up on her elbows, but Vlad gently pushed her back down and covered her body with his.

“Get this into your head, Zoe Millis. I know we can’t be together, but I’m not going to stay home and watch TV when I know someone is around who might hurt you. Got it?” Before she had a chance to answer him, he grabbed her hands, pinning them above her head, and kissed her senseless.