Chapter 3
So far so good. But the week-long visit had just begun. Dane’s heart wouldn’t last if he didn’t calm the hell down and relax. He had it covered. If Dag dared show up, he’d be ready. Him and his army of friends. Maybe he’d overreacted by calling Jake.
But maybe not. There was something about the prospect of seeing a boyhood friend that made life seem real.
He watched Shana help Sassy and Ronnie set the table.
His mother came up beside him. They stood together in the front hall.
“I’m glad I came out of hiding.”
He bristled. “You’ve been free to—“
She shook her head and squeezed his arm.
“I’ve been in hiding because I wanted to be. I was content. I have my family—Sally and wonderful neighbors and friends and a very nice life. And my treasured son even visited me now and again and delighted me.”
“But?”
“It’s time I ventured out to see some people. You—and Shana—especially Shana—are first on my list, but I’m…”
“You’re going back.”
She nodded.
“Yes. I’m going back to California. I want to see some of the people I left behind. Call it my bucket list if you will.”
He nodded. He understood even as his gut rolled in turmoil. Told himself to cross one bridge at a time.
“Who are you visiting?”
“Chief Paulson.”
The dip of the rollercoaster in his gut made him pause. He couldn’t pretend to be surprised
“Did you call him?” He spoke calmly.
“Yes, and he reacted the same way you did, but I prevailed on him and he said he and his wife would welcome me, even if it meant he had to hire security.”
“When did you call him?”
“After I spoke with Shana.”
“Two days ago.” His mind spun as he took in her words.
There was no question that Dag had a bead on Paulson. He’d already attempted to kill the Chief once. Dag had pegged the chief high on his list for revenge because Paulson had helped put him away twice and because Paulson had been a mentor to Dane, not like a father, but maybe like an Uncle.
And Dag knew it.
Trying to keep paranoia at bay, to keep cool and rational, Dane ran through the possibility in his head of Dag being able to find out about his mother’s call. It wasn’t like Dag was the NSA.
But Dag did have an insider in the California office of a major phone company. Dane discovered this after the attack on Paulson.
Calm down. It had been too many years.
“Let’s eat.” Shana said to them as she carried a dish of steaming food past them.
She escorted her mother to the patio out back.
They all went out back. Dane needed to find out where Dag was.
Fast. But first he needed to be there for his mother.
She held onto his arm, clutching tightly like she knew he needed to be held in place. Like she needed him to be present.
“Let’s see if we can all fit around this pitiful table,” he said.
He was the last to take a seat. He took the chair next to his mother and when he sat, close enough to smell that scent that uniquely identified her, the surreal, altered-universe feeling hit him again.
He knew it wouldn’t be the last time, but he could get used to it, the familiar yet foreign feelings mingling.
The feeling that he was his older self and younger self at the same time.
“You know what I’d love to do? Go to a beach tomorrow and watch you surf,” his mother said to him. “And you too, Shana.” She smiled at them both
“I’m not a kid anymore. What makes you think I still surf?”
“It’s in your soul. You telling me you don’t?”
“No.” He only hesitated a millisecond. “I’ll take you to my favorite spot tomorrow.”
“I’m game—I haven’t been surfing in a while.
” Shana’s smile didn’t fool him. He knew she was challenging him, but he didn’t stop her.
He forced himself to relax. Maybe they could have a regular visit.
Maybe his mother could play tourist and he could be her guide.
Maybe the week would pass without incident.
Tilly said, “Shana? You’re going to surf? But I thought—”
“I’m over it, Mum. Besides the waves here are mild. It’s like going back to training wheels.”
Dane threw a pea at her. “Suffer through it.”
“Did you just throw food?” Shana said.
His mother laughed and then so did Tillie. Maybe he had reverted to being a kid again.
They’d almost finished with the take-out feast when Dane heard the approach of a car.
He stood and went around the corner toward the back door, ready to throw the switch for the electronic deterrent system—not unlike the electric fences used for dogs except his was built into the frame of his house and it was people-strong.
Checking around the edge of the house, he released his breath and stepped out onto the driveway.
Sam pulled his Land Rover to a stop behind Cap’s car. Dane would know his vehicle anywhere. The license plate read Genrl2. Before he got out, Jake pulled in behind him in a taxi.
Dane trotted down the driveway past Cap and shouted.
“You should have called to warn me. I damn near electrocuted you.”
Cap swung his door open.
“Take it easy. I’ve got it all under control. I checked the plate and had my weapon ready to fire.”
They all turned to watch Jake, unfamiliar to Cap, pay the cab driver and turn to face them. Dane couldn’t help his grin. It had been fifteen years since he’d seen his old high school buddy and he still looked like the California surfer Dane had left behind.
Leading with his signature sunny smile and outstretched arms, Jake advanced on Dane, leaving his bag on the street.
Dane passed by Sam with a fist bump on the man’s shoulder and went forward to meet Jake. The embrace felt like returning to his youth, as if the clock had magically ticked back to their high school years when everything that happened caused meteoric dents in their souls.
“So this is the place holding the legend that is Dane Blaise,” Jake said as they separated.
Sam spoke up. “You mean Dane the Demon Blaise. As legend has it.”
Dane reintroduced the two.
“It’s been a while Sam.” Jake nodded.
Although Jake normally liked people and oozed good will, Dane knew he’d reserved judgment on Sam.
The image of Sam, the troublemaker high school kid who’d hung with Dag before he went away to juvie, had permanently tarnished his image in Jake’s mind.
Jake hadn’t experienced having his life saved by the grown-man version of Sam the way Dane had.
He knew Sam would be wary and quiet.
“A lot of water under the bridge,” Sam said.
The two didn’t shake hands.
Sam turned to Dane. “Where’s the girl I hear tell of? That’s who I want to meet.”
“The girl?” Jake flicked his brows up and down in a challenge. He’d always been on Dane to settle down and get married. Every one of the half dozen or so conversations he’d had with his old friend since, well, since Sarah, had ended the same way.
“The girl is my partner and don’t let her hear you calling her a girl or you’ll end up on your ass. She barely tolerates me calling her ‘girlie.’”
“You don’t call her that, really?” Jake half laughed.
“She needs to be kept humble somehow.”
“Let’s go inside.” Jake started for the back door.
“Is the electronic deterrent system wired?” Sam asked.
Jake stopped and turned.
“Don’t ask,” Dane said. “Point of contention. Not for now.”
“Wired?” Jake’s sunny face dimmed a fraction.
Though it was barely eleven p.m., Dane was in bed.
He’d been determined not to expect Shana to return to spend the night with him.
In his bed. If she were smart she’d stay with her mother at Mrs. Jones’s Home-Away-From-Home motel.
But when he heard the screen door open he took a deep breath and knew he’d done the right thing not turning on the electronic guard.
He listened as Shana walked, not quite soundless, down the hall to his bedroom. To their bedroom. His heartrate wasn’t the only thing that picked up when she pushed the door open and stepped inside.
He rolled onto his side, naked beneath the sheet, and looked up at her.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“I made a promise to some ungrateful so-called legend.”
“You always keep your promises.”
“I’m very careful about making promises.”
“I know. So am I.”
She sat on the edge of the bed and pulled the T-shirt over her head, exposing her breasts glowing white in the moonlight. Dane felt pleased about his one-way windows that allowed the light and the view in, but let nothing out.
“What are we talking about, Dane?”
His chest tightened. He couldn’t bear to talk about them, their relationship, the promise he knew he owed her. The one she’d almost made to him. Their reluctance to promise anything to each other that smacked of commitment, as lovers. As more.
He spoke deliberately, but softly. This was private and he had no wish to make it otherwise. “We’re talking about your promise to second chair my mother’s protection detail.”
She sighed her disappointment, turning it into resignation.
“Seems like a crowded second chair about now.”
Dane paused while he heard a loud snore from the office where Jake slept and Sam held first watch.
“You’re first. But if—”
“No buts from me. I wasn’t sure you needed—”He grabbed her around the rib cage and drew her to him until his face touched her warm skin, its softness almost surprising because she gave the appearance of being made of porcelain.
He drew her right nipple into his mouth.
Or it could have been her left. Either way, it made him dizzy.
All his blood drained to his cock when he heard her moan of pleasure.
He held the soft heavy weight of her breasts in her hands and sunk his fingers into the giving flesh as he sucked and nibbled.
And bit then licked the salty distended nub of her nipple.
Dizziness legitimately took over and the swelling in his cock and balls drove him to push her back onto the pillows and mess of bed covers.