Chapter 18
18
I woke up and Kai’s side of the bed was cold. I wasn’t surprised; it was that way yesterday morning, too. Mr. Muscles was out exercising, which I totally applauded considering the body it created.
However, it sucked that it was so early and I couldn’t call Sue and tell her everything that was going on with Kai. I know I should have felt bad for her that she had dental surgery yesterday and couldn’t talk, but I felt more bad for me that I couldn’t tell her everything. I was totally a bad friend. I picked up my phone and decided to text. She had her phone on do-not-disturb until seven in the morning, so it wouldn’t hurt that I was texting her at five forty-five.
Sue - A good friend wouldn’t have had dental surgery the day somebody tried to kill me and I had spectacular sex with an Army Special Operator with lots and lots and lots of muscles and a really, really, really big muscle. We’re through. – Signed your friend Marlowe.
That should garner me a call .
I hopped out of bed and got into the shower. I liked the bath shower gel that they had here better than the stuff that I used. I was so buying some from their gift shop before we checked out. I stopped mid-scrub. I still had no idea as to what Kai’s plans were for the future. He said he wasn’t planning on leaving anytime soon, and he wanted to know if I could handle the life of a special operator. But what did that matter, it’s not like he was going to be one of those anymore. I started in with my loofah again. At this rate I wouldn’t have any skin left.
I really needed to go with the flow, except that wasn’t really my personality. I liked to control things if I could; of course, if I couldn’t, then oh well. Kind of. Like Denny. He was a monster that required counseling. I didn’t foresee anything about Kai forcing me into counseling. Long talks with Sue? Yes. Counseling, no.
By the time I was out of the shower and had my hair blown dry, I’d received two phone calls and three messages from Sue. I looked at my watch.
Perfect. We should have at least forty-five minutes before Kai gets back .
“I’ll take the Colt 45, the AK-47, and the Glock 17.”
The gray-bearded gentleman working behind the counter looked me up and down. “How long were you in the service, son?”
“Didn’t make it to my fifteen. Injury.”
He nodded.
“You need this much firepower?”
“I sincerely hope not, but I believe in being safe rather than sorry.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He lisped from the tobacco in his mouth.
“Can you go to the law?”
“I’m down in Jasper Creek. Good sheriff there, name’s Nash Rivers. He’s on it. But this is my woman. Like I said, I just want to keep her safe.”
He nodded slowly. “Sound thinking. Let me get you loaded up with ammo.”
I watched as he took out box after box after box. I grinned.
“I’ll ring you up over here.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Keep her safe, that’s all the thanks I need.”
I went out to my truck. I’d already had a toolbox installed in the bed of the truck, so I dumped most of my purchases in there, but kept out the Glock and four magazines. It was overkill, but again, I hated the idea of being sorry.
Now I felt good about taking Marlowe back to the house.
“Darn,” Marlowe said with a pout.
“What, Sweetheart?”
“I figured with you gone that long, you would have really built up a sweat. Sweat is right on up there with scars.”
I laughed. “Sorry, I had some things to take care of in Knoxville.”
“What things?”
“I wanted to make sure I had a gun in case somebody decided to pay us a visit when we stayed at your place.”
“Well, I have a gun. You should have asked.”
I frowned. I wasn’t expecting that. Not a schoolteacher.
“Don’t give me that look. My dad was in the Navy, remember? He taught me and my sister how to shoot. He thought having a gun was a smart thing for a woman on her own. I agree. And before you ask, yes, I know how to use it, and I used to go to the gun range on a regular basis, I just haven’t found one around here.”
“What kind is it?”
“Sig Sauer P365.”
“Not bad.”
“We’ll go out to the range next week. After your bruise heals.”
“Yeah, I can think of better things for us to be doing in the meantime.”
“Let me guess, visiting Chaos.”
She sucked in her lower lip, and I smiled.
“At the moment, that is number one on my list, but just by a smidgeon. Normally making love with you would be number one.”
“Glad to hear it was a close call.”
“Speaking of calls, I talked to Kizzie. She said that Chaos isn’t eating well. I want to stop by my house before going over to the vet’s and get Chaos her food. Can we do that?”
“Sure.”
“Thanks.” She stepped up and kissed my jaw, but I wasn’t letting her get away with that. No way. I pulled her into my arms and gave her the kiss I’d been dreaming about all morning long. Marlowe caught fire in my arms, and I was in heaven.
“When you said get her food, you know I just thought you were getting some cans of special dog food, don’t you?”
“Yeah.” I poured some of the pumpkin puree into the mixture of ground chicken, fish oil, steamed vegetables, and rice. Kai came into the kitchen and put his chin on my shoulder.
“Do you cook all the meals you make with this kind of precision?”
“For just me? No. For someone else? Definitely.”
“How much longer is this going to take?”
“We’re close to the end,” I promised him. When it was almost done, I added a quarter of a teaspoon of cinnamon and a tablespoon of sugar.
“What in the hell did you just put in there?” Kai demanded to know.
“Chaos loves pumpkin pie. I give her a slice every once in a while. That’s why I chose this recipe, because it calls for pumpkin puree. So I add a little cinnamon and sugar, just so she has a little bit more of a taste of pie.”
“You are such a softie,” Kai said as he nuzzled my ear.
Thank God the boiling water part of the process was done already.
“So will you make me special treats when I’m sick?” he asked me.
My heart jolted. The very idea of him being around when he was sick made me joyous. “I don’t know, what kind of patient are you? Are you the stubborn kind who won’t do as they’re told? Petulant? Whiny?”
“All of the above,” he whispered. His breath blew across my neck, giving me goosebumps.
“Then of course I will fix you special treats,” I promised. “I’ll also put a cold compress on your warm brow, and force you to wear an ice pack.”
He didn’t laugh. Instead, his teeth grazed the side of my neck. I looked down in the bowl. Chaos’ food was done. I turned around and put my arms around Kai’s shoulders and lifted my head up for a kiss.
Kai’s head shot up at the sound of the doorbell.
What the hell?
I’d lived here for seven weeks and hardly anybody had come to my house. Why now?
“Stay in the kitchen, Marlowe. Let me see who it is.”
I was shocked to see a gun in his hand.
“Kai, somebody out to kill me isn’t going to knock on the door,” I protested.
“You can never be too careful. Stay where you are, Sweetheart, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
I heard Kai answer the door, and there was some conversation. I heard my name mentioned a few times, and I really wanted to go out there, but I didn’t. I’d promised Kai. The deal was, when you made a promise, you kept it. Full stop.
I heard him before I saw him. Kai came storming around the corner.
“Marlowe, this isn’t a big deal, okay?” He had both hands on either side of my neck. He was looking down at me, his eyes were the color of ice.
That meant something was a big deal. A huge deal.
“What?”
“I need you to come out here. Someone wants to give you a letter. That’s all. Just take the letter and he’ll leave.” I could tell he was trying to contain his anger. It felt like anger on my behalf.
“What’s the letter about?”
“Just take the letter, and let’s get him the hell out of here, and then we can talk about it. Okay?”
I tried to think of what this was about, but Kai was on my side, so I just nodded.
“Okay,” I nodded. “Let’s go get this over with.”
When we got to the door, I saw it was shut. “Where is he?”
“I left him outside.”
“Of course you did. Why don’t you open the door?”
Kai scowled, then opened the door. “Here she is.”
“Are you Marlowe Jones?” the skinny young man asked.
I nodded.
“Do you have ID?”
“She’s not getting ID for you. This is the address, she’s the occupant. Give her the letter,” Kai growled.
The man backed up a step, looked at me, and held out his trembling hand with a letter. “This is for you, ma’am. You’ve been served.”
He looked over at Kai, then dashed down the steps to an old Chevy Nova and drove away as fast as he could.
I felt my heart race. Dammit, this had to be about my lawsuit with Principal Sykes.
“Come on inside, Marlowe. Let’s get you some wine, or tea, or coffee, or something and you can open the letter. Then we can go visit Chaos.”
I started breathing again at the idea of visiting Chaos. But then I felt the paper in my hands. Seriously, what now?
Kai ushered me back into the kitchen. “What is the lady’s pleasure?”
“Just iced tea. Plenty of sugar.”
“Coming right up.”
I ripped open the letter and started reading. The more I read, the more it didn’t make any sense. Kai set the iced tea on the counter beside me.
“Can you read this?” I held out the letter to him.
“Sure.”
I sipped my tea as he read.
“This is weird. This house is obviously Beau’s. Who else could it be from?” Kai asked.
“It says I have twenty-four hours to vacate the premises.”
“Fuck that shit. You’re going to stay where you are. There isn’t a chance in hell that Beau’s evicting you. I just talked to him yesterday.”
Kai turned the envelope over and squinted at the return address. “I think we should call this attorney and see what’s going on.”