Chapter 10 #2
My head spun with all kinds of madness. It was the perfect kind of chaos I needed. It settled all the crap inside and heightened everything else.
“Please don’t hate me,” he whispered as he lifted me into the air and slid inside me at the same time.
“Don’t hate you?” I railed off, and all I could think of was oh, my God, he’s so large.
I gasped as he filled me then wrapped my legs around him and held on for dear life as he slowed and pushed in further.
Everything went silent in my head as we locked eyes and he stilled for a split second, then he kept going.
My skin heated as my body worked hard to adjust to the delicious intrusion.
My heart pounded so hard I imagined he could feel it against his chest. “Too much?”
I broke out in a delirious smile and shook my head. “No, not too much,” I gasped.
“Good.” He pulled out slightly and slid back in, and my head dropped back to the wall with a happy laugh.
He pumped slow and deep, and with each thrust I felt as though he was feeding me a drug.
Everything felt amazing, and for the first time in forever, I let my guard slip away.
I was truly living in the moment. It had been years since I let myself come first.
I leaned back to look at him, and he smiled, then he hooked my lips and deepened a hard, passionate kiss.
Our bodies were slick as he rubbed against me.
He never slowed or showed any signs of getting tired, then he suddenly swung me around and laid me on the bed.
We never lost our connection, and he picked right back up again devouring my mouth and grinding his hips into mine.
I was out of my mind with lust and needed more.
With all my strength, I pushed his shoulder so he’d roll over, but instead he hooked my arms and lifted me so I sat on his lap and started to thrust from the bottom.
The new angle sparked a whole different feeling, and I screamed in pure pleasure. “Oh, my God, Paul,” I cried as my body built into a tight coil. My nails clawed at his back.
“Say that again,” he ordered, but I was nowhere near listening, so he grabbed my chin. “Say that again.” His look was so serious that my attention locked in on what he asked.
In a low moan I repeated the words. “Oh, my God, Paul.”
His eyes creased as a smile crossed his lips, and I wished I could have read his mind, but in that same moment he leaned in and nipped my neck and it sent me off into a rainbow of colors as one hell of an orgasm took me over.
I screamed, bucked, and shook my way through it.
I didn’t care if the people in the rooms next to us thought I was dying and called the police because in that moment I shed a part of myself and let this man inside my own walls.
I vaguely remembered as Paul tucked me into his side and pulled the blanket over us.
What I did remember was his arms stayed tight around me and the kiss he slowly dropped on the top of my head seemed sad somehow.
I didn’t dare ruin the moment by asking him what was wrong.
He needed this, and apparently, I did too.
Instead, I relished the feel of my tingling body as I fell into one of the best sleeps of my life.
***
My eyes fluttered open to the sun that shone down between the two buildings next door. Instantly, the night before rushed back to me, and I turned to look at Paul. Only the bed was empty. There was a note written on a napkin propped on the nightstand. It told me to look at my phone.
I quickly read the text message that had come in two hours before.
Paul: Sorry to leave but Cole called a meeting. Chili arrived this morning. When you’re up, let me know. We need to talk.
My stomach dropped for a second; did he regret our night together? Happiness immediately replaced the feeling when I read the message right after it.
Paul: I realized how that sounded. I meant the four of us need to talk.
I sent a message back.
Nicole: I’m up, give me twenty.
Paul: Second floor, conference room 3B
I wasted no time and was showered, packed, and out the door under the twenty-minute mark. I found the conference room and was pleased to be greeted by Paul outside the door with a cup of coffee and a pastry.
“Hey,” I stopped myself from leaning in for a kiss, even though my libido didn’t take the cue, “thank you.” I parked my suitcase next to the door and happily took what he handed me.
“I feel like an ass for leaving, but it was an order.”
“I understand. Are you feeling better?”
He broke eye contact with me as he cleared his throat. “Listen, you don’t have to agree to what Cole is going to offer you. For the record, I’m not on board, but I’m being overruled here, so…” He shook his head.
“Um, all right.” Now, that piqued my interest. “Can I go in now?”
He hesitated then nodded.
Cole and Chili smiled at me as I entered the room, and Cole pointed to a chair across the table from him. “Good morning, Nicole. How did you sleep?”
I didn’t risk a glance at Paul. From what I knew about Cole, he’d immediately figure out what we were up to last night. “Fine, thank you.”
“Good. I’m going to jump right into this.” I gave a nod. “First, I want to know, if you had video evidence that could have cleared you from what you were being accused of with Chase, why didn’t you just show it to us right off?”
I spun the coffee cup around between my fingers. “Your word, your reputation, and your trust, mean everything to you, correct?”
“Yes.”
“It does for me too. I told you I would never use a child for a story. I needed you to take my word on that. It took time, but I think you eventually believed me.” I waited for him to answer my suspicions.
“Correct.”
“I need you, all of you,” I looked around at them, “to trust that when I speak, I speak the truth. That’s important in my world as much as it is in yours.
I had every intention of showing you the video, just like how I had every intention of giving you Bruno’s phone when we got to a safe place. ” I gave a light shrug.
“I respect the hell out of that.” Cole glanced at Paul, who kept his gaze on me.
Paul clicked his pen. “I have a question.”
“Sure,” I addressed him.
He leaned back in his seat. “Mike said you were doing a story on his wife Cat, but then you said that the story was pulled because he got what he needed. Was that DEA Agent Glen?”
“Yes.” It was strange for me to speak freely about someone I’d kept secret for years, but now I was legally allowed to.
“He thought Catalina still had ties to her father’s drug business and wanted any information I could find on her.
It only took me a couple of days of digging to realize that she wanted nothing to do with him or the family money.
As soon as I gave him that information, the DEA moved on to one of the cousins. ”
“Right, but you said story, not drug information. So, you were working a story angle on her as well?”
“That’s correct. It was basically turned into a double assignment.
The Washington Post got word I was digging into Catalina and wanted to know if the rumors were real.
That a Cartel daughter fell in love with a US soldier.
It seemed a little too convenient.” His brows pinched as if he didn’t like that comment.
“However, once I started to dig, I saw it for what it was. She was a woman who fell for someone she loved, nothing more. Then once I found out that the man she fell in love with was a Blackstone member, I shut it down quickly. I didn’t want public attention put on Blackstone.
Besides, Catalina deserved to be left alone. She had been through enough.”
“We appreciate that, thank you.” Cole shot Paul a look. “All right, now that we got that cleared up—”
“Actually,” I stopped him, “I have a question.”
“Of course.” Cole waved for me to go on.
I twisted my chair to face Chili, who took a second to look up from behind his laptop. “Chili, you mentioned that you were good friends with Eric Noah.”
I caught Cole give him a quick look, but Chili kept his eyes on me. What was that? Did Cole not know that? No way, Cole knows everything. “I am.”
“‘I am’ would imply present tense, as in he’s still alive.” I raised a brow at him.
“I, ah, was friends with him,” he reworded.
“What was that?” I kept my eyes glued to his. “You hesitated before you answered.”
“It hasn’t been that long since Eric was killed. Sometimes, I slip.”
I chuckled softly. “You guys don’t slip.”
“Did you have another question, Nicole?” Chili’s voice was cool.
I could tell he wanted to slam the door closed on the topic.
I had a pretty good idea that Eric Noah was alive, and for whatever reason, they didn’t want it out there.
I wondered if they were biding their time to take him out.
As a reporter—well, ex-reporter—I understood the ‘need to know’ principle. On the other hand, I was curious.
I squinted at him. “I find it strange that someone like you would be friends with someone as evil as Eric Noah.”
“Is that your question?” I could tell he wasn’t happy with me grilling him.
“No.” I changed directions slightly. “Were the girls I met in the truck taken through the Tunnel of Hell?”
“Yes.”
“So that tunnel is still a working operation?”
“Yes, but you know how it works. They’re returned to the US.” He licked his lips, and I nodded. “Is there anything else?”
I decided to let him loose and backed off. “No, I think I got all I needed for now.”
“Great.” He forced a smile and went back to the safety of his computer.
Cole tapped his pen on the table. I knew he’d watched our conversation closely. Very closely. I wondered what was going on in his head. “All right, we don’t have much time. I have something I want to ask.”
“I’m listening.”
“You said you had a lead on a big story, something to do with Bruno and his mother?”
“Yes.”
“Would you be willing to share the details? Give us a nutshell version?”
I shifted in my seat while I thought about everything I’d put together over the years. “Yes, okay, I can do that. It’s a lot, but I’ll try to give you my best elevator pitch.” I closed my eyes briefly.
“Whatever you can do.” Cole smiled.
“About two years into my job, I met Sully Sanchez. I went about gaining his trust, and he eventually introduced me to Bruno Perez. A reporter’s dream, to get a source like that, right?
” I tried to smile and failed. “Trouble was, Bruno decided he wanted me for himself.” I licked my lips and took a breath.
“He’s a scary man, but I played the game.
” I paused to take another breath. “He likes to show off and flex his power, but when I didn’t react the way he wanted, he changed his tactics and let me see the ugly side of what he's capable of.” I moved my hands to my lap and pressed them hard together.
“Because I didn't run, he got comfortable with me being around and relaxed a bit, and that was when I started to see things most wouldn’t.”
“Like, what kind of things?” Paul’s voice was tightly controlled, and I refused to glance at him.
“Like how he has American contacts. I got a glimpse over his shoulder once when he got a call, and I saw it was just a letter. When he answered, he stepped away so I couldn’t hear, but when he finished his conversation, I distinctly heard him say ‘stupid American.’ One night he had too much to drink and left his phone on the counter.
I tried to figure it out, but with only their initial, it was impossible to know who they were. ”
“Our numbers are programmed the same way in yours,” Cole challenged.
“Right, but I could see the area codes, and one of numbers was in Washington and the other in North Carolina.”
Cole’s brows went up, and all three men turned to stone. The tension in the room spread like the tentacles of a squid had slowly latched on to them and squeezed. “What else?”
“I heard Esmeralda on the phone with an American lawyer speaking about the soil being dry.”
“Meaning?” Chili finally joined the conversation.
“Well, maybe nothing, but add that to the blueprints I found, and a real estate pamphlet I saw in her office another time, let’s say it raised my suspicions to a whole other level.”
Paul leaned over the table as things grew even more intense. “Do you have a copy of those blueprints?”
“No. Before I could snap a photo, she came in the room. I pretended I got lost in the house, but I don’t think she believed me.”
Is there any way you could give us a sketch of what you can remember about those blueprints?”
“I already did that.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the laptop Mark had given me. I tapped on a folder and brought up a photo I took of my drawing from that night. I turned the computer around to face Cole. “This is everything I could remember.”
“Jesus, Nicole, I’m impressed.” Paul smiled at Cole. “Anything else?”
“I have a lot more I could share. It’s just pieces of a much larger puzzle, but it’s starting to take form. I know if I had another month or two, I could figure it out.”
Cole nodded. “Nicole, I can’t stress just how serious this could be. We don’t have another month. How about a week?”
A week? I ran that around in my head. “I’d have to have an in. I can’t work from the outside looking in. If it’s seven days, I’ll have to jump in headfirst.” I looked around the table as excitement grew in my stomach. “I can do this. I’ll just need some resources.”
“We have endless resources.” Cole glanced at Chili then at Paul. “Let’s hear what else you have, but we’ll have to move fast.”
A slow smile stretched across my lips. “Copy that.”