Chapter 15
Zephyr
Iliterally ran from the stage, leaving Sticks to close the evening down. Angela and Grace walking away together was not a good thing.
The office door was closed, and I was about to open the door when I heard Angela and groaned. Hell!
When I opened the door, I saw Grace standing at the other end of the small office, cowering against a wall, and Angela in full mama bear mode.
”Not cool, Ang.”
”What?” she demanded, pissed.
”Not cool making her think you and I are more than friends.”
She shrugged. ”If that keeps you alive, I don”t give a shit, Z. I don”t want you to put yourself out as a target for fucking Russian gangsters who killed Yves and shot Blaze. Hell no.”
”That”s not your call. Don”t make me regret telling you,” I warned her softly. ”I told you so you wouldn”t worry when everyone starts to hear about my gambling problems.
”Z, I—”
”Nope. You need to apologize to Grace and go back to the bar.”
Angela gritted her teeth. ”I have nothing to apologize for.”
”Yeah, you do, and you know it. You wanted to make her feel bad, and you succeeded. You body shamed her and all but said that a man wouldn”t want her if he had you…remember how that makes you feel when people say similar things to you? Only they talk about your profession and not your looks.”
She sighed. ”She”s going to get you killed.”
”Not your call, Ang. Now, I need you to sincerely apologize and get the fuck out of here.”
Angela ran a hand through her blonde curls. ”Fuck! I”m sorry, Grace. Z is right. I…fucking hell, don”t get my best friend killed. Please.”
Grace”s eyes lifted, and I saw the compassion in her eyes, sympathy for the woman who”d been tearing her down a minute ago.
”I won”t let anything bad happen to him,” Grace whispered. ”I couldn”t live with myself if he got hurt. We”ll make sure he”s safe. Please trust me.”
Angela took a deep breath and let it out. ”And…Z and I are not fucking. Sheesh! I don”t think he could get it up even if I paraded around him naked; actually, that did happen, and his dick didn”t even tic—and I”d rather fuck you any day over him.”
Grace”s eyes went wide as saucers, and Angela laughed.
”No…I”m not gay…I”m pan; I guess that”s the word for it. And if it matters, he”s all smitten with you.”
Grace now looked like she was going to have a stroke.
”Ang, can you not spill all my guts to the woman I”m working hard to get in my bed?”
”I”m helping,” Angela snapped. ”Everyone says you”ve got a stick up your ass, Grace.”
Grace”s lips moved in a small smile. ”Yeah, it keeps my spine straight.”
Angela gave out a bark of laughter. ”You hurt him, Grace, emotionally or physically; I”ll make your life a living hell. Clear?”
Grace smiled. ”Crystal.”
Angela kissed my cheek and looked at the desk where Grace and I had gotten frisky recently. ”Don”t fuck her for the first time on a desk in a cramped, ugly ass office. She won”t give you her pussy ever again.”
Grace choked out an embarrassed laugh at that.
”I”ll be at the bar,” Angela announced and swaggered out.
I closed the door behind Angela and went to Grace. ”You okay?”
She nodded and then shook her head, surprising me with tears in her eyes.
”Hey, cher, don”t cry. She was just blowing off steam.” I didn”t think and took her in my arms. She burrowed into my chest and broke down.
I had no clue what was going on with Grace, and she didn”t seem like she was in a position to speak, so I just held her and stroked her back. She let out huge gasping sobs as her stomach convulsed. I sat down on the office chair with her on my lap.
The office door opened, and I saw Gaia peek in. I shook my head, and she nodded, stepping out.
After a while, Grace straightened. ”I”m sorry.”
I wiped her wet cheeks. ”You got it all out, Little Tempest?”
”I think so.” She nodded sadly. Her eyes were puffy, her nose was red, and her makeup was on my shirt. She should”ve looked like a snot-faced hysterical woman, but instead, I thought she looked beautifully vulnerable like this was the real Grace.
I stroked her hair away from her face. ”You wanna tell Uncle Z what that was all about?”
She let out a short laugh. ”Uncle Z?”
”Yeah.” I kissed her lips. ”Handsy Uncle Z.”
”I don”t want to talk about it.”
It shouldn”t bother me that she didn”t want to open up. We hardly knew each other, but for some odd reason, her refusal left a small bruise inside me.
”That”s okay, cher.”
”Do you mind me being alone in here for a moment?” She stood up, and I didn”t stop her.
”Take all the time you need. I”m out at the bar. I”ll take you home.”
”I”m fine. I only had a drink.”
”I”ll take you home,” I repeated and left her alone in the cramped office, feeling emotions that weren”t exactly alien but not entirely familiar. I didn”t like to see women cry. It crushed me. I didn”t care whether they were sad or happy tears…they were wet and made me feel like an asshole for not being able to stop them.
Even though the music was over, the bar was still hopping. Angela was talking to Ash. There were two guys who were trying to get her attention—there always were, but she didn”t even notice them; she never did. She looked good for a woman who”d been a working girl for a decade and a half. She knew she couldn”t keep doing this. I knew it. I don”t know why she was being so stubborn. She kept trying to save enough money to buy a place, but then the money would be gone to help some girl with something. I tried to buy her a house, and she threatened to chop my dick off.
”She okay?” Angela asked as soon as she saw me.
I shrugged. ”She”s upset…but I”m not sure it was because you were a bitch to her.”
Ash cocked an eyebrow. ”Sounds like there”s a story there.”
Angela groaned. ”Z is already pissed with me. I just…I don”t want Grace to,” her voice dropped to a whisper, ”put his life in danger…you know?”
Ash nodded, and I saw his face tighten. He didn”t like talking about police work to a civilian. Grace had let the team know that I”d read Angela into the basics of the op.
”I may have yelled at her and insinuated that Z and I are fucking like rabbits, and…I was a total bitch. Aggressive. Mean.”
”You, aggressive? Cher, I”d never believe that,” I teased.
Angela flipped her hair and got up. ”I”m going to be right back.”
She went toward the restrooms, and I sat down on the stool she”d vacated. I nodded to Dylan, the bartender, who caught my eye and saw he immediately drew an IPA for me.
”Where”s Grace?” Ash asked.
I didn”t know how much I could reveal, so I simply said, ”She”s regrouping. Angela went hard at her.”
”You sleepin” with her?”
”Now, Ash, you know I don”t kiss n” tell.”
Ash nodded gravely. ”She sleeps with you during this op, it”s gonna fuck up her career, you understand? Sleeping with you, regardless of the op, will fuck with her career. She”ll be a Doucet floozy.”
”No one cares who I”m sleeping with,” I muttered.
”You know that”s not true. Look, man, Nick got engaged to Blaze, but even if that wasn”t the case, it wouldn”t have mattered. She”s not gonna have a long career at the NOPD…that”s not what she wants.”
I raised my eyebrows.
”We all know she”s gonna go back to the FBI.”
Even if Blaze had not told me, I knew that Nick was working as a detective to heal, to get better, and when she did, she”d head back to the FBI to take care of old business, to make sure the men who hurt her wouldn”t hurt anyone ever again.
”Why would sleeping with me hurt Grace”s career?” I asked.
”You know why, Z. You”re a Doucet. There will be gossip and not the good kind. When you dump her ass, she”ll be the butt of jokes. So, I”d tread carefully.” Ash then cleared his throat and pursed his lips as if thinking about whether to tell me more or not. ”She”s got a tough past.”
I took a pull of my beer and waited.
”I talked to a contact in Sacramento PD. She was married to Liam Carta…he”s Senator Carta”s son.”
”Right.”
”They were married for two years, and the rumor was that she bought her divorce because she finally had proof of him beating and raping her.”
I almost dropped the beer glass I was lifting to my mouth. A dull ache bloomed in my chest and spread through me, increasing in intensity.
”Fuck no.”
Ash nodded. ”She”s not the first or only he”s been beating on.”
”He in jail?”
Ash smirked. ”If, say, Blaze was beating up his girlfriend or wife, you think he”d be in jail?”
”He should be.”
”Yeah, but would Blaze Doucet be in jail in New Orleans?”
I knew what he meant, and I shook my head. Nah, that case would disappear. Money and influence would change hands. It wouldn”t be blatant bribery, but no one would go against a Doucet. I guess the last name Carta gave her asshole ex the same privilege.
”That”s fucked up, though.”
”She got him for a whole shit ton of money.”
I nodded appreciatively. ”Good for her.”
”That”s what I thought. That”s what my guy at Sacramento PD said cause there wasn”t going to be any justice even if she went public…and her life would be ruined to boot. This way, she got money, got a job in the San Francisco DA”s office, and got the hell out of dodge.”
I was still having trouble with the beat and rape part of the story. No wonder she was skittish. No wonder she was wary. No wonder she hated rich and spoiled boys.
”She knows that you know?” I asked.
”She dropped a few hints to Nick and so…we had to look into it. Needed to know if we could trust her. She hasn”t been the most well-liked ADA. But as we get to know her better….” Ash raised his glass of old-fashioned and clinked against my beer.
Angela and Grace walked up to the bar around the same time.
”Ash, darlin”, can you give me a ride home?” Angela asked.
Ash finished his drink and stood up. ”Yes, ma”am.”
”You sure?” I checked with Ash.
”Yeah, she”s on my way.”
”I can drive,” Grace told me after she waved goodbye to Dylan.
”I know you can.”
I put my hand on the small of her back and walked her out. ”You don”t have to drive me home, Zephyr.”
”I know, baby. But I want to.” Especially now that I knew about what happened to her, I felt equal parts rage and helplessness. I wanted to carry her around on a fucking silk pillow so she”d never hurt again.
Beat her? Christ! And rape her? Violate her? What the hell was wrong with people? Grace was elegant, delicate, beautiful—why would anyone want to hurt this gorgeous creature? How could anyone use their hands to put marks on her body and soul?
We drove in silence, and halfway to her place, she finally spoke. ”You seem angry.”
It was a violation of her privacy that I knew what I did. But she shouldn”t be surprised that Ash and Nick had investigated her. They were cops; they”d look into whomever they were working close with on an op such as this.
”I am.” I didn”t normally lie, and I wasn”t going to start now. And in this case, withholding the truth would be dishonest.
”Is it because of something I said or did?” Her voice was so small that it made me want to pound my fist into something, preferably her asshole ex”s face.
”No, Grace.” I put a hand on her thigh and squeezed. ”I…this may piss you off, but I”m not gonna pretend I don”t know.”
”Know what?” There was panic in her voice, and I hated it so much.
”About your ex.”
I felt her shiver and then tighten. ”How?” I could barely hear the word; her voice was so hoarse.
”I know,” I repeated. ”Doesn”t matter how.”
”What do you know?” She was scared now.
”What do I know?” I glanced at her and saw she was stiff and pale. I sighed. ”That your ex is a douchebag who beat and…raped you, that you had to buy your divorce with evidence. Explains a lot about why you think all wealthy families are assholes.”
She didn”t reply and didn”t say anything. I squeezed her thigh again. No response.
”Grace, darlin”,” I urged.
”I don”t want to talk about this. You”re going to have to pretend you don”t know. Or I will walk away from…I will…just…I will….”
I stroked her thigh, wondering if I should just pull over and hold her. I wasn”t sure if she was having a panic attack, but it was obvious that Angela confronting her the way she did, her mini breakdown, coupled with me telling her I knew her darkest and ugliest secret, was no doubt fucking with her head.
”Shh, baby. I got you.”
”No one”s got me,” she sneered.
God! She was lonely. She didn”t have a family. Did she have friends? Did she have anyone?
”I”m here with you and for you, Grace. And I”m not going anywhere,” I promised. I, Zephyr Doucet, was telling a woman I wanted to fuck that I wasn”t going to leave her. So, yeah, I”d finally lost my ever-lovin” mind.