Chapter 41
Zephyr
It took several months to unravel the quagmire of cases BBH and the Doucets were involved in.
After the dust settled, both Camille and Henri were in custody.
Camille was going to start her sentence soon. She got five years for her part in the attempted murder. Grace thought she”d be out in two and a half or even earlier. She was, after all, a Doucet.
Henri was awaiting trial. He refused to plead out, and the DA”s office was looking forward to prosecuting him. Grace would not be the ADA on the case because of her relationship with me. I”d wondered if she resented that, but she”d told me she disliked keeping us hidden more.
Hugo sold his shares of BBH to Blaze and left town. It was for the best. He”d lost so much: a brother, his sense of security, the respect of his family—but he was still my cousin, and when he”d come to apologize for his part in the beating Eddie had given me, I magnanimously forgave him. I couldn’t tell him Eddie was a cop because that investigation was ongoing. In any case, I had forgiven him…or rather, I didn”t give a shit about him any longer.
Camille was keeping her shares in BBH and was going to be a pain in the ass when she got out of prison. She couldn”t be on the board ever because of the company by-laws. Blaze had taken over as general counsel. Imran was running operations, having now settled in New Orleans.
”I like it here,” he told me when he came to Jazz Sessions the day after a trial date had been set by the judge who would be presiding over the case against Henri. It would be another six months before jury selection began. Louisiana apparently did not have an efficient rocket docket.
”What about ICeR?” I asked about the tech venture capitalist company Imran owned alongside Rome and another partner.
”Rome and I are taking board roles. He doesn”t want to travel too much now.”
Rome and Gaia had just had a beautiful little princess. I was Flora”s favorite uncle even though she was all of two weeks old. She always stopped crying when I picked her up. Blaze didn”t agree, but he could go fuck himself.
”And how about you?” I mused.
”I like it here. I liked that we”re rebuilding BBH. And I love the food and the music…all of it.”
”What can I get you?” Amelie, our new bartender, asked.
Gaia had stopped working in Jazz Sessions because of the baby, but I didn”t think she”d come back. She was going to finish school and work at BBH.
Rome was all but ready to be a stay-at-home dad once the company was stable. He wanted more babies, and Gaia had told him she”d have two, and he could have the rest of the basketball team with his new wife.
For me, Rome and Gaia were still relationship goals. But as Nick told me, all relationships work differently. She and Blaze had a volatile one—but they were each other”s safe harbor. Grace and I…well, we fought like cats and dogs. Most of the time, I riled her up because I loved it when she lost her temper with me. I absolutely loved it when she yelled at me because that meant she wasn”t afraid.
But PTSD was a hard thing. She had nightmares, and sometimes, when I grabbed her for a hug without warning, she flinched or outright screamed.
I now made a shit ton of noise if I came to bed late because if I was too quiet, she”d sit up in bed, shaking and crying out. She”d come a long way, she told me, and I know she had, but in the back of her head, her ex-husband could come back anytime and take from her the life she had built.
She trusted me to keep her safe. Hell, she didn”t need me; she”d managed to bring down Henri with his gun on her own. And, yet, the fear was always there, a sliver of it ready to expand when she was vulnerable.
Blaze and I had discussed going down to Sacramento to beat the guy to a pulp, but the truth was Liam Carta was a former Senator”s son; he was protected six ways to Sunday. Regardless of Liam Carta”s daddy, we took care of our own and I had every intention of taking care of Grace.
The videos Grace had would expose her as well as Liam, so we couldn’t use them. I didn”t think I could see them but if she needed me to do so I would. She told me she hadn”t seen them and didn”t intend to. Life was too short to relive nightmares.
Imran ordered an old-fashioned while I stuck to beer. He watched Amelie and smiled. ”She”s cute.”
”Don”t fuck my employees, Imran,” I warned him.
Gaia used to warn me about this…before Grace. And Amelie was cute, five foot three, a little bundle of energy with her blonde hair and bouncy tits. In the past, I”d want to see them bounce while she rode my cock. Now, the only tits I wanted to see bouncing or covered were Grace”s. My dick didn”t even twitch unless she was around. Traitorous fucking bastard, I thought with satisfaction. Because I think for a reprobate like me, this was the sign of true love, a one-pussy cock.
”There”s so much talent in this town, I think I can refrain from doing your bartender.” He got a message on his phone, and the humor left him. ”Grace knows.”
I nodded, bracing myself for incoming.
”My contact says someone from the DA”s office called her. Someone she worked with in Sacramento.”
Blaze came into the bar and waved at me. He saw my expression and barreled down to us, pushing past a paying guest. Mother fucker was going to cost us business.
”She knows?” Blaze demanded.
”Yeah, she knows,” I told him.
”She gonna be okay?” Blaze asked. Grace was now a Doucet and under Blaze”s protection.
”Eventually.” My heart hurt for what she”d been through, but it was over now. She could move on.
Imran took his drink and rose. ”I”m going to go to the other end of the bar where I see a delicious tourist. From her accent, I”d say Kansas.”
”You gonna show her in how many ways she”s not in Kansas anymore?” I asked blandly.
He grinned wide. ”I”m gonna take her down the yellow brick road right to the end of a rainbow.”
”He”s mixing his pop culture there,” I muttered. ”You tell Nick?”
”Some things a man doesn”t tell his woman, especially when she”s a fucking cop.”
”Or a lawyer.”
Blaze chuckled. ”We did the right thing.”
”No, we in this, brother. It”s me.”
”Hell no.” He put an arm around. ”You wanna jam with me tonight?”
”Yeah. Yeah, I….”
I saw Grace come in, her panic clear. ”Fuck.”
Blaze let me go, and I went to Grace. ”Hey, baby.” I went for nonchalance.
She hugged me. I maneuvered her away from the bar into the kitchen. Chef Maurice looked at Grace with concern because she”d begin to sob into my chest. I shook my head and mouthed, ”I got this.”
I opened the door of the office and locked it behind us. I”d had the lock placed a few weeks ago after the umpteenth time someone had interrupted Grace and me getting frisky.
”Hey, it”s okay. Can you tell me what this is about?” I lifted her face.
”He”s dead,” she stuttered.
No shit, Sherlock! ”Who”s dead, baby?”
”Liam…he”s…someone I know from…Sacramento called….” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ”He died in an accident. A hit and run. Can you believe that?”
Yeah. I paid nearly half a million for that, so yes, I could believe that.
”How do you feel?” I asked tentatively.
She licked her lips. ”Relieved. So relieved.” She was still shaking. ”Am I a horrible person?”
Not as horrible as me, babe.
”No, of course not. The man was an asshole, and I”m glad he”s dead.”
”Me too. So, so…I”ve always had this…fear that he”d come back. Now…now I know he can”t. I feel so free.”
I kissed her forehead. ”I”m glad, baby.”
She sniffled and then cuddled into me. ”Today is a good day. Henri is going on trial. And Liam is dead.”
”Yeah, today is a good day.” The truth was that every day with Grace was a damn good day.
That night after we made love, and I was nearly half asleep, she murmured, ”I can”t believe he”s dead.”
”It”s okay, Little Tempest. It”s okay to feel good that the prick is dead, and his face is crushed. Asshole deserved it.”
Later on, I”d know it was because I was sleepy that I didn”t notice how calm she became.
She punched my arm.
”Ouch, Grace. Baby, I”m so tired. Come on, darlin”, let”s get some—”
”Zephyr Doucet, how the heck do you know that his face got crushed?”
I opened one eye. ”Whose face?”
”Don”t you ”whose faceme.” What did you do?”
I opened both eyes. ”Me? Nothing.”
”Zephyr?” she ground out.
”Don”t ask questions you don”t want answers to,” I said quietly.
Her face went pale, and a gamut of emotions ran through her. ”What if you get caught?”
”Caught for doing what?” I persisted.
She punched my arm again. I held her fist in my hand, brought it to my mouth, and kissed it. I sat up against the headboard and looked at her. ”What exactly are you worried about?”
”I don”t want you to go to prison for hiring a fucking hitman. Did you?”
”I wouldn”t even know where to find a hitman.” But thankfully, Imran did.
”Zephyr?”
”How did you feel when you found out he was dead?”
”Relieved. Happy. Free. Fabulous.”
”Keep that close to you and know that your ex was a douchebag, and the guy who struck him dead did a lot of women a favor, including those he would meet in the future. You think you”re the only one he abused?”
Imran had put a dossier together, and Liam Carta had a string of women who signed NDAs and had been shut up with money. Grace was the only one who”d had to endure him for two long years, his only wife.
”I”m an officer of the court.”
I grinned. ”You know what, we should get married.”
She raised an eyebrow. ”What?”
”Yeah, for legal protection. Then you can”t testify against me.”
She chuckled. ”You”re out of your mind.”
”Come on, Grace. We”ve been living together for six months now.” We”d moved into her place because mine was still not fixed up. We were still deciding where we wanted to live long term. She wasn”t sure. I would live wherever she wanted; I didn”t care. Not as long as I had her.
”That”s way too short of a period of time to get married,” she countered.
She was so fucking beautiful that my heart ached, and my dick throbbed. I loved this woman so much.
”Now that you woke me up, can you do something about my erection?”
”Are you on Viagra or something?”
We”d just had sex, so she had a point.
”Baby, I”m on you.”
”Ugh! That”s a terrible line.”
”But if it gets you on top of my cock, it”s a line that works.” She didn”t protest when she straddled me. She was wet. She got excited when we argued—it made the make-up sex hotter than hot.
She took me all the way in, and I sighed. ”Fuck, yeah.”
She wiggled her hips, just enjoying me. ”You sure you won”t get caught?”
”Caught doing what?”
”You won’t tell me ever, will you?”
I held her hips and pushed into her deep and groaned. ”I”ll always protect you. Always. My family will always protect you. There is no world in which I will ever lie to you unless it”s to protect you.”
She sighed. ”Fine. Whatever. Let”s have sex.”
I flipped her so she was under me. I kissed her softly. ”You haven”t answered my other question.”
”Which one?”
”Grace?”
”It”s too soon.”
I began to move inside her, my fingers on her clitoris, my dick banging against her G-spot. She was close when I stilled.
”Zephyr?” she moaned, her eyes closed.
”Say you”ll marry me?”
Her eyes snapped open. ”Are you withholding an orgasm to get me to say yes to a marriage proposal?”
I gently circled her clitoris and pushed in a little, making her shiver.
”Yeah, that”s what I”m doing.”
”You”re cracked in the head.”
”Say yes, Grace.”
It took ten minutes, but she finally agreed to marry me, and I finally let her orgasm.
”I love you, Grace.” I spooned her, holding her close.
”You”re absolutely batshit crazy, Z…but I love you, too.”
”So, when do you want to get married?” I mumbled into her hair.
”For Christ”s sake, I don”t even have a ring on my finger.”
”But you will. How about New Year”s Eve?”
”That”s five weeks away?”
I kissed her. ”So?”
”Batshit crazy,” she repeated.
We got formally engaged on New Year”s Eve, and it took another eight long months to get married. Every time I thought it was the best day of my life, Grace gave me more.
I was one lucky son of a bitch.
Thank you so much for reading Storm. With this book the Jazz Sessions Trilogy is complete. Please do not forget to rate and/or review the books you love because that”s how other readers can find them.