Chapter 31 Nick
Nick
She was so upset, she sat on the deck most of the night then went back to her room and locked me out. I was late to work this morning because I spent half the morning convincing Maya that what we did wasn’t a mistake and Ethan will get over whatever rift it caused with him.
I know I selfishly gave in to my biggest temptation. I’m not sorry about it and don’t want her to be either. I want her. There are no more doubts in my mind. She said she wasn’t but still seemed pretty upset when I left.
I send her a quick text.
10:17 a.m. - I’m taking you to dinner tonight, be ready to go at six sharp. Casual attire.
10:17 a.m. - Do I have to?
10:18 a.m. - No, if you wish, I will bring home takeout. Emma took the day off.
10:19 a.m. - What about my training today?
10:19 a.m. - Sasha was busy this afternoon. You can train with me after dinner.
10:20 a.m. - Let’s go out : ) See you at 6.
I finish typing up my deposition. I’ve got court at one, but I need to stop by the warehouse on my way. I will have to go up against Karen today. The first interaction I’ve had with her since my less-than-glorious drunken office debacle. I’m sure she will be thrilled to see me nonetheless.
When I get to the warehouse, I’m surprised to find Ethan in my office. “Any updates?” He doesn’t look up at me.
I know he’s pissed about what happened between me and Maya. He’s worried I will hurt her, and I can’t blame him. I’ve never had the best reputation with women.
“Vade’s nephew, Liam, started security detail at Cottontails yesterday.
He’s already committed every detail of the place to memory and is ready to begin our operation.
He and Vade also agreed to comb through the employee roster at The Lucky Rabbit and Cottontails.
” Liam’s a smart kid with a bright future.
He wants to join the FBI when he’s older.
“When are you going to be ready to send your victim to the slaughterhouse?” Ethan’s face is red and his whole body is shaking.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I know the answer, but it pisses me off.
“Maya, you’re so damn determined to destroy her, when are you sending her in?” he yells where anyone within earshot can hear him.
“You don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.” My anger rises, heightening the tension in this room.
“You fucked her, you son of a bitch.” He stands up and comes over the desk, punching the side of my face, the familiar taste of copper filling my mouth.
I tear him off me and slam him back into my desk and raise my fist.
“Woah, woah, woah, gentlemen! What’s going on here?” Vade rushes through the door and pulls me off of Ethan.
“The son of a bitch fucked her,” Ethan spits out through his rage.
“Who?” The realization hits Vade before I can explain. “You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t fuck her.”
“I did.” I’m not ashamed to admit it.
“Of all the damn women you could pick to get your dick wet, you had to pick the most vulnerable one? I thought I knew you better than that, man.” Vade looks surprised.
It hurts to see the disappointment coming from my lifelong best friend.
“Let me go, I’m going to fucking kill him.” Ethan struggles to get past Vade.
“She’s not just another piece of ass. I care about her.”
They both stop and stare at me.
“You’re so full of shit, you’d rather lie than admit you fucked up. You sent her away for two fucking months and now that she’s had some healing you want to stake some kind of fucking claim over her,” Ethan spits.
“I don’t admit to shit that isn’t true. Just because I wasn’t there, doesn’t mean I haven’t been heavily involved so spare me the bullshit.” I reach in my mini fridge and grab an ice pack to hold on my cheek that’s starting to swell.
Vade just looks between us, unsure who to believe. I can’t say that I blame him if it’s not me, even if I am telling the truth.
“You’re just going to kick her out on her ass as soon as this job is over and you’re done using her.” Ethan’s voice is shaky. I think he’s on the verge of tears.
“Quite the contrary actually, I was going to ask her tonight if she wanted to go ahead move her things into my room.” Ethan glares at me, still unbelieving, so I continue.
“It might be time for you to find your own place, however.” I spit a wad of blood out in the trash can. Ethan got me good. I trained him well.
“I’m not going anywhere until I am one hundred percent sure you aren’t going to fuck her over.” He struggles and Vade lets him go.
“Fine. But please, feel free to leave at any time. Cause she’s not going anywhere unless it’s by my side.”
“Well, if everything is settled, can we get back to the task at hand?” Vade takes a seat and we continue going over the plan, which is to have Maya going tomorrow to apply at the strip club.
That means Liam has twenty-four hours to see who is working and where they are from. That’s short notice but he can handle it.
“You know she’s going to get fondled in that club, even if it’s against the rules, it still happens. How are you going to handle that? You can’t bust in there and blow this whole operation.” Vade has a good point, and it’s not like I haven’t considered it.
“By ensuring every asshole who dares lay a finger on her takes up a new residence in the county cemetery when it’s all said and done.”
Court goes off without a hitch. I’ve won my case—again. I slam my briefcase shut and check my watch. I have to hurry if I am going to make it back to the beach house on time and I still need to change when I get there.
“Nicholas!” Karen calls as I’m getting in my car.
“What do you want, Karen? I’m in a hurry.”
“Don’t think I haven’t noticed that the boy’s mother has now gone missing.” She pulls out a cigarette, striking a match to light it. “Nice job on your win in court today. Luck always seems to be on your side,” she puffs her cigarette, “but it’s about to run out. I’m coming for you, Nicholas.”
“If you’re coming for me, my luck has definitely gone to shit. That’s not an image I want in my head.” I shudder—for real.
Last week she introduced a proposal to the city that would require mandatory detailed monthly reporting of all inventory and inspections on all dwellings used for storage purposes along the coastline—buildings like my warehouse.
A proposal that would cost the city a fortune to fund and taxes to be increased exponentially. I have enough city council members in my pocket to shut it down, but if the rumors are true, Karen has also been working her way through the ranks.
I’ve been too busy to attend city functions and rub elbows.
Where I prefer to use the buddy system to keep people in power in my pocket, Karen has resorted to coercion, threatening to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law if they don’t comply.
Being the prosecutor, Karen also has dirt on most of the elected officials.
I’m not too worried about her threats to shut me down yet, but I would be stupid to count her completely out. The proposal is heavily weighted in the state’s attempt to reduce the amount of waste that gets dumped into the Gulf.
For all intents and purposes, the warehouse, on paper, is actually rented to Vade for inventory shipping, receiving, and storage purposes due to the close proximity to Diamond Aces Casino.
That’s how we are able to ship and receive our gun shipments without anyone batting an eye. You expect a lot of coming and going from a legally functioning warehouse.
We could always move the gun inventory out when inspection comes around, but not without great hassle. It’s better to just shut the bill down before it’s passed.
“You know, things don’t always have to be so tense between us.” She tucks the matchbook in the front pocket of my suit, “lighten up a little bit will you?” She winks at me.
“Do you have anything useful to say or are you just wasting my time?” She’s been threatening to take me down for years and hasn’t made a move yet.
“Karen! Let’s go! We’re running late!” a man standing next to a blacked-out SUV calls from a short distance away.
I see my chance to get away, so I take it. “Bye Karen.” I get in my car and speed off.
It’s 6:01 when I come pulling into the carport. Maya is waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs.
“You’re late.” She tries to give me a cold hard stare, but it’s faltering. Glad to see she seems to be in better spirits.
“I’m one fucking minute late!” I grin at her.
“Whether it’s one minute or one hour—late is late. There’s no such thing as an excused tardy around here.” She grins back.
“Is that so?” I step in close to her and wrap one hand around her waist and one hand around the back of her neck. “What can I do to make it up to you?” I say with my lips closing in on hers.
“I can think of a few things,” she reaches up and traces the length of my lips with her tongue, “but right now,” she reaches down and palms my throbbing cock, giving it a squeeze, “I’m so…hungry.”
She lets go and jumps in the passenger seat of my car, leaving me wanting to drag her out of that car and to my bed. But I told her I was taking her out, so that’s what I’m going to do.
“The sunset is beautiful, I’ve never seen it set over the water like that.” She turns to me and smiles before looking back out of the window.
I change in record time, and we are headed to the restaurant, windows down, enjoying the cooler fall temperature. It doesn’t really get cold in Mississippi until later in the winter.
Living on the coast, you tend to take for granted certain things you see all the time. I pull over into one of the empty public beach parking lots and run around to open the door for her.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
“I want to watch the sunset with you. Come on, we don’t have long before it’s no longer visible.” I want to be the one to capture this moment with her.
She takes my hand and I help her out of the car. We stand at the edge of the water, her back to my front, my arms wrapped around her. She fits perfectly, like she was made just for me.
We stand in silence as the sun gently sinks down into the water, then she turns to face me.
“Thank you, for this. Not just for pulling over for the sunset but for everything. I can never repay you for saving me and showing me how incredible life really can be, even when it feels like everything is falling apart.”
“If you ever decide you don’t want your life anymore, never forget that I do.
I won’t hesitate to jump in after you, no matter how dangerous the rapids are, I’ll always be there to pull you to safety.
” I tighten my arms around her, pulling her in for a kiss.
She’s mine and I hope I never give her a reason to doubt that—or herself ever again.
We pull in to Royal Reds. I’ve been raving about how good this place is to her since we left the beach house. She’s never tried seafood before. I order some crab claws as an appetizer and a round of drinks.
It’s a warm night, so we are sitting on the patio while the band plays, engrossed in conversation. She never learned to drive a car. I told her not to drink too much, and she could drive us home. There’s no time like the present to learn, and what better to learn with than a standard.
When the main course arrives, Maya looks freaked out by the unpeeled shrimp and crab legs in front of her. At least the shrimp are beheaded.
I show her how to crack the crab and get the meat out. She’s in the middle of playfully sucking butter off one of the legs when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Sasha runs her hands through my hair. “You two seemed like you were having so much fun, I just wanted to come by and say hey.”
I grab her wrist, squeezing hard as I pull it off of me.
“I’m not interrupting family time, am I?” She looks right to Maya’s neck, and I feel her tense. “Will your niece need any lessons tomorrow, or can I come back to the office?”
I happen to look over and spot Logan behind Sasha. So much for them not being on speaking terms. “Report to work first thing in the morning. Lessons are on hold until I get caught up in the office.”
Sasha might be a whore but she’s not stupid. She knows where that hickey came from. Especially if she’s been watching us.
“Ok, see you then.” She winks and blows me a kiss, but glares at Maya.
“What the fuck was that about? Why do you want her at work with you?” Maya snaps.
“I don’t want her with me, I want her away from you. I’ll fill you in, in the car, but it’s not what you think.” I try to give her a reassuring smile.
“Can we just go?” She grabs her drink and sucks down the fruity concoction of alcohol and juice.
This isn’t how I planned this evening to go. I planned for us to have a few drinks, maybe a dance or two on the deck. She’s had such a punishing schedule lately, she deserved a break.
Motherfucker. It was reckless to bring her here and think nobody would notice us. I sure as fuck wasn’t expecting Sasha and her human-trafficking brother.
“On it.” I flag the waitress down, get some to go boxes, and leave enough money on the table to cover the bill and a substantial tip.
I drive, since we are in a hurry to get out of there, and I need to explain everything
“How are you going to cover your tracks?” She climbs in and quickly buckles her seatbelt.
“Tell her the truth, well partially. I’m going to admit to her that you’re obviously not my niece but that’s the identity I gave you for this job.” I don’t bother fastening mine.
“You think she’ll buy it?”
“I’m banking on her using my lack of commitments to women in the past to believe you’re just a job to me. I can’t have her getting mad and running to her human trafficking brother and blowing our cover.”
“Are you going to fuck her to prove a point?” She looks out of the window when she asks, and it really grates my nerves.
“I rather kill her to silence her than fuck her for it.” She gives me a look of uncertainty.
“I’ll do it right now if you’d like. You have nothing to worry about.
” I grab her hand and stroke the back of it with my thumb.
“I’ll have Ethan log you in to the security system in my office tomorrow, you can watch my every move. ”
Hopefully he’s back at the beach house and calmed down. There’s a bruise on my cheek from where he clocked me, but you can’t see it on the surface.
“I’m sorry I have my doubts, I just know how most of the guys you hang around are when it comes to women.” She shifts uncomfortably in her seat. I can’t blame her for her trust issues.
“They’re unattached men. They can do what they want. I don’t even do business with married men if I know they cheat on their wife, because if the one in his sheets can’t trust him, some guy from the streets sure can’t.”
“And what about you? Are you unattached?” She has her hands in her lap, but I know she’s fidgeting with her fingers, even if I can’t see them. A habit she has got to break.
“I’ll give you the answer to that when we get home and you move your shit to my room.”