12. Champion #2
I smiled and played the part of sweet and steady boyfriend.
It was the most enjoyable role I’d played in a long time.
I needed her to be comfortable thinking I was on her hook so she’d stay on mine.
“I know a lot of different martial arts. I wanted to learn every one in the whole world, but that’s a lot.
I still take as many as I can hoping that someday, I’ll get to all of them. ”
“That’s high aspirations right there. I personally hate violence, but I like the art part of the martial. Do you play any instruments?”
She hated violence? No kidding after having a stalker like Dupre. I definitely wasn’t mentioning my day job in case she really didn’t know.
“I have had years of piano and guitar lessons, but I wouldn’t say I play them. It was practice, not playing. What about you, any instruments I should know about?”
She gave an uncomfortable laugh. “Just the radio. I took piano lessons when I was little, but it didn’t work out.”
“Why not? You make it sound like an abusive relationship.”
She smiled brightly. “Pianos are bullies, as everyone knows. What is your favorite food?”
She was changing the subject. There was a story behind her piano playing? “Trout, of course. You?”
She leaned over her knees and stared into the flames. “I don’t know.” She sounded sad for a moment before she smiled and turned to me. “I can’t choose between tacos and pizza.”
“You really are a classics kind of girl. Yellow Camaro, fifties hits, and tacos and pizza. I suppose you like banana sundae’s too.”
“As a matter-of-fact, I haven’t met a Sunday I didn’t like. What’s your favorite Bible story?”
“David and Goliath. He’s smart, he’s determined, and he takes down the giant, in spite of bringing a rock to a sword fight.”
“Like bringing a blanket to a gunfight.”
I shook my head a brushed her cheek. “Didn’t you say that you have to have multiple guns for it to be a gunfight?”
“Maybe Michael had multiple guns.”
“Plus the ones in his arms.”
She gripped my hand. “Do you really think that he won’t be able to find us in Las Vegas? He has a lot of resources at his disposal.”
I gently squeezed her hand back. I could smell the fear on her. “I am as sure as I know how to be.” And if he found her, I’d make sure it left an impression. Even more than a cactus.
She leaned her head against my shoulder.
My arm was as good as it was going to get.
We should settle down in Vegas so she could start classes and I could get to work.
The season was coming, and I’d been shut down for months that I had to make up.
But I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to leave this little oasis of simplicity and face the rest of the world.
But the season was starting soon. Next week.
How had our time here gone by so quickly?
“Do you want to go tomorrow?” I asked.
Her breath caught for a moment. She’d really gotten to feel safe here.
Good. She looked up at me, and for a second I saw the haunting fear before it was eclipsed by her smile.
“That’s probably a good thing. I’ll need to have my aunt send me my stuff.
I don’t have supplies for longer than a few weeks. ”
“I don’t think you should be in contact with your aunt for awhile.”
“I have to tell her where I am,” she said, sitting up to look at me, the firelight playing over her beautiful face. So beautiful without the slightest touch of cosmetics.
“Of course, but I can get you whatever you need.”
She smiled slightly. “I’m sentimental. If I’m going to live in Las Vegas at your house for any amount of time, I’ll need my teddy bears and crocheted doilies.”
“Seriously?” I wasn’t going to keep her from her only family, even if it was dangerous, but I didn’t like it.
She poked me with her forefinger. “I have things I keep with me. Besides that, she will send care packages while I’m away, like she did while I was at boarding school.
Her care packages were the envy of everyone on my floor.
Don’t worry about her being traced. She’s very resourceful when it comes to that kind of thing. ”
And if Dupre did find her, I’d be right there to enjoy the encounter. “I’m glad to hear it. You must take after her. What happened to your parents?”
She was quiet for a long time. “My mom died when I was too young to remember, and my dad died when I was fifteen. There was a fire in his lab. He got all the patients out, but he didn’t make it.
My mom was in a car accident.” Her voice was blank when she said that.
She didn’t cry, didn’t smile, but said it like she was talking about a newspaper article she’d read recently.
Pain. She’d clearly never gotten over either death.
I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry. You don’t like to talk about it.” Had I ever said something so obvious?
She finally looked at me with a crooked smile that I wanted to kiss. I’d wanted to kiss her often in the last few days, but that smile was the most tempting, so I could make her forget her bad memories, protect her from them.
“Your turn. What happened to your parents to make you run away and change your last name? Wasn’t there a scandal about your dad the senator and a secretary?”
What could I tell her that would help her understand what she was getting into without scaring her away?
“The senator isn’t my birth father. I always wondered why Howard was so polite to me, like I was one of his constituents, but then I met my birth dad, and that cleared things up.
My mother had the connections to get Harold where he wanted to be, and I suppose that’s all he wanted.
Their marriage was civilized enough until he stopped keeping his philandering behind closed doors.
He taught me how to fish, and he’s a pleasant enough person, but he never tried to be a father to me, and my mother raised me to be the next great manipulator of politicians and judges.
I know so many different ways to subtly blackmail someone.
I find it slipping into my work sometimes, manipulation just to make things easier, to keep everyone getting along, but I hate it.
I don’t want any part of that world. I hope that you don’t want a senator for a husband, because I’m not that guy. ” Was that clear enough?
She stared at me, lips parted, eyes brilliant in the dancing firelight.
“Wow. So you left and proved your virtue by getting a super-villain name.” Her lips curved in a smile and she put her hand in my arm.
“The more I get to know you, the more I like you. I do not want to be a senator’s anything.
I had one hit on me once when I was fourteen.
That was creepy. No, I like you much better in home health care and running self-defense classes on the side.
Hm. You should have a third job, though, just to fit the three-job college role. ”
“I also run a group of…” What could I call the fighters and racers plus all the tech people if she really didn’t know? “It’s hard to explain.” Particularly if I left out the violent parts.
“You have a crew? Are you a gang?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Dancers?”
“No. Trix is a mechanic. Jezebel does animal handling. Dirk is the tech guy who sets up shows, and Pinkie is the secretary.”
She smiled. “You’re like extras, backstage crews for shows? What kind of shows do you do? Circus? Magic?”
“A little bit of everything.”
“A little bit of everything? Well that does narrow it down. How exciting. Do you get discounted tickets?”
“Yes. I do get free tickets to the shows I put on.” Because they were mine.
“That’s so cool. Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t know me. I could be a psycho killer for all you know.”
I took a deep breath and leaned over to gaze into her eyes. “Are you a psycho killer?”
She gave me a reluctant smile and traced my eyebrows. “Yes.”
“And so honest. Can I kiss you?”
A look of surprised delight washed over her face, but she hesitated, pursing her lips like she was thinking about it.
I’d put the possibility out of my head ever since the shower, but if we were leaving tomorrow, this would be my last chance to really enjoy her here before the rest of the world intruded.
How long could we be in Vegas before the truth about me came out?
Hopefully she’d deal with it well enough.
Maybe she’d even appreciate my position the better to protect her.
“It would be my pleasure,” she finally said.
I took her in my arms, gazing down at her while she smiled with that sweetness I couldn’t resist, and then finally I kissed her as light and delicate as possible. It was my vow. I would be gentle with her, give her the care she deserved for as long as we were together.
The way she opened up in my arms, stretching towards me like I was her sunshine, so soft and welcoming drowned out everything other than her and her delicate sweetness. It was a kiss I’d never forget.
The next morning we took the Camaro. I drove while she stared at the scenery, the endless shifting pastel mountains, sky, and desert, a view that she drank in like she could feed on color.
I kept wanting to say something, but what could I say? Everything was agreed on, it was just going through with the mission. Mission: Marriage.
I’d stopped at a gas station, and made the calls to arrange everything, the roadside wedding chapel, the dress, and the information that I’d be back and everyone would need to be at the compound on Monday.
That took less than ten minutes while she agonized over whether to pick gas station hot dogs or pizza. Eventually, she chose both.
She was happy with her decision. She was usually so ridiculously happy and I couldn’t help picking up on that. I lost every bitter, jaded, angry streak and was left with something like optimism when she smiled at me.