Chapter 11
Chapter Eleven
PAXTON
People can always have a bit of luck on their side, an occurrence or combination of circumstances that can be either fortunate or unfortunate. Lucky or unlucky, people would say. It’s a chain of events. This is understandable.
What I have never bought into is fate. That there is an inevitable course of events beyond one’s control. However, when it comes to Naomi, things do seem more than just luck. So many pieces falling into place without having to put your thumb on the scale.
Then again, this could all be a trap I have stepped right in, but there are few people who knew I was searching for this piece.
And not a soul who knows what it means to me.
What are the odds that I have finally secured it on the same day that Naomi took off to California, where I needed to be to collect it?
I stare at the piece that most believed went up in flames during World War II. The Two Lives of Alessia by the artist Giorgio Benetti. I came across it when I was doing research. I did find it interesting when some pieces of art that people thought were long gone would pass through one of my docks.
Every now and then, I’d look them up out of curiosity and my fascination with history. It’s always good to understand the things that pass through your hands. To have a grasp on it.
I’d seen it when searching the history and worth of a few pieces of art from Giorgio Benetti that had passed through. One was thought to be long gone, and the other was stolen a decade ago in a heist. When scrolling through his work, The Two Lives of Alessia caught my eye. It reminded me of Naomi.
The piece shows the same woman sitting next to herself.
Two versions but still the same woman. One side of her is wrapped in emotion that could be all but consuming; the other is poised, how she presents to the rest of the world.
It isn’t a small contrast between the two but almost two separate people.
It appears to be almost painful. Even to herself, she is these separate people. She slides into one or the other. It might be selfish, but I want to see the Naomi that can be all of who she truly is, even if only with me.
“Where should I have it stored or taken?” Nico asks. I pull out my phone and send him an address. His brows rise when he sees it, but he only nods.
“I have somewhere to be.”
“Consider it done.”
When I slide into my car, I check my messages to see that Naomi has checked into her suite and left moments ago with Mac and Bonte in tow. I book it over toward the hospital, sending my sister a heads-up.
I hadn’t accounted for Naomi’s jealousy. She might not call it that, but I will. I enjoy it far more than I should, but I’d never tell her that. I don’t mean to make her jealous; I want her to need me in a way she doesn’t need anyone else. That is how I can bind her to me.
I park in the garage, pulling out my badge to enter the back of the hospital.
The docks are not the only place where I have invested my time and money.
You invest in things people will always need.
I slide my badge again when I get to Sloane’s office.
When I step inside, she is waiting for me, already with the camera feed up.
“Why is she here?” Sloane asks.
The feed is of the main emergency bay. It has a 360 view of the area. You can open and close glass doors and curtains for privacy, but most are open, and I know Sloane made sure the room she put Naomi in was indeed open for me to see in.
“She wants to know who you are.”
“And you didn’t simply tell her?”
“No.” I had not intended to involve her in this, but I should have known better.
Women tend to be far more curious in nature.
People believe it’s because they are nosy, and in part it’s true, but subjectively, women are more vulnerable.
They want to see the possibility of threats that could lie ahead.
“What am I to do here?” She leans her hip up against her desk, waiting for my direction. Naomi is alone, except for the man knocked out in the wheelchair.
“I take it there is no footage of how she got this man into that wheelchair?”
“The man had been sitting on a bench outside of the hospital. He got up and went east, but the cameras on that side went out for two minutes.” She holds up her fingers.
“When they came back, there was nothing, but your girl was already pushing him toward the entrance. I’ll get his identification when we pull his wallet. ”
“He won’t have it.” It’s either tossed in a dumpster in that alley or on her.
I don’t think she has it on her. Naomi is still in those tight spandex pants that cling to her and a thin jacket over her sports bra. I’m sure she finds it simply functional, but I’m also positive it helped her lure that dumbshit down that alley.
Women—they can be a man’s downfall or his greatest strength. I saw that at a very young age.
“All right, then.” Sloane lets out a sigh, putting her stethoscope around her neck. “We both know—” She stops speaking when the screen flickers and then goes black. “The hell?” Sloane grabs the mouse, thinking she can fix it.
“It will come back.” And it does a few seconds later, except the curtain is now closed. Mac might not be in the room with Naomi, but she’s around. “They are quite the team.”
“You’re saying that was her?” I nod. I wait, debating what I should do next. What they might do next.
A knock sounds at the door, pulling Sloane’s attention there. Not mine; I turn toward the other that goes into the bathroom, flicking cameras on and off. She’s not knocking. Naomi would have had the door open.
In two strides, I’m to the other door, yanking it open to see Naomi coming to her feet, the window behind her open.
“Sunshine.”
Her lips press together in a firm line. Jealousy looks damn good on her. Makes her even more attractive to me.
“How did you know?”
“I can’t tell you all my secrets.”
“So this marriage will have secrets.” I love the way her eyes keep assessing me. She is both impressed and annoyed with me. Most importantly, she is intrigued.
“There is a marriage, then?”
“Don’t respond to my question with one.”
“Was it a question?”
“I’m not here to play games with you.” She steps toward me, and I know it’s not to get closer to me but to go through the door.
I shift to fully block the doorway. There’s no way in hell I’m letting her leave here with the wrong impression.
I might like to bait Naomi and even enjoy her jealousy more than I should, but I never want her to think there’s anyone but her for me.
That’s not saying I’m not going to have a little fun first.
“This isn’t a game to me.”
“It shouldn’t be, not when your life is on the line.”
“Are you going to kill me, Sunshine?” I smirk and lean my shoulder against the doorframe casually.
“You can move, or I can move you.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
Those icy blue eyes narrow on me. “You think I can’t move you?”
“You’re always assuming and putting words into my mouth. That’s not very like you.” She knows better than to assume, but right now she can’t help herself.
“You don’t know me.”
“Are you telling me or yourself?”
“Both.” She takes another step toward me. “Now—”
“Are you really going to strike me?” I ask, cutting her off mid-sentence, not because I didn’t want to hear what she was about to say but because she hadn’t intended to finish the sentence.
“I was going to.”
“And now you’ve changed your mind?”
“How did you know?”
“It was only a guess.” The odds were high. “I need a date.” Her brows slightly pull together, and I know I caught her off guard.
“That’s lovely for you. Now move, and I will not repeat myself.
” The date comment triggered her; I might actually get struck.
I hear the other door open, but I don’t turn to see who it is.
I know it’s Mac. “Maybe you should ask your doctor friend here to accompany you.” I can tell she wants to say more.
I’m sure about a few other things she knows, but she cuts it off at that.
“Unfortunately, as you can see, my sister is working, so she won’t be able to accompany me.”
“I play second to no one. You have a death wish. You’ll be lucky if I let either of you live. In fact….” She trails off, what I said catching up to her. In her anger, she stepped too quickly. As much as I’ve seen how worked up she is over me, we can’t have her making missteps, not because of me.
“I would never ask you to play second.”
“You don’t have a sister.”
“I’m glad to know I have done so well in keeping her hidden.” I watch as her demeanor shifts.
“You’re protecting her.”
“I’m allowing her to choose how much she wants to be involved not only in my life but also in the world I often operate in.”
“I understand this.” She gives a slight nod. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Same.”
“Yeah, sure. Same,” Bonte and Mac say from behind me. All of them are watching this play out.
“Can I see the MRI machine?” Mac asks.
“No,” Naomi answers before my sister can. I shift out of the doorway so that she can pass. I mean to let her, but my hand comes out, stopping her. I spread it across her stomach. She turns her head slightly and drops it back to meet my gaze. “What are you doing?”
“Only wanted to tell you that I’m glad you had a safe flight and that I missed you.” Her eyes search my face.
“You mean that.”
“I do.”
“Okay.” She nods at this; maybe the fight we’ve had is over. “You can kiss me again,” Naomi says. “That’s what lovers do when—” I don’t need further explanation. I lean down, pressing my mouth to hers.
The way her whole body softens as I pull her closer to me is addictive. When I slide my tongue across the seam of her lips and they part for me, I think I might have won the fight.
Not that I’d ever tell my sunshine that; we’re not there… yet.