“I’m a trained SEAL, but tomorrow we have no filming, and I will not be letting my wife out of my sight. We were planning on leaving the casino tomorrow anyhow; we wanted to spend the day with our kids who are staying nearby with their aunts. I think if you don’t mind, and please don’t take offense, but I will be calling on some friends to take care of Jess while I finish filming for the show.” Tom nodded his understanding while Benny thought about which friend he could call on to come to his side. Cookie and Fiona might be willing to make the trip out here. They had no kids, and he thought they were the only ones who hadn’t stated they had plans for Thanksgiving. Yes, he would ask them to come, even pay their tickets out here. They could stay with Jess and the kids back at that farm while he finished production. Jess wasn’t going to like it, but he wasn’t going to give her a choice in the matter either.
Tom and the chief began to escort them back down the hall. Tawny followed. “Any ideas yet?” Benny asked, “On who might be doing this and why?” All he could think of was that it had something to do with the show. But then again he had felt twice now that he had been being watched. Once when it was just him and Jess outside of the casino.
The chief shook his head in the negative. “Your guess is as good as mine is right now. But we have a few theories we are looking into. The forensics on the plant and where it came from will help us to narrow it down. But so far, we’re thinking someone who wants to win the grand prize very badly. As Tom said, we’ll be keeping our eye on all of the contestants. And we will also be talking to the production team and the host as well. We want everyone to be on alert.”
CHAPTER 12
“Hell no Kason ‘Benny’ Sawyer!” Jessyka stomped her foot. She had been ecstatic and pleasantly surprised when Fiona and Cookie arrived mid-afternoon at his aunt’s farmhouse door. They had a wonderful dinner, his aunts had cooked giving him a break, but after the kids went to bed, and Jessyka started to repack her night bag for the morning trip back to the casino and Benny dropped the bomb that she wasn’t going back with him, she went off on him.
“Jessyka, I want you safe out of harms’ way.” He stated it firmly and tried to reach for her hands. She was waving the hairbrush she had been about to pack in a threatening manner.
“Well, who in hell is going to watch your back. This is bull shit, Kason.” She was really pissed, he knew because she was using his proper name. And cursing, which she deplored.
“I’ll watch my own back,” he scoffed.
“Yeah, right! Just like last time.” She rolled her eyes at her husband. True, he was a SEAL, but he was human too. Going alone was absolutely out of the question.
“Hey, that’s not fair. I was hit from behind.” Jessyka could hit below the belt when she had her back against the wall. But she was also right. She was talking about the time her ex-boyfriend, the one who had been beating her up and using her like a punching bag, had clocked him over the head in a dark alley.
“And so you are saying that can’t happen again.” She crossed her arms over her chest to make her point.
He would try to reason with her. “Jessyka, please listen to me.”
“No, Kason. You’re wrong. I really think the best thing here, is for you AND me to go back to the casino AND for Cookie and Fiona to come with us. Then we have four sets of eyes all watching each other’s backs.”
That would leave the kids vulnerable and his aunts. “What about the kids?” He threw at her, and he saw her shoulders deflate.
“The kids…” her voice trailed off. John Walker was around, but he was just one man. No, she didn’t know him, not well enough to trust him with her kids’ lives.
There was a sudden knock at the door interrupting her thoughts. Benny was smiling. He was thinking he had won. But when he opened the door his face fell. They both were shocked to see not one, but two very large men standing in the open doorway. One was Cookie, who wore a grim expression, but behind him was another familiar and friendlier face. It was Tex Keegan, their good friend from Pennsylvania. The guy who had all their backs.
“What the hell?” Benny let the expletive slip before being pulled from the room by Tex into a massive manly bear hug.
“Drove all day. Is that the way to a great a friend?”
“No, but what the heck are you doing here?” Benny smiled as he pulled out of Tex’s reach.
“Well, when I told the wife what was going on, she kicked my ass out of bed this morning. Let me quote her, because Melody gets pissed if you don’t tell the story just right. Friggin’ pregnancy hormones.” He dropped his voice a barely audible decibel to mimic a woman’s tone. “Tex, Jess isn’t going to let him go to the casino alone. Cookie should go with him, and the women and the kids can’t be left alone either. Get your ass out of bed, cause you’re going to Massachusetts and babysitting those kids.”
Jess rushed past her husband and threw herself into Tex’s arms. He was the answer to her prayers, again. “When you get back home, tell Melody I love her. How is she doing by the way?”
“Very pregnant, very hormonal, or she would have come with me. Akilah is with her.” Akilah was his adopted Iraqi daughter. “The baby is not due for another couple of months, but I still didn’t want her driving or away from her doctors.”
“Good, so this is the new plan.” Jessyka stepped back into the room and picked up her hairbrush from the bed where she had dropped it. You.” She pointed to Tex, “are babysitting. Just like Melody said.” Jessyka took charge like no one’s business. “She got that part right. But, I’m going with my husband back to the casino.”
“Well, if you are going, I am going too.” The sweet feminine voice that came from the hallway belonged to Fiona. She passed the men and entered Benny’s childhood bedroom. She gave Jessyka a smile to show her support and, like Jessyka, crossed her arms over her chest.
“To hell you are!” threatened Cookie as he tried to step around Tex to get to his wife. He didn’t like it one bit how these women always seemed to be able to turn the tables on them.
“Listen buddy,” Fiona stated. “We all have been through the wringer and we all can watch each other’s backs. No one is leaving anyone’s sight, and that is the way it’s going to be. We all have trackers. I’m sure Tex has his computer, and we will be fine.” She was wagging her finger at her husband and he was staring right back. It was a contest of wills, and like usual Cookie looked away first. It was a sight to watch that beast of a man fall before her.
Tex swore under his breath. “Shit! I get three kids to watch all by myself!”
Benny shook his head, but he was throwing in the towel too. “My aunts are here, and you need the practice. It’s just two, maybe three days.”
“Fuck me!” Tex groaned to himself. He was glad he was there to help, but three kids under four was a lot to ask of a one-legged man. He’d lost his left leg in Iraq.
Jessyka was grinning from ear to ear as the men stood uncomfortably shoulder to shoulder in the hallway. “Well, now that this is all settled, why don’t you boys go off and catch up or something, while Fee and I do the same in here.” The men all nodded like little boys who had just been chastised, and they began to turn to head downstairs and grab a beer. But not before Jess added one more parting shot. “But we have to be up early, so not too late, now. You hear?” Jessyka sassed just before she firmly closed the door in all of the men’s faces. They could hear Fee and Jess giggling like school girl’s inside.
At the mercy of their women, the men knew when to call it quits, and this was one of those times.
CHAPTER 13
Heidi was nervous as all hell when she saw Benny walk into the lobby not only with Jessyka, but another man and woman. She didn’t recognize the other couple, but from the looks of the man, he was probably a Navy SEAL too. They were walking directly towards the check in desk. She turned around and bumped into that stupid twit of a girl, Betty Sims, who had sort of complimented her hair. “Betty, I need to use the restroom, can you take over my coun
ter.” She didn’t even wait for the girl to answer. Benny and Jessyka were right behind her.
“Can someone help us?” he asked. She could hear his fingers tapping against the counter.
“I just got here. I haven’t even clocked in?” Betty whined.
“I will clock in for you. Sorry, but it’s an emergency.” Heidi held her hand over her mouth and made her voice sound scratchy just in case Benny over heard her and recognized her voice.
“Whatever!” Betty replied, rolling her eyes at the creepy Heidi, gum popping in her mouth like she was still a teenager and not nearly thirty like herself. She couldn’t believe the casino had hired the hideous creature. No matter what she did she couldn’t hide the burn mark on her face no matter how much make-up she wore.
Heidi hurried from the room into the employee area, but not before she heard Benny ask Betty. “Yes, we called about getting a room for our friends, but we also forgot to ask for tickets to the club tonight. Stryker is playing and we have ours, but we were hoping we could get some for them as well.”
They were going to Spirits tonight, Heidi thought gleefully. The rooftop club could be a dangerous place and accidents could easily happen. It could work. She rounded the corner and stepped immediately inside. Her heart was beating frantically at almost getting caught. She leaned against the wall next to the time clock and took several deep breaths before reaching for the twat’s punch card and clocking her in. God forbid the dim wit worked five extra minutes and didn’t get paid for it.
It had been a close call. Too close, but at least she had gotten what she needed. She thought she had lost her one and only shot at getting her revenge, but luck was still on her side. If she was a betting woman she wouldn’t be Betting on Benny to win the final round of The Cook Off, because come tomorrow, if she had her way, his lifeless body would need to be scraped off the pavement with a really big spatula. She laughed and then snorted. She also heard someone approaching so she shuffled off to the bathroom. She didn’t want her being sick story to be blown. God knows what kind of stink little Betty Sims would cause is she knew Heidi had faked being sick to get out of waiting on a customer. She was glad she switched with someone and had covered the night shift today. Tonight was her night off, and she could sleep the day away, and still wake up early enough to plan her little night out, and figure out a way to run into Benny Sawyer.
She still had a shot to even the score. And she planned on taking that shot tonight.
* * *
Thursday went off without a hitch. Benny and Jess and Cookie and Fiona celebrated. He was sad for the two contestants who lost, yet had come so close to winning a prize.
Both Christy Brown and Nathan Rosen had been eliminated in the entrée round. He was glad Cathy was still in it though. Her family could most assuredly use some of that prize money. As could his. At least they both could walk away with something.
He had prepared his Aunt Suzie’s Fettuccini Alfredo with Crawfish when he saw that the Secret Ingredient was Cayenne Pepper. When he reached for the crawfish on the table that Cathy had been reaching for, he had nearly forgotten that she was from Louisiana. He felt bad when she backed away first and instead picked up the package of filet mignon. He was glad she made it to the finals with pepper steak and truffle rice. The judges had been shocked that he had taken the crawfish, but when he explained his Aunt Suzie spent her married life there until her husband was killed on an oil rig explosion in the gulf, they knew how he had been influenced by the Cajun cuisine. They loved his version of the flavorful pasta. They thought he had been overly generous with the cayenne pepper on the boiled crawfish, but they had laughed that he had cut the more powerful cheeses with Velveeta. It had surprisingly tempered the taste. He explained that as a kid his aunt had always put a dab of the gelatinous substance because it made her boys think they were eating the long version of mac and cheese.
He had briefly been scared he would be eliminated, but the judges pronounced his meal a success. His plating, texture and taste had all received high marks.
They had just enjoyed another fabulous meal at one of the casinos restaurants, and now they were meeting Joseph and Jewel upstairs for celebratory drinks in the rooftop club. The ladies were excited about hearing Stryker play, but all promised to have just one drink and to be vigilant though the day had gone off without a hitch.
Fee and Jess both held up two fingers in a mock Boy Scout salute to always stick together and agreed that one of the men would escort them to the ladies room and stand by the door until they emerged.
Benny had not had any episode, or gut feelings today at all. So perhaps whoever attempted to sabotage the food on the The Cook Off had given up, or, maybe Cathy or one of her family members was the culprit, and now that she was in the finals they weren’t too worried. He hated thinking that, but it was a possibility. He’d let the police handle the investigation, but he would be careful until he was home with his family safe and sound.
The Chief had no new news to share. Nothing had come back from the lab in Hartford on the source of the Aconite. They fingerprints had not turned up anything either.
Cookie was here, and he felt better about having him around. The man didn’t drink, and the women passed on their wines with dinner, saving their one allotted drink for the night club tonight. Everything would be okay he told himself as he paid the tab, and they all got up to go upstairs and freshen up for an hour or so before going to Spirits.
Benny was wound up after his big win, but tried to relax. He was happy that he would get at least 50k to take home. That would pay for about half the work that needed to be done. Though the big prize would finish the job, and then some. He still had hope there, but the dessert round would be tough. Jewel had given him a few ideas over breakfast the other morning, but he still hadn’t really narrowed anything down.
* * *
Heidi left in disgust. Chuck was full of apologies. He’d been sure he would have been able to get into Spirits being a security guard at the club. “Come on, Georgie, two more people won’t make a difference.”
“I’m sorry, Chuck. I can’t. The count is full. We are at capacity, and Tammy, the manager of the night club, or Eve will have my hide if they found out I let you in. I’m sorry.”
“Fine, but I’ll remember this next time you need help moving your shit across town,” he spat and turned but Heidi was already by the elevators. Fuck! He hated disappointing her. They had only been together for a few months, and this week she seemed to be distracted, looking elsewhere. She wasn’t being herself and he was getting worried that she was getting bored with him already. He approached her as she waited for the elevator to arrive.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t get us in. I know you wanted to check out the band. I’m sure I can get tickers when Stryker comes back after the holidays.” She had insisted to him it be tonight though the tickets to get in were not only high, but sold out. The band was in town only for the week, and then they were going back on tour to finish the east coast run. The only reason they had come back to town was because they were local and the lead the singer was banging the boss’s daughter. Lucky son of a bitch, Chuck thought. Eve Sassacus was hot. Smoking hot. But a guy like him wouldn’t have a chance in hell with a girl like that. He carried his fifty extra pounds none too attractively around the chest and abdomen like a barrel.
But with a girl like Heidi he thought he could make it work. He knew she had seen rough times. Her teeth told him she had been an addict at one point though she had been fixing them up. Also, someone had seriously messed up her face. She told him it was a burn, but wouldn’t say much else about it. She covered it up with make-up as best as she could. The other side of her face looked okay, and it looked like she must have been pretty cute when she was younger. He didn’t know why she died her hair that God awful platinum blond though. He’d liked her dark hair. It had been natural. But, whatever. She probably wanted to feel better about herself, or like he had thought earlier in the week, she was getting bored
with him.
“Chuck, please. Don’t even bring it up. I’m so disappointed right now,” she ground out through gritted teeth.
He could see she was upset. He hadn’t realized she even liked the band that much. He mentioned getting tickets back in September before they left to go on tour, and she waved him off then. But they were getting more famous now. Partly because of playing at the club, and now the tour had helped to launch them even more. They were sure getting a lot of radio play with their third album. Heck, he even liked them. It was like old school rock had come back.
Chuck remained silent as he followed Heidi into the elevator. She looked good tonight. The short blue dress she wore showed off her legs, which was one of her best features. Maybe she would want to go to one of the clubs downstairs. There were a few others on the first floor that had dancing. He was about to suggest that when she spoke.
“Listen, Chuck. I just want to go home. I’m not feeling well all of a sudden.”
“Are you sure, I was thinking…”
She cut him off. “No, just take me home. Then go. I want to be alone tonight.”
Chuck felt like an idiot. She wouldn’t even make eye contact with him. This week was not going well, he could feel her pulling away more and more. He had to figure a way to cheer her up. He would go home and think about it. Maybe he could surprise her tomorrow with something. But what, he wondered as he followed her through the lobby and to the doors that led to the parking lot out front where his car was parked. He would think of something. She wasn’t perfect, but he still didn’t want to lose her. He wasn’t in love, but the sex was fantastic, and she had made him a lot less lonely these last few months. He would think of something, he vowed. He could make a woman like her happy. He just knew it.
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Betting on Benny (Kindle Worlds) (Mystic Nights Book 6) Page 9
