Big Daddy leaned her against him and rubbed her arm.
Carly rubbed her forehead. Her parents could see the distress all over her face. “This is so upsetting,” she said. “They’re saying he murdered that lady. And I know that’s a lie. Trevor wouldn’t do something like that. He’s not capable of doing anything like that.”
Big Daddy and Jenay glanced at each other. Trevor Reese, a government assassin, not being capable of killing somebody was an odd thing for Carly to say, but they didn’t comment. They knew she was just hurting.
Then Carly did what she used to do frequently whenever she was in a tough spot, before she met Trevor: she turned to Big Daddy. “Can’t you call somebody?” she asked him.
“Call somebody? Who am I going to call, baby?” Big Daddy asked her. “This is a law enforcement matter.”
“You can call Uncle Mick,” Carly suggested.
“Mick?” Jenay asked incredulously. She began rubbing Carly’s back. The girl was delusional tonight, she thought.
“Why not Uncle Mick?” Carly asked Jenay. “He has pull.”
“Your uncle has pull,” Big Daddy agreed. “I’ll admit he has more pull in this world than almost every man in this world. But not this kind, baby. This is a law enforcement matter. Your uncle is the last person on earth who has this kind of pull.”
Carly exhaled.
Amari, sitting next to Jenay, pulled out his cell phone and leaned forward, too, searching for a phone number.
Jenay looked at him. “Who are you calling?” she asked.
“My Uncle Mick,” he said.
Carly and Big Daddy looked at him too. “Your who?” Big Daddy asked him.
“Uncle Ham,” Amari said with a crooked smile. Then he stood up and walked away from the Sinatras to make his phone call.
Jenay and Big Daddy looked at each other. “Trevor isn’t going to like that,” Jenay said.
“He doesn’t want that boy to have anything to do with Hammer, that’s a fact,” Big Daddy agreed. But then he looked at his wife. “But who else can we call? The Gabrinis? They show up here and the cops will wanna check for warrants on them. My reach and my sons’ reach doesn’t extend outside of Maine. And forget calling Mick. These cops will try to pin that murder on him if he comes anywhere near this building. Who else is there?”
“Alex Drakos is a billionaire,” Jenay said. “He has reach, and he and Reno Gabrini are kind of tight.”
“Kind of tight doesn’t get you there, darling,” Big Daddy said to his hopeful wife. “Not when we’re talking about a murder rap. Amari’s right. Hammer Reese is our best bet.”
“I know,” Jenay said. “I just don’t want Amari caught up in his web again. Trevor’s trying to keep him away from that. Hammer may expect Amari to help out the Agency sometimes if he does this favor for him.”
“For him?” Big Daddy asked. “Trevor is his brother! He’d better be doing it for his own kid brother. That is, if he does anything at all.”
Hammer Reese wasn’t one of Big Daddy’s favorite people of late. Big Daddy’s beloved half-sister, Amelia Sinatra, the mother of Hammer’s only child, had been telling him about a lot of problems they’d been having as a couple. And most of those problems, if Amelia was to be believed, and Big Daddy absolutely believed her, were all Hammer’s fault.
Amari finished his call and made it back over to the family. Carly was most anxious. “Did you talk to him?”
Amari nodded. “I talked to him.”
“What did he say?” Carly asked.
“He said okay.”
“Is he going to make a phone call?” Big Daddy asked. “Is he going to do something?”
Amari hunched his shoulders. “He didn’t say. I told him what was happening, and he just said okay. He sounded like he was in bed, with a woman if I may be so bold, and I was disturbing him.”
Big Daddy rolled his eyes. “That motherfucker,” he said, and Jenay shook her head too.
But four hours later, after they had all gone to Trevor’s house to get some rest when it was made clear by his lawyers that nothing was going to be happening tonight, that same motherfucker came through for Trevor.
The doors to the home were opened, and Trevor and Hamilton Reese walked in.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
They were sitting around in the living room. Amari had just poured another round of drinks and they were all attempting to figure out the strategy going forward. His lawyers, they all agreed, were pretty useless, but they were considered the best in Boston. Big Daddy and Jenay felt that Brent’s wife Makayla and Sal Gabrini’s wife Gemma Jones, both high-caliber attorneys in their own right, would be better suited to defend Trevor. They at least were in the family.
Carly was about to agree. She’d seen both ladies in action before. But then the front door opened, and Trevor and Hammer walked in.
They all rose when they saw them, and Carly, overjoyed, ran to Trevor. The others walked over to him, too, elated that he was out, but Carly was already there and had fallen into his arms.
But she quickly pulled back. “They let you out on bail?” she asked him. “The lawyers said the bail hearing wasn’t until tomorrow. They let you out on bail tonight?”
Trevor was smiling. Seeing how happy Carly was to see him always gave him a lift. But he was shaking his head. “No, they didn’t let me out on bail,” he said.
Carly’s face turned concerning. So did all the others. “Then what are you out on?” she asked. Then she looked at Trevor with a please don’t say it’s so look. “You didn’t break out,” she said, looking from him to Hammer Reese, and then back to him. “Did you?”
Trevor and Hammer both were laughing. “No, babe,” Trevor said, “I didn’t make a run for it. They dropped the charges.”
“Dropped the charges?” Big Daddy asked. “How in the world did you swing that?”
They all, this time, looked at Hammer. Hammer smiled. “I presented evidence that showed, at the time of that murder, Trevor was on a different side of town handling a matter for me.”
They all knew that couldn’t be right. Hammer responded before they could ask him. “The evidence showed he was where I said he was,” Hammer said. “They weren’t going to argue with evidence.”
“Doctored or otherwise,” Big Daddy said, and Hammer only smiled.
“And especially if the former head of the CIA was showing that evidence to them,” Trevor added, and they all smiled too.
Amari looked admiringly at his uncle. “That’s why I want to be like you when I grow up, Uncle Ham,” he said to everybody’s consternation. Including Hammer’s. “The rich and powerful always wins the day,” Amari added.
But Trevor would have none of it. “Margo Robinet was rich and powerful. And her ass is dead. She didn’t win.”
Amari raised his eyebrows. He forgot how much his father hated him having anything to do with Hammer and Hammer’s world. “There’s that,” he said.
“In any event,” Hammer said, “it was nice seeing you folks again, but I have a plane to catch. My own,” he added, and began heading for the door.
“Thanks, Hammer,” Carly said.
Hammer smiled, gave her a kiss, and then glanced at Big Daddy and Jenay, two people he knew had him in their dog house, as he headed toward the exit. “Walk me to my car, Amari,” Hammer ordered, as he headed out.
Amari looked at his father. His father didn’t like it one bit, but he had asked his uncle to do him a favor by coming and helping his father, he came and helped in a major way. Walking him to his car, Amari felt, was the least he could do.
He was about to follow Hammer outside, but Trevor, although drained, grabbed his arm and stopped him. “I’ll walk him out,” he said, and headed outside behind his brother.
Big Daddy looked at Jenay and nodded approvingly. Amari looked pissed. He felt his father was taking it too far.
But Trevor didn’t care what he thought. He was protecting his son from Hammer’s clutches if it was the last thing h
e did. He hurried up to Hammer’s limo.
“Didn’t I tell you to keep your paws off of my son?” he asked him with clenched teeth.
Hammer was standing beside his chauffeur at the back door of the limo, about to get in, when Trevor made it up to him. “I knew your ass would come out instead of him. What do you take me for? Get in,” Hammer said as he got into his limo.
Trevor exhaled, but got in on the opposite side of the limo and closed the door behind him.
“What’s your strategy?” Hammer asked him.
“I told you I don’t have one yet,” Trevor responded. “Somebody tried to frame me for Margo’s murder, I know that. I don’t know the reason why they tried to, but I know that much.”
“Just be careful,” Hammer said.
Trevor looked at him. “Why? What do you know?”
“She had some messy alliances,” Hammer said.
“Like who?” Trevor asked.
“Mugs Ballard ring a bell?”
Trevor frowned. “That loan shark over in Jersey?”
Hammer nodded. “The one and only.”
“He’s a fucking killer. Why would Margo be tied up with that pile of shit?”
“Because she owed him. And because,” Hammer added, “he has the goods on her.”
Trevor looked at his brother. “What goods?”
“Remember her first husband?”
“What about him?”
“Remember how he died?”
“It was a boating accident,” Trevor said.
“He died on a boat, alright,” Hammer said. “But it was no accident.”
Trevor was shocked. “What are you saying? She killed him?”
Hammer nodded. “Yes,” he said.
“How would you know that?”
“We had her husband under surveillance at the time it happened. He was trafficking in some very bad stuff.”
Trevor frowned. “But I started dating her after her old man died. And you knew she had offed her husband?”
“I knew you could handle her.” Hammer looked at his brother. “And you did.”
Trevor exhaled. Then he thought about it. “How would a scumbag like Mugs Ballard know about Margo and her old man? They ran in very different circles.”
“Yes, but Mugs was, and is, one of ours. He might have been blackmailing her on the side. I don’t know yet. But I’ll find out.”
“So you think Mugs set me up?” Trevor asked. “But why would he? And why would the fact that he had the goods on Margo have to do with somebody murdering Margo?”
“Margo was in on the set up, if you will recall,” Hammer said. “She was the one who gave that press conference and claimed you advised her how to kill Greg Shaughnessy and get away with it.”
Trevor nodded. “Which was bullshit.”
“Right.”
“You think Mugs Ballard put her up to it? Then, to keep his fingerprints out of it, he killed her?”
“It’s possible. But I don’t know that yet.”
“But why would Mugs set me up? I’ve never had any dealings with that guy.”
“I know. It makes some sense, but not all. I’m looking into it. But my main point concerns you, not him.”
Trevor looked at Hammer. “Me? What about me?”
“I know you. I know you would have eventually figured it out and linked Margo to him. But I have to warn you off of him, brother. Stay away from Mugs. He’s doing invaluable work for us. We can’t afford to have his cover blown. No matter what.”
“And if he did kill Margo and tried to frame me?”
“If, and that’s a big if: if he’s involved,” Hammer said, “I’ll find out. And I’ll let you know.”
“And then what? I can take it from there?”
“Didn’t I just tell you to stay away from him? No, you can’t take it from there! I’ll handle him.”
“How, Hammer, if he’s so invaluable to you? How are you going to handle it?”
Hammer exhaled. “I don’t know that yet. But you just hang tight and let me find out what I need to find out.”
Trevor leaned his head back and ran his hands through his hair.
“It’s not like you have a choice,” Hammer said.
Trevor exhaled, too, because he knew his brother spoke the truth. The Agency ruled, no matter what. And as far as Trevor was concerned, despite his retirement, Hammer was still the Agency.
But another situation was on his mind. He looked at his brother. “What about Peter King?” he asked.
“What about him?”
“I asked you to look into his background. Did you?”
“I looked, yes.”
“And what did you see?”
“There was nothing to see. He was a biker in his younger days. Worked for his father in his father’s fertilizer company for many years, and then took over as its president when his father died. No criminal history. No abuse allegations ever. There’s nothing on him.”
“Except for Carly,” Trevor said.
“Right.” Then Hammer looked at him. “You believe her?”
“With every bone in my body,” Trevor said. “Yes. She’s not making that shit up.”
“From what you told me, he wasn’t the only one.”
“That’s right. But he was the only one that crossed her path since she grew up. I haven’t been able to get any intel on the rest of them, because she didn’t know any of their names or anything about them, really, that I could look into. But she remembered him.”
“And you said he was stalking her?”
“No doubt about it.”
“Which means premeditation. But then you take him out before we can find out shit.”
“He took himself out,” Trevor said. “But I’m just wondering if his reemergence in Carly’s life had something to do with what happened to me tonight.”
Hammer frowned. “You think there could be a connection? What kind of connection?”
Trevor shook his head. “I don’t know. But that shit ain’t over yet, or it wouldn’t still be bothering me. Anyway,” Trevor said, about to get out, “I’ll stay clear of Mugs. But don’t put it on a back burner, Ham. I need to know if the trail leads to him, or somewhere else.”
Hammer nodded. “I’ll let you know,” he said. Then he added, as Trevor opened the door. “Take care of yourself.”
“How’s JoJo?” Trevor asked.
“He’s good.”
“How’s his mother?”
A pained look appeared in Hammer’s eyes. Amelia Sinatra did that to him. “Take care of yourself,” he said again, and Trevor got the message. Any talk of Amelia and their tumultuous relationship was off limits.
Since Trevor liked his boundaries, too, like Hammer staying away from his son, he didn’t push it.
He got out of the limo and went back inside of his home.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
His fully aroused dick entered into her wetness as if it was entering a bed of clover, and Carly opened her legs wider as she felt that welcomed feeling of connection. It was early the next morning, they were at home in their big, four-poster bed, making long, achingly slow love.
Carly was on top, with Trevor on the bottom, and he laid her naked body on top of his naked body, with one of her hands splayed on his thick chest, as he fucked her. He placed his hand on top of her hand and caressed it as he pushed deeper and deeper inside of her, unable to stop pushing and stroking and giving her all he had.
And when his strokes became a steady rhythm, they both fell into echoes of groans and moans as the feelings intensified with every movement. It was the way Carly loved it, and she laid her head down and let him give it to her in his special way. Trevor wrapped her in his arms and gave it to her. He was a fighter and a lover. But a very loving lover to Carly.
She tried not to think about Margo Robinet as he fucked her. She tried not to let that woman come anywhere near her mind. And just when she was faltering. Just when she was remembering that somebody tried to frame her
husband, Trevor rubbed her back and caressed her butt and brought her back to him.
And when she came back, she felt his penis glide across her vagina like a cool breeze and expand more and more until she felt as if she was full.
When it became too good, and she became too full, she broke and had an orgasm that caused her to squeeze him tighter and hold onto him harder.
Her orgasm was what Trevor was waiting for. He saw that look on her face tonight, when Margo did her craziness, and he wanted to replace her pain with his love. He pounded her, to accentuate her cum.
But his pounding, and her squeezing her vagina around his rod, caused him to cum too. And it felt so good to him that he lifted his buttocks off of the bed, thereby pushing his penis so far up into her that his balls were the only part of him left out.
And he wouldn’t quit. Several minutes after his orgasm had begun, he was still feeling those feelings. They would not ebb. Because it was Carly in his arms. The woman he loved. And he couldn’t stop making love to her.
He kept stroking and kept caressing until he was pounding her again. And she was cumming again. And he was cumming again. And they were caught in an avalanche of emotions as he poured into her and she accepted him all over again.
He didn’t realize that he was squeezing her butt cheeks so hard as he came, and pounding into her for so long, that her brown ass had turned red.
But it was worth it to both of them. When the sensations slowed and trickled and finally came to a reluctant stop, they both were satiated in a way that made Carly collapse onto Trevor, and that made Trevor collapse onto the bed, his arms now outstretched.
“You’re killing me here,” he said to Carly almost out of breath. “I’m too old for this shit!”
Carly laughed. He was a long way from old, she knew, and he knew too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Later that day, Carly was in her office sitting at the file cabinet. She had what appeared to be four stacks of files on her lap, and wore reading glasses as she thumbed through all of them. She was so behind in her paperwork that it wasn’t funny. She had an excuse. It had been a tough week. But the work still needed to get done.
Trevor Reese: His Protective Love Page 14
