by Kate Stewart
Daniello stood with the door open, the key ring on his finger. “It is not over.”
“I’ve got news for you, buddy—”
Daniello frowned. “What news?”
I let out a sarcastic laugh as he gripped my shoulders. “I was deep in my thoughts, Taylor Ellison.”
“Fine. Can I go?”
“No.” Daniello slammed the door behind him as I held out my hand for my keys. He put them in his pocket and began to walk toward the elevator.
“I’m leaving!”
“You are staying.” It was a warning. One I didn’t give a shit about.
“You can’t force me to stay,” I snapped as he made his way into the elevator. He turned on me and gripped me to him as the doors closed. “We have vacation to do.”
“Daniello—” His mouth crushed mine as I pushed at his chest. His tongue prodded in possession until I had no choice but to open for him. His kiss filled me, unlocked something inside me, and his tongue claimed the rest. When he pulled away, he left an inch between us. “I will stay for more vacation.”
“What?” I stared up at him, dazed, his dark eyes trying to convey more than his lips.
“You. Are. Staying.” It was an infuriating order.
I pushed at his chest in vain. “If you want a fight, you’re about to get one.”
His slow smile told me everything before his lips moved. “Then let us fight.”
“No, Taylor.”
“Just try it.”
Daniello lay in bed, gloriously naked and draped in a sheet with fresh nail marks covering his chest, his nose upturned at my offered cracker.
“It looks like a child’s vomit.”
“It’s pimento. Olive-flavored cheese.”
He pushed at my intrusive hand. “I do not want it.”
With his protest and open mouth, I took the opportunity and shoved the cracker in. His eyes widened as I wiped at the spilled cheese over his lips with my fingers. He glared at me with a mouth full as he chewed. Within seconds, his eyes glittered over the tub in my hand.
“Delicious, right?”
Around his bite, he answered enthusiastically, “It is very good.”
“It’s the caviar of the South.” I laughed as he pulled the tub from my hand and devoured it.
Through heavy mouthfuls, he questioned me, a man in love. “How much is this caviar?”
“About six dollars. A little less if you buy the cheap shit.”
Daniello looked at me with wide eyes. “Six dollars? For caviar?” He harrumphed as I kept my laugh inside. After shoving the last cracker in his mouth, he patted his loaded stomach and stretched out with a smile. “Maybe that will be one point for America.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll let the others know.”
With full bellies, we lay in bed “vacationing” and watching the sailboats in the harbor. Charleston was our version of reality TV. We’d spent the last few days playing penthouse. I’d taken a few business calls, and Daniello had disappeared for a few hours to meet Rocco, but other than that, we were inseparable.
The previous night we’d drank a couple bottles of wine while he made me his favorite Italian cookie, Bruttiboni. He said there was only one bakery in Barga that made them “to his liking.” I watched his every move, slowly seduced as he spoke. He was at ease and totally animated while he destroyed the kitchen. Flour clung to his eyelashes, streaked his nose, and covered his T-shirt. I couldn’t help my smile as I realized the most lethal man in Charleston was baking cookies for me.
It was only minutes after the last batch was cooling on the rack that he’d tied me up and slapped my pussy until I begged him for his cock.
The man was anything but boring.
“What are you thinking of now, Phoenix?”
Daniello traced my nipple with his finger before he closed his mouth over it. I sighed out the truth as I gripped his thick hair. “You.”
His lashes fluttered as I opened for him and he nestled between my thighs. He ran his hands through the length of my hair as he looked down at me. “No thoughts of friends?”
“No.”
He placed an unusually soft kiss on my lips and pulled back. It was there. All of it.
He scrutinized me as his phone rang somewhere in the mess of sheets. He retrieved it with a pained look on his face and then answered it to angry Arabic. He shot out of bed and was dressed and out the door within a minute with a rushed, “I will return.”
I spoke to the ceiling as the door closed behind him. “I guess vacation is over.”
“You fucking fool,” Rocco spit out as I jumped into the passenger side of the truck.
“I will change this. I will make this right.”
Rocco whipped the SUV around the sharp curves of the garage as I glanced in his direction. His tone was full of contempt as he tore into me. “You cost us the contract playing with your whore!”
“I did no such thing.” I pulled my phone from my pocket.
“Too late!” Rocco sat at the exit and glared at me. “I already spoke to him.”
It took everything I had not to rip him apart where he sat. “Tell me what he said.”
“He asked what kept you.”
My whole body tensed as I looked to my cousin. “You told him.”
Rocco nodded as he sped out of the garage.
“One week!” Amber pranced around my condo, full of excitement. “God, that lawyer is a miracle worker!”
One week meant it had been a month since I’d heard from Daniello. With every day that passed, I grew more frantic. I slept at the penthouse for a solid week then gave up. Our vacation was most definitely over. But were we? And my worry for him in the state he left only worsened the dread in my chest. Was he alive?
I shook away the thought as the heavy feeling threatened to overtake me. We weren’t supposed to have lasted this long. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard. But it took very little to stir the feelings I had for him, even in his absence. I felt our connection no matter how far the space between us. I bathed in his soap and was clouded in our memories. I needed answers, but mostly I needed to know he was still out there.
“Earth to Taylor.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I was thinking we could go shopping for a toddler bed to put next to mine.”
“Amber,” I said carefully, “if you don’t get custody—”
“I will. I just know it.” She shook away my doubts. “I’ve called every night sober. His mother knows I’m clean.”
“If she’s attached to Joseph, we have to be prepared for a fight.” I shrugged after seeing Amber’s light dim. “But let’s just think positive, right?”
“Right.” Her phone pinged with a text, and she looked over at me.
“Laz?”
“No. It’s a work friend.” She sent a text and set her phone face down. “You will love Joseph, Taylor. He’s so smart. He’s such a happy little boy.”
“I will,” I agreed, though I had little to no experience with children other than Amber.
Her smile disappeared as she studied me. “If Laz tries anything—”
“We’ll be ready. He has no idea we’re coming, right?”
“Either that or he’s playing ignorant. His mother won’t speak to him. Won’t let him over. There is a good chance we could get in and out.”
“Then that’s the plan.”
“And if he catches us?”
“Cedric will step in.”
“Right.” She nodded as she looked at screen shot she took of FaceTime with Joseph. “Right.”
The flight to Memphis and the short car ride after to Dyer felt like the longest trip I’d ever taken in my life. Cedric had eyes on Laz, and from what he was told hourly, Laz hadn’t emerged from Lucy’s apartment since he went in late the night before. Our court time was at 8:00 a.m. There was a good chance we could pull it off. I drove the rental with white knuckles as we passed the desert I swore I’d never return to for the second time. When we go
t to the courthouse, Amber could barely control herself when her son came into view in the arms of his mother.
“Taylor?” Stacy Walker looked between the two of us as Joseph squirmed in her arms. The minute Joseph saw his mother, his excited screams turned into a pleading wail. I studied Joseph for the first time. He was a duplicate of his father.
“Wow, Taylor, you look so fancy.” Forcing my eyes away from the baby, I turned to greet his mother.
“Hi, Stacy.”
“You look . . .” She bit her lip as Joseph reached for Amber. “You look so nice.”
“Thank you.” Amber’s eyes implored hers, and Stacy handed over the baby, not taking her eyes from me. “I always wondered what happened to you.”
“I went to college.” I left your son shot in a motel room to whore my way through business school.
“Amber never told me she was staying with you.”
Surprised, I looked over to Amber, who shrugged. “I didn’t know if you wanted anyone to know.”
“Yes, she’s been with me the entire time. Things are good. She’s sober.” Stacy’s shock was unmistakable as she looked over to Amber. “I can see.”
“Janice Adler.” Amber’s attorney intervened with the presentation of her hand in Stacy’s face and shook it before she addressed the three of us. “We really shouldn’t communicate too much before the hearing.”
Stacy was still fixated on me, and I saw an opportunity. Ray’s voice a whisper in my ear. “You can do this, kitten.”
“Actually, Stacy, do you mind if we talk privately for a moment?”
Laz’s eyes stared back at me. She looked older than her years, and I was positive she had on the same blue dress she wore the day I met her. It was far worse for wear and stained from years of heavy use. “I guess that would be okay.”
After a stern warning from the judge, Amber held Joseph tightly to her chest with relief-covered features as we walked out of the courthouse. Our lawyer reminded us we still had work to do upon our return to Charleston with a curt, “I will be in touch.”
Fearful of an impending backlash, I darted my eyes around as Cedric opened the car door for the three of us, an unmistakable smile on his face. He knew how much the day meant to me personally. We were a family. For the first time in our lives, we were truly a family. Amber buckled Joseph into the new car seat she bought only an hour before. She sat in back with the baby as Cedric and I kept our eyes peeled. I let out an audible breath once we crossed the county line and made it onto the interstate, headed toward the airport.
“I don’t understand. Are you sure we aren’t being followed?” I glanced in the rearview and saw nothing but pavement and blue sky.
“I’m just as fucking surprised—
“Hey, language,” Amber protested.
“Sorry,” Cedric apologized as he darted his eyes my way. “He’s still at Lucy Hardin’s apartment. My guess is he crashed.”
“This was just too easy.” I glanced back at my sister, who shrugged. “He goes down hard after a week sometimes.”
New hope filled me as I realized we were going to be safe at home within a matter of hours.
Cedric gripped my hand. “Let’s go catch a plane.”
Amber smiled down at her son. “Ready to go on your first airplane, buddy?”
“Truck,” Joseph replied as he pointed to his T-shirt.
Amber’s tearful laugh was music to my ears.
It seemed, for fucking once, life had cut the Ellison sisters a break.
I woke up with the worst headache of my life. I’d been going hard for a week straight and finally managed to pass out. I gripped my head and yelled for Lucy.
“What?” It was obvious she’d found my personal stash; her pupils were blown.
“Get me some water. Bring me my pipe. If you smoked more than I gave you, you’re fucked.”
“Whatever.” My phone buzzed on her bedside table, and I reached for it as she walked in with the water and my fix.
“How long was I out?”
“Night before last.”
“Fuck.”
I opened my phone to see the damage. I was responsible for too much supply. I knew it would take a couple of days to catch up.
I sorted through the endless mess of texts when I saw Derek’s.
11:00 p.m.
Heads up, they’re on the move, and Cedric is with them.
11:15 p.m.
Where the fuck are you?
11:30 p.m.
Answer my goddamn call. I think they are on their way to Dyer. They just hit the interstate.
12:00 a.m.
What the fuck, Laz?
1:00 a.m.
Stay or go, man?
2:00 a.m.
I’m three hours behind, now answer the phone!
Fuck it, I’m coming.
I shot out of bed as a fist landed on the front door.
“Jesus, what now?” Lucy said as she reached the door and eyed the peephole. I knocked her out of the way and ripped it open to see Derek with his fist up, ready to hammer again.
“Finally, man, what the fuck!” He was strung out and smelled like garbage. I had no doubt he’d smoked everything I sent with him, and his main reason for coming back was for more.
Everyone’s favorite drug was more.
He palmed his greasy blond hair off of his forehead. “Gotta foil?”
I clenched my fists. “Where are they?”
Derek barreled through the door and barked at Lucy. “Get me something to drink.”
He turned to me with his hands up and spoke to me like a parent talking to his child. “They were here. I talked to my sister who knows a girl who works at the courthouse. They had a hearing today. Judge handed him over to Taylor. She’s got temporary custody.” I could fucking hear the I told you so in his tone.
Rage boiled through my veins as I gripped him by the collar. “Where’s my fucking son?”
“I didn’t make it back in time, Laz. They’re gone.”
Derek sat in the cab of my truck and spouted off his excuses. “I tried, man, but there was nothing I could do. I was waiting on orders. I didn’t know if I should stay or go. I’m so fucking sorry, Laz.” Glaring at Derek, I threw the truck into gear as we backed out of the motel. I didn’t trust Lucy enough around a fresh stash, so I kept it there. The cops I kept on my payroll sat in the parking lot to watch over it. No one fucked with me in my own town. No one. And that goddamned bitch had managed to sneak in like a thief and take my son. And I knew the judge who handed him over so easily was the same bastard who had sentenced me to months in juvie. He would pay too.
“Fuck. It’s good to be home.” Derek inhaled a foil and tried to pass it my way. I waved it off as he rolled down the window and lit a cigarette.
“Want one?”
“Yeah.” I took the butt from his fingers and smoked as he rattled on.
“It’s a nice place. And Amber is clean. Like really clean. She looks good and has a job working for Taylor. Someplace downtown called Scott Solutions.”
My pocket buzzed.
Amber: Court date in two weeks!
She was trying to buy time. Amber was no longer loyal.
Swallowing down the urge to react, I drove out to the backwoods while Derek smoked the rest of the foil. “Seems to me, Laz, Joseph is in good hands out there. It’s a beautiful city. You could work this out with Amber. You could get a spot out there. Open a market out there too. I wouldn’t mind a little beachside place.”
Loyalty.
It didn’t fucking exist.
“Yeah,” I said as my face flushed and my body boiled. “Tell me about the building.”
“Taylor’s boyfriend’s place? He’s fucking hard to keep a thumb on, man. One minute he’s in the building, the next he just fucking disappears. I don’t think he’s a guy you want to fuck with.”
I cut my eyes his way.
“No offense, man, but he seems like the fucking type that would excel in body disposal. He’s A
rmenian or some shit. He’s not around a lot. Except for last week. He and Taylor disappeared while I was watching Amber.”
I gripped my wheel as Derek lit another cigarette.
“How long?”
Derek exhaled and scratched his head. “It was about a week, I think. They came back and holed up in that building. Amber stays at work late and then goes to NA meetings. You should be proud of her.”
“Where is the building?”
“Uh, I think it’s Bay Street.”
I pulled to a stop and grabbed his foil, taking the last of it. “You sure it’s Bay?” I expelled the smoke out of my window.
Derek nodded with certainty. “Yeah, man, you can’t miss it. It’s massive. I’ll go back with you. I can show you everything.”
“Nah. I can handle it,” I said as I reached under my seat.
“You sure—”
I landed the first blow with the butt of my pistol and cracked his nose. I reached over and opened his door then pushed him out as he screamed. Getting out, I rounded my truck and stared down as he bled at my feet.
“Jesus, Laz. I said I’m fucking sorry!” he pleaded on the ground with hands up, his eyes wide. “I called you, man. You fell asleep. Fuck, dude, put the gun away. We’ve been friends for ten years, man! I’m sorry!”
“Sorry?” Cocking the gun, I broke some teeth as I shoved the barrel into his mouth and gripped his hair. “Say it.” I kicked dirt on him as he cried. “Say ‘Sorry, Laz, I lost your son.’”
“Please.” He managed around the gun with blood pouring from his nose and mouth. “Please don’t shoot me.”
“I’m not going to shoot you.” Derek’s shoulders slumped as I pulled the gun from his mouth. It was only when he looked at me with relief that I shattered what was left of his face with my fists, even after he took his last breath.
Satisfied with my fingers covered in Derek’s dried blood, I set out to multi-task and dialed Lucy. She answered on the first ring. “Yeah?”
“Get some of my clothes to the motel and get Perry there.” Perry was the motherfucker I should have sent to get the job done. He would never have let my son slip through his fingers. We worked together on a few jobs over the years when I was short on money, and he had a controllable habit and could keep his fucking mouth shut.
