by Marie Wathen
She drops down onto the sofa, crossing her long legs while piercing me with extreme sourness. With acid flowing through her words, she claims, “I don’t know what is going on with you, but if you want me to forget what happened tonight, some major ass-kissing is in order right this very minute.” Before I can respond, she advises, “Telling me the truth will make it a lot less painful. So, I suggest that you start with who you were with tonight.”
“Lourdes, the reason why I asked you to come over tonight was to tell you that I don’t feel like this is going to work.” I gesture between us, and from the wounded look blossoming in her eyes, she understands exactly what I mean. “I thought that perhaps we could work through the issues that we’ve encountered since I gave you my key, but–”
She cuts me off with a growl, “This is not happening!” She rises and crosses the room swiftly, standing directly in front of me. “You are not dumping me. I knew that you were screwing around on me, Ethan. I’m not an idiot.” A dark purple vein in her forehead pops out angrily and her blue eyes are wild while she points a finger in my face. I shake my head, denying an affair. “I promise, whoever the whore is, throwing herself at you, she is beneath you, Ethan Sloane. Whatever she has, there is no way in hell that she will ever give you as much as I can offer. This break up is bullshit.” Her eyes shift toward the bar, and she stomps over, still ranting as she pours a glass of champagne. “I am Lourdes Kennedy, goddammit, and no one breaks up with me for some wannabe. You are making a huge mistake. EPIC MISTAKE!” She tosses back the drink.
“Clearly, we don’t see eye to eye on this subject.” Moving toward the window, I stare out at the lake and say, “I don’t want this to get out of hand, Lourdes. Let’s just agree that we aren’t going to work and find a way to continue being cordial.”
“Cordial?” she shouts and then laughs manically. “You have no fucking idea just how unfriendly this breakup will get. Tell me the dead woman’s name!”
Normally, I wouldn’t poke a wild beast while it is uncaged and on the hunt to slaughter anyone in its path, but this bitch is getting out of control. “Enough!” I shout, turning around to face her. “This isn’t about me replacing you.” Technically, that is the truth. Even if our relationship wasn’t a farce, after being with Angel that first night, Lourdes didn’t stand a chance with me. “I tried, you have no idea how much I needed this to work. I gave everything that I could. But I can’t…I don’t want it anymore, and even though you refuse to admit it, you know there is nothing between us. There never has been.”
“No,” she growls, shaking her head violently. She slams her glass on the bar and then grips her hair, screaming loudly. Her crazy just escaladed a level. “I refuse to let you go. There is no way that I’m giving up this easily.” She rushes around the bar, grabbing me and pressing her mouth against mine. She drops her hands to her coat and pulls at the belt, tugging it lose. “I’m fighting for us,” she insists, taking a step back and jerking off the full-length coat, revealing a skimpy red negligee and garters, hooked to jet black stockings. “I don’t give a damn what you’ve decided. We end when I say. Tonight, you are making love to me.” She throws herself at me, gripping my hair tightly and trying to force me back onto the sofa, but there is no way that a woman her size can bring someone of my stature down that easily.
Grabbing her wrists, I push her away and then rub the back of my hand across my mouth, removing her transferred blazing red lip stain. “Don’t tell me you really believe that throwing yourself at me will make me automatically change my mind? Relationships do not work that way, Lourdes,” I growl angrily.
“Fucking fool,” she snaps. “I refuse to roll over and play dead like some pathetic dog.” She bends down, snatching up her coat. “No one gets away with fucking me over. I. Do. Not. Work. That. Way!”
She storms out and then drives away–no doubt heading straight to Nelson with this information. I hope that I haven’t really trashed my case because of this decision, but whatever happens, I can’t fake the role of Lourdes’ boyfriend for one more day. Instead of softening the blow by calling Nelson first, I decide to drive over to Jude’s and bring him up to date. I want him prepared for the aftermath that is sure to rain down on us because of this explosive breakup.
After several hours of dissecting the outcome of the ending with Lourdes, I’m sitting on a rocking chair in the Kingsley’s screened-in back porch drinking a glass of whiskey with Jude and Natalie.
Changing the subject, I ask, “Still no word back from HLS on your transfer?”
Jude grunts, “You’d think it was easier to get someone off of a case than it is to submerge them into one, but not with all the shit that my department has going on with the increased child pornography and abductions cases. Shit is fucking crazy.” Natalie stares at him, her eyes scanning every inch of his face worriedly. He laces his fingers with hers, offering a wink and then kisses the back of her hand. “Lassiter put in the request. It’s a waiting game at this point.”
“That is pathetic,” I grumble. “What if I pay for a family vacation? You can go somewhere tropical until they approve the transfer.”
“Ooh, yeah,” Natalie chimes in excitedly, “Like Italy. I’ve always wanted to ride in a gondola.”
“No,” Jude answers me while shooting her a warning look. “We aren’t going to Italy.” Turning to me, he points. “Don’t put shit like trips to the Mediterranean in her head. We don’t leave until the agency puts it in writing.”
Natalie only pouts, but I demand, “Fucking shit! Why won’t one goddamn person around here do anything that I want?”
“Listen, Eth, you’re a good man, my closest friend. What kind of partner would I be if I abandon you when you need me most? I will never ditch your ass during a case just because that is what you want.” I shake my head. “I’m close to making a deal with Juan and ending this bullshit with the seized shipment. Then we’ll be back on track with Nelson, so just chill a little.”
“Tell me the specifics with Juan.”
“He expects full reimbursement. I assured him that the X will make good on it, but we need a little more time coming up with that kind of money. He’s running out of patience with the Kennedy’s and totally offended that this negotiation isn’t being headed up by one of them. I’m making another trip to Tayoltita after the first of the year. I hope that by then Decks will have something to offer.” He stares at me seriously and asks, “Has Decks mentioned this new venture with Ryske to you yet?”
“Fuck no,” I reply. “But, I have a feeling that Mad Hatter is his hook up.”
“That weird bastard grates on my nerves. He loves free drugs though, and Decks has hooked him up.”
“He is one freaky mother,” I agree chuckling. “Scared the hell out of Angel, too.”
Natalie perks up with the mention of her name. “What’s going to happen with her now that you ended everything with Lourdes?”
Smirking, I joke, “You’ve been waiting for the perfect moment to ask that, haven’t you?” She nods dramatically, and I laugh harder before hesitantly confessing, “All right,” I exhale loudly, “I’m totally falling for her.”
“I knew it! King Cobra, baby,” she exclaims, holding her fist up for Jude. Perplexed, he laughs while double-tapping it with his knuckles.
“What?” I never understand her odd references.
Forming her hand and arm into the shape of a snake, she states, “Angel struck and devoured you,” she snaps her arm forward, mimicking the action, “like a morsel of raw meat. I knew it was just a matter of time before you two got busy.” Her smile is toothy and proud.
“So graphic,” I point out. “You are an odd little thing, itty bitty.”
“Shut up!” she demands playfully, and then she leans over to kiss Jude. “I’m going up to bed. The kids will be wide awake in two hours to demolish their Christmas presents, and I’m making breakfast.” Nodding, he sighs out of exhaustion, and then she turns to me, “Would you care to join us, Eth?”
/>
“No, I’m cooking with Indie this morning. Attacus is coming home, too.”
“Aww, so sweet.” She walks over to hug me. “Merry Christmas, Eth, and tell your family I said hi.”
After Natalie leaves, I ask Jude, “Why must you be so stubborn? You know I only want to protect them from the pain they will suffer if something happens to you.”
“You think I don’t know what it will do to my wife and kids if I get killed?” He leans forward, pressing his elbows into his thighs staring at me seriously. “If I could assure you that it won’t happen, I would, but we both know that isn’t possible. Your ass is just as vulnerable as mine. I’m not leaving you alone, until the powers-that-be make it so, or a miracle falls from the sky that will save us all.” I turn away from him, biting back the gut wrenching ache building inside. I will lose my shit if something happens to him because of my selfish need to destroy Nelson. “After the last talk that I had with Decks, I know he is excited about this new “investors” connection. It’s definitely Ryske, but I don’t know who he has inside the X pushing it.” I glance back at him and he shrugs. “Murph would be my first guess. I suppose that I could ask him.”
“Seriously, I’ve been thinking a lot about just cashing in on what I know about the X’s, and charging Nelson with organized crime. I know that your department will be disappointed because I pushed so hard on needing to prove that he sabotaged my parent’s plane.”
Homeland Security takes aircraft crashes seriously, especially when someone within another agency raises so much suspicion surrounding a case. Ten years ago, they were still only in the development process of forming their department, created in need after the horrible events in New York City on 9/11. Originally, the FCC didn’t investigate it appropriately, and now, HLS is overwhelmed with too many present searches to shift through all the cold case files.
Jude nods slowly, studying me intently. Hoping to convince him, I suggest, “I could bring Decks in too.” His eyebrows arch up. “He hates Nelson just as badly as I do,” I explain pushing forward to sit on the edge of my seat.
“You’ll blow your cover, if you do that,” he suggests and then grows silent, contemplatively. I nod, knowing that trusting Decks is a huge risk for me, this case, and my family. After a few moments, he states, “Something has felt off with Decks recently.”
“What do you mean?”
“Have you seen him with her?”
“With Angel?” I clarify.
“Not trying to piss you off, but I’m fairly certain that he is falling for her too, but it doesn’t feel mutual.” My eyes narrow and my leg starts jumping, just thinking about Angel living with that little piss-ant and him trying to hook up with her. I asked her to come back to me, and I meant it. After the time that we had together earlier, there is no way in hell that I’m leaving her there with him. “Not to me, anyway. She has her heart set on someone else.” He tips his head toward me, and I roll my eyes. “Also, have you noticed how sick he has been lately, and volatile?”
“What the fuck?” I mumble, shocked by this new information. I haven’t seen him lately, so I don’t know any of this.
“He ripped Jerrik, the newbie who replaced Rad a new asshole last week.”
Titling my head, I ask, “Is he sampling his special sales?”
“It seems that way, but I don’t know enough about Ryske to say for sure. Maybe you can ask Angel.” I grunt. “She is the closest one to him, and I doubt that is something she would confide in Nat.”
“I want her out of this shit just as badly as I want you out. Truthfully, we don’t really know each other well enough for her to talk openly with me about his alleged drug habits.”
“So, one little detail,” he says sarcastically. Smiling, he leans his head back on this chair, looking up at the slow swirling ceiling fan. “Don’t you think it’s time that you get to know the woman that you’re in love with?”
I am falling in love with Angel. Since he can’t see me, I smile at his perfect description of my feelings for the woman who I really don’t know that much about. A minor indiscretion, one I plan on rectifying immediately. Looks like New Year’s Eve will be the best time to ask Angel out on our first date.
Chapter Twenty
“Five, four, three, two, one… Happy New Year!” the crowd at Holidays shouts in chorus, celebrating the excitement that a brand new year offers. Only, I don’t feel so encouraged to cheer at the moment. Searching for Angel, I thoroughly scan the entire bar, littered with kissing couples. I don’t want to seem so weak, but for seven long nights, I’ve been dreaming about kissing her at the stroke of midnight. Seeing all of this happiness, love and preludes to sex has me aching and growing, but not from desire. I am hostile. Angel promised me when she left that she was returning home tonight from her vacation, and I assumed that she would join us at Holidays’ to ring in the New Year, but there has been no sign of her.
I have been staring at the front door all evening. About an hour ago, I started getting anxious and right now I’m wired up like a ticking time bomb, even though I am saturated in expensive bourbon. Did I scare her off when I went all Alpha, insisting that I want her to come back home to be with me? You made her run, my conscience guilts me heavily.
It is a few minutes after midnight. I’ve had too much to drink, my attitude sucks, and Lourdes is heading straight toward me with a devilish glint in her eyes. I sit here, holding up the bar, or is it holding me up? My feet are unable to move, and I’m in no mood for whatever this crazy bitch is expecting, tucking under my arm, like she belongs at my side. Twisting away from her, I pick up my whiskey glass, stare down at the lone ice cube sliding across the empty bottom and exhale loudly. This is not how I anticipated tonight turning out. I push the tumbler forward. When the bartender notices, I cock a disappointed eyebrow at him and point an index finger straight down at it. Smirking, he nods, pours quickly and then drops it into my waiting hand.
“Waiting for someone?” Lourdes asks suggestively, moving around to my other side.
She wedges her skinny ass between my barstool and the one next to me, currently occupied by an extra-large motorcycle gang member. I’ve secretly nicknamed the big guy Cohort. Prior to her arrival, I’ve been bending his ear about my woman troubles. Thanks to my favorite beverage, my words are heavy, slurring from my nearly numb mouth and everything within a five foot circumference is blurry, including my new friend. Cohort hasn’t said shit and I can tell that he is not judging me. For which, I am grateful. Because we’ve had this male bonding moment, I know that he has my back with this nasty little situation standing between us. I glance up, catching his eye, and silently plead for him to take this psycho off my hands. He makes a gruff sound, downs his beer and then slides off his chair, shaking his head and leaving me alone with my biggest mistake to date.
“Ah hell, Cohort,” I grumble after him. Still walking away, he throws up a hand and the cocksucker gives me the finger. My mouth hangs open. I close it and then grunt into my whiskey glass, “I hope your bike has a flat in the rain.”
Lourdes makes good on the vacated seat, sliding into it and staring directly at me. I toss back the double, belch loudly and then beg for another before cutting my eyes at her. Too bad the booze isn’t making her fuzzy. This close up, I can see every inch of her face that I now find completely repulsive.
Smiling, she tells me, “I wasn’t sure if you would actually be here tonight. After you dumped me last week, I certainly didn’t expect to find you alone.”
“I’m in no mood, Lourdes,” I growl warningly, shifting my eyes toward the bartender and reaching out for my replenished drink.
She gasps and then with humor in her voice, she asks, “Wait, did you get stood up?” Again, I growl, but this time no words come out, it is only the sound a dangerous animal would make moments before a kill. Bitch laughs and then says, “Lucky for you, I showed up. I am all that you need. Let’s get you home.” She wraps her arm around my back, and I flinch away.
“Get the hell off of me.”
“You’re drunk and in no shape to drive.” She grins wickedly, reaching toward me again, like she thinks I’ll let her rescue me. “I will take you home and stay over in case you need me.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, but I don’t really care about her answer, so I turn to leave. One foot drops from the barstool foot rail, followed by the other and then I am up, sort of. Everything in the room kind of tilts to the left, so I lean right, attempting to correct and then I stumble into the table closest to me. I apologize and then lift my gaze, searching for Jude. In the thick crowd, I don’t see him, but I do spot someone that I intend to have words with.
“Ethan,” Lourdes calls from behind me. She places a hand on my hip and I pitch sideways, needing away from her.
Shoving through the swaying couples, I storm up to one of the booths at the front of the club. A giggly blonde squirms on Decks’ lap because of his hand sliding between her thighs under her short skirt. His face is buried into the deep line of her cleavage, kissing it, and neither notices me standing in front of them.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I shout, and Decks lazily pulls away from poser Barbie’s overinflated chest.
“Ringing in the New Year,” he replies through a proud smile and then mocks, “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Already two-timing Angel?” I accuse, and his face morphs to anger quickly.
“I’m not cheating on anyone.”
“Thought you were pursuing her, and that’s why you moved her into your goddamn house.”
“Grab us a couple of drinks, sweetness,” he suggests to his date, and she obeys without argument. “Want to tell me why you’re so interested in what is going on between me and Angel?”
Just thinking about something happening every night that she has been living with him makes my blood boil sadistically. My fists clench tightly, waiting for my moment to knock his block off. “‘She is better than this bullshit.’ Isn’t that what you told me?”
