Whiskey Flight

by Violet Howe

  With a scoffing laugh, I looked back at him. “There’s no way I can sleep right now.”

  “I understand,” he said, standing. “I need to call Tristan and see if he has any update, and I want to let him know where we are, just in case we need him.”

  “Is he still keeping an eye on my family?”

  Seth nodded. “Yeah. He’s got someone watching their houses.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he lifted his hand and answered the question before I asked it.

  “He didn’t tell anyone anything. He just put your parents and Amy under patrol watch.”

  “And no one asked why?”

  “After you work with people a while in the situations we get into, you learn who you can trust without having to ask a bunch of questions.”

  Despite my declaration that I wouldn’t be able to sleep, a yawn escaped me, and I stood and stretched.

  “I think I’m gonna take a hot shower. Maybe that will help me relax. I just wish I’d had time to pack a change of clothes so I didn’t have to put these back on when I get out.”

  “Maybe there’s a robe in the bathroom.”

  Laughing at the lunacy of his suggestion, I walked to the bathroom and looked behind the door to be sure I was right before stating the obvious. “This is not the type of hotel that offers lush robes. Hell, it’s not even a hotel at all. It’s a motel.”

  “When did you get all hoity-toity?” he asked with a grin. “I remember staying in quite a few motels with you back in the day. Road trips. Beach trips. Concerts.”

  “Yeah, because we were broke college students, and we’d rather spend our money on beer back then, so we’d get the cheapest place possible and pile as many people into the room as we could to divide up the cost. I like to think my life progressed past needing to stay in cheap motels.” Even as I said it, the reality of my finances brought me up short. Since I’d lost my job and had all my accounts frozen by the feds, I’d been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and if my attorney didn’t get things freed up soon, I’d have much bigger worries than hotels and motels.

  Of course, if my ex-husband or someone in his organization killed me, then money would no longer be a concern.

  Neither outcome seemed appealing, and I frowned as I gathered a towel and washcloth from the rack above the sink. Once I’d pulled back the thin shower curtain and twisted the knob to turn on the water, I realized I didn’t have any toiletries.

  “Great,” I said as I turned the water off and came back out to where Seth still sat on the bed, typing a text on his phone. “Not only do I not have any clean clothes, but I have no way to get clean. Not a shampoo bottle or bar of soap in sight.”

  “They probably have them at the front desk. I’ll call and see if we can have some delivered. What do you need?”

  “Whatever they have. Shampoo. Soap. Conditioner. I’d love a toothbrush and some toothpaste if I could get it. Maybe a razor and some shaving cream?”

  He laughed as he picked up the handset of the motel’s phone. “You don’t ask for much. You want me to see if they have a stylist who could come and fix your hair while we’re at it? Maybe they could send a masseuse as well?”

  “What’s wrong with my hair?” Defensively, I lifted my hand to touch it and turned to get a glimpse in the mirror as Seth talked to the front desk clerk.

  To say I looked like hell was an understatement. The tears I’d cried earlier had erased most of my make-up, leaving my face pale and splotchy. Remnants of mascara and liner had left black smudges beneath my eyes, and my long, brown hair was in desperate need of a brushing. I wet my finger and rubbed at a particularly large smudge at the corner of my left eye, but that only served to smear it worse.

  “Okay,” Seth said as he hung up the phone. “Here’s the deal. They have shampoo, soap, and some kind of finger brush with a toothpaste tablet.”

  “That sounds gross.”

  “Yeah, well, better than nothing, I suppose. The front office clerk is the only person on staff at this hour, so he can’t bring the stuff. I have to go get it. I want you to deadbolt the door and put the chair back under the knob as soon as I’m out, okay? Don’t open it for any reason. Here,” he said, grabbing the pencil and pad from the nightstand and scribbling out a number. “This is Tristan’s cell number. If I’m not back—”

  “No, forget it. I don’t want you to leave the room.”

  “I’ll be fine. But I want you to take the precautions and have his number, just in case.”

  “I don’t need a shower. I know I’ve been griping and complaining, but it’s okay, really. I’d rather have you safe.”

  He walked to the window and pulled back the curtain enough to look outside.

  “I don’t see any vehicles that weren’t here when we got here. A few have left, but that’s to be expected because the bar should be closing soon. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

  “No, I don’t want you to go. If something happened to you because I wanted shampoo and a toothpaste tablet, I’d never forgive myself.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to me. Besides, I’d like a toothpaste tablet of my own, okay? And maybe I’ll see if I can find a bottle of water in a vending machine.”

  “Oh, I’d love some water. Can you bring back ice?” I grabbed the ice bucket from the top of the dresser and handed it to him.

  “I love how you went from it not being safe for me to go to ‘please bring back ice’ in the span of, like, two seconds.”

  He smiled, and I smiled back.

  “I’d still rather you not go,” I said, “but if there’s anyone more stubborn than me, it’s you. So I know you’re gonna go, and you might as well bring me some ice for my whiskey.”

  Shaking his head with a chuckle, he shoved his pistol in the back of his waistband and walked toward the door.

  “Wait until I’m back to get in the shower, okay? I want you aware of your surroundings. And keep this door locked with the chair in front of it. Don’t open it for anyone.”

  “Yes, sir,” I said with a dramatic salute. “Got it.”

  Our eyes locked as he stood with his hand on the knob, and then on impulse, I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, pressing my lips to his.

  “It’s gonna be fine,” he whispered as he hugged me to him and then released me. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back in five.”

  Nine

  I paced back and forth between the door and the window once he’d gone, stopping to peer out through the curtains each time I passed the window and putting my knee on the chair to look out the peephole each time I reached the door.

  Even though I knew he hadn’t meant five minutes literally, I couldn’t help checking the time every few seconds. Frustrated with how long it took the digital number on my watch to change from minute to minute, I used the stopwatch feature instead so I could see the progress.

  It had barely gone over six minutes and I was almost back to the door when I heard someone outside. Pressing my eye to the peephole, I could see Seth juggling the ice bucket and two bottles of water as he pulled the key from his pocket.

  I tossed my cell phone onto the chair and scooted it back out of the way so I could twist the deadbolt to jerk the door open. He’d stuck the key in the lock far enough for the sudden movement of the door to pull the key from his hand, but not far enough for the lock to hold it, and the key fell to the ground between us.

  We both went to retrieve it at the same time, and as he bent, the shampoo and toothbrush fell from the top of the ice bucket along with a Baby Ruth candy bar, which had been my favorite back in the day.

  I grinned as I grabbed it from the ground. “You brought me a Baby Ruth?”

  As my head came up to look at him, a blur of movement from the left surged forward, and then everything happened all at once.

  Ice scattered across the ground as the man who’d pounced on a still crouching Seth pounded him into the concrete, and then out of nowhere there were two more men, kicking and punching
Seth as he put up a valiant resistance from the ground.

  My own scream sounded like it came from far away, not even connected with my body. Seth yelled at me to run, but it was too late. One of the men had already turned to come for me. I scrambled to move backward into the room and shut the door, but I’d forgotten about the chair, and I stumbled and fell back across it before rolling off onto the floor.

  I flipped onto my stomach and began to crawl toward the phone on the nightstand, screaming at the top of my lungs until a gloved hand clamped down over my mouth and a knee in my back knocked the breath from me and pinned me to the carpet between the two beds.

  “Let her go. Get your hands off her,” said a voice I knew well and would recognize anywhere. I wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or more terrified as the hand moved away from my mouth and the knee released me to roll over and stare up at my ex-husband.

  “She was screaming,” said the man who’d held me.

  “Move,” Victor ordered, and the man stepped aside for Victor to reach down and help me up. He wrapped me in his arms so tightly I couldn’t breathe. “Oh, God, sweetness. It feels so good to hold you.”

  I pushed him away and stood staring at the man I’d vowed to spend the rest of my life with, the man I thought I’d known and been sure I’d loved.

  During the two years since Victor had been dragged away from our house in handcuffs, I’d often thought about what it would be like to see him again. I’d wondered if I would still find him attractive, if our explosive chemistry would still be impossible to deny. My reaction to him when we’d first met had been unlike anything I’d ever experienced, and I’d feared that somehow the flame would still be there in spite of all I’d learned about him. It was part of the reason I’d refused to visit him in prison, had allowed his calls to go unanswered, and had tossed his letters in the trash unopened. I didn’t want to discover that I could be attracted to a killer who had betrayed me.

  In a matter of seconds, all those concerns vanished. Though he looked much the same as he had the morning they’d led him away, I saw him through a different lens. Whereas before, one look at him could send quivers of desire rippling through me and make me shiver in anticipation of his touch, now I felt nothing but contempt and disgust, layered over an undercurrent of fear.

  He smiled his crooked smile, and a wave of nausea rolled through me.

  “He’s a cop, boss,” said one of Victor’s men behind me, and I turned to see him holding up Seth’s wallet and pistol as the other two dragged a motionless and bloodied Seth across the threshold into the room. “Carrying a badge.”

  I tried to go to Seth, but Victor grabbed me by the shoulders and bent to stare into my eyes. “Are you okay? Did this cop harass you? Did he hurt you?”

  Incredulous at his suggestion and still in shock from the turn of events, I stared at him wide-eyed. “What? No! Of course not.”

  “God, it kills me to see the fear in your eyes,” he said, pulling me back against him. “It’s okay. I’m here now. You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

  My brain seemed stuck in slow motion, unable to process everything happening until the man standing over Seth asked, “What do you want us to do with him? Should we get rid of him?”

  “No!” I shoved Victor with all my might and ran past him to kneel at Seth’s side. Blood seeped from a gash above his ear where his head had hit the concrete, and his lip and nose were both bleeding from the punches he’d sustained. I grabbed his face in my hands, my tears falling to mix with his blood as I cried, “No, no, no. Seth? Are you okay? Seth? Please wake up. Seth!”

  Behind me, Victor was telling his men to tie Seth’s hands and feet before directing his attention to me.

  “Danielle, we need to go. I’ve already lost quite a bit of time trying to find you, and we’ve got to get in the air. It’s too dangerous for us to stay here any longer.”

  Anger long pent-up exploded within me and overtook my fear.

  “Go?” I asked, turning to stand and face Victor, my fists clenched at my side. “I’m not going anywhere with you. How dare you even think I would!”

  “I understand that you’re upset, and you have every right to be. I know I have a lot of explaining to do and a lot to make up for, and I’m committed to doing that. We can discuss whatever you need us to, but those conversations will need to take place later. Right now, I have to get you out of here and take you somewhere you can be safe.”

  “Safe? With you? Did you honestly think I would run into your arms like you’re some knight in shining armor who’s come to rescue me? You’re the villain here. You’re the one who put me in danger.”

  He frowned and arched an eyebrow. “You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t regret that every minute of every day?”

  “Like you regret the lives you’ve taken? How many? How many, Vic? How many people have you killed?”

  He looked away from me and closed his eyes briefly as he tapped his index knuckle against his chin. “Gentlemen, please leave me with my wife for a moment.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to see that the men had moved Seth to the corner on the other side of the air conditioning unit and secured his hands and feet with zip ties. He still made no movement or sound, but the slow rise and fall of his chest gave me reassurance that he was alive——for the moment, at least.

  “Should we take him with us?” The taller of the two men nudged the toe of his boot roughly against Seth’s hip.

  “No! Stop it. Don’t touch him.” I moved to go back to Seth, but the third man, the one who’d held his knee in my back, stepped between us to block me, his stance wide and formidable. I whirled to face Victor. “He needs medical attention. He needs a doctor. Let me take him to a hospital.”

  Victor stared at me through dark eyes fringed with thick, black lashes—the same dark eyes that could have made me melt with just a glance before I knew what he was.

  He hesitated, watching me intently, and I thought perhaps he might be considering my request, but then with a slight shake of his head, he’d answered his men and me, and they left us alone in the room with an unconscious Seth.

  My first instinct when they were gone was to lunge at Victor, to claw at his eyes and pound on his heartless chest with all the rage I felt for him in that moment, but I refrained, knowing I must tread carefully if I was to keep Seth alive.

  Victor expected my anger and would tolerate it to a point, but something told me if I went too far, the tide would turn against me, and then both Seth and I would be expendable. The only way I could save Seth was to keep Victor on my side.

  He moved past me to sit on the foot of the bed, effectively blocking me from the door and from Seth. He crossed his ankle over his knee, resting his hands on his calf in a position I’d seen him assume almost daily in our brief time together, but under the present circumstances, it seemed impossibly casual. How the hell was he so calm? So collected?

  It wasn’t just his demeanor that seemed not to fit. His impeccable clothes, expensive shoes, and diamond-encrusted watch looked terribly out of place in the shabby surroundings. How was it possible this man had just left prison hours earlier?

  Pulling a cigarillo from a case in his pocket, he bit down on it and held it in his mouth but didn’t light it, perhaps honoring my request when we’d first met that he not smoke in my presence.

  “I must admit my pride is a bit wounded,” he said as he looked up at me. “I knew you’d be upset. I expected that. But I thought you might be at least a tiny bit happy to see me. Have you forgotten all we shared, sweetness?”

  Despite my intention to use caution, my anger spewed forth again. “Don’t call me that. You took everything that was sweet about us and made it bitter and acrid. What we shared was a lie. I don’t even know who you are.”

  “Oh, but you do,” he said, pulling the cigarillo from his mouth to twist it between his finger and his thumb. “Better than anyone. I was myself with you, in ways I’d never been able to be with
anyone else. It was you who taught me what I wanted out of life, and what I didn’t want.”

  “Yeah, well, it was you who taught me that I can’t trust anyone and that cold-blooded murderers can pretend to be nice guys.”

  “It wasn’t pretend,” he said, his eyes softening. “You brought out the best in me, and who I was with you is who I’m meant to be. I’d never experienced love like I have with you, and I was willing—am willing—to risk everything for you. For us.”

  A time existed when those words from him would have moved me to tears and caused me to make decisions that were completely reckless and out of character. Like marrying a stranger two weeks after meeting him. But no longer.

  “There is no us.”

  “If you will just let me explain—”

  “There’s nothing to explain, Victor. You kill people. Nothing you say will explain that. You’re a criminal. A liar and a fraud. I only wish you’d explained all that to me when we first met. No, you know what? I wish we’d never met.”

  He flinched as though I’d hit him, and the pain in his eyes seemed genuine, but I felt no pity or remorse. My stomach roiled again, and I tried to remind myself to remain calm and not push him too far for Seth’s sake.

  “God, don’t say that,” he said, his voice soft and tender. “Meeting you was the best thing that has ever happened to me. You changed me. Because of you, I’ve turned my back on my family, my career, my life as I knew it.”

  “Well, because of you, my life is in danger right now. I lost my career, my life savings, and a home that I loved. I’m ashamed to look my parents in the eye, and one of the most decent men I’ve ever known in my life is lying over there unconscious and in need of medical attention he can’t get, all because of you.”

  He looked down at his hands. “You’re right. I can’t argue any of that, nor will I try to.” His eyes met mine, and for a brief second, the tenderness in them tugged at me like a memory I couldn’t shake. “Danielle, I take full responsibility for my actions and for my dishonesty. I will do everything in my power to make this up to you. In our new life together, I will tell you the truth without fail from here on out. I will abide by the law, and I will restore everything you’ve lost and keep you safe.”