by Ali Parker
"You clean up nicely." She stopped in front of him under a large shade tree just outside the church. Reaching up, she brushed something from his chest, which quickly turned into her petting the thick muscle he'd worked so hard to create.
Having decided on a pair of black slacks and a black button down, he was almost worried that he would be under dressed, but if Kate was cool with the attire, then all was well.
"You always look good, but you know that, don't you?" He let his eyes roam over her pretty face, taking in the sexy slope of her mouth, the way her warm-brown eyes lit up as she watched him. She was the epitome of all his desires tucked into one woman.
Why can't you be mine?
"Hush." She glanced back over her shoulder and let out a soft sigh. "Jon knows about Victor. He took it better than I expected."
"We're all grateful for what you did, and yet I think you deserve one hell of a spanking for taking the fucker out on your own."
An older couple moved quickly away from them, the woman gasping loudly. Marcus tried to hide a smile, but Kate couldn't seem to.
"Watch your mouth. Jon's pretending to be one of the good guys today." She turned back to look up at him.
Marcus reached down and brushed her hair behind her shoulders before leaning in for a quick kiss. "You make all of us want to be good men. Some of us just don't know how."
She patted his chest and smiled. "Keep your lips to yourself today. We'll hook up later and figure out what's next on the radar."
"All right, I'll try, but I expect a high payment for not touching or kissing on you." He shrugged and moved around her. "Come on. Jon's waving for us to hurry the fuck up."
"I want you to talk with him about joining the force again, Marcus." Kate moved up beside him and slid her arm into his.
He glanced down, wishing he could stop and memorize her with her hair down and the little bit of make-up she had on. Something had to give, and he was almost certain it was his ante to offer. His happiness for theirs. The world where they could all be together didn't exist, or it didn't seem to all of a sudden.
"I'll try, but you know how stubborn he is." Marcus smirked as Jon scoffed at them.
"You guys talking about me?" Jon lifted his eyebrow and welcomed Kate into his arms as she walked toward him and wrapped him in a hug.
"Always. You're like a self-contained soap opera. I love it." Marcus shrugged, patted Jon on the arm and walked into the church alone. The soft piano music playing in the distance was eerie, and he quickly realized that maybe it wasn't just the church scene that he didn't appreciate, but the solemn serenity it provided as well.
Fast cars, wild women and loud music. That's the past he'd endured and the future he wanted. Too much time to his thoughts and he quickly realized that he wasn't at all satisfied with the way things were going, nor with how they'd turned out. He should have been head of the drug ring, and Kate should have been his and his alone, but he'd fucked that up years before.
"A day I'll never forget." He dropped down in the last pew in the large church and crossed his arms over his chest. The memory of having saved Kate from Billy played along his mind's eye as if it were yesterday.
"I don't know how to thank you." Kate glanced up and pressed her hand to his chest as they stood outside the old warehouse. "I can't do this anymore."
"I know, girl."
She was free from Billy and the club in downtown New Orleans was soon to be hers. A few more steps to push her father out of the way and give her the keys to the place, and she would be set. She was beautiful, special, perfect. Far too much woman for him.
"Come with me." She slid her hand up to cup his cheek. "Come with me and let's run. We can start somewhere else."
Marcus placed his hand over hers, turning his face and kissing her palm softly. "I'll fight your battles beside you for the rest of our days, Kate, but I can't run. I love this life. Nothing is worth giving up the thrill of living in the center of it to me."
"Nothing?" Her voice softened.
She was asking the one question he couldn't answer. She was far more than worth it, but without crime who was he? No one. Being someone's lover was great and all, but the defining measure of a man was what he did - who he became. There was far more to life than having a woman love you into being someone other than who you were.
"No, baby. Nothing." He kissed her hand and released her. "Go to the apartment beside Expulsion and I'll meet you there later. I have a surprise for you."
"Right." She turned without another word and walked toward her car.
Everything inside of him screamed for him to run to her, to call her back. She was worth giving up everything for, but if he did and something happened to them, he wouldn't survive. It was protection, self-absorbed protection.
He didn't see her for eight months after that day.
It was the day he lost the chance to have her beside him for the rest of his life.
"You want to sit up front with us?" Kate stopped by the pew and glanced down at him, offering him her hand.
Everything in that moment all those years ago changed the course of the future. Instead of truly becoming his girl, they became best friends, a safe place to land and nothing more. The desire to love one another had bubbled up far too many times over the years, but it was at the helm of creating or destroying everything.
"Of course." Marcus got up and took Kate's hand. They walked behind Jon to the front of the church and sat down, Kate tucked between Marcus and Jon.
Her hand slid into Jon's, and he turned and gave a weak smile.
Marcus wanted to promise the poor guy a million things, but now wasn't the time, and the hard emotions moving through him left him weak. Ill.
Jeffery had mentioned something about a drug cartel in Chicago recently, and sitting in the old church beside Kate, Marcus couldn't help but think it was the universe trying to help set things right. It wouldn't hurt to meet with the guys in Chicago and see what they were up to.
Billy would never let him go, but the idea was to either shut Billy down, or lead the cops right to his front door. The bastard was walking on stilts, and the chainsaws were about to be dragged out from the shed. It was time to start fighting fire with fire.
"And when the day of the Lord approaches, we'll all stand judgment before the throne. None of us will have the chance to take with us another to help cover our inequities. There will be no riding the coattails of the holy into the pearly gates." The preacher's voice was loud, booming.
A subtle chuckle ran through the crowd, and Marcus shifted to put his arm on the back of the pew, scooting closer to Kate and resting his hand on Jon's shoulder. The other man looked over at him and nodded, as if saying thank you.
How far they'd come.
The question really rested on how much farther they were capable of going.
*
The funeral wrapped up, and Marcus kissed Kate's cheek and shook Jon's hand before pulling him into a quick hug. They parted ways, and Marcus texted Jeffery to meet him at a hamburger shop just down from the club. He needed to figure out if there were any other possibilities for the future, and if not, then his mind needed to settle into the idea of revisiting the past. If he wasn't going to leave town and start over, then he needed to set right the relationship between him and Kate.
Jon could be a part of the picture, but Marcus needed her to know that he loved her with everything inside of him. It was selfish and wouldn't help anyone, but if he were staying in New Orleans, then he was going all in with the pretty girl who'd stolen his heart a long time before he realized it'd happened.
Jeffery was already sitting at a booth, eating French fries when Marcus walked in.
"You can't wait on anyone? Shit." Marcus chuckled and walked up to order something for himself.
"Who knows with you? Kate's always on time, but you're usually the one that drags ass. I'm a growing boy," Jeffery called out, but Marcus pretended to ignore him.
After getting his food, he walked over to
the booth and sat down. "All right. Tell me more about this Chicago bullshit, but don't tell anyone we're talking about it. Got it? Least of all Kate."
"Yeah, I got it." Jeffery sat back and wiped his lips with a napkin before smirking. "I knew you would want to talk about this stuff. It's honestly something I would get into myself if I wasn't scared shitless of guns and stuff."
Marcus rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Give me the details."
"Right, so like I said, my mother works part-time for a shipping company owned by this large family up in Chicago. I'm pretty sure they're old school mafia, but I might be stretching the truth a little. She didn't tell me their name, but mentioned that they're looking for some help. The shipments were narcotics, and everyone is under a pretty tight contract not to speak about anything they do or see." Jeffery picked up his burger and shrugged.
"Right, so your mom told you because why?" Marcus lifted his eyebrow. The lady sounded like a ditz to him. Who would be stupid enough to share information about a mafia drug cartel?
"Because she knows I work for you and Kate." He took a bite of the burger. "I guess the head guy has heard about you two or the people you work for. They're interested in talking with you or Kate."
"Kate's not part of the deal. I want her to walk away from this shit forever, but I'm not sure that's possible." Marcus held the other man's stare, but couldn't help but daydream a little about what it would be like to take his girl and just get the fuck out of New Orleans altogether.
She won't be yours for much longer...
"All right, well, they didn't say specifically who they wanted, just that they were looking for help and wanted to talk with one of you." Jeffery picked up his drink. "My aunt could set something up for you. You want me to-"
"Yes. Make it a few days from now, but set up a meeting. There. Not here." Marcus picked up his phone as it buzzed. Billy. "I gotta roll. Sorry to cut our date short, but you're not my type anyway."
"Yeah, no shit." Jeffery laughed. "I'd ask if Kate's your type, but that'd be dumb. She's all our type."
"Watch it, fruit fly." Marcus got up, finished his burger in a few bites and walked out into the dark, ominous day.
Kate wouldn't like any scenario that had played out in his head over the last few hours, but it wasn't up to her anyway.
He was tired of people dropping dead all around him. It would only be a matter of time until it was the one person that mattered most, and he wouldn't survive losing her.
No one else would either. He'd make sure of it.
Chapter 5
Kate
Dark clouds moved over the top of the graveyard as Kate stood beside Jon after hugging Marcus goodbye. Something was going on with the brute, but there was no way he would divulge what. The faraway look in his eyes left her with the firm knowledge that he was struggling. With so much turmoil surrounding them, it wasn't a surprise, and yet Marcus never showed any emotion about anything. Not even when it mattered most that he do.
Kate slipped her hand into Jon's and leaned against him as the preacher spoke. The wind picked up and blew the pretty white roses that Jon had bought for his mother around.
A storm was headed in, and the idea of standing in the middle of it and letting the rain wash her clean was comforting. It was inappropriate and wouldn't happen, but comforting nevertheless.
Kate moved back toward the trunk of a large oak tree that hovered over the top of the cemetery and let Jon talk with a few people as the graveside service ended. Adam's grave was right next to his mother and father's, and Kate couldn't help but notice Jon's right beside it.
They must have bought a four-person plot. Odd.
Not wanting to hover over the top of him, Kate walked back to the car and leaned against it. Memories of her times with Adam rolled through her mind, and a smile lifted her lips. Adam was everything Jon was and yet so much more in tune with his feelings. His death was a horrible waste, a perfect example of a family life gone wrong.
Something blew around the backseat of Jon's car, and Kate couldn't help but reach through the open window and pull the paper out. It was a beautiful drawing of two mountains and a charcoal bridge between them.
"Adam did that." Jon's voice caught her by surprise. "Did you know he could draw?"
"Yeah. He used to do it all the time when we were on the streets together." She brushed her fingers by his name as sadness swelled inside of her. "I miss him sometimes. I shouldn't have lost touch with him."
"Neither should I." Jon wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "What's going on with Marcus?"
She moved back and looked up at him. "You noticed it too?"
"Yeah. He's up to something." Jon glanced back at the crowd before turning back to her. "You think he's going to try to take out Billy on his own?"
"I think he's going to try and get Zak to help him, but yes, I do." Kate reached up and brushed her fingers over Jon's goatee, enjoying the softness of it.
"Then we need to stop him. I know he knows Billy well enough to know that things aren't going to go well for him if he goes in there alone." Jon kissed her fingers before releasing her. "I haven't slept in three days. Let's go back to my place for a nap."
"I'll talk to him about it later." Kate got into the car and buckled up. She folded up the picture Adam had drawn and tucked it into the glove box. "Do you believe the words on your brother's picture? Is there always a way?"
"I suppose so." Jon got in and started the car. "It's just not always the way we're looking for. Your way out of your father's house was with Billy. Your way out of Billy was with Marcus. Now what?"
She nodded, knowing exactly what he was asking, but not quite yet ready to answer it. "I don't know. I'm not sure I'm ready to know either."
"I understand that all too clearly." He reached out and took her hand as they pulled out of the parking lot.
*
Jon fell asleep on the couch within ten minutes of sitting down. The soft sound of his deep breathing caused Kate's heart to flutter. There was a huge part of her that could see a future much different than any of the options she might have dreamt previously. A small house somewhere far from the city scene with just her and Jon together, raising a family and falling further in love than she ever thought possible. If it could happen with anyone, it would be with him.
After helping lug his big ass to the bedroom, she finished cleaning the kitchen and dropped down on the couch in the living room with a large photo album on her lap. There was picture after picture of Jon and Adam together, having fun at the park, or wrestling in the living room of some house. The warmth found on their little faces left her heart burning within her.
To dream of a future that normal people enjoyed seemed almost too much. She let out a shaky sigh and brushed her hand down the front of her stomach.
"Not for me, right?" Her mother hadn't been able to get pregnant over the course of nine years, and then finally Kate showed up. To wish or hope for a child herself when she hadn't had a period for most of her adult life was too much to consider.
Jon deserved a woman he could create a future and a home with, which wasn't her.
A knock at the door called her from her thoughts, and she got up and peeked through the window on her way over. An older man with a stern look on his face stood at the door, his hands tucked deep into his pockets.
Kate opened the door and tried to remember where she'd seen the guy before. "Hi, can I help you with something?"
"Yes, Miss Jarrett. Is Jon here? I'm Mike, a friend from work." The weary way the guy watched her accompanied with him knowing her name left her with no doubt that he was a cop.
"He just laid down, but I can go get him up for you." She moved back. "Come on in."
"That would be great." He walked into the living room and moved to look at the pictures hanging on the walls. "I would have been at the funeral if my wife hadn't been taken to the ER. Dizzy spell that scared all of us."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Kate wa
lked toward the back room before stopping. "Is she okay now?"
Mike glanced over his shoulder. "She is. Before you get Jon, I'd love to talk to you for a minute."
"Off the record?" Kate lifted her eyebrow, not in the mood to deal with a holier-than-thou cop after the last few days she'd had.
"Of course." He moved to sit down on the couch. "You know that Jon's left the force, I assume?"
"I do. I honestly wish he wouldn't have, but it's his decision." Kate walked around to stand beside the couch, not entirely comfortable with sitting too close to the older guy.
"Perhaps if he didn't have to contend with loving a villain it would help." The guy shrugged and watched her without expression on his face.
"A villain? Is that what they're calling me down at the station? I heard the term black widow, though I'm sure you guys have heard that one too." She wrapped her arms around herself and tilted her head to the side a little. "Who Jon loves and what he does is his business. Not yours, and certainly not mine."
"Tell me why then. At least give me that." The older man leaned back and crossed his legs as if getting comfortable.
"Why what?" Confusion sat heavy on her, but she wasn't willing to let her guard down and open up at all to anyone, least of all the accuser in front of her.
"Why are people dropping dead in front of your club? Why did I get a call on the way over here that said Victor Parence was missing, and the last person known to have been in his company was you? Why? If you love Jon so much, why not come clean and let him decide for himself to get in bed with a viper? That only seems fair to me." His eyes narrowed just a little.
Try as she may, Kate couldn't force herself to react. She was too weary from everything else swirling around her to let the words of a seasoned cop tear her down. The doctor had judged her harshly, and now this guy, but it wasn't the first time, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
