Devil You Know

by L. A. Fiore

  He looked up and that face, those eyes, it was like coming home. He opened the passenger door and like a favorite scent, that gesture brought back so many memories.

  “Damian.”

  I waited, and he didn’t disappoint. “Thea.”

  The way he spoke my name conjured images of him buried deep inside of me right at the moment he climaxed. I might need more than a fan, maybe an ice suit.

  I climbed in and waited for him to fold himself behind the steering wheel, then waited for him to engage me in conversation, but he pulled from the curb without so much as a how are you? This older and sexier Damian really did seem to be a conserver of words, like if he hit some unseen limit each day he would disintegrate like vampires in daylight, but he had to conform to at least some social niceties if we were going to be spending time together.

  I tried to encourage this when I asked, “How are you this morning?”

  Crickets.

  “I like your car.” I would like it even more screaming his name while he fucked my brains out on it or in it. I wasn’t picky. Don’t go there, Thea.

  That comment earned me a glance, but he still said nothing.

  I continued on because I was Rosalie Ahern’s daughter and had learned tenacity from her. “Have you ever heard of actuary science?”

  He didn’t even give me his face for that question. Pity because it was a nice face.

  “I had a date not too long ago with a man who assessed risk for insurance companies. It’s the first date I’ve ever been on that I pondered killing the person sitting across from me. He wasn’t going to let me have dessert. And yes, the operative word there is let. I had two desserts just to show him. I would have really pushed him over the edge if he discovered I didn’t exercise at all. He would have all kinds of thoughts on that I’m sure. I’m thinking dating isn’t for me. I might join a cult. That sure would keep future boyfriend prospects scratching their heads…me bragging about being in a cult. Oh, we should get coffee. I know the best little place. Do you want coffee?”

  We were at a light. I’d been looking out the side window while I verbally assaulted him with every thought in my head. Well, not every thought because I could have gone on for hours about him. But doing so in front of him just seemed tacky. I turned to find him staring at me and I’d bet money the bubble over his head was saying something along the lines of. “What the fuck.”

  “Coffee?” I asked again.

  “Cup of Joe?”

  “You know about Cup of Joe?” That was a stupid question. Of course he knew. He was trained to know and he was Damian.

  He had been going to Cup of Joe anyway because minutes later we were parking in front of it. He climbed from the car and walked around to join me at the curb, held the door for me and somehow we managed through the small, tight space of the café to the counter. As soon as Ryder saw me she smiled then did a double take at my coffee drinking companion, followed shortly with the crash from whatever she had been holding dropping from her hands.

  “Hey, Thea.” Her eyes took their time moving down Damian’s body and I got it, he had a damn fine body, but I didn’t like her looking. “Who’s your friend?”

  She knew who he was, but they had only met that one time, years ago. It was possible Damian would buy that she didn’t remember him. Not likely. I played along anyway. “Damian, Ryder, Ryder, Damian.”

  A chin lift was his greeting. A saucy smile was hers. “How do you know each other?”

  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her eyes bugged out of her head. I could only chalk up her behavior to temporary insanity. Damian had rendered me stupid on many occasions, but he was going to be suspicious as to why my best friend was pretending she didn’t know who he was, as in he would deduce that we’d spent the night, many nights, talking about him. It was time for diversionary tactics.

  “We met over a pigeon. He flew into a shop window, the pigeon not Damian, and Damian here was just heartbroken. I mean tears, manly tears, just coursed down his cheeks. I was a distance from him, but he carried on in such a way I thought I better check it out. And when I saw the little bird in his big hands…” That had me looking at his hands—big, blunt cut nails, wide palms and long fingers. I remembered those hands wrapped around my face possessively, those fingers inside me. The memory had my mouth going dry. I rallied, “Long story short there was no saving the pigeon, but his death wasn’t in vain. We roasted him over a trash can fire and shared him with some of the locals. Squab, it’s quite good.”

  Damian and Ryder were both looking at me like I’d lost my mind, but at least I had successfully taken the focus off Ryder.

  She grabbed onto the figurative raft I had tossed her and asked, “Do you want your usual?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you Damian?”

  “Large black.”

  My head jerked to Damian because he answered her. Maybe that was the trick, I needed to work in the food industry.

  I said to Damian, while Ryder went to get our coffee, “It has been a long time, but I remember you speaking more.”

  There was laughter in his eyes when he turned them on me.

  “Are you going to be picking me up often?”

  “Yes.”

  “So maybe you could rethink your vow of silence and make an exception for me.”

  Nothing.

  “You are doing it on purpose. Aren’t you? You want me to go insane so I can talk to the voices in my head and yours.”

  No reaction. He was like a freaking cyborg. “Are you here for Sarah Connor?”

  I thought he wasn’t listening, but he chuckled at my Terminator reference and I felt immensely pleased with myself.

  “You could start with a good morning. It’s not hard to say the words. They slip so easily off the tongue. Do you want to try it?”

  He had something on his tongue now, but it wasn’t good morning.

  “We can work toward have a nice day or even my name. I don’t know that I have ever heard you call me by my full name. Do you remember my name?” I asked that like I was talking to someone who had just suffered brain trauma and again I got those laughing eyes.

  “It’s Thea Ahern. You are Damian Tate and I am Thea Ahern.” And girls have a vagina and boys have a penis. Kindergarten Cop. I was on fire with the Arnold movie references.

  I patted his arm but feeling the hard muscles of his biceps I wanted to stroke him. My voice was a little funny when I added, “We can work up to my name.”

  He paid for our coffees, which I thought was lovely, and headed for the door. Ryder caught my attention before I followed him. “You’re right, he is aging really well.”

  “Yeah, I saw you looking.”

  “I was just looking, hard not to.”

  “You’re sounding more and more like Kimber.”

  Ryder shuddered. “Don’t say that. I’m not that bad.” She then lifted her chin. “He’s waiting for you.”

  I liked the sound of that. “Later.”

  “Later.”

  Damian was waiting. He held the door for me. I strolled through. “Thank you, Damian.”

  I almost dropped my nectar of the gods when he answered, “You’re welcome, Thea Ahern.”

  Anton had called a meeting with Salvatore Federico. His link to the cases that Cam was investigating couldn’t be ignored, but having Anton approaching him instead of the NYPD was smart. He would still be pissed having an outsider digging into his business, but it should take some of the sting out of it.

  I wouldn’t be in on the meeting, but I intended to be close because you could read a lot about people just from their body language, like Thea. I had always thought her eyes gave her away, but her body was even more telling. And it was a fucking fine body too.

  That whole scene the other day at Cup of Joe, she had always been offbeat but she was fucking hilarious now with her efforts to get me to talk. Over the past thirteen years I had been in countless situations where silence was necessary, a matter of life or
death. I had grown accustomed to observing more than talking. The fact that she had picked up on that and was determined to get me to speak had the contrary ass that I was more determined not too. It was like fucking foreplay; waiting to hear what ridiculous thing would come out of her mouth next and I couldn’t wait, getting to know the woman she had become. I suspected I was going to like her even more than the girl she had been.

  It had been a few days since Damian appeared outside my apartment ready to assume his bodyguard duties. He was quiet, sure, but that day with him had been one of the best days I had had in a long time. I wanted to call him, just to talk, like how we used to, but I wasn’t sure he would be amendable to that.

  I needed groceries and there was a convenience store right down the street from my apartment that took minutes to walk to. If I called Damian, I would turn a twenty-minute errand into an hour. I wouldn’t mind spending that hour with him, but asking him to drop everything because I was having a hankering for ice cream seemed wrong. I suspected he would want me to call, my safety his primary concern, but I was living on the edge and headed to the store alone. I stocked up and headed home, my arms were killing me when I reached my building. I guess I didn’t need four half gallons of ice cream. I sensed someone coming up behind me and panic hit first then shame. All of the caution being forced on me by those who knew the situation better than I and I shrugged it off. I was going to be murdered right in front of my own building. It would serve me right.

  “Let me help you.”

  Uncle Tim. I tried to shake off the fear, but it was a sign that I needed to listen to the guys despite my feelings on the matter. And that was the problem with conspiracy theories…they drove people crazy.

  “Thank you.”

  “Maybe you should have made two trips.”

  “I will next time.” There wouldn’t be a next time with me alone. I would wait the hour for Damian and then let him carry all of it. The image of him loaded down with my groceries was a good one.

  We stepped into the foyer of my building and Percy, our mail guy, was filling the boxes. “Afternoon, Miss Ahern. Would you like yours and Ms. Cooke’s mail?”

  “Please.”

  He piled it together and I lifted my elbow for him to tuck it under. “Have a good day.”

  “You too, Percy.”

  “What brings you here?” I asked Uncle Tim as we made our way to my floor.

  “I was in the neighborhood, so I decided I’d stop by and say hello. I thought I’d have a good chance at catching you since you work from home.”

  “I was working, but I got a hankering for ice cream.”

  “He flashed me a grin. “Ah…gotcha.”

  We reached my apartment; he took my key and unlocked the door. I dropped the mail in the pile accumulating on the counter and headed to the fridge to unload.

  “That’s a lot of mail,” Uncle Tim said as he started sifting through the pile.

  “It’s mine and Mrs. Cooke’s. She has a bunch of mine too. Once a week we go through the pile.”

  “And you’re not concerned about bills.”

  “I auto pay all my bills and her accountants handle hers.” I finished in the fridge and turned to get my first good look at him. “You look tired.”

  “I am.”

  “Congratulations on the McKay case.”

  “Cases like that are hard. It was a win, but it doesn’t feel like one.”

  “I understand that.” I thought to mention Cam and how he was looking into Dad’s death. Uncle Tim could help with that, had very expensive PIs on retainer who could do the legwork for Cam, but I hesitated because Cam was keeping it on the down low, including not sharing with Uncle Guy, so it was a good guess he hadn’t shared with Uncle Tim either. I wasn’t sure I agreed with Cam, but I would stay out of his investigation.

  Uncle Tim shifted a bit from foot to foot, a sign that he had something on his mind. He caught himself and grinned. “I’m announcing my candidacy for Senate in a few weeks and I would really love to have you and Cam at my side when I do. I’ve already contacted Rosalie.”

  Pride burned through me along with sorrow that Dad would miss this. “Absolutely, but you seem nervous about asking. Why?”

  “I think of you as family and if you stand up with me, you’ll be announcing that to the world.”

  “We are family.”

  “I don’t want to overstep.”

  “You were Dad’s dearest friend and Cam and I have known you all of our lives. There is no overstepping.”

  “Thank you for that.”

  “You’ve got to be on cloud nine. At the top of your profession with the McKay verdict and now this.”

  “It’s a dream, so it feels a bit surreal that it is coming true.”

  “Dad would be so proud.”

  “I miss him.”

  “Me too.”

  He glanced at his watch. “I’ve got a meeting up town. I’ll have my assistant send you the information on the gala.”

  “We will be there with bells on.”

  He pressed a kiss on my cheek then walked to the door. “Lock your door.”

  No matter how old I got all the men in my life were determined to protect me from the boogeymen, and as stifling as that could be at times, I wouldn’t change it.

  “Yes, sir.”

  I had previously mentioned that my luck was not great and this was made abundantly clear when I ran into my mom on the streets of Manhattan. Damian had joined me for a day of errands. I didn’t know who was more surprised when she called my name from halfway down the block, Damian or me. What was worse, she wasn’t alone. Kimber was with her. No good came from putting those two together.

  “Just keep walking,” I said.

  “It’s your mom.” He said that like I was slow. I knew it was my mom and I also knew she was unpredictable especially when accompanied by Kimber. Who knew what would come out of their mouths and since Ryder, the more levelheaded one of us, had gone all batshit crazy when in this man’s presence, there was no telling what those two would do. I wasn’t sure I had a good enough imagination to smoke and mirror him after the nonsense they were sure to spiel.

  “If we hurry to the car, it isn’t likely she’ll chase after us. Not in those heels.”

  I was looking right at him so I saw the smile that touched those lips. I wasn’t sure if that smile was aimed at me or my mom because when I followed his gaze she was hurrying down the street, waving one hand over her head while hollering my name. Kimber was grinning and moving just as quickly, but her attention was fixed solely on Damian.

  “We could have totally reached the car,” I muttered just before Mom stopped in front of us panting like she’d just run a marathon.

  “I didn’t think you heard me.”

  “Mom, half of the city heard you.”

  Kimber didn’t even say hi to me. She looked Damian up and down, biting her lips as she did before asking in a voice that sounded more like a sexy purr. “Who’s your friend, Thea?”

  Seriously? Her too?

  “Who? Him? I don’t know. We just left the bank at the same time.”

  As I hoped, her attention snapped to me and she glared. “And that’s why he’s standing here with you now.”

  “I think he’s a little slow,” I whispered then added, “I didn’t want to be rude.”

  “I’m sorry for my daughter, Damian. I really did try to teach her manners, but she is just so damn stubborn.”

  I hadn’t witnessed Mom and Damian’s reunion the night of the cheeseburger casserole, but I got to see it now and not only was I flabbergasted, I was jealous because he took my mother’s hand, smiled and said in the sweetest voice, “It is lovely to see you again, Rosalie.”

  I remembered that voice; it was usually followed with us getting naked. Oh dear God, I was having sex thoughts in front of the man in question and my mom. Kill me now.

  “And you, sweetie. You need to come to dinner more often now that you are home.”

  “
Absolutely.”

  Kimber wasn’t going to be ignored. She thrust her hand out to him so fast she almost punched him in the gut. “I’m Kimber.”

  Damian took her hand. “We’ve met. Nice to see you again.”

  I lowered my head, what else could I do. That was Damian’s way of saying he knew we were up to something and was calling me on it. I needed new friends.

  “What do you do, Damian?” My head jerked to her. Abort. He knows you are full of it. She didn’t even look at me, too consumed with undressing the love of my life with her eyes.

  “Ex-military, in the middle of transitioning jobs.” He was playing along. We were doomed.

  “Transitioning into what kind of job?” Kimber asked.

  Had she never heard the expression beating a dead horse? Which was a terrible expression. I jumped in. “He mentioned a phone sex operator for a 1-800 number.”

  “Are you ever serious?” Mom was giving me her narrowed eye look. She should be giving that look to Kimber.

  “No.”

  Mom’s narrowed eye look morphed into a devious twinkle, which was never good before she said, “So you and Thea are making up for lost time.”

  It was tempting to kick my mother in the shins and make a run for it. Make up for lost time…I needed to find a manhole and throw myself into it.

  Mom and Kimber then did the weirdest thing. They both studied Damian like a zoo animal so I too looked to see what held them captivated only to see the smile that was so rare for him. “Even all grown up you are still just adorable,” Mom said.

  “Oh yeah.” That was Kimber’s eloquent contribution to Mom’s observation. Damian was adorable? If they meant in a scary, dangerous, rip off kittens’ heads sort of way.

  “Has Thea made you dinner? She’s become quite the chef.”