I don’t know if it’s the guilt from putting myself in a situation to get hurt or if it’s another Jude induced coma, but either way I relent and as usual say, “Okay.” He pulls up a bit, smiles at me and kisses me again. Feeling cooperative this time, my hands go to his hair as he kisses me deep and long.
That is until my three aunts barge in and I hear Aunt Tia, the first through the door say, “Oh, sorry! We should have knocked!” Jude lifts, looks into my eyes and grins then kisses me quick before standing up.
“It’s okay,” Jude rasps, “she was just getting up.” He holds out his hand to me to help me out of bed. It hurts like hell and I try not to show it on my face as I let Jude help pull me up to a standing position. These hospital gowns leave a lot to be desired, so I wrap it around me as tight as I can.
“I’m good,” I say to the room and hobble to the bathroom door. Once I get there and look in the mirror, I let out a little scream for the second morning in a row.
Jude leans in and asks with concern, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, shit, I didn’t think it was possible, but I look worse than yesterday!” The bump on my temple has started to deflate, but the bruising was worse than ever, dark and ugly, stretching out over my eyebrow onto my eyelid.
I hear Aunt Emma tell me loudly from the other room, “Not to worry, Gabby. We brought you clean clothes, your face wash and moisturizer. We figured you’d want to wait until you got home to shower, you’ll feel like a new person. And we brought your car, Gino said Jude was taking you home and since we obviously couldn’t bring his car, we brought yours.”
Lizzie continues, just as loudly, “Mia is with Sophia and the kids today, we didn’t know when you’d be home, but we’ll get her back for you. And we cleaned your house last night so you won’t have to worry about that for a while and went to the store for you. Oh, and you should be good on dinners, too! We stocked up your freezer. You’re good to go!”
I look up at Jude who is still leaning into the bathroom. I just shake my head as he grins at me and I yell back, “Thanks!” He leans the rest of the way, gives me a peck on the lips and reaches for the door and closes it. Thinking that this is as ‘by myself’ as I’m going to get for a while, I take my time, get my business taken care of and slowly take myself back to the bed to get ready to make a statement to the police. I let my aunts fuss over me because they are good at it and I secretively like it while making a silent decision to let Jude take care of me. And if I’m honest with myself, it’s the easiest decision I’ve made in a long time.
Later that day, after giving my statement to the detective, Jude took me home and I was surprised that he had somehow arranged for the glass company to come a day early to replace the glass in my door so I could move back into my master bedroom. It was sweet, thoughtful and I wonder if he had to be bossy with the glass people to get it done early.
Oh well.
I took a long hot shower, got into my pajamas because I have learned that it hurts like hell to have to change my clothes. Jude and I ate dinner that my aunts prepared. It included meat so Jude shouldn’t waste away to nothing in the next twenty four hours. Mia returned home attacking me, complaining that she had been abandoned and lying to me about not receiving enough attention from Lanny, Sophia and their kids.
Now it is late and I am really tired again. I ask Jude, “You’re not going to wake me up every hour and ask me what my name is, are you?”
He has me tucked into his side on the sofa and he leans down, kisses my good temple and says grinning, “No, babe. Tonight you can sleep. You should go to bed, I’ll be there in a minute.”
“You’ll be in?” I breathe.
Turning to me fully, he leans in close and rasps sweetly, “Gabby, your bedroom was broken into. Do you think I’m going to let you sleep in there by yourself?”
Not knowing whether or not to be surprised or relieved, all I can manage is, “Okay.” I was secretly hoping he would sleep with me anyway. It’s not like I can romp around with my bruised ribs and dull aching head, but it will be nice to cuddle up next to him. I slowly get up and go through my getting ready for bed routine way slower than normal. I hear Jude letting Mia out and moving around my house. Carefully as I can, I climb up into my tall king size bed and move to my pillow trying to get comfortable.
I hear Jude walk in and turn to look at him. He leans down picks up Mia and puts her on the bed and leans down and kisses my forehead. “Are you good?” he asks softly.
I nod and he looks into my eyes. Then he moves to my bathroom and I can hear him going through his routine before he comes back to me. I watch him yank his shirt over his head and I get another good look at his winged tattoo with the crest in the middle. He pulls his socks off, I watch his hands go to his buttons on his jeans and before I know it he’s down to his boxers again, but this time climbing into my big bed beside me.
“Did you take your pain pill?” he asks.
“Yes.” He moves closer to me and fits himself against me so I roll to my good side to fit my back against his warm chest.
“Your stool softener?” he asks with mirth into my hair as he pulls me closer and I can tell from his voice he’s grinning.
“Don’t piss me off or embarrass me, Jude, I’m tired,” I say at the same time I scoot my bottom back into his lap as carefully as I can without hurting my ribs. Not wanting to rest his hand on my torso for fear of hurting me, he places it on the side of my lower hip and bottom and gives me a squeeze.
“All right, Gabby. I don’t want to piss you off,” he kisses the back of my head again and rasps on, “Your pink room is hot, sugar, but I like this bed better.”
“I didn’t take you for a pink kind of guy, Jude, but as a decorator, that’s good to know.”
“Yeah, I especially like the stuffed animals,” he says, teasing me. Then back to bossy he keeps on, “Go to sleep, Gabby. You need to rest and heal.” I feel his lips below my ear on my neck where he kisses me softly. His lips return to my ear and he whispers, “I don’t like that you’re so fragile.”
I don’t need an interpreter to catch his meaning and that makes me shiver.
“Okay,” I whisper back. But then remember something, “Wait, Jude?”
“What babe?”
“Tell me about your tattoo”
“They’re my wings, Gabby. I was a pilot in the Air Force.”
“You were in the Air Force?” I ask, full of surprise.
“Yeah, I went through the Academy and then Fighter Pilot Training.”
“Really?” I do my best to try to roll back around to look at him.
He looks down at me and grins, “Yeah, really.” He leans down to kiss me.
“What did you fly?”
“F-16’s.”
“Wow,” I move back to fit myself into his chest again, tucking my ass into his lap as tight as I can. He rests his hand on my bottom again and we settle in. “Then how long have you worked for the FBI?”
“About four years. I was hired right after I left the Force.”
“Huh. How long have you lived here?” all of a sudden needing to know all I can about Jude Ortiz.
“Almost a year. I’ll tell you more later, go to sleep.”
“All right,” I say yawning. “Thank you for being here with me, Jude.”
“I wouldn’t be anywhere else, sugar,” he whispers into my hair.
And with that, I close my eyes, lean back further into Jude and fall asleep.
Chapter 10 - Let’s See How Easy It Can Be
“How many times do I have to answer this question man? I do not know where he his! I saw him Thursday, he said it was getting too hot for him here and he had to skip town. I’ve told you everything I know, now when do we talk about my deal?”
“You’ll get your fucking deal when we have Harper behind bars. Now where in the hell would he go to feel safe? And where is he getting money to finance his fucking vacation?” I ask, standing across the desk from one of the mid-level managers we app
rehended. Last night was a late night but a good one and we put one hell of a dent in Harper’s organization. Now it’s Tuesday, mid-morning. We have five mid to high level curriers and managers that worked for Harper in custody. Three of them have flipped, are crying like babies spilling information about Harper and his gun smuggling business as well as some pretty good information on high level cartel sources. The other two haven’t said a word, but they are lower on the chain, look scared as hell and I’m pretty sure they fear retribution will be taken on their families if they talk, which is common in these organizations. Harper, in addition to his right hand man, is still at large and the three that are talking are corroborating each other’s stories that they have skipped town but no one knows where. Harper’s from Michigan, we know his family has a lake house on the Lake in Traverse City and we have the local FBI and ATF there looking into it, but I swear the man has disappeared into thin air. He has gone to ground and it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.
“Man, Trevor has cash stashed everywhere. He could live forever on the lamb with the cash he’s got.”
“Where else would he go? Where are his safe houses, other properties or favorite spots?” I ask, leaning down with my hands on the table now, glaring down at the jackass in front of me. I’m pretty sure the well has run dry, we’ve gotten just about the same intel from each of them. I would be surprised at this point if they had any idea of Harper’s whereabouts.
“You know all of his properties, I don’t know that he owns anything else.”
I push myself off the table and cross my arms. I look back at the jailer standing at the door and say, “Take him back.”
“Hey, what about my deal?”
“You’ll get a deal when I get Harper, how’s that for a deal. You gave me nothing I don’t already know,” I say as the jailer tags him by the bicep, his wrists cuffed behind his back.
“Fuck you, you pig! You said I’d get a deal!” he yells over his shoulder at me as he’s being pulled out of the interrogation room.
“You gotta give me Harper,” I said shaking my head and watch him leave. I look over at Mac who is leaning against the wall and say, “He’s fucking disappeared on us.”
“Looks like it. And we’ve got nothing from his wife’s phones. Harper hasn’t contacted her again. Does Megan Harper know Gabby was attacked?” Mac asks me.
I shake my head, “I’ve told Gabby not to talk to Megan, but I can’t help what her friends do and they are one pissed off group of women, that’s for sure. They love Gabby so I think Megan might get kicked out of the club if she supports her husband after what happened. I’ve only overheard conversations when they’ve come to visit her, and it does not sound good. I just hope Gabby’s friends don’t carry guns too, they might be tempted to hunt down Harper themselves.” This is no exaggeration, Reagan threatened homicide multiple times while bouncing a baby on her hip and Lilly said she was going to cut his balls off and shove them up his ass. It was an entertaining show, that’s for sure.
Mac grins and asks, “How’s she doin?”
“Better every day. I’ll be glad when the bruising is completely gone. I won’t have that constant fucking reminder thrown in my face every time I look at her that I didn’t do enough to protect her. Every once in a while she still winces in pain from moving too fast or stretching the wrong way. The bruises on her ribs will take longer to go away, but her temple is almost back to normal. Her headaches are gone and she only has to take Motrin for her ribs every once in a while. But she’s driving me fucking insane complaining about having to stay home or having someone with her all the time. We’ve gotta find Harper or I’m gonna have to lock her up.”
Mac’s grin turns into a smile when he says, “I’m sure you don’t mind her driving you insane, Ortiz, nor would you mind locking her up. You can put on a front for everyone else around here, but I think you’d happily dance straight to the loony bin for that woman. Am I wrong?”
I narrow my eyes at him. As long as I’ve known him, I wouldn’t even admit this to Adam “Mac” McAlister, but he’s right. The last week and a half have been freaking crazy and I feel like my life has been turned on its head, but I wouldn’t change a thing. After I brought her home from the hospital Thursday, she’s had her aunts with her while I’m at work, but they’ve been told they can’t go anywhere. I spent the weekend with her other than a few hours on Saturday when I had to come into work and Tony was put on Gabby Duty. By Sunday she was feeling pretty good and was sick of being in the house so I took her to church. We grabbed a bite for lunch, then somehow, and I don’t know how in the hell it happened, she talked me into taking her shopping for carpet. All fucking afternoon. We went to three home improvement stores and four flooring showrooms. I’m pretty sure we looked at every piece of carpet in the damn city. I didn’t even know there was that much carpet to choose from. Not only that, but I watched her compare them to paint samples, multiple paint samples for multiple rooms. Then, about three and a half hours into the carpet search, she had the magnificent idea of replacing the carpet on the stairs as well.
“I mean, really, I might as well replace it now while I’m doing the basement. It’s going to be such a mess, why go through that twice, right? Jude, are you listening to me?”
In a carpet daze, I blink my eyes to focus on Gabby, standing barefoot on a carpet square. “Yeah, babe, I’m listening,” I respond, monotone.
“Well, what do you think? Wow, you should come and stand on this one. It’s wool and really thick and soft. Come here,” she commands.
“What?”
“Come here, take off your shoes and socks and try it out! I really like it, this could be it!”
“Sugar, I am not taking off my shoes.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m not, that’s why.”
She narrows her eyes at me, puts her hands on her hips and says, “Jude Ortiz, I know for a fact that just because you’re a big bad federal agent who carries a gun for a living, that you do indeed take your shoes off eventually! I mean,” she looks around and then whispers, “I’ve slept with you for four nights now and know for certain that you do not sleep in those big bulky boots. You take your shoes off just like the rest of civilization and when you do, don’t you want to walk on something soft? Seriously, this is the basement we’re talking about here and the winters get cold, you need something cozy under your feet, for heaven’s sake!”
I stand here and stare at her. She’s in a light blue sundress, with thin straps over her shoulders, tight over her tits that show a nice amount of cleavage that I’ve enjoyed all day and hangs straight to hit a few inches above her knees, with her long legs sticking out below her short dress. She said she was feeling better this morning and was tired of looking like what she described as “shit,” so she dried her hair for fucking ever. It is now long and silky, flowing down the middle of her back. It even looks more golden than normal since it is straight and smooth. The blue dress makes her eyes look even brighter and she put on enough makeup to cover her almost faded bruise. She’s wearing a fancy necklace and bracelet that are a mix of silver and pearls stranded together with silver matching earrings. Her pink high heeled sandals have been kicked off to the side where she is glaring at me from the carpet square.
Making a quick decision, I walk over to her, close to her and put my hands low on her hips giving her a gentle yank, her hands immediately come to my chest in surprise. “Are you telling me, sugar, that you think I might be around to walk barefoot on this carpet?” I can tell I surprised her. She gave me her shocked as shit look, eyes wide and biting her lower lip.
“Well…”
Quietly, I say, “I’m over the moon that you know I don’t sleep in my boots and I’m looking forward to experiencing your new carpet. So, if you want me around to walk barefoot in your basement, only for you babe, will I take my shoes off in the middle of a fucking carpet store.” She’s still just staring at me so I give her hips a little shake and go on, “What’s
it gonna be Gabby? You’ve gotta tell me if you want me around to walk on your new carpet.”
“Um, I guess. I mean,” she pulls in a big breath. “I think I might want you around to walk on my new carpet,” she whispers and lets out her lung full of air.
I take a step back reach down and pull the tie on my boot, yank it off, tossing it aside. I repeat with the other then I rip off my socks and step forward onto the small carpet square with Gabby, pulling her into my arms. Her hands go to my biceps and she tips her head back to look at me and whispers, “Well?”
“Feels like heaven, Gabby,” I say softly and then her eyes get big and she pulls in a breath, so I go on, “And I can’t wait to walk on it barefoot in your basement.” She breathes out and smiles up at me. I bend down, not wanting to pull her up to me and hurt her ribs, putting my lips to her ear I whisper, “I’m hoping other bare parts of us get to experience your new carpet too, Gabby. I can’t fucking wait for that.” I lean back enough to put my mouth on hers and kiss her long but soft, standing barefoot on a carpet square in a flooring showroom.
Finally, letting her mouth go, I lean up and she’s looking beautiful from my kiss and whispers back, “I think I’m gonna get this one.”
“Good. Now we can go,” I say with finality.
“Well, I need to pick out the carpet for the stairs. I think I want something different, maybe a baby berber, black or maybe even red with this camel color woven into it somehow.”
“Are you kidding me?” I ask.
“I promise, I won’t make you stand on it,” she says, looking up to me with a small smile, scrunching her damn nose again.
I sigh and say, “Fine.” I lean down to kiss her quick stepping off her new carpet to put my socks and shoes back on.
Still standing barefoot, she grins at me and says, “I like shopping with you Jude. Thanks for bringing me today, it’s been fun!”
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