Art of War

by Monique Orgeron

  “Zander, you can’t.”

  “The hell I can’t.”

  He lays me down on a pillow and starts licking and gently sucking on one of my nipples. “Zander, stop, that can’t taste good, plus it’s for the babies.”

  “Not until they’re here, right now it belongs to me.”

  I can’t help laughing. He continues to lick until I beg him to stop, they are way too sensitive.

  “I just wanted to try it.” He lays beside me on the pillow, holding my hand.

  “How was it?”

  “Not too bad, I think my sons will be very happy boys.”

  “You keep saying boys, what if they’re girls?”

  He lifts his head and stares at me like I cursed him.

  “Woman, God would not do that to me! I keep telling everyone this. I am a man who produces sons. Daughters would only put me in jail or in an early grave.”

  I start laughing. “Really, Zander?”

  “Yes, really!”

  “Besides, could you imagine daughters who look like me?” He shakes with a chill and says. “Uck!”

  I laugh and tell him, “I think you’re very handsome.”

  “I know I am, but girls who look like me would not be pretty.”

  I grab at his beard. “You know I love your beard, but you might need to shave it. I hear it could irritate the babies’ skin.”

  He looks at me and then rubs down his beard. He then jumps out of the bed.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m going to shave it off. I can’t have my boys’ skin irritated because of me.”

  “Zander, wait!”

  I get out of the bed as quick as I can and wobble to the bathroom. I walk in with him over the lavatory, holding a pair of shears. “Zander, I don’t know if I want you to cut it off.”

  He raises his eyebrows at me. “Why?”

  “Because I like it. I’m not sure if I will like you anymore without it.”

  “You will!”

  “Jesus, Zander, do you always have to be so cocky?”

  “Red, women have always loved this face with or without this beard. I have never had any complaints.”

  I roll my eyes. “I’m sure you have had lots of women love you.”

  He shrugs. “We both had a life before us, Red. I didn’t think you were a jealous woman.”

  “I’m not jealous, I was just making a point. I don’t care what those women thought. I care about what I’ll think.”

  He turns around and hugs me. “Look, baby, let me shave it for the babies and if you want me to grow it back once they get a little older then I will, okay?”

  I nod, knowing he’s right, it’s for the best. He then lets me go and starts cutting at his beard, shortening it for the razor. I watch like it’s Christmas waiting to see what’s inside the present. His beard is not all that long, but it’s full so I am nervous to see his full face. I reach for one of my robes and slide into it. I look back up and he’s finished cutting so then he grabs for a razor. “Stop!”

  He turns around. “What now?”

  “Let me, I want to do it.”

  He smiles and sits on the closed toilet lid, then hands me the razor. I fill the lavatory with warm water and then rub some of my shaving cream on his face. It’s all we have. He laughs and says he smells like flowers now. I smile at him, then he separates his legs so that I can slide in-between them. He juts out his chin so I can start. I then feel his hands slide around to hold me behind my knees. It’s sexy, but it makes it hard to concentrate on shaving his face. I take a deep breath, gaining my focus back, and begin slowly down his face. The first few strokes don’t show me much, but then I start getting to the center of his face. He’s beautiful. I agree with all those other women, he is just as gorgeous with or without the beard. Blue eyes stare up at me, sending shivers down my body.

  “Are you liking what you’re seeing so far?”

  I don’t answer him, I just continue shaving his face. When I’m done I throw the razor in the water and grab a towel to wash off any of the residue. He smiles big and both dimples on his cheeks are in full view, damn him, he knew I would have this reaction. I do the only thing I can think of to not tell him he was right. I kiss him passionately. His hands slide up from my knees to my thighs then go higher to my ass, he pulls me in, holding me tight. When I break the kiss, his smile gets even bigger.

  “I told you, I’m still handsome, aren’t I?”

  I slap his arm. He then stands, looks in the mirror, passing his hand over his naked face now. “Yep, still handsome.” He then grabs my hand. “Come on, let’s take a shower and get cleaned up before I want to go for round two. And don’t look at me like that. You need to give me a break every now and then.”

  “Me?!”

  “Yes, baby, you’ve become insatiable, not that I am complaining, but I don’t want the doc fussing at me tomorrow.”

  I melt all over for this man, again.

  60

  Zander

  I get a call around five in the morning telling me that my guys have a man who has been avoiding my advances to get him to pay a debt owed to our casino. I dress quietly not to wake Red as she sleeps soundly. When I reach down to kiss her cheek, she wakes and reaches out to me.

  “Where are you going so early?”

  “My crew called, they have a guy we were looking for on ice at the warehouse. I shouldn’t be too long. I’ll meet you at the casino to take you to our doctor appointment. I asked Vin to drive you in to work when you’re ready.”

  She starts to fall back to sleep. “I love you.” She nods her head and drifts back to sleep. I watch her sleeping face and can’t wait for the moment that we are back together alone. She has secretly turned me into one of those sappy men.

  I meet my men at the warehouse and handle business as fast as I can. This guy didn’t have the strength to hold out long before making calls to have his money delivered at a secondary location. I released him with his promise to never be in debt to us again. But I’m not stupid, I know that’s a promise he will not be keeping. He’s a repeat offender, which makes him our bread and butter. I finish fast enough that I make my way to the casino before Murphy. I find my way to her office and notice a long stem red rose on her desk, with a note saying,

  ‘You should have twelve now, making a sweet dozen. Red roses for Zander’s sweet Red.’

  I am so furious that I throw everything off the desk. Then I look for Bobby. Where the fuck has he been? He was supposed to be watching her this whole time and someone’s been able to get into her office and leave roses on her desk. I storm out of the office hunting for Bobby. When I find him, he sees my face and starts backing up.

  “Zander, Zander, man, what the hell?!”

  I grab him by his shirt and throw him into a wall, when his back hits, he falls down to the floor. With customers staring, I grab him and slam him back into the wall.

  “Where the fuck have you been? I trusted you to watch my wife and children.” He goes to say something, but I don’t let him, I throw my fist into his face. I feel and hear his nose break.

  “I trusted you, Bobby. I gave you my life to watch and protect. You fucking failed me!”

  He’s breathing hard now and shielding his face. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “The roses, Bobby, you have been letting someone put roses in her office.”

  He shakes his head. “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about. What fucking roses?”

  My fist stops mid-air when I realize he’s telling the truth he has no clue what I’m talking about. But it only stops me for a second before realizing I don’t fucking care whether he knew or not. He was supposed to know everything. I hit him over and over. Until someone grabs me from behind. Yelling at me to stop. I throw the guy off and turn to see my attacker. I see Vin’s face as he gets back on his feet.

  “Zander, man, you have to stop!” I look at him and then look around as people are staring at me. When I turn back, Vin s
ays, “Murphy’s watching.”

  I look past him and see my wife standing there looking scared, frozen in her spot. After a minute of us staring at each other, she slowly advances to me and grabs my bloody hands.

  Speaking in a low voice, she says, “Come on, baby. I don’t know what Bobby did, but he’s done.”

  She pulls me down the hall to her office. Vin stands guard at the door when he closes it to give us privacy. She hasn’t spoken again. She walks to the bar and makes me a scotch. She then tells me to sit. I listen, she then hands me my drink and walks to the bathroom. She returns with a wet towel in her hand to help wash the blood off my fists. But as she’s walking towards me, her eyes see the rose on the desk.

  She stops suddenly, her eyes close and that’s when I ask. “How long, Red?”

  Her eyes open and she says, “I have been getting one a week.”

  I sit up. “You mean to tell me you have been getting them for twelve weeks and haven’t told me about them!?”

  “Eleven weeks. I received one yesterday. I was not expecting one for another week.”

  “I am going to kill Bobby!”

  “Bobby didn’t know.”

  I stand. “It’s his fucking job to know!”

  “Zander, sit down! When I started getting them, I told Bobby and his men not to enter my office anymore. It’s the only time I can have any alone time. When Bobby and I would show up at work, they were already here. They don’t come during his working hours. He has no idea about them.”

  I sit down feeling bad that I beat up Bobby without giving him a chance. “Why not tell Bobby or me? I’m your husband, I need to know shit like this.”

  “Because you would have made me stay home. I need to work. I would have less freedom than I do now. I…”

  I cut her off. “I, I, I, have you stopped to think about our children?” I start circling the room. “You have been holding back from me. Not allowing me to protect you, but most importantly you have prevented me from protecting them.” I point to her very pregnant belly.

  She starts to cry. “I’m sorry. You’re right.”

  I can’t stand to see her cry. So I walk to her to hold her. “You have to tell me everything from now on, you can’t hide shit anymore. You have to let me protect you. We have to think about our babies now.”

  She starts to cry harder so I walk her to the sofa, I sit first and then sit her on top of me. She lays her head on my shoulder. I start petting her hair.

  “I have to be honest with you too.”

  She looks up at me and says, “About what?”

  “It’s not anything bad about us. I withheld some information from you too. Forrest found Judith. She was in South America, hiding out.”

  “Was, where is she now?”

  “Someone killed her.”

  She jumps off me and asks, “What? Do you know who?”

  “No, baby, Forrest’s men stayed to scope the place out, trying to find clues, but there was nothing going on. Then they waited for her body to be identified to be sent back to the states.”

  “What do you think actually happened?”

  I look at her and tell her, “I think the man that she hired to come after you killed her to cover his tracks. Whoever he is, he’s good.” I move to the edge of the sofa, laying my elbows on my knees so I can hide my face between my hands in frustration. “I feel like I’m failing here. I have never not been able to find someone.”

  Murphy sits back on the sofa next to me. She reaches up to my face, telling me, “Zander, you’re not failing. You will find him. Everything will be fine, you’ll be there when we need you.”

  She then takes the discarded towel and washes away the blood from my fists. I watch as she slowly and gently scrubs away the dried blood from me. I know she’s thinking hard about if she can live this life. She’s strong, I give her that, but she has never had to deal with the torture these hands delve out. It scares me to think she might not be able to handle it.

  When she finishes she glances up at me and I kiss her gently, trying to let her know everything will be all right. When our kiss breaks, I tell her we need to leave if we don’t want to be late for our doctor’s appointment. Today we have another ultrasound scheduled. We are hoping that we might be able to find out the sex of the babies.

  As we’re leaving the casino, I see Bobby sitting in one of the rooms we pass in the hall. He looks bad and my guilt is taking over. Bobby has always been loyal to me and a great friend. I ask Vin to watch Murphy for a minute so I can walk into the room Bobby’s in.

  I clear my throat and swallow my pride. “Hey, look, Bobby, I’m sorry, I was wrong. I didn’t give you time to explain. Shit, man, Murphy told me you had no idea and that you had no way of knowing. I just saw red, man.”

  Bobby looks at me with his swollen face and smiles. “I’m happy for you, man.”

  “What?”

  “Look, Zander, I get why you hit me. You finally have the love of a good woman and when that gets threatened, you go ape shit. I would’ve too if someone tried to hurt my wife or children. I don’t blame you. I just hope you know I would never betray you. If I would have known…”

  I raise my hands to stop him. “I know. I trust you, Bobby. That’s why I took you off the road and put you in charge here. You are the only one I trust to watch over her.”

  I start to tell him the rest of what Murphy had told me. When we’re finished discussing it, he stands up and we give each other a manly hug and all is well. Men like us can take an ass beating, but betrayal, never. Bobby is more like family than an employee, I know from now on he will be overly cautious.

  I meet Vin and Murphy at the exit. Vin knows he’s coming with us after what happened this morning. I need him to be with us to be on the safe side.

  We finally make it to our doctor’s office about ten minutes late. But the doc will just have to work with that and he does. We’re escorted to the back into one of his offices and he starts his examination of Murphy, then he proceeds to do the ultrasound.

  “Okay, Murphy, Zander, the babies look great. They’re right on track.” He looks at the screen some more and then says, “I know you two would’ve liked to know the sex of the babies, but they’re not in the right position. Maybe next time.”

  We are a little disappointed, but as long as the babies are healthy, then we’re fine.

  “I would like to discuss sexual activity. I think it’s time to put a halt to sex.”

  Oh, shit, this is what I have been dreading. Murphy looks at me, knowing that this is going to kill me.

  “Murphy, the babies are starting to drop, that means the babies are getting into position. It’s normal for women carrying twins to have the babies early instead of going the whole forty weeks. I expect it shouldn’t be too much longer. I’m very pleased with the babies’ sizes. But I want to make sure we can hold you out as long as possible. I think it’s time for you to start taking it easy. You don’t have to do complete bed rest because I think you’re doing fine, but I need you off those feet more.”

  Murphy tries to sit up. “I can’t, Doc, not yet. I have so many things going on right now.”

  Dr. Martin shakes his head, “Murphy, not total bed rest, but I need you to only work when necessary and it can’t be for hours on end.”

  I stop her as she goes to say something else. “We understand, thank you. So same time next week?”

  Dr. Martin picks up his tablet. “Actually, Zander, can I speak to you for a minute while Murphy gets dressed?” He smiles at Murphy and then walks out. I tell Murphy that I’ll be back in a minute. I walk out of the room worrying why he wants to speak to me. I find myself silently praying that it’s not anything wrong with the babies.

  I follow him to his office, freaking out on the inside; if he wants to tell me something without Murphy around, it has to be the babies.

  As soon as I close the door, I immediately rush to ask, “Doc, what’s wrong? Please just give it to me straight.”

  He waves
his hands at me. “No, no, Zander, nothing is wrong with the babies.”

  I take a deep breath. “Okay, then what is it? If you think I won’t listen, I promise I will. No sex, it will be hard, but I can do it.”

  “Zander, stop! That’s not it either. Look, I wanted to wait until after the appointment to tell you this. My office was broken into last night.”

  I see he’s leaving something out so I ask, “Why would someone break into your office? What did they take?”

  He looks up at me and takes a deep breath. “The only thing they took was Murphy’s file. All her information. Nothing else. My security cameras were disabled. I don’t have any other information for you. But one of my girls is extra OCD and she noticed some subtle changes in the office. She is the one who wanted to check the cameras. When we saw they weren’t working, we started digging into what was going on. I canceled most of my appointments today for everyone’s safety until we know more.”

  I don’t wait to hear anymore, I swing the door open and run back up the hall to get to Murphy fast. The door hits the wall when I open it, causing Murphy to jump. I grab her hand, not caring that her dress is not all the way zipped up.

  “Zander, wait, my dress! What’s wrong?”

  I don’t explain, I just briskly walk to the front of the office with Murphy at my side. Vin stands when we get into the lobby. He sees my face, without a word he immediately goes into protection mode. We both form a wall around Murphy and leave the building, making it to our vehicle in a rush. I sit in the back with Murphy while Vin drives. We look at each other’s eyes in the rearview mirror, passing silent messages. Murphy starts complaining, wanting to know what’s going on. I’m not ready to alert her yet so I nudge her to sit up so I can help zip her dress.

  When she sits back, I grab her face, looking into her eyes, I whisper, “You trust me?” She nods her head. “Good, then know I got you. No more questions. Not now.” She nods again then kisses me.

  When we make it back home, Vin and I again form a wall around Murphy to rush her into the house. When we enter the house, Mom’s sitting in the living room. She stands and becomes alert to our faces and posture.