Tempted by a Dangerous Man

by Cleo Peitsche

  None of that excused what he had done, how he had treated me. I could love him without forgiving him. Not for him, but for myself.

  “Dad?” I knew he was knocked out, but I still expected him to blink, sit up, ask me… something. I sat in one of the chairs and prepared to talk.

  I decided to begin at the beginning. I confessed how difficult it was being his daughter. I tried to be fair, but what I kept realizing was just how similar my father and I were.

  “I don’t want to be like you,” I whispered, wiping never-ending tears off my face. In my father’s wake lay the wreckage of his most important relationships.

  ~~~

  I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep until the door opened. I sat up with a start, blinking, trying to remember where I was.

  Rob stood there. He gawked at me, but only for a moment, then crossed the room with big strides to pull me into a rib-crushing hug. His coat was still cold from outside.

  When he released me, his brown eyes were wet, and he removed his glasses to polish the lenses with the end of his scarf.

  “I didn’t know,” I said. “I wasn’t avoiding you.”

  He nodded, pushed his red hair out of his face but didn’t speak, which was unlike him.

  “What are the doctors saying about Dad?”

  Rob opened his mouth to answer, and then his face just… crumpled. He kept shaking his head.

  “Are things worse than you said?”

  More head shaking. He pulled off his glasses with a shuddering inhalation, and he took a lot of time wiping them again.

  He had been left to deal with this on his own. “I would have been here. I swear,” I told him. And because that wasn’t enough, I hugged him again.

  My own tears had dried up; it was easier to be strong for Rob than for myself. The box of tissues was empty, so I went into the bathroom and enlisted a spare roll of toilet paper for the job.

  “Feel better?” I asked when Rob finally took a deep, cleansing breath.

  “Yeah,” he said, wiping his nose. “Much.” He sniffled once more, squared his shoulders. “You won’t believe me, but I haven’t cried until now. I think…” He glanced at me, and I could tell that he was a hair’s breadth from losing it again.

  “You don’t have to talk.”

  “But I want to.”

  Rob wasn’t a talker, either, but we told each other everything. It was our bond. Original roommates and all that. We shared everything. Well, almost everything. “So then tell me.”

  “It’s so superstitious, but I felt that as long as you weren’t here, Dad couldn’t die.”

  “I felt the same thing,” I whispered. “Like as long as I was on my way back here, time was stopped. Guess he’s pretty rough, then.”

  “It’s fifty-fifty.”

  “That’s not so bad,” I said. “He’s a tough old bastard. He’ll pull through—because who else would make our lives miserable?” A tear escaped down my cheek, and I swatted it away.

  The door opened, and Corbin entered, wearing a cowboy hat and carrying several steaming coffees. With everything else that was going on, I had almost forgotten about him.

  “I’ve been staying away, giving you privacy, but Henry is on his way up,” Corbin said. Mr. No Nonsense. “He’s busy hitting on one of the doctors, but she was close to shutting him down.”

  “Then you have to go,” I said.

  “We have to go.”

  I shook my head. “No. I want to deal with this. I can’t spend my life hiding from him.”

  Corbin’s face went rigid as a statue. “Not asking you to, but in this, like so many things, timing is everything.” He shot a pointed look at my unconscious father. “We don’t know what Henry thinks he has on you, and you don’t want to be in county lockup while it gets sorted out. I have to leave. I won’t be able to help you.”

  Rob looked between us. I could tell that he was torn. No doubt thinking that his stubborn sister had gotten herself in over her head. Which was true.

  “Forgive me,” Corbin said to Rob. “Believe me when I say I’m taking care of her. Henry will have her thrown in jail. He’s got friends in the right places, and he wants revenge, not justice. He’ll hurt her any way he can. He doesn’t care if the charges stick or not.” With that, he handed Rob the coffees and eased open the door.

  He closed it quickly, shot Rob a look full of meaning, and dragged me into the bathroom.

  He didn’t close the door all the way, and we were in the shadows. I didn’t struggle, because he had convinced me; Henry wasn’t playing fair, and I couldn’t chance upsetting him.

  I heard the door to my father’s room open, then Martha greeted Rob. And then, Henry’s voice. Booming. Like he belonged in there.

  How fitting, I thought. He’d insinuated himself into the family business and now into our lives. I wanted to step into the light, punch him in his smirking mouth and tell him to find some other family to latch onto.

  Corbin pulled me a little closer, and I realized that I was trembling with rage.

  “It’s ok,” he whispered in my ear. His voice was so quiet that if I hadn’t felt his breath and soft lips moving over my skin, I might have thought I imagined it.

  “I love you,” I mouthed. I knew he couldn’t hear it, and if he had, I would have blamed all the emotions running through me. But I had to say it, just once, and not take it back.

  In the meantime, I got to hear Martha badmouth me for being a stuck-up daughter whose pride kept her from her father. And Henry kept asking Rob if he’d talked to me, if he’d been by my apartment. He really was obsessed.

  Eventually the door opened and closed. There was silence, then Rob said, “Coast is clear.”

  Corbin and I came out, and Corbin extended his hand to Rob. “Good to see you again,” he said. “Shame it’s under such unfortunate circumstances. I apologize for, well, everything. And I hope your father recovers.”

  They shook. “My sister likes you, so you can’t be all bad,” Rob said with a smile. Later, I would have to grill him on his impression of Corbin. It would be nice to get an outside perspective.

  “Where’s Martha?” I asked.

  “Annoying the doctors. She’s making them crazy with questions. She’ll be back soon.”

  “Martha? Micro-managing things?” I snorted.

  The handle twisted, and she walked in and stopped short, clearly surprised to see me. Martha was even shorter than I was. She was in her late forties, with dyed blonde hair and round blue eyes. She and my dad had been putting on weight together, and tracksuits had become her outfit of choice, but when they first met, she liked to get dolled up.

  Eye candy, he called her. Lately, she looked more like a grandmother than a trophy wife. In my mind, she would always be the temp who arrived in a miniskirt and left with the boss’s ring on her finger.

  Well, she made my dad happy. Except for feeding him so much that he had a heart attack. I crossed my arms.

  “Didn’t think you were coming,” she said. She suddenly squeezed me into a hug. She smelled like expensive perfume, but underneath was a sour sweat, and I wondered how long it had been since she’d had a shower and a full night of sleep.

  “I was on vacation,” I said, and my voice cracked. The last thing I wanted was to sob all over Martha, so I bit my lip and forced myself to get a grip. “I was here earlier and went to get some fresh air.”

  She leaned back to study me, still strangling my upper arms. “He was asking for you.” Her lip trembled. “He feels awful about how things happened. Did you have some time with him? To talk a bit? The doctors say he might be able to hear us, but they don’t want to wake him up. You should have been here yesterday afternoon.”

  I nodded, knowing that my voice couldn’t be trusted.

  “And who is this?” she asked, suddenly noticing Corbin.

  “Uh, that’s my boyfriend. Cory. Cory, this is Martha.”

  She leaned in. “She never told me she had such a handsome beau! I’m Audrey’s s
tepmother.”

  Like he wouldn’t have figured that out. But I knew I was being hard on her. Even if she wasn’t exactly fond of me, these were special circumstances, and she really was doing her best.

  An unexpected surge of affection had me blinking away tears. She had managed to stick it out where all the other wives had failed. That counted for something.

  Martha’s hands were squeezing so hard that it felt like I was getting my blood pressure checked. “It’s going to be a minimum of six hours that he’s in surgery, and more likely ten. Are you going home, or will you wait here?”

  “Home,” I said quickly.

  “I’m staying, of course,” she said in that bossy tone that set my teeth on edge. “Wouldn’t want him to wake up without someone around. I’ll call you and Rob with updates.”

  Rob caught my eye as we walked out of the room.

  “Sorry you had to deal with her on your own,” I said.

  “I’ll meet you in the garage in five minutes,” Corbin said. I shot him a grateful look, and he walked away.

  “It’s not your fault,” Rob said. “You’ve been through a lot.”

  I shook my head. “You have every right to be pissed. I abandoned you at work, and then you had to handle this.”

  Rob put his hands in his pockets. “No biggie.”

  There were definite advantages to his laid-back disposition. “I wish I could be more like you,” I said.

  “It’s the red hair, isn’t it?”

  “That, too. What are you doing now?”

  “Got a room in a hotel across the street,” he said. “Martha insisted that I stay in my old bedroom, but there’s a limit to my masochism. Are you really going home?”

  “Been up all night,” I said.

  “I hear you. I’m gonna try to catch some sleep, too.”

  We looked at each other, both thinking the same thing: wondering if the next time we met, we’d be celebrating or falling apart.

  “I’ll text when I’m back,” I said awkwardly. We hugged, and he walked away.

  Even though it hadn’t been close to five minutes, and I had no idea where Corbin had parked, I headed to the garage.

  I stood there, looking around at all the similar black SUVs, trying to spot Corbin’s.

  Someone came out the door behind me, and I turned, hoping it was Corbin. But it was Henry, wearing the trench coat that made him look like a banker rather than a bounty hunter.

  He seemed startled to see me, too. “Audrey,” he said. “I’m sorry about your father.”

  “He isn’t dead yet,” I snapped. “So you’ll have to share ownership of the company for a bit longer.”

  “I know you’re upset with me.” He rubbed his chin and looked uncomfortable. “Can we talk? I want to set things straight.”

  “You said you wanted to have me arrested.”

  “First, let me apologize. If I had known that my joining Stroop Finders would cause tension, I never would have—”

  “You’ve got sixty seconds.” And not just because I didn’t want to hear his bullshit. Henry and Corbin crossing paths would be disastrous.

  “Let’s get breakfast,” he suggested.

  “Forty-five seconds.”

  He held up his hands in surrender. “Second, I regret the things I said that caused you to stop seeing me as a friend. I miss you, Audrey.”

  “That’s really funny, because…” Maybe I shouldn’t antagonize him.

  “Because I made some veiled threats. I know.”

  “They weren’t very veiled.” My anger started to rise. “You threatened to have me thrown in jail. For what?”

  “Fair enough. I apologize.”

  “So you’re not going to try to get me arrested? That’s nice.” I wished he would give me a hint as to why he had threatened it in the first place.

  “I only wanted to get your attention. I would never… I’m sure we can clear up all the misunderstandings.”

  “A minute is up.”

  Henry took a step closer. His eyes were a little glassy, and he was breathing heavier. “I’m sorry about how I acted in Florida. And I’m sorry if Zak gave you a hard time.”

  “Well, I don’t know what he told you, but there’s no if about it.” And I silently congratulated myself on keeping my cool at the mention of Zachary. Because it really could have gone either way.

  “You asked what I want. A second chance. Because I think you know what happened to Zak. See, Zak was a thief and a liar. But he never missed our poker games. Especially when I owed him money. No one has heard from him.” Henry stepped closer, and I sidled back. “But who cares about Zak? Let’s focus on the important thing here. You and I… we had something, Audrey. Something real. Do you still feel it? Because I do. I still think about how good it feels to kiss you.”

  Henry put his arms around me, and I froze.

  “Get away!” I tried to push him, but he leaned in, his hot breath on my face.

  “You want me, Audrey. I can feel the tension between us.” He grabbed my arm, forced my hand over his jeans. I wanted to hit him, but I didn’t, and it wasn’t because of Zachary.

  I didn’t want to go to jail. Not when Rob needed me.

  I wrenched my arm away, but the struggle only seemed to turn Henry on. “Fuck me, Audrey, and all your troubles go away. You get your job back, I stop looking into Zak’s disappearance.” His voice rose. “It’s going to happen sooner or later.”

  A blur exploded in my peripheral vision, and then Henry was gone.

  Corbin was in front of me now, and Henry was still reeling. I guessed that Corbin hadn’t hit him, had only shoved him hard. Corbin angled his head back at me, the cowboy hat low over his eyes. “You all right?”

  I nodded. “Go,” I said.

  The look in his eyes said he’d be damned before he left me alone with Henry.

  “What the fuck, man,” Henry said, though there was a tremor in his voice. “No one needs your help.”

  “Shut up, Henry,” I hissed, worried that Corbin would lose his cool and do something regrettable.

  “Sounded to me like you were threatening her,” Corbin said. While his voice was calm, I felt the undercurrent of danger. It stirred along my skin, raising goosebumps.

  “It’s fine.” I desperately wanted to put an end to this before things took an even worse turn. Like Henry getting a good look at the man who had shoved him across the parking garage. Or Corbin deciding to demonstrate his talents.

  Though at the moment, only one of those things felt like a true tragedy.

  Henry was coming closer. “You don’t know who I am, buddy, but unless you want trouble, you walk away.” His voice rang out in the garage.

  “I don’t care if you’re the pope.” Corbin spoke clearly and with authority. “She told you to move away. If you come any closer, I’m going to give you the lesson in manners that you so richly deserve.” His hands curled into fists. “Get on, now.”

  But Henry took another step. I grabbed onto Corbin’s arm, realized how fucking huge his biceps were. “Please don’t,” I pleaded.

  Corbin’s hand settled over mine, and I thought I had gotten through, that this was over. But then Henry came at him, fast, and Corbin put himself between me and Henry. He swung his fist.

  Henry dodged. The jerk was fast, though not quite fast enough. Corbin’s blow glanced off his chin, and his head snapped back. Henry staggered, shook his head.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you, you piece of shit!” he roared. He went for something at his ankle.

  “Stop, both of you!” I screamed.

  Henry came out with a gun.

  “Get away,” Corbin said to me, never taking his eyes off Henry.

  Henry eased off the safety. “I told you not to fuck with me.”

  “There are four video cameras recording this,” Corbin said. “You shoot me, I die. But you go to prison. You have friends in prison?”

  Henry would only have enemies in prison. Men he’d arrested who would be
eager to settle the score. Henry’s eyes darted up, looking for the cameras, and Corbin flashed across the space separating them.

  He should have pushed Henry’s arm to the right, but instead he brought it up and left—away from me, but endangering himself. Henry threw a left hook, but Corbin easily dodged his fist.

  The cowboy hat got knocked off.

  My heart pounded in my throat. Maybe Henry wouldn’t recognize him. The light in the garage was spotty at best, and he was surely too busy wrestling to take a moment to stare into Corbin’s face.

  “Can’t be,” Henry hissed. “Lagos?” The glee in his voice made me sick.

  There was a sharp crack, a sickening sound, then the gun dropped to the ground. Henry sagged.

  Corbin gently dragged him toward the hospital doors.

  “What did you do?”

  “Broke his arm. He’s in shock, that’s all.” From the way he said it, I could tell he wasn’t very impressed with Henry’s constitution.

  I hurried and grabbed the gun, flicked the safety back on. I collected Corbin’s hat, too. I ran after Corbin and dropped the hat on his head as he deposited Henry on a chair. I tugged up Henry’s pant leg and shoved his gun into the ankle holster.

  A passing orderly came to a squeaky-sneakered stop. “This is dialysis. You gotta take your friend to the emergency room,” he said, indicating a direction with his clipboard.

  Corbin turned and walked away.

  “Hey!” the orderly called out.

  “We found him passed out in the garage,” I said. “Think he’s got a broken arm.” I touched Henry’s neck, just to be sure he wasn’t dead, then I ran after Corbin, my mind churning.

  Corbin was backing out of the parking space. He stopped to let me in.

  “Now what?”

  “Now you disappear.” A muscle in his jaw twitched.

  “I… can’t. My dad. If he weren’t sick, that would be different. But I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if Rob needed me and I wasn’t there. Running isn’t an option.”

  He looked at me as he pulled into the street. “I have to leave tonight, Audrey. I can’t put it off any longer. I really can’t, or I would. And I won’t be back for a month.”