by Shayla Black
Sasha looked dazed. “So you’ve just been pushing me away?”
When she looked as if she was really seeing him for the first time, he shrugged. “I’m good at being an asshole, so it came naturally.”
“Last night, if I had asked you to make love to me…?”
“I’d still be deep inside you. Mike would be cursing me from above, and you’d hate yourself later. So let’s drop it. Let’s find Mike’s evidence and get it into the right hands. Then your nightmare will be over.”
Nick packed up all his gear, watching as she did the same. He was aware that she hadn’t stopped staring at him. Shit. No matter how much he jacked off, she still made him hard. No matter how much he told himself not to look at her, every time he did, his heart flipped over. He’d lived for years off his gut instinct. It told him to go after her. But logic told him his instinct needed to shut the hell up.
“Done?” he asked as he zipped the last of his things into his backpack.
She closed her duffel. “Yes. Do you really think we’ll find Mike’s evidence? I have no idea what this key fits into.”
At least she wasn’t talking about his diarrhea of the mouth anymore. “That part is stumping me, too. I don’t remember anything with a lock at the bandstand. Maybe he buried something. We’ll look for whatever it is. Based on the size of the key, it’s small.”
“What happens if we don’t find it?”
“We’ll keep looking, and I’ll make sure you and Harper stay safe.” And he’d find new, creative ways to maintain distance between them or she’d wind up in his bed. “I’m not letting you die and I’m not giving up my revenge. You can bet on that.”
She nodded solemnly.
He carried their bags to the SUV. She followed. The sun rose high. The warmth thinned as November pressed on. It would be Thanksgiving in a couple of weeks. It had never been his favorite time of year since an absent father and an overworked single mother trying to make ends meet in the ’hood hadn’t left him much to be thankful for. Ditto for prison. Shit, he sounded like he was having a fucking pity party. He needed to put on his big-boy drawers and be grateful that Sasha had come to him for help. Getting revenge would make him damn thankful this year. So would letting her get on with a pretty, peaceful life.
They fell quiet as he dodged traffic toward the park. He donned his cap and slid the sunglasses on his face. She followed suit with her shades.
As disguises went, theirs were rudimentary—the best he could come up with on the fly. But this jaunt through the park should last a handful of minutes, so they didn’t have to stay disguised very well or for very long.
Nick glanced her way. Her now-dark hair slid in silky waves over her shoulders, the sunlight catching the rich coffee skeins. She looked both bolder and somehow more delicate with the contrast of her dark hair against her fair skin.
He wanted her. Then again, he always did. He had to stop fixating and get practical.
After a drive-thru breakfast, they finally pulled onto Dreyfous Drive and took the winding road adjacent to the Museum of Art. They passed in front of the coffeehouse and parked in a spot closer to the bandstand.
As soon as they got out of the SUV, the wind picked up. The temperature had dropped discernably in the last thirty minutes. Cloud cover moved in. Winter weather was coming earlier than usual.
A quick glance told Nick that not many people lingered near the bandstand. The few moms pushing strollers were leaving before the chill got worse.
When Sasha shut her door, he locked the car and dragged in a bracing breath. Time to bring to light the evidence Mike had given his life to hide.
He headed to the walkway on the far side of the bandstand, away from the coffeehouse and the few people sitting at the tables with red umbrellas, clutching their hot brew and hurriedly eating beignets. Sasha followed, and he grabbed her hand, holding it in his. She gripped him like she was nervous.
“Relax. We’re a couple out for a stroll. You’ve got the key around your neck?”
“Always.” She breathed out, clearly searching for calm. “It’s so different to be here now. The day I took my bridal pictures, it was spring. Sunny. Warm. It seemed like such a happy place. I remember being thrilled they had restored the bandstand so beautifully after Katrina. Today this place looks…ominous.”
“Because you feel like you’re being watched?”
“Yes.”
Nick did, too. Maybe it was paranoia. No one seemed to be paying them any particular mind. A few stragglers loitered, some packing up lawn chairs since the day didn’t look as promising as it had earlier. Joggers picked up pace to escape the wind as it kicked harder. More mothers with strollers disappeared to the parking lot. A photographer with a model wearing a decidedly springlike dress twirled in the wind, her teeth beginning to chatter. After another few shots, he tucked his equipment away and they left.
Sasha huddled close to Nick for warmth. “What do we do?”
They approached the bandstand. He wrapped an arm around her. To anyone else, he would appear a concerned lover shielding his woman from the cold. He took advantage of the pose and bent to her ear. “We look around for anything that might fit the key Mike left you.”
She peered up as if glimpsing the bandstand for the first time. “I don’t see anything at the top or bottom of the columns with a lock. Nothing in the roof structure. But they run electrical here.”
He nodded. “At the bottom of the dome. It lights up at night.”
“So there’s an electrical box somewhere.”
“Yep. I also see metal trash cans around the perimeter. And a bench over there.”
“Yes. Mike could also have hidden something in the bushes. Or like you said, buried it.”
True. “Any of those possibilities seem more likely to you? Some choice Mike might have gravitated to more than another?”
Sasha paused, studying the area again. “If he was protecting something under lock and key, I’m going to guess he was also shielding it from the elements and prying eyes. The bench is too open from beneath. Anyone picnicking or lying on the grass to dream up cloud formations could look over and see the underside.”
“Yeah. And the trash cans get too much attention.”
“From people using and emptying them. I agree. And the bushes would probably get trimmed too often to hide anything.”
“Agreed. Katrina should have proven that burying anything in a swampy city below sea level is a bad idea,” he drawled.
“When you put it like that, Mike wouldn’t have buried whatever it is. I wasn’t here when the hurricane hit, but Mike was devastated by all the damage. He loved this city.”
“He did.”
Mike had grown up in the best parts of the Big Easy. Nick had been intimately familiar with the worst and he’d hated it at times. But he couldn’t deny it had given him good friends and a colorful adolescence. It had beat the hell out of spending every winter in the Jersey chill.
A passing jogger slowed as he approached the bandstand, seemingly to catch his breath. As he braced on his knees and dragged in air, he clapped eyes on them. Nick didn’t know if the guy was simply staring at Sasha or up to no good. Either way, he wasn’t taking chances. He lifted her chin and smiled her way. “We’re being watched. Act like I’ve said something that makes you happy.”
She lifted her lashes and met his stare. A grin flirted with her lips but her gaze looked so somber. “Do you think there’s any chance we’re going to succeed?”
“I’m betting my life on it.” Yours and Harper’s, too.
Her grin lifted into a warm smile, transforming her. Yeah, she was acting. But when the sun broke from the clouds to slant golden rays across her face, lighting her with a glow, her goodness shined through. She was a good mother. She’d been a good wife. She worked hard to be a good person. He’d bet she prided herself on that. Any man would be lucky to have Sasha. Hell, he’d count himself the most blessed man on the planet to spend even one night as her man.
Nick knew he should…but he couldn’t resist the urge to dip his head and fit his lips across Sasha’s, kissing her softly. He breathed her in. Gentle, delicately floral…with a bit of something spicy. Just like her.
When she might have pulled away, he cradled her face in both hands and stilled her. “A couple in love.”
At his reminder, she stiffened. Ignoring that, he layered his mouth over hers again and caressed her face.
Little by little, she lost her starch, her posture softening, her lips gradually molding to his. Then he urged her open for him. Nick would have sworn he heard a soft female moan. Maybe it had been the wind. Or his wishful thinking. Either way, he swept inside and kissed her thoroughly until she clung to his shoulders and her breathing wasn’t quite steady.
Only then did he pull back. “That’s what I had in mind.”
Her cheeks were rosy. “That was more kiss than necessary.”
Nick checked the surrounding park. “Maybe not. The staring jogger is gone. So is most everyone else. Let’s work fast.”
“I’ll explore the periphery, see if anything else seems worth searching.”
“Do it like you’re taking a stroll,” he warned.
Sasha nodded. “I’ll act wide-eyed and excited to be here.”
Like it was her first trip. “Good. I’ll keep an eye on you as I check out some of the fixed objects with passing curiosity.”
As she unclasped her fingers from his with unhurried steps, his hand lingered. Truth was, he didn’t want to stop touching her. And letting her out of his range bugged the control freak in him. But working fast and smart would do far more to make Sasha safe than refusing to let go.
Even after the last of his fingertips glided over her palm, he felt her touch burn through him as he strolled around the bandstand. Sasha wrapped her arms around herself as if she wished she had a coat—or needed his warmth.
Nick studied the stone steps, walked up, paced across the floor of the stone dome, then back down the other side. The electrical box stood maybe ten feet away.
When he reached it, he glanced down. Sure enough, the oblong gray panel had a door on the front, secured by a small lock. Nothing else he could see nearby opened with a key.
“Hey,” he called out when Sasha drifted toward a nearby trash can. He held out his hand to her, and she strolled closer. “Did Mike have any friends who worked for the city? Someone who might have given him a key to this box?”
“We had a neighbor whose wife worked for the city. She and Mike talked fairly often about sites they loved and what it was like to work for local government. In fact, I think she worked for the city’s parks and parkways department.”
“Come here.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward him. Their bodies collided. He dipped his head again, trying not to get lost in her sweetness as he unfastened the chain from her neck and let the key slide into his palm. Regretfully, he pulled away. “Let’s see if your key fits this lock.”
She sent a sideways glance at the panel. “Could we really have found it already?”
He shrugged. “It makes sense. I don’t think Mike meant the search to be hard.”
“But it was. He stumped me.”
“He didn’t explain everything because he didn’t intend for you to dive into this dangerous shit alone.”
Sasha frowned. “How was I supposed to know that?”
“He sent you the flowers with the card and the key. And he told you to find me, right?”
“Yes,” she admitted as if the puzzle pieces suddenly fell into place. “You’re right. He planned everything.”
Nick nodded. “He meant for you to find his evidence with me.”
In fact, the more Nick looked at the situation, he began to wonder if Mike had wanted him to take care of Sasha, not just now but always.
Nick pocketed her chain and palmed the key. His heart thudded as he sent her one last glance, then scrutinized the area. The coast was clear. He had the wind and the dropping temperature to thank. Who knew how long this boon would last?
He didn’t waste another second before he bent to the hip-high box and shoved the key in the hole. It fit—but it didn’t turn. The lock, like the door itself, had weathered with the elements. It was slightly rusted and stubborn, but with some brute force, it gave way. With a scrape and a squeak, it protested as it unlocked and the door slid ajar. Nick wrenched it the rest of the way. Beside him, Sasha gasped.
“What are we supposed to find?” she glanced up and down the electrical panel, scanning well-labeled breakers and a few plastic-coated wires. There wasn’t much else to see.
“I don’t know.” He dragged out his phone and launched the flashlight app to make sure he wasn’t missing anything hidden in the shadowed recesses of the box. With eager fingers, he tapped his way around the inside of the lid, the sides, the crannies underneath the guts of the panel. Nothing. Then he felt his way along the top.
His fingertips brushed over a hard, plastic ridge.
“I think I got something.”
“What?”
Nick groped to find the best grip around the edges. A flash drive. He yanked it. The sounds of Velcro drifted up with the wind.
Just like that, he held Mike’s evidence in his hand. Triumph and hope for Sasha’s future roared through Nick. For the first time since receiving Mike’s phone call asking him to look into Clifford because something seemed crooked, he had hope this situation might turn out right.
He shoved the drive and phone in his pocket, locked the panel door, and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”
Sasha clutched him tight as she scanned the park with wary eyes, as if she couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, either.
When they reached the car, he handed her back the chain and key. He didn’t know how sentimental they might be for her. But damn it, he hated the thought that Sasha might be sitting right beside him and pining for Mike when some part of him wanted her to be his so damn badly he could barely stand it.
She slipped them back around her neck. “Now what?”
He pulled out of his parking spot and back onto the road. “We have to find some way to read what’s on this drive. Make sure it’s the evidence Mike meant to leave us.” That time, weather, and human tampering hadn’t erased it.
“Public libraries usually have computers anyone can use.”
“We can’t risk someone else getting a glimpse of whatever we’ve found, any virus zapping it, or any system administrator erasing it.”
“You’re right. Clifford is sneaky. He has eyes and ears everywhere.”
Which was why Nick felt like, now that he had the flash drive, he was racing against the clock. It was only a matter of time before Clifford came after them. He didn’t know how, when, or where; he just knew it was inevitable. He had to get the data to someone with enough power to take the DA down and get Sasha to safety.
Nick yanked his phone out of his pocket as he gunned the accelerator through a yellow light.
Xander picked up quickly. “You find it?”
Nick explained the situation. “I need a computer.”
“You just left the park? Go west on Veterans Memorial. A few blocks beyond Division, you’ll run into an electronics store on your left.” He rattled off the address of the big chain’s location. “I’ll have something ready for you by the time you get there. You’ll just have to haul inside and pick it up.”
“Thanks.” He frowned. “Are you tracking this SUV?”
“Yep.” Xander sounded proud of himself. “GPS is my friend.”
“You son of a bitch.”
“Well, I’m a son of a bitch who’s worried about you. Call me once you know what’s on the flash drive. And tell Sasha that Harper is doing really well today. Her fever has broken.”
“Will do.” Nick hung up and focused on the road, looking beside and behind him to ensure no one followed them as he relayed the
message about the girl.
Sasha breathed a sigh of relief. “Xander seems like a good friend.”
“He and Javier are fantastic…now. Without London, I’m not sure either of them were going to make it much longer. Javier was quickly drinking himself to death after his first wife’s murder, and Xander seemed well on his way to getting some flesh-eating STD.”
“How did they wind up with the same woman?”
“Well, Xander and his brother weren’t speaking at the time. London was working as Javier’s secretary—and everyone knew he wanted her. So of course Xander was trying to seduce her. If the situation hadn’t been so fucked up, it would have been funny.”
“What I mean is that she’s not legally married to them both, so—”
“No, she’s legally married to Xander. Dulce is biologically Javier’s daughter.” He shrugged. “I don’t know how they make it all work, but those three love each other. Whatever they share…it’s what they all need. I’ve never seen either brother happier.”
“If I hadn’t seen them for myself, I would have doubted a successful relationship like that was possible. I certainly would have been wary about London’s moral character.” Sasha winced. “I grew up in a pretty religious household, and my dad would label their marriage blasphemy. But they really opened my eyes, and I’m so grateful for all they’ve done.”
“Me, too.” Nick waded his way through more lunchtime traffic until they reached the electronics store. He parked and yanked the keys from the ignition. “Let’s go.”
Three minutes later, they were walking out with a top-of-the-line MacBook Pro that would have no problem reading—and storing—whatever was on Mike’s portable drive.
