Always.
Especially since he was now a father himself.
“Is he really here?” Chris asked.
Tori looked up at Chris in the mirror as she pulled into the parking lot. “Are you sure you want to do this? Trey doesn’t have a filter.”
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Trey, give him a little more.”
“HE. SAID. THANK. YOU. FOR. WEARING. HIS. WATCH.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“HE. WANTS. ELIZABETH. TO. KNOW. THAT. HE. IS. GRATEFUL. SHE. GOT. IT. BACK. FOR. YOU. ALL. THOSE. YEARS. AGO.”
Chris knew in that moment it wasn’t a trick. No one knew about that night but Elizabeth and himself. It had been the night he and Elizabeth became a sexual item, and it led to a long, loving relationship where they became so intertwined their lives couldn’t exist without the other.
“Dad?” he asked.
“YES. IT. IS. HIM.”
“I miss you,” Chris said, staring straight ahead at Elizabeth. “I needed to know you were still around.”
Elizabeth reached back and touched his face with her warm palm. They didn’t speak.
They didn’t need to. There was that unspoken bond that two ex-lovers shared. Ten years was a long time.
Chris placed his hand over hers.
There was peace.
“I’M. WITH. YOU. ORION. ALWAYS.”
He laughed. “And there’s the other proof.”
No one knew his middle name. In fact, no one knew his parents called him that instead of Christopher—no one but Elizabeth.
The dial went crazy.
“HE. WANTS. YOU. TO. KNOW. ONE. MORE. THING,” Trey said.
“What?” he asked.
“YOU. WERE. AN. IDIOT. TO. LET. THE. SEXY. ONE. GET. AWAY. YOUR. MOTHER. SCREWED. YOU. UP.”
That made him laugh. There were no truer words said. He did let a good thing go, but he’d gotten something even better. As for his mother…yeah, she’d made one hell of an insecure, scared mess.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“TELL. YOUR. MOTHER. HE. IS. WAITING. FOR. HER. THEY. WILL. BE. TOGETHER. AGAIN.”
Chris could do that.
“I love you, Dad.”
Trey spoke again. “I. LOVE. YOU. TOO.”
“Thank you for that, Tori,” Chris offered. “I can’t tell you how special that was.”
Tori turned in her seat. “I’m glad I could give it to you. Honestly, I never believed either, Chris, but they’re here. I can’t explain it, or figure out why, but they keep popping in and out. Before, I could only hear Bethany, but now there are so many more trying to speak.”
“YOU. ARE. GETTING. STRONGER.”
She was aware.
“Can I ask him questions?” Chris asked, curiously.
She smiled. “Trey isn’t using my energy to communicate, so have at it. He’ll yap until he’s empty. The man has no filter.”
Literally.
“Dad, are you happy?”
“HE. SAID. DON’T. BE. AN. IDIOT. SON. HE’D. RATHER. BE. WITH. YOU. AND. THAT. CRAZY. WITCH.”
Chris laughed.
“That was harsh,” The detective offered, finally breaking his silence. He’d watched the whole thing in amazement, and wondered if one day he could use the man in the radio to find his real mother.
He had his fingers crossed.
Elizabeth clued him in. “No, his mother is actually a practicing witch. That was literal.”
“Oh,” the detective said.
“Dad, do you see your grandchild?” he asked.
“YES. SHE’S. BEAUTIFUL. SHE. LOOKS. LIKE. YOU. DID. AS. A BABY.”
Chris’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’M. PROUD. OF. YOU. SON. FIGHT. THE. GOOD. FIGHT. LOVE. THE. PEOPLE. YOU. LOVE. YOU. ARE. ON. THE. RIGHT. PATH.”
Even Elizabeth’s eyes filled with tears for her brother and best friend.
“Thank you for this, Trey. I needed it.”
The radio spun more.
“NO. PROBLEM.”
Tori hated to cut it off, but they had work to do. “We’re here,” she offered.
“Can I have a minute with Elizabeth?” Chris asked. He wasn’t quite ready to face anyone but the people he trusted.
“Sure,” Tori offered. “Come on, Arsen. Let’s give them some privacy.”
He did what she asked. Tori and the detective hopped out, leaving Elizabeth and Chris in the ride.
“Are you going to be okay?” she asked, as soon as they were alone.
He wiped his eyes. “I think so. It’s weird to think he’s right here with me, but then again, I’ve always thought that he would probably be like that. From what my mom tells me, he really loved me.”
“You’re a good dad like him,” she offered. “I can tell. I’m glad you got some closure. Maybe all of this was supposed to happen so this could go down,” she offered.
Chris thought about it.
“Maybe.”
Then he stared at her.
“We all need closure, Lyzee, honey.”
Oh, she was aware.
“Are you going to forgive him and take him back?” he asked.
“I want to, but I don’t want to hurt like this anymore. I don’t know if I can handle any more outbursts, anger, or the accusatory tirades, Chris. I just want the old Ethan back, and I don’t know if he can give me that.”
He got it.
“When I saw him, he looked like he’d been doing battle on his own, Lyzee. I know if I were him, I would have quit. Maybe cut him a break. Ethan has so many scars from before and after the abduction, but one thing is true.”
“What?”
“He loves you a great deal.”
She hoped that was true.
“If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have been afraid to lose you to me. He was scared, and we’ve all been there.”
“Since when have you jumped on the Blackhawk bandwagon? The day he flipped his shit, you verbally handed him his ass.”
He was aware.
And he’d do it again and again if that’s what it took. Only, he’d seen the pain when Ethan held Bethe.
“I think he’s gotten it, honey. He may never be able to be that man, but he’s trying. I can’t be the man I was twenty years ago, but does that stop you from loving me?”
“It’s not the same thing,” she began.
Chris gave her the ‘come to Jesus’ talk. “It is. You and I were fighting, and you’d begun pulling away out of fear of arguing with me. Then I cheated on you, and you left me. What I did was the same, if not worse.”
She thought about it.
“Would you have followed me?” she asked. “If you were Ethan, would you have come after me?”
“I didn’t, remember? When you left to come to Salem after you were shot and your father died, I called you. I offered to come. I was on vacation, trying to forget the woman I loved, but I called.”
“I told you no, Chris.”
“But I should have come. So why did you forgive me, but not him?”
She didn’t know.
“You’re riding his ass over this. He made a huge mistake. WE made a huge mistake. In the end, you can lose love, or you can fight for it. There’s only two choices.”
“This conversation was supposed to be about you hearing from your father.”
He smiled. “Yeah, well, he brought you up. I let the sexy one slip away.”
“Well, I was sexy back then.”
Chris took her hand in his. “You still are, but now, you’re even more sexy. You’re smarter, wiser, and that’s alluring.”
She leaned back and gave him a kiss. “Thank you, Newton. You’ll always be my one and only scientist.”
He snorted. “I’m good with that. I have a part of your heart. That matters.”
She stared into his baby blue eyes. “You have a big part of my heart. You taught me to love. I owe EVERYTHING to you. It wasn’t just sex, Christopher. We made love. We made something beautiful, ev
en if it didn’t keep us together. I don’t regret a second of it.”
He smiled. “I don’t regret it either. You were my first love, and you’ll always be that to me. I screwed us up with my jealousy and anger. Don’t lose Ethan over the same things. You’re pissed at what he did, and you hear the rumors and get jealous. Learn from my mistakes, honey. I let the best thing in my life go, and that’s the one thing I do regret.”
She stared at him. “Christopher.”
“It’s true. I wonder what would have happened all the time. I wonder if I didn’t betray you if we’d still be a couple.”
Elizabeth’s heart broke for him. It broke for her. If Chris didn’t cheat on her, she wouldn’t have fallen into bed with Dakota, turned down his proposal because she was still in love with the man in front of her. Then she wouldn’t have fallen haphazardly into bed with Ray. She wouldn’t have made that huge mistake and then been shot.
When she left to head back home, she was running from Chris and the anger. Then her father died, and she began running from everything.
Ethan had been the one who found her.
But still…
It was ripples in the pond. One action led to everything else.
“I need to know so I can move on one day. If I didn’t cheat on you, would we still be together?” he asked.
She struggled with this all the time.
“Honey?”
“Yes. I loved you so much, Christopher. I would have stayed and fought for us. The day you cheated, it changed fate.” What she didn’t tell him was that had he come to Salem, she would have taken him back. She loved Chris so much that she would have broken that one rule. For him, she would have caved. There were only two other men she’d do that for, and she was married to them.
“Fate is a bitch.”
What else could she say?
He thought about it. “I’m glad that I did what I did. I’m glad you got this opportunity. Me screwing it up was a good thing. I only ever wanted you to be happy, and Ethan and Callen make you very happy.”
They absolutely did.
“That’s what I want for you.”
“I am happy, but I need you to forgive Ethan so Fate’s plan isn’t tossed in the garbage. Do it for me.”
She shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”
And she would.
“We should go in. I want to get you in on the murderous fun.”
He snorted. “I didn’t bring my tools. I hope the good doctor will share.”
By the time she was finished, he would, or Hell would open up, and they’d all be miserable. Elizabeth wasn’t above tormenting the shit out of all of them.
That was the mood she was in.
“Let’s go,” she offered, opening her door. “Detective, thank you. Lay low. We’ll be right back.”
The detective hopped back into the ride to wait as the three people headed into the DFPD.
Elizabeth noticed people were staring.
Oh, they knew the man beside her.
Anyone who watched the news did, and this wasn’t going to be fun for any of them.
With the media at their back, the ‘enemy’ at their front, Elizabeth was even more determined.
Tori too.
“We got this,” Tori said, as they hit the door.
And they would.
“Wait!” Elizabeth said, formulating a plan. She looked around and found the most annoying reporter she could find.
“You!”
He pointed at his chest.
“Yeah, you in the spiffy pink suit jacket. Want to ride shotgun into the police station and maybe get some juicy tidbits to make your boss’s day?”
His eyes went big. “With you?”
“No, with Jesus. He’s on his way.”
The man stared at her in confusion.
“Of course I meant with us! Come on! This isn’t rocket science here.”
He didn’t hesitate.
Apparently, he was desperate for some dirt, and the inside scoop.
Tori wasn’t sure where she was taking this. “What do you have planned?” she asked. She’d seen Elizabeth pull off some spectacular things, but none of them ever involved using the media to help her.
She loathed them.
Even now, as they reported BS about her and Ethan, she was still going to use them.
This was going to be good.
As they headed in, they stopped at the sergeant’s desk to have themselves announced.
“Get the commissioner, and tell him that he has five minutes before I lose my patience and do something rash.”
The man dialed the phone.
Clearly, he knew what he was dealing with when it came to her.
Good.
They should all know just because she was wounded, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t kick all of their asses around the room and to the parking lot and back.
“He said he’ll see you in the conference room. Have coffee, and wait for him.”
Oh, she’d wait alright.
“Tell him I have a reporter with me, and if he’s longer than five minutes, I start singing like a drunken canary. Make that a drunken canary with one hell of a huge chip on her feathery little wing.”
He relayed it.
Then the man’s eyes went big when the commissioner said something.
Good.
Let the games begin.
Elizabeth, Chris, the reporter, and Tori all took a seat in the small conference room. Elizabeth pulled out her cell and hit the stop watch.
“Can you tell me what’s going on here?” the reporter asked.
“A clusterfuck.”
“Did Beau Christensen kill his mother?” the man asked, making notes.
“Nope.”
“Why are you here?” the man asked.
“Tori Littlemoon is one of my best friends, and I love her to pieces. I will always show up for a best friend.”
She meant it.
For both of the people in the room. They had both done it for her.
“What can you tell me about the case?” he asked.
“What’s your name?”
“Ralph Vestal.”
“Mr. Vestal, when this hits five minutes, I’m going to rock your world with lots of details. Until then, hang in there, and look pretty in your pink suit jacket.”
“Pink is in.”
She looked down at her black button down shirt, beat up jeans, and blazer.
“Yeah, no it isn’t. Pink is never in unless you’re three and a princess.”
The man stared at her.
“You’re definitely like they say you are.”
“Manner-less?” Chris asked.
“Crass?” Tori threw out there.
“Brash?” Chris added.
“A total bitch?” Tori offered up.
She laughed. Well, these people knew her best. They knew her so well, that they saw what she was doing. This wasn’t about insulting the man’s attire.
Hell!
Her cast was pink.
This was about distracting him from asking uncomfortable questions that she had no intention of answering. She was stalling, and he was none the wiser.
“Well, shit! It looks like I’m guilty on all charges,” she said, picking up her cell. There was a minute left, but she could hear the footsteps coming their way.
When the commissioner came in, he had some beefy cop with him.
That spoke volumes to Tori and Elizabeth.
Someone was afraid and felt the need to bring some muscle to the meeting.
Aww.
That didn’t rattle her cage. She was accustomed to beefy. She rolled with him each and every day.
“What do you want?” he practically barked.
Someone was in a mood.
“I saw your little pep rally yesterday. The one where you told everyone we were working in tandem.”
He pointed at the reporter. “What the hell is he doing in here? He’s a freaking reporter!”
; “Oh, he’s here to make sure this goes on the record—you know since we’re working together and all.”
Checkmate.
The man blanched.
Tori laughed.
“And a Littlemoon too?”
“Yep. Are you done playing ‘recognize Elizabeth’s friends’?” she asked. “If you are, we can get down to business. I’m a busy gal. I’m so popular with the media.”
He sat and braced for it.
“What do you want?” he asked.
“This is my personal ME.”
“NO.”
She smiled sweetly. “I didn’t ask yet.”
“I know what you’re going to ask. I’ve seen the news, and I know that he’s your lackey. Just because he’d get in bed with a snake, it doesn’t mean I will.”
The name calling amused her.
This was the pot calling the kettle black.
Chris looked insulted. “I thought after almost twenty years you could be my lackey for a while, and for the record…snakes like sleeping in piles. It’s that low body temperature and all. We keep each other toasty warm.”
The reporter looked intrigued, but he kept it zipped. He had a front seat to the prize fight. There was no way in Hell he was going to screw this up.
She shrugged. “If you’re done calling names, maybe we can focus on what I asked.”
He cut her off.
“He’s not sitting in my autopsy…”
She returned the favor. It was time to do what she did best. Elizabeth was about to go all mayhem and chaos on his ass.
“Mr. Vestal, do you recall the press conference yesterday?” she asked.
“I do.”
“I guess he lied when he said we were working together. See, his ME is backed up, and he’s turning down one of the country’s best forensic medical examiners—for free. That’s just crazy.”
The man made notes. “I’ll make sure the people know the truth. The FBI is here to help, and it’s being denied access to the facilities to do just that.”
The commissioner looked pissed.
“Toss her out.”
Before the cop could even reach Elizabeth, Tori was up, out of her seat, and had the man on the floor and out cold.
“Oops. My PTSD must have just acted up. I guess Beau and I have something in common. I guess you can try to make me look guilty of killing Shelby Christensen now, too—even though you don’t have any evidence.”
The reporter’s baby blues lit up like a kid’s eyes on Christmas day.
Kiss of Souls Page 38
