by Rhonda Bowen
With him? No.
“Would it kill you to have AC in the entire condo?” she asked before she finished the rest of her drink.
“It’s only this bad, maybe one month out of the year.” Garth shook an ice cube into his mouth as he leaned against the sink across from her. “You used to love the hot summers, Miss Savoy.”
“That was before my body became Americanized.” Naomi closed her eyes and pulled her hair off her neck with both hands.
She heard Garth shake the ice in his glass. “Then maybe you need to find a way to cool off.”
Her eyes popped open. She sucked in a rapid breath as a cold, solid, block slipped inside the front of her jersey shirt, hitching in the front hook of her bra and sending trickles of icy water down her chest and stomach.
“Garth!”
She reached for her shirt to remove the ice cube but he clasped her wrists in his hands first. “Let it melt.”
“It’s cold!”
He pulled her closer to him. Suddenly, she was pressed against his hard chest. “That’s the point.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but her words got lost on his lips as his mouth crashed down on hers. His lips were still cool from the ice cube he had been sucking on. It had an interesting effect on her. She couldn’t stop herself as she opened her mouth more to him. She deepened the kiss, allowed him to probe her mouth. Garth lifted her onto the counter. It was almost as if her mind blacked out to some dark place she had been before, but which she should have known better than to go back to. It was a place her body remembered well. Too well.
But Naomi had promised herself she would never go back there again. She would never go down this road again.
She had to stop.
But Garth touched her, in places that only he knew. It was almost as if for a moment she was paralyzed. Which seemed to work for Garth because he was all hands and action. It was like her twenty-first birthday all over again. The day she let him take her away from New York back to this place. The day that changed her whole life.
This was way out of control. Correction. He was in control. And her body had switched to some kind of autopilot. Naomi couldn’t seem to pull away from him. Couldn’t stop him kissing her, couldn’t stop him touching her and - Lord forgive her - couldn’t stop a part of herself from wanting it.
But she had to stop. God help her, she had to stop.
“Here or back there?” He grunted the words against her neck.
“No,” the word came out like a whimper, but it came out.
“Okay,” His mouth returned to her skin. “We won’t move...”
“No, stop,” Naomi managed, a little louder than before. She pushed him back with her palms on his chest.
“Huh?” He was breathing hard, sweat glistened at his temples as he glared at her. “What are you talking about?”
“I can’t,” she shook her head and tried to move, but found herself trapped, with his solid frame between her legs and his palms on either side of her on the counter. “I can’t do this, Garth.”
“We’re already doing it.” His head dipped back to her neck. His hands gripped her arms. Hard. So hard it felt like his fingers were beginning to dig into her. Bolts of panic shot through her as she realized that she couldn’t get away.
“Garth, stop. You’re hurting me!” She struggled against him, but he ignored her and pressed in harder. His hands gripped tighter. When Naomi felt his teeth in her shoulder, she screamed.
“Stop!” she kicked hard, her toe landed somewhere soft. He roared at the pain. His hand flashed out and knocked her hard on the side of her head. It hurt, but it loosened his grip on her enough for her to scuttle away. Naomi nearly fell backwards onto the floor as she pulled her legs up and backed off the counter onto the other side of the island. She figured this was safer than trying to go through him. She found she could breath easier when there was a heavy slab of marble between them.
She held the side of her aching head. “I can’t believe you just hit me!”
“I can’t believe you just kicked me.”
Her eyes narrowed at him in disgust. “I don’t know what I was thinking. We are so over.”
He clenched and unclenched his jaw. “Didn’t feel over a minute ago.”
She picked up her shirt and pulled it over her head. “Maybe, but that will never happen again. Ever.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before.” Garth rubbed a hand over his face and turned his back to her for a moment. “Why won’t you just admit it, Naomi?”
“Admit what?”
He turned around, his eyes seared into her. “That you still have feelings for me.”
“Are you serious right now? You just hit me!”
“Look, I’m sorry. It was an accident....”
Naomi turned to walk away. “It’s always an accident with you, Garth.”
“Naomi, wait...” He grabbed her arm but she pulled away from his grasp.
“Don’t touch me!”
They both stood in the middle of the living room breathing hard. They stared at each other. It was then that Naomi understood clearly for the first time what she couldn’t before. This was who Garth was. She always wandered back to him, hoping he would be different, hoping he had changed. But he never changed. Could never change. Not if he didn’t want to.
He rubbed his hand over his face. “Come on, Nay. I know you feel it. Do you need me to say it first? Okay, I will. I still have feelings for you, Naomi. Me leaving New York was a mistake. We should still be together. We should have never...”
“No, Garth,” Naomi cut in. “You’re wrong. We were a mistake. Every time we are together, it hurts. It hurts me. How can that be right?”
“You’re just trying to make excuses to be with that guy.”
“That guy is my fiancé.”
Garth snorted. “Well he must not be doing something right, because I have never seen you go from zero to sixty as fast as you did awhile ago.”
“You have no idea what you’re talk...”
Heavy knocking at the door interrupted Naomi. They both froze. They looked at each other then looked at the door. The knocking came again. It was barely six in the morning. Who would show up at Garth’s door at this time?
Garth strode over to the door. “Who is it?”
Naomi drew a sharp intake of breath as Garth pulled a gun from the end table near the door and tucked it in the back of his waist.
“It’s me,” a rough male voice said from the other side. “Now quit playing and open this door.”
Garth turned to Naomi, and jerked his head towards the bedroom. She slipped back into the guest room and pulled the door almost closed just as Garth opened the front door. She watched through the crack as a thick, dark skinned brother, shaved bald with an ugly scar along the side of his neck greeted Garth.
“Man, why you have me standing outside like a criminal,” he asked so aggressively, Naomi wasn’t sure he was joking. “What you doing in here?”
“It’s six o’clock in the morning,” Garth shot back. “What you think I’m doing?”
The man cracked a smiled and exposed platinum grilled teeth. “Knowing you? A lot of things.”
Both men chuckled as they walked over to the living room out of Naomi’s range of sight.
“So what you got for me?” Garth finally asked.
Naomi heard shuffling and assumed the man was opening the black duffel bag he had come in with.
“It’s all here. Thirty-five Gs in twenties and...”
“Alright, alright,” Garth cut him off. “I believe you.”
They continued talking but Garth had lowered his voice. They were speaking so low Naomi had to strain to hear. She was able however to make out Garth’s next question.
“You hear anything for me about the girl?”
“Listen, this one is rough,” the guy said. “We didn’t know she was a friend of yours, it’s gonna be hard to...”
The AC in the bedroom kicked in and drowned out any c
hance of Naomi hearing what was said. She tried, but she couldn’t make out the whispers. The next thing she knew, Garth’s visitor walked towards the door. A few moments later, he left. As soon as he did, Naomi came back into the living room. She looked around but the duffel bag was gone. She had watched the man leave and knew he hadn’t taken it with him. Garth hadn’t had a chance to go back to his bedroom. It had to be in there somewhere. And for some reason, she was curious to see if in fact it was full of money as the overheard conversation had suggested.
“What was that about?” She asked suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Garth answered from the kitchen where he washed his hands. “You want some breakfast? I got toast and eggs, but if you want more than that, we can stop on our way back to Latoya’s.”
Clearly their earlier conversation and encounter was briefly forgotten. That was okay with Naomi. She was more concerned about the real reason she had come to Trinidad in the first place - to find Camille.
“Did you find out anything more about Camille?”
Garth looked up at her curiously as he popped two slices of toast into the toaster. “You were eavesdropping.”
“Of course.”
He shook his head and chuckled as he took the butter from the fridge.
“They want to move her out today. We’re gonna try and intercept them this morning.” He pulled out a plate and a butter knife. “If we hit the house before they leave, we should be able to catch them. They’re not expecting us.”
“What time?”
“In about two hours.”
Naomi headed back to the bedroom. “I’ll go get ready.”
“You’re not going, Naomi.”
She whirled around. “Excuse me?”
“I’m taking you back to Latoya’s, then I’ll go deal with this.”
“You are not going to find my niece without me...”
“They already saw you last night,” Garth said calmly as he pulled the slices from the toaster. “If they see you today, they’ll know something’s up. It could complicate things.”
“Complicate things how?”
He buttered a slice and ate half with one bite. “It’s just better for everyone. I can’t look out for you and get your niece at the same time.”
“I can look out for myself!”
“Like you did last night?” He asked, an eyebrow raised. He finished the rest of the toast then dropped the plate in the sink. “You’re not going, Naomi. That’s final.”
“Garth, you can’t just shut me out of this,” she protested as he walked towards the bathroom. She followed him. “She is my niece.”
“I’m not talking about this anymore.”
She charged into the bathroom after him. “What if I refuse to get out? What are you gonna do, throw me out the car?”
He turned on the shower and removed his track pants. Naomi whirled around quickly and turned her back to him when she realized he was completely naked underneath.
“I think I can figure out a few ways to get you to do what I want,” he said with amusement from behind her. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m about to take a shower, unless you want to...”
Naomi darted out of the bathroom and pulled the door shut behind her before he could finish his sentence. She rubbed her hands over her face. So Camille was still alive, and Garth knew where she was. She knew what he said about her being a liability made sense, but she couldn’t just sit back and wait for him to show up with Camille. She had to do something.
She walked back to the living room as she tried to think. Naomi glanced around. She remembered the missing duffel bag. She peered back down the hallway. The shower was still going. Hurriedly, she lifted up cushions, checked under the sofa and in the coat closet. Anywhere Garth could have hidden the bag. It was nowhere to be found in the living room or the small kitchen. The condo wasn’t exactly huge, where could it be? She did another look around then caught sight of a door off to the right of the kitchen. A turn of the knob revealed a tiny laundry room, barely big enough to hold a washer and dryer stacked on top of each other. Naomi opened both and was rewarded when she found the black sack stuffed into the hollow of the dryer.
Her eyes widened when she opened it and found dozens of banded stacks of money. US dollars. She flipped through one stack of twenties and then another of fifties. She calculated in her head. There were at least twenty to thirty stacks in here. If each one held a thousand, there had to be at least...
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Garth’s hand clamped roughly around her arm. He yanked her up and out of the laundry room with one swift movement and slammed the door closed. After he shut the money inside, he turned his angry eyes on her.
“I invite you into my home and you disrespect me by searching through it?”
“What are you doing with all that money, Garth?” Naomi asked, as she ignored his anger. Garth was in to something. She knew it.
“What’s in my house is none of your business.”
“Are you running some kind of shady business?” she asked. “Getting kickbacks for looking the other way on some kind of police thing?”
“We’re leaving,” he said. Garth dragged her towards the guest room. “Get your stuff.”
Naomi pulled out of his grasp and turned to look at him. “I can’t believe I fell for it. I actually thought you had changed.”
“It’s you who changed, Naomi,” Garth met her gaze. “You don’t live here anymore. You forget what things are like here. You think everywhere is like New York and you see everything through the blinders of your American dream. Well, this isn’t the US, sweetheart. And the only dreams that are worth anything here are the ones that you make happen for yourself.”
Naomi shook her head. Her voice dripped with disappointment when she spoke. “What happened to you?”
“Life,” he said dryly. “Now, unless you want to arrive at your cousin’s wearing that scrap of a shirt, I suggest you get dressed.”
Garth’s eyes had grown dark. Naomi knew he wouldn’t hesitate to throw her into his SUV with her dressed in nothing but the scrap of jersey material. She quickly pulled on her pants and grabbed her purse. Moments later, he ushered her out of the condo and down the stairs.
The drive back up to her cousin’s place was quick and quiet. The early morning sun had crept in, and slowly warmed up the day, though the air remained frosty in the vehicle. When Garth finally pulled up to Latoya’s gate, he disengaged the locks for her to get out, but she didn’t move.
“Stop the foolishness, Naomi. The more time you waste here, the longer it takes me to get to your niece.”
“It wouldn’t take any time at all if you took me with you,” Naomi folded her arms.
Instead of answering, Garth got out of his side then came around to the passenger side and opened her door.
“Last chance, Naomi.”
“Garth, you can’t expect me to just sit here and do nothing while you claim to be helping my niece...”
“Claim?” Garth’s eyebrows shot up. “After all the hell I am going through for you, you don’t even trust me?”
“There is thirty grand in US dollars in your condo that you won’t explain,” Naomi snapped. “Why should I trust you? I have a good mind to call the chief of police on your a-...”
Before Naomi could finish the thought, she felt herself yanked roughly out of the vehicle. She screamed as Garth flung her over his shoulder. She was really getting tired of him doing that.
“Put me down!” She tried to kick him, but he held her legs securely as he strode up the walkway and banged on the front door. She fought him in vain even as the door swung open.
“Where the hell have you been with my cousin!”
Naomi heard Latoya’s voice but didn’t see her until Garth deposited her on the floor inside the living room. She glared at him as she tried to right her clothes, which had become rumpled as he manhandled her.
“Ask her,” Garth said in response to Latoya. “And make
sure she tells you how she almost got herself killed last night.”
Latoya turned angry eyes on Naomi. “Is that true? I told you going with him was a bad idea. And what happened to your clothes?”
Naomi pushed her hair out of her eyes. “What?”
“That’s not the shirt you had on last night,” Latoya’s eyes widened. “Did you spend the night with him?”
Garth answered before she could. “What if she did?”
“Naomi?”
All three of them turned towards the stairs, but Naomi was the only one who felt her heart stop beating. She had to be hallucinating. This could not be happening. There was no way...
Garth glared at the visitor on the stairs. “Who are you?”
“I’m Jordan. Naomi’s fiancé.” He stepped from the stairs onto the main level, his brows drawn tightly together as he took in the scene before him. Naomi felt herself shrink as his dark angry gaze settled on her before it shifted to Garth. “And who are you?”
“I’m Garth Duhaney.” Garth smirked. “Naomi’s husband.”
Chapter Fifteen
“Ex-husband.”
Naomi and Latoya said it at the same time but Jordan didn’t even blink at them. He was too busy sizing up the man who stood in front of him. He determined quickly that he could take him if he had to. It just might end up happening after he put his fist through the man’s face. He had seen him carry Naomi in through the door, seen the guilt hijack Naomi’s eyes when she caught sight of him, noticed the marks on her neck that she probably hadn’t given herself. Even if brother man hadn’t announced it, he knew something had went on between the two of them.
But while he wanted to level Garth to the ground for the overly familiar way he looked at his fiancée, Jordan knew that Garth was not the problem. The secrets were. And there seemed to be more of them than he had earlier anticipated.
“You need to leave.” He directed his statement to Garth in a much calmer tone than he thought possible for himself.
The man folded his arms across his chest and smirked at Jordan. “Or what?”
