A.J. walked inside and stood behind her. “You don’t have to leave.”
She didn’t bother to turn around. “I-I gotta get out of here.”
At that moment, the only thing she could think about was how her heart had gone out to Nicole when she’d visited her the other day; how she’d prayed for her to live, unaware of her condition; and how of all the doctors on the planet, Ron would have to be the one consulting on her case. A heaviness of spirit she hadn’t felt in a long time washed over her and her hands shook so badly, the blouse she held almost landed on the floor, too.
A.J. gently wrapped his arms around her waist. “Stay. Let me see you through this.”
Vic held on to her tears, determined this time to deal with the situation alone. She refused to let him or anyone else see her pain. “I-I can’t.”
“Why?”
Her chest grew tight, and she heaved trying to regulate her breathing. “Living here with you is not setting a good example for the girls.”
He didn’t buy her explanation and knew it was her way of retreating to do what she always did—deal with a painful situation in solitude. Turning her around, he saw such anguish reflected in her eyes that it was almost more than he could bear. “If you want to cry, scream or whatever, go ahead. There’s no one here but us.”
It took a moment for the meaning of what he’d just told her to register. “W-Where’d they go?”
“I called Pop and asked if the girls could spend the night with him and Mama Z.”
A lone tear managed to slip down the slope of her cheek. “Baptiste,” she sobbed, “my babies shouldn’t have to be uprooted from their home because of me.” Wiping her face with the back of her hand, she began to panic. She knew how close Baptiste’s family was and how they shared information with one another. “You didn’t tell Alcee—”
“No,” he interrupted, shaking his head furiously. “I told you before that I’d never betray your confidence.” He took the blouse that was balled tightly in her hand and placed it on the bed. “Stay.”
“Baptiste, w-why did I have to see Ron now?” she cried out in frustration, slamming her fists against her thighs. “Why?”
“Baby, I don’t know. There are a lot of things in life we’ll never know the answers to, but you have to believe me when I say time has a way of healing wounds.”
“Time?” she shouted back and plopped down on the side of the bed. “I marry a man who ends up sleeping with another man, and just when I’m getting over that pain, he pops back into my life.” She shook her head. “You’re wrong, Baptiste. Time can’t heal that.”
“But time will heal the hurt you’re feeling now,” he said quietly, sitting next to her and folding her trembling hand inside his. “Honey…” He paused, searching for the right words. “Like it or not, Ron is the best doctor to treat Nicole’s brain tumor, and he’s here doing the job he’s trained to do.”
“I don’t care what he’s here to do,” she blurted with fury, her spirit of compassion as a person and a healthcare professional temporarily lost. “He screwed around with another man and made my life a living hell.”
He simply nodded. The raw anguish in her eyes was something he’d never seen before, and despite her strength and determination, it threatened to break her spirit in two. “Honey, you’re strong, and in my heart I believe you’ll make it through this.”
“How?” She wiped the tears from her face. “All right, I’m strong, so you say. You know, you can fight against something when you can see it coming, not something that blindsides you. No one can do that, Baptiste.” Pausing, she sucked in a deep breath and released a cynical chuckle. “The bottom line is that the man I married betrayed me. Guess that’s my fate in life, loving men who betray.”
A.J. stood, taking her with him, and turned her by the shoulders to face him. “Let me ask you this. Are you upset because Ron is one of Nicole’s doctors or are you upset because you saw him again for the first time in eight years?”
“Both.” She stalked over to the dresser and snatched up her purse and keys.
“Where are you going?” he asked calmly.
“I need to get some air and clear my head.”
A.J. took the items from her hands and carefully placed them back on the dresser. “If you think I’m going to let you get behind the wheel of a car this upset, think again. You’re too distraught to deal with anything right now.”
“Whatcha mean distraught?” A new wave of tears streamed down her face.
“Honey…”
She stared at him, releasing an anguish whimper a few seconds later, “Baptiste…”
“I know, baby, I know.” He placed his finger against her lips when she tried to speak. “Now is not the time to talk to anyone about anything, not even me. Give yourself a few days to get over the hurt of seeing Ron again.”
She raised her hands to her face and sobbed. Leaning into Baptiste’s chest, she screamed, her shoulders quivering, and was unaware she’d slid to the floor, physically, mentally, and emotionally drained.
A.J. never released her from his embrace and followed, wrapping his arms tighter around her. If he needed to, he’d stay in that very spot with her all night long.
* * *
Around midnight, Vic awoke from a fretful slumber and lifted the covers to roll onto her stomach. She hoped the position would help her fall back to sleep, but noticed a figure in the beam of light from the hallway. An unsettling feeling came over her and she sat upright, rubbing her eyes to bring the blurry shadow into focus. At first, she thought it was one of the girls, but suddenly remembered they weren’t there.
A.J. stood at the threshold of the door. “Are you okay, mon amour?”
She shook her head, but doubted he saw her movements. The tiny nightlight plugged in near her bed did little to brighten the room, but she was able to see something she’d never seen before. Baptiste had freed his ponytail and his hair hung across broad shoulders. He looked primitive, wild, and amazingly sexy. Finally, she found her voice and softly uttered, “No.”
His path to her was direct and he climbed atop the bed, crawling to her on all fours, closing the gap between them. “Tell me what you need.”
Unable to move or speak, she didn’t even think or try to understand why he’d come to her. She opened her arms as well as her heart. The heat from his body scorched her palms as she ran them along his shoulders and back. Without hesitation, she drew his head down, and this time, she was the one who devoured him with a kiss that released all the pent-up desire, lust, and passion for the man who’d given her his strength when she couldn’t find her own, who’d shown immeasurable love when she was too afraid to love in return.
Her lips parted and she gloried in the feel and taste of him, arching up closer to bring them chest to chest, thigh to thigh, and soul to soul.
Only the need to breathe made her pull back, and she held his gaze, communicating everything her heart felt but until now hadn’t been able to utter aloud. His nearness pulled forth a rumble from the back of her throat.
“Baptiste,” she whispered on a strangled sob. “Love the hurt away.”
It was a request he wouldn’t deny.
“Open these pretty legs for me,” he whispered, running his hands along her thighs. This time, he loved with the skillfulness of his fingers and the magic of his tongue. He touched her, tasted her, and blissfully tormented her until she thought she’d lose her mind. Sensations built to a fever pitch, causing her heart to race so that she thought she’d pass out. When he inched his finger inside her, gently probing, in and out, back and forth, up and down until her eyes fluttered, she lost her breath. She stalled, sputtered, and crashed into the depths of love faster than a spiraling jet plunging to earth. Lifting her lips to his, he kissed away every moan she uttered until she stilled.
Afterward, she cuddled next to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. With her head nestled against his chest, she fell into a peaceful slumber.
And before t
he break of dawn, love claimed her heart.
Chapter 10
“Baby Girl ain’t here, is she?” Zach whispered the question, peeking around A.J.’s burly frame when he answered the door the next morning.
A.J. stepped to the side to let Zach enter. “No. Why? Is something wrong?”
After his shower that morning, A.J. had almost panicked when he discovered that Vic had left. It wasn’t until he noticed her suitcase was in the same spot she’d left it in the night before and read the note she’d taped on the dresser mirror saying she needed to take care of some things—alone—that he settled down.
He decided it was best not to go after her because whatever she had to confront, she had to do it by herself. He took assurance in the fact that she loved him. He’d seen it in her eyes, had felt it in her touch, and had heard it in her voice every time she’d whispered his name the previous night.
“I just got off duty and I’m tired,” Zach answered, stretching his neck. “Brother-in-law, I’m gettin’ too old to be chasing these bail jumpers all over town. Between that and working with the DEA on some stuff…ya know, a brother can only take so much.”
They headed down the hallway into the kitchen and Zach slumped in a chair, releasing a loud, weary sigh. “Pull out my Crown Royal and a glass for me, will ya? I need a drink right about now.”
A.J. chuckled. “It’s not even noon.” He retrieved the bottle Zach always kept in an upper cabinet along with a shot glass and placed them in the center of the table. “Your butt’s probably tired because you’re trying to keep up with that young sister of mine,” he teased, referring to the twelve-year difference between Zach and his twenty-eight-year-old sister, Moni.
Zach chuckled. “Don’t hear me complaining, do ya?” He poured the brown liquid into his glass and added, “And you can best bet the bank that ya ain’t gonna never hear my baby complaining.”
A.J. grinned, then bunched his brows together because Zach hadn’t touched his drink. “So, what are you waiting for?”
Zach swung his right arm up and tapped the crystal face on his watch. “Noon. Only have one shot, and never before then.”
“You need to eat something,” A.J. reminded him.
Zach winked. “Thanks for asking. Don’t have no problems with leftovers, ya know.”
A.J. fingered his moustache and grinned. “How do you know we have leftovers?”
“When Baby Girl cooks, there’s always leftovers.”
After fixing Zach a plate, A.J. braced himself against the counter near the microwave with his feet crossed at the ankles, waiting for the food to finish heating. “Tough day, I take it.”
Zach checked his watch again, picked up the shot glass, and tossed his drink down in one gulp. “Tough,” he said, grunting, “ain’t exactly the word I’d use to describe it. After I spoke with Valerie at the hospital yesterday, I was able to track down Scooter.”
A.J. placed the dish on the table in front of Zach and pulled his chair away, straddling it backward. “What’s going on?” The unevenness in his tone did little to mask his own anxiety.
Zach placed a couple of forkfuls of food in his mouth and chewed before he answered. “Started off by asking friend if he knew how his woman ended up beaten to a pulp. Of course, he said he didn’t know nothin’. Then I asked him if he knew about the hit-and-run accident.” He released a half chuckle. “Partner all of a sudden comes up with a case of temporary amnesia.”
“Do you think Valerie was telling the truth about the accident?”
Zach snorted. “Brother-in-law, I know I’m a big old country boy and might look crazy, but trust me, I ain’t stupid. She knows that, and then some.”
“All right, Zach. Let’s hear it.”
Zach wiped his mouth with a napkin and pushed his plate away. “Listen here, gotta keep ya mouth shut with what I’ma tell ya. Dis here is between us and the gatepost. Ya hear me?”
“Yeah,” A.J. muttered unhappily. He really didn’t want to be in the position of having to conceal anything from Vic. In the last few weeks, he’d witnessed firsthand her pain from a man’s betrayal, enough to last him a lifetime. “So, what did Valerie tell you?”
Staring at his glass, Zach shook his head. “Ain’t bit mo’ got no business tellin’ ya this than a brother walkin’ up in a Klan meeting.”
“But you’re going to, right?”
Zach nodded. “Looks like the night of the accident, Valerie started the chain of events by making a drug drop, but the other party gave her the slip. They got the drugs, and she got zilch.”
A.J. looked confused. “Okay, but I don’t understand how Scooter got involved.”
“When Valerie didn’t get the money, she went back and told Scooter. He gets mad, ups and drives back over there with her to collect. Long story short, things went down real funky. Partner gets some of the drugs, but still comes up short—no greenbacks. He panics because he knows whoever he reports to is gonna be real upset. That’s the reason he was driving like a bat out of hell.”
“Then they hit Nicole and her parents?”
“Yep. Gotta remember, Scooter and Valerie got a trunk load of crack on ’em along with God knows what else, and stayin’ around the scene of an accident ain’t exactly an option. Baby Girl just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. Scooter speeds off from the first crash and bam,” Zach exclaims, slamming one fist into the other, “runs smack into Baby Girl. Then here you come through the intersection, and that’s how she ended up hitting ya.”
A.J. frowned. “Okay. I understand all of that. Why can’t you arrest Scooter?”
Zach winked. “Never said I wasn’t.”
“When?”
Zach reached across the table for his bottle and refilled his glass.
“Hey, I thought you said only one shot?”
Zach shrugged. “Tough day.” He swirled the liquid in his glass a moment. “The only thing I can nab Scooter on right now is assault and battery, but I want more than that. Need to track down that car he was driving.” He drew the glass to his lips. “Aaah,” he sighed happily as the smooth liquid slid down his throat. “Finding that car will lock him up real tight.”
“Why can’t you just go to the D.A. based on Valerie’s testimony?”
Zach raised his brow. “Look here, brother-in-law, Valerie ain’t exactly been Snow White in all of this. Her word against Scooter’s. The more concrete info I can get connecting partner to the accident, the better chances we have of him not worming his way out and finding the folks who are really running the drug operation. Plus, Valerie told me some other stuff that’s a little more complicated.”
A.J. hitched his brow. “Well…”
Zach shook his head. “No comment.”
A.J. sighed. There was no doubt in his mind that Zach hadn’t told him everything from his conversation with Valerie. As a physician, he understood confidentially, so he decided not to press the issue at the moment, although he didn’t like it one bit. “What about Valerie? What happens to her now?”
Zach shook his head wearily, staring intently at his half-empty glass. “That’s a good question. Definitely can’t go back to where she was before. She’d be dead before sundown.”
Deep in concentration, A.J. focused on the wall in front of him. “Zach, there’s got to be a way for us to protect her.”
“There’s one possibility.”
A.J. jerked his head around at Zach. “What?”
“The California Witness Protection Program. Problem is, Valerie has to cut all ties to the life she has now. I don’t know,” Zach drawled, leaning forward and palming his glass with both hands.
A.J. stared. “What?”
“Brother-in-law, Valerie’s got them babies. She could take them with her, but I don’t think that’s the best thing for her to do right now. She needs to get herself together first, then deal with being a mama.” Zach looked dead at A.J. “She loves them kids, I can tell ya that much, but when I brought up the Witness Protection Program to
her, she got spooked. I don’t know if she’ll go for it because she ain’t got nobody to help her.”
“When can you get her into the program?”
“If,” Zach emphasized. “I’m working on that now.”
A.J. nodded. “Is she in any immediate danger?”
“Naw. I still have my men on her 24/7, so she’ll be all right. As funny as it may sound, the safest place for her to be right now is at the hospital. But once she’s released, we gotta get her the hell out of Dodge.” Zach downed the rest of his drink and released a long sigh. “Keeping Valerie safe is the least of my concerns right now.”
A.J. frowned. “Why do you say that?”
“Let’s just say Scooter’s not as dumb as I thought he was.”
A.J. shook his head, confused. “I’m not following you.”
“Apparently, according to Valerie, friend’s kept a record of his drug transactions for the past year and a half.”
“You mean like a diary?”
Zach smiled wryly. “Yeah, if ya wanna call it that. The information could be on post-it notes for all I care. I intend to get my hands on it. Waiting on a search warrant right now.”
“Listen, Zach, if there’s something going on that could bring any harm to Honey or my girls, I need to know about it.”
“Naw,” Zach drawled fiercely. “Whatcha need to do is take care of ya woman and my nieces. Let me worry about catching the bad guys. Okay?”
A.J. stood and braced his feet apart. “Zach—”
“Brother-in-law, this here is one time ya gonna have to trust me.” He nodded at the chair in front of A.J. “Take a load off. I don’ told ya mo’ than I should’ve already. We ain’t dealing with the neighbors next door. Feelin’ me? Whoever is running this drug ring would kill their own mama to keep stuff on the DL. But I promise ya, I’m not gonna knowingly let any harm come to ya family or Valerie.”
Begrudgingly, A.J. sat and spoke in a dangerously quiet tone. “Zach, make absolutely certain you don’t.”
* * *
“Hi there.” Vic’s voice quivered the moment her best friend Caitlyn answered the door at her estate. “Are you by yourself?”
When a Man Loves a Woman (Indigo) Page 11
