by Dale Cadeau
Unfolding it, Avery found that the shares belonged to a numbered company. The papers clipped to it, showed that it held a plot of land in Florida. She had never heard of the town that the land seemed to be part of. Turning to James she handed him the papers. “Look at this—Do you know where this is?”
Chase, who was sitting next to James, grabbed the papers before James could reach them. Opening it he looked at James. “Let me do my thing, I know land, money, stocks and bonds.” Chase whistled. “Wow if this is where I think it is, you might be a very rich little girl. This looks like it’s on the southern tip, where all the new development is going on. In fact some of my investment holdings are in the land down there. It’s worth a bundle.”
“OK, Chase. Now you’ve impressed us. Can you tell us what the hell you’re talking about?” James asked
“You must have heard about the reconstruction down in Florida. They’re doing a complete overhaul of the beach area, with new condos, shopping mall and a new casino. They’re buying up all the old cottages and stores for a new development. It’s to be a new playground for the rich and famous, very pricey when completed. It looks like Avery’s dad had a prime piece of real estate in the area. This could be worth millions.” Chase plopped the papers and share certificate down on the table.
Clay, who had been listening to Chase, jumped up. “That’s not the only thing this represents. I bet it’s where the drugs are hid. It makes sense. Think about it, the majority of Avery’s dad’s dealings were mostly in Florida. How the hell did the Feds miss this? It should have been discovered when Avery’s parents died.”
“That’s what so brilliant. It not in anyone’s name. It’s a numbered company, probably buried under other companies off shore. If I’m right, and I think I am, in the end we will find that one Avery Knotts owns the property, or is the trustee,” Chase added
“That does make sense,” James spoke up. “The Feds’ report I was shown only mentioned digging into the estate of Avery’s dad and mom. They probably didn’t look any further. Remember Avery was still living at home with her folks when it all went down. This plot of land being in a numbered company’s name wouldn’t have hit their radar.”
“Chase, do you think you can dig deeper into this for us? No one will suspect your firm looking into prime real estate. Find out the ownership of shares, if you can,” James asked, turning to Chase, a serious, thoughtful expression on his face.
“Sure, now you want my help.” Smiling, he put his glass of Scotch on the table and eagerly took his cell phone out of his pocket. Leaving his chair, he walking into the kitchen where they could hear him talking to his office.
“So, now we have to wait to hear from Grant and Chase. I want to know about the opera?” Avery persisted. “You took me on Chase’s tickets. I though you said Clay got them from a client and gave them to you. In fact, you said that Clay loved the opera.” Avery turned her body on the floor so she could see both James and Clay in one glance.
Clay blanched. Turning to James, Clay blasted him with, “Why did you tell her that? Couldn’t you think of a better lie? Does your brain always take a ride when she’s around?” Clay looked down at Avery. “I hate the opera and if James was truthful, he hates it, too. He just wanted you to change clothes and I guess that was the first thing that popped into his head.”
“Thanks for outing me, Clay. You talk about Angel, but you’re just as bad at putting things out there.” James was now pissed that Clay had turned it back around on him
Angel, who had been sitting quietly sipping his Scotch, raised his head when Avery glanced his way. “Keep me out of this, I like the opera. I like every kind of music.” He had only taken in part of their conversation, his thoughts were still wrapped up thinking about the book that they found in the safety deposit box. Angel seemed to go into his own little world when something was troubling him.
Avery turned the attention back to James. “What was so wrong with my outfit that you’d make up a lie to get me to change?”
“I thought you looked very pretty, I told James, too.” Clay grinned at James, just rubbing it in. He knew James would have a hard time explaining that he was so possessive, that he would only allow Avery to wear clothes that he approved of.
“Now Clay,” James spoke up without thinking. “I thought she looked great, but too great to go out and advertise it to all the sundry.”
“What do you mean, James? Advertise—I was just trying to get your attention.” Avery was now getting steamed.
“Oh, you got my attention and would have had every man’s attention if I would have allowed you to go out in that outfit.” Clay was now starting to laugh. James was just digging himself in deeper.
“Allow, Allow…Who the hell do you think you are? First I’m advertising and then you tell me you wouldn’t allow me to wear the outfit. Well I’ll have you know, I’ll wear that outfit anytime I want. You’re not my keeper.” Avery had now risen to her feet and stalked over to the bar.
“Sweetie, you don’t have to worry about wearing those clothes again. Did you forget, they burned in the fire? One of the good things that the fire did.” James innocently looked at her, like his speech wasn’t condescending and insulting to her. He thought he had every right to tell her what to do.
Avery now had a full head of steam from James’s words.
“You ass!” Picking up the bottle of Scotch, she walked over to James and poured it over his head, dropping the bottle on his lap.
“Let’s see if that will put out the overblown ego that you seem to have developed.” Turning, Avery stomped down the hall to the bedroom and slammed the door.
James just sat there and looked at Angel, Clay and Brad laughing their heads off with 12-year-old Scotch running down his face. Fuck! James raised his hands and wiped at his face. You have to love a woman with a temper. He knew he would have to do serious damage control with Avery, but Clay was his first concern. Glaring at Clay James barked, “This is all your fault. Couldn’t you just have kept that to yourself?”
“I didn’t want to be known as opera guy. I’ll leave that to you and Chase.” Clay just laughed at James’s pissed off expression.
James got up from his chair, putting the now empty bottle of Scotch on the table, his clothes soaked. He was starting in to berate his friend again when Chase walked in from the kitchen.
“What the hell happened to you? I know you don’t share well, but I thought that was just with the ladies, not your 12-year-old Scotch. Couldn’t drink it all, so you decided to have a bath in it instead. Well that’s a sure way to stop any party.”
Chase sat back down and picked up his glass of Scotch. “Well I’m going to enjoy my drink. For God sakes, James, go and change. Then I’ll tell you what I found out.”
James walked down the hall to his bedroom. Turning the knob, he found it locked.
“Avery, open up. I’ve had enough of your hissy fit. I want to change.”
“Go away, James. Why don’t you strip down and advertise? You seem to be the expert on it,” Avery said in a loud voice from the other side of the door.
James shook the handle. “Let me in, Avery, your ass is going to be red. And I can assure you this time, you won’t like it.”
Clay, hearing the exchange, wandered down the hall. “You’re really losing it, James.”
Pushing James aside, Clay pulled out his tools from his wallet and proceeded to unlock the door.” I would advise you to always have your set handy, if you’re going to take up with Avery. I can see you needing them in the future.” Clay spread the door open just in time to see Avery scramble into the bathroom and hear the lock click on that door.
“Leave her alone for a while, change and come out and we’ll find out what Angel is stewing about. He hasn’t said a word, but those black eyes of his are telling me he’s got something on his mind.” Clay turned and left James to change.
James looked toward the bathroom. He knew Clay was right, he wasn’t going to get anyplace with Ave
ry right now, he didn’t have the time. Pulling jeans and a T-shirt out of the dresser, James dried himself off with another T-shirt he pulled out of the drawer and hastily changed. He didn’t want to miss Angel’s insight.
Arriving back at the living room dressed in dry clothes, he smelled like Scotch and really needed a shower, but that would have to wait. James found that Angel seemed to have all the guys’ attention. Clay was arguing with him.
“What did I miss?” James asked, sitting down and reaching for the new bottle of Scotch that Clay must have got from the bar.
Clay spoke up. “Angel just reminded us that we weren’t hired to recover the drugs. Just tell the Feds what we find and they would take it from there. I was explaining to him, that if we tell the Feds right now what we suspect, Avery will be implicated. I don’t think they will believe her word that she knew nothing about this property.”
James agreed, looking at Angel. It was strange for Angel to want the Feds in on what they were doing, before they had a chance to check things out thoroughly. He always went out of his way to avoid any government figure, since they had been left out to dry with their last army mission. It didn’t make sense to James. Turning to Angel with a puzzled expression he asked, “Why the change in thinking?”
Angel sat up from his slouch on the couch, his intense black eyes directed at James. “I have a bad feeling, this could be a trap and I would rather the Feds take the fall then us. As I see it, we did our job, Let them handle the shit this time.”
“But what about Avery? We can’t let her take the fall for her father. I think we can all agree now that we know her better, that she knew nothing about her father’s deals. If we lead the Feds to this place and it contains the drugs, we will be just asking for a jail sentence for her. I won’t have that. I’d rather take the fall myself than allow the Feds at her again.” James had a grim, no-nonsense look on his face, he was determined that Avery was not going to be the scapegoat.
Chase spoke up. “But what if we could make it look like she had nothing to do with this property, change the shares into someone else’s name? After all, Grant is having to dig deep to find anything. I say that we get Grant to do his magic and change the records. You know Grant can wipe out a trail or create one that no one would question. You’ve bragged enough times about his ability. I’ve heard you say he works the computer like a conductor with a twenty-piece orchestra. Well I say we let Grant conduct the Feds the way we want it to play out.”
James looked at Chase. “When did you get so smart?”
“By listening to all the times that you would tell Dad about your adventures. Well I’ll admit most of the time, I was jealous, but I did listen carefully. You didn’t mention names, but I have gotten to know the guys pretty well now. So names don’t have to be passed around for me to know what all your specialties were in the army. The only one I haven’t figured out is Angel, he’s a big scary dude, I don’t mind admitting.” Chase looked over at Angel with a grin.
Angel just gave him the finger. “Keep guessing, I don’t fit in to any pattern and that’s how I like it. Our people could never fit in any pattern that was acceptable to the white people and they paid with their lives. So don’t waste your time trying to figure me out. Just accept me like the other guys do and you and I will get along just fine.”
“Angel’s right, Chase, you will never figure him out and we have stopped trying to. We just know when Angel has a gut feeling to listen. That feeling has saved our asses many times. We don’t question him anymore. If he thinks this is a trap of some kind he’s right. I also agree with your assessment of Grant. That guy can make anyone believe what he wants them to when he get on that computer of his,” James explained to Chase.
“We’ll just have to be smarter than the Feds and Carlos at the same time. I think we should wait to hear what Grant can find out from the notebook then devise a plan.
“We all should all take the night to think on it. We will gather in the office in the morning, by then Grant will have more information,” James told the men surrounding him in the living room.
“Chase why don’t you look into the surrounding revitalization of the area the property is situated in?” He really liked having his brother involved in this case. They were usually on two different wavelengths with their very different occupations. James would never tell Chase, but sometime the ease of Chase’s moneymaking skills amazed him. He was grateful, after all he had enough money for a couple of lifetime from Chase’s investments. James finally felt as if he could give back and teach Chase in a small way that there was more to life that sitting behind a desk.
Clay rose from his seat. “Let’s go, guys, I think James has another problem to deal with tonight. I want us all to be able to think straight when planning this. It could come back to bite us on the ass if we’re not careful.”
Looking directly at James, as he made his way to the door, he added, “And James, make nice and fix this. We don’t need any extra shit on our plate right now and Avery is still a loose cannon. We don’t want her to go off on a tangent and let the cat out of the bag before we are ready. She’s smart, she probably came to the same conclusion we did. She just might get it in her head that telling the Feds where she suspect the drugs are will let her off the hook. She’s still too trusting. Make her see that our way is the only way.”
Angel and the other guys followed Clay out the door. Chase remained in his seat. Waiting to ask the very personal questions he had for James, after they left.
As soon as they had closed the door, Chase turned to James. “You’re really serious about Avery, aren’t you? I know you’re always by the book, if you can be, but this time you’re putting the firm’s whole reputation on the line. What if this all goes south? Does she mean that much to you? I didn’t think any woman would make you take this kind of risk with the company. Maybe you should rethink this? After all, as Angel said, we can just tell the Feds everything and your job would be done. You don’t have to go the extra mile, that’s not what you were hired for.” James could hear the concern in Chase’s voice
“With any other woman, you would be right. I would probably walk away now. But it’s different with Avery ever since the Feds first informed me of the case and I first saw her picture.” James hesitated. How to explain to Chase when he really didn’t understand it himself?
“I don’t know, her eyes seem to be pleading to me from the picture. I could tell she was innocent from that first glance. Knowing she didn’t have anyone on her side or looking after her drove me crazy.
“I just claimed her in that moment. I know I sound crazy. After I got to know her, the feelings just got stronger. It’s like there’s a rubber band that keeps pulling us together.
“She’s a brat most of the time, but when it goes right between the two of us, there’s that snap of the rubber band pulling us together that I can’t resist.” James paused, gathering his thoughts.
“It’s hard to explain, but she speaks to me on another level. And, yes, you don’t have to say I sound like Angel. I know from experience that there is something or someone higher than us guiding everything we do. I know it sounds corny, but I think I’ve met my other half. Angel keeps on saying he’s looking for his soul mate. Well I think I’ve found mine.”
In disbelieve Chase looked at James to see if he was serious. He could tell from James’s face that he believed everything he was saying. Getting to his feet he walked over to James’s chair. Grabbing James’s shoulder he said, “I hope I’m half as lucky.” With that Chase left the apartment, closing the door softly behind him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
James sat in his chair, thinking and sipping his Scotch a long time after Chase left. He didn’t know how to make Avery understand that he did like her look that night, but only if he was the only one looking. He was a possessive bastard and wouldn’t allow her to flaunt her wares for anyone but him. God, she always took his breath away whenever she stepped into a room. Thinking of her dressed as she
was that night, his cock was as hard as a board. His only thoughts that night were to get her under him as fast as possible. If that was all he could think about when he looked at her, he knew others would have the same idea. Her body was his and it would be his decision if anyone got to see more of her, that was the norm.
Avery opened the door of the bedroom silently. She knew the others had left by the silence now coming from the living room. Did James leave also? she wondered.
She had been rethinking all that James had said to her. After she had cooled down, she had to admit that James might have had a point. She had dressed to seduce him that night, but they were going out in public. She couldn’t stop other men from getting the same signal she was trying to send to James. She finally admitted after sitting for hours on the john stewing, that she only wanted James. He might be bossy, but she knew that her heart didn’t care.
She knew he had crept in, when she realized she really wanted to know everything about him. While she admired his muscular body and tight ass, she wanted more. Her mind had seen the whole package and without her knowing when, she had given her heart to the man.
Damn! She was going to have to do some fancy dance to get out of the spanking that James had promised her. She kind of liked the ones he had already given her, not that she would tell him. But this time was different. She had seen the angry disappointed look on his face, this spanking would not lead to anything but a sore ass.
