by Coco Miller
I greet each table with a genuine smile at work tonight. I’m too happy for anything to get me down. My life is perfect. Duncan is at a Blackjack table, blowing thousands of dollars because he wants to watch me all night. His gaze is intense; heat swirls in his eyes every time I dare to look at him.
He’s drinking a gin and tonic, top-shelf gin with a twist of lime and lemon, and with how he turns the glass up, I know he needs a refill. I can’t get to him quite yet. I bend over to pick up a glass, turn my head, and find him watching me. I sit my tray down; he is still watching me. He taps the table for a new card and then continues to watch me.
Easton and Rowan try to get him to focus on the game but his focus is on me. It’s always on me.
I shake my arms and my head, trying to ignore those penetrating eyes I love so much because I need to concentrate. I’m not getting as many tips tonight either. It seems the ring is a big turn off for men that care more about getting laid. The others don’t care; if their drinks are full all night, they’ll leave a tip. That’s how it should be done. Being single versus married should have nothing to do with gaining tips.
“Naomi?” Mr. Salvatore blocks me from entering the casino floor. I have a tray full of heavy drinks that are getting heavier by the second.
I readjust my hold on it and smile at my boss. “Hi, Mr. Salvatore.”
I notice a bit of sweat trickling down his temple and his face is ghastly like he has seen a ghost. His eyes are darting around the room, and I take a step back when my instincts tell me to run. I lean to my left and see Duncan out of his chair, striding toward me like the knight he has always been for me but I shake my head.
This is my boss. I have to deal with this myself. “Are you okay, Mr. Salvatore?”
“I’m fine. I’m wondering how you are? How do you like it here? Is the place treating you all right?”
“It’s only my second night but I like it for the most part. As you said, I don’t know if it’s forever but it will do for now.”
I actually hope it is the last night. Duncan and I haven’t had a chance to talk about what our plans are now that we are married, but I want to be with him and travel. I want my next adventure to be with my husband.
“That’s good to hear,” he tries to smile but I don’t buy it. “HR gave me a few pages of paperwork they forgot to have you sign. You aren’t on the payroll yet, and we need to get that fixed. Can you come with me to my office so I can make sure you get paid when the other waitress do?”
Come to think about it, I don’t remember signing any payroll information.
“Can I deliver these drinks and meet you in this spot in five?”
“Absolutely,” he says.
I shrug away my paranoia and give him my back as I make my rounds delivering drinks. My last stop is Duncan, and as I slide his drink toward him his hand catches mine, making me smile. He always needs to be touching me. I absolutely don’t mind that at all.
“Kiss me.”
“You never have to ask,” I say, bending over to capture his lip quickly. I break away and grab my empty tray when he grabs hold of my wrist and tugs me to his lap.
“Get a room,” Easton says, pulling a long drag on a cigar.
“They get all the rooms, Easton.” Rowan’s Irish accent is thicker than usual when he jokes.
“I need to go, Duncan,” I pout, letting him know that I don’t want to go but have to.
“Is everything okay? With your boss?” he asks. “Do I need to be worried?”
I wave off the worry.
“No, love. There’s no need to worry every time a man speaks to me. I forgot to sign some payment information so I can get my paycheck. No big deal. I have to cross some T’s and dot some I’s. I’ll be fine.”
“You only worked two days.”
“So! I want my money.”
“I’ll pay you.”
“You’re not my boss. You’re my crazy husband.”
“What floor is it on? I need to know.”
“Duncan, it’s okay.”
“I never want to be underprepared with you, okay? I want to be ready. I have to be ready to make sure you’re okay.”
The panic in his voice causes my heart to break. His pupils are blown, and the beautiful blue of his irises are gone. It’s just now in this moment that I realize what this is truly all about.
I take his face in my hand and sigh. “I love you, Duncan Gold. Nothing is going to happen to me. This isn’t a situation where you need to be prepared. This isn’t your mom, okay?”
It hasn’t been that long ago that he lost her. I’ve been so swept up on everything going on between us, I need to do better at checking up on him and making sure he is okay.
“Please, tell me. I won’t be able to think about anything else besides your safety.”
I glance over at Mr. Salvatore and he taps his watch signaling to me that I need to hurry.
“The office is on the fifteenth floor. When you get off the elevator, take a right. Just look for his office if I take too long. His name is on the door.”
He chugs his drink down and nods, “Thank you, baby. Thank you.”
“I’d do anything for you and for that brilliant mind of yours to be at peace.”
Duncan lays his hand on top of mine and leans into the touch. “You make me stronger,” he whispers just low enough that only I can hear him. “You always have. You’ve always been stronger than me and I love you for it.”
There’s no way a little woman like me makes this gigantic, smart, and sexy business mogul stronger. He thinks he is weak but I know better. His heart is big and it carries a lot of love. He views it as a weakness, but I find it incredibly remarkable.
“I love you, Mr. Gold. Don’t forget that.”
“I love you too, Mrs. Gold.”
“Oh, I like the sound of that.” I bounce on my heels as I walk away.
“I’ll show you how much I love it later.”
He smacks my ass as I strut away, yelping from the slight sting. I blow him a kiss and with a newfound pep in my step, I hurry over to Mr. Salvatore, who is looking pretty annoyed in his disgruntled three-piece suit. He looks a bit disheveled than he did the first time I met him. His tie is loose, his shirt is half untucked, but it isn’t uncommon with people who have jobs that are so stressful to have bad days.
So I let it roll off my shoulders.
“Sorry, Mr. Salvatore. My husband wanted a word with me.”
“Your husband? That’s new,” he ends his sentence with a disdainful bite.
I glance over at him when he punches the elevator button harder than necessary and my hackles raise.
“It happened last night. It was sudden.”
“That can be fixed,” he mumbles as the door opens.
“Excuse me?” I say, taking a step back to run when he grabs me by the wrist and throws me in the elevator.
My head hits the stainless steel and as the doors close, I see Duncan pushing through the crowd to get to me. Our eyes lock and I try to scream for him as I scramble to the closing doors. As they close a fist lands on my cheek, and I hit the floor with a hard thud, my face rubbing against the floor that so many others have walked all over.
Cigarette smoke and whiskey could be the last thing I smell, but my final thought is that I’m so damn glad Duncan made me tell him where I was going, because it proves that anything can happen and not everyone can be trusted.
My husband was right.
13
Duncan
“Naomi!” I yell at the top of my lungs, barely missing the opportunity to grab her as the elevator doors close. My palm burns and stings from slamming them against the unforgiving metal.
“Naomi!”
My fingers press the button as quickly as I can, but the elevator keeps going up and the other ones aren’t moving.
That son of a bitch.
I rub a hand over my face and try not to think of the worst. This isn’t the worst. The worst is what happens after this a
nd I have to get to Naomi before that happens.
“Duncan? What’s going on, lad?” Rowan places his hand on my shoulder, and Easton stands beside him to create a barrier so no one can see what’s going on.
Everything slows down, the people around move at a sloth pace, my vision slants, and sweats pours from my face as I think of what to do.
“Duncan, you’re drawing attention to yourself. You need to calm down and tell us what happened.”
“The stairs. Where's the stairs?”
I try and push by them but they stop me, holding me by my coat.
“We aren’t going to let ye go anywhere, lad. Tell us what’s going on.”
“There’s no time!” I roar. “I need to go. I have to get her.”
Rowan throws me against the wall and lifts me by the lapels of my suit. “We could already be on the way if I'd tell us what is going on.”
I try and push him away but the fucker is abnormally gigantic. I’m a big guy, but in comparison, I’m an ant.
“Her boss took her to his office, said something about paperwork—”
“That’s normal,” Easton says, pointing out the obvious.
I lunge at him and Rowan slams me against the wall again. “Calm down.”
“It isn’t normal when I see him punch her in the face before the doors close.”
I point to the elevator. Rowan loosens his grip and I shove him away. Who the hell does he think he is stopping me from going to her? I throw my arm back and let my fist fly across his face, square in his jaw.
“Duncan!”
“Don’t ever keep me from her again!” I point up at the humongous jackass who has done nothing to help. Rowan has to be seven feet tall. “Now, get out of my way.”
My voice is low, threatening. I’ll do anything I need to do to get them out of my way.
Rowan wipes his lip, flicking his tongue over the wound. Easton presses the elevator button again but no luck. They aren’t working.
“Get out of my way,” I growl, pushing between them and run as fast as I can down the hall. I slam into a waiter and he falls backward then drinks fly everywhere, but I don’t stop until I see the red light of the sign pointing to the stairs. My shoulder slams against the door and the handle gives allowing me in the cold stairwell.
I have fifteen flights of stairs to climb and I’ve already wasted enough time. I don’t run up the steps, I climb them, pulling myself up with the rail as my legs stretch over as many levels as I can.
“Duncan!” Easton yells.
I ignore him. The only thing on my mind is Naomi. My lungs are struggling to breathe and my legs feel like jello. Sweat is burning my eyes, pouring off my face in buckets and blurring my vision.
Twelve.
Thirteen.
I can’t breathe.
Fourteen.
Naomi.
Fifteen.
Losing my footing, I gasp for breath and when I try to open the door, my body falls into it. No, I can’t stop. She is depending on me. I saw it in her eyes. I promised I’d protect her.
I take a few deep breaths, filling my body with the oxygen it couldn’t get while climbing the stairs. Instead of storming the hall, I’m careful when I press against the handle. The less noise I make the better.
Rowan and Easton catch up and follow behind me. The only sounds are the light taps of our shoes on the floor.
“Duncan? What exactly did you see in the elevator?” Easton asks. “What happened? Should we call the cops?”
Rowan shushes him, looking into a room to make sure it’s clear.
“Enough,” I answer because it was. I never want to see anyone lay a hand on her, and for that, that man will die. I can promise her that. When she made eye contact with me, well, let’s just say it’s a look I’ll never forget.
“I’m sorry, lad,” Rowan says. “I thought ye were drunk of yer mind.”
I’m not ready to forgive him yet. The time he stole from me was time I could have been looking for Naomi.
“How big is this floor? Every room is empty and the halls have fucking halls,” Easton huffs with frustration.
“She told me to follow this hall until I saw his name on the door.”
I press my back against the wall when I hear footsteps and bring my finger to mouth to tell the guys to be quiet. I look around the corner to see a woman digging through her purse and heading toward the elevator. Her shift must be ending. When she presses the button, it doesn’t work.
“Oh, come on. I don’t want to go down fifteen flights of stairs,” she whines and kicks off her heels to through them in her bag. “This day sucks.”
“Remind me to never work here. People are miserable,” Rowan says.
I inch my way from around the wall and make sure the coast is clear before moving out. Easton is right, this place is massive. The hallway seems never-ending. Time is of the essence.
“Shh,” Rowan says, pointing to his ear.
We stop walking, and I listen, but I don’t hear anything. “What are you—”
He puts a hand over my mouth, silencing me. “Listen,” Rowan repeats.
I pinch my brows when I hear a low murmur behind the large French doors at the end of the hall. As we step closer, I knew Naomi was behind those doors. I rip out of Rowan’s grasp before he can pull me back and kick the door open. The wood splinters into a thousand shards, a few splinters embedding themselves the material of my pants.
What I see makes my blood run cold. Her boss has her bound and gagged, and her cheek is bruised. He has his hand lifted in the air to strike again when he pauses, staring at me with cold, dead eyes.
“You,” he hisses when Naomi tries crying out my name. I can barely hear it through the rag stuffed in her mouth. “You’re the reason why I can’t have her. Do you know how much money I’m going to lose because she’s married? She was going to be the show.”
I take a step forward when he lifts his hand again. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
“What do you want with her?” I ask through a heaving chest.
“Are you kidding? Look at her!” He grips her chin and I launch forward again, but Easton holds me back when the man takes a gun out, placing it right under her chin. “You don’t learn, do you?”
“Yo, man. Let her go and this can all end very differently,” Easton warns calmly.
“Let her go,” I add, spit coming out of my clenched teeth.
“No, because a woman like her in Vegas can bring a man like me a lot of money. Men would pay so much money for her.”
“What the fuck–“
“I assure you it’s all perfectly legal. This is Vegas. She just needs a little convincing. A little grooming. But your fucking wedding put a snag in my plans.”
This fucker is crazy. I step forward again and he points the gun at my chest.
“It doesn’t matter. Either way, she’s mine. I’m going to shoot you and your friends and I’m going to add this little beauty to my collection.”
He runs his knuckles down her cheek and she jerks her head away disgusted by the touch.
There’s no way in hell that I can let him take her. I will die trying. I no longer care about my life. I run toward him, jumping over the table when he swings the gun back at me. His fingers pull the trigger, once, slamming into my shoulder, twice, hitting me in the chest. I can’t feel the pain. All I’m thinking about is Naomi and making sure she is safe.
My body slams against him; my blood staining his shirt.
Naomi screams but everything drowns out when pure rage surges through my body. I knock the gun out of his hand and wrap my hand around his throat. He punches me in the face, and while I’m getting weaker, I’m sending every last bit of energy I have through my fingertips to constrict his throat.
There is a fury of chaos around me. Someone grabs my shoulders, trying to pull me off the man that hurt my Naomi.
Mine!
Not yours.
How dare this animal think he can take her from me.
“I’ll fucking kill you for touching her. For even thinking about her. I’ll kill you!”
“Looks…” he gasps and smiles at the same time, “like I’m killing you first.” His eyes land on my chest, and when I look down, the white shirt I have on is now stained red.
“Not a fucking chance.”
But I’m too weak to back up my words. He pushes me off him and grabs the gun again. I am lying on my back, struggling to breathe when Rowan flies over me and another gunshot rings out.
My vision darkens along the edges but I can’t feel any pain. Everything is lighter. It’s almost a floating sensation as the light at the end of the tunnel gets darker the closer I get to it.
I fight to stay awake.
Naomi needs me.
But darkness wins.
Somehow the darkness always seems to take the women I love from me.
14
Naomi
I sit tied to the chair watching the love of my life bleed out on the floor. Tears blind me, pooling in my eyes so quickly and falling like a steady river flowing down my face. I tip the seat back with my feet planted on the floor and use my weight to rock forward to try and get close to him. I say his name through the rag in my mouth, now wet from tears, but he doesn’t respond.
No, this isn’t how it’s supposed to end. We are supposed to have more time than this. Life wouldn’t bring us together to just rip us apart. I know the world is a cruel place, but surely it can’t be that cruel.
“Hey, shhh, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Easton blocks my view of Duncan and takes the rag from my mouth.
“Duncan!” I scream. “I need to get to Duncan. Please.”
“Rowan has Duncan. We need to worry about you.”
“No, I’m fine. I want to be with Duncan.” I pull at the ropes around my wrists as Easton unties the knot.
He stops me from moving when he places a hand to my chest. “Rowan is applying pressure to the wound on his chest. We are waiting for an ambulance. It’s something you don’t want to see, Naomi.”
“I don’t care!” I shove him out of my way and grab Rowan by the shoulders, and use my body weight to push him back on his ass.
