by A. M. Myers
Her face lights up when she talks about her work and I want to keep that look on her face as long as I can. “You sound like you really love it.”
“Yeah, I do. It kind of snuck up on me but I’m excited about where I’m heading in my career. I’ll be responsible for the entire design page and its contents.”
“Do you like it more than writing?”
She shakes her head. “No. Writing is my first love. I found it at a time in my life when I desperately needed it and I love the way words can move people, save people.”
“How so?”
“About a year ago, this woman came into the newspaper office where I used to work and told me this story about these corrupt cops. She said her life was in danger and no one at the precinct would help her. I felt moved to help her and I wrote an article about the whole thing even though it got me in trouble with my boss.”
My eyes widen and I sit forward. The story she’s telling sounds a whole lot like Emma’s. “Was her name Emma Harrington?”
“Yeah,” she exclaims, smiling. “How did you know?”
“The club helped her through that whole thing and Nix is Blaze’s son.”
She shakes her head. “Wow, small world. Why didn’t they ever tell me about the club helping them?”
“Dunno,” I say with a shrug.
“Well, how are they doing? I always wondered but I didn’t want to pry into their lives.”
“They’re great. Got married and had twins.”
She laughs, looking genuinely pleased to hear everything worked out for Emma and Nix. “That’s good.”
“I love the way your face lights up when you talk about your work,” I say, reaching across the table to grab her hand. A blush creeps up her cheeks and I grin.
“You know, before you came along, it had been a long time since anyone made me blush.”
Why the hell does that make me want to beat on my chest like a cave man? “Good.”
The waitress approaches our table with our food and sets it down in front of us before turning her gaze to me again. Jesus, can’t this girl take a hint?
“Is there anything else I can get you?”
Carly scoffs behind her.
“We’re good,” I reply, making sure I emphasize the “we’re” part. Her smile is a little forced as she nods and leaves. I take a sip of my beer and watch Carly as she glowers at the waitress’s back. Finally, she blinks and turns back to me.
“All right, any other questions?”
“Are you up for some more?” I ask and she’s quiet for a moment before nodding.
“Yeah, it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.”
I laugh just as the waitress stops off with a bowl of dinner rolls. She places it in front of us and turns to me, completely ignoring Carly again.
“I’m so sorry. I totally forgot to bring these to y’all earlier. Can I get you anything else?”
“No, he’s good,” Carly snaps and I drop my head down to hide my smile. I fucking love that she’s getting territorial and at this point, this chick is just asking for it. The waitress leaves and I start laughing. “Not a word.”
“Okay, why did you think it would be hard to answer my questions?” I ask when my laughter fades, curious why it’s so hard for her to talk about her past. I’ve never met anyone as closed off as her before and sometimes I wonder how I’m ever going to break down those walls.
“Because I’ve never done this before, Chance. I haven’t let anyone see me for twelve very long years and then you just bulldozed into my life.”
“I’m not going to apologize for that,” I tell her, completely serious and she nods.
“I wasn’t going to ask you to.”
“Let’s see, what’s my next question?” I muse and she scoffs, giving me some more of that fire I love.
“Why don’t I get to ask you anything?”
“Baby, you’ve always been able to ask me anything. You just haven’t wanted to.”
She bites her lip. “You may be right about that.”
“Can I get back to my questions now?”
“No, I actually have a question for you.”
I nod. “Okay, shoot.”
“Will you tell me how you met Trixie and ended up married to her?”
Shit…
I take a deep breath and nod again. “Uh…yeah. Well, I met her at a strip club where she was working. I had been starting to wonder if I was ever going to find you and I was tired of being alone, so I thought I could force things along. We ran off to Vegas and got married on a whim. We were terrible for each other and things went downhill pretty fast. I wanted to have kids, but she wouldn’t stop stripping and when I found out that she’d been sleeping with anyone that would give her a second look, I left.”
“I’m so sorry,” she whispers and I shake my head.
“I’m not. It wasn’t a fun time in my life but it taught me what it was that I really wanted and I finally found you so all things considered, I think it worked out pretty well.”
A deep blush stains her cheeks as she stares down at her plate.
“Can I get back to my questions now?” I ask with a laugh.
She gestures for me to continue as she stabs her pasta with her fork. “By all means.”
“Will you tell me about your dad?” I ask softly. It’s something I’ve thought about a lot since she first talked to me about it and I’m dying to know what she was like as a kid. I expected her to be upset by my question but a soft smile spreads across her face.
“He was… everything you could want in a dad. I’ve never met a more understanding, compassionate, friendly man in my life and he was so strong, too. He worked two, sometimes three, jobs just to give us the life he felt we deserved but he was never absent from our lives. It was always a priority of his to carve time out of his schedule for his family.”
She’s smiling but I can hear the pain in her voice and I reach across the table, grabbing her hand. “He sounds really great.”
“He was,” she agrees, her voice cracking.
“What happened between him and your mother?”
The tears shining in her eyes quickly vanish and she scoffs. “What happened is my mother became obsessed with all the things she didn’t have instead of focusing on the beautiful family and home my father had built for her.”
“She cheated on him?”
She nods. “Yeah. They started fighting a lot and even as a kid, I could see that it was tearing my dad apart. One day, I came home from school and she was shoving all our clothes into suitcases. He came home to find her loading up the car and he started crying, begging her not to take his family away. She was so cold…” Her voice trails off and my chest constricts for her as anger simmers in my veins. I didn’t like her mother when I met her but seeing the pain in Carly’s eyes, I know I won’t hold back if I ever see her again.
“Mom shoved Ivy and I into the back of the car and as we pulled away from the house, I stared out of the back window, watching my dad fall to his knees in the front yard. That was the last time I ever saw him.”
“How did he die?” She already told me he died on her sixth birthday, but she never said how. Although, I think I probably already know. A tear slips down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away.
“He shot himself.”
“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry.”
She nods, dropping her chin to her chest and I grab her hand and give it a tug. Peeking up at me, I offer her a smile and point to the center of the booth.
“Come here, Princess,” I whisper, scooting along the booth until my back is to the window and I pat my leg.
“Here? Everyone will look at us.”
I shrug. I couldn’t give a damn. She’s upset and I’m not going to let our location stop me from comforting her. Besides, we’re in the back corner so it’s not like we’ll draw that much attention to ourselves. She glances around again before scooting over to me. When she reaches me, I wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her le
gs into my lap. A few people glance over before quickly turning back to their dinners but it’s not near the scene she assumed it would be.
I slip my hand into her hair and massage the base of her neck as I press my lips to her forehead. She lets out a breath and once again, I wish we were alone. Why the hell did I think this would be a good idea?
“Ladies and gentlemen,” a voice booms over the speakers scattered across the restaurant. A hush falls over the crowd and Carly turns to me with questions in her eyes. “As many of you may have heard, this restaurant is well known for being…haunted and now, as part of your dinner service, we’re going to lower the lights and see if anyone wants to reach out from beyond the grave and speak to us.”
Her eyes light up and a smile slowly stretches over her face as they dim the lights in the dining room. Excited whispers echo around us and she beams at me.
“You brought me on a real-life ghost hunt?” she asks and I nod, pulling an excited giggle out of her that makes the blue balls I’ll be suffering from for the next few hours worthwhile.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Carly
I lean down and slip my heels on before straightening and staring at my reflection in the mirror. There’s something different about the woman looking back at me – she’s happier… free in a way I never have been before and I can’t help but smile as I think about the reason why.
“Shit, Princess,” Chance growls as soon as he walks out of the bathroom, a towel slung low on his hips and water dripping down his abs that I suddenly want to lick off. Maybe I could call in sick today and just spend the whole day in bed with him. “You look fucking sexy in that skirt. Makes me want to rip it off you.”
Running my hands over the navy-blue pencil skirt I chose for today, I playfully glare at him in the mirror. “I’m already running late and it’s all your fault.”
“I’ll take the blame for the time in the shower,” he says, stepping up behind me as he wraps his arms around my waist and presses his lips to my neck. “But I woke up with my cock in that pretty little mouth of yours so that one was all you.”
His breath washes over me, producing goose bumps in its wake and as his teeth sink into my skin, it doesn’t matter that I’ve already had him twice this morning because I want more. Closing my eyes, I imagine him bending me over right in front of the mirror and hiking my skirt up over my hips before burying himself inside me and I moan. My head falls back on his shoulder and I rub my legs together, trying to relieve the ache because I know I don’t have time for round three this morning.
“You’re insatiable, baby,” he whispers and the husky tone of his voice turns me on even more. He’s not wrong. Since our date Saturday night, we haven’t left the bedroom except to go to work yesterday and even then, I came home early because I needed to see him. Why is it that everything about this man turns me inside out?
“It’s all your fault.”
He meets my gaze in the mirror and smirks. “I’ll take it.”
Spinning me in his arms, he claims my lips in a kiss that is sure to leave me achy all day long and I mold my body to his as I sigh, my lips parting in invitation. I swallow his groan as he walks us backward and presses me against a wall. Running my fingers through his wet hair, I’m rewarded with another deep groan and I’m just about to say “fuck it” when he pulls away, breathing hard.
Something is definitely different between the two of us in the past week and I don’t know if our relationship is actually different or if it just seems that way because I’m not constantly fighting my feelings anymore. Maybe letting go of my fear allowed me to see what was right in front of me all along. Either way, I’m not obsessing over it. Being with Chance feels too good to spend my day worrying about things that could go wrong. There are still things that I need to tell him about my past and I will, when the moment is right but until that time comes, I’m not going to stress about it. For the first time in twelve years, my mind is clear of the agony that’s haunted me for so long.
“You’ve got lipstick on your face,” I say with a giggle as I start wiping it away and he waits patiently for me to clean him off before leaning in and kissing my cheek. When I glance at the clock on the bedside table, I groan.
“Shit. I really have to get going.”
He nods. “Just let me get dressed and I’ll walk out with you.”
“Am I going to see you tonight?” I ask, holding him captive as he tries to pull away. His grin makes my heart skip a beat.
“Of course, you are, baby. You think I’d miss a chance to see you? Besides, I’m pretty sure I go through withdrawals when I’m away from you for too long.”
I roll my eyes and push him away. “Don’t try and sweet talk me.”
“There’s the attitude. I was beginning to wonder if you were going soft on me,” he says with a laugh and I glare.
“Go put your clothes on.”
He laughs, his gaze locked on my face as he walks backward into the bathroom with humor lighting up his eyes. When he disappears behind the door, I go back to the mirror and shake my head, unable to wipe the ridiculous grin off my face. God, that man is doing strange things to me.
I fix my smudged lipstick before applying another layer and running a brush through my hair. When I’m satisfied with my appearance, I leave the bedroom and walk into the kitchen where I gather up my bags and slip my laptop into its case. Chance strolls in, looking sexier than any man has a right to in jeans and a t-shirt and kisses my cheek as he passes me on his way to the Keurig.
“Want some coffee, babe?” he asks and I glance down at my phone before shaking my head.
“No, it’ll take too long. I’ll just grab some on the way.”
Nodding, he turns away from the counter and watches me gather up my things. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah,” I answer, scanning the room to make sure I haven’t forgotten anything and he walks over to me, taking my hand and lacing our fingers together. The whole thing feels so… domesticated but what’s even more surprising is how much I like it. If you had told me this would be my life a couple months ago, I would have laughed my ass off but then Chance walked into my life and I can’t deny how right this feels. We walk over to the door and as I grab my keys off the entry table, Chance opens the door and I jump. A woman is waiting on the other side, her hand raised like she was about to knock.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she says, her voice timid as she glances down the hallway nervously. As I take in the maid’s uniform she’s wearing, I try to figure out who she is before my gaze locks onto the piece of paper in her trembling hand. I glance over at Chance, who shrugs.
“Who are you?”
“My name is Rosie, ma’am. Are you Carly? Miss Ivy’s sister?”
At the mention of Ivy’s name, my heart jumps into my throat and my imagination goes into overdrive. Who is this woman and how does she know my sister? Chance squeezes my hand and when I peek over at him, he’s studying the woman in front of us with narrowed eyes.
“Yes, I am. How do you know my sister?”
Her gaze flicks toward the end of the hallway again before she focuses on me. “I work for Mr. Henshaw.”
My pulse kicks up a notch and I grip Chance’s hand tighter, fear vibrating through my veins as I picture the worst. Please tell me she’s okay.
“Is Ivy okay?”
Her lips flatten into a straight line and I feel like I can’t breathe. “Yes and no. She’s okay right now but Mr. Henshaw… he is not a nice man.”
Yeah, I figured that part out all by myself.
“Your sister… she asked me to bring you this,” she says, holding the piece of paper out to me and I practically drop my bags on the floor to grab it. With shaking hands, I unfold the paper and suck in a breath.
C,
I’m in trouble.
Julian has taken my phone and cut me off
from any outside contact. He cut up my debit card, too.
I have no way to leave and I’m so scared, Car. I should
have listened to you. I’m so sorry. Please help me.
Love,
V
“When did she give this to you?” I ask, tears stinging my eyes as anger twists its way through my belly, screaming for vengeance. Fuck Julian Henshaw. Who the hell does he think he is?
“Last night, ma’am. I promised to give it to you as soon as I left and I came straight here.”
“And she was still okay when you left?” I’m practically shouting at the poor woman and I feel bad, but I can’t seem to stop either. Throughout my life, I’ve known fear, but I’ve never felt fear like this. Thinking about poor Ivy, stuck in that house with no way to contact anyone or get help, terrifies me. Chance places his hand at the small of my back and I relax into his touch slightly as I glance over at him. He holds his hand out for the note and I give it to him.
“Yes, ma’am. She was okay when I left. I’ll be back tonight and I’ll help her as much as I can but she needs you.”
“Please,” I say. “Call me Carly, Rosie. You said you’d be back there tonight.”
She nods. “Yes, ma’am… I mean, Carly.”
“Please come in, Rosie. I’d like to know as much as you can tell me about what’s going on in that house.” I’m desperate for information. Does Ivy have new bruises on her body? What is he doing to her? So many things run through my mind and I need to know the truth. Rosie shakes her head, her gaze snapping to the elevator as it opens and Ms. Cheryl steps off. She slowly backs away from the door.
“No, I can’t do that. Mr. Henshaw, he tracks my car. I had to park at the coffee shop down the street just to come see you.”
I nod in understanding. My need for information isn’t so strong I would risk putting this woman in danger.
“Would you be willing to give me your phone number? In case I have any other questions.”
She backs away from the door more, shaking her head. “I’ll watch out for your sister as much as I can. I’m sorry.”
Before I can even try to convince her to stay, she runs off down the hallway and pushes open the door to the stairwell, not willing to wait on the elevator. A tear slips down my cheek and I suck in a stuttered breath as I turn to Chance. God, what are we going to do? He wraps his arms around me, making me feel safe despite the fact that I’m still so worried about Ivy.
