by Gwyn McNamee
“Because of my father. He died when I was only seven, and at the time, I was too young to really understand it. But as I got older, I became bitter, thinking there was more the doctors could have done to save him. It became an obsession for me, to get my degree so I could help people and ensure no other little girls lost their fathers the way Dani and I did.”
His fingers dance across my skin, and despite the topic of conversation, his touch quells the anger and distress that usually arises when I talk about Dad.
“How did your dad die?
I release a sigh and spread my hand over Stone’s chest. “He was a cop. Got shot in the line of duty.”
He squeezes me tightly to him and presses a kiss to my head. “Shit, I’m sorry, Nora.”
“It’s okay. You don’t have anything to apologize for. It’s not your fault he died, and it was a long time ago. I know there was nothing anyone could have done to save him. Once I was old enough, I learned how bad it had really been. But that didn’t change the burning desire to become a doctor and help people.”
A silence lapses between us, and I know what’s coming next. Dread pools in my chest.
“What changed? Why did you leave school?”
The same questions…over…and over…and over…from everyone I know. Stone is just as relentless as my mother and Dani. He gave me a reprieve earlier, so I probably owe him. I also opened the door to this conversation, but I just can’t right now.
“Please don’t. Not right now. I don’t want to ruin the moment by talking about that.”
I’ll tell him the truth eventually. He deserves to know the truth so he can understand how I got where I am. If I don’t reveal everything, there will always be that empty space between us filled by all the things left unsaid.
For a minute, I think he’s going to fight me on this. Maybe tie me up and bang me senseless until I relent and spill my guts…but he doesn’t. He relaxes under me and threads his fingers through my hair in a soothing rhythm.
“But you’re happy? Dancing?”
“Yes.” My answer comes too quick. Even I notice that.
He doesn’t believe it. The heaving sigh he releases is a dead giveaway. I can’t really blame him since even I don’t believe me anymore.
But the need to explain and defend my choice burns my tongue.
“Really, it’s not so bad. Yes, there are some jerks, but I have a lot of really nice customers and some great regulars. Like this one guy, Robert, he’s older, and he just seems so…I don’t know…lonely? He doesn’t give off the creepy vibe at all, and he never touches me. It’s almost like he’s on the job more than there to enjoy himself.”
Stone stills under me, and the air in the room thickens with tension.
What just happened?
I shift up onto one elbow to look down at him. Even in the dark of the bedroom, his blue eyes flashing with anger are clear as day. “What’s wrong? Crap, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be talking about that right no—”
He shakes his head and shifts back until he’s propped up against the headboard. “No, it’s not that.” An arm snakes out and tugs me to straddle his lap. “I need you to tell me everything about this Robert guy.”
“What? Why?”
Crap, what if he’s going to go beat him up or something even worse?
“Nora.” His large warm palms cradle my cheeks, returning my attention to him. “This is important. I need to know what he looks like, what he wears, if you’ve ever heard him talk about his job or employer, literally anything you can remember.”
Goose bumps pebble across my skin. “Stone, you’re scaring me.”
He pulls me to him, crushing me against his chest and burying his face in my hair. “Shit, I’m sorry. It’s just…I think I know him. And I need to know if it’s the same guy.”
His tone and the distress he can’t hide send waves of apprehension racing through me. “Am I in any danger?”
He pulls back and presses his lips to mine gently. The mingled taste of our releases from our most recent round dances across my tongue.
“I won’t let anything happen to you. Ever.”
The heavy wooden door slams against the brick wall.
Dom doesn’t even flinch. He just sits watching me from his desk like he’s been expecting me to barge into his office unannounced in a rage.
Fucking prick.
“Stone, I see you are finally done ignoring me. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
I want to punch that smug grin off his face, but I settle for slamming my palms down on the desk. It’s been a few days since I last saw or spoke with him, but I couldn’t put this off any longer. Not after my conversation with Nora last night.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” The words exit through gritted teeth. I can’t ever remember being this angry. The only thing keeping me from leaping across this desk and bashing his face in is the fact that there are about ten men just outside that door who will kill me before I ever finish Dom off. That and I want some fucking answers.
“I haven’t the slightest idea what you are talking about, Son.”
Son.
The term used to make me feel wanted, loved, protected. Now, it just makes me clench my hands into fists and bile churn in my stomach.
“Dani…Savage…Gabe…”
The names hang in the silence between us.
He smirks and leans back in his chair. “I knew it was only a matter of time before they told you. There was no way they were going to abide by the agreement once you were back in town and working for me.”
“Is that why you’ve been having them…and me…followed?”
Dom inclines his head toward me but doesn’t offer any explanation or excuse for what he’s been doing.
“What about Nora? I know you sent Robert to watch her. Why are you dragging her into this? She has nothing to do with anything.”
With a devious chuckle, he leans forward and places his elbows on the desk. “Bullshit. She has everything to do with this.”
Impossible.
He’s just talking in fucking riddles again.
“What the fuck does that mean? What could she possibly have to do with the shit you’ve been up to?”
He rises to his feet, and I pull my hands up and take a step back from the desk still separating us.
His arms cross over his barrel chest and he frowns and shakes his head. “You want to know why I did what I did to Dani? Why I had to make that deal with Savage and Gabe?”
“Of course I do, why the hell else would I be here?”
His eyes narrow on me, and he leans forward, placing his palms flat on the desk.
Dom can be an intimidating guy. Most people would cower under the look he’s giving me. But I can hold my own with him…with anyone…under any circumstances.
“Jesus, Stone, sometimes you can be so damn oblivious to what’s really going on.”
“Let’s just cut to the fucking chase, Dom. Tell me what happened.”
He pushes off the desk and strolls over to the bar in the corner. Of course, I could use a drink right now, but I’m not about to enjoy a nice Scotch with the man who not only tried to kill members of my family but who’s also been having me and Nora followed.
The amber liquid fills his crystal tumbler, and he turns back to me.
“I did it for you.”
What the fuck?
“For me? What does any of this have to do with me?”
“Everything. You don’t know very much about your girlfriend or sister-in-law, do you?”
The question gives me pause. I guess I really don’t. I’ve only had a dozen conversations with Dani since she and Savage got together. And Nora and I haven’t been doing a whole lot of talking. Something that needs to change and I hope will once she fully opens up to me. But his insinuation grates me just the same. “Well enough.”
He gives a low, amused chuckle and settles back in his chair. His drink lands on his desk, and he steeples his fingers over his mouth.
“
Dani was digging, and not just into recent activities. She was going back as far as she could. I’ve had people on her for a long time, watching and keeping tabs on her investigations. I had hoped she would hit enough roadblocks that she’d eventually give up. Despite what you may think of me, I don’t enjoy hurting innocent people. But Dani was getting too close, digging too deep. She would have found out.”
I slam my fist against the desk again. “Find out what?”
“The one thing that could ruin your perfect little world.”
He doesn’t elaborate, and I’m reaching the end of my patience with his games. I straighten again, using my full height to hopefully display my lack of tolerance for any more of his bullshit. Dom is a big man, but I’m big and in shape and decades younger.
It must work, because he finally relents. “August 10th, 2002.”
All the blood in my body instantly freezes, and I fist my hands at my sides. We don’t talk about that day. We never talk about that day. Dom instructed me to never mention it to anyone, even him…ever. That day never happened. That day is nothing but a terrible dream.
So why the fuck is he bringing it up now?
“What about it?”
“I’m sure you remember it just as vividly as I do, Stone. But the difference is, I didn’t just shove it away to the back of my mind and try to forget it after it happened. I found out as much as I could, so I could protect you. That’s all that mattered to me then, and it’s all that matters now. Whether you believe it or not, you are important to me, and I wanted to protect you.”
I wait for him to continue. He’s clearly going somewhere with all this, though I have no fucking clue where. There’s no way anything that happened then matters anymore.
“Not everyone forgets as easily as you, Stone…”
As if I could ever forget that day…
“He didn’t die in a bubble, Stone.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Dom takes a sip from his glass and twists it around in his hand, letting the light reflect off the glass and liquid inside.
“Actions have consequences. People are affected. He had a family…a wife…”
His dark eyes search mine expectantly.
“Two daughters.”
A niggling feeling of dread creeps up my spine and settles deep in my brain.
“People who missed him. People who had to go on with their lives without him in it anymore. People who have been seeking closure for fifteen years. People who are tenacious and won’t give up once they get a whiff of a story.”
No.
I shake my head and move backward until I slam into the wall.
No. No. No. No. No.
It can’t be.
AUGUST 10th, 2002
This is the last place I want to be today. Why does Dom make me come to these places with him? I mean, this warehouse is a total dump. Why anyone would set foot in here, let alone run a business here, is beyond me. But Dom seems to have lots of places like this all over the city, and he’s constantly dragging me along when Mom makes me spend the day with him.
I push off the desk, letting the old desk chair spin wildly until I crash into a file cabinet against the wall with a loud clang.
Muffled voices float through the closed office door. I don’t know what’s going on out in the warehouse, but I hope he’s done soon. I’ve got stuff to do today. And he’s left me waiting for what feels like an eternity already.
Savage and Gabe get to go fishing while I’m stuck tagging along with Dom. It’s punishment. I know that much. Mom thinks she’s going to get me to “straighten out” if I spend some time with him.
What a load of crap.
Everything’s fine. So what, I got caught shoplifting and smoking a few times. It’s not the end of the damn world. She’s totally overreacting and treating me like a damn baby. The girls and Savage don’t get forced into this stuff. Only me. It’s so unfair.
The door pops open, and Dom sticks his head in. He examines me and the chair against the file cabinet and raises an eyebrow. “You still doing okay in here, son?”
I heave out a sigh. “Are you done? Can we go now? I want to head to the canal and meet Savage and Gabe.”
He narrows his eyes at me and steps into the office. “I thought you didn’t want to hang out with your brother anymore.”
I sigh and slide off the chair to my feet. “I don’t really, I just want to go fishing, and that’s where they went.” Savage is annoying, and I’d rather hang out with my own friends, but Mom said I can’t see them for a while. She thinks they’re a “bad influence.” They were always my fishing partners. It’s been a long time since I actually caught anything, and I heard there were a lot of fish in the canal since that storm came through last week.
A large hand claps me on the shoulder and urges me back around the desk. “I’ll be done soon. We’ll grab a bite to eat, and then I’ll take you over there to see if they are still fishing, deal?” He grabs the chair and wheels it over to me.
With some reluctance, I slink back down into it. “Fine, I guess.” It’s not like I have any choice. I have no idea where we are and have no way to get out of here without Dom. Plus, I am hungry, so lunch would be good. Maybe he’ll take me to that new burger place.
“There may be a book or something in the desk you can read to entertain yourself.” He motions toward the drawers before he disappears out the door again and closes it behind him.
Read a book? Come on…
This is summer vacation. No way in hell I’m reading anything. But maybe there’s something else in here.
I yank open a drawer and freeze.
A shiny silver revolver lays on the pale wood inside.
Damn.
I’ve seen guns before, even handled one a couple times when Dom took me to the range shooting. He always said it was a good skill to have because you never knew when you were going to have to defend yourself. I’m a pretty good shot too, actually better than Dom.
Check to make sure a gun is unloaded before you handle it.
Dom’s words echo in my head, and I glance at the door. I probably should leave it be, but checking it out won’t hurt anyone.
My fingers tighten around the grip, and I lift it from the drawer, careful to keep it aimed down to the floor. I open the cylinder.
Loaded.
I should put it back, but it feels so good in my hand. The grip is perfect and the weight sits in my palm like it’s meant to be there.
Maybe Dom will give it to me if I ask?
Yelling and loud pops of gunfire in the warehouse have me jerking my head up and my attention focusing on the door.
What the hell is going on?
My heart thunders in my chest as I race to the door and fling it open.
The two bodies on the floor several feet into the warehouse cause my blood to run cold. My fingers flex round the grip of the gun still in my hand.
I peek around a stack of boxes, and my breath catches in my chest.
Dom is halfway across the warehouse, facing me, with his arms raised in the air. A man stands with his back to me, gun raised at Dom’s chest.
Shit.
The thought of calling the police from the office phone briefly crosses my mind, but the two bodies and the gun pointed at Dom assure me this is a situation that won’t end well if I wait for the cops.
Dom and the man yell angrily at each other, but I can’t make out their words. The whooshing of blood in my ears drowns out everything else.
Don’t point your gun at someone unless you’re prepared to use it.
He needs my help. I don’t have a choice. Whoever that is, he came here intent to hurt Dom, that much is clear.
I raise the gun slowly and step out from behind the boxes. Dom’s eyes widen when they land on me. He opens his mouth to say something.
The man facing him with the gun begins to turn toward me…
Bang.
The gun recoils.
I aim again.
<
br /> Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
The empty gun clatters on the concrete floor.
PRESENT DAY
Something’s very wrong.
Stone should have been here by now.
When he dropped me off for my shift, he told me he had to take care of something but would be back in a little while.
That was hours and five unanswered phone calls ago.
Where the heck is he?
I know it might be weird for him to watch me dance with other men around, but he seemed pretty intent on coming back for me and even catching one of my performances tonight. It’s weird that he’s not back yet and not answering. It’s so unlike him.
It’s slow tonight, which only makes it worse. If it were busy, I wouldn’t have time to worry about him or what’s going on. I wonder if it has to do with Robert? He acted really weird last night when I talked about him. And after he had me tell him everything I remembered about Robert from the times I’ve seen him, his anger was palpable. Whoever Robert is, he’s someone Stone doesn’t want anywhere near me. He told me that in no uncertain terms and ordered me to tell Gabe and Byron to keep him out of the club.
His reaction makes me more than uneasy. Who is Robert and why is he so dangerous? I trust Stone. Whatever it is, it’s not just jealousy. So I told Byron when I got here that he should alert the bouncers and Gabe to keep Robert out. He wanted to know why, but all I could come up with was that he was giving me the creeps. Thankfully, that was enough.
Now, all I want to do is crawl back into bed with Stone and pick up where we left off.
But my gut tells me something isn’t right.
And given the way Byron is eyeing me from the bar, my distraction is showing. By the time I finish my dance and make it into the back, he’s waiting for me.
“Go home.”
I brush past him to my locker and tug it open. “What?”
He leans against the row of lockers and sighs. “We’re slow, and you’re so distracted, it’s like watching a coked out junkie sway aimlessly around on the stage when you dance.”
Jerk.
“You know, Gabe isn’t the only one who has noticed you’ve been acting weird lately. And I couldn’t help but note your sudden fondness for bracelets. If something is going on, you need to take care of it, or you won’t have a job much longer, sister-in-law or not. Does this have to do with why you don’t want Robert in here anymore?”
