At Peace (53 page)

“Seriously?” Kate breathed.

I stopped looking at Joe, dropped my head to
my knees and said, “Seriously.”

“I think they’ll be cool with that,” she told
me and she sounded genuinely happy now.

I turned my head, putting my temple to my
knee and saw Joe was smiling at me.

There it was; I’d done the right
thing.

“
Good, honey, but enjoy today. Get your
fill and then come home tomorrow.” I told her, “but do it safe and
slow, yeah?”

“Okay.”

“Call me before you leave so I know when to
expect you.”

“Okay.”

I decided to give her more to look forward to
and shared, “Your Gram and Gramps are comin’ down next
weekend.”

“Killer!” she cried and I smiled, my eyes
dropping to Mooch who was going to town on Joe’s hand and, not
thinking, Kate at my ear, I spoke to Joe.

“Joe, your hand is not a chew toy.”

“Baby, he’s fine.”

“We don’t let him chew our hands like
that.”

“He’s fine, Vi.”

“Stop him.”

“Honey, I said… he’s fine.”

The way he said this made me look at him and
clamp my mouth shut. He was definitely done telling me Mooch was
fine.

“Is Joe with you?” Kate asked, sounding
beyond happy now, sounding freaking thrilled.

I jerked my eyes from Joe and realized I was
naked in bed with Joe and Mooch, talking to my daughter, who was
thrilled Joe was with me.

God, total slut.

And also, totally screwed.

“Um… yeah.”

“He’s stayin’ with us, you know, while his
house is renovated. Did he tell you?”

“Yeah.”

“Keira and I think it’s great.”

“Keira does?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

The hundred dollars.

“How much of Joe’s money she have left?” I
asked and Kate laughed.

“We gave Dane’s folks the money you gave us
for food and stuff but we haven’t had time to go shoppin’ or
anything so all of it, I think.”

“You get back, whatever you have left, you
return it.”

“What?” Kate asked.

“What?” Joe rumbled.

I ignored Joe and told Kate, “When you get
back –”

I didn’t finish because Joe sat up, reached
in, pulled the phone out of my hand and put it to his ear.

“Money’s yours, girl. Don’t listen to
Vi.”

“Joe!” I snapped.

He nodded and said, “Yeah. Everything’s good
here. Tell Dane to remember the speed limit and that he’s got
precious cargo. No screwin’ around.”

My anger vanished, my body stilled and my
mouth dropped open at listening to Joe sounding just like a
Dad.

“Right, see you tomorrow. Later.” Then he
slid my phone shut.

I stared at him then at my phone then my eyes
went back to him. “I would have liked to say good-bye.”

“Yeah, and you would have liked to say other
shit,” Joe said as he turned and tossed my phone on my purse.

“Like what?”

He turned back, his brows drew together and
he got that sinister look when he asked, “Givin’ my money back,
Vi?”

“Two hundred dollars is a lot.”

“No it isn’t.”

“Yes, it is!”

“No, it fucking well isn’t.”

He was getting pissed but I figured I was
getting more pissed.

I turned to him and declared, “Joe, you can’t
buy my girls.”

His body went still and his face got hard and
he didn’t speak for long seconds, seconds I didn’t realize he was
using to gain control.

Then, low and angry, he told me, “I’m not
buyin’ ‘em, I’m takin’ care of ‘em.”

“They’re not yours to take care of,” I
snapped and immediately he moved. Mooch jumped away and I found
myself plucked out of the bed and planted astride him, my knees in
the bed, his arms locking me close.

“It was a shit time for you, the worst, but
you were there and you saw ‘em doin’ it. They crawled into this
same fuckin’ bed with me, so did you, and when you did, you all
became mine.”

“That’s insane,” I informed him.

“That’s the way it is,” he shot back.

“Joe, we were beside ourselves with
grief.”

“Yeah, and when you are you don’t lock tight
to some guy you don’t know or some asshole you hate. You lock tight
to what’s yours to remind yourself that it is and that you need
it.”

“That wasn’t what was happening.”

“Buddy, you’re naked in my lap, your girls
want me in the house, you’re pissed at me, tellin’ yourself it’s
over and all I gotta do is kiss you and you turn wild. This shit
gonna sink in?”

“
It did, twice,” I reminded him, “and no
matter the signals you gave me, Joe, it wasn’t what I
thought.”

“Not givin’ you signals this time, Vi, I’m
tellin’ you straight out and I’ll tell you somethin’ else, always
listen to your gut.”

“Joe –”

“It told you you belonged to me, I’m tellin’
you it was right.”

I felt my heart start beating fast and that
feeling in my belly again, the one I liked, so I whispered, “Stop
it.”

“And I’ll tell you somethin’ else. I’m fixin’
up my house to sell it, we’re movin’ on from this, from Sam, from
Hart, and we’re doin’ it together, you, me and the girls and along
the way, I want a kid, our kid.”

I stilled and stared at him, his words
another sock to the gut but it was a gut that had already gone
warm, it had gone soft and, even with the wind knocked out of me, I
felt that gut flutter.

Then I asked in a whisper. “What?”

“You’re not cool with that, I’ll deal. The
girls’ll be all I need. But I’m not tellin’ you what I need, I’m
tellin’ you what I want and I want a kid, with you.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered and his hand went to
cup the back of my head and bend it to his.

“You got a lotta shit in your head, I know,
but I’m layin’ it out for you. There it is. That’s what’s goin’ on
here. Now, buddy, you need to cut Mike loose or I’ll do it for
you.”

“
Joe –”

“You want him to know you spent this mornin’
with my cock inside you, you keep playin’ this game. You wanna do
it yourself, you end it with him.”

“I keep trying to but he’s like you, he won’t
listen.”

“Then game on,” Joe announced.

“Joe –”

“He shoulda listened.”

“Why? You don’t listen.”

“You don’t belong to him, you belong to
me.”

“That’s insane too!”

“Baby, you told me so your fuckin’ self.”

“Sexual coercion.”

He stared at me a second then burst out
laughing, rolling me to my back and covering me with his body
again.

“Joe, get off me!” I snapped, pushing
ineffectually at his shoulders.

“Nope, feel like coercin’ you again,” he said
in my neck.

“Joe, stop it.”

“Keep sayin’ Joe, baby, you’re makin’ me
hard.”

I growled, he grinned against my skin then,
Lord help me, he lifted his head, his mouth came to mine and he
coerced me and before I came I told him I belonged to him.

Twice.

* * * * *

Cal stood, back against his truck, arms
crossed on his chest in the Police Station parking lot and he
waited.

It took fifteen minutes before Haines came
out and when he did, he came out with Colt.

Fuck.

Both men looked to Cal, Haines’s eyes
narrowed, Colt’s head dropped so he could study his boots and not
give anything away.

Haines turned his head to Colt, said
something, Colt nodded and they separated, Haines coming to Cal,
Colt going to his GMC.

Cal’s eyes remained on Haines as he walked to
him but he knew Colt wasn’t going far. This was confirmed when
Haines arrived and Cal glanced Colt’s way, saw his hips to the back
of his GMC, his eyes on Cal and Haines.

“You got somethin’ to say?” Haines asked and
Cal’s eyes went back to him.

“Stand down,” Cal told him.

His mouth got tight then he asked, “You
shittin’ me?”

“You’re confusin’ Vi,” Cal explained.

“
I
am?” Haines asked then clipped, “Yeah, you’re
shittin’ me.”

“This isn’t gonna end well for you,” Cal went
on.

“No, Vi makes a stupid decision, Callahan, it
isn’t gonna end well for her. I’m just positionin’ myself to be
there to pick up the pieces.”

At his insinuation, Cal wanted to straighten
from the truck but he forced himself to stay relaxed against it. It
wasn’t like he hadn’t earned a remark like that with his history
with women and his history with Vi.

“You think I’ll fuck her over.”

“You’re Joe Callahan’s son.”

This time it took everything for Cal to keep
his back to the truck because his father sure as fuck hadn’t earned
that remark but his voice vibrated when he asked, “What the fuck
does that mean?”

“It means you’re a one-woman man.”

“Yeah, I am. Hasn’t anyone clued in yet that
that woman wasn’t fuckin’ Bonnie?”

He scored, direct hit. He watched it land as
Haines’s chin jerked to the side almost like Cal had clipped
him.

“
I thought she was,” Cal forced his voice
to steady, “but she wasn’t.”

“You sure?” Haines asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Cal answered.

“And how can you be sure?”

“’Cause no God is cruel enough to make the
only woman you’ll love be the one who kills your kid.”

Another score, another direct hit. Haines’s
jaw went hard.

Then Haines changed tactics.

“You’ve torn through practically every
fuckable woman in the county,” Haines reminded him.

“Yeah, but none of them were Vi.”

Another score, a muscle jerked in Haines’s
jaw, he knew Cal spoke the truth.

“She likes you,” Cal informed him. “She wants
what she had back.”

“I’m not Tim.”

“I’m not sayin’ you are. I’m just sayin’ you
represent what she had.”

“It isn’t just that, we got somethin’.”

Cal felt his own jaw tighten because he knew
Haines spoke the truth.

Haines’s voice also calmed. “And what we
got, you can’t give her.”

“Same’s true with me,” Cal returned.

Haines’s voice was actually soft when he
asked, “What can you give her, Cal?”

“Everything,” Cal answered and he scored
again, Haines blinked.

“She needs –” Haines started.

It was Cal’s turn to soften his voice. “I
know what she needs, Mike.”

They stood staring at each other
silently.

Cal broke the silence. “She’s gonna come to
you, break it off, cut you loose, this time let her even if she
tries to hold on at the same time.”

Cal watched Haines’s entire face go hard as
the knowledge penetrated as to what Cal was saying and how much he
knew of the game Vi was playing. It was a game she didn’t know she
was playing, she didn’t have the experience, but she was running
roughshod over Haines all the same.

“She was fifteen when Tim asked her out,
she’s got no idea what she’s doin’,” Cal defended Vi.

“I know that,” Haines ground out.

“She’s lost, with Sam gone now more than
ever,” Cal went on.

“You aren’t helpin’ her get found, Cal.”

“We’re all lost, Mike. The best chance we got
is to wander this life with the people who matter.”

He’d scored again and he wasn’t looking for
it. Haines went from angry to watchful.

“You don’t want her for her, you want her for
you.”

“
Yeah,” Cal replied instantly, “isn’t that
what you want?”

“I want her because she’s Vi.”

“And I want her for the same but because she
is, she can give me what I need.”

“And what’s she get?”

“She gets to give me what I need.”

“Nice,” Haines bit out, back to pissed.

“
That’s who she is, man, haven’t you
figured that out? Isn’t that what she does for you? Because if it
isn’t then you don’t have her, nowhere near. That’s what she is,
that’s what those girls are, that’s who she made them to be. They
exist to give you what you need. It isn’t selfish, that’s how they
get off. Fuck, when I went to the mall with them, Keira tried to be
my personal shopper.”

Cal knew it cost him but Haines couldn’t help
but chuckle.

Then he asked, “No shit?”

“
She picked a pink shirt,” Cal told him
then added, “with flowers on it.”

Haines chuckled again.

Cal kept going. “She ever shove her shoulder
in your pit, make you put your arm around her?”

The humor fled Haines’s face but he didn’t
answer which was his answer.

“Katy do it?” Cal pushed.

“Kate did it?” Haines whispered.

“Vi did it when I needed her, Katy did it
when she needed me.”

Haines closed his eyes and looked away.

“
Stand down,” Cal repeated, his voice quiet
and Haines’s eyes opened and he looked back at Cal and when he did,
Cal knew he’d won.

“You fuck her over –”

“I won’t.”

“
You do…” he let that hang and Cal decided
not to repeat himself so Haines finished. “You don’t give her
everything, I’m back and I’ll bust my ass to do it instead of
you.”

“I know that, she does too, so I reckon I
better bust my ass so you don’t have to.”

“Wouldn’t be work.”

“Agreed.”

They again stared at each other silently.

Then Haines broke the silence but he spoke
quietly. “You gotta know you’re killin’ me, man.”

Cal spoke quietly back. “I know, Mike.”

And he did, he couldn’t imagine standing down
from Vi, not now. He’d pulled away twice thinking it was for his
good and hers and neither time was the least pleasant. It was like
tearing off a fucking limb.

Standing down for good would kill.

But if he knew Haines had with her what Cal
had, he’d do it knowing he’d be doing it for her. Haines wasn’t
stupid, he knew she was tied in knots and a woman like Violet
didn’t get tied in knots for something that didn’t matter.