Being Zolt (12 page)

I stared at her, amazed at the thought that I had a wife. For a man who didn’t stay with one woman, the thought I was someone’s husband was still too surreal. Sure, we still had much to learn about each other, but we had time.

I held up my left hand and twisted my wedding ring, letting my blissful happiness warm me and chase away some of the darkness that still surrounded me.

Absently, I petted her silky hair. An image of a blond little boy with my blue eyes flashed in my mind, and I smiled. Yeah, I could see that in our future. Maybe not right away, but in a few years, definitely.

Irelyn shifted a little in her sleep, and I took my hand away. I should leave her alone, but I couldn’t help myself. I gently dragged my index finger over her hip, trailing the curves I loved.

“Mmm,” she mewled and turned on her back, placing her arm over her head.

“Fuck,” I moaned as I licked my lips.

Her lovely nipples were stiff with what I hoped was an invitation. Because, invitation or not, I couldn’t stop myself from taking one in my mouth. Making love to her would dispel the darkness. Of course, my cock swelled in agreement.

“Zolt,” Irelyn cooed.

I moved my body over hers and pressed my forehead to hers. “Baby, I need you. Please.”

“Yes,” she answered, her voice heavy with sleep.

Our lips met in the moonlight for a sweet and needful kiss. God, her lips, were so soft and delicious. She kissed me back like we had all the time in the world. Her hands traced over the topography of my back and my body responded, muscles tensing and releasing at her touch; she needed this as much as I did.

Indulging in Irelyn always made things better. I took her in a slow, languorous motion, making her cry out.

We took our time with each other, exploring and enjoying each other’s bodies. Inside her, I was home, a place I didn’t even know I had been missing. And with our fingers interlaced, we gave into our mutual releases.

“Mine,” I growled as my body tensed and I came deep inside her.

“Yours,” Irelyn returned. “Forever yours.”

The sound of one of our smart phones ringing pulled me from sleep. I tried to move but found myself pinned by Zolt’s heavy, muscular leg draped over me.

I lifted my head and glanced at the clock, groaning at the time.

“Eight o’clock,” I cursed quietly so as to not wake Zolt up.

I yawned and stretched my deliciously-sore body. Last night had been exhausting, but I wasn’t complaining; I liked Zolt waking me up in the middle of the night to make love to me.

The other phone rang with Rachel’s ringtone and I cringed. We’d sent the video of our wedding to them late last night, and then set our phones not to ring until this morning. The fallout of our impetuous decision had begun. Since I couldn’t reach my phone, I let it ring.

“Zolt,” I ran my fingers through his bed-mussed, sexy-as-hell hair.

He groaned and pulled me closer to him, wrapping me in his arms. I wanted to stay like this forever, but when his phone went off again, our brief honeymoon ended. Time to face the music, or ringtones, as the case may be.

“Zolt,” I repeated again.

He lifted his head, peeling one eyelid open and then the other.

“Our phones are going crazy, and you’ve pinned me to the bed.”

“Screw them. They can wait.” His phone rang again, and he grumbled and gave in to the inevitable. “Can’t we just turn them off?” He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand while the other hand scrolled through the log on his phone.

“How many missed calls?” I asked, sitting up.

“Five. Two from Brody, three from T.” He turned to me with a frown. “I think our reprieve is over; time to return to our lives.”

My display read six missed calls, all of them from Rachel. I cringed again.

Commence the ass-kicking. Sigh.

“Yep,” I agreed and threw my phone on the bedside table. “But not before we shower and have breakfast.”

“Hmm, yes, a shower….”

Before I could protest, Zolt had me off the bed and in the bathroom.

An hour and a half later, we sat at the table eating breakfast. The shower had taken longer than I’d expected. It’s hard to shampoo your hair when your husband has you pinned against the wall, thrusting deep inside you. But again, I wasn’t complaining.

“Two more calls,” Zolt sighed. He sat his phone on the table and sipped his coffee.

“Three for me.”

“Shall I call T and see what he wants? I’m sure he found something in the Mustang’s stereo.”

“No.” I closed my eyes as dread filled me, not opening them until I felt Zolt squeeze my hand.

“It’s going to be all right, Irelyn. We can handle this.”

I nodded, hating that our bubble had burst, letting in the ugly reality of our life.

“Call T. Let’s get this over with. Then, I’ll call Rach.”

Zolt called T-bone and put the phone on speaker.

“It’s about damn time, Z-man!” T barked over the phone.

“You’re on speaker, and Irelyn is with me.” Zolt shook his head and glowered at the phone.

“Well, you were right. We pulled the stereo from the Mustang and searched through all the mp3 files. My guy found one file labeled Cabo Wabo that turned out to be a text file instead of an MP3. I took the liberty of opening it.”

“And?” we both said at the same time.

“Holy shit. Chris documented everything he could on Marcus, providing a list of all the clients of the club. This list includes major players from entertainment to politics. He placed a code beside their names indicating what kind of activities they partook in.”

I covered my mouth with my hand. “Shit.”

“Oh, and that’s not all. There’s a detailed description of the Aspen Holdings/Black Swan transaction.” T paused and drew in a breath.

Zolt and I glanced at each other, knowing what he said next would be bad.

“Irelyn, I’m afraid what’s in this file isn’t good for your father. Black Swan served as a place to launder money for funds obtained through sex trafficking. Your father’s name is on the corporation of the company that owns Black Swan. It took us a fair bit of digging, but it’s all there in black in white.”

“Oh, fuck,” I mumbled as my breakfast rolled around in my stomach, threatening to make a hasty retreat. “So, Dad’s name is on Xot International?”

“Yep,” T confirmed. “Marcus is a master of covering his ass, so when the shit flies, it won’t land on him.”

Zolt squeezed my hand in support. I tried to take what he offered, but I felt numb—too stunned to even move.

“I think we need to go to Quebec and confront your father. The only way to stop Marcus is for your father to help us.”

“I agree. Hold on for just a minute, T.” Zolt put the phone on mute when he saw what must have been horror on my face. “Baby, we need to do this. Time for Jacob to come to terms with what he’s done.”

“My mom. This will kill her.” Tears sprung to my eyes, and I dashed them away. I couldn’t lose it now. They were right; we needed to do this, and I needed to be strong when we did.

“I’ll be there the entire time. We’ll do this together.”

I nodded, and Zolt unmuted the phone.

“Can you get the jet ready for us to leave as soon as possible, T? We’ll come back to Scottsdale, pick you up, and then go to Quebec.”

“The sooner, the better. Tamara is less than a month from her due date; I can’t be gone long.”

“We can be there in a few hours. We’ll grab a few things for Quebec, and then we can leave.”

“Uh, Z-man, I think you and Irelyn are going to have to deal with Rachel and Brody first. They’re pissed you guys eloped.”

“Ugh. You’re right, T,” I said, frowning. “I’ll text Rach and have her meet us at the house.”

“Good plan. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

“Well, crap. I guess it’s time to go home.” I squeezed my eyes closed and shook my head. My entire body tensed with the new information, and I could feel a migraine coming.

Zolt must have known, because he went behind me and started rubbing my temples.

“It will be all right. I promise, Irelyn.”

I opened my eyes and tried to believe his words, but I feared he had a case of wishful thinking.

“No, Zolt, it won’t be okay. Maybe one day in the distant future, okay will return. Not today.”

I stood suddenly and stalked the room. “Why, Zolt? Why did my father allow this to happen? How could he carry on all these months, knowing Marcus killed his son? And how could he make an agreement turning me over to him?” I twisted a strand of my hair so tightly around my finger that it started to go numb. “What kind of man does that?”

Zolt stood in front of me and took my hand, stilling my twisting finger.

I quit twisting and dropped my hand.

“I don’t know. A desperate one, apparently.”

“He’ll go to jail for this. Our family name will be destroyed; Mom will be destroyed. I hate him, Zolt. I really do.” I bit my lip hard and tried to stop the racing tears. I was so tired of being reduced to tears. Why couldn’t I be strong enough to handle this without crying?

Zolt pulled me into his arms, and I buried my head into the soft material of his T-shirt and firm chest. I let his essence calm me and give me strength.

“It will be difficult, but I’ll be with you the entire time. We’ll get through this.”

“What about Kenna? When will we fix this for her? What if it’s too late and we can’t fix it for her?”

“We’ll do our best for Kenna. Unfortunately, taking you away from Marcus forced him underground and probably made things worse for her. I’m sorry for that, I am. But Irelyn, I couldn’t leave you with him. We wouldn’t be here, married if I had. You will always be my number-one priority over everything and everyone.”

He tipped my head back and kissed me as if to seal his pledge. Zolt broke the kiss, but not before he left one soft kiss on the tip of my nose.

“We have the information we need to take Marcus down. We’ll be smart about this. Even if it takes a few more days, Marcus will be finished, and Kenna will be home. We’ll make sure we have enough evidence that not even his connections will save him. I promise.”

“Okay,” I said, and forced a smile on my face, preparing myself for the rest of the shit that certainly headed my way. “Let’s go home.”

Irelyn and I sat on the couch in my great room, listening to first Brody, then Rachel berate us for going to Vegas and getting married without telling them, getting their permission, or whatever it was that had them the most pissed. I watched as my wife twisted that damn strand of hair, her bottom lip trembling with the tears she tried to hold back.

“Enough!” I yelled and stood. “You will not make us feel bad for this, and I will not sit here and let my wife’s best friend and my brother scold us. Your bruised feelings are the least of our problems. I’m sorry that our actions caused you pain, I am. But this wasn’t done to hurt either of you.”

Rachel opened her mouth to say something, but I held up my hand to stop her. “You didn’t see the message that Chris left for Irelyn. Didn’t see the expression on his face and the plea in his voice. We did, and we did this for him. But mostly, we did this for us. After all the shit, we’ve been through…. We needed this. Needed to solidify our relationship—to commit to each other.”

“No one that includes you, Rachel,” I pointed at her and her face turned beet-red, “or you,” I thrust a finger in Brody’s direction, “will make us feel bad for this.”

“But didn’t you want a big wedding, Irelyn? The one we’d always dreamed of? What about your mom? What do you think she’s going to say?” Rachel’s shaky voice asked. Cory grabbed her hand and stroked his thumb over her knuckles in an attempt to soothe her, I supposed.

Irelyn stood up and came to my side. I put my arm around my wife and tucked her into me. If Cory soothed, I protected.

“That dream started to die with Chris, Rach, and was completely obliterated by my father’s betrayal of his family. A big, society wedding is out of the question now. When this is all over, Jacob Wilkes will most likely be in jail, and our name will be trashed. Not only that, the thought of my father giving me away is disgusting to me after he
gave
me to Marcus. As far as Mom goes, well, I don’t know where her head is in all of this. I couldn’t trust she wouldn’t tell my father, who might tell Marcus. And Rachel, I did have my dream wedding. I married the man I’ve loved most of my life.” Irelyn glanced up at me and smiled the first genuine smile I’d seen from her today.