Fatal Jealousy (Black Widow Book 1) (9 page)

Yeah, he missed his carefree life, not having to give a proof of life three times a day when there was a case very far away from home. He missed not having the guilt of coming home and finding his pregnant girlfriend asleep on the couch waiting for him, just to make sure he was back in one piece. He missed going out for late drinks after a case, picking up a girl just because he could, with very little effort on his part, and not having to ask for permission if he wanted to go out.

He cherished the days he didn’t have to dodge shoes, blow dryers, pans and whatever else that could be picked up and thrown at him when she was in one of her erratic pregnancy moods. When all of a sudden she remembered she hated him for ruining her figure, for her not being able to fit into her skinny jeans, or her feet were too huge to fit into her favorite pair of shoes, or the fact her bladder was reduced to the size of a peanut. And of course, it was his fault she was fat, ugly, disgusting and unattractive.

He laughed just thinking about it. She was so cute when she cried for no apparent reason. She’d pout, and then she’d tear up and finally lock herself in the bathroom with a tub of ice cream and bawl her eyes out. And he’d sit on the other side of the door begging her to come out, telling her how much he loved her and how beautiful she was carrying his gift inside her. And then she’d come out smiling telling him how much she loved him. It worked every time.

Yes, he missed his old life, but he loved his new life even more.

“How does it feel, knowing she’s about to pop any day now?” Kevin asked with an excited look on his face, breaking into his thoughts.

Since Ellie came into his life, he found himself thinking about her more than anything else, sometimes even more than the cases! Distracting, yes, but so worth it for a few moments of loving peace, out of the endless hours of death and horror.

Carson’s grin widened, “We are still a couple of weeks away.” He strapped his bullet proof vest on, then checked his gun. Kevin’s driving had gotten better over the months. Carson figured he should give him a chance to drive, practise letting go, once he had taught his own kid how to drive.

“She’s hit thirty-six weeks already, that baby could drop anytime. She might be in labor right now.” Kevin stopped at a fancy suburban house, pulling out his gun before he stepped out of the car.

“Don’t jinx me Kevin,” as he put on his ear piece.

“We move on my mark,” Richard’s voice came through. Before he could say anything else, the sound of loud shots ripped through the air. “Carson and Kevin take the back!” He ordered his voice steady and controlled.

Kevin and Carson rushed to the back, guns high heads low. They waited for Richard and his backup to break through the front door and apprehend them. And if they couldn’t they would push the suspects out through the back, where they would be laying in wait.

They heard the door break and then shouting. The crushing and the gun shots made Carson itch. He didn’t understand why it was taking so long to apprehend them. He opened the door by a crack, and he could hear the blood rush in his ears, the adrenaline junky inside him relishing the anticipation.

Before he could open the door further, it was yanked open pulling Carson in with it. He held his gun up higher and pointed it at the man as he stared down the barrel of his gun. He could hear the blood rush in his ears louder and he felt the beat of his heart at the tips of his fingers, eager to pull the trigger but patient for provocation. It took the man a second faster than Carson to pull the trigger.

The two shots rang out loud, each bullet hitting its target.

****

Ellie added the final strokes to the mural in the baby’s room. She had turned one of Dale’s three guestrooms into a nursery. She had him break a hole in the wall between the nursery and the master’s bedroom and put up double doors. She’d baby proofed the entire apartment, having nothing else to do, because Dale had her take longer maternity leave than she had intended on. She had gotten most of what she wanted during the five months they’d lived together, but this one issue he won.

She stood in front of the mirror caressing her large belly. It didn’t feel like forever anymore, soon she would be holding her baby in her arms and then maybe, she’d finally lose the urge to torture Dale. She didn’t mean to, everything just seemed to be his fault.

“I promise, your daddy and I are going to love you forever.”

“So will your aunty Kris, even though she won’t be your godmother,” Kris sulked, entering the room.

Ellie laughed. She’d been complaining about that for the length of the pregnancy, and she probably would continue in her pout parade even after the baby was born. “I told you, Dale’s best friend called dibs first.”

“Who calls dibs on a baby?” She sat in the rocking chair.

“Considering I’m making Daniel godfather, it’s one thing I had to agree to. And anyway she’s nice, I like her.”

Kris laughed almost falling off the rocker, “Wait, you asked the guy who’s been in love with you since college to be the godfather of your love child, with a man he has hated from the first day he met him, for having what he can’t?”

“Daniel doesn’t hate Dale and he isn’t in love with me.” Kris’s arched brow and the oh-please look on her face begged to differ, “Okay maybe a little on both, but he’s one of my best friends and he understands how things have to be.”

“Okay fine. I’m calling dibs on the next one,” she stood up and walked around the room, admiring the baby’s stuff. She picked up a pair of blue silk pants with a matching top that had the initials CJ on it. “Let me guess, Ellsa bought this?”

Pointing at the cream chest that had a changing table on top of it, “Yes. There are a dozen of them in the drawers, all different colors.”

“He or she is definitely not wearing this, we are not going to risk ending up with a snob.”

“Will you stop that,” Ellie laughed, “she’s throwing me a shower today so be nice. I don’t want to referee.”

A hint of suspicion in her voice, “Your sister has never been around as much as she has recently.”

Ellie sat down on the floor to finish painting the bottom of the wall, “I’m her sister and I’m pregnant, of course, she’d be around more often.”

“And of course she wouldn’t pass up the chance to hit on Dale,” Kris pointed out, sitting next to her.

Ellie had glanced at her for a moment before she turned back to her painting, “Kris, stop that.”

“Just because you choose to close your eyes to your sister’s faults doesn’t mean I do.”

Ellie had noticed it. Usually, she would only get to see her sister once a week, twice if she insisted. But lately, Ellsa was around almost every single day. And the days she wasn’t, she would call. They would chat and after two minutes of idle conversation, she’d ask to speak to Dale. That wasn’t strange. The guy was practically her brother in law, and an addition to their family.

Ellsa wasn’t interested in Dale. They had a rule and she wouldn’t break it.

Dale wasn’t some other boyfriend. Ellie was head over heels in love with him. He was her soul mate, the love of her life, and the father of her child. Granted, he was dragging his feet when it came to becoming her husband. But essentially, even without that piece of paper, he was her husband. He was committed to their ‘little family’ as he called it and he acted as a husband- as caveman-like and conservative it may sometimes seem.

Yes, Dale wasn’t some other boyfriend, Ellsa knew that and she would never intentionally ruin what they have, especially with a baby in the equation.

“She’s not interested in Dale.”

“Who’s not interested in Dale?” Ellsa’s voice filled the room. Ellie and Kris turned around to face her. As usual she was dressed like she was a cast member in
Knot’s Landing’s
at their breakfast table,
but a little sexier.

“Ellsa, how did you get in here?” Ellie asked, standing up with Kris’s help.

“I have a copy of the key.” She placed a small blue bag on the baby table.

“Since when did you have a key?”

Kris stepped closer to Ellsa, an accusing look on her face, “I think the question is, why do you have a key to
Dale’s
apartment and
how
did you get it, because I know Dale said no?”

“Wow Kris, I didn’t know you were Ellie’s part time maid, or is it nanny?” She asked, sarcastically, with a faint distaste in her voice.

Kris was about to insult her when Ellie stepped in between them, “Stop it, both of you.” She turned to Ellsa with a tired smile, “Thanks for the shower and for more baby stuff,” pointing at the bag. She rubbed her aching back wishing one of them would offer to give her a massage instead of going at each other.

“Oh no, this is for Dale. Where is he, shouldn’t he be home by now?” She pulled out a box from the bag and glanced at her Rolex watch.

Kris laughed, staring at Ellie with both eyebrows raised. Ellie ignored her. She wouldn’t believe her sister was hitting on her man. They’d drawn a line and agreed on never crossing it. “He doesn’t have an exact schedule.”

Ellsa shrugged, “I’ll wait,” she walked to the mirror and pulled at her short dress, pushing her boobs up and applying more lipstick.

“Of course you will.” Kris hinted. Ellsa turned to her with a lethal gaze in her eye. Before they could go at each other again, Ellie’s cell phone rang.

Ellie picked it up and moved back in between them, “Hello?”

“Ellie,” Audrey started. She wished there was a gentler way to say this without causing a panic.

“Hi Audrey, is everything okay?” Tired, the ache in her back seemed to be getting worse by the second. She walked across the room and lowered herself slowly into the rocking chair.

“Okay, don’t freak out, Dale is in the hospital,” she paused and waited for her to say something, but when Ellie didn’t respond she added quickly, “He was shot, but it was just a graze.”

Ellie jumped out of the chair when she heard the words shot and hospital. She felt her heart stop as she struggled to breathe. The pressure in her back increased. This was a call she always dreaded.

Kris pulled the phone out of Ellie’s frozen fingers. She pulled her back and laid one of Ellsa’s fancy towels on the wet floor, “Hi Audrey, is Dale okay?”

“Yes, it’s nothing serious. Is Ellie okay? She hasn’t said a word since I told her.”

“How fast can you get an ambulance here?” Kris picked up Ellie’s hospital bag and tossed it at Ellsa who barely caught it.

“Five minutes, why?” Audrey panicked, “Oh God, please tell me I didn’t make her faint or go into labor or shock because Dale is going to kill me!”

“Well, you should hide then,” she hung up the phone, “Ellie honey, your water broke. We are going to sit in the living room and wait for the ambulance. They’ll be here in five minutes.” She spoke softly and slowly at her stunned friend, like she would a child.

Ellie looked down at her wet shorts, “My water broke and Dale got shot,” she uttered, zombified until a tightness in her belly snapped her alert. “The baby is coming and its father is in the hospital with a bullet inside him!” She yelled the tears already streaming down her face as she rushed into the living room.

“Is he okay?” Ellsa asked, in a panic grabbing Kris’s arm, “tell me if he’s okay?”

“Hey!” Kris half yelled, pulling her arm free. She stepped in front of her and put her finger in her face, “Listen to me. Dale belongs to Ellie, not you, he is Ellie’s boyfriend not yours. Remember that!” With that, she followed Ellie to the living room.

****

Richard walked into Carson’s hospital room, a gloomy look on his face, “How are you holding up?”

Carson smiled, “Hey, I’m okay.” He sat on the bed shirtless, a nurse wrapping a bandage around his wounded arm. “It’s just a scratch,
unlike the other guy
.”

“It was a through and through Carson. It could have hit an artery and you could be dead like the other guy.”

“I know and it’s just one more bullet hole, no biggy, relax.” He knew how close he was to being dead, to never seeing his child and having one of his nightmares come true. He knew, but he didn’t want to think about it. If he was to keep doing this job, at work his state of mind needed to remain that of a carefree bachelor.

“Girls love battle wounds,” the nurse said, smiling sweetly at Carson, “Nothing’s hotter.”

Carson laughed. Normally this was where he’d go for the kill, but he wasn’t the slightest bit interested, “Not mine, she’ll skin me alive. I’ll have to get a tat to cover up the scar. She can’t find out.”

“Speaking of girls, Ellie is here.” Richard said, with a lighter tone.

Dale’s eyebrows rose in fear. He always promised her he wouldn’t get shot. She was going to kill him, “Excuse me Miss, is there somewhere I can hide?” She laughed, thinking he was joking.

“Dale!” Ellsa cried out, running into the room. She threw her hands around him and hugged him tight, “I’m so glad you are okay!”

“Ellsa, I’m sorry I interrupted the baby shower,” he winced as he pulled at her arms gently, “So, where is Ellie and should I be hiding?”

She smiled tightly, letting go, “I called everyone and cancelled it when we had to come over. Ellie is over at maternity terrorising the nurses. She went into labor when Audrey told her you got shot.”

“What!” He jumped off the bed and ran out of the room. It took him five minutes to get to the right floor. Ellie’s screaming voice led him to the right room.

“Please don’t lie to me, just tell me if he’s dead, because if he isn’t I’m going to kill him!” She screamed, crying.

“I’m right here, I’m okay,” he ran to her bedside and hugged her.

“Dale! You are okay!” She laughed, still crying. She held him tight then pushed him away with a moan when another contraction hit.

“Just breathe,” Dale put on the shirt Audrey handed him, “Really Audrey.”

“I’m sorry, I thought she’d be okay,” she felt guilty but excited at the same time. Immediately after Kris told her Ellie’s water broke, she jumped in her car and drove to the hospital. Her Godchild was about to be born!