Heaven and Hell (46 page)

“Lee and Tanner found the broker.”

I blinked.

Then I breathed, “What?”

“They tracked down the broker. They also…”
he hesitated, clearly searching for a word and then found a scary
one that said it all without saying anything, “
persuaded
him
to get a message to the man to call the hit off. Easy payday. He
backs off, confirms via e-mail he got the message and is a memory.
He keeps his pay, the broker keeps his commission and you breathe
easy. Ozzie gets fucked in this scenario seein’ as he can’t
dismantle that bit of trade but I don’t give a fuck. You’re safe
and that’s all I care about.”

“I’m safe?” I whispered.

He shook his head. “We haven’t received
e-mail confirmation. What we do know is that the broker has been
contacted by that bitch since your dead husband died and he’s been
contacted to tell him the job was still on.”

Oh my
God.

“She did that?”

Sam nodded.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“Something else Tanner found out was that,
in case Clementine was unable to collect your life insurance, that
bitch did. Clementine named her as second beneficiary.”

God, Cooter was such
slime.

“I cancelled the policy,” I told him.

“I know but wouldn’t matter if you did. Her
bein’ behind your death would mean she wouldn’t collect. In fact,
in one of my briefs with Oswald, he told me your insurance company
came sniffing around Clementine’s death to ascertain if there was
foul play that would invalidate his policy.”

My breath went out of me.

Therefore I had to force out my, “What?”

Sam shook his head. “You’re good. Murder is
covered in that policy and Cloverfield was not involved in their
dealings. But I don’t think she cares her actions invalidate your
policy or that it’s cancelled. I think the bitch just wants you
dead.”

“But…” I paused then went on, “wouldn’t it
be important for Ozzie to at least have a chat with this broker so
he could tell her Vanessa is still plotting to kill me?”

“Don’t need it. She purchased an extra cell
to communicate with the broker. Seein’ as she’s just a bitch and
not a criminal mastermind, she didn’t get a burner. But she did get
it under an alias and gave her Mom’s address to send the
statements. Tanner and Lee found it, tapped into it, taped
conversations, transcribed them and also got copies of the
statements and printouts of the texts. Oswald has all that shit and
all of it is admissible mainly because Oswald is not gonna share
how he procured it and is gonna say he and his boys got it. He’s
gotta call in some markers to get warrants dated appropriately but
luckily he’s got those markers to call. Yesterday, they arrested
her again seein’ as continuing to conspire to commit murder when
you’re out on bond after being arrested for conspiracy to commit
murder is a violation of bond. She’ll now most likely be held
without bail until her trial where it is also very likely she’ll go
down and hard.”

I was stuck on an early word so I asked, “A
burner?”

“A disposable phone.”

Right.

Then the rest of it penetrated.

“So this is good news,” I pointed out, my
heart beating faster but the muscles in my neck getting looser.

“Yeah it is except the part where she didn’t
call off the hit, we now know a man is waiting for his moment to
take you out and until we get the confirmation e-mail we have to
assume he still is.”

Yeah, except that part.

It was my turn to take a deep breath and I
did.

Then I said softly, “This is mostly good
news, Sam. I don’t understand why you waited to tell me.”

“Because the part of it that’s not good is
really
not good. You’re comin’ back to you. Every day, you
smile more, laugh more, more of the real you comes out or you put
back in place more of her. And your friends and family are visibly
relieved to have you back,
you,
their girl. You’re not there
but you’re getting there and I suspected every step you took to
release the life you led with that asshole was leading you there. I
wanted you to have that. Not a reminder of just how much of an
asshole that asshole was.”

This made sense too. And it was also
nice.

However.

“Isn’t it up to me to make that decision?” I
asked.

“No,” Sam answered instantly and I
blinked.

“No?”

He shook his head.

“Sam –” I started but he interrupted me.

“We had this conversation. You agreed. And
we’re not havin’ this conversation again.”

Now I was confused.

“We’ve had this conversation?”

“Are you my woman?”

I was still confused. How were we back to
that?

“I don’t get it,” I told him.

“Kia, sweetheart, are you my woman?”

“Mostly,” I replied without thinking,
encroaching into territory we needed to explore but I didn’t think
it sensible to breach at this juncture.

I watched his brows snap together again and
I also watched his entire body get tight.

“Mostly?” he asked quietly and very, very
scarily.

Oh man.

“Yes,” I changed my answer hurriedly. “I’m
your woman.”

“That’s a better answer,” he whispered again
very, very scarily.

“Sam –”

He cut me off again.

“I protect my woman as I see fit. You agreed
to that.”

“Well, yes, I did,” I concurred. “But how
does this fit into that?”

“I protect my woman however she needs to be
protected
and
whatever she needs protection from.”

Oh.

Now I got it.

“So, essentially, what you’re saying is you
decide how I need to be protected, what I need to be protected from
and therefore there are times when you’ll decide what I need to
know and when.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No in the sense that there’s nothing
‘essentially’ about your statement.”

He couldn’t be serious.

“Sam!” I cried.

“What?” he asked.

“I’m not a little girl and that’s just… it’s
just… I don’t know what it is but it isn’t right.”

“How isn’t it right?” he shot back.

I threw out an arm saying, “I don’t know, it
just isn’t.”

Sam uncrossed his arms and planted his hands
on his hips, leaning in and exploding, “Jesus,
fuck,
Kia!
When this shit is over we will
never
be back here so when
it’s done, we won’t have this problem unless, hope to God not, some
other shit comes up. But this shit isn’t over. There is a woman out
there who wants you dead. She’s incarcerated now but the man she
hired isn’t. This is serious shit and we agreed
I’ll
deal
with it so
I’ll
fuckin’ deal with it and, sweetheart, I wake
up and live and breathe worry that I’ll miss somethin’ or someone
will fuck up and the consequences of that is you bein’ dead and now
we know that threat is real.
You
wake up and go on viewings
with your girl and giggle yourselves sick. You sit with your Mom
after eating a chicken breast stuffed with cheese and surrounded by
three slices of bacon which explains why she needed a heart valve
replaced though she clearly didn’t get the message and you two
gossip and cackle about everyone in town. You didn’t ask to meet
Lee and Tanner. You haven’t asked to meet the men who are lookin’
out for you. I assumed that meant you were puttin’ this shit in my
hands where it belongs. And I was glad of it. The only thing I have
to hang onto is I got control of this situation and my woman can
giggle with her friend and gossip with her mother. I might worry,
she keeps eatin’ her mother’s food, she’ll need a heart valve
replacement in ten years but I see you emerging from the shit he
left you, I’m good with that and can focus on the
other
shit
he left you. What I’m
not
good with is havin’ this
conversation that you promised me we would not have.”

He stopped speaking and scowled at me.

I pressed my lips together.

Then I defended myself. “Okay, I get that
but I have to tell you I wasn’t aware of all the nuances of that
agreement and I still might not be.”

“Then let’s clear this shit up,” he offered.
“You trust that I got matters in hand. You trust I’m lookin’ out
for you. I pay for makin’ you safe. And you trust that the
decisions I make are done for rational reasons I’ve thought through
with you in mind. Does that work for you?”

“Um… yes,” I muttered.

“Fuck,” Sam muttered back.

Since we seemed to be concluding things, I
thought it important to add, “I still don’t want Memphis going
outside off the lead until she’s more accustomed to your
house.”

Sam again scowled at me.

Then he asked, “Fuck me, how the fuck can
you piss me off to an extreme and then, right after, be cute and
make me want to laugh?”

I was being cute?

I thought it prudent not to ask that
question and instead remain silent. So I did.

Sam didn’t.

He ordered, “Come here.”

It was then I thought it prudent to do as he
ordered. So I did.

When I did, Sam’s arms folded around me and
I returned the gesture.

He tipped his head down and caught my eyes.
“We good?”

“I don’t like it that you live and breathe
worry about me.”

“Soon, I won’t have to.”

I pressed my lips together. Then I
nodded.

Then I did a face plant in his chest.

“I didn’t ask to meet the guys because,
well… with everything else, it kinda slipped my mind,” I told his
chest.

“You wanna meet ‘em?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll arrange that.”

I sighed. Then I whispered, “Okay.”

One of his hands slid up my back, my neck
and into my hair where his fingers cupped my head. His other arm
held tight.

Okay, well, there it was. We had that
out.

It wasn’t everything but it was
something.

I still wanted more.

But standing in Sam’s arms, in Sam’s house
which underlined the fact he was definitely
not
a euro-trash
Lamborghini man and doing it after he made logical explanations
that all were embedded in looking out for me one way or another not
to mention he admitted to living and breathing worry about me, I’d
take this for now.

Definitely.

* * * * *

I was close. Oh
God,
I was close.

I was on my hands and knees in front of Sam…
no, strike that. I was on one hand and my knees in front of Sam, my
other hand was between my legs, my finger adding to the magic Sam’s
thrusting cock was making.

It was going to happen, I knew it.

And, as ever, it was going to be
fabulous
.

Then, before it did, Sam pulled out. I
whimpered in surprise and was about to protest when his fingers
wrapped around my forearms, he yanked me up so my back was pinned
to his front and my arms were pinned in front of me with his hands
at my wrists.

Then his mouth came to me ear and he
growled, “Are you my woman?”

I opened my mouth to speak but he kept
growling.

“Or are you
mostly
my woman?”

Oh God.

I should have known he wasn’t going to let
that slide.

“Sam,” I whispered and his hands gave my
arms a gentle shake when I said no more.

“Answer me, Kia. Who am I fucking right
now?”

No one since he pulled out.

I didn’t point that out.

Instead, I turned my head and pressed my
temple into his neck. “Baby –”

“Answer me.”

“Are you my man?”

Yes. That’s what came out. Naked, on my
knees, held captive by Sam who was the same, that was what I
blurted.

He transferred my wrists into one of his
hands, his other hand went away, I felt him move, adjust then I
felt his cock drive up and fill me, taking my knees off the
bed.

My head shot back. God, I loved being
connected to him.

“What does that feel like?” he growled.

It felt unbelievably good.

“Honey,” I whispered.

He ground up as his lips went to the skin
under my ear and he whispered back, “You have me, Kia.”

My body went perfectly still.

His fingers tightened on my wrists and he
repeated, “You have me.”

I didn’t know what he meant.

But I hoped I did.

He kept whispering, “You just have to take
me how I can give it, baby.”

I closed my eyes.

“You with me?” he asked.

No. I was not.

But I was thinking, maybe, I was closer.

“Baby,” he ground deeper and his lips moved
up, his teeth nipping my earlobe and I trembled, “are you with
me?”

“Yes, honey,” I lied.

He pulled out again then I was on my back,
his hands were on my hips, he was sitting back on his heels, he
slid me up his thighs, I pressed mine to his sides then held me
steady, staring down at me in his king-size bed, his eyes intense,
his face intense, as he fucked hard until I came hard and so did
he.

* * * * *

It was later. After I’d cleaned up. After
I’d pulled on a nightgown. After Sam had turned out the lights,
tucked me into his side and Memphis had joined us to sprawl in the
vast expanse left to her in Sam’s big bed.

His breaths were coming even. My eyelids
were drooping.

Then his hand drifted up my back, into my
hair, it fisted and twisted.

It didn’t hurt but it made my eyelids stop
drooping.

“None of that ‘mostly’ shit again, Kia,” he
rumbled into the dark, his voice deeper, rougher and not like
velvet.

He wasn’t angry, I knew that tone. And he
wasn’t annoyed, I knew that one too. He also didn’t sound tired
because I knew the sound of that too.

This was something else.

Something new.

I stared at his shadowed chest knowing
somewhere in my soul I’d hurt him when I said that.