I Just Can't Stop Loving You (5 page)

“Not quite,” Dae-Hyun said. “Some things are still unclear.”

The young man was definitely bright. “Like what?”

“Why are there guards posted around the property? Why did Ichiro leave a pregnant wife alone and go on tour? And why are you at the center of all this drama?”

“Wow, you’re very perceptive.” Harper settled back in the seat. “Let me see if I can explain. The guards belong to Aomori. They travel with them almost everywhere they go. But since the first attack on Shaundra’s life, Mr. Niigata has hired some others to keep an eye on her. As I mentioned earlier, some of the fan-girls can get very nasty and she’s been receiving threatening hate mail…some I don’t think she’s even aware of. It’s been arriving at the New York office.” He paused. “Ichiro left his pregnant wife behind because he is a young fool who thinks Mr. Niigata is some kind of god. Aomori jumps when this man speaks. They have been taught that the group comes first and the show will go on. And lastly, Shaundra and I have been friends for many years and she is a valued employee.”

“And you are in love with her?”

“Yes,” Harper answered honestly. “But she is in love with Ichiro. So I am just happy to be her closest friend.”

“Good answer. Wow, this certainly an interesting client and I will probably have my hands full with her.”

“More than you know,” Harper agreed. “While I’m spilling the beans, I might as well fill you in on some other things. She might be married to Ichiro, but two other members of Aomori are in love with her. You already know about Yori, but you don’t know about Satoshi Hayashi.”

“The piano man?” He paused. “Isn’t Yori married to some fashion designer?”

Harper nodded. “Another situation you should know about. Yori’s wife Amaya hates Shaundra. She knows that her husband is in love with Shaundra, but tries to take it out on her every chance she gets. She even went as far as trying to commit suicide a couple of months ago to get Yori’s attention.”

“Stupid woman,” Dae-Hyun replied. “Now tell me about Satoshi.”

“He’s the one you need to watch the most. He and Shaundra are good friends now. In fact, I think she trusts him more than she trusts me.” He smiled weakly. “Satoshi is the type who puts others before himself. He and Ichiro are friends, which leads to yet another problem.”

“Are you sure you need a bodyguard for Mrs. Yoshida? It sounds to me that you need to hire a physiatrist to untangle this mess.”

Harper chuckled. “Yes, I suppose you’re right about that.”

“How does Mrs. Yoshida feel about Satoshi?”

“I have no idea. She talks to me about Ichiro and Yori, but she’s pretty mum when it comes to Satoshi.”

“And they don’t seem to care that she’s older than them, or married to Ichiro and carrying his babies?”

“No, Aomori is, well, you’ll find out soon enough. And as far as those babies, court is still out as to who the father is.”

“You mean she cheated on her husband?” Dae-Hyun asked.

“No, but Amaya has put doubt in everyone’s mind because no one but me knew that Shaundra was pregnant before she disappeared. Everyone thinks I’m the father.” He sighed. “Would be nice, but I’ve never laid a finger on her.”

“Poor woman,” Dae-Hyun said. “Sounds like she’s involved with a bunch of kooks.”

“The kookiest,” Harper said. “So you’re going to earn your money if you decide to take the job.”

“I’m taking it,” Dae-Hyun said. “I wouldn’t miss out on finding out how this is going to end. So let me get this straight. My mission is to protect Mrs. Yoshida and her babies from any threat, no matter what.”

“Exactly,” Harper said. “She is the most important player in this story, and I won’t let anyone, not even her husband, destroy her. Do you understand?”

“Perfectly, Mr. Kehoe. I will protect Mrs. Yoshida and her babies even if it means beating the hell out of her husband if he tries anything.”

“One other thing, men seem to fall in love with her the moment they meet her. Neither she nor I can explain this. She jokes about it, but I think it worries her sometimes. Shaundra is a wonderful woman, classy with a zest for life. She’s not afraid of her sexuality and she says what is on her mind. She’s independent and won’t ask for help.”

“And she has beautiful eyes,” Dae-Hyun said.

Harper chuckled. “The rest of her isn’t bad either. Wait until she has those babies. She’ll be beating even more men off of her.”

“Or I will,” Dae-Hyun said. “Does she know you’ve hired me to be her bodyguard?”

“Not yet,” Harper said. “I don’t want to frighten her. She just needs to concentrate on having those babies.”

“I understand,” Dae-Hyun said. “When is Mr. Yoshida due back?”

“In a couple of days, but only for a short visit. He’s flying back to Europe right after the birth of his kids to finish up his tour in Amsterdam. So you can be getting the new house ready for that time.”

“Is she sure moving out is the best thing?”

“She believes so,” Harper said. “She’s very hurt by what Ichiro did to her, and she doesn’t want to be around him until they work this out. The nursery at the farmhouse is just a front. The real one is at her new home, which she will be moving to right after Aomori returns to Europe. No one else knows about this except the three of us.”

“Do you think Mr. Yoshida will be a problem when he comes home and discovers his wife has moved out?”

Harper shook his head. “For some reason, someone trained Ichiro a little too well in martial arts. He’s competed in competitions as a child and even after he joined Aomori. I haven’t seen him in action, but I’ve heard tales that could curl your hair. I don’t think he’d harm Shaundra, but I can’t take any chances.”

“Then I better brush up on my skills.”

“He has a mean kick,” Harper told him.

“I’ll prepare,” Dae-Hyun said. “If he raises that leg to me or her, I’ll break it off.”

“What are you doing here?” Amaya asked, glancing at her nemesis, Shaundra Yoshida, on the other side of the door.

Shaundra smirked at her. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you weren’t glad to see me.”

Amaya continued to glare.

“Well, aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“Are you armed?”

Shaundra laughed. “If I was, you’d be dead by now.”

Amaya stepped aside and Shaundra entered her home. She removed her shoes in the foyer.

“Is Yori dead?” Amaya asked, closing the door and leading Shaundra through the house and to the kitchen.

“No, why would you ask that?” Shaundra looked around. “You have a nice home.”

“Thank you,” Amaya said. “Why are you here?” She offered Shaundra a seat at the table. Something had to be wrong. If it wasn’t Yori then maybe something had happened to one of her parents.

“I came to check on you,” Shaundra said.

“Why?” Amaya asked.

“I don’t know. The idea just popped into my head this morning.”

Amaya stared at her. “Would you care for some tea?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Spooky
. Shaundra was the last person she ever expected to see at her front door. They didn’t even like each other, had gotten into numerous arguments and fist fights. Amaya prepared the tea.

“How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. How about you?” Amaya placed a plate of cookies on the table before her and went back to the tea.

“I’ve been better,” Shaundra said. “But I’ve been worried about you.”

Amaya placed a cup of tea in front of Shaundra and then sat across from her and poured a cup for herself.  “Why?”

Shaundra raised the cup of tea and sipped.

“You’re not afraid I might poison you?”

“No,” Shaundra answered, placing the cup on the table. “You’re a lot of things, but you aren’t a murderer. And the answer to your previous question is I needed to check for myself that you won’t try anything foolish as trying to kill yourself again.”

Amaya gasped. “You’re so rude.”

“Yeah,” Shaundra said. “And you have issues.”

“I hope you didn’t come all the way over here to insult me in my own home?”

“No, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and for some reason, I felt I needed to come here to clear the air between us.”

Amaya raised her cup and sipped.
Did Shaundra come to confess? Is Yori really the father of her babies?

“First of all, I think you are one selfish young woman. What did you think committing suicide would prove? You’d be dead and you still wouldn’t have Yori all to yourself.”

“I don’t know,” Amaya said. “I just couldn’t take it anymore. He’s my husband, but he’s in love with you.”

“Second, Yori is not in love with me. Yori loves you. He’s just likes to tease. Hell, the two of you have been friends for years. I’d thought you’d have him figured out by now. So why am I here? I’d just like to put your little conniving mind at ease. I have never slept with Yori and don’t have any plans to do so in the near future. He is not the father of my babies. Ichiro is.”

Amaya thought about what Shaundra just said. “Not Harper?”

“No, honey. Harper is nice, but I fell in love with Ichiro. I have never carried on wild affairs and I’ve never cheated on Ichiro. I just thought I needed to clarify this for you.”

“But you left him.”

“What would you have done? Well, you already proved what you would have done. Anyway. Ichiro and I weren’t even speaking by the time I decided to leave. He was too busy with the restaurants and Aomori, and he didn’t have time for me. I left because I didn’t want to be a burden on him.”

“But you came back.”

“Only because his friends drug me back. My plans were to return to the United States and have my babies without him finding out about them. But the earthquake happened before I had a chance to leave.”

“So you knew you were pregnant before you left?”

Shaundra nodded. “I just wanted to make this all right. To exit out of all of your lives and go back to mine in New York.”

“Were you depressed?” Amaya asked.

Shaundra nodded again. “I still am. I don’t have any friends here. I’m separated from my kids and I can barely speak the language. I felt the walls closing in on me.”

“I know what you mean.”

“Yeah, that’s why I’m here. I felt so bad when I found out, even though I didn’t show it. So I thought I’d better come and check up on you and to try to put an end to our squabbling. I’d much rather have you as a friend than an enemy.”

Was Shaundra apologizing to her? “I’d like that too,” Amaya said. “I don’t know how many nights of sleep I’ve lost wondering if you and Yori were sneaking off meeting each other somewhere.”

Shaundra chuckled. “No.”

“Thank you,” Amaya said. “For coming. I know you shouldn’t be traveling.”

“No, I shouldn’t, but I’ll be on lock down for a few weeks so I’m enjoying my last few days of freedom.”

“Are you still angry at Ichiro?”

“Yes, but believe it or not, I do understand. He’s never been with anyone other than me and he got tempted. Still, it hurts.”

“Maybe the two of you can see your way past this. He’ll be home in a day or so. You need to tell him how you feel.”

“I don’t know if I can. I won’t know if he’s lying to me or telling me the truth. I don’t know how many times I’ve told him to just tell me if he wanted someone else. I would have understood and stepped aside.”

“You’re a better woman than I am,” Amaya admitted. She sighed. Maybe she had misjudged Shaundra. What a wasted year. All the time she’d spent hating her they could have actually been friends.

“I have to go,” Shaundra suddenly said. She struggled to her feet.

“I think you’ve gotten fatter,” Amaya teased.

“Laugh all you want. Wait until your turn comes around.”

Amaya rose. “Ooh, not for a long time. I can barely deal with myself.” She showed Shaundra to the door and watched her slip back into her shoes. “Are you sure you should be driving yourself around?”

“No, but I’m fine. I need to go home and finish packing for the hospital.”

Amaya opened the door and Shaundra waddled out.

“Life is important, Amaya, and it’s only on loan to you. Don’t fuck up a good thing. If you feel like you can’t handle it, call me and I’ll come over and give you a good, swift kick in your ass and bring you back to reality.”

Amaya nodded. “I’ll try to remember that. Thank you for visiting.” She watched Shaundra get back into her car and drive away. Amaya closed the door.
Maybe I need to go back to bed. This had been one strange day
.

****

“Hello, beautiful.”

Tricia Morrison looked up from the book she was reading. She scowled. “What do you want?”

Damien Kehoe smiled down on her.

Tricia tried not to let it affect her since she’d fallen victim to that smile before. Damien was trouble with a capital T.

“Why do you want to be like this?” Damien asked. “You know how I feel about you.”