Retribution (12 page)

“I called in some favors out of Washington. I don’t know how far they’ll get me, but maybe I can track Dempsey’s activities and interactions through cell phone records. Deanna at DOJ owed me and I called it in.” Con couldn’t help the grin that split his face. He was fondly remembering why she owed him those favors as Sasha and Hal came back into the house.

Hal’s face was set in mutinous lines, but her voice was soft. “I think all us ladies are going out for a little fun. There’s too much tension and way too much shit flying around here for anybody to think straight. So we decided to head on out for a while, right, Sasha?”

Con’s heart squeezed in his chest. From the moment he’d seen Sasha’s eyes light up at Dray, Con had known theirs was a bond time probably wouldn’t erase. It was just his feeling, true, but sometimes things were too obvious to ignore.

“Sure.” Sasha’s reply was noncommittal at best. “Let’s go to Ray’s.”

She straightened her shoulders as she glanced over at Hal. Not for the fiftieth time Con wondered what the hell Dray was thinking playing things this way.

“You’re on. Go get changed and I’ll let Kara and Devyn know,” Hal said enthusiastically as Sasha walked up the stairs.

Then she turned a look so full of loathing on him and Surrey that Con wanted to crawl under a rock.

“Since none of you will tell Sasha the truth, and our entire family is sick of seeing her hurt, how about you guys leave? We’re all tired of watching this go round and round, and if you or Dray think for one minute she’s better off this way, then it would be best if none of you returned.” Hal’s words dropped like acid, and she gave Surrey a look that could’ve frozen hell. Then with a flip of her hair over her shoulder, she turned and followed her sister.

Surrey’s face was a map of misery. Con’s mind drifted back over Hal’s words, and his breath almost stopped. He groaned then; couldn’t help it. Hal’s plan to go out seemed like an even worse one than Dray’s idea of not telling Sasha the truth. There was no telling what kind of trouble Sasha, Hal, Kara, and Devyn could cause. Hell, they’d heard the stories of past adventures. How could they establish a relatively safe environment for the women at a fucking nightclub?

He cut the groan off when Mama Bennoit walked into the living room.

“Well now, there’s lots of tension in the air tonight. I’m not big on giving advice to grown men, but I can tell you a little something about my Sasha.” She sat down in her chair and picked up her knitting. Silence hung there for a full minute. “Sasha’s stubborn, and if she makes up her mind to let your Mr. Bonner go, well, that’s what she’ll do. You can’t take a woman like Sasha’s choices away from her.” Mama Bennoit speared Con with a look, and he winced on the inside. “So you go right on and tell him about himself. Papa and I, we’re not of a mind to hold grudges. Our girls have had broken hearts before. But they were just girls then. They’re women full-grown now, so the hurt is worse and so will be
my
anger if he continues to act like a horse’s ass. I can’t even begin to tell you what Papa will do. I shudder to think about it. Captain Bonner’s only saving grace at this point is that he seems to be doing his level best to continue protecting our baby. You all think I don’t know what’s going on, but I wasn’t born yesterday. So you men go on and get him straight, okay? The girls will be all right for a while.” She snipped a piece of yarn and looked up, pinning Con with a sharp glance. “Go on now. Get it all settled.”

He felt like he’d had his ass beaten by his third-grade teacher. She dismissed the topic by diving into her needlework while she waited on her husband to get home.

General Post walked back into the living room and announced that he was heading out. He walked over to Mama Bennoit and asked her to give his regards to Mr. Bennoit. Then he looked at the men and motioned them to follow him out the front door. Itchy followed from the kitchen.

Post turned to them once they were out of hearing, his tone weary and his gaze distant. “Dray is on his way up here from the base in Columbus. He’s not real happy how this turned out, though I don’t know what he was expecting.” He looked as if he’d say more, but then cut the words off, shook his head, put his hat on, and left.

Itchy leaned against the porch railing. “Well, this sucks.”

“No, this more than sucks, Itch. It blows. I don’t know how we’re going to establish an even remotely safe perimeter while those girls go party their asses off at some bumpkin nightclub,” Con retorted.

“Hold on, Con. I don’t know if ‘party their asses off’ is quite right. I think Sasha’s sisters recognize that she needs to be distracted. It’s our job to make sure she stays safe until we can unload her on Dray. And believe me: I look forward to seeing his face when he sees her decked out in her party finery. You guys forget he hasn’t been here with us as we watched them let loose over the past year or so.” Surrey’s tone sounded vaguely hopeful. “I must say I’m kinda looking forward to it.”

“No, you’re not. You know damn good and well that you get pissed every time Hal dances or even comes close to another man, Surrey. You can take that somewhere else, man. You’re bullshitting a bullshitter,” Itchy chimed in mockingly.

“Back off, Itchy; don’t start with me,” Surrey warned in a tight voice.

Con rolled his eyes and stepped between the men.

“I’m just saying.” Itchy’s voice had a smile in it as he held his hands up and away from his body in a gesture of surrender.

“Surrey, chill out. Itchy, back off. Go grab Bleak from the table. I swear he’s always stuffing his face.” Con sighed. “We need to get down to Ray’s to scope it out. Let’s move on out before they get ready and beat us down there.”

Ray’s was always hot and crowded. People were decked out in next-to-nothing outfits that glittered and glammed, while bodies writhed on the dance floor as one of the best DJ’s in the state of Georgia churned out bass-thumping tunes. Ray Dole had set up his fine establishment some thirty years previous, and it had become quite the sizzling place to party in recent years. He was a good friend of Coleman Bennoit, Sasha’s daddy, and always had a place reserved for her and her sisters. Tonight was no exception.

Though Ray’s had once been her favorite place to let loose with her sisters, now it was just a way to pass the time. Music and dance had played an integral part in their raising. Mama sang in the church choir and raised her girls to do the same. For them to have not been physically related, they all had amazing voices. They sang, they danced, they sang. It’s what they did. Singing came naturally, and when the Bennoit women danced, well, other women got pissed because their men always turned to watch. And nobody was better at throwing down on the floor than Devyn.

Sasha’s face broke out into her first small smile since being told Dray wasn’t coming to see her. Devyn was dancing and it was a joy to watch.

Right now it was flat out humorous. Connie Makepeace’s fiancée was trying his damnedest to grind on Devyn, and Connie had blood in her eyes. But you couldn’t grind on a moving object, and Devyn never stopped once she got started. Poor old boy had no idea what he was setting loose with Connie’s temper. When Devyn finally noticed his lame-assed attempts to get her attention, she rolled her eyes and began making her way back to their table.

Sasha took a deep pull from the shot glass in front of her. She’d ordered an entire of bottle of alcohol right after they walked in and was, unfortunately, only a third of the way through it. She had lots left, but her brain was blessedly foggy. If she kept it up, she might fall into a nice stupor over the next hour or so and be able to make it until morning without sobbing like a big baby at Dray’s rejection.

She hadn’t been drunk in a few years. In fact, the last time had been right after she’d tossed Brian’s ring back into his face. Well, onto his back, really, because he’d been on top of Jennifer Holly at the time. She thought she’d outgrown the act of overindulging in spirits, but she was quickly recalling how pleasant the sensation of having everything dulled could be. Maybe she’d be so drunk she wouldn’t have nightmares tonight.

“Damn, that girl can dance,” Hal said.

Sasha snickered. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

“No, I think since Devyn has begun frequenting the joint they call it looks-a-lot-like-having-sex-with-innocent-bystanders-on-a-crowded-dance-floor. I swear every man within a five mile radius gets off watching her dance each time we come here. It’s embarrassing the way they bump and grind around her, like they’re trying to hump her leg or something,” Kara murmured sarcastically.

Hal snorted. “Nah, it’s probably that none of us can do it as well as she can, and we’re just jealous. But anyway, Sasha, have you seen Brian tonight?”

Sasha glanced at her. Hal simply raised an eyebrow as she tossed back her own shot of liquor. Sasha sighed and filled her glass again. Her ex-fiancée definitely had the potential of making this a very memorable evening.

“Yes, Hal, I have, and no, I don’t want any,” Sasha stated emphatically.

While she was working her way toward becoming heavily intoxicated, she could
never
be that drunk. She sniffed at her thoughts. The lesson her experience with Brian had taught her had apparently not stuck, as she was continuing to fall for men who didn’t seem to really want, well…
her
.

“How could you
not
want any of that?” Hal asked in mock astonishment.

“Maybe because he’s a man-whore who cheated on me every chance he got? Hot, true, but a man-whore nonetheless. Geez, Hal, you are the same one who kicked him in the crotch when we caught him with Jennifer, right? Want him? No, thanks, I’ll pass just like I did the first time. Besides, have you ever actually watched him dance? He looks apoplectic and deranged. Men who can’t dance cannot possibly have sex with a woman and have any hopes of bringing her over.” Sasha tossed back the clear liquid and took a deep breath. “You know, I pity Jennifer, really. Of course she can’t dance either, so I guess they both end up SOL and having shitty sex to boot.” She giggled as she watched Brian mangle dance moves on the floor.

She snorted, which ended up more of a hiccup, and then turned her attention to Devyn as her sister sat down at the table. “If I thought I could stand up without falling and breaking my neck, I’d go dance with you,” she remarked.

Her youngest sister was a dancer and choreographer by trade. At the tender age of nineteen, that was no small feat. She’d made a name for herself when she choreographed a schoolmate’s hip-hop video. The schoolmate had been a one-hit wonder, but the Devyn-train continued to roll down the tracks.

Sasha would have been able to hold her own if she was sober. On her way toward drunk? Probably wasn’t going to happen.

As Devyn opened her mouth to respond, Hal interrupted, “How would you know, Sash, since you’ve never been ‘brought over’ as you call it? Do you ever even think about getting horizontal? I tell you what: let’s make a bet,” Hal encouraged.

Sasha’s gaze snapped to Hal.

Her sister grinned. “Look, if I gotta tote your drunk ass out of here later, I may as well have fun doing it.”

Sasha’s heart stopped.

“Ladies!” Kara slammed a hand down on the table. “Let’s get refills, shall we?” She gestured the waitress over for fill-ups as if she were hoping she could get them sloshed enough to actually prevent the bet. Sasha saw her glance at Devyn and mouth, “Help me. Now.”

“No!” Sasha practically yelled. Her sisters’ gazes swung to her. “None of your bets, Hal. Nuh-uh, no way. I took your last one and look where I ended up. In the pokey for cripe’s sake. I tell
you
what, I make the deal and you take the bet.”

Sasha was inordinately pleased with herself and smiled. Then she giggled. Then she outright guffawed. “Yes, yes, yes, sister mine, it’s time you got a taste of your own medicine. Besides, I’m always taking your bets, you never take mine. So it’s your turn.”

Hal looked at her sisters and rubbed a finger down the bridge of her nose. Her eyebrows rose and a smile split her face. She’d never shied away from a bet, and Sasha doubted tonight would be the first time. “Okay, you’re on. What’s the bet?”

“Man, the floor is
hot
tonight ladies. Ya’ll need to get your asses out there with me and help me show them how it’s done,” Devyn enthused, though her face seemed, well, kind of desperate.

“Why are you yelling?” Sasha inquired with a grin.

Devyn glared at her.

Sasha coughed to cover her laughter.
Blessed, blessed fogginess
…“All right, Hal, here it is. You have to make every effort to have the next man that walks into this club bring you over. We’ll adhere to the stated laws of the Bennoit sisterhood and all the restrictions and limi—
hiccup
—limitimations heretofo—hereto—
shit
.” She blew a wisp of hair out of her face, waved her hand in the air, and took a deep breath, “Whatever the hell I’m trying to say. Bottom line, the next man through the door is the one you have to jump on. Since you apparently feel you’re an expert in being
brought over,
you can show me how it’s properly done.” Hal was so going to pay. Sasha’s thoughts were jumbled, but one stuck out suddenly. “Oh, oh, oh, and you have to somehow incorporate George Michael’s ‘I Want Your Sex’ into this bring overage. That’ll teach your ass to send me a ‘When I Think About You I Touch Myself’ singing telegram
at work
.” The slight slurring of her words was funny as hell to her, but she blew a raspberry and said, “Bet?”

Her sisters’ jaws dropped in unison. Sasha pointed and laughed. Devyn and Kara simultaneously turned to look at Hal, who then peered at Sasha in disbelief.

“Knuckle up you little chicken-shit,” Sasha urged as she held her fist out toward Hal. “Let’s do this. Wait, am I imagining it…are you turning green? Your nose is flaring, Hal, are you angry? Sadie would be so disappointed in you. Putting yourself out there only to puss out at the last minute. Good thing she isn’t here to witness this. I’d have to console her, and then we’d end up getting along for a few seconds. Now you don’t want that do you? Bad things happen when Sadie and I get along, Hal.”