Wine and Roses (7 page)

“All right, we can do that. But where are you taking her?”

“Best you don’t know. But Frank will stay in touch with you for updates.”

Jackson frowned, raking his hands through his hair. “I don’t like this.”

“You don’t have to,” Eboni said. “Excuse me, gentlemen. I’ll be ready in five.

Chapter Eight

The change went off smoothly. The sun had just risen. It’d taken them longer to get away than he liked but couldn’t be helped. So far, Eboni cooperated; however, she didn’t fool Simon. She kept yawning and tried to hide it. She needed to crash. He’d get her where she’d be safe soon and take care of her. The way he’d wanted to for months. He’d have her to himself. They got to the small airport, parked, and went straight to the private hangers. The agency had an arrangement with a few of the pilots, and Frank called ahead, so one stood inside the entrance near a plane waiting for them.

The man introduced himself. “I’m ready when you are, Mr. Blackcat.”

“Thanks, that would be now.”

Without another word, the pilot led the way into the plane. Simon wrapped his arm around Eboni’s waist and strapped her bag over his shoulder, but she stopped at the bottom of the steps of the plane.

“Now can you tell me where we’re going?”

He grinned. “Big Sky.” Turning to watch her reaction to their destination.

Her eyebrows rose higher toward her forehead, and her eyes opened wide. “Montana!”

“Yes.” And
home
. He hadn’t been back in five years but kept the place up and looked after. Just in case. From time to time, he even leased it out to vacationers or let friends use it. People who wanted to hike or fish. The old house held a lot of memories and ghosts, not all good, but he hoped someday, somehow the twins would remember and come looking for him. He wanted them to have a place to start. They’d be twenty-one now, and with luck, they’d fared better than he. But they all carried those ghosts from their past within their genes. Sometimes you couldn’t avoid returning home. He needed to get Eboni somewhere safe fast, some place if he needed to defend he could. Simon knew every inch of the Bitterroot Valley. The river growing up was his playground. The valley sheltered his roots along with his memories. No matter how far he’d travelled in the years since he’d left for good, it was still home. For better or worse. He must be nuts to take Eboni there, but ghosts couldn’t hurt her there, living in LA could. He could protector her in Big Sky.

When she spoke again, he focused once more on the beautiful woman beside him. “Why, Montana?” she asked.

“Why not?”

“But it’s so far. What if something happens?”

“Nothing will but even if it does, I’ll handle it.” The involvement of one of the cops didn’t sit well with him, and there could be others. That meant the killer could have been monitoring Eboni for the last couple of days while she’d been in the hospital and only waited until she got home to make a try for her. Men like Bennis needed putting down from birth. Time was on their side. The harder he could make it for Bennis to find her, the more likely he’d give up and do what he’d done in the past and make like a magic act and disappear.

“Again, nothing’s going to happen, Eboni. I won’t allow it.” He lowered his head and kissed her quickly. It was all he’d allow himself and still the power of their brief touch reached down and grasped his balls in a vise. He shifted himself to make it up the stairs, and as soon as they got onboard, he saw the crate with the sleeping dog in it. Good, he’d forgotten about the sedative. Easier for dogs to fly with one in their system.

When Eboni saw the crate, she made a beeline in its direction. “What’s this?”

He placed her bag in one of the storage bins over a seat. “That little mongrel is Gunner.”

She bent down to get a better look at the sleeping dog. “Oh, how cute. What breed?”

He laughed. “Boston Terrier and Chihuahua as near as we can tell. A little pest if you ask me.”

“He’s adorable!” she said, sticking a finger through the wiring in the front to caress the dog’s ear. “How long have you had him?”

“About a month. But I’m looking for a home for him. As you know, with all the traveling I have to do for work, pets just aren’t my thing. You want him?”

“I wish, but no, not with the long hours I put in at the salon. But he’s awfully cute.” She took the window seat across the aisle from the crate.

The pilot asked them to take their seats, and he planted himself beside her, satisfied to simply thread his fingers with hers. Who would have thought holding hands would be so satisfying. Knowing Eboni sat safely next to him, he closed his eyes and slept. And the past pulled him back.

***

“Goddamn it! How many times woman do I have to tell ya not to touch my shit!”

“I’m sorry, Sam. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“She didn’t do it, Pa. Jas did.”

Simon could hear the raised voices as he neared the shed. The gruff slurred tones of his father rising in volume with each word he spoke. The louder his voice got, the more his anger rose. Simon needed no one to tell him his father was drunk again and dangerous. His mother knew it, so did he, which was why he ran toward the yelling. The scared wobbly voice of his mother followed the crying wail of one of his brothers. Simon couldn’t move fast enough. The scene unfolding before him happened in slow motion. His father turned and backhanded Jas, him landing so his head hit the side of the ride-on lawnmower. His twin, Josh, rushed toward their father with his fist raised, and his mother lunged to grab him back. Only to run right into his father’s balled beefy fist. He heard the crack from the blow to her temple as he raced across the small space to stand between his parents. Shoving his father away from his mother—hard. If he weren’t so drunk, it wouldn’t have budged his father’s six feet and 300 pound body. Simon’s lanky seventeen-year-old frame would not normally have had much impact. But drunk as his dad was he stumbled, falling backward right onto the pitchfork impaling him through the neck.

After the first initial shock of his father’s blood spreading over more of the ground, he swung toward the twins, seated on either side of their mother. Her beautiful brown eyes wide open in terror but she didn’t see any of them. She’d never see anything again. The doctor later said she’d been struck so hard at a soft spot on the brain she hemorrhaged and probably died instantly. God, he hoped so. She’d suffered enough. Her nightmare of a life with his father finally over. His had just begun.

***

Simon came back to the land of the present when he heard the pilot’s voice saying they’d land in about half an hour. Blinking, he raised his hands to adjust the shades on his face, letting the memories recede back into the far corners of his mind. He’d bury them for good, if he could, but they’d come out to play again sometime. Shifting his head, he glanced down at Eboni. She lay with her head on a pillow tucked against his shoulder. Her peaceful rest drew a smile from him shoving the lingering remnants of his bleak past out of his mind and making him concentrate on her. He kissed her head before touching her shoulder and gently shaking it.

“Wake up, sleepy head, we’re almost there.”

“Hmm….” She yawned and opened her eyes before smiling at him. If that wasn’t an invitation, he didn’t know what one looked like. Twisting, he wrapped his arm under her back bringing her closer to him while she twined her arms around his neck and fused her mouth to his. God, his wanting this woman had never stopped. He’d been fooling himself, one night was not enough not even two. On some level he knew the mistake of thinking about a long-term relationship. He was not the pick out china and go through paint color samples sorta guy. The kind Eboni needed. He pulled back, breaking the kiss before either of them really wanted to and straightened up in his seat.

“We’ll be landing shortly,” he said.

“Okay.” She straightened up, too, and turned her face to stare out the window.

***

“Hey, it’s me. What the hell happened?”

“He made us. What the fuck do you think?”

“Well, he’s moved her and now because of this screw up there’s going to be an investigation.”

“Can you stall it?”

“Fraid not, my ass is on the line. The feds are here now, too. I stalled the paper work as long as I could, but as soon as your picture popped up, they were all over it. And besides they know who the dead guy is.”

“Damn. Where was the woman moved to?”

“Forget about her. My instructions are to tell you to make like smoke and fade away.”

“I can’t leave her alive,” Bennis growled. “And the dude she was with, he and I have personal business.”

“Simon? You know Simon Blackcat?”

“Yeah and I owe him. Where the fuck has she been moved to?”

“Blackcat wouldn’t tell us. But I managed to follow them to an airfield and found out where the plane was headed.”

“And that would be?” Bennis asked.

“Montana, Missoula.”

“What the fuck is there?”

“Hell if I know, maybe just trying to put distance between you.”

“Not for long. Okay find out where exactly.”

“Listen, I can’t ask any more questions or get any further involved in this. That was not the arrangement we had.”

“I’ll be wiring another ten thousand to your account. You have twenty-four hours to get me that information.”

“I’ll see what I can do.”

Chapter Nine

Eboni didn’t know what to expect. She’d never been to Montana before, and the only thing she knew about Big Sky was from watching the Brad Pitt movie,
A River Runs Through It
. She certainly understood why they called this part of the country Big Sky. It seemed as though the world was relegated down to one color, blue. For miles that’s all she could see, an endless skyway and if she stood on tiptoe and stretched her hands high enough she’d be able to touch it.

Simon didn’t say much after leaving the airport. They got a rented Jeep, and stopped the first chance they got. Gunner woke up and needed a bathroom break, which alone took twenty minutes. He was an adorable dog, black and white markings, about fifteen pounds so not too big but not too small either. A nice manageable size. Contrary to what Simon said, judging by the way he and Gunner played together, he loved the dog and the dog loved him. Not a hard thing to do at all.

They’d been driving along for a little over an hour with Gunner sleeping on Eboni’s lap. Earlier Simon tried putting him back in his crate but he refused to get back in. After fifteen minutes of a battle of wills, they’d let him out in the back seat, and he’d promptly climbed into the front and planted himself on her lap. Not budging since.

After turning off the main road, ten minutes later, they took a right turn unto a gravel covered road. Only Gunner’s soft snores disturbed the silence in the car, but neither bothered her. The breathtaking scenery made her wish she could paint or had a camera. She used her Smartphone to take a couple of shots to send to her sister.

When Simon veered off the road, they ended up on a dirt one. She found her voice. “Is this even a road?” She rattled off, while hanging on to the handle above the passenger door so she wouldn’t bounce so high she’d hit her head against the car ceiling. Through it all still managed to keep a sleeping Gunner on her lap. “I think those drugs are still in his system,” she said, looking at the dog.

“Yeah, probably a good thing. And sorry about this. Must have been some rain recently. I don’t remember this road being quite this bumpy.”

“Good to know that these potholes the size of manhole covers aren’t around when it’s not raining.”

He turned to her. God, she loved it when he smiled at her with a slight curl of his lips. That was the look he’d given her the first time she’d met him at the salon. She quickly turned her head to stare forward, not wanting to risk becoming any more ensnared by him, yet fearing her ship sailed already, and with her at the helm. For crying out loud, she’d slept with the man once. Okay four times, but only for one night. The only reason she’d left early the next morning was because she didn’t want to risk getting hurt. Men like Simon…well they didn’t stay, and something inside her feared she wanted him to. And his leaving might not be something to get over anytime soon. So she’d cut things short. For all the good it did her. She couldn’t get him out of her mind since.

Only now he’d taken up residence in her life and already proved she held no immunity against him, and God help her, he still wanted her. Suddenly they cleared a hill, and she could see the river several yards in front of her. The dirt road they drove on led straight up to a small house nestled in a clearing with the mountains at its back. Simon pulled up in front of the house. There didn’t appear to be a garage, just the graveled area where he stopped.

“Oh my. This is stunning.” The river was wide enough she could make out if someone stood across from her and waved. But no one did. Only a forest of trees stood on the other side. A small dock floated near the side of the house, and a dark tarp covered something large, pulled right up on the banks of the river. “Is that a boat?” she asked Simon.

“Yes. I keep it stored like that to protect it. But it also makes it easier for anyone wanting to use it to get it out onto the water.”

Eboni turned to look at him. Simon held her full attention. “You own this place?”

“Yes.”

Gunner took that moment to get up and yawn. Sitting up, the dog looked around as Simon opened the car door and stepped out. Gunner jumped over the center console and jumped out the door right after his master. She got out, too, opening the back door to grab her purse and the dog crate while he got their bags. There’d been a duffle bag all set for him in the car they’d switched with Frank. Gunner had already run down toward the river. Simon paused to watch the dog as she walked around the car to the front door of the log cabin and paused.

“Gunner. Come. Now.” Simon called to the dog that came tearing across the yard toward them.