01 Untouchable - Untouchable (35 page)

He propped himself up on one elbow, his
eyes still wild from what he was thinking, “Do you enjoy teasing me
or is it that you really don’t have a clue what you do to
me?”

“
I’m sorry, I didn’t’ mean
to… I just like being close to you.” I was trying to regain my
composure.

He fell back against the pillows,
staring up at the ceiling. “I like being close to you, too. I can’t
understand why you and I—I’d like to be the one…”

“
Aaah!” I vented, the
frustration level rising inside me. “Don’t you think I would like
to say yes to you? Don’t you realize that you are the person I want
to give myself to?” The stupid tears were rising and I hated the
fact that I couldn’t argue with him without being overcome
emotionally. “But this can’t be right between us, not this way;
it’d just be like you proved your brother’s point.”

I marched toward the bathroom and
closed the door. I grabbed the hair brush and straightened out my
tangled hair. “Is that the honest truth,” I asked through the
closed door, “What he said? Once a guy gets what he wants then he
loses interest?” I didn’t hear any reply. I brushed my teeth and
gargled, wishing I had brought my duffel into the bathroom so I
could change clothes. I washed my teary face, trying to not look
upset. When I opened the bathroom door, he was still lying in bed,
but this time propped on his other elbow facing toward the
bathroom.

“
Come here.” He patted the
side of the bed. My expression must have told him I wasn’t
completely ready to trust him again. “Please, come
here.”

He no longer had the wild look in his
eyes; he simply looked concerned about what I was thinking. I sat
down gingerly on the edge, but he was reaching for me, drawing me
toward him. I tensed, not sure what to expect.

“
Please, I’m not going to
hurt you, Leese.” That was not the best choice of words and we both
knew it. He shook his head at the blunder. “I’m not going to try to
force you to do something, but I want you close to me—I want to ask
you something.”

I relaxed as those powerful arms pulled
me against his chest. He pressed his lips to my hair and whispered,
“Is that what you’re afraid of? If something happens between us,
then I won’t care anymore?”

My throat was tingling, trying to form
a lump, “I used to think that love meant something—if you gave your
heart to someone, then it was forever—but…” The lump had formed and
I knew the only way to continue the conversation would be to let my
tears fall. I turned and looked into his eyes, his face so close. I
reached my fingers up to touch his cheek. “I’m having trouble
believing it means anything to a man,” I said, as I looked
away.

“
Leese, that’s the
difference between needs and love. Everyone has needs. When I
kissed your neck, you had a physical reaction. You showed me a need
to feel more, to want more. I’ve never known anything else besides
the need. David knows that. He’s in the same trap that I was in
before I met you. He can satisfy his needs, but he’s never been in
love. He knows respect, Dad taught him that, but not love.” He made
sure that I turned back to look at him as he spoke. “If I hadn’t
felt something different for you, David’s plan would have worked
perfectly. But, as much as I had the need that night, I knew I
could never do something like that to you unless I knew you wanted
me to, not just a drug talking.

“
You don’t know how many
times that night while you were lying there begging me to be
physical with you that I told myself it was okay, because you were
saying yes. But every time the thought crossed my mind, I realized
I’d never be able to face you the next morning.” Very slowly and
deliberately he lowered his face across my breast and placed his
ear to listen to my racing heart. It wasn’t sexual, but it was
sensual. As fast as it had been beating, it felt as if it had taken
flight with him so close. I cradled his head in my arms, wishing
this moment would not end.

“
He’s wrong, Leese. If
anything had happened between us, it wouldn’t have made this
easier. Even without anything happening physically, it just keeps
getting harder every single second. I’m in totally new territory
and what I know is that I keep expecting the only other step that I
do understand.”

“
I want to take that next
step because I love you, but it can’t be this way. Call me a
Christian freak, but I’ve got to have forever.”

He rose up, his face became very
serious, “I’d never call you that. I love how much faith you have
in God, but we don’t have forever and by the time today is over, we
may not even have tonight.”

A pang of fear coursed through
me.

His voice dropped low and hoarse, “When
you go out the door today, the whole world is going to know where
you are. You will be on every news broadcast from here to Canada. I
don’t know if I can manage to get you back here without a news crew
following us—and they’ll lead the rogue right to our
door.”

We lay together for a long while, just
being still and holding each other. I looked at the clock and it
was nine-fifteen. I rose up and went to the sliding doors, looking
out on the private white sand beach on the calm inlet. My stomach
rumbled. “Do they serve any kind of breakfast?”

He was already up and coming through
the bedroom door. “Yeah, donuts and coffee, I think. I’ll go up to
the office and bring something back.”

I unlatched the door and slid it over
letting the balmy salted breeze come into the room. “They have
hammocks under the palms. I’ll wait for you outside.

He went out the front door; I stepped
out the back. There was a nice double-size hammock close to the
water and I went down to try it out. Sitting there I turned over
what would happen today when I got to the hospital. I was sure
Robert would be there at some point and, if he were, what would I
say to him? Was it possible that he and I could sit down and work
out this mess? Perhaps I could offer him whatever money he needed
to clear his debts and get out of our family and leave us alone. I
could tell him that I knew about the hit and maybe I could convince
him to call it off or I would produce evidence to put him in jail.
Of course, I wouldn’t tell him that what I had didn’t amount to
quite enough, but… The possibility of having him call off the hit,
should free Evan from his obligations. Maybe we might have a
chance, a real chance together.

“
I hope you like cherry.”
His voice startled me. He was carrying two cups of coffee with a
Danish balanced on top of each. I took one from his hand and
smiled.

“
Sure, I’m so hungry, I
think you could have dropped it in the dirt and I’d still eat
it.”

He laughed, “No, I didn’t drop it, but
I could if you…”

I smacked his shoulder with my free
hand as he joined me on the hammock. After our tiny breakfast, I
went inside for a shower and to get ready for my debut back into
public life. All my clothes had been crammed into the duffle, so I
had to spend time ironing. He called his attorney and the document
was faxed to the motel office. I folded it up and placed it in my
purse.

The only thing left to do was to wait
until I could see my mother. At 11:30, his personal cell went off.
It was his father. He stepped out the back of the unit, closing the
sliding door behind him. He motioned me to stay inside as he
discovered what information his father could offer. I watched him
through the glass as he paced along the beach. I could see nothing
positive in his facial expression. He seemed to grow darker,
angrier, and more agitated as he talked. I watched as he finally
plopped down on the sand, his knees drawn up and parted, his head
hanging forward, his hand cradling his temple. I watched him close
the phone, but I had a feeling it wasn’t a good idea to approach
him.

I would have to be patient and wait for
him to come to me. I watched the clock tick by. After five minutes
he returned, but he didn’t say anything. He went out the front door
and returned moments later carrying his gun cases.

I followed him to the bedroom as he
opened them on the bed. He looked at me and handed me my holster.
“Put it on,” he ordered.

I took it from his hand, “Are you going
to tell me what he said?” I asked it gently, but he still gave me a
hard look. He picked up my baby Glock and dropped the magazine into
the handle. He actually scared me when he chambered the first
round; he had told me I wasn’t allowed to carry it chambered. He
clicked on the safety and handed it to me. I hesitated.

“
Take it,” he
snapped.

I put it in the holster and fastened
the strap around the butt to secure it. I slipped my arms through
the straps and clipped it to the waist of my skirt. I found my
hoodie and put it on, zipping it half way.

He put on his dual holster, chambered a
bullet into each gun and secured them in place. He had brought a
jacket, which was going to be very uncomfortable since the
temperature today was predicted to be in the low eighties. He
chambered bullets in both his rifles, closed the case and slid it
under the bed.

I reached out my hand to rest it on his
arm as he stood up, “Please tell me what he said. I can tell it’s
not good, but I’d still like to know.”

He still looked so angry, but I could
tell he was trying to keep it under control. “Let’s go sit in the
living room.” As soon as we sat down, he began, “It’s not one
rogue,”

I know my mouth opened, but he
continued before I could say anything.

“
It’s two
brothers.”

“
You know them?”

“
They did some work for a
friend of one of my dad’s business partners two years ago. They
haven’t had any regular contract work for our side of—from our
clients because they were a little too bloody.”

“
What happened?” I didn’t
know if he’d tell me, and I truly didn’t want to know.

“They were supposed to take out a rival
warehouse boss, who had been siphoning off business from one of the
local mob members. The guy had refused to join the union of
businesses when he was given the opportunity. Jack and Ricky got a
little over zealous and ended up not only killing the guy, but his
wife and three warehouse workers. They burned the building to the
ground just to be sure there was no evidence left behind. It really
pissed them off that the mob didn’t care for their
tactics.

“
There is more than one
group to work for in this business, so they have been doing work
for an east coast group, but mostly private jobs since then and, by
all accounts, they haven’t mellowed, they’ve gotten worse. They’re
particularly good at one brother causing a scene, like the shooting
at the school, and when the victim tries to get away the other
brother either picks them off or has their car rigged to blow. I
was right that day at the school to be extra cautious on getting
away. They work cheap, dirty and quick.”

I could tell there was more coming as I
watched his facial expression change. “ Now, would you like the bad
news?”

I must have had a little catatonic look
to me, as he gave a bitter laugh and continued.

“
The word is out that they
know you’re already under a contract. Evidently Sharon Norton told
them they would be stealing a mark from one of the southern mob’s
best if they pull it off. That would be an ultimate high for them
to show our cliental that they made a mistake in writing them off
years ago. They are just waiting for you to pop your head up and
then they’ll do their best to finish you first.”

I had no tears inside me, no emotions
welling to the center of my throat, just the bleak truth that what
he said this morning was probably correct. Last night was the last
night we would be together. I felt him reach around me and draw me
against his side.

“
Now that you know, are you
okay?”

I nodded. “We need another car.” I know
that wasn’t a response he was expecting, but the chances of
something happening to him would be much greater if we traveled in
one vehicle. I didn’t want anything to happen to him. “I would
think it would make it easier for you to stay back and see if
anyone is following me.”

He sighed, obviously believing my
logic, “We’ll pick up a rental at…” he started to say.

But I had something better in mind.
“Are you ready to see your new car? It should only take us ten or
fifteen minutes to get there from here.”

“
You mean your Porsche?” He
seemed a little surprised.

“
No, it’s your car. I’m just
storing it for you, remember?”

“
Leese, we can’t get
anywhere near your house.”

“
I told you it is in
storage. It’s a big storage company off Teak Street. I’m the only
one with the combo and I locked the keys inside with the
car.”

“
We’ll check the area out
first. But, if I see anything I don’t like, it stays in storage and
you get a rental.”

“
And the bungalow,” I added.
“Would it be better to have two? You can watch me from…”

He held up another room key. “I decided
that this morning. I had even decided on a rental car, but…” And
then he gave me the oddest expression, “One thing worries
me?”