Fixing Justice (42 page)

“Feeling better?” he asked as gently as his nerves would allow. The last thing he wanted to do was add to her unease but in all honesty, it was taking all his strength not to fall to his knees. Keeping her eyes downcast, Victoria nodded jerkily but didn’t utter so much as a squeak.

“Is there something you want to tell me?” To his astonishment, her lips, the very ones he’d been devouring not all that long ago, began to quiver. He swallowed the lump lodged in his throat and didn’t move for fear he would lose his ability to function if he did.

“Would you hand me my dress?” she asked in a hushed, trembling voice. Drae walked around the end of the huge bed and gathered her pretty little sundress, noting the torn panties he’d ripped off laying nearby on the floor. Feeling sick, he thought he might be following her act in the bathroom with one of his own.

He wondered what a guy did in this sort of situation. Was there a right or wrong thing to say? She hadn’t answered his question, and he wasn’t sure if he should press her for a response. He had a right to know, didn’t he? Remembering her bitter words about his manhood and how she wouldn’t want him involved if she was, increased the sweat trickling down his back.

She murmured a quick, “Thanks,” when he handed over her dress, taking it from him with hands that were clearly shaking.

“Victoria, talk to me,” he pleaded. “What’s going on?”

She threw off the blanket and swung her legs down the side of the bed, tugging the sundress hurriedly over her head as she shucked off the robe and smoothly stood as the dress neatly fell into place. Under normal circumstances he would have been impressed with how little skin she showed during this maneuver but at the moment the only thing he was feeling was a bad case of nerves. Crossing her arms under her breasts, she looked so small and fragile–adding to his increasing anxiety. He had to hand it to her though, even in this odd situation, she was doing everything she could to give off the appearance that she was in complete control. Shame that her pallor and shaking hands told a much different story.

When she finally looked at him he took a step back as hunted eyes shadowed with something that looked like pain landed on his face. “I know what you’re asking,” she whispered. Gesturing toward the bathroom she continued. “But despite what just happened here, I don’t know how to answer.”

How the hell was he supposed to react to such an obvious non-answer?

“I’m going to head home now,” she murmured, making for the sitting area in the open walkway on the second floor.

“No. I don’t think so. We need to talk about this.”

Pushing past him she turned as she reached the long walkway with an incredulous look on her face. “Talk? Are you joking, Draegyn? Good Lord! Every time we try, well,” she said in a voice that was rising in intensity and tone. “We end up naked, and I’m thinking that’s how we got in to this mess in the first place.”

He couldn’t believe she was trying to leave when his whole world was crashing at his feet. Raking a hand through his hair, Drae scrubbed at his face and then at the hair on his jaw.

“Jesus Christ, Victoria. Do you really imagine that you can show up here, fuck my brains out, then heave your guts up in the toilet and simply turn around and walk away?” He hadn’t meant to shout but it was too late to turn back now. She looked like she’d been slapped, making him instantly regret the
fuck my brains out
comment. That hadn’t been fair. Not by a long shot.

“Oh, nice!” she hollered back. “Once again, just like in Vegas, this is all my doing, right?”

Nerves, panic, and fear, hers and his, fueled the raging argument that broke out. He demanded answers. She told him angrily to fuck off. Somewhere in the midst of the yelling she’d called him a lying cheat again and he reacted with offended indignity.

“I did not deceive you and most certainly have not cheated! And besides, how exactly do you cheat on someone who is constantly screaming in your face about what an asshole they are? From where I’m standing, you wouldn’t care one way or the other!” he bellowed.

A noise below them made each turn to see where it was coming from. Cameron’s shocked and embarrassed face looked up at them, having clearly witnessed them screaming and hissing at each other. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said quickly as he motioned to the driveway. “I just stopped by to drop off that shipment of Koa wood I had sent from Hawaii.”

Victoria looked away from the man standing below and fixed Drae with a scathing look. “You couldn’t be more wrong,” she hissed. “Only your smug arrogance supersedes your unbelievable stupidity.”

With that she flounced down the steps, picking up one of her discarded sandals along the way as Cameron remained motionless in the doorway, slack-jawed and plainly shocked by the ugly scene he walked in on.

Flying past his flabbergasted friend, she descended another set of stairs into the living room where their encounter had begun and snatched up her purse. Arriving back on the landing, Drae watched her struggle to pull something from the big bag. Stomping over to Cameron, she slapped a brown envelope and what looked like a folded up newspaper against the man’s chest, and told him, “That’s for Mr. Double-Oh-Jerkoff. Make sure he gets it.”

Practically running from the house she whipped around at the last second, clutching her bag and one lone shoe, zeroing in on his face with neat precision. “Consider yourself served!” she bit out, then flew out the door like a fire had been lit under her ass.

“Fuck!” Drae raged as she slammed the heavy wood door for maximum emphasis, climbed into the cart she’d arrived in and sped up the driveway.

“Dude,” Cam uttered, shaking his head in amazement. “What the hell was that?”

Drae thundered down the steps scowling darkly. “Shut up,” he bit out at Cam, just because he knew he could. Snatching what Victoria left from his friend’s hands, he continued down the long hallway on the first floor to his study and just like the angry female that had run screaming from him, slammed the door for good measure.

Several glasses of whiskey later, he sat with head in hands, going over the ghastly row and wondered where it had all gone so wrong. It was a very long time after that before he left the study. Passing the table where he’d thrown the envelope Victoria left, Drae absently picked it up, watched the folded newspaper fall and reached for it. Opening the glossy tabloid his eyes blurred as his gaze connected with the single page spread showing a series of pictures featuring him and the glamorous Jessamyn taken during their recent unexpected meeting in New York.

Anger swept through him as he read the salacious story underneath the provocative headline. That fucking bitch. She’d even given a quote to the tabloid insinuating they were friends with benefits. An arctic blast of worry replaced the anger feeding into his system drip by icy drip. Drae was so undone by what he was reading that the brown envelope slipped from his thoughts. He’d realize how unfortunate that was later.

Tori didn’t know how she made it back to her apartment in one piece. After their ugly confrontation, she’d been shaking so bad it was a miracle she’d been able to handle the electric cart. Supremely conscious of the fact that she was sans panties under her white sundress, she’d hurried up the stairs clutching her one shoe, unlocking her front door with trembling hands.

Leaning against the closed door, she flicked on the switch that filled her tiny home with light, dropped her bag on the floor, and pressed her hand against her quivering tummy.
Now was not the time to be sick again
, she thought. Not when she had so much to do.

Of course, the first thing her eyes lit on after she’d taken a few deep breaths was the package that arrived earlier that morning, containing the random toiletries and makeup refills she’d ordered along with that damnable pregnancy test.

“Great timing,” she muttered aloud as she tore the package open and read the directions. At this point she didn’t really need the verification, all the damn signs were there plus some, but sticking her head in the sand wasn’t going to help. If she was pregnant, there was another consideration she had to deal with. Healthy babies didn’t happen by chance, and she would need to start taking steps to ensure her well-being and that of her child.

Twenty minutes later, Tori sat on the edge of the toilet, clutching the little plastic stick in her hands with the two lines indicating she was carrying Draegyn St. John’s baby. It was a long time before she could move. When she finally did, she went to her bag, searched for her cell phone and punched in the numbers that would call her mother.

First things first, and talking to her mom was at the very top of the list, followed by a hurried packing of her things and lastly the resignation letter and expression of thanks she was going to leave behind for Alex.

She’d loved living in the desert and getting to know everyone at the Justice Agency. This place had been a lifeline during a difficult time and she’d come to feel a part of the family. But those days were gone and now, nothing was more important than the baby she was carrying. Nothing.

Tori didn’t consider what she was doing as running. Maybe there could have been a chance for them to find some kind of middle ground, despite his relationship phobia, but his little escapade in New York pretty much squashed that. Trust was a big deal to her. Giving him her body she was going to chalk up to hormones and good, old-fashioned lust. He was, after all, sex on two legs. But trusting him with her heart was another thing altogether, and when it came to a baby – well, she wasn’t a mother yet but suddenly she understood how that five letter word could come between two people.

The next morning Drae was standing in his kitchen when he heard the front door slam followed by quickly approaching footsteps. Curious who was stomping like a madman in his direction, he rounded the corner and ran face first into a fist smashing into his jaw. The jolt sent him flying backwards onto the floor with a painful thud. Jumping to his feet, he immediately assumed a defensive posture ready to kick the shit out of whoever had just cold-cocked him only to find himself staring into Alex’s rage-filled eyes.

“I’m gonna annihilate your fucking ass, Drae! You were warned, man!” Alex shouted.

“What the fuck, Alex?” Drae yelled back, letting his hands go from clenched fists to a gesture of surrender. “Can the condemned man hear the charges before getting jumped with no warning?”

“Oh, that’s how you’re gonna play this? Don’t act like you don’t know exactly what you did.” The rage emanating off his friend’s body made an impression on him. He’d seen Alex mad before, plenty of times, but this was different. He actually looked and sounded like he really did want to murder him.

“Back off, bro. You know damn well that one good kick to your leg and you’ll be out of commission for a week.”

“Well,” Alex bellowed, “Suppose I should expect a low blow like that from you. This time you’ve gone too far!” he yelled as every vein in his neck stood out in stark relief from his skin.

“C’mon man, you’re scaring the shit out of me here. I’ve never seen you like this. What in the hell is going on?”

Alex glared at him with a venomous look made all the more dangerous by his brawny physique which was practically bursting with pumped up aggression – directed solely at him. “Y’know Drae, you’re my brother and all that but you really are a miserable human being. Care to tell me what you did to her?”

“Uh, did to who?”

“Tori, of course! What in fucking fuck – did you – DO?” Alex’s voice was so loud it could probably be heard from the fucking Space Station.

Was it possible to know you were giving off a deer caught in the headlights look, because that was precisely how Drae felt. Had news of the screaming match he and Victoria had yesterday made it to Alex’s ears? “What did Cam tell you?”

“What? Oh, holy shit. Cam’s involved in this too? Motherfucker…”

“Alright, settle down and let’s get on the same page, okay? Cam isn’t involved in anything but clearly I am.”

“Damn right you are! She left, as in, she took one of the trucks early this morning and drove into town. I just got an email from her telling me where to pick up the vehicle.”