Heels of Love (G Street Chronicles Presents From Love to Loathe Series) (21 page)

I walked over to the elevators and was just about to get on when someone caught my arm and tugged a little too hard. I pulled back, and one of my slits on arm sleeve ripped all the way down. I looked up, and it was Loon.

“What the hell, Loon?” I snapped.

“Jyme’s looking for you,” he said, not giving my now ripped dress another glance.

“I’m going upstairs; if he’s looking for me, he knows where to find me.” Loon pressed a button on his phone and said, “She is at the elevator.” Then, he turned back to me. “Don’t move.”

I stood there waiting, and Jyme came from around the corner. He held his hand out for me, and I stood there looking at it. I was not budging until he started talking. He mumbled something to Loon, who quickly disappeared.

Mrs. JJ came around the corner. She walked up to me squeezed my shoulders a little too tightly and gave me a kiss on my cheek before she walked out the front door. I rolled my eyes long and hard at her.

“This thing with you two has to stop.” he scolded me

I stood there as if I was a statue; I was not talking or budging until I got some answers. Jyme ran his hand over his head as if looking for his hair.

“They were some very important people that I was trying to impress.”

I stood there and crossed my arms with my eyebrows raised.

He pulled me closer to him and away from the elevator. I only budged a little because he gave me a little info.

“I’m trying to start up some businesses, and I need their support,” he said.

I started tapping my foot on the marble floor.

“A casino,” he whispered. I frowned at him, and he let his eyes wander around us. “Later, please.” He looked down at his watch and said we needed to go. “Are you okay for two more hours in those shoes?”

“I’m a fucking lady; I can wear these shoes until my feet bleed.”

“I believe you.” He grinned wide, and then guided me out the front door. He helped me into the truck, and then I handed him the box that was at the front desk. “Where did you get this?” he asked in a panic.

“It was at the front desk. I went to get the key, and she told me we had a package.” Jyme yanked his phone out, dialed a number, and then pressed it to his ear. He spoke quickly in that native language again. Then he hung the phone up and shut my door. He walked toward the front of the truck and Loon met him. Jyme handed Loon the box, and then Loon went back in the direction he came from.

Jyme got into the truck, and I didn’t say a word. He sat there for a moment, and then he started the truck. I pulled the seat belt over me and locked it. Jyme pulled out his phone and made another call. He spoke in his language and glanced over at me.

When he hung up, I stared at him.

“I know I owe you a ton of explanations, but please just give me some time to get everything in order.

I nodded, and then he pulled out of the parking lot. We drove in silence for about two miles. Jyme’s mind was working, his eyes were so crazy, and his hands were clenched around the steering wheel.

“I love you,” he said.

If I ever had any doubts about whether he really loved me or not. That look in his eyes now confirmed everything.

After a few minutes’ drive, we arrived at the port. Jyme led me toward a small speedboat and stepped inside.

“I can’t swim,” I told him nervously.

“I can.”

“See the thing is, I don’t like small spaces, and this boat is hella tiny.”

“Cricket, get into the boat.”

I stepped back from him, clutching my small purse to my chest. “I don’t want to.”

“Cricket,” he soothed.

“I don’t want to.”

Jyme jumped out of the boat and pulled me to him. I cried into his chest. A couple of footsteps came up to us fast, and I gripped Jyme tighter.

“Lil Samson, is everything alright?” a man asked.

“Yes, it’s just my girlfriend doesn’t like boats.”

The man laughed.

“Well, hell. How does someone live in the Pacific Northwest and not like boats?” another man stated.

I glared around at him, and when he saw my face, he stopped laughing.

“I think you better shut the hell up, Chuck. Oh, pardon my French, ma’am.”

“I don’t like small boats.” I growled.

“Oh,” Chuck said.

“Well, take my boat. It’s slower than your speed racer, but it will get you where you need to go,” the other man said.

“You don’t mind?” Jyme asked.

“Shoot,” the man laughed. “I think you’re good for it.” Both men laughed now.

“Listen Miss. Lil Samson’s been driving since he was six,” the man told me.

“Five,” Jyme corrected.

They all looked at me, and I nodded. Jyme kissed my forehead and pulled away from me. He stepped back into the small boat and shut it down. He stepped back on the dock and pulled out his wallet. He handed the man a hundred dollars and then told him he was renting his boat for one hour. Before the man could even protest, Jyme slipped another hundred out and said, “Well, we better make that two hours.” I saw the look in Jyme’s eyes, and he was thinking nasty thoughts. My toes tingled.

“Your money’s no good here,” the man protested.

“Take your wife out to an expensive Valentine’s Day dinner,” Jyme suggested.

“I’m taking her out to Grady’s already,” the man answered.

“Grady’s Fish Shack?” Jyme asked in disgust.

“And you know it,” the man said proudly.

“Take her to Palisade for a nice lobster dinner,” Jyme demanded, looking down at me and smiling. I smiled right back at him.

“The steak is really good, too,” I beamed.

“Well, I won’t be able to get reservations for tonight,” the man announced.

Jyme pulled out his phone and shoved the money into the man’s hand. Jyme spoke into the phone briefly.

“You have reservations for eight thirty,” Jyme told him.

“Well, shoot. Thank you, Lil Samson,” the man said.

He handed Jyme the keys and made plans for Jyme to return them. The men bid me farewell and were off. Jyme and I stepped into a boat that was obviously used for working, but it was clean and far bigger than Jyme’s. I felt much safer in it.

We entered into the dark waters. I stood behind Jyme with my arms wrapped around him. He was operating the boat, and it was the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

“That song last night,” I shouted over the motor.

“What song?” he shouted back.

“At the bar, when you first came to me.”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“What’s it called?”

“They’re an English band.”

“What kind of music is it?”

“Folk rock.”

“What’s the name of the song?”

“White Blank Page.”

Jyme parked the boat at a beach. We walked down the dock and up a flight of stairs. He unlocked a side gate, and we got into a golf cart. My heart was racing from the excitement. I had no idea where we were going, and I didn’t care. We made it to a residential area, and he turned down a street with a huge gate. He punched a code in, and the gates opened. We rode down the street, and there was nothing but gates, more gates, and more gates.

At a dead end, Jyme pulled in front of the gate and punched another code in. The gates opened. In the driveway, we got out of the golf cart, and Jyme guided me to the door. He unlocked three locks. Inside, the house was pitch black. Jyme reached against the wall and flipped on the light. And what a light it was. I looked up, and there was nothing but ceiling.

Jyme pulled me further into the house. My shoes clacked against the hard wood floors. We walked past a stairwell, and Jyme looked at his phone and grinned wide. He was up to something, but I didn’t know what. We walked through a living room with a stone fireplace. We entered a kitchen with a brick oven. The room was wide open, and the back wall was nothing but windows, but I couldn’t see a thing because it was so dark. We walked over to a side room with French doors, obviously a dining room. We strolled into another hallway. There was a bathroom, a laundry room, and the door to the two-car garage.

We ended up right back at the entrance, and then we moved on to the second floor. He rushed me through three different bedrooms. I had a feeling there was a main event coming somewhere. He opened the only door we hadn’t been into yet. He pulled his phone out and hurried me over to the huge window, not bothering to turn on the lights. I faced the window and he stood behind me; and then the explosions started.

Chapter 10

The Safe House

T
he sky filled with a million sparkles, and my eyes widened. A ton of little balls exploded into the sky. I heard whistles and crackling sounds. Jyme brushed my hair to the opposite side of my neck and nuzzled his face in.

“Look.” I pointed out the window. “You’re going to miss it, and it’s amazing.”

“I know it is,” he answered, staring at me. I turned my face to his, and he kissed me. We watched the fireworks show for another five minutes or so.

Then, he walked from the window and went to turn on the lights. There was a mattress on the floor with full bedding. This was the only room in the house with a piece of furniture in it.

“Have you been staying here?” I asked.

“Yes, but I wouldn’t ever ask you to, not like this.”

“I’ve seen worse,” I assured him.

He gave me a puzzled look, and I changed the subject. “So how are you going to decorate this room?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never decorated a house before.”

I walked into the bathroom, and there was a Jacuzzi tub just like the one in the bathroom this morning. There was a door and I figured it was the bathroom’s closet. My attention went back over towards the tub and just the thought of this morning’s tub session made my toes tingle.

“Why don’t you do it for me?” he asked me. There was something else in his voice.

“I’ve never decorated a house before either,” I advised.

“Please,” he asked, pressing up against me.

I leaned back on him.

“You didn’t answer my question earlier.”

I knew exactly what question he was talking about, but I was in no shape to answer it now.

“How long have you been staying here? I asked, stepping away from him.

He held on to my hand as I walked all over the master bedroom. I opened a door in the bedroom and stepped into a closet heaven. There were shelves, hanging rods and even an island dresser in the middle of the closet. Towards the back of the closet, there was another door. I opened it and walked into the master bathroom. The door I assumed was the bathroom’s closet door was not. It was a door that entered into a closet heaven. We stepped out of the bathroom and I saw another door next to the main closet door in the bedroom. We walked over to it and he let my hand go, I opened it and there was only small rods going up and down, from the ceiling to the floor of the small room.

“What is this?”

“You don’t know, Ms. Pink Bottoms?” He teased me by calling me my favorite brand of shoes. And I knew then, it was a shoe closet, and my heart jumped. He really bought this house for him and me. I mean the closet alone would make anyone sign on the dotted line. That shoe closet really got me. My mind starting wandering; I could imagine every single rod in that closet full of nothing but pink bottom shoes. I had to wake up from the trance he had forced on me with these amazing closets. I couldn’t think clearly, everything was happening too fast. I walked over to the wall where the light was and I shut it off.

“Cricket, wait.”

I turned and wrapped my arms around his neck. I kissed him softly and pressed myself against him.

“Last night, this morning, my party and the fireworks, I’ve never had – I…I’ve just never had anything like that before,” I choked out. “I will never forget this for as long as I live.”

“I beg to differ, just wait till next year,” he assured.

My mouth fell open and I felt a ping in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t take much more of this; my heart was already on the verge of stopping.

I slid from his arms and turned, heading back down the stairs. He didn’t follow me right away. I had made it down to the entrance before he even started coming after me. He shut the last of the lights off and faced me.

“You don’t like the house?”

“God, yes,” I laughed. “What’s not to like? It’s perfect.”

“Stay here with me then.”

“I can’t.”

“Why not, Babe?”

“We don’t know each other well enough for all that yet.”

“What are you afraid of?”

“Nothing. I just don’t think we’re ready to move in together yet.”

“Cricket, we’ve known each other long enough.”

“And we’ve actually only been together maybe four full weeks. We were broken up longer than we were together.”

“You know everything about me,” he stated.