The Last Husband (18 page)

I
walked into the backyard and sat on one of the recliners, and looked up at the
sky. The sun was about to rise, and it was quiet. I loved the stillness of
early morning. The only sounds I could hear were the birds chirping and the
sounds of a few cars passing by. I laid back and thought about everything that
was going on. I had to change. This was going to be the last time that I lied
to Lucky. She deserved better than this. Our relationship deserved better. Our
baby (oh God, I hoped there was a baby), deserved better.

I
must have fallen asleep because I woke up to Lucky standing in front of me,
crying her eyes out. My heart froze as I thought to myself,
She knows
. She knows about the dinner
with Angelique and she’s breaking up with me.

“What’s
wrong?” My voice was brusque. I was going to deny it. It hadn’t happened, yet.
She couldn’t prove anything.

“I
got my period,” she cried and looked into my eyes with sadness.

“Okay.”
I looked at her for a moment, wondering if she had lost it. Why was she crying
just because she had her period?

“I
woke up and I had my period,” she cried.

I
gave her a smile. “It’s okay. I don’t mind if you ruined the sheets.”

“I
got my period!” she exclaimed louder, and then it hit me.

She
got her period.

“You
can cancel the doctor’s appointment.”

I
felt my heart lurch at the words, but I pulled her into my arms to comfort her.
“It’s okay,” I whispered. I kissed her hair, and then all over her face. “It’s
okay, Lucky. Maybe right now wasn’t the right time to have a baby.”

“I
wanted to have a baby,” she cried into my shoulders. “I wanted us to have a baby.”

“And
we still can. You just have more time to finish school and do all those other
things you wanted to do.”

I
tried not to think about her going back to school and meeting all those other
guys, guys without issues, guys who didn’t hold back certain information. She’d
leave me. She’d meet a better guy, a man whose mother hadn’t left him, a guy
who wasn’t fucked up.

“Are
you okay?” This time it was her turn to ask me the question. I guessed that she
heard the dejection in my voice.

“Yes,
yes.” I nodded and held her close. I didn’t want to let go of her. I didn’t
want to be without her warmth and love. Lucky was healing my broken heart,
piece by piece, and I was scared that it would shatter into a million pieces if
she ever decided to leave me for good. “Don’t leave me, Lucky.”

“Leave
you?” She frowned. “Why would I leave you?”

“There’s
nothing holding you here, now.”

“Is
that why you wanted me to be pregnant?” She sat back. “Because you thought I’d
leave you if I wasn’t?”

“No,”
my voice was firm and I stood up. “Let’s go inside.” I was done talking about
emotions. I needed my head to be in the right place.

“Okay.”
She followed me into the house. “Oh, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you, but
Leeza is coming to Los Angeles.”

“Okay.”

“Today.”
Her voice was low and she wiped her eyes.

“Today?”
That was all I needed, her busybody friend in my business.

“Is
that okay?”

“It’s
fine. I can’t cancel my meeting tonight, I’m afraid, but I’m sure Leo won’t
mind if she joins you both for dinner.”

“Yeah,
maybe they’ll even hit it off.” She grinned, her mood lightening as we walked
up the stairs.

“Unlikely.
Leo is picky.”

“What’s
that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,
nothing.” I looked at her upset eyes and brought her in close to me. “I’m sure
they’ll get on like a house on fire.” I stroked her hair and kissed her cheek,
suddenly happy that Leeza was going to be there.

I
knew that Leo went for girls like Lucky - girls who were spunky and beautiful,
with hearts of gold. He was like me, in that any girl was okay for a night in
the sack, but for the long-term, he wanted a gem. And Lucky was the most
sparkling gem out there. I trusted him and I trusted her, but I didn’t want to
put anything to chance. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if her friend Leeza was
there, even if I didn’t trust her one iota.

“Yeah,”
she sniffled. “Don’t worry, I don’t want her rushing into a relationship with
Leo after being with Evan.”

“She
dated Evan?” I frowned. “I thought they just knew each other.”

“Well,
they knew each other intimately, I guess.”

“She
gets around fast, doesn’t she?”

“Hey.”
Lucky pinched me in the arm.

“Sorry,
sorry.”

“Uh
huh.” She pushed away from me and walked into her room. “I’m getting in the
shower.”

“In
there?” I looked at her with a heavy heart. Was she mad at me again?

“Yeah,
I’d rather bathe in here today.” She nodded and blushed. “It’s a girl thing.”

“Oh
okay.” Understanding dawned in me and I grinned. “Sure thing.”

I
walked back into my bedroom and inspiration hit me. I grabbed a pen and paper
and started writing, furiously. I grinned to myself as I read the words of the
poem I had written for her. I had an idea and I wanted to make sure that
everything was going to be perfect. I picked up the phone to call a friend, and
went into the shower about 15 minutes later, a much happier man.

“One
day people shall talk of this day, my love. One day birds shall sing of my joy,
my love.” I sang to myself as I changed and I paused as I heard my phone
ringing. I answered it, immediately, and my heart stilled as I spoke.

“This
is Zane.”

“Zane.
It’s Special Agent Waldron.”

“Hello.”

“Is
it clear?”

“All
clear.” My voice was tight. “Though we need to hurry. I have a guest who may
come in the room soon.”

“We’re
very close to linking Braydon to a cartel in Mexico. We think he’s trafficking
a lot more than we thought.”

“Okay.”
My heart thudded in anticipation.

“We
think he has a partner.”

“Oh?”
Evan!

“Someone
who is brokering the deals, someone who has more connections.”

“I
see.”

“We
need both of them to make an arrest.” The Agent’s voice was firm. “We get both
of them, and they implicate Sanchez for us, then we got him.”

“Do
you know who the partner is?”

“We
have some ideas, but we aren’t releasing any names yet.”

“But
I’m helping you—you can’t tell me?” My voice was angry. “Look, I have a
girlfriend now and I’m scared she may be targeted.”

“Get
her out of town.”

“I
can’t do that.” There was no way that I was sending Lucky anywhere, not when I
couldn’t be sure she was safe. “She’s staying here with me.”

“We
can’t guarantee her safety.”

“I’m
getting a bodyguard.”

“Zane,
I don’t suggest you bring anyone else into this situation right now. It’s very
delicate.”

“I
know that!” I shouted. “And she’s already involved. I didn’t want it to happen,
but it did. If you won’t protect her, I will.”

“You
need to be careful, Beaumont. You cannot share any privileged information with
her.”

“She’s
not a spy.”

“You
don’t know that. You can’t trust anyone at this moment.”

“I
trust her with my life.” I spoke the words and knew they were true.

“Zane,
you cannot jeopardize this assignment. We have been working too long on
bringing this cartel down. Do you want to bring Braydon down? The man
responsible for the ending of your relationship with Noah?”

“Do
I want to bring down the guy who murdered my brother? Of course I do, you fucking
asshole! Don’t you ever question me again! I am helping you!”

“Calm
down, Beaumont. We can’t have you ruining this with your emotions.”

“I’m
calm.” I wanted to throw the phone against the wall. “Does Braydon know you’re
on to him?”

“That
cocky bastard has no idea.” Special Agent Waldron laughed. “And he has no idea
about you, so keep it that way.”

“I’m
not about to let him know now.”

“Just
let him think it’s about the revenge. Mention nothing about drugs.”

“I’m
not dumb,” I hissed angrily.

“We
know that, Beaumont, but we’re close to the end here. We just need to make sure
we catch them both.”

“What
do you want me to do if you won’t tell me who the other suspect is?”

“Just
follow through with the plan we already have.” The Agent’s voice was rough.
“Don’t fuck it up.”

“I
won’t,” I sighed. Even if it fucked up my relationship with Lucky, I wasn’t
going to mess up this case.

“I’m
sure you have an idea who Braydon’s partner may be.”

“Yes.”
I thought back to all those nights hanging out with Evan and I couldn’t believe
I had missed all the signs. He was such a kiss-ass with everyone, and now I
knew why. My heart raced as I realized what Lucky had told me. Leeza was coming
into town today - her best friend. Her best friend who had dated Evan. Oh shit!
I had to make sure to tell Leo to keep an extra close eye on Lucky and Leeza. I
didn’t want her going anywhere with that girl.

“Beaumont,
are you there?” The Agent’s voice sounded tired. “Do what we asked and provide
us with the information. That’s all we want from you, okay?”

“Okay,”
I sighed.

“If
all goes well, we may have enough evidence to make some arrests within the next
week or so.”

“I
sure hope so.”

“I
gotta go, Beaumont.” And with that, the agent hung up.

I
stared at the phone in my hand, my heart pounding. We were close to the end. I
couldn’t believe it. I’d been a part of this case for so long and it was nearly
over. I was close to seeing Braydon Eagle locked behind bars. I grimaced as I
thought about him. While seeing him in jail would make me happy, it wouldn’t
bring back Noah.

***

“So
Leeza is your best friend?” I kept my voice light as we drove to the airport.

“Yeah,
she’s one of my best friends. She was really there for me when my parents
died.” Lucky looked out the window. “We’ve drifted apart recently, though.”

“Oh
yeah? Why?”

“After
I adopted my rules and stopped partying with her so much, we kind of grew
apart. She kept going out and meeting guys and bringing them home, and well, I
just worked a lot.”

“She’s
like your family, now, then?”

“Family’s
overrated.” She pursed her lips and cleared her throat.

“I
take that as a no.”

“No,
I don’t mean that. She’s a good friend of mine. Sometimes friends are better
than family. Sometimes family lets you down and you just don’t know why.”

“You
sound like me.” I looked at her, worried. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You
wouldn’t lie to me, right? It’s not the baby, right?” I reached over and
squeezed her knee. “I know we’re both disappointed, but it’ll be okay.
Everything happens for a reason.”

“How
did you get to be so wise?” She half-smiled. “But it will be nice to see Leeza.
Maybe we can have a girls’ day, and she can tell me what happened with Evan.”

“Are
you sure they broke up?” I kept my face looking forward.

“Yeah,
that’s what she said.” She played around with the radio and I resisted the urge
to keep questioning her. Leeza had tried to cause trouble for Lucky and me,
before. Maybe she knew that I had never been stalking Lucky. Maybe she wasn’t
trying to be a good friend. Maybe she was just a bad friend, and Evan was using
her to get to me.

“Remind
me I need to talk to Leo before you all go to dinner tonight.”

“We’ll
behave ourselves, Zane. I promise.”

“You’re
always a bad girl, Lucky.”

“I
suppose you want to bend me over your knee, huh?”

“And
give you a good spanking? Yes.”

“I
would not be surprised if you tell me you were a Dom in a previous life.”

“You’d
like that, huh?”

“Not
really.”

“What
would you call me? Big daddy?”

“Oh
my, Zane.” She burst out laughing uncontrollably. “Please never say those words
again.”

“You
don’t want to call me big daddy?”

“Hell
no, I don’t. That sounds so pervy.”

“I
guess you can call me Big Zaney instead.”

“I’ll
call you Crazy Zane, more like—or Pervy Zane.”

“At
least you’ll be calling.”

“You
can’t stop me from calling.”