The Last Husband (22 page)

“Lucky…”
My heart stopped once again at her words and I imagined my life without her in
it. It would be bleak and uneventful. A life without Lucky in it would be no
life at all. “Please don’t leave me. I do trust you. I swear to God. The FBI
told me to keep it to myself for the sake of your safety and the case.”

“You
still should have told me.” Her stare was obstinate and I caressed her face.

“Please
be patient with me, Lucky. I’m trying my best to be the man that you want. But
it’s hard for me to give up that control. I’m scared you’re going to walk out
and leave me. I’m scared I’m going to lose you. I’ve never felt these emotions
before and I love them. They make me feel alive. They make me feel like I never
have to worry, ever again. But sometimes, that old devil jumps on my shoulder
and whispers in my ear, and I get worried, and angry, and afraid.”

“There
is nothing to be worried about, Zane.” She held my hand next to her cheek. “I’m
not your mom, I’m not going to leave you.”

“I
just want you to be safe, Lucky. Please know that I would never have done
anything with Angelique last night. I can’t even look at another girl. You’re
it for me, Lucky. You’re the one.”

“I
need to see it.” She rested her head on my shoulder and looked up at me. “Last
night, I thought my heart was breaking. I was so scared and worried. I didn’t
know what happened to you. I even thought that, maybe there had been another
car accident, and that something had happened to you.”

“Oh
no. I’m sorry I didn’t even think about that.” I held her in my arms as she
cried, and I felt her body trembling against mine.

“I
was so scared, Zane. I didn’t know what had happened and you weren’t returning
my calls. And then after Braydon told me about Angelique, I didn’t know what to
think.”

“Don’t
remind me of Braydon. I’m going to have a serious conversation with Leo.”

“Please
don’t.” She looked up at me. “He doesn’t know I saw Braydon. Don’t be mad at
him.”

“He
should have known and seen everything. He was supposed to be your bodyguard.”

“Oh
please Zane, don’t blame him. I don’t want this to affect his payment.”

“Payment?”
I looked at her and laughed. “Leo’s richer than I am.”

“He
is?” She looked surprised. “Then why is he a bodyguard?”

“He’s
not really.” I shook my head. “It’s a long story and it’s not mine to tell.”

“Oh.”
She looked disappointed and I took her hand and led her to the backyard. I
wanted to go to the living room, but didn’t want Leeza to be hiding somewhere,
listening to our conversation.

“It’s
not that I don’t want to tell you, but it’s not really my place.” I squeezed
her hand as we sat down on the lounge chair. “But if you want me to, I will.”

“No,
that’s okay.” She smiled at me briefly. “I hope one day he’ll tell me himself.”
I watched her face as she spoke and I was annoyed at the pleasant tone she had
for Leo. “I like him a lot.” She continued. “I hope we become real friends.”

“I
see.”

“Oh
Zane, don’t be stupid.” She poked me in the ribs and I looked up to see her
shaking her head. “I don’t like Leo like that, okay? You don’t need to get all
pouty and jealous.”

“I’m
not pouty and jealous.” I retorted.

“So,
what happened to Angelique?”

“She’s
in custody. And so is Braydon. They arrested him a few hours later. It seems Angelique
turned on him within hours.”

“Wow.”
Lucky looked surprised. “Really?”

“Yeah.
I think they will get lighter sentences if they are able to get Sanchez, the
guy who’s running half the drugs from Mexico to L.A., but they will still go
away for a long time.”

“Wow!”
Lucky exclaimed again and held on to me tightly. “I’m just glad you’re okay. I
don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been okay.”

“I’m
sorry, Lucky. I wasn’t thinking.” I stroked her hair around my fingers.
“Forgive me?”

“If
you promise me you won’t do anything like this again without telling me.”

“I
promise.” I paused. “Let me clarify, I promise to be open and honest with you
and to trust that you can handle whatever comes up in my life.”

“I
hope no more drug trafficking cases come up.” She made a face. “I mean, I’m
glad you got Braydon and Angelique, but I’m not sure I could go through all of
this again.”

“I
promise no more drug trafficking.” I slid my hand to her knee. “I promise to
focus all of my attention on you.”

“Oh
really?” She giggled and I was happy to see the light back in her eyes as she
stared at me and swatted my hand away.

“Oh
yes, I’ll get out my copy of the
Kama
Sutra
and I’ll spend hours each night devoting myself to your body.”

“Uh
huh.”

“It’ll
be tiring, but I promise to give it my all.”

“That’s
one promise I think you’ll be able to keep, all right.”

“You
forgive me?” I held my breath as I looked into her eyes, searchingly. “Say you
forgive me.”

Instead
of answering, Lucky leaned in towards me and kissed my lips softly. I could
taste the remnants of orange juice on her lips. I sucked on her lower lip
before plunging my tongue into her mouth and she grabbed the back of my head. I
felt her fingers running along my scalp and I pushed her onto her back so I
could feel her breasts crushed against my chest.

“Really,
guys?” Leeza’s voice echoed through the backyard and I groaned as I sat up and
pulled away from Lucky. “Lucky, I don’t know how you were able to forgive him
so easily.”

“Leeza…”
Lucky’s voice held a warning.

“I’m
just saying.” Leeza whined. “Are we going to go and do something today, or am I
expected to sit at home and watch
Maury
and
Days of Our Lives
?”

“We
can drive you around Los Angeles.” Lucky jumped up. “Is there anywhere you want
to go specifically?”

“Beverly
Hills, 90210.” Leeza’s voice was excited and I rolled my eyes.

“Leeza,
can you give Lucky and me a moment please? I need to ask her something,” I
said.

“Whatever.”
She twirled around and walked back into the house.

“I
know she’s your friend, Lucky, but she really annoys me.” I muttered as I
watched her friend leave. Even though I knew Leeza wasn’t planning something
with Evan, I still couldn’t stand her. I was hoping in my head that she was on
her way back to Florida very soon.

“What
did you want to ask me, Zane?” Lucky looked at me with a worried expression and
my heart went out to her. I felt ashamed of myself for making her feel that
way. I made a vow to myself that I wasn’t ever going to give her a heavy heart
again.

“So,
remember when I asked you about going to London?” I took her hands in mine and
used my fingers to trace the lines in her palm.

“You
mean the other day?”

“Yeah.”
I nodded and watched her face, carefully. “So, I was thinking, what about it?
We could go for the weekend - just you and me. We could just take a break away
from everything and relax.”

“But,
London?” She half-smiled, considering my proposition. “It just seems so far
away.”

“I
just want to take a trip away, you and me. Somewhere romantic.” A light bulb
flashed in my head and I exclaimed. “Or we could go to Paris. See the Eiffel
Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. We could eat French pastries in bed and shop
along the Champs-Elysees.”

“Well,
I don’t have money to shop, but I do love croissants.” She smiled at me. “And
I’ve always wanted to go to Paris.”

“See?
It was made to be. You, me, and Paris.” I kissed the tip of her nose and we
walked back inside the house. “This is going to be the trip of a lifetime. I
love the French. They are such a romantic and passionate people.”

“Oh,
really?”

“Yes.”
I laughed. “We could learn a thing or two from them.” I winked at her and she
blushed. I felt a secret thrill that I could still make Lucky’s cheeks redden
with embarrassment.

“I
don’t really know much about the French, aside from the fact that they love
French fries and that they got rid of their monarchy during the French
revolution.”

“I
can’t say I know much more than you, but Noah was obsessed with all things
French. One of his favorite movies was called
Jules et Jim
and he would make us watch it every few years.”

“Oh
really?” Lucky gave me a peculiar look. “Was there a reason why Noah liked
France so much?”

“Not
that I know of.” I shrugged. “Noah was a man with eclectic tastes, not that you
would have known that by the look of him.”

“Oh?”

“Most
people looked at him and thought he was just a playboy.” I laughed. “I suppose
that’s how you thought of me as well.”

“Well,
I…I didn’t really know you well,” Lucky stuttered.

“It’s
okay.” I stretched my arms and turned to her. “So are we down for Paris?”

“This
weekend?” Her voice was hesitant, but I could sense the excitement in her tone.

“No
time like the present.” I grinned.

She
laughed. “I guess so.”

“Is
that a yes?”

“Yes.”
Her voice was small and I lifted her up and swung her around. We were both
laughing, but as I set her down, she gave me a worried look. “Don’t ever lie to
me again, Zane. I don’t think I can go through what I went through last night.”

“I
am so …” I started, but she held her hand up to stop me.

“I
know how important Noah was to you, and I know you have been after Braydon for
the last year, but I hope this is the end of it, Zane. I’m not sure my heart,
or my sanity, can continue on like this. And I don’t know if our relationship
could get through one more hurricane.”

“For
you, I’d weather any storm, my love.” I traced the lines around her eyes and it
saddened me that I had made my Lucky cry. She was the woman who had snuck into
my heart without me even knowing it. She was the woman that had made me believe
in love and she had broken down my walls. She was the last person that I wanted
to make sad. Seeing her cry for me made my heart break. I wanted to see her
with a smile on her face. She was the one I should be making happy. She was the
one I should be lifting up to the heavens.
 
I vowed to myself that I was going to make sure that no more tears would
be shed on my behalf.

Chapter 10

Lucky

My
head was spinning like a yo-yo. The last few days had gone by in a blur and I
still wasn’t sure how I felt about everything. I put on a good face for Zane
because I knew he worried easily, but I still felt tense and worried. When I
thought about what could have happened to him that night, I wanted to scream. I
couldn’t believe he hadn’t told me what he was doing. It wasn’t even sure about
Angelique, though I knew I would hate her for the rest of my life. I could get
over the fact that he had slept with her, though I didn’t like it. It had been
before we had got together and it wasn’t as if I didn’t have a past. But for
him to have gone behind my back and been part of some big drug sting and not
even think to give me the details—well that made my blood boil.

I
knew that Zane thought he was trying to protect me, but I wanted this to be a
partnership, a real twenty-first century partnership. I didn’t want to be stuck
in the 1950s and in a relationship where Zane thought he was Ward Cleaver. I
certainly didn’t want to be in a relationship where Zane was the provider and I
spent all day cooking his meals. I had other plans and I didn’t want to give up
my other dreams just because he was my dream man.

“This
is our second plane ride together.” Zane beamed at me from his seat and winked.
I knew he was trying his best to get things back to normal with me, so I tried
my best to put on a good face.

“And
my second time in first class.” I beamed back at him from the comfort of my
chair. “You shouldn’t keep spoiling me like this. It might go to my head.”

“Uh
oh, you’ll have me shopping for you at Cartier and Tiffany’s soon.”

“Don’t
forget Chanel and Louis Vuitton.” I laughed.

He
wrinkled his nose at me. “I knew you were only after my money.”

“Your
money and your loving.”

“You
mean my good loving.” He leaned over and stuck his tongue in my ear and I
pulled away, shaking my head.

“Eww,
that was all slobbery and gross.”

“Don’t
pretend you didn’t love it.” He winked at me and licked his lips.

“You’re
disgusting, Zane Beaumont.”

“That’s
not what you said last night.”

“How
old are you, Zane? Fifteen or twenty-five?” I shook my head, but was happy at
his teasing tone. The last few days had been slightly tense in the house. Leeza
had been upset that we were leaving the country, so Zane had gotten her a first
class ticket back to Miami and given her a check for $5000 to make up for her
vacation being cut short. She had loved him then, told him she had always known
he was a great guy. I’d been embarrassed at her transparent nature, but had
still felt sad when she left.