Creed

by Kristen Ashley

  “Well?” I asked.

  His answer was to turn the camera’s back to me with an image on it.

  I leaned in and checked it out.

  “Whoa, soccer dad likes pony play,” I murmured. “Ride ‘em cowboy.” I heard Creed’s chuckle and looked up at him. “How’d you get in?” I asked.

  “They had other things on their mind and the TV blaring loud. Got in through the bathroom window,” he answered and I felt my eyes get big.

  “Shit, man, those are high and tight.”

  “Upper body strength and determination go a long way,” he replied.

  He was not wrong about that and visibly had the former while the latter was demonstrated on the camera.

  “Right on,” I stated, lifting up my hand in an invitation for a high five.

  He stared at my hand and didn’t move.

  “Seriously?” I asked. “You gonna leave me hanging?”

  His sky blue eyes came to mine and again I held my breath as his hand moved. He gave me a high five but when his big hand clapped against mine, it stayed there. His fingers shoved through, linking with mine, bringing our hands down. Then he shifted them so we were palm to palm, fingers curled around the sides. This he took straight into another shift where we had our fingers curled together from tips to knuckles in our palms. He then used my hand to pump our arms twice so hard, I was forced to take a step into him.

  Then he let me go.

  I forced air in my lungs.

  Then I joked, “I’m learning good things about you, partner. Jive handshake master. I like it.”

  He shook his head grinning, tossed the camera in the air, my hands shot out to catch it so it wouldn’t fall and, seeing as I was engaged in this endeavor, he had the chance to start sauntering toward my girl.

  I took a moment to watch mostly because his shirt hung really good from his shoulders. It was untucked so it mostly covered his ass but his movement hinted at a fine one. And I was coming to the conclusion I seriously liked his boots.

  Once I processed this information, I followed him.

  * * * * *

  I stood at the big one-way window in Knight’s office that faced down to Knight’s now empty nightclub and watched Creed stroll across the vast space toward the front door.

  The meeting was done. Rhash met Creed. Creed gave his brief. We discussed our plans and now Rhash was gone, Creed was off to work the boys and I was going to spend the rest of the afternoon finding and surveilling Nick Sebring.

  I felt Knight get close but I didn’t take my eyes from the window as I watched Creed walk out the front door.

  “It’s him,” Knight murmured.

  “It’s him,” I confirmed.

  “Fuck, babe, you never shared his name. I had no fuckin’ clue. I did, that contract would not have been signed.”

  I looked up at him. He was scary handsome in all the ways those two words could communicate. That was, he was incredibly good-looking, tall, dark-haired, striking blue eyes that were a deeper and more vivid blue than Creed’s but they were no less effective. His features were not beautiful, they were aggressively masculine. He was also scary because he just was aggressively masculine in a way that no woman or man could mistake. Just like with Creed, with one look at Knight, you knew you did not play with him, you did not mess with him. If you couldn’t deal with all that was him, you avoided him.

  It was hot. Luckily, since we’d made our decision that drunken night years ago and he was in way deep with his woman, he was like a brother to me, so his hot didn’t affect me, our relationship or the job I did for him other than the inescapable fact I couldn’t mistake it.

  “It’s cool,” I assured him. “We’re cool. We’ll get this done. No worries.”

  His eyes moved over my face as his lips muttered, “Why don’t I believe that?”

  “Knight, you know me. I’m about the job. No joke, we’ll get this done.”

  Finally, his gaze locked with mine. “I want this job done, you know that. What I don’t want, in gettin’ that, is you shredded in the process.”

  Seriously, I loved Knight Sebring.

  “I’m good,” I said softly.

  Knight studied me again before nodding and saying, “Word is he’s the best.”

  I found this interesting.

  “We got the best in Denver so I’m surprised you didn’t go to Nightingale Investigations,” I remarked.

  “Who do you think told me they heard that shit on the street?” Knight asked and I felt my brows go up.

  “Lee Nightingale?” I asked back.

  “Yeah but he’s covered in work. He recommended Hawk Delgado but I had a sit down with him. Delgado isn’t about finesse like Nightingale can be so we decided it wouldn’t work. It was Delgado who recommended Creed.”

  Liam “Lee” Nightingale of Nightingale Investigations was a badass private investigator-slash-bounty hunter-slash-anything goes man with a team of badasses to back him up. He’d contracted with me and I’d worked jobs with them when he needed a woman. I liked him, respected him and his team. They took pretty much any job that came along as long as the client could pay the hefty invoice which meant the lawfulness of their activities was a bit vague. That said, they had close ties with law enforcement so it was a helluva lot less vague than Knight’s.

  Cabe “Hawk” Delgado, on the other hand, was a badass commando with a team of badasses to back him up. His jobs were usually more covert, intense and often out of town. I’d done one job with him and his team in town and that shit was extreme. It was kickass fun but it was extreme. Since most of his work was out of town, I didn’t have a lock on the looseness of his morals.

  In movie terms, Lee Nightingale was James Bond except more kickass and super cool. He didn’t bother messing with gadgets when he could just shoot someone. He was also a Broncos fan and, I had a feeling, when he had the time, James Bond watched rugby.

  Hawk Delgado was John Rambo without exceptions notwithstanding the headband.

  What I knew about both of them was, regardless of what they thought about his business, they were smart enough not to make an enemy of Knight Sebring and he returned the favor. There was mutual respect but no discussion about Knight’s operations. I never asked how they felt but then again, even if I did, they’d never tell.

  My brows stayed up. “Hawk Delgado knows Creed?”

  Knight nodded.

  “You know their connection?” I asked.

  “Worked jobs together.”

  “Those would be?” I pushed.

  “They would be for you to ask Creed, Sylvie,” he stated. “You got it in you to put that shit behind you, you gotta get to know your partner. I’ll tell you this, it’s fucked how shit works but he’s you except male and maybe a little scarier. The shingle says PI. The word says his resume has a lot of blank spots and his skill set is varied. He doesn’t take the job if he doesn’t believe in the mission and like or respect who he’s workin’ for.” Knight grinned. “But he charges a fuckuva lot more than you do.”

  My eyes went back to the window to take in the empty club and I muttered, “He’s got kids to support.”

  Knight was silent.

  I let this stretch then threw him a grin and started toward the door, saying, “Got shit to do.”

  I had my hand on the handle when Knight called my name and I turned back.

  “You need to bail, do it,” he stated. “You’re still mine, I’m still yours. Nothin’, woman, not this shit, not you needin’ to protect yourself from history in your face, not anything comes between you and me.”

  That meant the world but he knew it so I didn’t have to say it.

  I jerked up my chin but assured him again, “I’m looking forward. It’s cool, Knight, trust me.”

  “You may be lookin’ forward, babe, but that direction right now means most of what you see is history. You can’t deal, you can’t. Understood and it’s all good.”

  Seriously, I fucking loved this guy.

  Still,
I griped, “Jeez, man, it was sixteen years ago. I’m totally over it.”

  “Anya left me or I lost her, I’d never get over it so don’t bullshit me,” he shot back. “There’s only one, we both know it, and Tucker Creed was your one. So you aren’t over it. That doesn’t mean you can’t cope. But you won’t cope if you deny that somewhere inside you can’t.”

  It kinda sucked he was hot, rich, cool and smart.

  “Heartfelt, badass lecture over?” I asked and his lips twitched.

  “Yeah.”

  “Terrific. Got shit to do,” I muttered and threw open the door.

  “Sylvie,” he called and I whirled on a snapped, “What?”

  “Bottom of my soul,” he whispered across the room, eyes locked to mine.

  I sucked in breath through my nose before I whispered back, “Bottom of mine.”

  Then, before he could really get to me, I took off.

  Chapter Four

  Orange Sherbet Push-Ups

  A cold, dark night in the hills of Kentucky, twenty-eight years earlier, Sylvie is six, Creed is eleven…

  I stared up in Tucker Creed’s pretty blue eyes that I could see were a pretty blue even in the dark.

  Everyone in town knew Tucker Creed, his Momma and his dead Daddy. I’d even heard about them, all of them.

  When his Daddy died, my Daddy told me the whole town went to his funeral. This was because he was a hero. He had the medals to prove it and everything.

  My Daddy didn’t talk about Tucker’s Momma straight to me but I heard him talking about her.

  What I heard was him saying, “Winona Creed is a slut, a total fucking whore. If Brand Creed was alive today, he’d beat her bloody and the bitch would deserve it.”

  I wasn’t certain sure what “slut” and “whore” meant but obviously they weren’t good. And I wasn’t certain sure Brand Creed, Tucker’s Daddy, would beat his wife bloody. That didn’t seem like what a hero would do at all.

  Looking up in eleven year old Tucker Creed’s eyes in his cute boy’s face, I could believe his Daddy was a hero. He was so tall. So handsome. His eyes so pretty. He looked like a hero too. Now I knew what all the older girls at church were talking about all the times, and there were lots, when they talked about him. He was everything they said.

  And more.

  “I cannot believe you are SUCH a DICK!”

  I heard the words and my body jerked hard, my eyes flying to the side.

  Oh no, the words.

  The words were here too.

  Suddenly, I felt hands over my ears, my eyes flew back and when they did, all I could see was Tucker Creed.

  “Fuck you, you fuckin’ cunt! Fuck YOU!”

  That was a man. A man and a woman saying the words and gosh, I didn’t know one of them but it sounded a lot worse than Daddy and my stepmom’s.

  My eyes slid to the side and I saw them outside the little, rickety house with its gutters falling down. The outside light was on. I could see the paint on the sides of the house and around the windows nicked and chipped. The screen hadn’t been switched out of the side door since summer which was crazy and the screen had come loose on one end, hanging down. I could see the house was a whole lot smaller than Daddy’s and mine. Then again, everyone in town, even me, knew the Creeds didn’t have a lot of money and my Daddy and Granddaddy and all the ones before made certain that everyone knew we did.

  I could also see a man and a woman outside in the snow. She was barefoot. He had his jacket on. She was pushing him. He shoved back and she fell on her bottom in the snow.

  I gasped.

  I just heard the words.

  I never saw. Never, never, ever.

  Tucker Creed jerked me around so his back was to the house and I couldn’t see anymore. Then he started walking, fast, making me walk backwards, his hands still covering my ears.

  Silently, Bootsie followed us.

  He came out like I did. He came out to get away from the words. He came out so he wouldn’t see.

  “You don’t like the words,” I whispered and watched his head move funny, hard, fast, like a twitch.

  “The words?”

  “Mean words,” I told him as he kept pushing us back.

  “Fuck you, motherfucker!” the woman shouted. “You leave, don’t come back!”

  “I time it right, you got a bottle of Jack in you, you’ll lie back and spread so fast, my head will spin then you’ll spin that tired, used cunt of yours ON my fuckin’ head!” the man shouted back.

  Tucker kept pushing me into the woods, his hands over my ears, clenching kind of tight but not hurting, his body blocking the view.

  Then his mouth came to my ear.

  “I don’t like the words.”

  He didn’t like the words. Like me.

  “I don’t either,” I whispered in his ear.

  “Time it for TWO bottles, asshole. That’s what it’ll take for you to get me to spread!” she screamed.

  Tucker kept pushing us back, asking, “You got the words?”

  I nodded, his hands moving with my head. “Daddy and his new wife.”

  Tucker kept pushing us then he said, “We’re in the sun.”

  I blinked.

  “What?” I asked.

  “We’re in the sun. On the pier. By the lake.”

  “Get off me, bitch!” the man shouted, I closed my eyes tight but my hands came up, lifting high, I put them over his ears.

  “We’re in the sun,” I agreed, seeing it, feeling it.

  We were on the pier on the lake in the sun.

  Tucker kept pushing me backwards. “We’ll do cannonballs off the pier. My splashes’ll be bigger than yours.”

  I kept my eyes shut, kept moving back with him, feeling Bootsie against my leg following us. I was also feeling the sun, the warmth, seeing the lake in my head, Tucker in swim trunks doing a cannonball off the pier.

  “No way, my cannonballs are the best,” I told him.

  “Not as good as mine,” he said.

  “Better,” I replied then kept talking in his ear as he kept moving us back. “I’ll bring a picnic. In a big basket. We’ll swim and we won’t wait thirty minutes after we eat.”

  “We won’t wait.”

  “We’ll jump in right after we eat. Bologna sandwiches. With cheese. And Ruffles, they have ridges. The cheesy kind. We’ll drink as much Coke as we want. Cans and cans of it. And we’ll eat frozen Snickers bars,” I said.

  “Frozen Snickers bars. Sounds good.”

  “Takes forever to eat them. It’s great.”

  “Bologna sandwiches and frozen Snickers bars,” he agreed.

  “Cannonballs and sun and water,” I said. “And nothing else.”

  “Nothing else,” he agreed again.

  “No one else,” I told him.

  “Just us,” he said.

  “Just us.” I nodded, moving his hands with my head. “And Bootsie, my doggie.”

  “And your dog.”

  We were moving up the incline I fell down and it made me think things I didn’t like.

  I started to shiver.

  “I been gone a long time, Tucker,” I whispered. “Daddy might find out I’m gone. He doesn’t like it when I take my walks.”

  “Then let’s get you home, Sylvie.”

  He knew my name. I didn’t know how. I didn’t care. I just liked how it sounded when he said it.

  We’d made it almost to the top, he let my ears go but took my hand, turned me and kept us walking. I heard him give a low, quiet whistle and Bootsie trotted with us.

  “It happen a lot?” he asked in a soft voice.

  “Unh-hunh,” I answered and felt his hand squeeze mine.

  “Your Momma… does it –?” I stopped talking when his hand squeezed mine again and he answered, “Yeah. Lots.”

  I didn’t like that. I didn’t like the words for me. I didn’t like them for him either.

  I squeezed his hand back.

  He kept walking me toward my house. />
  “You know where I live?” I asked.

  “Everyone knows all about the Bissenettes,” he answered in a way that was kind of funny. A kind of funny that didn’t feel good.

  I didn’t say anything.

  We kept walking, Bootsie at my side and we did this a long time.

  Then Tucker asked, “You go out when it happens?”

  “Unh-hunh,” I repeated.

  “He ever catch you?”

  “Yeah,” I whispered and the word was shaky but his hand gave mine another squeeze so I knew he knew why my voice was shaky. That squeeze made me feel better.

  I saw the fence that surrounded our backyard in front of me and Tucker was leading me to the gate.

  He didn’t say anything more until we got there. I thought he’d stop and I’d just go in but he stopped and didn’t let me go. He tugged my hand in a gentle way, like when I tugged at Bootsie when I wanted to pet her and she wasn’t close enough to me.

  I liked it.

  I looked up as he turned into me.

  “Next time you gotta get away, Sylvie, you come to me.”

  My breathing felt funny.

  “What?” I whispered.

  “It gets bad, you gotta get away, you come to me. I’ll take care of you.”

  I stared at him.

  “What?” I whispered again.

  “We’ll talk about the lake and cannonballs and how I’m gonna buy you orange sherbet push-ups from Merlin’s store when summer comes.”

  Oh wow.

  I loved orange sherbet push-ups. They were the best.

  I had this feeling, deep, deep in my belly that Tucker buying them for me would make them better.

  “I’ll freeze Snickers bars for you,” I promised.

  “Sounds good. I like Doritos. Cool Ranch.”

  “Okay. Ruffles for me. Doritos for you,” I planned.

  “Yeah,” he agreed.

  “Yeah.” I nodded.

  I stared up at him and felt my nose sting even as I heard my voice come out in a super, super quiet whisper.

  “You’ll take care of me?”

  “My Dad said you always got something if you’re not alone. We were alone. Now, we’re not alone.”

  That thing deep in my belly felt funny but it also felt nice.

  “I don’t like being alone,” I whispered.