“What can I do to help?” she finally said, as if ready to shed her resistance like skin. To be born anew. Free of Sparrow.
I would continue to protect his child the best way I knew how, but it was time to break completely free for good.
“I’m not sure,” Charlie said, shaking her head. She had the same exasperation in her eyes that Alex did. This was a tough case for them or maybe they all were in some way. But one thing for sure, Sparrow had eluded them. “If there was some way to bring him out of hiding.”
I thought on that a moment. Then it hit me. Like a ton of bricks.
“I have a phone number he gave me if there was ever an emergency,” I said, my hands shooting up to my mouth. “I forgot all about it.”
Gloria just stared at me.
“I begged him for it, in case Joaquin . . .”
“I have a number too,” Gloria said. “Probably the same one.”
“That might be useful,” Charlie said. “Though we might meet the same dead end with all of his untraceable numbers.”
“What if . . .” my hand shook on my mug as I thought it through. The idea of any repercussions from Sparrow was messing with my psyche. “You can dial the number, tell whoever answers that it’s an emergency, and then wait for Sparrow to call you back.”
Charlie’s face brightened. “We can put a trace on your phone. You’ll have to make it something that will keep him on the line until we get what we need.”
Gloria waited a beat, then nodded, renewed determination in her eyes.
“Let me get it set up and I’ll be in contact,” Charlie said, sliding out of the booth, her phone already at her ear.
25
Alex
I was losing my mind but I needed to see her. After I exited the plane, I jumped into the rental car. I only had a few hours before I needed to head off to another city to follow another lead. It was already after midnight but maybe she’d let me stay for a little while.
I texted Meadow after I pulled into the lot near her trailer.
Me: Are you awake?
Meadow: Yes
Me: I miss you
A pause. I held my breath for her response as a moment of clarity washed over me. Maybe this was only one-sided. Or maybe she had finally come to her senses.
Meadow: Me too
My heart jammed in my throat as I slid out of the driver’s side. I was dying to pull her into my arms. She had come to mean so much to me.
Me: Open your door
Meadow: What???
And then she was standing on her stoop as I scaled the steps in record time.
“What are you . . .”
I spun her around, shut the door, and hauled her against me. Her hair was hanging loose at her neck and I wrapped my fingers in her strands, feeling the silky softness against my skin. I stared into her eyes to be sure we were on the same page. Similar passion and emotion blazed through her irises.
Our lips met and her tongue thrust into my mouth, licking, biting, exploring, while my fingers slid to her waistband. I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around my thighs as I ground against her, desperate to be with her.
“I needed to see you,” I said, my voice thick with emotion. “I’m crazy about you, Meadow.”
“I’m crazy about you too.” She moaned into my mouth when I thrust her body against mine. To hear her speak those same words was so validating. “I want you, Alex. Need you.”
I walked silently down the hall to her bedroom and shut the door, mindful of Joaquin in the other room. Then I lay her on the bed, my gaze trailing down her body. She was wearing a tank top and small sleep shorts and fuck she was so damn sexy.
I raised her shirt over her stomach and my mouth was instantly slick on her skin. I peeled the rest of the material from her shoulders before my lips trailed a path to her breasts.
My tongue circled and then sucked her nipple in my mouth while she moaned and clutched at my hair. “Alex.”
I took my time giving her other breast the same attention, my mouth laving and nibbling while she squirmed beneath me. When my lips left her skin, I could see the saliva trail down her smooth chest, as if I was leaving my mark on her.
“Let me see you too,” she said, tugging at my shirt.
I yanked if off of my neck in record time.
“Mmmm . . .” she said, lifting up and trailing her fingers across my stomach.
I grasped her hands and tugged them above her head, sinking back down on top of her. “My turn.”
When my lips feathered over Meadow’s stomach her muscles quivered. “Oh, God.”
“I told you.” I circled her belly button with my tongue, inhaling her scent. “I need to taste you.”
My mouth continued its descent. I slid off her cotton shorts then licked and teased her through her panties. I saturated the outer layer with my tongue while my teeth lightly bit through the material at her clit. She nearly sprang off the bed, but I held her thighs firmly to the mattress. Her hands gripped the covers as she whimpered.
Drawing my mouth away, I tugged the soaked underwear from her thighs. I was finally getting up close and personal with her pussy, only able to dream of tasting and touching until now. The dark hair on her mound was trimmed short, a strip of black shiny hair above her clit. “Fuck, you are sexy. Just look at you laid out before me like this.”
I started off slow, just savoring her with my mouth, feathering kisses around her thighs and outer lips. She was nearly beside herself by that point, clutching at my hair, and I could see how dripping wet she was for me.
When my tongue circled her clit she whimpered. I sucked and licked and hummed against her skin while she writhed on the sheets above me. She smelled like the rain and tasted like the damp grass and my incredibly stiff cock was uncomfortable against my zipper.
“Alex,” she breathed out. “Please.”
Meadow was flushed pink and winded and she was that way because of me. Was there anything more beautiful?
My mouth licked a trail upward to meet hers and she hungrily sucked on my lips. Her hands journeyed below my navel, unzipping my pants and pushing them from my hips.
“Are you sure?” I whispered against her mouth.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked. “Please Alex. Now.”
I lifted up to roll on a condom as her fingernails skimmed down my legs and around to the back of my thighs driving me wild. Her hands clasped onto my ass nudging me forward as my tip rested against her wet entrance.
And then I was inside her and she was so fucking tight and warm.
I panted openly, my fingers bracing her hips, afraid to move lest I lose my load too soon.
Bending forward I met her mouth as she huffed softly against my lips. “Does that feel okay?”
“More than okay,” she said her fingers circling to the area we were now linked slicking her arousal around the base of my cock. “Incredible.”
I snapped my hips forward in shallow thrusts until my cock was buried to the root. “Fuck.”
She gasped, her eyes widened at the feel of us finally joined together. “Oh God, that’s—”
Her pupils were blown wide, her mouth was shiny from tongue and surprisingly I grew even thicker inside of her. The way she looked at me—hunger mixed with raw affection—made me insane with desire.
As I began pumping in and out, her legs wrapped firmly around my waist, but I needed her closer. I grasped onto her ankles and swung them across my shoulders attempting to get deeper.
When I nibbled gently at the skin on her calves she began to tremble. I sank down to rest my lips against her mouth, just wanting to breath the same air. Her fingers grasped at my hair and she yanked me into a searing kiss, her lips devouring my mouth.
She began moving her hips in time with my thrusts, both of us mindful that we weren’t alone in the house. I wanted to make her scream but for our first time, I’d take this quietly amazing intensity over almost anything else in the whole world.
“Alex,” she
called out in a hoarse whisper as her orgasm began to sweep through her and I knew she was seconds away from coming.
“Let go, baby,” I groaned, my own release tingling along my spine. “I’m right behind you.”
A starburst of flames appeared in my vision as I burst completely apart and sank down on top of her, shuddering. I could barely catch my breath as my forearms caged her against the bed.
“Don’t move,” she said, kissing my cheeks and eyelids. “I want to feel you just like this, inside of me.”
“I’d sleep this way if I could,” I mumbled against her neck. “Just so I wouldn’t have to be away from you again.”
“Alex. When you say things like that—” She tightened her hold on my shoulders and hummed.
Finally, I slipped out even though just the sight of her all flushed and sweaty was making me swell again. I removed the condom, placed it in the garbage can and stood above her staring at her beautiful body, amazed that I finally got to be inside of her.
She reached out her hand to tug me down and we kissed lazily, just reveling in our naked skin touching. I repositioned my weight and pulled her back to my chest.
After a few more minutes of contented silence, she asked in a shaky voice, “Did you find Sparrow?”
“No, but I did get a lead and that’s why I can’t stay,” I said and she went rigid in my arms. “Except I needed to see you.”
“So you came here just to—” she mumbled.
I grasped at her chin and bit at the side of my cheek to keep my emotions in check. “Is that really how you see it?”
When she stared into my eyes with a kind of quiet profoundness in her gaze, it felt like a pile of feathers had been released in my stomach. “No. I’m sorry.”
I kissed her tenderly on her mouth, my tongue nudging lightly against hers.
“I just . . .” I said, sighing. “All I know is how I feel . . .”
Her eyes tethered to mine. “How do you feel?”
“I want to be with you,” I said. “With you and Joaquin. Mi Corazon.”
Her eyes softened. “What does that mean?”
I thumped my chest. “It’s means, you’re already in my heart.”
She pulled me into a steamy kiss, wrapping her limbs securely around me.
“I feel the same,” she said. “So much it hurts.”
I held her tight and kissed her again before resting her head against my chest, my lips brushing over her hair, contentment settling in my limbs.
“Is this how your schedule looks normally?” she asked after a couple of minutes. “On the road?”
I twined my fingers through her hair. “Depends on the case.”
“And this case is big?” she asked looking up at me with wide eyes.
“The DEA is anxious to shut down Sparrow’s operation,” I said in response.
“When you do find him,” she said, choking on the words. “Will you kill him?”
“That would never be my goal,” I said, shaking my head. “Though he’d return the favor without blinking an eye.”
She shivered and snuggled in closer to me. “I don’t like this at all. Your job is dangerous and I rarely get to see you as it is.”
“We’re trained well,” I said, attempting to reassure her. “And I can’t help wanting to see even more of you.”
“Me too. But I’ve lived here my entire life,” she said. “Even though it’s not always been ideal, and my parents are no longer alive, I’m still a member of this tribe.”
“I understand. It’s part of your identity and always will be.” I kissed her ear. “Tell me how you imagined your future.”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “I just pictured a home.”
“What kind of home?” I asked staring into her turbulent eyes, stormy and uncertain.
“Not so much a place as a feeling . . .” She shut her eyelids as if imagining her words. “Somewhere I truly belong. I’m safe and happy. There’s trust and love.”
I gathered her face in my hands and kissed her senseless. I so wanted to be those things for her. I just didn’t know how to make that happen. Yet.
We fell asleep for a few hours and I began stirring before long, knowing I needed to get back on the road.
“I wish I could stay and see Joaquin,” I said as she roused awake.
“He would love to see you,” she said, her eyes lighting up with gratitude. “Let’s get up and make breakfast and then he’ll think you just came by to visit this morning.”
I could tell she thought he really needed that. And I think I probably did too.
“Sounds perfect,” I said. “You have any of those corn muffins?”
“For you, yes.”
She sat up and opened her nightstand drawer.
Fishing out a small slip of paper, she handed it to me. “Is this the number you gave to Charlie?”
She nodded. “Sparrow told me to use it only if necessary. Told Gloria the same thing.”
“She’ll call him tonight?” I stood up and slid on my pants.
“We’ve been thinking about what she’d say,” she said, securing her robe. “She needs to have a good reason.”
“Something about Joaquin, maybe?” I said after I pulled on my shirt. “His child needing his father isn’t good enough?”
Something flashed in her eyes. “I don’t think so, not anymore. Maybe not ever.”
“I’m sorry,” I said, kissing the side of her head.
“I’m glad I can see it so clearly now,” she said as she tightened her fist around the paper. “I’m glad for Gloria, too. It’s time to move on.”
Something opened in my chest. I hoped she meant with me.
“If she has the same anger that I hear in your voice, she’ll have to disguise it when she speaks to him,” I said.
She nodded. “She’ll tell him she’s filing for a divorce.”
“That might bring him out of hiding,” I said. “One of the reasons he probably hopes she hangs in there is to make sure she can’t testify against him.”
“Charlie said the same,” she said, gritting her teeth, finally understanding the full force of his deception. “I figured he might want to talk her out of it. He can be persuasive.”
“She needs to be careful, even on the phone.” I gave her one last kiss before heading to the door. “She might know his triggers better than any of us.”
“I had a long talk with Gloria,” she said, her fingers hesitating on the knob. “Sparrow’s manhandled and threatened her over the years. It all makes sense now, why she hasn’t tried to get away from him. Fear is a powerful motivator.”
Hearing that information only renewed my drive to place the motherfucker behind bars.
“It’s good she’ll have you there,” I said, wrapping her in my arms before I lost the chance. “She’ll need the support.”
We padded into the kitchen and while she whipped up some muffins, I made the coffee, getting a taste of what our life might look like one day.
Just as I sat down to take a sip, Joaquin bolted out of his room.
“Alex,” he squealed, throwing himself into my lap. “Did my dino have a good adventure?”
“He did but he’s not quite done yet,” I said, thinking about how many times I’d smiled opening my suitcase and seeing that plastic figurine through the mesh compartment.
I hadn’t realized until right then how much Joaquin’s gift had carried me through those dark and lonely nights.
26
Meadow
Every time I thought of Alex swinging back through town I couldn’t help smiling. I was going to have to trust that whatever was meant to happen for us would work itself out. But that thought was overshadowed by him eventually coming face to face with Sparrow, who had become an almost evil caricature of the boy I used to love, and made my breath freeze in my lungs.
Gloria and I were in her car in the parking garage. She still hadn’t figured out who keyed her vehicle because the cameras only pointed to the visit
or levels. West assured her that he would speak to the head of security about making some changes.
Gloria’s hand now shook as she punched in the number Sparrow had given her.
She placed it on speaker and immediately got flack from the person on the other line as to why she needed to speak to her ex.
“That’s between Sparrow and I,” she said, attempting to steady her voice.
“I need to make sure the boss knows what’s so important,” the man said in a gruff voice. “Is this an emergency?”
“Nobody’s dying if that’s what you’re asking,” she said with an irritated tone. “But it’s something very important. It involves . . . legal stuff.”
There was a long pause. “I’ll pass on the message.”
“Thanks,” she said. “Do you know when he might call?”
“That’s not up to me, doll,” he said and I grimaced.
After she ended the call, I received a check-in from Alex. “Charlie says we might’ve gotten enough of a trace to get a read on that guy’s location. We at least know the area code and general range. We’ll follow up and see where it leads. But don’t want to give ourselves up before Sparrow calls Gloria back.”
My heartbeat pumped wildly.
“We’ll be ready,” I said and then stole a glance at Gloria, whose bottom lip trembled.
Alex softened his voice. “Wish I was there with you.”
I shivered thinking about how it felt to be inside his warm embrace. “Me too.”
Gloria and I sat side by side each lost in our own thoughts. Her hair color was back to its normal brown shade now. There were other changes I’d noticed as well. How her wardrobe the last couple of weeks consisted of black or grey, nearly matching her mood.
“You’re vibrant without him, you know,” I said, trying to catch her eye as bright red fingernails drummed on the steering wheel. “All on your own.”
Her eyebrow knit together. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve always been so strong—”
“Except when it came to him,” she said through gritted teeth, cutting me off. “I let him . . . he made me afraid . . . I’ve wasted so many years of my life . . .”
Three Sacred Words (Golden Arrow #2) Page 15