by Kara Parker
She pulls Melina into her arms, holding her. “I know you do. I only say this to remind you that you have a lot to offer someone. It’s too soon now,” she comforts. “We all know that. But when you are ready, I think Touch would like to see you in that blue dress.”
Rose holds Melina as she sobs, tears slowly running down her own cheeks in sympathy. Finally, Melina sniffs and pulls back from Rose’s embrace. “That’s the first time I’ve cried since you left. I thought I was doing better,” she says, wiping at her eyes.
“You are, Melina. You are much more like your old self. Crying is part of the grieving process. It is nothing to be ashamed of. But there is more to life than grieving. I only want to show you that you are still desirable. That you can’t always be Tim Scholly’s widow. That is no way to go through life.”
“I know, Rose. But I’m just not ready.”
“I would be worried if you were. But… what’s Touch’s real name?”
“Mark. Mark Sliver… uhh… Mark Silverton.”
“Melina and Mark Silverton. Has a nice ring, don’t you think?” Rose asks with a grin.
“I don’t know about that. But he is cute, isn’t he?” Melina says, looking down shyly.
“So you have noticed!”
Melina blushes. “I noticed how good he is with the kids. Kimberly really took to him.”
“And her mother?”
Melina smiles softly. “Not now. But in the future? Who knows?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Joseph meets Rose at the door when he hears the garage door grumble down. As she steps into the kitchen he can see her BMW sitting in the garage. “I see you understood the message.”
Rose smiles, stepping into his waiting embrace. “Bike sideways against the wall, door up… seemed pretty obvious to me,” she says, kissing him quickly on the lips. “Are you afraid of what the neighbors will think with a strange car in the drive overnight?”
“Yeah. I have to be careful of my reputation.”
“It wouldn’t do, being seen cavorting with loose women.”
“Glad you see it my way,” he says, kissing her again before holding her tight to him. “I’m glad you’re back.”
“Home is where the heart is.”
Joseph grits his teeth, biting off his tears before they can fall. “Is this home?”
“Yes.”
He clears his throat, blinking away his tears. “I’m glad. Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes.”
“What are we having?”
“Chili Lime Potato Tacos,” he says turning back to the stove.
“Chili Lime… what the hell?” she laughs. “Smells good though. Another internet recipe?”
“You got it,” Joseph says, dumping in the enchilada sauce and turning down the heat.
“You are a man of many talents. Many talents,” she teases as she presses into his back, her hands curling around and stroking his stomach and legs.
“I do my best.”
“Your best is very, very, good.”
Joseph turns, taking her into his arms again and kissing her. The kiss is deeper and more meaningful than their first two, but both hold back, not wanting to get carried away. “Here. I kept this for you,” he says, slipping out a folded sheet of paper from between two canisters.
Rose opens the paper to see the spaghetti sauce recipe. Her face twists as she remembers that night… the good and the bad. “I’m so sorry I was such a bitch. I don’t know why you put up with me.”
“I don’t put up with you, Rose. I love you. You had a right to be upset. I’m just sorry you had to find out that way.”
“I should have listened to you and not gotten all pissy.”
“It’s okay. Really. That’s the past. This is the present,” he says, taking the paper from her and laying it on the counter before kissing her gently.
“Shit… how do you do that?”
“What?”
“Turn me on like this. If that didn’t smell so good I would say let’s forget dinner and go straight to dessert.”
“Want me to stop?” he chuckles.
“Hell no!” Rose exclaims, drawing the words out.
***
After a very tasty meal, Rose and Joseph move about the kitchen. Joseph makes it a point to brush her ass every time he walks behind her as she rinses the plates and loads the dishwasher while he packages the leftovers and cleans the stove.
The kitchen tidied, they flop onto the overstuffed couch, snuggling in close. Rose doesn’t care that Joseph has no television to watch, the dulcet sounds murmuring from the stereo relaxing her as they sit quietly with her head resting comfortably against his shoulder. She smiles… even after seven years they fall back into the same positions as if they had never stopped.
“I can’t convince you come to Vegas with me? I’m sure we could work out some arrangement like you had with Tim and Melina.”
“I can’t, Rose.”
“Why? There has to be some way to make this work.”
“I would, Rose. But I can’t leave now. Not with the Matos Cartel breathing down our necks. We have to get this settled.”
“But why?”
“Because if we let them take over, a lot of people are going to die. They are ruthless. Their control is based on fear, not respect, and they will do anything to instill that fear. There will be a lot of murders in the most gruesome manner possible.”
“Why do you care? Wait, I didn’t mean that. What I mean is: why is that your responsibility?”
“We made promises, Rose. We promised that we wouldn’t allow things like this to happen. We can’t go down without a fight.”
“Why are you dealing with the Matos Cartel? Surely there must be someone else that can supply you?”
“We had another supplier. They weren’t great, but were better than these jackals. The Matos wiped them out and took over their area. The word is the head of the Matos Cartel is bat shit crazy and nobody wants to cross them. We’re trying to find another supplier, but so far we haven’t found anyone willing to cross them.”
“Except you.”
“I don’t want to cross them either. But I can’t just walk away from this.”
“Why? You had better not say pride, either.”
“Part of it is that, but mostly it is to protect those under our care. As I said, we made promises. We made this is into a business. To walk away would destroy the peace we have maintained for over three years now. I don’t want that much blood on my hands.”
Rose thinks about it all. It’s almost like he is single-handedly trying to make the sale of drugs a respectable business. “You know you are fighting a losing battle?”
“I don’t see it that way. Eventually prohibition was repealed. We are hugely profitable, made more so by not having to pay for the muscle to keep everyone under control. Once more organizations realize this is the way forward, the house of cards will begin to fall.”
“Then what will you do?”
“Retire.”
“You’re kidding!”
“No. I almost have enough put back to retire already.”
“Then why are you worried about income?” she asks in confusion.
“Because I want to be busy. I want to do something positive. Plus I have to keep adding to my reserves.”
“But…”
“Rose… my money is cash and gold, kept in a safe box at the bank. It doesn’t grow like an investment. So I have to keep earning just to stay even.”
“You have gold?”
“Yes. About thirty pounds. I buy a little more every month so as to not attract too much attention.”
“Holy shit! How much is that worth?”
“I don’t know. It changes day to day. But about a half-million.”
“Wow! How much in total… if you don’t mind my asking?”
“Again, it depends on the price of gold, but I would guess between one and one point three million.”
Rose is flabbergasted. She would
have never guessed Joseph was a millionaire. “I’m… impressed,” she finally says.
“Well… keep it to yourself. That money is off the books, so if it is stolen, it’s gone.”
“You can trust me.”
“I know… otherwise I wouldn’t have told you. And speaking of trust, I need you to do something for me.”
“If I can. What?”
“I want to set up a trust for Michael and Kimberly. Can you handle that for me?”
“I can get my lawyer to do it, sure. How much? And why?”
“I want to do something to help Melina. That will make sure there is money for the kids to go to school. I’m thinking fifty-thousand each.”
“That’s very generous. But why not do it yourself— Never mind. I keep forgetting. Sure, I will take care of it.”
“Thank you, Rose.”
They lapse into another comfortable silence.
“Joseph… what is going to happen if the Matos Cartel doesn’t back down?”
“I don’t know. I suspect a lot of people are going to die.”
“The Nines?”
“Possibly. We will do all we can, but they will come for us. I think that much is certain.”
“Do you have a plan if they do?”
“Sort of. Touch, Danny, Will and Steven… they are all ex-military. They have been helping us get ready. Will was a captain in the Army, and Steven, he was a Major. Both were infantry. Touch served under Steven for a while and recruited him. Those three, they know tactics. And Danny, he was an MP. He has a knack for knowing what people are thinking and what they are going to do next. That is why he is coming with us… to read the situation. We will be as ready as we can be if we can’t convince the Matos to back down.”
“Do you think you can?”
“No. I have to try, but I think this meeting will just speed up the looming conflict. They will see they can’t bully us and will come for us. Fuck…”
“What?”
“I should resign as President of the Nines. Force Steven to take over. I’m in over my head on this.”
“So why don’t you?”
“I’ve tried to put Steven in charge more than once since the trouble with the cartel has started brewing, but the asshole won’t take it.”
Rose smiles. “What does that tell you?”
“It tells me that he is smarter than I am.”
“Maybe. What it tells me is that they trust you.”
“I hope I don’t let them down.”
“You’ve brought them this far. I have confidence that you will see them through.” Rose pauses, trying to gather her thoughts. “Joseph… I can’t believe that I am about to say this… but I admire what you are trying to do. You are not at all what I would expect a drug dealer to be like. Melina told me you are the same old Joseph, and she’s right. You are. I still want to try to find another way, to get away from the drugs… but…”
“But what, Rose?”
“But I’m here for you.”
Joseph tips Rose’s face up so that he can kiss her lips. “I will be here for you, too. No matter what, I’m here for you.”
Rose smiles as her eyes search his, and she can read the sincerity of what he said in his eyes. “I know.”
“We have to start early in the morning,” Joseph prompts.
“Are you saying you are ready for bed?”
“If you are.”
She rises off the couch without a word and begins to walk to the back of house. “Turn out the lights.” She smiles over her shoulder.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Fifteen minutes later Rose slides beneath the linens with Joseph. She tucks into her normal post-coital position as they snuggle. The last two times they have been together they attacked each other, their love making hard, fast and slightly rough. But tonight, the mood is different. She can feel the undeniable pull Joseph exerts on her, but she doesn’t want to fuck him. Tonight she wants to make love to him. So she waits, her hand lazily stroking his chest as her lips softly kiss his shoulder, waiting for Joseph to make the next move.
Joseph lies perfectly still, the hand gently caressing Rose’s back his only motion. He is worried. Worried about the meeting in El Paso. Worried about the members of the club. Worried about Melina. She is already suffering a devastating loss through his failure. But most of all he is worried about Rose, worried that he can’t protect her. He knows the Matos Cartel type. He cleaned his organization of those types of people and he is very aware of what people like that will do. They will try to hurt him, and the quickest way to hurt him is through Rose.
“Are you okay?” she asks, breaking into his pensiveness.
“Yes. Just thinking about tomorrow.”
“I would rather you think about me.”
He smiles. “That was part of what I was thinking about tomorrow. How to keep you safe. You and Melina both.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
“Don’t worry about us. Touch and that other guy will be watching us.”
“Guy is the name of the other guy,” he says with a smile, looking down into her eyes.
“His name is Guy?” Rose snorts. “Is that a nickname too?”
“No. He says that’s his real name.”
“Interesting,” Rose says. “Have you noticed Touch when he is around Melina?”
“No. What about it?”
“He likes Melina.”
“We all like Melina. We liked Tim, too. They are good people.”
Rose rolls her eyes. “Not like that. I mean he is interested in her. I have the feeling he has been for a long time, but she was unavailable before.”
“Really? Touch is a good guy. His wife left him when he dropped out. She couldn’t give up her old life. It’s been hard for him.”
“How long ago was that?”
“I don’t know. A couple of years. Three, maybe. I’m not sure. He’s been a member for about three years. I know they were still trying to work it out when he started cutting his ties.”
“It must be hard,” she observes, “but you have women in your club.”
“Yeah. Eight. But they are the exception. And one of them is married to Gerry, the guy you talked to with the plating business. They both dropped out after he lost his business.”
“I don’t know if I could do it… but I am beginning to understand the appeal of going off the grid, dropping out, whatever.”
Joseph smiles. “We call it ‘going Galt’ from the John Galt character in Atlas Shrugged.”
“Do I need to read this book?”
“I wouldn’t hurt. But not tonight,” he says as he begins to kiss her delicately on the face.
Rose sighs with a smile and lays still, each touch of his lips a pinprick of pleasure. He finally works his way to her lips and she accepts his lazy kiss, her arms slowly encircling his neck and drawing him closer.
He rolls her to her back as they kiss and nuzzle each other, taking their time, enjoying the moment. “Have I told you how much I love you?”
“Yes. But tell me again,” she whispers, her lips pulling into a smile as she looks into his eyes.
“I love you more than you will ever know, Rose. I didn’t realize how empty my life was until you came back into it.”
Rose can feel her eyes become wet with tears. “Why do you always try to make me cry?” she complains, but she is smiling and kisses him softly.
“Don’t cry. I never want to make you cry,” he murmurs softly, kissing her eyes with feather-light touches.
When his lips come back to hers, the passion they have been withholding is there, their long minutes of soft touches and slow kisses fueling their desires. “Please, I’m ready,” she whispers as his lips find that special spot under her ear.
He gently parts her thighs with his knees as he moves into position. He touches her, gently entering her with a soft breath of pleasure. Being with Rose is so much more than just sex… their joining pleasing his soul as much
as his flesh.
She gasps softly as Joseph enters her, slowly pumping his hips as he settles lightly onto her while pulling her tight. Her hands go to his head, holding him to her, her eyes closing in pleasure. His slow, gentle pace is twisting her up, the sensations of his moving within her setting her on edge while still not yet driving her toward release. “Oh God, you feel so good…” she breathes.