Love Plus One ('G-Man Series')

by ANDREA SMITH

  I was taking a temporary emergency leave due to family illness. This meant that I wouldn’t be dropped from my program of study unless it extended into or beyond the following semester. I was able to work out transferring two of my classes to online status which made me feel better.

  Back at the apartment, I packed up most of my clothes and personal items. I was carefully putting Robespierre on top of the clothing I had packed in the last suitcase when Taz wandered in.

  “A childhood friend?” he asked, nodding toward the well-worn stuffed poodle.

  “Sort of,” I replied smiling nostalgically. “It was a gift my father brought back for me when he traveled to France on business. It’s funny, I just found him again when I was home at Christmas. Mom had packed him up when she moved from Indy. Before I left for college, he was a constant in my bed at home.”

  “It looks like he has seen better days,” Taz said, grinning. “Is that how I’m going to look one of these days?”

  I looked up at him and saw his eyes sparkling mischievously.

  “Very funny,” I replied, looking back at Robespierre with the tattered purple sash tied around his neck.

  “Maybe I can spruce him up a bit,” I said, getting an idea from the purple satin ribbon I still had set aside when I opened the box containing the roses.

  I went to the kitchen and grabbed the purple ribbon and a scissors and returned to my room. Taz was busy packing his duffel bag with the clothing he had brought for his stay.

  I measured the silk ribbon from the box, and cut it to the appropriate length. I sat on my bed, and put Robespierre on my lap as my fingers worked to untie the tattered sash that was knotted around the neck.

  I finally used the scissors to cut it off and unwound the rest of it. That is when I noticed how the stuffed poodle’s head now flopped to the front. That was strange.

  I turned him over to check the back and saw that the seam had been ripped. There was a gap of a couple of inches. I could see the stuffing.

  “Oh, he’s torn,” I remarked, sticking my finger in the opening and wiggling it. “Poor little pooch.”

  Taz looked over and shook his head. “Well, we don’t have time for you to sew him up right now. We need to get going, baby girl.”

  The index finger I had been wiggling inside of the stuffed toy came in contact with something. Taz glanced over and saw my furrowed brow.

  “What is it, babe?”

  “There’s something in here,” I said, poking my middle finger in to help grasp what turned out to be a small plastic bag with a sealed top.

  It was one of those tiny bags like extra buttons are put in when you buy a coat, in case you lose one.

  There was no button in this small, plastic bag. There was a key.

  “Drop it,” Taz said immediately.

  I let it fall to the bed looking at him in confusion.

  “We need to preserve any prints that might be on that bag, besides yours now,” he explained. “Do you have tweezers?”

  Silly man. Did he think I had been born with these perfectly arched eyebrows? What female didn’t have tweezers? I pulled tweezers from the make-up bag on my bed.

  “Can you get me a baggie or something, Lindsey?”

  I went to the kitchen and came back with one. Taz used the tweezers to life the small bag with the key and dropped it into the larger plastic bag, sealing it up.

  “I’ll take this to our lab when we get back to D.C. and run the key and the plastic bag for prints.”

  “That’s kind of an odd looking key, isn’t it?”

  “It looks like a key to either a post office box or safety deposit box. Do you know whether your father had either?”

  I shook my head. “Mom might know.”

  What were the chances that I would have come across that key to begin with? Maybe I wasn’t supposed to find it.

  I shivered. I finished tying the new purple ribbons around Robespierre. It did make his head less floppy being supported with a new sash.

  “Sweetie,” Taz said, watching me. “I’m going to need to take your little poodle there, too.”

  “Why?” I said, looking at him in confusion. “There’s nothing else in there but stuffing.”

  “I just need to have the lab check and make sure.”

  “So, the gist of it is that the one thing I have left that my father gave me is going to be ripped to shreds?”

  “I will see that he is sewn back up good as new,” he said.

  “There,” I said, tossing the stuffed dog over to him. I went back to my packing in silence. Why did everything have to be put under a microscope these days?

  Taz followed me on the two-hour trek to Falls Church. He brought my suitcases and boxes into the house. I told him where my room was and he lugged everything upstairs for me.

  The house was quiet for now. I knew that would change this evening once Mom, Slate and Bryce got home.

  I checked the fridge to see if Slate had been bothering to shop while Mom had been gone.

  I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had everything well stocked. The house had been kept neat and clean as well.

  I had just sat down on the sofa in the family room when my phone sounded. It was Kyzer. Taz hadn’t come back downstairs yet.

  “Hey, Kyzer,” I greeted.

  “Hey, Lindsey,” he said. “I just wondered if you were home sick or something. I haven’t seen you at school the past couple of days.”

  “I was going to call you this evening,” I replied. “Everything has kind of been chaotic. I’m at home in Falls Church. My stepfather called earlier in the week and said I was needed at home. There’s been a bit of a family emergency. I had to withdraw from my classes to come home and help out.”

  “Oh, Lindsey,” he said, sounding genuinely concerned, “it’s nothing serious, I hope.”

  I appreciated the fact that he wasn’t trying to be nosy about it. I didn’t totally agree with Taz on his assessment of Kyzer.

  “Well, it’s not life threatening or anything. I’m helping my mother out until she starts feeling better. Mostly, I will be looking after my baby brother and helping out around the house.”

  “I hope everything works out okay, Lindsey. Is there anything I can do?”

  “Well actually, Kyzer. I am taking two of my classes online now. They happen to be the same ones that you and I were taking together. I’m not worried about the English Composition, but you know how much I hate Physics. It’s like second nature to you. So, since I won’t have easy access to a professor, would you mind terribly if I call you when I get in a bind? You’re pretty great at explaining theory.”

  “That is no problem whatsoever. We can be online study buddies if you want.”

  I felt relieved. I knew Kyzer was a whiz at any type of science class. I had initially been concerned about transitioning that class to online status.”

  “Great. Thank you.”

  I gave Kyzer my email address. He said he would email the notes he had taken in today’s class on a word document for me to review.

  “Hang in there, Lindsey,” he said. “Lean on me whenever you feel the need, okay?”

  Taz was coming into the room and with the way he felt about Kyzer, I felt it best to wrap up the conversation.

  “Thanks again,” I said. “I better get going. I have a lot to do.”

  “Okay. Check your emails when you get a chance. I’ll have the notes waiting for you.”

  Taz was giving me a look that plainly asked “Who was that?”

  “That was Kyzer,” I answered his unspoken question. “He was just checking to see if I was sick or something since I wasn’t in class.”

  “Humph,” he muttered, “At least you won’t have to be exposed to that Poindexter anymore,” he replied.

  I decided it was best not to let Taz know we were going to be online study buddies. He had a major issue with Kyzer that I was convinced was more territorial than anything else.

  “We have a few hours until Slate an
d your mom get here. Do you want to go out and eat?” he asked.

  “Sounds good to me,” I replied.

  Taz took me to his favorite Mexican restaurant. It was called ‘El Papagyos.’

  Mexican food was not my favorite cuisine, but the food and atmosphere there definitely moved it up a couple of notches. It might have been the company I was with. We enjoyed dinner just talking about normal things for a change.

  Taz had grown up in Marin County in northern California. His parents still lived in Sausalito, the town where he was raised until he enlisted in the Army after completing his B.S. in Military Science at U.C. Berkeley.

  After graduation, he immediately enlisted in the Army and made E-4 right after boot camp. He then began jump school and graduated as a Green Beret within six months. That is when he met Slate.

  “So, what about your family?” I asked.

  He shrugged.

  “They’re like a lot of other families I suppose; hard-working, honest, driven, flawed, opinionated, proud, judgmental, conflicted.”

  “Wow,” I said, sipping a glass of Sangria. “That’s a lot of adjectives, most of them not exactly flattering.”

  “Oh, yeah?” he replied, looking directly at me. “How would you describe your family, Lindsey?”

  “Now or before?”

  “The family that raised you?”

  “I guess at the time, I considered them loving, caring, dedicated, comforting, secure, and nurturing.”

  “And now?” he asked, cocking that lovely eyebrow.

  “Clearly fractured and dysfunctional; but you’re the Psych major now. You already knew that.”

  “No family is perfect, Lindsey. I am glad that your mother is with Slate now. Even though Slate’s not blood to you, he does care and will always do what is best for your mother and brother, and he will do his best to be there for you. He understands you’re grown up. I’ll bet he even understands that you still love your father; that your love for a parent doesn’t just magically disappear.”

  “Why do I get the feeling that somehow there is a cryptic message underneath what you are saying to me right now, Taz?”

  He shifted in his seat, his hands folded underneath his chin.

  “I saw the way you were this afternoon with the stuffed dog your father had given you; the way you wanted to fix it so it looked as good as new again. Is that what you think is possible with the relationship between you and your father, should he come back into your life?”

  I mulled over his words in my head.

  “Is that really the question you are asking me, Taz?”

  “I’m not following?”

  “I think the question that you just asked me is not really the question that is burning in your mind. I think what you really want to know is if somehow, my father should make contact with me, be it in person, or by phone, or by freaking carrier pigeon, what I will do. Am I right?”

  “It’s a legitimate question, Lindsey.”

  “Then why did you dance around it? Why didn’t you phrase it the way it should have been asked? I don’t want you playing Psych 101 with me, Taz. I don’t want you asking me things in order to interpret it to mean something else or speculate my behavior that way. If we can’t be upfront and honest, then what the hell are we doing hanging with each other?”

  “Fair enough,” he replied, “I get it.”

  “Okay, then. Here’s your answer. If my father somehow approached me and asked me to help him hide, or contacted me to meet him somewhere, I would refuse. I would tell him that I loved him. I would also tell him to turn himself into the authorities and let it play out in our judicial system. I would advise him that under no uncertain terms would I assume the role of aiding and abetting his flight from prosecution. I would also ask that he never contact me again if he didn’t plan on following my advice.”

  Taz reached over and picked up my hand, gently lifting it to his lips. He kissed it softly, his green eyes gazing at me.

  “What if during all of this, you were made aware of where he was staying, or where he was heading. Would you assist the authorities in seeking him out?”

  “Do you mean like saying I would meet him and then double-crossing him so that he could be apprehended?”

  “Yes, exactly.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  CHAPTER 29

  Taz and I had driven home in silence from the restaurant. I suspected he was not happy with the answer I had given him on his final question.

  I had to be honest though. I knew what my father had done was wrong. I also believed that people that break the law need to be held accountable. I had to draw the line at playing ‘bounty hunter’ with my own father though.

  When we got home, Mom and Slate were still not in yet. I felt like Taz was only sticking around out of some sense of obligation to Slate. It was starting a bit to feel like I had a babysitter.

  “Look Taz, I know you probably want to get back to your place and take care of whatever slipped through the cracks while you were in Charlottesville over the past few days. I’m fine here by myself. I’m not afraid of the dark. I don’t think I am in any imminent danger or anything.”

  “So that’s it, huh? You’re kicking me to the curb?”

  “No, not at all. It just seems to me that maybe there is someplace else you’d rather be.”

  “And you would know this how?"

  “Well, for one thing, you’ve barely spoken to me since we left the restaurant. I can only conclude that you didn’t like the answer I gave you. Would you prefer I not be honest with you?”

  “Baby girl, I am not displeased with your answer. It was honest and it was normal. I wouldn’t have expected you to answer any other way.”

  “Suppose it was the other way around, Taz. Suppose it was your father in that scenario and I was you and you were me. How would you have answered that question?”

  “I really don’t know, Lindsey. My main concern is for you, at this point. I hope that you are never put into that position,” he said softly, lifting my chin to kiss me softly. “I hope that there is another way.”

  “Then you aren’t upset with me?”

  “No, not at all. If I was quiet it’s only because I have a lot on my mind for the operation in Baltimore that is coming up.”

  “Baltimore? What’s going on in Baltimore?”

  “Nothing that I can share with you, but I want you to listen up, okay?”

  I nodded as he sat on the sofa and pulled me onto his lap.

  “Slate and I leave for Baltimore on Tuesday. We’ve been working on this investigation for months and hopefully, everything will be resolved during this trip.”

  “How long will you be there?”

  “Possibly a week, maybe longer if complications arise.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that one bit.

  “I’ll call you if I can, but you can’t call or text me, understood?”

  “I don’t do that now, Taz. I’m cuddly not clingy, in case you haven’t noticed.”

  “I do see that and I appreciate it,” he replied, smiling at me as he brushed my hair from my forehead.

  “I will miss you, though,” he said softly, almost as if he was saying it more to himself than to me.

  My heart did a double back-flip for the first time ever.

  “I’m sure I will miss you, too. I might even worry, if that’s allowed.”

  “I don’t want you to worry,” he said. “Because if I know you are worrying, then I’ll be distracted, you see?”

  “I think I understand. So, then I will not be worried if that’s not allowed.”

  “It’s not,” he stated firmly, kissing the tip of my nose.

  That was all it took.

  Within moments we were tangled up all over each other making out like a couple of teenagers on the sofa.

  His hands had my sweater up over my head, his lips and tongue were teasing my breasts, and his fingers plying at my nipples, squeezing them just enough to bring pleasurable pain, if t
hat’s possible.

  My hands were fumbling with the zipper on his jeans; frantically trying to spring his cock free so that I could feel that very soft skin with my fingers.

  He was groaning softly, his lips now pressed against mine, his tongue furiously searching for mine as I nearly had it out.

  The sound of the front door being unlocked and Slate’s loud voice bellowing my name caused us to freeze in mid-motion.

  I frantically tried to sit up to get my sweater pulled down, accidently kneeing Taz in the crotch when I did. I heard him stifle his curse as my hand flew up to my mouth in horror.

  “Sorry, sorry,” I whispered hoarsely, managing to get my sweater pulled down.

  I ran my fingers through my hair as Taz took a seat beside me, crossing his legs to hide his erection.

  I tossed a magazine over to him from the coffee table to further help camouflage his current condition.

  I rose from the sofa, going to the refrigerator as if I was getting a soda when Slate made it to the kitchen carrying Bryce.

  “I didn’t hear you come in,” I lied.

  Slate scrunched his forehead in disbelief.

  “I hollered for you,” he said.

  “Oh, I just came up from the basement. I was checking to see if you had any beer in the fridge down there for Taz.”

  I was absolutely no good at fibbing, at least not spur of the moment fibbing.

  “Lindsey, there is beer on the bottom shelf in this fridge, see?” Slate replied, pointing to the bottom shelf.

  “Oh, so there is; my bad. Would you grab one for Taz? Where’s Mom?” I asked, taking Bryce from him.

  “The medical transport van is a few minutes behind us. She’ll be here in a few,” Slate replied, tossing a beer to Taz, who was now standing at the kitchen breakfast bar. He opened one for himself. Slate looked worn out.

  “You mean she had to be transported by an ambulance?”

  “It’s a long drive, Lindsey. She needs to lie on her back for the next two months. She can only get up to use the bathroom and shower once a day. That is it until she sees her doctor here.”

  “When will that be?”

  “We have an initial appointment Monday with her OB/GYN, but that will involve more testing. We will know more once he gets the results back and confirms what the hospital in Indianapolis diagnosed.”