She didn’t want to leave him, but felt so afraid he would be in danger because of her and she didn’t want to see him dead like her brother. She didn’t know how to contact her mother.
Sophie felt the bed depress behind her, but he didn’t touch her.
“Babe, I have four other rooms here. I can see to it you have your own space.” His hand touched her back. “Sophie, I know what you’re concerned about and I promise you, we’ll be all right and so will your mother. I wish I’d arranged for Hejazi to watch your brother.”
She turned around to look at him. She saw guilt in his eyes and wanted to remove it. “What happened to Jeff wasn’t your fault. If I hadn’t warned you about my father’s shenanigans with changing contracts none of this would have happened.” She reached for his hand and their fingers snarled together. “Riley, I don’t want to leave, but I’m scared that something will happen to you.”
“We’re in this side-by-side, babe. We swore in the ring-commitment ceremony never to turn our backs on the other and I plan to hold to that. You’re mine forever, but I don’t want you to feel crowded. I can get one of those rooms set up for you in no time.”
“I know you mean well, but I’m not comfortable here. I’m furious with what’s happened and I’m no good to you.” She let go of his hand and stood. “Where the fuck is my suitcase?”
“I had it put into storage. I won’t be able to have it retrieved until morning. Sweetheart, if you’re going to return to your apartment, I’ll have to insist Hejazi stay with you. He can sleep on your couch.”
“Why?” She saw him frown and could tell something tried his patience. “You need Hejazi more than me.”
“I’ll be watched, don’t worry. Hejazi told me yesterday that the man who killed your brother initially shot at you. After he hit Jeff he started to fire toward you, again. If Hejazi hadn’t reacted so quickly...” He looked at her. “I don’t think we should discuss this now. I won’t be able to get your suitcase for a few hours.” He stood up from the bed. “I’ll leave and you can have the room to yourself.”
Sophie watched as he moved to the door. “No, please, no.” She clasped her hands and felt her eyes fill. “Riley, I don’t want you to leave. I’m so afraid and angry. I spent so long not having any connection and...all I can see is the pool of blood by Jeff’s head...” She took a step toward him. “God, I don’t even know what I’m saying.”
Riley moved to her in two steps and she felt his arms wrap around her. It felt safe in his warm hold, but the fear she’d never felt before swamped her emotions and brain.
He got her back into bed, put the comforter around and lay down next to her. After she’d spent a few minutes trying to relax, she looked at him and put a hand on his chest.
“You trust Hejazi, don’t you?”
“With my life. He’s brilliant with security and his observation skills are the best.”
“How long has he worked for you?”
“About ten years or so. He left the secret service and started his own agency. He’s got a great team.” Riley put his hand over hers. “Sophie, may I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Why don’t you ever use endearments much?”
The question struck her as odd and seemed to help clear her mind. “I’m not a big fan of calling someone honey. My father always used them when he felt annoyed with me. His favorites were dear and sweetie and he always used them to belittle me.”
“Does it annoy you when I call you sweetheart or babe?” He turned on his side.
“No, you’re not my father and you make it sound loving and I know you care.”
“I do, you know? I love you.” He put his hand on her cheek and ran his thumb over her eye.
“I know, Riley, and I am grateful we crossed paths in Fellows Bar and Grill. I’m thankful for so much, but I won’t let you be involved with this. My father is vengeful and I’m sure he’ll continue to come after me. Please, stay out of it. I don’t want you hurt.” She kissed his hand.
He moved his hand over her hair and pulled her to his chest. He looked into her eyes. “Get some rest. We’ll talk more in the morning.”
* * * *
Riley stayed with her. He listened to her breathe and held her when she started to cry out from a bad dream. He knew her emotions were balanced on the edge of a knife and hoped he could give her some comfort.
At two-thirty in the afternoon, he sat on the edge of the bed and debated whether or not to disturb her peaceful sleep. He put his hand on her hip.
“Sophie, sweetheart.” He shook her a little and saw her eyes open. “Hejazi called a bit ago. He’ll be here in a half hour and has some information for us. Do you want to shower? I’ll get something warmed up to eat.”
“Yeah, I suppose I look like fifty shades of hell.”
Riley laughed. “No, only twenty-five.” He helped her get up and watched her move to the bathroom. “Do you want coffee?”
“Most definitely.”
He went into the kitchen and put coffee into the maker and filled it with cold water. Deciding to make her breakfast, he started putting together eggs to scramble and slowly cooked some sausages in a pan and waited on the toast.
He heard the shower turn off and her hair dryer start. He walked into the bedroom and put on a pair of sweatpants with a T-shirt. He looked at the bathroom door and wanted to go in to make sure she felt all right, but let her be and went to the kitchen.
When she came down the stairs, he poured her a coffee and started the eggs.
“Something smells good,” she said and sat at the dining room table. He felt her eyes watch him. “I don’t think I knew you could cook.”
He smiled over his shoulder. “Sophie, for the six weeks you recuperated from your surgery, where do you think the food came from?”
“I figured you ordered out. You did all that?”
“Some of it, yes.”
“Did you make the pot roast?”
“Yes ma’am, my mother’s crock pot recipe.” He stirred the eggs. “And I know you’re crazy impressed by my skills.” He walked over to her holding the spatula.
“You’re very sexy with that spatula, Mr. Frost.” She sipped her coffee.
“Thank you.” He leaned over and kissed her lips. “It just occurred to me a spatula could make an interesting spanking tool.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “I’ll bring you a plate in a minute. Do you want toast?”
“I’m not very hungry, so no toast.”
He dished up the eggs and sausages and as he set a plate in front of her, the door buzzer sounded. He went to his laptop on the table, saw Hejazi stood out front and typed a code and hit enter, which opened the door downstairs.
“Come on up,” he said and sat down next to Sophie and watched her take a couple of bites of food.
“Thank you for making breakfast, Riley.” She sat back and sipped her coffee.
“You’re not eating very much.”
She looked at him. “I’m not very hungry.”
The elevator doors opened and Riley could barely hear the security guards footfalls. For a man six-foot-five, that weighed two-hundred-fifty pounds, it always amazed Riley how quiet he moved.
“Get yourself some coffee, Hejazi. We’re out here,” Riley said.
“Thank you, sir.”
“There’s some extra breakfast on the stove, too.”
The guard walked out of the kitchen with a cup. “Breakfast after nine o’clock in the morning just seems wrong.” He set the coffee down and sat and looked at them both. “Do you want to finish your food before I give you what my team found out?”
Riley saw Sophie’s eyebrows pinch. “No, go ahead.”
“The man who murdered your brother was named Robert Hamblin. After a bit of digging we found he worked for another man named Jack Booth.”
“I know that name. Why do I know that name?” Sophie said and looked thoughtful.
“Booth has been on your fathers’ payroll for many years
and it’s rumored he’s done a lot of dirty work. There have been some disappearances that might be linked to him. A couple of your dad’s business adversaries have gone missing with no explanations.”
“So there’s no proof my father was involved?” Sophie set her cup on the table and pushed her plate away.
“No, they cover their tracks very well. However, when your father disappeared he didn’t clean out all the records, like bank account transactions. It’s been easy to follow the money trail. Speaking of, I have a friend at Cal-Poly who’s really good a computer tracking. I’d like your permission to have him see if he can trace where your father sent the money.”
“That’s fine.”
“Sophie, how did you know that there wasn’t any proof about your father’s involvement?” Riley asked.
“Remember I told you I didn’t like my father’s cut throat tactics?”
He nodded.
“I tried for years to find proof of it, but always hit dead ends. There was a man from Georgia that father dealt with who disappeared. I can’t remember his name. We toured some of the mid-west and eastern plants a few years ago and he introduced me to Booth. I asked if he was a part of the security detail and he almost laughed so hard he cried. I guess I know why he laughed now.”
“Booth was once military. He received a standard discharge in 2002 and became a mercenary after that. We were able to review the footage from the monitors at Club Frek.”
Sophie frowned. “What did you and your team observe? If my father had the photographs was there also film of us?”
Hejazi nodded. “The cameras are set up in the hallways outside the suites. There were a couple in the suite. We found footage of Hamblin outside your old suite and going into it, Mr. Frost. He was there on some rouse about an electrical problem. I’m certain he was the one that put the cameras up and got the pictures you mentioned.”
Sophie looked angrily at Riley. He could tell she was ready to go ballistic. “Sweetheart, those pictures are between you and me. Hejazi got them from your father’s desk and didn’t look at them.” He turned his eyes to the security man.
“That’s correct, Mr. Frost. I didn’t look at them.”
“I just thought...never mind.”
* * * *
Sophie felt like she might be going crazy. Why she would be upset if anyone saw those pictures was something she couldn’t figure out. Her brother was dead. She looked across the table at the man from security and knew she respected him. During the meeting yesterday, he’d saved her life. But she didn’t know him and didn’t want to offend anyone. She began to think the man she’d called father all these years was more of a stranger to her than the man across the table. She wanted to hit something very hard and get her thick skin back.
“Hejazi, would you give us a moment, please?” Riley asked.
The tall man lifted from his seat and left the room. Riley moved to the seat next to her and put his arm around her shoulder.
“Tell me what’s going on in that brilliant brain of yours,” he said.
She leaned back in the chair. “Don’t patronize me, Riley.”
“I’m not. I can see a distraught look on your face and I do think you’re brilliant.”
She looked at him and could see the concern in his eyes. She put her hand on his cheek. “I’m finding that all I once held as truth has turned into one giant fucking lie. I think I may have known it all along, but denied it. My father wasn’t who I thought. My brother is dead and my mother is not crazy. The one constant in my life...the one thing I always held on to, was my job, but now I find out it most likely was a joke for the last ten years. I’m not sure if I should feel pissed or confused.”
Riley gathered her hands in his and kissed her knuckles. “I will never understand what you’re feeling, Sophie. I’ve never experienced this kind of thing, but, please, know I will always be here and I won’t lie to you...ever. I hope you’ll let me help you with this.”
“I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t think I can count on you.”
“I know. What do you need? What can I do to help?”
She looked at him and pulled her hands from his grip. “I want to go back to my apartment. I need my routine from the days before I met you back.”
“Mr. Frost, I apologize for interrupting, but I wouldn’t recommend that,” Hejazi said from the doorway.
“Why not?” Sophie tried not to snarl.
“Miss Pantagen, the building your apartment is located in has sub-par security. I’d need to have three men watch the exits on the roof, three in the garage, plus the driveway...”
Sophie held up her hand to stop him. “I understand.” She stood and moved away from the table. She went to the row of windows in the living-room and looked out at the blue sky. She could hear Riley and Hejazi speaking lowly, but didn’t care what they spoke about.
She saw a plane slowly climbing in elevation, heading east. She thought how nice it would be to forget all of this and leave on the next flight to anywhere. She wouldn’t run, but didn’t know what to do first.
Riley’s hands moved around her waist and held her. His head rested on her shoulder and she could feel his warm breath on her neck.
“Sophie, please don’t kill me, but I just made an executive decision,” he said.
She turned around and looked at him. The silence between them buzzed, but she waited patiently.
“Hejazi and some of his men are going to move your bedroom and office furniture over here. We’ll have your computer hooked up in no time and you can start working, if you like.”
“Riley, what?” She stepped back out of his hold.
“There are several empty rooms here in this condo and as far as I’m concerned they’re all yours. I understand you need space right now...I get that, but there is someone out there who has tried once to kill you and there is no way he’ll get a second chance.”
Sophie opened her mouth to say something, but her brain froze. Riley held his hand out to her.
“Once this is over, if you insist you still want your apartment, I’ll have your furniture moved back, but you need to remember one thing. We swore an oath to each other in the ring-commitment ceremony. I’m not much for ceremonies, but I took it seriously and in case you’ve forgotten,”—he moved up to her and pulled her hand up with the engagement ring—“we’re engaged,” he said and she saw a look on his face she’d never seen. Anger.
Sophie couldn’t figure out why Riley became so angry. She pulled her hand from his and left the living room.
She went up the stairs, into the bedroom, took off her shorts, and found a pair of jeans. She dressed quickly and slipped on a pair of sneakers. Riley stood at the door and watched her.
Her purse sat on a dresser and she dug her car-keys out, turned and tried to walk past him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her close.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Fuck you.” She squirmed to get away from him. “I was at the ring ceremony, asshole, and I remember the commitment we made. I didn’t commit to being held prisoner here. I have work to do since the board of directors asked for help. I want to get Pantagen back on its feet. I can’t do that from here.”
“Why can’t you do the work here? At least the fact that you’d be safe should play into your thinking. Or do you have a death wish?”
She knew that they were having their first major argument and what he’d just asked hurt. “The fact that you have to ask me why I can’t work here makes me wonder how committed to me you really are. I wonder if you know me at all.”
“Of course I know you. I know you are a stubborn mule and I’m beginning to wonder what you’re thinking.”
Sophie pulled out of his grip and took steps back to get out of his reach. “A death wish? Is that what you really think?”
“Well, crap, sweetheart. You used to go out and pick up strange men and let them fuck you anywhere. That was how we met, remember? Was it the risk you were attracted to? What?”
She didn’t know how to respond. Why he decided now to throw her old life back into her face made no sense. It hadn’t bothered him before. He’d even asked her to relate stories from previous men while they fucked and it seemed to excite him more.
She walked to the windows in the room and stared out.
“Sophie, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I’m angry about everything that’s happened and I’m taking it out on you.”
She felt him move up behind her and put his hands on her waist. She stepped away from him and put up her hand.
“Don’t, don’t touch me. You wouldn’t have said that if it wasn’t on your mind.” She looked at him and shook her head. “I can’t, I just can’t...”
She went into the bathroom and locked the door. Her purse dropped to the floor, she leaned over the counter and looked at herself in the mirror. Don’t you dare cry, she thought. She felt she’d been a complete idiot to think Riley would be any different than those other men in her past. They all possessed over blown egos, a need to control, and, like her father, financial wealth. She was disappointed that she’d fallen into his game.
She lifted her sweater and took the hoops off her nipples and set them on the counter. Then she removed the engagement ring and set it down next to the hoops. She picked her bag up from the floor and opened the door.
“I’m finished,” she said as she walked by him.
“This isn’t over, Sophie,” he said.
She stopped in the hallway and looked at him. “Yes, it is. Please tell Hejazi not to touch my furniture.”
She went down the stairs, past the security man in the kitchen, and didn’t look up after pushing the number code for the elevator and then hit the ground floor button. The doors closed and she began the descent.
* * * *
When Riley looked into the lit bathroom and saw the ring and hoops on the counter, he became furious and scared. He heard the doors close on the elevator and started down the stairs.
A Risky Dance Page 9