Blake hugged the younger man tightly. He couldn’t stop the tears and just let them flow. This was, he thought, everything he could have hoped for, for both of his children. After Thatch joined them, he hugged him too.
“We should get going before we have to pull out the hankies. I’m feeling a little low myself.” Houston asked his dad why. “Oh, nothing much. I just feel that way at times. Let’s get this show on the road and have some fun.”
Blake was all for that too. Having some fun. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been out with friends by himself. Nor the last time he’d had fun. Just fun. He was going to enjoy this even if he had to eat something bad. He might even do that anyway, he thought. Blake was glad for this. He was glad for the company too.
Chapter 8
Tru was glad Rogen asked for her to switch places. She had wanted to bring her sister in since she’d heard she was more than willing not just to sell her off to the highest bidder, but that she was so frivolous with her children’s lives. To think, Tru thought, they were from the same gene pool.
Walking into the room after a brief knock on the door to the room she knew her sister was in, Tru looked around and found that Shasta, in her apparent hurry to hide from whoever knocked on the door, had left her gun on the couch. Picking it up, Tru put it in the back of her pants and sat on the desk, her legs crossed in front of her, and looked at Shasta.
She was smashed up under the couch with her back toward her. The dress she had on was something Tru knew she’d purchased when Dad had given her some cash a few days ago. So instead of paying for something like a cheap room, Shasta had decided looks were much more important than the safety of a room.
“You might as well come out of there, Shasta. You and I have a great deal to say to each other before I have you arrested.” Shasta struggled to get herself extricated from the couch, and Tru didn’t hold back her laughter. “You are as stupid as I always believed you to be, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean, you’re going to have me arrested? On what charges?” Tru didn’t answer her but waited until she was seated on the couch. “Did you hear me, Tru? What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Lots of reasons, really. One is—and I think you might not believe this—but I own this building. And the company housed here. I think this was the first company I bought when I started buying out little companies and making them work. Second—”
“You? Own this building? I’m sure you’re lying through your teeth. Tell me the real reason you’re here.” Tru simply reached behind her and showed her the placard on the desk. It was her name written right there for her sister to see. “So? You can have those printed up anywhere. You never answered me. What is it you think you can have me arrested for?”
“How did you find out I was working for the FBI?” She just sat there. Tru pulled out her gun and laid it on her lap. “I will not hesitate to shoot you if you don’t answer me now, Shasta. I’ve had enough of your bullshit to last a couple of lifetimes.”
“You’d actually shoot me? Just pull that gun up and fire it at me?” Tru told her it was no less than she was going to do to her. “I haven’t any idea what you’re talking about. You’re insane if you think I’m going to sit here and have you threaten me this way.”
Tru fired at her sister, hitting the floor right between her feet when she stood up. “I will tell you when you can leave. Now sit your ass down and answer my questions.”
“You could have fucking hit me. Are you stupid? Put that thing away.” Tru only aimed it at Shasta’s head. “You fucking can’t be serious right now. Why would you want to kill me?”
“Lots of reasons come to mind. The one that bothers me the most is the fact you were so willing to sell me off to anyone that came along. It’s why we had your phone shut off.” Shasta told her to have it turned back on. “I don’t think so. Who were you going to call? Mike? I hope you know he’s never going to get bail, Shasta. Neither will you after this. Mike will be in a federal prison the same as you. Treason carries a huge fine.”
“Treason? I haven’t any idea what you’re talking about.” Tru pointed out she said that a great deal. “Because it’s true. Who have you spoken to? I’m sure Dad went right to you, spouting off things said to him in private. Well, I was angry, and that isn’t going to stand up in court.”
“But it will, you see. Everything you said, as you were told several times, was being recorded. You even mentioned the recorded message to Dad when you spoke to him, telling anyone listening that you were aware of it. There are a great many things on that recording that will—” Shasta pointed out that she was her sister. “I’m well aware of that, Shasta. It’s you that seems to have trouble remembering I’m also your sister. Were you really going to sell me off to someone to get money? You do know you wouldn’t have been able to spend any of the money. Whoever you contacted would have killed you the moment you told him who I was.”
“And you know this because of what you are. Or what people think you are. Are you really an FBI agent? Someone that kills for a living?” Tru told her she was. “And how do Dad and Mom feel about their baby girl being a murderer? I’m sure they’re just over the moon about it.”
“They are, actually. Not just that I help our country when I’m needed, but that I’ve been able, for a very long time, to keep myself safe while I was doing it. Then you and Mike had to enter the picture and fuck things up for everyone. Didn’t you? I must ask, however. What is it about your relationship with your husband that makes you not care he’s having numerous affairs right under your nose?” Shasta told her it was none of her business. “Is it the fact he’s a sadist? That he loves his sex painful? That he hurts his partners when he fucks them? Couldn’t take it, could you?”
“Fuck you. I had no idea what sort of person he was—”
Tru laughed at her sister. Laughed hard enough, she had to stand up or fall off the desk. Then she looked her right in the eyes.
“Oh, but you did, didn’t you, Shasta? I told you, several times, as a matter of fact, that he was a monster. Not just because of the sex, but because he murders when he goes too far. So far, we’ve found that he’s killed ten women by his way of having sex.” Shasta said at least it wasn’t her. “That’s all you have to say, at least it wasn’t you? How coldhearted are you? So long as you get your way and don’t have to worry about your precious lifestyle, you could care less what goes on behind the scenes?”
“That’s right. I suppose you’d just go on living your life, not caring that you’ve killed people. If that isn’t a double standard, I don’t know what is.” Shasta stood up, and Tru allowed it. For now. So long as she didn’t try and leave again. “The perfect Tru Justice has the perfect life. She kills for a living, but that’s all right because it’s Tru. While her sister, living a life she loves more than anything in this world, has to put up with a husband that thinks stabbing someone during sex is the way to go. Yes, you are so perfect. Let me ask you something, Tru? Are you happy? I am. I’m thrilled to death I’m going to be getting my husband out of the prison you more than likely had him put in. I’m going to go away with him, and we’re going to start a fresh life. That is going to make me very happy. And if I have to have you murdered off to get myself there, then I consider that a double bonus. To have you dead and money too.”
“That is treason, Shasta.” Shasta told her it was life, and that was all. “Perhaps your life, but not for anyone without their head being up their asses.”
“I’m leaving here. And when I do, I’m going to find someone to sell you to, then I’m going to watch you get killed. That will be a part of my bargain for them to have you. I don’t even care if they fuck you to death, just so long as you are no longer a part of my life. I believe, sister dear, that I have despised you for all of my life. Since you were brought home from the hospital, I have hated you. This perfect little baby that was so smart you graduated five years
before I did. I hate you, Tru.” Tru didn’t know what to say to that. Despite Shasta’s motive for having her out of her life, she still loved her sister. “I can see your mind working right now. You’re trying to figure out how to save me from myself. Well, I don’t fucking want you to save me. I want to be able to go on as things were before. I want my husband back. I know he’s a sadist, but he provided me with the nice things I wanted. Sure, he had to murder and do other shit to get me those things, but I don’t care. He gave them to me. The girls he sold off for prostitution? They should have been better at getting away when he caught up with them. The people he sold the drugs to? Well, I don’t think that was his fault either. They were dopers even before he came along to sell them what they were already taking.”
Shasta continued to pace for a few more minutes before she sat down. When she looked at her, Tru could see she really did hate her. That everything she’d said to her was what she believed. There were so many things she wanted to ask her to find out what else she knew about what Mike had been up to, but right now, all she could think about was that her own sister hated her.
“What about Sam and Jacob? How do they fit in all of this?” Shasta started laughing like she was insane or something akin to it. “What is wrong with you?”
“I don’t want them. You can have them for all I care. I’m not going to be saddled with them anymore. I don’t even like them. They messed up my body, and they’re dragging me down. I only had them so Dad would get off my back and— That’s not true. He never said a word about wanting grandchildren. I thought if I had him some, he’d come to like Mike more. Even getting them lovely gifts on holidays, birthdays, and every time we went over there, never swayed him from hating my husband. Sure, he’s a prick and a murderer. He runs drugs and women. But he provided for me, didn’t he? He gave me a lovely home and a car. I had a membership to the country club that I tried to get Mom and Dad to join. I told them I’d even pay for it. But never, not one time did they ever acknowledge he was a good man.”
“Because he wasn’t. For just the reasons you said.” Tru realized her voice was growing louder, and let out a long breath. “You can’t expect us to just sweep under the rug what sort of person he was. Him getting the money you spent like it was water coming out of the faucet means others died. People who were supporting their families were murdered by him. Don’t you have a compassionate bone in your body for what he did to others? And in a very big way, what you did to others to have what you wanted?”
“No. If it means do I care what happened to the others, I guess you could say I don’t have any compassion at all. Just for myself. I don’t even love Mike. I don’t know that I ever did. But he was a way for me to get what I wanted without any kind of effort on my part.” Tru couldn’t believe her sister was this cold. “I want you to give me money, Tru. I’m sure you have some. You don’t have a house. No family. You don’t have a thing to spend your money on. Give it to me, and I’ll leave with Mike and never return. Dad was going to take the boys for a hefty price. I’ll sell them to you. You’re younger anyway, and you can have them for two million dollars.”
“I have a family. Believe it or not, it still includes you. I do have homes. All over the world, as a matter of fact. I’ll soon have a husband that loves me very much and doesn’t hurt me. I have money too. Billions and billions of dollars. But as for giving you any of it? It’s never going to happen.” She asked her why not. They were sisters. “Why is it I’m only your sister when you want something from me?”
Tru stood up and whistled. The four men waiting on the other side of the door came in and surrounded Shasta. They were heavily armed and pointing their guns at her head. Shasta had to see the little red lines that came from their weapons to her heart and head.
“Shasta Diana Justice Arnold, you’re under arrest.” After the man who was reading Shasta’s rights cuffed her as he continued talking to her, Tru left the office. She heard her yelling for her to come back, that they’d never finished their arrangements, but Tru kept walking.
When she was in the lobby of the building, she was never so glad to see Houston as she was at that moment. Pulling her into his arms, he held her tightly without saying a word. What could he say, really? Like the others standing there, he’d heard and seen everything that had happened between her and Shasta.
“How about you and I go to the courthouse, get married, then go on a nice trip? I do have this show coming up, and we can end up in Florida for it if you wish.” Tru told him that sounded fabulous. “Good. I’ve had some strings pulled, and the judge is waiting for us right now to seal the deal. Your mom and my dad are going to stand up as our witnesses.”
“Great. And the other two, they’re going to be there as well?” Houston told her that her dad was going to be his best man, and his mom was going to be her matron of honor. “Well, haven’t you just thought of everything.”
Shasta was brought out of the elevator, screaming and kicking at the men who were trying their best to keep hold of her. It was scary there for a few seconds when she not only managed to get away but got within a foot of Tru. Houston slipped between them and pushed Shasta back on her ass. After that, each man took an appendage and carried her out to the waiting van to take her away.
“I’m exhausted.” Houston kissed her on the mouth, and they left the building. “We still have some things we have to talk about soon. You do remember that, don’t you?”
“Yes. Finances. And what sort of insurance we have.” He kissed her again, and she smiled up at him. “We can talk about that later as well. For now, I want to go to someplace that isn’t here, lay you out naked on a big bed, and have my way with you. How does that sound?”
“After you marry me.” He said he’d forgotten that part. “How could you forget marrying me, you dork?”
Heading to the courthouse, Houston asked her if she was all right with the crap that Shasta had said to her. Tru asked him if they could not talk about her sister for now. It was painful, and she wanted to not have to deal with that.
“I can understand that very much.” He hugged her to him as they walked down the sidewalk. “I love you, Tru. So very much.”
“And I love you, Houston. With all my heart.”
Walking hand in hand, her phone went off. Tru decided to wait until after they said their I do’s before she let herself be drawn into another mission. There was too much going on right now anyway, and she wanted something, just one small thing, to be normal. Smiling as they entered the big building, Tru knew she’d have to tell him soon that she was going away for a while. She only hoped it was close by, so she’d not have to travel overnight for a change.
~~~
Houston had worked on the piece he’d seen completed in his head for the last three days. Each time he stood back to have a look at it, he would see something else in the work. Never in his life would he have thought he could make such a piece and have it turn out exactly the way he’d seen it. It was much nicer than he’d thought it would be.
“Are you in here, Houston?” He yelled to his dad that he was in the back of the building. “I’m coming. My goodness, I thought you said you had all your stuff shipped out to Florida. This is some big—”
He looked at his dad when he stopped talking. Not for the fact that he was no longer speaking, which in and of itself was a feat. But he wondered what had stopped it. Dad was looking at the piece he was working to finish. It was, he thought, a good sign to render his dad speechless. Or perhaps it wasn’t a good sign.
“Is it good or bad that has you shutting up?” Dad turned to him slowly, like it had been difficult for him to turn away from the work. “If you don’t like it, now would be the time to say so. Because right now, you’re freaking me out.”
“You’ve made this.” He nodded and looked at the piece from where his dad was still standing. “I’ve never seen anything like— There is so much going on with— Houston, I’m
at a loss for words. It’s magnificent.”
“I’m glad you chose that one then. What do you really think? I had it in my head when I started on this that I’d start smallish with it. You know, to see if it would be something I wanted to work with. Combining all these elements into one piece seemed to be speaking to me the entire time I was working on it. Wait. You have to see it with the sunlight on it. I look forward to the sunshine every day since I started this project.” Houston opened the large bay doors and stepped back to see his dad’s face when the doors were all the way up. “What do you think, Dad?”
Dad walked around the piece as he touched it here and there. When he started asking questions about it, Houston was surprised when he didn’t have a ready answer. He, it seemed, had no idea why he’d used resin here and not on some of the other places where the high fired clay showed through. But the lines of the now hardened liquid were filled with pieces of colored clays, pieces of leaves and wood. He so loved the top of the thing when the sun was just overhead, and the brilliance of the light filtered down the cylindrical tube of clay and through the sparks of the resin.
“My goodness, Houston, it’s a picture there on the floor.” Houston nearly jumped for joy when his dad saw it without having to have it pointed out to him. Dad looked around. “It’s everywhere. The walls, as well as the ceiling. This is amazing. I love how you’ve put the little trees in there by using the real thing from outside. The leaves are so real looking I feel like I could just reach up and touch them. And would you look at this waterfall?”
Every time Dad circled the six foot piece, he would find something else that grabbed his attention. Once he’d found the waterfall, he also found the fish seemingly jumping out of the crystal clear waters. The stones at the bottom of the falls were handmade. Houston had worked hard on making them look as if they were covered in moss and other growth.
Houston: Robinson Destruction – Paranormal Tiger Shifter Romance Page 11