by J. E. Taylor
“That wasn’t a compliment,” Daniel snapped. “I’m surprised Tom didn’t kill you.”
“Believe me, he wanted to,” Chris replied. He glanced over at Jessica. “I couldn’t exactly stay away from Jess.” He blushed and looked at the boys and then sideways over at Daniel and LeAnn with a small grin. “The rest is history.”
Their meals arrived with the bottles of wine and everyone ate in silence.
Chris poured a glass of wine for himself and offered the bottle to Daniel. Daniel nodded and held up his glass. LeAnn and Jessica both declined and exchanged the same look. They were now the designated drivers as Daniel and Chris finished the two bottles themselves.
Chris got the check and they got up to leave the restaurant.
“I still don’t like you,” Daniel said as they walked outside.
“I’m so hurt.” Chris put his hand over his heart dramatically. He was a little tipsy and he pulled the keys out of his pocket and handed them to Jessica.
Daniel laughed at the gesture and even more at him handing Jessica the keys. “Do you have a death wish?”
Chris laughed. “Better to have her drive right now, besides it’ll sober me up quick.”
Eric picked up CJ and gave him a big hug, then handed him over to Chris to hook him in his carseat. He did the same with Tommy and turned to Chris. “I’ll see you Thursday.” He smiled and gave Chris a hug. He turned to Jessica. “Bye, Mom, I love you.”
“I love you too, honey.” Jessica hugged her oldest son and watched him slide into the back seat of Daniel’s car. “Congratulations on getting into the finals.” She smiled, remembering why they were all there.
Chris turned toward Daniel and LeAnn. “D’ya want me to make those reservations for you?”
Daniel took a deep breath and looked over at LeAnn and then nodded back at Chris. “Sure, but I still don’t like you.”
“What? I’m a likeable guy!” Chris smiled his crooked tipsy smile and put his hands out in a shrug.
“No you’re not.” Daniel laughed and slid into their car.
Chapter 16
Daniel woke the next morning and got the Sunday paper as the prior day’s events kept replaying in his mind. He still couldn’t fathom why Jessica was with that man. As he flipped through the Entertainment section, he saw an advertisement for Tom’s picture, stating that it was being released this weekend.
He shook his head and looked at the clock on the wall; it was almost eleven, which meant it was eight in the morning on the west coast. He made a decision, picked up the phone and flipped through the address book that LeAnn had on the desk. He found the number he wanted and dialed it.
“Hello.” A groggy female voice answered.
“Hi, is Tom available?” Daniel asked.
“Hold on.” The voice stated and then put the phone down.
A few minutes later a male voice, equally as groggy answered. “This is Tom.”
“Tom, it’s Dan. Dan Connor.”
There was silence on the other end. “Is everything all right?” he asked after a moment, sounding wide-awake now.
“Yes, everyone’s fine.” He took a deep breath. “How could you let her leave you for him?” He got to the point.
“Let me call you back in a sec. I assume the number is still the same?”
“It is,” Daniel said and then listened to the dial tone. He hung up the phone and waited.
* * * *
Tom pulled on sweat pants and a sweatshirt and grabbed his cell phone without a word.
“Who was that?” Sharon asked.
“An old friend,” Tom said and left the room, heading onto the beach. He scrolled down the numbers until he found Dan Connor and pressed the send button, taking a seat on the cool sand.
Daniel answered the phone in less than one ring. “Tom?”
“Yep.” He squinted out at the morning surf.
“How could you let her go, especially knowing she was with him?”
“With whom?”
“You know damn well who I’m talking about,” Daniel snapped.
Tom scanned the beach and then quickly looked over his shoulder. Sharon was nowhere to be seen.
“I couldn’t compete with what he had to offer her, Dan.”
“Bullshit.”
Tom laughed. “She slept with him while we were still married. She couldn’t say no to him.”
“So you just let her go? I thought you loved her.”
“I do. More than you know.” He glanced over his shoulder again. Still no sign of Sharon, so she must have gone back to sleep.
“She is marrying him.”
“I know. On Friday,” he answered.
“And you aren’t going to stop it?”
“Dan, I’m married,” he said, almost gagging at the words coming from his mouth. “Besides, he will take good care of her. Trust me.”
“But he is the son of a bitch who kidnapped her.”
“Yeah, but he also is the son of a bitch who saved her life. How did you find out about him, anyway?” Tom asked, thinking one of the kids must have slipped up.
A pause came over the line and then Daniel said, “He told me.”
“No shit. That was pretty ballsy.”
“I actually asked him and at first he played like it was a game just to see what my reaction would be but then he finally admitted who he was.” He let out a small laugh. “He can be a scary son of a bitch.”
Tom laughed. “Dan, you have no idea just how scary he can be. You weren’t there, you never saw him in action.”
“Then why didn’t you fight for her?”
He sat quietly looking at the waves.
“Tom?”
“He never loses,” Tom finally replied. “Ever.” Which is what I’m betting on.
Daniel was quiet. “Jesus.”
“He has nothing to do with it.”
Daniel laughed. “That’s what he said last night.”
Tom smiled. “I guess playing him in the movie kind of rubbed off on me a little.”
“I read that the movie is being released this weekend?”
“The premiere is in New York on Friday,” Tom said. “They’re coming.”
“Jess and Chris?”
“Yep.”
“No shit.”
Tom chuckled at the shock in Daniel’s voice. “I called and asked her to come.”
“And she said yes?”
“She did.” He grinned. “Blew my mind when I found out it was their wedding day.” Tom scanned the landscape again. Sharon was now on the porch looking at him on the beach. She was too far away to hear any of the conversation, but Tom stood and walked down to the water’s edge anyway.
Daniel took a deep breath. “I still can’t believe you let her go.”
“Well, Dan, we are even there. I couldn’t fathom how you let her go, either.”
Daniel laughed. “I found LeAnn.”
Tom shook his head. “LeAnn isn’t Jessica.”
“No she isn’t, but she is the love of my life.”
Tom hung his head. “Jess was mine. I’ve got to go.” He glanced back at the house and took note that Sharon was now walking down the steps to the beach. “Bye Dan.” He hung up the phone and erased the history, sliding the phone back into his pocket. He stood and looked out at the water, pondering whether he should do something to stop the wedding or not.
“Who was that?” Sharon stopped next to him.
“An old friend. He saw that the movie was finally being released and wanted to say congratulations,” Tom said without looking at her.
“You’d better not be lying to me,” Sharon snapped. Tom slowly looked over at her.
“What would you do if I decided to kill myself?” He glared at her.
Sharon smiled. “I’d make sure that bitch died too.”
The flash of anger that encompassed him took control and he grabbed her by the throat. “She is not a bitch and if you call her that one more time, I’ll snap your fucking neck.”
He let her go and stormed back to the house.
Tom closed and locked the bedroom door and took a shower. While the hot water pelted down on his skin, he made a decision, one that he hoped would not come back to haunt him. He dressed, packed and made a phone call.
Sharon sulked on the couch in the living room and she sat up straight, staring at the suitcase in his hand. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Getting as far away from you as I possibly can,” he said, looking squarely at her.
“We have a premiere in New York in less than a week,” she balked.
“Don’t worry, I will be there,” he snarled at her. “But not with you.”
He went to leave and saw her flip open her phone out of the corner of his eye. He hesitated and looked over at her. “Do you really want to die?” He turned back toward her and dropped the suitcase. “Because you will if you press that button.” He stepped toward her and his hands curled into fists.
She slowly closed the phone. “Who’s to say I won’t as soon as you leave?” she snapped at him.
“I say so, because I know how to unleash hell and I’ll send him straight to you if you put her in danger,” Tom growled. “And when he comes to collect, you will wish to God I had been the one to kill you.” He turned on his heels, picked up his bag and walked out of the house. The town car was waiting for him and he hopped in. “L-A-X,” he said and leaned back. His flight was leaving in less than two hours and he couldn’t wait to be on the other side of the country, away from her for the first time in five years. He opened his phone and dialed the familiar number.
Chris picked up the phone. “Hello, Ryan residence.”
Tom was quiet for a moment. “You’d better damn well protect her.” He knew as soon as he left, Sharon would make that call.
Silence filled the line.
“You there?”
“I’m here.”
“I gather from the tone in your voice Jessica has already told you about our little conversation.”
“Yep,” Chris replied.
“I left Sharon today.” He closed his eyes. “I hope the threat that I put on the table before I left was enough,” he said without believing it. “But in the event that it isn’t, I’m calling to give you fair warning.”
“Fair warning of what?” Chris asked and closed his eyes and did the same thing that Jessica had done twice over the past week. He transported himself into the car with Tom.
Surprise rattled through Tom. “Shit,” he said and put up the divider between himself and the driver, while still holding the phone in his hand.
“Does she know about Tommy?”
“No. But if she finds out...” he trailed off as he looked into the eyes of the man he once hated, realizing just how much Chris cared about the boy who Tom sired.
Chris clenched his teeth in anger. “I’ll kill anyone who comes near my family.”
“Don’t,” Tom said, knowing that he could kill Sharon with just a thought. “I promise, if she puts out the contract on Jess, I will be the first to hand her over to you. We don’t know for sure if she made the call but I do know that if she ends up dead, it is automatically put into effect.”
“I should kill you for putting her in danger,” he seethed. “For putting my son in danger.” He leaned forward. “Just so we get one thing straight, you may have contributed the sperm where Tommy is concerned, but he is MY son.” The words spit out from his clenched teeth.
Tom hadn’t considered how Chris would react, but the fact that he wasn’t already dead was a good indicator of his chance of survival.
“The next time you see her, she will be my wife,” Chris said.
“I know,” Tom smiled. “But the fact that she was married to me before didn’t stop you. Why should it stop me?”
“Because you will lose. She chose me and that hasn’t changed.”
Tom smiled at Chris. “Want to bet?”
“I would bet my life on it,” Chris said without hesitation and smiled as Tom’s faltered. “I have to run, but thanks for the warning. Believe me, no one will get to her, I will see to that. Besides, no one really knows where she is, now do they?”
“No, but they know where the rest of her family is and she kept both the house and the studio in her name,” Tom replied.
Chris’s expression changed. “Emily,” he said and disappeared.
“What about Emily?” Tom said into the phone as he stared at the spot where Chris had been.
“Emily is living in the house. If the call is made, how fast do you think they’ll move on it?”
Tom didn’t know, but based on Sharon’s face, he would venture to guess pretty damn fast. “Fast,” he said after a moment.
“We’ll see you on Friday evening. Make sure Sharon is there. I will want to have a word with her.”
“Oh, she’ll be there,” Tom smiled, realizing he had just unleashed hell. “She wouldn’t miss the premiere for anything and I can’t wait to see the look on her face when the two of you show up.”
* * * *
Chris smiled. She doesn’t know, that is a very good thing, surprise was in his court. “Same here.” For once the two men shared something other than Jessica in common. The sweet taste of revenge coursed through both their veins. He hung up the phone and stood looking out the window of his house for a second as he contemplated what he needed to do to keep them safe. The property here was vulnerable to attack from both the road access even though it was gated, it could be penetrated easily and from the water, the cliff he lived on was not that big and easily scalable for even a novice climber. He slowly walked back into the family room.
“Who was on the phone?” Jessica looked up as she put on her coat.
Chris didn’t answer her, he just handed her the phone and went up to their room. She walked in the room a moment later.
“Who was on the phone?” she asked, but a part of her already knew.
“Tom,” Chris said and went to walk past her.
She grabbed his arm.
“He left Sharon,” Chris said and the levity of the situation hit her. “Yes, there probably is a contract out on your life now,” he confirmed her thoughts. “And no, she has no clue about Tommy,” he reassured her. “No one is going to hurt you,” he promised and led her back downstairs where the boys couldn’t ease drop.
Chapter 17
Sharon sat staring between her phone and the front door, anger simmering to a boil in her blood. Bastard doesn’t think I’ll do it? Fuck him!
She flipped the phone open and pressed the first text, the one that would make it all fall on Tom’s shoulders. Then she made the first of several calls.
“I want her dead,” she said into the phone.
She listened for a second and made another decision. “Yes, if anyone’s with her, take them out too,” she said. “Yes, including him.”
She’d make them all pay and Tom would take the fall.
She called several contractors that she had on retainer and repeated the same conversation. Each and every one of them understood what she wanted and the word on the street spread like wild fire. Within a couple of hours, every hired assassin on the East Coast had Jessica’s picture and the instructions.
Little did she realize, she just signed her own death warrant.
Chapter 18
Chris sat on the couch and ran his hands through his hair. “I can kill her right now, Jess.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because we don’t know if she actually put a contract out on me. And even if she does, you can’t just kill her.”
“Sure I can.
“Not if you ever want to teach them right from wrong.” She pointed to the ceiling, her eyes sparkling with anger.
Chris sighed and looked down at his hands. She was right and that irked him. He looked up and opened his mouth to speak.
“No ‘buts’ Chris. The only reason to kill is in self-defense,” she said. “If they come after us and we have n
o other alternative...” she trailed off. “That’s the only way I will stay with you.”
Chris took a deep breath, fighting between the urge to destroy the vicious bitch on the West Coast and the need to keep his family safe. In his mind, one would take care of the other, but he didn’t want to lose Jessica. “So what do you suggest we do?”
“Nothing.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Nothing?”
“Yes, nothing. We continue doing what we usually do until something happens.”
Chris just stared at her. “You have got to be kidding?”
“No, I’m not.” She put her hands on her hips defiantly.
“You are so fucking stubborn.”
Jessica smiled.
“That my dear, was not a compliment.” He stood and pulled her into his arms. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until after the premiere.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Do you remember the last time you ignored my warnings?”
Jessica’s eyebrows scrunched and she shook her head.
“I broke my wrist on the mirror in the studio. You are not leaving my sight, understand?”
Jessica took a deep breath and nodded.
He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. Five more days, he thought.
“For what?” she asked, reading his mind.
“Till you’re my wife and you’re safe,” he whispered into her hair. He pulled away from her. “Call Emily and ask her to keep her eyes open for anything weird.”
“Why?”
“Because I have a feeling the first contact will either be at her house or the studio. They’re both still in your name.”
Jessica went pale. “Oh God.”
“Don’t worry. She will be all right. Just tell her to call if there’s a problem, and I don’t mean by using the phone.”
Jessica nodded and picked up the phone. “But what do I tell her?”
“The truth.”
She looked at the phone and then over at Chris. “I can’t scare her like this.”
Chris walked over and plucked the phone out of her hand. “The alternative is worse.” He dialed the phone and waited. A male voice answered the phone and Chris looked down at the number he dialed. It was the right one. He put the phone back to his ear. “Is Emily there?” he asked trading a glance with Jessica. “Hi, Em. Who was that?”