Blind Trust

by Peiri Ann

  “One day, everyone is going to be on the same page. We are not going to be keeping secrets from each other,” I said, stepping off the plane.

  “Kyle, shut up!” Anna said in front of me. She wouldn’t let Joseph leave her side. “You have been going on and on about this since you all got back from taking down Cohen. It’s over. The people who need to be alive, are.”

  “She’s right, Kyle.” Val wrapped her arms around my stomach from behind me. She peeked around my shoulder. “We’re all alive… like always… and like we will always be.”

  I grabbed her hand. “One day you’re going to tell me your plan before I have to die or get shot.” I looked behind her to Chrissy. I waved for her to come on.

  She ran to me and signed, “Uncle Kyle, while we are here, can we go to Disney World?”

  “Of course!” I signed and said with a smile. “It’s our first stop!” She jumped around, pumping her fist in the air. If she could speak, I imagined her yelling yay and screaming to show her excitement. Her mouth was open, and small sounds escaped as she laughed and ran to Anna.

  “Nixon and Catherine are going to meet us here?” Val asked.

  I pulled her in front of me and wrapped my arms around her chest. “Yes, and until then we’re on babysitting duty. Get used to taking care of a child.”

  “I know, right?”

  I kissed her cheek. “Sorry about that.” I dug into my pocket and pulled out a ring I had bought for her while we were in France last month. With my free hand, I lifted her chin to kiss me as I discreetly slid it on the ring finger of her left hand.

  She pulled back to look. “Kyle…”

  “Just go with it,” I whispered in her ear.

  “It’s only been a year.”

  “It’s not too soon. I know in the end… we’re in this together, Amelia.”

  She smiled. “A new life…”

  “Our new life. You and me. Him or her.” I rubbed her stomach that had a small bump I spent my nights talking to or kissing. “Them.” I pointed to Anna, Joseph, and Chrissy. “I’m not counting Nixon and Catherine.”

  “Hey! You all were just going to leave me on the plane. No one was going to wake me up!”

  “And him.” Val and I turned around. Rick was running from the stairs of the plane.

  “Come on, Rick!” Anna yelled. “Wake up! The plane landed.”

  “Thanks for nothing, Anna.” He ran to Val and me. “You gave it to her?” He grabbed Val’s left hand. “That rock’s not too heavy for your finger, Val?”

  “Yes.” She smiled. “Weighing me down.”

  “Reagan called, said she, Janet, and Grimmer were on their way here. Their flight should get here tonight. She was kind enough to wake me up while I was sleeping like a baby in that aircraft.”

  “Thanks for telling us, Rick.”

  Val pulled my arms around her tighter. “It’s going to be awkward being here with Reagan and Janet,” she said.

  “I’ve been putting up with Reagan and Janet together for six years. They argue with each other all day and night long.”

  “That’s not what I mean. All three of us have had you.”

  “Janet never had me, she raped me.” I’d buried the hatchet with Janet, but we would never be as close as we were.

  Rick laughed.

  “You know what I mean,” Spirit retorted.

  “Janet will not bring that up. Reagan doesn’t care and she likes you. We’re friends; we forgive the messed up stuff we’ve done to each other and then throw it in each other’s face later. Welcome to the Shultz’s friends of fame, Valerie Shultz.”

  She giggled.

  “Agh, didn’t I tell you never to giggle again?”

  We got into a separate limo from Anna, my father, and Chrissy. “I don’t mind ending my life with you,” Val said, leaning against me after the driver took off. “I don’t mind arguing with you about doing the laundry, or shoveling the snow, or whose turn it is to change the diapers. Eww, diapers. I’m not ready to change diapers,” she said with her nose pinched as she shook her head.

  “You will be when it’s time.”

  “You actually won’t have a choice,” Rick added.

  “What else do old married couples argue about?”

  “Val, why do you always want to argue about something? Why can’t we just get old being happy together?”

  “All couples argue, Kyle. Everyone doesn’t live in your perfect wonderland.”

  “You do, so let me make you happy and keep you happy. Don’t build that wall up with me; keep the woman here, the one I see you really want to be. The woman that has been here freely for the last eleven months, the one who walked in the park with me, the one who sat in her living room with me, the one who came and held me when I asked her to after I found out my mom passed, the one who ran to my house to warn me about her agency that was out to assassinate me, the one who risked her life to save mine. But not the one who tries to kill me without letting me know about it. And definitely not the one who keeps secrets and lies. I hate her. But you, this woman beside me, with this black hair, these bangs. These bangs are so cute circling your face. These hazel eyes that tell the truth about everything. They tell on you; I love them. This woman here that deserves every ounce of love that I can give. This woman that bears my child in her belly and has promised she loves me. And has just confirmed that she will marry me.”

  “Wait, Kyle. Can you say all of that one more time? But leave out the part about her lying and trying to kill you.”

  “Why, Rick?” Val asked.

  “I was trying to record it, and I missed the beginning. I’m going to use that when I find the woman I want to settle down with.”

  “While we’re on this miniature vacation, Rick, I want you to give me and Val some breathing room. Find yourself a nice young lady you can sit back with. Then we’ll be a couple again as we go take down Purcell.”

  “I do not appreciate you pushing me off. The three of us need to enjoy our pre-honeymoon together.” Rick stuffed his phone in his pocket. “I hate agencies. I can’t wait until we take out Purcell. I’ve wanted to bring them down for the last five years.”

  “I think you should wait until next year to go after Purcell.” Val grabbed my hand. “I want to go with you and I can’t right now.”

  Rick cleared his throat. “Or for the next five months.”

  “Would you shut up for three seconds while we talk,” I said to Rick before turning back to Val. “I’ll call you and check in. I’ll be fine.”

  She grabbed my hand, scooting closer to me. “I wanna be there with you for every mission, assignment, assassination, every takedown, everything. I know you got it. But we can have it. I want to stick with you.”

  I leaned over and kissed Spirit. I kissed her long and hard. I didn’t want much from her, besides her love and her aspiration to want to be with me and stay and be certain. And that’s what she was promising. I knew all of our back and forth, kill or be killed was over. I knew I was what she wanted; I saw us in her eyes. She was what I wanted, what I’ve searched for. I pecked her lips before pulling back. “You’ll be at my side, forever. And even if you’re not there—”

  She cut me off saying, “I’m not far behind.”

  A vacation was right on schedule. I haven’t had the opportunity to be myself since I was a freshman in high school. I’ve always been on some type of mission or assignment… working. But thanks to Kyle, I was chasing him through a park at Disney World. Disney World.

  I’d never been to Disney World and what they say is true. It is just as fun for adults as it is for children.

  My parents weren’t nearly a distant memory, but I was getting used to Kyle making that a little easier. And with his mother gone, we were each other’s backbone, each other’s rock.

  Kyle ran into a maze. I slowed, not seeing him. “Kyle,” I called.

  The thick trees were tall and I couldn’t see anything past them. The ground was a red brick and the sky was a crisp
blue. The wind blew and the smell of the bushes was strong.

  “Kyle,” I called again and he still didn’t answer.

  I could never kill Kyle. There’s more to it than my loving him. You can love someone and be able to live without them. I didn’t want to live without Kyle. And I didn’t want to be the reason for his no longer living. Melor had given me the fake bullets. He had pulled me to the side before we all left for the club and we set up a plan. He said, “It appears you may love my son and he may love you in return. You have to decide what is more important, to love or to be loved. And in love… if you will live.” He passed me a clip. And what he said stuck with me.

  I had known about the bullets that couldn’t penetrate flesh for a while. I figured it was what Rick and Melor were telling me—make it look like you killed Kyle. In case Rick was unable to take out Pearly, we needed to make it look real, and it would’ve been up to me to rid this world of Pearly’s vile existence. Kyle was pissed about me shooting him, and the knot on the back of his head lasted a while, but he got over it—like he gets over everything. He has the most forgiving heart I’d ever witnessed. Now, with the trackers and life detectors gone, everyone was off our backs and we were going to take each agency down, one-by-one.

  I gained something in my loss. Losing my parents and gaining Kyle helped me balance everything out. And I was grateful. I was happy. I was living… and that’s what I’ve always wanted. A new life… and the guy of my dreams. I was engaged. And later, I was having Kyle’s child. That was a big jump for me. And I was kind of happy. No, I was really happy about all of it.

  “Val, why is it taking you so long to find me? I’m getting bored,” Kyle said from somewhere in the maze.

  I smiled, continuing around the maze, quickening into a jog.

  How could I not be happy with Kyle?

  “Hurry up, Spirit. Dinner is getting cold.”

  I ran, working my way through the maze, making it to a large circular opening. With night not far off, the bushes were lit with soft yellow lights like ones you’d see on a Christmas tree. Arches of light lit up the open area. A round white table and two chairs were in the middle. A white flower sat inside a tall glass, along with two plates of food and a bottle of sparkling grape juice in a bucket of ice.

  “Since you can’t drink wine,” Kyle said, taking the bottle out of the bucket. “I wanted to at least make you feel almost like you’re drinking wine.”

  “Almost is never enough.”

  “God, I know.” He poured the fizzy juice into two wine glasses he held. “But enough is almost never… so.”

  White roses grew from the bushes in this area. I touched over a few as I walked around the circle. “This is beautiful, Kyle.”

  “Come over, sit down. Let’s gaze at each other under the moonlight and twinkling lights in Disney World. Then we’ll dance for ten minutes to “A Whole New World,” “Once upon a Dream,” “I See the Light,” and “Married Life.”

  I giggled, running over to the table.

  He pulled out the chair for me and I sat before he did. “Surprise,” he said with a grin.

  “That it is. I thought you were just having me chase you through a maze. This was much unexpected. And I’m starving.”

  “Eat up,” he encouraged, face bright and happy.

  I ate my food and he watched me. I didn’t mind; I was hungry and I had to eat when I was feeling well. It wasn’t often my stomach wanted to take in food. “Thanks for being astonishing, Kyle,” I said, finishing the food in my mouth.

  “Sure. As long as you never try to kill me again.”

  “Eh,” I shrugged. “It could happen.”

  He laughed. “You could never.”

  “I know.”

  I looked up at him from my plate, captivated by a dream that came true, engrossed by a man that embraced my tethered soul, overwhelmed by a happiness I knew nothing about until Kyle showed it to me. “Thank you,” I said.

  “For what?” he asked, with a slight tilt to his head.

  “For accepting me as I am. For taking me beaten, battered, and broken and never giving up on me, never letting me go, and forgiving me even when I didn’t deserve it.”

  He flashed a smile that lightened his entire face. “One day, you’ll see you in my eyes and realize you were worth it. If I had to wait years for you to come around, I would have, and fought for you every waking moment of my life.”

  His words lit up my heart like a candle in darkened room. “I love you so much.” It came out as whisper, but I could’ve shouted it if my voice had allowed me.

  “I love you more, Val.” The intensity of his green eyes spilled his feelings. He meant it. He loved me.

  I knit my brows, still not used to the rush that takes over me when he says my name. “Call me Spirit. When you say Val, it’s too intense in your voice. It gives me the chills.”

  He grinned. “Okay, Spirit. Whatever you want.”

  I breathed, braking our gaze as I looked up at the stars and drowned in my new life, my perfect love, and the final me.

  Blind Trust

  IF YOU ENJOYED BLIND TRUST, YOU’LL LOVE VAGUE PERCEPTION: A BLIND TRUST SPIN OFF FOLLOWING RICK - COMING SOON.

  TO RECEIVE UPDATES ABOUT VAGUE PERCEPTION, SIGN UP FOR PEIRI ANN’S NEWSLETTER.

  THERE IS AN AMAZING PLAYLIST ON SPOTIFY FOR BLIND TRUST. LISTEN

  There is no end, no dreams you can’t reach, no mountain you can’t climb, and no ocean you can’t cross. If you believe in yourself, you can conquer anything you set your mind to. The only person holding you back is you.

  And it always helps to have a little faith and a strong team at your side. I couldn’t have completed Blind Trust without the team God blessed me with. Thank you, God, for expanding my sea of possibilities, blessing me with some outstanding friends, and making my dreams come true.

  From the exterior to the interior I loved this book from start to finish. But none of that would be possible with the designers and an awesome group of beta readers that took out their time to pitch in and help. Nikki, Toni, Rebecca, and Amy without you ladies I’d still be stuck somewhere back on chapter fifteen suffering from writers block or with my head under a rock.

  I greatly appreciate the help I always received from my support team, I couldn’t thank the bunch of you enough, Ella, Mom, Mitsy, Amy and Fenita. You ladies listen to me rant, often, and I thank you for being there and not complaining when I gibber about nonsensical things.

  And most importantly, you, the reader, I couldn’t stress my appreciation for each of you. If I could shower you with hugs and thank yous, I would. I love chatting with each of you and thanks so much for your encouragement and support. You guys and gals rock! XOXO

  Peiri Ann shares a love in the creation of new worlds, different creatures, and unwritten possibilities.

  Writing is a passion. I fell in love with it when I was a child and I am privileged to share it with you. I love writing fun/tragic adventurous novels with strong romantic elements from Young Adult to New Adult.

  And here are my links

  Website www.peiriann.com

  Newsletter http://eepurl.com/1_WF5

  Facebook https://www.facebook.com/peiriann

  Twitter https://twitter.com/PeiriAnn

  Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7728917.Peiri_Ann

  Links to other works: Peiri Ann’s Books http://www.peiriann.com/books/