Solid Gold Seduction (The Drakes of California)

by Zuri Day

  “Girl, quit playing.”

  “Ha! See you later.”

  “Bye.”

  There was so much work to be done that the day passed quickly, ending with Charli making the boys a large pot of beef stew. She rounded it out with a golden pan of cornbread and, because she wasn’t the baker that Griff was, threw together a simple batch of oatmeal cookies.

  The men were much obliged.

  Aside from Charli telling them about the break-in, and encouraging them all to be more alert, the dinner conversation was quiet. Everyone worried about Griff.

  When they finished, Bobby turned to her. “Do you want me to stay here, Charli? I can bunk on the couch.”

  “Thanks, Bobby, but that won’t be necessary. I’ll be fine.”

  “You sure?”

  “Positive.”

  The men left and after washing up the dishes, Charli settled on the couch. She watched television for about an hour and then began to yawn, her body finally aware of the long, full day that had followed her long, love-filled night. “Lucy?” She looked around for her big, fat feline. “Lucy, where are you?” It just now came to her that she hadn’t seen the cat all day, not even in the stables, where she usually hung out. “Oh, well,” she mumbled, getting off the couch and heading toward her bedroom. “It’s not the first time you’ve spent the night under the stars.”

  She took a shower and pulled on a pair of her favorite pajamas. Then she padded into the kitchen, barefoot, for a couple cookies and a glass of milk.

  Yeow!

  Charli froze, her hand in midreach. Her heart beat at a rapid pace.

  Meow.

  “Oh, my goodness.” She placed a hand over her heart and took deep breaths. “That’s the cat.”

  She walked over and opened the back door. “Lucy! Come on, girl.” She looked the length of the porch. Where is she?

  “Lucy!” You frustrating feline! Frustrated herself, Charli stomped into the house to put on shoes so that she could go out into the yard. She slipped on her leather sandals, grabbed a flashlight and turned to see Cedric standing in her doorway. He held her cat in one hand, a gun in the other.

  He leaned against the doorjamb, stroking the cat’s fur with the gun. “Finally, we’re both after the same thing. A little pussy.”

  Chapter 35

  Warren walked the twins to the door. Aside from discussing the break-in, their unexpected visit had given him an evening filled with jokes and laughter. And it hadn’t hurt that they’d bought him a pan of lasagna and a container of salad, compliments of his parents’ chef.

  “All right, y’all. Take it easy.”

  “You too, man.” Terrell and Warren shared a handshake and a shoulder bump.

  Warren leaned down to hug Teresa. “Thanks for thinking about me and bringing me dinner.”

  “Not that you couldn’t stand to lose a few pounds...”

  “Excuse me?”

  “But we didn’t want you to starve.”

  “Okay, get out of here!” Warren gave her a playful shove and then followed them out onto the porch. “Tell the folks I’ll be over there tomorrow.”

  “Will do!” Teresa said, and waved.

  The two got into Terrell’s car and drove away. Warren watched them until their car left the driveway, then looked around and spotted Johnny, his head guard. He threw up a hand to him also before walking back inside.

  Looking at his watch, he was surprised to see that it was almost ten o’clock. And he hadn’t heard from Charli. He walked to his master suite, deciding to take off his clothes and get comfortable before giving her a call.

  * * *

  “Cedric, if you just leave right now, we can forget all about this.” Charli worked to undo the rope that held her hands behind her back.

  “Shut up! I’m in control now.” He paced the room, waving the gun. “I say what happens! After what you did to me, you’d better hope it’s not fatal.”

  Charli swallowed her fear. She had to remain calm. Her life depended on it. “Cedric,” she said, her voice soft and low. “What is it that I did to you?”

  “You had me locked up!”

  “How could I have done that? I didn’t even know you were in jail!” Earlier, when he’d talked about the break-in at Warren’s place, she’d said she didn’t know about it, had told him that when she left his house Warren was asleep and that they hadn’t talked since because of Griff’s accident. It was a logical explanation. Unfortunately Cedric was an illogical man.

  “If you didn’t do it, your man did. So whether it’s him directly or you by default, you’re still going to feel pain. And then he’ll get what’s coming to him, too!”

  Her phone rang. She held her breath. Cedric walked over and snatched it off the table. “Well, well, well. Speak of the devil.”

  “I–I–I’d better answer it, Cedric. Or he’ll think something’s wrong.”

  Cedric hesitated, his eyes darting back and forth as he considered what she said.

  The phone stopped ringing.

  Charli’s heart dropped. Warren was her only chance unless she could get loose and get to one of her weapons. Damn!

  Cedric stomped over and knelt down beside her. Charli tensed, forcing herself to breathe evenly as he ran a jagged fingernail over her cheek. “Okay, sweetheart, listen carefully because I’m only going to say this once. I’m going to call your boy back and you’re going to let him know that everything over here is fine and that you don’t want him over here. I’m going to put it on speaker so that I can hear everything.” He put his finger under her chin and forced her to look up. “Try anything and things will get real ugly. Got it?”

  “Okay, except...”

  “Except what? C’mon, tramp, spit it out!”

  “Warren hates it when I talk on speaker.”

  “Well I’m not going to let you talk where I can’t hear it. So you’d better give him a good reason to have him on speaker tonight.” He grabbed her hair and gave her head a violent shake. “Do you understand me?” She nodded. “Okay, here we go.”

  Cedric tapped Warren’s number and then tapped the speaker button before placing the phone near Charli’s face.

  Charli’s thoughts whirled as she waited for him to answer the phone. Remain calm. Breathe. You can do this.

  He answered.

  “Warren! I heard the phone but couldn’t get to it. Sorry about that. I was in the kitchen, uh, peeling tomatoes.”

  A pause and then, “Tomatoes?”

  “Yes. And I’ve got you on speaker because my hands are a mess. I’m, uh, squashing them to make sauce.” She glanced at Cedric, who wore a smug expression. “If you want, I can call you back. After I get these tomatoes into the Mason jars.”

  The silence was longer this time. “Are you all right, Charli?”

  “Warren, Warren, Warren. You’re so silly. Of course I’m all right. I’m fine.” She gave a light chuckle, a sound that in her normal state, she’d never make.

  “Did you talk to Griff this evening?”

  “Yep, I sure did.”

  “Is he doing any better?”

  “Much. He’s already complaining about the cast on his arm. But that bump on the back of his head, the one he got after the cow stepped on him, is starting to go down.”

  “Wait, you didn’t tell me about the cow.”

  Charli could barely breathe as she watched Cedric’s look go from smug to suspicious. He gave a sign for her to wrap it up, then held the gun at her face, point blank.

  “Look, Warren, can I call you back? I have to put the tomatoes in the jar while they’re hot, otherwise they won’t set properly.”

  “Okay, I’ll let you go. But call me back as soon as you’re done.”

  “I’m really exhausted. After I get these tomatoes canned, I’m going directly to bed. See you tomorrow, okay?”

  “Sure. Have a good night, sexy. I’m going to miss you.”

  Cedric ended the call, a sneer on his face. “You did real good, Charli. Handled
that like a pro.” He leaned down and kissed her on the mouth, then ran his hand over her breasts before kissing her again. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to screw you yet. I’ve been waiting years for this, so I’m going to take my time. After all, your boy won’t be expecting to hear from you until morning. We have all night long.”

  It took all that Charli had not to spit in his face. After she threw up. But there would be time enough to get her revenge, she thought. Her hands were just itching to squeeze a certain set of nuts, just as soon as said hands were untied.

  * * *

  Warren sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his phone. To say the call was weird would be an understatement. Her voice had sounded okay but she’d called him Warren. Not once, but several times. The only times that happened were either in the throes of passion or at his dogged command. Something’s wrong. He stood, walked over to the sitting area, replaying the conversation in his head. I was in the kitchen, uh, peeling tomatoes. She cooked, so that could very well have been true. “And that would have explained why she was on speakerphone,” he mumbled, “and talking more loudly.” But what she’d said about Griff. His arm in a cast? Warren could have sworn that it was his leg that had been broken.

  He left the master suite and headed down the stairs, still thinking back to the conversation they’d had earlier that day. His leg is busted up pretty good and he sustained a bruised wrist. His wrist she’d mentioned, but not his arm. Warren’s scowl deepened as he wandered into the living room, and then continued through to the dining room and on to the kitchen.

  “She talked to Griff tonight,” he murmured, trying to figure out why he felt there was a puzzle to solve, and why the pieces weren’t going together. But wait! Earlier she said he’d had a sleeping pill and would be knocked out till morning.

  He sighed in frustration. Maybe she was just confused. They hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before and she’d been through a trying day. Warren, Warren, Warren. “Maybe she’s finally decided to call me by my first name.” He laughed. “It’s about time.”

  Feeling a bit more relieved, he walked over to the fridge and after trying to decide what sounded best among his plethora of beverages, he reached for the vegetable juice. He retrieved a glass and watched the red liquid flow. Then it hit him. So hard that juice spilled over the counter and the carton ended up in the sink.

  When they were in San Francisco. When he’d asked her about breakfast. Anything but tomatoes. I’m allergic.

  He raced up the stairs and snatched up his cell phone. “Johnny, I need you to come to the house now! I think there’s a problem. And bring your weapon.”

  He ended the call, started to call Charli again, but on second thought quickly tapped another number. Placing the call on speaker, he rushed to his closet to throw on some clothes. Dread replaced the blood running through his veins. “Detective Morrison, this is Warren Drake. I’m calling for an update on Cedric Martin. Have they set his bail yet?”

  “They set his bail and it’s been posted. He left this afternoon.”

  “He’s free?”

  “Yes, he is, Mr. Drake. The charges weren’t serious enough to set the bond higher or keep him in—”

  Warren hung up the phone, hurried into his shoes and took the stairs two at a time. He opened the front door just as Johnny was about to knock.

  “You have your gun on you?”

  “Always, Warren. What’s going on?”

  “Cedric’s out,” Warren said, rushing to his SUV. “I think he’s at Charli’s.”

  “We should call the authorities,” Johnny said as he followed.

  “We can call them on the way so they can meet us there. But we’re not waiting.”

  They jumped into the car.

  “Man, wait!”

  “Wait for what?” Warren fired up the engine.

  “If he does have her, we have to be smart. We can’t just roll up there and park in the drive. Who knows what he’ll do?”

  “Okay, we’ll park down the street and try to surprise him. But we’re going to Charli’s place. Now.”

  Chapter 36

  After a quick powwow, Johnny suggested that they use the golf cart, drive across the field and enter her land through the gate by the stream. By coming up the back way, he felt they were more likely to have the element of surprise on their side.

  “What about horses? We could leave them by the barn, behind their house. Bobby, her main herd handler, lives not far from there. We might be able to enlist his help as well.”

  “Sorry, Warren. But the last horse I rode was plastic, went in circles and had a rod through its middle.”

  Warren gave Johnny a look of exasperation. “The golf cart it is then. Let’s go.”

  While Johnny dialed nine-one-one and then called his second to let him know what was going on, Warren was driving the cart like a racecar, trying to get fifty miles an hour out of a vehicle designed to do twelve. They hit a bump and Johnny went airborne.

  He slammed back into the seat. “Slow down, man. Jeez!”

  Warren cut him a look and tried to go faster. “Hold on.”

  Once they’d gone through the gate and were on Reed property, Johnny held out his hand. “Stop for a minute, Warren. This won’t work.”

  Warren reluctantly shut off the engine. “Why?”

  “It’s too open out here, with too many lights. The white of the cart will reflect off of them. One look out a back window and our goose is cooked.”

  Warren banged his hands on the wheel, then jumped out of the cart. “We can stay in the shadows as much as we can, crawl if we have to, until we reach those buildings.” He pointed in the distance.

  “Exactly,” Johnny said, as they cautiously started walking. “Then they can shield us. If you have your cell phone on you, make sure it’s on Silent.”

  “Done.”

  “Man,” Johnny whispered as they crept forward, “when I went to the academy, I never thought I’d end up protecting the boy whose older brother used to beat me up in grade school.”

  “Remind me about that the next time we see Niko. He damn sure owes you now.”

  * * *

  Cedric stood, pacing around Charli, who was still tied to the chair. He grasped the bottle of scotch that he’d found on the hutch and drank straight from it.

  “I think it’s about time that we moved this party into the bedroom,” he drawled, taking another swig. “Those wooden slats on your headboard look like they were made for what I have in mind.”

  Charli tried to keep her torso as still as possible while she continued to work at the knotted rope around her wrist.

  “Are you ready to get this party started for real?”

  Silence.

  He took another drink. “You’re not so bad now, are you? Where’s that smart mouth now? Where are all those names you called me now?”

  “Look, Cedric—”

  Smack!

  He struck her across the face. Charli immediately tasted blood. She saw red, too. Anger. For his sake, Cedric had better hope that she could not get loose.

  “Shut up! In fact—” He slammed down the bottle and grabbed the gun. “I’m tired of messing around with you.”

  He reached around to where her hands were knotted, the gun to her temple.

  And then there was a sound.

  Cedric jerked up, looked toward the window where they’d heard it. He looked at Charli, eyes narrowed. “What the hell was that?”

  “I don’t know!”

  There it was again. Sounded like a pebble hitting against the windowpane.

  Cedric crept toward the window.

  Charli worked on the knot.

  “It’s probably just the wind,” she said, her heartbeat escalating as she felt the knot finally begin to loosen. “One of the shutter panes is loose. It could be knocking against the window.”

  Cedric looked from her to the window, swaying a bit from the continuous alcohol consumption that had occurred since he’d arrived. He straightened,
seeming to have made a decision, and crept toward the door. He placed a hand on the knob, turning it slowly. He opened the door a crack and peeked out.

  Go on, get out of here! Charli strained to pull apart the knot.

  Cedric opened the door a bit farther.

  Then everything happened at once. The knot came loose.

  Charli jumped up.

  The door crashed in, sending Cedric sprawling backward. He landed at her feet.

  That was his bad luck. She picked up the chair he’d tied her to and broke it over his head. After retrieving the gun that had slid across the floor, she was about to aim when Warren crossed the room and caught her arms.

  “Charli, no!”

  “Let me go, Warren. I’m going to blast that—”

  “He’s not worth it, baby. Give it to—wait. Is that blood on your mouth? Did he hit you?”

  Charli nodded.

  Warren let go of her arms. “In that case, blow his balls off.”

  Cedric tried to draw up his knees against his privates. Warren placed a foot on one of his ankles, preventing that from happening.

  Charli aimed. Cocked the trigger. And lowered her arm. “You’re right, Drake. He’s not worth it.”

  Still, she walked over to where Johnny had him handcuffed on the ground and kicked him in the groin.

  He howled.

  Charli leaned down. “Next time I won’t just kick them, I will blow them off, just like I promised you I would.” She stood. They heard sirens.

  “We called the police,” Warren said, noting her curious expression. “And if they let him out again, I’ll be the one who delivers justice.”

  Chapter 37

  Two days later, Charli walked over to where Warren washed dishes. She placed her arms around his waist and rested her head against his back.

  “Breakfast was good, baby,” he told her. Silence. He reached for a towel, turning as he dried his hands. He placed a finger under her chin, lifting her eyes up to meet his. “What’s wrong?”

  “I just got off the phone with my mother.”

  He hugged her. “How did it go?”