Whiskey Flight

by Violet Howe

  Seth grinned. “You’re really into this, aren’t you?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I am. It started with just enjoying a nice glass of Jameson to relax after work, but then I kept trying new variations and learning more about it, and I guess you can say it fascinates me. The subtle differences in flavors depending on which grain is used, the barrel used, the distilling process. But instead of telling you, let me show you.” I picked up the glass with the Cooper’s Craft. “Since we’re discussing the bourbons, we’ll start there. This is a small batch bourbon from Kentucky.”

  He took the glass to his lips as soon as I handed it to him, and I laid my hand on his arm and pulled it back with a laugh before he could drink.

  “Not yet!”

  “I thought we were tasting.” His forehead wrinkled with confusion.

  “We are, but that doesn’t mean just turning up your glass and swallowing. I want you to smell it first.”

  He placed his nose above the glass and inhaled. “Smells like whiskey.”

  “Okay, but what else do you smell?”

  He shrugged. “I smell whiskey.”

  “All right, all right. Do this. Open your mouth and smell it again with your mouth open.”

  His eyes widened as he did what I’d instructed. “Wow. That smells different somehow. Almost like tobacco.”

  “Right? Smell it that way again. Any floral scents? Fruity scents? You might also be picking up a hint of charred wood because of the way Cooper’s Craft prepares their barrels. Did you know whiskeys can have over two hundred flavors? That’s why you pick up on different notes when you use your senses in different ways. Now, press your left nostril closed and smell again.”

  His eyes widened more as he gave a slight nod. “Okay, that time I definitely picked up on the floral. That’s so bizarre.”

  “Isn’t it? Try the right nostril.” I waited for his reaction and then took the bottle and poured a couple of drops in my hand. “Now, pour just a couple of drops from your glass into your hand, and then clap your palms together a few times and rub them briskly, like this.”

  When he’d followed my example, I lifted my palms to my nose, breathing in the heady scent of corn.

  “Do you smell the grain?”

  “I’ll be damned,” Seth said with a grin. “I smell corn.”

  “Okay, now you can take a sip, but hold it on your tongue and move it around a bit, almost like you’re chewing it. It’s called a Kentucky chew.”

  He did as he was told, and then I instructed him to swallow, watching for his reaction, and then laughing as he squinted and whistled.

  “And there’s the burn,” he said in a hoarse voice. “That’s why I don’t like whiskey.”

  “Do you feel it here?” I laid my hand across his collarbone and smiled when he nodded. “Ah, see? That’s the Kentucky hug! Believe it or not, different whiskeys burn in different ways. Here, try this one.”

  I lifted the glass with the sample of the Japanese Mars Iwai Tradition and handed it to him.

  “Don’t forget to smell it first.”

  “Hmmm,” he said as he held his mouth open and breathed it in. “With this one, I smell caramel. And…is that honey?”

  I nodded and talked him through the rest of the steps before having him take a sip.

  “Where does that one burn?” I asked when he’d swallowed.

  He scrunched his nose and shook his head. “It feels like I got water up my nose. How do you drink this stuff and enjoy it?”

  Laughter came so easily when I was with him. It took no effort to find it, and I marveled at how alive I felt after being numb for so long.

  God, he was so damned handsome. This was the face that had haunted my dreams. The smile that would come to me when I least expected it, the one I pictured whenever I saw anything that reminded me of him. How could thirteen years have passed since I’d seen that smile up close?

  It pulled at me like a magnet I could no longer resist.

  “You might like it better over ice,” I said, leaning in to bring our faces closer together. “As the ice melts, the water allows the other flavors to open up.” Closer still. “It kind of mellows out the alcohol and makes it smoother.” We were so close I could feel the warmth of his breath, and a shiver of desire rippled through me as his gaze shifted to my mouth. “It’s more like velvet on your tongue. Easier to swallow.”

  My lips trembled as they brushed his, and when his parted in response, I took that as encouragement and went all in, grabbing the back of his head with both hands and pulling him to me so I could better explore.

  He shifted his upper body to wrap his arms around me, matching my enthusiasm as the kiss deepened and our tongues intertwined.

  I gripped his shoulders as I twisted on the couch to face him, our mouths never parting as I drew my knee up and into his lap. He hugged my leg closer against him and stroked his fingers down the inside of my calf with a touch so featherlight that I shivered. Hell, I think I even moaned a little, which made him chuckle deep in his throat.

  The ringing of my cell phone in my pocket startled us both, and I jerked back to pull it out and toss it on the table.

  “Do you need to answer that?” he asked as he reached to brush my hair back behind my ear.

  “No. They’ll call back if it’s important.”

  I leaned forward to return to our kiss, but he shifted his position to sit back against the couch, just out of my reach. He braced his elbow on top of the sofa cushions, propping his head in his hand as he stared at me with such intensity that I felt I was under a magnifying glass. I sat up straight and adjusted my shirt, uncomfortable with the scrutiny of his gaze.

  “What? What are you looking at?”

  He shrugged with a half-ass smile. “I’m just looking at you. Really looking at you. I haven’t been able to do that in an awfully long time, and I want to see what’s different and what’s the same.”

  “Oh, God, no.” I reached for the larger rocks glass on the end of the board, gulped down the sample and then poured a generous serving of the Balvenie. “Your last good look, I was, what? Twenty-two? Thirty-five is a lot different, trust me. I’ve got the start of wrinkles right here around my eyes, and you’ll see that when I smile, the lines around my mouth—the ones they call parentheses—they’re still there when I stop smiling. Faint, for now, but it won’t be long before they’re visible all the time. You’ll probably also notice this line right here between my eyebrows.” I pointed for emphasis. “That’s been a recent development. Oh, and I noticed another gray hair has popped up in my part. I pull them out with an angry vengeance when I find them, but they keep coming back. It’s to be expected, I suppose, since my mother started going gray in her late twenties, but damn, it’s depressing.”

  I took another drink as he continued to scrutinize me, and he reached for my glass and set it on the table. Then, he took my hand in his and brought it to his lips.

  “I don’t see any of that. I see the same girl I’ve always seen. A little older, a little more worldly, perhaps. But still just as beautiful as she’s always been.”

  A warm blush crept into my cheeks, and I pulled my hand away and ran my fingers through my hair.

  “So, back to the whiskey flight.” I took a deep breath and vowed to avoid eye contact so I wouldn’t get lost in his eyes again. “We haven’t done a Canadian one yet. The rye makes it quite peppery.”

  “Look, I appreciate the lesson, and I admire that it’s obviously something you’re passionate about. But can we just talk? Why did you decide to move back to Cedar Creek?”

  I considered telling him the truth. Spilling my guts and emptying it all out.

  After all, for most of my life, he’d been my best friend. My confidante. He’d understood me better than anyone ever had. He’d known me, inside and out, and if there was anyone I could trust other than my immediate family, I knew it was Seth.

  But I also knew that the more people I talked to about Victor, the more I risked putting them in
danger. I had no way of knowing what the Mafia might do. How they might retaliate against Victor if he chose to testify and tell what he knew. How they might use me, or those closest to me, as some kind of bargaining chip to keep his silence.

  Of course, in order for that to be effective, I would need to be someone Victor held dear. Who knew how he really felt about me? Our entire relationship had been built on lies. He might have never loved me at all.

  I shoved away thoughts of Victor and the shame that came with them. I shoved away caution and reason. I shoved away everything in my mind except one thought. Escape.

  Grabbing the glass from where Seth had set it, I took one quick swig to empty it, and then before he could react, I moved to straddle Seth’s lap. I bent to kiss him, desperate to feel anything other than confusion, betrayal, regret, and fear.

  His body responded without question at first, his mouth opening to welcome me again as he ran his hands up my back and twisted them into my hair. For a few blissful seconds, passion led the way, the physical overpowering the mental and emotional as we allowed our bodies to do as they wished.

  This kiss was primal and raw, more urgent and demanding than before. Desires long held in check broke free, and the passion we’d shared in our youth was once again unleashed. I arched forward to press myself against him, and he tore his lips from mine to bury his face in my neck, his mouth greedy on my skin as he brought his hands around to cup my breasts.

  The barriers of time fell away in our haste to reconnect and reclaim, and as my hips rocked against his, I reached between us and undid his belt.

  Immediately, his hand closed over mine, and he pulled back with a swearing growl. He moved his hands to my hips, stilling them as he lay his head back against the sofa cushion and looked up at me, his eyes wild with desire and his breath unsteady.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Dani, I—” He groaned with another swear.

  “What?” I lay my hands on his chest, my eyes searching his. “What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head and rubbed his hand across his brow. “I can’t do this.”

  Disappointment washed over me, followed by rejection, which I was in no condition to take.

  “Why? Is there someone else? Are you seeing someone?”

  I had no evidence at all to suggest that. It was a straw my mind pulled, an effort to have there be an explanation that wasn’t about me.

  “No,” he said with a frown. “I wouldn’t be here at all if I were seeing someone else. There isn’t anyone.”

  So, it was rejection. And it stung more than I could have ever imagined.

  When he didn’t follow me to Chicago, it had nearly killed me. I’d been so sure of his love, so certain he’d follow if I left, and when he refused to, it devastated me. The only way to survive had been to convince myself I didn’t need him. That I didn’t need anyone.

  Loving other people gave them power over your life and your decisions. I’d sworn to never do that again, and until Victor, I’d kept that promise to myself.

  But buried deep beneath all that bravado, I’d carried a flicker of hope. I’d kept it hidden away in my heart, protected even from my own mind, lest I extinguish it and cause it to die.

  That hope had been simple. Seth loved me. I knew he did. If his refusal to come away with me was because of family obligations, nothing more, than that meant if I ever returned to Cedar Creek, he’d take me back.

  What if I’d been wrong?

  I moved to raise myself from his lap, and his hands gripped my hips tighter, holding me in place as he spoke.

  “Wait. Listen to me, please. I can see the hurt in your eyes, and that’s not my intent, believe me.”

  “No, it’s fine,” I lied, but the buzz of the alcohol combined with the overwhelming pain of his rejection was too much to hide, and my eyes betrayed me with tears. “I shouldn’t have come on to you like that.”

  Swiping at my tears with the back of my hand, I tried again to get up, but he held me firm.

  “Please don’t cry.” He moved one hand to cup my face, his thumb wiping away an errant tear. “God, Dani, it’s not that I don’t want you. I do. I want to make love to you right now like I have never wanted anyone in my life. It’s taking every bit of strength I have to hit the brakes. But if and when we ever…go there again, I don’t want it to be because you’ve had too much to drink or you’ve had a bad day. I want it to be for all the right reasons, and tonight isn’t that night.”

  My phone rang again, and I rolled from him without any resistance on his part.

  With another swipe at my tears, I grabbed the phone, frowning to see it was an unknown caller from an Illinois number.

  I stared at it as it rang, and Seth leaned forward.

  “Aren’t you gonna answer it?”

  “I don’t know. It’s probably a telemarketer,” I said, though my gut instinct wasn’t that at all.

  “I can’t imagine a telemarketer would call this late at night on a Friday. It might be important.” He braced his elbows on his knees as he clasped his hands together. “They’ve called twice, whoever it is.”

  I swiped my finger to catch the call before the last ring ended.

  “Hello,” I said, hoping that curiosity wouldn’t kill the cat.

  “God, it’s good to hear your voice, sweetness,” Victor said. “You come to me every night in my dreams, and I wake with that voice in my head. That little touch of a drawl that drives me mad.”

  It was as if the blood stopped flowing in my veins and the air left my lungs. My entire body trembled in shock, my hand shaking so hard I nearly dropped the phone.

  “How did you get this number?” My voice was a hollow croak, barely recognizable.

  My obvious distress had alerted Seth that all was not well, and he moved closer immediately, his dark eyes clouded with concern.

  I motioned for him to be silent and stood to walk away from him, fighting to keep my knees from buckling beneath me as Victor continued.

  “There’s no time to explain. I’ll tell you when I see you. Right now, I need you to get out of that house as soon as possible. Just go.”

  My mind moved like it was filled with molasses. How was Victor calling me? How did he get my number? Had he just said he’d see me? How? Why wasn’t he in prison? Had they released him? Why wasn’t I told? This was ridiculous. I wasn’t going anywhere for him.

  “I don’t want to see you.” I forced my voice to remain calm despite the wild panic wreaking havoc inside me. “Don’t call this number again.”

  Seth had stood and come to my side, and I closed my eyes to block him out so I could concentrate on what Victor was saying.

  “I understand you’re upset with me. You have every right to be. I screwed up. I screwed us up. I can’t tell you how much I regret that, and I will spend the rest of our lives making it up to you. But right now, I need you to listen to me, sweetness. Your life is in danger. There are people in Cedar Creek with the intention of doing you harm to get back at me. They’ve been watching you. Unfortunately, our situation escalated tonight, and they plan to make a move.”

  I struggled to comprehend what he was saying, my head still fuzzy from the alcohol and reeling at Victor’s intrusion.

  “What? What are you talking about?”

  “I hate that I’ve brought this on you, but there’s very little I can do about it at present. I can’t get to you in time to stop them, so I need you to run. You have to leave. Now!” His voice had become more urgent. “Get out of that house and get out of that town. Don’t take time to pack. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going. Just get in the car and drive north. Don’t stop for any reason. I’ll call you in an hour with more instructions. Do you understand?”

  My eyes fluttered open to see Seth staring at me intently. He mouthed something, but I turned away from him, unable to focus on even one conversation, much less two.

  “No, I don’t understand.” I ground out to Victor through gritted teeth. “How dare
you put me in this position!”

  “I know, I know. But we’ll have to discuss all that later. We’ve already wasted too much time. Tell me you’re leaving. Tell me you’re headed to the car now.”

  “I don’t—”

  “Damn it, Danielle, get in the car and start driving.” His pleading turned harsh, his voice frantic. He was shouting, and he’d never once raised his voice at me before. “I know you probably don’t trust anything I tell you at this point, but I swear on my life this is the truth. You’re in danger, sweetness, and I need you to get the hell out of there.”

  I definitely didn’t trust him, but after everything I’d learned about his life since his arrest, I had no problem believing he had associates who would kill me in retaliation for something he’d done. It was one of the reasons I’d left my life in Chicago behind.

  I couldn’t think. I couldn’t process. I laid my shaking hand across my forehead and tried to force my thoughts to calm.

  “I can’t just leave,” I said, unable to imagine that scenario. “My family, I—”

  “Your family will be in danger if you don’t go. They’ll be in danger if you make any contact with them at all! I’m trying to protect you and protect them, but you gotta do what I say. I need you to listen to me, okay? These people have been watching you for a while now. They’ve likely been inside your house, and I have no way of knowing what they might have put in place, so you need to get out of there. You can’t tell anyone you’re leaving. Not your family, not the police, no one. If you do, they’ll know and they’ll retaliate harder. These are brutal people, and there’s no limit to what they’ll do.”

  The shock of hearing Victor’s voice had begun to ebb, and as it did, the reality of his words began to sink in. My life was in danger. My family was in danger. The bogeyman I’d feared was real, and he was nearby, ready to kill me. The very house I stood in might blow up at any moment. I had to get out.