Krystal Clear (Shattered Book 2)

by Claire Lalique

  She nodded her head, sitting down on a stool, while I finished putting the stew meat and vegetables in a crock pot to simmer. Then, I made smoothies with fresh fruit and protein powder. We sat in the kitchen and drank them. I was glad to see Flower’s color was pinking up, and her eyes looked a bit less hooded from fatigue.

  I pulled her onto my lap and cuddled her face into my shoulder. She had the indomitable spirit of a warrior woman and refused to ever admit defeat. She had won over obstacles that would have destroyed a lesser person. “I love you, so much, Flower. I have to take care of you better than I have. You have to pay attention to the fact you are growing our baby, and eat enough food for the both of you.”

  I waited for her to answer me, when I heard a tiny snore. I almost laughed out loud; so much for my encouraging speech on eating. Instead I hoisted my fragile, almost weightless girl up into my arms and walked towards the bedroom. When we got there, I put her down on the bed and I leaned over my sleeping girl and sniffed her hair. She smelled of rosemary and mint from her body wash and shampoo, but under that was the musky peachy scent that was uniquely my Flower.

  I took off Flower's shoes and then carefully undid the button and zipper of her jeans, sliding them down her legs and off onto the floor. She was so tiny compared to me, it was amazing that we fit together at all. I took off my clothes and slipped into the bed, pulling her body in close to mine. Her head fit perfectly under my chin, as I pushed her flyaway hair out of my mouth and hers. Then I rolled carefully, so she was on top of me, and grabbed the comforter, pulling it up and over us. I traced circles on her stomach and played with strands of her hair, rolling them around my fingers. “I love you Flower” I whispered in her ear, as we both fell asleep .

  Chapter Three

  Samuel

  That night, I dressed in the black polo shirt with the stove company’s logo on it. I checked my weapon before I placed it securely in its waist holster. I also had a small back up gun in a holster around my ankle inside my boot.

  I didn't expect any trouble, but I was concerned since I didn't know if the Cartel would be able to find us or not. Before I left, I warned the girls not to leave the house or answer the door. I checked all the windows and doors to make sure the security system was working.

  As I stepped off the porch, a dark shadow separated from the bushes and glided towards me. There was supposed to be a guard on the house every night I was working, someone I would know. However, I was surprised when the shadow turned out to be Derick Black.

  “Derick,” I whispered, “What are you doing here?”

  “I wanted to check out the situation myself. Make sure it’s safe. After tonight, it will be Thomas Wilson or Beck Renzi keeping watch. We have a couple of decent rookies, Jack Randall and Henry Woodrow as well. You remember Wilson and Renzi from the shed takedown?”

  “Oh yeah, they’re good,” I said. “So all four will be staying in town?”

  “Yeah. They have rooms at the motel. Here are the phone numbers if you need them, just don't call ‘em unless you think the situation has gone FUBAR. I don't think it will. This is a pretty quiet town. That's why we use it for a safe house.”

  Derick’s confidence reassured me and we shook hands, both of us acknowledging without words that these girls would be protected at all cost. They were important, not because of what Krystal knew or the fact that Maeve was her and Derick’s friend, and my sister, but because we loved them with all our hearts.

  I climbed into the SUV and left for my job at the stove company, feeling better about leaving the girls alone at night. I trusted my team at the ATF, even if I hadn't gotten to spend much time with them yet. I especially appreciated Derick being there tonight. I smiled to myself, knowing he'd come because he wanted to spend a few minutes of time with Maeve. They were obviously interested in each other, even though Derick seemed broody and of two minds about the possibility of dating Maeve. There were rumors that he had something to do with Sanctuary, the just recently opened BDSM club in Louisville. It almost had to be rumors. It certainly wouldn't bother me, given Flower’s and my proclivities, but I knew ATF bureaucracy would certainly frown if it were true.

  I pulled into the parking lot at the stove company just as their second shift was leaving. They didn't have a third shift so they had a security team to keep an eye on the buildings, to prevent vandalism or theft. That is what I had been hired to do.

  I parked close to the building where the security office was. I found the security office door to the side of the front door and went in. There were two men in the office, who broke off their conversation and stared at me when I came up to the counter.

  “Hey,” I said. “I'm the new Security Officer, Jason Blue. I'm supposed to start tonight.” I was nervous. The way these men stopped their conversation to turn and stare at me made me feel uncomfortable.

  “Oh yeah,” the older Hispanic guy said. “I'm Diego Juarez, the night security manager. You're training with Rick here, tonight. You have experience so I figure you’ll work with him for a few days and then with me for the rest of the week. I’ll be expecting you to handle a shift by yourself after that. If you have any problems or questions you talk to me, not some co-worker. Understood?”

  I nodded my head. This guy was pretty rough around the edges, and certainly couldn't be said to be a people person. I had known people like that before as bosses, but I wasn't here to make an impression. I just wanted to slide through the job without being noticed. Hopefully the case with the Favoloras Cartel would be closed soon and Flower, Maeve and I could get back to our real lives in Kentucky.

  Rick took me to get my paperwork signed, then made copies of my gun certifications, license and such. He gave me another uniform shirt, a cap and badge. Then, we went to make rounds.

  It was pretty straight-forward. The building was basically a big rectangle with a few offices on a mezzanine floor, with the production line on the first floor. There was a large back room attached to the loading dock. Rick said this room was where they kept the supplies for production. The loading dock was where the supplies were unloaded and stoves sent to retail stores around the country.

  While we watched, some men unloaded an unmarked truck of large wooden boxes. I noted most of the men doing the unloading were Hispanic. I wondered in the back of my head why the crew wasn't more mixed. I figured I noticed because I was so paranoid about the Cartel, but there was no reason for them to have found us, no info to that effect, so I shook off my uneasy feelings and continued my walk with Rick.

  The night went smoothly. We signed into the guard office from different electronic checkpoints around the building. When we went through the supply room again the crew of unloaders and the truck were already gone. At last the night was over, I clocked out and started toward the SUV. Rick yelled for me just as I was opening my door to get into the car. I stopped to wait for him.

  He looked narrowly at me. Finally, he said quietly, “Listen, you seem like a nice sorta guy, and I know you have a pregnant wife at home. The best way to get ahead in this job is to keep your nose out of everything. Don't make friends, don't offer for extra jobs or overtime. You’ll be a lot happier if you follow my advice. I'm just sayin’.” Then, he walked away. Well, that was weird, I thought, and got in the SUV and drove home.

  Krystal

  Time moved slowly as all three of us made inroads on making friends and ingratiating ourselves into the community. Maeve went out for drinks and to watch a movie with some work friends. I had my appointments at the health department. I had also started helping the dog rescue organization with their adoption days. Blue was the only one of us who kept himself separated from the community. He was quieter than usual and came home from work with subtle frowns.

  I finally sat down with him at our kitchen table one morning to see if I could find out what was bothering him. Normally he was always protecting me from anything negative, and it gave me a thrill to think he was able to show me that he had concerns, even in such a small way
. We ate cinnamon toast and orange pieces while we held hands. I loved our kitchen table. Maeve and I had found it at a yard sale. It wasn’t pretty, but it was as solid as a rock and probably weighed as much as a rock as well. All Blue had said, when he saw it was, "It looks sturdy, I guess."

  “What's going on, Blue?” I asked him, “You've been getting more and more worried each day you come home from work”

  He sighed and frowned at me. “I didn't know I was so obvious,” he teased half-heartedly. “But, something about where I work doesn't feel right to me. There seems to always be trucks loading or unloading, and always by the same crew. Why would stove parts need to be delivered in the middle of the night? It just doesn't make sense.”

  “Maybe that's just a convenient time for those truck drivers,” I suggested.

  “No, I don't think so. When I've stayed over my shift, there are always deliveries coming and going starting at 8am on the dot. Different crews than the one at night, load and unload. I don't think I've ever seen that crew working, except at night. Another thing that's bothering me is that crew is entirely Hispanic. That seems unusual to me. During the day, the different crews are made up of different nationalities, and everyone seems to work together. Why would they have one crew, all Hispanic, to work only at night?”

  That did seem strange and I shuddered. “Do you think it’s the Cartel?” I was so anxious when I asked, my voice wouldn't get louder than a whisper. I had gone through so much torture from the Rattler Kings, the thought of being on the radar of the people who had been their bosses was terrifying. My hands and arms encircled my abdomen where my baby was sleeping inside of me without thinking.

  Blue looked at me and pulled me into his body, so close that my nose was pressed into his chest and I could smell his own spicy scent; clean soap hiding a hint of musky man. He murmured in my hair, “I don't know, baby girl, but I'm going to find out. We can't pretend that’s not a possibility. But I promise, I'm going to do my very best to keep you and the tadpole as safe as I possibly can. I think Wilson is keeping guard tonight. I'll mention it to him.”

  I could tell that the conversation was over, I wasn’t going to get any more information from Blue. He was much more interested in kissing my neck and ears than in the food that was left or the conversation we were having. His breath was hot in my ear as his tongue moved around its outside curve and then licking in and out of it. His tongue caused me to shiver, those shivers going down my neck to my spine and all the way to the very center of my womanhood. I could feel the wetness pooling in my panties which were all I had on under his big T-Shirt that I had worn to bed last night.

  I felt like I was burning up and down inside my body as Blue whispered in my ear, “Baby, the things you make me feel are indescribable. I don’t know how to tell you, let me show you, right here, right now. Can you feel how hot I am for you?”

  My head had fallen back onto his shoulder, my eyes closed, as I listened to his low sexy voice. While I had been listening to Blue talk, he’d been busy pulling his hard as steel cock out of his pants and rubbing it against me.

  “Blue, I’ve missed you so much. I miss your body and your cock inside me. I miss you when you aren’t sleeping with me at night." I knew he loved it when I talked sexy to him. That was all it took for Blue. He pushed the dishes off the table with a clatter, and suddenly, I was lying halfway over our kitchen table with my ass in the air.

  Blue moved my panties to one side while his pants were pooled around one ankle. Then, his hard rod plunged its way into my sizzling hot, wet pussy. I could feel our juices running down my inner thighs. Blue had a hand on each of my shoulders, holding me firmly in place as he pounded in and out of me. The table was rattling and banging against the wall. I thought fleetingly, that I hoped it was sturdy enough for what we were doing. This wasn't one of the selling points the owner had used, when we decided to buy the table.

  Then my thoughts were only on what Blue and I were doing. We were both panting so heavily that we were like wild animals on that kitchen table. Our loving was hard, fast and rough, not that I minded. We were so in tune with each other that our orgasms came at exactly the same time, both of us screaming our pleasure together.

  I laid across the table without moving, grateful the table had not crashed to the floor. Blue glanced at me, then he leaned his head down so our lips could meet. He smiled, looking around at the dishes and cutlery on the floor, the table empty of everything except me. Then he said, “That’s some hell of a table you bought. Very sturdy.

  I giggled and it caused us both to start laughing madly. Blue pulled me off the table and he grabbed a couple of bottles of water and gave me one. “Didn’t you need to go to that dog rescue place today?” I jumped up and ran into the bedroom to get clean and dressed.

  The idea that the Cartel could have found us in Witness Protection terrified me. It made me feel as if we could never be safe anywhere. Blue seemed more concerned as well. He drove me to my volunteer job at the dog rescue house and stayed out front sitting in the SUV while I walked the dogs in the shelter.

  My favorite dog was what the rescue people said was some type of mix between some pretty large breeds, maybe Rhodesian Ridgeback and a Pitbull. Strangely enough, she was quite attractive. She was silky haired and a beautiful ginger color, about 90-100lbs. Her muzzle was broad and she had a wide grin when she was happy. She was very aggressive towards most people, but had never been to me. The trainer from Chattanooga, Ariel, from Off Leash Services, had suggested I adopt her. He felt she would be able to fit in our home, and he promised he would work with her if she had a problem when the baby was born.

  I had been working with Ariel and the dog, Ziva, learning and understanding her commands. I put a leash on her, because I wanted Blue to see her. She was fast becoming my choice for the dog I wanted to keep. Maeve had met her last week and agreed with me.

  Blue got out of the SUV when I motioned him to come meet Ziva. She growled under her breath at him, so I gave her the Off command plus the Sit command and she did what I asked. Ariel was such a great trainer, for the dog and me.

  Blue came up to me, kissed me and knelt down to the dog. I gave her the Break command and she went right to Blue, grinning at him as he petted her.

  “So, Blue, what do you think? Maeve and I like her. The agency said I can have her for just the cost of her shots and 25 hours' volunteer service if I want her, since she is unlikely to be adoptable.”

  “Oh darlin’, she’s fine with me. Personally, I actually feel better if she is home with you and Maeve at night. She might keep you safer.”

  I finished walking my quota of dogs while Blue completed the paperwork for Ziva. Ariel wanted to finish her training so I agreed to bring her with me when I came to walk the dogs. As Blue put her in the car, I hugged Ariel and thanked him for helping her. I counted him and his wife Missy as friends I had made in this area.

  When we got home, Blue went to the bedroom to get some sleep before his shift, and I introduced Ziva to her new home. Then, I did some sketching and finished a watercolor I was making for Maeve. Ziva rested at my feet as if she had been with me forever.

  Chapter Four

  Samuel

  I had talked to Wilson before I left for work that night. I asked him to contact Derick and have him come see me. My Spidey Sense was tingling and overloading my brain. I knew something was off at the stove company. I doubted we would be so unlucky as it having anything to do with the Favolaras Cartel, but whatever was going on wasn’t legal, I would bet on it. I could and probably should ignore the whole thing, just like Rick had suggested, but my history as a cop, the son of a cop, and now as a federal agent, wouldn't let me. My curiosity and my concern for the citizens of Cleveland, especially my Flower and Maeve, wouldn't allow me to let it go.

  Tonight, I would be working alone for the first time. I would be walking the main floor, which was where the loading dock was attached. I had cleaned my guns and loaded them carefully. My required gun sat easily in
the holster at my waist, and my smaller unofficial gun was hidden in the boot holster. I had also added a knife in an ankle sheath in my other boot. I felt well-armed for any event. I felt safe, if somewhat ridiculous. What did I think was going to happen in a small town in Tennessee?

  I was more concerned about Maeve and Flower. I loved them more than anyone in the world. Before I left that night, I had checked all the windows and doors to make sure they were locked.

  I parked near the front door of the stove company and went into the lounge to put my coat into my locker, and then punched my time card. As I came out of the lounge, Rick was leaning on the desk in the front office, obviously waiting for me.

  “Hey Blue," he growled, “You ready for your first night alone?”

  I nodded my head and started walking away from him.

  “Blue,” he barked. “Remember what I said when you started. Keep your nose out of everything. You're doing good so far; keep doing what you're doing and you'll keep your job. . . Just sayin’.”

  I nodded again, and walked away. As I made my rounds, I kept thinking about what Rick had said. He had almost sounded friendly, rather than angry, like he had been on my first day. I wondered if I had it wrong. Was Rick just caught in the clutches of a criminal action, as opposed to being the criminal? This was a different way of looking at what was possibly happening in the factory.

  I slowly made my way to the loading dock area and realized that the same five Hispanic men were just finished unloading a truck. These crates were stacked away from the rest of the boxes and crates on the loading dock, further separated by being covered with a blue tarp held down by rope tied all around the sides. I thought it was probably nothing, but to me, it was suspicious as hell.

  I went over to the men and gave them a smile. “What's going on, guys? These some new stove parts?”