“What are you doing?” Jeremy pleaded, releasing some spit. Daniel dropped the empty bottle with a startling clatter. He grabbed a folding chair off the wall and landed it a foot in front of Jeremy and sat.
“You like to play games,” Daniel explained, staring into Jeremy. “So I want to play a game with you. I’m sure you know the game Truth or Dare. You look like a lad who was just playing it in his parents’ basement.”
“Dude, why are you doing this over her?” Jeremy complained in a squeak.
“That sounds like a dare,” Daniel said striking a match and leaning forward. “Careful. If you move it, you will set yourself on fire.” Hunt held him but he didn’t need to. Jeremy froze. Daniel tucked the wooden stick into Jeremy’s ear, and Jeremy froze. But he yipped until it burned out in his ear canal. Panting, he slumped down.
“Ask the truth question. What do I care?”
“What did you use?” Daniel interrogated.
“I didn’t taint her drink. It was in the joint. She smoked it on her own.”
Daniel and Hunt shared a look. Hunt looked at me, “You may not want to take any drug tests for a while, darlin’.” Daniel tilted his head almost imperceptibly back towards me.
“I didn’t know. I barely remember but…the drink…was already working,” I said, shakenly answering Daniel’s unspoken question.
Daniel nodded his chin. “She had Rohypnol in her system. He’s lying about the drink, regardless,” Daniel said, striking a match.
“I didn’t drop it in!” he pleaded. Daniel waited. “Technically, the bartender did.” Jeremy slumped.
“For the bartender,” Daniel said, striking a new match. He flicked it, hitting Jeremy’s eye sharply, but it went out. Jeremy wailed and when he was done, he looked at us with one eye, the left stayed shut tight.
“Not so pretty anymore, pretty boy,” Hunt drawled. ”Still got that soft throat, though.” Jeremy squirmed.
“Maybe I should leave you here with your hunter?” Daniel taunted Jeremy, arching a brow.
He shook his chair. “This is fucking illegal. Let me go!”
“I wonder what laws he’s referencing,” Hunt said dryly.
“The ones he broke,” Daniel answered casually. “I may watch this one for a while. Don’t give me a reason to visit you again.”
“You’re letting me go?”
“You have a guardian angel tonight,” Daniel’s eyes narrowed. “Cross me in no way, or your disappearance will be so complete your family will believe they made you up.”
The threat hit home. “This is bullshit,” Jeremy protested in a whine. “All this over her. What are you doing with her? You’re supposed to be enemies!”
“He loves her, puddin’ pulse,” Hunt answered. “If you’re alluding to him TKO’ing her in gossips, you can imagine what he does with the people he don’t like.”
Daniel rose and took Hunt’s place at the back of the chair Jeremy was tied to. He dragged Jeremy roughly, one handed, by gripping the chair back. Daniel kicked open the exit door and the chair with Jeremy tied tightly hopped the threshold by Daniel’s force. Daniel abandoned the chair beside the dumpster. His black SUV was parked behind it.
“The court of judge zip tie is now in session,” Hunt was reverend-like, half smiling. “Go on, plead your case, sunshine. You’ll be free to go when he dismisses you. The law works for everyone.” I looked around the length of the secluded alleyway realizing that would be a very long time. I crossed my arms, becoming at peace with the punishment.
Even still, Jeremy was staring at me with his one good, breathing heavily. If he could have broken out of the ties he likely would have charged me. “You bitch. You cunt,” Jeremy said, his whole face reddening. “That was my fucking play.”
My lips separated and a chill shot through me. I hugged myself more tightly. “You tried to date rape me because I didn’t like your play?”
Daniel’s eyes flashed. He closed the path back to Jeremy. He drew his foot back in a swift powerful move and swiped, cracking into Jeremy’s ankles and snapping the legs of the chair at a turn in the halfway point. Jeremy fell forward and teetered on the broken front legs of the chair. He scrambling at a tilt, trying to gain use of his own legs to prevent falling completely forward. They didn’t look like they were working right. “My legs,” he choked out in sob.
Daniel strode behind and set his heel on the back the chair. I covered my ears. He kicked forward. I shrieked at the gruesomeness of the sound. Daniel stared down then crouched beside him, yanking his head up by the hair then letting it fall.
He spoke chillingly. “I will rip every piece from those weak bones until they are clean and deliver your tiny parts to the rats. If you repeat this in any way, you attract my attention long enough only for me to leave nothing of you to bury or burn. I’d burn you now, but I am on a first date and she’s done up so nicely I don’t want her beautiful hair to smell of coward’s smoke. Whistle for understanding.”
“Daniel,” I croaked. He shook his head harshly and rose to stand. He drew back a foot aimed for the folded lump of plasma known as Jeremy.
“No!” came out instantly. I lowered my hands. Daniel looked at me from within the shadows of the alleyway. “Don’t do this,” I said. My hands now lowered from my ears, I slowly raised them in front of me. “Please, Daniel.”
I felt like I was waking him from a trance. His eyes lashed with violence. His cheeks cut with the dim light from the moon. And maybe for the first time, since I’d seen him walking quickly down that corridor in the Hamptons, I understood him.
“Leave him, Daniel. Please. I need you,” I implored.
He looked down at the collapsed form, with his hands tied behind like poultry legs bound for the oven. The slow movement of labored breath still rising and falling from Jeremy. Daniel glared down.
“The contract first. Whistle for your life.”
“You don’t half kill a man, Danny.” Whatever it meant, the words fell dutifully heavy on them both. Hunt looked wise beyond his years. The next few moments were tense with stillness.
There was a whistle.
Daniel looked up from Jeremy. “That is no Hawk,” he intoned to Hunter. Daniel strode away, putting his back to the scene, taking my hand in his as he passed. Hunt stayed still, lingering on Jeremy.
Daniel’s physical presence was still coiled, but his eyes were not. He rested his hands on my shoulders. “You are all right. You understand.”
I nodded quickly. “Yes. I’m okay.”
Something released in him, and Daniel reached down for my hand. Hunt walked in and found something interesting to look at elsewhere. Our fingers entwined, Daniel’s and mine, and I laid my other hand on top of ours.
“Helluva date night, Hoss,” Hunt commented, stepping closer.
“I appreciate your assistance,” Daniel said. “And your discretion.”
“Happy to bird dog this one. We even now?” Daniel connected to him and nodded, almost imperceptibly.
“What’s going to happen to him?” I asked up at Daniel.
Hunt answered. “Ahmed will cut him out by morning. If he hasn’t come to and gotten free.”
I swallowed thickly. “What if he doesn’t come to?”
“Ahmed can handle that as well,” Daniel intoned. Hunt nodded, agreeing.
“But he didn’t actually…he didn’t get to assault me.”
Daniel’s brow raised. “Have you reported him?”
“No.”
“His record was clean. You can see how that means nothing,” he intoned. “Violet has inquired. She informed Hunter today he has several rumors attached to him. Stories unluckier than yours.”
“I’ll do it. I’ll do it tomorrow.” I said firmly. Swallowing hard at the flash that maybe I shouldn’t have intervened.
Daniel walked me to the door then returned to have a word with Ahmed. The bar had cleared out, and Ahmed waved to me as we left. The limo waited outside idling. I leaned against Daniel as we rode away. We st
opped finally, and he got out street side and walked around to open my door. It wasn’t a restaurant. We’d arrived at Daniel’s house.
I paused in the foyer. I didn’t want to feel hesitant, but I couldn’t stop myself. He closed the distance between us slowly and reached out for my hand.
“It is only dinner,” he said, his eyes firm and kind. I accepted his hand again.
I followed him past the stairway, down the long hall. We got to the end, his office in the far right wing. The small cherry wood office. He led me to a door that opened to the outside and through the garden out back. The one Tristan drew. Tall hedges framed it uniformly. Against the back, thick flowering ivy grew against the wall from plant beds where other blooms grew. Up against the back there were roses, not the too delicate type. Not heady English roses but deep almost red roses that if they weren’t in bloom you would mistake the plant for simple bushes. Flat broad dust green leaves made a canvas for hot cherry flowers. The garden was lush and thriving. In the corner was a bench, identical to the old ones in the park, with a good vantage point.
“It’s so nice out here. You’ve managed to keep it all through winter.”
“Heating and mists. The gardener has done it all. It goes dormant through the coldest times but comes back quickly. Let us keep going.”
We continued to the back corner of the garden until we stood in a plant bed facing the ivy wall. Up close it was several inches taller than even Daniel. He reached his hand between the foliage and turned something. A large panel of ivy began to move outward as he pulled, and I stepped to the right to make room for it. The panel of ivy on hinges swung wide, revealing a steel door. He gripped the handle and opened the door. Daniel took a step towards the entry and turned to be sure I was coming. Warm light came through the opening into the garden, which was nicely lit in a cooler tone against the night. I touched the leaves of the six-inch-thick ivy grown against steel wire panel. It was real and full, diligently groomed to conceal the doorway he was inviting me through.
“Where does this lead?” I asked, looking up at the peeling paint of the wall.
“You have to come with me to see,” Daniel replied, slightly in dare.
He helped me over the ivy and into the opening.
We entered and he left the door ajar, perhaps for my comfort. What was behind the door was amazing. An old factory building. There were two floors, and you could see the edges of the second floor where they cut off in the center, the framing exposed in flat Xs. The opening in the second floor allowed you a view of the building’s ceiling, which was a grid of skylights. We had a complete view of the night sky. The concrete floor had been sanded and stained in a smooth terracotta, but the walls were a faded wash of paint over brick, natural brick exposed in some places. The secret sky-view of the building wasn’t the amazing part, though.
In the center hung string lights, they were draped all around what looked like hundreds, if not thousands, of white orchids cascading from the second floor down to the first. A curtain of delicate white. Creamy potted ones were layered in varying heights all around the space on stands. A chandelier suspended from the ceiling, all the way down, where it hung above a table set with china over a Persian rug. There were two chairs at the small round clothed table that held candles, and a white grand piano in the corner of the opening.
“I promised you dinner,” Daniel said, breaking me from my delight. “Will you dine with me tonight, Gabrielle?”
“I would like that,” I said. He extended an elbow, and I linked my arm with his. As we neared the table, Jeeves appeared from behind the curtain of blossoms. Full tailed tux with white gloves.
“Good evening Ms. Valentine. I welcome you to Chateau Baird. The gentleman has a full evening in store. May I seat you?” he asked, resting a hand on the back of a chair and smiling closed lipped with his upper chin sucked in proudly.
“That’s fine, Jeeves. We are ready for the first course,” Daniel instructed.
“As you wish, sir. You’ll find the salad course already served at your seats. Bon appétit.” He bowed before heading the way we came.
Daniel pulled out my chair. “Please,” he said. I took my seat and laid my napkin in my lap as he pushed me in. He took his seat on the other side of the medium round table and did the same.
“This must have taken a while to do,” I said.
“I’ve had years to plan,” he intoned. “I was only waiting for you.”
My cheeks flushed. “The things you say to me. You make me speechless.”
“I struggle with words, at times, as well,” he said, leaning forward to take a drink of his water. His eyes maintaining mine over the glass.
“I believe everything you have said to me. I have never questioned you, somehow. But if I meant so much to you, I have to know why you didn’t stay,” I asked, feeling my throat clench.
He set down his glass and seemed to be grappling with his reply. I was torn between wanting to know and never wanting to know. Being jilted by him and hearing it would be experiencing it. I knew what it was like to be hurt by him. I didn’t crave fresh pain.
“I couldn’t,” he said finally.
“You couldn’t. We met and fell madly—madly—in love. How could you not come back?”
Daniel’s jaw was set but his eyes were soft. “It is a long story for another time.”
“Daniel,” I began. “You make me feel special, and wanted, and I have felt those things towards you too. This room. I see you caring for me. In small ways, and bigger ones, like tonight. But you have to trust me.”
He looked perplexed and upset with himself. “I could tell you it was Hawk, which is not untrue. I could tell you Hunter made a mistake. But the fact is, I gave up.”
“But that means you tried.”
“Very hard,” he confessed, but his tone revealed embarrassment at his failure.
“Why do you feel shame in that?”
“You are not the broken one, Gabrielle. You can’t remember your life, because you have not compromised.”
“I feel safe with you,” I said with certainty. “That is my trust. I won’t take it from you unless you earn its loss. But I won’t hold against you what you say in an effort to return it, even if it should give me cause not to trust. I need you to feel safe with me, too.”
“I do. I hear you are very good with a knife, should I ever require a wing woman.” He lifted a brow, humored.
“I don’t know about that,” I said wondering what story Vi could have told Hunter. “I’m not bad with a table saw, though.”
“I’d like to see that one day,” he said sincerely.
“Will you ever tell me?”
“Just know,” he said, setting down his water glass silently. “That I gave in. I compromised. I regret if that hurts you or makes you dislike me. But I can’t pretend it’s not what I deserved from this.”
When I didn’t reply, he considered the question more seriously, leaning forward on his elbows, folding his long fingers together. “Replaying this is like waking up from a dream and closing my eyes to return to sleep so I can dream it differently. Better this time, or worse, to try out whatever works to see the ending I want realized. Going back is not real. I am over that, almost completely, for the first time. I was able to block you, too, realize. How could I go on each day otherwise? How could I lay with another woman?” He looked appalled with himself, and for the first time, he looked away.
“You really shouldn’t be this hard on yourself,” I comforted him.
“You were destitute. You raised our child alone,” he said.
I pursed my lips. “I wasn’t alone.”
“I will never be able to repay what August and your sister did for you both.”
“And Jill and Ian, occasionally Zack,” I added.
He nodded his chin and sat back in his chair, watching me as he asked, “Do you know Jill and I have met?”
“No. Before all this?”
“Yes, Hunter and I both. She was at a party in Mo
ntmartre. She came on to us.”
“Individually?” I hedged. He inclined his head. “She must not remember.”
“I knew you trusted her,” lowering one brow. “I don’t doubt that she coached you negatively.”
“I wouldn’t say coached.”
“My suspicion seems proven,” he accepted, then moved on to what he wanted to say. He leaned forward again. “Things became out of my control. Everything I learned about you and them was cause for my concern. My energy shifted from being consumed by you to loathing them and loving our son. I wouldn’t have accepted Hawk’s consultation if I hadn’t become convinced I was intrinsically right. When I met Tristan, I knew immediately Hawk couldn’t learn of him. So I pushed you both away to protect you. But I couldn’t let you go. As you refused me, I wanted to hear people tell me I was right. You were poisoned by them and not yourself anymore. So I listened to those telling me what I wanted to hear. As it turns out, what I thought of you was more true of me.”
“They were bad people who appeared like okay ones,” I agreed. “Mine are great people made to look terrible.”
He nodded, sadly. “For that and all additional harm I’ve brought at your door, I am sorry.”
I looked into his eyes and knew this was our ultimate roadblock. I dug deep knowing I had to mean it if I were to say these words to Daniel. “I…forgive you,” I said, letting hate go like the string to a kite. He watched me and his expression became peaceful. I got up from my chair and went to him, wrapping my arms around his neck, laying my cheek on his hair. He hooked an arm around my waist and squeezed.
We heard Jeeves’ heels on the floors as he came to the table side, as well as the squeak of the cart. I lifted my head and Daniel released me.
“Chef has prepared for you your second course, if you are ready.” Daniel glanced at me, as I resumed my seat then nodded his chin to Jeeves.
“Fresh caught and fried calamari.” He unveiled a silver tray he set on the table.
“He inherited so much of you,” I said, smiling to myself. Jeeves rolled away with the cart.
“Good taste in food, yes. But I believe we share that quality. His music taste can only be from you,” he said straight-faced. I looked at him shocked, and his face broke into a breathtaking smile. The next course was a hand-rolled pappardelle pasta with lobster and chorizo that was absolutely out of this world. Crème brûlée for dessert.
In the Land of Milk and Honey Page 44