by Koko Brown
Russell finally pulled out of Victoria to her disappointment. “Let’s shower and get dressed. I’m hungry for breakfast, and it’s not going to be cold pizza.”
She moaned. “You wake me up like that and you want to get dressed and eat?”
He stood in the bathroom doorway and faced her. “I don’t want to, but I think we should. Besides, I would like to get out of this room for a little while and enjoy the outdoors.”
She understood his need and didn’t keep him waiting. Victoria had to do something to make sure this wouldn’t be their last day together.
Russell sat in the main dining room at the hotel and watched Victoria serve herself another bowl of mixed fruit. He had to admit, having sex with her that morning hadn’t been planned. The more he lay with her with his arm around her body like she belonged to him, the more he wanted to prolong the fantasy.
He understood his position. He got that Victoria would be moving on with her life and doing big things that he could only imagine. At this point, he didn’t even want her money. To know that she would be happy would be enough for him.
Russell felt his eye twitch and his mouth pull to the side. Damn, Victoria had been right. He did make those facial tics when he lied, even when he lied to himself.
His intuition had alerted him a couple of times with Victoria, but then she proved herself with him. She opened herself up and admitted something very personal. She didn’t have to do that. For their very short arrangement, she could have kept the issue with her nerves a secret. Maybe she did see more to them than just this trip. Maybe she saw him more than a guy who used to work for her day or just a driver.
Russell watched Victoria talking to an older woman, who now broke out her wallet to show off pictures of her grandchildren. The hellcat who had threatened to burn Russell with a car lighter, and had brandished an iron against a possible intruder, melted like a kitten when she interacted with the woman.
Never once did she break her concentration from her. She smiled at each photo and engaged the guest in conversation.
“You done with this?” A hotel staff member reached for Russell’s plate that he had his used utensils and napkin piled on top.
“Yeah.” He picked up his cup of coffee although he didn’t need anything to perk him up. Looking at Victoria got him going more than anything else.
“Good. Hate for you to miss out on anything.”
Russell nodded to the man and sat his mug down. As he did, he noticed the thin white man’s hand, or rather his missing index finger. He peered up at him.
The hotel employee had a blank expression. He didn’t act like he knew Russell until he narrowed his eyes at him before removing his plate.
The lanky man sauntered back to the kitchen area. At that time, Russell peered down at his hands.
He knew he had balled them into fists. He didn’t realize that he clutched his butter knife like a weapon until he had noticed the way the hotel employee had dropped his gaze to Russell’s hand before he moved away.
Russell stood. He didn’t get a good feeling about this situation, and he needed to get Victoria out of there.
Russell marched over to Victoria. Now that he knew how to do it again, he smiled at both of them. “Excuse me. May I steal her away for a moment?”
“Oh, sure.” The elderly woman scanned Russell, then looked at Victoria as though wanting to say, “You can do so much better.”
“Thank you.” Russell held Victoria’s arm and pulled her away from the woman.
“You miss me that much?” She chuckled.
“We need to go.” He took the bowl of fruit from her hands and placed it on an empty table.
“Why? What’s going on?” Victoria looked around the nearly empty dining area.
When Russell did the same thing, he caught sight of the hotel employee who had removed his plate when someone opened the swinging doors to the kitchen area. Now the man had his cell phone to his ear.
Shit.
Russell didn’t say anything to Victoria until they got to the elevator.
“You’re scaring me. What’s going on?” She balled her hands into fists and crossed her arms over her chest.
“The guy that took my plate. I don’t remember him, but I think I must have had some interaction with him at some time.” Russell looked at the floor numbers as they illuminated.
“Interaction? You mean in prison?”
The elevator doors opened on their floor.
“No.” He rushed down to their room, clutching her hand and dragging her behind him. “Open the door.”
“Not until you tell me what happened.” She jerked her arm from his grip. “How do you know that man or how do you think he knows you?”
“He was missing a finger.” He looked over her head to see if anyone approached them. “And he was on his cell phone making a call when I pulled you away. We need to move. Now.”
NINE
Victoria’s heart hadn’t stopped racing since she and Russell quickly packed their stuff, checked out of the hotel, and hightailed it back down the road. She sat in the passenger seat and wondered why she didn’t insist on driving. Russell drove well, but it seemed like he didn’t have enough hustle for her.
“Are you sure you’re the reason that guy was missing a finger?” She crossed her legs as she turned her body in her seat to face him.
“Were you sure that the guy who knocked on the door last night really worked at the hotel?” Russell didn’t take his attention off the road.
He had a point. If she could be worried about one thing, he had a valid concern about this other item.
“Damn it. Can’t escape my fucking past.” He shook his head. “So now where do you want to go? Another hotel?”
“No.” Victoria let Russell’s previous advice roll around in her head. “Like you said, I need to stop running. I want to go home. My home.” She reached for Russell’s hand. “I want you there with me.”
“Until Monday?” He glanced at her as he approached the toll booth that would take them back to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia.
“No.” She brought his hand to her lap. “I suspect that you need a place to stay, right?”
He paid the toll and rolled through before he spoke again. “I’m also a felon, and I’m not supposed to be around the folks that helped land me in prison. I’m sure that means relatives of those people.”
“I told you to stop calling yourself that.” Victoria shook her head. “I need you.” She squeezed his hand.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure I don’t want us to part right now, not since we’ve found each other again.” She patted his hand. “Forced or not, I’m glad I let you tag along with me.”
“There was no way you were going to shake me. I needed the money.” He squeezed her thigh before stroking his thumb over her bare flesh.
Victoria needed something to hold onto, something to give her hope. “Have your needs changed?”
Russell glanced at her quickly. “I stopped dreaming a long time ago. There’s a danger in hoping. I have to hold onto what’s real.”
Damn it. Either she needed to bend or Russell needed to see the possibility. One of them had to be vulnerable.
She looked up at the highway signs. “Before going to my home, I want you to stop off somewhere.”
“Where?” He couldn’t hide the annoyance in his voice.
“You’ll see.”
Although Russell started trusting Victoria again, being directed to go to a cemetery worried him. Was she setting him up? Maybe she had someone waiting for him to finish the job of eliminating him.
In his heart, he knew she wouldn’t have done that. Since that morning, something in him had changed when he thought about Victoria. Russell had to stop kidding himself. He hadn’t stopped wondering about a potential life with her since before his arrest, but especially after that damn picture. Having sex with her—or rather making love to her, as she called it—changed his mind completely.
The way Victoria looked at him made him feel like a billionaire. Too bad, deep down, he knew his potential. He had hurt people before. He had taken lives. He had lied. She didn’t need to be tied up with a man like him…no matter how much he truly desired it. It had nothing to do with her money.
“What are we doing here?” Russell parked in an area far back on the property.
Woods faced the one side of the car, and graves lined the other side. Staring at the angel in the passenger seat calmed his heart.
“Turn off the car and come with me.” She looked at him. “Please.”
Before he could answer, she stepped out of the car and sauntered across the ground to an oversized headstone. By the time he reached her, he noticed the name etched across the face.
“Oh.” Russell stood behind Victoria.
“Hey, Mom.” She ran her fingers over Eloise Crandall’s name. “I brought Russell Griffing with me. You remember him. He’s been so good to me since he got out of prison. He’s looking out for me.” Victoria flashed him a sweet smile before she returned her attention to the ornate tombstone. “I’m going to do the same for him. I’ve always looked out for him, protected him.”
Russell had to bite his lip to keep from blurting that although he couldn’t confirm the fact that she had protected him, Victoria did give him the best masturbation material he had ever seen.
“I miss you so much. I think I might be in some trouble.” Victoria dropped to her knees on top of the grave. “Please protect me.” She pressed her hand to the grass. “I love you.” Victoria stood, approached the headstone, and pressed her lips against it.
She backed up and stood next to Russell.
“That was nice.” He wrapped his arm around her waist.
“She’s only been gone for a month, but the pain gets worse each day.” Victoria patted Russell’s hand. “I miss her so much.”
“You couldn’t ask your mom to look out for me, too?” He chuckled.
Victoria peered up at Russell. “I did in my head. I thought you would be weird about me talking about you too much to the dead.” She spotted something behind him and blinked hard. “Um, maybe you should ask your own angel to look out for you.” Victoria nodded toward a headstone a couple of graves down from Eloise’s.
Russell glanced at Victoria before approaching the slightly smaller grave marker. He covered his mouth and fell to his knees when he saw Belle Griffing’s name on it.
His heart drummed as his fingers gripped the grass on her grave. Touching the earth above her body gave him some comfort.
If his mother stood before him right now, in the flesh, he would say so much to her. He would tell her that she hadn’t messed up with him. He would admit that he should have listened to her more. He would hug her and tell her that he loved her.
The only thing he could say was, “I’m sorry.” He bowed his head and hoped Belle could hear his thoughts. The words “I love you” repeated in his head over and over again.
When he felt drained from the experience, he stood, kissed the pads of his fingers, and pressed them against the cold stone. He turned to Victoria.
Before he could ask how she knew where his mother had been buried, Victoria said, “I had no idea your mother’s grave was here.” She held Russell’s hand.
“Holy shit.” Russell reached into his back pocket for his wallet. He removed a scrap of paper and read the name. “This is Joyous Life Cemetery?”
“That was the name a year ago. Now it’s called Beautiful Abundance. Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to see your mother’s grave? I would have helped.” Victoria started to head toward Belle’s site when Russell pulled her back.
“Do you know how…” Russell couldn’t finish his question.
In his past, he had severed digits and limbs off people without a second thought. He had fought several men in prison when they wanted to test him. He had no fear when it came to fighting or defending his life. However, he couldn’t muster the right words to talk about his mother’s passing.
“Your mom? You want to know how she passed?” Victoria faced him.
He nodded, unable to speak.
“I had heard that she had been found unresponsive in her home. By the time they got her to the hospital, she was already gone. They think it was a heart attack. I should have told you what I knew about her sooner. I wasn’t sure, well, you know.”
Russell knew. Good to see he hadn’t been the only one to question integrity.
Victoria hugged him. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
He hugged her back. “You, too.” He tightened his hold. “I—I…”
Shit. Russell wanted to say the words. The feeling went beyond gratitude. She knew him when he felt on top of the world. She had been around when he went to prison. Now Victoria got him to pay respects to Belle.
“What, Russell? Say it.” Victoria placed her hand on his cheek.
Damn, she looked good. Innocent. Beautiful. If she laughed in his face, he wouldn’t be able to stand it.
“We should go.” He nodded.
“I can drive.” Victoria held out her hand for the keys.
“No. I’ll drive you. Let me do my job.” He squeezed the keys in his hand.
In a gentlemanly gesture, he opened the passenger-side door for her. Without wasting any time, Russell got them out of the cemetery and back on track to get to Victoria’s place. She indicated that she wanted to go to her home at the Oceanfront, and she directed him there every step of the way.
“Did you ever hear from Quinton?” Russell maneuvered through the narrow streets.
“Your brother?” Victoria shook her head. “As soon as you were arrested, I didn’t hear from him again. Last I heard, he moved out of the area.” She touched his arm. “I know some people. If you want me to have him tracked down, I can do that for you.”
“I might take you up on that offer.” He nodded.
Russell arrived at Victoria’s impressive home. The beachfront home checked off every fantasy he had had of becoming rich and living the life.
As much as he didn’t want to be confined again, he suspected that they would be safer if locked behind closed doors. The idea of caressing her body again didn’t enter his mind this time.
Victoria removed a remote from her purse and activated one of the three garage doors. “Pull it inside. I don’t need to tip off anyone by having a strange vehicle in my driveway.”
Russell did as instructed, and then turned off the car. Before getting out, he looked at her. “So now what?”
Victoria sighed. “We wait. We wait it out here in my home, or we wait for that other shoe to drop.” She gathered her things from the car. “I’m hoping the second thing doesn’t happen.”
Russell brought her luggage inside.
“Don’t forget your stuff.” She placed her purse on the kitchen counter. “You’re going to stay here.”
“You don’t have to do that. I can make my own way.” Russell didn’t want to impose for a job.
“I know you can.” She stood in front of him and made sure to connect her stare with his. “It’s the reason I love you.”
Russell blinked and took a step back. “What did you say?”
Victoria smiled. “I know you heard me. I said I love you. I always have. The fact that you’re here and I’ve told you the worst thing about me and you didn’t flinch, let me know that how I felt back then as an impulsive teenager and how I feel now as I look at the man you’ve become have never changed.”
He framed her small face and pressed his lips against hers. When he pulled back, he started to say, “I—”
Victoria covered his mouth with her hand. “No. Don’t feel obligated to say it because I did.”
“I don’t. I—”
She cut him off again. “Especially because I need to tell you something else.”
He smiled. The expression started to become easier and easier for him. “What? You want to tell me you want to have my baby or something?”
Victoria dropped her gaze and exhaled. Her shoulders slipped down, which now worried him. What the hell could she confess that had her this worried?
“That day you got arrested, I—um—” She took a step back. “I need to go to the bathroom really quickly. When I come back, we can sit down and talk about everything.”
Russell tried suppressing a smile. “Sure.” He kissed her forehead.
“Make yourself at home. When I come back down, I’ll show you your bedroom.” Victoria went up the stairs.
“I insist on a naked tour of your place.” He chuckled. He didn’t hear Victoria laughing, but she had already reached the top of the stairs and ducked into a room.
Russell sauntered around the room. In the kitchen area, she had it all decorated in white from the walls to the counter to the tile floor. On the wall closest to the dining room, he spotted a red phone mounted.
“Wow,” Russell said, elevating his voice so that Victoria could hear him. “I didn’t think people still had these.”
Victoria didn’t respond.
Since Russell would be staying with Victoria, and she did tell him to make himself at home, he felt comfortable enough to use it. No need to use a burner, especially since Dana had given him a hard time for using one before.
He picked up the receiver and dialed Dana’s number from memory. He hoped that since he made the call around lunchtime that she would be out of church by now.
She answered the call on the second ring. “Hello?”
The tentativeness concerned Russell. “Russell Griffing reporting in.”
“Russell? Seriously?” Dana coughed.
“Is there a problem?” He leaned on the counter. “Am I calling too early or too late or something?”
“No. You’re really calling me from Victoria Crandall’s place?”
He had forgotten about Caller ID. “Yes. You wanted to know about my job. I’m working as her driver. And as far as where I’ll live, I’ll be staying here with her.” He scanned the area he could see.
He couldn’t wait for Victoria to give him a formal tour. What he saw so far looked like something out of a magazine. Casual but still chic. He would enjoy having her in every room and on each piece of furniture.