She nodded.
“I asked someone like him in Virginia to see if he could help Kim. We’ll call the man Mitch.”
“Is Kim okay?”
She was more worried than angry. I could live with that.
“She’s better than okay, but let me tell the story so I can get it all out, okay?”
She nodded and pursed her lips. Uh-oh.
“When Mitch found her, she was high as a kite and hooking. He paid for her for the night, took her back to his place, and got her detoxed. She didn’t have a job, and didn’t have anyone worried enough about her to go looking for her or report her missing. She disappeared for weeks while he detoxed her, and no one said squat.”
“And after she was clean?”
“Mitch has a reason to keep humans around. There are still some things I can’t tell you, but he basically substituted a healthy habit in the place of her unhealthy ones. He kept her against her will for three weeks, and then sat down with her and made her an offer to stay on in his household. She was aware she could leave with no memory of her time there, or she could stay and follow the house rules.”
“What are the house rules?” She had so many questions, but she was following my lead for now. This was the woman who’d been in charge in prison — finding out the facts before she formed an opinion.
“Not causing problems, eating healthy, no drugs, and she’ll work towards bettering herself. She isn’t alone and will have support, but Mitch expects the humans he helps to also help themselves.”
“So she stayed?”
I smiled. “Yeah. She’s dating another human who lives there. I understand Mitch allowed them to move next to each other on the same hallway. He insists they each keep their own personal space, but they’re always in each other’s beds.”
I sensed a spark of jealousy before she could be happy for her. Not the greatest for my ego, but I understood.
“And how has she bettered herself?”
“She’s been taking remedial courses at the local community college, and she’s planning to apply to a massage therapy school. Mitch has paid her tuition for the remedial courses, and will pay for her tuition at massage school if she’s accepted.”
“How is she paying him? What’s he getting for his all of this?”
And here was the rub. I couldn’t tell her Mitch is a vampire and drinks Kim’s blood, so Keisha was probably going to think the worst. I tried redirection, hoping it would hold her off for now, at least.
“I’ve been given permission to tell you all of this because she’s let Mitch know she wants to contact you. Part of her deal with him was that she’d go through him before contacting anyone from her past — family, friend, enemy, whatever. It isn’t that she can’t, it’s just that he needed to know before she did. He approached me to facilitate it.”
“If she has a girlfriend, why would she want to contact me?”
“I don’t know. I’m aware she found you on the salon website, so she knows where you’re living and working. She checked with Mitch before contacting you, and he told her he’d arrange it.”
She stood, walked back and forth a few minutes, grabbed one of the hotel robes and slid into it, and finally sat in a chair across the room. “She’s okay?”
“She’s doing well, Keesh.”
“Can she tell me what Mitch is?”
“No.” I sighed. “You can’t tell her about me, and she can’t tell you about Mitch. She knows about werewolves, but she can’t know I’m a supernatural. She can’t know you’re aware of werewolves.”
“This is fucked up.”
“Will you come back to bed?”
“You should put something on. Room service will probably be here soon.”
“Do you want to talk to her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Okay. Think about it and let me know. Are you mad at me?”
“I haven’t decided.”
I controlled my face because I had a feeling the grin trying to form wouldn’t have been received well. “When will you know?”
“It feels as if you meddled in my past, and yet it sounds like it’s good you did. I get that you couldn’t tell me, and I understand why you can now, but it feels… I dunno. Invasive. You stuck your nose where you had no right.”
“Kim was important to you and it looked like she was spiraling down. I did what I could.”
She took a deep breath and spent a good twenty or thirty seconds letting it go.
“Okay. You helped. Thank you. I’ll talk to her on the phone, but I don’t think I want to see her. You’re my life now. She’s part of my past. I’m glad you helped her, because part of me felt bad for not finding her and making sure she’s okay… but I just couldn’t get pulled into her drama if she was back into drugs, and if she wasn’t then she didn’t need me so it wouldn’t matter. Either way, I didn’t look for her.” She met my gaze, lifted her chin. “Thank you for taking care of her simply because she was once important to me.”
The fist around my heart eased a little, and I smiled. “You’re welcome. Thank you for not being pissed at me. I’ll text Mitch that you’ll call around eight this evening. We’ll have dinner and then I’ll go for a ride on my bike so you can have some privacy.”
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. I think room service is headed this way. I hear footsteps and smell the food we ordered.”
The room service guy set our table and made sure we had what we needed before leaving. I wasn’t sure she realized she was fiddling with her engagement ring as she sat. She didn’t even notice I was walking towards her until I was right on her.
I pulled her up and wrapped my arms around her.
“What’s going through your head?”
“She once meant something to me, but she’s my past. I thought she had to stay there in order for me to move forward, but if she’s pulled her life together… can we be friends? Would you even be okay with that? I wouldn’t want you to be close friends with someone you had a relationship with.”
“Honestly? I’m good with ya’ll talking on the phone and getting caught up with each other, but I’m not so sure about an ongoing relationship. Let’s play it by ear and see how it goes? Have your conversation this evening and then we’ll talk again.”
“Thanks for setting it up and not standing in the way.”
I held her face, my palms on her cheeks with enough pressure to let her know where I wanted it, but not enough she couldn’t move if she resisted. “I hate every secret I have to keep from you. This let me get one of them off my chest. I’m happy she asked about you.”
I hadn’t felt a single warning tug on the relationship bond since I’d told her. Keisha wasn’t thinking of Kim romantically — whatever was in her mind was friendship and not lover.
“We’ll figure it out, Keesh. If you want an ongoing relationship, I’ll do my best to be okay with it, and if I’m not I’ll be honest with you so we can find a way to make us both happy.”
“You’re my future, she’s my past. I love you.”
And with that, she pushed away from me and walked to the breakfast table.
“I didn’t put your plug back in when we finished last night.”
“You forgot? And here I thought you were rewarding me for accepting your ring and saying yes.”
I chuckled as I lifted the little domes off the food. “Okay. We’ll go with that.”
Chapter 27
Keisha
“Kim?”
“Keisha? Mitch said you’d be calling. Is it really you?”
“Yeah. I got word you wanted to talk.”
“I did. I do. How are you? I guess I just wanted some contact. I mean, I’m with someone now, but a lot of shit you said inside… I get it now. I thought you were talking out your ass then, but it makes sense now.”
I smiled as she tripped over her own words. This was my Kim. “What stuff?”
“About getting an education. About being able to support yourself witho
ut depending on other people. About having enough self-respect to know you deserve to be happy.”
“Oh, Kim. I wish I could hug you.” My heart warmed at her voice, at her enthusiasm. “What brought about the changes?”
“Someone took me in and forced me to look at myself. It’s like he can see inside me, and he doesn’t let me run from who I am. I hated him for it at first, but he got me clean and then he made deals with me that gave me incentive to stay clean while I needed it.”
“You don’t need incentive anymore?”
“No. I mean, every once in a while I might think about using, but not seriously. I like who I am now.”
“So, you’re bisexual now?”
“Oh, he’s not who I’m with. Mitch is… damn, it’s hard to explain. He took me in. I guess it’s what he does — finds people who needs saving and then gives them a chance, and if they’re up for it, he helps you save yourself.”
“I’m happy for you.”
“What about you? I saw you on a website. You’re working in a real salon?”
“I am. My ex-husband helped me get started — gave me a place to live while I was waiting for my cosmetology license, and then helped me get a job. Let me use his motorcycle to get back and forth to work.”
“Your ex? Really? All those years with no contact, and he helped you?”
I sighed. “Yeah. He has this huge protective streak. He was basically giving me a chance to fuck up so he could feel better about himself, I think.”
“But you didn’t fuck up?”
“Nope.” I sighed, because I hadn’t planned on telling her much about me — I’d just wanted to know how she was doing. Now that we were talking, I wanted her to know I’m good, too.
“I kind of fell apart one day, after I’d been on the outside a while. He came in and held me, and I guess things changed from there. He’s asked me to marry him again, and I’m wearing a fucking huge ring.”
“OMG. Take a picture and send it to me!”
“I… maybe another time.” Okay, so maybe there were some things I didn’t want to share with her.
We were both quiet a few moments and I asked, “Did you just want me to know you’re doing okay? Or was there more?”
“I miss you. I mean, not as a girlfriend, but looking back on my life, I think you’re one of the few people who didn’t use me. You liked me for who I am, not for what I could give you.”
“I wasn’t always nice to you.”
She blew out a breath. “Yeah, I know. The rules are different inside, but you were as nice as you could be, considering.”
“I cared about you. I loved you. I guess I always will, but not like I love Darnell.”
“Thanks for that. I’ll always love you, too. I don’t know if Missy’s the one, or just who I need right now, but I love her too. It’s different than it was with you though. She and I are equals. I’ve never really had that before.”
“Does she know we’re talking?”
“Yes. She’s not happy, but I told her I needed to. Does Darnell know?”
“Yeah. I won’t keep secrets from him.”
“Good for you. I’m happy for you, too.”
“You’re still on parole?”
“Yeah, but once I moved in with Mitch, my parole officer backed off. I still follow the rules, but it isn’t a huge pain in the ass anymore.”
I smiled as I realized Mitch had probably used his mind mojo to make the guy back off. I also realized he knew so much about Kim because he could see in her head. It looked like the dude was using his powers for good, and I approved.
“I’m going to let you go, but it’s been great talking to you.” I did some math in my head and said, “Your birthday’s in four months. Do you think it’d be okay if I called to wish you a happy birthday?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.”
We spent another four or five awkward minutes saying goodbye, and I hung up and texted Darnell.
Thanks. I’m off the phone if you’d like to come home.
Chapter 28
Keisha
Our first wedding was a fancy affair, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to downplay marrying him again, or broadcast it to the world and celebrate. One day I was sure we should just have a small ceremony with immediate family, and the next day I was thinking we should do something big to celebrate our second chance with each other.
Eventually, Darnell got tired of me waffling back and forth and told me, “Get all your little girlfriends together and let them help you figure it out, or do something else to figure it out, because if you don’t tell me what you want by Saturday then we’ll fly to Vegas Saturday night and get married in time for me to have you back at work Tuesday.”
I’d gone to church a few times with Miri, but going primarily to make friends had felt icky. I’d let Darius know I could do more than just cut hair for women who needed it for a job interview. He’d arranged for me to give cooking lessons with inexpensive ingredients, and to help when the RTMC members gave self-defense lessons. The idea was that they’d see my self-confidence and maybe it would show them they could stand up for themselves and take charge of their life, too. I didn’t have anything in common with most of the women, but I’d grown close to three and now we were friends.
I was also friends with some of the women of the RTMC, and the wives of some of Darnell’s coworkers — but I didn’t need anyone to help me with this. It had to be my decision. I wanted it to be beautiful and special, but small. I wanted unique.
Chapter 29
Darnell
I detested suits when I was a SEAL. I didn’t wear them much, and they felt so damned constrictive when I was forced to. Turned out, off-the-rack suits are hell, but Aaron has a guy who knows how to outfit his people. In the private sector, I wear suits more than combat gear. I’m used to them, sure, but my suits let me move, and breathe, and take care of business. Plus, the jacket can hide a helluva lot of firepower without arousing suspicion.
Today, I was in my tux — also made by Aaron’s suit guy — though I wasn’t working.
The entire wedding party and all the guests were in seven limos, and our little convoy pulled up to the southern end of the Walnut Street Bridge and let us out. I was in the lead car, and I got out with Duke (who’d be officiating today), a half-dozen men I worked with, and two of my old SEAL buddies who’d gotten away just to come to my wedding.
The next five cars consisted of nearly fifty of our family and friends, and they followed us up the bridge. They all had a drawing of how Keisha wanted us to stand, and Miri set everyone straight who stood where they shouldn’t. The bridge is public property and we didn’t rent it, but nothing said we couldn’t take over the center of it for fifteen minutes as long as we left the sides so people could get by us. Aaron had gotten the okay from the police chief, to make sure we weren’t hassled. It’s good to have friends in high places.
For music, we had a single violinist. The wife of one of the RTMC’s attorneys plays in the Atlanta Symphony. Who knew?
I froze as I watched my bride walk towards me. Keisha wore the most amazing dress. It clung to every curve, and was all white lace that let her dark chocolate skin peek through. The rich fabric came to just below her knees in the front, and barely skated the ground in the back. And those shoes. Damn, but I was going to fuck her later tonight while she wore those shoes and nothing else. And we were keeping them. Every year on our anniversary, she was going to wear those shoes to get fucked.
Keisha
Never has a man looked so handsome in a tuxedo. My man takes staying in shape to a whole new level. He isn’t twenty years old anymore, but he’s a werewolf so he doesn’t look even close to middle-aged.
I’d be a werewolf in a few weeks. We were honeymooning in a rental house on the beach in Florida for two weeks, and then he was taking me somewhere in North Georgia to bite me and take care of me. Miri thought I was taking six months off for an extended honeymoon, but the truth was that I’d be learning to control
my wolf. Everyone had confidence I’d be fine in six months. I hoped they were right.
But today was my wedding day, and I had a five-hundred-foot wedding march to the top of the bridge. I wasn’t alone, though. Darius was beside me, and two of my friends just behind us — but I only had eyes for Darnell.
We’d come full circle, somehow. I’d been the naïve girl on her way to getting in trouble when I’d fallen in love with him. When my granny died and my world fell apart, he moved me into his place. Maybe I never had a chance to grow up, maybe we should’ve met a few years later… but it’s possible I’d have gotten knocked up by someone else if he hadn’t been there.
Prison forced me to grow up, but I was still a ship without direction when they ejected me into the parking lot. What would I’ve done without Darnell?
Darius put my hand in Darnell’s, and the next thing I knew, Duke was talking, and I was agreeing to live the rest of my life with the man holding my hands.
Blue skies above us, the warmth of the sun on my skin, the Tennessee River below us, and our friends around us — it was the perfect day, the perfect wedding.
I didn’t realize we’d gathered more of an audience until we finished the ceremony and turned to walk back down the bridge and to the limos.
They formed a human tunnel as I walked arm in arm with the love of my life, our friends and family just behind us.
Another two hundred people were waiting for us at Darius and Hailey’s house for our reception. How had I accumulated so many people in the year and a half since I got out of prison? I mean, sure, my son’s in a motorcycle club and I’m kind of part of that family now, but still — so many people were in my life now.
And Darnell was at the center of it all.
Halfway down the bridge he swooped me into his arms, and our impromptu crowd cheered.
“Those shoes,” he said into my ear. “Later tonight, I want you in those shoes and a plug up your ass, and nothing else. Damn, what you do to me, woman.”
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