You Can Always Go Home

by Rogers, Desiree

  Her heart fluttered, the air suddenly too hard to breathe, thickening and expanding in her lungs. Luc squeezed her hand and it went a long way to calming her rampant emotions. “I didn’t know. When-I mean...”

  Agent Stephens leaned forward, setting the cup down on the coffee table. Brown eyes stared back at her, deep with worry. “He came to us about 6 months before he was killed. He didn’t have enough evidence for us to move on and we didn’t want to make any mistakes. I had been assigned to another case, so I couldn’t meet with him right away. He wanted to bring one of the junior partners in, a Jake O’Connor. Said they were friends and he wanted to give him a heads up.”

  Speechless, Alexina could only gape at him, her eyes about to pop out of the socket. “Jake? He knew all this time?”

  “From what your husband told me, yes.”

  Bewildered and out of her element, she turned to Luc hoping that he could make sense of it. “He never said a word, just acted like it was news to him.”

  The agent pulled her attention back to him. “Right before he was killed he had some doubts about Jake, some concerns. I told him to bring in all he had and I would take it from there. The day he was killed, he was supposed to be coming in.”

  She was going to be sick. The need to get out of the room and as far away as possible from all this was making her head spin. “But he was in downtown D.C. that day, having a meeting with Jake.”

  “I know. The license plate number he gave the police was bogus. The other witnesses gave a completely different number, but they took Jake’s word because he was a better witness, and of who he was.” His eyes locked with hers and he waited for the pieces to fall into place.

  “What are you trying to say?” she already knew, but she needed him to tell her, to make sure she wasn’t going crazy.

  “I can’t prove it, but I don’t think it was an accident. Someone at the firm is involved, maybe Jake.” Silence fell as everyone in the room absorbed his suspicions.

  Alexina stood, face ashen as everything came together. “He’s coming down tomorrow for the paperwork.”

  The agent stood also, his stance rigid, as his eyes grew serious. “I think I should have a look at it.”

  All three headed to the office, Alexina’s nerves jumping all over the place. Things were getting more and more complicated and she had no idea what was going on. She wished that Donald were alive still, at least so he could handle this. She didn’t know what do and it was scaring her. The touch of Luciano’s hand on her back went a long way to soothing her and she let some of the tension flow from her body, finger unclamping from the clenched position she’d had them in. As long as he was here, she knew she was safe.

  She pulled out the journal and the flash drive, plugging the device into her computer and opening the files. Agent Stephens sat down, scrolling quickly through the reports and notes Donald had made, nodding his head periodically.

  “Just as he thought.” He closed the journal, swiveling in the chair to look at her.

  “What? What did Donald think?” Fingers twisting with agitation, she bit her bottom lip.

  “He suspected that Cunningham and Cunningham were laundering money from the Mathusa family, major players in the gun and drug trade. They have their fingers in other things, such as prostitution and illegal gambling, but guns are their specialty.”

  “Oh god!” her knees buckled and she would have fallen to the floor if Luciano’s hand hadn’t been holding her elbow. “This is too much.”

  Luciano pulled her into his arms, holding her close as a big hand smoothed down her back. “Lexi, this is going to work out.”

  Agent Stephens stood, hands tucked into his pocket. He seemed ill at ease, unsure of what to do. “Mrs. Arrington, I’m going to take all this off your hands and bring it in.”

  She nodded, taking a deep breath before stepping out of Luc’s arms. A thought hit her. “What about Jake? He’ll be here in a few days. What do I say when he calls?”

  He stood thinking, running a hand through his light hair. “Feed him a bit of what we talked about. I want to see how he takes it.”

  Alexina nodded, her stomach in knots.

  Chapter Twenty

  The next morning, she was lounging with Luciano in bed, their bodies warmed by the streaming sun. Luc pulled her closer, his face burrowed deep into her hair.

  “I could get used to this.” He murmured, voice rough and vibrating through her.

  So could she, the delicious feel of his body pressed against hers, hard and forceful. A sudden urge to tell him she loved him came up and it nearly broke her to keep it back. Last night, watching him sleep, his face smooth with sleep, she’d nearly cried at how good it felt to have him in her bed. How was she going to let him go when all the dust settled? With a business to get off the ground, there wasn’t going to be anytime for a relationship and Alexina had a sinking feeling that he was going to demand all her attention.

  Luc rolled her beneath him, a hot mouth attached to the side of her neck. “Stay here with me.”

  “What?” Did he know what she was thinking?

  “You left, went to that place in your head that I can’t follow. I don’t like it.” He mumbled against her neck, hands busy on her breasts.

  Her body was just starting to melt into his touch when the phone next to the bed rang. Grabbling for the receiver, she answered it on the third ring.

  “I wanted to let you know that I was flying out tomorrow.” Jake’s voice came through, the car salesman attitude dousing her desires like a cold shower.

  Rolling from under Luciano, she sat on the edge of the bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. Even though he was on the other end, unable to see her, just the sound of his voice had her stomach queasy.

  “Oh, that’s good. By the way, I was looking through the papers and I found a number for the FBI.”

  It was a long pause on the other end before Jake said anything. “Oh...really...so what did you do...with it?”

  A glimpse over her shoulder and she could see Luc watching her, face unreadable. “I called them and they’re on their way. They said they’d be here about the same time as you.”

  Jake made a choking sound and Alexina smiled. “That’s great...I’ll see you then.”

  ~***~

  He watched her get out of bed, stretching as she headed to the bathroom, flashing a sexy smile at him over her shoulder. Gritting his teeth, Luciano looked away, staring at the view. This was getting painful; this waiting for her to open her eyes and see that he wasn’t going anywhere. Every time he touched her, he ached to pull her closer, let her know what was going on in his mind.

  Leaning over, he snagged a cigarette from his pants on the floor, letting it rest in his mouth. Shifting his legs, he kicked the covers off, letting the air cool his blood. He didn’t understand it; one minute she needed him, was all over him and the next, he was the enemy.

  For the past couple of days, he’d been thinking about high school and how they’d been so close. He should have married her then, kept her from leaving with her father. Scoffing at the thought, he bit into the butt of his cigarette. That would never have worked. Damn it, what was he supposed to have done? They had both been too young to make their own decisions, stuck bending to someone else’s whims. Was this going to be his punishment for the past and all the wild, out of control things he’d done? To want and need someone who seemed to be fine on her own?

  Sometimes, the old habits tempted him, maybe take a hit of something stronger than a cigarette, just like his dad, to ease this hole in his heart. Why didn’t she have the same feelings for him? What was holding her back? They’d opened that damn box of her husband’s, gotten her talking to her father somewhat and she still had that wall up. How much harder was he going to have to push to get her to open to him?

  ~***~

  Luciano closed the door behind the delivery guy, the smell of Chinese food wafting through the room as he moved to where she was sitting. Reaching up, she took the bags fr
om him, mouth watering at the aromas.

  “It’s been so long since I had Chinese food.” she licked her lips, ready to dig in. It didn’t escape her notice that Luc was avoiding her gaze, putting distance between them. When had that started? She scooted over, a box of Lo mein balanced in her hand. “Why are you sitting over here?” she tried to snuggle into his side, but he kept his arms down, tight to his side. She stared at him, bewildered by his rejection.

  “So, what’s going on?”

  He only looked at her, eyes blank as he stared at her. “What do you mean?” he asked as he took a bite of steamed dumpling.

  “You’re acting...odd.”

  Gray eyes skittered away, landing on a picture of her with her little sister, “Just...thinking.”

  She stared at him, trying to figure out what was going on. Something was shifting and it was leaving a bad taste in her mouth. Since they’d gotten up, he’d been pulling away from her, a distance between them that was scaring her. It didn’t make any sense; it was what she wanted, had been planning herself, but now that it seemed to be happening she didn’t know what to do. She should just be grateful that he was doing it and she wouldn’t have to. Running a hand through her tangled hair, Alexina shook it off. Whatever.

  “Is it good?” he muttered around a mouthful of fried rice, eyes looking everywhere but at her.

  Alexina nodded, shifting away from him to stand by the large picture window. Why was this so hard? It was actually hurting to feel this distance between them. She couldn’t wait for this whole thing to be over.

  They were in the kitchen, cleaning up from dinner when the phone rang. She answered it on the first ring to hear Agent Stephens voice on the other end.

  “Just wanted to let you know that we put eyes on a few members of Cunningham and Cunningham and we found something interesting out about Jake. You might need to sit down.”

  Her heart, throbbing rapidly in her chest, made her clutch the phone in a death grip. “Oh god, just tell me.”

  The agent hesitated a moment, “He’s been talking with Kevin. The meeting was heated and your name came up several times.”

  Confused by the name, she shook her head “I don’t...who is that?”

  “That’s Mr. Mathusa’s son, the head of the whole family.”

  It dawned on her then how serious the whole issue was becoming. The walls of the condominium started closing in, her breath sticking in her chest. The devastating sense of betrayal swept through her, a foul taste in her mouth. Her husband’s friend, someone he’d trusted, had done this to him and was trying to do it to her. A feeling of utter loneliness and abandonment swept through her, choking her with its bitterness.

  “This can not be happening.”

  “We’re going to keep an eye on him, but we just wanted to let you know and to stay alert.” His tone was soothing; an attempt at keeping her calm, but it did little for her nerves. That bastard Jake was responsible for all of this. Agent Stephens hung up the phone when she didn’t reply, the buzzing in her ear drowning out her thoughts.

  On a sob, she turned and fell into Luc’s arms, grateful for his strong arms as they held her, blinding tears falling as her chest heaved from the exertion. What was she supposed to do now?

  ~***~

  Jake and Morgan landed at Killeen airport that afternoon, eyes squinting against the bright as they tried to get their bearings. It wasn’t much of a place, only a few flights in every day, a small square in the middle of huge, dusty lot.

  “I can’t believe she moved to this dust bowl.” Jake wiped the fine layer of dust off his Armani suit, grinding his teeth as it smeared on the black fabric. This was ridiculous. He was going to stick that old man with his dry cleaning bill when they were done with this.

  Morgan watched him, a sneer on his face as if he couldn’t believe that Jake was wearing such an outfit, his jeans a good fit with the dry surroundings. “So, how are we supposed to find her?”

  Jake rolled his eyes, fighting back the sudden urge to backhand this snot. He should have done this alone. He didn’t need some brat messing up his plans, but old man Mathusa had insisted he come along to learn the ropes. “You are not the brightest are you? I did a search and came up with both addresses.” He threw his Gucci duffel bag at him, smirking at the soft grunt Morgan made when it collided with his chest. Good thing he’d packed his hand weights. “Now, go get the car.”

  Morgan grumbled under his breath, turning and stomping away back towards the front of the airport. Yeah, he was going to backhand him any moment. A few minutes later, he came back with a silver Land Rover, pulling up to the curb. Jake got in, eyes narrowed as Morgan thrust a yellowed, wrinkled book at him. Opening it, he was dismayed to find that it was an atlas.

  “Can’t believe they don’t have GPS.” He muttered as he tried to figure out where they were.

  ~***~

  Luc stood in the doorway watching as she shifted through a stack of papers on her desk, head bent over the task, hair falling into her eye. They’d been avoiding each other all day, barely a word spoken between them. He could see that she sensed something was shifting between them and he was waiting on eggshells to see what she would do. Would she push back, fight him to regain what they’d started to build, or she would she let it go, giving him one of those smiles that made him want to break something. He was willing to try, but he needed to know that there was something worth trying for.

  “Let’s go out.” He stepped into the room, arms crossed as he stared down at her.

  “What?” she looked up at him, her eyes unfocused and he had a sudden urge to throw her on the desk and devour her.

  “Let’s go somewhere. Do something other than wait.” He shrugged his shoulders, though his gut was churning at the idea of having a night alone with her.

  “I’ve got things to do.” She scowled at him, bending back over a stack of complicated looking tax forms.

  Stepping around the desk, he gripped her hands, swirling her around in her chair to look at him, knocking the stack of papers over as he did so. “Look, we’ll go have a good time, go back to my house and I’ll drop you off in the morning.” He could see the fight brewing in her eyes and he clenched his teeth in frustration.

  She tried to pull her hands away, but he held firm. “I don’t –”

  Irritated at her reluctance to go with him and his sudden dire urge to get on his knees and beg her, he dropped her hands. “Never mind, forget it.” he turned and headed towards the door.

  “Wait – where would we go?”

  Heart doing flips in his chest, he shot her a grin over his shoulder, “I know just the place.”

  ~***~

  “That was great!” She threw herself at him as they crossed the threshold of his door, a lusty kiss to his lips, nearly blowing his head off.

  Luciano had taken them to his favorite bar in downtown Killeen, though it was more like a hole in a wall than any real place. Thankfully, neither Kelsie nor any of her friends had been there. The night had been fun, just hanging out and talking.

  After a couple of drinks her guard had come down, letting him inside. Her smile had reached her eyes this time, leaving him breathless. He wanted more and as soon as she sobered up, he was going to get. It did worry him that she’d drunk so much, but he’d chalked it up to her being stressed over this whole Jake situation.

  “Mmmm hmmm,” his eyebrows shot up at her antics. She was a friendly drunk, her eyes bright and glassy. “You certainly had fun.”

  “I like being with you. You make me tingle.” Smooth brown arms wrapped around his shoulders and she hung on, her lips buried against the pulse in his neck.

  “Oh really?” he tipped her chin up to stare down at her, feeling his lips twitch as he watched her head bop in agreement. Maybe he should ask a few more questions, see what kind of answers he could get from her.

  “Oh yeah.” She stumbled after him as he walked them into the darkened house, moving carefully towards the bedroom. She fell into him and h
e had to lift her partially off her feet to keep her from falling on her face.

  “Let’s get you to bed.” Reaching out, Luciano pushed the bedroom door open, tugging her in behind him.

  Alexina’s arms tightened around his neck as they moved closer to the bed. “I beat you.” She informed him gaily.

  He chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. “Uh huh. I wasn’t aware there’d been a competition.”

  “Of course, why else would I do two shots of Yagermister?”

  Undressing her carefully, he pulled her t-shirt over her head, eyes going huge at the sight of her lacy underclothes. “Ah...I see now. I think we should get you into bed.” He flushed at the sight of his hands trembling as he pushed her jeans down over ripe hips. He had to brace his shoulder against her body to keep her from toppling over as she stepped out of the fabric. At the feel of her soft warm skin, he nearly groaned aloud. Lord, he was in trouble.

  She flopped back on the bed, curls spreading out over the golden comforter, skin glowing against white lace panties. Reaching above her head, she grabbed one of his pillows and curled around the soft square, sighing in contentment.

  “You won’t leave will you?” coffee eyes watched him closely as he stepped out of his loafers, taking off his belt.

  One knee braced on the bed, he leaned over and brushed away a curl. “No, of course not.”

  “Good. I couldn’t take it if you did.”

  His heart stopped in his chest at her words, but before he could say anything, her eyes closed, the soft rising of her chest letting him know that she was asleep.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Head pounding and her mouth feeling like it was full of cotton, Alexina woke to the feel of a hard, hot body cuddled close to her back, a large hand over her breast, possessive and sure. She lifted her head to peer down at her body, shocked to see that he’d undressed her. The sheets did cover her, but Luc’s heavy body was on top, holding her prisoner in the soft fabric. She remembered last night vaguely, the drinking and the dancing, though at the moment her head hurt too bad to think too hard about everything else. She needed to get up before Luc opened his eyes and realized she was awake.