“Zea … what’s going on? You’re starting to scare me.”
Zea stayed silent but the tears coursed down her cheeks. Teresa wrapped her arms around her friend. “Sweetheart, you can tell me anything. Is it Flynt?”
Zea shook her head and closed her eyes. Teresa could see the strain on her; it was palpable. “Is it David?”
Another shake of the head. “Jared?”
Zea began to sob in earnest and as Teresa hugged her, she began to wonder what the hell that man had done to her friend. She persuaded Zea to go upstairs to the small apartment above the diner that the staff could use if they wanted, and lie down.
When she saw Zea had fallen asleep, she grabbed her cellphone and called Flynt. “Dude, whatever you’re doing, I think you need to come back to Portland.”
Flynt sounded alarmed. “What is it? Is it Zea? Is she okay?”
Teresa sighed. “No. I really don’t think she is and it has something to do with that brother-in-law of hers. She wouldn’t tell me anything more.”
She heard Flynt curse. “Okay, Terry, I’m on my way now. Don’t tell her I’m coming—we need to get her to tell us what’s happening and catching her off-guard is the best way to do that.”
“Gotcha. See you soon.”
She checked on Zea but the other woman was obviously exhausted and was fast asleep. Teresa went back down to the diner—and found Jared Podesta waiting at the counter. She arranged her features carefully so as not to give herself away.
“Hey there, can I get you some coffee?”
He smiled at her, but she saw his eyes flicking around the room. “Thank you. Is Zea here? I called at her apartment but no one’s there.”
Teresa caught the edge of annoyance in his voice. “She’s just running some errands. I can leave her a message, if you like?”
She passed him a cup of steaming coffee. “No, it’s okay, I’ll wait, thanks.”
She nodded at him and moved away to take another order. She kept an eye on him as she worked, saw him checking the door constantly, even standing, pretending to stretch his legs but scanning the street outside for any sign of Zea.
Teresa felt her chest tighten. Something was off about this guy, and it concerned her. No, concern was the wrong word. Unsettled. Disturbed. Frightened.
Come on, Flynt, get here soon, she thought to herself. Something is very wrong here.
Something is very wrong indeed.
After Bree got through to Jesse’s voicemail for the twelfth time, she gave up and drove to his house. He had been avoiding her calls for days now, not answered any of her texts either. What the hell is going on? By this time, Bree was more angry than upset and as she pulled into the driveway of Jesse’s home, she had worked herself up into a temper.
She banged on his front door. “Jesse Kline, you get your ass out here now!’
The door opened and a young, pretty blonde woman stared out at her. “Who are you?” The blonde asked Bree in a flat voice.
Bree gaped at her. “Who am I? Who the fuck are you?”
“Bree, that’s enough.”
Jesse’s voice came from behind her and she whirled around to see him. He looked wretched, exhausted, and drawn but Bree was wound up so much she didn’t care. “Where the fuck have you been? And who is this whore? Someone else you’re screwing?”
Jesse sighed. “Bree, this is my sister, Kizzie.”
That took the wind out of Bree’s sails and she looked between the two of them dumbly for a moment, now noticing the resemblance. Kizzie half smiled at her.
“Well … nice to meet you.” She grinned widely suddenly and that broke the tension. Bree, her anger fading away, felt her face flame red but she started to smile.
“God, I’m so sorry. I lost it there for a moment.”
Kizzie grabbed her hand and pulled her into the apartment. Jesse followed her, his face creased with tension. Bree looked at him.
“You’re not off the hook though, mister. You’ve been avoiding me.”
Jesse looked at Kizzie, who nodded. “I’ll get us some drinks. Bree, are you hungry?”
Bree shook her head and, smiling, Kizzie slid quietly out of the room. Jesse sat down opposite Bree but made no attempt to touch her. “Bree … something’s happened and I’ve tried to sort things out before I talked to you, but it’s a goddamn mess.”
Bree watched him as he struggled to find the words. “Just say it, Jesse.”
Jesse rub s his hand through his hair. “Bree, before I met you, after Lexi died, I kind of went mad a little. Drank a lot, slept around. It was because of you that I finally got my life back and it’s why this is so difficult to say.”
“You’re ending it with me?” Bree’s heart was thudding, her stomach roiled with unease.
Jesse sighed. “I don’t want to, but when you hear what I have to say, you might not want anything more to do with me.”
Bree got it suddenly, and to both their surprise, she laughed aloud. “Jesse Kline, please tell me that you haven’t done the most prosaic thing ever and knocked someone up? Please tell me you’re not that much of a cliché?”
Jesse remained silent and Bree knew that was exactly what had happened. “I don’t believe this. Have you never heard of condoms?”
She got up and he stood, his hands reaching for her but she ducked away from him. “Don’t touch me. What are you going to do about it?”
“She’s keeping the baby, and I won’t abandon my child. I’ll support him or her for life, but as for Julieta…”
“That’s her name, is it? The mother?”
Jesse nodded. “Yes. She’s as shocked as me.”
Bree scoffed. “I’ll bet.”
Jesse smiled coldly. “Bree, she’s not a gold-digger. Her family is wealthier than yours and mine put together.”
Bree stared at him. “So, it’s you she wants, not your money, is that it?”
Jesse gave a slight nod, two pinks spots of embarrassment high on his cheeks and Bree sighed. “What is it you want, Jesse?”
He looked away and Bree felt her heart harden and shatter. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know if he wants you …
“Well, I’ll make this easier,” she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “Goodbye, Jesse.”
“Wait, Bree…” but she was already stalking towards the door. She pulled open the door and saw Kizzie lurking guiltily outside the door, having obviously been listening.
Bree gave her a half smile. “Sorry about before. Nice to meet you.” Her voice did shake then and she sped up, almost running out of the front door and down to her car.
As she drove away, she looked in her rearview mirror. Kizzie was staring after her, but what Bree realized was that Jesse was not.
It was over. Very, very over. It was only then that Bree started to cry.
“I don’t understand. So, Grant Willis thinks Emory is alive but he has no evidence, no proof?”
Clem was still trying to process what Luca was telling her. He shook his head. “No proof. And, God, Clem, as much as I want to believe him, as much as I want to think she’s alive somewhere, I can’t handle more heartbreak if I get my hopes up.”
Clem stood and wrapped her arms around her ex-husband. “I know … it seems all we have had lately is false hope.”
Luca buried his face in her hair. “Clemmie … this is my fault. All of it. If I hadn’t divorced you…”
“Then you would still be miserable,” Clem answered with a shaky laugh.
Luca shook his head. “I was never miserable with you, Clemmie, know that. You never made me unhappy. It just felt as if we were both waiting for something … something. You know?”
Clem let him go and smiled up at him. “Luca, I think we both had a glimpse of that ’something’, so yes, I do know.”
Luca reached for the glass of scotch she had poured for him earlier and took a sip. “It wasn’t because I stopped loving you.”
Clem smiled. “I know that, too. You thought it was the best for bo
th of us and I think you were right. There was something missing, or something that had faded.”
“Passion.”
Clem nodded. “I think so, yes. Luca, you are, and always will be, my best friend. You know me in your bones.”
Luca reached over and stroked her cheek. “Passion’s overrated. Maybe it’s just for kids.”
Clem held his hand to her face, leaning into his touch. “You felt passionate … you feel passionate about Emory. It was obvious, practically from the moment you met. As much as it hurt to see, you were meant to be with her.”
Luca, his eyes sad, nodded. “And what about you? Maximo Neri?”
Clem nodded, wanting to be honest. “We had one night. Then Bree was kidnapped and I realized I wasn’t ready, especially not for something with Max … you might have guessed, he’s a high-roller, he’s a player. He would have broken my heart.”
Luca nodded and took her hand and they sat in a companionable silence for a while before Clem sighed. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe passion is for kids. There’s something to be said for familiarity.”
Luca smiled over at her. “Breeds contempt?”
Clem laughed softly and held his gaze. “I was thinking, more like trust…”
They gazed at each other for a long moment then Clem leaned toward him and their lips met, brushing against the other’s softly at first, then, as Luca’s hands slid into her hair, with more fire. “Clem?” She nodded to answer his unspoken question and he lifted her onto his lap, his arms tightening around her waist, his tongue probing her mouth.
Clem sighed into the embrace, Luca’s familiar solid body, his clean smell, all she needed at this moment.
As Luca maneuvered onto the floor, she didn’t resist at all, in fact she began to pull at his clothes hungrily. She needed to feel his skin on hers, as much a need for comfort as for sex now.
Luca undressed her slowly, kissing her pale skin, driving her insane with desire as his lips traced a path down her belly to her sex. His tongue lashed around her clitoris, and she gave a moan of desire and heard him chuckle.
“Take me to bed, Luca,” she gasped, but he continued his assault on her sex, his tongue sweeping along her peachy folds until it plunged deeply into her. Clem’s back arched as she came once, twice. Then, before she could recover, Luca was pulling her to her feet and sweeping her into his arms. Leaving their clothes where they lay, he carried her to her bedroom and laid her on the bed. Clem grinned up at him and sat up, reaching for his already engorged cock, sweeping her lips over the wide crest.
She tasted his salty pre-cum then ran her tongue up and down the silky shaft of him, teasing the tip until Luca was groaning. Clem grasped his buttocks as he came into her mouth, swallowing his seed. Then, as he pushed her back onto the bed, she spread her legs wide and welcomed him into her arms.
Luca drove his cock into her, hard, and she gasped, and her legs curled around his hips and they began to move together, kissing, murmuring the other’s names. It was a hard, passion-filled fuck that they both reveled in and when their orgasms came, they both fell back, exhausted and sated.
But as Clem fell asleep in Luca’s arms, she wondered. She wondered if Luca, like her, had been imagining another face the entire time.
Zea opened her eyes and realized she had been sleeping for hours. The apartment above the diner was unfamiliar and she blinked a couple of times, trying to get used to it. She heard voices coming up the stairs, and swung her legs over the side of the couch, trying to shake the sleep from her head.
She looked up and felt her heart leap as Flynt came into the room, followed by Teresa and Flynt’s sister, Hannah. Zea had met her a couple of time and liked her very much, but she wondered why she was here. From Flynt’s expression, she could guess that he knew everything.
Almost everything.
Before anyone else said anything, she blurted it out. “He says he’s going to destroy me unless I do what he says. He told me that … he would kill anyone who got in his way. I don’t know what to do.”
Flynt sat beside her and took her in his arms. “We have to go to the police, Zea.”
She shook her head. “If I go to the police, my cover is blown. I’ll have to leave Portland, leave all of you, and I can’t bear it. Not again.”
Flynt looked at a pale and shaken Teresa and Hannah. His sister spoke first. “Then we’ll have to go about this … another way.”
She and Flynt shared a look Zea couldn’t understand and she began to panic. “I don’t want anyone getting hurt,” she said, her voice shaky and Flynt’s arms tightened around her.
“No-one’s getting hurt,” he said firmly, “we just have to give Podesta enough rope to hang himself. We can arrange it so it can’t be traced back to you.”
Zea looked confused but Teresa was nodding. “You mean, bait the trap?”
“Yep.”
Teresa grinned, her smile full of mischief. “I’m in. You can use me as the bait, if you like. He said he’d start with Zea’s friends in the diner, well make him start with me. Bet he doesn’t realize I know Muay Thai.”
Zea shook her head vehemently. “No way. Absolutely no way—Terry, he is dangerous. A psychopath. No way.”
“It might work,” Flynt said slowly. “We’ll rile him up, and the best way to do that is to keep him away from you, Zea. You’re who he wants and if we kept him from you, it’ll get to him. He’ll know he doesn’t have control. It’ll drive him insane.”
“Sounds like he’s already halfway there,” Hannah muttered. Zea looked at her.
“Surely you know this is insane? I won’t let him hurt any of you.”
Hannah shrugged. Flynt hugged Zea but he nodded. “This is happening, Zea, and we have to stop it. We are all with you in this—you understand me? We’ll work it all out, make sure no one gets hurt, and put Jared Podesta where he belongs – in jail.”
“Or in the ground,” Hannah growled and suddenly Zea chuckled, seeing Flynt’s sister in a whole new light.
“You are a badass, Hannah.”
Hannah grinned. “You bet your ass, I am. Listen, Zea, you’re family. No one hurts our family. Especially not some pissant little psycho with mommy issues.”
Zea smiled, shaking her head. “You may be all insane, but I do love you all. Thank you. Thank you for caring, for being a comfort. I’ve never had that before.”
“From now on,” Flynt said, his lips against her temple, “You’ll never be without it.”
Zea smiled up at him gratefully. How could I ever have thought you were a bad boy? She let her body relax against his, feeling his arms tighten around her. Flynt looked up at Teresa and Hannah.
“Guys…”
Teresa got it and smiled. “Of course, we’ll talk later. Come on, Hannah, I’ll make you some food.”
“You always did know how to sweettalk a girl,” Hannah joked and winked at her brother. “Later, bro. Zea.”
When they were alone, Flynt got up and locked the door and pulled his jacket off. “I’ve already talked to Amos. He says you can move in here, if I can’t persuade you to move back in with me?”
She shook her head. “I don’t want this mess on your doorstep—Jared could destroy your family’s reputation, let alone the physical harm he could do.”
Flynt looked at her askance. “Let him try, Zea, let him just try.”
She laughed softly. “Would he come off worse with you or with Hannah?”
He grinned. “Oh, Hannah, definitely. She’s an animal.”
Zea chuckled. “God, I do love you, Flynt Newlan.” He pressed his lips to hers.
“As I love you, Zea.”
She pulled him down onto the couch and he gathered her to him. “All I need is you and me, Flynt; just you and me, from now on.”
He smiled down at her. You got it, beautiful. You got me forever.”
***
Bree was drunk out of her skull by the time she took a cab home. She fumbled with her front door key, waving away the cab driver’s o
ffer of help, and staggered into her mother’s home. She knew she would never make it upstairs and so she lurched into the living room—and stopped.
Her mother’s clothes on the floor. A man’s clothes. Bree grinned to herself. “Momma’s getting busy.”
She crawled up the stairs and along to the closed door of her mom’s bedroom. The door stood ajar and Bree couldn’t hear anything, so she stuck her head in the door, wanting to check out just who her mother had taken to her bed.
The shock was ice cold. “Dad?”
Luca opened his eyes and sat up. When he saw Bree staring at him, he had the grace to look ashamed.
“Hey, darling.”
Bree stared at him, as he shook Clem awake, then at her mother. “What the hell is going on?”
Clem sighed. “Darling, you’re not a child. This is between your father and me.”
Bree felt sick. She looked at Luca. “While the, and I quote, love of your life, rots away on the bottom of Elliott Bay. Classy, Dad.”
“Bree!”
Bree turned on her mother. “And you! What was all that crap about Maximo?”
Luca was getting out of bed, pulling a sheet around his hips. “Bree, look, let us talk…”
Bree backed away. “You disgust me. Both of you.”
She slammed out of the room and went to her bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind her. How could they? Poor Emory. Poor Maximo. Both of them were better off where they were …
She fell onto her bed and all the heartbreak and betrayal of the day caught up with her and she sobbed her heart out.
Clem listened at her daughter’s door, then crept back to bed. Luca was sitting on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. Clem hugged him.
“She’ll be okay,” Clem said. “We didn’t do anything wrong, Luca.”
“I know.” But he still wouldn’t look at her. “I know we didn’t, but maybe she’s right. We shouldn’t be doing this.”
Clem sighed and sat beside him. “I know. I know.”
They sat in a strained silence. Then Luca said, “I miss Emory. It’s killing me, I miss her so much, I feel like my heart has been ripped in two.”
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