Then he changed course and started to kiss back up the way, most likely thinking that he was teasing me, but now I was focused on what was about to happen. As he got to my belly button, he noticed that I’d finally put a bar back through the piercing. I tended not to wear one because it had gotten caught one time when we lifted a patient, and since then I only wore one when I remembered and wasn’t working. I’d had it for so long that the piercing stayed open anyway.
“What have we got here?” He spun the charm hanging from it around so he could see it. “What the he…” he never finished it as he screamed and jumped away from me. In his panic, he hadn’t realized how close to the edge we were, and the thud as he hit the ground echoed around the room. Personally, I had to agree that the charm of the clown from the movie It was scary as hell, but he’d deserved it.
Leaning over the edge of the bed, I saw Cole holding the side of his head and groaning. “I think I have a brain injury.”
Rolling my eyes, I got up and pulled his hand away. When I saw the blood, I’ll admit to feeling a little bit guilty. When I saw the actual cut, I felt a lot guilty. Sighing, I stood up and went and got a towel to hold on it.
“You’re likely gonna need that glued.” Scowling at me, he sniffed and looked the other way. “Hey, look at it this way - you proposed with my biggest phobia, and I said yes with yours!” I gave him the sweetest smile that I could and hoped that he’d see the funny side of this at some point.
The twitching of his lips told me he had, but the scowl that kept taking over warned me that he was going to milk this for all it was worth. He could try. I had fucking video footage to back me up.
Cole
We’d been back for a week, and everyone was going crazy with ideas for our wedding. Personally, I wanted to plan it with Eb, so I was ignoring their suggestions. Yesterday, Maya had come over with a folder filled with ideas, but I’d thumped the one that I’d put together on the table and just looked at her. She eventually got the hint, and I’d noticed today that there were fewer suggestions being thrown our way.
Maya and Ren had wanted a date night tonight, so we’d agreed to look after Crystal. The worst of the jet lag was gone, and my head was healing, so I was looking forward to spending some time with her. She was six months old now, and the wonder on her face when she saw a butterfly or even a piece of damn dust was just beautiful. The one thing that I wasn’t happy about was that, while we were away, Dash had fallen in love with Poppy, and Pippa had fallen in love with Winston. If their dirty animals touched my precious puppy and piglet, I would be locking them away.
I was currently sitting on the floor with Crystal as she bounced around, doing her infectious baby giggle as Beauty and the Beast played on the television. Ebru had to work late at the hospital and had only just got in, so she’d missed an hour of baby time. I wasn’t complaining, I’d had my little girl all to myself. The only way it could have been better was if Kali and Dewi had been here too. Most people avoided having all three of them at the same time as they were becoming more mobile and did stuff now instead of eating, sleeping and shitting, but I loved it.
“Hey, Eb?” I called out as Crystal burst out laughing for some reason and tried to stand on her legs. I’m pretty sure that we’ve all looked like she did at this moment at some point in life when we’d had too much to drink.
“Yuh,” she was engrossed in the cartoon playing. It doesn’t matter how old you are or even if you were a bodybuilder, everyone stops what they’re doing and sings along with Disney movies.
“I want five.”
She was quiet for a moment, and then asked, “Five?” As the little teapot danced and sang across the screen.
“Yeah, five kids.” Her head snapped in my direction, and she looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Including one set of twins.”
Pausing the movie, she turned her body around in the chair and watched me with Crystal who was still bouncing away. “You do realize how difficult it is to raise a child don’t you? And you want five?”
“Don’t forget the twins!”
“Oh trust me, there’s no forgetting that because it’s oh so easy. Cole, honey, I don’t know if you know, but raising a kid is hard. I don’t even know how Isla copes with a set of twins. And you want five kids?”
Personally, I didn’t see the issue. Shrugging, I bounced Crystal a bit more. “Well, we’ve already raised a dog and a piglet. Once you’ve done that, kids are easy.”
Shaking her head, she turned back around and left me to entertain the beautiful bundle that was giving my arms the best workout that they’d ever had. When she turned Beauty and Beast back on, I brought Crystal closer to me and whispered, “Well, she never said no so five it is.”
She brought her chubby fist up, grabbed a handful of hair and squealed. Uh huh, I feel the same way, baby girl. I feel the same way.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Written in collaboration with S Van Horne and her “More” Series.
This scene will be featured in her More Than Anything book due
for release on 26 December 2016.
Coleman
I had just finished working out, when my phone rang beside me and Neil’s name flashed up on the screen. Wiping the sweat off of my face, I answered the call.
“Yo!”
“Yo? What the fuck? That’s not how you answer the phone professionally. What’s going on?”
Laughing down the phone, I could just picture the look of disgust at the ‘yo’ on his face. “Nothing much, just finished PT. What can I do you for man?”
Walking away from the mats, I threw the towel in the hamper in the corner of the room. If I didn’t do a workout daily, I got pissed because I didn’t have an outlet for the residual anger that always ran through me, so I made sure I got my two hours in.
“That present you gave us? Well, we got some information that you would want, if you got a second?”
He had my undivided attention now. We’d dropped the rat off to him that had let someone into Hurst Townsend’s house to cut the step that had injured Linda. Neil was the best at what he did, so it didn’t surprise me that the guy had broken.
“Tell me.”
“What does the name Morrison mean to you? From what this fuck head told us, he’s an ex-employee, and he has a major grudge against the Townsends.”
“I’ll have to ask Brett about him, the name doesn’t sound familiar. What is he planning?” Putting my phone on speaker, I typed a message out to Brett asking him for the background on this Morrison guy.
“The only thing he could tell us is that this Morrison called him a couple of times offering him money due to the debts this dipshit racked up in gambling. His job was to open the door and let some guy into the house at a certain time and day. By doing that, he would be debt free.”
“Hey Coleman, there’s more. We need to find this Morrison guy. I guess he has a major issue with the Townsends. This piece of shit said that he couldn’t wait until the Townsends get what is coming to them. That it is about time they were brought down. It doesn’t look good man, and I’m worried things are going to get bad for you all,” Dante said down the phone.
“What if I send Sin to help find this Morrison?” Neil asked.
“Yeah, find the piece of shit and give him to the Feds. I want this done officially, and made public, so that whoever is heading this knows that we’re closing in on him,” I directed, smiling at the thought of the panic that the piece of shit doing this would feel seeing his guy on the news going into the FBI building.
“And what do you want me to do with this piece of fucking trash I have in my custody?”
I mulled this over. There were so many things that could be done to him, some of them painful, some of them legal. Reaching a decision, I replied, “Keep him. I’ll send someone to collect him and bring him back to Piersville. He’s the only one who can identify the fucker who cut the step, and I want that asshole!”
“Sin can bring the piece of shit to you since he is on his way to help find Morrison. Talk soon.”
Thanking him, I hung up and called Brett. I needed more information, and he needed to know that there was shit going on in his company. This information was useful to us, but I wanted the head honcho. He’d hurt people that I cared about, and he’d also shot Amy. His death was going to be a fucking painful one, and it’d be my hands that carried out that justice.
Chapter Twenty-Four
?
I rang the number of one of the dirty fucks who was helping me with the Townsends again, but he wasn’t picking up. This worried me because it had now been twenty-four hours that I’d been calling him for looking for some information. Was I the only fucking competent one in the world?
Spinning in my chair, I turned to the television screen that I kept playing the news all day and caught the headline.
‘Ex-employee of Townsend O.C. arrested. The FBI have confirmed that a statement will be released shortly’.
In the background, I could see the son of a bitch that I’d been trying to reach being led into the FBI building, with his hands cuffed.
“Fuck!” I picked up the phone reserved for the soon to be dead son of a bitch and threw it in the fireplace. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
Picking out a new phone, I rang the Piersville piece of shit.
“Sir.” His attempt at respect wound me up even more.
“Morrison is out. He was hit by the FBI today.” Leaning back in my chair, I took a deep breath hoping to calm the fuck down. “Thankfully, he had no details of who I was or jack shit to do with me.”
“This is good news.”
“The downside is that he was referred to me by Ferguson who works at Townsend O.C. He does know details about me, and Morrison has details on him. Do you get where I’m going with this?” The silence that met me had me reaching for my gun, ready to go and kill this fuck myself right now. “Do you see my fucking issue?” I yelled.
“You want him gone?”
“Yeah, I fucking want him gone. And make it look like it was his own idea!” Another idea occurred to me. I wanted to fuck with them like they were now fucking with me. “And one other thing, I want you to leave a gift for the Townsends. That problem that you were telling me about? Make it spectacular.” Slamming down the phone, I got up and started pacing. I needed to go out and find some entertainment to blow off some fucking steam.
Walking over to my desk, I locked the drawers and took the key away with me like I always did. You just can’t fucking trust anyone.
“Mr. Lewis”
I’d been sitting looking over the plans that I’d been making for my Red and me when that sick bastard rang and ruined it all, again. Throwing the phone onto the bed, I looked back at the table and at all of the photographs and the map that I’d been studying. I’d been filling the cabin with things for us, luxury things, so we’d start off the way I meant us to be forever.
Opening the drawer, I saw the lingerie that I’d been buying for her since the first time that I’d seen her. Most of it was at our new place, but I’d kept my favorite pieces back so that she could wear them when I finally made her mine.
I rang my contact who was near here and gave him instructions. I had the details memorized, so it didn’t take me long to relay it all to him. “And make it spectacular,” I repeated in a sarcastic voice. Psychotic fucker. Who says shit like that?
I hated packing up to go to Houston, but I’d rather take this job. I had issues killing women, and although I’d been part of attempts on their lives, I’ll admit to taking a softer approach when it came to the women involved. This one, though, I sure as shit wouldn’t be going near, so Houston it was.
Going through my toys, I started picking out what I needed to make it look like a suicide. I always wore gloves so it didn’t worry me that they’d find anything to do with me from the scenes. I was more careful than that. In fact, I was the best.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Brett
I rolled over and made a grab for my phone before it could wake up Sabine. Who the shit was calling at 3am?
I hit the answer button without looking at the screen. “Yeah?”
“It’s me,” Coleman replied. The tone of his voice warned me that there was trouble. “John Ferguson was found dead at his home today.”
Sitting bolt upright, I looked over to make sure that I hadn’t woken her up and then got out of bed and left the room. “Give me a second.” I walked downstairs carefully and then closed the door to the living room, turned the lights on and sat down. “Tell me.” I’d never liked the guy. He’d always given off a vibe that he was untrustworthy. In fact, only last week we’d had an undercover security guy put into the IT department to watch what he was doing.
“Apparently it was suicide. Left a note and everything.” I heard rustling over the phone and then he was back. “It’s the usual bullshit. I’m sorry, yada yada yada…oh, here it is. ‘I’m sorry for the hurt and pain that I have caused the Townsend family. This was my only option’.”
“So does this mean that it’s all over?” Something wasn’t adding up here.
“Does it fuck. It means that they just got rid of our link to Morrison, before he could give him to us. It means that they’re creating a smoke screen. I don’t trust this one bit.”
Call me cold hearted, but I struggled to give a fuck about someone who had been stabbing me in the back after being employed by my family for ten years. “Well, at least we’re down an asshole.”
“Yeah, but we still have a bomber to find and whoever employs him. There’s no way men like Morrison or Ferguson knew someone of that caliber.”
He had a fair point, and it brought it all back into focus. My family were still in danger, Sabine was in danger. “Fuck!”
Cole
Three days later…
Ebru and I were lying in bed looking through photos of her and Louise after discussing our wedding and the plans we’d made so far. Ebru didn’t want a huge one or for it to be over the top, and I was inclined to agree. I’d suggested that we get married at the church where Louise was buried so that she was close to us on our big day. Initially, Ebru had looked unsure about the idea, but the more I told her my plans, the more involved and enthusiastic she’d become over it. I wanted to get a plaque that said ‘maid of honor’ on it and put it on her grave. Rather than throwing the bouquet like a bride normally would, at the end of the ceremony we’d walk out to the grave and Eb would put it on there along with my button hole. It wasn’t morbid; it was a way to involve Louise and make sure that she was a part of the biggest moment of our lives.
We’d been sorting the photographs into chronological order so that we could put them in the photo albums that I’d bought for her, and she was telling me the stories behind most of them. I never got bored listening to them and seeing how animated she got. There were so many things that I couldn’t stop thinking about during moments like these. How would I cope if I lost my sister or one of my brothers? Would I be able to tell the stories of what we got up to growing up? Would I even be able to look at photographs of them, knowing that I’d never see them again? It just didn’t bear thinking about, and Eb’s strength amazed me.
She’d just been telling me a story about her and Lou lying on their backs trying to figure out the shapes of clouds and how a bird had crapped on Lou, when my phone started vibrating beside me. Looking at the screen Coleman’s name came up, and I started to panic. He hardly ever rang me; had something happened to Brett?
“Yeah?”
I heard Brett in the background talking to someone, which was a fucking huge relief, before Coleman said, “I need you at your parents' house now. Everyone is meeting us there.”
“Cool, my man. See you there.”
Looking at Ebru, we got off the bed and made our way downstairs. “What did he want?”
“We’re to meet everyone at the parentals.” He hadn’t s
ounded pissed or worried on the phone, just his normal self. Then again, I don’t think I’ve ever really heard Coleman use any other tone aside from frustration or irritation, mainly when he was talking to me.
“Why?” Ebru stopped and put her sneakers on while I tied mine up.
“Unknown, baby. I just take the orders.”
We got to my parents before Coleman and Brett did, so I got to attack the muffins that Mom had made yesterday. I was just taking a huge bite out of one when they came through the door, with a woman that I’d never seen before in my life. What shocked me most was that Brett was holding her hand. Well, well, well!
Coleman waited until they’d taken a seat and then launched into it. “I got a call from a guy in Piersville PD three hours ago. A body was found in the lake.”
The entire room stopped all movement and stared at Coleman in shock. “Who?” Luke asked the question we’d all been wondering.
“What has this got to do with us?” Ren spoke up. “I mean, we can all give our alibi’s if we’re being accused of something?”
Shaking his head, he turned to look at me. “It was Adele.”
It took me a couple of seconds to process what he’d just told me. When it sank in, I didn’t feel sad or have any feelings towards the news, really. The only thing that I was confused about was the shocked gasps and people looking at me in pity. Even Ebru had a look that made me think that I really should be feeling something.
“What the fuck?” This came from Dad, and we all turned to see him looking more pissed off than the time I drove his car the day after he bought it, when I was nine…and into the barn.
A reasonable explanation came to mind. “She was probably drunk. She drank a lot of the time and went off with random guys. So, maybe she was that drunk that she drowned when she got into the lake and…”
Until Forever (Providence Series Book 3) Page 22