When the door opened and Marshall stood before him with a falsely bright smile on his face, Vic wanted to punch it out. “I won’t be threatened, Kent.”
“I beg your pardon, Officer?”
Vic kept his voice even, while inside he was thinking just how pleasant it would be to watch the guy gasp for breath while he choked him. “You try this again, or anything similar, I will arrest you and I will throw away the key.” He thrust the box at Marshall, glad to be rid of it.
With only his fingertips, Marshall lifted the lid of the box then clucked his tongue at the contents. “Oh, my, that is rather a nasty present.” He pulled the blond haired doll from the box, her body coated in what looked like blood. “My guess is someone doesn’t like you, Victor.”
“Stay away from me; stay away from my friends, and never, ever, touch my girl again.” Vic left, his body vibrating with anger, and as he slid in behind the wheel of his police cruiser, he saw Marshall step into his room. He knew the bastard had sent the package, but he also knew he had no proof. The guy was good, but Vic was better. He’d find a way to nail Marshall, one way or another.
***
Julia sat with Beth in her arms, smiling down at the sleeping baby. “She is so sweet. Her face is utterly perfect, no blemishes whatsoever, and her hair, it’s such a golden blonde.” Julia looked up at Cassie who was busy filling bottles with the breast milk she’d pumped earlier. “She looks like you.”
“Yeah, but she got her daddy’s stubborn streak.”
“Tom’s stubborn?”
Cassie let out a loud, bubbling laugh that startled Julia just a little. “If you look up stubborn in the dictionary, it has a picture of Thomas with it.”
Julia laughed, stroking Beth’s head delicately. “He just seems so calm all the time.”
“He is, for the most part, but he’s equally stubborn. Drives me nuts.”
“But you love him.”
“That I do.” Cassie pulled up a chair at the table and sat. “And you’re in love with Vic.”
“Yeah,” Julia grinned foolishly. “He’s such an incredible man.”
“I like you, Julia, and I think we’re friends,”
“We are.”
“Do you mind if I say something?”
Julia felt uneasy at the way Cassie said that. “Sure, go ahead.”
“Are you sure it’s love, real love?”
“Oh, yeah, it’s love. I know what you all must think. I’m only twenty years old, how could I possibly know what love is. But I know it; I feel it; it’s all I am. Every inch of me loves him.” Julia let out a long sigh. “You think I’ll hurt him?”
“I’m worried about you both getting hurt.”
“I may be young, but I know what I want and what I feel. I love Vic with all my heart.”
Smiling, Cassie stood from the table to continue her chore. “Then I wish you both nothing but blissful happiness.”
***
Julia lay in her lover’s arms, her mind filled with thoughts. She knew she loved Vic, and she knew he loved her. But Cassie had laid some seeds of doubt in Julia’s mind, even if it hadn’t been her intention. How could Vic love her, when only a year ago, he had been in love with someone else?
Her sister.
“You seem awfully quiet tonight.” Vic kissed the top of her head, resting on his chest.
She snuggled a little closer, enjoying the scent that was purely Vic. “Just tired, I guess.”
“Is that all?”
No, that wasn’t all, and if she didn’t say something now it was going to nag at her for days. “If Michelle hadn’t died, do you think you would be together now?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“Well, I was just wondering. You loved her, and now you love me. Does that mean you don’t love her anymore?”
“Where is this coming from, Julia?” Vic lifted her head to meet his eyes.
She frowned, sitting up. “I’ve never been in love before, and I don’t know that if you were to die I could ever love again.”
“I love you, Julia,” Vic said with determination.
“I know that,” she sighed, still not feeling any better.
“But you’re still wondering. Okay.” He sat up. “I was in love with Michelle, and if she had lived, we might have been together today, or we might not have been. I can’t say what might have happened.”
“Would you have wanted to be together today?”
“I like to think that things happen for a reason. It led me to you.” Vic smiled, reaching out to touch her cheek.
“Then, you’re saying that it’s good that she died?” Her temper surfaced.
“No, that’s not what I said at all.”
“But you said if she hadn’t died we would never have met.”
“Julia.” He cupped her face in his hands. “I love you; I love only you. Yes, a part of me will always care for Michelle, but it’s you who has my heart. You I see a future with. Come here.” He pulled her down onto his chest and stroked her hair.
She should be happy with his response, but she wasn’t. Was Victor Davis the kind of man that fell in love easily but didn’t stay that way for long?
She lay in her lover’s arms while he slept, and for the first time in a very long time, she doubted him.
Chapter 23
Tom was in the basement painting while the bodyguard, Greg, sat in the kitchen, writing something in a book he had out, and Cassie was busy folding baby clothes. Julia sat on the sofa, staring at the TV while it played something she wasn’t paying attention to, her mind otherwise occupied.
“Have you ever been in love with someone other than Tom?”
“Nope, he’s the only one.” Cassie added, folding a tiny dress.
Julia frowned, picked at her jeans. “Has Tom?”
“I’m his only.” Cassie paused, looking to Julia. “Why are you asking me this stuff?”
Kneeling down beside Cassie, Julia began helping fold the tiny clothes. “Vic was in love with someone before me.”
“The woman who was shot?”
“Her name was Michelle.” Julia didn’t want her sister referred to as “the woman who was shot”. “He was in love with her when she died.”
“Ah,” was all Cassie said.
“How can he fall out of love with her and fall into love with me?”
“Maybe it wasn’t true love with Michelle.”
That didn’t make her feel any better, either. “Or maybe it isn’t true love with me.”
Cassie set down what she was folding to turn to Julia. “Vic is head over heels in love with you, Julia. You.” Cassie clamped her hands over Julia’s.
“I know he loves me. I guess I just can’t understand how a person can love one person one minute, then another a few minutes later.”
“In this case, I’d say it was more than a few minutes.”
“It was just an analogy.”
“If you doubt his true feelings for you, Julia, talk to him about it.”
“I did.” She was restless and needed to move. “He said he loves me and only me and that if it hadn’t been for Michelle’s death, we might not have ever met.”
“Things happen for a reason.”
“That’s what he said. But does that mean he’s glad Michelle died?”
“Oh, Julia, if you even think that, you don’t know Vic at all. He would never be glad anyone died. He’s suffered over that ordeal, and it’s taken him a long time to come to terms with it. He loves you, completely. I see it every time he looks at you.”
“I need some fresh air.” Grabbing her jacket, Julia slipped into her shoes, then left through the front door. “You can’t go out alone. Wait for Greg,” she heard Cassie say as the door closed.
***
Rushing to her car parked in Vic’s garage, Julia sped off, gravel spitting in her wake.
“You’ll get yourself killed driving like that.”
She nearly drove into a fence in the back alley. Her eyes
shot to the rear view mirror and to Marshall sitting in the backseat. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Waiting for you. Christ, I thought I’d have to wait here forever. About time you decided to get out.”
“I needed some air.” Julia checked her mirrors before turning to the street. She needed to get out on the highway where no one would see her with Marshall.
“Where are you going?”
“Somewhere no one will see us. Why were you waiting for me?”
“I’m growing impatient with you, Julia. I want some results, and I want them now.”
“I can’t kill Vic, Marshall. I won’t kill him.”
“No, I realize that now. You never had any intentions of killing him, did you?”
Her hands were clammy on the steering wheel. “I’m not cold blooded. I couldn’t live with myself if I took another human being’s life.”
“What were you doing here, then?”
She could hear the anger clearly in his voice. “I wanted answers.”
“And how did you expect to get those answers, by sleeping with him?”
“That…just happened.”
“Right, you’re interrogating him for answers by fucking him.”
Julia’s eyes narrowed as she met his in the mirror. “He’s innocent.”
Marshall laughed boldly. “And you are blind.”
“He was in love with Michelle. Why would he kill her?”
“Because she didn’t reciprocate. She wasn’t in love with him.”
“Yes, she was; she told me she’d found someone else. She told me she was going to leave you. She’d found out about your illegal dealings.”
“Then you knew it all when I came to you with my plan?”
“I knew you were shady, but I didn’t know you were a killer.” A million questions were answered in the look he gave her.
“Now you know what sort of man I am, Julia. I don’t lose. Ever. I will achieve my goal of making Vic pay for what he did to me.”
“Pay for taking Michelle from you? Or is there some other reason?”
“You don’t want to mess with me, Julia. Remember how I told you I could fix it so neither of us would ever be implicated in Vic’s death?” Julia glanced into the mirror and saw the intent in his eyes. “Two bodies are just as easy as one.”
She slammed on the brakes, stopping the car abruptly. “Get out of my car.”
“Keep driving, Julia.”
She reached into her glove compartment and pulled out the very weapon he’d given her to kill Vic. Swiveling in her seat, she aimed it at his head. “I’m an accurate shot, in case you’ve forgotten, and I won’t hesitate blowing your head off.”
“You just made the biggest mistake of your life, Julia,” Marshall slid from the car, then leaned against her window. “You’ve made my list of enemies.”
Julia sped off, her tires shooting gravel and ice chunks in her wake. Her entire body was shaking.
***
“What do you mean she just took off? Where did she go?” Vic’s hand curled tightly around the telephone receiver.
“She got into her car. Greg went after her, but I don’t know if he’s caught up to her,” Tom explained.
“How could you have let her go off alone?”
“I was in the basement painting. I didn’t know until Cassie came down to tell me.”
“Stay inside and if you see anything suspicious—”
“I know the drill, Vic. Find her.”
Slamming the phone down, Vic grabbed his hat and hurried out of the office and to his police cruiser, speeding away in his search. He saw her turn onto their street and motioned her to pull over. “What the hell are you doing?” Vic asked after they rolled their window’s down. He saw the tears in her eyes and the dampness on her face. “Go home, I’ll follow you.”
They pulled into the garage at the same time, and Vic had barely slid from the car when Julia ran into his arms. “What? What’s wrong?”
“I’m so confused. I love you with all my heart, but I’m scared you’ll leave me.”
“I’m not going to leave you, Julia. Why do you think I would leave you?” he said, stroking her tear streaked face.
“You loved Michelle, and now you love me. But what if you fall out of love with me and find someone else?”
“I will never fall out of love with you. Doll face, I love you, don’t you know that by now?”
“You love me now, but what about later, next week, next month, next year?”
“Oh, Julia.” Vic kissed her tears away. “Is that what you think? That I’m frivolous with my affections? Yes, I loved Michelle, but it was nothing compared to how much I love you. I can’t breathe without you. You’re in my body, mind and soul. Every inch of me is in love with you.”
“Oh, Vic.” She had to have him, here and now. She yanked at his belt feeling frustrated when it didn’t give fast enough.
“What are you doing?”
“I need you.” Julia drew his pants zipper down.
“Now?”
“Yes, now.” She pushed him against the hood of his car, then undid her jeans and slid them down. “Right now.” Julia dove on him, lifting one leg up and around his waist. “Take me, Vic, here and now.”
Obliging, he spun her so she was facing the hood of the car and took her from behind.
She cried out in pleasure as he drove himself into her, over and over again. Her body quivered with one orgasm after another. And when she felt him spill himself into her, she felt for the first time, completely fulfilled.
“Shit.”
“What?” She collapsed over the hood, her legs weak from their quick tryst in the cold garage. There was a smile on her face he couldn’t see.
“I didn’t have time to put on a condom.”
“I’m on the pill.” Julia stood up; his penis slid from her when she shifted. “I love you.”
He cupped her face in his hands, smiling at her. “Sweetheart, I couldn’t love you more.”
“You might need to go inside and wash up.”
“Yeah.” He kissed her lips, slowly, softly. “Are we good?”
“We’re good.”
“Great.” Vic took hold of her arms, giving her a good hard shake. “Do not ever scare me like that again.”
Arm and arm they walked to the house. The smile that had been on her face before lifted just a bit higher now.
He truly did love her.
Chapter 24
While the girls were inside bathing Beth and cooing over her, the men sat out on Tom’s patio, enjoying a cold beer on a warm spring evening.
“I’m telling you, she nearly gave me a heart attack. I wanted to shake some sense into her but the crazy woman jumped me.”
“She has a habit of that. It such a shame you’ve become such a spineless weakling,” Tom teased.
“I’d like to see you fight Cassie off if she threw herself on you and had her way with you.”
Tom waved his hand at Vic’s comment. “Piece of cake. I’m bigger than she is.”
“Yeah, but we both know she has you by the balls and anything she says you do. You’re whipped, my friend, nice and firmly whipped,” Vic laughed, loving having the last word. “Ever been in love, Greg?”
Stretched out in his chair, his long legs going on forever, Greg seemed quite at home with the two men. “I prefer to keep the dangerous part of my life in my job.”
Vic nodded. Greg had that right. “What made you decide to become a body guard?”
“I have a Peeping Tom fetish,” He smiled, then turned to Tom apologetically. “No offense.” Tom merely shrugged it off. “I like being my own boss.”
“Don’t we all. Have you ever guarded anyone famous? Besides our illustrious painter here,” Vic tipped his beer at Tom.
“A few,” Greg said simply.
“Come on, spill it. Who have you guarded?” Vic prodded.
“I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. And since I like you, Vic, I’
d rather not have to resort to that.”
Laughing loudly, Tom held his beer out to Greg in salute. “Good one.”
“What’s the big secret?” Vic pulled out a cigarette, casually lighting it up.
“Most of my work was with the government. FBI,” Greg said with a lift of his brow.
“No shit?”
“I shit you not.”
“So, how did you find him?” Vic inquired of Tom.
“I’ve known him for a few years now.”
“Yeah? How so?”
Tom shrugged big shoulders and replied calmly. “If I told you that, I would have to kill you, and being that you’re my best friend, I’d hate to have to do that.”
“Aren’t the two of you funny. Assholes,” Vic grumbled, shoving the cigarette between his lips.
“So, you think Julia will obey the rules now?”
Vic shrugged at his friend, blowing smoke rings into the air. “I hope so. I don’t think she realizes just how serious this is.”
“She’s still young. Kids that age rarely think anything can harm them,” Tom said simply
“I hate when you refer to her as a kid,”
“Truth hurts, pal.”
“Fuck you, pal.”
“Boys. Don’t make me have to break the two of you up now,” Greg interjected, his voice calm.
“She may be young, but she’s mature in more ways than you know,” Vic responded smugly.
“Sexual experience doesn’t make a person mature.”
“It isn’t always just about sex, you know.”
“Of course. And she didn’t just jump your bones this morning in your garage,” Tom pointed out evenly.
“Right, I forgot I was talking with a saint rather than a man who impregnated the woman he is now married to after only knowing her a few short weeks.”
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