by Sandra Cox
Bella laid the kitten gently on the ground then dived back in.
Sabina bent down and tried to find a pulse but the little body felt lifeless and cold.
“Got it,” Bella said her voice muffled.
Sabina straightened the motionless bundle in her hand. “Bella.”
Bella backed out of the dumpster. “It’s like finding Puss-Puss all over again,” Bella said referring to the big white tom that was the love of her life.
“Bella,” Sabina repeated. Her tone must have gotten through because Bella whipped around. “We’ve got company.”
Four black youths were moving in from the shadows, forming a semicircle around them. All wore identical black shirts with a bright red spider insignia on them.
The biggest, who stood well over six feet, swaggered forward. “Well, well. Got some pretty white ladies come to check out how the other half lives. Come to see the ’hood, pretty mamas?”
“Who’d have thought those worthless pieces of fur I dumped would have come in so useful.”
Sabina felt a wave of heat and fury so intense she thought her head would erupt. She cast one quick look at Bella. “Stay back. This won’t take long.”
“No problem, sugar.” Bella’s perfect white teeth were drawn back in a feral smile. For one startling moment she looked like a tawny tigress. “Do me proud.”
Without taking her gaze off the men flanked around them, Sabina handed Bella the dead kitten. She flexed her knees and made a beckoning motion with her fingers. “Come to mama, boys.”
They looked from one to another confused, shifting from foot to foot, the whites of their eyes showing in the dark.
The cocky one, who appeared to be the leader, stepped closer. “I’m all yours, Mama.”
Sabina’s arm shot forward. She felt the amulet’s power travel down her arm and shoot out her fingertips. In less time than it took to draw a breath, the youth flew backward and landed on the sidewalk. His head bounced off the cement and he lay still.
Two rushed her from different directions. The other, more cautious, hung back.
She swung her arm left then right. One young man flew up against the dirty brick wall of the nearby building and sat down hard. Bella stepped nimbly out of the way as the other rolled toward the dumpster. He hit it head first and knocked himself out.
The fourth turned to flee and ran right into Adam’s outstretched fist.
* * * * *
She’d called the stud and gotten nowhere. It was time to take a more direct approach. She’d watched him around the singer. Any fool could see he was besotted. That would change once she, Victoria, got him in her bed. Once she’d bedded him, he’d never look at that milquetoast bitch again. She doubted that even women in the world’s oldest professions knew the tricks she knew. When she finished with him, he’d be begging for it.
Chapter Six
The bulky youth’s legs buckled and he slid in a boneless heap to the ground.
Damn that felt good. Adam rubbed his scraped knuckles. It had taken the edge off his anger but hardly took care of the acid dripping into his gut. The two damn fool women had tried to drug him. He scoffed to himself. Mere babes in the woods. Or were they? What the hell had just happened here?
“Merda,” Sabina muttered under her breath.
“You can say that again, shug,” Bella agreed.
He shot them one burning look then plucked out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1. “Looks like there’s some kind of rumpus on,” he glanced up at the sign, “Fourth and Brown.” Then clicked off before he could be questioned further.
“Let’s go.” His jaw locked with tension, he jerked his head in the direction of the hotel and began to stride down the street not bothering to slow down for the women as they trotted beside him. Only when his glance fell on the kittens did his expression soften. “Don’t tell me you drugged me to go rummaging through garbage cans looking for cats,” he said but his tone lacked the sting his words carried.
He reached over and plucked the limp body that Bella carried at her side. The other kitten rested snugly on her chest mewing plaintively.
“It’s dead,” Bella said with a faint tremor in her voice.
Adam said nothing, massaging its tiny chest as he walked. Having been an orphan on the streets himself, he felt empathy for any creature that found itself in the same position, especially a young one. He feared Bella was right but he kept on rubbing his thumb back and forth over the painfully thin chest. If it was dead what did it matter? He couldn’t hurt it. It was past caring.
He stumbled. Had he felt movement? He continued to rub. A tiny mew sounded and the kitten stirred.
“Oh my God it’s alive,” Bella exclaimed. “What if we’d left it?” she shuddered.
They were almost in sight of the hotel. Carefully, he stuck the kitten in his pocket and pulled out his phone and speed dialed.
The receptionist at the front desk answered.
“This is Adam Morelly. Where’s the nearest emergency vet?”
“About two miles out on South Central Road, Mr. Morelly.”
“Thanks.” He clicked the phone shut and pointed toward the garage. They trooped to his car and squeezed in. “Ladies, I’m willing to put off our conversation until the vet takes a look at these kittens but after that we’re going to have a cozy little chat about what the hell just happened back there and why you drugged me.”
He turned on the ignition and slammed the ‘Vette into reverse. Tires screaming, he raced out of the garage.
Three hours later and a couple of hundred dollars lighter, he pulled into the hotel. The vet’s assistant belonged to a rescue group and had offered to take both kittens and adopt them out. With a cuddle, Bella handed over her kitten. But Bag of Bones, as Adam called the game little gray that he’d revived, dug her claws into Adam’s black leather jacket and refused to let go.
Something in the kitten’s determination to survive had plucked a chord, and after an infusion of nutrients, antibiotics and his first round of shots the little thing rode in Adam’s pocket back to the hotel, nibbling on kitten kibble.
In the car no one talked though the two women exchanged plenty of looks. Adam’s brows drew together. No doubt, they were planning their strategy and their next lie.
He leaned back against the car seat’s comfortable leather interior. He’d known the moment he tasted the wine and seen the guilty look on Sabina’s face what they were doing. But he was curious to see if they’d go through with it and what they were up to. As soon as they went into the kitchen he’d watered the roses with the drugged wine.
Unfortunately, the first question had been answered. Yes they would drug him. And I’m damn well going to find out the answer to the second. He shifted in his seat. How did Sabina lay out those men without even touching them? The hair on the back of his neck rose just thinking about it.
He took a hard right into the parking garage and pulled into a space between a small compact and a large truck. Killing the engine he stepped out of the car, for once not bothering to open the door for the ladies who were scrunched together on the passenger side of his two-seater. He strode ahead, slammed through the door and waited at the elevator, seething.
Sliding his hand into his black leather coat pocket he immediately felt the soft furry little body inside start to vibrate, the kitten’s purrs rumbling from deep in her chest. Adam took a deep breath striving for control.
At least something good had come out of this night’s work but it could easily have gone wrong, so wrong. Or could it? It was like Sabina and Bella had been surrounded by an invisible force field. And more amazing yet whenever Sabina’s arm shot out, someone had fallen. How weird was that?
As the women pushed through the revolving glass door, he hit the elevator button, stepped inside and held it open. A young man entered. Adam raised an inquiring eyebrow at the youth.
“Four,” the young man said as the two women got on.
Adam punched four and five and the sleek machine
began its journey upward.
It stopped on four and the young man got off. The elevator slid up to five and the doors opened. The women stepped out with Adam right behind them.
As Sabina pulled the security key out of her tight fitting jeans and fumbled with it, he plucked it out of her hands and slid it in the security lock. The green light came on. He opened the door and strode in.
He stood waiting.
When the door swung shut behind them, he faced Sabina. “Push up your sleeve,” he ordered, stepping toward her, his nervous system in an uproar, his control hanging by a thread.
“Come near me and I’ll knock you on your butt.” Her magnificent eyes flashed with fury.
At any other time he would have found all that fire magnetic but at the moment he was too damn angry to care.
“Sabina.” Bella’s low voice held a warning.
“Push up your sleeve.” Adam stepped closer.
She stretched her lips to a thin line, her jaw working.
He reached out, grabbed her rigid arm and shoved up her sleeve.
A molten gold band shimmered on her forearm. A glowing black stone winked at its center. The gem beckoned. Languorous and dangerous, it hypnotized. There was power in the stone. He could feel it thrumming along her arm. He dropped the warm flesh beneath his fingertips feeling scalded. He looked at his hand surprised there were no burn marks.
Adam looked into Sabina’s eyes but saw only contempt and defiance. It took him aback but he hid his surprise behind a mask of indifference. “What is this?” He motioned toward the armband that glimmered eerily in the pale luminescent room light.
“Figure it out yourself. Or do you think you can make me tell you? Maybe try,” she emphasized the word, “to break my kneecap.”
Adam forced himself not to wince. The woman was mad. No not mad, furious. And he had a strong suspicion she could make good her threat to knock him on his butt.
As her temper smoldered, his abated. Thank God. If the two of them had locked horns when they were at their emotional peak someone would have gotten hurt…and it probably would have been him.
He bit back a wry grin, sat down on the sofa and stretched his long legs out in front of him. “Why don’t we all sit down and discuss this like calm rational adults.”
The kitten wailed from Adam’s pocket.
Adam stuck his hand in, stroked its tiny head and murmured nonsense in low soothing tones.
Bella plopped down in the chair across from Adam and leaned her head back, her beautiful blonde hair falling like thick gold threads across the blue fabric of the chair. “Lord, emotional scenes can be so tiring.”
Sabina threw her a disgusted look with an “I am not amused” expression on her aristocratic features. Her nose in the air, she sat down on an armchair next to Bella’s, her back rigid.
“I would very much appreciate it if someone would tell me what’s going on.” Adam spoke with what he thought was admirable calm.
Sabina glared at him, her lips clamped together.
He looked at her, a long slow gaze that invited her confidence. When it became obvious it wasn’t coming he turned to Bella and arched an eyebrow.
“I’d simply love to help you, sugar but I have no idea myself,” Bella said, her Southern accent so thick he could barely make out the words.
He heaved a sigh from deep in his belly. “All right, I’ll go first. One,” he said and held up his finger, “Victor was after your amulet at Maureen’s wedding.” He pointed with the finger he was using to count toward Bella. “Why? Never mind. I know you aren’t going to answer that.
“Two,” he said and held up a second finger. “Someone is after you both. That someone we think is Victoria Price, Victor’s daughter. Again why?”
“Three,” he held up a third finger and looked directly at Sabina. “You took out three healthy young men tonight without laying a finger on them and you also are wearing an armband. A most unusual one, I might add.” His gaze flicked over her arm then returned to her face.
She stared at him coolly then went on the attack. “How did you get there in such a timely manner? You were supposed to be out cold.”
“The roses should be fast asleep by now,” he returned crisply.
Their heads all swiveled in the direction of the flowers.
“Poured your wine in the vase did you, shug?” Bella inquired in conversational tones then changed the subject. “And the boys in the ’hood, what do you think they are going to tell the police?”
For the first time since the whole sorry mess began, Adam grinned. “That they were attacked by a bigger, badder gang than they ever thought about being. You can bet they aren’t going to admit a girl took them out.”
He leaned forward. “Come on, ladies, I’m on your side. Tell me what this is about.”
Sabina placed her hands on the side of the chair. “You want answers?”
He nodded.
She shoved herself out of the chair. “Find them yourself.” She turned and stalked into the bedroom.
He looked after her, considering.
“Don’t even think about it, shug,” Bella advised, rising. “It’s been a long day. Let’s call it a night.”
Adam unfolded his legs and pushed to his feet. “This isn’t the end of it. I intend to find out what’s going on.”
He turned as Sabina marched back into the room as stiff as a board and radiating anger. “I hope that means you plan on finding out why I was nearly killed in your nightclub.”
“That too. Though I have a feeling all these incidents are connected and have nothing to do with my uncle’s club and everything to do with you two.” He was usually pretty even-tempered but he could feel his blood pressure rise as he snapped out each word between clenched jaws.
She stood a half a foot away, a hand on her hip and a look of scorn on her aristocratic features that maddened him like a red flag waved under the nose of a bull.
“What are you going to do? Pay someone to spy on us?” She stuck her nose in the air and curled her lip. “Or next time your uncle tries to kill us maybe help him?” Her magnificent breasts rose and fell, color washing over her face.
“Now children,” Bella interposed.
Both ignored her.
Everything receded except the furious, desirable woman standing in front of him, goading him. He was drowning in sparking eyes as dark as night. Not thinking, just reacting, he grabbed her shoulders and hauled her up against his chest then lowered his head and locked his lips on hers.
The kiss went on and on taking him places he’d never been before. Colors of scarlet and flashing gold burst around him. Her rigid body melted against him. She returned the kiss with a fervor that shook him to the soles of his expensive Italian loafers.
The kitten mewed in his pocket. A squawking sounded in the background. Finally, the sounds penetrated.
He lifted his head.
She stared at him as wild-eyed as he felt. He loosened his arms but didn’t let her go.
“Too bad I don’t have a camera. This is such a Kodak moment,” Bella said in a saccharine voice.
Sabina’s eyes cleared. Her warm arms beneath his hands went rigid. She lifted her hand clenching and unclenching her fingers. For one moment he wondered if she would strike him.
“Don’t.” Don’t what? He hardly knew what he meant. Don’t strike me or I’ll kiss you within an inch of your life or don’t deny what just happened between us.
She took a deep shuddering breath. “I’m not a violent person.”
He felt a jolt of sensation as his fingers came in touch with the band on her forearm. With a light touch, he ran his hands down her arms and massaged her fingers until they unlocked. “No,” he breathed. “You’re not a violent person just one of great passion.”
For one heart-stopping moment she softened under his touch. The next she stepped away from him, distancing herself both physically and emotionally.
He looked at her for a long moment and felt his heart tig
hten in regret for what could have been.
Turning toward the door, he nodded at Bella. “Ms. Bella.” Then opened the door and stepped into the corridor. As it closed behind him, he heard Bella’s muted voice. “If that young stud was trying to throw a monkey wrench into the system he succeeded beyond all expectation.”
He swore under his breath. What had he been thinking liplocking Sabina with Bella looking on? He hadn’t made a flaming ass of himself like that since he was fifteen when he’d planted one on his sexy young teacher. He’d been suspended for three days. His uncle had been more pleased than perturbed. “The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.” If he’d heard that expression once that week he’d heard it a dozen times. To this day, he abhorred apples.
Adam jammed his hands in his pockets as he walked the short distance to his room, head down, deep in thought. A startled complaint reminded him of his passenger. He eased his fingers around the kitten, stroking its soft fur.
Was it possible the bands the women wore on their forearms held power? He shook his head to clear it. He’d never believed in that sort of thing. Still didn’t. But he’d seen Sabina throw strong young men against the wall without touching them and he’d felt the electricity on her skin.
Stopping in front of his door, he pulled out his security card and swiped it. The card clicked, the green light flickered and he walked in. As if on cue the phone rang.
He walked over and picked it up. “Hello.”
“Adam, my boy.”
He jerked but kept his voice light. “Hello, Uncle Johnny.”
“How’s my favorite nephew?”
“I’m your only nephew, Uncle.”
“That makes you my favorite,” Johnny Morelly said and laughed a great hearty laugh. It was a standing joke between the two men.
“How are you, Uncle?” Johnny asked sinking down into the desk chair beside the phone.
“Cholesterol’s higher than the doc likes but he’s an old woman.”
“Cut back on the pasta, Uncle Johnny, I want you around for a good long time.”
“You’re a good boy,” Johnny’s pleased tones came through the line. “So how’s my nightclub and hotel?”