Blackest Night (Shades of Death Book 3)

by Stephanie Hoffman McManus

  “Yeah, well I need a man for that. One who isn’t seven years old. I don’t see that happening any time soon.” I twirled the angel hair around my fork.

  “What about Johnny Yi? He moved back from college. He was at church with his mother last weekend. He went to Yale. A lawyer. He would be good match for you. Let me call his mother.”

  “No, Grandmama.” I dropped my fork. “I don’t want you to set me up with Johnny Yi, or anyone else.”

  “When was last time you went on a date?”

  “I don’t have time for dates right now, Grandmama. I need to be looking for a job and focusing on making a career.”

  She lifted her tea cup to her lips and muttered around the rim, “You marry a man like Johnny Yi and you wouldn’t have to work.”

  “Did you talk to Mom today?” I changed the subject before the conversation digressed any further to he-who-shall-not-be-named, and how I needed to move on, and there are good men out there, yada-yada-yada. None of which I was prepared to listen to tonight. “I want to know how the cruise went.” My parents had gone on a cruise to the Bahamas and only returned last night. I hadn’t spoken to them yet.

  “Your mother said they had good time. She also said they want us to do Thanksgiving or Christmas in Florida this year.” That preceded a fifteen-minute rant about how Florida was the least festive place in her humble opinion, and who wanted to do holidays in the tropics?

  By the time she let up, and I’d promised to call my mother and try to talk her out of it, we were done eating and Grandmama was ready to catch up on the latest episode of American Ninja Warrior we’d missed. I wasn’t sure which of us was more addicted to the show.

  “I think I could do that,” Grandmama stated matter-of-factly halfway through the episode.

  I looked at her like she’d bumped her head and woken up in crazy town. “You think you could do American Ninja Warrior?”

  “If I trained for it.”

  “Grandmama, you could train a year and still not be able to get past the start line.”

  “Maybe not now, but twenty years ago I was pretty spry.”

  “Grandmama, I knew you twenty years ago.”

  “Fine, fifty years ago I could have done that stuff.”

  “Mmhmm, of course you could’ve.”

  “Well, it might be too late for me, but you should do it.”

  “I’m not going on American Ninja Warrior, Grandmama. You better pay attention, the handsome one with the big arms is about to go.” Of course, she thought most of them were handsome, but it worked to distract her.

  An hour later, Grandmama shuffled off to bed and I tackled the mess from dinner. While scrubbing pans, my thoughts wandered in a hundred different directions. What was I going to do about my job situation? Should I have let Grandmama set me up with Johnny Yi? He wasn’t that bad. We’d gone to Sunday school and then high school together. I could do worse. Maybe I was making excuses not to get on with my life. Maybe I should just give in and go buy a cat tomorrow.

  My phone started ringing on the kitchen counter. I grabbed for a towel to dry my hands quickly and then tossed it back down, hurrying for my phone. Seeing Nikolai’s name on the lit-up screen, I hesitated. Why was he calling me? Was I in trouble? What’d I do? At the last second, I slid my thumb across the screen and answered nervously, “Hello.”

  “Cassie?”

  “Yes.” I bit my lip.

  “Are you busy tomorrow night?”

  “Uhhh, no,” I dragged out. “I get off work at one.” And then I planned to go around town dropping off resumes, but I doubted that would take me long. My list of places currently hiring that were a step above the coffee shop was short.

  “Could you watch Elijah again for me? I have to work and for whatever reason he seems to like you.” He said this like it baffled him. I snorted.

  “Wouldn’t shut up about you all night,” he continued, this fact clearly troubling to him even though it brought a grin to my lips.

  “What time?”

  “Can you come at three-thirty? It will be a late night. I won’t be home until after midnight, but Nora said if you don’t want to stay that late you can drop him by her place once she’s home, and she’ll keep him until I’m off.”

  “It’s fine. Friday is my day off anyway, so I can stay. One condition, though.”

  “What’s that?” I could hear the suspicion in his voice.

  “You have to let my Grandmother cook dinner for you guys on your next night off. And you have to be nice to me.”

  “That’s two conditions, and why would I let your grandmother cook for us?”

  “Because you don’t tell Korean women no.”

  “Too bad. I don’t need you poisoning my food.”

  “Those are my conditions though.”

  “So, you’re telling me you won’t watch Elijah? Let me just put him on the phone so you can tell him that.”

  Before I could utter a word, his deep voice called for his son.

  “No, wait,” I sputtered, but it was too late. In the next second, a much softer and higher pitched voice came on the line.

  “Cassie?”

  “Hey, buddy.” Damn Nikolai.

  “Are you going to come over tomorrow? I told Dad I wanted you to watch me while he goes to work. He wanted me to go stay at Uncle Cam’s and Emily’s house, but I don’t know them. I told him I wanted you. So, are you going to? Please, please, please?”

  I let out a resigned sigh. “I sure am.”

  “Cool. You can help me fix up my new room. Dad says we’re moving out of the apartment into a new house tomorrow. He says my bedroom is twice as big as the one here. I can’t wait to show you my collection of Legos. Do you like to build Legos? If not, we can play the Wii or the Xbox. I have all the good games.”

  “Sounds perfect. Can you put your dad back on the phone and I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “Sure. We’re going to have so much fun.”

  At the last second, I said, “Elijah, wait!”

  “What?”

  “Do you want to come over to my house for dinner soon?”

  “Sure.”

  “What’s your favorite food?”

  “Chicken nuggets. Do you know how to make them?”

  “Hey, what are you two talking about?” I heard Nikolai’s voice in the background and then Elijah’s voice became more muffled.

  “I’m going to go to Cassie’s house for dinner. She invited me. Want me to see if you can come too? I’m going to see if she can make chicken nuggets.”

  “Just hand me the phone.”

  “Okay, but you have to ask if she can make chicken nuggets.”

  Nikolai’s voice was almost a growl when he came back on the phone. “Nicely played.”

  “Thank you, and you can tell Elijah that I do know how to make chicken nuggets.”

  “Just be here at three-thirty tomorrow.” Then he hung up. He was such a dick.

  A smile pulled at my lips when I thought of Nikolai and Grandmama in the same room. I wasn’t sure which one of them would come out on top. My money was on Grandmama. You should never underestimate Korean Grandmas.

  Maybe dinner would be fun.

  Four

  Nikolai

  I was cursing myself for the second time in one day over the size of this damned oversized couch I’d thought I had to have when I bought it three months ago. It’d been bad enough getting the motherfucker inside my apartment the first time without taking an axe to it. Getting it back out had been just as much of a bitch, and now getting it into the new place had me biting my tongue to keep from unleashing a torrent of colorful words in front of my kid. He was stifling giggles as he watched me and Spence try to maneuver the big bastard onto the porch and through the front door.

  “This better be the last time you ask me to help you move,” Spence groaned as he shoved while I pulled.

  We finally made it into the small foyer of the three-story craftsman, and then made a wide arc into the spacious
living room.

  “It’s a nice place, man,” Spence commented once we’d unburdened ourselves and he straightened up. “You going to buy?”

  “I have the option. I’ll rent for a couple months and then decide.” It was in a good neighborhood, not too far from the school I was getting Eli into. It had a big, fenced in yard with trees for climbing or turning into tree forts. The entire house was set back in the trees and the nearest neighbors weren’t within shouting distance. It had more bedrooms and bathrooms than we needed, but I could have a home office and Eli could have a game room. The garage was big enough to park my truck and my bike and still have room for a small workspace. Basically, it had all the shit we required and then some.

  The interior needed a new paint job. I could tell the colors had been chosen by a woman. One wall in each the living room and dining room—which was basically one big area within the mostly open floor plan—were painted a hideous pink. Accent walls, the lady who showed the house had called them. She’d also called the color Coral Sunset. I didn’t give a shit—it was pink. And it had to go. The master bedroom was fucking eggplant. Who the fuck paints the master bedroom purple? I’ll tell you who, a woman living alone with her seven cats. The outside was fortunately a mix of greys with some brick and stonework, interspersed with dark wood trim and red doors on the house and garage.

  “Are the rest of the boxes labeled with what rooms they’re going in?” Spencer asked as we made our way back out to the truck with the trailer I’d rented hitched to the back.

  “Do I look like I labeled my fucking boxes?” I shook my head and chuckled to myself. Married life had changed him.

  “Fine, I’ll just dump all your shit in the living room.”

  I shrugged, didn’t make a difference to me.

  We found Eli rooting around and climbing on boxes in the trailer. I grabbed him around the waist and hauled him out. “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “Looking for Bobo.” Bobo was the stuffed tiger we’d “adopted” on a visit to the zoo a few years back. Kid couldn’t sleep or do anything without that damned stuffed animal.

  “Bobo’s not in any of these boxes,” I told him, setting him back on the ground. “I put him in your backpack this morning. Why don’t you take it upstairs and pick a bedroom. You can have any one you want except the purple one.”

  He wrinkled his nose at the word purple. “I don’t want the purple room.”

  “Good, that one’s mine.”

  He giggled. “Why do you want the purple room?”

  “I’m not going to leave it purple, bud. I’m going to paint it. You can help.”

  “You should paint it red, Dad. Red’s my favorite color.”

  “I know it is. How about we paint your room red?”

  “Can we?”

  I nodded and then walked around to the truck and snagged his backpack from the back seat and handed it to him. “We can paint it however you want, but first you need to go pick a room.”

  He snatched the bag out of my hands and then cut across the lawn and nearly tripped running up the porch steps.

  “You’re good with him, man,” Spencer said as we hauled boxes out of the trailer. “I mean, I knew you were, but I guess it’s easy sometimes to forget that you are a dad.”

  “Well it wasn’t easy being a dad at first, but I’ve had seven years of practice now, and he’s a good kid. You and Nora going to have any?” He got this funny look on his face and then ducked his head as he dragged a hand through his hair, before he met my eyes again.

  “In about seven months.”

  “What? You serious?”

  He nodded, and I set down the box I was holding so I could smack him on the back and pull him in for a hug. “Congrats, man,” I said, releasing him.

  “Thanks. We’re not telling many people yet. Nora wants to wait until she’s a little further along. Her parents know, and mine. Told Cam and Em yesterday, and now you, but that’s it.”

  “Let’s get this shit inside and then we’ll crack a couple beers to celebrate.”

  “Sounds good.”

  It took us less than an hour to get all my shit inside. I guess I was what you might call a minimalist. I just didn’t like unnecessary shit. Of course, now I had too damn many empty rooms, so I’d have to buy some sort of desk if I wanted an office, and we had nothing for Eli’s room. We needed to go out and pick him a bed and everything else. Of his belongings, we’d brought with us from Houston only what fit in a couple suitcases. The step-asshole was supposed to ship the rest of his stuff.

  The prick had tried to fight for Eli to stay in Houston with him. Fuck that. It was bad enough his mother had done everything she could to make it difficult for me to see him over the years. We split not long after he was born. I’d left the military and took a bullshit job in Houston all to try and make things work with my kid’s mom, but it wasn’t enough for her. It ended ugly, but I can’t say I wasn’t relieved it ended. Eli was the only reason I didn’t leave sooner. When it came to sharing custody, by that time I’d accepted the gig with Teller. With my work and schedule, I didn’t have a leg to stand on in that fight. That shit ended now. My son was going to be with me, and I’d make his bedroom into the motherfucking Bat cave if that’s what he wanted. He was my only family left in this world, excluding Spence, who was my brother in every sense but blood.

  “Dad! Look how strong Uncle Spencer is!” Eli hollered the moment I stepped back out onto the porch after having mounted and hooked up the seventy-five inch, because a man needed to have priorities. Eli was hanging off Spence’s back like a monkey while he carried a large box up the steps. I couldn’t have my son thinking his Uncle Spencer was stronger than me, so I went to the truck and stacked the last two remaining boxes, hauling them both, and then told Eli to hop on my back. Spence laughed and shook his head, but he’d get it in about seven months or so.

  Once all the shit was in the house, I pulled two bottles from the six pack that had been the first thing to make it into the house and fridge. Even though it was still before noon, we had a reason to drink this morning. We took them out onto the back deck which led down into the yard, where we sat and popped them open while Eli explored and figured out which trees had the best climbing branches.

  “Nora said you got Cassie on babysitting duty?”

  I grunted and took a swig.

  “How’d that happen?” I could hear the humor in his voice without even looking at the stupid grin on his face.

  “I don’t even fucking know, man. She volunteered yesterday when I was in a jam and now Eli fucking loves her.”

  Spencer laughed, “I told you, you fucked yourself over when you fucked her. I’m pretty sure there’s even a saying for this situation, about dipping your dick where you shouldn’t.”

  “Well, it wasn’t supposed to be an issue.”

  “It never is.”

  “It’s only temporary. I’ll work on figuring something else out next week. Lisa and Mike employed a nanny for him. I think that’s probably my best option too, since I don’t know many daycares that operate the weird hours I work. I know your wife, and Em and even Em’s parents have offered, but I don’t want to just have to rely on whoever can take him at the time. I want something consistent and stable for him. I want things to feel normal for him, as much as they can.”

  “Yeah, I get that.”

  “But it’s not exactly something I can just put an ad online for.” I didn’t know how one went about finding a trustworthy and reliable nanny. There had to be an agency or service that recommended them.

  “Nora did say Cassie wanted to look for other work now that she finished her schooling.”

  I snorted. “Fuck you. Besides what’d she graduate with, a degree in partying?”

  “She’s not that bad.”

  “She’s immature as hell, and you know as well as I do what her past looks like. Not exactly a shining picture of responsibility and smart choices.”

  “Dude, she’s twenty-two.
”

  “Fuck, that’s young.” I shook my head. A lot younger than my thirty-four years. I knew that, but still.

  “You’re the one that slept with her,” he pointed out. Like I had forgotten. I hadn’t.

  “She was convenient.” And I’d had enough to drink that I wasn’t showing much discretion, if any. She was fun. For a night.

  “Ouch.” Spencer grimaced.

  “The girl’s a bitchy, little pain in the ass.” I don’t care how good the sex was that night, if I could take it back, I would. Wasn’t worth the trouble.

  “And you don’t think you have even a little bit of it coming?”

  I shot him a dirty look and raised my bottle to my lips. “Don’t you have a wife missing you somewhere?” I asked him before tipping it back.

  “As a matter of fact, I do. You should get one. Might make you more tolerable.” He stood.

  I followed him up to my feet. “Had one. Didn’t stick.”

  “You were what, twenty-one when you got married?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Then chalk it up to you being young and dumb. You married the first chick that said she’d wait for you while you were off playing soldier.”

  “And she turned out to be a lying bitch, your point is?” I folded my arms across my chest, doubting he even had one.

  “It’s a pretty obvious one. She just wasn’t the right girl.”

  “Or maybe marriage isn’t for everyone,” I countered.

  “When you meet the right person, it is. Trust me.”

  He was still in the honeymoon phase, of course he’d say that. Although, Nora was alright. I could see why maybe a man might want to come home to that every night. But not every woman was Nora.

  Some of them were crazy, sarcastic, spiteful little wenches. With big, caramel colored eyes that tricked you, and soft curves that tempted you into reckless decisions you would later regret.

  Some of them were Cassie fucking Rogers.

  What the hell was I thinking letting her be responsible for my kid? She was so . . . so . . . pissy and infuriating, and . . . and not the least bit charming or classy. None of those things mattered much to me in a bed partner. They weren’t around long enough to annoy me. Usually. Cassie was an exception, and a terrible lapse in judgement on my part. Spencer wasn’t wrong about that.