Brady would later blame it on grief over Mitch’s death, then, he would tell himself that it was all the liquor he’d drank, but he knew the truth as surely as Shay did.
He simply wanted her, didn’t want to be alone, and Shay was someone that knew him in ways that Mary never would, but when morning came, Brady removed himself from her arms and quietly dressed.
“You don’t have to sneak out.”
“Good morning, Shay.”
“Brady?”
“Yeah?”
“I still want you Brady, and not just in bed.”
“Shay, last night—“
“Was not a mistake and don’t you dare say that it was.”
“I won’t, but I’m also going back to Mary.”
“She can’t love you like I can, because she doesn’t even know you. All she knows is the parts you let her see.”
“Will you tell her about this?”
Shay said nothing and Brady walked closer and stared down at her.
“Shay?”
“No, I won’t say anything.”
“Thank you, and I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to use you.”
“We used each other, and I love you, Brady.”
Brady leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
“Tell the others that I’ll be back later tonight.”
***
Mary opened her door and hugged Brady, then, she took him by the hand and led him inside her house.
He didn’t cry in front of Mary. Although, the pain in his voice was obvious and there were so many things that he wanted to tell her about the man, so many kindnesses that Mitch and Mitch’s late wife Roz had done for him over the years. But then, he would remember that many of them involved things and situations that he couldn’t talk about, and so he said very little.
When he told her that he had to get back to Boston that night, Mary offered to come along, but the timing wasn’t right and Brady wanted everyone to meet her under better circumstances. That was only partly true; the other reason was that Mary was a stranger, a straight, an outsider.
There would be plenty of talk and remembrance between himself, Jake, Craig, and their wives, and Mary would be completely out of place around it.
Even putting aside the fact that she knew nothing about their illegal activities, she also had never met Mitch, and now, she never would.
He wasn’t going to make love to her, not only hours after he had been with Shay, however, when Mary took him by the hand and led him to her bedroom, he let her, and as he lay in her arms after having made love, he felt lower than he ever had in his life.
CHAPTER 20
When Stu Tate was approached by Joe Venta to become a partner in a robbery ring, he knew that he couldn’t refuse the man, and that he would only stay alive as long as he was useful to Venta, and so he helped the dapper thug whenever he asked.
It wasn’t without profit either, as Venta shared the proceeds from each robbery with him and the thief, Michael Collins. The split was in Venta’s favor by a wide margin, but still, the man didn’t really have to give him or Collins a dime.
Tate had brokered dozens of deals over the years that placed paintings and other valuable artwork in the hands of private collectors who didn’t mind obtaining their treasures through less than legal means.
Venta was forcing Tate to reveal those names to him, and then Collins would break-in and steal the artwork.
It was smart, because the owners couldn’t even report the burglaries or they risked going to prison themselves. They were also targeting only the people that Tate had dealt with years earlier, so that it would be less likely that he was connected.
Still, Tate had closed the pawnshop, it was just a front anyway, and if he didn’t spend time there, he’d be that much harder to trace.
He had come along on tonight’s robbery because the haul would be a rich one. Not only did this collector have several paintings that were illegally obtained, but he also had a vast collection of legitimate purchases, and Collins needed a hand carrying it all back to the van they were using.
None of this had anything to do with Venta’s boss, Carlito, who was likely to wrest control of the city away from old man Quinn, and Tate figured that Venta was funding an early retirement.
***
Collins loaded the last of the paintings in the van and sent Tate a wide grin.
“There’s a Monet in there, did you know that?”
“What? No, I never brokered that.”
“Well someone did, and we’ll make more from that than everything else combined.”
“Venta doesn’t know a thing about it; why don’t we keep it for ourselves?”
Collins nibbled at his lower lip.
“I don’t know; if he ever found out there would be hell to pay.”
“We won’t try to sell it, not yet, you just hold onto it as an insurance policy so that we make more than minimum wage while doing this.”
“You trust me that much, Tate?”
“Hell, Collins, we have to trust each other, and you can’t be any worse than Venta.”
“I’m a thief, but I’m not a cheat, and whenever we cash it in, I’ll make sure that you get half.”
Tate’s phone beeped, and when he looked down at it, he saw he had a text message.
“It’s Venta, he says to hurry up.”
Collins got in the van, while Tate walked back towards the house, where Venta sat in a new Mercedes parked the garage. The car was a bonus that Venta would take to a chop shop and collect cash for.
Stu Tate watched Collins drive off in the van and then Venta followed behind, even though they would separate once they reached the highway. Venta had no fear of Collins running off with the paintings, not when he knew where the man’s wife and children lived.
“Was the haul as rich as you thought it would be, Tate?”
“Better, Mr. Venta, there was more in the collection than I knew.”
“That is very good news.”
Tate let out a sigh of relief because Venta didn’t sound suspicious at all.
“There is one problem, Tate.”
“Um, what’s that?”
“That armored car heist last month, you never did tell me who was behind that, but I need to know, that way I’ll have another source to milk. They also still owe Carlito a percentage.”
Tate said nothing and Venta glared at him.
“Don’t be stupid, Tate, you, me, and Collins have a good thing going, and I really would like to stay friends. Don’t make me do otherwise.”
Tate hated giving up Brady and his crew to Venta, but then, it was Mitch who was really his friend, not Brady Ross, and since Mitch was dead, he didn’t owe the others a thing. At least, that’s what he told himself.
He gave Venta information about Brady, Craig, and Jake, and also the address of Jake’s house, which he had visited once as a friend of Mitch’s.
“Just those three?” Venta asked.
“There were four, but one just passed away, but, yeah, I remember now, they were bringing in a new guy, some hacker punk named Avery Jones.”
“A hacker? Is he young?”
“Yeah, twenty, or something like that.”
“Okay, then he’ll be my way in, and if you’re worried about it, I won’t mention your name. Besides, it could be some time before I get to them, Carlito keeps me busy.”
“Mr. Venta?”
“Yes?”
“Brady and his boys, please don’t hurt them.”
“You should worry about yourself, Tate; it’s that kind of world.”
Tate said nothing more, but hoped to God that he could someday find a way to be free of Joe Venta.
CHAPTER 21
Mary went to Mitch’s funeral, and although Brady worried that Shay would reveal that they had slept together, Shay instead, was civil to Mary, more civil, in fact, than Lindy and Selina, who seemed a bit put off by her appearance.
When Brady cornered them after they returned to Jake�
��s house from the cemetery, the women let him know their feelings.
“It’s not that we don’t like her, it’s just that this get-together after the funeral was for us and Mitch’s other friends. It’s why our kids aren’t here.”
“I didn’t know that the kids wouldn’t be here.”
“We sent them off to their grandparents,” Lindy said. “But now that Mary is here, we’ll all have to walk around on tip toe and watch what we say.”
Brady spread his arms.
“She’s my girl; it would be weird if I had told her to stay away, but I’ll stick close to her the rest of the night and make sure that she doesn’t overhear anything she shouldn’t.”
Selina patted him on the cheek.
“Yes, and this is just one day, imagine doing that your whole life.”
Brady grew red with anger, turned, and walked over to where Mary was standing all alone.
“We’re leaving.”
“Already? But we just arrived, and don’t you want to be with your friends?”
“I see them all the time, right now, I just want to be with you.”
“I should say goodbye.”
“It’s fine; I’ve already told them that we were leaving.”
“You’re sure that nothing is wrong?”
“Yes.”
“You seem odd.”
“I miss Mitch, that’s all.”
Lindy called to Brady as he and Mary were walking out the door, but he ignored her and just kept going.
***
“Two at a time,” Toni said. “The kid really is a stud.”
She and Steve were together in what had become their usual motel room and watching video that had recorded the night before.
The video was taken inside Tyler’s van and showed him having sex with two girls, a blonde and a brunette.
Steve shook his head in wonder.
“It’s like watching a porn movie.”
Toni looked at him and smiled.
“You’ve just given me an idea. Why keep this to ourselves? I bet we could make money if we put this on the Internet.”
“Are you serious? What if he sees it?”
“If he did, he would just blame it on one of his college friends; he would never think that you and I did it.”
“You have a point, but do you really think we could make money?”
“Well, let me ask you something, would you pay to see this?”
Steve stared down at the screen and felt himself become more aroused.
“Hell yeah I would.”
“I’ll set it up next week, and by New Year’s Day, we’ll be in business.”
“The porn business?”
Toni grinned.
“I like to think of it as show business.”
***
Brady was driving Mary home, and the two of them had been silent until Mary asked a question.
“Did we leave because your friends didn’t want me there, or because you didn’t want me there?”
“I told you, I just want to be alone with you.”
“It’s just that, I got the impression that I wasn’t welcome there. They were polite towards me, but I just felt like an outsider.”
“You are an outsider,” Brady said and immediately wished that he hadn’t.
The rest of the long drive was filled with small talk, and as they neared the town, Mary mentioned to Brady that she had begun watching Bobby. When Brady suggested that it sounded like Clay was imposing on her, she became defensive.
“He’s not imposing, and it’s not like I have anything else to do with my time since we live so far apart.”
“And whose fault is that? You’re the one that moved all the way up here. You could have just sold your aunt’s house and stayed in Boston.”
“You’re right and if I had known that we’d grow closer I might have, but it’s worked out better this way, don’t you see?”
Brady stopped for a light and looked over at her.
“What do you mean?”
“The house will be going up in value because of the new lake, I really like my job, the town, the people, and in a few months, you’ll be living up here too, or will you be driving back to Boston on the weekends?”
“I’m not sure, but I still wish that you had stayed nearby and the job won’t last forever.”
“Maybe not, but by the time all the houses are built, we should know where we stand with each other.”
“I know that already, Mary, and I thought that you did as well.”
Mary said nothing for a few moments, but when she had gathered her thoughts, she spoke.
“I want to be with you, Brady, I do, but after meeting your friends I realized that the two of us won’t be living in a vacuum. You’re very close to your friends, I can tell that by how often you speak of them, and after today, I’m not sure that I’ll ever fit in.”
Brady reached over and gave her hand a squeeze.
“You will, it will just take a little time.”
“I hope so,” Mary said, as the two of them became lost in their own thoughts.
CHAPTER 22
P.I. Harry Drake was certain that he recognized the woman walking into Room 6 of The Starlight Motel in Cambridge, and when he finally remembered where he’d last seen her, there were dollar signs flashing in his eyes.
The woman was married to a rich lawyer in Boston, and Harry had met the two of them when he was working as a cop and investigating a robbery at their penthouse.
The job had been pulled off by a team of pros who had stripped the place down to the walls, and Harry and his partner at the time had never even come close to catching them. However, Harry remembered the wife well, because he always had a thing for hot redheads, and the woman, who he recalled was named Marta, was still hot, although Harry guessed her age at close to fifty.
The man who had greeted Marta at the motel room door was not her husband and, in fact, looked young enough to be the woman’s son.
Harry was at the motel after having followed a man there whose wife suspected him of cheating. The wife had been right, and not only was the man cheating on her, but it was with a hooker.
He had already taken the pictures he needed to collect that fee, and now he was going to make even more money by taking pictures of Marta.
Harry popped another stick of gum in his mouth and settled in for the wait. The nicotine gum was a substitute for a cigarette, because he had quit smoking, again. He missed the cigarettes, because they seemed to make waiting more pleasant, and gum just didn’t have the same kick.
***
Marta didn’t leave the motel room until well after midnight and Harry envied the stamina of the kid she was with.
He took pictures of them kissing in the doorway, and noticed that her hair looked as though she’d been in a windstorm after the bout of passion she had just experienced.
Harry decided not to approach her, but followed her instead, and found that she lived in the same building he remembered.
After that, he went back to the motel and saw that a light was still on in the room, and that it looked like the kid was staying the night.
Harry thought about staying as well, and then following the kid in the morning to find out who he was, but then he figured he had enough to blackmail Marta with already.
Harry had just placed his hand on the car key to start the ignition, when another car parked outside the room, and a woman stepped out.
The woman was well dressed, good looking, and blonde, with long shapely legs, but her face placed her in her fifties.
When the boy toy met her at the door, they kissed in greeting as Harry snapped away with his camera, and the kid was off to the races again.
Harry shook his head in astonishment.
Some guys have all the luck.
The blonde didn’t leave until the sun was coming up and Harry decided to follow her home instead of the kid.
It turned out that the woman was even richer than Marta was, and thus, had
more to lose.
Two weeks later, Harry moved out of the dump he called an office and signed a lease in a newly renovated building in the heart of Boston.
Stenciled in gold on the glass set in the door were the words, Drake Investigations.
Harry had indeed found his true calling.
***
Brady returned to Boston two days after taking Mary home, and although he saw Jake and Craig as they worked their straight jobs together, he didn’t visit Jake’s house again until the week before Christmas.
When Selina and Lindy opened the door to greet him, they were both wearing sad expressions.
“We’re sorry about what happened after the funeral, Brady, it was just a really emotional time for everyone, you know?” Lindy said.
Brady stepped inside and hugged her and then hugged Selina as well.
“I overreacted, and I’m sorry for just running out of here that way.”
“We liked Mary,” Selina said. “Really, and even Shay thought she was nice.”
“She’s too nice,” a voice said, and they all turned to see Shay approaching.
“What do you mean that Mary is too nice? Are you saying that she’s putting on an act?” Brady said.
Shay sent him a smile, and Lindy and Selina walked off towards the kitchen.
“We’ll let you two talk,” Selina said.
When they were out of sight, Brady spoke to Shay again.
“Were you calling Mary a phony? Because she’s not, she’s as nice as she seems.”
“I know that, and that’s the problem. She’s too nice for you and if she ever found out who you really were, you two wouldn’t last five minutes.”
“That sounds like a threat.”
Shay stepped closer and touched him on the cheek.
“It’s not a threat and I would never do anything to hurt you. I was stating a fact that you’re too blind to see. Mary doesn’t love you; she doesn’t even know you, but I do.”
Shay kissed him and Brady gripped both her arms as if to push her away, but then did nothing.
When the kiss ended, he released her.
“I won’t sleep with you again.”
Shay grinned.
“I wasn’t asking, I was just observing a holiday tradition.”
She pointed up and that’s when Brady noticed the mistletoe hanging above his head.
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