by Linda Verji
Amara. Lee silently screamed her name as he watched her float upwards like weightless paper into the never-ending darkness above. He stretched out his tiny arms, hoping that she’d fall into them, or that he’d float up to join her. But none of that happened. Lee could almost feel the faceless monster’s grotesque smile as it edged closer to him. It reached out for him…
And that’s when he woke up.
His breathing harsh, Lee sat up in bed.
Jesus! Couldn’t he have one night of peaceful sleep? He swiped his palm over his clammy face. The sheets twisted around his limbs were drenched in sweat as was his naked body. With a sigh, he clambered off the bed and headed to the kitchen to get a glass of icy water.
This was getting ridiculous. Last night, he’d even taken some sleeping pills but apparently it was a waste of time. He couldn’t continue this way, living on less than three hours of sleep each night. Maybe it was time to see that therapist.
But first, he needed to find out a few things.
“Dad.” Lee approached his father later the same day. “Does A.J seem familiar to you?”
“A.J? From across the street?” When Lee nodded, Mason shook his head. “No. Not really.”
Lee frowned. It was too much of a coincidence that her first name was Amara and that she was now the girl haunting his nightmare. Though he was sure they hadn’t met as adults, that didn’t rule out meeting when they were kids. Maybe that’s why she felt so familiar.
“When Robert was looking into her,” Lee asked, “did he find anything about her ever living in Saint Louis?”
“Not that I know of. She seemed like a New Yorker from everything Robert said.” Mason frowned. “What’s this about?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all,” Lee said distractedly.
Tapping lightly on the counter with the tips of his fingers, he contemplated his dilemma. If A.J wasn’t the little black girl in his dreams, then maybe he was mixing her up with another black girl.
Lee looked up to meet his father’s eyes. “When we lived in Saint Louis was I ever friends with any black girls?”
“Black girls?” Confusion flashed in Mason’s gaze. “I don’t think so.” A moment later, panic swept in to overshadow the confusion. “Ah! You must be talking about our neighbor, Howard’s daughter.” The older man smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. “You used to be very close to her.”
“We were?” Lee frowned. “What was her name?”
Mason’s answer came fast. “I’m not real sure, but what I’m sure of is that you two were good friends. You used to follow her around like you were her shadow.”
“Did I?”
“You did.” Mason nodded vigorously.
“I see.” Lee rubbed his chin slowly. Maybe that was it.
“What’s going on with you?” His father cut into his thoughts. “Your eyes are bloodshot and you’re asking strange questions.” Concern filled his eyes, “Are you having nightmares again?”
“I told you I wasn’t.” Realizing that his tone was sharper than he intended, Lee softened his tone and forced a grin. “The bloodshot eyes are because Fabián and I spent last night out.”
“Really?” Mason looked like he didn’t believe him.
“Really.” Lee turned his wrist to glance at his watch. “Look at the time. I should drop by A.J’s.”
“Hey.” His father stopped him. “Wait a minute.”
“Yeah?”
“You’ve been spending an awful lot of time at her store.” Mason rubbed his forehead. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Lee laughed. “Are you worried about me, Papa Bear?”
“Yeah.” Mason’s expression was grave as he added, “I don’t want you getting mixed up in some funny business.”
“I promise, there will be no funny business.”
“You can’t promise that.” Mason frowned. “She’s not the straightest ruler out there, you know.”
“I’m not the straightest ruler either, you know,” Lee joked. When his father didn’t smile, he said, “Look Dad, A.J’s not into that kind of life anymore.”
“How do you know that?” Mason retorted.
“I just do.” To be honest, Lee didn’t know if A.J was retired since they hadn’t had that conversation yet, but he couldn’t tell his father that. Hell, the old man would keel over in a dead faint.
Mason pushed out a heavy breath and shook his head. “Your mother must be rolling in her grave right now.”
Lee frowned. “That’s low, Dad.”
“Sorry.” Worry shadowing his eyes, Mason added, “But this whole thing with you and A.J is just…”
“Dad, I promise,” Lee reassured him. “Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”
“How can I not worry?” Mason frowned. “You’re not really the poster-child for smart and logical.”
“Thanks for the compliment.” Lee laughed.
“It’s not a compliment, you idiot.” His expression exasperated, Mason studied his son. After a long while, he sighed, “Okay. You can go now.”
Surprised, Lee asked, “So that’s it? You won’t try harder to stop me?”
“So what happened with Cindy Carson can happen again?” Mason guffawed. “If I tell you to stop sniffing around A.J, you’ll probably end up on the evening flight to Vegas with her.”
Lee laughed but didn’t deny it.
Cindy Carson was a girl he’d dated when he was fifteen. His parents weren’t a fan of the foul-mouthed, skimpy-dressing, pink-haired Cindy and had banned him from dating her. Lee’s solution had been to elope to Vegas. Luckily, he was too much of an idiot to figure out that, even in Vegas, you couldn’t get legally married at fifteen. His parents had found him there pleading with the Elvis-lookalike officiant to make an exception for him and Cindy while Cindy smoked a cigarette in the back pew.
“I was a teenager then,” Lee defended himself. “I’m not that idiot anymore.”
“You’re courting an ex-con.” His father guffawed. “I think that qualifies you as an idiot.”
Chuckling, Lee left his father’s store and crossed the street. Unfortunately, when he got to Warehouse 17 only Pete was in there. According to Pete, A.J was out running an errand. Lee tried calling her, but she didn’t pick up. After waiting for an hour, he left, disappointed but intent on seeing her as soon as he could.
Maybe she could help him figure out where they’d met before.
*
AS PROMISED MASON dropped by on Wednesday to assess A.J’s living room for the shelves she wanted to put in.
“I hope you don’t mind waiting a little.” A.J poured Mason a glass of juice. “Sin says she’s on her way.”
“I don’t mind waiting,” Mason, who was seated on a stool by the island, said. “It’s downtime at the store anyway.”
“Great.” A.J gave him a relieved smile.
She should’ve known Sin would do this. The woman would be late to her own funeral. If A.J knew anything about interior decoration, she would’ve done this herself. Unfortunately, artwork was where her sense of style stopped. If Sin hadn’t offered to take over redecorating the living room, A.J would’ve begged her to do it since she was uncrowned queen of style.
Looking around the kitchen, Mason asked, “Are you planning to redo the kitchen too?”
“I have to.” A.J followed his gaze to take in the kitchen.
If this was 1950s, this space would’ve fit in perfectly. The yellow Formica countertops, brick backsplash, cabinets in a ‘thrilling’ yellow and built-in yellow electrical appliances might have been June’s style, but they were definitely not A.J’s.
She winced. “Some of the stuff here is a little outdated.”
“A little outdated?” Mason chuckled. “That’s a nice way to describe it.” His amused gaze zeroed in on the cow head hanging above the fridge. “June had… um… interesting tastes.”
“Yeah. Tell me about it.” A.J chuckled as she moved to the sink to clean the few dishes there.
�
��You know, you’re a curious one.” Mason sipped his drink then added, “You’ve already been here for close to two months and I still don’t know much about you.”
He certainly knew more than she wanted him to know. But she asked, “What do want to know?”
“Where are you originally from?” Mason asked.
If he’d investigated her as Lee has said, then he already knew the answer to that question. He was testing her. Still, she answered, “I’m from Arlington.”
“Arlington?” Mason gave an obvious start. His surprised gaze told her that she was wrong. He didn’t know as much about her as she thought. He asked, “Texas or Virginia?”
“Virginia.”
His gasp was as sharp as the anxiety that flooded his gaze. He straightened in his seat and pushed out a long breath as if trying to gather his composure. In an obvious fishing attempt, he asked, “Are your parents still there?”
“No. My mother died,” Watching his reaction, she added, “But my dad lives here in New York.”
“He’s alive?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Great, that’s great.” Mason released a relieved breath.
For a moment, A.J didn’t understand why her father being alive would be a source of relief for Mason, but a second later it hit her. Did he suspect who she really was? Was that why he was digging into her background?
Her suspicions were proved correct when he asked, “You’ve never been to a foster home, have you?”
“No,” she lied without even a blink.
The relief in Mason’s expression was so palpable, she almost regretted lying. Almost!
Later when asked why she’d lied, A.J found it hard to explain herself. Maybe it was because she didn’t want Mason dredging up her past. Maybe it was because she suspected that if he knew who she really was, he wouldn’t want her near Lee. Either way, she was confident that he wouldn’t find out the truth unless she confessed it herself. Her juvenile records were sealed tighter than a duck’s butt.
“Hello. Hello.” A feminine voice cut into the conversation. A moment later, Sin sailed into the kitchen, her bright smile lighting up the room. “Am I too late?”
“Almost.” A.J introduced, “Mason, this is my friend Tamsin but we call her Sin. Sin, this is Lee’s dad. He’ll be helping us out with the wood work.”
“Sin?” Mason grinned. “Interesting name.”
Sin laughed. “But you like it, right?”
Once the introductions were out of the way, they got to work. Frankly, A.J didn’t have much to do. Sin already knew what she wanted to do with the living room so all A.J had to do was okay it. Mason measured the walls and took notes as he followed Sin around the room. It was obvious that he’d been working with wood for a long time because he offered some excellent suggestions which they incorporated into Sin’s design plans.
Sin and Mason left soon afterwards. They were headed to Mason’s store to choose designs for the bespoke shelves. Confident in her friend’s skills, A.J stayed behind to finish cleaning the dishes.
That’s where Lee found her.
Years of observing people had fine-tuned her senses so much that the moment he stepped into her apartment, she knew it was him. She turned to face the door, waiting for him to walk into the kitchen.
“You didn’t knock,” she said as she took him in, noting how tired he looked and how bloodshot his eyes were. Still, he was as sexy as ever and the grin he leveled at her sent her heart galloping in excitement.
“I wanted to surprise you.” He closed the distance between them. “Miss me?”
She turned back to face the sink. “Not really.”
In truth, she’d missed him. A lot!
“You’re lying,” he whispered behind her right before he wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed his face to the side of hers.
Immediate heat flared within her. It was almost funny how he could ignite her with just one touch. If she didn’t like the sensations he roused so much, she’d be annoyed with this strange power he had over her.
Still holding her, he asked, “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure!”
He paused for a brief moment. “Have you and I ever met before? I mean before I saw you at the club?”
Immediately her breath caught in her throat and she stiffened in his arms. “Why do you ask?”
“Just.” Lee’s arms tightened around her as he inhaled deeply. “You feel so familiar to me that sometimes I think we might have met.”
She considered telling the truth, but it was just for a second. Nothing good could come of rehashing their past. All it would do was bring him more pain. If he didn’t remember her, then it was better that way.
Instead of outright lying, she hedged, “Maybe we knew each other in our past lives.”
“You mean like in reincarnation?” Lee asked. When she nodded, he laughed then pressed a kiss to her temple. “Maybe.”
“I’m telling you it’s possible,” A.J said.
“Maybe.” When he turned her in his arms, she found him smiling. “Either way I’m glad I met you in this life.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Me too.”
Still smiling, Lee lowered his head and touched his lips to her.
When he pulled back, she studied him. Her keen gaze turned into a frown. “Hey, are you okay?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Is something wrong?” She stroked his face as concern spurted through. Her fingers lingering over his eyebrow, she added, “You look tired.”
“Do I?” He gave her a tired smile. “Nothing’s wrong. This is just the aftereffect of pulling an all-nighter to finish up some urgent work. Don’t worry about it.”
Urgent work? What kind of urgent work would leave him looking so haggard? Before she could prod further, he sealed his lips over her. He was about to deepen the kiss when they heard a knock on the door.
“Ugh!” Lee groaned as he plastered his forehead against hers.
“Sorry.” A.J chuckled. “Gotta get that.”
When Lee released her, she padded out of the kitchen with him at her heels. On opening the door, she found Pete at her doorstep. His panicked eyes met hers. “Someone’s at the store asking for you.”
A.J frowned. “Who?”
“He didn’t say his name-” Pete dragged in a shaky breath. “-but he looks dangerous.”
Immediately, A.J knew who it was. She told Pete, “Stay up here. I’ll handle it.”
“Okay.” Pete let out a relieved sigh.
A.J started down the stairs but stopped when she heard steps behind her. When she turned, she found Lee coming down after her. She frowned. “Where are you going?”
“With you.” Towering over her, he arched his eyebrows. “Do you honestly expect me to stay up here when Pete just said the person looks dangerous?”
“I can handle this on my own.”
“But you won’t have to,” Lee said. When she opened her mouth to protest, he cut her off firmly. “I’m coming with you.”
A.J would’ve preferred to deal with this on her own. This was a part of her life that she didn’t want Lee exposed to. But his expression said that there was nothing she could do or say to convince him to stay back. Perhaps this was for the best. If he saw this part of her, it might bring home the fact that she was really a crook – not just playing one. This way he could make an informed decision about whether to continue his pursuit of her or to drop it.
With a sigh, she spun around. Together, they took the rest of the steps down and entered the store. All of A.J’s muscles tightened when she saw the guest seated at the visitor’s table, waiting for her.
Casper. He’d finally found her.
And he wasn’t alone. Today he’d brought only one bodyguard, Mr. Black, and a woman. Twenty-something, petite, slender, dark-skinned but a slight shade lighter than A.J, natural hair cut short and dyed a burnt blonde.
Ten. A.J’s sister.
A.J took in her family
members with cold detachment. “Took you long enough to find me.”
“Hello, A.J.” Casper smiled, but there was no amusement in that smile. His eyes as hard and cold as marble, he said, “You didn’t think you could run forever, did you?”
CHAPTER 9
You didn’t think you could run forever, did you? The older man’s words echoed in the room, the threat behind them overt. As if the man wasn’t menacing enough, the burly thug and the fiery woman flanking him glared at A.J silently, threateningly.
Lee had no idea who any of these people were, but A.J’s blank gaze as she stared them down said they were bad news. Any other woman would’ve been terrified in this situation, but A.J seemed undisturbed by the tension hovering like a thick cloud over the room.
“I wouldn’t exactly call hanging out in the same town as you running,” A.J retorted as she folded her arms over her chest. Her voice icy yet even, she said, “I hope you’re here to give my money, Casper.”
Casper? Where had he heard that name before? Lee wondered as he watched the man. That’s when a memory needled him. The man’s name was the same as that of the club where he’d first met A.J. The club where she was being chased by a gang of men. Was this Casper the owner of that place? It was too much of a coincidence.
Ignoring A.J’s last statement, Casper turned his attention to Lee. Though he spoke to A.J, the older man’s eyes were on Lee. “I see you got yourself a new friend.”
A.J stiffened perceptibly. Her glare as hard as rock, she retorted, “He’s none of your business.”
“But he is. He certainly is.” His eyes on Lee, Casper stood up and prowled towards them.
The man was smiling but Lee wasn’t fooled. Something about that reptilian smile and the assessment in the man’s eyes raised the hairs at the back of Lee’s neck. Instinctively, Lee stepped in front of A.J to protect her.
Casper’s eyebrows shot up so high they almost touched his forehead and surprise lit up his eyes. But all he said was, “I see.”
“You see what?” A.J bit out as she emerged from behind Lee to stand beside him again.