Undeniable: Dom & Gigi

by Callie Harper

  At one o’clock I pulled over into a truck stop, climbed out and used the burner phone to call Colt. He sounded relieved as hell to hear from me and told me he had good news. He was already on his way to severing ties with the coffee growers. Plus the security guard in the hallway hadn’t been killed, only knocked out, and when he’d come to he’d been able to help hide the guy I’d killed.

  Good news? It didn’t sound that good to me. It sounded like the trouble had only just begun. I didn’t say that to Colt, though. I told him I expected we’d arrive at our destination tomorrow, early evening, and that I’d get in touch next from a secure line.

  When I climbed back in the car, Gigi said nothing. But I could tell she was mad as hell. Around Indianapolis, her frustration finally won out. “So, what, are we driving across the country?” She threw her hands up. “You grab me in the middle of the night, kill a guy at my front door, drive backward out of the Lincoln Tunnel and now we’re in Indianapolis? Where the hell are we?”

  “You’re in the great state of Indiana, princess. You might not find the kind of shopping you’re accustomed to here, but—”

  “Dom, seriously, tell me what’s happening.”

  “When we reach our destination I’ll tell you everything you need to know.”

  “You’re infuriating, do you know that? And I know you’re bluffing, by the way. You wouldn’t tie me up and throw me in the back of the car.”

  I glanced at her, low and with purpose. “Try me.”

  She quieted down again. The next thing I heard was her stomach rumbling around five o’clock. We did our McDonald’s drill again. Then I drove and I drove, taking us west where she’d be safe. She dozed again once the sun set and I kept the pedal to the metal, focused on the target, achieving my goal. Until she startled me when she spoke again.

  “Dom, you’ve been driving for 24 hours.”

  Had I? I glanced at the dashboard clock. I didn’t think it had been that long. And it hadn’t. “Twenty-two,” I corrected her.

  “OK, well, driving for 22 hours straight is dangerous.”

  “I’ve done much more on much less sleep.” But I paused to consider her words. We did still have another 13 hours of driving ahead of us. It would be smart to stop and grab a few hours of sleep. We were approaching Oklahoma City, and I could probably find a motel. At the next exit I pulled over and found something suitably seedy, the kind of place accustomed to couples arriving in the middle of the night and wanting to pay in cash, no questions asked.

  As I parked, I could see Gigi wrinkle her nose. She was right. It looked sketchy. Either two lights had strategically burned out in their sign or they had something against the letter C. It read VA-AN-Y.

  “Sorry, the Waldorf was booked tonight,” I muttered. She rolled her eyes at me, but, again, better she was pissed off than dead. I unzipped my pack and pulled out a nondescript black baseball cap. “Here, put this on. Pull your hair back and tuck it into your sweater.” It was a shame to hide all her gorgeous hair, but that shade of cinnamon-gold? Even a sleepy desk clerk might remember it.

  “Come with me to the office. And Gigi.” I paused, hand on the door. “Act like we’re getting a room together.”

  “What do you mean?”

  I exhaled, trying not to get frustrated. We needed to blend in, play the part, do nothing out of the ordinary to arouse suspicions. “Don’t hit me when I put my arm around your waist, all right?”

  Inside the office, the sleezeball behind the desk still checked Gigi out, even with the cap down low. I resisted the urge to punch him in the jaw. Blend in, I reminded myself.

  “We need a room.”

  “How many hours?” He looked at Gigi when he spoke, licking his lips. Eyes up here, fuckwit.

  “The whole night.”

  “Excellent.” Gigi shuddered as he seemed to picture exactly what he’d like to do with her for a whole night. I slipped an arm around her slim waist, drawing her near me, wanting her to feel safe.

  She melted into me, resting her head against my chest, pressing her cheek against my heartbeat. I stroked her hair, breathing her in, that scent uniquely her own. It had been too long since I’d held her. I’d kissed her at the party, but it had been years since I’d had her pressed full against me, feeling the curve of her hips and the soft mounds of her breasts. It felt like sinking into heaven.

  “That OK with you?” The guy had said something and I’d missed it. “No more kings, only queen-size beds. That OK?”

  I nodded, paid in cash, and took the key from him, wishing for a second that we were about to do exactly what he thought. It was what I’d fantasized about, having Gigi to myself, and here we were completely anonymous. No one knew where we were. I’d rather take her somewhere nicer, of course, but anywhere would do so long as it was private and dark, just the two of us.

  But I needed sleep so I could drive her safe and swift to Arizona. I parked us around back. The room wasn’t as bad as it could have been. It was small and the wallpaper was peeling, but it looked clean. Gigi used the bathroom and I followed suit. She kicked off her boots and lay down on her side of the bed on top of the comforter. I lay down on mine.

  “Gigi, are you going to try to leave when I fall asleep?”

  She was silent for almost a second too long. But then she exhaled in frustration. “Not in this place. What, am I going to go back into that office and ask to use his phone?”

  “You can not leave this room.” I kept my voice even, but I’d get tough if I needed to.

  “What are you going to do, bind and gag me?” She threw my words back at me as if I’d apologize for what I’d said. I wouldn’t because I’d meant it. I had a pair of handcuffs in my bag. I’d snap them on her if I determined her to be a flight risk.

  She huffed and turned onto her side, back facing me. “I’m not going to leave, Dom. Even though I’m probably insane to stay here. Because you won’t tell me what’s going on.”

  She left that hanging, as if I’d take my cue to fill in the blank. But at this point she knew everything she needed to know. Once we got into the safe house, off the grid, security in place, we could have a longer chat. Now was not the time for her to learn all the details. She might panic over the danger she was in, or stay up all night with questions over the family business.

  “Fine, don’t tell me,” she grumbled with frustration. “I don’t know why I trust you.”

  But she did and I sensed her body relax, her breathing slow into a deep sleep. I set the alarm for five hours later and then switched off as I’d learned to do, recharging like a machine so I could fuel up for the fight.

  13

  Gigi

  I woke groggy, a hand shaking my shoulder. There wasn’t even any light peeking through the shades. It felt like I had just fallen asleep.

  “We gotta move.” Dom’s rough voice broke through my fog. I rose in the same clothes I’d been wearing the night before and remembered. I was in a disgusting hotel room in the middle of nowhere and Dom wouldn’t even explain why.

  I stumbled into the bathroom and used the toothbrush sitting on the sink. It was probably Dom’s, but it was less gross than the way my mouth felt. Drawing my hair back into a ponytail, I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I couldn’t believe any of this was happening. I’d had more than my fair share of fantasies about Dom whisking me away in the middle of the night. But they’d never involved him shooting a man in the head outside my apartment.

  So now I’d actually seen the bodies of two men Dom had killed, first Brock that summer, then the guy in the hallway. And where he’d fallen there’d already been another guy lying there. Why did I trust this man?

  But I did. I wanted him to explain everything that was going on, but in my heart I knew two things: Dom wouldn’t hurt me. And I knew there was some kind of danger I needed to escape. I’d sensed it over the last week, that feeling that I was being followed or watched. Colt had been calling me, checking in way too often, wanting to know where I was and urgi
ng me to come stay with him and Caroline when Penny was at her boyfriend’s. I might not know what was happening, but I wasn’t an idiot. Something bad was going on.

  An impatient rap on the door broke my thoughts. “We got to go, Gigi.”

  Right. I washed my hands and brought the toothbrush and toothpaste out to him. He put them in his duffel and then motioned for me to get behind him. Gun drawn, he slowly opened the door. Did he really think people would be waiting to get us, there in the middle of nowhere?

  No one was. We got into our SUV and he started driving again, exactly like yesterday. At the rate he was going, this couldn’t last too long. We were headed west and eventually we’d hit the Pacific Ocean. Then maybe he’d have to stop and explain things to me.

  Yesterday he’d pulled over and made a phone call. I didn’t know to who. He’d stood outside the car and talked where I couldn’t hear a word. It looked like he’d made another call after that, and then he’d thrown out the phone, right into a dumpster at the next gas station. He’d thrown it out like in a movie with drug dealers. And, of course, he hadn’t said a word to me about any of it.

  Two could play that game. I wasn’t going to keep butting my head against a concrete wall. I could tell Dom wasn’t going to talk, not until he was good and ready. He’d taken away my phone and apparently thrown away his, so there was nothing to do but drive or sleep. Since the sun had yet to rise, sleep seemed like a good choice.

  Eight and a half hours of dozing and pit stops and long stretches of road and silence later, we reached the border of Arizona. Four hours after that Dom finally punched an address into the GPS. About ten miles away, it looked like we’d finally be getting to our destination right outside Phoenix. The sun had set again already. Late December, we were in some of the darkest days of the year.

  We pulled up at a gate and Dom entered a code. Large black iron doors swung open into a driveway leading to another set of gates at a manned gatehouse. Dom removed the key from the ignition and stepped out of the car to talk to him. Again, I couldn’t hear a thing, but after a couple of minutes he climbed back in, the second set of gates opened and we drove farther down a driveway lined by high concrete walls.

  When we rounded a curve, I was surprised to see a large, adobe-style private home. From the security and the length of the approach, I’d assumed we’d be headed to an office building, maybe some kind of top-secret military operations. It sounded crazy, but Dom had told me he was in the army now and he was certainly acting like he was in a spy movie. But before me, palm trees and cacti framed the entrance of what looked like a private residence. A really nice one.

  “All right. We’re here.” He parked in front of a huge garage. Stepping out, my legs ached. I’d been sitting in the same position for about 35 of the past 40 hours.

  The side door was unlocked. We entered into a mudroom and then the kitchen. It was gorgeous, all whites and creams with arched doorways and exposed wooden beams. Decorative, colorful tiles and plates brightened up the room. The interior designer in me danced with joy. But mostly I felt tired, sore, and in desperate need of a hot shower and a decent meal.

  “Where are we?” I knew it was outside Phoenix, but whose house were we in?

  “This is a safe house.”

  “A safe house? Like where the government puts someone if they’re testifying against the mafia? Or going into witness protection?” I’d seen that in movies. The bad guys always seemed to find them anyway. But I hoped that was just in the movies.

  “Yes, sometimes. Or the other way around.” He strode through the kitchen and I followed him through a dining area with modern, minimalist furniture. He stopped in the front entry, a lofted ceiling above and polished cream stone on the floor below.

  “The other way around?” I didn’t understand what he meant.

  “A safe house can be where bad guys hide when they’re on the run.”

  “Oh.” His tone implied I was a kid who needed things spelled out for me. But really, how was I supposed to know that this house was where a bad guy had lived? Maybe even a bunch of them, on the run from the law? And if this was a house for bad guys, why were we in it? Were we on the run from the law?

  “I can see you have a bunch of questions, Gigi. And I will answer them. But right now I need to go talk to the team outside.”

  “Team?” I hadn’t seen anyone but the guy at the gate.

  “Why don’t you go explore the house? Take a shower. There’s supposed to be clothes in the master closet. You can change into something clean. And there should be food in the kitchen.”

  He left out the front door, closing it firmly behind him. The man was a mystery wrapped in an enigma sealed in a riddle. Trying to get more information out of him would be an exercise in futility, so I looked around the house.

  It was a big step up from the Nightmare Motel last night. I couldn’t believe I had actually fallen asleep on that bed. The lack of bedbugs was a minor miracle. This place looked spotless and new, like it might have been built within the last five years.

  I started up the stairs, running my hand along the curving bannister. The earth-tones, tile, and sloping arches dividing each room had a distinctively southwest feel. I’d never spent much time in the area, just a couple of long weekend stays in resorts. It wasn’t too long a flight from Nashville to Tucson, especially if your friend’s father had a private plane to take you direct. But the feel of the home was new to me, airy yet sturdy and built to withstand desert heat. It was gigantic, with maybe five or six bedrooms. I headed toward the only upstairs room with two double doors, assuming it was the master suite.

  I flicked on the light and found I was right. The master bedroom was a large room with little in it save a dresser and an absolutely enormous bed. It was a giant bed, a bed big enough for a man like Dom. And there’d still be room to share it with me.

  I shoved that thought out of my head and walked over toward the master bath. Marble on marble, it had towels and all the toiletries I could want. I guessed they’d stocked up, for us or for some bad guy and his entourage I didn’t know. Maybe it was like a hotel for hiding people. I was new to this.

  The shower felt heavenly. I took my time, then wrapped in a robe and padded barefoot over to the closet. Dom had said there would be clothes. Inside, I found that, technically, he was right.

  Hanging in the closet there were about five skimpy, sexy dresses that cut low and ended high. A few pairs of stripper heels glittered from a shoe rack below. There had to be something slightly less Vegas showgirl I could wear around the house. These were the types of clothes a woman might wear for a wild night of clubbing if she definitely wanted to get lucky. Or, I guessed, what she might wear lounging around a safe house if she were the girlfriend of a bad guy.

  I closed the closet door quickly. I couldn’t imagine walking downstairs in one of those dresses. Dom would think I was insane, or making a crazy pass at him. Turning to the dresser, I investigated. In the top drawer I found some skimpy bikinis. Down side: not a clothing option. Up side: the house must have a pool. The bottom drawer had a few bras and panties, the type that didn’t cover much at all. Apparently the last people who’d lived there had enjoyed themselves. They might have had to stay inside, but they’d kept the action going behind closed doors.

  I closed the drawers and decided to put back on my sweater and jeans. I needed to talk to Dom and learn what was going on, not make him think I was trying to seduce him. Then maybe tomorrow I could buy some new clothes.

  He did a double take when I walked into the kitchen, still in the same outfit. “You didn’t change?” He was standing at the stove frying some eggs. It smelled divine. Bread popped up in a toaster in the corner. I took out two plates.

  “Nothing fit.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. Nothing fit the mood or circumstance, that was absolutely true.

  “We’ll find you something.” He beckoned me over and served the eggs with a spatula onto both plates. “Nothing fancy, but it’ll do.”

 
We sat at the kitchen island, both eating quickly. I rose and poured us glasses of water. He finished, then sat and watched me do the same.

  “OK, Dom.” I pushed my plate away and crossed my arms over my chest. “Thank you for the food. Now tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “It’s Kavanaugh Investors,” he explained. “How well did you know your father’s old COO?”

  “Leonard?” I knew him well, and I’d never liked him. His eyes never warmed up and he was always scheming. “He stayed on for the first couple years after my father died. Then Colt fired him, I think last spring.”

  “He did. But not before Leonard had worked out a few deals with some Columbian friends.” Dom told me what he knew, admitting there were some holes in his knowledge, too. Apparently Leonard had approached Colt a few times about getting involved in coffee exports. Colt had refused, but that hadn’t stopped him. He’d made the deals he’d wanted to anyway.

  “I never liked Leonard,” I admitted. “I have no trouble believing he did that. I never understood why Colt kept him on as COO.”

  “Your father asked him to.”

  I nodded. That explained a lot. Each of us had felt a strong obligation to our father who’d done so much for us, especially Colt. He’d followed directly in our father’s footsteps, inheriting all the spoils of CEO after his passing. Apparently he’d inherited the problems as well.

  “Your family’s company has been backing the expansion of a large coffee plantation and it’s upset one of the main families in Columbia, one of the most powerful cartels.”

  “A cartel?” Weren’t cartels like gangs, only more powerful?

  “Colt didn’t have time to give me all the details, but it sounds like there’s a boundary dispute, and some new construction on the coffee plantation drew unwanted attention to the area. One of the cartel’s top guys got gunned down. They’re blaming it on Kavanaugh Investors. They see your family’s company as having slowed their productivity, cut into profits, and made them lose one of their main guys.”