“When I went after the Rooster, I was terrified,” he said.
“Well, it’s not unusual to fear death and dismemberment.”
“You’ve been reading too many of your own books. The Rooster doesn’t dismember people, at least not as far as I know. But see, I’d never cared before. This time I knew we’d started something back on Tipitoe and I was afraid to fuck it up again.”
“Oh, Nate.” She hugged him closer to her forgetting his sore ribs for a moment.
“This is my second chance at Heaven and I’ll do anything to hold on to it.”
Tonya wanted to assure him that he’d never lose her, but she knew deep in her heart that though she loved him she still didn’t altogether trust him. So instead of words she stroked a hand over his tense shoulders. Leaning forward she pressed kisses along his shoulder and upper back. Nate cried out in response and turned onto his back. Reaching up he grabbed one of her locks and pulled her down for a kiss. A deep soul-stirring kiss that began with his searing tongue demanding entry to her willing mouth.
Her passion ignited immediately leaving her desperate and ready for more contact. She ran her hands over his bare arms seeking to feel as much of his flesh as possible. It was not until she reached his chest and her fingers brushed against the bandages that she came to her senses. This was crazy. Less than a month ago the man had almost died and here she was trying to bag him. She pulled away.
“No. Nate, we can’t do this.”
“Are you crazy? I’ve never been so hard up in my life. If we don’t do this I’ll die.”
“Are men still telling that lie? If men died from blue balls we’d be stepping on dead bodies everywhere we went.”
“Okay, so I won’t die, but I’ll be miserable as hell and so will you.”
Tonya couldn’t deny the truth of that statement. She’d hardly lived a chaste life, but had been between lovers for quite a while before he came back. She’d grown accustomed to regular sex, that and the thrill of having him back alive had sent her libido into orbit.
“But your ribs...”
“It won’t hurt me. I won’t even move at all. Just climb on top.”
Tonya considered it for a long moment then finally gave in. She carefully pulled his pajama bottoms and briefs off and his erect penis sprang free. After shedding her own pajamas she straddled his hip and positioned him at her opening. Then she slowly descended over him. His eyes were closed but his teeth were bared in a grimace and his head was canted back as he groaned aloud. She watched his expression unbearably aroused by the evidence of the effect she had on him.
Up and down she rode him. Stretching to accommodate the penetration that she could feel in every cell of her body. More and more she took of him speeding her rise and descent in response to the throbbing insistence that was centered on her clitoris. Her orgasm was like a glowing ember inside being stoked higher and higher. She focused on pursuing it with fixed determination. Even so, when it pulsed through her she was caught by surprise as her emotions veered from agony to ecstasy and then back again. Joy and pain careened through her soul in alternating arcs leaving her bewildered in their dizzying wake. When the tears began to flow she didn’t slow her pace. There was something almost primal in the emotional response even as his body answered the driving demand of hers. She watched as he strained against the impulse to move his hips. He opened his eyes and stared directly into hers as he finally came. This time he didn’t cry out, didn’t say a word and somehow that too heightened the intensity. It gave the moment a gravity and connection they’d never had before.
When she could finally stop, she paused still on top of him. He reached up and touched the tears that streamed down her face. Slowly he brought the hand back to his mouth and tasted them. And she knew he understood. Now she could begin to bury the pain he’d caused her and they could start anew. There would be no more tears.
Just as they were drifting off to sleep...
“I love you, L’Oignon, always have and always will.”
Tonya sighed as the barriers she’d placed around her heart opened to let him back in. “I know.”
Chapter Fourteen
Tonya hung up the phone so excited by the news her agent had just given her she was almost delirious.
“What is it, Onion?” Nate asked from his perch on top of her desk. She’d come over to her office to do some paperwork and make some important phone calls. Nate had cabin fever and came with her simply to have something to do.
“That was Leslie, my agent. You’re not going to believe this, but Showtime wants to talk to me about a series.”
“What?”
She clasped her shaking hands together. “I’m not going to get too excited. This is just a preliminary thing.”
“Well I’m excited enough for both of us. When do they want to meet?” He jumped down from the desk to pull her into his embrace.
“In a couple of weeks,” she said. “They might just be doing this for publicity...”
“Showtime’s been around for a while, little sister. I doubt they’re looking for extra publicity. Besides most of that’s died down anyway.”
“True. That’s true,” she said pulling out of his arms and turning back to her computer. “But I’ve got to calm down and finish my work.” Nate grinned at her and shook his head, but resumed his seat on her desk. He’d regained most of the weight he’d lost, but his face still had a drawn and hollow quality that made her heart ache. His recovery from the gunshot wound had been slow and painful.
“Who’s that guy?” he asked nodding his head in the direction of the foyer.
Tonya looked out to see a tall well-built man entering Roshonda’s office. “That’s Tim, Ro’s ex-boyfriend. What’s he doing here? He ran off with some other girl months ago. Good riddance.” She rose and walked around her desk. “He must have run out of money.” She headed toward the office as raised voices echoed in the small area. They arrived in time to see Tim standing with Roshonda in the doorway of her office. She was clearly trying to get him to leave. Nate was moving toward the couple when Tim grabbed Roshonda’s arm. Before Nate could intervene, Deringer suddenly appeared from...somewhere. Quick as a striking snake he had Tim pinned to the wall the other man’s feet dangling in the air.
“Damn. Somebody’s going to die tonight,” Nate said.
His words were enough to snap Tonya out of the trance she’d been in as the situation went from troubling to lethal in a split second.
“Wait, you can’t just go around killing people like this,” she said.
Both men looked at her as though surprised, but it was Nate who spoke. “We can’t?”
“No. You can’t. People are bound to talk. Dare. Please put him down.”
Deringer hesitated, his facial expression eloquent with his obvious desire to break the other man in half. Then just as suddenly as he’d picked him up he dropped him to the floor.
For a moment Tim lay there looking confused as the three of them looked at him. Then apparently he regained at least some of his bravado and rose to his feet. He turned to Roshonda, who still hovered in the doorway of her office looking painfully embarrassed and enraged at the same time. “This isn’t the end. Your bulldog won’t always be around.” Then he turned to Deringer stretching to his full height yet still failing to reach higher than the other man’s chin. “Who the fuck are you anyway?”
Tonya caught her breath. Hadn’t that fool heard what Nate said? Did he have a freaking death wish?
“I’m the last man you’ll ever see if I ever hear of you coming within miles of Roshonda again. Matter of fact, I suggest you leave town. Otherwise, you might accidentally think about talking to her again, and you wouldn’t want me to misunderstand your intentions, now would you?” Deringer said in a voice so soft the syllables trembled in the air before the meaning sank in. Tonya saw Tim’s expression change as realization dawned. He nodded as though he feared that even the slightest movement would set the man off, then with one more terrified loo
k, he turned and scurried away.
Tonya watched in bemusement as the deadly agent turned to Roshonda and asked if she was okay. Then he gathered her into his arms as though she was made of spun sugar. When this happened she looked at Nate who didn’t seem at all surprised. He just took her arm and led her away, presumably to give the couple some privacy.
“If you keep me locked up in this room any longer I’m going to cut my own throat.”
Tonya shook her head at Nate. “It’s only been six weeks and the cutters said -- ”
“The cutters said I could go out when I felt up to it. Tell you what; let’s go up to Amicolola Falls. I haven’t been there in years. We can take a picnic and just relax.”
“I don’t know Nate -- maybe we should call the cutters.”
“Now why would we want to do that, little sister? I told you, all I’m going to do is lie on a blanket with my head in your lap and let you feed me grapes. You can even peel them if you’re so worried about me getting hurt.”
“I don’t think we have any grapes...Okay we’ll go, but if you have a setback and end up losing a lung don’t come running to me,” she said.
“Doubt I’ll be doing much running with only one lung, but I’ll take that under advisement.”
* * * * *
Amicolola Falls was a very popular local tourist attraction but today the parking lot was empty, probably because school had started. Tonya and Nate stood watching the furiously streaming water. Then he walked over to the bronze statue of the Indian maiden for whom the waterfall was named. He read the plaque affixed to the marble base.
“Do you think she really did it?”
“Who did what?” Tonya said.
“You know; jumped over the falls because her father was forcing her to marry a man she didn’t love.”
“Probably. I can think of many times Mama’s made me want to jump off a cliff -- or push her off one.”
“It’s odd that there are so many legends about maidens dying in gruesome ways. A few months ago I was on an island called Île de Lina. It’s named for a virgin that was thrown into the volcano,” he said.
“Hmmm, sounds like an argument for losing your virginity as soon as possible. If nothing else, it might save you from being incinerated or waterboarded.”
Nate chuckled as he walked back over to the fence where she stood looking down at the waterfall. “That’s a pretty steep drop. Looks like about a hundred feet.”
“Yeah, but the creek is very deep, and insanely cold even in September.”
“How do you know?”
“Because we used to play down there when we were kids. One time a frog jumped up from behind a rock and scared the crap out of me. I lost my balance and fell in.”
“Good grief.”
“Fortunately, I’m a strong swimmer, but a lot of people have drowned down here. The current is pretty nasty and it’s so deep most people who drown here are never seen again.”
“Yeah, I can see how that could happen.”
They started walking around the park, admiring the rock formations. She giggled when Nate pretended to be trapped in Fat Man Squeeze, a rock formation with a very narrow opening.
“This place was a regular tourist trap when we came here before. What happened to the petting zoo, the restaurants and all that other stuff? There’s not even a souvenir stand anymore.”
“In the past few years the city has made an effort to return the park to its natural beauty. They got rid of the playground and all the tacky little shops. The only thing they kept was the parking lot and this bridge.” They joined arm and arm to walk across, pausing to buy corn from a wooden vending machine to feed to the ducks and geese that gathered in the pools above the falls. It was a hot day and Tonya was tempted to wade, but Nate was still recovering and she didn’t want him to exert himself. Before long she could tell he was tiring and suggested they spread their blanket in a meadow not far from the top of the waterfall. They could still hear the rushing water and even see the mist rising above it, but were secluded by a canopy of trees. Once they got settled she and Nate enjoyed a lunch of fried chicken, potato salad and fruit.
“I guess you are feeling better. I haven’t seen you eat like that in a while,” Tonya said as she watched an alarming amount of food disappear into Nate’s mouth.
“You’ve been feeding me invalid food for weeks, little sister. What did you expect?”
After his meal, Nate curled up on the blanket and took a nap with his head on her lap. She was feeling sleepy as well and considering doing the same when suddenly a man came into the clearing. At first she wasn’t particularly concerned even if it was odd to see a single man in a business suit in the middle of the day. Then she realized he had a gun in his hand. She must have jumped or somehow alerted Nate because he came awake immediately and sprang to his feet as though he’d never been asleep.
“What the hell did they do? Clone you?” he said to the man with the gun, which confirmed her first suspicion that this had to be the Rooster. The man didn’t look anything like an international criminal, though she wasn’t sure what she thought one would look like. He was almost too thin, and wore his elegant designer suit with a casualness that only those with money ever achieved. She looked on in horror not sure what to do, but Nate was so still she was amazed at his calm demeanor. His control was so good his breaths didn’t even lift his chest. After a moment she realized he was waiting for an opportunity to strike and she continued to watch him so she could help or at least get out of the way.
“Not necessary Randolph. I was wounded but not dead. You made a rookie mistake. Always verify your kill.”
“Must’ve been the bullet hole in me that clouded my judgment.”
“Too bad I missed before. I won’t do so again.” He raised the gun to fire it when suddenly in a move so fast it was a blur, Nate spun in midair and kicked the weapon out of the other man’s hand. The Rooster fell to the ground with Nate on top of him as the gun went flying through the air. They struggled as Tonya, the hammering of her heart so loud she feared a heart attack, searched through the tall grass for the weapon. Once she found it and turned back to the fight she realized there’d been a change in fortune; Nate was now under the Rooster who had his hands firmly around Nate’s throat. She paused instead of following her instinct to shoot as she realized that inexperienced as she was she was just as likely to hit Nate as the Rooster. Of course, he didn’t know that. She watched in frustration as the two men continued to fight. Nate, weakened by weeks of convalescence was definitely getting the worst of it. She was amazed at the Rooster’s ferocity. According to Nate the man had been blown up less than two months ago, but there was no evidence of that in the way he was fighting.
“Stop. Get off him or I’ll shoot,” she said with an authority that she certainly didn’t feel. It got the Rooster’s attention, though. He looked up at her.
“You’re not going to shoot me. If you were, you would’ve done so by now,” the man said with a sneer.
Well, she could show him better than she could tell him. She’d written long descriptions of gunplay and with no other experience she used them as an instruction manual. Taking as careful aim as she could Tonya took a deep breath, exhaled through her nose half way, and then squeezed the trigger. Having some experience now with the percussive nature of handguns she was shocked that there was no deafening explosion. She studied the gun for a moment thinking it had malfunctioned in some manner, but it was readily apparent that it had fired a bullet without making more than a hollow whistle. Looking at the Rooster she felt a moment of bitter disappointment thinking she’d missed him entirely, but the sudden bloom of blood on his shoulder showed that he’d been hit. Still she was thoroughly disgusted with the location of the wound. She’d been aiming for his head.
The man reached up to grab his damaged shoulder and that was all the help Nate needed. In a split-second he used his legs to flip the other man backwards and off him. He immediately sprang to his feet and landed a fi
erce uppercut followed by a left hook and another kick. The Rooster stumbled backwards a couple of times until he was right at the edge of the cliff. He balanced there on the precipice for a long moment, struggling to regain his footing by flailing his one uninjured arm before falling over the side. Nate ran to the rim with Tonya following close behind. They stood watching as the rapid current slammed the Rooster on the rocks. Suddenly a huge Bowie knife appeared in Nate’s hand and before Tonya could question him about it, he dove over the side into the swirling water below.
What the hell? She held her breath standing there mute with fear. The drop looked incredibly steep from here and the water crashing onto the rocks below resembled nothing so much as an out of control washing machine. She couldn’t see either man in the water and feared that Nate had drowned. Just as she was about to climb down the cliff side, he surfaced holding the Rooster by the collar of that expensive designer suit. Within seconds a huge rush of bright vermilion red blood appeared in the water and she gasped, but it was soon apparent that it was the Rooster who was bleeding out. Still holding the gun in her hand, she took a trail familiar from her childhood and ran down the side of the cliff. Just as she reached the bottom, she saw Nate swimming toward the shore, his movements slow and languid. The life and death struggle had taken its toll on him and he swam as though it was difficult to move his limbs. She put the gun down and waded into the water to help him out. He was soaking wet and unbelievably cold and heavy. Her arms ached from the effort and getting him to shore took quite an effort. More than once her feet slid on the polished stones of the creek bank, but she was finally able to drag him out of the water. They stood together on the bank and watched as the current took the Rooster downstream.
“Rest in peace, motherfucker,” Nate said, his face contorted into a vehement grimace. Then they collapsed on the ground too exhausted to make the climb back up the cliff. They lay there soaked to the skin, grateful for the warmth of the late summer sun. Tonya looked around, but there were still no other visitors, even if there had been, she and Nate looked as though they’d done nothing more dubious than take an impulsive and ill-advised dip in the creek. There was little evidence of the horrific fight they’d just been through. Except...
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