“I realize that. Just tell them the information was brought to your attention through my mother’s assistant. She has a business relationship with Abney. I’ve talked to Ming about it, and he’s okay with me telling you. It’s his work, after all. Tell them he just reached out to you because he knew we were friends. Also, my mother’s name might carry a little weight.”
“Okay. I can work with that.” His expression turned even more serious. “This guy is more dangerous than he comes across, obviously. You need to watch your back. Don’t go out late unless you have someone with you.” His attention strayed to Gage and lingered for a second.
Gage nodded his understanding.
“I won’t. I’ve also warned all my employees about him and the two men who followed Gage.”
“Good. And that brings me to something else.” He reached inside his jacket and took out a packet, jerking his head toward the bar. Gage rose to follow him there and Mia joined them.
He laid a sheet of heavy paper with nine photos. Gage scanned each of the two by three-inch images and pointed to two. “This is the guy who threatened me with thirty years. And this is the older guy I thought was a detective.”
Jules marked the card with an x next to each image and wrote the date on the back, then set down another.
Gage scanned the card and picked two more. “The other detective. One of the patrol officers.”
The final card had the other patrol officer on it. He handed it to Jules.
“Had you ever met any of these officers before they waylaid you?”
“No. My brother may have, but I’d never seen them before.”
“None of them have ever been involved in any of your brother’s arrests,” Jules said.
“He chose people who had no connection to my family. That was smart. What do you suggest I do to avoid any more harassment?”
“I’m still working on that.”
“My grandmother was moved to a regular room today, just after I left the hospital, so she may be home in a few days, maybe a week.” He drew a deep breath and searched for calm. “Jules… Take it to the person responsible. Tell him you know his game and end it.”
“Or?” Jules challenged.
Gage shook his head. “If you don’t want to do the job, then pass it off to someone who will.”
“We’ve worked for ten years to clean up our act, Gage. We’ve gone from one of the most corrupt police forces to an example of what policing should be. Something like this brings all the stench of the past back.
“We need irrefutable proof and someone willing to testify against the person responsible.”
Jules was asking for the impossible. Gage shook his head. He’d just have to take his chances. “I’m done wasting time on this. I have three weeks left, and now Mama is on the mend and the doctors think she’s going to recover, I’m just going to enjoy being home.” And if Mason started anything, Gage would finish it.
*
Silence stretched between them in the car. Mia realized it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence but a thoughtful reboot. Both of them had been stressed since the day Gage arrived, and now they were trying to catch their breaths.
“Why didn’t you tell me about Abney, Mia?”
“It happened the day you arrived. My mother called and invited me to dinner, and I went, thinking it was just a typical business dinner. When I rejected him and left, I thought he’d gotten the message. I asked Ming to look into him, but I thought the possibility of him showing up at Promises was slim.”
“He got the message you weren’t interested, but his agenda changed. He couldn’t prey on you the way he has several other women, so he changed tactics.” The suppressed rage in Gage’s voice sounded like the rumble of distant thunder.
“He tried to charm me at first. Being complimentary about the business. Then he went from that to threats about his power at the bank. That he could get my loan pulled and ruin my reputation in the business community, just the way he threatened Angelique that he’d ruin her father and they’d be out on the street.”
Gage reached for her hand. “You need to be very careful, Mia.”
“I will.” She squeezed his hand.
He turned on the blinker, slowed, turned into the gravel drive, and parked. “How did you know this property was still here and hadn’t been built on?”
“It belongs to me.”
His head whipped around. “When did you buy it?”
“A while back. I thought maybe one day I’d build a house on it.” She looked away. “I’ll help you unload the car. I’m hungry.” She got out before he could say more.
They chose the shade of a huge water oak and laid out the blanket. The property was mown every two weeks, but plots of flowers were left undisturbed, and she made sure some areas were left alone so wildflowers could grow. If she helped them along with some self-seeded plants like touch-me-knots and poppies, the land offered her a kind of Zen garden to chill in when things got overwhelming. In fact, the tension that plagued her all day seemed to melt away as soon as they had everything in place and she was settled on the blanket.
Gage poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her, then twisted the lid off a bottle of tea for himself.
“I come out here sometimes just to leave things behind for a few hours,” she said settling on the blanket.
“I can see why you’d want to. Where’s the old, dilapidated house that used to be here?”
“It was a danger, so I had it bulldozed and then burned. Once it was gone, I just scattered the area with seeds for a butterfly garden, which makes it so the other houses don’t seem so close.” The people who built homes in the area were folks who worked in town and wanted to escape a steady diet of urban life. “I’ve had offers to buy, but I can’t seem to turn loose of it.”
“It looks like a picture postcard now you’ve gotten rid of the shack.”
Gage rummaged in the basket and withdrew plates and silverware.
“Remember that little dog we found out here?” she asked.
“Yeah. What about it?”
“My grandmother still has her. I took her home, but mother wouldn’t have a dog in the house and I couldn’t have her at my apartment, so I gave her to Mamie. She’s treated like a princess.”
Gage laughed. “That’s a great rags-to-riches story. From living under a shack and eating garbage to living in a mansion and eating off china.”
“How did you know she eats off of china?” Mia teased.
He dished up the food with serving spoons. “I know your grandmother. I bet the dog even has her own little bed.”
“Yes, she does. Where else would she sleep?” She opened a container to find deviled eggs…one of her favorites.
Gage opened another container and handed it to her. Potato salad. “We always slept with our dogs. Or rather they slept with us.”
“Jazz sleeps with me. I’ll miss him when Mama comes home and I have to give him back.”
“You’ll have to get a cat. They’re less upkeep than a dog. Maybe we could go to one of the local shelters and look for one.”
“I’ll wait until Jazz is back with Mama. He might not like sharing the space and the attention.”
“Can’t blame him for that.”
She felt his smile all the way to her toes. He always had that effect on her, right from the beginning. She touched his cheek and met him halfway when he leaned closer to kiss her. “Thank you for this. I really needed it.”
“I did too.” His voice was a husky rumble that left her tingling.
She pulled back just to prove she could. “Let’s eat.”
They filled their plates and for a few minutes ate in silence.
His cellphone rang. Gage glanced at the screen. Tension tightened his shoulders as he warded off the idea the call might mean bad news. “I need to take this, Mia.”
“Okay.”
He rose from the blanket and walked a few paces away. “Hey, Inferno. Everything okay?”
“
Yeah. I’ll be going wheels up for home in a few days. Just thought I’d call and let you know everyone made it back in one piece.”
Gage’s shoulders relaxed and he released the breath he’d been holding. “Good. I’ve been riding the guilt train for having to bug out like I did.”
“Hey, lay it down, Bro. You did the right thing. How’s your grandmother?”
“They kept her sedated for several days because she was beaten up pretty bad. Broken jaw, cheekbone, and ribs. She looks like hell. But she’s a fighter. They’ve taken down the sedation and she talked to the police today but it wore her out.”
“She’ll fight her way back. Hell, she raised you. She had to be tough to take that on.”
Gage laughed. “Me and two brothers.”
“Brave lady.”
“Roger that.” Gage thought about Abeo and his sons. “Mission completed?”
“Mission completed, and there may be some changes in store for the people back there.”
“Excellent. Wish I could have been a part of it.”
“There’s always a next time.”
“True.”
“Have you touched base with anyone from the past?” Inferno asked.
Gage raked his hair back from his forehead. Cash had dragged the whole sorry story out of him…and as he remembered, numerous shots of whiskey were involved. “Yeah. I’m with her right now.”
“Hope it works out and you put the past behind you. I’m sick of hearing you cry in your beer about the one who got away every time you tie one on.”
Gage shook his head. “You’re the master of exaggeration.” He wasn’t really. Cash was usually right on the money.
“When your leave is over, invite her out, Gator. She might decide you’re worth the transfer.”
Gage turned to look back at Mia. Would she be willing to leave her business in someone else’s hands and move to California?
He enjoyed challenges. Thrived on them, but this one might prove…difficult.
Cash broke into his thoughts. “Hey, I got to go. Got a trip of my own to pack for.”
“Have a safe one and enjoy your leave.”
“Roger that. I’ll be back in six weeks. I’ll meet Mia when I get back.”
Gage grinned. “We’ll see you then.”
Cash laughed and cut the call.
He sat down on the blanket and took up his plate again.
“They’re all back in one piece,” Mia said. She had seen the relief in his expression.
He looked up. “Yeah.”
This was an aspect of his life she wasn’t a part of. Would he share that part with her? “Why did you give up your music, Gage?”
“I didn’t. I have a guitar at my apartment and play now and then, and I usually take it with me when I deploy.”
“How often is that?”
“It depends on what’s happening in the world at any given time. When we get called up, I can be gone for a week, a month…or three or six. It depends on the mission.”
She nodded. Her mouth was dry, and she reached for her wine. What if something happened to him during one of those deployments? She’d lived six years without him, and she moved on in every way but emotionally. No other relationship stood up to the memory of what they had together.
“Military life isn’t for everyone. The pay sucks, the separations are hard, and even when I’m stateside I may be training for weeks at a time.”
“Then why do you do it?”
“At first it was the brotherhood that drew me in, then the challenges, and I was learning new skills, and getting to do some dangerous stuff.”
“Which you thought was fun,” she interjected.
“Well, yeah.” His devilish grin brought back memories of the past, but he was a man now, and she found it even more potent. “First I went through two years of training after BUD/S. Then I was placed with my team, and I’ve been with them for two years.
“After the first few deployments, I realized we were making a difference. Not only for our country, but for other people’s too. We were protecting people who couldn’t protect themselves. And the rescue missions…we’re saving people’s lives and reuniting them with their families.”
He’d lost his own family…but was giving them back theirs… Her eyes burned and she looked away.
And listening to him talk about what he did… It was plain he loved it. And he’d worked so hard for it.
“That beats working for an oil corporation in so many ways, doesn’t it?” She forced herself to sound upbeat.
Gage grinned again. “Yeah, it does. But some of the things I learned from working on oil rigs, and the way Roman and I hunted gators out in the bayou, helps me do what I do now.”
She didn’t want to think about the latter. She’d always hated that he and Roman hunted them for money. It was dangerous and sometimes cruel work. “You never really liked hunting them.”
“No. I liked the relocation work better. It was more of a challenge. Like the time that alligator wandered into a supermarket. Stepped right on the automatic door opener and walked in like he was going to the fish coolers in the meat department.” When he started talking about the gators his accent thickened like he was returning to that time. “We figured he’d somehow gotten into the holding pond at the water treatment plant and wandered down the road to the grocery for a snack.”
She shook her head at him. He enjoyed adventure and challenge even then. She understood how being a SEAL fulfilled that part of his nature. As much as he loved his grandmother, he would probably never return to Louisiana on a permanent basis. Her heart broke a little with that thought.
She set aside her empty plate.
“I brought dessert. Your favorite,” he said with a grin.
“Chocolate soufflé?”
He nodded.
“Thank you.”
His thoughtfulness touched her. She summoned a smile. “I’ll want some after my dinner settles.” She scraped the scraps off her plate into a plastic bag, wiped it clean with a napkin, stowed the trash in the bag, and set the plate aside for later. She picked up her wine glass and found him smiling at her and realized he too was reliving memories of years ago. when the two of them did these very same things so many times.
Gage repacked the leftover food in the basket and they both stretched out on the blanket. The scent of crushed grass and the nearby angel’s trumpets reached her.
“The hummingbirds are going crazy over there,” Gage commented.
She turned on her side and tucked an arm under her head to watch them while they squabbled over who was going to dip their beak in the trumpet-shaped flowers first. When Gage curled against her from behind to spoon, she lifted her head so he could slide an arm beneath her head and rest her hand on the arm around her waist.
“I loved coming out here with you. That’s why I bought the property.”
“I know.” His voice sounded gruff.
Quick tears trickled down and sideways across her face, and she used the corner of the blanket to wipe them away. Crying never solved anything. She’d cried enough.
But if Jules couldn’t do anything about what was going on, she could. She could face off against Mason and her mother and get them to admit they paid the men who had threatened Gage. And she could get them on tape saying it. That would be proof of bribery. It could also cost several people their jobs, on top of the blowback for Camille and Mason.
She’d probably burn several bridges along the way, which could cause some issues later. At the moment she didn’t care. She just wanted to be with Gage more than she’d ever wanted anything.
She turned to face him and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. The sun was going down and shadowing his olive skin. His gaze, so dark and expressive, focused on her. “I wish I’d told you about Abney before, but I thought leaving dinner early that night would solve the issue.”
“I should probably tell you that the two guys who followed me are hired muscle and were probably sent to beat
me up. Jules is dealing with them.”
She sucked in a deep breath. She was tired of saying she was sorry about her family. “I told Camille you’re only here for your grandmother and to call off her dog.”
“You’re one tough cookie you, know that?”
She laughed. “I wish.”
“You seemed to take on Abney with all the right weapons, but what you did was dangerous, Mia. I’m going to be your shadow until something is done.”
“If I can help get him arrested, I’ll do it. He raped a child and thought nothing of it, and I had to watch him do it.”
He cuddled her close. This was what she needed earlier in the day. Even though it was temporary, she’d take it. The remaining stress dissolved, and the slow caress of his hand up and down her back released her tension.
When she leaned back to look up at him, he took her lips with a kiss both tender and passionate, setting alight every nerve. His lips left hers to seek out the sensitive area between her neck and shoulder. She shivered.
“I’d really like to get you naked right now, Mia. And we’d probably get away with it without being caught, but there’s just one thing.”
“What’s that?” She smiled.
“Chiggers. I think I had a permanent case of them for an entire year before you moved into your apartment and we actually made love in a bed.”
She laughed. “I seem to remember that too. Why don’t we go home, have some of the soufflé, and see where that takes us?”
He grinned. “Sounds…promising.”
Mia laughed. He was still the same Gage, only more…
He’d lost some of his accent since moving to California. And his sometimes-impulsive behavior was tempered with control. And when he looked at her, it was with the appreciation of a more experienced man, making her heart trip over itself every time. But mostly he was giving her time to recover from all the trauma of the day before they shifted into intimacy.
She still loved the young Gage. And she was falling hard for the older one, too. She’d pay a heart-wrenching price when he left. But it would be worth it.
CHAPTER 15
‡
Gage put a healthy helping of the chocolate soufflé into a bowl and got one spoon.
Hot SEAL, Midnight Magic (SEALs In Paradise) Page 13