by Hadley Quinn
“Yes, yes there is,” Jack assured him. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean for it to sound like we were without options.” Just slightly fucked over…
“Hmm,” Van said. He could tell Jack was truly agitated. Van didn’t see what the big deal was. Jack had plenty of investigators to pick through. “How’s Dani?” he decided to ask.
Jack barely nodded. “She’s hanging in there. She’s been cooking and stuff again, at the insistence of friends. She’s trying to keep busy.”
“She still doesn’t know about the anonymous caller, right?”
“No, she doesn’t. Don’t you guys talk about the case?”
“I’ve been allowed to see her two times. I don’t really want to spend it interrogating her. She knows the evidence against me, minus the caller’s lie. And Jack, I don’t like her in that building without me.”
“I understand, but she’s safe. Nothing’s gonna happen to her.”
“How can you be sure? You don’t even know what’s going on.”
Jack almost faltered when he remembered that Cole was backing out. But he couldn’t let Van know that. He had to intervene somehow and he would make things right. “Of course I do. I have someone keeping an eye on things, and Dani is just fine.”
“Yeah, who is this guy, anyway? And what exactly is he doing to keep an eye on my wife?”
“I don’t want you to worry about it, Van. Right now I need to figure out what my next step is. The handwriting analysis proved that the writing wasn’t yours, but I need more to go on for a dismissal. The prosecution could just say that someone else wrote it down and gave it to you. We’ve got to keep this from going to trial.”
“What about the money. What have you found out about Brian’s account?”
“Nothing,” Jack scowled. “Cash deposits we still can’t connect with anything.”
“What about her parents?”
“It’s my next step, and I really don’t like those two. So far nothing has come up from their end, only that they really don’t like having their image tarnished.”
Van could only smirk.
“There was no banking activity on their end, but that doesn’t mean anything. Twenty-five thou isn’t a big deal for those people. Pocket change. Her mom is a manipulative piece of work, and her dad is a smooth-talking businessman. I think they know more than they’re sharing, I just have to prove it. They certainly don’t care about what happens to you, as long as their daughter comes out unscathed.”
Van scoffed with frustration but asked, “Dani still coming to visit tonight?”
“I believe so.”
Van sighed and shook his head. He couldn’t even keep the days straight. He wished her visits weren’t limited, but at least he’d been allowed to see her. It was through a goddamn plastic window, but it was better than nothing.
“I wanna know who you’ve got spying on my wife.”
“That should be the least of your worries.”
“My wife is the only thing I worry about. She’s all that matters to me.”
“You can worry about her all you want if you get stuck with a life sentence. Why don’t you do yourself a favor and worry about you. Let’s work on getting you out of here, Van, so you can spend your life taking care of her instead of worrying about her from behind bars.”
Van didn’t reply. He felt torn between lashing out at Jack and hanging his head in defeat. But he wasn’t a quitter, and even though he understood what his lawyer was saying, worrying about Dani was what kept him going. And what was he supposed to do to help himself out, anyway? If he were to be assertive about his situation, he’d be out there clearing his name.
Instead, he was stuck in a shit hole with only a pot to piss in.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Cole!” Dani called. He was just about to head down the stairwell but must not have heard her. “Cole!” she called again, hurrying down the hall to catch him.
He heard her all right and couldn’t believe his poor luck. 86,400 seconds in a day and she caught him in his ten second flee from his apartment to the stairs?
Unbelievable.
“Cole! Jesus, are you deaf?” she lightly laughed as she spotted him just before he turned for the next level.
He took the ear buds out of his ears, accomplices in his deceit, and said, “Huh?”
“Oh, you’ve got music on,” she smiled him, joining him at the half level.
He avoided eye contact by pretending to turn it off.
“Are you running?” she asked, looking over his attire.
More than you know, he wanted to answer. “Why? Did you need something?” Damn, why’d he have to ask?
“Well I thought maybe you were going to the gym. I’m heading to see Van and I have something for Mickey if you are.”
He couldn’t help it. He. Could not. Help it. “Actually I am headed for the gym. Sure, I can take it to him. What is—?”
“Follow me,” she said. She headed back up the stairs and he couldn’t help it again. He stared at her ass.
With a heavy sigh he shook his head and drudged back up to the fourth floor. She was already headed into her apartment and left the door wide open for him. At the same time, Gary was coming from his own apartment and watched Cole walk right into 4C.
Cole left the apartment door open behind him when he entered, just so Gary could see the innocence of it when he passed by.
“It’s nothing important,” Dani spoke from across the room. She was shuffling through some papers near her computer and pulled out a folder. “I’m heading to visit Van in a bit but I wanted Mickey to see this first.”
“How come you can’t give it to him yourself?” Cole asked. He knew it was rude but for some reason he needed his own justification.
She turned to him with sadness drawn on her face. “I just can’t. It’s really hard to be in there and… I don’t know. I guess I’m just being ridiculous, but I don’t want to be there unless Van can be there. And Mickey… It’s just the same feeling. Being around him makes me feel…”
She dropped the large folder on the coffee table, whether she meant to or not. And then she sat on the couch. She sat. Waiting to talk about it? Cole knew the answer to that and sighed to himself. Gary was gone so he shut the door behind him and slowly made his way over.
“Well I’m sure Van wouldn’t want you to go there and be sad,” he said. “But…”
She looked at him curiously. She desperately wanted his opinion if he was going to offer one.
Reluctantly, he sat on the couch. The opposite couch, but damn it, he was in the same room with her. He leaned onto his knees and rubbed his forehead. “I’ve known people that have been locked up,” he told her. “For one reason or another, good people and bad people. But I know one thing. They always have people they care about, and they spend a lot of time thinking and worrying about them. The truly selfless ones want their loved ones to be happy and enjoy life, despite the circumstances. I know that Van wants that for you. He’s worrying, and he’s going to keep worrying, and the only thing that’s going to help him feel better is to hear that you’re not shutting out the people and things that are important to him.”
“I’m not shutting people out,” she replied, but as soon as she said it, she knew it was only a partial truth. She sighed. “You’re right. Deep down it’s how I really feel. The people here are great, they’re like family, but sometimes… Yeah, a lot of times I just don’t want to be around anyone. It’s not the same without Van. I love his friends dearly but… I don’t know how to explain it. I just feel like I’m their project, their assignment, while Van is gone. I don’t like to feel like someone’s job. You, on the other hand,” she smiled. “I’m really glad you moved here, Cole. I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but I like the fact that you’re an outsider, too. Like me. You don’t know Van so your friendship is different to me. It’s better for me because you’re my friend, not just Van’s first. I’m sure that sounds childish but… Thanks for that. You’ve been really
good for me. I appreciate just being able to talk without feeling like an assignment.”
Oh my God if you only knew, he wanted to shout. But her innocent smile turned his stomach upside down. It wasn’t fair. Why the hell was he being punished with this job? It’s why he decided to call it quits, and now, to hear her tell him he’s been good for her?
“But I have been trying,” she continued. “I’ve made myself be around everyone because that’s what Van would want. I know they care about me, so I’ve been trying.”
“I know you have,” he replied honestly. “But I’m just speaking from the other side of the bars I guess. Just a little insight. Anyways,” he said, standing up. “What do you got for me? I’ll take it to Mickey, but just don’t avoid him forever, okay?”
She smiled and stood too, reaching for the folder. “Advertisements,” she announced, pulling one of them out. “Just sample ideas for upcoming fights. Here’s Cody’s,” she said, handing it to him.
Cole looked it over and nodded his approval. “Nice. That’s really great, Dani.”
“It looks okay? I mean I haven’t been around the fight scene too long but I did a little bit of research to see what these things should look like.”
“No, it’s great. In fact, it’s pretty awesome.”
She smiled, truly pleased. “Here’s another one,” she said, handing him one for an upcoming cash tournament. “This is actually a job I snatched from another co-worker,” she grinned. “I couldn’t resist.”
“It looks great. This is a paid project, then?”
“Yep. I finished this just before Van… Anyways, that’s the tournament next month that Van, um… Well, he’ll be in it. He’ll be there.”
“It looks good,” Cole nodded.
“Well, you get the idea. I did some sample ones for other fighters, but I’d like new pictures for them. I just thought I’d let Mickey take a look at them.”
“Sure. Yeah, I’ll give ‘em to him.”
“Thanks, Cole. I appreciate it.”
He only nodded, took the folder from her, and headed for the door. He needed to get the hell out of there.
“Hey, Cole?” she asked, stopping him in his tracks. Actually it was his heart that put on the brakes and the rest of him stupidly followed. He needed to rip that damn thing out of his chest.
“Yeah?” he tried to say casually.
She seemed uncomfortable for a moment, like she wasn’t sure she wanted to say what she’d planned on saying. It made him curious as hell, and he even took a step closer, eager for her words.
“Your ‘speaking from the other side of the bars’ comment… That meant you, right?” she asked carefully.
His eagerness fell and he barely swallowed. But he answered her with, “Yeah, that was me.”
She looked sympathetic. “Could you share more? If you don’t want to I understand but—”
“I was a thief for quite a while. Side job, I guess. I could break into anything.”
She barely smiled, but it was because she was surprised. “How long ago?”
He shrugged. “I was a stupid teenager and then some. Spent a few years using my talents for good and bad, I suppose. Got in trouble here and there and eventually learned my lesson.”
“What about your family and the construction business? That wasn’t a priority?”
He studied her for a moment, wishing he could tell her the truth. There was no family. No family business. No real friends. No moral compass, either. “No. I guess I was a bit rebellious back then and didn’t care. Disappointed my family. But my life is different now,” he said, with more faked enthusiasm than he thought he had.
“I’m glad,” she smiled. She walked towards him and he wanted to run for his life. He knew exactly what Dani had in mind and he knew he couldn’t take it. She reached out and gave him a hug. A very sisterly act with a pat on the back, but she was touching him and he couldn’t move. She pulled away and said, “You’re a good person, Cole. Thanks for being my friend. It’s my turn to do some confessing next time, okay?” she promised.
He forced another smile because of the irony. He already knew everything about her and she was hardly full of confessions. But he just replied, “Sure. Take care, Dani. Have a good visit with Van.”
And he hauled ass out of there.
***
“Oh it’s so good to see you,” Van exhaled.
He put his fingertips against the glass where hers were, and even though he enjoyed seeing her, it pissed him off that he couldn’t touch her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and take in a deep breath to absorb her scent. Instead he studied her beautiful face, needing to store the image to get him through to the next time he saw her.
“I love you, Van.” She examined his face and looked into his eyes. She was seeking something, anything, to tell her what she wanted to know. How was he really doing?
“Did you cut your hair?” he asked. God, he wished he could run his fingers through it.
“Just a little. A trim is all. Why? Is it that noticeable? You don’t like it?”
“I love it,” he chuckled. “Your hair is beautiful, but don’t think I don’t notice every little detail when it comes to you. I’ve got your entire body memorized.”
That made her smile, but she ached inside. How she longed to be with him; to hold him in bed after having an intense, sweaty session of lovemaking; or to wrap her arms around him in the shower while he washed her hair and kissed her lips.
“I miss you, Van,” she said, unable to hide the quiver in her voice and the tear that escaped. “I can’t stand seeing you like this.”
“I know, baby. I know. And I’m sorry. I wish there was something that could be done, or something I could do myself or—”
“What would you do? I mean if you could be released from here to clear your own name, where would you start?”
He smiled and shook his head. “Now don’t be getting any ideas, Dani. I was just yammering.”
“Well, I’m serious. If you were released to clear your name, where would you start?”
I’d find Quincy, he wanted to say. I’d track him down and make him answer some questions. I’d figure out how to move us way the fuck away from here…
“I’d start by taking you to bed with me, little woman,” he smiled. “And I’d knock you up with my kid, buy you a house, and we’d just leave everything behind.”
She smiled at him dreamily, torn between telling him and not telling him. But not here. She wanted it to be special, not spur of the moment in the visitor’s cubicle of a jail.
But he did open up the topic…
“I thought you weren’t ready to have kids?” she asked him, trying to sound casual.
He shrugged. “I’m definitely not. But, you know, someday. Having a kid scares the hell out of me, but there’s no way I’m not reproducing that beauty of yours. No way.”
She laughed and asked, “Why does it scare you?” They’d talked about it before but had both agreed to wait. He knew she might model a little bit more, but she’d never really gotten around to asking why he wanted to wait.
He slowly shrugged again. “I don’t know how I would be around kids. Or babies, even. It’s kind of a foreign thing to me.”
“So were women at one point,” she teased.
He laughed and it made her heart melt. What she wouldn’t give to hear that sound every day for the rest of her life.
“It would be new for both of us,” she told him. “I mean I have Jacob and Naomi, but I was never really around them much when they were little. I was just a teenager. I’m an okay aunt now, but they’re just really easy kids. They’re more mature than most adults, even.”
“I think you’d be an incredible mother. However, I do have one thing that I promise I will not be too fond of.”
“What’s that?” she asked worriedly.
“That whole breastfeeding thing? Why in the world would I want to share those beautiful things?”
She covered her mouth t
o laugh that time and he smiled along with her. “Donovan Kemp, you should be ashamed.”
“Ha. Not a chance. I’m honest. And I betcha about ninety percent of the dads out there would agree with me.”
She stared at him lovingly. Oh how she adored this man. How could something so horrible and unfair be happening to him?
“And,” he continued. “From what I hear, you women only complain of saggy, ruined boobs afterwards anyways. Why would you want that?”
“So that we can raise a healthy, happy little replica of the man that we so greatly love,” she replied.
Van was going to laugh, but she was serious. Her eyes told it all. He could see the longing in them too, the desire to have those saggy, ruined boobs. God, he hoped not, but he would love her no matter what. She could gain two hundred pounds and he’d never stop loving her.
“I gotta push for conjugal visits,” he told her with a smile.
“I wish,” she replied.
“Yeah, me too.” He sighed, not wanting to think about it. If he pictured himself between her legs right now, he was sure to go back to his cell with a woody and aching balls. “So tell me what you’ve been up to the last few days.”
She rambled on about her job and mundane things like the apartment or her siblings, but Van always insisted. He wanted to know everything she’d been doing. He sure as hell didn’t have anything to tell her about his week, so it was necessary to hear what his lovely wife was up to. There was, however, something he wanted to ask her. He listened to her finish up an update about meals with his friends, and when he had an opportunity, asked, “Tell me about the new guy. He’s in Quincy’s apartment, right? Mickey passes on a lot of things through Jack,” he shrugged.
“Cole? Cole is a very nice guy. In fact, it feels a little more like home now.”
“What do you mean?”
Dani paused, wondering if she was going to hurt his feelings in some way. She didn’t want to give him anything negative to think about. “He reminds me a lot of Casey,” she said, and that was the truth.
“Ah,” Van nodded. To him it meant that he was gay, but Dani didn’t even consider he would connect it that way until he said, “Another girlfriend to chat with, huh.”