by Robin Leaf
“God, Fionn, I feel like this is my fault.”
“Uh, no Cristiana. Let’s give a little blame to Ignacio for not taking his meds. He obviously knows he’s bipolar and told no one. If he had, we all would have known what to look for. I bet he wasn’t even in rehab.”
“He was in a mental health facility that also specializes in addiction.” I sigh. “I bet he thinks it’s more acceptable to be a coke addict than to be thought of as crazy.”
“He’s not crazy. He has an illness.”
I stand. “You and I know that, but I bet he was raised differently than we were, Fionn. That brother said we made him crazy. I’m betting he’s not too accepting of his illness.”
Fionn shuts the computer down and picks up my belongings.
“C’mon. We’ll call Joe on the way to your apartment and tell him what we suspect. We can give him a list of the medicines so he can pass them on to the hospital.”
***
“God, I’ve missed you,” I say to my cheeseburger.
Fionn was gracious enough to stop at Bucky’s so I could get one to go. I haven’t eaten anything but a bag of nuts and a banana since yesterday, and this greasy, bacon-filled ecstasy is exactly what I need.
“If you were that hungry, we could have eaten there, Crissy.”
“Nah,” I say around a big bite. “I just want to be home.”
My apartment isn’t far from the diner, so we pull in front of my building just as I take my last bite.
“You want to come in so you can eat yours before it gets cold?”
Fionn flashes me a smile and nods his head toward my right. “Something tells me ye won’t want me up there right now.”
I turn my head the direction he nodded, and there, like some dream vision of Jake Ryan waiting for Samantha after her sister’s wedding, is Noah Reed leaning casually against his purple ‘Cuda, complete with hands in pockets and smirky smile. Thank God he’s wearing a black t-shirt stretched nicely across his chest instead of some pinche ugly-ass sweater vest.
“I’ll bring ye your luggage tomorrow,” Fionn says, interrupting “If You Were Here” by the Thompson Twins playing in my head.
Forcing the door open, I turn to him and smile as I jump out of the car. “You’re the best, Fionny.”
I take a minute to just enjoy this for a second.
Noah Reed came for me. Me.
It’s kind of my high school dream come true.
I’m Samantha fucking Baker getting my Jake fucking Ryan.
Finally.
Twenty Six
Noah
A smiling Cristiana approaches me slowly, stopping about three feet away.
“Hi,” she says, at the same time I do.
She grins, flashing her teeth, and looks down at her feet.
“How’s Jason?”
“He’s at home with a health care nurse recovering nicely.” I take a step closer. “How’s Ignacio?”
She sighs. “I don’t know. We just informed Joe that he has meds consistent with the treatment of bipolar disorder in his home, but I can’t get any reports on him.”
“I will help with that.” I lift her chin to meet my eyes. “So, I came here to ask you out on a proper date,” I begin, nodding to the Styrofoam container she holds, “but I see you already had lunch.”
She smirks. “Sorry. I was dying for a burger.”
I can’t hold in my smile, nor can I stop my hand from running up her jawline. “Yes, your heart-attack special from Bucky’s.”
She leans into my hand and steps closer.
“It is my favorite.” She lifts her hand and runs it up my bicep to my shoulder. “Tell me, Noah, what’s your stance on kissing a girl before you’ve had your first official date?”
I pull her closer to me. “Well, Nana, I made a promise to myself that we would take this slow. I didn’t even plan to kiss you on our first date.”
Her hand travels from my shoulder to my neck.
“So is this like the last promise you made to yourself concerning me?” She leans in, pressing her breasts against my stomach, and stands on her toes to get so close, I can feel her breath on my mouth. “The one you technically broke four times?”
I smile. “Nope. This one I intend to –”
I’m cut off by her mouth sealing itself to mine. I don’t react for a second to see what she’ll do. I feel her deflate and start to pull away, but I grab the back of her head, holding her to me, and take over the kiss. Her lips feel like heaven when they yield to mine. I make a few swipes of my lips against hers, loving how soft and perfect they feel. Tilting her head, I use my tongue to coax her mouth open, and when it does, God help me, I want to drown in this woman. She lets out a little whimper that ignites something close to pure, white lust within my body. I lift her off the ground, spin around, and pin her against my car, pushing my hardening cock into her lower stomach. My tongue commands hers, letting her know exactly who is in charge in this moment. She submits deliciously and completely. At this moment, she is mine to control.
I have a fleeting thought of turning her over the hood, stripping her shorts down, and sliding inside her. Honestly, bending her over my car has been a fantasy of mine since my sister’s seventeenth birthday.
A not-so-far-away car’s horn reminds me that we are out in the open. Although I might be okay with a little public display, she is in a unique situation that makes the position I have her in very inappropriate.
Plus, I need to admit all that I have done, especially in the past year, so she enters into this relationship with eyes wide open.
I break the kiss and love the dazed look on her face. Whatever this is, she’s feeling it, too.
I step back, lowering her down to the ground gently. Oh hell yeah, I notice how her nipples have hardened against my chest and seem unhappy that I’m leaving them. I reach down and thread my fingers through hers.
“Let me walk you to your door,” I utter lowly and turn to lead her inside.
Her hand pulls on mine. “To my door? Oh hell no, güero. You’re coming inside and making good on the last promise you made me, the one that said you were going to break your first promise, or so help me, I’m gonna kick your ass six ways to Sunday.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Sorry, cariño, but that’ll have to wait.” My smile fades. “We have a lot to talk about before I even touch you.”
She rolls her eyes. “Fine,” she turns and pulls me around the corner to the door to her apartment. “We’ll go inside to talk, as long as you keep the touching option on the table, otherwise, your ass will get kicked. You’ve kept me in a state of constant sexual frustration since I met you, and I will not wait any longer.”
I jerk her hand to stop her, back her up against the wall outside her apartment, and hold her there with my thigh between hers. My hands press to the wall on either side of her head, and I lean down to whisper in her ear.
“I would give anything to strip you slowly and worship your body like it deserves. I want to lick every inch of your skin, make you so desperate for me that you beg. I will finally get a full taste of your sweet pussy and feast on you until you come at least twice. Then and only then will I slide my cock inside you, the only woman it ever wants to feel again.” Pulling my head back to look at her face, I move the hair caught on my whiskers and tuck it slowly behind her ear. “Forever.”
She whimpers with wide eyes and tilts her hips forward so she can get friction on the top of my thigh. I drop my forehead to hers and squeeze my eyes closed, feeling the pain of the words that are about to come out of my mouth.
“But before that can happen,” I open my eyes, trying to convey nothing but sincerity, “there are some things you need to know about me so you can make an informed decision of whether or not I deserve that honor.”
She slides her hand along my cheek, raking her nails softly through my beard. Her expression softens, as does her voice.
“Güero, there’s absolutely nothing you can tell me that will make me cha
nge my mind.”
I push off the wall and back up a step, grabbing her hand. “We’ll see.”
We round the corner, and I stop, causing her to run into my back.
“You need brake lights. I almost broke my nose on your ridiculously chiseled mus…” She trails off when she sees the reason I stopped. “Wha –”
I hold up my hand to quiet her, trying to listen to anything beyond the splintered doorjamb of the kicked-in door. Hearing nothing, I pull her closer and approach the door to push it open with my elbow, revealing the destruction beyond the door.
Her couch is slashed, stuffing pulled out. Ribbons of fabric, once her clothes, are strewn from one end of the room to the other. Tables are overturned. I step in gingerly, crunching into rubble of all of her breakables.
I turn to her when I hear her sharp intake of breath and see her looking at the far wall. Following her eyes, I see the words, “Back off,” crudely spray painted in red. It’s still dripping, meaning this just happened.
The sound of breaking glass from the bedroom has me lifting her and running out the door. I set her down outside and shove my phone in her hands.
“Call Scotty. Tell him there’s an intruder in your apartment, and don’t hang up,” I bark before running back in.
I hear her say my name, but I don’t stop.
I stalk to the bedroom door and peer through the small opening. A figure dressed in a black hoodie with the hood pulled up and tied over their mouth is slicing into the mattress. I take the moment to assess the situation. I can’t tell if it’s a man or a woman because the big knife is distracting me, and since I didn’t think it appropriate to bring my gun to ask a girl on a date, I’m not armed. Grabbing one of the high heels on the floor, I close the door, wedging the heel in to act as a doorstop and shoving the bookcase in front of the door. This doesn’t prevent escape, but it keeps the intruder away from Cristiana until I can get her away from here.
I exit her apartment, sweeping Cristiana into the same firefighter hold I had her in once before while she is still on the phone with Scotty. As we get to my car, I hear a window breaking from the direction of her building. I set her down, unlocking and throwing open the door to shove her inside.
“Stay down,” I command.
I Starsky and Hutch my way across the hood, jumping in my seat. A tall-ish figure, still wearing the hood, runs around the corner to a car parked on the street. Grabbing my phone, I put it on speaker, and hand it back to Cristiana. Once I start the car, I talk to the phone.
“Scotty, activate the GPS on my car. Get in touch with Dan Styles at the LAPD and tell him what happened and give him updates to our location. The vehicle is a green late-model Ford Taurus with a missing license plate and a broken passenger side taillight.”
I throw it into first and burn off about an inch of tires tearing out to chase the car.
“You’re not seriously going to follow them, are you, Noah?” she asks, still sitting low in the seat.
The car veers off to the left, turning onto another street. I easily downshift and make the turn, but the phone rockets out of Cristiana’s hand, landing somewhere under my feet. She makes a move to get it, but I have to swerve to miss a parked car, shooting the phone under my seat.
“Look, Nana, I really need to get these things out in the open.”
She rights herself, grabbing her seatbelt and fumbling to get it across her chest. “And you think now is the time?”
I glance over at her and shrug. “Now’s as good a time as any.”
Twenty Seven
Cristiana
Jesus Cristo, he wants to do this now? Now? When we’re involved in this semi-highish speed chase right after catching someone destroying my apartment? I haven’t really had time to let that sink in, but when I do, I imagine I’ll freak out.
The car jerks to the left, slamming me against the passenger door.
“Chingado!”
“Shit, you okay?” he asks calmly.
How the fuck can he be so calm?
“I’m just fucking dandy, güero.” Rubbing my upper arm where it hit the door, I adjust in the seat. “Say what you need to say.”
“First of all,” he glances quickly at me, “I did some things at the sex club that I’m not sure you would like. I didn’t have actual sex with anyone there, but I did –”
“Holy shit, Noah, you were under no obligation to me. You think I care that you what you had to do to not blow your cover?”
His hands grip the wheel. “It still felt… I just don’t want you to think that I took you to that club to use you. I honestly never intended to… I never meant…” He shakes his head. “God, Cristiana, I couldn’t face you after that night. I took advantage of you –”
His attention is diverted to swerving to miss another parked car. The green car is still ahead of us. I can’t understand how he is following it so easily when we’re having this conversation.
“I seem to remember I asked you to do it.”
“Yeah, but you were drunk. I should have realized it before I let things go as far as they did. I almost…”
The pain I see on his face tells me he’s been beating himself up over this since it happened.
“Noah –”
“Don’t you dare tell me it’s okay, Nana. Because of that night, I might be the reason you were targeted today.”
I attempt to turn sideways in my seat and stare at him. “What? How?”
“Any number of ways. It could be the sex trafficker who saw you that night, or the senator could have sent someone because he found out how to get to me. It could be something to do with Ignacio –”
“How would you be tied to Ignacio?”
He makes a sharp right, still on the tail of the green car.
“Because I’m the one who suggested you for the job. I put you in danger.”
“You didn’t –”
“Fionn told me Ignacio forced himself on you and assaulted you.” He winces.
“He just kissed me,” I defend. “He’s kissed me onstage before.”
“Fionn said it was different. Plus he grabbed you, and shit, Nana, he threatened to kill you.”
“He has an illness, Noah.”
“Yeah, but if I had done my homework, my men would have been able to protect you better.”
I turn to him and blink. “I didn’t hire you. My protection is not your job.”
“Yes, it is.” He shoots me a look that, if we weren’t embroiled in a car chase of epic proportions, would have melted my panties. “I protect the people I… care about.”
“You… care about me?”
“Have you not been paying attention?” After making another right turn, he straightens the wheel and looks at me quickly. “I didn’t fly all that way for a booty call, Nana. My end game is not to get you into bed.” He lets go of the steering wheel to grab my hand. “I want you in my life.” Squeezing, he adds, “Permanently.”
His hand goes back to the wheel as I sit there, dazed.
“But before you say anything, I have something else to tell you.”
“Santa mierda, there’s more?”
“Yeah,” his hand rubs the back of his neck and he sighs. “This is hard.”
“Remember, I told you that there’s nothing you can tell me that will change –”
“I had sex with the girl Jason loves in front of him at his request.”
Okay. There’s that.
He finally glances my direction. My expression must not be the neutral one I thought I had.
“Please, let me explain. I thought you were with Ignacio. Jason has a serious heart condition that limits his physical activity. Back in college, he had a heart attack while having sex with his then girlfriend. He’s been in love with this woman for years, and he wanted to show her how much, but he can’t, so he asked me to while he watched… directed us even. I knew if I didn’t do it, he’d find someone else and it could become a potential nightmare for him, and since he’s like a brother to me,
I agreed.”
I focus in front of us and see the blockade the police have set up. Noah pulls off to the side and turns off the car. The driver of the green car makes a hasty U-turn and side-swipes a parked car. I get worried it will ram us, but fleeing must be more important. Three of the cop cars zoom past us in pursuit.
I’m watching all this unfold, but I can’t really digest it. This day… it’s like I can’t handle any more.
“Cristiana, you have to know that if I knew you and Ignacio weren’t together, I never would have said yes. I would have ended the investigation at the club and come for you a lot sooner.”
A man in a buttoned up shirt and a badge stands outside his window. He sighs and opens the door.
What happens next is a blur. A stream of cops and questions, which I robotically answer, some several times. Noah stays close, but I think he gives me a little space to deal.
And I have a lot to deal with. The last four days were emotionally draining. If learning about Ignacio this morning, finding Noah waiting for me, discovering the break in, and a high speed chase weren’t enough, now I have this man declaring his intentions and laying it all out for me. I just need a few minutes to process.
By the time we wind down, it’s getting dark. I sit in the car, wrapping my arms around myself and leaning the seat back. Noah gets in the car and starts it without a word.
“Did they catch the person?” I ask weakly.
“No. The driver Houdini-ed. They found the car abandoned down an alley six miles from here. There was no sign of the driver.”
Nodding, I close my eyes. I have no clue where we are. The adrenaline has worn off, so I’m fading fast. He’s talking on the phone, but I can’t make out what is said. Once he goes silent, I allow myself to fall into darkness.
Twenty Eight
Noah
As I walk into the room with my glass of whiskey, my eyes land on her, illuminated by the light of the full moon coming in through the window. This is not how I envisioned getting her into my bed. It took every ounce of strength I have left not to crawl in beside her and hold on for dear life. Yes, I brought her to my place, but only for her protection. And I’m only going to watch over her from my chair because I don’t want her to wake up alone. She needs time and space, but I need to know she’s okay.