Mercifully, Andre waited until almost the end of my assessment to call. There was one more place to survey. Accepting his summons, I slanted my head back to study the low, inexpensive tin roof of the building while simultaneously clapping the phone to my ear.
“What’s the verdict on your leave?” Cupping a hand around my forehead to buffer the sun, I expected him to say anything but what he did.
“Tobin, my man! I need an address to call home for the next month.”
I gave out my address for the second time in less than twenty minutes. “I’m surprised you even got the go-ahead to take off. I’m nearly pissing myself that you got it for a month. What did you have to do to make that happen? How many of the old, wrinkly wives did you have to knock off? I’m almost positive you did it happily.”
His hysterical merriment filled the line. “I knocked off none. I only reminded a couple of their husbands that I know where the bodies are, so to speak. That, I did do happily. They weren’t thrilled about giving me the time off, especially not right after losing you. Your team has done everything but go on strike at the base, and they won’t be back in commission anytime soon. One by one, they all ended up in the brig after giving the Sergeant Major hell for fucking over you. His office is in shambles thanks to all the lovely members, former and present ones, of First Battalion, Bravo Company.”
Unable to help it, I cracked my sides chuckling.
Andre laughed right along with me. “There will be no infiltration into Korea anytime soon. I swear you influenced those guys to go after Lindon hard, grinding the gears of the war he and cronies want to start, and I wouldn’t blame you. What are you doing now?”
“The guys and I have talked about everything but going after Lindon. Currently, I’m reconning the roof of Dr. Johnston’s office. A lot has happened since I last talked to you.”
Andre did the one thing he tried like hell to never do when not on duty, he got serious. “Who is the guy that finally came out of the woodwork to present himself to your doctor?”
The things I would do if she was more than my doctor. “It’s almost alarming how fast you deduce a situation down to its simplest forms sometimes without the facts. His name is Chad Lowell, and it’s equally alarming how he skirts around the law to harass her with gifts. She believes it’s a waste of time to bring the LIPD in on this after the cops failed to put a stop to him in California. I agree with her until we find out if he poisoned her receptionist or not with fettucine he brought himself, including an expensive bottle of wine and a note. She didn’t even read it, knew what it said because he writes the same thing every time. The guy is a hot ass, psychotic mess.”
“People aren’t that complicated, Tobin. We want something, we either have the balls to go after it, or we don’t. Stalkers have more balls than anyone should and not enough good sense to accept when they’re not wanted. It was a matter of time before he made himself known. If he’s skirting the law, then he probably hasn’t poisoned the food. It could have killed your doctor before he was ready. He’s definitely enjoying her panicking about it, though, and I’m sure she’s panicking.”
“Quietly, but yeah, she is, preferring to deal with Chad alone, so no one else gets caught in the crossfire.”
“Dealing with him alone is a bad choice. I assume she’s learned that wasn’t happening with you there.”
“Right. We’re waiting for her receptionist to give us the results from her urgent care visit.”
“The son of a bastard can laugh it up for now. We’ll find out how much he enjoys having two Marines on his ass later. What’s the roof looking like?”
Done with my examination, I dropped my head to summarize it up for him. “Tin, bolts sticking up for footholds, jumpable and survivable even if you land wrong on anything but your head.”
“That sucks. The owner doesn’t believe in high rises or something? One less access point would help with the security of that place.”
“That’s for sure. When do you land?”
“In two days at 0800 hours. I’ll make my way to you at her office. I’m sure her office’s info is online.” He didn’t sound any happier about that than I did. Google nor Siri could keep anything to themselves. “Later, Graham.”
“Later, Underwood.” Disconnecting the call, I returned from whence I came.
“This building is a series of crimes waiting to happen,” I reported five minutes later to Cherise’s back. The arch of it was filling my head with images of tracing it with my fingers, driving me mad. She was only cleaning up her desk for the day. Actually, it was early afternoon if I wanted to be technical about it. There was one other thing that should be set straight: her safety at the office. She didn’t have any. “Avoid the back and sides of the building at all costs. You’re better off running into the street at rush hour than getting trapped in those parts.”
“Okay.” She bent over to stuff her writing pad in the top drawer of the desk. Her apple-bottom shaped ass filled my line of vision. My whole train of thought derailed. No one’s ass should be that plush or appetizing. She scrutinized me over her shoulder as she put more things into the drawer blindly. “Any other precautions?”
On mute for too long in the doorway, I scrambled to carry my side of the dialog. “There’s, ah, an infinite number of precautions we should discuss you taking. You should go to the carnival with me tonight or tomorrow. Whatever works best for you.”
The words coming out of my mouth registered too late with my brain. Did I just ask her on a date? I was sure my stupid mouth just asked her on a date. That was a major error by the way her head snapped my way. Oh damn.
Cherise
Did he just ask me out?
Tobin’s massive hands began flying through the air as if he was directing traffic. “Wait, wait, wait,” he backpedaled at the speed of light. “Before you throw me out on my ass, I didn’t intend for that to sound like it did.”
I wasn’t supposed to regret drawing the line at dating him. At this point, I’d have said yes. Life was getting far too complicated to not grab every bit of happiness I could find. Backtracking on my decisions would make me look irrational nevertheless. A practicing psychiatrist couldn’t give that impression. There had to be a middle ground to pick up the dropped threads of this conversation.
Crossing my arms, I perched on the end of my desk. “What was it supposed to sound like then, Tobin?”
Pure relief solidified on his extraordinary features. “A meeting. We should combine talking about what’ll keep you from harm while I do my homework. We’d be killing two birds with one stone.”
It took only a few microseconds to think over his idea. A business meeting permitted us to be in each other’s company without risking my license. With my business threatening to collapse under me, I wasn’t all that troubled about a piece of paper that wouldn’t do me much good anyway if Chad Lowell showed up.
“Tomorrow is good. I have to prep Malaysia tonight. And I need to stop by the store and get lots of alcohol, so she doesn’t throw me out on my ass.” Hiding a grin, I went back to putting away material I used during his session then locked the drawer.
“O-Okay?” he sputtered.
“Okay,” I recapped. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, yeah,” he iterated, seeming to be off his guard.
I moved toward him to lead the way out back where my car was parked. With his hands in his pockets, he continued to stand in the doorway, peering down at me. The tip of my head only reached his shoulders. I had to crane my neck to maintain a visual connection. He was way too damn tall. I’d have to climb this man like a tree to get to his lips. I wasn’t saying I had a problem with that, just making an observation. But, you shouldn’t be trying to get to his lips right now, Cherise. There was business to handle at home with Malaysia. Then, he should get the hell out of the way and stop staring at my mouth too.
Well, he didn’t. The craving to kiss him started to build in other places than my mind as his gray orbs caressed my face like f
ingertips. I only had so much willpower to do the right thing. Somebody had to say something before somebody did something they shouldn’t. Apparently, that somebody was me in both aspects and I didn’t really want to go home now. The faster we left, the faster I had to depart from him. Why did that somebody who always did the right thing have to be me all the time?
Fuck my life.
“Tobin,” I tried to rouse him from our stare off delicately.
“Hmmm.” Even the hum of his deep tone was panty-melting.
I should just stop wearing underwear around him. “I thought we were leaving.”
He blinked rapidly as if waking up. “We were. Shit. Sorry.”
Yet, he didn’t move. I was back to trying to hide my grin, loving the discovery that he was obviously attracted to me too. Not having to endure being the only one denying myself something I yearned for made that cross so much easier to bear. Every day, we were finding common ground to stand on together. Too bad I told him standing together was all we could do together ethically.
“Don’t be sorry, Tobin. We both will be sorry if I don’t get Malaysia drunk fast enough first before mentioning the reason I ran to her is back, and we’re both at risk to suffer his aggression. Fun times, right?”
He mulled that over for a couple seconds. “Maybe, you should be specific about whose aggression ran you to her before bringing my role in all this up to her. She could mistake me as the one who’s back. My situation isn’t all that different from Chad’s. My first impression on you two isn’t one to brag about either, remember?” Damn if he didn’t have a valid point.
“I really need to choose my words carefully tonight, don’t I?”
He raised one eyebrow and cocked his head. “So carefully, you should probably look each word up in the online dictionary first before speaking them.”
It might help if I was articulate when explaining everything to her. “That means no drinking for me then. Fuuuuck,” I stretched the curse to within an inch of its life.
A drink was the main thing I had to have after this day, outside of Tobin, of course. He belly-laughed loudly and sidestepped, showcasing the way out with an outstretched arm.
I swatted his arm as I passed by him. “Denying my weakness for alcohol after a long day is not funny.”
“Your cursing is funny. It’s too proper. You sound like a teacher doing it when nobody ever expects it. Shocking.” More like hilarious evidently.
I took a left in the foyer. “Well, this is one of those days when I need to de-stress, so I might let go of a lot of f-bombs since I can’t drink. Prepare yourself accordingly,” I cautioned.
He only chortled at my expense harder, his laugh a thing of beauty. I didn’t think he knew how much younger and handsomer it made him. No one should get more good looking. It was a crime against women forced into celibacy everywhere. It would also induce them to commit crimes too, of the sexual kind. Picking up the pace before I caught my first molesting charge, I overtook a closed door to the restroom on my right.
Tobin was in more danger than he knew just by being near me. I wasn’t about to admit that to him. We went through the archway into the sparsely decorated breakroom. Crossing over large blocks of tan tiles to the back door, he went out it first, surveilling the area as I locked up. His vigilance had my paranoia kicking up a notch. I advocated, with a hastily extended palm pointing to the other side of my car, that he get in the passenger’s seat.
“Thank you for the ride,” he delivered as I practically dived in the car, slamming my door shut then locking it.
I started the car while Tobin let the seat back before getting in. Viewing his long, muscular limbs moving from outside to in was a decadence for the eyesight. He wouldn’t be thanking me if he knew what I wanted to do to his legs; ride them while riding him. Then again, maybe he would thank me. We were not going to find out here.
The ride around to the front was brief and silent. The air was dense with my desire. I had a feeling it would always be that way around him. The deep, deep trouble I descended into during our first meeting this week just got deeper. With doubts of rescue coming anytime soon, I dropped him off behind his truck, pulling away only after he’d mobilized behind me. On my way to a nearby store, I knew I had two things to look forward to, a long, sleepless night thinking of him and Chad or haunted dreams of both. Either way, I’d be tired come morning and ravenous for Tobin. Again, fuck my life, I thought as I entered my front door.
Four hours later, my escort home had been long gone. Bizarrely, I didn’t feel alone while relaxing on my tan, cloth couch with my bare feet resting on Malaysia’s brown leather ottoman. The house was a mix of my and her belongings. I expected her home in a few minutes. If I ruined explaining why we needed Tobin around, I could always move into my office. A practical nature had me buying a sleeper sofa instead of a regular couch. I didn’t know when I’d want a nap.
After hearing from Athena, my chances for screwing up my talk with Malaysia doubled. Glad my receptionist didn’t have poison in her system, I needed a glass of forbidden wine to celebrate. The flute in my hand was two-thirds gone when Malaysia turned her key in the door. As usual, she plopped down on the couch beside me, never just sitting down like a normal person.
A large carryon filled with samples for new designs slipped down the three-quarter sleeve of her pink cargo jumper. “Hi, honey. I’m home.” The white stilettos on her feet went in two directions as she toed them off.
The closest thing to the love of my life at the moment, I stroked a lock of her bone-straight hair. “We need to talk, baby girl.”
She lifted one finger in the air, signaling for a ‘wait a minute.’ “For a moment there, I thought we were actually married because ‘we need to talk’ is something a man I’m involved with would say.” He most certainly would.
Malaysia was a slob during the week, a bad cook on any given day. The bathroom was always occupied with products of the things she used in the mornings. She needed more bathroom to go with her things. “I’m going to need some of whatever you’re drinking before we talk… and you better not be moving out, Cherise.”
“I’m not moving out, but you might be kicking me out.” I handed her my glass.
Chugging the wine and bucking her peepers over the rim at me, she wiggled her fingers for the bottle on the end table with a nail head-enclosed leather patch in the center. I passed along the Pinot Grigio. She filled the glass to the brim. “How can I kick you out when you signed the lease just like I did?”
“Before I answer that, I’m going to need you to swallow one more glass of that first.”
“You’re trying to get me drunk.” She bobbed her head with conviction. “Definitely my man. Tell me what’s happening while I drink like a fish. I’m thinking I should be at least one sheet to the wind to hear this too.”
She turned up the flute. I spewed out today’s events. When I ran out of words, she staggered to her feet, screeching, “Oh hell nawl!”
I couldn’t say I didn’t see that impolite decline coming. “I told you you’d want me to move out.”
She leaned back as if I attempted to hit her. “What? No! That’s not it. You like the guy that threatened us with death fifteen years ago. What’s wrong with you?”
My eyebrows shot up into my hairline. “That’s your takeaway from a stalker? Not the poisoned employee, maybe you being targeted too, and me hiring an ex-Marine for a dollar?”
‘Duh’ was stamped all over her face when she spouted, “Yeah!”
Rearranging the kimono I wore with nothing else around my legs, I loosened up for a verbal fight for Tobin’s admission into our home. “Did you hear Tobin say he’d kill us that night?”
“Ye-no, not… really,” she faltered, “but it was implied.”
“Ha! Is implying good enough for a court of law?”
“This is not a court of law. He’s dangerous, Cherise.”
“So is Chad, which is why we need Tobin, who turned his life around and went in t
he military. That’s a damn good redemption story if you asked me.”
She jabbed a finger my way. “I didn’t ask you, and wait a minute. You like him.”
I couldn’t lie to her even if I wanted to. “I wished I didn’t, Malaysia.”
She coiled her arms over her chest and rested her weight on the foot positioned behind her. “Fire with fire, huh?”
“Basically. Chad is at least two hundred fifty pounds of solid muscles and experienced crazy. I don’t want anyone hurt because he’s after me, Malaysia.” If that didn’t convince her we should take advantage of Tobin’s expertise with defense, nothing would. I let her chew over it in peace.
Finally, she voiced her decision. “Well, you’ve had a bad day. There might be many more on the way with Chad on the loose, so Tobin can come over when you want him to within reason. He has to stay out of my bathroom and bedroom.” He’d show himself right back out our home if he saw how junky both rooms were at this moment.
Good thing I had a neat bedroom and bathroom on the other end of the condo. “Deal.”
“No deal. I have conditions.” And there were a lot of them, like Tobin teaching her to use a firearm too. It might be better for him if he didn’t.
I had to make her promise to be civil to him. She approved being civil, not hospitable. I agreed to ask him about the gun lessons anyway. Malaysia stipulated I had to clean up the guestroom alone. That wasn’t happening. Half of that crap in there was hers. At least, I thought so. We’d moved in before the ink dried on the lease weeks ago. Between our two startup businesses and figuring out what should go where, it was a miracle the essentials got unpacked.
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