Текст книги "All or Nothing "

Автор книги: C. C. Wood

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 11 (всего у книги 13 страниц)

Chapter Twenty-Four

‡

Two weeks later, I sat in my office, pretending to work. The past fourteen days had been nothing but the same monotonous routine. King escorted me everywhere; he dropped me off at the office, picked me up after work, then back to his house.

Finally, last night, I’d blown. The cabin fever made me do it.

We were getting ready for bed, discussing whether or not I’d be going to the bar or my office at the firm, when I said it.

“King, you know I like being around you, right?”

He smirked at me. “Yeah.”

“Okay, so don’t take this the wrong way, but…”

“But what?”

“Can’t I drive myself to and from work tomorrow?” I asked.

“No,” he answered shortly, his smile immediately vanishing.

“I can’t take it anymore!” I plopped down on the bed, staring at him earnestly. “I haven’t left the house alone in weeks. I haven’t been anywhere but here and work or the bar. I need to get out of here before I lose what’s left of my twisted little mind!”

I could see the smile tugging at King’s mouth, but his response was still, “No way in hell.”

“King, please. Have someone follow me, I don’t care. Just let me go sit in a restaurant or go shopping for an hour. Something.”

The amusement fled from his face. “Did you forget that Larry has you in his sights and things are heating up between Wick and him right now? Things are about to come to a head and I do not want you in the crossfire,” he insisted. “A few weeks will be nothing in the grand scheme of things, so suck it up.”

With that, he threw the covers back and climbed out of bed. I watched as he stalked into the closet and pulled on a pair of jeans, and I realized I’d been acting like a pain in the ass.

“King-”

He lifted a hand, indicating he did not want me to speak. After he yanked on his jeans, he took the time to pull on a t-shirt, socks, and boots. Then he headed for the door.

I decided to try to apologize one more time. “King, I’m-”

“Shut up, Jena. We’ll talk when I get back.”

I stood up. “Where are you-” The door shut behind him before I finished. “Going?”

I didn’t know what time he came home, but I knew it was after two in the morning, because that was about the time I finally fell asleep.

He was gone the next morning when I woke, but I knew he’d been in the bed because his pillow bore the imprint of his head and his clothes and boots were in a pile on the floor.

I was disappointed when I walked through the house on my way to get coffee and realized that he was nowhere to be found. Instead, Tia was already in the kitchen, bleary-eyed and drinking from a huge mug.

As I went to the coffee maker to pour myself a cup, she mumbled, “King wants me to take you to work today. Said something important came up.”

At her words, my jaw went tight. I was sorry for acting like a brat to King the night before, but this was fucking ridiculous. So I said something without thinking about it? He didn’t even give me a chance to apologize before he stormed out and now he was avoiding me.

“Jena?” Tia’s voice broke through my thoughts.

“Yeah?”

“You okay?”

I nodded and picked up my full mug. “Fine. I’ll be ready to leave in an hour. Is that okay?”

“Sure.”

Without another word, I marched out of the kitchen and back down the hall to the bedroom. Taking care to shut the door like a normal person, rather than slamming it, I went to the nightstand and snatched up my phone.

I found King’s listing and hit the button to connect the call. It rang several times before going to voicemail, which ratcheted up my anger even more.

“Leave a message.”

Oh boy, did I ever.

“King, it’s Jena. Two things. One, I’m sorry I said what I did last night. I’m not used to being cooped up and I know I’m not handling it well.” I took a deep breath because I wanted to scream and it was the only way I could control it. “Two, when you’re ready to stop fucking sulking and apologize for the way you reacted, you can leave a message on my fucking phone.”

It was immature and ridiculous, but I didn’t care. After his little speech last night about protecting me and making me feel like an asshole, he suddenly disappeared. It was bullshit. He couldn’t have it both ways.

Now, I was sitting at my desk, trying to hold onto my anger because it was the only thing keeping me from crying. King was such a complicated man and he’d never ignored me before. He’d always been willing to argue it out. I didn’t know what to think about his prolonged silence.

I had just picked up my cell to text him when there was a knock at my office door. I’d closed it because I didn’t want anyone to see me moping instead of working.

“Come in,” I called.

Marilyn opened the door. “Hey, Jena. I know you’re busy, but I have yet another client who asked for you specifically.” She was grinning, probably because she thought I was bringing in lots of clients.

“Okay.”

“This is Larry Clarke. He said you used to do some bookkeeping for him while you were in school.”

My blood ran cold when she said the name. I knew from working for Larry for so long that he had family with the last name Clarke.

I was between a rock and a hard place. I didn’t want to put Marilyn or any of my coworkers in danger. I didn’t know this side of Larry so I couldn’t fathom what he might be willing to do.

As soon as Marilyn stepped out of the door, my phone started buzzing in my hand. It was King, but I couldn’t answer because Larry was already entering my office.

Quickly, I chose to respond to his call via text and typed, Larry here hurry.

Since Marilyn was still loitering in the doorway, I put my phone on my desk and stood, pasting a smile on my face. “Hi, Larry. Nice to see you again.”

In his mid-sixties, Clarence Peretti was tall and well-built. In the last few years, he’d developed a bit of a gut due to his love of food. His hair was salt and pepper and deep wrinkles surrounded his blue eyes because he laughed a lot and rarely wore sunglasses.

“Jena, it’s a pleasure,” he murmured.

I breathed a sigh of relief when she shut the door to the office before we would be forced to shake hands.

I pressed my fingertips to the top of my desk, but remained standing. I wanted to say something, but had no idea how to begin.

“I’m not here to hurt you, Jena,” he began, “I’m here to talk to you.”

Still hesitant, I nodded, but remained standing.

“Jena, I mean it, I won’t hurt you. Please sit down.”

Suddenly Larry looked every one of his sixty-six years. He also looked exhausted.

Slowly, I lowered myself into my chair. He did the same. We sat across from each other, not speaking.

Finally, I asked softly, “Why are you here, Larry?”

He sighed. “I came to tell you once again that you have nothing to fear from me, Jena. I know what happened with Justin and what he was doing to you.”

“How did you find out?”

“Justin told me before he died.”

My stomach clenched as a horrific thought occurred to me. “Did you…did you-”

Larry shook his head. “No, Jena, I didn’t hurt Justin. He wanted to come work for me. That’s how I prevented your boyfriend from shoving me out of Dallas before now.”

Oh my God. Justin and Katie were both assholes of the first order. Neither of them hesitated to betray the people that trusted them.

“Before now?” I asked.

“It’s over for me, Jena. I’m finally retiring and moving Delores to Florida. She’s been on my ass about it for five years. It’s time.”

I nodded, hope blooming in my heart. Maybe it was going to really be over soon.

“I know that you probably won’t trust me when I say this, but I hold no ill will toward you. You worked for me for a long time and you are a very sweet young woman. Even if you had given King and Wick what they wanted, I wouldn’t have blamed you. I’m no saint and I know better than anyone what lengths bad men will go to in order to get what they want.”

My eyes stung at his words because this was the Larry I knew. “Thank you, Larry.”

His face became grave. “I hope you’ll listen to me when I tell you this, Jena. You need to get away from King and you need to do it soon. They don’t know what they’re bringing down on themselves. You’re going to be in danger, and I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

I couldn’t help but feel a bit suspicious of his words. “What do you mean?”

“Wick isn’t the only one interested in the Dallas territory. There’s another man who wants to take over here and he’s nothing like your boyfriend or me. He is brutal and he will want to make a statement. I managed to hold him back because I have connections with his family, but with me retiring…I can’t hold him off any longer.”

“Who are you talking about?” I asked. “Did you mention this to Wick?”

Larry nodded. “I did, but Wick thinks he can handle Renaldo.”

Having met Wick, I honestly thought he could probably handle anything thrown his way, but I still felt a trickle of fear run down my spine.

“But you don’t?” I asked.

Shaking his head, Larry got to his feet. “No, I don’t. I don’t think Wick has encountered anyone like Renaldo before.” The smile he gave me was sad. “I want you to be happy, Jena. I may not be the best man, but I can still recognize good people when I see them.”

Unable to think of anything to say, I nodded.

Larry leaned across the desk and laid his hand on mine. “Get away from King, Jena. He’s the reason that Justin is dead.”

Speechless, I watched as he straightened and walked through the door of my office. If I could have spoken, I would have asked him what in the hell he meant.

But it was way too late.

Chapter Twenty-Five

‡

Five minutes after Larry walked out of my office, King rushed in. I was still sitting behind my desk, unmoving.

King shut and locked my office door behind him and came around my desk, crouching down next to me. “Are you okay?” he asked, looking me over from head to toe, running his hands over my arms and legs.

I shoved my chair back, pulling myself out of reach. “Y-yeah, I’m okay,” I stammered, lifting my hands. “Just give me a second. I think I’m in shock.”

King froze, then sat back on his heels. The worried expression faded from his face, replaced with anger. “What the fuck were you thinking?” he asked in a low voice.

“What?”

“Larry fucking Peretti comes to your office, you don’t sit down for a fucking chat, darlin’. You haul your ass outta here and get somewhere safe.”

I stared at him, wondering if he killed Justin. I didn’t love Justin anymore and realized I never had, not really, but I also didn’t like the idea that the man I did love might be capable of cold-blooded murder.

“Larry came by to tell me he’s leaving. Retiring to Florida with his wife,” I muttered. “He wanted me to know that I was safe, that he meant it when he said he didn’t want to hurt me.”

The rage gradually receded and I could tell King was surprised. “He told you all that?”

I nodded. “Yeah. It’s over. I’m safe.”

King leaned forward, wrapping his arms around me. “I’m glad you’re okay, darlin’, but I’m not sure I believe him.”

“I do,” I insisted. “He could have hurt me when he came in today. He could have done it a long time ago.”

“What in the hell are you talking about?” King asked gently, leaning back and putting his hands on my arms.

“Justin sold you out, King. He went to Larry and told him your plan just before he was killed.”

The fury returned to King’s eyes. “That motherfucker!”

I stared at him, feeling as though I were looking at him from a great distance. “That’s why it took you so long to get Larry in hand,” I offered. “Justin gave up everything he could.”

King shot to his feet and paced around my small office. Suddenly I was struck with the thought that he looked like a panther locked in a cage, dangerous and hungry.

“Larry also said that he thought you were the reason Justin was dead,” I stated.

King stopped moving, turning toward me in slow motion. “What?”

I rose to my feet. “Did you kill Justin?” I asked baldly.

He actually looked surprised by the question. “What?”

“Did you kill Justin?” I repeated.

In a flash, he was across the office and in my face. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he growled. He was so close I could see his pupils contract to pinpoints. “Are you accusing me of murder?”

I didn’t cower. I hadn’t done it before and I’d be damned if I did it now. “You said yourself you’re not a good guy, King. I may not be a criminal mastermind, but I’m pretty sure that bad guys kill traitors.”

He blanched as though I’d slapped him across the face and took a step back. “You really think I killed him,” he muttered.

“No, King, I don’t know. That’s the problem. I don’t have a gut feeling either way because you are so fucking hard to read and you don’t talk to me about this shit. You hide things and you walk away when shit doesn’t go down the way you want it to. You scare me at times.”

“So that makes me a fuckin’ murderer?” he hissed.

“I don’t know, King. Are you?”

“Fuck you, Jena,” he snarled, throwing the same words at me that I’d thrown at him before.

Without another word, he opened the door to my office and charged out. My shaking legs wouldn’t hold me up any longer and I collapsed in my chair.

*     *     *

It wasn’t until I was back at my apartment three hours later that I realized what I’d done. It took the full three hours to calm down from being scared shitless when faced with Larry and downright furious following my confrontation with King.

Once my mind cleared, I understood exactly why King was so enraged. I’d listened to the shit Larry spit out, let it get into my head. I never would have done that with anyone else. If someone had told me when I was dating Justin that he was fucking Katie, I wouldn’t have believed it if it weren’t for the video.

Now, the first time someone had something horrible to say about King, it made me question everything about him. And Larry wasn’t the most reliable source. Just like King, he admitted he wasn’t a good guy.

I was lying on my bed, staring at the ceiling when this realization hit me. Jumping out of bed, I walked into the living room, looking for Tia. She would help me get my head on straight.

When she picked me up from work in my car, I told her I didn’t want to talk about it, that I’d explain everything later. Like the wonderful cousin she was, she accepted that without argument.

My living room was empty when I entered. I glanced around and noticed my car keys were gone and there was a note on the TV. I walked over to it and plucked it off.

Quick liquor run. Figure you’ll need tequila when you tell me what happened.

T

Shit. She wasn’t here to give me advice and I had the gnawing feeling that I needed to take action now, that waiting even another minute would be one minute too late.

I went back into the bedroom for my phone and stared at the screen for a long time, trying to figure out what I should do. Actually, I was trying to get my courage up to call King and apologize. I should have told him what Larry said and discussed it with him instead of freaking out and basically accusing him of murdering someone. I knew I would be extremely pissed off if he’d done the same to me.

As my thumb was about to hit his name in my contact list, I heard the front door open.

“Oh, Tia, thank God you’re here. I think I really fucked up,” I said as I came out of the bedroom.

I stopped short one step outside my bedroom door. My hands fell to my side and terror unlike any I’d ever known flooded my system.

Standing at the other end of the hall was Katie and she had a big black pistol in her hand, pointed straight at me.

“Holy shit,” I whispered.

Katie heard me. I knew because she grinned at me, but it wasn’t a happy smile. It was batshit crazy.

“Hey there, Jena. It’s been a while.”

Now that my shock over seeing the gun in her hand was fading a little, I noticed that she was thinner than usual, her hair stringy and in need of a good brush. Her teeth were a nasty yellow color and her eyes were super shiny. She looked like absolute shit and I realized at the same time that she was completely fucked up on something.

“Uh, yeah, Katie. Long time no see.”

The fear wasn’t easing, but I was beginning to think again, at least a little more clearly. I needed to get away from her and that scary gun or at least call for help. My phone was still in my hand but she didn’t seem to notice.

Her hand was shaky the longer she held the gun up and I wondered if she was still high or if she was coming down. Either way, she was dangerous. I had to remember that.

“Step slowly toward me,” she commanded, backing up a little.

As I did as she said, I fervently wished I had even an ounce of Tia’s skills. I had a feeling my cousin would be able to disarm Katie with very little trouble.

I was careful to keep my right side turned slightly away from Katie so she wouldn’t see my phone. I inched past her, never taking my eyes off her.

“Go sit on the couch,” she instructed me.

I did it, barely managing to keep my phone hidden as I sat down. As soon as I did, Katie came to stand slightly behind me, to the left. I could see her out of the corner of my eye as she pulled her own phone from her pocket. Her head was down and I realized she was texting someone.

If I couldn’t get away from her or get the gun, I needed to call for help. Moving very slowly, I turned my phone slightly up so I could see the edge of the screen. I hit the home key and slid my thumb across the screen to unlock it. King’s name was right beneath the pad of my finger. Pressing the speaker against my leg, I hit the call button and prayed that it wouldn’t go to voicemail.

I chanced a glance over my shoulder and saw she wasn’t even paying attention to me. I shifted experimentally to see if she would notice and her head immediately came up.

Okay, so maybe she was pretending not to watch me, but she was definitely paying attention.

“Sit still,” she snapped before looking back down at her phone.

My eyes rolled down and I could see that the call was connected. I hoped King was still listening and not about to hang up “Why are you doing this, Katie?”

“Doing what, Jena?” she asked with mock sweetness.

“Uh, holding a big handgun to my head?”

“Because I’ve always wanted to see you get what you deserve and now someone is willing to pay me a lot of fucking money to do it myself.”

Her eyes came up briefly and the look in them made a shiver shoot down my spine. Then she went back to her phone.

“What do you think I deserve?” I questioned softly.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch. I have better things to do than answer your questions. Now, where are your car keys, we’re taking a little ride.”

Relief filled me briefly. “My cousin has my car. She had to run to the store.”

“Fuck!” Katie shoved her phone in her pocket. “When is she gonna be back?”

I shrugged. “A couple of hours.” It was a lie, but I wanted to get out of here before Tia came back. In the state she was in now, I didn’t think Katie would hesitate to shoot my cousin.

Katie was silent for a few moments. “Okay, we’ll take my car.” Using the barrel to gesture, she ordered, “Get up, step around the couch, and go out the front door.”

I followed her directions, carefully switching my phone to my left hand as I turned my back to her to walk around the sofa. When she didn’t say anything, I assumed she didn’t see it. My back was still to her and I looked down at the display. The call was connected. Carefully, I hit the button that made the screen go black and pressed the phone against my belly, glad I was wearing a baggy shirt.

I looked over my shoulder at Katie again and saw that she was looking down, tucking her hand into her purse, and still holding the gun.

Now was my chance. The front door was open and she wasn’t paying attention. I tucked my phone into my front left pocket, getting ready to haul ass.

I’d taken one step forward when she called out, “Don’t move yet, bitch.”

Shit, there was no way I could make it down the stairs without getting shot in the back if I tried to escape now. For the first time, I wished I’d taken the first floor apartment they’d offered me when I moved in.

She came up behind me, much closer, and whispered, “You’re going to walk down the stairs slowly and you’re not going to run. If you do, I’ll shoot you in the fucking back. I’ll make sure you never walk again and your boyfriend won’t even be able to use you as his fuck toy. Understand?”

I nodded.

“Good. Now go.”

Moving deliberately, I stepped out the front door and started down the stairs. When we reached the bottom, she directed me to her car.

That’s where she paused. I knew she hadn’t thought out this plan all the way through.

Unfortunately, she was smart, even with all the drugs in her system. “Go to the passenger side and open the door. Slide across into the driver’s seat.”

I opened the car door and did what she said, with Katie following right behind me into the car and settling in the passenger seat.

She pulled the gun from her purse and used her other hand to hold out the car keys. “You’re driving. I’ll tell you where to go.”

With shaky hands, I took the key and fumbled with it, trying to slide it into the ignition.

“Hurry up!” she yelled.

Finally, I slid the key inside and twisted. The car roared to life.

“Let’s go.”

Scared out of my mind, I put the car in gear and prayed once more that King would be able to find me before it was too late.