He came back, leaned in and kissed my forehead.
“I know.”
Then he walked across the room, turned off the light and was gone.
Fucking, f**king Lee.
* * * * *
Normally, I could sleep just about anywhere, crash on someone’s couch, in a double bed with four other people (mainly because my activity cleared the bed), in the back of a van.
I was learning I had a great many life skills I had not known I possessed, such as running away when people were shooting at me, holding my own when I’d been kidnapped and not throwing up when I found a dead body.
Unfortunately, those new life skills did not include being able to sleep while I was cuffed to Liam Nightingale’s bed.
I found a somewhat comfortable position and tried to sleep but I was spitting mad and every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Tim and his brains that were no longer contained in his body.
What seemed like hours later, I heard the door open and my body tensed. I kept myself perfectly still and listened as someone walked through the house. They didn’t turn on any lights and they were quiet as a cat, the only noise a barely distinct rustling. Then, that someone walked into the bedroom, I heard something fall on the chair, then the whisper of movement of the sheets, then hands at my wrist, the smell of leather, spice and tobacco and when I was released from the headboard, I knew it was Lee.
No sooner was I released, I rolled away, toward the other side of the bed and freedom.
I got a roll and a half in before an arm hooked around my waist and I was stopped.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m getting a taxi home,” I said between clenched teeth.
“No.”
“Then, I’m sleeping on the couch.”
“No.”
Great. We were going to go through this rigmarole again.
“I’m sleeping on the other side of the bed.”
“No.”
“You’re an ass**le.”
“Maybe.”
Shit.
Lee settled in, tucked my back to his front, his arm wrapped around my waist.
I laid there wondering if I should flip over, knee him in the ‘nads and take off.
Then, for some reason, the vision of Tim floated into my head and my body started trembling, like, a lot. Full-on human earthquake.
“Shit,” I whispered and Lee turned me to facing him and wrapped both his arms around me, tight.
I pressed into his warmth and tried not to cry.
“Did you know him?” Lee asked softly.
“No.” My voice sounded shaky, even on that one word. I took in a big, broken breath. “Though, I think he’d come into the store every once in awhile.” I took another breath to control the threatening tears. “It’s an ugly way to go. What are his parents gonna think?”
Lee started stroking my back and he didn’t answer, likely because he had no idea what Tim’s parents would think and didn’t want to dwell on it.
Lee started to play with my hair and I pressed my face into his neck. His body was hard and warm and I could hear his steady breathing. His hand at my hair relaxed me and his arm around my waist made me feel safe.
After awhile, I fell asleep.
Chapter Eight
He Doesn’t Like Nixon Much
I woke up in Lee’s bed, but this time, no Lee.
I didn’t have enough mental capacity to wonder where he was and certainly not enough to process my sense of disappointment. I told myself there should be no disappointment at the absence of a man who would handcuff me to his bed against my will, so I shoved it aside.
It was twenty past six and I decided when I had all that time to think when I was handcuffed to the bed that Fortnum’s was going to close for the weekend.
Sometimes it was good being the boss.
Truth was, working there wasn’t tough. There were four of us, five when Ally was around which was most of the time. We were open seven thirty to six on weekdays, eight thirty to six on Saturdays and ten to four on Sundays. Outside of the morning rush, most of that time was spent hanging around. We all came and went when we pleased.
With two staff down, it was beginning to seem like work. With me and Ally gallivanting across town looking for Rosie, Jane was taking the burden.
I didn’t make shifts or assign hours, everyone worked whenever they wanted, which was pretty much seven days a week, give or take a couple hours here or there to run errands, go to lunch with a friend, go shopping at Cherry Creek Mall, come in late if you were sleeping it off, leave early whenever or to tie one on at Lincoln’s Road House, the local biker bar. People took days off whenever they wanted and no one did more than the others. Gram had set the precedent. We all pitched in and, somehow, it worked.
I needed a break after the last couple of days and I was sure Ally and Jane needed one too. Hopefully, by Monday, now that the police were involved, this would be sorted and all would be back to normal. That was to say, normal with Duke back and normal as it would ever be.
Rosie, I knew after last night, was likely never coming back.
I just hoped whatever he did in not coming back, he did it breathing.
This made me sad, but I pushed that thought aside too.
I got up, staggered to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I was running on empty, not just my morning caffeine jolt but also the fact that I’d had a lot less sleep than I usually required. I stared in the mirror noting the bruising on my face was subsiding but not by much, or perhaps the scary dark circles under my eyes were running interference for the bruising.
I walked out of the bedroom to make coffee and stopped dead, staring at the Command Center door, which was open.
I expected that Lee was gone, off for a run, off to command mercenary troops in a drug war in Peru, off to put tracking devices on my car.
Instead I heard him talking on the phone like it was an everyday room and not the nerve center for an international commando cartel.
Normally, curiosity would have forced me to walk right in or at least eavesdrop on his conversation.
Instead, I went straight to the coffeepot.
Priorities.
The pot was almost full.
I emitted a sigh of delight.
I filled a cup, splashed in the milk and walked it to the balcony off the living room, sipping my coffee and staring at the beauty of the Front Range.
Lee had a killer view.
As the caffeine permeated, I allowed my foggy brain to plan my day.
I was going to call Jane and Ally and go put a note up at Fortnum’s. I was going to go get Tod and Stevie’s car, go home and make macaroni salad so it had time to ferment before the barbeque. Then I was going to go to bed until I had to wake up to make the brownies and get ready for the barbeque.