Using a prepaid cell phone he’d picked up a few hours ago, he called Constance. It was three hours later in New York, which made it almost 3:25 a.m. She didn’t answer, but he left a message. “Your lover boy is sleeping with my old girlfriend. Just thought you might like to know,” he said and hung up. He enjoyed thinking that might hurt her, or get Sebastian in trouble if they were still together, but it wasn’t enough. A few seconds later, he considered calling Sebastian directly. Chances were Sebastian hadn’t changed his number. Why would he?
“Is something wrong?”
Latisha had come up behind him. He was allowing her as much freedom as possible tonight, partly to make up for what he’d done to her sister and partly to convince her how good it could be between them if he could trust her. Today he’d taken her to the mall, and bought her some clothes that actually fit and a ring. It wasn’t an expensive ring, but she kept staring at the little diamond as if it was the most beautiful gift she’d ever received.
He’d told her that he hoped to marry her someday. Women loved that shit. If he could get her to care about him, even a little bit, he wouldn’t have to worry about her trying to get away every second his back was turned. “Nothing’s wrong,” he said. “I just have a lot of nervous energy.”
“Do you want me to make you something to eat?”
He pulled her onto his knee so he could fondle her breast. “I’m not hungry.” He grinned at her. “Why don’t we get some cooking oil and go back to the bedroom?”
“Cooking oil?” she echoed.
“I think it’s time I gave you a massage.”
“I’ve never had a massage.”
“Then you’re in for a treat.”
She gazed at her ring. “Did you mean what you said earlier?”
“When I told you how I feel about you?”
She nodded.
“Of course.” Letting go of her breast, he took her hand instead. “I know what I did was wrong, Latisha. I know I shouldn’t have forced you and Marcie to come back here with me. And I’m sorry I didn’t treat you right once I got you out here.”
“So why’d you do it?” she murmured.
“I was lonely. Sometimes I get so…angry at the world. If you knew what’d happened to me, you’d understand.” He bowed his head as if the weight of the past was too heavy to bear.
“Tell me,” she said.
To give her the impression he could barely stand to talk about it, he pretended to choke up. “Someone killed my wife and kid when I was living back east.”
Sympathy brought her eyebrows together as she bent her head to see into his face. “How?”
“It was a guy I put in prison, a guy named Sebastian Costas. When he got out, he came for revenge. I’ve been hunting him ever since.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
He rested his forehead on her shoulder. “So am I.”
“Then you’re not on the force anymore?”
“That’s why I quit-to chase him down.” He kissed the back of her hand. “And when I saw you and Marcie in that car, I guess I just…snapped. Other people are out there living normal lives, but here I am without the two people I loved more than anything. I decided to change my situation, to force it to be more like what I wanted.”
“You can’t force it,” she said, but her words were more earnest than judgmental.
“I know, and I would’ve realized it if I hadn’t been working on so little sleep. I’d been up all night, following another false lead and wasn’t thinking straight. Then, after I’d taken you, I couldn’t see how I could let you go without winding up in prison myself.” He paused for impact before continuing. “It didn’t seem fair, you know? That I could’ve made my life worse by trying to make it better.” He shook his head. “Until recently, I was so depressed and angry at myself nothing else seemed to matter. I was actually thinking of killing us all. That’s what I had in mind when I came to your room with that gun. But then-” he cupped the right side of her face with one hand “-then there was you.”
“Me?”
“You brought me fresh hope, made me want to live a good life again.”
She seemed confused. “But what about Marcie?”
“That’s why I let her go, babe. I realized I had to do it, no matter what happened to me. I couldn’t bring myself to do anything else, mostly because it would hurt you.”
She stared at his fingers as he drew designs on her forearm. “Why didn’t you let me go, too?”
“Because it would break my heart to lose you. You’re the first person I’ve cared about since my wife.”
She turned the ring he’d given her around and around on her slim finger. “Does that mean I can go-if I want to?”
This was a test. Malcolm recognized that immediately and dropped his hand so she’d feel no restraint. “I was hoping you’d stay long enough to let me prove what I’m really like. But if you want to go, I won’t stop you.”
She stood and glanced at the door.
Don’t do it, he chanted in his head. If she did, he’d have to drag her back and force her to resume the way they’d been-or kill her. He preferred the more pleasant version of the life he’d begun to envision.
“You want me to stay?” she asked, fiddling with the hem of her T-shirt.
“You’re my hope for the future. Once I catch the bastard who killed my family, I can provide everything a cop’s wife deserves-a nice house, babies, anything you want. Give me two weeks. That’s all I ask.”
“Can I call home?”
“No. You know what Marcie would do. She hates me. She’d tell you to leave me. She’d try to get me in trouble.”
“I just want to let my other sister know I’m okay.”
He searched for an excuse and came up with a solution instead. “Does she have a computer?”
“It’s an old hand-me-down her boss gave her, but she can do e-mail.”
“Perfect.” He slid his laptop over to her and watched as she logged in to an e-mail program and typed a brief message.
Gloria-
Don’t worry about me. I’m safe. I’ll be fine and will be in touch in two weeks. Until then, take care of yourself and be happy.
I love you-
Latisha
The tormented expression on her face made Malcolm fear she might change her mind. She was missing her sister, missing home.