Darkness Before Dawn (19 page)

We need to talk. Call me when he's not around. D.

My eyes widen at his message. Why would Dean call me and not talk?

"We're here," Cole says as he hands the cabbie the money. I shake the thoughts out of my head and slide out of the cab, careful not to flash anyone.

"What about our bags?" I ask.

"Spencer can carry them," Cole says with a shrug that I have to laugh at.

"He's our bodyguard, not our butler."

"Yeah, well, where we're going, we don't need security. He can wait outside with our bag. It's only one, I'd do him the favor if he needed to pee," he replies with another shrug.

I look around Fifth Avenue and wonder where we're going next. I look down at the short coral peplum dress and nude heels I'm wearing and look at Cole who looks edible in his dark jeans, dress shoes, shirt and jacket. His short hair is getting long enough for me to run my hands through it and grab it. I realize I'm biting down on my lips at where my thoughts are taking me when I see him look at them and smirk.

"I'd rather do that to you for real...at home, now let's go," he says with a laugh as he grabs my hand and pulls me to him.

"Do what?" I ask, confused, as I try to figure out what to do with my oversized handbag.

"Fuck you," he replies nonchalantly.

I gape at the sidewalk, which I'm concentrating on as I walk in my new shoes, before looking around to make sure nobody heard him.

"Cole," I warn in a hush whisper.

"What? You're looking at me like you want to fuck me and I'd rather not do that in public," he adds with a shrug.

I laugh loudly, throwing my head back, causing myself to stumble before I take a breath and go back to paying attention to my walk.

"You suck at walking in heels."

"And you suck at trying not to fuck me in public," I retort.

He groans and stops walking before he tugs my arm and dips his head to suck my lip into his mouth. He loves doing that. Hell, I love him doing that. I moan when his tongue slides into my mouth. He pulls back quickly and takes a deep breath. "You drive me crazy. You need to stop talking about fucking you in public unless you're okay with me walking around with a hard on."

I laugh lightly and we step back into walking. "Nah, although I don't think the cameras will mind if they zone in on it," I say with a sly smile.

I'm so lost in our conversation that I completely forget trying to figure out where we're going. When we stop in front of very familiar large iron doors, I'm completely frozen in shock. My mouth is still hanging open when Cole opens the door for me so I can walk inside of Tiffany & Co. We greet the sales people, and realization dawns on me as to why Cole needed us to be dressed up. I almost laugh, but am offered a glass of champagne, which I gladly accept, before I can comment on anything.

My mind is running a mile a minute because from the second we walked in the door I already knew we were here to look at engagement rings. I mean, why else would he bring me here? I don't even want to look at prices in here. I kind of want to call Becky and scream into the phone as I jump up and down and she tells me that I should have worn a black dress and pearls. I groan loudly and shake my head. I so should have worn a black dress and pearls. Damn it.

"See anything you like?" Cole murmurs against my ear, making me shiver. I turn around and face him with a smile.

"Umm...everything?" I reply with a quiet laugh.

"I brought you here so you can pick one of these out," he explains, grabbing my hand and walking me to the other side of the store. My heart is pounding so wildly, my chest is beginning to cramp. He stops in front of a glass case and gives me a knowing smile, which I return until I look at the case. There are about fifty skeleton keys looking back at me.
Not
what I was expecting. Bubbled laughter escapes my lips before I can stop it and I look up to meet Cole's laughing eyes as he purses his lips.

"What's so funny?" he asks.

"Nothing," I reply between laughter as I shake my head slowly. "Nothing at all."

He furrows his eyebrows, but I know him enough to know he's anything but confused. "The key to my heart," he says by way of explanation. "You lost it, so I figured I would get you a new and improved version. Even though, you are my heart." The sales lady behind the counter sighs dreamily along with me.

"Mr. Murphy," she says in a chirpy voice. "Nice to see you again. Is there anything you'd like to see from here?" I frown at the way she says his name, as if she's seen him here dozens of times. She's probably a little older than us, but not by much, maybe thirty. She's tall and has dark auburn hair and pretty hazel colored eyes. She's dressed impeccably and has blinding diamond earrings on. He did live in New York for a long time, so it is a possibility that he bought something for his past girlfriends here. The thought doesn't even bother me. We've been through enough together and apart for something that petty to get to me, but still, I am curious. Cole turns to me expectantly and I realize they're waiting for me to pick out a pendant.

"Oh...well, can I see that one right there," I ask, pointing at an oval key pendant. It looks the most like a normal skeleton key does.

"You sure?" Cole asks with a raised eyebrow. "You don't like that one better?" he asks pointing at a different one.

"Oh, that's our Blossom key pendant, that one is marvelous," the sales lady, Sarah chimes in. I take a deep breath and look up at Cole.

"Why don't you decide?" I say to him. "You bought it for me in the first place."

He gives me a thoughtful look before a grin spreads over his face. "Okay, go look around while I pick something out." My mouth drops, but I nod dumbly before walking away and looking around.

By the time Cole finishes picking the pendant, I've made my way over to the engagement and wedding bands. Walt, who has told me exactly how many diamonds and how expensive everything in the store is, is now pointing out a beautiful three carat oval engagement ring. I feel my cell phone vibrate in my purse, but am too worried about looking weird fishing it out, so I decide to let it ring.

"See anything you like?" Cole asks with a smirk.

"You got eighteen-thousand dollars to waste?" I ask with a raised eyebrow.

He chuckles lightly as he threads our fingers together and kisses the palm of my hand. "For you, nothing is a waste, baby," he whispers against it before placing my hand at his side. The butterflies in my stomach swirl and I give him a small smile before thanking and waving at my new friend Walt.

When we step outside I notice that Cole has no bag in his hand.

"You didn't end up liking anything?" I ask.

"Huh?" he asks distractedly as he scrolls through his phone.

"The skeleton keys. You didn't like any of them?"

"Oh, yeah, I liked one but they didn't have it here so I ordered it. They'll FedEx it to us."

"Hmmm," I reply thoughtfully before I remember to get my phone out to check it. Four missed calls. Three text messages. The calls are from Aubry, Aimee, Becky, and two from Connor. Odd. I scroll to open the text messages.

Connor: You wanna come over for dinner on Friday with my pops and stuff?

Unknown Number: Chick, call me. We need to talk.

Unknown Number: Just making sure you're all right, chick. Just hit me back.

I reply to Connor's text message saying that I'll think about it. I'm not sure I have the courage or will to meet those people yet. I make a quick reply to Dean while Cole is still typing away on his own phone.

Me: I'm fine. I'll call you this week. Out of town.

Unknown Number: Thanks for the reply. Let me know when you get back.

I have to figure out how to tell Cole that I'm in touch with Dean, but I'm not going to ruin our trip over that. I'll tell him when we get home.

"
Are you coming over for dinner tonight?" Connor asks as he sorts through everything inside my fridge.

"I don't know, Con. This whole thing still has me kind of on edge."

"Still?" he asks incredulously.

Connor has been pretty much a fixture in our home ever since I got home from the hospital, but since we got back from New York a few weeks ago, he seems to have practically moved in here. He leaves at night because that's when he works, not that he has a legitimate job, but that's neither here nor there since we don't discuss it. At first I was hesitant to have him around, knowing what I know about him and the people in his family—our family, I guess. But he's a good guy, that much is obvious. And Cole trusts him.

After the New York assignment, Cole has been called on five different ones. I accompanied him to two of them before deciding that I couldn't just trail him every time he went away to work. His absence is starting to bother me, even though I know it shouldn't. It never bothered me before and I understand that work is work. I just wish his job didn't demand him getting on an airplane every other day! It seems like we haven't had time to be together and work on our relationship now that we're together again.

I know that's entirely my fault because I act like everything is fine when he's around, even when I don't feel like it is. We haven't spoken about the time we were apart other than his questions on whether or not they fed me, if they touched me, where they kept me. I'm half scared to ask what he was up to, even though he's made it pretty clear that he was going through hell. Connor has been hanging around our apartment every day, and Aubry usually comes over later on after work. Aimee comes over sometimes when she takes a break from studying for the Bar, but even when she does that she brings her book along and studies here. I still have no clue what I'm going to do with myself or whether or not I want to take the test or do something else. The more time that passes, the less I want to practice law, though. I started on that path because I thought I could help people. I thought I could keep monsters behind bars, but after what happened to me, I'm not so sure anybody can.

"I don't know, I just don't think I'd feel comfortable in your grandfather's house, you know?"

He turns around, his blond brows crinkling in confusion. "Your grandfather too, you know. And I think you'd feel safe around them."

"Safe around
them
?" I ask in disbelief. "Safe around a bunch of men that go around killing people?"

"They don't go around killing people." He laughs before his face grows serious and he purses his lips as if to contemplate it. "I mean, I guess...whatever, it doesn't matter. Nobody's gonna die in front of you. It's not like we walk around the house flashing our guns around."

"Yeah, I'm sure you don't," I say with an eye roll before nodding pointedly to his hip where I know he has his gun.

"I carry it on my back," he replies casually as he turns around and lifts up his loose T-shirt revealing his toned back and the tip of the cross tattoo he has splayed on it. The handgun is tucked into his jeans. "But not when we're at home. Ma would kill me if she saw one on me."

"Hmm. Tell me about her," I say, making my way to the couch so he can follow me. Connor has practically become my free personal therapist, but better because he doesn't ask me stupid questions like "how did that make you feel?" He just sits there and laughs or comments once in a while. It feels good being able to rant to someone. Normally that someone would be Becky, but I still have some healing to do before I can get back to normal with her. I let her ramble on about how much her back hurts, but I'd rather not say too much because I don't want to say the wrong thing and make her feel bad that I'm not pregnant and she is. She doesn't deserve to not enjoy this time in her life.

"She's cool, you'd like her. Real quiet, cooks a mean meal, over protective. I don't know, just a regular mom, I guess," he replies with a shrug.

"What's her name?"

"Cindy," he replies as he dips his nacho in the cheese sauce he heated up.

"And your dad is Michael...my Uncle Michael." I state half-heartedly.

He laughs as he crunches on the nacho. "Yeah, hopefully you'll see him again soon. He's always out of town though, spends more time in Boston than he does here these days. Anyway, you know my mom's Cindy, my dad's Michael and my son is Elijah, are gonna go over this again?"