DeadlySuspicious.epub (8 page)

In a world of clones she stood out as an individual who made no apologies for who she was. It took a lot of courage to do that in the world in which they lived. “I missed you.”

“I can understand that,” she murmured with a smile. “I’m interesting.”

“Yes, you are. And as for the hair? Maybe I got sick of it being neat and conforming to the rules of the Committee. Maybe the only hair I like against my skin is yours.” He glanced at her briefly and saw her face go red. He knew Denby would. Any intimacy made her do that. The woman could fight the devil but sweet talk her and she went all girly. He loved that about her
.
“And you still blush. That’s cute.”

“Clashes dreadfully with my hair,” she said, recovering quickly. “I now sort of understand why you joined those Committee leeches but—”

“But, it was extreme.” He shrugged. “I was grief stricken. I loved her.”

* * * * *

It annoyed Denby that she was suddenly jealous of some woman she’d never met. He’d loved her. He’d probably be with her if not for the abortion.
We probably would’ve never met.
The thought was foreign to her, almost like the possibly of it was not fathomable. “Well, she wasn’t worth it. If you love someone, you work out stuff like fear and unplanned babies. You don’t just run away and

—” Denby stopped dead. She had run from him because of anger and fear.
Who the hell am I to
preach? I’m no better than this Penny chick
. They sat in silence for a while. Denby was thinking back over what they had and how she reacted. “Yeah, well, I was angry at you.”

“Yes, I know. I don’t blame you.”

“While I didn’t go the all Rastafarian look, I did do some dumb stuff after we split up.” Denby had fought battles she knew couldn’t be won and worked in places that scared the crap out of her, all in an effort to prove to herself she was tough and she didn’t need emotion or the Sirius’s of the world.

“Like what? Slept with wild, horny biker men?”

“No.”
Hell no
. She would never be that woman. She had one irritating characteristic that precluded her from doing that.

“No?”

“No. No men.” She stole a glance at Sirius. He had to know what that meant. If he knew her at all, he knew what she believed in. Possibly it was old fashioned in the world they lived in but Denby was who she was and changing her beliefs to fit in with what others wasn’t who she was as a person.
Hence the reason I always get in so much trouble.

Again, he gave her a quick glance. “None?”

“None.”

“You mean—”

Was he being deliberately dense? “You know what I mean and keep your eyes on the road.”

“Only me? Ever?” His smiled smugly.

She shrugged. “Yeah, well, I’m the mate for life kind.” His broad smile made her lean over and poke him in the arm. “But don’t get all excited. It’s not like I missed you or anything.”
Much. If
ever. Okay so I did. It doesn’t matter now
. That part of her life was over. Denby wanted to focus on doing good and not on the mess of her own life or personal shortcomings.

“I think despite what you say, you still love me.”

Typical ‘I’m man, you’re mine’ stuff
. “I adore chocolate, my
Blundstone
boots, hot French fries

—”

He stopped her there. “See, Denby, ‘adore’ isn’t as strong as love. Love is binding. Adoration can be fleeting,” Sirius told her. “All the things you adore are not forever.”

“Whatever.” She wasn’t about to get into any deep and meaningful discussion on love, sex and forever with him.

“You still owe me a wedding.”

Now he was trying to bait her. “I’ll track down a nice north Queensland girl for you.”

“You know it really cut me when you left.”

The pain she heard in his voice surprised her. “As your being best friends with my father cut me.

Besides it’s not like I was pregnant.” Though at one stage she thought she may have been. It had been a tense time waiting for one of the sporadically, errant periods she was accustomed to and a sudden weight gain had her panicked. Half of her wanted a baby, the other? Scared. How could she bring a baby into the world as it was now?

“What?”

“Nothing.” He knew enough.

“Did you think you were? Did you want to be pregnant, Denby?”

No. Yes. I don’t know. Jeez. He makes me crazy.
She had once been so caught up in him for such a short, intense moment that her emotions had been heightened at an alarming state of what she would later call her intense stupidity phase. She shifted in her seat. “How long until we get to Cairns?”

“It’s twenty-something hours from Brisbane to Cairns.”

They had been on the road for around two hours. It was going to be a long drive. “I need a pit stop.”

* * * * *

They stopped at a small roadhouse, off the main road, outside the town of Gympie. Sirius watched as Denby jumped out of the car and headed around the side of the service station, where a sign indicated restrooms. He wasn’t surprised she left the car in such a rush. There had been an awkward silence between them after the question about pregnancy had been raised. Sirius wondered what was going on in her mind. That she was angry with him was a given. He should have told her about his involvement in the Committee when he first met her. But he hadn’t. The words had stuck in his mouth when he first met her. She was so beautiful and feisty, he was hooked after their first meeting at the bus stop. While the circumstances of meeting weren’t of the fairytale variety, Sirius was thankful they had. Though, at the time when approached by her father, he had been less than enthusiastic.

“
Why?”

“
You are questioning me?”

“
Yes.”

“
Who are you to do so?”

“
I’m my own man and that hasn’t and won’t change.”

“
Good. I have too many sycophants. As for my daughter, I want to make sure she’s okay. She can
be very stubborn and independent. I’m the last person she wants checking up on her.”

“
Does she need checking up on?”

“
I’m her father. I worry.”

Later, Sirius would realize it had nothing to do with fatherly concern or affection. It was all to do with trying to control Denby and forcing her to conform. But, he hadn’t worked that out until it was all too late and she was gone. Her sudden, angry departure from his life had gutted him. That in itself surprised Sirius, as he had told himself, after Penny, he would never let under woman get under his skin. But then Denby had come along and she wasn’t just any woman. She was his future.

He saw it, felt it, knew it. Spending this short time with Denby, Sirius knew he had to gain back her trust and make her believe in him, and them, once more.

Sirius got out of the car and headed in the direction Denby had taken. He saw her ahead of him, stopped and standing her ground, fists clenched as if ready for a fight. As he moved closer, he could see three men had bailed her up and were blocking her way. Sirius was all ready to go in and fight them but he also suspected Denby wouldn’t necessarily appreciate that. She was strong, independent and capable. He wanted to see how she handled herself first. He owed that to her. No man should expect a woman needed his help.

“Where’s your man, little lady?” A tall man with lank, long hair and a greasy beard demanded of Denby.

Sirius wondered what she and other women had to endure in the Committee legislated world in which they were trying to survive. Being a single woman was dangerous. It wasn’t surprising so many were frightened into unwanted marriages.

A fat, squat man with a stained t-shirt straining over his beer gut leered at Denby. “Don’t you know you need a man now? It’s the law.”

Sirius heard Denby sigh and go to step around them. He moved in closer ready to assist her the minute she needed it whether she asked or not. Equality was important but bullying was wrong.

“Seems like you got no man or manners.”

“Neither do you, face ache,” Denby replied coolly.

“Tough little thing ain’t ya?”

She put her hands on hers hips. “I could kick
your
ass.”

“Wanna try?” The third man stepped right in front of her. He was enormous in height and girth.

So much so Denby had to lean back to look him in the eye.

“Oh yeah. And, by the way you smell like a three day old corpse, Stinky.”

Sirius knew it was time to step in. He had a feeling ‘Stinky’ was about to pound her into the ground. “Do we have a problem here gentlemen?” He used the term very loosely.

They all turned their head at once towards him. That wasn’t unusual. Bullies never acted singularly. “She yours?”

“
She
belongs to herself,” Sirius told them coming to a stop beside Denby. He almost felt the relief from her body wash over his.

“So she’s free to take?” Stinky growled at him.

Denby was correct. He was putrid. “She will indeed kick your ass if you try.”

“You scared of her?”

He looked from Denby to the men and back again. He saw the approval in her eyes. That made him feel good and he hadn’t felt that emotion for a long time. “Terrified.”

Denby smiled at Sirius then at the men. “Excuse me.” They all stepped aside, grumbling, but still allowing her to pass.

Sirius was leaning on the side of the building waiting for her to return from the restroom, as were the men. “Ready?” he asked as she approached him.

Stinky stepped forward. “We think you both need to be taught a lesson.”

Sirius reached into his back waistband and pulled out a handgun. “Touch her and you'll die.”

Denby smiled widely at the three men. “Run along, boys.”

“Bitch,” Stinky spat out.

“He’s pussy-whipped,” muttered the one with the beer gut, shuffling away from the Sirius and the gun.

Sirius watched them go. A gun was not something he would normally have. But these were not normal times and Denby wasn’t a normal woman. “You always get in trouble like that?”

She shrugged. “Pretty much. Where’d you get the gun?”

“It came with the car. Call it a two for one deal.” He had found it in the glove box. “Figured I might need it.”

Denby nodded. “Good call.” They were quiet as they walked back to the car.

“What?” Sirius could almost see the wheels turning in her head.

“Do you still love her?”

“Penny?”

Denby arched one brow and looked less than impressed. “Is that her name?”

“Yes.” Did it matter to Denby? Sirius hoped it did because it would mean all feeling for him wasn’t gone.

“Do you love her?”

“I only love one person.”

“And she’s named after a coin apparently,” Denby muttered as she got into the car.

Sirius smiled and said nothing.
Oh yeah, Denby Dumaresq still loves me.

Chapter Eight

“Is she still with Sirius Tate?” Joseph Armstrong, known to those who followed his cause as Jacobson, looked at one of his grey suited minions. He liked that they all looked the same. As individuals they meant nothing to him. As a collective mass who obeyed his every demand?

Priceless. That the bastard son of Jacob Armstrong and his teenage whore of a mother had risen to such mighty heights? Justice.

“Yes,” the man answered, his eyes, watchful with a trace of fear in them as he spoke to his leader. “Tate’s a deserter to the cause.”

Simpleton
. As much as it would suit his own purposes, nothing was ever black or white. Shades of gray were always present, disrupting plans. “Is he?” Jacobson decided to play with the man’s mind for a while. Placing doubt in the minds of the ardent, true believers was enjoyable to him. As a young boy he liked pulling the wings off flies. His followers were akin to that.

The man looked confused. “What are you saying?”

Whatever the hell I like
. “Not everyone wears a gray suit and sits in meetings.”

“Are you saying Tate’s still one of us?”

“Yes.” Jacobson wondered what it would be like to have a follower stand up to him. Tate had. He reluctantly admired him for that.

He looked agog. “Really?”

“No but I want my daughter to believe that. Her spirit needs to be crushed.”
God knows I’ve
tried everything else to bring Denby to her knees
. His daughter was the most willful woman, after her mother, he had ever met.
Redheads. Always trouble
. No amount of punishment or imprisonment had broken her spirit. If only she had been a boy. He could have channeled a son into the right way.

The man looked relieved. “And Tate?”

Jacobson wasn’t surprised he looked less stressed. These people could only think in one standard direction. Throw in a variable and they ceased to function. It was that which made them good followers. “Oh, he needs to be crushed for walking away.” No one walked away from him. They limped or crawled, broken and bleeding and wishing they have never chosen the path they had.

“How do we do that?”

Jacobson smiled. There was no ‘we’. There was no ‘us.’ It was ‘them’ and ‘him.’ That’s the way he liked it. “I’ll be using a woman called Penny Harper. She’s his ex-lover.”

“What can a mere woman do?” the man sneered.

That was the problem mankind faced. They had always misjudged the power of womankind. It had allowed females to rise in power to a rate that meant they had to be crushed fast and hard. It had been messy and annoying and yes, enjoyable, seeing so many women torn down under his auspices.

“You’d be surprised. Why do you think we’re fighting so hard to subjugate them? They’re much stronger than we give them credit for. They can play with our emotions and bring us to our knees if we let them.”

“I’ve never heard you talk this way before.”

Because you do not and will not ever know me
. “A wise man always knows their enemies.”

“So this woman—”

“Is back in town and on the payroll.” It had taken him a while to track her down. She had been whoring around from man to man. The last one had been reluctant to give her up. To make him less reluctant, Jacobson employed some large bikers with tattoos and chains to ‘persuade’ him. Pain was always a great incentive.