Heaven and Hell (39 page)

And all the while I did this, my mind was
consumed with all of this as well as Sam being with Vanessa which,
I didn’t lie, I really did
not
like. Not because Sam might
get creative with (and in trouble for) extracting information from
her. Just because Vanessa was a bitch. She was a bitch in high
school, she was a bitch after high school and she was a bitch after
she got married to Milo, who was a good guy but who, even after
they tied the knot, she made no bones about letting it be known to
anyone who wasn’t Milo that she’d settled for him and was not
pleased with the track her life had taken.

And, of course, there was the fact she put a
hit on me.

It was two seconds after I realized I was
seriously hungry in a hunger pains gnawing at the lining of your
stomach kind of way when the front door opened and Sam walked
through.

I was standing at the kitchen table now
covered in filled boxes, so when my head turned that way I had a
direct line and the instant I saw him, I went still.

Sam didn’t.

He stalked through my living room and into
the kitchen, Memphis, who greeted him noisily at the door, yapping
at his heels.

He ignored her, stopped and his enraged eyes
scorched right through me.

“That bitch is a fuckin’
bitch,
” he
growled and I pressed my lips together.

Well, clearly Sam’s yummy aftershave didn’t
work.

I forced myself out of my freeze and turned
fully to him.

“What happened?” I asked carefully.

“She called the cops before I got up to her
door.”

This wasn’t surprising.

“Did you get in?”

“Oh yeah,” his tone was scary, “I got
in.”

Eek!

I pressed my lips together and waited.

Sam continued scowling at me.

Finally, I prompted, “Well?”

“Oswald is right now takin’ her to the
Department. I wasn’t wrong. She’s got more. She’s coverin’ her ass.
I know this because she was belligerent and not in wronged woman
way, in a hidin’ somethin’ way. Ten minutes after I got in, the
cops came. Five minutes after that, her attorney showed. He’s shut
her down.”

“So you didn’t get anything?” I asked.

“Nothin’ but the fact that bitch sees, lives
and breathes green. She hates you, baby, so jealous, it consumes
her and me showin’ at her door only intensified that.”

I bet.

It sucked for Sam he had to share her air
but I had to admit, I got more than a little kick that my
protective, hot guy, awesome boyfriend showed at her door and
rubbed her nose in the fact that I had a protective, hot guy,
awesome boyfriend.

I did not share this.

Instead, I walked to him and wrapped my arms
loosely around his waist, saying softly, “I’m sorry, Sam.”

His arms returned the favor and he replied,
“I’m not.”

My head cocked to the side. “You’re
not?”

“Kia, honey, she was the mastermind.”

I blinked.

Then I whispered, “What?”

“What you said, what Oswald said when he
briefed me; your dead piece of shit husband was not the sharpest
tack in the box. So this leads me to believe all this was her gig
from start to what she still hopes will be the finish. It was her
idea.”

Holy cow!

“She told you that?”

“Fuck no but I read it all over her. Her
clothes, the way she wears her hair, her house, she wants more,
always has, always will. She’s livin’ a dream she concocted in high
school, married to the star quarterback, livin’ large, lordin’ her
shit not stinkin’ all over town. She thinks you took that away from
her by marrying that fuckin’ guy and she wanted it back, with your
ex and the money from your life insurance policy.”

“So, you figured her out too,” I
deduced.

“She’s so consumed by it, baby, she’s not
even close to hiding it. And that ten minutes I had alone with her,
she reeked of it so much took everything I had not to gag.”

At his words, I thought about Vanessa. I
thought about the fact that Vanessa, who had mouse brown hair,
bleached it blonde about a week after I started seeing Cooter. I
remembered that, more than once, she’d come to school wearing the
same outfit I’d worn a few days before. I thought about the fact
that Milo played high school ball and looked a lot like Cooter
except he stayed fit and attractive mainly because he ran every
morning and only drank beer while watching sports rather than
downing a six pack every night. I thought about this fact and it
hit me that she didn’t even see Cooter the way he was before he got
half his head blown off. She only saw what she wanted to see. And
it also hit me for the first time with any clarity that the stupid
idiot wanted to be me.

Then I thought that this all creeped me way
the heck out.

“Okay, I was creeped out before, what with
her wanting me dead, but now I’m creeped way
the heck
out,”
I told Sam.

“That’s because this shit is creepy,” Sam
told me.

“Why is Ozzie taking her in?” I asked.

“‘Cause she’s got more and he wants to give
it a go getting it from her. He won’t succeed. She’ll keep her
mouth shut and if she doesn’t, her attorney will do it for
her.”

“What does this mean?”

“It means I’m out and Lee and Tanner are up.
She’s not gonna give me shit. They’re gonna have to find ways to
make her talk or dig up her dirt.”

“Right,” I whispered just as there came a
knock at the door, it was loud, it was hard and Sam’s body went the
latter then twisted quickly when the door flew open.

“What the fuck?” Sam growled and I peeked
around him, my mouth dropping open when I watched another man in my
life stalk into my living room, face like thunder.

“Jesus, fuck,
Jesus!
” my brother Kyle
shouted, his eyes on me, his girlfriend Gitte hurrying behind him
and I was having trouble deciding between shouting with glee that
he was there and fleeing because he looked extremely pissed. My
brother was a good guy, funny and loving but he was also tall and
strong, he took care of himself and he had a temper. Therefore,
with the size of his frame and volatility, when he got pissed,
watch out.

He stopped in the doorway and his eyes
flicked to Sam whereupon he mumbled, “Dude, cool to meet you, big
fan,” then he looked back at me and exploded, “Seriously, Kiakee,
what… the…
fuck?
”

Well, there was one good thing about being
under threat of death; it took precedence over Sam’s fame.

“Uh… Kyle, Sam, Sam, Kyle, Gitte, Sam, Sam,
Gitte, Kyle’s girlfriend,” I quickly introduced and, as I did, I
felt the tension leave Sam’s body.

“Time for that shit is later,” Kyle
announced. “Now,
what the fuck?
”

“Uh… I take it Dad called you,” I
guessed.

“Uh…” Kyle leaned in then boomed,
“
Yeah!
And I’m here ‘cause if I go see Ozzie I’ll wring his
fuckin’ neck.
What the fuck?
”

I moved to stand beside Sam and asked,
“Aren’t you supposed to be at work in Tennessee?”

“Yeah, but, see, they were pretty cool with
me takin’ off to drive home seein’ as my
goddamned sister
has a
hit put out on her!
” Kyle answered.

“Kyle, honey, calm down,” I whispered.

“That doesn’t happen a lot.” He didn’t calm
down, instead he kept on target.

“Kyle, sweetheart –” Gitte started, unwisely
(I thought) getting close to his side.

Kyle ignored her. “And they had no problem
believin’ that shit seein’ as my sister is currently flavor of the
month on all the gossip sites.” He crossed his arms on his chest
and added wryly, “So by the way, congratulations, Kiakee, for
makin’ last week’s top ten best dressed on youwearitwell.com.”

I blinked.

Then I asked, “What?”

“Casual section,” Gitte put in with a huge
grin. “You were number seven with your cute tank, metallic belt and
short-shorts.”

Ohmigod!

“Seriously?” I asked Gitte.

“Yeah,” she answered. “And I think you’re
number seven because you’re a newbie. When you’re more famous,
you’ll
totally
move up the ranking. That outfit was
hot.
”

More famous?

Oh God. I didn’t know what to do with
this.

“Uh… hel-the fuck-lo!” Kyle clipped loudly,
throwing out his arms. “Can we focus?”

I focused then I moved toward him saying,
“Kyle, it’s cool. I know it’s a shock but Sam has it under
control.”

I stopped a foot away from him but he didn’t
look at me, his eyes were on Sam.

“Yeah, Dad said. My sister lands a famous
dude, lucky she lands one who’s trained in a variety of ways to
kick ass. That said, I’m thinkin’ I need to be more intimately
acquainted with Sam’s plans
and
Sam’s intentions toward my
sister so I can feel all this Sam Love everyone’s suddenly got and
know my baby sister is in good hands.”

“She is,” Sam’s deep voice replied at the
same time I said, “I am.”

“Yeah?” Kyle asked, “How ‘bout Gitte and Kia
go do some woman shit and you convince me of that?”

“Kyle,” I whispered and his eyes sliced to
me and when they did the fear I saw stark in them, an emotion I’d
never seen my brother experience, nearly brought me to my knees so
I repeated on a whisper, “Kyle.”

“It’s good that motherfucker is dead,” he
whispered back.

I moved to him and put my arms around him,
whispering again, “Kyle.”

“Do my time to kill him, he wasn’t,” Kyle
went on.

“Honey,” I said softly.

“It wasn’t sick as shit, I’d dig his punk
ass carcass up and burn the motherfucker,” he told me, his eyes
roamed my face then his arms closed around me.

I did a face plant in his chest.

His arms got tighter. So did mine.

“Can I ask, at this juncture, what ‘woman
shit’ entails?” Gitte asked, I unplanted my face out of my
brother’s chest, turned my head and looked at his girlfriend.

Kyle and Gitte had been together for four
years. They were a matching set. He was blond, handsome, tall and
built. She was blonde, gorgeous, tall and built. They were both
sweet and loving but they were also both chock-full of attitude.
The only difference was, Kyle was American and male and Gitte was
Danish and female.

Her name meant “strength” and her
personality underlined it.

As evidenced by the annoyed look on her face
at being relegated to “woman shit”. They said men married their
mothers and women married their fathers. This was not true with me
but it was definitely true with Kyle and Gitte. Dad had taught Kyle
to be a man’s man and my brother might work a desk job but he
kicked ass doing it, he pulled down a huge salary and, often, he
thought what he said went.

And also often, Gitte staunchly
disagreed.

“Gitte –” Kyle started.

“Do I not get to understand the Sam Love?”
she asked, her delicate, arched eyebrows arching further which,
knowing Gitte for four years, boded bad things. “Or, perhaps, Kia
and I should retire to her bedroom and give each other
facials?”

Uh-oh.

I pulled out of my brother’s arms in order
to steer clear. I got two steps back when Sam, clearly using his
training and reading the room, tagged the back of my tank and
pulled me two steps further and into his body.

“Darlin’, I think you get me,” Kyle stated
though he was wrong, Gitte did not.

“I called off work too and not to drive all
the way up here to give Kia a facial,” she retorted then looked to
me and said, “Though, your skin is lovely, always. You don’t need
one.”

Seriously, I loved Gitte and not just
because she thought I had good skin. Unlike Luci, my brother didn’t
make me wait to find a good one who I could love like a sister and
get drunk with.

“Thanks, honey,” I whispered. “You don’t
either.”

She nodded and smiled.

Sam, surprisingly silent, decided not to be
silent any longer.

“Right, I’m hungry. Kia’s gotta be hungry.
There are no groceries in the house and even if there were, Kia’s
boxed up all her kitchen shit so we can’t fix anything. We need
food. You can come with us, eat if you’re hungry, don’t if you’re
not but either way, while I eat, I’ll fill you in.
Both
of
you. ”

There you go. Sam was being decisive.

“Is Kia gonna get a hole blown in her while
we visit the Pancake House?” Kyle asked Sam and instantly I decided
on pecan pancakes from the Pancake House for lunch.

“No,” Sam answered Kyle but didn’t
elaborate.

Kyle held Sam’s eyes.

I waited.

Gitte waited.

Sam stayed silent.

Memphis yapped.

My stomach growled audibly.

That was when Kyle said, “Let’s get
pancakes,” then added, “Or do commandos eat pancakes?”

Gitte grinned.

I bit my lip through my own grin.

Memphis yapped.

Sam muttered, “Serious as Christ, I spend
another day in this ‘burg, I need to find a gym.”

That was when I knew I was going to get my
pecan pancakes.

And that was also when I laughed.

Promise

Sam was on his phone in the kitchen talking
to the unknown (to me) Tanner Layne.

I was on my couch with Memphis.

We’d had pancakes. Sam had shared his keep
Kia breathing plans and both Kyle and Gitte had calmed down. We
left the Pancake House and went directly where no one went after
the Pancake House, the gym. Sam suffered without showing he was
suffering through the guy at reception practically drooling at the
thought of Sam working out there. Then he kindly declined free
passes and paid for a week’s worth. After that was achieved, we
went to the grocery store where most of our cart was filled with
fruit, veggies and lean proteins, courtesy of Sam.