Liberty...And Justice for All (8 page)

W
e were staying
at the Byzantine, which brought up a bunch of mixed emotions for me.

First of all, I remembered how I felt when I used to walk by this place, back when I lived in Vegas and I was stripping. I remember looking up at it, my mouth hanging open at its opulence and the ritzy clientele going in and out. And the second memory was of John and me staying here, when we came back to Vegas for Darius.

We’d been here when we’d gotten the call about Catherine. And Ian. And then we’d gone back to Mexico, and all hell had broken loose. I watched Catherine’s face as we rode up the elevator.
You have no idea,
I wanted to say,
how much your father really loves you. The lengths we’ve all been to, to get you back.

I wished there was some way I could get her to understand how much John loved her.

“You’re in the suite with Catherine, right next to us,” John said to Corey.

Catherine smirked at us. “Don’t be too loud, you too,” she said, nastily. “I left my barf bag on the plane.”

I winced as Corey imperceptibly shook his head at her and John openly cringed. “We have reservations at ten,” John said, looking at Catherine. “Don’t get completely piss drunk before then.”

“Whatevs,” Catherine said, and I seriously wished she was young enough that we could just send her to a Swiss boarding school and forget all about her, at least for the moment.

John and I both sighed in relief after we got to our suite. I sank down onto the couch, relieved at the peace and quiet. I looked down at my wedding ring and fiddled with it. After exactly two seconds of peace, I remembered that I was keeping something from John—the note from the jewel thief. And that I’d promised never to keep anything from him.

And then I thought about how I’d feel if he was keeping something from me.

“Liberty,” John said.

“John,” I said. “I have something to tell you.”

“I have something to tell
you
,” he said, and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I guess that makes us even,” I said, miserably.

“We’ll see, babe. Would you like a drink?”

“After being away from you? And eight hours on a flight with Catherine? And dealing with my dysfunctional family who hates me all week? Hell yeah, I want a drink,” I said, and we both laughed. I got up and put my arms around him. “I missed you so much,” I said.

He was the only thing that made everything okay, and I was about to royally piss him off.

He took a step back, which surprised me, and poured us both a drink. His looked like a triple bourbon. I raised eyebrows at him and sat back down, fearing the worst.

John did not take steps back from me and he didn’t drink triple bourbons. Unless something was very wrong.

“What,” I said, not bothering to make it a question.

“I’ve been keeping something from you,” John said, and sat down heavily.

I just looked at him. “I’ve been keeping something from you, too. But you go first.”

“This case is a lot more dangerous than I led you to believe,” John said.

Even though that made my stomach plummet, I smiled at him. “So’s mine,” I said.

He gave me a long look. “Now I want you to go first,” he said. “And let’s not leave anything out.”

“Promise me something,” I said.

“Anything,” he said.

“Let’s never be separated again. It just seems to make everything worse. I literally can’t stand it.”

John put his drink down and pulled me onto his lap. “I promise. These last few days have been hell without you…worrying if you’re okay, worrying about what I was keeping from you. I’m too old for this.”

“You’re not too old,” I said, running my hands down his defined chest. “You’re too
smart
. You knew I would kick your ass, eventually, for keeping things from me.”

“Well, I won’t kick your ass,” John said, “but I’m more than a little curious to hear how the necklace case has turned out to be dangerous. And why no one in my crew thought that I should be informed.”

“You can’t take this out on anyone but me. I made them all swear to keep you out of it, at least until I had a chance to tackle it first.”

He just looked at me.

“You said, two seconds ago, that you’d promise me anything. So promise me. No one gets in trouble for this but me.”

John nodded. “Okay. But I’m not happy about it,” he said.

“I can live with that,” I said. “So here’s the thing…the person who stole the necklace left a note. A threatening one. Ian found it, but he didn’t show it to me until you came out here.”

John looked angry and annoyed at the thought of his father keeping something from him.

“He didn’t want to ruin our wedding,” I said, defending Ian. “And he didn’t want to push you over the edge—i.e., he didn’t want you rushing off to kill someone to defend my honor.”

John bristled. “The threatening note…said something about you? Specifically?”

I nodded at him, and then taking in the look on his face, I instantly backtracked. “It wasn’t that bad,” I said, trying to brush it off. “It just said I didn’t deserve the necklace because I was a stripper.” I decided that in this particular instance, word choice was important, and that the word
stripper
was better than the word
whore
.

John’s face was tight. “Can I see it, please? The note?”

“Oh, I didn’t bring it,” I lied. “I thought I should leave it at home. In case someone needed to study it.”

“Right,” John said, clearly not falling for it. “I’ll have Ian scan it and send it to me. Now.”

I sighed, gave him a dirty look that I only half meant, and got up and grabbed the note from my bag. “Here,” I said, shoving it at him. Then I braced for his wrath.

I didn’t have to wait for long. “I am going to
kill
this motherfucker,” John spit, the cords standing out on his neck.

He stood up and started pacing, running his hands through his hair. “He’s taunting us, Liberty. He wants us to come and find him, so that he can hurt you.” He looked up at me, fiercely. “I am going to get this person. You have my word.”

“I don’t need your word about that, John,” I said, exasperated. “I need your word that you’re not going to torture and kill him
when
you get him.”

“Babe. That’s what I meant by ‘get.’ I am absolutely going to de-limbify this person.”

“Is that even a word?” I asked. “De-limbify?”

“I’ll demonstrate its definition when we find the person who wrote this. He’s the one who brought up limbs.”

“Awesome,” I said. “Just awesome.” I sighed and looked at him. “This is why I kept it from you. I don’t want you to go after the thief and rip him, or her, apart. That’s the opposite of what I want.”

“Then what do you want? You want me to let someone threaten my wife? Steal from her? And let them just walk away?”

“No,” I said, “but I don’t want any more blood on our hands. That’s my whole issue with the business. I don’t want to be responsible for hurting others. If we can help people, fine—but no more killing. No de-limbifying, no more water-boarding, no more torture. My heart can’t take it.”

John gave me a long look. “Sometimes that stuff is completely necessary. You don’t see that yet? After everything we’ve been through?”

I took a long sip of my drink and considered the fact that earlier this year, I had shot and killed Angel Morales. Then I remembered the moment when Darius, the man we’d chased halfway across the world, had almost killed Matthew.

“I see it,” I said. “I just don’t want to live like that. Judge, jury, and executioner.” I shivered. “I’m not strong enough.”

I paused for a beat. “Tell me about what’s going on down here,” I said, changing the subject.

John sighed. “Cruz’s friend who I’m helping is named Tony. He owns a club named Fierce—do you know it?”

I nodded. Fierce was one of the wilder places in Vegas. The mood was dark, the girls usually foreign and exotic. There was an S&M element, too…I’d heard rumors that there was a special room where customers could pay to play with the strippers and some heavy-duty toys. So it was part sex club and part strip joint.

It made The Champagne Room at The Treasure Chest seem like the freaking prom.

“Have you been?” I asked.

He nodded. “Not my favorite place,” he said and winced. “It was a far cry from the pleasant and reasonably tame Treasure Chest—The Treasure Chest has all the best girls.”

“You’re so sweet,” I said, “but you don’t have to flatter me. I know I’m your favorite stripper.” We beamed at each other for a moment and he leaned in and kissed me, tenderly.

Electricity shot through me at his touch. I wanted him badly, but I also wanted to know what was going on. “So tell me about the club,” I said, reigning myself in. “And what’s going on.”

“Tony is the owner, and as you know, he came to us through Cruz. Who sends his regards, by the way. Tony was seeing one of the strippers at his club. Mia. They have a four-month old together.”

John sat down with his drink. “Tony told me he’s been selling drugs at Fierce for a while now. To the customers, to the girls. Mia was a pretty heavy user until she got pregnant, and now she’s clean. Tony decided, since she’s cleaned up and had the baby, that he wanted the drugs out of the picture.

“He’d been working with the Freeman cartel, selling for them directly. The cartel was less than pleased with his sudden change in plans. They’d been doing a decent trade with him for a while. So, after the negotiations fell through…”

“They took Mia?” I asked.

“Correct,” John said. “They’ve asked for money in exchange for her life. Tony has plenty of money—that’s not the problem. The problem is that the Freemans don’t want to part ways. That’s not how they operate. So they may give Mia back in exchange for the money, but they aren’t going to let Tony out of the business.”

“So…we’re working for drug traffickers, now?” I asked. “I thought we only helped the good guys. Tony doesn’t sound like a good guy.”

John sighed. “I know. But there’s an innocent woman who needs our help. I’ve been thinking of Tony as a
former
drug trafficker…just so I can sleep at night.”

I looked at my handsome husband, and of course I understood. A young woman, taken from her family…. Of course he would need to help.

“What else have you found out?” I asked.

“I’ve made a few connections. I’ve seen the Freeman compound. It’s out in the desert. They have armed guards on duty 24-7. It’s probably where they’re holding Mia. I’ve also learned that there are still girls in the club who are dealing. So there might be another connection to the Freemans that way.”

He paused for a bit, taking another sip of bourbon. “Now, what are we going to do about your family? And that note?”

“Matthew said we should just start threatening them. With guns. And knives. He said they’d crack pretty quick.”

John laughed and then made himself stop. “That sounds like Matthew. But what do you think?”

“I think it sounds like a plan,” I said. “What are we going to do about Mia? And the Freeman cartel?”

“We’re going to give them the money, to start with,” John said. “We’ll require proof of life. And Tony might have to go back into business with them, at least for now. I don’t think they’re just going to let him walk away.”

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

He pulled me to him.

“There is only one thing I want to do,” John said, his eyes glittering. “And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

“Me neither,” I said, suddenly feeling breathless. We’d been apart for too long and I ached for him.

I moved onto his lap, straddling him, and ran my hands through his thick, tousled hair.He put his hands on my ass and rubbed me against him. I could feel him, stiff and hard, springing to life under me urgently.

Since he had teased me on our wedding night and I hadn’t forgiven him for it, I decided it was my turn. I rubbed myself against him, slowly and luxuriously, through our clothes. He leaned back against the couch, his eyes half-closed. I leaned down and kissed him, my tongue seeking his.

And then I pulled back.

“Don’t stop,” he said, sounding surprised.

“I’m in charge this time,” I said, and slid off of him. I got onto my knees on the floor. I unzipped his pants and pulled them down, relishing the sight of him as his hard length sprung out. I leaned over and liked his tip, swirling the wetness there, and biting him a little.

“This is what you do when you’re in charge? I like it.” John threw his head back, pleasure evident on his face. I took off the rest of his clothes, and mine, because I wanted to be ready for anything. I desperately wanted him inside of me. But for now, I was in control, and I was going to play with him.

I pulled him all the way into my mouth and sucked hard.

“Jesus,” John said, flexing his hips forward and thrusting into my mouth. I continued to move up and down his length, savoring the taste of him and how rock-hard he was. I was the one making him feel like that. I was touching him, and he was loving it.

He flexed his hips again and I sucked greedily. He was breathing hard, moaning.

“Liberty,” he said, almost pleading.

I pulled back for a second. “Yes, babe?” I asked.

“Please,” he said, his breath coming rapidly.

I took him all the way into my mouth again and he cried out harshly. But before he found his release, I stopped again, and then I climbed on top of him. I positioned him beneath me and immediately slid down on him, his length filling me entirely.

“Oh my God,” I cried out. It was exactly what I wanted.

John grabbed my hips and lifted me up and down, thrusting into me. Our bodies clashed together as he filled me, over and over. I was spiraling out of control. I could tell he was close, so close…and when he started to come undone my body tightened too and I came all around him, calling his name, as he crushed me to him.

B
eing
with John made everything better. Even in the midst of all the trouble, my post-sex glow assured me that this was the happiest I’d ever been in my life.

“Where are we having dinner?” I asked, a little while later. I’d begrudgingly gotten out off the couch and was checking the clothes that I’d packed.