Mr. Mysterious In Black (34 page)

“What’s so important, huh?” I asked, trailing him. “Another one of those blond sluts waiting inside for you to pump your cock inside her? Have you squirting your come all over her face, while another feeds you grapes? Is easy cunt so much more important than
me
? Than mending the pain you’ve caused me, asshole?!”

Natalio stopped and slowly turned to glower at me. “Sadie, stop it.”

“Why? You don’t like hearing that you’re an asshole? Don’t like that word?” I stepped up to him, finding the guts to meet his glower with equal intensity. “You’re an asshole,
asshole
. Asshole!”

Natalio grabbed my arm in a firm grip, and leaned into me, hissing through clenched teeth. “I said,
stop
.”

That’s all it took to get me to snap my mouth shut.

Mollified, he turned and continued up the steps, taking me with him into the sumptuous, white and mahogany-brown furnished jet. Geo Lee sat lounging in a white leather seat, munching from a large oval tray of fruits on the table before him and yapping at the ears of the steward and pilots who sat around, seemingly rapt in whatever tale he was giving.

I couldn’t stop my eyes from sweeping around the spacious jet, searching for hints of any more unknown blondes. But there was just my boss and the staff—in sight.

Natalio didn’t go any farther than where we stood at the entrance; his overpowering presence had everyone directing their attention to him. “All yours again, Geo. Keep it clean.”

Geo Lee rolled his eyes as he popped a slice of cantaloupe in his mouth. “Oh please, Nelson. I’m not some bouncy teenager that’ll—”

“Not because I didn’t say anything to you about the orgy you engaged my staff in the last time I left you in charge, doesn’t mean I never heard about it,” Natalio said, pinning Geo Lee with a hard stare.

Geo Lee’s face flushed blood red, a bunch of grapes paused mid-air. “I-I wasn’t the one who initiated—”

“Don’t care, Geo. Just keep it clean this time.”

Natalio exchanged a look and an odd hand gesture with the pilot, and the pilot nodded. Turning, he exited the jet, tugging me down the steps with him. So he was going to stay? Wow, things didn’t seem so bleak after all.

Retrieving his cell, he dialed and ordered one of his people to come get him. Then made a few business calls as we waited, to avoid speaking to me, maybe—even though he held my arm in a firm grip the entire time. I cared not, as long as he was staying. Who would’ve thought calling him an asshole would get him to stay?
For me.
My heart was jumping with glee.

A few minutes later a pitch-black Range Rover pulled up next to us, and Natalio ushered me inside, ordering me to buckle up. After that the ride was painfully silent, as Natalio gave me none of his attention; he kept his gaze out his window. Just when I was about speak to him to break the deafening silence, he leaned over and snatched my purse from my lap, shuffled inside and took out the albums. When I raised my brows at him, he expressionlessly said, “You bought them for me, right? Which means they’re mine.”

Tilting my head, I gazed at him in bewilderment, thinking that he was back to being Complex Natalio again. But he ignored me and raked his eyes over the song titles on the back the cases then leaned forward, handing the mixed reggae disc to the driver. “Number eight, Ruddy.”

Seconds later, Glen Washington’s
Kindness For Weakness
brought some life to the jeep, making Natalio’s reticence easier to bear. Jesus, this chasing the man thing was exhausting, especially when the man’s as spiteful as Natalio. The song he’d chosen gave me a modicum of hope, however. If he got overbearing again I’d just call him an asshole some more. Who knows, it might work for the better again.

The sun was slinking behind the horizon, leaving the sky in a kaleidoscope of colors by the time we got to Natalio’s penthouse. He hadn’t said a word to me as we exited the car and traveled the elevator up to his apartment, and it was getting overwhelming.

“You know, I did very well today at the bidding war,” I said, breaking the silence when we were finally in his place. He was really overdoing the silent treatment thing.

Natalio strode over to the kitchen, emptying his pockets on the island. “What bidding?” His tone was phlegmatic, but at least he was talking.

The apartment was swathed in a thin orange glow as an effect of the retiring sun and the floor-to-ceiling glass windows. I plopped down on the huge black leather sofa in the living area and turned to look at him over the edge—well, technically I was looking at his back that he had turned to me. “Gratuitously, I was given an opportunity by the kindhearted Geo Lee to model some of my designs in a bidding. All but three of my pieces were coveted and tendered on, making me five hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars richer.”

“That’s nice,” was all he mumbled, as he walked over to his wine rack adjacent the fridge and selected a bottle of wine, grabbed a wineglass and went to sit at the dinner table. Concentrating hard on opening the bottle, he didn’t even cast a glance in my direction.

What was his problem? Why did he bring me here if he was going to be all weird?

After opening and pouring the wine, without even offering me a glass, he took a sip and stared down at the wine in his glass. “Are you hungry? Would you like me to order something in?”

And then it hit me, nervousness about telling me what happened was the reason for his quietude. Maybe he really didn’t want to talk about it. Maybe something tragic had happened, making him reluctant to tread down memory lane. At least he could easily access his memories, mine had to be triggered.

Getting up from the sofa, I glided to the kitchen to get myself a wineglass then occupied a chair across from him at the table. “No, I’m not hungry,” I whispered, dragging the wine bottle across the table to fill my glass.

I truly wasn’t hungry. Might never even have an appetite again until I was warranted that all was well between us. I just wished there was a fast forward button that I could press, where we butcher this heavy ass elephant in the room and move on to the more interesting parts. Where he tells me that he loves me and can’t live without me and I do the same and then we get naked and…
Oh, God, I’m growing impatient.
“Are you nervous about telling me?”

Natalio peered at me through his long, dark lashes; his eyes were one of their brightest shades of blue. Shifting, I crossed my legs under the table, resisting the urge to lunge myself at him. “I don’t do nervous, Sadie,” he answered with a cocky smile. But I saw right through its fakeness. He
was
nervous. “Where do you want me to start?”

Oh god.
It was time. Time to hear the tale of what really happened on the night I got deflowered and abandoned.

“A
-After…After I fell asleep,” I muttered.

Intense sapphire eyes pierced me and I felt myself shrinking within my skin. My lips parted, as my nostrils were no longer inhaling ample air to oxygenate my blood. I shifted uncomfortably and Natalio broke his gaze. Taking a long sip of his wine, he peered at me over the rim. Savior, why did he have to be so…so damn tantalizing?

“You looked angelic while you slept.” His sudden words startled me, but I sat still. “I didn’t want to close my eyes, I enjoyed watching you. You’d breath soft sighs, twitch your cute little nose or flutter those beguiling long lashes. It was gratifying just to watch you sleep. And your neck…your neck was so soft, smooth and virginal. I was obsessed with it, fighting the temptation to give you a third lovebite for fear of waking you.” Natalio lowered his wineglass to the table. “Then my phone rang, had me jumping to answer it before it woke you. It was Darren.”

Hmm, Darren, the right-hand man.

“I walked out into the living room to talk to him. And that’s when he started telling me that he just got this unbelievable deal on some ammo, but he was dubious about the link as to why the ammos would be for so little dough, and that he’d feel a lot better if I was there. He wanted me to go with him.

“I told him I couldn’t go with him because I was with you. He badgered and groveled telling me it was just a few minutes away and we wouldn’t be long. That it would be less than fifteen minutes to exchange payments for goods and head back. I told him told off and hung up. Then I went back in bed with you. A few minutes later, Darren was banging on my front door. Furious, I went outside to blood his nose but he kept begging, telling me it wouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes. Eventually, I capitulated.” Natalio looked at me with a please-understand expression and said, “You know Darren was my main boy.”

Expressionless, I stared at him and didn’t reply. Because frankly, I didn’t
want
to understand why he would choose to accompany Darren on an ammunition deal and leave
me
in bed on what was supposed to be my special night.

He blinked at me and his expression changed to a wistful one. “I thought leaving you for fifteen minutes wouldn’t hurt. Darren wouldn’t relent. So I went back into the room, you were still asleep, and I got dressed, kissed you and left. Only…I hadn’t known that would be the last time I’d see you. That I’d never get to see your eighteenth birthday. That I’d never get to marry you. That I would lose you, your love, and your memories of me.”

Natalio ran a hand through his hair, stood up from his chair, paced around for a bit, then reseated himself. “I told Darren to drive. Larry was in front with Darren and…and Otis was in the back with me. He was only fifteen.” He swallowed hard and sipped his wine.

A vague remembrance of Otis came to me. Otis was Darren’s younger brother, tall and gangly with an ever-present smile.

“Otis had always tried in earnest to be a part of the clique. But I’d told him he was too young and that he should focus on school. That night I got angry to see him there and tossed him out the car. But Darren insisted on him coming along.” Natalio shook his in remorse.

What the hell happened?

His voice grew harsh. “Beyond irritated, I conceded because my mind was on getting it over with so I could get back to you. And all the lingering and arguing was consuming time and I just wanted to be back in my goddamned bed. I wanted to be back before you were awake.” Natalio bit his lip in belligerence and exhaled noisily. “I grew freakin’ furious when ten minutes later we were still driving to wherever this godforsaken place was. Darren kept assuring me it was just around the corner, a corner that took another ten minutes to get to.

“Finally, we pulled onto this open dry land with lines of trailers. Darren, Larry and I got out and I told Otis to remain in the car. Halfway to the trailer, I figured you’d probably be awake by then or would soon be and I thought maybe I should just send you a message telling you I’d be back soon. So I told Darren and Larry to go ahead and begin with the transaction and that I’d be there in a minute. I jogged back to the car for my cell and saw that you’d texted me, which made me smile, but then immediately cursed myself for not being there. As soon as I began typing a reply, my phone fell from my hands at the first fusillade of shots that fired. When I looked up, Larry and Darren were running back towards the car; Darren doubling over, for he’d received a shot to his stomach. Ducking from getting hit while returning fire, we rushed back into the car and got the hell outta there. The thing is, I didn’t even have my tool, because I was too much in haste when I was leaving to remember, for one. And two, I wouldn’t have guessed that a simple ammo purchase could go so awry.” Natalio took a breath, and then continued. “The men didn’t pursue us further once we got onto the main, so we thought we were safe. Next thing I knew, police lights were flashing behind us. Darren went into a panic and gassed up. I began yelling at him, asking him what the hell he was doing. The flipping car was mine and if the police should trace the license plate they’d trace
me.
” He pointed at his chest. “Not Nelly, but me,
Natalio Nelson
!”

And that wouldn’t be pretty, would it? I wrestled down the impolite urge to roll my eyes.

“It would’ve been an easy task for me to bribe the cops if he’d just pulled over and played nice. But the stupid dolt carried on driving. And soon there were two police cars chasing us into the night. Otis was sitting next to me with widened eyes, and I was so pissed that this young kid that should’ve been at home nosing his books was out with us assholes in a car chase.”

Natalio pushed back from the table with a loud screech. “Addlebrained Larry got so freakin’ frightened, that he pulled his gun and began firing at the cops. What kind of idiot does that?!” He ran both hands through his hair. “Unable to believe all this was happening, I started shouting, cursing, slapping the nitwit telling him to quit it. Then to my surprise, Darren said “Fuck it! There’s no living through this.” And he, too, pulled his gun and started firing.” Natalio wagged his head as if he still couldn’t believe. “Numbskulls.”

“Who on earth doesn’t know that the cops always win in shoot outs?” I said. It was all I could manage, because honestly, I was shocked. Not in a million years had I imagined that this was his fate on the night I got jilted. At least, I
thought
I’d got jilted.