Slick as Ides (38 page)

“And what is my
goal
?” My head wobbles. It feels big and overinflated from the things she’s saying.

“Your overwhelming need to be accepted for
you
and seeing that justice occurs. Isn’t that why you’re truly drawn to me? Because I love you for who you are, unlike your father who tries to fit you into a mold. You see the way he wields his power in a negative way, and you can’t stand it.” She exhales, and her cheeks color with passion. Her stance shifts until she’s tall and proud. “I watched you in court. Remember I told you I was turned-on?”

“Yeah.” I lick my lips and my head drops forward a little, but I keep my eyes on her.

“What I saw was this man, fighting to break out, break free from his father’s unjust ideals. Shit, I . . .” Her eyes water, and she gets choked up. “What I’m trying to say is I saw this brilliant man, keeping his emotions in check because he had to, but beneath was a deep well of passion, pain, love and a sense of wanting things to be fair. You were subtle about it, but you commanded that room without hurting anyone. It was amazing. Your father thought he got what he wanted. I got what I wanted, and Riot, well, he didn’t realize it, but he got what he wanted, too.”

I can’t stand it. “C’mere. I need you in my arms.” I take a seat on the couch and pull her down into my lap. “I have no idea where you come up with all this stuff, but I love your take on things. It puts me in a very flattering light—one I’m afraid I don’t deserve.” I nuzzle my nose into her hair and take deep breaths.

“What don’t you get, that you think you don’t deserve it?”

“How in the hell did Riot get what he wanted?” I stroke down her back. “I’m glad you think that, since I know he’s your friend and you don’t want to hurt him, but I was anything but helpful to him.” Another deep whiff, and my head buzzes with the scent of her.

“Do you know what he said to me after we left the court room?”

“No. I wanted to follow you, monitor you somehow, but I was dealing with my jerkoff of a father,” I answer.

“Riot said you did that all for me as a show.” She curls around my body, hangs onto my shoulders. “I slapped his face, and I left. It was after that, he got bolder, started fighting for me, and it forced us both to face the ugly truth. I didn’t want him, and I had to not only tell him more emphatically, but I had to show him. He watched me helping you in my home as I went after this project. He watched me sneaking out just to see you from afar. You’re not the only one that was following the other.”

I open my mouth to speak, but she covers my mouth with her finger.

“Do you know how often I leave my house?”

I nod and smile under her finger.

“Yes, I suppose you do. It was a really big deal for me to do that, and he knew it. He saw how much I wanted you, so he got more desperate.”

She runs her finger over my bottom lip, and I lick it.

She keeps explaining to me what happened. “I don’t think I would’ve ever been able to make the tough choice to take him out of my life if you hadn’t done that in court. There wasn’t a place in my life for two lawyers, two computer geniuses, and two men that love me. It wasn’t even a choice anymore. It’s in my bones—
you
are in my every breath.”

I relax into her. “Okay,” I mumble through her hand.

She lets go. “Excuse me? Did my asshole just turn all lovable on me?”

“Yeah, he fucking did. Get used to it.” Warmth spreads through my body and radiates outward in the look I give as I smile at her. “I love you, and I can’t believe you see all this in me. I still can’t believe all of that is here, but if you say so, then I guess I’ll have to think about it.”

She kisses the tip of my nose. “It’s there. Get used to it.”

A rumbling chuckle settles deep in my chest. “So damn cute.”

“So, we’ll continue on with what I’ve done with it? We don’t have to.” She bites her lip and looks apprehensive, her brows closing in on each other, her eyes slanting inward.

“No. Get rid of it. We don’t need this. We don’t need to worry about my dad. He’s already on the run and you have the capability to track him. His company’s going to fall apart on its own, and if they ask me to run it, then I’ll say yes and take it apart piece by piece on my own. I don’t want you involved in all of this.”

She gasps and covers her mouth. “Oh, God! I ruined this for you. I’m so sorry.”

“No, noooo,” I say, my voice soft and low. I caress her cheeks with the pads of my thumbs. “You recognized it for what it was—a
weapon.
Y
ou don’t create weapons. I want peace like you do.” I peel her out of her shirt slowly as I keep talking. A kiss is placed above her left breast, then I drift my fingers over the spot to wipe it away.

“I’ve created weapons. The slimboy. The pet tracker. Why are you saying this? It breaks my heart to realize I’ve sabotaged you without meaning to.” Her eyes well up even more. “Don’t do this.” Her eyes drift down away from my face.

“Dena, you didn’t do anything. I just realized”—I kiss the corner of her mouth—“all I wanted was your stamp of approval. I wanted to prove I could do this, but I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to ever follow through with it. I had this big idea to have thousands of people keyed in with me, all ready to shut down the military if a war seemed imminent. They’d have owned various codes to get in there and cripple the system. It was the ultimate rocket, only I didn’t need a chimney to do it. I only needed my dad’s connections, and that’s what I was tracking down. I recently found it, but I was hesitating. I knew you wouldn’t like it, so I couldn’t do it.”

She takes in a small gasp and looks at me like she’s unsure about what I’m saying.

“I can’t have kids in good conscience, knowing someday I’ll have to tell them I was involved with heavy shit like that.” I frown.

“Can I ask who your connection was?”

“Jason and Lexi. She has parents high up in the military, and he’s got connections as well. With their abilities they were able to hack into her parents’ computers and get me what I needed. It’s cocky as hell, so arrogant I couldn’t stand myself when I thought about how I was playing God. I disliked how they thought it was their right to pick on others, but who am I to say they’re wrong? I don’t want that power.” Tears drift down her cheeks, but she’s smiling. I whisper them away with my delicate kisses. “It’s okay. I don’t need this. I still wasn’t even sure if we could trust Jason anyway. You didn’t ever figure out if he turned on us in San Diego and told my dad what was going on. We don’t need the cobras either. Get them back from everyone who has one. We’ll keep the information, keep tabs on them, but we don’t need to hurt anyone.”

“I need
you
,” she whispers and wraps her body completely around mine.

She undresses me with care and tenderness—kisses me until I can’t breathe. My heart pounds as she says the sweetest things I’ve ever heard, and we make love with a gentleness I didn’t know either of us possessed.

* * *

I shoot her a quick text.
Thinking of you, cutie. You looked gorgeous this morning when I got out of bed. Made it hard to leave. Love you.

“Are you ready, Mr. Reid?” the woman in the pants suit asks me.

Her severe bun in her hair looks painful. She’s so opposite from my woman it’s almost hard to look at her.

“Yes, ma’am, I am.” I follow after her as she takes off.

Her heels click down the hallway, and I’m led into a room with the largest private vaults available.

The briefcase in my arms is heavy, but more so because I know what kind of dangerous objects I’m carrying around.

She has her key, and I have mine. The codes have been set. We open the safe deposit box simultaneously, and she pulls the empty box onto the table for me.

A grand bow from her and she leaves the room, giving me privacy.

I take a deep breath. After going through all the security biometrics here, I’ve come up with a few more ideas for Dena’s invention for gun safety to improve the design even more.

I empty my briefcase of the cobra, the weasel, fatboy, slim boy, and even the thumb drives with both of our more dangerous invention ideas on it. No one will see this except us because we’ve encrypted all the files with a very temperamental virus that will infect everything if someone other than her or me opens it.

I set the box back in place, make sure it’s locked up and head back out to the front.

When I hand over the key and turn around—there he is.

“Dad,” I say, holding my breath the second he approaches me.

“The company,” he starts, drifting off.

“Fuck the company,” I reply under my breath as I meet him step for step. “I don’t want it.”

“You don’t have a choice. You caused this. When you make a mess, you clean up after yourself. It’s what adults do.” He gives me that gaze that says he’ll rip my chest open if I go against him.

“Like you did, huh, Dad?” I rock back on my heels, then side to side as I get comfortable. “You went after Dena’s father, after
her
repeatedly, like a snake, hiding what you truly were. You no doubt stole the same woman he did, Libby, and always have to win. Did you kill her?”

“How dare you!” His nose almost touches mine as he snarls in my face. “I loved that woman more than anything.”

“Then what the hell happened to her?” My gut twists as possible responses from him flit through my mind.

“She left, and it wasn’t for the reasons you think.” He looks around to make sure no one’s listening.

“Did she figure out you’re the devil in a suit?”

“No, Son, she figured out she wanted more. She left us both for Rich Hillcourt. You wonder why he’s after you and your girl? Because he knows I’m trying to free her. He’s the monster, not me. He’s turned her life into a living hell. He beats her. He’s destroyed her. And I made sure Gregory Winters, Dena’s dad, was put away because instead of trying to break her free, he broke into their home, shot several men, and he tried to shoot her as well. I managed to pin that motherfucker down, haul his ass out of there and make sure the Feds went after his ass so he couldn’t hurt her again. I’m protecting her.”

My eyes widen, and I back up a step. “You’re joking.”

“Afraid not.” His eyes mist, and I’ve never seen his face contort in pain ever, but right now he’s nothing but a skeleton covered in agonizing pain. “That man was a jealous, maniac with a violent streak. He told me when I forced him to leave he planned to gun her down along with Rich and myself. He wanted all of us dead. He was going to take over everything I had worked so hard for. I worked my ass off to destroy his business—take away his power. I did it for
her
. I thought maybe I could buy her freedom, and now there’s no way I can do that with what your girlfriend’s done.” He pauses, hugs me with a surprising lurch, turns and says, “I love you, Nicholas. If you love Dena, hold onto her tight, and don’t let anyone destroy what you have. I told her the rest, so she knows. I only ever wanted to keep you from ruining your life for a woman like I did, but it seems I was wrong about her. Protect her and keep her safe whatever you do. I wish you both the best.”

He leaves in the next beat, and I’m left standing there gaping.

I find a seat and sit, replaying each psychotic word he shared.

This can’t be right.

When the pressure has built up to the highest it can go, I get up and leave, racing home to my girl on my bike.

What will she say when I tell her all this? How the hell can I come up with the words to explain this nightmare to her? And what did Dad mean he’d told her the rest? Was he talking about Dena?

I pause before I open the door to our home, my thoughts exploding in my head. She was supposed to be monitoring Dad while I was there, watching out for him and activity from his guys. Why hadn’t she warned me he was coming to meet me? Shouldn’t we have run? He could’ve had a gun on him—could’ve killed me. How do I know he was telling the truth with all that craziness he told me?

I storm inside, pulling at the back of my neck with my hands when I stop right as I enter the living room.

Sitting on the couch next to Ides, who’s crying so hard she’s almost shrieking, is Jason, Lexi, and some other woman I’ve never met before.

“What the hell’s going on?” In the two seconds it takes Dena to lift her head and crack before my eyes, I’ve gone from raging inside at her for not giving me a warning about my dad, to falling apart as well.

I race over to her, drop to my knees and hug her, stroking the back of her head. “It’s all going to be okay—whatever’s wrong, it’ll be okay.”

She hugs me tight, buries her head in my neck on the left side. “No, it’s not okay.”

She curls away from me and reaches for a manila file on the coffee table. “Look at this.”

A chill of dread slices through my spine like the newfound silence in the air, and I pick it up, then gape at the first page.

Each sheaf of paper gets worse. There are so many documents here about her father and his past activities that scream out “Vile, evil man!” I don’t even know what to say or do.