“Janessa, my office. Now.”
I looked up toward the sound of D’s voice and then over toward Knuckles. He grimaced and nodded toward me to go. Walking out the swing gate on one side of the bar, I made my way hurriedly to D’s office and stepped inside, closing the door behind me. I could tell he was frustrated just from the look on his face.
“Did you find out?”
“Yep, not that it does us any good.”
He didn’t offer any more than that, even though I waited. I didn’t understand at first, but then it hit me.
“Ringo?”
“That’s right. I found ten incidents of faked employment documents. All were paid out by Ringo.”
“Which leaves us nowhere. Ringo said he would be second in command, so we know he wasn’t running the show. So who was, or should I say is?”
“I don’t know, but until I find out, everyone is suspect.”
“I guess they would have to be.”
“One more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t want you at home alone.”
“It’s the only home I have, D.”
“Then you will stay with me until we sort this out.”
“D, I can’t be a prisoner in your house.”
“A prisoner? Is that how you see staying with me?”
“You know what I mean, D.”
“It’s not optional, Janessa. I’m taking you home to pack some things, and we are going to my house.”
“I suppose it would just be a waste of my breath to continue protesting, huh? Fine.”
“You are absolutely correct about that. Let’s go.”
“My shift isn’t done. I can’t leave Knuckles hanging.”
“Yes, it is. Knuckles will manage just fine without you. The way you run circles around him, he’ll probably be glad to have you not making him look bad for a while.”
I sighed and followed him out of his office, shrugging toward Knuckles as I left. He shook his head in my direction with a scowl and went back to working the busy bar, now short one bartender. D and I made our way wordlessly to my house and went inside. He waited until I had my suitcase packed and then took it out to the car. Though there was a part of me that wasn’t very happy about being carted off to his house to be watched over, another part was very interested in how living with him, even temporarily, was going to pan out.
“Come on, and we’ll get your things settled into one of the guest rooms,” he said as we arrived an hour or so later.
My heart sank as I realized he had no intention of sharing his bed with me again. Though D might very well want and need to know what was going on at his club and be willing to help me in my efforts to find who murdered my father in the process, he was now well aware that I had come here to take him down. A man like him would not take that lightly, nor would he just forget about it. I had to resign myself to the fact that if there had ever been anything developing between us, it now stood zero chance.
“Okay,” I replied quietly, following him as he helped carry my bags to a large spare bedroom down the hallway from his own. It was going to be hard enough sleeping in a separate room in the same house, but knowing that he was just right down the hall and wanted nothing to do with me was going to be even harder to deal with.
“I have to go back out and take care of a couple of things, but you will be safe here. The alarm will be set, and the guards will be in place.”
“You’re just going to leave me here alone?”
“No. I’m going to leave you here with a fully functional alarm system and two armed guards.”
“You know what I mean, D.”
“What is it that you expect from me, Janessa? You turn up at my club with some wounded woman act and I buy into it. I didn’t want to trust you, but I gave you the benefit of the doubt and found myself doing just that. Come to find out, that is all it is, an act. I’m guessing there was never an abusive boyfriend at all.”
“No. I made that up to explain the cold trail in my background.”
“Well, congratulations. It worked. I trusted what you were saying completely. Get some sleep, Janessa.”
I watched as he turned and walked out, the sound of his footsteps trailing down the stairs and out the door. The smell of his cologne, a dark, woodsy scent I couldn’t quite place, but one that completely intoxicated my senses anytime he was near, lingered behind him. It only compounded my feelings of gloom and despair. I took a hot shower and slipped into the pajamas I had brought, nice flannel ones to keep me warm in the chilly house. I had already known prior to coming here that D wouldn’t be keeping my body temperature up.
Slipping beneath the overstuffed duvet, I realized just how exhausted I felt and was asleep within minutes, despite any turmoil I felt regarding D. I never even heard him come in, but I awoke the next morning to the sounds of voices in the kitchen and pots and pans clanging. I got up and got dressed, brushing my hair and dabbing on just enough makeup to be presentable, but not so much to be noticeable before heading downstairs to see what was going on.
“Good morning,” D said as he handed a large skillet to a petite blonde standing by the island chopping up fresh vegetables.
“Good morning,” I replied in a cool tone.
“Are you hungry?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t have much of an appetite. I’ll leave the two of you alone.”
“Well, that defeats the purpose of me calling in the cook if she is just going to cook for me.”
“Excuse me?”
“This is Nadine, my cook. She doesn’t come in all the time, but it’s been a rough few days, and I thought it might be a nice treat for both of us. Plus, she lets me help in the kitchen. I’m learning to cook too.”
I looked from him to Nadine. I had just assumed he had moved on to a new girl and was flaunting her in front of my face. I could feel the heat of my embarrassment rush up my cheeks. The look on his face told me he saw it too. He smirked a little at me and offered me breakfast again.
“You sure you don’t want to eat? Nadine is teaching me to make western omelets this morning. They are going to be outstanding!”
“You seem to be in a very good mood about it.”
“I had to do something to improve my mood is more like it.”
“And cooking does that for you?”
“Don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold, but yeah, it kind of does.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
“Good. Omelet, then?”
“Sure. I can’t wait.”
“That’s more like it. Orange juice?”
“Yes, but can I also have coffee?”
“Of course. You’re our best customer.”
“I’m your only customer.”
“Well, there is that.”
D and I sat down at the smaller table in the breakfast nook and drank coffee and orange juice while Nadine finished preparing the ingredients for omelets. When she was done, she called him in to finish up, guiding him in the preparation. She might just be the cook, but it was obvious that he had an effect on her just like he did other women. She laughed and batted her eyelashes playfully, though he seemed oblivious to it. He was completely focused on the preparation of the omelets, which turned out nearly perfect and quite delicious.
“Learn anything last night?” I asked as we ate.
“Went looking for Arthur. He’s not been to the casino in a few days. I thought I would try to see if I could stir him up a bit about these rogues he was mouthing off about.”
“Oh no. You don’t think he has ended up like Jack Knife and Ringo, do you?”
“I don’t know. I’ve got some guys looking for him. Seems to be getting to be a common thing that the people I need to talk to most are all ending up missing and then found dead. I hope that won’t be the case with Arthur. He’s been known to go off on a bender here and there, so hopefully I will find him passed out in a bar or brothel somewhere.”
“Charming man he is. Anything else of consequence?”
“Not so far.”
Our conversation was interrupted by footsteps from the kitchen. Both of us looked up toward the petite cook as she arrived by the table and looked at us blankly. D seemed clueless, but I didn’t miss the look on her face. It was obvious that she didn’t like my being there. I was a threat to her, though I suspected she was barking up the wrong tree. The lack of chemistry I had witnessed between her and D had told me she was no threat to me. Of course, at the moment, I was my biggest threat to me when it came to D.
“I’m finished cleaning up the kitchen, D. I’ll be going.”
“Okay, Nadine. Thank you so much for coming over this morning.”
“It’s what you pay me for. I put together some sandwiches for lunch. All you have to do is heat up the grill and throw them on there to toast. There are some avocadoes in the fridge if you want to slice one up for them.
“Sounds good. Thanks again, Nadine.”
“Goodbye,” she replied to both of us, making a hasty exit.
“She’s cute.”
“Not my type.”
“I wasn’t implying…”
“Yes, you were. I saw the expression on your face when you found her in the kitchen this morning. You made an assumption.”
“I…I…”
“You’re very cute when you stutter.”
“I don’t get you at all, D.”
“Nothing to get, Janessa.”
“You’re hot and cold. One minute you’re bedding me and the next you’re putting me in a room alone.”
“Do you have any concept of what you did, Janessa?”
“What I did?”
“Yes, Janessa. What you did. I wanted to trust you. I was beginning to trust you and then I find out you came to my casino to bring me down. You came there to bring me down for something I didn’t even do. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done plenty, so I’m sure getting punished for something that I had nothing to do with would actually just be some sort of cosmic justice, but how do you expect me to feel now that I know the truth?”
“I know, D. I didn’t know you when I came here. I only knew your reputation. Your club’s reputation.”
“And now? Do you really know any more about me now?”
“I know you didn’t kill my father.”
“Someone in my club did. Someone that I have trusted my life to, my secrets with, been brothers with, has betrayed me and things that shouldn’t have happened are now done. They can’t be changed.”
“No, but that person or those persons can be brought to justice.”
“What justice is that, Janessa? You know I won’t involve the police, and you know that what is done with them is up to me, up to the club. What if they give me a reasonable explanation for your father’s death?”
“What? He was shot for no reason. What could possibly be the explanation for that?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t there. Neither were you. Neither of us knows what happened. You said yourself that your father was irresponsible. What if he brought this on himself?”
“No one deserves to be gunned down in a dirty alley and left to die.”
“No? Isn’t that what you want me to do to whoever killed him?”
“What? I don’t know what I want you to do to them.”
“Sure you do, Janessa. Be honest with yourself. You don’t want justice. You want vengeance. You want me to serve up a nice slice of cold, hard payback on your behalf.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Then why are you here? You didn’t just come here to find your father’s killer. You came here to tear this club apart, to make us pay for your father’s death. Does it really matter who did it?”
“What? No. Wait, that’s not what I’ve said. Where is this coming from?”
“I don’t know. I’m just a guy who got too close to a woman without knowing her at all. I just realized last night when I was talking to some of my guys that I now find myself in a situation I’ve never been in. I can’t trust anyone. Not my boys, not you, not anyone.”
“And you are blaming me for that? I did you a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yes. You were completely clueless to the fact that members of your own club are gunning for you. You might not have ever known until it was too late.”
“No, Janessa. I already knew I was in danger, not exactly how or from who, but when money came up missing, I knew someone was betraying me and that is always a recipe that involves a healthy dose of watching your back.”
“Knowing you’ve been betrayed by a thief and knowing you are in danger of being taken out so that someone can take your place are two different things.”
“Not in my book, Janessa. The moment I found out someone was stealing from me, I knew I had bigger problems. Someone with the balls to do that is capable of anything, and I always watch my back. I always watch my peoples’ backs. Problem is, I don’t know which backs to watch and which backs to break at this point.”
“No need for me to answer. You’ve made up your mind what you want to believe.”
“I believe what I see, what I hear. I don’t like to be betrayed, by anyone.”
“So you have said. I get it.”
“Come on. We need to get to work.”