Page 11 of Unchained
CHAPTER FIVE
“You always treat your guests like this?” I took the glass of wine from the bar and walked out onto the deck overlooking the ocean. The water nipped gently at the rocks lining the shore. A couple of seagulls screamed at each other. Last night had screwed me royally. Streeter would hunt my ass down. He would use the same office I once held to prosecute me for killing his men. I had no doubt Carlie would throw me under the bus.
Veronica joined me on the deck and leaned on the railing next to me. Her blonde hair rose and fell with the wind lazily coming in from the ocean. I had to give her credit. She was different from most women I found attractive. Maybe that’s why I still put up with her shit. “Do you always kill people?” she asked.
“I don’t get it. Why didn’t you just fucking leave me in that alley? You didn’t have to help me.” I sat the wine on the table and moved to one of the chairs, shifting my gaze from Veronica back to the ocean. I was going to need a vacation from my vacation.
“Why can’t you be happy that I saved your ass and leave the reason I did alone? There’s no need to be so ungrateful.”
Ungrateful? I quickly moved from the chair and pinned Veronica against the railing. She brought her knee up between my legs, but I was a second too fast and caught her knee between mine. Her breath smelled of wine and weed.
“You going to shoot me, too?”
I grabbed her wrist, and to my surprise, she didn’t fight back. The look in her eyes said, go for it if you think you can handle it. “I don’t know what fucking game you’re playing, but I’ve had enough. Tomorrow I’m on the first plane out of here.”
“No, you’re not.” She planted a kiss on my lips and smirked. “The airports and roads out are closed.”
“The fucking hurricane.” I released her wrists and stared out at the water and the ominous skies to the east. I’d completely forgotten Hurricane Sadie was on her way, due to make landfall in the morning. “You fucking trapped me here on purpose.”
“You came of your own free will, Deacon. I didn’t force you. You’re being a little bitch.” She giggled and took a seat at the table.
“What’s the game you’re playing, Veronica? Streeter put you up to this? He going to pull into the driveway any minute with a half dozen of his men?” I fought the desire to rip her head off and sat across from her. She pushed her sandy-blonde hair back over her left ear. Her eyes were green like the aurora borealis, much different than they had appeared yesterday. I was dying to bend her over the table and fuck her nice ass until she begged for mercy, which I wouldn’t give.
She glanced at her watch. “I have to take care of some things in town. Your escorts will be here in five hours. I hope you have the time of your life, Deacon.”
“You’re leaving me with babysitters.”
“If you’re into that kind of thing.” She smirked, and her confidence in mastering me seemed to rise. “Don’t worry, both are over twenty-one.”
“We’re not done,” I said.
She stood and took a deep breath of ocean air. Fuck, she was cocky. She moved around behind me and placed her hands on my shoulders. Her lips touched my ear. “I don’t know what you are used to, Deacon, but I’m the wrong person for you to fuck with.”
“I’ll be fucking you before I go back to Miami.”
She patted y shoulders. “Good luck with that. Many men have failed in their attempts.”
I stood, and Veronica held her ground. Our lips came close but never touched. “I meant what I said.”
“So did I, Deacon.” She reached between my legs and grabbed my balls. “You come for me you better be ready for the ride of your life.” She kissed my cheek, and just like that, she left me alone again.
My cock grew hard, and my balls ached, I’m sure turning smurf-blue. “Fuck, Suzanne, what’s happening to me? Who the hell is this woman, and what the hell happened to you?”
I waited out on the deck for the next hour for Veronica to leave and to allow myself time to think about what the hell was happening. My planets and stars were misaligned as fuck, and everything around me was becoming a disaster.
Inside, I walked the house, looking for a phone. When I finally found a landline, the signal was dead.
With no car, I left the house and walked several blocks south until I found one of those tourist traps where they sold cheap clothes at a high price. I was going to look like some dumbass who thought he could pilot a boat, wearing white shorts, a green polo, and slip-on shoes. The clerk said I looked fantastic. I told her to find something else. When I left, I was wearing khaki cargo shorts, a Jimmy Buffet tee, and sandals. When in the Keys, do as the people do.
I continued into town with the sun beating down and something tugging at my mind. What the fuck was really going on? I took a right onto Duval Street and headed to the center of town, passing several bars until I found one open.
Bourbon Street Pub’s door was open, and a sign on the sidewalk said, All Welcome. It was not the kind of establishment I frequented, but I needed an ice-cold beer to get me back to Veronica’s mysterious mansion and whatever the hell she had planned. The thought of the two escorts did make me smile.
Other than the bartender, and two women sitting at a table nursing margaritas, the bar was empty.
“What would you like?” the bartender, a young woman of no more than twenty-five, asked and placed her elbows on the bar, leaning forward and almost in my face. Her breasts were small, but her eyes were gorgeous. She had a three-inch scar over her right eyebrow, and she noticed me looking. “Jetski accident,” she said, sharing a perfectly white smile. Her name badge read, Darla.
“Looks like you got the worst of it.” I laid a twenty on the counter. “Your largest pitcher of beer.” She grabbed the twenty and didn’t blink an eye. “Keep the change.”
