Page 8 of Unchained
CHAPTER FOUR
“Sleep well?” Veronica stood next to two cups of coffee in the kitchen. Steam rolled off the cups, and the smell of mocha filled the room.
“Temperature-controlled beds. Nice touch.” I nodded at the coffee. “Hope one of those is for me.”
“Just the one I drugged.” She handed me a cup, and I stared at her over the rim as I sipped. She had a hell of a sense of humor with one hell of a body. The white satin robe she had on stopped mid-thigh. “Eyes up here.”
“You always this bossy in the mornings?”
“Only when a stranger is in the house.”
“So, I’m still a stranger?”
She glanced at the clock on the wall. “I met you eight hours ago while you were killing three men and wounding another.”
“But, you were impressed with my marksmanship?”
She shook her head. “It’ll take more than that to impress me.”
“You had your chance last night.”
“You’re insinuating that I would have been impressed with your bedroom skills.” She sipped her coffee, and I was genuinely impressed with her wit.
“I wasn’t insinuating.”
“Deacon O'Neil, do you have any idea how many men come at me with cheap lines like those? Contrary to popular belief, words are easily forgotten.” She finished her coffee and placed the cup in the sink. “Our flight leaves in two hours. That should be enough time for a shower and for you to be ready.” Once again, she left me standing in a room alone. A door shut, and I returned to the bedroom. Damn, she was good.
I checked the news to see if the three men I killed had made the headlines. Nothing. Streeter owned most of the city officials. He also made sizeable donations to the city’s police fund. The deaths would be written off as another bad drug deal. It would be left at that. Then Streeter would send another group of his thugs.
In the shower, I thought about Veronica. Her private life was sealed. No one ever spoke about her, at least in the circles I kept. And despite her cornering the cosmetic market, she stayed out of the news. She had also crushed me like an ant. My ego was bruised but not tarnished.
I found a casual suit and a short sleeve tee in the closet. I wanted to say I looked good, but Veronica would definitely question the validity of my statement. It was time to take a different path with her.
“I’ll pick up some clothes in Key West,” I said when I met Veronica in the living room. She wore a white halter jumper that showed off her perfect breasts and toned shoulder—the reasons she received so many corny lines from men was undeniable.
“You should probably let someone know where you are.”
“Yeah, I should, but you took my phone.”
She chuckled and grabbed her purse. “Then, all you have to worry about is me.” She grabbed a packed bag from the couch and started toward the door.
“That’s all you’re taking?”
She stopped and looked at me, her eyes some kind of crazy. “I have a place in the Keys, Deacon.” She opened the door. “And I don’t wear much while I’m down there anyway.”
I chuckled as she continued out to the car, once again leaving me alone in a room. There was something fucked up about her and the entire situation.
I climbed into the passenger seat since Veronica was already in the driver’s seat. She wasn’t going to budge when it came to me driving her car. I had my own Mercedes, so I wasn’t sure what her deal was. Best I could figure at that moment, she was just a strong-willed woman.
She pulled out onto A1A and headed south. I watched her from the corner of my eye and had the feeling something was off about the whole thing. I was missing something obvious.
“You never said why you were in that back alley in the first place. Just hanging out?”
“You never asked.” She smiled, and I found myself annoyed at her word games.
“Okay, why were you in a dark alley on a Sunday night?”
“I had a seat in the bar in the back where I could see everything going on around me. I saw the four men watching you at one point and then saw them could read their lips. They made a phone call. I also saw you watching them. You started checking out all the possible exits. I felt like you settled on the one toward the back of the club. Not knowing if you were carrying a gun or not, I left and prepared to help you.”
