Carter Reed Part 22

"I think you have the more interesting life."

His eyes fell flat. "No, no I don't. I took a lot of beatings from my old man, but I never left. I didn't want to leave my best friend and his little sister. They were my family. When someone took that away, I did what I knew how to do. I beat them up. When that didn't make it feel better, I killed them and you know the rest. My life's not interesting at all."

"I think you're underestimating yourself."

His thumb rubbed back and forth over my lips. He murmured, "I'd rather hear about you."

As his hand ran down my neck and in the valley between my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, I closed my eyes as he cupped one of my b.r.e.a.s.t.s and caressed me there. I murmured, "I met Mallory at my first job after school. I got hired at The Richmond later and saw Amanda again."

"Tell me more." He moved down to kiss the valley between my b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

Desire flooded me. My heart pounded against my chest. "Uh...we used to talk about guys a lot. All three of us. Mallory dated a lot of guys. Ben wors.h.i.+ped her, but she never gave into him. And Amanda," my breath hitched as his tongue swept the underside of my breast, "uh, Amanda liked nerdy guys. She said it was the curse of having a wimpy dad."

He moved further down my stomach. My hands slid into his hair and held on. I gasped, unable to speak. The ache between my legs grew with each nibble from him.

"It sound like you had fun with her?" His hand moved to my hip and he urged me to my side.

As I did, he settled behind me. My leg was lifted and he fit between them. His arm reached around me so I was held against his chest. He started to nudge inside of me. I couldn't talk. The sensations were overwhelming me.

He murmured into my ear, pressing a kiss there, "Tell me about your friends.h.i.+p with her."

I struggled to concentrate and gasped, "We laughed about our dates. And Ben." He pushed further into me. My eyes closed and I rested my head against his. He began a slow rhythm.

His voice was husky as he murmured, "Why did you laugh about him?"

"Because he's funny." My throat closed off. I could only lie there as his fingers moved over my body and his hips thrust into me. "Carter," I gasped again.

"What's wrong?"

I heard his amus.e.m.e.nt. Twisting my head to the side, I caught his gaze. They darkened and a primal hunger burst over me. Pus.h.i.+ng at his hips so he slipped out, I started to turn, but Carter grasped my waist. He lifted me over him and slammed inside of me in the same movement. There were no words after that. I folded over him, bending down so my chest was pressed against his as he urged my hips into a faster pace.

It was later, after we both exploded together and I was still curled over him. He was tracing my hair back, skimming his hand over my body in a soft caress before he'd move back to my hair and repeat the same motion. I was falling asleep when a thought came to me. "Do you have men watching Amanda?"

His hand tightened around my breast for a second. Then it relaxed. "No. Are you worried about her?"

"No." I had no reason to be. Then I looked up at him. "Could I invite her to Octave one night? It'd be fun."

"You can invite her anywhere you'd like." He gazed at me, a soft longing in his eyes.

My heart constricted. "What's wrong, Carter?"

He only gave me a sad smile. "I'm glad you have a good friend. This life with me is solitary. I worry about you when I'm gone."

"You don't ever need to worry about me."

He gripped my arms. "I do. And I will always worry, but it's because I love you. I will never control you, Emma. You can make your own decisions and go where you want and I will never say otherwise. But I need you to know that if I worry about you, it's because I love you. I want you safe. I will always want you safe, no matter who you are with or what you're doing."

The intensity on his face had me gasping again. No one had looked at me like that since AJ, since he told me to go as he faced down Tomino in that alley. That had been the last time I felt someone's love for me as much as I did from Carter now. He had said the words and I knew he meant them, but I felt them this time. I had no words. I had no way to express what I was feeling so I leaned into him and captured his lips with mine. It wasn't long until both of us were groaning again. I was home. I was where I was supposed to be.

The next month went by and I was happy. Carter tried to limit his travels to one day a week and when he couldn't, I knew he hurried so he could get back to me. Work pa.s.sed uneventfully. I was still enjoying my new job and the parameters I was given, but Theresa remained withdrawn when we worked together. That was a damper on my good moods. After work, I began going to the cafe more and more. Amanda started to wait for me in our booth. She knew when my job ended and had a coffee pot waiting for us. We never discussed Ben and Mallory again. I shared with her little things about Carter, about a new restaurant he took me to or how he said we could go to Octave at any time, and she would tell me stories about her co-workers.

The last Friday of the month, I slid into my side of the booth and noticed she was different. Her head was down and she was wringing her hands together. Her shoulders were slouched down.

"What happened?"

Her head snapped up with horror. "I have a date."

I grinned. "You look ready to pee yourself. How is that a bad thing?"

Her hands kept twisting around each other and she let out a deep breath. "How did this happen? I keep asking myself that and I have no idea how it happened. I really don't. He was there. He was hot. He was asking for a bagel. I was giving one to him and then his hands touched mine." Her chest rose for another dramatic breath. "Then he kept coming in. I'm nuts. I know I'm nuts. My best friend is dating a mob hitman, okay-my only friend is dating a mob hitman. What am I doing? I can't go on a date. I have to call and cancel."

She dove inside her purse, fumbling for her phone, but I s.n.a.t.c.hed it away. "What are you talking about? You can't date because of me? You can't think that, do you?"

She froze.

I saw she did. I flung her purse back on the table, but grabbed her phone before she could. Then I pointed at her, her phone in hand, with each word. "You can date whoever you want. You can't not date because of me. You got it?"

She swallowed. "He's a cop."

Oh.

I fell back in the booth. Her phone fell out of my hand. I hadn't considered that scenario, but then I really started to think about it. I never told her anything specific. The only things I said about Carter were the good things, how he made me feel and normal dating stuff. I didn't even know anything about his business connections. He said he was out, but he had killed in the past. And I knew about some of those, but I would never tell a soul. So I looked back up. "Date him."

"Huh?" Her mouth fell open.

"Date him." I shrugged. "Why not? You don't even know Carter. You don't really know anything about him. Why couldn't you date this guy then?"

She continued to gape at me before she pretended to bang her head on the table, groaning. "You were supposed to agree with me. I can't date this guy."

"Why not?"

"Because!"

I grinned. This was the old Amanda and I said what I would've said then, "Just wait till Mals and Ben hear about this. You'll hear all about-" I stopped. I couldn't believe I had said that. I'd forgotten. I sat back, feeling the blood drain from my face. "Oh man."

She shot forward and slapped a hand on the table. "Look at me."

I'd forgotten about them.

She slammed it down again. "Look at me, Emma!"

I jerked my gaze up, my heart still pounding. Mallory.

She hissed at me, "So what?! Huh? So what. I know what just happened and it's okay. It's okay. Okay, Ems? Okay?! I know you're thinking that you forgot about Mallory and how could you, blah blah blah? Am I right?"

I couldn't think. My eyes were fastened to hers, but I couldn't deny the guilt in me.

"You're wrong. You're wrong! What happened was a horrible, horrible thing and you saved your friend. You did. You saved her, but when you did what you did, the game changed. Your man knew that. He knew right away that there'd be a time when it would come to you or her. Ben did a b.a.s.t.a.r.d move, but he did it to save Mals, and you forgetting about them just this second means that you're moving forward. Okay? That's all it means. You're moving on. We're all moving on. Wherever they are, they're moving forward too. You don't need to feel guilty about leaving her and I know you do. Be happy with that hot piece of a.s.s and feel okay being happy with him."

I murmured, "How do you know all that to say to me?" Was it really that simple?

"Because I love you. You're my friend and I'm grateful that I still have your friends.h.i.+p." Her chin locked in place and she crossed her arms. "I'm p.i.s.sed that Ben went to them, but I've realized that it had to happen. Your man was right, that's why he took you away from us. If you had stayed with us, you were a sitting duck. They would've found Mallory and Ben would've told them what you did to save her." She shrugged. "It had to happen. Your life or hers. Your man saved you and Ben did what he had to."

Some of my old humor sparked in me and I grinned. "Did you really just refer to Ben as a man?"

Amanda smacked her hand to her forehead and moaned. "He'd been so pathetic over her for so long. Always panting after her, being one of those guys. He was such a creeper."

I chuckled. "He would call the apartment when she was on dates. He always wanted me to tell him when she got home. I never did, but one time he even sent me a pizza. It was like he was trying to bribe me for information on her."

"Mallory was so stupid." She amended, "She was nice, but she was stupid. How could he not give her the creeps? He was her very own stalker that she treated like a friend."

I snorted, "Or like a brother at times. There were times when he'd come over and she'd hide in the bathroom. We even had it rigged where we could slip through the window. Ben never believed me when I told him she wasn't home. He demanded to search the apartment to see it for his own eyes."

"He was a little crazy about her."

"A little?" My eyebrow rose. "Try a lot, but she always said he was nice deep down. Guess she was right in some ways? He was there for her in the end."

"Yeah, I guess. He was like the pervy cousin that was always around."

I grinned. He was. Then my smile waned. "Why are we talking about them like they're dead?"

"Because they are."

My eyes shot to hers.

She shrugged, glancing away and sighing at the same time. "At least to me, they are. They're gone. They left us behind. At least when you left, you were still working. We still texted. But they're completely gone. No word. No call. No nothing. So to me, that's how I think of it. They're dead to me."

"That's perverse."

"Helps me from getting hurt by them. I locked aem out. Maybe you should do that too."

"Yeah, maybe." I bit my lip as I looked away. "Mallory never texted me."

"Because stupid Ben destroyed her phone one night. He thought they could find her from its gps. You didn't hear him at the end, before he got all happy. He was sounding crazy. He thought there were men watching them. He thought someone was listening in on the landline and they could get into his computers. He was scared to leave the apartment. I mean, really, he took a butcher knife with him when we ordered pizza. I'm surprised the kid didn't drop a deuce on his doorstep."

I looked down. I couldn't stop myself. There were men watching them. Carter had sent them. I didn't know about the rest, but Ben wasn't as crazy as she thought. As I slid out of the booth, I mustered up a smile. "On that sanitary note, I think I'm going to head home."

"Tomorrow?"

I stopped, caught by the earnest hope on her face, and nodded. "Yeah. You know, let's do something fun. Maybe a night at Octave?"

Her eyes lit up. "Serious?"

"Serious. We'll have our own box too."

"Is your man going to be there?"

I shrugged. "I have no idea. He tries to come if he's not busy."

"So you're saying it could be just the two of us, in our own private box?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Nope. Just means I can get wasted and not worry about looking like a fool."

When his phone rang, Carter inwardly sighed. It wasn't the ring he wanted to hear. He picked up his phone, "Gene?"

"You have a problem."

He didn't blink or react. It was how he a.s.sumed the conversation would start. "With what?"

"Our cops called. All of them said the same thing, your woman's roommate was found an hour ago."

He held back his grimace. He already knew it wasn't good news. "She's dead."

"Yep, beaten and strangled. Cops think the boyfriend did it, that one you said would be a problem."

"They know why?" Emma would want to know. She'd want to understand and then she'd blame herself.

"A butcher knife was taken to her stomach. They think she was pregnant and the p.r.i.c.k didn't like who the father was."

Dunvan.

Carter sighed. "Okay. Thanks for letting me know."

"The boyfriend's still missing. Cops are canva.s.sing the neighborhood for him, but right now they only think he was a crackhead. You know what'll happen if he's taken into custody."

"Crackhead?" But Carter knew that's what Franco had done. Get them hooked and they belong to you forever.

"Yeah," the older man sounded wary. "They were using an abandoned apartment in a warehouse. It looked like a usual crackhead's place. You know what's all there."

Carter nodded to himself. "Find the boyfriend before the cops do."

"What are you going to say to your woman?"

He never hesitated. "I'm going to tell her that her roommate died from a miscarriage and bled out."

"That's it?"

"She doesn't need to know the rest. She'll know the friend she tried to protect is dead anyway."

"Listen to you. You're going soft on us, Carter. Pretty soon you're going to be having emotions and s.h.i.+t like that."

"What would you feel, Gene? If the situation were reversed and it was your woman?" he asked, suddenly exhausted. He was stalling. He knew it and he asked the question anyway.

The other man laughed into the phone. "f.u.c.k. I don't got no feelings, not after this long in the business. I'm surprised you do."

Did he? An image of Emma's heart-shaped face appeared in his mind and anger rushed to him. The d.a.m.n boyfriend. The p.r.i.c.k could hurt her. After all he'd done to keep her from harm, and now this. He murmured into his phone, "I've got enough feeling to know what I'd like to do to that boyfriend of her roommate's."