Tony ran directly to the truck, where Clayton had peeled from the cab and was trying to get the trailer unhitched. He was too close: “Clayton! Clayton, get back!” Tony screamed at him. Then he remembered the tools in the bed of the truck, and he climbed up on the bumper and dug around, finally finding a sledgehammer. He jumped out of the truck bed and ordered Clayton, “Get back in the truck and wait for my signal! Be ready!” Tony took the sledgehammer to the trailer hitch, knocked off the latch, and slammed down on the tongue. It broke free, and he threw his arm up in the air, traced a circle, and whistled loudly. The truck lurched as Clayton stepped down on the gas and pulled away from the trailer.
Tony glanced around in panic, and realized José was standing right beside him. Both men scanned the area. Where was Nikki? In the middle of the street, the once-beautiful float sat blazing, destroyed. Parade spectators had stopped running and were coming back toward the scene, staring in disbelief. Tony could hear emergency vehicles, probably the very ones that were in the parade, heading toward the scene. “Nikki!” he screamed, looking around frantically. The last time he’d seen her, she’d been running straight to the flaming disaster. “NIKKI! Where are you?”
He heard a horn blaring and turned to see Clayton standing on the running board of the truck, pointing to the other side of the street behind the float. Tony and José ran around the back of the blaze and were stunned and horrified by what they saw.
Cal, Nikki, and Peyton were squatted down beside Jeremy; the younger man’s arms were badly burned and he was twitching and shaking. Nikki and Cal were sooty; Nikki’s dress had what looked like burn marks across it. Tony sprinted to them. “Baby! Oh my god, are you okay?” he cried, looking her up and down.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. We need a blanket – he’s going into shock. Find something, please!”
Tony ran to the front of the trailer and caught Clayton’s eye. “Get a tarp!” he yelled, and he saw Clayton start to rummage around in the bed of the truck. Within a few seconds, Clayton stood by the six of them, unfolding a canvas tarp, a standard issue for all Walters Construction vehicles. Nikki tucked it around Jeremy, whose head was resting in her lap. While they stood waiting for help, Vic ran up, asking what he could do to help, his face anxious and drawn.
It seemed to take forever for EMTs to reach them. One of the ambulances in the parade made it to them first, and they loaded Jeremy in and took off. Two fire trucks fought their way through the crowd and traffic but, by the time they reached the scene, the float was almost completely destroyed, the tires melted and the decking collapsing, so they secured the area and just let it burn. Police officers swarmed in, keeping spectators back and trying to talk to everyone involved.
Detective Ford found the little group standing on the sidewalk. “Oh, for the love of god, not you guys again,” he moaned, shaking his head sympathetically. “Is everybody okay?”
“No!” Tony shouted, his face a mask of fury. “One of my employees is on the way to the hospital with serious burns. I think it’s time you guys took this seriously and got us some help. It’s a miracle no one was killed.” Vic reached over and put a hand on Tony’s shoulder again to try to calm him down and was surprised to find his cousin shaking.
Detective Ford glared at him defensively. “Mr. Walters, we’ve been taking this seriously, but we haven’t been able to get any leads. I understand your own hired gun hasn’t been any more successful than we have. So know we’re doing our absolute best, okay?”
“Yeah, okay. Sorry. I’m just so damn frustrated.” Tony shook his head, his hands on his hips.
Detective Ford pressed on. “So, can anybody tell me anything?”
Before anyone else could speak, Nikki blurted out, “It was a flare gun.” The entire group turned to stare at her. “Well, it was,” she repeated sternly. “I saw the flash.”
Tony couldn’t believe it. “Are you kidding? From where?”
“From up there.” She pointed at a three-story parking garage in the same block as the grandstand. “It was up high, so it must’ve come from at least the second floor. You were talking to some guy behind us,” she said to Tony. “I turned to see who it was – I didn’t know him – and I saw something streak across the sky above the crowd. And then – BOOM! – the fire started.”
“Okay, ma’am, take me to where you were standing when you saw this and explain to me what you saw,” Detective Ford told her. They both turned to go back to where she had been when the fire started.
“I’m not leaving her,” Vic announced, looking toward Nikki, and Tony nodded. Vic took off, following Nikki and the detective.
Tony watched them walk away, then turned to Clayton. “Get a wrecker on its way here. As soon as the fire marshal is done with the investigation, we need to get this trailer out of here and out of the way. Take it to the shop and drop it. And take Cal to his truck.” Clayton nodded. “I’ve got to get to the hospital and check on Jeremy.”
“You okay, Tony?” José asked. Peyton walked up on Tony’s other side and looked him up and down just as he had Nikki.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “This is insane, just insane. If we don’t find these people pretty soon, somebody’s going to be killed. I just don’t know what to do anymore.”
José put a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “It’ll be okay. We’ll eventually find them.”
“I know. I appreciate you guys – Laura too. You’re doing a good job of keeping us safe. Clayton’s detail too.” He clapped José on the back. “I’m grateful, really. Now I’ve got to go and talk to Nikki; I’ve got to tell her I’m going to the hospital to check on Jeremy. I want one of you to stay with her until she’s done and bring her to me, or have Vic bring her.” Tony crossed the street, heading toward the detective and Nikki, as José and Peyton stood watching him go.
José turned to Peyton. “You realize they’re in a lot more danger than we thought, right?”
“Yeah. It’s gonna take everything we have to keep them both alive.” Peyton took a deep breath and sighed. This was going to be one tough assignment, and he hoped they were up to the challenge.
When Tony got to the house, Peyton was in his usual spot across the street in his gray sedan, and Tony waved to the younger man as he turned into the driveway. He walked in to find Nikki in the shower, her ruined sundress on the floor, and the pile of her clothing reeking of smoke. He stripped off his clothes and opened the shower door.
She jumped, and then smiled at him. “Hey, baby! I’m sure glad to see you!” Nikki threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.
“Angel, I’m sure glad to see you. And I’m glad you’re okay. You were a hero today,” he whispered into her ear, then kissed her back.
“Oh, no, no hero here. I just did what I knew to do.” She worked shampoo into her hair, and Tony moved her hands away and took over massaging her scalp. She moaned as he worked it into a lather.
“Uh-uh, sweetheart. I’m hungry. Let’s finish up and eat,” Nikki told Tony when he got frisky in the shower. She put on a simple shift dress and some flip-flops and fixed them a tasty lunch of homemade chicken salad and field greens. Before they could finish, they heard Clayton and Brittany come through the front door, followed almost immediately by Annabeth and Katie, and Vic brought up the rear. Clayton’s first words to his dad were, “You need to call Nonna. She’s going to be terrified until she hears your voice.”
Nikki heard Tony say, “Mamma, I wanted to call you …” as she asked the kids and Vic if they wanted food, then fed them. The questions started flying, and Nikki was glad when Tony got off the phone with his mother and helped her field some of them. Clayton did his best to fill in the blanks, but Nikki realized he hadn’t seen anything; he’d been busy watching the crowd while he drove the truck.
After about forty-five minutes, Tony announced, “Okay, guys, everybody go home. Your mom and I are exhausted. This has been an awful day. Go home, calm down, have a quiet evening. We’ve all got wo
rk tomorrow and we need to be as rested up as we can manage.” There was lots of hugging all around as everyone left.
Clayton turned as he was leaving and walked back to Nikki, wrapping his arms around her. “You scared me, Mom. I don’t know what we would’ve done if you’d gotten hurt. That was really brave of you, to go to Jeremy like that and help him. I know he appreciates it.” He stopped, then said softly, “I love you, Mom.”
“Oh, honey, I love you too!” Nikki smiled, hugging him again. “I’m okay, don’t worry about me. Now you take Brit home and relax. See you tomorrow at work.” She kissed him on the cheek and he squeezed her hand as he walked out.
“Night, guys,” Vic told them, hugging first Nikki, then Tony. “Call me if I can do anything.” Nikki stood on tiptoe and gave him a peck on the cheek, and he kissed her forehead as he left.
“I’m getting a beer and sitting on my ass in the den. Want a glass of wine?” Tony asked Nikki, turning back toward the kitchen.
“Yeah. Meet you on the sofa.” Nikki followed him into the kitchen to finish her clean-up.
They sat quietly, holding hands, for the rest of the evening, watching shows they didn’t care about and wouldn’t remember the next day. When they finally climbed into bed, Tony made love to Nikki as softly as a whisper, listening to her breathe and soaking in the feel of her satiny skin against him. The orgasm he gave her was strong but slow, and instead of crying out, she just gripped his arms and ground gently against him. It was so peaceful and calming that neither wanted it to end.
She lay in his arms, and he breathed into her hair, “I don’t know how long it’s going to take, but everything’s going to be okay. We’ve got each other.”
“I know,” she sighed and drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
The week after Labor Day, Nikki came out of Bart’s office across town to find that someone had keyed her truck, both sides, deep. They’d ruined the signage in the process. Two days later, the same happened to Tony’s truck as it sat in the parking lot at the courthouse while he was inside taking care of some permit issues. Both trucks had to be painted and the signage replaced. Tony was furious, but at least no one was hurt.
But if he was furious about the damage to the trucks, he was pleased as a peacock with his girlfriend’s performance as operations officer. The guys were not only respectful to her, but they commented to him about what a good job she was doing and his good judgment in hiring her. She seemed to enjoy the work too, and it gave them plenty to talk about over dinner every night. He’d given her a special, covert assignment as well; she was trying to talk Annabeth into coming to work for the company.
They fell into a comfortable lifestyle, working together and separately, having lunch two or three times a week, spending time in the garage gym, eating nice dinners Nikki genuinely enjoyed cooking, and having both intelligent conversation and something else Tony hadn’t had in a long time – fun. They laughed together several times a day and, even when GoGreen did their worst, he still felt like his world was okay as long as they were together. Tony had never been as happy as he was with Nikki.
On the following Monday, Nikki called Annabeth to invite her and Katie to dinner on Wednesday the nineteenth for Tony’s birthday and a late celebration of hers from the eighth, then caught Clayton in the office to ask him the same thing.
“Sure!” Then Clayton hesitated. “Is it okay if we bring a guest?”
Nikki looked at him with curiosity. “A guest? Sure. Who is it?”
“Well, um, that’s a surprise.” Clayton was expressionless.
Then it hit Nikki. “Oh my god! Are you bringing a little one?”
“I can’t say.” Clayton worked to mask his expression. “Brittany will kill me. It might fall through.”
“Say no more. Mum’s the word. I’ll make sure there’s a place at the table. Oh, this is so exciting!” Nikki gushed.
She called Vic and asked him to come; of course, he let her know he wouldn’t miss it for the world. Raffaella was on board, too; she was bringing that divine cake again. God, Nikki thought, being part of this family is probably going to mean I’ll end up weighing three hundred pounds!
She thought about calling Bart and Freddie, but then decided if there really was a child coming, that might be too many people too soon. What would Tony think when Clayton and Brittany walked in with their guest? She couldn’t wait for Wednesday to come.
“I’m leaving early,” Nikki told Tony. “It’s your birthday, and I’ve got to go home and cook. You’re not going to be late, are you?”
“Nope. I’ll be right behind you.” Tony was already in the process of packing up for the day.
“Good. Think – what would be your request for your favorite birthday meal?”
Tony smiled. “Your meatloaf. I can’t get enough of that stuff.”
“Great! That’s what I was planning to make anyway! So happy birthday to you!” She kissed him lightly on the cheek and skipped out the door.
At home, Nikki started pulling the meal together. Tony came through, kissed her lightly, and went up to shower and dress. Annabeth came in and started helping, watching Nikki make the meatloaf so she would know how it was done. By the time it was in the oven she had asked Nikki for a copy of the recipe, which her new mom took as a great compliment.
About the time Katie showed up, Vic brought in four bottles of nice wine. He also brought in Raffaella. “I thought Clayton was bringing you?” Nikki questioned Raffaella.
Raffaella shrugged. “I thought so too, but Vic came.”
“Clayton called me and asked me to pick his nonna up,” Vic said. “He didn’t say why.”
Tony came up the hallway and greeted everyone with hugs and kisses, then turned to Nikki, kissing her firmly on the lips. He looked delicious; she could feel her nipples hardening just from looking at him.
Before they could move into the den, the front door opened and Clayton came in. He held the door for Brittany as she entered, and she was holding the hand of a very small child. Every eye in the house turned and went straight to the tiny face.
The little boy had dark skin that was almost chocolate brown, and his hair was so short that his head was very nearly shaved. Under his thick, black lashes, he had the absolute largest dark brown eyes Nikki had ever seen, and beautiful, soft lips. Finally, Tony spoke: “Well, who do we have here?”
“Dad, Mom, guys, this is Stringer. Say hello, buddy.” Clayton took the child’s other hand. Almost in unison, the entire group mouthed silently to Clayton, Stringer? He shrugged.
“Hi der,” the little guy said, then smiled a jack-o-lantern smile so every tooth in his head showed. But the smile was on his lips; it didn’t extend to his eyes, which looked more than terrified. The tense look on his face pierced Tony’s heart, and the big man dropped to his knees in front of the tiny boy.
“Hi, Stringer! I’m Tony. I’m glad to meet you.” He held out his hand, and Stringer took it and shook it vigorously. “Nice grip! You’re a strong one, huh?” Tony laughed.
Stringer held up his arm, flexing his little bicep. “Wooka my guns!” he shouted.
“Wow! That’s pretty impressive,” Tony said with mock seriousness. “Guess you can take care of yourself, huh?”
“You betta bewieve it.” Stringer scowled out from under his wrinkled brow.
“Wanna go look around?” Tony took his hand. “I can show you where everything is.” He stood and started down the hall, Stringer looking up at him.
“Whaw da baffroom? Das a good fing to know.”
“I agree – very important,” Tony told him as they wandered down the hall.
“Well, that went better than I expected,” Clayton said under his breath, and Brittany let out a sigh of relief.
“Uh-oh.” Nikki watched her big guy lead the little one down the hallway. “Your dad is falling in love.” Vic laughed. “You know I’m right,” she said, frowning at Vic, who nodded.
Clayton grinned. “Yeah, Mom. I t
hink he is.”
“I don wike dat.” Stringer shoved the meatloaf away.
“Have you tried it?” Tony asked him. Stringer had insisted on sitting next to Tony. That was usually Nikki’s spot, but she’d decided she could give it up for one night.
“Nah, but I don wike it,” Stringer repeated, making a disgusted face.
“Why don’t you try it?” He leaned over and whispered in Stringer’s ear, loudly enough so everyone could hear, “You’ll hurt Ms. Nikki’s feelings if you don’t. She made it especially for you.” Tony picked up Stringer’s fork and loaded it with meatloaf, then held it up to his face. “Then if you don’t like it, you don’t have to eat it.”
To their surprise, Stringer opened his mouth like a baby bird, and Tony shoved the meatloaf in before he had a chance to clamp it shut again. Stringer chewed it a bit, then cocked his head to one side.
“Hey!” he yelled. “Dass pwetty good!” He took the fork from Tony and started eating the meatloaf by himself. Tony looked at Nikki with a silly grin plastered all over his face that made her heart thump faster.
When dinner was done, Stringer had a screaming fit because Clayton and Brittany would only let him have one slice of Raffaella’s cake. Nikki had to promise to take him to the nearest fast food restaurant with a playground to get him quiet, and he wanted to know right then when he could expect her to do that. Tony dug around in the closet of the back bedroom and found a box of Clayton’s old building blocks, and Annabeth and Katie helped him build something unidentifiable in the den.
Eventually, everyone left, knowing they had to go to work the next day. As he left, Stringer had to hug and kiss everyone. “Bye, ebberbody! Bye, Tony,” he yelled out, and kissed Tony on the cheek.