“Yeah, well, no, I mean, I cleaned up the truck at a car wash down the street. I went home and, the next day, I called the glass place and had them come and put a new windshield in,” Cal explained.
“And the bullet hole in the roof of the truck?” Fox asked, leaning back again. “You put the duct tape over it?”
“Yeah, I didn’t want it to leak when it rained.” Cal looked down at the table, humiliated.
“And you basically went on, business as usual.”
“Yeah, I guess you’d say that,” Cal answered. As Steve listened, he shook his head in disbelief. Cal sounded so nonchalant when he talked about just going on like nothing had happened that it pissed Steve off to no end.
“I take it the thumbprint in blood on the trash can in Mr. Walters’ office is yours?”
Cal hung his head and said quietly, “Yes.”
“One more thing, Cal. What would you say your relationship with Dottie Walters was? Were you in love with her? Did you feel sorry for her? What was it?”
“I don’t know, I really don’t.” Cal started to sniffle. “The sex was pretty good. I wasn’t in love with her. I think she was trying to get back at Tony; I’m not sure. But no, it wasn’t about love at all. It was just sex.” He started to outright cry. “I’ve thrown my whole life away for sex in my truck, and not the greatest sex in the world, just pretty good. Oh god – what have I done? Tony’s never going to forgive me!”
“That’s not something you should worry about at this point. Officer,” Fox asked the uniform at the door, “would you please arrest Mr. Forrester, read him his rights and the list of charges against him?”
“No!” Cal yelled. “Oh, please, don’t do this! I didn’t do anything wrong! Oh, please, what will my wife and kids do?” Cal screaming was all that the whole precinct could hear as they led him out the door and down the hall to booking.
“So I guess you get to break the news to Tony,” Bryson told Steve. “Man, that’s one job I don’t envy you.”
Steve shook his head. “No shit. He’s going to have a coronary when he finds out about this.”
“Officer, could you give us a few minutes?” Steve asked the officer who was processing Tony’s paperwork. “There’s something I need to tell my client.”
“Sure. I’ve got to go retrieve his personal effects anyway. You’ve got ten minutes.”
“Thanks.” Steve turned to Tony. “I’ve got something to tell you, and I don’t quite know how to start.”
Tony’s brow furrowed. “Can’t be that bad, can it?”
“Well, actually . . .” Steve started relating Cal’s statement and watched Tony’s eyes grow bigger with each passing moment. When he was done, Tony looked at him with a mixture of disgust and fury.
“He was fucking my ex-wife? In the company truck I provided for him? On my time? After all I’ve done for him over the years? That little sawed-off son of a bitch!” he growled, trying to keep his voice down. Steve had never seen Tony angry before; it just wasn’t part of his personality, but Steve was surprised. The normally-calm Italian looked like he could break Cal in half. “If I could get my hands on him . . .”
“He was worried you’d fire him,” Steve snickered.
“Fire him?” Tony’s face was a red mess of boiling indignation. “Fire him? He’s lucky I don’t do worse! Hell yeah, he’s fired! Bastard left me to twist in the wind . . . I’ve been in jail for two goddamn weeks, and he’s worried about getting fired? I’d better not see him . . .”
“You won’t be seeing much of anybody unless they come to the house,” Steve ordered with a look that told Tony he was way past serious. “You will wear the monitor and you will stay at the house – period. I don’t want you to mess this up, hear me? You violate this, and I’m not sure I can help you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” Tony sighed. “But the whole idea of Cal and Dottie just . . .” He shuddered.
“I know. I was a little grossed out too. But there’s no accounting for taste, huh?” Steve laughed.
“No shit. So when can I get out of here?”
“As soon as your processing is done. Nikki sent some clothes for you. A cruiser will take you home. They’ll explain how the monitor works,” Steve told him. Tony made a disgusted face. “But you’ll be at home in your own bed tonight. That counts for something, right?”
Tony broke into a huge smile. “Oh, that counts for a lot more than just something. That’s everything!”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
“So what’s going on? Why weren’t you at the office this morning?” Clayton asked Nikki when he got to the house. He had gone by and picked up Brittany and Stringer; Ella Jane was in school. Before Nikki could give him an answer, Annabeth, Katie, and Raffaella walked through the door. Vic had reached the courthouse just as the proceedings had ended, and he’d headed straight for the Louisville house as soon as he’d heard.
“I had something I had to do; actually, I was at the courthouse. I have a surprise for all of you.” Nikki was almost bouncing in front of them as they all sat around in the den. “Within the next hour and a half,” Nikki could barely get out, her excitement about to spill out everywhere, “your dad will be home!”
Annabeth nearly shattered everyone’s eardrums with her screaming. Everybody was hugging everybody else except for Nikki; she was standing to the side, watching, when everyone stopped and realized she was standing by herself. Clayton strode across the room and threw his arms around her, hugging her tight. “Mom, I’m so sorry you’ve gone through all of this. You’ve been here for everybody, and no one’s really been here for you,” he told her, suddenly looking like he was about to tear up. Clayton’s love warmed Nikki’s heart; he was so much like his dad and had such a kind soul.
“I’m fine, honey, really. I just want your dad to come home.” Nikki pushed his hair back from his face and stroked his cheek.
“I want to say, in front of everybody, how amazed I am at the way you just put on your big girl panties and jumped in there, Mom. You’ve done a great job of running a company you knew very little about until just a few weeks ago, and I’m so proud of you. And I know Dad is extremely proud of you. I’m just sorry we haven’t been more supportive.”
“Yeah, we’ve given you more to worry about than we helped,” Annabeth chimed in. “We should’ve been more supportive and thought about you more, but we were busy just thinking about ourselves. I’m really, really sorry for that.” She looked like she would cry at any minute.
Nikki shook her head. “It’s okay, honey. This has been stressful for all of us. We’ve all done the best we could. And I have had support; somebody’s been here for me.” She walked to where Vic was sitting quietly and looked down at him with a smile. He took her hand and kissed it. “Your Zio Vic has checked on me every day, taken me to dinner when I thought I couldn’t face another evening alone, and looked over my shoulder when I didn’t know what to do. He did it quietly so I wasn’t embarrassed, and that was important to me so no one knew how shaky I was. I owe him a lot.” Nikki put her hand on Vic’s cheek, and he closed his eyes and smiled, leaning into her touch.
“You don’t owe me a damn thing, little girl. I did it all gladly, and I’d do it again. But I hope I don’t have to!” he laughed.
“When Big T be heyah?” Stringer asked, dancing from foot to foot.
“Pretty soon,” Nikki smiled, and then the front door opened. Everyone except Nikki ran to greet him. She could hear Annabeth squealing and Stringer using his outside voice, and, over the din, Tony’s smooth baritone, laughing and chatting with his family. They came streaming back into the den, all of them crowded around Tony like yippy little ankle-nipping dogs. But when they made it into the den, he came to a dead stop and looked across the room.
Nikki stood by the French doors, midday sunlight framing her slight form and making her hair look like a halo. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and she was standing motionless, just waiting for him to notice her, hanging back like she s
o often did, looking unsure of her place in all of the commotion. Tony was holding Stringer; he set the little boy down, then ran across the room, arms open, and snapped her up, swinging her around and holding her tight. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his hair, his familiar scent warming her inside and out, from head to toe. “Oh my god, baby, I’ve missed you so much,” Tony whispered to her, working to choke back the tears he’d been holding in for so long. He wanted to stay positive and cheerful for her; she’d been through enough.
“Please don’t leave me again,” Nikki breathed into his ear.
“I have no intention of it.” He pulled back and kissed her. “I’m never leaving you again.” He kissed her over and over and over.
She finally stopped him and said, “We’ve got lunch to eat. Want some chicken salad?”
“Your chicken salad? You bet!” Tony put her down, then clutched her hand tight. “I’ve missed your cooking almost as much as I’ve missed you!”
Everyone ate and talked. Tony called his brothers and told all of them that he was home. The only one who didn’t sound ecstatic was Bennie, but Tony hadn’t really expected anything more. After lunch was eaten and Nikki had cleaned everything up, Tony looked at his family with a smile and said decidedly, “Okay, everybody – go home.”
“What?” Annabeth cried. “But you just got home, and we’ve missed you, and . . .”
“And you can come and see me tomorrow. Right now, Nikki and I have some catching up to do. So go home. I love you all, but we . . .”
“Right, right,” Annabeth grumbled. “Come on, Nonna. Dad and Mom want to be alone. In the biblical sense, and in the middle of the day. Animals!” But she was grinning when she said it.
“Hey, Tony! I comin’ back soon, kay?” Stringer yelled.
Tony stooped to talk to his little buddy. “You’d better, mister! I’ve been missing you!” he grinned, tapping the end of Stringer’s nose.
“I been missin’ you too!” Stringer gave him a big sloppy kiss on the cheek and ran out the door.
“We’re glad you’re home. See you later, Dad!” Clayton called and ran out the door to catch Stringer before he could make it to the end of the driveway. Brittany kissed Tony on the cheek and followed the boys out.
“Brother, I love you. I’m glad you’re home.” Vic hugged Tony, and Tony hugged him back tight.
“Hey, I just appreciate you being here.” He leaned into Vic’s ear and whispered, nodding toward Nikki, “And thanks for keeping up with her. I knew she’d be fine as long as you were watching out for her.”
“She did really well – you should be very proud. And taking care of her was a pleasure. I love spending time with her – with both of you,” Vic whispered back. “Bye, Nik!” he called out. “See you later – love ya!”
“Love you too, sweetie,” Nikki called back, waving from the kitchen.
Vic looked at Tony and winked. “Go get ’er, big guy!” he whispered slyly, and Tony grinned and slapped him on the shoulder as he left.
Tony walked back across the room and folded Nikki into him, and she couldn’t help but notice the hungry look in his eyes. She didn’t know if he could see the same in her face, but she could feel her own hunger, hot and swelling south of her waist, everything tensing and aching, a thirst waiting to be slaked. He stood, tilting his pelvis and pressing his hardness against her, and just losing himself in the depths of those blue-green eyes for a few minutes. His voice was strained with need when he told her, “I’m going to take a shower and wash whatever’s left of the jail off of me. Then, if you want . . .”
“Oh, I want. Trust me – I want,” Nikki assured him, leaning in to give him a hot, ravenous kiss. When their lips touched, hers parted, and Tony slipped his tongue into her mouth. Her legs went weak and she moaned. He slapped her backside and grinned.
“I’ll be out of the shower so fast it’ll make your head swim. I’ll set a land speed record in showering,” Tony promised and kissed her one last time before he headed up the stairs and disappeared into the bathroom.
“I think you missed me a little,” Nikki whispered after their third go-round. Lying on their sides in each other’s arms, Tony was still inside her and still hard as marble, and he flowed into and out of her, a slow and gentle rocking, her velvety tightness soothing him like a salve. He cupped her breasts in his hands, his thumbs lazily drifting back and forth across her nipples, and stared at them like they were the most amazing things in the universe. Late afternoon sun was streaming in the bedroom window, throwing a golden light all over the room and across her hair, fanned out over the pillow. She was overcome by his touch, the heat in his hands, and the love he’d breathed into her with every stroke.
His smile was soft and warm. “I knew I missed you, but I didn’t realize how much until I undressed you and touched you. That first second, my hands on your skin, almost took me down, precious. I’ve never wanted anything or anybody so much.”
Nikki buried her face in his chest. She’d missed his scent; it was beyond comforting, and it engulfed her. She’d had a security detail following her, not to mention Clayton and Vic watching her every move, and yet she hadn’t felt as safe in over two weeks as she felt right at that moment. She ran her fingers softly down his cheek, and he caught her hand and kissed her palm, his stubble tickling her fingertips.
“I missed you more than I can say,” she said quietly and kissed him. His lips were soft and warm, and she could taste her own juices on his mouth from the attention he’d laved on her hot, needy folds earlier. She sighed into him; he breathed in her sigh and then sighed back into her. So utterly immersed in him, so breathlessly consumed by her desire, Nikki felt she might lose consciousness.
“Babe, what do you want? I’ll give you whatever you want,” Tony whispered to her, rolling her nipple between his thumb and finger.
Nikki smiled. “I just want to be here with you, to satisfy you, to make you happy.” A tear rolled from her eye and into her hair.
“I am happy.” He kissed her again. “I’ve never been so happy in my entire life.”
Nikki spent the next day working, part of the day from the house, and part of the day in the office, even though walking out of the house and leaving him there that morning had been one of the hardest things she could imagine. She got Todd, a young man from accounting who also took care of most of their computer issues, to help her get everything together.
By afternoon, Cheryl got a big surprise. She came back from lunch and powered on her monitor, only to have Tony’s face fill the screen and hear him call out, “Hi, Cheryl!” She screamed and jumped back. The commotion got Nikki’s attention and she came out to the front, only to laugh hysterically at Cheryl. Tony was laughing at her from the computer screen.
“Welcome to the modern world of work!” Nikki laughed and patted her on the shoulder. “The boss is in the house!”
“You could’ve warned me!” Cheryl cried out, then started to laugh at herself.
Tony chuckled. “Yeah, I can see you. I can see when you’re reading that needlework magazine instead of working.”
“I’ll have to hide it better, huh?” Cheryl chuckled back. “So you’re officially back to work?”
“Thanks to my tech-savvy girlfriend.” He pointed at Nikki through the screen. “And you – you’d better get back to work too. I’m watching you!” He looked at her sideways and gave her an evil glare.
“Oh, your bark is sooooo much worse than your bite,” Nikki smirked, walking away. “Now you’ve got to figure out how to switch from Cheryl’s camera to mine or you can’t . . .” She walked around her desk and there he was, giving her a guess-I’ve-shocked-you look. “Hmmmm. You’re a quick learner,” she grumbled with mock sarcasm.
“Guess I’m in business, huh?” Tony laughed.
“Yeah, looks like it. Figured out the fax and scanner yet?”
“Yep. Check your printer.”
Nikki looked in the printer tray and found the modified bi
d packages she’d left for him to review that morning, all edited, redone, and printed off. “Well, you’re a quick worker too.”
“Hey, I don’t fool around,” he announced. “Well, I do fool around, but only with you. Not with business. And now, business, dearie.” And his face disappeared from her screen.
Within ten minutes, he was back, asking her a question about some documents he’d been working on the day he was arrested, so she sent them to him. A little while later, she pinged in to show him some pictures of one of the jobsites, and he weighed in on her questions. At four thirty, she told Cheryl, “Day’s almost over. You know, this is working out pretty good.”
Cheryl smiled. “Yeah, it’s good to have him back, even if it is just on a screen.”
“I heard that!” Tony called out from the speakers. “And thanks – it’s good to be back.”
“Travis, we’ve got to tell somebody, the police or somebody,” Autumn begged, the blood draining from her face.
“You’ll keep your damn mouth shut is what you’ll do,” Travis snarled. He hit the PLAY button onscreen and the video from their surveillance camera rolled again.
Autumn had decided to check some of the video feeds from other sites, and she was appalled by what she’d found. The scene was almost the same as the video they’d seen before; the Walters Construction truck, the passenger door opening, someone getting in, what looked like the truck’s occupants having sex. But then a shadowy, crouching figure crept from an unidentifiable vehicle outside the fence, stopped at the front driver’s side corner of the truck, raised an arm, and a flash burst out. In the next few seconds of footage, the figure ran away, and one of the truck’s occupants practically fell out of the driver’s side door and jumped around a bit. Whoever it was seemed to have walked a few feet away, done something that looked like throwing up, and gotten back into the truck before driving slowly away.