Beneath The Surface (11 page)

“Looking forward to it,” Marcus said.

“So you gonna tell me why you left Atlanta?”

Marcus took another sip of his drink. “Her name was Panthea Daniels. She was one of my clients who
was
on trial for murder.” Marcus went on to explain how they’d had an affair, and that when it was over for him, Panthea began stalking him, and that it ended with her committing suicide. “Then there was Angela Pettybone.”

“Another client?” Wanda asked.

“Yes.”

“Did she kill herself too?”

“No, Wanda, she didn’t kill herself, but she was just so needy that I had to get away from her. That, and the fact that Carmen had moved back to the states, as she calls it, and I really wanted to give that another try. But Carmen is, and to be honest, always has been, into her career. And that doesn’t leave room for much else.”

Wanda decided that it was time to make her first move. “Maybe it’s time you stepped up and let a real woman take over, and leave those little girls alone.”

Marcus was caught off guard by her comment. He began to look at Wanda differently. For years he only saw her as a friend; a very smart friend, who helped him get through constitutional law—never really taking the time to see her as a woman; and an attractive one at that.
Maybe Wanda is the type of woman I need,
Marcus thought. Wanda saw the way that Marcus was looking at her, and knew her plan was working.

After spending another day in the hospital, Rain was about to lose her mind. With nothing else to do, she lay in her bed with the TV remote in her hand, flipping from channel-to-channel, but not really watching anything.
 

The doctor had been in to see her, and said that she was lucky to be alive, and that she was healing well. When she asked him when she could get out of there, the doctor said he would see how she was doing in a day or two.

“A day or two!”

That was the last thing she wanted to hear. There were things that she needed to do. And they wouldn’t get done with lying on her ass. When she couldn’t take it anymore, Rain picked up the phone and called her club. “JR’s, this is Mala.”

“It’s Rain. Let me speak to Rose.”

Rose was the manager at JR’s. Since she hadn’t heard a word from Nick since she’d shot Jay Easy and pushed him out of the car, Rose was the only one she could depend on.

“Rain,” Rose said excitedly. “Are you all right?”

“My chest hurts, but I’m okay. Listen, I need you to do something for me.”

“Whatever you need, Rain. I got you.” Rose promised.

“I know that, but listen: I need you to go in my office; I got some clothes in the closet. Then I need you to go in the safe, get my gun, and bring them to me.”

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the hospital.”

“Okay, which one?”

“Shit, I don’t even know,” Rain said and looked at the bracelet on her arm. “I’m at Montefiore Medical Center on Gun Hill.”

“I’m on my way.”

When Rain ended the call, Rose hung up the phone and turned to Nick, who was seated behind the desk in Rain’s office. “That was Rain, Nick.”

“What did she want?”

“She wants me to bring her some clothes and a gun.”

“Get the woman what she wants,” Nick said and smiled.

When Rose got to the hospital, Rain jumped out of bed and snatched the bag out of her hand. She rushed in the bathroom to change without saying a word. Five minutes later, she came out dressed and ready to go. She checked the weapon Rose had brought her. “You check the security tapes of the robbery?” Rain asked.

“I did.”

“Good. I need to see them.”

“Nick’s got them. He came to the club that next day and he took the disk with him when he left.”

Hearing that Nick had been by the club and was on top of the robbery, made Rain feel a little better; but she still wondered why he hadn’t been to see her in the hospital.

“Rain,” Rose said meekly. “There’s something you need to know.”

“What’s that?”

“Nick is waiting outside.”

Rain smiled, and then she thought about it. “You call him?”

“No. He was with me in the office when you called.”

“He
tell
you not to tell me?”

“No. It may just be ’cause you’re in the hospital, but he’s been acting kind of strange since it happened. I just don’t want you walkin’ into nothing blind.”

“Thanks Rose. I’ll be all right,” Rain said, feeling that she was safer with Nick than anyplace else in world. Rain walked out of her hospital room and Rose followed.

Nick waited outside, leaning against a limo. As he saw Rose come out of the front door with Rain, he recalled the conversation he had with Black. “She
don’t
get anymore chances, Nick. Next time she dies. So unless you want her to meet Monika, you keep her in check.”

The closer Rain got to Nick, the better she felt.
And he came to pick me up in a limo
, Rain thought. She threw her arms around him. It felt so good to be in his arms again. But she could tell by the way he was acting with her, that something was wrong.

No matter what he did not to think about her, Nick couldn’t get Wanda out of his head. Her last words to him before she left his apartment that morning rang in his ears.
“I really did love you, Nick, even though I never said it before now. I really did love you.”

He always felt like Wanda loved him, but it would have been nice to hear her say it. For those to be her last words to him, ate at him, and wouldn’t let go. He looked at Rain and knew that he didn’t feel for her the way he felt for Wanda. He had waited his whole life to feel for a woman the way he felt for Wanda; and now she was gone, and Rain was the consolation prize.

After they put Rose in a cab, Rain got in the limo with Nick. As the driver took off, Nick turned to Rain. “How do you feel?”

“My chest hurts, but I’m fine, Nick.”

“You want a drink?”

“Patron?”

“For sure,” Nick said and reached for the bottle.

Rain looked at Nick’s face as he poured her drink and handed it to her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Don’t lie to me.
Me
and you are too close for me not to know when something ain’t right.”

Nick looked at Rain and thought about what he would tell her. He decided to tell her the truth. “Stark and Moon are dead, and you would be too, but—”

“But it’s gonna take more than one bullet to kill this bitch,” Rain interrupted and laughed.

“But Blue shot you before I did,” Nick said and looked Rain dead in her eyes.

“You were gonna kill me?” Rain asked; and that made her chest hurt.

“What did you tell Kirk?”

“Do you even gotta ask me that?”

“No. I don’t. But I’m askin’ anyway. What did you tell Kirk?”

“Nothing,” Rain said quickly. “But you
was
right about that mutha fucka. He knows everything;
he can’t prove nothin’,
or I’d be in jail now. All they really got is that Taurus, but it ain’t in my name, and there
wasn’t any prints
in it.”

“Nothin’ but Jay Easy’s blood in it. But the police don’t have the Taurus,” Nick said and poured himself a shot of Patron.

“They didn’t impound it?”

“They did, but my people drove it out of the impound lot that same day.”

Rain smiled because her man had her back. “Then they ain’t got shit.”

“No.”

Rain put down her drink and moved closer to Nick. She touched his face gently and kissed him on the cheek. “I understand why you felt like you had to kill me. What I did was wrong. I should never do shit behind your back. And I swear on my father’s soul that it will never happen again. I’m all for you now, baby.” She kissed him again. “I’m ready to be whatever you need me to be.”

“You don’t get another chance,” Nick said and kissed her.

“Now we need to ditch this limo. You and
me
got some unfinished business.”

“Like what?”

“Blue had a team hit both our spots. They got damn near two hundred thousand dollars of my money, and I want it back.”

“Okay. But we do this my way,” Nick said.

“Whatever you say, baby,” Rain said sweetly.

It was still early when Carmen finished her next assignment. She had covered the opening of another new restaurant. For the past couple of days, she’d been playing phone tag with Marcus. And if she wanted to be honest with herself, she was avoiding his calls and calling him back when she knew she’d catch voice mail.

 
As much as she tried not to, Carmen couldn’t keep herself from thinking about Mike Black. She hoped that she would have heard from him, but since hadn’t, Carmen decided to go see Black at Cuisine.

When she got there, Carmen waited, like any other customer, until there was a table for one available; which took about twenty minutes. Once she was seated and had placed her drink order, Carmen gave the waitress a message. “If Mike Black is in this evening, please tell him that Carmen Taylor requests the pleasure of his company.”

Ten minutes later, Black joined her at the table. The waitress placed a drink in front of him, and blended into the background. “Hello Carmen.”

“Hello Mike.”

“It’s good to see you, Carmen.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Mr. Black.”

“Are you staying for dinner?”

Carmen picked up a menu. “That all depends on what you have on the menu.”

“I’m sure you’ll find something you like.”

Carmen looked at Black.
I have, and it’s not on the menu,
she thought. “I’m sure that I will. As a matter of fact, I just finished covering a restaurant opening: A Pan-Asian place on 53
^rd
.”

“What’s it called?”

“Nockamoras.”

“Good food?”

“I don’t know. At the time, I wasn’t really hungry, but the crew said it was good.”

“I was serious when I said I wanted you to cover this place.”

“I know that you were.”

“Do you pick the spots you cover?”

“No, but I think my producer will listen if I made a suggestion; so consider this an audition. I’ll let you know if the food is as good as you say it is. And I’m looking forward to hearing the band.”

Black signaled for a waitress. When one responded, he told her to get Lexi, the supper club’s manager. Lexi joined them at the table, and Black introduced her to Carmen. “Carmen, this is my manager, Lexi Gordon. Lexi, this is Carmen Taylor.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Taylor.”