Love, Lies & The D.A. (32 page)

“I
assume the case will go forward until you all are finished with your
investigation?”

“Yes.”

“And I
guess you have no idea how long that will be?”

“I’m
sorry, I don’t.”

“I
suppose we’ll be in touch tomorrow then.”

When I
return
to the waiting room, Megan is MIA and Jonathan gazes out
the window.

“Hey.
You okay?”

He
turns to me and gives me a quick hug.

“I’m
fine… just a little nervous.”

“She’ll
be fine. Doctors do this all the time.”

He
kisses me tenderly on my cheek.

“Can
you do me a favor and check on Megan, please? She went to the bathroom a while
ago and she’s not back.”

“Sure.”

I walk
into what appears to be an empty bathroom, but I soon hear her quiet sobs.
After a short conversation through the stall doors, I am able to convince her
to calm down. I help her freshen up and we proceed to return to the waiting
room.

On our
way, I see a man who looks vaguely familiar looking at me, but I ignore him and
escort Megan back. After she sits with Jonathan, I go get us some things in the
gift shop down the hall.

While
I pay, I see the same man staring at me from across the corridor. I momentarily
take my eyes off him to hand the cashier my card, but when I look up, he is
gone.

When I
enter the corridor, he is nowhere in sight. I approach the waiting room.
Suddenly, I feel like I’m being watched again, and as I look behind me… there
he is again.

Then I
remember from where I know him. He was the reporter that accosted me at the
restaurant in Lake Tahoe.

“Look,
I’m not giving any interviews,” I shout. “Please let me have my privacy and
leave me alone.”

“This
is a public place. You can’t stop me from being here.”

“You’re
right, but if you keep this up, I’ll file a restraining order against you. Stay
the hell away from me.”

My
voice must have carried, because moments later, I hear Jonathan’s voice and I
see two guards approaching from down the hall. Jonathan walks towards us and
stands in front of me.

“Stay
away from her and stay away from my family or I’ll have you arrested.” He is
talking quietly, but his temple is twitching, and I can feel the anger emitting
from his body.

By
then the guards are standing on either side of the man.

“Sir.
You can’t be here. We have to ask you to leave,” one of them says.

“I’ll
get you for this, Kole. You better watch your back,” the man shouts as the
guards escort him out of the building.

“Are
you okay?” Jonathan holds my hand and asks.

“I’m
fine… That was the reporter that approached me at that restaurant in Lake
Tahoe.”

“He’s
only coming after you because of me.”

“I’m
not so sure… He came after me before you and I started seeing each other.”

He
holds my hand and we walk back to the waiting room. I can still feel a pulse
through his body. I get the feeling that there’s more to this story, but I drop
it when the doctor approaches us.

Caroline’s
surgery has gone well. For now, she is in recovery in the intensive care unit.
The doctor warns us that she might be there for a few days, and lets us know
what we can expect once she wakes. He allows us to see her, but only for a
moment.

She is
still unconscious and on a ventilator. Machines are everywhere. She’s a bit
swollen, but I suppose after major surgery, that would be expected. I leave
them alone for a few minutes to give them some private time with their mother.
Jonathan has welcomed me into his life, but I don’t want to overstep my
boundaries with his other siblings, especially Daniel.

It’s
nine in the evening when we leave the hospital. Caroline was conscious, but not
nearly in any condition to have a conversation or do much otherwise. After a
quick dinner at my place, Jonathan returns home after an emotionally exhausting
day.

I am
startled
out of my sleep by my ringing phone. Switching on my
bedside lamp, it’s almost five in the morning.

“Hello,”
I answer groggily.

“Do
you have an answer for me?”

“What?”

“Look
lady… snap out of it. Do you have an answer for me?”

“Hold
on a sec.”

I walk
out of my room and head into the great room, looking for the tablet in my
satchel. I switch it on.

“You
know, you can try calling at a more reasonable hour.”

He
completely ignores my comment.

“What’s
your decision?”

“If I’m
going to do this, you have to make sure one of these charges is dropped first,
before I pay a dime.”

He
hesitates at the end of the line.

“That’s
not going to work.”

“Well,
I’m out. I have no idea who you are. You want me to fork up all this money
without any recourse. I’m not going to do that.”

I hear
him sigh at the other end of the line.

“Give
me till the end of the week… And lady, if you think you’re going to fuck me
over, you have another thing coming. Really bad things will happen to you if
you don’t give me my money.”

“Well,
if you make a show of good faith, so will I.”

He
hangs up.

That
went easier than I thought it would. I must be exhausted, because I get back
into bed and fall asleep.

Over
the next
few days, Caroline makes remarkable progress. She is moved
from the ICU and is now breathing and eating on her own. Everyone is a lot less
tense now, and it appears that she is mostly out of danger.

Today,
I stay home, catch up with the office, and get some work done. It’s early
evening, and I have not heard any news from my demander or my lawyers. Either
this person was trying to swindle me or things definitely did not go according
to his plan. Thank God, I didn’t shell out that money. Phillip did tell me,
however, that since my call, they managed to collect lots of evidence, so if I
never hear from my demander again, I won’t be upset.

It’s
been an
exhausting week, and I need to relax. Thank God, it’s
Friday. I haven’t heard from Jonathan since morning. He did say there was a
chance that his mom would be released today, so I leave him alone to spend time
with his family.

I miss
the quietude of Big Sur, but I needed to be here for Jonathan. Maybe I’ll
return sometime next week when things settle down.

I
run a bubble bath and take a nice long relaxing soak. A while later, my
Johnnyphone
rings,
interrupting the soothing soundscapes that come through the
speakers.

“Hey,”
I answer.

“Hey
back. What are you doing?”

“Taking
a bubble bath.”

“Too
bad I’m not in there with you.”

I
giggle at his response.

“How’s
your mom?”

“She’s
settled in… She’s at home and we got her a nurse to tend to her every need.”

“That’s
great. What about you?”

“I’m
good. I wanted to invite you to go out with me.”

“Tonight?”

“Yes.
Pierce is launching his newest series tonight. It was planned months ago. Mom
made him promise he wouldn’t cancel or postpone it, and she asked us to attend
to support him since she won’t be there.”

“Okay.
Sure. What time?”

“I can
pick you up in an hour.”

“Dress
code?”

“Let’s
see, I have the invitation somewhere here… elegant attire…”

“Great.
Then I’ll see you in an hour.”

I fish
through
my closet for something to wear. I narrow it down to a navy
tailored backless cocktail dress, and a champagne sheath. Eventually, I settle
on the navy dress simply because it’s Jonathan’s favorite color. After another
fifty minutes spent on trying to fix my hair into a chignon, I slip on the
dress along with a pair of stiletto pumps and some jewelry. I apply some
lip-gloss when he calls to tell me he’s downstairs. I slip on a matching coat
and I head down to meet him.

“You’re
stunning,” he says as I slip into the car.

“Why,
thank you. You’re not too bad looking yourself, looking sharp as always in that
suit.”

He
kisses my hand in reply.

“Hungry?”

“A
little.”

“I
thought we could make an appearance at the opening then we could go to dinner.”

“Sounds
good to me.”

Pierce
welcomes us soon after we arrive. His work intrigues me. All the pieces are of
the male and female form, either in whole or in part. Some I find risqué, one
or two are mediocre, but most are exquisite. Many are abstract, so unless you
know the name of the piece, to the casual onlooker, it might look like pretty
colors spread across a canvas.

One
such piece draws me in. I thought it was a blue flower, an orchid perhaps, but
after reading the label, I can’t stifle the blush that I know covers my body.

“You
like that?” Jonathan whispers from behind me; his soft breaths kiss my neck.

I’m
glad my back is to him, a can barely come up with a response. “It’s… it’s
beautiful.”

“Like
you…”

I’m
not sure if that was a question or sexual innuendo. I ignore him and move on to
the next piece. Out of the frying pan, into the fire… Before us is a canvas, mostly
blue, but the excessively long strokes pointing in the northeastern direction
unquestionably tells me what it is. Jonathan clears his throat behind me.

“And I
suppose you were the model for this one?” I blurt out.

“I’ll
show you one day, and you can judge for yourself.”

“You’re
rather cocky.”

“Evidently
I—”

“Johnny…”
an older gentleman calls from behind. I recognize his face from Charles’s
funeral. I think he might be Charles’s brother. Jonathan immediately turns his
attention towards the man.

“Uncle
Chester,” he says, embracing the elder man.

He
looks like Charles but older, probably in his eighties. His blue eyes sparkle
against his silver hair.

“It’s
so nice to see you. Pierce wasn’t sure if you’d make it,” Jonathan says.

“Well,
I have nothing better to do back in San Jose,” he replies.

“I’d
like you to meet my girlfriend, Jada. Jada, meet my Uncle Chester.”

Girlfriend.
I wonder if he feels obliged to call me that.

“Hi.
It’s a pleasure to meet you,” I respond.

I
shake his hand then kiss him gently on the cheek.

“So
you’re the exotic beauty that everyone’s been talking about.”

“These
days, I’m never sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Well,
Sweetheart, if my brother believed in you and my nephew believes in you, that’s
good enough for me. That’s all I need to know.”

By the time
we make our exit, I write Pierce a
check. I purchase the lovely
blue orchid
.
I think I have the perfect spot for it in my master suite.

We
walk into the restaurant as the valet parks the car. Jonathan pulls away my
coat when we enter.

“Wow.
That’s quite the dress,” he says, trailing his fingertips lightly against my
back.

My
nipples harden as he touches me.

“You
like?”

“What’s
not to like.”

Soon,
we sit at our table and order our meal. Our appetizers arrive moments later,
and as if fate has a plan for me, an orchid sits in the center of my pumpkin
soup.

Now
all I can think about are vaginas, penises, and hot and heavy sex. Then I think
about our last sexual encounter, Jonathan asking me what I wanted, and images
of him pleasuring my
blue orchid
overpower my mind.

He
interrupts my thoughts. “What are you thinking about? Your mind seems so far
away.”

“Oh,
nothing. I have a nice flan that was delivered from the bakery this afternoon. Maybe
we should skip dessert and enjoy it at home instead.”

“Funny,
I was going to suggest the same. Floria baked an awesome strawberry-filled
chocolate cake.”

“Who’s
Floria?”

“My
housekeeper.”

“I
didn’t know you had a housekeeper.”

“You
didn’t think with my hours at work that I managed to have that house spotless
all by myself did you?”

“I
remember thinking about how clean it was, but I didn’t think beyond that.”

I zap through
the rest of my meal.

“You
ready to go?”

I’m so
ready that, left all up to me, we would have skipped the entrée and the salad
too. I try to play it calm. “Sure.”

I know
after that exhibition, he must be thinking about sex just as much as I am.

“Your
place or mine?” he asks when we get into the car.

“Mine…
I have a nice bottle of Dom Perignon we could have with that flan.”

“Sounds
perfect.”

Ten
minutes later, he pulls into the parking spot besides my car.

“Thank
you for coming out with me tonight,” he says, holding my hand. “I had an
amazing time with you.”

“Thank
you for inviting me.”

He
leans over and kisses me gently on my cheek then my lips, and within seconds,
my tongue collides with his. I want him—desperately, and I realize he feels the
same way when he pulls me in his arms.

I span
his rugged thighs as his tongue invades my mouth. My dress is up to my waist,
and as we kiss, his palms latch onto my ass. He lines kisses down my neck then
pulls away my dress strap and kisses my shoulder.

The
lights of an oncoming car flashes round the corner.

“Oh
God, Jonathan, stop… stop…” I whisper between kisses.