Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel (26 page)

“Got it.”

“That goes for you too Demarco!”

“Alright sir,” Alex said.

“Good. Now get the hell out of my office!”

When Jason and Alex walked out of Ace’s office, all they could do was stand there in shock. Jason knew for sure he’d be fired; Ace was a major hard ass. Maybe he
was
in a good mood after all. “That was intense.”

“I’ll say,” Alex said as they started to walk. “Now let’s get out of here before he changes his mind.”

Mack sat on the sofa in Jason’s apartment with his eyes glued television. The women’s Brazilian volleyball Olympic team was playing America’s team so he thought he’d tune in to see who’d win the match. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. He was mainly watching it because of the skimpy uniforms the girls wore during the game. When one of the girls one the Brazilian team bent over to pick up the ball, Mack smiled and bit his bottom lip. “Oh, hell yeah…” Just as she was about to serve the ball, the television suddenly went off. Mack rose up on the sofa and turned to find Amour sitting next to him holding the remote in her hand staring at him with an angry expression. “Hey! What the hell did you do that for?”

“Because I want to talk to you!”

Exasperated, he took a deep breath. “About what exactly? I thought you were asleep.”

“Well I’m up now and I wanna talk about you prying into my life that’s what!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you checking up on me and reporting you findings to Jason!”

“Oh…” Mack said quietly.

“Oh? That’s all you have to say?”

“What? You want an apology?”

“That would be nice but I also want an explanation!”

“I wanted to make sure Jason wasn’t dealing with some kind of nut job. He barely knows you Amour. I was just looking out for him that’s all. There’s no need to get you panties all in a bunch.” Crap! He probably shouldn’t have said
that
to her because now she looked really pissed.

“Boy and I thought Jason was the asshole of the bunch. It looks like he’s got some serious competition!”

Mack laughed. “No I think I’m the bigger one.”

Her lips thinned. “I am
really
itching to slap the shit out of you right now!”

He looked at her with a surprised expression. “Alright, let’s not get psycho chic here. It’s really not that serious.”

“Maybe not to
you
! How would you like it if someone pried into your past like you were some kind of criminal?”

“Probably not too happy.”

“Exactly.” She faced him and then pointed her finger in his face. “You are so lucky I like you and you’re Jason’s friend. Because of that, I’ll hold back but if you ever do anything like that again, I’m gonna kick your ass!”

Before Mack could respond, she got up and walked into the bedroom and slammed the door. Wow. That was deep. He supposed he could’ve been wrong in this situation. That
was
in fact a violation of her privacy and he shouldn’t have done it but at the same time, he had to look out for his friend. He’d be damned if he was going to let some chick screw Jason over. But of course being a female, she’d never understand that. There was absolutely no reasoning with them especially when it came to brotherly love, but he supposed he should go and apologize anyway. Amour was a cool chic; she just was a little wild that’s all. He was just about to get up and go to the bedroom to talk to her when he heard Jason’s key in the lock. “Hey man! How’d it go?” he asked Jason as he stepped inside.

“It went okay. Mr. Romero had some interesting things to say.”

“Oh…hey man, what did Ace want with you and Alex?”

“He’s pissed at us for questioning Westfield. I’ll tell you about it later. Where’s Amour?”

“Also pissed. She in the bedroom.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “What did you say to her?”

“Nothing. She just came out and started yelling at me for digging into her background.”

Jason laughed. “Oh well. Did you really think she wouldn’t be upset?” Jason asked.

“No but I didn’t think she would actually threaten to slap the shit out of me and kick my ass!”

“She said that?”

“Yes.”

“That’s so hilarious.”

Mack rose from the sofa. “It’s not funny man! Anyway, I have to go. Chandra’s waiting for me.”

Jason and Mack exchanged a pat on the back and then Mack exited the apartment.

Jason walked to the bedroom to check on Amour but he realized she wasn’t in there when he’d heard the bathtub running. Good. A bath meant that she’d be occupied for at least a half hour giving him time to collect his thoughts and see what Adam had given him this morning. If it was something bad, he’d have time to figure out how to tell her. Her mind was fragile now so he had to be careful about how he approached every situation with her. After grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge and taking a few gulps of it, he slid the envelope out of his pocket and sat on the sofa. After tearing it open, he removed the folded up piece of paper out of it and read its contents. Jason’s heart skipped a beat and he blinked several times. He couldn’t believe what he’d just read.
Holy fuck
…this was not good.

Jason and Amour decided to go to Mandie’s for dinner because neither one of them felt like cooking. Afterwards, they headed back home because Amour had another headache so all she wanted to do was get straight into bed and get a good night’s sleep. Jason stayed up for a while and did a little more research on Carly’s case. He didn’t find much, just a lot of old newspaper clippings and interviews with a couple of cops and neighbors of hers. There could have been more to be found but Jason’s mind was not on what was on his computer screen at the moment. It was on what he’d just found out from Adam. He wanted so badly to tell Amour what he’d discovered but it wasn’t his place to do so. Besides, she already thought badly of her mother enough as it is, well at least partially. This would seal the deal. He’d decided to try and concentrate on what was on his computer screen again when Amour’s cell phone rang on the kitchen counter. He rose up to go and see who it was and saw that it was her father calling. He needed to inform Ted that Amour was okay anyway so he picked up. “Hello?”

“Jason, hello.”

“Hello Ted, how are you?”

“I’m fine considering. Where’s my baby girl?”

“She’s asleep now.”

“Oh okay, I’m glad she’s getting some rest.”

Jason figured now would be a good time to ask even though he wasn’t sure what kind of response he would get. “Did you ever plan on telling her?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

“I think you do.”

“I’m afraid I don’t son.”

Jason took a quick breath. “I know all about it Ted.”

“You know about what?”

“What you’ve been hiding from Amour.”

“I haven’t been hiding anything from my daughter.”

“I’m not only a bodyguard Ted; I’m also a private investigator. That means I have or am capable of getting access to a lot of different information, even if that information is sealed. You know, like records of
any
kind.”

Ted remained silent for a few seconds before speaking. “Oh crap…”

“Yeah…”

“You didn’t tell her did you?” Ted asked.

“No, but why haven’t you? Don’t you think she should know about this?”

“I can’t Jason. I just can’t.”

“You’re her father Ted; you’re not supposed to lie to her. I know you’re trying to protect her but I can guarantee you that keeping this from her is not going to end well.”

“I know, I’ll tell her in my own time. Please just don’t say anything to her.”

“I won’t. You don’t have to worry.”

“Please tell her that I love her okay.”

“I will.”

He paused for second. “Thank you for taking care of my baby girl Jason.”

“No problem. I won’t let anything happen to her. You have my word sir.”

“Thank you. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight sir.

The next morning Jason decided to watch the news while getting dressed. For most of the hour that it was on, they mostly talked about celebrities, gang shootouts and a couple of high speed chases, nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until the story that the field reporter was covering at that particular time caught his attention. He grabbed the remote and turned the volume up on the television and listened in.

I’m standing in front of the Bel Air home of California State Senator Pierce Harrington waiting for his wife, Beatrice Harrington to exit the home accompanied by police. We were told that she has been charged with conspiracy to commit the murders of two Los Angeles residents as well as the first degree murder of twenty-three year old Mar Vista resident Carly Graciette which occurred twenty-seven years ago. Police arrived at the Harrington residence just about ten minutes ago to formally arrest Mrs. Harrington.

Police are now escorting her out of the home and we’ve been told that they will be taking her in for questioning and possibly to the Twin Towers Women’s Correctional Facility after that where she will await trial if charged. We will bring you more on this story as it unfolds. This is Trisha Askew reporting live from Bell Air, back to you in the studio.

Before going off the air, the cameraman cut to a shot of Beatrice in handcuffs being put inside of a police cruiser and being driven off. There were only a handful of people who could’ve snitched on Beatrice and
neither one of the six of them had done so. That meant it had to be either Armando or Marcus who did the snitching or maybe it was both of them. Maybe they’d decided to sing like birds in order to cut a deal and get their sentences reduced. Not that Jason blamed them for wanting to do just that but it probably wasn’t a good idea on their part. He guessed that Beatrice didn’t hire them for the intelligence though. Looks like Amour didn’t have to expose the senator for his past indiscretions after all; the trail and all the press it was going to receive will do a good enough job accomplishing that. Now it was time to wait for the phone call from the prosecuting attorney requesting him and Amour’s testimonies. Oh boy, this was going to be a long week.

Amour couldn’t believe what Jason had just told her. Well, after the past two weeks, she actually
could
believe it. Beatrice arrested? On television? Not that she felt sorry for her. She did kill her mother after all. She was glad that bitch was getting exactly what she’d deserved. In fact, she was so glad, that she couldn’t help but start smiling as she ate the chicken salad sandwich she was having for lunch.

“What’s with you?” Jason asked as he sat across the kitchen table from her.

“I’m just glad somebody is finally paying for what happened to my mother.”

Jason sipped his bottle of beer. “I hear ya.”

“So what happens now?”

“Well, I’m almost certain we’re gonna have to testify so we’ll have to wait to be asked.”

“What if we don’t?”

“If we don’t willingly do it then we’ll probably just get served anyway so it’s not point in refusing.”

She raked her hair out of her face. “Alright.” She took a sip of water from her glass. “Did you talk to my father last night? I saw that he called me.”

“Yeah, he just called to check on you. I told him you were sleeping and that you were okay. He said he’d call you back.”

“God I hope he’s okay.”

“I’m sure he is
, he sounded fine.” He continued to stare at her after he’d spoken.

She looked up at him and noticed the weird look in his eyes. “What?”

“Nothing.” He picked up the two plates and glasses off of the table and headed for the sink. His cell rang on the table while he was in still route but he didn’t answer it until after he’d put the dishes in the sink. “Hello?” After a few seconds, his eyes widened. “What?” He looked at Amour and frowned. “No man…No…” His eyes then went to the floor and he shook his head. “This is fucked up man!” He took in a couple of breaths. “Okay, we’re on our way.” After he disconnected the call, he ran his fingers through his hair and started to frown again.

“What is it Jason? What happened?” When he didn’t respond, she rose up from the table and approached him. “Jason?” She rubbed her palm on the back of his head. “Jason don’t do this to me now, please tell me what’s going on. You’re scaring me.”

When he looked up at her, his hazel eyes turned dark and his expression was blank. After a few seconds, he spoke. “Chandra’s dead.”

Amour started to tremble.
“W…What?”

“Mack found her when he went to pick her up at her place. The police are there now.”

“Oh my god! Was that him that called?”

“No that was Alex. He said Mack’s a mess now.”

Amour could barely think. She was about five seconds from having a full on panic attack. Her heart was beating so fast that she could hear it. This was a terrible tragedy. She hated that it took this to happen to make her realize she should’ve listened to her father and left this alone. Because of her stubbornness, a good woman was dead. Thinking about how close Jason came to suffering that same fate made her lean in closer to him and bury her face in his chest. When he wrapped his arms around her, she fed off of his strength. She had to do so because that was the only way she was going keep from passing out.

* * *

When they arrived at Chandra’s apartment, it was surrounded by police cruisers and neighborhood residents. The door to the building was open so they went right in and hurried up the stairs to her front door. They entered the apartment and found Alex, Jax and Shyla already there. Crime scene investigators were combing the bedroom and living room area and police tape blocked the entrance to the kitchen. They’d obviously done what they needed to do in the living room for them to have allowed the five of them in the area. Jason peeked inside the small kitchen and saw what had to be Chandra’s lifeless body lying on the floor covered with a sheet. No blood surrounded her, just glass, a few stems of flatware and a steak knife. He left the area and walked over to the others. Alex turned and looked at him with a bereaved expression. “How did it happen?” he asked Alex.

“The detective said she was strangled. They found ligature marks on her neck.”

“Is there a murder weapon?”

“They couldn’t find one.”

Jason looked around to make sure Amour was close by. He turned again to see her leaning against the doorway with a sad look on her face. “Where’s Mack?”

“He went outside. He’s probably in his car.”

Jax and Shyla approached them. “Hey Jason…” Shyla said giving him a quick hug before stepping back. “This is really a bummer.”

Jason looked at her and wrinkled his eyebrows.
“Really Shyla?”

She looked as if she had just been insulted.
“Of course Jason! I may not have liked the woman but I would never wish her dead. I would never wish that on anybody unless they deserved it!”

He supposed that
was
a little insulting. “I’m sorry Shyla. I didn’t mean to imply anything.”

“That’s okay, don’t worry about it. I need to go and find Mack.”

Alex held his arm out and stopped her. “Just leave him alone Shyla. He’s probably not up for company right now. I’m sure that’s why he went outside in the first place.” Shyla didn’t speak but she complied. He then turned to Jason. “Is Amour okay? She looks kind of spaced out.”

Jax took a couple of steps forward. “Yeah man, how is she dealing with all of this?”

“It’s been day by day to be honest. I’m never sure if she’s gonna be okay with what’s going on or freaked out about it. But I will say that all and all she’s being pretty damn strong. I don’t think today will be one of those strong days though.”

“Why do you say that?” Jax asked.

“Because I’m sure that she’s just gonna blame herself for this.” Jax nodded. “I just have to make sure that she knows that this was not her fault.” He turned in Amour’s direction. “I’ll be right back.” He walked over to her and slid his fingers into her hair moving it out of her face. “Hey, are you alright sweetheart?”

She looked up at him. He blue eyes now full of pain. “No.” She put her palms over her face. “I can’t believe this is happening. All I wanted was information.”

He wrapped his arms tightly around her. “This is not your fault Amour.” She breathed in deeply but said nothing. “Come on honey, let’s go outside.”

They exited the building to and found Mack’s car parked a few buildings down from Chandra’s place. He sat in the passenger’s seat with the door open with one leg outside of the car holding a small glass of what looked like liquor inside of it. They walked up and stood in front of him but he didn’t look up nor speak. Jason knew all too well what Mack had to have been feeling.

Amour stepped up to the car and kneeled in front of him. “I’m so sorry Mack.” He looked up at her but remained silent; his green eyes glassy. “I can’t find the words to express how much.”

He looked down at his glass before bringing it up to his lips and chugging what was left of the liquor inside of it. He looked back up at her. “It’s funny how you never realize exactly how much you want someone until you lose them.”

Jason kneeled down and joined them. “You really cared about her didn’t you?”

“I guess I did because I feel like someone just ripped a part of my heart out of my chest.” He reached in front of his seat and pulled out a half empty bottle of whiskey, unscrewed the top and filled his glass. “I don’t know if I was in love with her, but I always knew in the back of my mind that we were going to eventually get back together. That’s why I stuck around because I knew she really loved me.”

Amour rubbed her palm down the back of his head. “I’m sure she knew you felt the same way.”

“No she didn’t! I treated her like shit and she’s dead because of me!” He chugged the whiskey. “And now I can never apologize or take it back!” He threw the bottle along with the glass onto the curb shattering them both before quickly getting out of the car and walking down the street.

Amour’s eyes widened. “Where is he going? Jason, don’t let him go off by himself! He’s been drinking and he’s upset!”

Jason stepped in front of her. “Let him go. He’ll be alright; he just needs to be by himself now.”

“But what if he does something foolish?”

“He won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I know
him
Amour. Believe me, he won’t.”

It was obvious to Jason that Mack was in love with Chandra even though he would never fully admit to it. She was the one constant form of stability in his life. He knew she’d always be there for him even when he wasn’t always there for her. Sure it was unfair, but Mack knew that he could always depend on Chandra for her support, comfort and yes, her love for him. Mack’s exterior had always been tough, but Jason had seen all of the many times when he needed those things from Chandra. This was going to take a long time for him come to terms with and eventually heal from. It was going to be a hard journey but Jason assured himself that he would be there for his friend, and that was a promise that he was going to keep.