The Private Serials Box Set(91)
All three girls approached the teacher and then after a few words were exchanged, formed a line facing in my direction. I found a chair at an empty table not too far from the stage and sat, content to let my eyes wander over Lena as she learned the traditional dance.
I watched as her hips swayed from side to side, enjoying the visual and also appreciating that I could imagine what that swaying looked like without the flowing skirt made of grass. I’d have to convince her to show me the dance later, only naked. Thinking of Lena’s body without clothes immediately woke up my cock, which, admittedly, wasn’t ever fully asleep when Lena was around anyhow. I saw her delicate hands and fingers make tiny yet distinctive movements, trying to tell a story with the motions. I heard her laughing with Sam and Piper and the whole scene left me feeling more whole than I’d ever felt before.
Lena’s eyes met mine as she laughed and it was as if something broke my chest open and squeezed my heart. She was absolutely everything I would ever want. As long as I had her I would never want for anything. And I did have her—every part of her. She was mine just as much as I was hers.
Minutes passed as I watched her hair get caught in the breeze, her skirt fluttering around her soft knees, her hips moving to the beat of the music. I was interrupted by the vibration of my phone in my pocket, and when I saw who was calling I felt my heartbeat falter and my lungs seize up.
The past week with Lena, since I’d revealed myself to her, had been better than I could have imagined, and there were only a few people on the planet who could mess everything up. One of those people was calling me. I swiped my finger across the screen and brought the phone up to my ear.
“Edgar,” I said, trying to sound irritated and bothered, not wanting him to know his call had made me nervous. “I wasn’t expecting to hear from you again. Ever.”
“Preston, I know you must be thrilled to talk to me. I hadn’t expected to ever hear your voice again either, but things change.”
“What things?” I asked, shifting in my chair, growing uncomfortable. I’d worked off my debt to Edgar. Derrek had gotten exactly what he wanted in the end, and that was all that was required of me. I owed nothing to Edgar.
“We have a common interest—a problem that’s gotten out of hand—and I need your help.”
“What common interest?” I asked the question, but I knew the answer. There was only one reason he would be calling me.
“Derrek Bellows.”
I tried not to physically cringe at the mention of his name. Lena’s eyes were still drifting to me every once in a while, between laughing and smiling with her friends, and I didn’t want her to know I was on the phone with someone potentially dangerous, someone who could snap his finger at any number of people and make life difficult for us. Sure, I was a private investigator, but I wasn’t dirty. I didn’t deal with crooked cops or gangsters. I worked with lawyers and regular citizens. I checked public records, for Christ’s sake. I could follow a mark, I could bug a phone, and I could become invisible if I needed to, but it wasn’t my first choice to deal with crooks.
“The last tail I had on Derrek he was sitting pretty in the Caribbean with his mistress, sitting on a shit load of money.”
“That’s my money he’s sitting on.”
“Oh?” I tried to sound apathetic, but he’d piqued my interest. Edgar wasn’t the biggest fish in the sea of crooks, but he had some big fish friends, and I knew you didn’t want to end up on his bad side. I didn’t want to be in his pocket any longer, but I knew it was better to appear to be his ally than to f*ck him over. Then you’d be swimming with a whole different kind of fish and your shoes would be made of cement.
“Seems our Derrek thought he could pull a fast one on me. He was in deep with me, and because we had a good history I’d given him a little leeway. He took that inch of rope and hung himself with it when he decided to split town, taking my money with him. Abandoned the business and no one seems to have any answers for me.”
I sighed heavily. “What can I do for you, Edgar?”
“Call me Eddie, please,” he said, his voice a little too pleasant.
“Lay it out for me, Eddie,” I acquiesced.
“Simple. I need you to find Derrek, and I need you to kill him.”
My heart stopped. Instantly. My jaw muscles tensed as I ground my teeth.
“I’m not a hit man. I’m a f*cking private investigator. I don’t kill people. You’ve got the wrong guy.”
“Funny. I seem to remember the reason you were even brought to me was because you beat the living shit out of someone in New York. He was minutes from death, or at least that was what I was told.”
My foot started bouncing, jumping with irritation. “That wasn’t a job. That was just me doing what I had to do.”
“Well, consider this something you just have to do.”
“I’m cleared with you, Edgar. I paid my debt. I’m free and clear.”
“You may be free and clear, but Derrek isn’t. And if I’m not mistaken, you’re involved with his wife.”
Whatever fear I’d been feeling before, it hardened in my veins and ran cold through me at the mention of Lena. My eyes darted to where she was still swaying her hips to and fro, laughing with Sam and Piper. “Leave her out of it,” I spat, immediately feeling the protective urge to keep her as far away from this mess as possible.