9781618858368ForbiddenDeceptionlLeveyNC (15 page)

“Eva’s
a little firecracker down there.” He stood and walked over to the windows to
peer down at her.

“Yes,
she is. The floor routine she’s worked on for the past few weeks changed with
Cordero’s influence. She’s added some hip-hop moves, four technical stunts
outside of her age range, and incorporated ballet in her spins and leaps.”

“Why
don’t you watch instead of working?”

“Who
do you think she practices for at home, in her sleep
even.
”
Ailyn laughed. “I see everything at home. Plus when she has it set up the way
she wants, she’ll have me video tape her, so she can go over from beginning to
end to make improvements to her body positioning, timing, and execution. She’s
a bit of a perfectionist.”

Seth
grunted.

Ailyn
glared down the horny bitches openly salivating over his ass and went back to
grading. “I just want to get done with this.” She heard snide remarks murmured
about her, and chose to ignore the jealous bitches.

After
twenty minutes passed, she gave up and shut down her laptop. Seth’s shit eating
grin melted her stress away. She walked over to him, watching how he interacted
with Eva who waved up at them and then went to work on her uneven bars. Seth
tensed up with worry as she began her warm-up. “She’s really good on the bars.
Don’t worry, crashing and falling happens but there is always a spotter close
by to prevent most accidents.”

“Good.”
He slipped an arm around her. “She is very talented for her age.”

“I
know. Her coach thinks she can make the junior nationals team if we decide to
go into competitive gymnastics. She’s at that age where we have to sit down and
talk about elite gymnastics and if she is prepared to live, eat and breathe
gymnastics on a whole new level of stress.”

“If
she loves doing this, why not let her try for something bigger than she’s used
to?”

“Competitive
anything is hard on the body. Elite gymnastics is physically and mentally
draining, add in pre-teen hormones and that she will have to be tutored and
spend all her time training, even be away from family. She may need a more
advanced coach in a different state, a surrogate family to host her while she’s
training to make the team. There’s a whole different lifestyle than she’s used
to and she is only ten. Plus, let’s not forget the cost.”

“I
know. I bet you have Cordero to help you through the paces if you ask.
Professional sports are similar in some ways. She is very young though. I
thought athletes had to be in junior high or high school before they could try
out for any team?”

“Kids
are groomed by some parents at a very young age to begin. To be on the
national’s team she has to be fifteen, but the junior team ranges from
elementary school to middle school with levels. They have to do each level no
matter if their age six or age ten and work their way through.” Ailyn headed
back to her spot on the bench with Seth trailing her and tucked her laptop in
her bag.

“She
done down there?” Seth lifted the burdensome bag from her shoulder.

“Yeah,
she’ll be out in a few minutes. Then
it’s
home for
dinner and bed.”

“Sounds
good.
I’ve been thinking of taking a few days off to
handle the shift in moving. I don’t want things chaotic.”

“Whatever
you want.
We’re good. This is what we do every
night after school accept Fridays. She’ll adjust. When are you due back in?”

“Tonight
at seven.
That only gives us time to get you two
back tonight. I’ll be on for the next twenty-four hours, then off for two days.”

“I
got the drill. Remember, Mia?” He turned and swept up a careening ten year old.
“Hey there, firecracker.
You looked great down there.
Let’s get you home for dinner.”

“I’m
starving. Are you staying to eat?”

“Nah,
firecracker, I have to head out to work. But you’ll see me tomorrow night
around eight.”

“Okay.
Tell Dire to let Ash babysit me soon. I miss her and punishment sucks.”

“The
idea is not to break rules.” He chucked her chin and carried her in a fireman’s
carry out to the truck.

“I’m
not a sack a potatoes.” Eva giggled the entire way.

“I
don’t know
,
you look like red potatoes to me. We
should have potato soup.”

Ailyn
trailed next to him wearing an amused smile.

“No,”
Eva squealed, “you can’t eat me if I’m a potato. That’s just wrong.” She sighed
as Seth clicked the fob for his truck and set her down on the back seat.

“You’re
a firecracker, not a potato and we don’t eat firecrackers so you’re safe. Gun
powder tastes nasty.” He opened the door for Ailyn. “Buckle up,
firecracker,
we can’t have you popping off while I’m
driving.”

Ailyn
watched her daughter put her seatbelt on, and then tuck the shoulder strap
behind her. “I don’t think so, Eveleen. Keep it on right or it won’t work.”

“But
Mom, it digs and isn’t comfortable.”

Ailyn
turned her head to speak, but Seth took the lead.

“Eva,
put it on right. Do you want to fly through the windshield if we wrecked? I’d
be sad if you got hurt and you’d get hurt pretty bad if someone crashed into
us.”

“Would
I really fall out of the car if we wrecked?” Eva asked, reluctantly slipping
the shoulder strap back in place.

“You
could, if the truck rolled, you could slip right through the lap belt and out a
window or windshield. All three seats have shoulder and lap belts for extra
safety for a reason. Let’s avoid any chance of you getting hurt and keep your
belt on the right way.”

“I’m
sorry. I didn’t know why. I won’t tuck the strap away anymore, promise.”

“All
right then, let’s hit the road.” Seth winked at Ailyn, started the engine and
pulled into traffic. “I can order a strap cover for her.”

“You
don’t have to do that. She’ll live.” Seth slipped his hand on her thigh and
squeezed. “Nothing’s too much.”

Eva
plugged in her headphones in the backseat and flipped on the TV consul in the
back of Seth’s head rest. Seeing her daughter settled in with her concentration
on her favorite channel, Ailyn closed her eyes. Not being the normal day to day
cabbie was a nice change of pace. “No wandering hands.” She pinched him when
his hand slid too high up her thigh.

“Can’t
blame a man for wanting to touch his woman.”
He chuckled as he drifted back to the nowhere zone.

“What the fuck?” The anxiety in
Seth’s voice as the truck swerved in the left lane to keep from smashing into
another car jostled her awake. Behind them the crunch of ripping metal and
screeching tires drove home what was happening. Eva screamed
,
the sound of her fear filled Ailyn with terror.

“Sit still, Eva. Just hang on,
baby.” Eva’s seat belt looked secure around her body.
God, please, let that be enough protection.

“We’re okay, firecracker.
Just a bit of a wreck in front of us.
I promise you we’ll be
okay.” Seth kept his attention riveted on the road, navigating his truck slowly
through a small space to edge toward the right hand shoulder, cars honked
around them, slamming on their breaks to avoid colliding. The seconds that
passed felt like a lifetime when he hit the grass covered terrain off the side
of the highway. Ailyn stared in horrid fascination as the cars collided in a
domino effect.

“Darlin’, you good?”

“Shaken but yeah.
I’m worried about those people up
there.”

She turned to see her daughter
curled with her hands over her eyes in the backseat, seatbelt still in place.
“Eva.”

“Don’t want to see.”

“Eva, look at me and Seth. We’re
okay.”

“I thought, we were gonna crash.”
She sniffled and dropped her hand
from her face.
“Mama.
Oh my Lord, what on earth
happened in front of us?” Eva’s tears haunted her as she reached out to grasp
her daughter’s hand.

“I don’t know,” Seth answered,
picking up his cell phone. “I’ll call it in.” Dialing 9-1-1, he put it on
speaker and waited for a dispatcher.

“9-1-1 what’s your emergency?”

“This is Lieutenant Seth Mahone
First Officer of Station 17, Kansas City, Missouri. I’d like to report a
multiple vehicular pile up.
At least ten cars in my direct
line of sight.
We’re heading East on Interstate 435, marker 74. I am off
duty. Please send multiple responders.”

“Dispatching help now.
Are you hurt, Lieutenant?”

“No. Please also call station 17 and
have someone dispatched to pick up my girlfriend and daughter. Look for my
siren on top of my truck, off the right hand side of the road in the grass. I’m
heading to the scene to access and provide emergency assistance.” Seth hung up
the phone and dialed another number. She startled when her phone rang.

“You’re leaving us?” Ailyn panicked
with the plumes of smoke and raucous noise around them. She gripped his leg.
“Don’t go. What if something blows up or you get hurt?”

“Darlin’, you and Eva are safe.
Answer your phone, babe. I’ll be here on blue tooth, okay?”

Ailyn answered her phone and put the
call on speaker. “Be safe.”

“Always.
Dispatch will send one of the guys
to pick you up and get you home. I can’t sit here and not help.
Baby, sit with your mama.
Speak up if you need me. I’ll be
listening, love you both.” He dropped a kiss on her lips while squeezing her
and Eva’s hands before exiting his truck.

Ailyn
watched him run to the locked tool box in the bed. He opened the lid and
withdrew a large bag, strapped it over his shoulder and jogged between the
wedged cars to get to the pile up. Trepidation filled her as she took in the
scene in the near distance. God and skill, Seth’s quick reflexes and thinking
saved them from being among the victims. How could he leave them in the truck and
dash off into the unknown? A boom sounded in the far distance, making her heart
thud. Clouds of black smoke billowed. Ailyn felt movement in the truck, she
turned to see Eva unbuckling her belt and climbing into the front seat with
her.

“
Mom,
is he going to be okay?” her daughter asked on a yawn,
peering out the window at the mess down the highway.

“Yes,
he’s out there doing his job, peanut. Seth, I mean your
papi
, he’s out there helping until the firemen and EMTs get here and
take over.”

“Should
we go help too?”

“No.
We’re not trained to help. Your
papi
wants us to sit here and wait for help to arrive. I think he’s right—
it’s
best we stay out of the way and pray. They’ll be here
soon, I hope.” Eva climbed on her knees, neck stretched like a giraffe to watch.
Ailyn pet her leg. “Why don’t you climb back and watch your show, okay?”

“I
want to see
Papi
. How will we know if
he’s okay?”

“He
has us on speaker phone, remember. He wasn’t hurt. See, just like the rest of
traffic around us, we’re fine. His job handles pretty scary circumstances,
going into burning buildings and other things.”

“I
know. Ash said her dad jumps into frozen water to save people. That’s pretty
cool. I wonder if
Papi
does
too?
”

“I
think he does a lot of the same things Dire does. You can ask him so that
you’re more comfortable when he’s away from us.” Ailyn talked to keep Eva’s
mind occupied.

“I
can’t wait until he moves in with us. I bet his friends will miss him though,
but I’ll have
Tio
Cordero and my
papi
in the same house. That’s so cool. I
told my friends about my
papi
and
they think he’s got the coolest job ever.”

So do I.
Ailyn smiled at her daughter.

 
The sound of wailing sirens met her ears
before seeing them come from both sides of the highway. She counted four ladder
trucks, a battalion SUV, and multiple ambulances weaving their way through
traffic, while a helicopter circled above with Channel 7 news embossed on the
side.

“Wow,
there’s a helicopter and everything.”

A
knock on the window startled Ailyn. She blew out a steady breath when she saw
Quinlan standing by the driver’s side with another male. As Eva crawled back
into the back seat, she reached over and unlocked the door.

“Ma’am,
good to see you again.”
Seth’s team member winked at her
as he slid into the driver’s seat. The other male came around to her side and
slipped in the back seat next to Eva.

“Don’t
mind Riggs back there. He’s along for the ride in case they need me so he can
run you two ladies home.”

“Riggs
Montgomery, ma’am.
Nice to meet you.”