Callahan's Fate (24 page)

“I want to watch a little stupid,
mindless television,” she said. “Then make love until we fall asleep. What do
you think?”

“It works for me, doll.”

Nothing had ever sounded any better.

They watched some silly sitcom, then a
retro comedy he remembered his mom and aunt watching,
then
he switched off the television.
 
“
C’mere
,” he told her, and she turned into his arms.

They made love with a combination of
sweetness and savagery he had never experienced, but Callahan liked it.
Very much.
Neither hurried, but when the climax came, it
brought them both to shuddering heights of pleasure.
 
Afterward, they slept tight, touching, and
woke in the morning for another day.

****

Tuesday sailed past, smoother and easier
than Monday.
 
Her stops took her to upper
Manhattan, then down to the Village.
Raine
texted him
each time she headed for a new location and sent another message when she
arrived, so he managed to stay sane and not worry as much. Although still
possible, Callahan found it less likely that Snake would track her into those
districts.
 
On Wednesday, according to
the obituary he found online, the Marsh family gathered for Bull’s funeral, so
he breathed easier knowing Snake and any other would-be
badasses
would be occupied for most of the day.
 
Thursday brought the first snowflakes of the season to the city, a light
dusting that coated everything with thin, white icing, before the sun emerged
mid-morning to melt the magic away.

The strain of waiting took its toll on
both of them.
 
Raine
woke up with another acute headache Thursday morning and didn’t quibble much
when Callahan insisted she call in sick.
 
He headed off to work his shift, distracted.
 
Although certain she would be safe, his
concern shifted to her health.
 
Raine
, still in
pj’s
, radiated
misery tucked under the blanket with a cold pack on her head.

Callahan hoped for an easy shift, but
instead they were hammered.
 
Before
lunch, he and Joe worked a stabbing so recent the victim hadn’t been
removed.
 
He lay in a pool of blood on a
cracked sidewalk, stiff in death.
 
They
made a narcotics bust, helped an old woman who’d lost her way, broke up a fight
between six juveniles, and were the first to respond to a traffic crash at a
busy intersection.
 
The afternoon proved
just as hectic, and when heavy clouds moved in around four p.m., they delivered
sleet.
 
Some incident on the tracks along
the line delayed the subway trains, and it was well after six before Callahan
got off at his stop.

Since
Raine
had texted him to ask if he would pick up something to eat, he headed for a
nearby Chinese restaurant and got takeout.
 
By the time he walked the long blocks to his apartment, his back ached
and he shivered from the cold winds sliced between the buildings.
 
I hope
the food’s not cold, and I really hope
Raine’s
better.

His cold fingers fumbled as he struggled
to unlock the door, and when it opened, he almost dropped the food.
 
Callahan glanced up as
Raine
took the bags from his hands and smiled.

“I’m glad you’re home,” she said. “You
look cold.”

“I’m frozen,” he replied. “How’s your
head?”

“Better.
 
Would you like me to warm this up while you change?”

“God, yes,” he said. “You think there’s
time for me to shower, too?”

“Of course,” she replied. “Take your
time.”

Callahan pulled her against him, frigid
hand and all,
then
kissed her.
 
She tasted sweet and smelled scrumptious, like
springtime flowers.
 
Best of all, her
lips met his with eager passion.

“I needed that, doll,” he said. “You
don’t know how
bad
.”

Raine
grinned. “Then
you can have more
later
.”

He wanted that, too.
 
“You look happy for a woman who stayed home
sick. What’s up?”

Her lips twitched into another smile.
“I’ll tell you later. Go ahead, get cleaned up, and I’ll warm the food. Is your
back hurting again?”

She noticed, and that meant a lot to
him.
 
No one else ever had.
“Yeah, some.
I’ll take some ibuprofen before
I
shower.”

“I can rub it later.”

A rush of tenderness welled up within
him. “Thanks, baby. I’d like that.”

He popped the over-the-counter pain
relievers,
then
took a lengthy shower.
 
As the pills kicked in and the hot water beat
down on his aching back, Callahan relaxed.
 
By the time he emerged, he found the table set, the food warm, and a
glass of white
Moscato
wine at each place.

Callahan caught her in his arms for a
swift kiss,
then
hunger won over passion. “Let’s eat.”

After they linked hands for a blessing,
Raine
dived into the food with appetite.
 
“I decided I’m not going in tomorrow either,”
she told him as she speared a piece of General Tso’s chicken on her fork.

He glanced over at her and noted that
her eyes were bright.
 
Pink highlighted
both her cheeks and he frowned, worried. She’d seemed fine when he came in, but
maybe he hadn’t been paying enough attention. “What’s the matter, doll? Don’t
you feel good?” he asked.

When she smiled, his concern eased up a
little. “I’m fine, Callahan. I did something, and I don’t know if you’re going
to like it.”

The bite of black pepper beef slid down
his throat before he’d finished chewing and almost choked him. Coughing, he
washed it down with wine. His nerves weren’t up for much suspense or drama.
“What? Just tell me.”

“Well, remember when we talked about
liking theater and Broadway shows?”

His gut clenched tight.
“Yeah.
Don’t tell me you went to a show today?”

Raine
reached out and
touched his hand.
 
“No,
of course not.
 
But I bought
tickets for tomorrow night so we could go.
 
I think we could use a break.”

“What show?”

She named a popular, long-running
Broadway show, one he’d often thought he would enjoy.
 
Any other time, under other circumstances, Callahan
would be thrilled.
 
His grandfather’s
words echoed in his head. “
I don’t know,
maybe the theater district, maybe Broadway…”

“I don’t know if it’s a good idea,” he
began.

Raine’s
smile faded
away. “I figured you’d say that and you would bring up what Pop said. I
remember, but I also recall he said he wasn’t always right, not one hundred
percent.”

Pop had. Callahan switched positions.
“Yeah, I know.
 
I’d like to go…”

Her grin returned, brighter than ever.
“Good! I’m looking forward to it. I thought I’d stay home and rest so my
headache won’t flare up.
 
I’ll have
plenty of time to get ready, and when you get home, you can shower and
change.
 
We can walk and grab dinner on
the way.”

Callahan wanted to tell her no, the
timing wasn’t right and to wait until the threat had ended, but he
couldn’t.
 
He didn’t want to watch her
smile vanish again.
 
After all, he
reasoned, Snake could strike them anywhere at any time.
 
Just because the old man had a hunch didn’t
mean it would come true. For once, he could let down his guard. “Sure, sounds
like a plan. I hope you didn’t spend too much.”

“No, I got a good deal, last-minute
tickets and all.”

He nodded. “That’s great, baby.”

After they’d eaten their fill of the
takeout and put the leftovers into the fridge,
Raine
asked, “Do you want me to rub your back for a while?”

Callahan sighed with anticipation. “Yeah,
I’d like it if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t. Come lie down.”
 
The bed waited, expanded to full size, with
the covers turned down, waiting.

Full of good food and fine wine, warm
and content, Callahan did as she asked.
Raine’s
fingers worked something close to magic as she massaged and kneaded his
flesh.
 
He meant to make love to her
afterward, slow and loose-limbed, but instead he found himself drifting into a
delicious drowsiness.
 
Raine
talked and he listened, but he caught the sound of
her voice more than her words.
 
After
what seemed like a long time, she rose, dimmed the lights, and crawled into bed
beside him.
 
For a while, her fingers
still rubbed his lower back.
 
The last
thing he remembered was the sound of sleet slapping against the windows and how
comfortable he was.
 
Nothing, he thought,
could make him move now—nothing.

Sometime in the still hours of early
morning, long before sunrise, Callahan woke from a dream, startled and
breathless.
 
He couldn’t remember any
details, but it left him with a lingering uneasiness.
 
Something had frightened him, he thought, not
the kind of “boogeyman-in-the-dark” a child might fear, but danger.

Callahan lay awake, and he calmed.
 
He listened to
Raine’s
easy breathing and thought about her, what a blessing she was, how much he
loved her.
 
They deserved a night out on
the town, he thought with a fierce rush of joy.
 
After all, what could happen in one night?

He woke a few hours later, rested, and
the nightmare forgotten.
 
As he dressed
for work,
Raine
watched him. She crawled out of bed
and stood nearby, a distraction, but one he enjoyed.
 
Callahan ogled her bare breasts beneath her
pajama top and admired her tight ass in the pants.
 
Because of that, he almost forgot to put his
shield, the badge he wore around his neck on, but she remembered. “Here,
Callahan,” she told him.
 
She slipped it
over his head and planted a kiss on his lips. “How’s the back this morning?”

“Good,” he told her. “It’s not hurting
at all.”

She straightened his shield and reached
around his neck to touch the chain of the St. Michael medal he always wore.
“What’re you
doin
’?” he asked, amused.

“I’m making sure you’re wearing St.
Michael,”
Raine
replied. “What time will you be home?
The show’s at eight.”

“I hope around four-thirty,” he told
her. “I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

“All right,” she said. “Be careful.”

His lips curved upward into a grin. “I
always
am,
doll.”

“Good.
 
I love you, Callahan.”

“Love you, too. Give me a kiss?”

“Always.”

Raine
stretched to
meet him as he planted his mouth on hers.
 
Her slender lips yielded to his powerful kiss, and her hunger
intensified Callahan’s.
 
He gave her
tenderness combined with passion, tried to cherish her, and show how much he
cared.
 
It must’ve worked because she
locked her hands behind his head and hugged him tight. “Watch yourself,
Callahan.
 
I love you, and I’ll see you
later.”

The intensity of her words brought back
a fleeting memory of waking after a bad dream, but he lacked time to dwell on
it. “I love you, too, doll.”

Callahan put on his jacket and walked
out, focused on getting through the day ahead so he could enjoy the evening out
with
Raine
.
 
For the first time in a string of days, he wasn’t obsessed about Snake
Marsh or anxious about the potential for danger.
 
Instead, he looked forward to the show and
time spent with his lady.

Raine
was proving to
be the best damn thing that had ever come his way.

Chapter Sixteen

Raine
had planned to
dive back under the covers and go back to sleep, but when she tried, it wasn’t
happening.
 
Although she found a
comfortable position and it was warm, a vague unease hovered around her
consciousness, enough to make her wary of what lay ahead.
 
No matter how hard she tried or how many
times she shifted position, sleep eluded her, and after an hour of trying, she
opened her eyes and got up for the day.