Dark Star (22 page)

“Yeah, I know.” She gave him a pointed
look.

He chuckled, his white teeth gleaming in the
dim light. “Trust me there are much worse out there than me.”

“You couldn’t have proved it by me,” she
muttered under her breath, but, of course, he heard her.”

“Trust me. Much worse. What do you think I am
anyway?”

“A mercenary. A hired gun,” Roshonda said,
but she wasn’t really sure. Tonya hadn’t shared all that much
information about her disappearance or this dude’s appearance. She
hadn’t liked to ask. Her friend looked more exhausted each day.

Deringer shrugged. “Close enough. You don’t
need to be out here alone.

“Look. I’m old enough to take care of myself.
I haven’t exactly lived a sheltered life. I’m Squat Low’s daughter.
I know how to take care of myself.”

“Squat Low, huh? Your old man likes craps,
huh?”

“Yeah, amongst other things. Par for the
course in Happy Holler.”

“What the hell is that?”

“If you must know, it’s the wrong side of the
tracks,” she said.

“Mayberry has a bad side? Do tell.”

“Isn’t there a bad side to every town? Happy
Holler has the usual suspects -- gambling, liquor, drugs and
prostitutes. It’s all there.”

“Sounds like my kind of place,” he said,
frowning as he rubbed his small goatee. “But that’s not where you
live now, unless it’s the world’s most discreet red-light
district.”

She gave him a sharp look. “How do you know
where I live?”

“Recon. Us hired guns like to know what we’re
dealing with.”

“You’ve been following me?” Roshonda asked
with a gasp.

“Nope. I can use Google like anyone
else.”

“Why did you google me?”

“I told you. Recon,” he said.

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Probably because I’m lying.”

Roshonda sucked her teeth. “Why?”

“I just wanted to know everything I could
about you.”

“Okay, here’s my story in a nutshell. Born in
Happy Holler. Did everything I could to get out. Got hired by Tonya
and Callie while I was taking accounting classes at the community
college. Worked my way up to operations manager. End of story.”

“That can’t be the end of the story. What
about your love life?”

Why wasn’t she surprised that he asked her
that? Even spooky men were too damned predictable. “Nonexistent.
I’m off men.”

“Who hurt you, baby? I promise I’ll make him
disappear.”

Roshonda took a deep breath. Despite the
laughter in his voice there was a feral gleam in his eyes. He meant
exactly what he said. He could make people disappear, and had no
qualms about doing so. Permanently. This man was dangerous. Even
deadly. She struggled to match his light tone. “He already did,”
she said with a humorless laugh. “Besides, he’s not important. It
was a long time ago.”

“May I kiss you?”

“What?” In her surprise the question came out
as a croak.

“I’d like to kiss you. You know, to make the
hurt go away.”

“I told you. It was a long time ago,” she
said, automatically stepping back as he approached. She wasn’t able
to move far as he stood between her and the parking lot. Though she
suspected that if he wanted to kiss her she could be on the other
side of the world and it wouldn’t be large enough for her to
escape.

“If that’s the case you shouldn’t mind
kissing me.”

Roshonda wanted to kick herself. He was as
slick a guy as she’d ever dealt with and he had her in a bind. If
she didn’t want him to think she was pining over someone -- someone
who in his mind needed killing, she had to kiss him. Otherwise he’d
start asking questions and far too many people in this town knew
about her less than stellar love life. Ex-boyfriends were liable to
disappear as fast as he could google them. She almost laughed;
death by Google, but it wasn’t really funny. How bad could a kiss
be? She turned her face up pursing her lips as she intended to give
him no more than a brief peck.

That was her last lucid thought as she was
suddenly swept into a maelstrom of emotion so strong that she
couldn’t think. She could only feel. Her senses were inundated with
him -- his scent, the feel of his lips pressed to hers, even the
buttons of his shirt digging into her flesh all combined to trigger
a level of stimulation she’d never experienced. And that goatee –
she’d wondered how it felt, now she knew; it was soft and
incredibly sensuous against her skin. Before she could catch her
breath she was pressed up against the wall of the building.
Suddenly his hands were under her blouse seeking the bare skin of
her back and pulling her even closer. She ground against him,
needing the hardness that pressed against the vee of her legs. He
pressed back growling deep in his throat as he sought the curve of
her neck.

Finally before the kiss transcended all
bounds of public decency, Deringer stepped back. She expected a
smug grin but his face was rigid, totally expressionless except for
his mouth. The usually full sensuous curves of his lips were
pressed together almost as if he was in pain.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” he said as he
reached for her hand. Before she could react, he aborted the
gesture and simply walked beside her instead. She was annoyed at
his self-control. She had been all but humping the man right there
on the spot. Yes it had been a while but surely not that long. She
pressed her lips together as she was suddenly flooded again with
the taste and smell of him so intense she almost groaned aloud.
Fortunately they had reached her car and with a brief thank you she
climbed in. Starting the engine, she drove off without looking
back, too afraid that she’d submit to temptation and invite him to
go home with her.

* * * * *

“Are you planning to feed me real food any
time soon?” Nate said.

“You must be feeling better, if you have the
energy to complain about food.” Tonya adjusted the tray over his
lap. It had been a week since his return and he was healing
rapidly. As promised, the cutters had come back to remove his chest
tube. Since then he’d been walking around the apartment quite a
bit. Tonya was delighted with his progress, but she still worried.
He’d had a couple of long nights of pain. He’d refused the pain
medication after the first day. He didn’t like being out of control
and it seemed that the anxiety from that was harder on him than the
pain. Still it was difficult to watch him struggle for every
breath. Her fears were at their worst at night when there was
nothing to disturb her and she was left alone with her thoughts.
Now it was absolutely thrilling that he’d turned the corner and
would soon be well. His color was good and his movements were easy
with none of the lassitude of the early days. He was still sore and
there was some residual bruising, but it was a far cry from his
condition when he first arrived.

“For one thing I want to know where my fish
sandwich is.”

“Fish sandwich?”

“It is Saturday, isn’t it? Carlyle’s is open.
They didn’t go out of business when the old man died, did they?”
Nate asked, a frown of concern marring his still wan features.

“How did you -- So you weren’t just spying on
me, you spied on the whole town?” she said.

“Some things just came up, but yeah. I know I
was only here for a summer, but I like to think of this place as my
hometown too. I promise I wasn’t really stalking you, but I just
had to keep in touch somehow,” he said.

Tonya stood beside the bed, trying to
respond, but really what was there to say? Nate was an orphan, had
been one for most of his life. If thinking of Maple Fork as his
hometown helped him deal with that what kind of monster would she
be to disagree?

“Well, I wondered what was keeping you cooped
up at home,” Anita said from the doorway.

Tonya whirled, stunned to see her mother and
Reuben. She’d given her a seldom-used key long ago, but she’d
forgotten about it. Damn.

Nate grinned. “Good to see you, Mrs.
Stephens, you too, Reverend Adams.”

Anita walked over to the bed while Tonya
stood transfixed on the far side nearest the wall, wondering what
her mother would say. Reuben stayed back in the doorway.

“Glad to see you finally decided to come
back, boy. Next time you get in trouble you’d better come home
first,” her mother said to Nate.

“Yes ma’am, I’ll remember that,” Nate said in
a soft whisper. Tonya reached out to touch his shoulder as tears
welled in his eyes.

“Mama,” Tonya said. “How did you know?”

“I have no idea what’s going on here, and I
don’t want to know,” she said with a glance over her shoulder at
Reuben who then joined her beside the bed. “But I do know that him
showing up after all these years is no coincidence. Tonya, why
don’t you step over here for a minute.” Tonya followed her into the
hall outside the bedroom, leaving Reuben with Nate. Shaking her
head in concern, her mother paused and cupped Tonya’s faced in both
her hands. “Baby, I can’t believe you’re letting him see you like
this. At the very least you could put on some lipstick.”

Tonya knew she looked bad. The pajama bottoms
and tank top she wore were hardly chic, and she hadn’t bothered to
do more than wash her face and brush her teeth since Nate arrived.
Fortunately she was too tired to even get irritated over her
mother’s obsession with her looks. She bristled simply for form’s
sake. “For God’s sake Mama! Is that all you’ve got to say?”

“For right now, yes. The man comes back after
more than ten years. Comes back from the dead and you’re running
around looking like you don’t have any people. And acting like it
too, I might add. Is he back for good? And what happened to
him?”

“I thought you didn’t want to know.”

“You’re right. Do you need any help?”

Tonya was so exhausted she could barely hold
her head up, but she didn’t want to relinquish caring for Nate.
“No, I’m fine.”

Anita gave her a considering look. “Tell you
what; let me at least bring you some meals over. I’m assuming that
whatever’s wrong with Nate is a secret?”

“Yeah, it would be best if it didn’t get
out.”

“You know everybody’s going to know
eventually, but at least all those reporters and other crazies are
gone.”

Tonya shook her head. She’d almost forgotten
about the publicity after her disappearance. Just as Bryan
predicted, once she released the statement about going to rehab
everyone lost interest. Amazing. “I know, but there’s nothing I can
do about it. He insisted on coming here and he had to know the risk
of gossip.”

Anita nodded. “He always was stubborn.
Anyway, I’m going to the market today, and I’ll pick up some food.
I’m guessing your refrigerator is probably bare, as usual.”

“Thanks, Mama. I’ve been meaning to do some
shopping. I appreciate your help.” They returned to the bedroom
where Nate and Reuben were talking softly about sports and the
SEC’s prospects for this football season. Tonya was about to heave
a sigh of relief that no one had said anything untoward when Reuben
spoke up.

“I assume you’re involved in some type of
shenanigans.”

Shenanigans? Seriously? And who was he to
talk? The man’s entire life was shenanigans. Before Tonya could
interrupt, Nate answered him.

“No sir, at least not to my knowledge.”

“Well, you got hurt some kind of way. Were
you doing something illegal? You’re not involved in drugs, are you?
I always thought you were one of those potheads,” Reuben said
gruffly.

Nate shook his head as Tonya turned to give
Reuben a piece of her mind. “No sir. Not anymore. I promise you, as
far as I know I haven’t broken any American laws.”

Reuben rubbed his chin. “I guess I have to be
content with that. Just take care. It took her a long time to
recover last time you left.”

“Reuben!” Tonya began, really about to bless
him out now, but Nate grabbed her hand.

“I know. I messed up big time.”

“If you break her heart again you’ll have me
to answer to, do you understand?”

Many men would’ve laughed at threats from a
man of such small stature, but Nate knew better. He knew death even
when it came in a flashy suit. Besides, Reuben had a good thirty
years on him and what older men lacked in strength and stamina they
made up for in cunning and stealth. He had no doubt the other man
could take him out any time he liked. “Yes sir. I promise you I’ll
never hurt her again.”

Reuben and Anita both gave him stern looks
before they took their leave.

Tonya turned on Nate, fuming. “How dare
he?”

Nate was calmly polishing off his breakfast.
“Because he loves you. Count yourself lucky.”

Tonya had no response to that, remembering
that Nate had no family, not even an unorthodox one.

“Your mama never changes, does she?” Nate
said.

“Hey, she just welcomed you home. I can think
of a lot worse she could’ve said.”

“Yeah, I know. I never knew she thought of me
that way. What do you think she’ll say when she finds out I
kidnapped you?” he said.

“She already knows. That’s why I was so
worried that she’d say something ugly -- not that she needs an
excuse,” Tonya said.

“Wow.”

“She always thought you were just jelly.”

“Yeah, but who knew that would extend to
kidnapping?” Nate said.

“I told her you had good reasons, though I
didn’t go into detail. Speaking of reasons, Deringer never really
talked about it, but he did tell me the bad guy is dead...” she
said.

“Dare never talks about much of anything.
Yeah, the Rooster is dead.”

“I suppose you’ll be going back to work once
you’re better.” She hated that questioning note in her voice, but
there was nothing she could do about it. She didn’t want him going
anywhere anytime soon, particularly not off to some world-class
hellhole in pursuit of terrorists.