Devil’s in the Details (73 page)

I peeled my eyes open once more, trying to get them to focus on the redhead sitting across from me, "Why are you in my bedroom?"

Dani smiled softly, "I've taken on the task of getting your ass out of bed and on the road to recovery." She set the full glass down on the table next to me, "Hair of the dog, my own special recipe." She leaned back in the chair, folding her arms over her stomach. "I suggest you drink it before you get up or you'll be cradling the toilet."

I frowned, trying to move in the bed, feeling my head pound like a tank battalion was rolling through it, I stopped for a minute. "How did I? Where's Alex?"

"Alex is outside with your fur covered daughter. Has been all morning. She was a little pissed off this morning when I woke up to defile the laundry sink with Irish car bombs." Dani frowned painfully, "We, I, got us out of hand last night. We drank a paycheck's worth last night." She rubbed her forehead, "Good thing I set the tab up while I was sober. Closed it out while I was making the hangover cure."

I scooted to sit up, clutching my head at the sudden movement, "Dammit." I gave in, grabbing the glass and chugged the sludgy cocktail, trying hard not to taste it or smell it before it was gone. Setting the glass back down, I looked around the room. The blinds were still drawn tight and the only light in the room was coming from the small bedside lamp on Alex's side. I looked down and saw I was still in my outfit from last night and that Alex had not shared the bed with me. I leaned forward, cradling my head, "What did we do?"

Dani sighed, sitting forward with her elbows on her knees, "We drank a lot." She paused, looking up in my eyes, "And we said a lot."

I turned to look at her slowly, "We said a lot?"

She nodded slowly, fidgeting nervously with her hands. "When I woke up and after I gave the laundry sink a live performance of the exorcist, I went to find Alex. Thank her for letting me stay here and taking care of me." She laughed lightly, "Shit, she even left a bottle of water and a puke bucket after tucking me in. She's a keeper."

I groaned, swallowing down a tomato juice covered throat, "Dani…"

Dani nodded, standing up and walking to the bathroom to get a glass of water, "I know." She came back to the chair, handing me the glass, "After a bit of polite conversation and an offer to make greasy eggs, Alex flat out asked me why you were in Colombia and not Minnesota last week."

I clutched the glass tightly, my heart starting to race, "Why would, how?"

Dani blew out a slow breath, looking up at me with a soft look, "We fucked up, I fucked up. I got you hammered and god knows why I did, knowing how we talk with our guard down." She bit her bottom lip, "Alex pressed harder, in her polite way, asking why you were in Colombia and why did you have to beat someone up." Dani sucked in a breath, "It seems you rambled about beating the shit out of the drug lord and placing the blame my way for not chiming in when I saw him rush out of the bedroom at you."

I stared at the water in my hand, the water rippling as my hand shook, I asked softly, "What did you tell her?"

Dani scrunched up her face, "I went to lie when Alex asked me what I meant when I prayed to God I could save you both." I saw her jaw twitch as her eyes turned glassy, "I don't remember any of this, Victoria, I slipped up. Getting so drunk because it's the only time that my brain and the memories slow down. That I can feel what I used to feel like before all of this started." She sniffled, "I'm so sorry Victoria."

I could hear in her voice the desperation, the sadness and the panic, I looked at her, my voice wavering, "Did you tell her the truth?"

Dani shook her head furiously. "I couldn't, I wanted to, but I couldn't." She tucked her arms tightly against her chest, "I lied, I made up a lie on the spot like I only know how to do. I told Alex you were in Colombia with me on an intelligence gathering operation for the Navy. That we issued you the cover story of going to Minnesota to keep the listeners off your trail. I told her that you didn't want to go, but I talked you into it and it was a joint operation with the Navy and the Colombian government to stop drug smugglers from using human traffickers." Dani laughed shaking her head, "Sadly that's the truth, but I left out the part where I sent you in to kill that giant junkie with your bare hands."

I looked at my hand before shoving it under the blankets to hide it. "My hand, she asked how I hurt my hand, didn't she?"

Dani shook her head, "She didn't. I was waiting for her to ask me about that, but she never did. Alex just stared at me, watching me eat the pile of eggs and bacon she made, holding Holly and smiling in a way that unnerved me." She covered her face with her hands, "Victoria, she's going to ask you for the truth and I don't think she's going to walk away without hearing all of it. And I do mean all of it."

I closed my eyes, feeling my heart crack and separate, the black hooded figure appearing in my mind shaking her head no, telling me there was no way for that part of me to be revealed and have all the things I had now or wanted in the future. I squeezed my eyes tighter, "How quickly can you and the old man initiate the plan you showed me last week?"

Dani's head shot up, "Victoria, we're at least another month away from even getting the equipment we need for that. It all has to be done discreetly." She searched my eyes, "It's a loose plan, a crazy plan that needs refinement."

I turned to look at Dani, the black hooded figure standing behind her. I glanced at it before returning to Dani, "How quickly can you make it a solid plan without the equipment?"

Dani held my gaze, the realization of what I was asking falling in quickly to a point of no negotiation. "Two weeks. I can pull something together in two weeks, but you will still have to go to New York City to the Voltaire safe house for it to work right. The old man offered up her secret residence as the extraction point."

I nodded slowly, "Can we get Alex out in two weeks?"

"I can, she will be easier than you. Less ties to break, but yes, I can get her out and safe in two weeks. I have a plan to take her to England for a few days while you bounce around and fall off Voltaire's radar, and I'll explain all of that to her." Dani sighed, "Shit, Victoria, you really are going to tell her everything, even the metro station incident, aren’t you?"

I swung my legs free from the bed, grabbing onto the edge of the mattress, I steadied my swirling head. "I am, yes. And if she rejects me for the monster I am…" I paused looking up at the black figure still shaking her head at me behind Dani. I looked away without finishing my thought and frowned as my voice rasped out, "Please keep her safe, Dani. Keep Voltaire's interest away from her." I stood up slowly, Dani standing with me, "You have everything I gave you last month?"

She nodded, "It's locked up in the safe at the lake house in Maine."

I smiled, "Good." I shuffled to the bathroom, eager to wash the stink off booze, fear and determination of what I was about to do away. Hoping I would come to my senses or at least come up with a sturdy lie when the truth was too frightening to speak. I would lose Alex when I told her everything, but I knew I would lose her if I continued to lie. "I'll be down in a minute."

Dani stared at me, "Victoria, when are you going to tell her?"

I paused at the doorway to the bathroom, "Tonight, when she finally asks me. She won't before, she'll want to make sure I'm okay before we go to her parent's house for my birthday dinner. Alex will put on a brave face and ignore the need to hear the truth for a little longer."

"How do you know that? She was pretty ballsy and bold with me." Dani folded her arms.

I shrugged, "She isn't in love with you, Dani. The one thing I have learned about Alex over the last year and a half is that she will always put love before anything else. She will let it blind her from the truth willingly, because like me, she's never had a love like this. A love that begs to catered to no matter the consequences."

I sighed, looking down at the wood floor. "But I'm tired of letting the whispers of hate cancel out the whispers of love. I want to be free, free with her and I no longer care about the consequences. Alex needs to hear the truth and I need to know if she can stay with me after I tell her everything." I felt my eyes well up as my heart tightened, "I'm tired of letting the Colonel win with every breath I take."

Dani stared at me, letting silence fill the room. She tilted her head towards the door, "Two weeks, Victoria, two weeks and you and her can be free." Dani turned to walk out of the door, "I will figure this out and save you both." She threw me a tight smile before leaving the room.

When she was gone, I let out a shuddering breath, clutching on to the edge of the shower door as I began to shake. Shake not from the lingering hangover that was cursing me, but from the fear of what I was about to do. I breathed in and out heavily a few times to calm down, moving to the small window over the toilet, I looked out on the backyard.

Alex was laying in the middle of the yard, her hair splayed out like a splatter of chocolate paint on a green canvas. She was laughing, grinning as Holly ran around her, barking at the leaves Alex held in her hand. She wore my Academy sweatshirt and a pair of jeans with no shoes. She looked happy, perfect and at peace. Grabbing at the excited puppy anytime she tried to attack her faces with kisses. Alex would laugh genuinely and snuggle the puppy to her chest until Holly broke free to chase whatever caught her fancy.

I watched Alex, watching and memorizing everything I saw. I loved Alex with every broken and whole part of myself and it was time she got all of me. The good, the bad, the ugly and the killer that I could feel standing next to me, looking out the window with me.

It was time. It was time that I gave her that last piece of my life and prayed to gods I no longer believed in, that Alex would somehow accept it and stay with me.

I moved away from the window, my eyes full of tears, and started the shower.

Who was I kidding? When she heard the truth, Alex would be gone the second I finished telling her everything.

Chapter 24

"Come Holly, let's go see if your mom is up." I grinned at the black ball of furry energy as she rushed towards me, a stick in her mouth, barking around it excitedly. I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head at the little girl, so full of excitement over a piece of wood.

Opening the back door, I grabbed the stick from her before she dragged it into the house. Holly barked, giving me a strange look for taking it away from her. I bent down, scratching her head. "No sticks in the house, now go find Victoria."

Holly barked, hopping on her feet before skittering across the floor to run and find her person. I closed the back door, sighing as I looked at the clock and saw it was almost noon. Victoria had been passed out with no signs of getting up when I checked on her after my shower. She was still in the same curled up ball position I had left her in, after I opted to sleep in the spare room next to us. I was mad at her, but it wasn't why I chose the spare room. Victoria was super drunk and would roll all over the bed and probably throw up on me if I slept next to her. Plus, it allowed me time to think about the things that slipped out of her boozed soaked mouth.

Moving through the kitchen, I spotted a note under the Navy football mug I poured Dani's coffee in.

"Alex,

Thanks for breakfast, the ride, the puke bucket, and making sure I survived last night.