Loving the Wild Card (9 page)

“I can only imagine what you’re going through based on what I would feel
if I was separated from my wife for so many years. However, this is your
problem. While I hope you know that I will do whatever you ask of me; if my wife
is unhappy, I’m unhappy.”

This was a night of firsts; Jason was stringing so many sentences
together Josh was left in no doubt as to the validity of his words.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this,” he said rubbing his temples, to ease the
beginnings of a headache.

“I’m only going to tell you this once, take care of your business.”

“I said I’ve got this, Jason!” Josh repeated wanting nothing more than
to be left alone.

Without further comment, Jason gave him one final penetrating look
before he got up and left.

The pressure was building in his head by the minute, and he knew he had
to take the time to relax his thoughts. Humor was always his outlet, but at
this moment, it was nowhere to be found. For the first time in years, Josh
allowed himself to remember.

Chapter
10

Seven Years Earlier

“Luxie, I’m home,” Josh shouted as he came through the front door.

An unusual silence greeted him. Feeling an unwelcome presence in their
home, he thought about rushing the room but held back. His shout would have
announced his presence so the element of surprise was already lost.

Josh pushed open the sitting room door and glanced around. Lux was
seated in their favorite chair. The other occupants of the room were detectives
Saunders and Bonetti.

Bonetti, the taller of the two stood behind his wife while Saunders
lounged on a sofa as though having every right to make himself comfortable in
their home.

“What are you doing here?” Josh demanded.

“Your wife kindly let us in to wait for you,” Saunders answered.

“That’s not strictly true; they gave me the impression something had
happened to you. By the time they were inside and I realized they were
deceitful, probably corrupt pigs; I couldn’t get them to leave. In the end, I
opened the window, hoping that pigs flew. As you can see it didn’t work, but at
least it eased the stench!”

If her expression hadn’t been enough, her monolog of disdain towards the
detectives was a giveaway; his wife was pissed off.

“Get out of my house!”

“Not before we ask you a few questions, Mr. Kingdom,” Saunders replied
as he stood up. Before Josh could respond, Saunders continued speaking. “Do you
know someone that goes by the name of, Counterfeit, Mr. Kingdom?”

Josh knew the question was coming, but the sound of that name being
mentioned in his home sent a current of dread rushing through him. Out of the
corner of his eye, he saw the look of surprise Lux was unable to hide.

Saunders directed the question at him, but his gaze was on Lux. To her
credit, she pulled herself together more quickly than he expected, but it
wasn’t fast enough. Saunders registered her reaction.

At the smug smile on his face, Josh wanted nothing more than to pick him
up and toss him out the window Lux had left open.

In the short time, he spent worrying about Lux’s reaction, detective
Bonetti threw out a statement. “There’s been another murder, downtown, and we
have reason to believe this Counterfeit character is involved.”

Josh’s expression remained unchanged as he folded his arms across his
chest and turned his attention back to Bonetti. “Was there a question in there
somewhere?” He inquired in a bored voice to show his contempt for them and the
direction the conversation was taking.

The tension in the room mounted by the second and it all emanated from
Lux. Her dark eyes gleamed with anger, and Josh knew he had to get the
detectives out of their house before she gave something away.

 “Oh, so you’re still a wise guy?” Saunders countered. “How about
this for a question: What do you know about the murder of a police officer that
took place at approximately 3:00am this morning?”

“Get out of my house!”

“If you know anything, and I mean anything, this is your chance to save
yourself and your lovely wife a truckload of trouble.”

These men who had gained access to his home by deception and were now
threatening him and Lux, caused Josh to see red.

“I don’t take kindly to threats. If you don’t have a warrant to be in my
home, you have exactly two minutes to get out. Fail to do as I say and the chief
of police will be hearing from my lawyer in exactly five minutes.” Although
seething inside, Josh somehow managed to hold on to his temper.

“Listen up, you little piece of rich, pretty boy shit,” Saunders all but
screamed in his face. “You don’t get to give me orders, ya hear me?! Who the
hell do you think you are! You’re not above the law!”

“Maybe not, but I’m above
you
in every way that counts,” he shot
back looking down at the much shorter man.

Josh braced himself as Saunders lunged towards him, at the same time,
Lux jumped up from her seat. Apart from dropping his arms in readiness to
defend himself against an attack, Josh didn’t move. Saunders only had time to
give him one shove before Bonetti grabbed him around the middle and pulled him
away.

“That’s right, you better hold back your bitch,” Josh taunted, unable to
help himself from further riling an infuriated Saunders.

“That’s enough,” Bonetti hissed; holding back his partner.

Shaking off the restraining arms, Saunders adjusted his rumpled suit and
sneered at Josh. “You can only hide behind your family for so long, pretty boy.
But know this, if it’s the last thing I do, I’m going to get this Counterfeit
and you and your pretty wife along with him! Her reaction told me she knows something
and believe me, I will find out what that is.”

Josh knew he was being goaded, and if Saunders hadn’t mentioned Lux, he
would have ignored him. “Threaten my wife again and I will kill you, do you
hear me?!” Josh snarled, wanting nothing more than to grab Saunders by the
throat and choke him.

“Did you hear that?” Saunders looked around the room. “You all heard
that, right? He just threatened me. I should arrest your–”

“Detective Saunders,” Lux interrupted his rant. “Right now you sound
like a fool. You have no right to be in our home, so I suggest you and your
partner leave before this all blows up in your faces. At this very moment, my
husband is on the phone to our lawyer, and the way I see it, you don’t need the
kind of trouble we can bring crashing down at your door.”

As Saunders geared up to respond, Bonetti gave him a telling look and he
swallowed whatever he was about to say. Attempting to straighten his rumpled
suit yet again, Saunders pulled himself up to his full height, sniffed loudly
and for a moment Josh thought he was going to spit. When he began walking
towards the door, Bonetti followed with Josh a looming presence tracking their
every step.

When the detectives were finally out of the house, Josh was reluctant to
rejoin Lux and answer the questions he knew were coming. As things stood, he
didn’t know what to say that would satisfy her. Taking a deep breath, he
reentered the sitting room even as his mind searched for the best way to
present his argument to his pissed off wife.

“I can explain,” Josh said from the doorway.

“I told you I didn’t want anything to do with him. You promised me, Sam
was completely out of our lives.”

“I know I did but he needed my help.”

“What kind of help did he need, Joshua? Let me guess, did you have to
help him hide a body? How about you needed to help him commit the crime that
brought the police into our home? He obviously needed the type of help that
caused my husband to break the one promise I asked of him when I accepted his
proposal.”

“For God’s sake, Lux, you need to trust that I know what I’m doing!” Her
blank look should have been his clue to keep quiet. But for some reason he
couldn’t. “You’re acting ridiculous and you know it! If you’d allow me to set
up a meeting with your brother, you’d know how stupid you sound right now.”

“If I'm so ridiculous and stupid, I’ll just keep my thoughts to myself.”

“That came out wrong. You know I didn’t mean it that way.”

“Words spoken in the heat of the moment are often the truth. My
grandmother taught me that and I’ve never forgotten it.”

Josh didn’t know what to say. So far he’d been careless with his words,
so there was no way he was going to contradict her grandmother. Yes, he was
guilty of breaking his promise to her, but his reason, for doing so, was sound.

His father and brother meant the world to him; so he couldn’t imagine
anyone going through their life knowing they had a brother, and not wanting
them as a part of their life.

In the days that followed, Josh tried to break through the barriers she
erected against him. But nothing in his male-dominated world had prepared him
for his wife’s stubbornness.

As the days progressed and she still shut him out, it hurt more than he
could ever have imagined. Nothing he said or did was enough to regain the
footing he’d lost after the detectives’ visit. Not the baths he ran for her;
nor the inconsequential little presents he gave to her that she used to love.
Her lack of interest in the gifts was the single most significant fact that
showed him, his marriage was in trouble, and he didn’t know how to fix it.

The final death knell was their weekly dinner with his family. Her
silence throughout the meal told its own story. No matter how his father and
Jake tried to pull her into conversation, she remained impassive and detached.
He wanted to shake her into responsiveness but knew that wasn’t an option.

That night she again rebuffed his advances, and Josh knew he had to come
up with a plan to win her back. That she’d stopped trusting him was clear, but
he was confident he could turn things around.

That night, as he again lay alone in their guest room, he realized he’d
been playing things wrong. Being lucky enough to find and marry one’s soul mate
meant no secrets. However, the idea of coming clean about her brother gave him
palpitations, but it was overdue.

Breaking her trust was one thing; not having her in his life was
something entirely different. The latter wasn’t an option so Josh made up his
mind to pull out all the stops to repair their marriage.

Just because he’d come to a decision didn’t mean he was going to have
everything his own way. He understood his wife and by her recent behavior, he
knew she was going to make him work for every yard he gained. However, he’d
never met a woman he couldn’t seduce to his way of thinking. He understood she
needed to punish him for breaking his promise, but he was sure he’d win out
because of the love they shared.

Josh knew his timing would have to be right and went to great pains to
ensure the setting was perfect. When he was finished, the house looked exactly
how he’d imagined with the ubiquitous candles, roses, and champagne.

They both knew he couldn’t cook, so there was no point attempting it.
Instead, he ordered in an appetizer of seafood, followed by minted lamb. He
left the dessert option up to the chef because he knew as long as they finished
with chocolate, Lux would be happy.

Everything was in place as he waited for her. By the time midnight
rolled around, he’d long since paid and dismissed the hired waiter.

When she finally came home, Josh was furious. She’d refused to pick up
his calls and he’d been out of his mind with worry.
If it hadn’t been
for the fact that she was still mad at him, he would have been frantic with
worry.

“What the hell were you thinking? It’s after midnight Lux, I was
concerned about you, and you walk in here as though you’ve just finished having
lunch with your girlfriends!”

“As you can see, I'm perfectly fine.” Lux didn’t say another word as she
looked around at everything he’d so carefully put in place. “You did all this
for me?”

“Who else do you think it was for, some random woman I picked up off the
street?!”

“Well, it looks nice, but you shouldn’t have bothered.”

“Nice... nice,” Josh exploded at the use of such an insipid adjective.
“I spent hours planning this evening for you, and you stroll in here and call
it
nice
!”

“You have to stop being such a nagging bitch, it’s really unattractive!”

About to respond, he blinked twice and realized how he was coming
across; she was right, he did sound ridiculous.

Regaining his swagger, Josh decided to change tact. He got it, he needed
to pay for his omission in not telling her about helping her brother, but he’d
had enough. This wasn’t how he’d envisioned their evening together, but all was
not lost. He still had a few moves left.

Giving her his most beguiling smile, he executed a small bow and looked
at her from under lowered lashes. “I did sound like a whiny bitch didn’t I?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Wanna start again?”

“It’s too late for that, Josh. The things you’ve said and your
dishonesty are out there, and they can’t be taken back.”

Her words carried a finality that scared the shit out of him, and he
knew he would do anything to make it up to her. “What can I do to begin to make
things right between us?”

“Honestly, I don’t know.” Lux shook her head. “I love you so much but I
think that may be the problem.”

“You’re making no sense, how can loving each other be a problem?”

“I would always put you first, Josh. When you don’t put me first, it
makes me think loving you the way I do isn’t enough.”

Josh didn’t know what to say. In one way, she was right, yet in another,
she was so very wrong. He wanted nothing more than to tell her why he’d broken
his promise to her, but he didn’t know if she was ready to hear him.

“Lux–”

“It’s okay,” Lux said with a sad smile. “Why don’t I help you clean up
the dishes?”

Understanding her all too well, he didn’t push. He knew her feelings
were still hurt, just as he knew that before the night was over, he would
explain everything and tell her how sorry he was. He just hoped it wasn’t too
late.