Overflow: The Carpino Series (12 page)

I look up at Jude who is still leaning into the bathroom.  I
just shake my head as he grins at me and I yell back, “Thanks!”  He leans the
rest of the way, gives me a peck on the lips and reaches for the door and
closes it.  Thinking that this is as ‘by myself’ as I’m going to get for a
while, I take my time, get my business taken care of and slowly take myself
back to the bed to get ready to make a statement to the police.  I let my aunts
fuss over me because they are good at it and I secretively like it while making
a silent decision to let Jude take care of me.  And if I’m honest with myself,
it’s the easiest decision I’ve made in a long time. 

Later that day, after giving my statement to the detective,
Jude took me home and I was surprised that he had somehow arranged for the
glass company to come a day early to replace the glass in my door so I could
move back into my master bedroom.  It was sweet, thoughtful and I wonder if he
had to be bossy with the glass people to get it done early. 

Oh well. 

I took a long hot shower, got into my pajamas because I have
learned that it hurts like hell to have to change my clothes.  Jude and I ate
dinner that my aunts prepared.  It included meat so Jude shouldn’t waste away
to nothing in the next twenty four hours.  Mia returned home attacking me,
complaining that she had been abandoned and lying to me about not receiving
enough attention from Lanny, Sophia and their kids. 

Now it is late and I am really tired again.  I ask Jude,
“You’re not going to wake me up every hour and ask me what my name is, are
you?”

He has me tucked into his side on the sofa and he leans
down, kisses my good temple and says grinning, “No, babe.  Tonight you can
sleep.  You should go to bed, I’ll be there in a minute.”

“You’ll be in?” I breathe. 

Turning to me fully, he leans in close and rasps sweetly, “Gabby,
your bedroom was broken into.  Do you think I’m going to let you sleep in there
by yourself?”

Not knowing whether or not to be surprised or relieved, all
I can manage is, “Okay.”  I was secretly hoping he would sleep with me anyway. 
It’s not like I can romp around with my bruised ribs and dull aching head, but
it will be nice to cuddle up next to him.  I slowly get up and go through my
getting ready for bed routine way slower than normal. I hear Jude letting Mia
out and moving around my house.  Carefully as I can, I climb up into my tall
king size bed and move to my pillow trying to get comfortable. 

I hear Jude walk in and turn to look at him.  He leans down
picks up Mia and puts her on the bed and leans down and kisses my forehead. 
“Are you good?” he asks softly.

I nod and he looks into my eyes.  Then he moves to my
bathroom and I can hear him going through his routine before he comes back to
me.  I watch him yank his shirt over his head and I get another good look at
his winged tattoo with the crest in the middle.  He pulls his socks off, I
watch his hands go to his buttons on his jeans and before I know it he’s down
to his boxers again, but this time climbing into my big bed beside me. 

“Did you take your pain pill?” he asks.

“Yes.”  He moves closer to me and fits himself against me so
I roll to my good side to fit my back against his warm chest. 

“Your stool softener?” he asks with mirth into my hair as he
pulls me closer and I can tell from his voice he’s grinning.

“Don’t piss me off or embarrass me, Jude, I’m tired,” I say
at the same time I scoot my bottom back into his lap as carefully as I can
without hurting my ribs.  Not wanting to rest his hand on my torso for fear of
hurting me, he places it on the side of my lower hip and bottom and gives me a
squeeze. 

“All right, Gabby.  I don’t want to piss you off,” he kisses
the back of my head again and rasps on, “Your pink room is hot, sugar, but I
like this bed better.”

“I didn’t take you for a pink kind of guy, Jude, but as a
decorator, that’s good to know.”

“Yeah, I especially like the stuffed animals,” he says,
teasing me.  Then back to bossy he keeps on, “Go to sleep, Gabby.  You need to
rest and heal.”  I feel his lips below my ear on my neck where he kisses me
softly.  His lips return to my ear and he whispers, “I don’t like that you’re
so fragile.” 

I don’t need an interpreter to catch his meaning and that
makes me shiver.

“Okay,” I whisper back.  But then remember something, “Wait,
Jude?”

“What babe?”

“Tell me about your tattoo”

“They’re my wings, Gabby.  I was a pilot in the Air Force.”

“You were in the Air Force?” I ask, full of surprise.

“Yeah, I went through the Academy and then Fighter Pilot
Training.”

“Really?” I do my best to try to roll back around to look at
him.

He looks down at me and grins, “Yeah, really.”  He leans
down to kiss me.

“What did you fly?”

“F-16’s.”

“Wow,” I move back to fit myself into his chest again,
tucking my ass into his lap as tight as I can.  He rests his hand on my bottom
again and we settle in.  “Then how long have you worked for the FBI?”

“About four years.  I was hired right after I left the
Force.”

“Huh.  How long have you lived here?” all of a sudden
needing to know all I can about Jude Ortiz.

“Almost a year.  I’ll tell you more later, go to sleep.”

“All right,” I say yawning.  “Thank you for being here with
me, Jude.”

“I wouldn’t be anywhere else, sugar,” he whispers into my
hair.

And with that, I close my eyes, lean back further into Jude
and fall asleep.

“How many times do I have to answer this question man?  I do
not know where he his!  I saw him Thursday, he said it was getting too hot for
him here and he had to skip town.  I’ve told you everything I know, now when do
we talk about my deal?”

“You’ll get your fucking deal when we have Harper behind
bars.  Now where in the hell would he go to feel safe?  And where is he getting
money to finance his fucking vacation?” I ask, standing across the desk from
one of the mid-level managers we apprehended.  Last night was a late night but
a good one and we put one hell of a dent in Harper’s organization.  Now it’s
Tuesday, mid-morning.  We have five mid to high level curriers and managers
that worked for Harper in custody.  Three of them have flipped, are crying like
babies spilling information about Harper and his gun smuggling business as well
as some pretty good information on high level cartel sources.  The other two
haven’t said a word, but they are lower on the chain, look scared as hell and
I’m pretty sure they fear retribution will be taken on their families if they
talk, which is common in these organizations.  Harper, in addition to his right
hand man, is still at large and the three that are talking are corroborating
each other’s stories that they have skipped town but no one knows where. 
Harper’s from Michigan, we know his family has a lake house on the Lake in
Traverse City and we have the local FBI and ATF there looking into it, but I
swear the man has disappeared into thin air.  He has gone to ground and it’s
like looking for a needle in a haystack. 

“Man, Trevor has cash stashed everywhere.  He could live
forever on the lamb with the cash he’s got.”

“Where else would he go?  Where are his safe houses, other
properties or favorite spots?” I ask, leaning down with my hands on the table
now, glaring down at the jackass in front of me.  I’m pretty sure the well has
run dry, we’ve gotten just about the same intel from each of them.  I would be
surprised at this point if they had any idea of Harper’s whereabouts. 

“You know all of his properties, I don’t know that he owns
anything else.”

I push myself off the table and cross my arms.  I look back
at the jailer standing at the door and say, “Take him back.”

“Hey, what about my deal?”

“You’ll get a deal when I get Harper, how’s that for a
deal.  You gave me nothing I don’t already know,” I say as the jailer tags him
by the bicep, his wrists cuffed behind his back. 

“Fuck you, you pig!  You said I’d get a deal!” he yells over
his shoulder at me as he’s being pulled out of the interrogation room. 

“You gotta give me Harper,” I said shaking my head and watch
him leave.  I look over at Mac who is leaning against the wall and say, “He’s
fucking disappeared on us.”

“Looks like it. And we’ve got nothing from his wife’s
phones.  Harper hasn’t contacted her again.  Does Megan Harper know Gabby was
attacked?” Mac asks me.

I shake my head, “I’ve told Gabby not to talk to Megan, but
I can’t help what her friends do and they are one pissed off group of women,
that’s for sure.  They love Gabby so I think Megan might get kicked out of the
club if she supports her husband after what happened.  I’ve only overheard
conversations when they’ve come to visit her, and it does not sound good.  I
just hope Gabby’s friends don’t carry guns too, they might be tempted to hunt
down Harper themselves.”  This is no exaggeration, Reagan threatened homicide
multiple times while bouncing a baby on her hip and Lilly said she was going to
cut his balls off and shove them up his ass.  It was an entertaining show,
that’s for sure.

Mac grins and asks, “How’s she doin?”

“Better every day.  I’ll be glad when the bruising is
completely gone.  I won’t have that constant fucking reminder thrown in my face
every time I look at her that I didn’t do enough to protect her.  Every once in
a while she still winces in pain from moving too fast or stretching the wrong
way.  The bruises on her ribs will take longer to go away, but her temple is
almost back to normal.  Her headaches are gone and she only has to take Motrin
for her ribs every once in a while.  But she’s driving me fucking insane
complaining about having to stay home or having someone with her all the time. 
We’ve gotta find Harper or I’m gonna have to lock her up.”

Mac’s grin turns into a smile when he says, “I’m sure you
don’t mind her driving you insane, Ortiz, nor would you mind locking her up. 
You can put on a front for everyone else around here, but I think you’d happily
dance straight to the loony bin for that woman.  Am I wrong?”

I narrow my eyes at him.  As long as I’ve known him, I
wouldn’t even admit this to Adam “Mac” McAlister, but he’s right.  The last
week and a half have been freaking crazy and I feel like my life has been
turned on its head, but I wouldn’t change a thing.  After I brought her home
from the hospital Thursday, she’s had her aunts with her while I’m at work, but
they’ve been told they can’t go anywhere.  I spent the weekend with her other
than a few hours on Saturday when I had to come into work and Tony was put on
Gabby Duty.  By Sunday she was feeling pretty good and was sick of being in the
house so I took her to church.  We grabbed a bite for lunch, then somehow, and
I don’t know how in the hell it happened, she talked me into taking her
shopping for carpet.  All fucking afternoon.  We went to three home improvement
stores and four flooring showrooms.  I’m pretty sure we looked at every piece
of carpet in the damn city.  I didn’t even know there was that much carpet to
choose from.  Not only that, but I watched her compare them to paint samples,
multiple paint samples for multiple rooms.  Then, about three and a half hours
into the carpet search, she had the magnificent idea of replacing the carpet on
the stairs as well.

“I mean, really, I might as well replace it now while I’m
doing the basement.  It’s going to be such a mess, why go through that twice,
right?  Jude, are you listening to me?”

In a carpet daze, I blink my eyes to focus on Gabby,
standing barefoot on a carpet square.  “Yeah, babe, I’m listening,” I respond,
monotone.

“Well, what do you think?  Wow, you should come and stand on
this one.  It’s wool and really thick and soft.  Come here,” she commands.

“What?”

“Come here, take off your shoes and socks and try it out!  I
really like it, this could be it!”

“Sugar, I am not taking off my shoes.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not, that’s why.”

She narrows her eyes at me, puts her hands on her hips and
says, “Jude Ortiz, I know for a fact that just because you’re a big bad federal
agent who carries a gun for a living, that you do indeed take your shoes off
eventually!  I mean,” she looks around and then whispers, “I’ve slept with you
for four nights now and know for certain that you do not sleep in those big
bulky boots.  You take your shoes off just like the rest of civilization and
when you do, don’t you want to walk on something soft?  Seriously, this is the
basement we’re talking about here and the winters get cold, you need something
cozy under your feet, for heaven’s sake!”

I stand here and stare at her.  She’s in a light blue
sundress, with thin straps over her shoulders, tight over her tits that show a
nice amount of cleavage that I’ve enjoyed all day and hangs straight to hit a
few inches above her knees, with her long legs sticking out below her short
dress.    She said she was feeling better this morning and was tired of looking
like what she described as “shit,” so she dried her hair for fucking ever.  It
is now long and silky, flowing down the middle of her back.  It even looks more
golden than normal since it is straight and smooth.  The blue dress makes her
eyes look even brighter and she put on enough makeup to cover her almost faded
bruise.  She’s wearing a fancy necklace and bracelet that are a mix of silver
and pearls stranded together with silver matching earrings.  Her pink high
heeled sandals have been kicked off to the side where she is glaring at me from
the carpet square. 

Making a quick decision, I walk over to her, close to her
and put my hands low on her hips giving her a gentle yank, her hands
immediately come to my chest in surprise.  “Are you telling me, sugar, that you
think I might be around to walk barefoot on this carpet?”  I can tell I
surprised her.  She gave me her shocked as shit look, eyes wide and biting her
lower lip. 

“Well…”

Quietly, I say, “I’m over the moon that you know I don’t
sleep in my boots and I’m looking forward to experiencing your new carpet.  So,
if you want me around to walk barefoot in your basement, only for you babe,
will I take my shoes off in the middle of a fucking carpet store.”  She’s still
just staring at me so I give her hips a little shake and go on, “What’s it
gonna be Gabby?  You’ve gotta tell me if you want me around to walk on your new
carpet.”

“Um, I guess.  I mean,” she pulls in a big breath.  “I think
I might want you around to walk on my new carpet,” she whispers and lets out
her lung full of air.

I take a step back reach down and pull the tie on my boot,
yank it off, tossing it aside.  I repeat with the other then I rip off my socks
and step forward onto the small carpet square with Gabby, pulling her into my
arms.  Her hands go to my biceps and she tips her head back to look at me and
whispers, “Well?”

“Feels like heaven, Gabby,” I say softly and then her eyes
get big and she pulls in a breath, so I go on, “And I can’t wait to walk on it
barefoot in your basement.”  She breathes out and smiles up at me.  I bend
down, not wanting to pull her up to me and hurt her ribs, putting my lips to
her ear I whisper, “I’m hoping other bare parts of us get to experience your
new carpet too, Gabby.  I can’t fucking wait for that.”  I lean back enough to
put my mouth on hers and kiss her long but soft, standing barefoot on a carpet
square in a flooring showroom. 

Finally, letting her mouth go, I lean up and she’s looking
beautiful from my kiss and whispers back, “I think I’m gonna get this one.”

“Good.  Now we can go,” I say with finality. 

“Well, I need to pick out the carpet for the stairs.  I
think I want something different, maybe a baby berber, black or maybe even red
with this camel color woven into it somehow.”

“Are you kidding me?” I ask.

“I promise, I won’t make you stand on it,” she says, looking
up to me with a small smile, scrunching her damn nose again. 

I sigh and say, “Fine.”  I lean down to kiss her quick
stepping off her new carpet to put my socks and shoes back on. 

Still standing barefoot, she grins at me and says, “I like
shopping with you Jude.  Thanks for bringing me today, it’s been fun!”

“Sure babe, anything you want,” but as I say these words, I
think back to Tony telling me she’s hard to deny and I realize this means I
could be in trouble.  Her grin becomes a huge smile that lights up her face and
I realize that, yep, I’m in deep trouble.  So as I smile back at her I say with
a warning, “But I’m not taking you shopping every Sunday, Gabby.”

Still smiling big, almost like she doesn’t believe me, she
chirps out way too happily, “Okay!”

Forcing my mind back from carpet shopping, I gather my shit
from my desk as I’m anxious to get back to Gabby.  It’s been one hell of a long
day, making our way through Harper’s organization and trying to get all the
information we can get.  We have FBI and ATF looking in Michigan, but I don’t
feel hopeful.  Harper’s too smart to head to a known property.  I pull out my
phone as I make my way to my truck to call Gabby.

“Hey, Jude,” she answers in her soft voice.  Damn, but I
miss her.  I got to her last night so late she was already asleep and had to
leave earlier than normal this morning to start processing all that happened
last night at work.

“Sugar.  How are you feeling?”

“Really good.  Emma went to the store again for me today and
I’m making dinner,” she hesitates.  “Are, you, um, coming here?”

Shit, she finds a way to ask me that every day.  I’ve slept
in her bed every night since she got home from the hospital, I’ve brought
overnight stuff to her house and some extra clothes.  I don’t know why she
thinks she needs to ask me if I’m coming to her.  Thinking that I need to
rectify that and soon, I say, “Gabby, where in the hell else do you think I’m
gonna go tonight?” 

Sounding like she’s straightening her backbone, she replies,
“Well, I don’t know, Jude.  I’m sure you had a life before you met me.  Don’t
you have anything else to do besides babysit me every night?”

Well shit, what is up with her?  I climb in my truck and
start it up and sit back to concentrate on Gabby.  “Babe, we’re gonna have a
talk tonight.”

“What?”

“Tonight.  You and I are gonna get a few things straight.”

“Like what things?” she goes on.

“What are you making for dinner?” I decide to change the
subject.

“Dinner?”

“Yeah, babe, dinner.  What are we having?”

Hesitating again, she said, “Pork chops, roasted potatoes
and, um, a salad,” she ends quietly. 

Smiling to myself, I say out loud, “Sounds good.  I’ll stop
and get you a bottle of wine.  What sounds good?”

Sighing, she says, “I know you’re supposed to drink white
with pork but I don’t like white wines, I like cabs.  Any cab is fine, Jude.”

“Not a problem, babe.  I’ll be there in about twenty.  Do
you need anything else?”

“No, I’m good.”

“All right, Gabby, I’ll see you in twenty,” I say, hanging
up the phone.  Yeah, we’ve gotta talk tonight.  I know she hasn’t been with
anyone in years, but she’s gotta have a fucking clue as to what’s going on
here.  I’ve taken it easy on her since she got home from the hospital, not just
because of her physical injuries, but more so because of what she experienced. 
I want to move us to the next step when she’s ready for it, but after what
happened to her at the hands of Harper, I don’t know when that will be.  We’re
gonna talk tonight and she’s gonna know where I’m at, come hell or high water.