Page 19 of Danger Close (Mourningkill #3)

Fuck You, Guerro

Teri

The quilted bed looked antique and clean.

The room was cozy, small, and well-kept with a little fireplace.

I imagined that the view from the large window would be glorious during the day.

Even now, I could see the silhouette of high mountains against a midnight blue sky.

The milky wash of stars and bright moonlight put a silver glow on the landscape.

I was glad for the hospitality, but at the same time, I wasn’t sure if I’d have preferred to go back with Cobra. The devil you know…

Greg had been standing quietly at the door after he helped put sheets on the bed, and found me several thick quilted duvets to help me get through the cold night.

“I don't often have someone willing to speak up for me. I appreciate what you said out there. Merci. ”

Greg looked surprised, leaning against the wall right on the inside of the door frame, keeping a respectful distance as I sat on the bed.

“Me neither,” he said with a short laugh. “I get it.”

If only more men would be like Greg… mothers wouldn’t fear so much for their daughters. Surely the altercation outside had to have been a misunderstanding of some sort.

A gentle knock on the door had me sitting up straight. Greg straightened, pushing off the wall. He placed himself between me and the open passage, as if protecting me from an intruder.

“Stand down, son.” It was Charlotte. There was a log in her arms.

Greg turned to me. His long, wavy hair fell over his forehead, partially obscuring his eyes.

“Do you need anything?” He had his hand on the doorjamb, ready to walk out.

I wanted the boy to stay, but I knew that would be courting trouble. Anyway, he was a stranger in the end, wasn’t he?

“No, thank you.”

There were a lot of things I needed. A change of clothes, a toothbrush, toothpaste, maybe something to wash my face with, and a bath… but I didn’t ask for any of those things. I didn’t want to be a bother. I was already unwanted. I felt like an orphan, thrust upon a reluctant host.

“I live in the barn, in the upstairs loft.” Greg tilted his head in the rough direction of the large red structure. “If you ever need anything, come find me. Day or night.”

With a curt nod, he strode out without a real goodbye, but I didn’t mind. I’d resist the urge to call on him, because he’d done enough – far more than most.

Charlotte gave him a motherly pat on the shoulder as he exited, whispering a gentle “goodnight.”

Then she turned to me, and I prepared for a scolding. I shut my eyes, pulling the leather jacket closed around me, taking a deep inhale of the amber and coffee scent.

“I’m sorry,” Charlotte said, surprising me. “I still don’t think I like you, but that was no excuse for being inhospitable. Even if I had known what Guerro—I mean, Cobra, or Joaquin or whatever you might call him—had done, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to conduct myself correctly.”

My eyes opened, and I blinked, surprised. That was a strange apology, but she wasn’t through.

“I really like Trinity,” she continued. “I love her, in fact. I have long thought of her as the daughter I couldn’t have. If any of mine had made it to term, I would have wanted them to grow up to be just like her.”

The true insensitivity of my previous words struck me full force. Infertility. I shut my eyes, embarrassed at my callousness.

“I know things aren’t good between the two of you, and it upsets her.” Charlotte continued, before I could figure out how I could utter an apology, “I don’t like her upset. I feel very protective of her.”

She walked across the room, to the fireplace, and put the log inside.

“Greg was right, I don’t know both sides of the story.” Her voice gentled, before she nodded her head once more. “So, there. I’m sorry.”

The awkwardness continued as she lit the fire with some papers stacked in a basket to the side.

“I put a new toothbrush and toothpaste in the guest bathroom right across the hall. There are fresh towels in there as well. I’ll take you out tomorrow for some essentials, and I’m taking a wild guess that Cobra didn’t think of getting you a dress for the wedding either, so you and I will do that as well. ”

With that, she lifted her chin, and nodded as the flames kicked up, heating the frigid room. She put a grate in front of the fireplace, which would prevent anything from flying out, but not obstruct any of the heat.

“I’m sorry that we don’t have any proper heating. It’s an old house and we have to do things the old-fashioned way.” When I didn’t respond to anything, she simply said, “Okay. Goodnight then.”

She had her hand on the door, her back turned to me before I found my voice again.

“You don’t need both sides of the story.” I took a deep breath. “It’s good enough to be on Trinity’s side. Hers is the one that matters.”

My daughter had friends, and a whole other family. What more could I ask for?

I was irrelevant to this situation.

Charlotte turned, looking at me for a moment with her warm eyes.

She was my age, or so I thought. Her style was far more relaxed and casual than mine. I wondered, for a moment, if we could have been friends. If life had been kinder, would I have been more like her?

Without fully turning to me, she said, “Well, you’re in Trinity’s life–”

“I will not stay past the wedding,” I interrupted her. “That’s what’s best for everyone.”

To stay where you are not welcome is not only depressing, but embarrassing.

I also refused to bring danger to my child or her friends. I was a lightning rod for such things. I would not bring unhappiness to something as tranquil as this life she’d built for herself.

“That’s a shame.” Charlotte almost sounded like she meant it.

She stepped through the threshold and shut the door, leaving me alone in a strange room, in a strange house, surrounded by strangers. I sat in tranquil silence, the only sound was the couple outside the door, and the comforting crack of the log fireplace.

It was only a few minutes before something crashed on the other side of the shut door.

I jumped to my feet, my heart rate skyrocketing, my feet ready to flee. If I had to jump out the window, I would.

Charlotte yelled, “Nuh-uh! Get the fuck out!”

“I have to see her.” It was Cobra.

The cold fear beneath my skin warmed, and my heart rate soothed. I couldn’t explain it. I should be petrified of such a violent man, but I wasn’t.

“Charlotte, I just need a minute.” His voice sent a delicious shiver down my spine.

“No, I told you—” Charlotte’s clear voice was interrupted.

“Five minutes!” Cobra yelled as my door swung open. “I’ll keep the damn door open, you meddling asshole.”

“You kidnapping prick!” she said back, but their insults had an air of fondness.

Charlotte stood just behind Cobra, her hands on her hips. “I don’t want to get physical with you Joaquin Guerro, but I will.”

“Trust me, she, ” he nodded towards me, “doesn’t need you to defend her. She’s got a solid enough punch.”

“Do you want him gone?” Charlotte looked at me. She was deadly serious when she said, “Because I will carry his tall ass out of here, and wallop him with the fire poker. Just give me an excuse, and I’ll do it.”

“Seriously?” Cobra looked at her in insulted disbelief. “That seems uncalled for.”

“Just say the word, Teri,” Charlotte said when I didn’t answer right away.

I looked at Cobra and really thought about it. I tried to see him, and not Ray.

Was I frightened of him? Yes. He had a lethality and temper that told me he could hurt someone. I just didn’t think he could hurt me. But wasn’t that what got me in trouble in the first place? Thinking that it wouldn’t happen to me? How many battered women had thought that exact thing?

But my head could not overrule my desires. I wanted Cobra here.

“He can talk to me if he likes,” I finally said.

Charlotte shot him one last withering glance, and shook her head before she turned around, her boots stomping towards the kitchen. “The door stays open!”

She stomped off, and I heard the sound of running water, and pots clanging in a sink.

Cobra threw his middle finger in the air, pointed out the door to Charlotte. But all the while, he had a smile on his face.

“Princess.” Cobra leaned against the far wall, placing his hands behind his back, leaving space between us. “I’ve been undercover for almost thirty years. That does something to a person. I don’t think like most people.”

I snuck a glance at him, taking in his square jaw, and his beautiful eyes before averting my gaze back to the fire, worried what he’d see if he looked in my eyes.

“I’ve lived a certain way for almost as long as Trinity’s been alive.

Things like that kinda re-wire your brain.

” I could understand that. My brain has altered in the last thirty years.

And not for the better. “It didn’t occur to me that it would be anything more than a little unsettling because this is a safe place for you. ”

He gently knocked the side of his fist against the door frame, before putting it back behind him.

“No one here will harm you. I didn’t realize that you wouldn’t see that right away.

” He chewed his lower lip for a moment, and I felt his gaze on my cheek.

It felt like a touch, or a plea for me to turn my head.

To look at him. But I didn’t. “What I’m saying is that I wouldn’t hurt you, Teri.

The idea of causing you harm is abhorrent to me. ”

I finally did look up, answering his gaze with one of my own. I looked between his eyes, absorbing what color was there, shining in the fire light.

“My brain isn’t wired normal anymore, and it might make me…” The muscle in his jaw ticked. “Inconsiderate?”

His hazel-green eyes looked at me with a sparkle of amusement, mixed with the slumped shoulders of embarrassment.