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By three a.m. McKenna had cum so many times she could barely keep her eyes open. When they stepped out of the shower, Carter dried her body, carried her naked to his bed, and tucked her beneath the bedding. She was out moments later, mumbling incoherently about them needing to talk before the sound of soft snores filled the room.
He traveled to the den, which served as an office with no desk, only bookshelves, sofas, and a double-sided fireplace. Carter worked from his laptop so there was no need for an office space.
Once he poured a glass of cognac, he removed the photo album from the shelf and pried open the leather bound book. There was only one photo inside, of his parents. They were young. His mother was barely nineteen, which meant he was a baby. Although he wasn’t in the photo, he was aware he existed based on the bottle sitting on the table.
He had no idea who had taken the photo and didn’t care. It was the only thing he kept accessible as a reminder of who he was. Everything else he deemed worthy was secured in boxes he kept in a single storage unit in his building. The photo, however, he kept close as a reminder that he had been loved once in his life.
Dead center, in that same photo album, was the reminder of when that love ended. The coin. Matte black, the size of a silver dollar, with a dark angel wearing a thorny crown on one side and Roman numerals on the other.
He closed the photo album and placed it back on the shelf but kept the coin. Carter brushed his thumb over the numbers and turned the sleek metal in his fingers before he lifted the glass he’d placed on the shelf to free up his hands for the photo album.
“What the fuck does this mean?”
“Your father took what didn’t belong to him.”
Carter wasn’t confused about the man who raised him. The same darkness that lived in James Reed now swirled in his spirit, tarnishing his soul, challenging his ethics and morals. But the only thing Carter had ever known his father to steal was life. He had taken plenty of them. James kept Carter separated from that world to the best of his ability but he couldn’t stop the whispers from others about how he fed his family.
Carter was angry with himself. There could have been answers. He might have been able to seek retribution.
But I chose her.
After flipping the coin between his fingers a few more times, he finished what was left of his drink and did his best to push those thoughts to the back of his mind. He placed the coin on the table and walked away. The decision was made. He would find out what he could on his own, but if the answers were never unveiled, he would have to live with choosing for McKenna to no longer be in harm’s way.
Chapter
Six
For the second morning in a row, McKenna woke to an empty bed. However, this time she was naked and her body was deliciously sore from the night she had with Carter. She exhaled a sigh and eased out of bed, carrying her phone to the bathroom. While she emptied her bladder, she scrolled through emails and texts, noticing there was no response from her boss about the last-minute request to take the month off.
The time was available. McKenna never took more than a few days here and there so her accumulated PTO would more than accommodate the request. The issue was the last-minute notification. No matter how friendly she was with her boss, McKenna was leaving her with a potential scheduling nightmare.
After she finished, as she washed her hands then proceeded to prepare for the day, McKenna stared at her image in the mirror. She was torn. Her heart felt settled but the apprehension from what that happiness might cost lingered. Either way, she was here, and this time there were no outs. Not for Carter, not for her. They had to make it work.
She lifted her toothbrush, mingled with his things after she moved most of her personal items into his space. Just like being at his apartment felt right, so did claiming his space as her own. Once she was dressed, feeling refreshed and ready for the day, she decided to go find Carter and have the conversation he avoided last night. This time she wouldn’t allow him to use sex as a distraction, no matter how amazing that would be.
As soon as McKenna entered the living room, she paused at the sound of a distraught woman’s voice. Carter heard movement behind him but kept his focus on the TV.
“Whoever this animal is will pay. My husband was a good man. My sons will have to grow up without their father.”
A good man who had landed himself on the receiving end of something he’d pulled the strings countless times to execute. Murder. The thought flowed through Carter’s mind.
He didn’t feel an ounce of remorse. What he felt was annoyance for how naïve and possibly even stupid Jessup’s wife was. The man was nothing close to good. He flooded the streets with narcotics and paid high dollar amounts to make anyone who competed with him disappear.
Jessup was deeply invested in multiple pharmaceutical companies that produced pills sold legally and in black markets. Both were very lucrative, which meant the competition from men with less moral footing and ethics than Jessup was always popping up. Whenever that happened, Carter sent messages for him. He didn’t give a damn. Having a moral conscience about the jobs he delivered on wasn’t part of the deal, unless it involved innocents such as women or children. Those that crossed immoral lines were fair game and the criminals whose lives he ended deserved what they got.
“That’s where you were last night.”
The sound of McKenna’s voice washed over him. It wasn’t a question. She was acknowledging that she knew. He glanced over his shoulder, finding her just as he expected—hair mussed, bare legged, and so fucking beautiful he would give anything he had access to, to keep her in his life.
“Yes.”
“You’re not going to lie?”
“Do you want me to?” When she stepped in front of Carter, he stared intently, gauging her reaction.
“No, that defeats the purpose.”
Carter lifted the remote clutched in his hand and powered the TV off. He tossed it on the sofa and walked to the kitchen.
