“And you said what?”
“I declined.”
Relief washes over her face. “Good, because—”
“You don’t have to say it. I know. The Army divided us, baby. The Army doesn’t bring us back together.” My phone buzzes with a text. I glance down and read it before setting it aside. “Not much at the bimbo Monica’s house.”
She laughs that perfect laugh of hers. “You are still so you.”
“Am I?”
“Yes. You are. The things that come out of your mouth. I love the way you are.”
Heat expands between us, damn near catching me on fire. “Show me. At home, naked.”
“At home?” she challenges.
I stand and pull her to her feet in front of me. “The only home I’ve ever had, Candace, is you.”
“Rick,” she whispers, her eyes tearing up because I’m the fucking bastard that made those words emotional, painful even. It’s time to make them mean something right and real.
I grab her bag and slide it onto her shoulder, guiding her to the front door where I slip on my coat, and then help her into hers. We step outside into a light drizzle and she laughs at the sight of my car, parked next to hers. “Did you really block my door?”
“Just like old times, right?”
She smiles and pushes to her toes, intending to give me a quick kiss. I’m not having it. I catch her to me, and drink her in long and deep before I say, “I love you, Candace. I have always loved you. I’m going to make you love me again.”
“I already love you, Rick. I never stopped. So don’t crush my heart again.”
“I told you. I’ll protect it with my own, baby.” I kiss her quick and hard this time. “Let’s go home. In the same car. I don’t want to split up. I’ll get your car in the morning.”
“Yes,” she says. “Yes that’s good.”
“I’ll pull out so you can get in.”
She nods and I jog to my door, climb inside the vehicle and quickly start the engine to an appropriate Porsche roar. Once it’s live and ready, I back up and place the engine in idle. The rain starts to pound down again and Candace runs for the Porsche. I’m there when she gets there, holding the door open for her. I might be the bastard you don’t want to see at the end of your bed holding a knife, but I have manners. Once she’s sealed safely inside, I join her, and yes, I kiss her again, because fuck, I can’t stop kissing her. I don’t even want to try.
I then rev the engine and crank the radio to Jason Aldean’s Lights Come On. She laughs and in another few minutes, we’re on the highway, my mood completely different than it was on the way to see my father. I’m with Candace. I’m home. I’m where I belong. The world is right until I glance up and start noticing lights in the rearview mirror, my Spidey senses on alert. I change lanes and slow down. The other car changes lanes and slows down. I exit down a winding road that I used to know well. They exit.
“Why are we exiting?” Candace asks.
I turn down the radio and open the glove box where a gun rests. “You still know how to use that?”
“Yes. Oh God. What is it?” She glances back at the lights and then to me once more. “Who is it?”
I pull my gun I’d left under the seat and set it on my lap. “We’re about to find out. Hold on.” We’re going to take them for a fast, hard ride. I accelerate and Candace grabs the gun, then the roof, as I cut right, left, right again, turn down a narrow road, then back onto the main road. “Gabriel knows, doesn’t he? He knows.”
“That I’m here to kill him? Maybe.”
“You’re not here to kill him.”
“Oh, I am, baby. I’m going to kill that bastard. Hold on!” I do a one-eighty and when the other car skids to the side of the road, I slam the gear into idle. “Get on the floorboard.”
Candace does as I say, sliding off her seat. “What are you going to do?”
“Handle this so we can get on with our night.” I unhook my belt. “Do you think pizza again after this is too much pizza? It is, right?”
“Rick!” Candace yells at me. “We’re about to die and you’re talking about pizza?”
“Right. Sorry, baby. Killing people makes me hungry. And we aren’t about to die. Someone else is.” I wait until the other driver opens his door and then, and only then, when he’s exposed, do I open mine.
It’s time.
Party time.
THE END…FOR NOW