Bloody Heretic (26 page)

    “
She
’
s 83 years old! Hardly a girl. And you have no place to be telling me who I can and can
’
t sleep with. You
’
ve been on my case for years about sleep
ing around and here you
’
re a bloody recovering addict!”
He yelled.

    “
I was fucking jealous!”
Dom bellowed. Adam sat back against the couch, stunned. Dom looked away. The silence
stretched until he couldn
’
t take it. He got up and walked to the window, l
ooking out to the sand and the waning tide.

    “
Are you telling me...,”
he paused. “
Are you telling me that Alex was right? That you
’
re in love with me?”
Dom spun away from the window, wide eyed.

    “
What?!”
He cried. “
No!”
 

    Adam clutched his ches
t, “
Oh, thank god. That was the most awkward four minutes of my life.”

    “
Why would Alex say that?
Christ, didn
’
t she see Jeanne and I? Didn
’
t Jeanne explain?”

    “
Jeanne has barely uttered a word since you left.”
Adam let Dom absorb this.

    “
Why did
you think I meant I was in love with you, for crying out loud?”

    “
I don
’
t know. You said you were jealous. I guess I assumed you meant of the girls,”
he answered.

    “
I was jealous of you! I wanted to be able to go out and sleep with whomever I wanted
with no consequences. I hadn
’
t had sex in over fifty years until Jeanne.”
He sighed, remembering.

    “
Well, can you blame me for the mix up in communication?”

    “
Yes! I
’
m not going to be able to look at you the same way ever again. Gross, man!”

    “
Oh, come on. I
’
m not that disgusting. Plenty of
blokes would love to get with me.”
He sat up straighter. Dom couldn
’
t help it, he laughed for the first time in weeks. Adam joined in. Damn the man.

    “
So, tell me about the case,”
he said casually. Adam sm
irked at him, knowing he had won this round.

    “
We cleaned out four more dens, the largest in Kyoto. We got back fourteen more girls, one of whom was Pauly
’
s sister Marie.”

    “
Really? What
’
s she like?”

    “
Imagine the female version of Pauly,”
he pau
sed, “
got it? That
’
s Marie.”
Dom snorted. “
She called us all cocksuckers and fought us the whole way out of the whore house.
She
’
s staying with her brother now.”

    “
I
’
m sure they
’
re happy and living wild in Yosemite.”
They both got a chuckle out of that.
Dom sobered up. He really wanted to ask about Jeanne but didn
’
t know how to go about it casually.

    “
She
’
s b
ack home, if you were wondering,”
h
e said quietly. Dom gave him the stink eye. “
Well, I thought you would wonder.”

    “
Well, I wasn
’
t.”

    “
Uh
huh. Well, she was looking terrible and sounding depressed when we left Japan a week ago.”
He looked down at his wrist. “
Oh, is that the time? I have a flight home to catch. I expect you back in New York at some point you know. I know we get paid vac
a
tion
but this is
ridiculous
. I had a vacation planned before we started this case and I can
’
t go until you come home and cover for me.
”

    “
I
’
m not coming back. I resigned, remember?”
Adam stood up, gave him the jerking off motion and walked away. As he left
his cell rang.

    “
Yes, Dear. Yeah I
’
m leaving now. Oh yeah, he
’
s fine. No, really, he
’
ll be in New Orleans by weeks end. I
am
that good. I
’
ll meet you there. Love you too.”
Dom could hear him as he walked away. The smug bastard thought he would just up a
nd leave for America after hearing about Jeanne. So what if he missed her more than life itself? Or that she might or might not miss him too? It didn
’
t mean that she would welcome him back with open arms. Their “
relationship”
was based on hormones. The ba
s
ic foundation of a relationship, trust, was gone. They had both done terrible things to each other. There wasn
’
t anything he could do to fix that. No amount of flowers or chocolate could make her forgive what he had done. If there were anything he could g
i
ve her he would. Just as the thought crossed his mind, another knock came from the front door. He marched forward toward the door.

    “
Adam, I
’
m serious...”
He shut up as soon as he realized it wasn
’
t Adam at the door.

    “
Hello
,
Dominic,”
his Father sa
id.

    “
What are you doing here?”
He whispered.

    “
Coming to make things right between us. I hear you got rid of a little problem of ours.”

    “
I did,”
he answered, smug for the first time about killing Michel.

    “
Thank you, Dom. I mean that. I wante
d you to know how grateful I am. Can I come in?”

    “
You ruined my life.”
He glared.

    “
You fucked my wife.”
He glared back.

    “
Fair enough,”
he said, and gestured for Gabriel to enter.

Chapter Twelve

   
“
God damn it!”
Ember declared from the back room as a case of Jack fell off of the stack she was piling. 

    “
Language!”
Jeanne yelled back.

    “
Eat me!”

    “
That
’
s better.”
She continued counting the bills out. Her desk had been a mess when she had returned from J
apan. Everything was in the wrong place and none of the expenditures had been tallied from the last five months. She would have whipped Ember and the girls silly if the club hadn
’
t been hopping harder than ever since she left. Ember was a people person af
t
er all, not an accountant. Everything was finally fine now that she was back. Except perhaps Ember
’
s mouth. She didn
’
t notice that she had stopped counting until Ember came back into the office.

    “
Are you okay?”
She asked for the millionth time since Je
anne had got home.

    “
Yes!”
She snapped.

    “
Okay, well I
’
ll be here whenever you want to tell me about it. I
’
m out
for tonight
. See you tomorrow.”
She swung out of the doorway. Jeanne let her head fall onto the desk
. A minute later Ember came back.

 
  “
There are two guys here to see you. Mega hot guys, I might add. Can I have one?”
Jeanne looked up, heart pounding as she sensed at least one of them.
Dom.

    “
No, you can
’
t have them,”
she whispered.

    “
Well, I was going to tell you that you have a
twenty stuck to your forehead, but I
’
m not now.”
She stuck her tongue out before she walked away. Jeanne swiped the bill off of her head before she stood. A fierce need to rush from the room into his arms over took her but she pushed the urge down. She d
i
dn
’
t know why he was here. Or who might be with him. Adam
perhaps
or maybe Claude had finally gotten through to him? She smoothed her newly dyed black and green hair away from her face. The front of the club was quiet as she walked away from her office and
out into the bar. She heard him before she saw him. His back was turned but he was there, in her club, humming softly to some melody only he could hear. He used to do that, before Volgograd. He would hum contently while working on the computer or while f
o
llowing his meals through the streets. She realized then how deep she had truly
must have
been to have known all those small details about him. And to have missed them so much. So much it hurt. He turned at the hitching of her breath. His shockingly green
eyes traveled up and down the length of her body and she wish
ed
she had worn anything other than her comfortable plaid pedal pushers
and
tank top.

    “
Hello,”
he said. Such a simple greeting. Hers was less simple. Before her brain had tracked her own mot
ions she had launched herself at him. He caught her around the waist with a shocked exclamation, but soon he knew what she was about. She had been in New Orleans for a week but now she was home. His lips caressed hers as if breath had taken on a new form.
Nothing else mattered but this. Vaguely she noted a strange coughing sound but chose to ignore it. Dom on the other hand had more of an ear out for strange noises. He pulled away to look over her right shoulder. She turned to look but Dom turned her head
b
ack.

    “
I
want you to know, I
didn
’
t come here to kiss you, though I can hardly regret your decision.”
He smiled at her, flashing his dastardly wicked dimples.
He set her back down onto the floor.

    “
Why did you come then?”
She felt a sick feeling this
was going downhill fast.

    “
A gift. Remember when I said my father was from France?”
He asked, baffling her.

    “
Yes...,”
she answered warily. He turned her around and whispered in her ear.

    “
Both my birth father and my Vampiric Father, as it tur
ns out.”
She saw him then. He was lounging casually against her bar
,
watching her.
If she hadn
’
t been so caught up in seeing Dom she would have seen him there.
The smile about his lips said he thought it sweet, what she had just been doing with Dom. Her fe
et carried her forward, again se
emingly of
their own free will. He
met her half way. They stood in front of each other for an eternity.

    “
Hello,”
Gabriel said. She slapped him. The sound it echoed across the room. Dom, who had been b
acking up, probably to leave them alone, stopped in his tracks.

    “
You bastard! You slimy, wretched bastard!”
You screamed at him in French. He blocked the next volley of fists with little effort. She struggled against him when he didn
’
t let go of her w
rists. “
Let go, you spineless, cowardly street urchin!”

    “
Hush. You stupid girl. Calm yourself,”
he crooned to her. She burst into tears then, weeping uncontrollably.
He held her tight to his chest as she so
bbed her guts out onto his ridiculous
Iron Ma
n T
shirt. She could hear Dominic moving to leave again. She turned to point at him.