“You’re going to kill me, Lucky,” he groaned as I rocked back and forth. I bit his bottom lip before slowly licking down to his chest and lightly sucking his nipples.

“Oh,” Zane groaned.

I felt a sense of power fill me as I continued kissing down his stomach, until I had inched my way off of his lap and had his manhood in front of my face. Zane looked down at me with surprise in his eyes and I winked up at him.

“It’s a reward for being a good boy.” I chuckled at the delight on his face and then slowly took him into my mouth.

Chapter 7

Zane

“Do you think mom is looking for us?” Noah barged into my room without knocking and sat down on the bed next to me. “Maybe she’s looking for us and can’t find us.”

“Don’t be stupid. We still live in the same house.” I looked at him with derision and anger. “If she wanted to find us she knows where to look—the same place she left us.”

“Don’t you ever hate being right?” Noah’s eyes looked bleak and I felt sorry for being so mean. He was only 14 and still had hope that our mother would show up again. At 16, I knew that our mother was never showing up again. She was probably living it up on a Caribbean island, somewhere, with all our father’s money.

“No.” I looked away from him. “Can I finish my book, please?”

“What are you reading?”

“The Grapes of Wrath.”

“Sounds boring.” He yawned and stood up.

“Well, you’ll have to read it for class one day as well.” I laughed at him. “What are you going to do?”

“I thought I’d go play some drums.” He looked at me, eagerly. “Want to join?”

I looked at my book and then back at his face and laid the book on the bed and sighed. The report could wait. “Okay, but I get to choose the songs. No more Rolling Stones, please.”

“But I want to be like Charlie Watts.”

“Can you be more like Ringo Starr?”

“What’s your obsession with the Beatles?” Noah shook his head.

“I’m not obsessed with the Beatles,” I protested.

“I thought you would hate them.” Noah hesitated. “I’m just surprised.”

“Why would I hate them?” My breath caught.

“You know.” He paused.

“No, I don’t. Why?” Did he remember? My body was burning up as I looked at him.

“Mom used to love them, she used to sing that lonely people song all the time.”

“Eleanor Rigby.” My voice was low and I looked away from him.

“Yeah.” Noah rubbed my arm. “I love you, Zane.”

“You’re too young to be such a sap, bro.”

“You know you love me, too.”

“Okay, let’s go play some Rolling Stones.”

“It worked.” He ran down to the basement and I followed him with a smile. I was glad he hadn’t pushed the issue. I didn’t like to think about my obsession with the Beatles. I didn’t like to think about it being one of the only connections I had to my mother. She left us; she didn’t deserve to be remembered.

“Let’s play ‘Satisfaction.’” Noah grinned up at me as I entered the garage and he started drumming.

I felt my eyes open quickly and I looked around the room looking for Noah and his drums. I heard the music in my head as clearly as I had that day. Disappointment flooded through me as the silent darkness reflected back at me. Noah was gone. I laid looking at the ceiling, listening to the sound of Lucky sleeping next to me. I tried to concentrate on her light snores and not the sounds of music still echoing in my ears. I needed to think about something else. I was going to drive myself crazy if I kept dreaming about Noah and our mom.

My heart pounded as I thought about dinner with Angelique. I had to make sure that she had no idea about my relationship with Lucky. All though Braydon may have told her something, he probably thought that it was just about sex with Lucky, and Angelique wouldn’t mind that. She knew what the deal was—what the deal used to be with me. My biggest worry now was Lucky. I felt my stomach dip in fear and worry. My biggest fear was her finding out about Angelique and the dinner. I wasn’t sure how she would react to finding out about the evening I had planned, and I couldn’t risk her not accepting it. She had made some jealous comments about Angelique already, and I knew that it was a sore spot. I took a deep breath and rubbed my brow. I jumped out of bed and walked down the stairs. I couldn’t stay in the bed and just lay there, knowing that I was living a lie.

I walked into the backyard and sat on one of the recliners, and looked up at the sky. The sun was about to rise, and it was quiet. I loved the stillness of early morning. The only sounds I could hear were the birds chirping and the sounds of a few cars passing by. I laid back and thought about everything that was going on. I had to change. This was going to be the last time that I lied to Lucky. She deserved better than this. Our relationship deserved better. Our baby (oh God, I hoped there was a baby), deserved better.

I must have fallen asleep because I woke up to Lucky standing in front of me, crying her eyes out. My heart froze as I thought to myself, She knows. She knows about the dinner with Angelique and she’s breaking up with me.

“What’s wrong?” My voice was brusque. I was going to deny it. It hadn’t happened, yet. She couldn’t prove anything.

“I got my period,” she cried and looked into my eyes with sadness.

“Okay.” I looked at her for a moment, wondering if she had lost it. Why was she crying just because she had her period?

“I woke up and I had my period,” she cried.

I gave her a smile. “It’s okay. I don’t mind if you ruined the sheets.”

“I got my period!” she exclaimed louder, and then it hit me.

She got her period.

“You can cancel the doctor’s appointment.”

I felt my heart lurch at the words, but I pulled her into my arms to comfort her. “It’s okay,” I whispered. I kissed her hair, and then all over her face. “It’s okay, Lucky. Maybe right now wasn’t the right time to have a baby.”

“I wanted to have a baby,” she cried into my shoulders. “I wanted us to have a baby.”

“And we still can. You just have more time to finish school and do all those other things you wanted to do.”

I tried not to think about her going back to school and meeting all those other guys, guys without issues, guys who didn’t hold back certain information. She’d leave me. She’d meet a better guy, a man whose mother hadn’t left him, a guy who wasn’t f**ked up.

“Are you okay?” This time it was her turn to ask me the question. I guessed that she heard the dejection in my voice.

“Yes, yes.” I nodded and held her close. I didn’t want to let go of her. I didn’t want to be without her warmth and love. Lucky was healing my broken heart, piece by piece, and I was scared that it would shatter into a million pieces if she ever decided to leave me for good. “Don’t leave me, Lucky.”

“Leave you?” She frowned. “Why would I leave you?”

“There’s nothing holding you here, now.”

“Is that why you wanted me to be pregnant?” She sat back. “Because you thought I’d leave you if I wasn’t?”

“No,” my voice was firm and I stood up. “Let’s go inside.” I was done talking about emotions. I needed my head to be in the right place.

“Okay.” She followed me into the house. “Oh, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you, but Leeza is coming to Los Angeles.”

“Okay.”

“Today.” Her voice was low and she wiped her eyes.

“Today?” That was all I needed, her busybody friend in my business.

“Is that okay?”

“It’s fine. I can’t cancel my meeting tonight, I’m afraid, but I’m sure Leo won’t mind if she joins you both for dinner.”

“Yeah, maybe they’ll even hit it off.” She grinned, her mood lightening as we walked up the stairs.

“Unlikely. Leo is picky.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, nothing.” I looked at her upset eyes and brought her in close to me. “I’m sure they’ll get on like a house on fire.” I stroked her hair and kissed her cheek, suddenly happy that Leeza was going to be there.

I knew that Leo went for girls like Lucky - girls who were spunky and beautiful, with hearts of gold. He was like me, in that any girl was okay for a night in the sack, but for the long-term, he wanted a gem. And Lucky was the most sparkling gem out there. I trusted him and I trusted her, but I didn’t want to put anything to chance. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if her friend Leeza was there, even if I didn’t trust her one iota.

“Yeah,” she sniffled. “Don’t worry, I don’t want her rushing into a relationship with Leo after being with Evan.”

“She dated Evan?” I frowned. “I thought they just knew each other.”

“Well, they knew each other intimately, I guess.”

“She gets around fast, doesn’t she?”

“Hey.” Lucky pinched me in the arm.

“Sorry, sorry.”

“Uh huh.” She pushed away from me and walked into her room. “I’m getting in the shower.”

“In there?” I looked at her with a heavy heart. Was she mad at me again?

“Yeah, I’d rather bathe in here today.” She nodded and blushed. “It’s a girl thing.”

“Oh okay.” Understanding dawned in me and I grinned. “Sure thing.”

I walked back into my bedroom and inspiration hit me. I grabbed a pen and paper and started writing, furiously. I grinned to myself as I read the words of the poem I had written for her. I had an idea and I wanted to make sure that everything was going to be perfect. I picked up the phone to call a friend, and went into the shower about 15 minutes later, a much happier man.

“One day people shall talk of this day, my love. One day birds shall sing of my joy, my love.” I sang to myself as I changed and I paused as I heard my phone ringing. I answered it, immediately, and my heart stilled as I spoke.

“This is Zane.”

“Zane. It’s Special Agent Waldron.”

“Hello.”

“Is it clear?”

“All clear.” My voice was tight. “Though we need to hurry. I have a guest who may come in the room soon.”

“We’re very close to linking Braydon to a cartel in Mexico. We think he’s trafficking a lot more than we thought.”

“Okay.” My heart thudded in anticipation.

“We think he has a partner.”

“Oh?” Evan!

“Someone who is brokering the deals, someone who has more connections.”

“I see.”

“We need both of them to make an arrest.” The Agent’s voice was firm. “We get both of them, and they implicate Sanchez for us, then we got him.”

“Do you know who the partner is?”

“We have some ideas, but we aren’t releasing any names yet.”

“But I’m helping you—you can’t tell me?” My voice was angry. “Look, I have a girlfriend now and I’m scared she may be targeted.”

“Get her out of town.”

“I can’t do that.” There was no way that I was sending Lucky anywhere, not when I couldn’t be sure she was safe. “She’s staying here with me.”

“We can’t guarantee her safety.”

“I’m getting a bodyguard.”

“Zane, I don’t suggest you bring anyone else into this situation right now. It’s very delicate.”

“I know that!” I shouted. “And she’s already involved. I didn’t want it to happen, but it did. If you won’t protect her, I will.”

“You need to be careful, Beaumont. You cannot share any privileged information with her.”

“She’s not a spy.”

“You don’t know that. You can’t trust anyone at this moment.”

“I trust her with my life.” I spoke the words and knew they were true.

“Zane, you cannot jeopardize this assignment. We have been working too long on bringing this cartel down. Do you want to bring Braydon down? The man responsible for the ending of your relationship with Noah?”

“Do I want to bring down the guy who murdered my brother? Of course I do, you f**king asshole! Don’t you ever question me again! I am helping you!”

“Calm down, Beaumont. We can’t have you ruining this with your emotions.”

“I’m calm.” I wanted to throw the phone against the wall. “Does Braydon know you’re on to him?”

“That cocky bastard has no idea.” Special Agent Waldron laughed. “And he has no idea about you, so keep it that way.”

“I’m not about to let him know now.”

“Just let him think it’s about the revenge. Mention nothing about drugs.”

“I’m not dumb,” I hissed angrily.

“We know that, Beaumont, but we’re close to the end here. We just need to make sure we catch them both.”

“What do you want me to do if you won’t tell me who the other suspect is?”

“Just follow through with the plan we already have.” The Agent’s voice was rough. “Don’t f**k it up.”