Deadly Expectations (18 page)

I closed my eyes and thought about sleeping but the movement of the truck was too unfamiliar to relax.
 
I decided I should tell him what I thought about his story while it was still fresh and not leave him worrying.

“Paul?” I said.

“How come you’re not asleep?” he asked.

I put my hand on his knee and gave it a squeeze.

“I had more to say … I asked her name to get some time to put my thoughts together and got side tracked worrying about Alina.”

“Oh.”
 
I squeezed his leg again.

“I’m surprised how jealous I am of her,” I told him.
 
“You gave up so much to keep her safe.
 
I’m grateful to be the one that was able to help you get some of it back.”

I thought a while longer.
 
“Would you still have killed those men if you knew before they were after Catherine and not you?”

He didn’t say anything for a bit.

“I don’t want you to think of me like that,” Paul said.
 
“It’s such a small part of the things I’ve done in my life.
 
It’s absolutely critical that I can but it’s not who I am.”

“I know that,” I said gently.
 
“But you didn’t answer my question.”

“Yes,” he said simply.

I rolled over to my back to look up at him.
 
“Hearing you say yes doesn’t make me love you any less.
 
I feel safer, especially since I know first hand who I’m up against.”

“Have you ever thought of yourself as generous?”
 
Paul asked.

“It’s always been all about me,” I told him.
 
Honestly I thought.

“You find a way to turn what caused you to feel jealousy into something to be grateful for.
 
I never thought that anyone would feel safety in the things I’ve done, but you do it without hesitation.
 
You don’t dismiss the bad things you feel at all.
 
Your generosity makes you open to seeking ways to balance them out.”

“I’ll have to let that sink in I guess.”

“You make me happy,” he said eventually.

I rolled back on my side and reached my hand further over his knee until my finger nails could hook around his inseam then I gently traced my fingers back and forth a bit, slowly feeling the bumps of the stitches.
 
Then I watched my fingertips draw little circles on his leg in front of me for a while.

Paul sighed deeply.
 
“I really want you right now.”

“Does this seat go back any more?”
 
I asked.
 
I’d been thinking the same thing.

“Yes … but now?”

“You brought it up,” I said, working my boots off my feet.
 
“We can find a side road.”

He looked back at the tint darkened headlights of the other truck in the mirror and shook his head.
 
“It’ll have to wait.”

I knelt on the seat and started to pull up his shirt.
 
“Come on, you watch the road … I’ll do the work.
 
We’ll be quick,” I breathed behind his ear.

I was reaching for his belt.

“Anna …”

“This was your idea, don’t back out on me now,” I told him.
 
“Be reckless with Anna.”

“Shit,” he said and reached down to let the seat back.

Chapter 18

When I woke up Paul was standing in the open door of the truck with Denis and Ray.
 
I sat up to find us in a parking lot facing a restaurant.
 
I got my boots on and pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders before I slid over behind the wheel next to Paul.
 
He leaned back toward me and I rested my head on his shoulder.

“You should have let me drive,” I told him.

“Sure … you can’t drive,” he said.

“I never said I can’t.
 
I just never bothered to take the road test and I can get it started for you in less than a minute if you lose the key.”

They laughed.

“You’ll find a use for my misspent youth yet.”

“Probably.
 
Hungry?” Paul asked.

Paul’s phone interrupted breakfast so he went outside to take it.
 
I took advantage of the open end of the booth to go to the restroom.
 
He wasn’t back when I returned.
 

“Misspent youth?”
Ray asked.

“I took orders,” I told him.
 
“I got caught on my last job.
 
Because I was fifteen and they thought I was put up to it they released me to my father but I’d been taking one or two a week for over a year.”

“One or two what?”
Denis asked.

“Cars, motorcycles, trucks … we knew where pretty much everything unprotected was.
 
People can be pretty stupid.
 
It’s like they want you to take their car.”

“The Captain
know
you were a petty crook?” Denis asked.

“Yeah.
 
We met when he caught me trying to lift his wallet,” I winked at him.
  

Paul took his seat.
 
I hadn’t noticed him come back in.
 
He was distracted and had a hard time looking at me.
 
Denis saw his mood and dropped the subject.
 

“Did something happen back at your place?” I asked.

“No,” he said and patted my knee before he went back to brooding.

I leaned closer.
 
“Do we need to talk?”

He shook his head, not looking up from the half full cup of cold coffee he was holding.
 
On the way out Paul put his arm around me and pulled me aside.
 
“Do you mind riding with Denis?
 
I have to talk to Ray.”

“No, I don’t mind,” I told him. He eyed my crossed arms and realized I wasn’t happy about it.
 
“I don’t mind riding with Denis but I hoped we were past hiding problems from me.”

He smiled and shook his head.
 
“Nothing like that, okay?”

“Okay,” I sighed and uncrossed my arms and reached them up over his shoulders to hug him.
 
I didn’t like reaching around under the guns he was carrying.

“There’s no trouble,” he whispered.

He helped me up into the truck and we pulled out behind Paul and Ray.

“Where are we going?”
 
I asked Denis.

“To see Willy.”

“Willy?”

“Willy’s Toy Store,” Denis grinned.

It sounded like some adult shop.
 
I wasn’t going to ask any more questions.

Willy’s Toy Store turned out to be a gun shop.
 
Paul was out of his truck and over to my door as soon as we’d parked.
 
He seemed to be in a better mood after half an hour with Ray.
 
Denis was already ringing the buzzer so we could be let in past the big barred windows by the time I had my feet on the ground.
 
I left my coat in the truck.
 
It looked like Denis might have us here a while.

The door clicked and Denis went in first.
 
As we followed him in Paul whispered, “don’t mind Willy, he’s a little … old fashioned.”

That didn’t worry me.
 
I could play along with old fashioned.
 
Denis and Ray had already disappeared and Paul took me up to the big glass counter.

“Just a minute Richards, I can’t seem to find my glasses.”

“You knew we were coming, you could have had them ready,” Paul called back then whispered to me.
 
“Bet he’s checking you out in the camera.”

I looked up at the camera in the corner above the opening to the back room and gave it my most endearing smile.
 
Paul and the voice in the back room chuckled at the same time then Willy came out.
 
He in his
sixties,
still had all his black hair; oiled back like he hadn’t changed the style since his teens.

“So is this Missus Richards?”
 
Willy asked.
 
He had his hand out and I took it.
 
If he was going to make a quick jab at Paul I didn’t see any harm in jabbing back.

“It’s Miss Creed,” I told him still wearing my sweet smile.
 
“You must be Mister Willy.”

Paul sounded like he was quietly trying not to choke on something.
 
Denis had less tact and started roaring from the other end of the store.
 
I let my smile falter a bit.

“Awe, she’s a sweet one Richards,” he told Paul.
 
“Willy’s my first name, Miss Creed.”

I acted embarrassed.
 
“I’m so sorry, Willy.
 
You called Paul by his last name so I thought that was yours.”
 
I leaned uncomfortably close to him.

“You must call me Anna,” I insisted in a soft voice as he finally stopped holding my hand.

Willy cackled and disappeared into the back room.
 
“If I was ten years younger you wouldn’t stand a chance with her Richards.
 
I got
yer
stuff ready here.”

Paul shook his head and gave my butt a gentle smack.
 
“You’re shameless.
 
Why don’t you go make sure Denis doesn’t put anything in his pockets before Willy makes a pass at you?
 
I’ll get you when we’re ready.”

“For what?”
 
I asked.

“Hopefully he has something you can’t miss with.
 
We can shoot downstairs.”

“You can’t fix hopeless.”
 
I told him as I made my way to where Denis’ laughter had come from.

Denis and Ray were going through the crossbows.
 
Ray seemed to have control of
himself
but there were still tears in Denis’ eyes as he mimicked my higher voice.

“You must be Mister Willy,” he set himself off laughing again.

I sighed and shook my head.
 
When I looked back at Paul he was going through some hand guns.
 
They had been talking quietly for quite a while.
 
Suddenly in a louder voice Willy said, “Back in my day Richards when a man knocked a woman up he bought her a ring, not a gun.”

I put my hand on my mouth to try and hide my smile.
 
Neither one of them looked up.
 
Denis was starting to giggle again and Ray gave him a not so gentle slap in the back of the head.

“You know what I like best about you Willy?” Paul asked.
 

“What’s that Richards?”