Laying a Foundation: Bonus volume: Includes series prequel, The Groundbreaking (The Love Under Construction Series) (71 page)

“Well, I knew they’d dug the footers at the university site that day, so I called Kenny – I knew he was over there – and told him to go on home, that my name was Harold and I was his relief. He didn’t know any different. Then I drove over there – I took the back streets because my windshield was blown out – and wrapped her up in a tarp. Then I called Tony and told him I had to go home because Jenny was drunk. I waited a little while to make sure if he went by the office, he’d be gone before I got there and we wouldn’t run into each other. Then I went to the office to clean myself up and clean up the truck.”

Bryson Hawkins listened to all of this through the two-way mirror in the interrogation room, and Steve McCoy stood right beside him. “That’s exactly what I thought,” Bryson whispered to Steve.

“You mean you used your key, went into Mr. Walters’ office, took a shower, and cleaned up the truck?” Fox continued.

“Yeah, well, no, I mean, I cleaned up the truck at a car wash down the street. I went home and, the next day, I called the glass place and had them come and put a new windshield in,” Cal explained.

“And the bullet hole in the roof of the truck?” Fox asked, leaning back again. “You put the duct tape over it?”

“Yeah, I didn’t want it to leak when it rained.” Cal looked down at the table, humiliated.

“And you basically went on, business as usual.”

“Yeah, I guess you’d say that,” Cal answered. As Steve listened, he shook his head in disbelief. Cal sounded so nonchalant when he talked about just going on like nothing had happened that it pissed Steve off to no end.

“I take it the thumbprint in blood on the trash can in Mr. Walters’ office is yours?”

Cal hung his head and said quietly, “Yes.”

“One more thing, Cal. What would you say your relationship with Dottie Walters was? Were you in love with her? Did you feel sorry for her? What was it?”

“I don’t know, I really don’t.” Cal started to sniffle. “The sex was pretty good. I wasn’t in love with her. I think she was trying to get back at Tony; I’m not sure. But no, it wasn’t about love at all. It was just sex.” He started to outright cry. “I’ve thrown my whole life away for sex in my truck, and not the greatest sex in the world, just pretty good. Oh god – what have I done? Tony’s never going to forgive me!”

“That’s not something you should worry about at this point. Officer,” Fox asked the uniform at the door, “would you please arrest Mr. Forrester, read him his rights and the list of charges against him?”

“No!” Cal yelled. “Oh, please, don’t do this! I didn’t do anything wrong! Oh, please, what will my wife and kids do?” Cal screaming was all that the whole precinct could hear as they led him out the door and down the hall to booking.

“So I guess you get to break the news to Tony,” Bryson told Steve. “Man, that’s one job I don’t envy you.”

Steve shook his head. “No shit. He’s going to have a coronary when he finds out about this.”

“Officer, could you give us a few minutes?” Steve asked the officer who was processing Tony’s paperwork. “There’s something I need to tell my client.”

“Sure. I’ve got to go retrieve his personal effects anyway. You’ve got ten minutes.”

“Thanks.” Steve turned to Tony. “I’ve got something to tell you, and I don’t quite know how to start.”

Tony’s brow furrowed. “Can’t be that bad, can it?”

“Well, actually . . .” Steve started relating Cal’s statement and watched Tony’s eyes grow bigger with each passing moment. When he was done, Tony looked at him with a mixture of disgust and fury.

“He was fucking my ex-wife? In the company truck I provided for him? On my time? After all I’ve done for him over the years? That little sawed-off son of a bitch!” he growled, trying to keep his voice down. Steve had never seen Tony angry before; it just wasn’t part of his personality, but Steve was surprised. The normally-calm Italian looked like he could break Cal in half. “If I could get my hands on him . . .”

“He was worried you’d fire him,” Steve snickered.

“Fire him?” Tony’s face was a red mess of boiling indignation. “
Fire
him? He’s lucky I don’t do worse! Hell yeah, he’s fired! Bastard left me to twist in the wind . . . I’ve been in
jail
for two goddamn weeks, and he’s worried about getting
fired
? I’d better not see him . . .”

“You won’t be seeing much of anybody unless they come to the house,” Steve ordered with a look that told Tony he was way past serious. “You will wear the monitor and you will stay at the house – period. I don’t want you to mess this up, hear me? You violate this, and I’m not sure I can help you.”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you.” Tony sighed. “But the whole idea of Cal and Dottie just . . .” He shuddered.

“I know. I was a little grossed out too. But there’s no accounting for taste, huh?” Steve laughed.

“No shit. So when can I get out of here?”

“As soon as your processing is done. Nikki sent some clothes for you. A cruiser will take you home. They’ll explain how the monitor works,” Steve told him. Tony made a disgusted face. “But you’ll be at home in your own bed tonight. That counts for something, right?”

Tony broke into a huge smile. “Oh, that counts for a lot more than just something. That’s everything!”

“S
o what’s going on? Why weren’t you at the office this morning?” Clayton asked Nikki when he got to the house. He had gone by and picked up Brittany and Stringer; Ella Jane was in school. Before Nikki could give him an answer, Annabeth, Katie, and Raffaella walked through the door. Vic had reached the courthouse just as the proceedings had ended, and he’d headed straight for the Louisville house as soon as he’d heard.

“I had something I had to do; actually, I was at the courthouse. I have a surprise for all of you.” Nikki was almost bouncing in front of them as they all sat around in the den. “Within the next hour and a half,” Nikki could barely get out, her excitement about to spill out everywhere, “your dad will be home!”

Annabeth nearly shattered everyone’s eardrums with her screaming. Everybody was hugging everybody else except for Nikki; she was standing to the side, watching, when everyone stopped and realized she was standing by herself. Clayton strode across the room and threw his arms around her, hugging her tight. “Mom, I’m so sorry you’ve gone through all of this. You’ve been here for everybody, and no one’s really been here for you,” he told her, suddenly looking like he was about to tear up. Clayton’s love warmed Nikki’s heart; he was so much like his dad and had such a kind soul.

“I’m fine, honey, really. I just want your dad to come home.” Nikki pushed his hair back from his face and stroked his cheek.

“I want to say, in front of everybody, how amazed I am at the way you just put on your big girl panties and jumped in there, Mom. You’ve done a great job of running a company you knew very little about until just a few weeks ago, and I’m so proud of you. And I know Dad is extremely proud of you. I’m just sorry we haven’t been more supportive.”

“Yeah, we’ve given you more to worry about than we helped,” Annabeth chimed in. “We should’ve been more supportive and thought about you more, but we were busy just thinking about ourselves. I’m really, really sorry for that.” She looked like she would cry at any minute.

Nikki shook her head. “It’s okay, honey. This has been stressful for all of us. We’ve all done the best we could. And I have had support; somebody’s been here for me.” She walked to where Vic was sitting quietly and looked down at him with a smile. He took her hand and kissed it. “Your Zio Vic has checked on me every day, taken me to dinner when I thought I couldn’t face another evening alone, and looked over my shoulder when I didn’t know what to do. He did it quietly so I wasn’t embarrassed, and that was important to me so no one knew how shaky I was. I owe him a lot.” Nikki put her hand on Vic’s cheek, and he closed his eyes and smiled, leaning into her touch.

“You don’t owe me a damn thing, little girl. I did it all gladly, and I’d do it again. But I hope I don’t have to!” he laughed.

“When Big T be heyah?” Stringer asked, dancing from foot to foot.

“Pretty soon,” Nikki smiled, and then the front door opened. Everyone except Nikki ran to greet him. She could hear Annabeth squealing and Stringer using his outside voice, and, over the din, Tony’s smooth baritone, laughing and chatting with his family. They came streaming back into the den, all of them crowded around Tony like yippy little ankle-nipping dogs. But when they made it into the den, he came to a dead stop and looked across the room.

Nikki stood by the French doors, midday sunlight framing her slight form and making her hair look like a halo. Her hands were clasped in front of her, and she was standing motionless, just waiting for him to notice her, hanging back like she so often did, looking unsure of her place in all of the commotion. Tony was holding Stringer; he set the little boy down, then ran across the room, arms open, and snapped her up, swinging her around and holding her tight. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his hair, his familiar scent warming her inside and out, from head to toe. “Oh my god, baby, I’ve missed you so much,” Tony whispered to her, working to choke back the tears he’d been holding in for so long. He wanted to stay positive and cheerful for her; she’d been through enough.

“Please don’t leave me again,” Nikki breathed into his ear.

“I have no intention of it.” He pulled back and kissed her. “I’m
never
leaving you again.” He kissed her over and over and over.

She finally stopped him and said, “We’ve got lunch to eat. Want some chicken salad?”

“Your chicken salad? You bet!” Tony put her down, then clutched her hand tight. “I’ve missed your cooking almost as much as I’ve missed you!”

Everyone ate and talked. Tony called his brothers and told all of them that he was home. The only one who didn’t sound ecstatic was Bennie, but Tony hadn’t really expected anything more. After lunch was eaten and Nikki had cleaned everything up, Tony looked at his family with a smile and said decidedly, “Okay, everybody – go home.”

“What?” Annabeth cried. “But you just got home, and we’ve missed you, and . . .”

“And you can come and see me tomorrow. Right now, Nikki and I have some catching up to do. So go home. I love you all, but we . . .”

“Right, right,” Annabeth grumbled. “Come on, Nonna. Dad and Mom want to be alone. In the biblical sense, and in the middle of the day. Animals!” But she was grinning when she said it.

“Hey, Tony! I comin’ back soon, kay?” Stringer yelled.

Tony stooped to talk to his little buddy. “You’d better, mister! I’ve been missing you!” he grinned, tapping the end of Stringer’s nose.

“I been missin’ you too!” Stringer gave him a big sloppy kiss on the cheek and ran out the door.

“We’re glad you’re home. See you later, Dad!” Clayton called and ran out the door to catch Stringer before he could make it to the end of the driveway. Brittany kissed Tony on the cheek and followed the boys out.

“Brother, I love you. I’m glad you’re home.” Vic hugged Tony, and Tony hugged him back tight.

“Hey, I just appreciate you being here.” He leaned into Vic’s ear and whispered, nodding toward Nikki, “And thanks for keeping up with her. I knew she’d be fine as long as you were watching out for her.”

“She did really well – you should be very proud. And taking care of her was a pleasure. I love spending time with her – with both of you,” Vic whispered back. “Bye, Nik!” he called out. “See you later – love ya!”

“Love you too, sweetie,” Nikki called back, waving from the kitchen.

Vic looked at Tony and winked. “Go get ’er, big guy!” he whispered slyly, and Tony grinned and slapped him on the shoulder as he left.

Tony walked back across the room and folded Nikki into him, and she couldn’t help but notice the hungry look in his eyes. She didn’t know if he could see the same in her face, but she could feel her own hunger, hot and swelling south of her waist, everything tensing and aching, a thirst waiting to be slaked. He stood, tilting his pelvis and pressing his hardness against her, and just losing himself in the depths of those blue-green eyes for a few minutes. His voice was strained with need when he told her, “I’m going to take a shower and wash whatever’s left of the jail off of me. Then, if you want . . .”

“Oh, I want. Trust me – I want,” Nikki assured him, leaning in to give him a hot, ravenous kiss. When their lips touched, hers parted, and Tony slipped his tongue into her mouth. Her legs went weak and she moaned. He slapped her backside and grinned.

“I’ll be out of the shower so fast it’ll make your head swim. I’ll set a land speed record in showering,” Tony promised and kissed her one last time before he headed up the stairs and disappeared into the bathroom.