Playing with Fire (16 page)

Trent glared at Frank and then at
Lenny. It took everything in him to keep his cool.

“Now, Son, did Noelle also tell you
she recently had some head trauma? She ain’t thinkin’
clear.”

Trent leaned down and braced his arms
on the table. He was mere inches from Frank. For several seconds
they stared each other down.

“I’m not your son. And yes
she did tell me. She also said your
boy
here was the one that gave it to
her.”

Frank turned as red as Lenny. The
tension in the room was escalating by the minute and Trent felt
like one of them could blow at any second.

Frank was the first as he stood up
fast, his chair skidding backward against the wall. He shook one of
his fat fingers at Trent in indignation. “Look here ya smart
mouthed bastard, I don’t know who the hell ya think ya are, but I
won’t …”

Trent stood up coolly and tapped his
name badge. “I told you, my name is Trent Torres. I don’t know who
you think you are coming in as a man of the law and defending a boy
that likes to beat women.”

Lenny stood now and took a swing
across the table, missing Trent by at least a foot. Trent never
flinched.

As Lenny reared back to take another
swing, his literally spit out his next words. “You can go screw
yurself. I’m man enough to kick your ass.”

Trent nodded sarcastically. “Oh,
right, because real men use violence to solve their problems. Seems
in your case, though, it’s more an intimidation thing. But do you
seriously think I’m scared of you?”

“You damn well better be!” Lenny was
fuming so bad that there was a spray of spit with every word he
said. He lunged across the table again and Frank had to grab him by
the belt loop to hold him back.

“Calm down, boy. He wants to piss you
off. This big city cop probably has someone on the other side of
that mirror watching and recording for a confession.”

Trent laughed. That would have been a
pretty good idea had he not been so consumed by his anger to get to
Lenny. “You watch too many police dramas. Maybe you should spend
more time earning that badge of yours and upholding the law by
arresting low life punks like Lenny here.”

“I’m gonna kick …”

Frank slapped Lenny upside the back of
the head before he could finish his threat. “Shut up, boy. Don’t
give this know-it-all a reason ta arrest yur ass.”

Trent shrugged and smirked. “All I
have to do is make one phone call to Noelle. If she files a police
report I’ll be more than happy to handcuff you.”

Frank seemed to get full of himself as
he put his shoulders back and stuck out his pot belly. “It’s outta
yur jurisdiction. You can’t do shit. ”

Trent opened his mouth to make a
retort, but the door opened with a bang and Marshall barged in.
“Torres, get your ass in the hall.”

Trent motioned toward Lenny and Frank,
“But I’m in the middle of something.”

Marshall squinted and pointed his
finger toward the hallway. “You’re about to cross the line. Get
your ass out here.”

Trent glared at the two other men as
he exited the room, biting his tongue the whole time. Marshall
pushed him on the shoulder, “My office. Now.”

Fitzer went into the interrogation
room as Trent walked ahead of Marshall. “The rookie shouldn’t have
called …”

“Torres, it’s in your best interest to
not say another word.”

Trent waited until they were closed in
Marshall’s office. “Fitzer should have never called in on that
bulletin.”

“You’re right. You should have
called.”

“I wanted to talk to Noelle, er, Ms.
Dupre, about it first. She doesn’t want them to know where she
is.”

“Why not?”

Trent clenched his teeth and flexed
his jaw. “She hasn’t given me the okay to discuss it. I am
respecting her privacy.”

“Respect your job. As an officer of
the law, it is your duty to help assist, to protect and serve, your
community. One call from you would have let them know she was
safe.”

“I am respecting my job.
You just said it, my job is to
protect
. I'm doing that by abiding
by Noelle’s wishes and not letting either of those two guys near
her.”

Marshall eyed him, but Trent refused
to back down and he knew Marshall could see it. “Did you tell them
she doesn’t want to see them?”

Trent shrugged. “Yeah, more or
less.”

“What else did you say?”

Trent pursed his lips. “Nothing. Are
we done here? Because I have a rookie I’m supposed to be
training.”

Marshall folded his hands in front of
him on the desk. “Yeah, we’re done. Fitzer is telling them to
leave. We watched from the other room.”

Trent smirked. “I was so livid at him
I didn’t think about it until the dad mentioned it.”

Marshall nodded. “Oh you were
thinking, just with the wrong part of the brain. Your reaction was
obviously personal, but we both know you can’t be a good cop and
add your personal feelings in the mix. It clouds your judgment.
From now on, it’s by the book.”

Trent nodded his head in agreement.
“Got it, by the book.”

Trent closed the door behind him and
watched Fitzer escort Lenny and Frank to the front lobby, neither
of them looked happy.

Trent took a seat at his desk and
dialed Delphine’s number.

“Seaside Escape, how can I help
you?”

“Hey, Del, it’s Trent.”

“Geez, you’ve been gone an hour and
already you’re calling for Noelle.”

Trent shook his head, even though he
knew Delphine couldn’t see him. “No. I’m calling for you. I need a
huge favor from you.”

“You sound as serious as a heart
attack. What do you need?”

“Keep Noelle hidden today.”

He could hear the confusion in
Delphine’s voice. “Why? What’s going on?”

Trent filled her in quickly, a moment
later she was letting out curses.

“Delphine, please keep her out of
sight until I can get there. I don’t get off until after five. I’ll
come straight there and get her.”

“Do you want me to tell her what’s
going on?”

“No, absolutely not. She’s gonna think
I went behind her back.”

Delphine tsked. “That is gonna be her
initial thought anyway. What are you gonna do when you get
here?”

Trent sighed. “I’ve got no clue;
getting her somewhere safe is all I know.”

He hung up a moment later as Fitzer
returned. Without saying a word he grabbed his hat and sunglasses,
and then headed for their patrol car. Within a second he heard
Fitzer’s shoes hastily following him.

“Trent, I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you
about calling the Dunlaps. But in my defense, you never told me you
knew not to call them.”

Trent flung the driver side door open
and put on his shades. It pissed him off more knowing the kid had a
point. “Did you learn any lesson today?”

Fitzer nodded, “If the bulletin is for
an adult, make sure to clarify their wishes before contacting
anyone else.”

“Anything else?”

Fitzer looked at him over the roof of
the car. “Everything isn’t always black and white. I got it Trent,
I got it.”

Trent got in and closed the door,
“Dear Lord I hope-to-hell so. Please tell me you didn’t tell dumb
and dumber where to find Noelle.”

Fitzer fastened his seatbelt and shook
his head. “Nope. I knew you would kick my ass and though those two
were intimidating, having to be your partner for the next year was
enough incentive to keep the peace with you.”

Trent pulled out on the main road and
nodded. “At least you learned that lesson without me having to say
anything.”

He looked at his watch and prayed
Delphine was keeping a close eye on Noelle. Trent had a feeling
today was going to be a long day and until he could see Noelle safe
and sound for himself, time was gonna crawl.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Noelle put her hair up in a ponytail
and checked herself out in the mirror. Lightly, she touched the
tinted mark on her collarbone and remembered Trent’s mouth leaving
the love bite just a few hours before. Even though she was alone in
the room, she still blushed, not used to this feeling – this
genuine happiness.

The day was bright and sunny, just as
Noelle felt inside. She hummed to herself as she walked to the
office. Being a Saturday in early November, the resort wasn’t even
at half occupancy. The majority of those in-house would be checking
out tomorrow, so today would be light, only having to replenish and
tidy up instead of a full service cleaning.

Delphine was on the phone when she
walked in. From her expression, Noelle could tell she wasn’t happy
about something. She kept walking, straight to the supply
room.

The industrial-sized washer was
vigorously spinning a load of sheets and the smell of bleach hung
heavy in the air. Noelle began loading her cart with fresh towels
and a roll of clear trash bags.

A moment later, Delphine poked her
head into the room. “Hey, why don’t you take the day off today? Go
relax in your room or something.”

Noelle looked at her and questioned,
“Is everything alright? You seemed agitated when I got
in.”

Delphine let out a heavy sigh and
puckered her lips. “Yeah I’m alright. I just think it would be
better for me to do the rooms today. I got some steam to work off.
You go enjoy your day.”

Noelle opened the dryer door and
pulled out the load of fitted sheets, putting them in a large
canvas bin. “Thanks for the offer, but sittin’ in my room all day
doesn’t sound like much fun. Besides, look at all this laundry.
I’ll stay here and do this if you wanna clean the
rooms.”

Delphine seemed to mull it over. “I
don’t want you in the front. Stay back here if you want. I got
plenty of books on the shelves in the lobby, or there’s some DVDs
in the TV stand over there.”

Noelle nodded absently as she began to
fold a twin sheet. “Alright. Can I ask why you don’t want me in the
office? I mean, I thought you wanted me to learn to wait on
guests.”

Delphine shrugged. “Yeah, well today
isn’t a good day. Let’s just leave it at that.”

Noelle nodded. “Okay. Are you sure you
don’t wanna talk about whatever’s going on with you?”

Delphine shook her head and grabbed a
handful of miniature shampoo bottles from the box in the shelf.
“I’m sure. Besides, you gotta tell me about your night.”

The blush was immediate, giving Noelle
away, but she still played coy. “Why, whatever do you
mean?”

Delphine laughed and shook her head as
she dropped the bottles into the tray on the cart. “Don’t give me
that crap. I saw lover boy coming out of your room this
morning.”

“Oh.”

“’
Oh’ is right!”

Noelle nearly gushed. “He’s so great.
I don’t know what the hell I was thinkin’ before. I mean, the last
thing I need is another man to deal with, but Trent is different.
As hands-off as I wanted to be, I can’t help but want to let him
in. He’s so easy to talk to. I just don’t know how to explain
it.”

Delphine took a seat at the small
table and patted the opposite chair for Noelle to take a seat. “You
don’t have to explain anything to me. I know he can be charming. I
also know that underneath that playboy exterior is a good-hearted
man. I hope you know he would never do anything to hurt
you.”

The seriousness in Delphine’s tone
perplexed Noelle. On one hand, the statement had the feel of
motherly advice. But on the other hand, Noelle got the sense that
there was a bit of forewarning.

“I know he’d never hurt me. If I
didn’t believe that, I would have never let him get past the first
kiss.”

Delphine patted her hand. “I know I
just want you to remember that. Sometimes when things happen it’s
hard to separate our present from our past. Don’t ever judge Trent
on how you were treated before.”

Noelle leaned back and eyed the other
woman. “Of course I wouldn’t do that. Is there something you’re
tryin’ to tell me Delphine? I get the sense you’re skirting ‘round
something.”

Delphine averted her eyes for a
moment, making her look like she really was evading something, but
she said otherwise. “Nope. I just see you being so happy, not like
the girl I met a few weeks ago. You’re like a daughter to me and I
just want you to have that happiness that you’ve missed out on for
so long.”

Noelle could feel her nose turn red as
tears stung at the corner of her eyes. The concern in Delphine
reminded her of her momma. She blotted at her eye and nodded.
“Thank you, I know you mean that.”

Delphine patted her hand. “Well of
course I do. Now, tell me about meeting his friends.”

Noelle smiled and told her about how
great Avery was and how natural it felt to be part of a couple with
Trent. “It’s almost as if I were meant to be there, ya
know?”