Shifting Gears (17 page)

I attack the elephant in the room—the
teeny tiny piece of cloth posing as a towel. “Are you going to get
dressed or what?”

“Or what.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m serious, Holt.
Are we doing dinner?”

“Yeah, I plan on eating tonight.” He
grins.

God. I have to turn away from him as
my body heats up again. Great. If he starts, I’m pretty sure I’m
not going to have the strength to stop him.

I stand and grab my purse. “I’ll just
wait out in my car so you can get dressed.”

He closes the distance between us, and
I hold my breath because I know the scent of him is enough to make
me lose it. He circles my waist with one arm, pulling my body into
his, and his cock, hard and ready, presses against me.

“What’s up with you tonight, babe?
You’re not running from me, are you?”

I turn my head away from him, but he
captures my chin with his fingers and turns me back to face
him.

“I’m back, baby. I’m here. Talk to me.
I know you have things going on in that beautiful head of yours. I
can see it in your eyes. Talk to me.”

What stands out is what he doesn’t
say, what I really need to hear him say: that he’s staying. Because
he’s not, I’m sure of that now.

“I’m not running. I just really want
you to...put some clothes on.”

He lets me go and raises his hands as
if I just pointed a gun at him. “Your wish is my command. But,
baby, understand, I get a wish for each one I give.” He turns and
walks into the bathroom, chuckling the whole way.

Thank God. I was about three seconds
away from attacking him.

Minutes later, I give Kilo a kiss on
his head as I follow Holt out of his room to Sex on Wheels.
Naturally, I offer to drive—at least that way I would have more
control of the night—but, of course, Holt said, “Fuck that. I
drive.” And I secretly loved it. Damn it.

We make our way into Cosmo’s, my
favorite pizza place in town. We grab a booth and order drinks, and
I proceed with Operation Find Doc C.

“Do you remember Doctor
Caravan?”

Holt is looking down at the menu, but
when he hears Doc C’s name, he freezes and shoots me this intense
look full of pain. It’s weird as shit. I mean, if he does remember
him, he didn’t know that much about him. I try to focus on my goal
and push his reaction aside.

“When he retired, he just left. No
one’s heard from him, which is odd because that’s not his nature.
He loves this town, the people, that hospital, all of it. It’s his
life. And I, well, I think a lot of him. I’ve known him forever,
and I really thought he would’ve at least called me by now. At
first, we thought he was just enjoying his time off, but it’s been
three months, Holt. And then today I got the strangest phone call.
This man named Mr. Calhoun—Vinnie, I think his first name was—calls
me. He was telling—”

“What the fuck?” Holt says loudly, and
heads turn our way. He suddenly looks like a crazed
animal.

Did I miss something?
“What?”

“What did he say to you, Nicolette?
Every word.”

“Wait, what? Do you know this guy? Who
is he, because he seems—”

Something hits me, and
hard.

The way he answered the phone.
Calhoun. Talk.
Just like Holt answered his call in my room.
He knows him. Shit. Is he a bounty hunter too? What’s he want with
Doc C? Jesus.

“Tell me exactly what he said to
you.”

I desperately want answers, but right
now, with the rage in Holt’s eyes, I feel obliged to tell him what
he wants to know. I slowly spill out my conversation with Mr.
Vinnie Calhoun, word for word. When Holt hears how he pretty much
threatened me, he slams his fist on the table, making everything on
it move with a loud bang, which causes heads to turn our way
again.

“You’re not going to like what’s about
to come out of my mouth, but I’m telling you right now, you’re just
going to have to deal with it. You have no fucking choice. Vinnie
is a crazy fucker, Nicolette, and if he’s on your trail, you are
not safe. No way in fuck I’m giving Calhoun a chance to get to you,
so you’re staying with me until I straighten this shit
out.”

“Whoa, wait a minute. What do you
mean, Vinnie is on my trail?” My head is spinning. I can’t think
straight. What the hell is he talking about?

“It’s only a matter of time before
he’s in your face, and by that I mean
in your face
. He will
not call you. He will not knock on your door. He will just be up in
your face. He didn’t believe a word you said about not having any
contact with the doctor, and if he’s looking for him, in his mind,
you are a way to find him.”

“But I don’t understand. Why would he
think that in the first place?”

As if he’s thinking it out, Holt sits
there for a moment, staring past me. Finally, he says, “Well, maybe
he figures since you’re his predecessor, he’d be calling you to
check on things.”

Putting it that way, it did make a
little sense, but that did nothing to make the situation better, or
ease my mind about the danger Doc C seemed to be in.

“How do you know him, Holt?” If he
answers, this will be the first time I get to see into Holt’s
life.

“We’ve crossed paths a few times over
the years. Some of the fuckers I do business with send more than
one hunter out on the job. When we find ourselves following the
same trail, it usually ends up with us fighting to get to the end
of that trail first.” He reaches over the table and grabs my hand
in his. “Babe, he’s trash. I’ve watched him work. He has no regard
for the innocent people who get caught up with whoever he’s
tracking. To him, they’re just obstacles in his path, and he
doesn’t hesitate to get them out of his way by whatever means
necessary.” As I look into his eyes, I see the rage still there but
behind it, fear. He’s serious about this guy.

He’s just given me a lot, and I’m not
sure how to file it in my head. Do I put it in the pile marked
Reasons to Stay the Fuck Away or the one marked Reasons to Let my
Body Do What it Wants?

“Vinnie fucks with people then leads
them to believe he’s gonna be their friend, that he’ll let them off
the hook
if
they give up whatever he has his eye on.
Sometimes—babe, you might not like hearing this—it’s people he gets
his eye on. A man’s daughter or wife. He takes what he wants,
letting his prey go, only to track them down again within a few
weeks.”

I gasp, and I’m sure my jaw has
dropped. I don’t know if it’s fear overwhelming me or the fact that
Holt’s telling me so much. Maybe not about himself, but I’m getting
a glimpse of his life, or at least the people he knows, the kind of
people he deals with.

“He likes the chase. That’s what got
him into the business. I’ve heard stories about him, but I’m not
sure how true they are. They say he used to be special ops in the
military until they kicked him out. My guess, for fucking with
people, taking advantage of his power.” He leans back and huffs as
he rubs the back of his neck.

I sit there. Speechless. Is this
really happening? Some ex-military I-think-I’m-GI-Joe is after Doc
C, and now maybe after me? It’s all a dream. Has to be. There’s no
Holt. Doc C is at the hospital, and it’s my day off, and I’m stuck
in some sick twisted nightmare. I close my eyes tight as if I’m
Dorothy trying to get back to Kansas. I open them, only to see Holt
sitting across from me still. Clueless about my
thoughts.

“So there’s no way in fucking hell I’m
leaving you alone, giving him the chance to decide you are what he
wants. Because I know the second he looks at you, babe, he’s gonna
want you, just like every other man does. So that fucking shit
ain’t gonna happen. You’re with me or your friends or at work
twenty-four seven. Never alone. But at night you are in my
bed.”

My head is spinning. From worrying
about Doc, to what he just revealed to me about the man I talked to
on the phone a few hours ago, to him basically telling me I’m in
his bed. Every night. Whether I like it or not. How the hell am I
getting out of this?

“Holt, I have to ask you something.
Can you track down Doc C for me?” I blurt it quickly before talking
myself out of asking him. “I really want to warn him about this
Vinnie guy. He has no clue the danger he may be in.”

Holt gives me another pained look.
“Babe, I’m sure your doctor knows exactly what’s going on. You’re
forgetting what I told you about how Vinnie operates. My guess is
he’s already contacted him and given him a running start after the
doctor promised him something. That’s probably what made him leave
town when he did. He knew Vinnie was coming. So now he’s on the
run, not staying in one place too long, hoping Vinnie doesn’t find
him.”

I tremble at the thought of Doc C
being somewhere. Hiding out. Thinking this guy is on his trail. But
why?

“I don’t understand why Vinnie would
be looking for Doc C in the first place. He’s not a thief, he’s not
shady. He’s just a damn veterinarian, for goodness sakes, and now a
retired one. A sweet, kind, caring old man. Why would someone like
Vinnie be looking for him?”

“Somebody hired him, babe.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means he’s done someone wrong
somewhere, or had some kind of misunderstanding with
somebody.”

“I refuse to believe that Doctor
Caravan, a man I’ve known since I was a child, could possibly have
done anything that would make someone hire a tracker to find him. I
can’t believe that, Holt. It’s just not possible. If you knew him,
you would understand.”

“I don’t know, babe, maybe so, but
remember what I said. Sometimes people get caught up in shit out of
their control.”

Can this be true? Doc C caught up in
shit? What could he possibly have gotten himself into? There’s got
to be some kind of misunderstanding, somewhere, somehow, and I am
going to make Holt help me find out. If I have to succumb to my
body’s desires again to get what I want then, damn it, I
will.

It does sound kind of whorish, but I
have to do something. It’s only until I know Doc C’s been warned
and I can maybe get the police involved, if this man Vinnie is as
dangerous as Holt makes him out to be. I can do this. And maybe,
just maybe, in the process, I can get my addiction to him out of my
system...

“Not going to happen, Nicolette,” Holt
answers when I ask him again to help me find Doc C. “No way am I
letting you get in the middle of that shit. Not going to fucking
happen.”

“Holt, you don’t understand, he
doesn’t have anybody else. Maybe he does know this Vinnie guy is
looking for him, but at least if we find him, I can hear his voice,
know he’s okay. Please, Holt. I need this. I can’t sit here and do
nothing. Please help me find him.”

Holt is staring at me, still with
grief in his eyes. I guess because he knows what bad news Vinnie
is.

“Babe, because of the shit that went
down before with you and me, and because I’m trying to do right by
you now, I will find him for you. I’ll always give you what you say
you need, baby, and if talking to him, knowing that he’s okay, is
what you need then I’ll find him. But understand we’re talking a
phone call.” He raises his finger in the air sharply. “One phone
call. To make sure he’s okay. That’s it. I’m not willing to put
your ass on the line for him, no matter who the fuck he is to
you.”

His words are sincere. I can see in
his tight posture he doesn’t want to give me this, but he’s caving.
For me. His action, his understanding, his willingness to please me
hits me in my core.

“Thank you,” I almost whisper, trying
my best yet again to hide my reaction to his words.

As the waitress brings our pizza and
we begin eating, I try not to combust with all the knowledge I just
took in. Holt must sense my uneasiness, because he asks me about
the hospital, how I like it, what the other doctors and my
coworkers are like. I know he’s trying to get my mind off Vinnie,
but he seems to be taking an interest in my life too. What it’s
become in his absence. When we were together, I was still in
college and working as a technician with big dreams for my future.
It’s become what I’d dreamed, minus the heartbreak I suffered at
Holt’s hands. Totally didn’t see that shit coming.

If someone had told me he wasn’t going
to show up that night, or any night thereafter, for the
three-cheese lasagna I’d made, along with a chocolate cream pie and
whipped cream (well, the whipped cream wasn’t really intended for
dinner.), I would’ve laughed. There was no sign, no clue, nothing.
Here one day, gone the next. That day and what it did to me will
forever be burned in my head.

We had been out late the night before
at The Rox, listening to one of the bands I liked. After we left,
we went to the strip—a last minute run had been put together. Holt
could never turn one down. He loved the chase, being behind the
wheel. His posture would relax, and he would tilt his head and grin
at me as we belted down the road. God. Hot.

It was his thing. The speed. The
control. I was addicted from the very first time he let me ride
with him, craving the adrenaline rush, the wind on my face, him
shifting gears, the feel of the hot engine rumbling below us... It
all made for mind-blowing sex afterward.