The Executioner: A Love Story (27 page)
“What were you trying to tell me earlier,” Jordan asked as he joined Arianna and Vince in the bathroom. They cavorted in the shower, as they tended to do.
Arianna popped open the shower curtain and said in a smug voice, “Scratch number three off your list.”
Jordan’s eyes and mouth grew wide, forming huge O’s. He sat that way for several minutes, until Ari and Vince were finished with their shower. Ari wrapped herself in a towel, then led him to her bed. “What’s wrong, sweetheart, I thought you’d be glad it was over.”
“I am, I’m just...” He couldn’t finish. Finally the tears came, and they racked his body with loud, ugly sobs. She held him close and rubbed his hair and his neck. Somehow Vince climbed in the other side, and the three of them lay together in the twin bed. Ari and Vince were in the odd position of comforting their lover.
Vince’s attention remained on Arianna. Her hand moved to Jordan’s hair, and Vince’s covered it. He gave her an encouraging smile, and she kissed Jordan’s forehead.
He recovered relatively quickly, though, and he dried his tears and asked, “Are you going to get dressed so we can eat?”
Ari laughed and rolled out of the bed. “Sure, I’m starving.”
Vince and Ari both traipsed around the bedroom in states of undress, both stealing glances at the other. Jordan couldn’t believe how lucky he was, to have two strong, gorgeous people to love him and care for him. So why couldn’t he trust them? Why couldn’t he tell them what he had done? Arianna admitted to killing men, two of them she killed for no other reason than Jordan asked her to. So why couldn’t he admit it? Why couldn’t he admit that he had Margo Tremblay killed in her jail cell? It took planning, and money, but he did it. And no one would ever know it was him. He would be fine with that, he told himself. He would be fine, eventually.
They spent a week with Ari’s mother and promised to return to Ohio for the next holiday. Jordan would introduce Ari and Vince to his parents somehow as well, he agreed. But he needed time. Vince and Ari agreed to give him whatever he needed.
On the way back to DC Vince decided to drive as his shoulder felt much better. Ari was more than happy to allow it. She’d rather sit in the back and watch the scenery go by. It took Vince an hour to get up the nerve, but he finally spilled it. He couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Jordan, who killed Margo Tremblay?”
Jordan tried to remain cool, but he swallowed. And then, he said, “How am I supposed to know?” His voice was half a notch too high. He turned toward the window. He rubbed his hands against his jeans. He lied. He didn’t trust Ari and Vince enough to tell them the truth, and that hurt Vince more than the idea that he’d killed someone.
Vince wondered if, sometime out in the field, he and Ari would need Jordan and he wouldn’t be there. And he knew he’d never be able to do the job if he doubted Jordan. How could he trust Ari’s life with him? Vince looked up into the rear-view mirror. Ari didn’t seem to notice the tension between the two.
“I just thought you knew everything,” Vince chuckled. But the seed was already there… and he had no idea if it could ever be uprooted. He would just have to work twice as hard to keep Ari alive, Vince realized. And he would do it. There was no way he was losing Ari, ever. She was the only person he trusted completely. She was his other half. They were exactly alike. They were soul mates.
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