The Galilee Falls Trilogy (Book 3): Fall of Heroes (2 page)

“I’m sorry,” Jem says, rushing up to me. “I’m
so
sorry. Am I late? I—”

I silence his words with a sweet kiss. “You’re just in time. As always.” A huge grin stretches across his face bright enough to blind lesser humans. I smile back and straighten his tie. “Bad guy caught?”

“Down with one punch. Zombies took some doing, though. And the costume’s a goner. It reeks.”

“You’re a little ripe yourself. Here.” I open my purse and remove my perfume, squirting him. “It’ll have to do. If anyone asks, we’ll say you were in the cadaver lab.”

“You think of everything, my love,” he says, smile growing.

I reach inside my purse again and retrieve his spare pair of horn-rimmed glasses. “Yes, I do. You are damn lucky to have me, Jem Ambrose.”

“Don’t I know it.” He slides the glasses on, sadly hiding those breathtaking sapphire blue eyes of his. “So, how do I look? Am I presentable?”

“Good enough.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“No time for ego stroking,” I say, grabbing his hand. “The ceremony’s about to start. Come on.”

I drag him through the church doors and down the aisle to the third pew where Cam and his wife Tawney are saving our seats. A few people do stare and whisper, but I don’t give a shit anymore. Mirabelle and his wife both nod as we sit. Oh thank Christ, it hasn’t started yet. Harry O’Hara, my old boss and ex-boyfriend, stands at the front of the church as his best man fixes the groom’s tie. I must catch his eye because when Harry faces forward, he smiles at me. I smile back. Yes, the woman who faced down two supervillains was afraid to walk into her ex-boyfriend’s wedding alone. I’m a damn mystery to me too.

I’m forgotten seconds later when the music swells and Bella Harding begins walking down the aisle. Definitely an upgrade from yours truly. She isn’t in love with another man like I was when I dated Harry. And if she ever cheats on him like I did, I will make her pay. But she won’t. She’s good people just like him. I even heard she’s four months pregnant. Alls well and all that jazz.

And as my hard won friend pledges his eternal love to his blushing bride, I slip my hand into the man I love’s hand and hold on. Not that he’s going anywhere. For better or worse, he’s all mine. And I don’t have a doubt we’ll live happily ever after too.

Me and my hero.

*

“No, it was seven,” Jem says on the ride home. “Tawney asked twice.”

“All I know is if one more person asked us ‘When’s the wedding?’ I was gonna scream,” I reply.

“It wasn’t
that
bad.”

“Well we were spared the biological clock countdown lecture at least,” I say. “Why is it so hard for people to believe not every couple wants kids? That there’s no need for us to rush down the aisle too? Hell, why get married at all nowadays?”

“I don’t know. Standing before those closest to you pledging your fidelity and love to the person you treasure most in his world? That’s a good reason, no?”

He’s trying to keep his face neutral, but I can sense his discomfort prickling my skin. Can’t have that. I wrap my arm in his and rest my head on his shoulder. “How on earth did I end up with a true romantic?”

“Just lucky I guess.”

“Damn straight.”

The taxi pulls up to our apartment building, and Jem supports me as I hobble—damn heels—to the elevator. Not to be rude, and because my romantic boyfriend loves to dance, we stayed until the end of the reception. My feet are punishing me for it now. Oh, all I want is a shower and to crawl into bed. One stop to make first. Jem rides all the way up to the penthouse floor, but I make a pit-stop two floors down. Dobbs opens his front door with a smile.

After I got out of the hospital six months ago, Jem brought me back to his apartment to take care of me, and I just never left. I never felt comfortable in Pendergast Manor. Too many ghosts, too many memories. It was really only mine in name only. Besides my clothes and a few DVDs and superhero goodies, I only brought one thing with me: Dobbs, the butler. There was no way in hell I was leaving him alone in that mausoleum, so I bought him an apartment in our building. It took a week to convince him to actually move in, but he’s flourished since. He still insists on cleaning our apartment, once a butler always a butler I guess, but he’s actually ventured out into the world. Going to movies, attending the symphony, I even think he had a coffee date with one of the ladies from his pottery class. Even his trips to the manor have grown further apart number.

I haven’t decided what I’ll do with the manor yet. Jem and I still use the “Chamber of Justice” as Jem calls it, when we need to do analysis on evidence, but we can semi-easily move all the equipment to a new location. And it’s not like I haven’t had offers to buy it, including one from the city to turn it into a historical landmark, I just…can’t. Not yet. Like Pendergast Industries, and Dobbs, Justin entrusted me with its curation. With his family’s legacy. The man gave his life for me, not letting a developer tear down his ancestral home to build condos is the least I can do. And in a way it was my home too. My sanctuary growing up. Where some of my happiest memories occurred. Some of the worst too. But that’s the past. Justin’s dead, and Justice has been replaced. But I’ll be damned if they’re forgotten.

“Hello, Miss Joanna,” says Dobbs.

“Hi. I brought you some wedding cake.”

“Oh, you sweet girl. You didn’t have to do that,” he says, taking the plate.

I shrug. “No biggie.”

“Was the wedding lovely?”

“It was. A good time was had by all. And I’ve never seen Harry happier.”

“He’s a good man. He deserves it.”

“That he does.”

“And Dr. Ambrose? I saw on the news—”

“He’s fine,” I assure him. “Not a scratch.”

“Thank God. And the preparations for his birthday celebration have been confirmed. They’ll set-up the dinner table inside the labyrinth. There may be rain, so I added a tent to the order.”

“Thank you.”

“Of course.”

My phone begins ringing inside my purse. Probably Lane, Pendergast’s CEO, again. He’s called three times in the last hour. Sure enough the phone’s display confirms my suspicion. “I have to get this,” I tell Dobbs.

“Of course. Tell Dr. Ambrose good night for me.”

“I will. Sleep tight.”

Not to be ruder, I wait until his door shuts before I answer. “Hello, Lane. What’s up?”

“Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”

“I was at a wedding.
And
it’s Sunday. What the hell can’t wait twelve hours?”

“I received a call from Bennett Stone earlier today. The deal might be in trouble.”

I roll my eyes. “What? Why? We’ve been working on that deal for over six months. The government even rubber stamped it. It’s a go.”

“Stone personally called me, Joanna, to express his displeasure. I got the sense he somehow feels disrespected, like we haven’t been taking this buy-out seriously.”

“It’s got to be a play. He’s bluffing. He wants us to lower the price or something. In truth, after I reviewed the numbers, I was shocked Goliath offered as much as they did. Blackwater Pharmaceuticals sure as shit isn’t worth five hundred million bucks. They have only produced one viable drug in fifteen years, and besides their gene therapy division, they’re not exactly cutting edge.”

“Exactly. And we’ve already allocated the money for other ventures in the pipeline. Without this deal we’ll have to withdraw our bid for Telefirma Media with penalties.”

“So what do we do?”

“You and I need to be there.”

“No,” I state emphatically.

“We
have
to be there, Joanna,” he replies with equal force.

“I-I can’t. Lane, no. It’s Jem’s birthday. I have a big thing planned. I can’t—”

“And I’ll be missing my daughter’s cello recital.
Again.
It’s five hundred million, Joanna. We don’t have a choice.”

Damn it. Fuck, fuckity, fuck fuck fuck. “Fine. Whatever. We’ll work out the details tomorrow, okay? Just…fuck.”

“Well put. I’ll see you tomorrow. We’ll phone Stone together once you’ve calmed down.”

“And fuck you too. Bye.” I end the call.

And the award for the world’s shittiest girlfriend goes to…ugh. Now I wish Jem
had
missed the wedding. I wouldn’t feel as damn guilty about missing his birthday. Thousands of dollars, weeks of planning, all down the crapper. I planned to kidnap him for the day. Wake him with a blow job, serve him breakfast in bed, spend the day on our boat
The Athena
, then his favorite dinner in the labyrinth at Austen Castle where we had our first non-date. I even bought new lingerie for desert. Bennett Fucking Stone throws a hissy fit, and it’s all for nothing. Asshole.

The shower’s running when I step into the penthouse. It hasn’t changed much since I moved in, mostly because I didn’t have much to contribute in the way of furniture. Nothing at Pendergast Manor was mine, and a year before a supervillain blew up my apartment, so besides the couch, lounge chair, and shelf filled with DVDs beside the TV, it’s the same as when I first walked in. Gleaming hardwood floors, bookcases with a million books, telescope pointed out the panoramic window that overlooks Stan Lee Park, cathedral ceilings with skylights, all the same. I didn’t feel the need to mess with something working already.

Without even kicking off my shoes, I fall face first onto our bed. With the worry, the wedding, putting what I believed were the final touches on the Goliath deal, and planning his birthday, I am exhausted. Jem and I haven’t had more than a day off in five months and that was to recover from surgery. That’s it. I’m calling it. As soon as possible, we’re taking a damn vacation. Our last vacation was a rousing success. A week alone on
The Athena
. No phones, no e-mails, no people, no clothes most of the day. Just the open water, the sun, mind blowing sex, pillow talk, and plans for the future. Heaven on damn earth. Time to visit again. We’ve damn well earned a break.

The shower shuts off a few minutes later, and a minute after that, the scent of shampoo and soap wafts past me. “Are you asleep?” Jem whispers.

“Almost,” I mutter. I sense him moving down the bed and gently removing my shoes. “Thank you, love.”

“My pleasure, darling.” I open my eyes and watch as he lets the towel slip off—yum—and changes into his purple silk pajamas. “Enjoying yourself there?” he asks before turning around with a mischievous grin.

“Of course. You know I love objectifying you.”

“Any chance of returning the favor tonight?”

“Only if you don’t mind the corpse pose. It’s all I can muster tonight.”

“I’ve had more than my fair share of corpses this day, thank you very much.” Jem climbs onto our bed beside me and scoots down so we’re eye level. God, he is a sexy beast. Not classically handsome like Justin was, very few men are, but with those sharp cheekbones, full lips, and long eyelashes, you wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating crackers as Pop liked to say. My father would have loved Jem.

“Did you enjoy yourself tonight?” I ask.

“Immensely. You? It wasn’t too awkward? No…old stirrings? Regret?”

I pretend to consider the possibility. “Well…” I say sarcastically. His eyes narrow playfully before I chuckle. “Of course not, you idiot.” I run my finger across his cheek. “You know,
I’m
the one who should be insecure here. You’re the practically perfect one with legions of women writing you love notes pledging their undying love, oh captain my captain.”

“You’re right. I must go to them. Now.” He sits up, but I yank him back, both of us laughing the entire time. I scooch up and over to rest my head on his chest as he wraps his arm around my torso. He kisses my forehead.

“You may actually want to take one of them up on their offers,” I say. “I’m going to have to miss your birthday.”

“What?”

“Lane called. The Goliath deal hit a snag. We have to fly to Independence to smooth it out. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he assures me.

“No,” I wince, “it’s not. You rented a helicopter for my birthday. I had this whole day planned and…” I sigh. “I suck.”

“I don’t care.
Really
. I’d rather simply forget the whole day like I have for well over a decade.”

“You wanted to forget it because to you it wasn’t a big deal. The day you were born is a big deal to me. It’s important. You’ve done a lot of good for countless people, none more so than me. You should get a damn parade, and instead I’ll be hundreds of miles away, and you’ll work all day then get your ass beat by junkies and goons. I’d invite you to come, but I’ll be working the whole time. I’ll be lucky if I see the inside of my hotel room.”

“Joanna, don’t torment yourself up about it. We can celebrate when you get home. I’ve missed a lot of your events too. All that matters is when it
is
important, we are there for one another. And in that, you have never failed me. Not once.”

I run my finger across his lips, which brings a smile to them. “I don’t deserve you. I really don’t.”

“You have it reversed there, my darling love,” he says kissing my fingertips. “But you’re stuck with me. Right?”

I lean over and kiss him. Deeply. God, can this man kiss. The toe curling, heat inducing, cat in heat writhing sensation he draws from me with just the touch of his lips, three times better than any drug or drink out there. Oh, how I love this man. I break apart first and smile. “For a million nights, then a million more.”

“Promise?” he asks, insecurity painting each syllable.

I stare into those sapphire eyes and see all the way down to his battered soul. Into the darkness life’s infected inside him. For so long it was all he had. It fueled him. I know because I was the same. Angry, hopeless, dead in all but body. Sometimes I look at him and can’t believe he’s real. That he’s beside me. That this brilliant, astonishing man loves
me.
I don’t trust it. I don’t trust it won’t be snatched away from me like everything else I ever loved. But I trust
him.
I love him and trust him with every fiber of my being. He’s my best friend, my partner, my savior. And I’ll be damned if
I
cause him a millisecond of pain or doubt.