11. The Beginning of Forever

11 THE BEGINNING OF FOREVER

Keaton

“Dude. You’re fucked.”

“What are you talking about, Koen?”

We’d finished up at the truck stop without finding anything significant, then met back at the office for a briefing. He and Lanie arrived fifteen minutes after us with the first bit of good news we’d had since this whole shitshow started. Jennifer Collins, our latest victim, had dried blood underneath her fingernails. She’d fought him off and because of her quick thinking, and a little luck, hopefully we’d have DNA soon.

“You just told Henley you loved her.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yeah, ya did, loverboy.” Lanie smacked my arm on her way to the coffeepot.

I paused, thinking back to our conversation. Love you, baby. “Oh shit.” The blood drained from my face, not because I’d told her the truth, but I’d fucked up my damn plan. I was gonna take her out for a night on the town, maybe dinner and dancing, then finish the night buried deep inside her. Once we were both fully satisfied, I’d look deep into her beautiful green eyes and open my heart wide.

“You can’t rewind time, Keaton, so you might want to figure out how to make it up to her.”

“Thanks for the obvious, Noah. How about some suggestions? I screwed the pooch on this one.”

“Did you mean it?” Lanie rested her back against the counter, watching me closely while sipping her coffee.

“Of course I did. But I didn’t mean to let it fly when she’s not even here for me to see her reaction. What if she doesn’t feel the same?”

They laughed, and not just a little snicker at my expense either. No. My teammates, my friends, were bent in half, roaring with the kind of side-splitting laughter you’d expect to find at a comedy club, not an FBI field office. Well, fuck that and fuck them. My future was on the line.

“For such a smart guy, you're a total idiot.” She shook her head as she strolled to her desk and moved the chair out of the way. Then she pushed aside the paperwork stacked up in the center and hopped up to claim a seat. With her legs swinging back and forth excitedly, like a teenage girl on the brink of meeting Taylor Swift, she said, “The timing of your blunder may have been off, but you didn’t fuck anything up. Believe me when I say, Henley is over-the-moon in love with you too.”

“She’s not wrong, man,” Noah added. “You don’t see it because you’re too busy losing your man card over her, but it couldn’t be more obvious if it smacked you in the face.”

“So how do I make it right?”

“First off, you said what you said. Own it. Don't backpedal, build on it instead.” My brows furrowed, not because of the suggestion, rather who made it. Koen wasn’t exactly known for his expertise in long-term relationships, none of them were, yet I was desperate enough to listen.

“I’ve got it,” Lanie announced with a shriek.

We gathered around her desk, as if the words she was about to speak were part of a classified mission. In a way, I guess they were. She laid out her plan in great detail and, surprisingly, it was a good one.

“Keaton.” Waverly stuck her head out of her office. “Can I see you for a minute?”

Amid the teasing calls of “Oooh you’re in trouble” from the immature agents behind me, I entered her office, nudging the door closed with my foot.

“Have a seat.” She motioned to the oversized, dark-blue cushioned chair in front of her desk we’d all dubbed “the hot seat,” because typically if you were in it, chances were good she was about to light your ass on fire for some reason or another.

“Whatever it is you think I did, it was probably Noah’s fault. He’s a bad influence.”

She gave me a knowing grin. If anything, I was the bad influence and we both knew it. Noah was the doesn’t-color-outside-the-lines agent, whereas I did everything possible to scramble those colors until they were grayed out.

“One of the best decisions I ever made was pairing the two of you together,” she began. “Second only to answering the phone eleven years ago. I had no way of knowing the punk-ass teenager I encountered would turn out to be one of the best agents I’d ever work with.”

“I wasn’t that bad.”

“You were worse.”

Honestly, what did she expect? My whole world had imploded around me spectacularly. Very few would have recovered from the aftermath, yet here I was not only surviving the hell my father left in his wake, I was thriving.

“Is there a compliment in there somewhere? If so, I’m having a hard time finding it.” I shifted uncomfortably.

“Relax, Keaton. I brought you in here to give you this.” She tapped her manicured fingernails on top of a jewelry box I hadn’t noticed sitting on her desk.

“I’m more of a flowers and chocolates sorta guy, Waverly. Besides, I’m already taken.”

“Don’t be a wise-ass, Agent Clarke. This is for Henley.”

Leaning forward, I snagged the box and peeled back the hinged lid revealing a pair of stunning emerald post earrings.

“I’m at a loss here.”

“There’s a tracking device embedded in the jewels. I asked Nelson to order them right after the killer contacted you.”

“Shit.”

With all the other drama happening around us lately, I hadn’t thought about the phone call. In my mind, the fucker was simply playing a game to get a rise out of me, which he succeeded in doing. I’d considered him to be a threat to Henley, but not to this point. That was a mistake which my boss just rectified.

“It’s up to you whether or not you tell her there is a tracker inside. Besides Nelson and myself, Duncan is the only other person who knows I’m giving these to you.”

I stared at the earrings for a while before closing the lid. Standing to rejoin the others, I tucked the box in the front pocket of my pants, then asked one last question before we left to meet up with the girls.

“Would you want to know?”

“Absolutely, but I’m a control freak. ”

“That you are,” I smirked.

“You look gorgeous, baby.” I kissed her lips briefly, then took her hand to escort her inside Sunset where Jade was already walking toward the rest of the gang, who were waiting in a back booth. Henley was wearing a long-sleeve crimson maxi dress, belted at the waist with a silver seashell chain, and a pair of black heels which increased her height by about two inches. Her face had a splash of makeup on it, accentuating her natural beauty.

“Thanks. You look very handsome yourself. Do you keep extra clothes at the office? I could have sworn you were wearing something different this morning.”

No way was I going on a date without putting in a little effort. If it meant I had to deal with the snickers and jeers from Noah and Koen––who for the record had not changed––then so be it. I’d snuck out of the office soon after my meeting with Waverly, sped home to take a quick shower, then put on a pair of dark fitted jeans with a charcoal-gray button-up shirt, which I tucked into the waistband. We weren’t dining at a fancy restaurant, but I still wanted to look nice for her.

“Nah. I stopped at my apartment.”

Instead of leading her toward our friends, I veered off to the left, taking us down a narrow hallway, which led to the bathrooms as well as Camden’s office. I’d spoken with him when we first got here and he gave me permission to use it for some privacy.

“Where are we going?”

“In here.” I opened the door and flicked on the light, guiding her into the small space. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. “I wanted to talk to you without the others for a few minutes.”

“Okay. What ab-––”

I spun her to face me, cutting her off mid-word when my lips crashed into hers. She opened immediately, letting my tongue surge inside the warmth of her mouth. I was intoxicated by her taste, by the soft moans she made when I backed her against the wooden desk in the center of the room, breaking our connection long enough to lift her onto the top. My fingers wove through her dark tresses, tilting her head to deepen the kiss, as I stepped between her parted thighs. The skirt of her dress rode higher, giving me a glimpse of her black panties as she wrapped her legs around my waist, pulling me deeper until my rock-hard cock was pressed against her hot pussy.

“I need you, Keaton.” Her breathless words trailed over my skin as I licked my way down her neck to the V of her dress, where her tits were begging to be sucked.

“Can you be quiet, baby?” I squeezed her breast, pinching a nipple between my thumb and forefinger. “I don’t want the whole bar to know I’m fucking you.”

“Yes. Please,” she groaned, rubbing her hips against my shaft.

“Take this off.” I tugged at the sleeve of her dress.

She shifted, lifting her butt to free the material, then swiped it over her head, leaving her in a lacey black bra and the panties I’d seen earlier. Reclaiming her mouth, my hand drove between her legs, finding her already damp with excitement. I moved the material to the side and speared two fingers deep inside, moving them in and out at a leisurely pace.

“Fuck yes,” I growled. “You’re so ready for me, baby.”

When her walls began to tighten, I pulled my hand away, quickly undoing the button of my jeans and shoving them and my boxers to the floor. Before I could stop her, my Little Bird shocked the shit out of me. The little minx scooted off the desk, dropped to her knees and wrapped her plump lips around my tip. My legs shook with the first bit of suction she applied as she withdrew part of the way before sliding back down to the base. She hummed when I fisted her hair, nearly causing me to lose control like a teenage boy. As good as it felt––and it felt fucking amazing––I didn’t want to shoot off down her throat, not yet anyway. That would have to wait until we had more time.

I pulled her off––my dick protesting the loss of her talented mouth––and helped her from the floor, positioning her back on the desk with her ass hanging off the edge far enough for me to yank her panties all the way off. She leaned back on her hands, eyes half-lidded, as I draped her legs over my forearms, spreading her wide to accommodate my size. Then with one, deep thrust of my hips, I was home.

We both moaned as I buried myself to the hilt over and over again, the old desk groaning under our weight. I prayed it would hold out long enough for us to finish.

“This is gonna be fast, baby. Your pussy is already strangling my cock.”

“Can’t help it,” she panted as I started to move faster.

Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes felt like they'd never be long enough while the sounds of the busy bar concealed the slapping of our skin against one another as I pounded into her tight heat. We raced to find our release and when we did, it was otherworldly, like an out-of-body-experience .

Her legs dropped to the side when I leaned forward to cover her body with mine. I nibbled her bottom lip until her green eyes captured mine with their brilliance.

“I love you, baby.” Her quick inhale let me know she hadn’t been expecting me to say the words again this soon. “It may have slipped out earlier, but it’s true nevertheless. You’re all I think about when you aren’t near me, and when you’re close I never want to let you go.”

“I love you too, Keaton. People might think we’re crazy, but I say screw them,” she smiled. “My heart knows what it wants and it cries out for you.”

We moved simultaneously, our mouths entwined, our breaths mingling in a dance filled with so much emotion, I could literally taste it.

“As much as I’d love nothing more than to stay here all night, they will come looking for us soon.”

“Oh Lord. They’re going to know exactly what we were doing in here.”

Leaning back, my half-hard cock slipped from her pussy. “Baby, they knew what was going to happen the second we walked down the hall.” I winked, then proceeded to get dressed before someone came through the door, considering I forgot to lock it.

Henley

“Here’s to that bastard never seeing the light of day again.” Jade held up her glass, toasting to the demise of Chase McArthur. She and I had each had two of the bar’s namesake drinks, The Sunset. I had no idea what was in them, only that they were deliciously deceiving in their potency. My lips were already starting to feel tingly .

“It doesn’t quite work like that, babe,” Koen interjected.

“Stop squishing my dreams, surfer boy.”

According to Koen, there wasn’t much else to do where he grew up in Southern California, other than hang out at the beach all day, hence the name. His bleach-blond hair kissed the top of his shoulders and his skin was a golden-bronze color.

“What does happen now?” I leaned farther into Keaton’s side.

“We wait, unfortunately.” He put his arm around my shoulder. “The scales of justice move slowly at best.”

“He’ll go in front of a judge tomorrow to be formally charged,” Noah explained. “Because of who his daddy is, the District Attorney will request a higher bail and for his passport to be surrendered.”

“The charges we have against him don’t carry a lot of jail time on their own, baby, but hopefully other women will step forward with similar stories.”

I didn’t even question whether or not they thought he’d done this before. It was clear on the faces and in the body language of the four federal agents seated around me. The way their jaws clenched and unclenched and how their fists flexed where they rested on top of the table, like they were restraining themselves from acting on their rage. Yeah, they believed he’d done the same—possibly worse—to others.

“How’s my favorite group of feds doing? It’s been a minute since you’ve all come in together.”

The tension in the air eased dramatically with the appearance of the handsome gentlemen. He was close to six feet tall with long salt-and-pepper hair swept back in a ponytail, a neatly trimmed beard, and looked to be in his mid-to-late-forties.

“Hey, Camden. Thanks again for the use of your office.” Keaton scooted out of the booth, exchanging back slaps with the man. Noah, Koen, and Lanie followed suit, though she ended up in a bear hug, which lifted her clear off her feet.

“This is my girl, Henley.” He took my hand to help me stand. “And our friend, Jade. Ladies, this is Camden Charles, the owner of Sunset.”

My heart melted with the way Keaton effortlessly included Jade in our group, and I didn’t miss the scowl on Koen’s face when Camden smiled at her. Interesting. I’d have to remember to ask Keaton about that later.

“It’s nice to meet you, Camden. You’ve got a great place here.” I reached out to shake his hand, but was immediately enveloped in the same greeting as Lanie.

The second my feet left the ground, I heard a growled, “Put her down, now,” followed by a rumble of laughter from Camden. The man obviously knew them well enough to realize he was playing with fire, so he released me immediately.

“Sorry about that.” He shrugged. “Handshakes are for strangers and with the way Mr. Possessive here is behaving, I have the feeling we’ll be seeing you around here more often.”

“Just keep your hands to yourself and there won’t be any casualties.” Keaton circled my waist with an arm, dragging me back against his chest in a move which had my eyes rolling to the sky. He really was a caveman sometimes.

“I’ve got to get back behind the bar, but let me know if you need anything.” He started to walk away as we all shuffled back into the booth, then called over his shoulder, “Alaina, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Alaina?” I mouthed to Keaton, who had a sly grin plastered across his sexy face. “Later,” he mouthed back. I followed their movements across the crowded room until they disappeared down the same hallway we’d taken earlier.

“Okay, it’s later. What the hell’s up with the sexy bar owner calling Lanie by her real name?” My curiosity was getting the better of me, especially since the impression I had gotten was that her interest fell elsewhere. “He’s gotta be what? Fifteen, twenty years older than her?”

“Sexy?” Keaton grumbled in my ear loud enough for the rest of the table to hear.

“Oh, come on. I love you, you big oaf. Now give me the goods.”

“Say it again.” He took my face in his hands, his features alight with awe.

“I love you.”

“I love you so much, Henley.”

His lips grazed each corner of my mouth before coming to rest in the center, never attempting to deepen the kiss.

“Ugh, I’m gonna lose my appetite,” Koen complained. “Ouch, what the fuck, Jade? Why’d you pinch me?”

“Because you’re ruining their beautiful moment with your big mouth.”

“Get used to it, Jade. He ruins more than moments with his mouth.”

“You’re just jealous, Noah,” Koen quipped.

The camaraderie, the little jabs all in the name of fun…this was what I’d been missing out on most of my life. I’d grown up fairly isolated, never experiencing what it meant to have a meaningful relationship with anyone other than Mom and Nana Rita. I understood the basic concept, just not to the level of Keaton and his team. There was immeasurable trust between them which had been forged out of obligation, then cultivated over the years until it became unbreakable. Their relationship had taken time to foster, ti me to build until the bond they formed was stronger than anything, even blood.

I’d never considered myself blessed. Happy? At times, I guess. For the most part I was content. Well, everything happened for a reason, right? But until a gorgeous man stumbled over me, flipping my world upside down with his kindness, his protective nature, and his love, I wouldn’t have believed it. Call it fate, call it whatever the hell you wanted. To me, it was the beginning of forever.

The stars had aligned in perfect synchrony that night and I’d do everything in my power to ensure they didn’t burn out.

“Are we going to order? I’m starving.”

My stomach rumbled at the same time Koen spoke. Apparently, my belly was in complete agreement with him. We flagged down our waitress and ordered two of every appetizer on the menu for the table, plus another round of drinks.

Lanie eventually rejoined our group and the rest of the evening dissolved into fits of laughter as the boys competed with one another over who’d committed the most arrest-able offenses in their youth without being caught. Surprisingly, it was straitlaced Noah who shocked us all.

He recounted how he and a bunch of his buddies from high school went around town “relocating” several “For Sale” signs from one house to another. They even went as far as to drive to the community college campus, staking one of the signs in front of the music building. Apparently, their shenanigans even made the front page of the local paper.

Keaton twirled a piece of my hair around his index finger, giving it a little tug to get my attention after I swallowed my last bite of a mozzarella stick.

“I have something for you, but I don’t want to freak you out.” He leaned to the side, reaching into the front pocket of his pants, and pulled out a small blue box. So much for not freaking out because my heart skipped beats and the air in my lungs left in a whoosh.

“Keaton,” I choked.

“They’re earrings, baby.” He placed the box in my trembling hands. “You aren’t ready for that kind of box yet.”

“And you are?” He didn’t respond, which was an answer in and of itself.

“These aren’t your run-of-the-mill earrings though, hence the whole freaking out part.”

“What do you mean?” I looked at the pair of elegant emeralds, trying to figure out what made them so special, other than the fact they had to cost a fortune.

“There’s a tracker in them,” he rushed the words out.

“A what?” I cocked my head to the side, taking in his dark eyes I loved so much. The same eyes that were looking at me with trepidation.

Gathering me close, he whispered in my ear, “I told you how the killer had been watching us the night outside of your apartment. If something were to happen…if he—” Keaton swallowed roughly. “I’d burn the city to the ground to find you.”

“I know you would.”

“Will you wear them? For my peace of mind, if nothing else.”

Instead of answering, I lifted each one out, placing them in my ears without another thought. I wasn’t dumb enough to think nothing bad would ever happen to me and if it meant Keaton would be able to get to me quickly, then I’d wear whatever he wanted.

“Thank you, baby.”

The night pressed on and when it was time to leave, Koen offered to drive Jade and Lanie home, since Keaton and I were staying at his apartment. Out on the sidewalk, the guys said their good nights while I dragged my girls off to the side. And they were my girls. Our friendships may have started out of necessity; however, they’d blossomed quickly into something more.

“All right. What the hell happened between you and Camden?” I immediately asked when we were out of earshot.

“He asked me out on a date.”

“And?” Jade motioned with her hands for Lanie to continue.

“I said yes.”

“Whoa. Are you sure? What about?—”

She pinned me with a glare, cutting off my words. I’d noticed the way her eyes would track a certain someone whenever he was in the room, however I didn’t have confirmation of her feelings until right then.

“You snooze, you lose, right?” She raised her eyebrows, almost daring me to disagree.

“He’s hot, even if he is old enough to be your daddy.”

“Is a twenty year age difference too much?”

“Ignore Jade. Age is only a number. Do you like him?”

“Yeah, I think I do.”

“Then go for it,” I suggested. “What do you have to lose?”

“A great bar if things go sideways,” she mumbled.

“We live in a college town. Bars are a dime a dozen.” Jade pulled her in for a hug. “I’m happy for you.”

“Me too.” I wrapped my arms around them both.

“I feel like I’ve hit the girlfriend jackpot with you two,” Lanie choked up. “One day soon over a few bottles of cheap wine, I’ll tell you both why I am the way I am. ”

“We’ll hold you to it,” I told her.

As we made our way back across the sidewalk, the tiny hairs on my arms stood on end. Glancing around the darkened street, the only people I saw weren’t paying us any attention. I think Keaton’s earlier conversation about the killer was making me paranoid.