4. Sin and Salvation

4 SIN AND SALVATION

Koen

Me: Good morning, Angel. Are you ready for today?

I hadn’t lied when I told her we’d be married by the end of the week if I could swing it. All it took was a trip to the County Clerk’s office to fill out the application, and a brief phone call to one of the judges we worked with on a regular basis. Before I knew it, we had a date and time for our union. The stage was set. Now I just needed my bride to keep her feet nice and toasty. I don’t know what I’d do if she backed out.

My pulse fluttered in nervous anticipation while I watched those three little dots appear on the screen of my iPhone.

Jade: Ready as I’ll ever be. Jett’s hanging at a friend's house after school, so we won’t have to worry about him.

Me: I’ll pick you up at 3:30. I already cleared it with Waverly to leave early.

Jade: What excuse did you give her?

Me: Proctology exam.

I smiled, waiting for what I knew would be a smart-ass comment in return. Over the last few days, we’d fallen into a sort of comfortable rhythm. Work had fucked with any chance I had of seeing her during the week, but we texted almost constantly. Each time I sensed more and more of her protective shell beginning to crack.

Jade: I hope you stocked up on lube.

Me: Ouch.

Jade: Exactly! Hence the need for KY. In all seriousness, are you sure you want to do this? I can figure out another way.”

Me: Nope. Not happening. Go take a shower to warm up those cold feet. You’ll be Mrs. Banks in less than twelve hours, then we’re having our first official date.

Jade: Grrr. I don’t have cold feet.

Me: Keep growling at me, Angel. I like it. {winky-face emoji}

Jade: Oh my God, you are impossible!

Me: Impossibly hard to resist, you mean.

Jade: {eye roll emoji} You can leave me alone now. Apparently, I’m getting married later.

Me: See you at the altar.

Jade: There is no altar in the judge's chamber.

Me: Oh ye of little faith.

Jade: What did you do?

Me: I guess you’ll have to wait and see.

Jade: Bye, Koen.

I chuckled, clicking the button on the side of my phone to shut down the screen, then turned, nearly crashing into Lanie.

“What are you up to?”

There was more than a hint of suspicion in her tone. Shit! I hated liars and I was about to become one.

“Who, me?” I feigned innocence, putting a hand to my chest.

“Cut the crap, Koen.” She narrowed her hazel eyes. “You’ve been acting weird all morning.”

Lanie was like a dog with a bone. She wouldn’t give up and might very well bite off a few fingers if you tried to take it away, so I decided to give her the truth. At least part of it anyway.

“Jade and I are going out after work.”

“Like on a date?”

“Who’s got a date?” Keaton joined our conversation.

“Me and Jade. ”

“Took you long enough.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “You owe me twenty bucks.”

“You bet against me, Lanie?”

She shrugged, walking to our shared desk to dig her wallet out of her purse. Handing over the crisp bill to Keaton, she explained, “Technically, no one bet against you. We bet on how long it would take to officially remove your head from your ass.”

“Oh, so much better,” I deadpanned.

“All right people.” Duncan strolled through the room with Nelson trailing behind him. He made a beeline for the Keurig on the counter, popping a pod into the machine, then leaned against the counter with his feet crossed in his signature stance. “What have we learned about this Brandon Little character? And where the hell is Noah?”

“Right here.” The man in question rounded the corner from the bathroom.

Everyone, except Duncan, gathered around the long wooden table to the left of our desks, where we held the majority of our briefings. Nelson clicked a few keys on his government-issued laptop, projecting the images from his screen to the recently purchased ninety-eight inch monitor hanging on the far wall. Numerous surveillance photos of Brandon Little appeared within seconds.

“He hasn’t changed much since high school,” Lanie spoke. “Still has the same pretty-boy face, except there’s an emptiness behind his eyes that wasn’t there when I knew him.”

“Kinda what happens when you sell your soul to the devil,” Noah said under his breath, earning him a side-eye from Lanie.

“According to what the DEA gave us,” Nelson started, “Little moved to Huntington nine years ago, after a brief stint in California. His first arrest for intent to distribute happened about eight months later, but was dismissed on a technicality.”

“You said his first arrest,” I questioned. “How many has he had since he’s been here?”

Nelson clicked his mouse and the screen changed from photos to a list of police reports. “Thirteen,” he stated.

“Not a smart criminal then. Good to know,” Keaton scoffed.

“So he left Colorado, moved to California where he got involved with Los Tredos, then came to Nowhere, West Virginia to help ramp up their drug business? Why here?”

Lanie’s question was solid and one I’d been thinking about as well. It would’ve made more sense to send him to a city with a major waterway. Unless…

“Where does Little work? What’s his legitimate job?” Keaton asked, his mind in sync with mine.

Nelson opened up a second screen on his laptop with our suspect’s demographics. Skimming through the information, the pieces began to fall into place.

“The railroad.” Duncan’s deep voice reverberated through the room.

Trans Continental Express—TCX for short—was one of the country’s leading suppliers of rail-based freight transportation. It also happened to have a major manufacturing plant in Huntington.

“It tracks, pun intended,” I agreed. “If they gained control of the rails, they’d be able to use them for more of their business than simply transporting drugs.”

Considering they build the damn rail cars right down the street, I could only imagine what they’d be capable of hiding during the process. Or the storage places they could be adding to those things. The possibilities were endless .

“If what you’re saying has merit, then we have to take a closer look at some of the higher-ups in the organization,” Lanie chimed in. “Brandon has never been a puppet master. I highly doubt that would’ve changed in the last decade.”

“I’d hazard a guess it’s the DEA’s main goal in having Lanie go undercover. To find whoever is pulling the strings and connect them somehow to Los Tredos, possibly even the Bratva.”

The temperature in the room dropped significantly with Keaton’s statement. Since our second meeting with Agents Hendricks and Harty a few days prior, the subject of Lanie’s impending collaboration with our drug enforcement counterparts had been avoided at all costs. Mainly to keep Noah from losing his shit again, but also because of how dangerous the mission was. The reality of her being put directly in the path of the Russian mafia hadn’t sat well with any of us.

For the next few hours, we dug through nearly every database at our disposal, searching the criminal and financial history for each of the top five TCX executives. All in all, we’d found a few unpaid parking tickets, and a drunken disorderly charge—which was later dropped—from a casino in Vegas. On paper, they appeared to be your average law-abiding citizens with above average bank accounts. It was a total crock of shit though. These execs were dirtier than the clothes in my gym bag, we just needed time and a deeper dive below the surface to yield anything of substance. Sadly, time wasn’t something we had a lot of at the moment.

When one thirty rolled around, I quietly packed up my shit, slipped out of the office without a big production being made about my early departure, and made the drive home in record time. My condo was nestled on the edge of Huntington’ s city limits, close to the action yet far enough away the stars were clearly visible from my balcony late at night. Aside from a collage of family pictures I’d strategically mounted on one wall, the inside of my place was nothing special.

Despite the comfy lounger sofa and big screen TV taking up the majority of space in the living room, it felt bare. Even with the splashes of color scattered throughout my two bedroom condo, courtesy of my mother’s obsession with throw pillows, it didn’t seem bright enough. Something—or more precisely—someone was missing. I knew down to my marrow; Jade was the game changer I’d been waiting for. She was my perfect complement.

Showered and changed into my nicest charcoal-gray suit with a baby-blue button-down shirt, I climbed back into my car and set off toward the main highway. Jade may have considered our nuptials to be nothing more than a quick trip to the courthouse, however, I was determined to give her a wedding to remember.

Most people were a bundle of nerves for their first date. Multiply that by infinity and you’d know my exact frame of mind when I wiped my sweaty palms down the front of my dress pants, then knocked on her door three minutes ahead of schedule. Granted, our first date was happening after we made promises of a lifetime together.

No pressure or anything.

My knuckles barely grazed the wooden door when it swung open, revealing a sight which robbed the breath from my lungs. Jade appeared in the entryway wearing a pale-pink dress with intricate lacework covering her arms from wrist to shoulder. It hugged her so tightly; it was impossible to ignore the shapely curves she wore proudly.

“Holy fuck,” I exhaled. “You look stunning, Jade.”

“Thanks. You clean up nice too.”

Slowly, my gaze floated from the top of her delicately curled hair to the tips of the sparkly silver heels on her feet, memorizing the vision of beautiful perfection in front of me. I must have been staring longer than socially acceptable because red bloomed on her cheeks, running down her slim neck before disappearing beneath the V in the middle of her chest where her ample cleavage was on full display, begging for my mouth.

Good Christ Almighty.

“That dress is lethal, Angel. Are you trying to kill me?”

“Not today,” she chuckled, stepping out onto the weathered porch, closing the door behind her.

Wrapping my hand around hers, I held tight as we descended the rickety steps, mentally adding them as a priority for repair, along with a fresh coat of paint to brighten up the exterior of their home.

In its heyday, I’m certain the canary yellow cottage was the envy of the neighborhood. Like every other house on the street though, time and the harsh elements associated with mountain living had worn it down. From what I’d seen on the inside, Jade was doing her damnedest to restore it to its former glory. Sadly, the project was too massive to be done alone. Good thing she wasn’t alone any longer.

“Did you see Jett before you left?” she asked, lowering herself into the passenger’s seat of my car.

“No. I was already gone by the time he would’ve gotten there.”

“Nelson and Sammy were still okay to drive him home? ”

The fretful way she chewed on her bottom lip reminded me of my mother. I’d watched her do the same thing when any of us left the house after Dad died. Always worried about everyone but herself.

Dropping down to a squat inside of the still opened door, I placed one hand on her exposed knee and the other on the headrest behind her.

“Look at me, Jade.” Gradually, her browns collided with my greens. “There’s an office full of people who care about your brother. If something came up, any one of them would make sure he was taken care of.”

“Thank you,” she sighed.

“For what?”

“Being real.”

“I don’t know any other way to be, Angel. Buckle up.” I winked, then stood, cautiously closing her door before jogging around to the other side of the car.

An uneasy realization hit me as I settled into the seat. Apart from her grandmother, Jade never had another person she could rely on. A partner to ease the burden of not only raising a teenager, but of life itself. Deep down, where dreams grew into reality, I already knew this incredible woman was my epilogue. We just needed to write our chapters. Although, after she thanked me, capturing her heart became my number one priority.

Jade Trumble—soon-to-be Banks—was mine.

Jade

As we entered the nearly deserted courthouse hand in hand, I was strung tighter than a fishing line holding a sixty pound blue catfish on the hook. My distracted state was to blame when the toe of my shoe caught on the metal plate at the bottom of the door, propelling my body forward with alarming speed. A scream stuck in my throat just as a steel arm banded around my waist, hauling me up against an equally hard side.

“I’ve got you.”

If it hadn’t been for Koen’s quick reaction time, I’d have face-planted on the hard marble floor. After steadying me for a moment, he lowered me back to my feet and rejoined our hands.

“Yeah, you do,” I whispered, realizing all too late I’d spoken the words out loud. A low hum deep in his throat was the only acknowledgment of my unintentional utterance, thank God. Trying to explain the significance of his casual phrase would be better left for another day. If ever.

My heels clicked in quick succession as we made our way down a long hallway toward what appeared to be multiple offices. Stopping just outside of the last one on the left, Koen grasped the knob, pausing to speak.

“I know this isn’t exactly what you pictured your wedding day would look like when you were a little girl.” He inhaled quickly through his nose and gave my hand a squeeze. “But if you let me, I’ll make sure you never regret saying ‘I do.’”

With a flick of his wrist, the door swung inward, ceasing all rational thought as the neurons in my brain fired at will, unable to comprehend what they were witnessing.

Tiny white lights twinkled where they dangled on iridescent strings from the ceiling, illuminating the dimly lit room. The sweetest aroma filled the air, drawing my gaze to the dozens upon dozens of wildflowers scattered haphazardly along an honest-to-God red carpet, which ended at an archway filled with silver-and-gold balloons.

It was unbelievable. Never in my wildest fantasies could I have dreamed up a more perfect setting for an unconventional union.

“Koen?”

“Right here, Angel.”

Our height difference was never more evident than it was right then. Tilting my head back to look at him, my eyes stung with the effort it took to retain control over my emotions.

“What did you do?”

“Not nearly enough.” He trailed a finger down my cheek. “You deserve a helluva lot more than Christmas lights and Mylar balloons.”

Gah! This man.

My vision swam as the first tear fell, followed quickly by a second.

“It’s incredible,” I choked out.

Up until a throat cleared in the distance, I could've sworn we were alone. Standing under the archway was the judge—I presumed—dressed in a long black robe, and a man who had his arm casually thrown over her shoulder.

“Sorry to rush you, Agent Banks, but my husband and I have dinner reservations.”

With a gentleness I’d never known, Koen swiped the space under my eyes with his thumb, clearing away the remnants of my sentimental breakdown.

“You ready?”

The answer wasn't a simple yes or no, not when the question defied logic. Here was this gorgeous man, wholly prepared to put his life on hold in order to protect Jett and me. Our own flesh and blood only gave a shit when there was a payday to be had. If I was smart, I’d tell him to run as fast as he could in the opposite direction; to steer clear of the disaster that was my life. Yet, there I stood, unable to do anything except smile and nod. Maybe it was because I yearned for the safety I found in his presence, or maybe it was because a part of me was already half in love with the illustrious Agent Banks. Whatever the reason, I selfishly kept my mouth shut as his hand wrapped around mine, and he led us down the makeshift aisle.

“Ma’am.” He extended a hand in greeting. “This is Jade Trumble. Jade…meet Judge Evelyn Mavis.”

Following introductions, which included the judge’s husband, Leonard, whom I learned was a state prosecutor, the intimate ceremony began. With an exchange of vows and rings—which I was grateful Koen had remembered—we were pronounced husband and wife.

Ten minutes was all it took for our fate to be sealed.

“You may kiss your bride,” the judge called out over her shoulder as she and her husband swiftly left the room.

He must have seen the question on my face because he remarked, “I asked them to leave.” Cradling my cheeks in his hands, he continued, “Our first kiss should be private…intimate.”

Then he proceeded to blow my mind and every one of my previous kisses—of which there were two—out of the water.

His lips were barely a graze, tentatively moving against mine, as if he was sipping a fine wine. Once. Twice. On the third, his tongue licked across the seam and I opened my mouth; drowning in his flavor, his tenderness…drowning in him.

On instinct, my fingers curled through the hairs at the base of his neck, drawing him closer. My body roared to life like a live wire, sizzling and popping as untamed desire threatened to explode from my pores. My panties—already damp—became saturated when he swallowed our collective moans. His large hands tilted my head to the side, demanding more, yet never taking what I wasn’t willing to freely give. Right then, I would have offered up the world.

What could have been hours later, but in actuality was only minutes, we reluctantly broke apart. The room gradually came back into focus, as did the man standing in front of me.

My husband.

“You tasted just how I’d imagined,” Koen tucked a fallen piece of hair behind my ear.

“Oh, yeah? And how was that?”

“Like sin and salvation.”

How was I supposed to respond to such a declaration? I couldn’t, not without embarrassing myself. Instead, I changed the subject.

“Where are you taking me on our date?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“Camden Park?”

I looked toward the flashing lights of the small amusement park, all decked out for the Halloween season, as we stood next to his car. I’d always wanted to come, but there’d never been any wiggle room in my budget for the added expense. The one and only time Jett begged to come with his friends, I ended up working three double shifts to cover the cost. He noticed and never asked again.

“Is this okay? I figured we were both due for a little fun.”

He studied me, assessing every movement for clues. It was strange to watch this self-assured man, this top-notch FBI agent, flounder over his choice for our date, when in all honesty, it couldn’t have been more perfect.

“It’s better than okay, Koen. This is great.” When I smiled up at him, the tension left his body on a breath as he returned my grin with a dazzling one of his own. “But neither one of us is dressed appropriately.”

His grin turned playful in an instant, setting off a round of butterflies in my stomach.

“Come with me. I have an idea about that.” Across the street was a small secondhand boutique. “If nothing here works, there’s a Walmart down the street. My treat. Get whatever you want. Actually, why don’t you pick something for me too?”

“You trust me to choose an outfit for you?”

“Unless you’re planning on dressing me like an eighty-year-old, then sure. Why not?”

Fifteen minutes later, we were in line at the entrance; me in a pair of leggings and a long-sleeve black T-shirt, and him sporting gray sweatpants paired with a red checkered flannel shirt. Both wearing a pair of new to us, used sneakers.

“Aren’t gray sweats a little cliché?”

“Not at all. You look like a hot lumberjack, Koen.”

“Is that what kind of book you’re editing right now?”

“Maybe.” I smirked.

For the next little while, my problems fell to the wayside. We strolled through the park, fingers intertwined, talking about nothing yet everything all at once. He proved to be an expert dart thrower at the balloon pop game, where he won me an oversized stuffed giraffe. Then screamed like a little girl when we dropped out of the sky on the roller coaster. I laughed so hard; my sides ached. It was, by far, the best night I could remember and I never wanted it to end .

When my stomach grumbled loudly, he grabbed a mixture of treats for us to munch on, ranging from fried dough smothered in chocolate sauce to boardwalk fries, and steered us toward a picnic bench beneath a copse of trees.

“Jesus, Koen. Could you have gotten us something a little more nutritious?”

“What? You can’t eat healthy food at an amusement park. It’s sacrilegious.”

“This…” I held up a piece of the delicious dough before popping it in my mouth. “is going straight to my ass.”

“It’s a great ass.” He winked, pivoting the mood from lighthearted to sweltering in an instant.

“Thanks.” I tried to duck my head, but his fingers on my chin stopped the descent.

“You’ve got a bit of chocolate right here.”

Before I could ask where, he licked the corner of my mouth. I shivered at the contact.

“And here.” He did the same to the other side. Then his mouth devoured mine in a kiss much too indecent for public consumption, but there was no way in hell I was stopping him.

“You’re dangerous, Husband,” I breathed against his lips.

“Never to you, Wife.”