Knowing how much Dan’s deceased wife Carol loved every small scene casting Diego into a usually ill-fated affair, Nick made Diego’s next venture in the company of a woman forced on him by happenstance. Diego had to earn her trust in order to find where his prey were hiding without revealing his true identity. In doing so, Diego began to lose his way, caring for the woman more in each scene. Nick’s fingers worked the keyboard with an intensity lacking somewhat in his writing lately. When Deke moved at his feet, he knew he was not alone. He saw the time on his laptop only slightly after 6 am.
“Someone’s an early bird this morning, as usual. Only Deke bumping your leg alerted you to my stealthy approach, Muerto.” Rachel threaded her arms around him from behind, reading from the screen over his shoulder. “Oh Diego, you cad. He’s leading that poor woman, Fatima, into his dangerous cat and mouse killer game. She’ll fall desperately in love with him, revealing at his insistence every secret in her life.”
“Hey! What the hell?” Nick reached around to grip the backs of his wife’s bare legs, his fingers gliding in satin smooth touch along her skin. “I’m writing this story, and none of what you said is happening… well… maybe a little, but it’s not what you think. Diego’s falling for her. I’ll make Fatima into a Black Widow, a woman with a voracious appetite for feasting on trusting men, caught in her web of deceit. Diego won’t have a prayer.”
Rachel moaned, hugging Nick tighter as his hands continued their soothing journeys. “I don’t… believe you. He’ll put a bullet in her head soon.”
“He will not. Did Quinn, the unborn alarm clock drive you from your bed, Dear?”
“Of course. He’s becoming as loveable and annoying as you are. I have a feeling I’m going to be a couple weeks early. Jean was a week early.”
“Wow, that’s going to cut it close.” Nick spun off the chair, reversing the hold on Rachel, his hands opening her robe to begin their work at the front, again with feathery strokes. “I’m not sure when we’ll be leaving for Washington. I have to call Cassie. When we go to your next Lamaze class on Tuesday, we need to ask the instructor what she thinks.”
“She doesn’t know shit! Lisa’s had one baby, and the woman acts like she’s been popping out babies alone in a cornfield every year. I’ve had a baby. We’re only going to the stupid class so we can get synched together on the breathing, and what you’ll need to do when I’m goofy with pain. I’ll make it through the trip to Washington. Now come to bed, and help me relax after mentioning the Earth Mother Lisa.”
“Okay,” Nick agreed, following Rachel toward the stairs with Deke on his heel, “but it’s never a bad idea to seek the advice of experts. Just sayin’.”
Nick prevented a spinning, gasping attack of outrage, holding onto his incensed Rachel in a tight, but supportive hug. “I didn’t know I could ring your bell so easily with just the mention of the Earth Mother. The all-knowing, all-caring brood mother of the earth’s ‘Clan of the Cave Bear’.
Rachel relaxed in his arms with a giggle at his reverent chant of their Lamaze instructor. “Maybe I am being too rough on the arrogant, condescending little-”
“Woe there, my lady.” Nick prodded her onward in their bedroom journey. “You’re working yourself into a state even I, the proficient and caring, long suffering Nick can’t relax you from.”
“We’ll see.”
*
“Nick’s late,” Gus announced unnecessarily for the consumption of his two bundled friends, John and Dan. “Nick’s never late. Plus, he volunteered to bring the coffee.”
John pulled a flask out of his jacket. “Take a hit of this, Payaso. It will make you less grumpy.”
“I love you, man.” Gus took a swallow, his eyes watering. “Oh my. I feel better already.”
John accepted his flask from Gus, taking his own pull of it before offering it to Dan.
“I’m fasting for a few days, John. Thanks anyway. Here he comes now.” Dan gestured at the steep road leading down to what was now known as Carol’s beach. “He brought the family with him. Nick’s become quite the family man.”
“Yeah, he’s a saint,” Gus replied, making gagging noises. “Give me another hit, John. Dan’s fawning over Nick has left a rotten taste in my mouth.”
“They sell that stuff called Listerine for that ailment,” Dan fired back. “It wouldn’t hurt you to get acquainted with your toothbrush again either, Payaso.”
The three of them were enjoying Dan’s dig as Nick supported Rachel across the empty coastal road with Jean holding Deke on leash while waving at the three men. They joined together in the usual morning greeting and banter. Nick held up a huge thermos, he extracted from his backpack, while Deke and Jean skittered down along the actively high waves of an unfriendly beach morning day.
“I have the elixir of great things in this jug, my friends, along with carting down beach chairs, because I knew none of you lazy bastards would bring your own seat. My assistant, the lovely Rachel, has deigned to provide ceramic cups for this wonderful encounter. While we enjoy this rather bleak, wind driven morning, I will contact my agent, Cassie. We listened to the news all morning… I mean most of the morning. They haven’t found the thug deposits yet. Have any of you heard anything different?”