I Do, or Dye Trying (Curl Up and Dye Mysteries,#4) Read online

  “I’m happy that you believe in me so much, but I’m a little worried that you think there could come a time when you wouldn’t be the one I wanted. I figured there’d be times that we argue, and possibly moments that we don’t like one another, but I am certain there’ll never come a day that I walk this earth and don’t want you by my side.” I leaned down and kissed his lips softly. “I’ll prove it to you,” I said, knowing that I would need to show him and not just tell him.

  The police had arrived at the café when we got back. I returned the purse to the grateful lady, who introduced herself as Carol from Rhode Island. I felt guilty for lying to the police, but I also knew it was the right thing to do. Hopefully, it was the break that Raymond needed to turn his crap around.

  As our time in paradise came to an end, I began thinking of ways to put an end to the situation with Jimmy. I couldn’t continue to live with the threat hanging over my family. I put the planning and plotting on the back burner until it was the final night of our honeymoon and I could no longer ignore the danger waiting for us to return.

  I held my husband in my arms and made a crucial decision. I needed to find a way to draw Jimmy out of hiding and get him on my turf, so I could take him down.

  RETURNING HOME AFTER TWO weeks of living in our little private oasis in Hawaii was bittersweet. I was excited to see our friends, our pets, and to sleep in our bed again. I was eager to resume filming at the news station and looking forward to the grand reopening of Curl Up and Dye after the renovations. I wasn’t looking forward to the unpleasant intrusions into our life—namely Gabe’s concern that Jimmy De Soto was still planning to strike.

  I felt the tension rising and growing stronger inside him the closer we got to our departure day. He was thinking so hard that I could almost hear the gears grinding and I knew he was working out a plan in his head. He was great at covering it up, but the stress lines around his eyes gave him away. I don’t think he slept more than a few hours the night before our flight home and he didn’t sleep at all on the plane. I expected him to crash hard once we finally walked through the door, but he kicked into Josh gear and started channeling his emotional restlessness into physical activity. Hell, I’d have been okay with that if I was the physical exercise he’d chosen as his energy outlet, but he chose to unpack the suitcase and sort laundry.

  The way I saw it, there were two ways to handle the situation: old Josh would’ve pouted, but new Josh joined in and waited for Gabe to come around because he always did. I just needed to be patient and wait for him to talk or jump him in the laundry room when his guard was down.

  “I need to help with laundry more often,” Gabe said, leaning on the dryer to catch his breath. “Those clothes were clean.” He pointed to the clothes basket beneath him that caught a different type of load. I smiled at Gabe’s splattered cum on the top of the formerly clean, dark clothes.

  I couldn’t resist his pert ass in the air while he was bent over to pull the clothes out of the dryer. “Good thing you have lube stashed in nearly every room,” I told him.

  “Damn good thing,” Gabe agreed.

  I could see fatigue from lack of sleep and a long day of travel moving in fast and hard like the pounding I’d just given him. “Baby, why don’t you go upstairs and start the shower. I’ll join you as soon as I toss these clothes back in the washer.” I smiled wryly at him.

  “Don’t be too long,” Gabe said then dropped a lingering kiss on my lips before he left.

  Telling me to hurry was completely unnecessary because I never missed an opportunity to get wet and naked with Gabe. I tossed the clothes and detergent in the washing machine then fired her up before I snagged two beers out of the refrigerator and headed upstairs.

  “We need a mini-fridge in…” The words died in my throat as my eyes locked on my husband through the glass shower doors. He was sliding his soapy hands up and down his ass crack to clean away the remnants, and it had to be in my top five list of hottest things I’d ever seen.

  Gabe looked up when I didn’t finish my sentence then smirked when he saw where my attention had gone. That smirk grew into a full-on wicked smile as he switched to washing his cock and balls. “You just going to stand there or are you going to bring me one of those beers?”

  “Maybe they’re both for me,” I said, tipping one back for a long drink.

  “I got a longneck for you to drink down,” Gabe said causing me to nearly choke on the beer. “Sorry,” he said when I sputtered. “Too cheesy?”

  “A touch perhaps, but still adorable,” I told him.

  Gabe opened the shower door and crooked his finger at me. “Get in here.” There was no point being stubborn when being with him in the shower was where I wanted to be, and I saw no point in denying myself what my heart, and his, desired most. I expected him to reach for his beer right away, but he took both from me and set them on the shelf. Gabe cupped the back of my head with one large hand and said, “Thank you.”

  “For?” I was being deliberately obtuse to force him to come clean with me.

  “Pulling my head out of my ass again,” he said with a wry smile.

  “Is this about Jimmy?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.

  “Yes,” Gabe admitted. “I want him captured and out of our lives, Sunshine.” The determination I heard in his voice concerned me.

  “You have a plan to do that, don’t you?” I asked.

  Gabe inhaled deeply and released his breath slowly, but I wasn’t sure if it was done to calm himself or delay the freaked reaction he was sure to get from me. “Okay, don’t freak out…”

  “No conversation that starts with those words ever goes well, husband of mine,” I told him. The constipated face he got when he was concentrating faded into a beautiful smile. “What?”

  “I’ll never get tired of hearing you call me your husband or hearing you say that you’re mine,” Gabe told me. He pressed his lips to my forehead, knowing damn well what a sucker I was for those kisses. He was trying to disarm my defenses before I fully erected them. “I love you so damn much, which is why I just can’t sit back and allow Jimmy to strike whenever it’s convenient for him. I need to go on the offensive.”

  No amount of forehead kisses was going to prevent the shiver of fear that worked its way through my body after hearing those words. “How do you plan on doing this?” I asked.

  Gabe’s eyes took on a faraway look when he said, “I need to find a way to draw him out of hiding.”

  “Baby, have you given serious consideration to the possibility that Jimmy was heading north for Canada and not Ohio? It’s been more than a month and what would be the point of waiting? He’s had plenty of opportunities to hurt us and hasn’t taken them,” I said softly.

  “I wish you were right, but I saw his hatred for me when we locked eyes in Miami. Escaping to Canada is a lot less probable than escaping by boat to the Bahamas. He didn’t just disappear into the Smokey Mountains either. I want him on my turf and on my terms, but I need to do it in a way that doesn’t jeopardize you or anyone else in this community.” Gabe blinked, and his eyes met mine. “It’s the only way.”

  I wasn’t keen on the idea at all. Gabe made it sound like he wanted to paint a large red target on himself and parade around. The idea terrified me, and I wanted to argue that there had to be a better way, but I saw the determination in his dark gaze and the resolution in his firm jaw. The only thing I could do was give him the support he needed and hope Jimmy was captured soon.

  The next morning, I decided to head to the grocery store by myself when it looked like Gabe might sleep until noon. I figured he needed the rest so he could go Clint Eastwood on Jimmy, but Gabe wasn’t amused when he woke up, and I was gone. I had discovered some new music while in Hawaii and smiled when my new ringtone for Gabe went off. I just loved the peppy music and words in Anuhea’s “Simple Love Song.” He was surly on the phone when he demanded to know where I’d gone, then annoyed that I didn’t wait for him.

  “I w
asn’t aware that you liked to grocery shop so much,” I said to him as I looked through the assortment of green apples. I could tell I was going to have to bring out my big guns to calm him down. “Or are you mad that you didn’t get your morning blow job?” A startled gasp reminded me that I needed to keep my voice down. “You should try it some time,” I said to a retreating Mrs. Adams, whose back was as stiff as her unfortunate-looking helmet hair.

  She was one of the few openly hostile people in my town that weren’t afraid to tell me what they thought of my “lifestyle.” I hated that terminology. I couldn’t change who I was any more than she could change herself. I’d never make her understand that I was born to love Gabe. I preferred people show their true colors, rather than be nice to my face only to cut me behind my back. I normally just ignored her attitude, but I wasn’t in the mood that day.

  “Josh,” Gabe said in a warning tone.

  “Gabe, I’ll be extra cautious, but I won’t be a prisoner to fear. I’m going to buy groceries so we can have a fun time catching up with our friends when they come over for dinner tonight.”

  “Dinner?” Gabe asked.

  “It’s Sunday,” I told him using my duh voice.

  “I know what day it is, Sunshine. I just figured you’d want to take tonight off since we just got back from our honeymoon.”

  “Never,” I said like it was the most shocking thing I’d ever heard. “Our friends want to watch us open the gifts they bought us for our wedding, and they want us to feed them.” I had the text messages from Chaz, Kyle, Deanna, Mere, Emory, and Sally Ann to prove it.

  “Okay, we’ll just keep it simple with hot dogs and hamburgers or something,” Gabe said.

  It was my turn to gasp like Mrs. Adams. “Our friends have come to expect nicer food than hot dogs and baked beans.”

  “Our friends love us regardless of what we serve,” Gabe said. “I bet they won’t even know if there’s any meat offered at all if you make your baked macaroni and cheese.” I ignored the door he opened with his meat comment and got to the heart of his meaning.

  “Gabe, do you want me to bake macaroni and cheese to go with the pork chops I picked out?” I asked.

  “Maybe, if it’s not too much trouble,” he said. “I don’t want you to spend all day working on a cheese sauce.”

  “I promise you that it’s no problem,” I told him as I headed to the frozen food section in the store. He already learned my truth about my quick fix for mashed potatoes on a weeknight. It was time he learned the secret to my macaroni and cheese. A marriage built on lies was destined to fail.

  “Be careful, Josh. Be alert to everything around you,” he said, but I was only partially listening because I had locked eyes with Laura Sampson. “I will.” Then I told Gabe that I loved him and disconnected the call. “Hey, Laura,” I said when it was obvious from her expression that she wanted to speak to me.

  “Congratulations on your marriage,” she said sweetly. “I hope you both will be truly happy together.” I had only seen her a few times since Billy was arrested, and although we were always cordial, I felt awkward in her presence. Gossip about the status of her marriage to Billy was practically nil, and I didn’t want to know anyway.

  “Thank you, Laura. I appreciate that very much.” I offered her a wide smile and hoped that was the only thing on her mind so I could get going, but I wasn’t so lucky.

  “He’s sorry for what he did to you, Josh,” she said softly while looking at her feet.

  “For which time, Laura?” I asked, unable to keep the bite of temper out of my voice.

  She snapped her eyes up to meet mine again, and I saw so much sorrow in her expression that I regretted my tone immediately. “I’m pretty sure all of it. Billy wrote you a few letters from jail, but they detained them before they were mailed to you.”

  “You think?” I asked her. “He admitted to stalking and harassing me. I’m no expert on our penal system, but I’m pretty sure that it’s frowned upon for inmates to reach out to their victims.” Laura flinched, and I was reminded just how much of a victim she was also. She wasn’t my enemy. I moderated my tone and said, “Laura, I hope that Billy is truly sorry for the things that he did to both of us, but my happiness isn’t contingent on it. I made my peace with the past and the things he did, and I don’t care if he’s happy or not. I do care about your happiness and that of your children. If you ever want to talk about you and your kids, I’m game, but discussing Billy—past or present—is off-limits.” There was one thing that nagged at the back of my mind that only she or Billy could answer. “Except for one thing,” I amended.

  “Okay,” she said hesitantly.

  “How’d you guys live here for six months without me knowing it? I own the business that’s at the epicenter of gossip.”

  “Billy was adamant about not living in Blissville,” she told me. “I knew he was trying to avoid seeing you. We rented a house that was far enough in Carter County that it had a Goodville zipcode. I don’t know why Delaney never talked about Billy to you during her visits; maybe she suspected there was something between you.” That wasn’t likely because publicly Billy had treated me like shit. “We did all of our shopping in Goodville, and he had no reason to come to Blissville until the time he dropped the kids off to Delaney at your salon. He deteriorated quickly after that. Josh, I’m…”

  “Please don’t say that you’re sorry.” I could see the apology in her eyes and hated that she thought any of it could be her fault.

  Laura nodded slowly and pasted a trembling smile on her lips. “Anyway, I won’t keep you. I just wanted to tell you that I’m happy for you.”

  “Thank you,” I said again. “I’ll see you around.” We didn’t attempt an awkward hug or anything; we just continued with our original destinations.

  My mind wanted to stray to the conversation I had with Laura and the things that were left unspoken at my insistence, but I promised Gabe that I’d be alert to what was going on around me. As much as I hated whatever scheme he, Adrian, and John would come up with that evening, I agreed that we couldn’t keep looking over our shoulders every two seconds.

  Gabe helped me pack the groceries in the house once I got home. The look on his face when he saw the box of frozen macaroni was priceless. His jaw practically hit the floor like a cartoon character. “You’ve been serving me frozen macaroni and cheese all this time?” he asked. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Gabe, we’ve been a couple for less than a year,” I told him. “I might’ve served this to you three or four times.” His crestfallen expression seemed extreme compared to my crime. I stood straight and put my hands on my hips. “What did you do?”

  “What makes you think I did something?” he asked, but the guilty expression in his eyes gave him away.

  “Spill it, Husband Hot Lips,” I demanded.

  “Dorchester and I might’ve entered you and Deanna into a macaroni and cheese contest,” he said sheepishly.

  “Why would you do that after Deanna was humiliated last time?” I asked in stunned belief. “Oh my God, now it’s my turn to be humiliated.”

  “Well, I…”

  “Maybe she’ll show me the same mercy I showed her,” I said to Gabe. “You better hope so anyway,” I told him. I debated putting the frozen pasta in one of my baking dishes but decided against it. That kind of devious behavior would only encourage the jackasses more.

  It turned out that I didn’t have anything to worry about because Deanna unpacked an identical aluminum foil pan to the one I bought from the store. We shared a glass of wine and a good laugh over the incident before the other guests arrived. Gabe looked at me hopefully when he popped into the kitchen to get two more beers out of the refrigerator. He thought all the laughter meant that I forgave him. I narrowed my eyes that let him know he could expect retribution later that night. Unfortunately for me, he seemed more excited about his punishment than sorry about his actions.

  I KNEW WHAT THE look that Josh sent me in the kitchen
meant. I loved how he thought I would be intimidated. Instead, my head went into hyperdrive wondering what he’d do to torture me once he got me alone upstairs, or anywhere in the house for that matter. We had free range fucking until we decided to have a family.

  “Why’re you looking so damn happy suddenly?” John asked when I returned with his beer. “You went in with your tail tucked between your legs and came back out… Ohhh.” He winked playfully.

  “Not that,” I told him. “I wouldn’t be back so quickly if that was the case.” I handed his beer to him and said, “Our spouses have duped us both when it comes to the macaroni and cheese.” I shook my head sadly then told John what I saw in the kitchen.

  “What?” John asked. “Do I even know my wife at all?”

  I could’ve let the silly competition between spouses go and look forward to my punishment, but I found that I liked giving John a hard time. “I bet Josh makes better potato salad than Deanna.”

  “Without a doubt,” John said, not taking the bait. “I’d say baked beans, but I know for a fact she buys those in a can.” He thought for a minute and said, “Chili cook-off. Technically it’s fall, even if the temperatures are warmer than normal.”

  “Halloween party slash chili cook-off,” I countered. “Anyone can enter their chili for judging.”

  “Who’s going to be the judge?” John asked.

  “We’ll find impartial judges,” I told him. I freaking loved the idea once it took root. “I think we should have a costume party too so that you guys stand a chance at winning something.”

  “You’re a boastful son of a bitch when it comes to Josh’s cooking, aren’t you?” John asked.

  “It’s not boasting if it’s the truth and I’ve asked you to stop calling my mother such harsh names,” I said good-naturedly. “It’s Martina, Mrs. Wyatt, or Mom; never bitch.”

  John threw his head back and laughed heartily. “Okay, I won’t make that mistake again.”