Saving Grace
A Setup?
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A vibration
in his pocket caused Sands to wake up.
He dug his out his phone and answered it quietly, as not to wake Grace.
“Got something
for me?” he asked softly, knowing it would be Harold.
“More than
you probably want at the moment,” Harold said.
“Why are you whispering?”
“Gimme a
sec.”
“Sure.”
Sands carefully
moved Grace off of him and smiled as he heard a slight sound of protest.
room and found his own. “All right,
tell me what you know.”
“Michael
Crivelli wasn’t bullshitting you – if you were here in the states…”
“Not my
fault that I’m not, well, all right it is, but…”
Harold was
growing irritated. “Sands, knock it
off.”
<
“Oo, testy,
aren’t we.”
“Do you
want to know about this guy or not?”
The tone of
Harold’s voice let Sands know that there was, indeed, a need for concern.
“Looks like
he started out as a lackey for one of the New York families, then somehow got
enough support to run quite a number of operations himself.”
“Support?
“Looks like
the financial led to people.”
Sands spoke
slowly. “Uh huh…and where did this
windfall happen to come from?”
Harold
sighed. “Your baby-sitter.”
>
Sands was
confused. “A couple grand can’t turn
someone into a mob boss…”
“A couple
grand? Where the hell did you get that
figure? Is that what she told you?”
“No, I just
thought…”
“A couple
million is a much closer ballpark figure.”
“What the
hell are you talking about?”
Harold
chuckled. “So she hasn’t opened up her legs
or anything else for you, huh?”
Why
hasn’t she said anything? Why is she…
anything about Harold’s rude question, though Sands never would have found it
rude before.
“Yeah,
really makes me wonder why she decided to take a measly ten grand to take care
of your sorry ass for the week.”
A setup?
“She’s
clean, Sands. But this Michael just
showing up at your door…”
“I’ll call
you later.” Sands hung up the phone and
left it on his bed. She’ll come
clean – now. My usual
interrogation methods aren’t an option – have to try something new.
crawled in beside her.
“Missed
you,” he heard her sleep-filled voice say.
What?
“Mm
hm.” Her eyes still closed, she found
his body and tried to get back into the position she had been in earlier, but
Sands wouldn’t let her. “What’s wrong?”
“Can you
wake up for a bit, Gracie?”
Grace
opened her eyes and sat herself up.
“Jeffrey, what’s going on?”
He smiled
at her, his eyes closed. “I just want
to talk to you, if that’s all right.”
Grace
smiled back at him. “Of course it is.”
“You know,
I opened up to you about my fuck up father and my sister, but all I know about
you is that you came here to get away from the fucker that wound up following
you.”
Grace’s
eyes lit up. “You mean you want to know
more than that?”
Sands
wrapped his arms around her. He lowered
his mouth to her neck and lightly kissed her.
“I want to know everything about you,” he whispered.
to work.
“And I
get?” she asked, teasing.
“Whatever
you want, Gracie.”
You,
Jeffrey…all I want is right here. She
shut her eyes tightly for a moment, shaking away the thoughts.
a few days and you’re really nothing more than a guy I’ve been sleeping
with…right?
“Gracie?”
“Hm?”
start?”
“What do
you do for a living?” Let the lies
begin.
“You’ll laugh,”
she said softly.
“I
won’t.” His tongue traced around her
ear. “I promise.”
“I own and
run a shop.”
“Care to
elaborate on that?” he chuckled.
“I’m a
movie geek,” she confessed. “What I run
is a shop that specializes in memorabilia and things that people pay far too
much for on Ebay.”
“And how’s
business?”
“Not too
bad…not too good either. Honestly, I do
it because I like doing it, not because I need the profits.”
“Everyone
needs profits, Gracie.”
Grace
pulled away from Sands. “Really,
Jeffrey, I don’t. I’m sort of, well,
financially well off.”
He acted
surprised. “You don’t say.”
Grace
sighed. “My father worked in the
diamond district in New York City. He
died of Cancer a few years ago and I…got everything.”
Why is
she telling me this? Does she know that
I know something? “Grace, if you
have no money troubles, then why are you here now, hm?”
Shit,
what am I supposed to say to that? I
can’t possibly love this guy. I don’t
know him well enough…but maybe that’s why I…
He kills! He could be lying
about everything – everything!
Hell, he could work for…
No. This is just me being a
chicken shit about absolutely everything.
People meet and marry in a day, so why is it so ludicrous that I could
actually be falling in love with some rogue CIA agent that had his eyes yanked
out of his head. Oh, right, that entire
thought is just pure insanity…
She
can’t answer me… “Gracie, you
O.K.?”
“I tried to
think that it was about the money, I really did, even though I don’t need
it. It was more like an adventure
though, you know? I mean, I find some
guy on the street – who I honestly think I won’t be able to stand – but I get
offered a…”
Sands’
voice took on a harsh tone. “Jesus,
Grace, do you think that losing my sight takes away my ability to see through
people?”
“What?”
“An
adventure? What kind of lame ass story
is that? This isn’t some fucking
movie! Why are you here?”
Tears began
to roll down her cheeks. “Well, it was
because of you, but now I don’t think that’s the case.”
“Me?” Sands
laughed, coldly. “That’s even less
believable.”
Grace’s
temper flared. “You’re a fucking
lunatic, Sands!”
Sands?
“Someone
has feelings for you and knows damn well that you have them too and you try to
turn everything into something that’s meant to fuck with you!”
“You have
fucking ‘feelings’ for me? This is the
shit you’re trying to pawn on me?”
“Why does
it have to be shit?”
“Look
at me!” he shouted. “That’s why it’s
shit!”
“My God,
you’re even more shallow than I originally thought you were!”
“Shallow?”
Grace got
up off the bed, a nightgown barley covering her. “I’m sorry that your eyes are gone, but how many times do I have
to tell you that it doesn’t matter?”
Sands got
off the bed, finding her with no problem.
He grabbed her rougher than he had intended to.
coming out of your mouth is true?”
Grs
bs
breath caught, but she refused to cry anymore.
“I haven’t given you a reason not to trust me,” she said surely.
“That’s the
problem.” His grip on her
tightened. “I’ve never been more
screwed up I a I am right now,” he growled.
Not scared
of him at all, she asked, “Why’s that?”
He pushed her
against the wall, pressing his body and more than evident arousal against
her. “Because I fucking love you.”