Always in my Heart (The Subzero Series, #2) Read online

  “Don’t comment. Our manager, Collin, told me about this place. I thought you might like it.”

  “You thought right.” I say as I move along with the sounds of the music.

  We find a vacant antique brown leather tufted sofa and sit down. Tyler puts his arm around my shoulders, pulling me close to him.

  “Hey there Mac,” A waitress dressed up like a flapper sets a plate of canapés down on the table in front of us. “Can I get a little giggle juice for you and your dame?”

  “Two manhattans please.”

  “Coming right up.” She turns and walks off, the delicate fringe on her dress swinging as she does.

  Tyler picks up a canapé and holds it out in front of my mouth. I lean in to take a bite and, as I do, our eyes lock. He puts the other half of the canapé back down onto the plate. His hands dive into my hair as he brings my face to his, crushing his lips to mine. His kisses are hungry and passionate, like he can’t get enough of them.

  “Hey, yous two,” a bartender calls out; his accent has a New York gangster sound to it, sort of like Lucky Luciano’s. “No hanky panky in my establishment. Yous wanna neck, you save it for the struggle buggy, capiche?”

  “Oh Sal, quit being such a wet blanket,” another bartender says. “You’d be doing the same thing if you had a pretty little tomato like that.”

  “But I don’t, hence the reason I don’t wanna see it,” Sal glances over to me and winks. “You ever decide to tell this poor sap to beat it, you come see me. Ya got that doll face?”

  “I’ll keep that in mind but this one here,” I turn back to Tyler. “He’s a keeper.”

  “Ain’t yous two sweet. Hey Corinne, those two drinks are on me.”

  “You got it Sal.” Corinne says as she places our drinks down in front of us.

  We pick up our glasses and clink them together. I take a sip, closing my eyes as the smoky taste of whisky slides down my throat. Tyler reaches over and trails his fingertips up and down my bare arms.

  “We have to go...now.” Tyler says as I take the last sip of my drink.

  “Is everything okay?” I ask.

  “Yes everything is fine but Sal here says no hanky panky and I’m slowly losing the ability to sit here without touching you.”

  I laugh as Tyler jumps up and grabs my hand, pulling me to my feet.

  “Bye Sal.” I call out as we walk past him.

  “Goodnight Doll face. Yous two come back ya hear? Yous are welcome at my juice joint anytime.”

  ~*~

  We barely make it inside the door to our apartment when Tyler pushes me up against the wall and crushes his lips to mine. He reaches his hand behind my back and in one quick movement he unzips my dress and pushes it to the floor. I grab the bottom of his vest and pull it over his head, discarding it onto the floor with my dress. My fingers quickly move to unbutton his shirt, which he shrugs off as I reach the last button. As I undo his belt buckle, he reaches down to push his pants to the ground.

  Tyler’s hands dive into my hair, pulling my face up towards his as he kisses, nibbles and sucks on my lips. Reaching my hands up, I thrust my fingers into his hair as he dots kisses along my jaw, up towards my ear and bites his way down my neck.

  His hands slowly move down the side of my body, gripping onto my hips as he moves his body closer to mine. He picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist. I kiss and nibble on his neck as he turns and starts walking us down the hallway toward our bedroom.

  He lays me down on the bed and slowly moves up my body, placing soft kisses along my belly, my breasts and my neck. His hands slide along the curves of my body. He pushes my arms above my head, his fingertips traveling slowly up them and when he reaches my hands, he clasps them tightly in his. His mouth finds mine and his tongue slips quickly inside as we begin kissing each other with burning desire.

  Tyler moves away from me long enough to remove his boxers and slide my lace panties down my legs; He tosses them aside and climbs back on top of me. I caress his back slowly with my fingertips and I feel his body shiver underneath my touch. His hands grip my hips as he slides inside of me. I bite my lip as he rocks slowly in and out of me. My back arches, pushing my body even closer to his as a quiet moan escapes my lips.

  Grabbing on to my thighs, Tyler brings my legs up wrapping them around his waist and I wrap my arms around him in anticipation of what he is going to do next. In one swift movement, Tyler rolls us so that I am on top of him. Without breaking rhythm, he places one hand on the mattress, keeping the other one planted firmly on my hip, and moves himself so that he is sitting underneath me. His hands roam up my back and into my hair. He gathers my hair into one of his hands and gently tugs on it, pulling my head back and exposing my neck to him. Leaning in, he alternates between kissing and lightly sucking on my neck. My arms wrap around his shoulders and I run my fingernails up and down his back, just enough to make him shiver beneath my touch. Tyler finds that spot right below my ear that drives me wild and nibbles at it and it throws me over the edge.

  “Tyler.” I gasp.

  He wraps his arms around my waist pulling my body tightly to his. My hands dive into his hair as I press my lips to his, sliding my tongue into his mouth. My body starts to quiver as feelings of ecstasy explode through me, right to my core. Within seconds, his breathing picks up as he joins me.

  We sit there, wrapped up in each other, for a few minutes as we try to catch our breath. I climb off of him and we move to lie down on the bed facing each other. Tyler reaches his hand out and begins to caress my hair. It feels so relaxing that, within moments, I feel my eyelids start to droop and I barely have a chance to tell him I love him again before I fall asleep.

  Chapter Eight – Tyler

  “Hey...hey...blue haired guy...”

  I turn around, confused, trying to figure out who is calling out to me. At first I don’t see anyone but then I notice a stocky man hiding on the side of Jack’s truck. I walk closer, making sure to keep a little bit of a distance between me and him.

  “Can I help you?” I ask.

  He straightens up and takes a couple steps towards me. He glances around nervously and runs a hand through his short brown hair.

  “Do you, ah, do you know Cath Healy?” He asks.

  “Yeeeees.” I reply cautiously.

  “Is she here?”

  “How do you know Cath?” I ask.

  “We’ve...known each other for a long time.” He replies.

  “How?” I ask.

  “We used to be friends.”

  I cock my head to the side and raise an eyebrow. I don’t see it. Cath is all tattoos and pink hair and she’s just...cool. This guy is...boring.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “But you don’t seem like someone she would hang out with.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” A pained look crosses his face as though I may have offended him.

  “I don’t mean anything by it. You just...never mind.”

  “I just what?”

  “It’s nothing, anyway, I don’t know if Cath is in there or not. I haven’t been in myself yet.”

  “Well...can I walk in there with you?”

  I shake my head. “No, sorry.”

  “Why not?” He demands.

  “Because I don’t know you. How do I know you really used to be friends with Cath?”

  He chews on his lip, his brow furrowed, looking deep in thought. Suddenly, his face brightens up a bit.

  “She has a tattoo of an anchor on her right side!” He says excitedly, obviously proud that he has this information.

  I shrug my shoulder. “Yeah, I haven’t seen her with her shirt off so I honestly have no idea if she really has an anchor tattoo or not.”

  He shifts nervously from one foot to the other. There’s something odd about him. He’s acting a bit off, but there’s something else that I can’t quite put my finger on.

  “I just want to talk to her really quickly...to say hi.”

  “Look, I have to go in th
ere now. If Cath is in there, I’ll let her know you’re here and if she wants to talk to you, she’ll come out.”

  The guy nods and moves back to crouch down on the side of Jack’s truck. I stare at him for a moment, trying to figure out what his deal is, but give up and walk inside, shaking my head.

  “Good Morning Clara.” I call out to the reception.

  “Good Morning Mr. McDermott.” She says back.

  I cringe. I have asked her at least a dozen times to call me Tyler but she insists on calling everyone by their last names. I don’t really like it. It makes me feel...old. It also makes me feel like I am more important around this place than I actually am, which I guess isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I don’t really want to be important though, I just want to be the drummer of an amazing rock band.

  “Is everyone in yet?”

  Clara nods. “I think they went up to the cafeteria for some coffee.”

  I take the steps two at a time up to the second floor where the cafeteria is.

  “Hey Cath,” I say as I walk in. “There’s some guy outside asking for you.”

  She furrows her brows. “What guy?”

  “Don’t know his name, he didn’t say and I didn’t ask. He seems to be a bit nervous to me...sort of odd too.”

  Cath sets her cup down and an odd expression crosses her face. “What does he look like?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. Average height, I guess, stocky build, dark hair, and a very unfortunate receding hair line.”

  She looks at Ann and Marie and at the same time they all say “Jesse.”

  “So you do know him? You guys are friends?”

  “No, we are not friends.” Cath says sternly. “We were sort of friends once, years ago, but we aren’t friends anymore. He’s not supposed to be here. He’s not supposed to be following me at all and he manages to show up everywhere we are.”

  “He’s supposed to be engaged or married or something but he’s spent the last few years practically stalking her.” Ann says.

  “What did he say to you?” Marie asks “Cause you can’t trust anything he says. He once told us he had kids when he didn’t, then when we formed our band, he was supposedly formed one too. He kept telling us all of these stories about landing gigs and recording an album and it turns out he made them all up.”

  “He’s been trying to get Cath to date him for as long as we’ve known him. He used to yell out date requests from across parking lots at her and then wonder why she would turn him down. Half the time we couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking,” Ann shakes her head. “Some people just don’t understand what no means.”

  “All he asked me was if she was here,” I say. “Have you filed anything against him?”

  “He’s been given warnings but nothing formal has been filed. I tried but was told he hadn’t done anything to threaten me or my family. He was showing up wherever I was but I had nothing to prove that it was anything other than a coincidence.” Cath says quietly.

  I frown, my eyebrows knitting together. “So he would have to threaten you or harm you for anything to been done? That’s ridiculous.” I say.

  “It’s scary,” Cath says, an odd look crossing her face. “I don’t know how he finds out where I am but he does. I don’t want him here. I don’t want to see him or talk to him. Either he has to leave or I will.”

  I walk over to her and pull her in for a hug, wrapping my arms tightly around her. Cath glances up at me and smiles as she snuggles in to me. It feels strange holding someone else so intimately but she looked like she needed to be comforted and I didn’t know any other way to do it. She is safe here and she needs to know that.

  I hear three very familiar male voices joking around and laughing and I try to back up but I’m not quick enough. Jack, Dean and Noah walk in before I have a chance to move away from Cath. Jack flashes me a dirty look, his eyes radiating with anger. Dean looks disapproving and Noah almost looks amused.

  “Tyler...might I speak with you for a moment?” Jack asks, although it is more of a demanding request than a question.

  “Give me a minute. There’s something I need to take care of first,” I glance down at Cath. “I’m going to go tell him to leave and if he refuses then we can call security.”

  Cath licks her pouty, pink lips and a worried look crosses her face. She places her hands on my stomach and then grabs a fistful of my Ramones t-shirt.

  “You have to be careful,” She begs. “Just because he’s never done anything before doesn’t mean that he won’t and you can’t believe anything he says to you.”

  I nod, wondering what he could say that has her so worried. I turn to walk off but she grabs my shirt again stopping me. She glances up at me, her brown eyes filling up with tears.

  “Please be careful,” she says again. “If anything happens to you...”

  I smile down at her. “I’ll be fine. I can take care of myself. I’m a big boy.”

  Her lips turn up into a wicked smile. “I don’t doubt that.”

  “Ooookay...well I’ll be right back then.”

  I turn again to walk out, this time with Jack on my heels.

  “What is going on?” He demands.

  “Ah, some guy that follows Cath around is here in the lot. She doesn’t want him here so I am asking him to leave.”

  “And the passionate embrace was necessary because?”

  I snort with laughter, which only gets me another famous Jack Riley dirty look.

  “I don’t know what you think you walked in on but there was nothing passionate about that hug. She was upset so I comforted her. It’s what any decent man would do.”

  Jack rolls his eyes and shakes his head. “You don’t think she may possibly be exaggerating things here?”

  “Why on earth would I think that?”

  “Let’s see, maybe because she just hit on you! Don’t tell me you didn’t catch that little innuendo there.”

  I frown, I had caught that. “Yeah that was kind of weird, wasn’t it?”

  I walk through the doors, back into the parking lot with Jack following behind me. I glance around but don’t see Jesse standing by Jack’s truck. Walking a little closer, I see him sitting on the ground leaning up against one of the tires.

  “Hey, it’s Jesse right?” I ask him.

  He jumps up from where he is sitting and wipes his hands on his pants. He moves slowly towards us, glancing warily back and forth between me and Jack.

  “Yeah, where’s Cath at? She’s in there right?”

  I nod. “She is but she says she doesn’t want to talk to you, so you have to go.”

  “I just want to talk to her.” He says.

  “Well...she doesn’t want to talk to you besides, she’s working. Would you want her to bother you at your job?”

  “I would love for her to visit me at work.”

  Okay...clearly I need to figure out another approach. I’m thinking about what to say next when Jack steps forward. He runs a hand through his jet black hair.

  “Two things guy, the first is you need to move away from my truck. The second is that Cath doesn’t want to talk to you. You need to respect her wishes and leave.”

  “Are you sleeping with her?” Jesse asks Jack.

  Jack rolls his eyes and lets out a quick laugh. “No, I most certainly am not. I’m engaged.”

  Jesse turns towards me, sticks his finger out and pokes me in the chest. “Are you sleeping with her?”

  I try to hide my amused smile but I can’t. “No, I have my own girl.”

  “I’m not leaving until I talk to her.” Jesse responds coolly.

  “You can leave or we can call security.” I say calmly.

  “I can be here. You don’t own the parking lot.” He says defiantly.

  I shrug. “Maybe I don’t but somebody does and they probably don’t want you here either.”

  Jesse gives me an odd look. Then his face clouds with anger and turns red as he places his hands on my chest and shoves me.r />
  “Really?” I ask. “There’s no reason to start shoving people.”

  Jesse shoves me again. “You’re the reason she won’t talk to me.”

  “I doubt that,” I say and just because he is starting to annoy me I add. “My guess is it would be because of your receding hair line, the way you shove like a little girl and, no offense, but you are kind of a pest.”

  Jack mutters a couple of curse words under his breath. Jesse’s hands ball up into fists as he starts to shake with anger. He’s face has turned an even deeper shade red and all of the sudden he is charging straight at me. Jesse tackles me, his shoulder digging straight into my stomach, knocking my off of my feet.

  I quickly stand up and turn to walk away but, just as I do, I feel Jesse’s fist collide with my right eye. I turn to him, cock my fist back and hit him in his mouth. Jesse staggers backwards and cries out in pain. He regains his composure quickly and comes at me again. I duck to avoid his fist and he fumbles a bit, falling to the ground.

  “This is fucking ridiculous,” Jack yells out. “Both of you need to stop.”

  “This isn’t your fight.” I say to him.

  “It’s not yours either. Good luck explaining to Abby how you got a black eye because of Cath. I’m sure that’ll go over really well.” Jack says dryly.

  “Stop blaming Cath. She isn’t the reason I have a black eye.”

  I’m so busy arguing with Jack about Cath for the hundredth time this week that I don’t even notice Jesse has gotten back up until he bum rushes me, knocking me to the ground. Sitting on top of my stomach, he puts one hand on my shoulder and punches me in the mouth with the other one. He goes to hit me again, but before he can, someone grabs him and yanks him off of me.

  I sit up to see Jesse being dragged off by one of the security guards. Jack walks over to me and holds out his hand. I grab ahold of it and he helps me up to my feet.

  “You okay?” He asks.

  “Yeah...that didn’t go exactly how I pictured it.”

  Jack laughs. “How exactly did you think it was going to go?”

  I shrug. “Don’t know really. I guess I thought I would ask him to leave and he would.”

  “Well...if someone told you to leave Abby alone would you?”