CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I sat on a tree stump, alone, in the woods, away from the others. I really needed time to digest the past week. Everything had happened so fast that I’d not had a chance to think. I was doing rather than thinking.
The first thing I wanted to do was get everyone back to Miami. Then I wanted to spend time getting to know my new family. I couldn’t be sure how Alana would take to me, but I would absolutely give it my best shot.
And then I wanted to spend as much time with Suzanne as possible. When the kids went to bed, I wanted us to sit and talk. I wanted her to know all I had been through, trying to find out what happened. And I wanted to hear about her and what she went through, what she was told, and of course, what happened between her and Veronica. I would eventually have to explain fucking Veronica and all my new friends, but Suzanne had fallen for the same Veronica snare.
“Can I join you?” Juliana asked as she entered the woods alone.
“Eloa send you to get verification you are all sexy as hell.”
“No, but she did tell us you two talked. I wanted to say thank you for not treating us like second class citizens.”
“I take down evil people, not the good ones. And as long as you aren’t harming anyone who gives a fuck what you do.”
“Think you will stay in Miami?”
“For a bit until we can figure out what to do next. Then maybe head out west to Montana or Wyoming where it’s wide open, and I don’t have to worry about people snooping around in my business.” I patted Juliana’s leg and kept my hand there.
“We need your help with something once we are there. We also have a proposition for you.”
“Fire away. I’m willing to help with whatever we can.”
“We’d like to open up a club in South Beach. We’d need your help with getting an LLC and other licensing. We would also like to allow you to be one of the co-owners. The business would be split six ways, and you would get a sixth of the prophets.”
“Veronica could have helped you with that.”
Juliana moved her hand over mine. “As much as Veronica looked out for us, and even cared for us, she never wanted any of us to be successful. She lived in fear of people walking away from her.”
“That’s what her father did?”
Juliana nodded. “We think the reason she came so strongly at you for wronging her father that she was trying to make up for the way he felt about her. She was doing one last thing for daddy, even though he was dead and would never know. She would know, and that’s all that counted.”
“I will run it by Suzanne, but I see no reason why she would be against the idea. She’s a businesswoman herself and would be happy to help you ladies succeed.”
“It’s going to take time with the two of you, Deacon. I hope you realize that.”
“I do, and I’m prepared to wait as long as needed.” I looked up through the trees and could see a sky full of stars. My world was coming back together again. The pain would eventually go away, though the healing had already started.
Suzanne was alive. Alive. I’d never even considered the possibility. I had given up on that idea a year into her disappearance.
“We should get back to the others and make sure we are all on the same page. We have thirty minutes until showtime.”
We all piled into the van and started to the backside of the property where the tunnel ended. We took a route that would keep the noise down and hopefully keep us hidden. The anticipation was making my stomach hurt. In no time at all, I would be reunited with the woman I thought dead, with a son I didn’t know existed. Maybe there was a God, and perhaps he was looking down on me favorably.
We arrived at the meeting point a bit before midnight and stayed in the shadows, but keeping close to the doorway we thought Suzanne would be exiting.
“You doing okay?” Stephanie whispered.
“I don’t know. I’m worried she’s going to get caught. Dragging two kids out in the middle of the night and keep them quiet? You gotta have the brains of a rocket scientist to do that.”
“She will be fine,” Stephanie reassured me. “I would think the tunnel is soundproof, so as long as they make it that far they should be okay.”
Adriana, gun in hand, sidled up next to me. “We’ve got your back on this, Deacon. You’re sweating like a Brazilian soccer player.”
“That’s because it’s hot as fuck out here. How do you stand this weather?”
“I like my men sweaty.” She kissed my ear. “Just a friendly kiss. We all know Suzanne is the love of your life. We enjoyed our time with you.”
