Blind Spot, page 17
“I was the best Sebastian I could be,” he said, grinning as he turned and spotted Naomi. She stopped as well, spotting Makayla in the crowd.
“Hey girl! Did you see me out there dancing?”
Jerry stood up and walked over to Slow. “We don’t know you at all. I had no idea you could dance like that...did you?”
He was talking to Cherry.
“Yes, I did know,” she said with her cheeks burning.
Rebekah too had moved closer to her brother. She embraced him, looking at all the people who’d shown up to support not only his daughter’s first performance but to also support her big brother. Her arms went around his waist she kissed him on the cheek.
“So, you did get your happily ever after?” she asked.
“Close, but there are a few pieces that need to get placed,” he said, looking at Cherry.
Mark, not to be left out of the love fest spoke up, “Okay, everything is done at the house. I’m going to put the meat back on the grill to heat it up, but dinner is ready. Let’s head home, family.”
“Can we come?” Scarlet asked.
Slow stared at her mutherfuckingly, then altered his face. He actually smiled at her, and said, “Please do.”
Jerry and Luca piped up, “We’re coming too!”
Carlotta added, “Free food. I’m in! Can I call my husband to meet me there with our son?”
“Why not?” Slow said, looking at Cherry. He grinned at her, using his finger to call her to him. “This is our family.”
“This is our family,” she said as he took her left hand, the move so subtle as he slipped the ring on her finger.
“The details we’ll work out later. I just wanted you to know right now that I love you,” he said, hugging her. He kissed her and for the first time, Naomi saw affection between her parents.
“Ohh, are you two going to make me a little brother? That’s what happens when you kiss on the mouth,” she said nodding her head.
“Come here child,” Cherry said before Naomi could open her mouth to say another word. In her parents’ arms, she felt the love.
It may not have been the ideal fairy tale or the happily ever after everyone expected, but the beauty of telling the story is sometimes you don’t know how it ends. The happy ending for one may simply be the beginning of the story for another. For Michael Isaac Neary, he received the blessings he sought, and he had a family.
He could close the book and smile in satisfaction, knowing his blind spot had been patched, and he could see clearly now. The future for him looked bright. At the end of the day, he was good with all of it as he sat at the window, staring mutherfuckingly at his boss, who was flirting with the woman who would soon be his wife.
A small smile came to the corner of his lips as he imagined his favorite knife in hand, the blade to his boss’s throat, and Cherry standing next to him holding two 9 mm’s. The bad guys had rolled into town and they had to fight their way out of the fray. His eyes twinkled at the thought of he and Cherry working side by side to take out the trash of the world. The fantasy was interrupted by the sound of his daughter’s voice. She spoke to Makayla’s parents, who had arrived at the home of Mark and Ruth Neary.
His daughter made the introductions like a champ, and when she reached his side, he got to his feet. Proud, her tiny chest swollen with boastful indignation, she let Makayla’s father know where he was and who he was meeting.
“This is my Daddy,” Naomi said. “Him name is Michael Isaac Neary.”
“You can call me Michael,” he said, giving a warm smile to the parents of his daughter’s bestie. To all in the room, Michael worked for Homeland Security. Privately, known to only a few, he was a member of the Southeast Construction Crew of the technicians, a covert arm of the CIA whose primary task was to keep the scales balanced in America, although, by rules, the CIA didn’t operate on American soil. He shook the man’s hand, taking his time as he took him all in, but that was his way; he was never one to rush. The code name given to Michael Isaac Neary was Slow.
This was the perfect handle for the man, which was also the way he enjoyed living his life, a life that had changed in the past month and he wouldn’t have it any other way. He’d flipped through pages, ran over rough chapters, and sifted through the plots of dust aimed at ruining the ending of his story. Through it all, he’d remained steadfast in his quest. The reward was there. The damsel was no longer in distress and was sitting happily on her throne in the three-bedroom home he called his castle. In the end, Slow had gotten his happily ever after, which was all the hero ever truly wanted.
-Fin-
Epilogue
All in all, it hadn’t been a bad day. Naomi shined in her very first dance recital and her grandparents got to see her having fun. His work and home life were starting to merge into one, and somehow, Jerry, his boss had managed to finagle an invite on the next deep-sea fishing trip with his dad. As hard as he tried to keep the two lives separate, everything was starting to merge into one really fucked up family.
To make matters worse, he arrived home to find not one, but two black Ford F-150’s in his driveway.
“Does everybody know where I flip the frog live?” he said, pulling in and placing the SUV in the park.
Cherry leaned forward in the driver’s seat noticing the Michigan plates. “Do I need to be worried?”
“Not, it will be fine,” he replied.
Shenita tugged on the back of his seat, leaning forward and whispering, after seeing the Ohio plates on the second vehicle, “Do I need to be worried?”
“No, it will be fine,” he said to Shenita.
“Will those people try to kiss me? I think I’m worried,” Naomi said.
“Not, Bunny, it will be fine,” he said, looking over at Cherry. He didn’t have time to warn her about what was going to happen. In some ways, he wanted to get it over with and deal with the rest later, but they were here, and today, they would be family; one way or another. “Let’s face the music.”
Three doors opened as they stepped out of the vehicle. Cherry, knowing the safety locks were engaged on Naomi’s door, let her out, taking her from the booster seat and placing her feet on the ground. The driver’s side doors of the Ford trucks opened, allowing a tall man out of one and a tall thick woman out of the other.
Slow looked back at his family. “Play it cool,” he said to all three.
The tall man reached the front porch first, opening his arms for Slow, who walked into the embrace, accepting a kiss to his temple. Naomi said, “Eeww,” hoping the man didn’t want to kiss her too. He didn’t but looked at the child and offered a smile. Slow, leaving the embrace, entered his home, turned off the alarm, and started a fire. Shenita headed to the kitchen to start the coffee, and Cherry pulled out the remainder of the coffee cake with plates. Her boss had arrived and didn’t look happy.
“I didn’t make introductions; do I need to?”
“It would help,” Shenita said, looking at the woman who was scarier than any female needed to be.
Slow took a seat at the table, encouraging the others to join once Cherry returned from putting on a movie for Naomi. Slow scratched his head, ready to hear the bad news. But first, he made the introductions.
“These are the Archangels,” he said to Shenita. “Mine is Gabriel and Cherry’s is Azrael. Very seldom are two in one place, so this must be a come to Jesus meeting without Jesus.”
“Jesus is aware,” Azrael said.
Slow asked, “And his command would be?”
“Figure this out. Cherry is Kentucky. Kentucky has too many techs, which leaves Indiana not covered,” Azrael said.
“And? Yield is a member of the Southeast crew and lives in Pennsylvania. He was on an assignment in Missouri, which is technically not the south, where Stop lives,” he told Azrael. “Lexington is on the Indiana border. She can still cover the state with a quick drive.”
“It’s not always that simple,” Azrael said.
“Oh, it’s that simple for men but not her? Please tell me you’re not going that route,” Slow said to Cherry’s surprise at him taking a stand for her.
“What if she decides to have another child?” Azrael asked. “I was wondering why she was so tight-lipped about the father, and now I know.”
“If she decides to have another child, then she has another child. A belly does not stop her from pulling a trigger. You can treat it the same way Yield was handled when he got shot in the leg; she takes time off to heal,” Slow said, staring at Azrael mutherfuckingly.
“You’re intense.”
“I’m not one to be fucked with if that’s what you mean,” Slow replied.
“Not trying to get in the way of your groove,” Azrael said, “and besides, it works out. We’ve kept an eye on your place over the past week and it is being watched. There was a break-in the other day, and Shenita, whoever it was, took all your underpants, the dirty ones too.”
Slow blinked several times, wishing Shenita didn’t have to hear it, but she needed to know the truth. The ugliness of it all was not going away with a wish. This is where she was going to have to face the reality of what had happened to her before she could start to heal.
“I’m sorry. I don’t understand what this means,” Shenita said honestly.
Gabriel leaned forward, his forearms on the table. “It means, Ms. Nelson, we are going to have to kill you, end your old life, and give you a new identity.”
“Why? He just gets away with what he’s done, and I have to run for my life? The other women, did you save them, free them from that freak?”
“No, he got away and took the women with them, but he seems to be a bit obsessed with you,” Azrael said. “There’s evidence of DNA left on your bed.”
“Enough!” Slow said. “All we need is a trail. Tell me you have one so Shenita doesn’t have to live in fear.”
Shenita had begun to cry, and Cherry moved closer, wrapping her arms around her cousin. Azrael removed a manila envelope, which included seed cash, a checkbook, and a few other items to get Shenita on her way to a new life.
The new name read Helen McDaniel, complete with a driver’s license, passport, and membership card to Sam’s Club. She was angry. She wanted to kick the shit out of something, but instead, she got calm, the scary kind of calm when your girlfriend says she’s fine, and you know, nothing will ever be the same again. Cherry felt the same way, looking over at Gabriel. Her brain was clicking, and suddenly, everything hit her all at once.
“What!” she yelled.
Slow turned and stared at her, wondering what took her so long to add it all up. He was bored by it all. She looked down at the ring on her finger, at Gabriel, at Slow, and then at Shenita.
“Are you frickin’ serious?”
“Well, he’s here,” Slow said, “so that pretty much sums up why he came and to baptize Bunny.”
Azrael smiled, something she should never do in the presence of other people. “I think this will be a first, two techs married covering two different states.”
Cherry was beside herself. “Right now. This man, wait, your cousin, is that Gabriel? Your cousin is the Archangel who is also the fixer for The Company?”
“He is.”
“Gabriel, your brother is Mile Marker?”
Gabriel nodded. “Ah, you met Zeke.”
“You’re planning to marry us right now,” she asked as a manila envelope was added to the table. Inside, she found the marriage certificate, her new identification, and her social security card for Abigail Neary. She was married on paper. “This is not fair. What if I wanted a wedding or to fly off to Vegas?”
“Abigail, you can still have those things because I want those things, but in the eyes of the Lord, you can’t share my bed with the child in the house and not be my wife,” Slow said, staring at her and trying his best not to burst into laughter.
“So, I could share your bed if the child wasn’t?”
“We talked about this, and you agreed to put in the work,” Slow said, damn near chewing on his bottom lip.
“Son of a chili maker! Let’s get this done,” she said, getting to her feet.
It took five minutes for the ceremony and another twenty to unload the weapons cache Azrael had brought from her home. The life she had would be wiped and anything of value rested in a plastic container on the floor in front of her. The house she didn’t own but rented. The plan had been to purchase one for cash money, but that wouldn’t be necessary now.
Shenita didn’t understand as she sat quietly waiting for the company to leave so she could speak privately with her cousin. The Collector shouldn’t be free to hurt people. He shouldn’t have free reign to collect women to break their spirits to serve him. The man needed to be gone.
Cherry came and sat beside her.
“I will give you all the cash she gave me to start up my life,” Shenita told her cousin. “I want to hire you to find that bastard and end his ride of terror.”
“You don’t have to pay me, Shenita. I found you, and I shall find him,” she said, moving closer.
“When you find him, I want to be there to free those women. They are expecting me to come back and help them. They helped me get away, I want to free them,” she said. “They deserve to be free.”
“Don’t worry, cuzzo, I’m going to get that fucker. I’m going to get him good,” Cherry whispered.
The Cherry on Top was an excellent sniper. Those who knew her skillset also was aware she was an excellent tracker. It wouldn’t take long to pick up the trail of The Collector. She’d learned a few things about him already. How he liked to shop, the items he preferred to buy, and the products he used on the women’s skin. The Collector also didn’t eat a great deal of meat which meant, unless he had a garden, he had to shop frequently. Plus, she had his DNA.
Stanton Rogers had been made. Cherry had his name. Soon he would be in her crosshairs.
Then, he would be dead.
- The End ––
Book Club Questions
How well do you think Slow handled becoming a father and stepping up to the plate?
Naomi blossomed living with her father. What do you attribute to her transformation?
Do you think women have been programmed not to tell or speak up when faced with uncomfortable situations?
Slow’s co-workers learned more about him in 10 days than they had in ten years. What is your take on how they handled the discovery of who he is as a man?
Slow’s parents were really accepting of his “family.” Tell me your thoughts on Ruth?
Do you think Slow stepped into the role of father so easy based on his relationship with his own father?
What do you think Slow whispered in Cherry’s ear when they were in bed?
Meet Olivia Gaines
Olivia is a USA Today Best Selling, Emma Award and multiple award-winning author who loves a good laugh coupled with some steam, mixed in with a man and woman finding their way past the words of “I love you.” An author of contemporary romances, she writes heartwarming stories of blossoming relationships about couples not only falling in love but building a life after the sensual love scene.
When Olivia is not writing, she enjoys quilting, playing Scrabble online against other word lovers and spending time with her family. She is an avid world traveler who writes many of the locations into her stories. Most of the time she can be found sitting quietly with pen and paper plotting more adventures in love.
Olivia lives in Hephzibah, Georgia with her husband, son, grandson and snotty evil cat, Katness Evermean.
Learn more about her books, upcoming releases and join her bibliophile nation at www.ogaines.com
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Upcoming Releases
Arkansas Bound for the Spring!
This is Adriano’s foster brother; you know the one with the toe from Katy Mae’s story? Well, him is getting a bride.
He already met her, and spent the afternoon, then, it gets wacky.
Coraline... a foul-mouthed McCaw name Matey, and a best friend who say one word at a time. (Giggles)
Guess who this is?
Rhapsody Willis! I never said what she did for a living. She is the only family member, outside of her father, who does play a musical instrument, that doesn’t work in music.
Rhapsody is a campaign manager.
Jeremy Husking wants to be the next Governor of Nebraska.
How is this going to even work?
Here, hold my laptop!
Follow the Series
Earn the Mile Marker Badge Here
Earn Mr. Slow’s Badge Here
The Technicians Return in 2024
We are leaving the Southeast and headed to the Great Lakes...well, kinda, sorta, and eventually.
Cherry has a score to settle as well as settling in to her new life as wife.
Shenita is healing.
Bunny is blossoming.
Slow is happier than he could have ever imagined.
However, Cherry needs to come to Jesus to settle her tab.
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Olivia Gaines, Blind Spot
