The Redeemable: Part Two Read online

  “Hey, it’s okay. It was a good idea. And Tolliver will come around. He probably just needs time to adjust.” He kissed my cheek, brushing stray strands of my hair behind my ears. “Besides, I totally rock this ninja suit.”

  I gave him a half-hearted smile. “I’m beginning to think you could rock a potato sack.”

  “I did a photo shoot once dressed in an indigo dyed hessian sack, so I can tell you from firsthand experience that I do indeed look great in a potato sack. Itchy as hell though.”

  We waited a little longer in silence, but Tolliver didn't return.

  “Well, we may as well go back up.”

  I headed towards the lift when the doors slid back open.

  Tolliver stood there holding a black workout bag. “Let's take the Escalade.”

  I ran into his arms and held him tight. “I was a little worried you weren’t coming back.”

  He wrapped his free arm around my back and kissed the top of my head. “Cady, don’t you realise that each of us would do just about anything to make you happy? I can give up a car to make you smile.”

  I screwed up my nose. “All you cars. And the boat. And the yacht, bikes and the Jet Ski.”

  His eyebrows rose. “All of them?”

  “Well most of them. Except maybe two. We still need to get around too. But the rest… we’ll be giving them to good homes. I promise.”

  Tolliver sighed. “You better give me this lady’s details so I can sign the Escalade over.” I handed him my phone with all of the details that Oz had retrieved about her from the web. It was a scary amount of detail really. Right down to her social security number, and her driver’s license details.

  Ri laughed. “I’ll be damned. Well, damned again. I would never have thought that Tolliver would willingly give away something for nothing.” He turned from the man in question back to me. “But what I don’t get is why Sam is dressed in a ninja outfit?”

  This was the second part of my plan. If the opposite of Greed was Charity, then the opposite of Envy is Kindness. And kindness doesn’t need to be big and splashy with lots of recognition. Kindness can be just leaving something that would change a person's life on the doorstep. Kindness is helping someone with no reward.

  “Sam is going to deliver the goods. But I didn’t want him to be recognizable, which is hard considering his face is on the side of every bus from here to Alabama. I didn’t think a hat and some glasses were going to be enough.”

  “Don’t you think this lady is going to freak seeing a six and a half foot Ninja at her door?” Oz asked. Good point.

  “Let’s stop at the gas station on the way. We should fill up the escalade anyway.”

  Tolliver finally finished the paperwork. “Let’s roll. It’s almost nine p.m. She’ll be asleep if we don’t get a move on.”

  I piled into the escalade with Sam and Tolliver, and Oz and Ri went in the explorer so we had a lift back.

  I paused as Tolliver placed the gym bag on the back seat. “What’s in the gym bag?”

  He held the door open for me so I could slide into the back. “Twenty thousand dollars and the number to a burner phone in case the baby ever needs any more surgery.”

  That moment right then, standing in the garage of the apartment building, I realized what the guys felt for me might be more than just longing or lust. And what I felt for them might be more than just an overactive libido and oodles of attraction. It might be another L word that scared the shit out of me. They’d forgotten - I’d forgotten - that I was only a temporary thing. My life was temporary. It’s like some part of my psyche decided that I was here now, I was complete with all these guys around me, making sure I was cared for better than any woman could possibly dream of, so I had the right to love them and be loved in return. My psyche was wrong. They couldn’t fix everything. I was still sick. I was still dying. And when I had finally redeemed them all, I would be dead.

  “Hey, what put that look on you face?” Tolliver tilted my face up.

  I forced a smile. “Nothing. I’m just really proud of you right now. But you’re right, we better get going.” I slid in the back of the car, but could feel Tolliver’s eyes watching me, before he shrugged and slid into the driver's seat. He shared a look with Sam, whose eyes sought mine in the rear view mirror. I gave him a smile, and he smiled back. Well, his eyes smiled back. His mouth was still covered by his ninja hood.

  We stopped at the gas station, where Tolliver filled up the SUV with gas and I bought a bunch of flowers. A ninja was scary at nine pm at night, but a ninja with flowers couldn’t possibly be a murderer, right?

  We parked a block away, behind the Explorer, and Tolliver slid out of the driver's seat, handing Sam the keys. He gave the Escalade one last longing look, and slid into the back of the Explorer.

  I handed Sam the flowers, and Oz laughed. “That didn't help, Cady. Now he just looks like a serial killer with a gimmick. You’re going to have to go with him.” He pulled a cap and sunglasses from the glove compartment and stuck them on my head. “There you go. A disguise in the tradition of every bad spy movie ever.”

  We pulled up in the driveway of a house that looked a little run down, but the flower beds were weed free and the yard was tidy. A single light was on in the living room, the rest of the house was in darkness.

  I grabbed the duffle from the back seat and took it to the door with me, placing it on the welcome mat. Sam came and stood next to me.

  “You should knock,” I told him, and he reached over and gave three hard raps at the door.

  “You knock like the police,” I told him. “Or the repo man.” He rolled his eyes at me, and the door swung open.

  Letitia Martin stood there, holding a baseball bat at her side. I didn’t blame her.

  “Can I help you?” She sounded suspicious, and who could blame her. Her eyes never strayed from Sam's Ninja form.

  “Uh, hi Mrs Martin. We are actually here to help you. We have heard about your troubles, and about the problems you've been having with the insurance company, and I think we can help you. Well, I know we can.”

  “Why is he dressed like a ninja?” She asked again, sounding even more suspicious if that was possible. If I knew I had to be at the door, I would have rehearsed a speech or something.

  “I don’t wish to be recognized,” Sam said. “What I do want is to give you this car, and this money on behalf of a wealthy benefactor, in the hopes that we can make your life, and the life of your children, easier. The car is paid for, and legally transferred to your name. The papers are in the glove compartment. The money is all completely legally obtained. The Benefactor just wants to give back to society anonymously, so please don’t try and track him down. Anonymity is important to him and this process. That's all we ask. The rest is yours, free and clear.”

  “There's no catch?”

  I shook my head. “No catch. I know you are the kind of person who has a charitable heart, and it’s only right that we can do the same for you, now that it's your time of need. I know that if you are ever in that position again, you will pay it forward.”

  “How could you possibly know that about me?”

  “I know that until your husband died, your family sponsored three children in third world countries, in honour of each of your own. I know even now you donate what little you can to the Red Cross in times of disaster or crisis. I know that you still give blood even though you are time poor. I know you give change to the homeless man near your bus stop every day, even though you are struggling to make ends meet. The internet is a scary place, Mrs Martin. You can find out all sorts of things about people. You are a good person, and you deserve this.”

  Letitia Martin burst into tears. Huge, wracking sobs that made my own eyes well up. She hugged me so tight that I was worried I was going to crack a rib.

  Then she fell into Sam’s arms, and he held the woman as she cried tears of relief. Something shone in his eye, something that looked like pride, but not in the bad way. Letitia Martin finally pu
lled away with an uncomfortable clearing of her throat.

  “I'm sorry. It's just… it's like God answered my prayers.”

  Huh. Well, it was actually Lucifer in a roundabout way, but I decided not to tell her that. There were fresh tears when she opened Tolliver's duffle bag and saw all the fat wads of cash stacked in there.

  “I can’t take this. It’s too much.”

  She tried to hand the bag back to me but I moved my hands behind my back. Not very mature, but extremely effective.

  “You can take it and you will. You’ll take it for your kids, and their futures. You can squirrel it away for emergencies, or you can pay off your medical bills, or you can just use it to keep you and the kids fed for a year. I don’t care what you do with it, because I know whatever you decide will be the right thing.”

  “Don’t blow it on strippers and cocaine though. And I’d avoid Vegas,” Sam added, and I elbowed him in the ribs.

  “We want you to have it. In fact, the Benefactor has left a phone number in the bag. He wants you to call if your babies ever need any more medical services. We are happy to pay, no questions asked.” I turned to Sam. “We should go.”

  Letitia gave each of us one more hug. “Thank you. It doesn’t seem like enough. I'm afraid that I’ve fallen asleep on the couch and this is all a dream.”

  There were a few more tears and a round of goodbyes before we got to the end of the Martin’s driveway.

  We walked back to the guys in the Explorer a half a block away and the silence in the car was tense. “Was she happy?” Tolliver asked as I slid into the seat beside him, Sam bracketing me in.

  “She was ecstatic. She said to thank you for your generosity. You did a good thing today, Tolliver. I’m proud of you.”

  “She made me want to cry,” Sam said. “And I’m not really sure, but I don’t think Ninjas cry.”

  I reached out and grabbed Sam’s hand too, as Ri pulled out onto the street. “Do you think she will tell the world, even though we kind of asked her not to?”

  “Of course she will tell. I’d be surprised if she isn't already on Facebook updating her status,” Tolliver sighed. “It’s okay. The car was a company car, and it is almost impossible to trace the company back to us.”

  It was eleven by the time we all piled back into the apartment, and I was exhausted. I kissed everyone on the cheek and stumbled back to my apartment. Lux was standing outside my door, leaning against the door jamb, looking impossibly sexy.

  “I’ve missed you.” His quiet voice, with its low gravelly growl, sent shivers down my spine. “I’m tired, but I want to hold you. Can I stay with you tonight?”

  I leaned in and kissed his lips sweetly. “You never have to ask.” I took his calloused hand, a fresh scrape across his knuckles, and wrapped it in mine.

  There were definitely feelings that began with the letter L developing, and the thought scared the hell out of me.

  Chapter Seven

  Friday rolled around too fast.

  I'd spent most of that week with Oz, Tolliver and Sam, working out ways to spend Tolliver's money. Tolliver had been correct when he said Letitia Martin wouldn't be able to help telling social media about her late night visitors, and by the next morning we were trending, and two days after that we were a viral sensation and had been picked up by news stations across the country. They had dubbed Sam ‘The Ninja Robin Hood’ though I thought that was incredibly cheesy. We had researched different charities, dropping tens of thousands all over the place, spreading the wealth country wide by anonymous donation, signing it only “Ninja Robin Hood.” Cheesy or not, we had to own it.

  We hadn't done another home visit, but Oz had been researching worthy recipients whenever he wasn’t making play-throughs for Twitch, whatever that was.

  Tolliver was actually taking it rather well, and had fallen into the role of philanthropic benefactor without too much trouble. Suspiciously easily. The businesses were still turning over a steady profit, and we were having a hard time spending the money faster than he made it. We were going to have to think of a longer term option sooner rather than later.

  In fact, I'd rather be doing anything than what I had to do right now.

  Eli had booked us a conference to see two of my old specialists. I was sitting in the generic specialist waiting room, beige with a pop of cool, calming colors, and seats that can be wiped down easily in case someone loses their lunch all over it. I know I was close to that very scenario right now.

  I knew it was probably going to be bad. It had to be. Because Eli wasn't just busy with work, like I'd thought, he'd been actively avoiding me. Subtly turning in the opposite direction if he saw me coming down the hall, leaving after a short, polite moment if I entered an apartment he was already in. I knew it wasn’t because he didn’t like me, hell when he did look at me there was such longing on his face that it was painful to see.

  This only left one scenario. He'd received the results to the tests he'd ran, and they were bad. He must have said something to the guys at some point during the week, because while they were all extremely affectionate, I had the beginnings of a permanent pash rash, they never pushed to go further than second base, not since my night with Oz.

  Speaking of Oz, he was pacing a circuit of the waiting room again. I was beginning to miss the old Oz, who laid down on any surface he could find. Pacing Oz made me nervous. Eli was already in the conference room discussing my case with the specialists, though even he had seemed reluctant to leave me. The rest of the guys had wanted to come too, but I put my foot down. My soul knew that this wasn’t going to go well, and I would spare them the sucker punch of bad news if I could. I was even making Oz stay in the waiting room.

  The phone rang on the receptionist’s desk, and she motioned to me.

  “You may go in now.”

  I kissed Oz’s head and opened the heavy glass door to the conference room. I took the seat next to Eli, across from Dr Yao and Dr Herstein.

  Dr Yao smiled. “It's good to see you again, Arcadia. How are you feeling?”

  I smiled. “I feel good. Alive.”

  The muscle in Eli’s jaw ticked.

  Even Dr Yao shuffled some papers in front of her uncomfortably. “We’ve reviewed your tests with Dr August, and it appears that the Hodgkin’s has returned. Unfortunately, this definitely removes you from the transplant list, and makes surgery unviable. However, if we get the lymphoma back into remission, there is an experimental procedure we can undertake that might prolong the viability of your current heart.”

  My current heart. She said it as though like it was a phone service provider or something. Like it was something that wasn’t an essential part of me, even if it was failing. My hands began to shake as my heart pumped harder and I moved them to my lap.

  Eli slid his hand into mine under the table and squeezed tightly, though his face maintained an air of cool professionalism.

  Dr Yao was still speaking, and I tuned back into her words. “I suggest you start the chemotherapy again immediately. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that days could mean the difference in this kind of situation.”

  I shook my head. “No. I will start next week. I have somewhere I have to be this weekend, and it isn’t hugging my toilet bowl. I will start them on Monday. I don’t think a couple of extra days are really going to make a difference.”

  And it wouldn’t. What everyone in the room knew but no one was saying, was that the chances of the lymphoma going back into remission were slim. For it to go back into remission for long enough that I could build my strength back up for open heart surgery before I died was even slimmer.

  They were handing me a death notice.

  The meeting went on, but I didn't hear much more. Just the same usual jargon of doses and the best anti-nausea drugs, so on and so forth. I trusted Eli to tell me the important things.

  He looked devastated. Determined, but he was a scientist deep down. He knew that statistics game.

  What felt like seconds a
nd an eternity later, I was shaking hands with the specialists, and walking in a daze back to the waiting room. I hadn't registered a word Dr Herstein had said.

  Eli had one hand under my elbow, as if he was worried I would drop dead right there on the conference room floor. He handed me off to Oz, whispering something in his ear, and Oz’s face went white. But his jaw tensed, and he pulled me into his arms.

  “Let's go get some ice cream. We’ll binge watch Game of Thrones, and tomorrow we will deal with it,” he said against my hair, his words strangled.

  He drove me straight home, despite the promise of ice cream, though maybe he stopped and I just missed it. When we pulled into the garage, Lux was there. He came around to my door and opened it, gently unbelting me and pulling me into his arm, cradling me against his chest like a child. Like he had so many other times already. Big, strong Lux; my savior.

  Then I cried. Huge wracking sobs so like the ones that Letitia Martin had done only days earlier, but with a completely different feeling behind it.

  He carried me to the elevator, whispering to me promises that neither he nor the devil could keep. We arrived in Oz’s living room, and all five of the other guys were there. Even Eli had beaten us home. He must have driven as if the very hounds of hell were chasing him. Which they just might be now. If I died before the time was up, they would all go back to hell, except maybe Sam and Tolliver. I would have to work twice as hard to ensure that at least they were redeemed.

  “I’m sorry,” I sniffled, and Lux grunted. I assumed it meant, “Don’t be stupid you have nothing to be sorry for,” in Lux speak.

  He laid me down on the couch, like Snow White and her seven sins, and the guys surrounded me immediately. So unlike the first time, where they all stood on the periphery, unsure of me and my intentions. Now I had developed a relationship with all of them, selfishly, and I was going to hurt every single one of them. Watching someone die was not pleasant. It was raw and brutal.