She looked up at him, and he saw the pain in her eyes. “I want to be clean, Anthony. I want to go to a rehab facility far away from here, and when I get out, I can get myself a regular job and enroll somewhere and take some classes.” A single tear ran down her cheek.
Anthony looked sideways at Christy and saw her smile and nod.
“You got it. I’ll pay for you to get into a good facility,” he confirmed to Shasta.
“And, we’ll help you when you get out, too,” Christy added. “We'll make sure you have a nice place to live in a decent neighborhood, and we’ll pay for you to go to any school you want.” Christy handed Shasta a tissue to wipe the tears that were coursing down her bruised cheeks.
After Shasta composed herself, Anthony told Christy to wait in his truck. He would drive them home and have her car delivered later. He stayed to talk to Shasta to see if there were any more details, even the smallest, that she could remember. She was more than willing to give it some more thought. Especially if it meant Dr. V would be getting what she had coming to her.
Anthony pulled Christy close as he drove them home. He was surprised that she didn’t burst into tears or tremble like she had after the recent incident at Grizz’s motel. But then he told himself that if he was changing, maybe she was too. He knew she was strong willed and stubborn, but he hadn’t realized how much until he heard her challenge Andrew.
After they arrived, they took a shower together and he inspected every inch of her. “I told you I’m not hurt,” she insisted, but he noticed the slight discoloring on her neck and the insides of her thighs. He was surprised when they crawled into bed together and she reached for him. He assumed the trauma would’ve caused her to hesitate and he said so.
“What almost happened with those horrible men has nothing to do with how I feel when I’m with you, Anthony. If anything, the things you do to me will make me forget.”
"You mentioned that you heard what I told the lawyers about marrying you, but right after they left, you let me make love to you." She didn't answer so he asked her, "Why?"
"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I guess I thought I would in some way use you back or maybe I needed to pretend that what we had was real."
"It is real," he told her. "Can I tell you a story, Christy?" His voice was low and serious.
"What kind of a story?" she asked him, running her hand over his strong, firm chest.
"It's about a Cherokee warrior and how he tricked a woman into marrying him."
"What woman?" Christy asked, her fingers now running along the muscular contours of his abdomen.
"She was a white woman. A wealthy rancher." He pulled her closer and kissed her temple softly.
"Did the warrior trick her because he wanted her cattle? Her land?" Christy asked. "Her money?" Her voice was barely a whisper.
"No, Owani. He tricked her because he was in love with her." When she didn't reply, he continued. "He only wanted one thing."
"What was that?" He could feel her warm breath on his chest.
"He wanted her heart."
Her fingers stopped their exploration and Christy leaned up on one elbow and looked down at him. "Tell me the story, Anthony."
Chapter Thirty-Six
Tampa, Florida 1978
The man who'd walked into Veronique Dubois's ER three days prior and identified himself as Ben Diamond sat inside a restaurant and ordered a sandwich and a cup of coffee. He mentally reviewed all that had transpired over the past two weeks since the phone call from Van Chapman, as well as since his decision to ditch Van's job three nights ago.
After receiving that first call from Van, he immediately set up surveillance on Anthony Bear, and even though it took a couple of days, he was able to verify that Van's daughter, Christy, was indeed living with the man. He made some casual inquiries at the right biker hangouts that eventually pointed him to one bar in particular. Once there, he solicited a prostitute who was willing to chat about Anthony Bear and the beautiful doctor that provided medical attention to his motorcycle gang. The prostitute, Gloria, was a regular at Camp Sawgrass and convinced herself that since she wasn't giving up criminal secrets about Anthony, she wouldn't have to fear retaliation.
"So, he has a thing for this lady doctor?" he'd casually asked her.
"Maybe." Gloria paused. "I don't know." They were in his car and Gloria had just finished performing oral sex. "But it's obvious she has a thing for him."
"Why do you say maybe?" he asked as he zipped up his pants.
"Well, he still slept with us girls…” She paused and then added, “At least up until about a month ago. But rumor has it, Dr. V has been to his house. And I know for a fact nobody from his camp, except X, has ever been there. Especially not a woman. And when I used to see Dr. V at the camp, she was always trying to convince us girls that Anthony was too good for us and if we cared anything about him, we'd stop coming around. Can you imagine that? A big-time surgeon jealous of a few whores? I guess they're on the outs though because I don't think I've seen Dr. V in months." She eyed him sideways. "Why do you want to know so much about Anthony Bear?"
He whipped out a fifty and waved it in front of her face. "He's well known where I come from. My boss has sent me down to negotiate some business with him. I want to know more about the man and not just his criminal enterprise."
Gloria started to snatch the money from his hand, but he pulled it back and said, "Word on the street is that Anthony Bear is a sadistic S.O.B. You should probably know that I can be as bad, if not worse. Nobody can ever know about our conversation."
She smirked and managed to grab the money from him and tucked it into her bra. "You don't have to worry about me talking. Besides, anybody who goes to the camp knows about Dr. V. So, you had a few questions about Anthony?" She shrugged. "It's not like I told you state secrets or anything."
She got out of his car and after slamming the door shut, leaned in through the open passenger window. "Sure you don't wanna spend some more time together? We could go to my place."
He shook his head and passed her another fifty and added, "This here is for you. Something you don't have to share with Anthony."
She took the offered bill and smiled, "Oh, Anthony's not my pimp. Ron is."
"Ron?"
"Yeah, he doesn't know it yet, but I'm going to marry him one day."
She gave him a smile showing off her dazzling white teeth, and he couldn't help but notice her sparkling eyes. Gloria was extremely attractive, and if he hadn't been so caught up in trying to dig around for information on Anthony Bear, he would've spent more time with her. A lot more time.