The Boss was staring at her and then grabbing for her wrists, grabbing and tugging and grunting, and between that and her kicking and climbing, in another few seconds she was standing on the right balcony.
“You’re welcome,” the Boss panted.
“Shut up.”
“I’ve got her,” Dmitri said, ignoring her and the Boss’s touching moment. “She’s in the living room, talking to another female… I assume it’s Stacy… and your balcony door is locked from the inside.”
“So we’ll break it,” Caitlyn said. “Maybe the noise will distract her. Fuck the security deposit.”
“On three,” Dmitri said, raising his leg. “One… two…”
“It was so nice of you to stop by,” Stacy said, “but Caitlyn’s not here. And you know, she doesn’t think much of the O.S.F.”
“I’m aware,” Rebecca said dryly.
“So, while I appreciate your coming by and all, maybe you should go before she comes back.”
“I plan to be long gone before she comes back.” Rebecca fumbled in her bag. “In fact—“
There was a tremendous crash, startling in the small apartment, and Stacy let out a small shriek. Then Caitlyn and Dmitri burst through—through!—the balcony doors. Glass was flying everywhere, sliding all over the kitchen tile, and for a second Caitlyn actually slipped, arms pinwheeling, and Stacy was sure she was going to go down, probably cutting the shit out of her knees, but Dmitri grabbed her arm and hauled her back up, and then behind them came Gregory!
“What the hell?” she started to ask her guest, Rebecca, the nice gal who worked for Gregory, but then Caitlyn was scooping up a handful of glass and… was she? She totally was! She threw the glass at poor Rebecca, who shrieked and started pawing at her face and dropped her Burger King bag, which hit the floor with a queer thump.
Stacy, more than a little shocked by the recent turn of events, bent to help Rebecca, poor Rebecca, who had blood all over her face, and a piece of glass was actually sticking out of her cheek, and Stacy said, “Somebody call an ambulance!” and held out her hands, and Rebecca clawed for her Burger King bag—odd time for a Whopper—and then—
She could see everything. Things had to be happening fast, must be, but she could see it all as if everyone were moving in slow motion, and had a bolt of thought, there and gone again like lightning: This must be what it’s like to be Jimmy! To see everything all the time!
Because now Dmitri had picked up Gregory by the back of his shirt and the back of his pants and threw him, yes, tossed him like a tiddlywink, and Gregory flew through the air with the greatest of ease (for the second time that day) and just as he was passing in front of her, there was a zim, zim, a sound she did not recognize, and then Gregory was falling back against her and Caitlyn was there, right there, shoving Rebecca away, shoving her away so hard, the poor girl smacked into the wall and slid to the floor in a boneless heap.
The gun fell out of Rebecca’s hand and Stacy saw the barrel had a queer swelling, had a thought (a silencer?) that was gone too quickly for her to grasp. She clutched Gregory, understood too late, and pulled his head into her lap.
“What’d you do?” she cried. “You idiot, what did you do?”
“I’ll tell you this much,” Gregory said, looking annoyed at the way the blood was seeping through his shirt and spreading across his chest. “I’m definitely going to let her go.”
“Will somebody please tell me just what the hell is going on?”
“Well,” Caitlyn said, looking puzzled and relieved and cute all at once (those blue highlights were so stoked!), “I guess the three of us just saved the day.”
“Are you all right?” Dmitri asked, kneeling beside them.
“No, you Lithuanian moron, I’m shot,” the Boss said irritably.
“I was speaking to Stacy,” Dmitri corrected the Boss. “Are you?”
“No, I’m not all right! You guys broke Jimmy’s door and Rebecca showed up with a gun and a Whopper—I think she has a Whopper—and now Gregory’s shot and we were supposed to go out to Manny’s tonight! What the fuck?”
“She’s all right,” Caitlyn said, carefully picking up Rebecca’s gun, the expression on her face exactly as if she were picking up a dead tarantula.
“When I said ‘get me over there,’ ” Gregory bitched to Dmitri through gritted teeth, “I didn’t mean for you to throw me.”
“Well, I couldn’t teleport you,” Dmitri said reasonably. “Lie still. You’ve got one in the left shoulder and one about two inches below that, but your heart is fine and your lungs are intact.”
“Yeah, ya big baby,” Caitlyn said heartlessly. Then, “Do you feel like you’re dying? Do you see a light? Go into the light. Do you hear me? Go into the light.”
“You’re fired too,” Gregory groaned.
“You can’t fire me, I don’t work for you,” Caitlyn said.
“All the same,” he snapped.
“I just don’t understand any of this,” Stacy cried.
“Yeah, it was kind of a mystery to us too. By the way, Stacy, the next time a multiple murderer shows up at my front door, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t let her in.”
“But… but I knew her! She’s Gregory’s secretary! She—“
“She did it for love. And she could get into anyplace in the O.S.F., including the labs, because she had clearance. Clearance I gave her, more’s the pity,” Gregory sighed, then groaned again when Stacy whipped off her scarf and pressed it to the bleeding wounds. “Ah, darling… hurts so good.”
Caitlyn had an odd look on her face, one Dmitri saw as well, because he quickly took the gun away from her.
“Somebody’s gonna tell me what’s going on, right?” Stacy cried. “I mean, you guys aren’t gonna keep me in the dark, right?”
They told her. Then she made them tell it again.
But she still didn’t believe it.
Chapter 37
Later that night Stacy went back to the O.S.F., showed her driver’s license, and was immediately buzzed up to Gregory’s room. It was a pleasant surprise—she’d assumed with recent events that security would be more obnoxious than usual, and had doubts whether she would even get in. But Gregory must have left instructions. The big sweetie.
She had assumed he would go to the nearest hospital, but apparently the O.S.F. took care of their own, and had a whole wing full of hospital equipment and beds and doctors and stuff.
She found his room, finally, tapped on his door, and poked her head inside. When she saw he was alone, she stepped inside and shut the door behind her.
“A sight for sore eyes,” Gregory sighed happily. “And sore chest.”
“Just sore, huh?”
“Let’s just say, tonight morphine is my friend.” He smiled at her. “I was hoping you would come by.”
“Yeah?” She unbuttoned her knee-length raincoat and shrugged out of it, putting her hands on her hips and striking a seductive pose. “Whaddya think?”
Gregory laughed until he choked. She was wearing what she thought of as Halloween costume circa 2001, or Slutty Nurse in White Fishnets.
“I think you should spend the night. That’s what I think.”
“Forget it, pal. Tonight you’re just looking. No touching.” She crossed the room and perched on the side of his bed, careful to avoid the many tubes poking out of him. “Gregory, you were nuts to get shot for me.”
“I’m fine, thanks for asking.”
“Oh, hush up. Next time just yell ‘duck’ or something. Okay?”
His fingers tightened around her own. “I couldn’t let her hurt you.”
“You idiot,” she said, pressing a kiss to his eyebrow. “That’s the coolest, most romantic thing ever, but I’m still pissed at you.”
“You dressed up in that charming outfit and snuck in here to see me—“
“I didn’t exactly sneak,” she pointed out.
“—when you’re pissed? I should annoy you more often.”
“I??
?m sure you will.”
“Come here. Lie down beside me.”
“Uh, Gregory, I’m not sure…” She eyed the beeping machines and the tubes.
“Come here, I said.”
“But what if it hurts?”
“What if it does?”
She cuddled in next to him and they were quiet for a long moment. Then he said, “I had my temp call Manny’s. They’re delivering a prime rib to Caitlyn’s house this minute. I assumed you’d be there.”
“Bitch is gonna eat my steak,” Stacy grumbled. “Actually, I think she’s shacking up in Mr. Yummypants’s suite at the Marriott.”
Gregory laughed, then gasped in pain. “His name is Dmitri Novakov.”
“Whatever.”
“But I think I’ll start referring to him as Yummypants. That should annoy him nicely.”
“See, this is why people don’t like you.”
“How about you, dear?”
“Oh, I like you fine,” she assured him. “I know there’s a heart under there… somewhere.”
“Hmph,” he mumbled. Then, “Don’t forget. I warned you to be prepared.”
“You really think Jimmy’s gonna go with this guy? Back to the Baltic Sea or wherever?”
“I’m positive. Lithuania, BTW.”
“Whatever. It’s just… I mean, I know she likes him, but I didn’t know she, like, liked him liked him. You know?”
“The horrifying thing is, I understood exactly what you said.”
“Oh, knock it off. Well, if she wants to go, then God bless her. She’s been alone for too long. Maybe I can get her apartment,” she mused. “It’s way nicer than mine.”
“I know the feeling,” he said quietly.
“I assume you’re talking about being alone, not rent control. Yeah. Alone… boy, people do nutty things to avoid it. I still can’t believe this—this mess is because Rebecca thought she was in love with you. I mean, I figured it’d be some super-secret-spy thing, not… you know. Thwarted love. It’s just so Days of Our Lives, doncha think?”
“Please,” he said. “Let’s not talk about it. I’m finding the whole thing extremely embarrassing.”
“Oh, quitcher whining.”
“I am the one who’s shot,” he pointed out.
“I mean, she offed the Wagner team—everybody but the last one, right?”
“Not for lack of trying. But Dr. Roe will live. Not that she seems especially happy about it. She’s still sulking because I won’t let her publish.”
“Yeah, but you explained all that to her… about how it’d be dangerous to Jimmy and Yummypants. Right?”
“Right. But Dr. Roe has… um, other considerations.”
“Bitch. Even if she did almost die, she’s still a bitch.”
“Well said.”
“Anyway, like I was saying, Rebecca did all that bad shit because she thought making Caitlyn was too hard on you. That you were working too many hours. I mean, I think you work a lot of hours too, and wish you’d take it easy, but I’m not gonna, like, kill everyone around you to get you to take a break.”
“Thank you.”
“I must not really love you,” she teased.
“I’ll keep working on you.”
She kissed him again, this time on the nose. “That’s a date, partner.”
“There’s plenty of room on this bed for two,” he said hopefully.
“Forget it. I’ll sleep on that couch in the corner… it’s a convertible, right?”
“Brought up,” he sighed happily, “just in case you needed it.”
“Dude, you’re, like, super-scary sometimes.”
“I know.”
Stacy was silent for a moment, musing, then said, “I guess it’s a good thing that Jimmy was being, y’know, Jimmy. Because her refusing to work for you worked out totally great for Rebecca, but she still had to stop the Wagner team from making any more like Jimmy. But then you totally shocked her by starting to go out with me, so she decided to ace me out of the picture too.”
“Her mistake,” Gregory said coolly.
“Man, the whole thing is just… sad and fucked-up, you know? What a mess.”
“And a waste.”
“At least you’re okay.”
“Not yet,” he said, gripping her chin and pulling her in for a kiss, “but I will be.”
Chapter 38
“I still hate him.”
“Of course you do, darling.”
“I’m serious!”
“So am I.”
“Okay, so he took a couple of bullets for my best friend. That was almost… cool. Okay, it was cool. But one nice thing doesn’t erase all the crummy things he’s done.”
“Certainly not.”
“And I didn’t check on him because I was, you know, concerned or anything. It was for Stacy’s sake. Obviously, she’s gone insane, but until she regains her senses, it’s probably good if the creep doesn’t die of blood loss or whatever.”
“Quite right.”
“Argh!” Caitlyn cried, throwing herself facedown on the bed. “My world has turned upside down!”
Dmitri was shutting down his laptop and smirking in her general direction. “Do tell.”
“What, do tell? Haven’t you been paying attention?”
“I’d like to hear your summation.”
“I mean, how weird is all this? Stacy’s going out with the nut, and he actually seems like he doesn’t exactly hate her, which boggles the mind…”
“Mm-hmm…”
“I mean, he took bullets for her. Who does that?”
“I would do that,” Dmitri said quietly.
“I wouldn’t have thought he’d take bullets for his granny, assuming he had one and wasn’t, you know, spawned by the devil. Which I haven’t entirely ruled out.” Caitlyn flopped over and stared at the ceiling. “And all of this… it was because Rebecca was in love with him. Him! Is it possible the Boss is more attractive than I think he is? Naw,” she said before Dmitri could answer. “I can’t believe Rebecca thought he was working too hard and decided, in the manner of all psychos, to help him out. Does it surprise me that he had a slobbering nut-job working for him? No. Does it surprise me that she actually had feelings for him? Yup.”
“At least we solved it,” he said. “And your friend is okay, which is the important thing.”
“That’s true.”
“And Gregory Hamlin is in the hospital with various tubes in his chest.”
Caitlyn perked up. “That’s true too. Tough for him to interfere in my life when he’s flat on his back. And who knows? Maybe he’ll have a really mean nurse.”
Dmitri slapped the laptop closed and came over to the bed. “We can always hope,” he said, bending to her. “I like your skirt.”
“Thanks. Of course, I didn’t think I’d be leaping balconies and such when I put it on.” She smoothed the black pleats.
He pulled her shoes off, her socks, then reached under her skirt and relieved her of her panties. “You know,” she griped, “I’m kind of having a crisis here.”
“I know the exact cure,” he assured her, rolling her over on her stomach.
“Men,” she grumbled, then sucked in her breath as she felt him kneel behind her, pull her up on her knees, and then kiss her. Not on the mouth.
His tongue darted and licked while his thumbs held her open for him, and she rocked against his busy, busy mouth, forgetting her woes for the moment.
“God, you’re so good at that,” she groaned, biting her forearm.
He hummed in response, the vibrations doing delicious things to her tender flesh, and then she felt his tongue dart inside her and she trembled so hard, the bed shook.
After a torturous, delightfully long time when he wouldn’t let her come and laughed at her when she begged, she heard his zipper come down, felt him slide his hand down her spine, and then he was easing into her from behind, and she pushed back against him, feeling him slam all the way home.
“Like that
,” she gasped.
“Yes,” he replied, his voice so thick, she could barely understand the word.
He thrust into her, and she rocked back, and that was it, that was enough, she tipped over into orgasm and heard him gasp behind her, as if he could feel her all-over tightening. Their rhythm quickened, the bed slammed against the wall, and she reached between her thighs and found his testicles, warm and plum-sized, and cupped them in her hand, testing their weight, and he groaned and stiffened behind her.
They collapsed to the bed together. Caitlyn realized she still had her shirt and cardigan on, and her skirt, and Dmitri was fully dressed, just… disheveled.
“I think,” he said after a long moment, “yes. I think you’re going to kill me.”
“Me? You’re the one who’s going for, like, the Boinking Championship.”
He snorted against her shoulder, then flopped over when she elbowed him off her. “We’re definitely going to hurt each other one of these days,” she groaned.
“At least your archenemy won’t be making love with your friend for quite a while.”
“Okay, that’s it. I’m never having sex again. No, really,” she said as he started to laugh. “That little comment totally killed my drive.”
“I’ll see if I can revive it,” he said, pulling her against him so they were cuddling together on the big bed. “Later. After a long nap.”
There was a long, comfortable silence, broken when she finally asked the question that had been on her mind for the last three days. “Dmitri…”
“um?” He sounded sleepy and content, and she almost hated to get into it. But it was better to know, dammit. No matter how much it was going to hurt. After all, the guy was probably getting on a jet as soon as his nap was over.
She asked, “Dmitri, do you believe in love at first sight?”
“No,” he replied comfortably.
“Oh,” she said, trying to ignore the stab of disappointment. “Yeah. That’s what I figured.”
“Do you?”
“What? Oh, no. No! Not at all.”
“I don’t believe in love at first sight because I loved you before I even met you,” he explained.
“Yeah, that’s what I—what?”