Southern Comfort_Chandler's Story Page 20

  “I feel exactly the same way. I promise you, I won’t let anything hurt us.” He cupped his hand around my cheek, and then placed his hand gently behind my neck so as not to hurt the wound on the back of my head. He drew me in and gently kissed me, slowly running his soft lips back and forth over mine. Then he pulled away, and looked at me with a sober expression.

  “We have been getting close to finding what we are looking for, Chandler, and I need to be honest with you.”

  “Okay,” I was almost frightened of what he was going to say next. What could be worse than what he’d already told me?

  He took a deep breath, and then continued. “Your house is central to this whole thing. We don’t know why, other than there is a place somewhere around the property that they can come and go, disappear easily, without being detected. Beau can smell them. That’s why he was so drawn to your property in the beginning.”

  And then the realization of what he’d been trying to tell me came crashing down on me. “And that is why you came searching for him that night, and came back, and brought me a handyman…wanted to be roommates…you were interested in my house?” My voice rose as my heart sank. All that time, he was interested in the house, not me. The empty ache came back with a vengeance, just like when I’d thought he was involved with someone else when I saw him with Julia on campus. The fact he obviously loved me now was temporarily lost on me as the betrayal became more obvious. I pulled away from him slowly, and closed my eyes, trying to make sense of what I thought had transpired between us until this past week.

  “Please, Chandler, hear me out. Please?” I could hear desperation in his voice.

  I opened my eyes, and looked at him. He continued, “I did come to your house that first night, looking for something. And I was truly looking for Beau. But I didn’t expect to find you. You had me spellbound from the first time I saw you. I even went home to tell John he had to come back with me, and he warned me not to mix business with pleasure. Then when we came back the second night, he could see I was already in love with you. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being there all alone, and he couldn’t either.” He took hold of my chin and gazed directly into my eyes. “I swear to you, Chandler, after I met you I never had any thought other than wanting you, wanting to keep you safe. Being inside the house was just a bonus, believe me. You have to believe me, Chandler, because if you don’t, I will go crazy. I have never, ever lied to you about my feelings. I just withheld my interest in the house in the beginning, and I should have told you.”

  I began to relax. “You just have to give me some time to process all of this.”

  “You take all the time you need. I will do whatever it takes to make you trust me again.”

  I looked back down at my hands. “I trust you, Banton. Really, I do. It’s just my insecurities creeping in again. I have a problem with that, you know.” I looked back up and smiled at him.

  “Thank you. I needed your smile right about now.” He took me in his arms, and held me close against his chest. I leaned my head back to kiss him. Caressing my back slowly, his lips lingered softly over mine, testing my emotions. I wrapped one arm around his waist and one around his neck as he pulled me onto his lap, being careful not to hurt my ribs. I slid one leg over him, straddling him as his kiss deepened. He ran his hands along my sides, down around my hips, pressing me closer to him. I moaned, and he pulled away and exclaimed, “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He searched my face for any sign of pain.

  “Not the way you mean.” I smiled sheepishly at him, and slid back to a more modest position beside him.

  “Oh, right. I’m sorry. I will be good.”

  I sighed at his words. The rain had subsided outside, and a quiet patter on the glass was all that broke the silence. He pulled me to his side, and I put my good arm around his chest, and laid my head there.

  “Drat. That’s what I thought you’d say.” Then I asked sleepily, “Can I sleep here all night?”

  “That is the plan.” He kissed my forehead, and I drifted back to sleep in his arms.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Cold wind rustled the leaves in the backyard, blowing in a swirl toward the open doors of the greenhouse. I walked toward the door, drawn to the sound of a small child giggling and laughing. Beau barked and jumped, wagging his tail at the playmate I couldn’t quite see around the potting bench. I walked around the edge, and spotted blonde curls bouncing as Beau licked the child’s face. I bent down to her. “What is your name? Where is your mommy?” I asked as she smiled at me, and turned back to Beau, singing to him. I heard someone call my name like a hiss…“Chandler….Chandler…” The rusty door opened on the floor, and an arm reached out, covered in snake tattoos and blood…

  I gasped as I woke. Trying to get up, I winced and caught my breath, remembering my shoulder and sore ribs. Banton’s arm was slung loosely around me, his eyes still closed.

  “Chandler, everything okay?” Banton asked sleepily, rising on one elbow.

  I pushed myself completely up into a sitting position, and exclaimed, “I know where they go, Banton! I know where they are coming from!”

  “What are you talking about, Andie?” he asked, pushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear.

  “The vamp…Orcos, or whatever they are. I know where they disappear!”

  “Where?” he asked, incredulous.

  “The rusty cellar door on the floor in the greenhouse.”

  “Andie, I’ve walked around in there. There isn’t a cellar.”

  “Yes, there is. I found it the day the snake bit Beau. It was at the back, behind some potting benches and worktables. One of the tables was sitting partially over it. I meant to go back later with a crowbar, because I couldn’t lift the cover. It seemed to be wedged or locked,” I sputtered out in a rush.

  Banton sat up fully, placing his hands on my shoulders. “Slow down, Andie. John and I will check it out when we get back. I don’t want you going out there without us. Did you have a bad dream?” he asked, as he put his arms gently around me, being careful of my injuries.

  “Well, no, it was a good dream until the end. A little blonde girl with curls was playing with Beau. She was giggling and laughing, but she was on the floor in the greenhouse. I bent down to ask her name, and where she came from. She was beautiful. Then, the door opened in the floor…”

  He kissed me on the forehead. “You certainly have some vivid dreams. Wonder where the child came from?” He rose, and turned back to me, running his hand through his tousled, dark hair. All he had on was a pair of boxer briefs, having taken his sweatpants off sometime during the night. Wow. His muscled frame filled out the briefs nicely. He would make a great underwear model, I thought. His chest muscles rippled as he reached to pick up a pair of khakis from the top of the dresser, and then bent to slip them on. He pulled them up around his waist, leaving them unbuttoned. I sat, motionless, watching the little show with awe. My mouth must have been hanging open, because he looked up at me as he turned around. “What?” he asked.

  “Oh, nothing. I was just enjoying the view,” I smiled.

  He grinned at me. The dimple, again. “Would you like to try to shower this morning? Or take a bath, maybe? Do you feel like meeting Constance this morning like we’d planned?”

  “I think so. I’ve got to get up and move around sometime. I need to work some soreness out, I think.” I swung my legs out from under the sheets as I threw the covers back. I stood up and got my bearings, and then realized I never put the bottoms on to my pajamas the night before. I blushed, and turned to look at Banton. He was watching me, amused.

  “What? I asked him.

  “Oh, nothing. Just enjoying the view!” he shot my comment back at me.

  “Ha.” I slowly crossed the room, and passed through the bathroom to the bedroom to get some clothes. As I pondered what to wear that wouldn’t require a lot of arm movement to put on, Banton called from the bathroom, “What about a bath? I’ll start it, and fill it full of bubbles. Then you c
an just soak. It would probably feel good on your ribs and shoulder. I’ll help, and I promise I’ll only peek a bit.”

  “’Kay,” I answered, choosing a long, knit skirt with an elastic waist and oversize sweater baggy enough to maneuver my arms through easily. I didn’t have enough up top to worry about having to wear a bra, so I decided I could lose the bra for today. I pulled another pair of lacy panties from my bag, wishing I had packed something more conservative since Banton was helping me dress.

  Banton unwrapped the bandages from my ribs, and then had me turn my back to him, while he lifted my pajama top. Dropping it on the floor, he left the bathroom discreetly. After I’d soaked in the tub about ten minutes, Banton came back in the bathroom, already dressed for the day. “Are you ready for me to help you out?” he asked, grabbing a towel.

  “Um, yes.”

  He held a bath towel over the tub as I pushed up, and looked straight into my eyes, wrapping the towel under my arms. Then as I stepped over the high side of the tub on to the fluffy bath rug, he steadied me and helped ease me down on the ottoman. Kneeling in front of me, he dried my calves off, running the towel up to mid-thigh, and then stopped.

  “We’re getting pretty good at this.” He winked at me as he picked up the lace panties I’d put on the stool, and held them at the floor for me to put my feet in. He slid them up my calves, to my knees, brushing my legs with his fingers. I drew my breath in and noticed his dimple deepen as he then pulled the extra towel over me. “Now you’re on your own.” He leaned down to give me a quick kiss.

  I reached and pulled my panties up under the towel, wincing as I did. “My arm isn’t even broken, and I’m having this much trouble. I can’t imagine breaking an arm.”

  He picked the oversize sweater up, gathered it to slide over my head, and like the night before, supported my sore arm, helping me work it through the sleeve. Then I stood, letting the towels drop as he helped me work the skirt up around my waist. I untied the loose knot in my hair and brushed the mess my hair had dried into during the night. I tied it up in a loose ponytail, and then grabbed my makeup bag off the counter. Banton had to look at my pale sickly face all evening, and I wasn’t having any of that today. I heard him moving around in his room, packing his things. He picked up the phone, and I heard him call the front desk and ask the concierge service to come up and get his keys, and retrieve my car from Decatur Street. I had forgotten it was parked down there.

  After I finished with my makeup, I put Banton’s jewelry back on and stepped back to take a look.

  “Absolutely beautiful, as usual.” Banton came around the corner, and carefully picked me up in his arms.

  I laughed, “Put me down. I have to pack my suitcase.”

  “I’ve already packed it for you.” He smiled at me. “I’m just waiting for our car, and the laundry service. Then we can go. Do you want to call Constance?”

  “Yeah, in a minute…” I kissed him as he carried me back into his room. He gently sank down into the covers, holding his body just over me and then easing down, not putting any weight on me. He kissed me slowly and ran his hand carefully under my sweater, softly trailing his fingertips up my bare back. Pulling my lips away from his, I pushed his collar back and kissed his neck, brushing my lips down to his chest. His lips found mine again, and his hands moved up my ribcage to the front, his thumb sliding along my breast, then softly circling the crest. I moaned and pulled him down completely on top of me. He rested one leg intimately between mine, and pressed his body against me. An ache began deep inside me, like I’d never experienced before. I moved my hips against his as he explored every inch of my upper body under my sweater. I could feel his hardness pressed intimately against me, responding to the motion. The ache became deeper as we moved against each other. Pulling back, he smiled down at me.

  “I kind of like the braless thing,” he murmured.

  “Banton,” I began, distracted by his mouth, kissing my neck, slowly trailing his lips and tongue.

  “Hmm?” he hummed.

  “Banton, we are going to have to make some decisions soon,” I whispered in his hair.

  “Like what?” he asked, gazing into my eyes.

  “Like where all this is going, and when. You touch me until I ache, and then you pull back, and say we have to wait. I don’t know how much more I can take.”

  “Me either,” he sighed, and rolled over to the side and sat up. “I’m working on that, believe me. I’m working double overtime on it.” He grinned, leaning over and kissing me softly on the lips one last time, and then picking my phone up off the nightstand to hand it to me.

  I flipped it open, dialing Constance’s number as we heard a knock at the door. While I visited with Constance and made our lunch plans, Banton got our keys and had the luggage picked up and transferred down to the car waiting downstairs.

  “Ready to go?”

  “Yes.” I sighed and glanced around the room.

  He read my mind. “Yeah, we are definitely coming back here, preferably just one room next time,” he growled as I walked through the door.

  * * *

  We drove around the Quarter, killing time until we were to meet Constance for a quick lunch and goodbye. As we passed along a side street, I exclaimed, “Banton, stop here!”

  “What is it?” he asked, maneuvering my SUV into a spot at the curb.

  “A voodoo shop. Can we go in?” I was still looking for answers. My dreams had me all mixed up. I grabbed my new camera off the front seat, and swung the camera bag and my purse over my good shoulder. I stopped on the quaint street to take a couple of shots, and then turned to Banton.

  “Not me, the scenery. Please.” He held his hand up to block the camera.

  “But you are in the scenery. And you are too good-looking to leave out of the shot.” I beamed at him, and he posed beside a massive palm tree outside the shop and showed me his adorable dimple as I snapped his photo.

  We walked in together, hand in hand. The inside of the shop was nothing like the seedy place I’d been in up in Baton Rouge. It looked more like an antique shop, and there were lots of tourist-y t-shirts and keepsakes, New Orleans snow globes and the like. There was a book section, and then towards the back, there were all kinds of token type charms and gris-gris bags, voodoo dolls, Mardi Gras masks and beads. As I picked up a book on New Orleans voodoo, a small elderly lady dressed in cloaks and a tight turban came from the back of the shop, and smiled at us.

  “Can we help de lovers ‘wid a good luck charm?” she asked.

  “I think we are just looking,” Banton replied.

  I turned and asked her, “May I ask you some questions about voodoo?”

  She smiled and answered “Ask me, Chile.”

  “Do you practice?”

  “It be a life, Chile, not practice,” she answered.

  “Are there people…are there people who live the voodoo life, who have eyes that glow?”

  Banton put his arm over on mine, as if to caution me.

  The lady’s eyes narrowed. “You seek de dead ones, the loogaroo, not de voodoo children. De voodoo children, dey pray to de spirits, de Catholic saints to keep de dead ones away. De voodoo, dey want peace. Peace and good, and not evil. De dead ones, de loogaroon, wid the glowing, dead eyes. Dey evil. Not of dis world…” She pointed her finger at us. “Dey seek you out. Keep de spirits wid you. Dis is a gift.” She handed me a gris-gris bag. “Dis keep you safe. No, use voodoo for good. Not for evil.” She smiled again, and walked us to the door.

  As we went through the door, she looked at Banton. “You keep dis chile safe. You de warrior. De loogaroon in Africa, in de west, dey evil. Our voodoo peoples in de east, dey pray for an end to de pirates.” A shiver ran down my spine. “Dey right here, right here in dis Parish. You find dem in Baton Rouge. You fight dem. Dey hold one of your peoples. You have to get to him, get him back. You hold de key.”

  Banton spoke to her, finding his voice. “How do we fight them? Do they have a weakness?”

/>   “De pretty young one. De young one, she will lead you to him. De evil, evil is dey weakness. I tell you no more. You need to go.” She turned, and went back into the shop.

  I looked at Banton out in the daylight. He was staring at me, speechless. “How…how did she know all that?”

  I looked down at the gift she had given me. “I don’t know, but I think this means you’re on the right track.” I pulled his hand. “Let’s go.”

  I had trouble concentrating on the menu as we waited on Constance. Banton leaned back in his chair and stared out the window, obviously preoccupied with the earlier conversation with the ancient black woman. He abruptly sat upright and looked at me. “How did you know to ask the woman about the Orcos?” he asked me softly so no one else could overhear our conversation.

  “I didn’t. I was just bothered by my nightmares. Everything I have read about voodoo in Louisiana said that the people who practice it are deeply religious. Voodoo is usually Haitian superstitions and Caribbean folklore combined with Catholicism. Hollywood portrays voodoo in the movies as evil. That was what my dreams were. I kept seeing the man with the dead green eyes with snakes and I kept equating that with voodoo. But it didn’t fit. That is why I asked her. I never dreamed she would know so much about them.” Then I whispered, “about the Orcos and the pirates.”

  “And about Sam. Andie, she knew about Sam. I’ve got to find him. I know he’s still alive. I believe her, Andie.”

  I leaned over, and put my arms around his neck. “I know, Banton. You’ll find him.”

  He smiled, and kissed me slowly, cupping his hand around the back of my neck.

  “Holy crap, get a room, would you?” Constance came up from behind us.