Belmont braced both of his hands on the wobbly motel desk and breathed. He’d cleaned side by side with Sage for three hours and the proximity had taken its toll. The need for contact with her was piercing. Watching her across the living room as she’d vacuumed the curtains, her leg muscles straining, her teeth sank into her lower lip in concentration…Lord, his hands had started shaking.
What would she do if I yanked the vacuum out of her hands and tunneled her fingers through my hair instead? Dragged them under my shirt, over my face, crammed them against my mouth? His imagination had run rampant for hours on end. He’d battled the need to hold her down and demand more thoughts and memories out of her, to bathe her neck in his breath. Things he would have done, to a point, a matter of days ago. And she would have let him. She would have soothed him. He’d never used enough heroin to become an addict, but he imagined that not holding Sage in his arms whenever his anxiety deemed it necessary was a lot like detoxing from the drug itself.
For all his lust, though, there was a change taking place between them. A good one. They were communicating in a different way. Hell, they’d flirted. Every time he commanded himself to leave her untouched, to shoulder his own burden, it got easier. Mostly because he could see how being independent of him was helping Sage. She’d let out her anger, she’d laughed inside a place she called a nightmare. Would she have done those things if clinging to him had been an option? No. He didn’t think so. That had to mean they were headed in the right direction.
Belmont opened his eyes, his attention landing on his cell phone. All the missed calls on the screen. Not from Sage—he’d made sure. They were from his brother and sisters.
He could only recall his last conversation with Aaron in bits and pieces, but he was pretty sure his brother deserved a phone call to let him know he’d found Sage and everything would be fine. But he couldn’t bring himself to pick up the phone and dial. The relationship with his brother was different now. So different from how it had been in California. If he called Aaron…Aaron would really come. Perhaps even Peggy and Rita, too. And he couldn’t have that. The situation was too unsettled and he already had his mind occupied with keeping Sage safe. He couldn’t be in five places at once.
Nor could he be in New York on New Year’s Day. This entire trip had been planned because of Miriam’s final wish, but Belmont would rather saw off his own arm than abandon Sage. God knew his siblings wouldn’t expect him to leave her, either. Having met Sage, his mother would understand, too. He had to believe that.
Biting down on the guilt, he tore his gaze off the cell phone and went back to preparing. It was now late in the afternoon and he was due to pick up Sage in thirty-six minutes. More time spent around her, holding himself back until she gave some sign of…encouragement. Until then, he was in an invisible straitjacket. The strain was like a belt cinching tighter around his stomach, loosening a degree, then yanking tighter than ever.
A knock on the door.
Belmont’s head came up slowly, his knuckles turning white on the desk. It wasn’t Sage, the motel manager, or one of his fellow down-and-out guests. No, he’d been expecting a certain man to come find him. He went to the window and drew back the heavy beige curtains to confirm, and indeed, Augustine Scott stared back at him through the water spots on the glass.
“One minute,” Belmont said, letting the curtain drop back into place. He loosened the towel still hung around his waist from the shower and draped it on the back of a chair. Then he dressed slowly, perversely enjoying making the other man wait. Belmont wasn’t a vindictive person by nature, but the usual rules didn’t apply when someone sent his Sage down into a dangerous mine. All bets were off after that.
When he finally opened the door and stepped out to join Augustine in the cold December air, the older man’s eyes didn’t quite hide his temper. “I’m not a man accustomed to cooling my heels.”
“I know what kind of man you are.”
Gray eyebrows shot up, the mine owner’s amusement clear. “Well, don’t keep me in suspense, young man. Enlighten me.”
Belmont scanned the parking lot and saw two occupied cars, telling him that Augustine hadn’t come alone. Probably wise, considering the threat Belmont had made earlier. “I’d rather you get to the reason you came here,” he said. “I have more important things to do.”
For some reason, Augustine found that funny, his deep laugh sending frosted air curling in front of his face. “You are some kind of mystery, aren’t you? I usually have someone pegged with a couple words out of their mouth, but you…” He shook his head. “I can’t decide if you’re delusional or if you’re the real deal.”
Belmont had no idea what that meant, and frankly, he didn’t care. “Maybe if the reason for your visit isn’t that important, you can wait until I come to work Monday morning.”
“So impatient,” Augustine laughed. “This is Louisiana, young man. We get to the meat when we’re good and ready.” He was getting a lot of pleasure from calling him young man, which was precisely why Belmont refused to take the bait. “Came to tell you work begins tomorrow, instead of Monday. You didn’t think I’d let you start without the proper training, did you?”
“Hadn’t thought of it,” Belmont lied. He’d thought of the training, but only in terms of how long they’d shown Sage the ropes, before letting her do a job meant for a man twice her size. “Tomorrow it is.”
A glint appeared in the older man’s eyes. “You know I bet you can use this to your advantage with that stubborn girl of yours.” The syrupy hum in Augustine’s throat made Belmont’s stomach turn. “Yes, sir. The night before you go down into the big, bad mine in her stead, something tells me she’ll be feeling mighty grateful.”
Fury laced through Belmont’s veins and solidified, like asphalt drying under the summer sun. “Do you want to die?”
Augustine’s face lost its color, but retained its bravado. “Come again?”
“I said…” Belmont stepped closer, until the older man was forced to tilt back his chin. “Do you. Want. To die? Because if you speak of her again with any disrespect, I’ll spend my life in a cell, just so she can live in a world free of you. You want to know if I’m the real deal? Say another ugly word about her and find out.”
The sounds of car doors slamming infiltrated the red haze surrounding Belmont and he braced himself for a fight, but Augustine held up a hand, keeping whoever approached at bay. Not for one second did he take his eyes off Belmont. “Don’t look now,” the other man murmured, “but I do believe things just got interesting.”
Twenty-four minutes until I pick up Sage. And that was the only thing keeping Belmont cemented in place as Augustine turned and sauntered toward the parking lot. But he’d only taken about six steps when he turned back around, holding up a finger in the air.
“Now, wait just a minute,” Augustine said. “There was something I forgot to mention.” He tapped a finger against his temple. “Getting a little slow in my old age, don’t you know.”
Belmont crossed his arms and waited, which only served to amuse the other man.
Although when he spoke again, his expression turned serious as a heart attack. “Maybe I should allow you to work the first two months without letting you in on this fun little secret, but I find myself impatient to put you in your place, you see.” He licked his lips. “Sage’s daddy is the town loser and always has been. Nothing about that changed when his daughter went away.”
Belmont was stuck on what Augustine had said about the first two months. The first two. His eye started to twitch over the possibilities. What was coming?
“All that drinking and missing work sure put old Thomas and Bernadette in the hole. And you know where people in Sibley come when they’re in debt to the bank?” Augustine spread his arms wide and turned in a circle. “They come to my bank.”
“How much do they owe?” Belmont bit out, his heart trying to squeeze out through his ribs. Sage. She would be devastated by this. “Tell me and go.”
“Oh, my bank charges a high interest.” The mine owner winked. “Enough to keep you down in that mine for a few years to come. If you want to keep a roof over their heads, that is. I wouldn’t blame you one damn bit if you packed Sage up and got on the next train, leaving old Thomas to reap what he done sown.”
Sage would mind, though. She would never do it. He’d seen the determination in her that morning in the kitchen. I thought maybe I was capable of forgetting how much my parents need me, leaving it all behind, but I’m not. I let myself down by forgetting my responsibilities. So this is where I’m staying. Until they don’t need me anymore.
Which meant he was staying, too.
“Like I said…” Belmont inclined his head. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Augustine laughed his way to the parking lot, calling back over his shoulder, “Oh, you’re the real deal, all right. I won’t question it again.”
“See that you don’t.”