Unconditional Love (Journey of Love #1)(61)
Author: Kelly Elliott

He stood there for a few minutes before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a few photos. When he handed them to me and I looked at them I would have dropped to the ground if I had been standing up.

“Oh my God. No.”

I was staring down at a picture of Azurdee and me eating dinner at a restaurant in Austin. The next photo was of Azurdee walking into her house. The next photo was of me running on Town Lake. I dropped the photos and reached for my phone.

Skip reached for my phone and pulled it out of my hands. “What are you going to do? Call her up and say, ‘Hey honey I just killed one of the most sought-after drug lords in the world, got shot by his brother who I let get away, and now you’re in danger?’ It’s not going to work that way, Lark.”

I swallowed hard. “How’s it supposed to work then, Skip?”

He sat down and put his hands on his face and then raked them down as he let out a moan. “Listen. I know you love her. I saw your discharge paperwork come across my desk as well as the decline letter for the CIA position. I get that you want out and want a normal life with this girl.”

“But…”

He shook his head. “Lark, you’ve got to make it look like she is nothing, like she isn’t an asset to them. If they think she’s just another one of your fuck buddies, they’ll most likely move on and just target you.”

“I have to tell her.”

“No. If they come after her and she knows anything, they’ll either kill her or use her to get to you.”

My heart started pounding in my chest. I knew what he was saying was true but it didn’t make me feel any better. “Well fuck. Neither one of those are good, so why not just tell her?”

Skip stood there staring at me with his cigar hanging from his mouth. His eyes narrowed. “Does she have any idea of what you do?”

I shook my head. “No. I mean she knows I’m still in the Marines. She doesn’t know what I do.”

He nodded his head as his face tightened more. I knew he didn’t like the idea of Azurdee knowing I was still in the Marines. “Good. The less she knows the better. You need to come up with some reason you’re leaving her.”

I instantly felt sick. “I can’t hurt her, Skip. I promised her. I promised.”

“Lark, if you love this girl…you have to let her go, at least until we can track down the fuckers who are after you. Once we get them and you do your job and finish the bastards off, you can tell her the truth.”

My stomach dropped and I felt sick. I didn’t let my emotions show at all to Skip. “What if it takes too long? What if she won’t take me back?”

“If she loves you anything like how you love her…she will.” Skip stood up and walked to the door and opened it. He called for the medic to come back in and finish up.

“We leave tomorrow morning at daybreak. You have twenty-four hours to break it off with her. We’ll make sure she has a tag at all times. If anything looks suspicious…well…we’ll take care of it. The main thing you have to do is stay away from her. No contact whatsoever after the twenty-four hours is up.” He slowly turned and looked at me. “I’m sorry, Lark. I really am.”

I stood outside my door and took a deep breath in. I knew Azurdee was at my place because I sent her a text saying I was coming home tonight and wanted to see her. Plus the tag we had on her informed she arrived earlier this evening. I opened the door and made my way into the kitchen. I placed my keys and phone down and walked to the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. I opened it and downed it in practically one drink. I grabbed another one and drank it just as fast.

I reached for my phone and sent Scott a message:

Me: Don’t ask me why, but Azurdee is going to need Jessie. Make an excuse to come into town today.

I placed my phone back down onto the counter and slowly made my way back to my bedroom as I downed my second beer.

I opened the door and was instantly hit with her smell. The tears building in my eyes caused me to almost turn around and leave. Maybe if I just disappeared from her life that would be better.

She rolled over and made a noise. When I set the beer down on the side table she sat up quickly. She rubbed her eyes and whispered, “Lark?”

“Yeah, it’s me, mi amor.”

She jumped out of bed and ran to me. When she slammed into my body I cried out in pain and she jumped back.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she turned on the side lamp. The moment I saw her beautiful face, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to do this. I loved her so much and the thought of hurting her about destroyed me. When she smiled at me it hit me hard…the idea of putting her life in danger destroyed me even more.

I shook my head and said, “Nothing. I missed you so much, baby.”

She smiled bigger and pulled my T-shirt over her head and stood before me naked. “Show me how much you missed me.”

One more time. I needed to make love to her one more time. I needed her to feel my love.

I reached over and turned off the light and began taking off my clothes.

“Get back on the bed, Azurdee. Get on your hands and knees.”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t want to be fucked, Lark. I want you to make love to me.”

I closed my eyes and almost begged her to just let me have her from behind. If I was behind her she wouldn’t see the gunshot wound on my side.

“Please,” she whispered as she lay down on the bed. I quickly stripped out of my clothes and crawled on top of her. I pushed her hands above her head and said, “Hold onto the bed. Don’t touch me.”

She bit down on her lip and did as I said. I began teasing her wet entrance with my tip and I about came on the spot when I felt how wet she was.

I pushed into her and we both let out a moan. “I missed you so much, Azurdee.”

“I’ve missed you too.”

I began making love to her slowly. She kept her hands above her head and as she began softly calling out my name she wrapped her legs around me and then wrapped her arms around me.

The pain shot through me like I was getting hit with the bullet all over again. I closed my eyes tightly as she rode out her orgasm. I wasn’t sure how I was able to do it, but I came right after she did.

She held onto me and I finally had to push her legs away. She sat up quickly and looked at me. She looked down at my left side and then quickly moved to turn on the light.

“Azurdee, no.” I reached for her, but it was too late. The light was on and she had her hands up to her mouth. When her eyes met mine they were filling with tears.