Judge & Jury - James Patterson [66]
Outside, darkness had fallen again. I took another swig of beer. I rewound the tape.
I remembered what I’d said back to her, through the door.
I can try.
Chapter 82
THE BUZZER RANG, startling me. I thought about just letting it go. Don’t even move. Whoever it is, they’ll go away. They always do. I took another sip of beer and let it go down slow.
The ringing continued. Insistent. Irritating. Then maddening.
“Nick. Come to the door. Don’t be a poop.” It was Andie.
Maybe I was ashamed to see her because I’d made promises that now seemed empty. Maybe I was afraid to cause her more pain, or drag her in, now that I’d made up my mind what I wanted to do.
The buzzing continued. “Nick, please. You’re being a jerk.”
Maybe because I knew if I opened that door, I wouldn’t be able to close her out again. And maybe that scared me a little. Maybe it scared me a lot.
But she was sitting on that damn buzzer.
I paused the tape. Then I walked into the hallway. I stood for a moment in front of the door, still not sure what I was going to do. She buzzed again.
“Hey!” I called out, finally opening the latch. “I’m coming.”
She was dressed in a green cowl-necked sweater over jeans. “You look awful,” she said, staring at me.
“Thanks.” I let her in. “How . . .” I started, but she cut me off.
“You look like you’ve been wearing the same clothes for a week, and a shave sure wouldn’t hurt.”
“How did you find me?”
She stepped into the apartment, her eyes surveying the place. “You think there’s another Nicholas Pellisante who was shot and taken to Bellevue Hospital? You didn’t return my calls.”
“You’d make a good cop,” I said, shuffling into the living room.
“You make a lousy friend.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“Apology not accepted. This could be a nice apartment.”
Andie took off her coat and scarf and draped them over a chair. I sat down against the padded arm of the couch.
“I went to the Bureau after I left the other day. I tried to put myself back on the case.”
“Okay . . .”
“They told me I was out. Off the case. No way in hell I’d ever get back on.”
Andie looked shocked. “Why?”
“Too emotional, they said. Too close. They’ll hook me up with any case I want. Just not this one.”
“That seems totally unfair. What are you going to do now?”
I looked up at her. Her molten eyes. The sweater, contracting and expanding with her breaths. “I don’t really know, Andie.”
“You know what?” She came over and stood in front of me. She cupped my face in her hands. “You are too emotional, Pellisante. You are too close.”
She brushed a kiss against my cheek. Then my eyes, my lips. I pulled her in to me. Her mouth was soft and warm, and tasted delicious. This time she kissed me hard. My hand traveled under her sweater. Over her bra. Every nerve in my body was excited, on edge. The hairs on my neck were standing. Andie had very soft skin, very nice breasts.
She kissed me again, unbuttoning my shirt, popping a button. She ran her tongue across my shoulders and chest, licking along the edge of my wound. Then she yanked her sweater over her head. Was this a good idea? Did it matter? Not anymore it didn’t.
I pulled her to the couch, undoing her pants. She grappled with my trousers, kissing me again, her thick hair falling all over my face.
“I think we need each other, Nick,” she whispered, touching her lips to my cheek. “Whatever the reasons, it’s just the way it is.”
I slid out of my pants and back onto the couch, and I pulled her soft body onto mine. I was finally inside her, and it felt right. We started to move against each other, into each other, whatever.
“I’m not arguing. I’m glad you came.”
“Not yet . . . but very soon.”
Chapter 83
THE FIRST TIME, we made love like two starved people who couldn’t get enough of each other, who hadn’t been with anyone for a long time. Which happened to be the truth. It was sweaty and frantic, and at that slapping, breakneck pace, we couldn’t hold back, and didn’t. I think we both came at about the same time, locking hands, locking on each other’s