The Stripper Equation

Blow Your Cover

Three days later Mark had reached out to Noah.  He gave him what he needed to finish putting the case together.  He told Noah what to find and where to find it.  My decision didn’t matter now.  I thought that I would feel a greater sense of relief but I hadn’t.  I was the one who put the gun in Mark’s hand and now I was regretting him using it.  He did exactly what I wanted him to do.  I guess a part of me didn’t think he would.  I thought he would be selfish and it would make me hate him more.  Make me feel better about writing him off.  But he did it.  He told Noah everything.  And as much as I know Noah hated having to talk to Mark, hated needing him, he was grateful.  He was going to put an end to the drugs and make me safe.  There was going to be a raid.  They weren’t going to take a chance on anything changing.  They didn’t want to take a chance on Mark feeling guilty and giving anyone a heads up.  Though I knew that he wouldn’t.  I knew that if he was reaching out he had thought about it long and hard and he would stand behind his word.  He wasn’t being a rat he was helping to destroy what he had built.  He knew exactly what would happen and he accepted that.  If everything goes down the way Noah wanted it to Mark wouldn’t have to testify.  Since he was in rehab he wouldn’t even be involved.  But I know that wasn’t why he did it.  He saw a way to make it right and he took it.  He knew that was what Nina would have wanted him to do.

Noah told me about the raid.  I hoped that everyone who wasn’t involved was going to get out of it unscathed.  I felt better knowing that Dominique wasn’t involved but I still wasn’t sure how I felt about everything else.  I couldn’t warn anyone about the backrooms but I guessed that whatever anyone got they deserved and I can’t do anything about it.  All I cared about was Daphne and I knew that because of Steve she quit everything, drugs and the backroom.  As soon as this was over I would tell her everything and I knew she wouldn’t hold it against me and I know she would never tell anyone it was me who set this thing into motion.  I just wanted everyone to be safe.

That morning when I woke up Noah was staring at me.  “Good morning sleeping beauty.”  He was in a very good mood.  I wasn’t sure if he always got this excited at the prospect of a case closed.  Or if this one just felt more personal because of me.  It was what had brought us together and now it was almost over.

“Good morning creeper.”  I didn’t mind but I wondered how long he had been watching me sleep.  I hoped I wasn’t drooling.  “I am so sure I look beautiful now.  My beauty comes from my first cup of coffee.”

“You are beautiful 24 hours a day.”  He sat up in bed.

I rolled my eyes.  “I drink a lot of coffee.”  He leaned in to kiss me and I let him.  He kissed me like he wanted to know everything about me and had all the time in the world to do it.  “So which turns you on more, me or catching the bad guy?”

He thought about it.  “Both.”  He kissed me again and got out of bed.  “I’ll make you that coffee now.”  I rolled back over.  He came back in a few moments later.  “I made you breakfast in bed.”  When I turned to look I saw him bring me a mug and a bowl.  Before I could even wonder what he could have made that he would put in a bowl, I saw it contained cereal.  “I even poured the milk myself sweetheart.”

“Oh honey you shouldn’t have.  You know I always find opening the carton tricky.”  I joked.

“You know I thought I would have to serve you dry cereal but luckily you had milk.  And it wasn’t even expired.”  He looked impressed.  I had started buying more food since he started staying here more.  I even cooked him chicken parmesan one night.  The one thing my dad knew how to cook was chicken parmesan.  Well that and warm tapioca but who are we kidding that is just a matter of looking at the back of the box.  He would scoop it up and whoever got the egg didn’t have to do the dishes.  I always won.  It took me forever to realize that he always made sure I got it.