Easton: Forbidden: Paranormal Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I have no idea when or even if it will hit the paper. For all we know he’ll be in that office of his for years before anyone will breach the sacred doorway to his office.” Honey hated her son. Hated him just about as much as she’d hated his father. “Have you talked to your mom yet? Did you tell her to be on the lookout for something about Oliver in the papers?”

  “I told her while you were disposing of the killers. I wish you had waited on me to come there to watch you. You are so good at what you do, Grandma, and I know that I can learn a great deal from you.” He was always doing that too. Trying to butter her up for one thing or another. “Mom told me that she’s watching Grace, too. If she gets out of line again, she’ll take care of her as well.”

  Good. They needed to be able to get into Oliver’s offices to find out where he’d put her husband’s jewelry collection. The sucker was worth more than all the money they had in the bank. She and Sunshine were going to make a killing off of it, and they were both excited to take it from Oliver.

  They didn’t any of them need money. Her husband had left her very nicely taken care of, as well as Sunshine. He’d given a good deal of his holdings to Oliver, for which she was grateful. Honey didn’t care for all the business dealings that made her money, but she certainly loved having it.

  It wasn’t even the having-it-all sort of mentality that she and Sunshine wanted the jewelry for. It was because his father had left it to Oliver, and not her or her daughter. The very least he could have done with all of it was to divide it up between the three of them. But no, he told her in the will that it was for Oliver to do with as he saw fit. Well, his way of seeing fit to it was pissing her off.

  Coleman, her husband, would never allow her to wear any of the jewelry, not even when she’d begged him to let her. He told her that some of it was too expensive to take out of the safe, and a great many of the pieces had been cursed. Who the hell cared about a curse that was older than the fucking graves that the stuff had come from? She wanted women to be envious of her. But he’d stood his ground, and that was what had gotten him killed.

  Had Coleman simply let her know that the jewelry was going to Oliver and not her, she wouldn’t have had to murder him in his sleep. It was his fault that she’d resorted to something so violent.

  Honey had faked the robbery of their home that was to have supposedly gotten Coleman killed. It was easy for her to get away with. There had been a string of robberies in their neighborhood, all her doing, and said that he should have taken better care that no one got into the house. As it was, she’d made him suffer far too long, Honey supposed, and the police were still questioning her about that.

  After Lyle left her, she decided that she needed a long hot shower to wash the rest of the blood off her clothing. Weeks ago she’d moved into this little hotel to have the memories of the robbery removed from the house for her and Sunshine. She was having the entire house, from top to bottom, redone in the name of her husband meeting his untimely death. Laughing as she stripped down, she thought that it was untimely for him. But for her, it couldn’t have happened soon enough.

  Coleman wasn’t a terrible husband. In fact, he was sort of a sap around her. He didn’t ever challenge her on what she paid for things. There was no budget on how much she was to spend on things either. The house was hers to dominate in any way that she wished. There was plenty enough money to spend, and she didn’t hesitate a bit each month in going to every store along the most expensive streets in the biggest towns in the United States. But, like most things she’d done to excess, Honey had grown bored with her lot in life.

  After having her hair done up the way she liked it, Honey went to her living room and sat down so that she could look over the streets below her. That’s the way she loved to look around, so that she was above everyone and everything. Today was no exception.

  While waiting on someone to call her and tell her that her son was dead, she painted her nails. It was difficult to get the blood out from under them, so she just painted them blood red so that they’d be all right. She’d even worn gloves to kill the people, and a body suit so she’d not be all mussed up, but she had torn he gloves in her haste to put them on. Killing was messy when a person did it up front and personal the way that she did it.

  By the time she realized that she was starving, she still hadn’t heard from anyone. Honey knew that Grace, the bitch, had her phone number, so why hadn’t she called her? Surely she, of all people, would have found his body by now, she thought.

  Grace was the only person she knew that could get in and out of the offices of Oliver better than anyone. It was the only reason that she was still alive. To be able to call her when there was trouble.

  “Like she’s done that either.”

  Grace was loyal to Oliver, more so than any other person that Honey knew. She’d been loyal to her husband too. Right up until she’d been told to take care of Oliver in the same manner that she had his father.

  There used to be calls from her, at the beginning of her helping her husband. But after a couple of weeks of that, her asking Honey questions that Coleman need answers to, that stopped all at once. Almost as if she’d been told that Honey wasn’t to be trusted to know the answers, so not to call her any more. The same with Oliver. No calls when Grace needed information for him. Nor were there questions about her son that Grace might need answered. Like his birthday, or what his favorite colors were. Not that she remembered those things.

  It wasn’t as if Oliver ever visited his mother—or his sister. There had been a time, Honey remembered, that they all got together once a week to talk and to have a meal together as a family. She had no idea why or even when that had come to a sudden stop. Honey sort of missed those times. It was the only way she knew what Oliver and Coleman were up to. Now she had no more idea than she did how much money was in her bank account.

  The phone ringing when her favorite show was on irritated her some, but then she remembered that she was awaiting a call from Grace. Answering it like she was annoyed but not too pissy, she laughed a little when the person at the other end of the line didn’t speak right away.

  “I’m so sorry. I’m watching my shows right now. Is this important?” Honey thought that she’d put just enough in her voice to let the other person think that she was a nice person, and not a murderer like she actually was. “Hello? Are you there?”

  “Mom?” Sitting down hard, she couldn’t make her mind work past the fact that the call was from Oliver. “Mom, are you there? I’m sorry to disturb you so late, but I had a question about the Magana merger. Do you remember the name of the man who—?”

  “Where are you?” She’d not meant to ask him that, but she was sure that his answer should have been something along the lines of him being in the morgue. “I mean, are you still in London? I’ve not heard from you in days now.”

  “You just spoke to me the day before yesterday, Mom. What’s wrong with you?” She wanted to ask him the same thing, but didn’t. “So, do you remember that name? I’ve been trying to remember it all day.”

  “Why don’t you ask your pretty little Grace what it is?” Oliver didn’t say anything. He never said much about Grace at all when he didn’t have to. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Oliver. As I said, I’m working on something here.”

  “I thought you were watching television.” There was a tone there, one that she’d never heard from her son before. At least not that Honey could remember. “If you don’t know it, that’s fine, but you don’t have to be nasty about it. I’ll let you go.”

  Before she could ask him if he’d been stabbed in the last twenty-four hours or so, or perhaps had he been murdered some other way, he hung up the phone. It would be just like him to not be killed but only hurt superficially, when she wanted him dead, damn it.

  She didn’t know what to do, but she needed to speak to Lyle. This was his job, the only one that he’d had
in all this, and he’d fucked it up. Which meant that she’d have to go in and take care of it by herself. Didn’t anyone do what they were supposed to do anymore? Like that guy, Grant, that she’d hired.

  All he had to do was go in, make Coleman a cup of coffee, and put the poison in it. Simple, right? Oh no, not with her husband. He didn’t drink coffee anymore. Nor did he drink anything but bottled water. Who the hell only drank bottled anything?

  Of course, Honey drank bottled wine and champagne. She didn’t drink water at all unless that was all there was. It was why she had a large stash of other beverages to drink when she traveled, or did anything for that matter. Honey had asked Grant why he’d not just opened the bottle, put in the poison, then shaken it all up. Coleman would never have known about it.

  “He won’t drink a bottle of water that’s been opened by anyone but him.” How was that even possible? she asked him. Honey did nothing unless it was prepared by several hands before it came to her, polished and ready for her to consume. “Mr. Moody told me that he goes to different countries, and having even a small amount of tainted water can kill a person. When he opens it on his own, he knows just how clean the water is.”

  The most preposterous thing she’d ever heard of. But it did explain why there were always several large pallets of water on the jet all the time, as well as in the sublevels of their home. It was to store his water in. The fucking moron.

  Calling Sunshine, she told her that she’d just heard from her brother. Honey had to laugh a little at that. Oliver was always someone else’s relative when she didn’t like something that he was doing. Sunshine told her that it was impossible. Lyle had had him killed.

  “Well, whoever I spoke to sounded just like your brother. He was looking for a name of some merger that happened a while back. Why the hell would I know that name when I know nothing of the business end of deals?” Sunshine then asked her mom if she’d gotten anything from the bank today. “No. I mean, I don’t think so. Why? Did you?”

  “Yes. Something about the bank being bought. I had no idea that banks could be just bought like a house. Anyway, they said that our cards would be suspended for a week, but that they’d be fine after the audit. I called down there and told the bank manager that I needed them to okay me using mine, and he told me that I could come down there and get cash to tide me over. Mom, I do not like this. What the hell am I supposed to do if I go over?” Honey didn’t have any idea, and started going to the mail that had piled up on her table. “Mom, are you listening to me?”

  “I am. I have an envelope here too. Let me look.” She read it to Sunshine, finding out that it was the same thing. “I’ll call them to find out what’s going on. I’m right there with you, Sunshine. I had no idea that one could buy a bank either. But leave it to me, I’ll get to the bottom of it in the morning. They’re all home by now.”

  Honey never understood why when a person had as much money as they did in the bank, there wasn’t someone there all the time to answer their questions. She and Sunshine alone probably had more money than all the other people together that had money in their banks. But it was too late now to look into it.

  Going to bed just after midnight, Honey tried to think how Oliver had slipped by the two people that had been hired to kill him. They both admitted that they’d done it, stabbing him several times in the gut while he laid on the floor. Christ, everyone was a fuck up anymore, and she was beginning to think that she was the only one with a good work ethic.

  It was something else she was going to have to put on her list of shit that had to be taken care of now. Like she had nothing else to do but clean up after everyone else. Shopping for her Christmas outfits for the holidays would have to be put on hold now too. Soon it would be too late for her to even order something new if this kept up.

  “Maybe I can wear one of the necklaces in Coleman’s collection if we get this finished up soon enough.” One could only hope, she told herself, that things would start to go in the right direction from now on.

  Chapter 12

  Easton was waiting at the airport when Wayne’s plane landed. Christy was watching the kids for him so that he could do this. Meeting Wayne at the gate, he couldn’t wait to tell him about the things that he’d missed. Also, that he’d missed him too, and needed to jump his body in the worst kind of way. As soon as he saw him, Easton felt better.

  Wayne told him that he’d have to return to London after the holidays. Of course, he wanted him to go with him that time, and the kids, as it would be a nice change after Christmas. The house that he’d helped the other man purchase was well on its way to getting finished up. In a way of thanking him for everything that he’d done, Oliver Moody was going to pay for them to come to his open house, and they would stay with him.

  After kissing several times, they were ready to find his luggage. Wayne had told him last night that he’d had to purchase three more large pieces of luggage to send the things home that he’d gotten for them, as well as he’d shipped home some larger pieces that Oliver had insisted that he take with him.

  “I didn’t want to like the man, Oliver, before meeting him, but he turned out to be a nice guy.” Easton asked Wayne if he was going to be going back and forth from the US to London a lot. “Me? No. But I think that Oliver will be staying there. He’s got some family issues that are well beyond the scope that we’ve had. I’ll tell you about it when we get home.”

  Wayne had told him about Grace too, and how much he’d liked working with her. She’d even suggested that Wayne open an office in London to help out others that were looking for homes there. Easton thought that was a good idea too, but he had nothing to do with the real estate marketplace, so tried his best to stay out of it. Wayne asked him about the game he’d been working on.

  “It’s finished, but not in time for Christmas. I think that we could have done it, gotten it into production on time, but there wasn’t any promoting done to make people aware of it, so I’ve decided to wait until the new year to release it. It’s getting rave reviews so far from the test group. It’s the first time I’ve had a game go through the testers and not come back with a single thing wrong with it. All thanks to Jorden.” Wayne asked him if Jorden, Brody’s son, was excited. “You have no idea. The kid is so excited that I think he’s more so than I am. The game is going to be helping a lot of people.”

  The game was designed for people that had a hand disability. They could not only play the game to have fun, but each time they leveled up, they also got a bonus to go with it. Such as level three showed the person how they could call 911 on the game to make it easier on them if there was a problem.

  The testers asked him why not just have it on there. He told them what he’d told Jorden. Without the exercises that come with the leveling up that got them there, it would be more frustrating for them to try and use something that they had no ability to. This was a way to strengthen their muscles, as well as give them something to look forward to.

  They stopped at a very nice restaurant, one that Easton had made reservations to, so they could celebrate. Easton was surprised to find the place so busy when he’d had no trouble at all making the reservations. When they were seated, Wayne asked the host what was going on.

  “There is a gymnastics troop in town that we weren’t aware of until just now. I guess their bus broke down, and they needed to have a place to stay and have food. This place was the closest to the hotel, so they just walked here. They’re a very nice group for having to be split up so much to eat here.” When she left and came back with their breadsticks, Easton reached for Wayne’s hand under the table. “If you just give me a moment, gentlemen, I’ll be back to get your order.”

  When she left them, Easton looked at Wayne when he spoke about the trip. When he finally told him what a good time he’d had, Wayne told him that he’d missed him too much to enjoy everything. That made Easton feel better.

  “I missed sle
eping with you too. I know it sounds nuts, but I’d be so exhausted at the end of the day that I knew I’d finally get some sleep. But as soon as I got into bed, I was wide awake and missing you more.” Easton told him that he had the same problems. “We’ve only been together for such a short time, and we’re acting like an old couple. I have an idea. After dinner, we should take a nice long run. Then I’ll jump you when we get home.”

  Dinner was nice. Easton had a hard time not rushing through it so that he could get to the jumping part. When he realized what he was doing, he put his fork down and took in a deep breath. They had the rest of their lives together. After that, things were much nicer for them both.

  “I meant to ask you, how’s the trial going for Wendell? I’m sure that the guy is still in his delusional state, thinking that he’s done nothing wrong.” Easton laughed, and said it was worse than that. “You’re kidding. How can it be worse than him thinking that any day now he’s going to be set free?”

  “He believes that there is no proof of him killing either of my family. And he told Jake that he wants the money that Mary won given to him, as well as Wendell Junior. I mean, he really thinks that there is no reason whatsoever that he’s in jail. Not to mention, his boy, as he calls him, hasn’t been brought to him. Like he’s going to be raising him in the jail cell.” Wayne laughed as they were being served. “I have it on good authority that tomorrow’s witnesses are going to seal the deal for him never getting out. The man is a wonder, I will admit that.”

  “Do you think that Mary ever loved him?” It was something that he’d been asking himself for the last few days. “I mean, I’ve seen pictures of her on their wedding day, the ones that you have at the house. She looked very happy there.”

  “I think that she did love him. I don’t think that Wendell has ever been capable of loving anyone but himself. I should have paid more attention to her when I was there. Or at least made it so that she could visit me with Peaches once in a while. I know she told me that I didn’t fail her, but I feel that I did at times.” Wayne said that he could understand that too. “Yeah, I guess you could. I miss her. Even though I didn’t see her all that often, I miss her.”