Lawyer & Liar

by T Wells Brown

  Upside?

  The upside to having a hot cop boyfriend was I got to go to some of the crime scenes and Roman started sharing more of his police work with me on the condition that I wouldn’t spread it around the wine tribe and I wouldn’t interfere. Of course I agreed to both.

  After that it was kind of hard to hide my feelings or to fight my feelings. Not that I was trying.

  The night of the shower and later love making (yes, I said it) we went together back to the crime scene where the two sheriffs had been shot. I was able to stay by him for the rest of the time that he was wrapping up and being briefed by the uniformed officers still on site. After that, he took me back to the precinct with him. We went to his office where he sat me behind his desk (where I could snoop) and fed me sprites and cups of coffee while he finished his work up. Then he, Agatha and I went back home (his home) where he made mad passionate love to me.

  And you know what? I let him do whatever he wanted to me.

  And you know what else? It was magnificent.

  I think I’ll try to tag along on crime scene investigations in the future. Made for some interesting love making.

  We’d barely made it through the entry when he pushed me up against the wall and kicked the door shut. He lifted me by placing both of his large hands at my waist and pressed my back into the wall. He slid his thick thigh between my legs, bent his knee so his thigh moved upward, and slowly lowered me down so I was straddling his leg.

  My crotch rested (with just the right amount of glorious pressure) on his thigh while he devoured my mouth.

  It was a ruthless passionate kiss.

  Oh, Lord Almighty. It was the hottest sex I’d ever had.

  He had me pinned against the wall and was in complete control. I could hear my blood pump through my heart in loud BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. It was fast and aggressive and exactly how we both needed it to be.

  I just needed to feel him alive.

  Truthfully the ‘take me up against the wall’ position went pretty quick (for Roman anyway) because we were both so worked up. Our hands and mouths were everywhere. Our bodies pressed so close to each other, we didn’t even need to take our clothes off; there was only time to remove the essentials. Just enough so that the parts that needed to fit together, did.

  He did, however, manage to rip open my blouse causing buttons to ping in every direction, push up my bra, giving him complete access to my breasts (my breasts seemed to be very important to him based on the amount of attention he paid them). My skirt was pulled up around my waist (I may have done that). I managed to unzip his fly just in enough time for him to thrust himself into me, while keeping my back pressed tight against the wall. My legs were wrapped around his hips and I felt every glorious thrust.

  It was amazing. The best sex I’d ever had. Turns out, I liked it a little rough and frantic. Each time we had sex, it was a little more frantic, and a little rougher, and was better and better. Who knew? All this time I’d been having very polite sex.

  So much time wasted.

  The next few days were lost in a flurry of activity.

  We’d been so busy working on getting the Manor set up, we forgot all about the Pups and Pearls Gala the Women of Wine Country hosted as a fundraiser for the local shelter. The proceeds went towards building an offsite shelter that would serve as an over flow for the Harmony Grove Animal Shelter and Becca would be in charge of running it.

  This year, the tribe had planned on the event being hosted at the Bellini Estate. When it was all planned made perfect sense, but since Raquel and Antonio’s deaths, I felt it should have been moved to another location. I spoke my mind on the subject, but Isabella wanted to uphold her aunt’s obligations and no one in the tribe had the heart to disagree with her.

  Turns out it would have been much better if we had moved it. You see, while Roman and I were having all the sex and figuring out where we were going to live, etc., Isabella and Cabe had not been doing so well. Cabe was a jerk. I knew he was a jerk, but I had high hopes Isabella would be the one person he could be a little less of a jerk with. Turns out my hopes weren’t realized. And since Isabella was a smart girl and wasn’t having any jerk as a boyfriend, they were now estranged from each other and the whole thing threw the tribe into a frenzy!

  The Pups and Pearls Gala itself was spectacular. The event coordinator did a magnificent job on the grounds along with Isabella and her crew. Raquel and Antonio would have been so proud of her and all she’d taken on. She was already taking the winery to new levels and I think this first year with Isabella in charge was going to be one of its best years.

  The Women of Wine Country tribe met at the estate much earlier on the day of the event. We went through the schedule and finalized any last minute necessities and then got on with the fun stuff.

  Jenna, who had become quite a fashion mogul was launching a new line to showcase her new body and look. She always outfitted our small tribe with her dazzling dresses but these days she was off the charts with her spectacular garments. And since I loved all things clothes, shoes and hand bags, I was all in. Jenna never steered us wrong. She was a savant at looking at a gals body and knowing exactly what that gal should be wearing.

  All of the stunning gowns were white with pearls and Champagne toned glass rhinestone beads. Each one was slightly different than the last but all absolutely stunning.

  Mine was form fitted with a small flare at the hem and a small train. The dress would be destroyed by the end of the evening because the event was mostly being held outdoors, but it was so beautiful trailing behind me I didn’t care. Jenna agreed and thought the pictures she would be able to use was going to offset having to replace the train on the dress. The bodice was coreset style that laced up the back with elegant silk ties that had pearls attached to the ends. The sleeves were literally four strands of pearls that draped beautifully against my upper arm. My shoulders were completely exposed. Jenna had custom hair pieces made to go with our dresses and mine was a comb that I tucked into one side of my hair sweeping it away from my face. The beads and feathers fell forward and curled around my ear. The other side of my hair I left down. My earrings were kickass overlarge pearls that matched my dress and Jenna also gifted us all with beautiful pearl cuffs.

  The final piece to our ensembles were the stunning sterling silver charm bracelets the gals had. No two were the same; but they all held some of the same charms.

  As Jenna handed out the customary burgundy boxes with white ribbon everyone went still. The last time a charm was given out to the tribe was at Raquel and Antonio’s funeral.

  As we all began opening the boxes Becca said, “Don’t you bitches start crying and ruin all your makeup.”

  “Stop calling us bitches!” Jenna yelled, “take your damn charm!”

  Chapter 14

  Pearls and Pups

  “I only call my favorite bitches ‘BITCHES’! And I’m not gonna stop!” Becca yelled at the group of ladies gathered to receive their charms.

  “Becca, we are grown women. We aren’t twenty-year olds who refer to each other as bitches!” Jenna said, as she finished handing out the boxes.

  “I don’t give a fig what you say. You bitches have always been my bitches, and as long as I draw breath into my body will always be my bitches!” It was such a bizarre contrast hearing Becca yell like this; all the while, she was decked out from head to toe in expensive sparkling glamour.

  “I’ll make you a deal,” Jenna said to Becca while retrieving a large blue box that was hidden behind a chair. “You refrain from calling us bitches for the rest of the evening and I will let you see what’s inside this box.” We all knew Becca couldn’t stand surprises, but at the same time loved presents more than anything else. You could gift her a single feather, and if it was wrapped up, she would be beside herself with glee. The more festive the wrapping the more excited Becca got. It was one of her more adorable traits. Well, that and all the animal’s lives she saved.

  “Ooohhhhhh gimme, gimme,
gimme!” Becca squealed holding her arms out to receive the blue box.

  “Deal?” Jenna asked keeping the box back.

  “DEAL BITCH!” Becca was now hopping back and forth on her bare feet and looked like she was about to blow.

  Jenna laughed and handed over the dark blue box with a thick white satin ribbon tied around it. As soon as Becca got the box into her hot little hands, she dropped to the floor, sparkly beaded gown and all. She pulled the bow off the box and opened the lid.

  Inside held the prettiest pair of cowboy boots I’d ever seen. They were untraditionally shaped, higher in the front than the back with scalloped edges. The front of the boots were lace up and constructed of soft cream leather with metallic champagne stitching and pearl beaded accents scattered over the boots. The thick heel was a little taller than normal, but not so much she would have any problem walking in them.

  In a word they were glorious.

  The whole room gasped.

  Becca burst out crying. Not just regular crying, but full on, mascara running, snot bubble blowing sobbing.

  “I know how much you hate to wear the ‘silly shoes’ I constantly try to put you in. Instead of arguing one more time over it, I thought you’d like to have a pair of these. This is such a special evening for us, but most importantly for you, my beautiful fearless friend. And I wanted you to be completely comfortable,” Jenna said loudly so she could be heard over Becca’s loud sobbing.

  Becca ripped the beautiful boots out of their box and pulled them on over her bare feet and set to lacing them up.

  “Do you want socks?” Terra asked.

  “Don’t need socks!” Becca said as she pulled the second boot on, finished lacing and jumped up. Boy was she a sight. Stunning form fitted white pearl encrusted strapless dress, the skirt was snug past her hips and then flared out mid-thigh to a full gathered hemline that was higher in the front, falling just below her knees and slanting to the back of the dress that fell so low it graced the ground. The hemline kicked out as she walked and the only way to describe it was to say it was elegantly sassy. The dress was perfect to showcase her gorgeous new boots. Her hair was skillfully swept up into an elegant updo with tons of curly bits and pieces popping out all over. Her head piece matched her dress and was a large comb that was shoved straight down the middle of her twist at the back of her head. It’s feathers and beads stuck out in all directions. She was so tiny and so tanned, with the dress and now the boots, she looked like a beautiful old-fashioned saloon girl. But the black mascara streaks running down her cheeks threw the whole look off, so after we all smiled at each other, we made ourselves busy setting her face back to right.

  “Here, you better open this up too so we can get all the crying out of the way,” Jenna said, thrusting the forgotten burgundy box into her hand.

  Everyone opened their boxes and discovered inside the dazzling little silver charm in the shape of a heart with a paw print, encrusted in mother of pearl, on it. Becca hiccupped and we all thought for sure she was going to go off again.

  “Sis, we are all so proud of you, and want you to know we will continue fundraising and continue helping you until we have the shelter built. We all believe in you and know how hard you work to save lives. You are the biggest hearted person I know, even if you hide it under that tough exterior,” Terra said as she wrapped her arms around Becca who was still hiccupping back her sobs.

  Then we all closed in and wrapped our arms around the two of them. Our big multi-girl hug was the thing that broke Becca; I knew this because she started crying again. I laughed at how ridiculous we all looked, but especially Becca, and one by one the other tribe members joined in too. Until finally we were all falling away holding our sides from deep belly laughs.

  Isabella, who had been in and out of the room handling issues with the caterers and other winery needs, popped back in and yelled, “Come on y’all! Let’s get a move on!”

  So, we did. We gave Isabella her charm, straightened Becca up (again) and headed out to the swanky event our tribe was hosting.

  For the most part the Gala was amazing. The way Isabella had the grounds laid out was genius. It allowed us to have multi levels of ticketed attendees and entertainment and optimized the amount of money we were able to raise. However, there were a couple of issues near the end of the event, and they weren’t small. They were big.

  First, our beloved Isabella was lured to the back of one of the kitchens and shot at! Someone not only tried to take her, but when she wouldn’t go, they tried to shoot her! This, of course, wrapped up the whole event; luckily it was towards the end of the evening, so no money was lost.

  Second, the media showed up. And I am not talking about the media we had invited. I’m talking the same media that had broadcasted from my driveway so many years ago and were responsible for the bad guys finding out where I lived, the same media I blamed for the death of my Old Tom Cat and my beloved Tasha.

  That media.

  And they hadn’t improved. They caught Roman and started hitting him hard with questions regarding the Delta Death Dumps. This is what the media had dubbed the killer who was abusing the young girls to death and dumping their poor bodies in the Delta.

  “Detective, why are you here at this opulent event when you know there is a serial killer preying upon young girls in our county?” one reporter asked.

  The lights were shining on us, making it difficult to see as we were trying to leave. The media had blocked most of the guests paths to get to their vehicles, using any tactics they could to get statements about what had happened to Isabella.

  “Can you give us an update if any more bodies have been found?” from another.

  I hid behind Roman, hoping they wouldn’t recognize me.

  “Hey, isn’t that Sydney Mathews, the attorney that was the key witness and instrumental on breaking up the Russian Mafia operating in the Stockton port a few years ago?”

  “Sydney, when did you get back? Are you going after the Bratva again?”

  “Are you and the detective seeing each other?”

  “Is he the reason you came back?”

  “Was your return because of the Bellinis’ deaths?”

  Oh Lord. I needed to get away from these vultures, but they were blocking our path and surrounding us. Shouting questions they knew we wouldn’t answer, and shouting them at us at a pace they couldn’t possibly expect us to answer, as they shoved their microphones into our faces while shouting more questions framed as statements.

  “Are you back for good?”

  “When are you leaving again?”

  “Are you planning on staying?”

  “Sydney, are you and Roman an item? Are you worried the Russian Mafia will come after you again?”

  “Where have you been all these years?”

  “Did you bring this trouble back with you? Aren’t you worried you’ve put more of your friends in danger?”

  “Why come back now, Sydney? Do you think you’ll be able to retain a piece of Bellini Estate now that the owners are dead?”

  I flinched at that last question and Roman must have felt it, because he pulled me out from behind him, tucked me under his arm and shoved everyone that was in front of us out of his way as he marched us through the crowd. Even with the lights, flashes and questions being hurled at us, I never looked up. I never made eye contact, nor did I utter one word. I kept my head down and didn’t look back up until Roman was guiding me into the car.

  Getting out of the parking lot was a whole other task and one I was super happy Roman was handling. This was the part I had never been any good at. Dealing with the press.

  “Isabella is okay. Based on the way Cabe came storming back in as soon as he heard she was in danger I don’t think that story is over.” I was rambling. The evening had gone from emotional to fun to scary. Now I was trying to rationalize all that had happened in such a short time span.

  “The media is going to plaster your face everywhere. We need to step up security for you,�
� Roman said.

  “I need to figure out what’s going on with Isabella. Someone is trying to kill her,” I said.

  “There’s no way I can change the story now. I have to figure out how to move the focus from you to me,” Roman said.

  It took me a minute, but I soon realized we weren’t even having the same conversation. He was having his own conversation and I was having mine.

  “What are you talking about?” I finally asked him. For the first time since I’d been back, I saw Roman look at me in a way I’d never seen from him before.

  He looked at me like I was stupid. He was incredulous. It was written all over his face and he wasn’t even trying to hide it.

  “Are you kidding me?” He asked, once he recovered.