“The other closet has a few clothes in there if you want to put something else on. I think the clothes are about your size.”
Brianna followed Javan’ finger the few yards to the spare closet.
“And don’t worry, they haven’t been worn or anything.”
A few clothes was an understatement. The near bedroom-sized closet was filled to capacity, and everything in it was not only her exact size but matched her style as well. It was like she was looking into her closet at home, and many of the items still had the price tags. “So, most of these are new?”
Javan did not respond. She figured he didn’t hear her, so she selected a V-neck purple tee and denim Capris, dressed, and stepped out to find Javan waiting, still in his robe.
“Nice. I’m glad you found something.”
“Thank you. They fit perfectly. Where did you get these? Did they belong to some special lady? Someone you haven’t told me about, perhaps?” she joked.
“Never. Those are all for you, Bria. All for you.”
Brianna caught the message behind his words. He had not been with anyone else. He had done all of this just for her, but she wasn’t ready to address that. “You’re not dressed?”
“Come here.”
Javan had one thing on his mind. Phase two of his plan was in full effect.
“What is it?”
Even as the question passed her lips, her legs moved without an answer. His words wrapped around her and pulled her into his open arms. The instant she felt his lips grace hers, her heart began to stage a resistance. The passion he displayed was met with indifference. Something had changed in him, in her. This was no ordinary kiss. She felt the powers of the universe being passed from him to her in that kiss. Perhaps she was still soaring from earlier that morning, or maybe it was the copious amounts of attention he had lavished on her recently, but whatever the case, it was unlike anything they had shared before and felt too close to the real thing.
Javan searched for her soul, trying to convince her to let him in, pleading for an entry into that divine space. He grabbed her shoulders and drew her closer. Her body grew limp as the inferno consumed her. She stopped thinking, forcing her inhibitions into submission as the electricity between her legs surged. She thrust one hand into the folds of his robe and twirled her fingers in his chest hairs; the other grabbed hold of his gentle giant and slowly stroked him to life, eliciting a series of moans. The feel of her delicate fingers on his skin nearly did him in. Months had passed without her touch. Javan devoured her breasts like a fiend on a binge. He savored the taste of her large chocolate mounds on his tongue.
Brianna felt her vajayjay throb with each lick, crying for attention. Javan did not disappoint. With one hand, he unbuttoned her Capris, slid his hand inside them, and used vajayjay’s flute to play a song that turned Brianna’s legs to jelly. Her body shook as continuous waves of ecstasy washed over her. Her walls tightened around his fingers, guiding him to her sweet spot as he plunged them in and out of her love cave. Brianna screamed with delight. Javan assaulted her pearl until he felt her body convulse and his fingers dripping with her gratitude.
“ Javan . . .”
She didn’t need to say more. He knew. He snatched her Capris off and thrust himself deep into her wetness, into vajayjay.
“Ja . . . Ja . . . Jaavvaaannn! Oh my . . . Gawd . . . yes . . .”
Javan dug inside her feminine walls. She felt amazing. He felt that perfect peace calling to him with each dive, but he wasn’t ready. He rolled on his back, surrendering his body to Brianna, putting her in a position of power. She was in her element. Her eyes rolled with pleasure as she rode him like it was what she was born to do. He stared at her beautiful design, allowing himself to be distracted by her rhythm, the feel of her juices coating his thighs. The tight feel of her vajayjay around his magic stick. The tricks she performed.
“Damn, Bria. Shit. Oh shit.”
That perfect peace calling to him again. He never could last that long with Brianna. But he wanted this time to be different. He wanted to tattoo his name in it, give her something to think about. He grabbed her hips and began pumping feverishly.
Brianna cried out and fell forward on his chest. She could feel his hands all over her buttocks. Slapping, grabbing, massaging. He was in so deep she felt him in her chest. She knew she would come soon. She felt it rising. An inevitable wave of heat destined to scorch them both. She took her tongue and lightly licked the tip of his earlobe, wrote her name in his neck, then sucked it to make it permanent. Javan, without losing stride, sat up and moved to the edge of the bed. He took Brianna in his hands and turned her into his own personal yo-yo, bouncing her up and down on his love jones.
“Javan! Damn . . . Fuck . . . Ahhhhh . . .”
He quickly stood up and bent Brianna over the bed. He did not want to make her feel good. He aimed to make her crazy. He admired his work from behind for a few minutes, then nudged her forward until she lay flat on the bed. Javan covered her glistening wet body with his own, still filling her vajayjay with his good love. Brianna was climbing that mountaintop again. He could feel each grip she took on her way up.
“It’s mine. It’s mine, baby.”
“It’s yours, Javan . . . Gawd . . . It’s yours.”
He was giving her everything he had. All of him. Cementing his place in her life; in her world. Pushing himself into her future. Pushing her into oblivion.
“Don’t stop. Javanss . . . Gawd . . . Please don’t stop.”
“Come on, baby . . . Give it to me.”
“I’m cooomin’ . . . baby . . . Gawd . . .”
Their bodies moved in unison, both reaching for that extraordinary inescapable flash of bliss. It felt right. Organic. Together, they arrived at that special space reserved for lovers. They were spent, their bodies weak from their lovemaking. Javan looked at Brianna. He loved this woman. Finally, she was all his. He thought about calling his brother and thanking him. His wife was home. His wife was home.
Brianna felt resolved. She was not happy, but she felt an absence. The absence of the weight of the emotional torment that had colored her days for the past several weeks. For the first time in a long while, she felt some small measure of peace. Her entire life had been an invention. She had been kidnapped, rescued, and rendered fatherless. Nothing would ever be the same for her again. But at this moment . . . at this precise moment in time . . . Brianna could release these things and just be.
“I love you, Brianna.”
There it was again. That L-word. Brianna left her end silent. She did care a lot about Javan, but she did not know if she could call it love. He had crawled into a place in her heart and stirred something deep within her. Though it was something no one else had managed to do, she was not ready to anchor him there . . . or maybe she just didn’t know how.
Javan was not bothered by her loss for words. He did not need her to say anything. He was still high off the love she showered him with moments ago and held on to what he perceived to be the physical expression of their love. She had never let him go in naked before. Why would she if she didn’t love him?
“I was thinking . . .” She tarried as the words really hit home. “I am really glad you found me, Javan.” Tears gathered in her eyes as her emotions boiled over.
“My brother told me he had someone there, and I got so angry. I couldn’t believe it. I knew I wasn’t leaving there without her.”
Javan’s words were genuine. He spoke softly, but they pierced Brianna’s surface like barbed wire on an open thigh, cutting deep into her open wounds as she relived her nightmare.
“When I realized you were . . . her . . .” Javan turned to catch a glimpse of a fresh set of tears falling down Brianna’s sullen face; it perfectly mirrored what he felt, “I felt my soul splinter. I freaked out. I could have killed my brother.”
Brianna dried her eyes and restructured her thoughts, still wanting some clarity about things. “It seems like everything happened so fast. I was w
alking along the beach, and the next thing I knew, I wasn’t.”
“How long were you there?”
Brianna shrugged her shoulders and turned to face him. “I don’t know. A week maybe? I don’t know.”
“I know what my brother is capable of, but I never thought any harm would come to you.”
“I never knew you had a brother, Javan.”
“You never wanted to discuss our families.”
“True, but I thought you would have at least mentioned him.”
“He’s kinda the black sheep of the family. Always in trouble. We are not that close.”
“Guess it was pretty lucky for me that you two spoke last night, then, huh?”
“We both were. John is loco. He had to have Mike rattled in order for him to call me.”
“John was never nice to me. Mike was . . . different.”
“I want you to know that we are two very different people.”
Brianna smiled at Javan to allay his misgivings. His brother was not even newsworthy compared to everything she had learned about her mom over the last couple of weeks. It was messed up what Mike had done to her, but at least he had shown some concern for her well-being. “He could have really hurt me.”
“But he didn’t.”
“No, he didn’t.”
It was not lost on her that Javan had not taken her to the police station or even mentioned calling the police. She understood. She could never imagine turning Michelle in no matter what she had done. “By the way . . . Can I use your cell phone now? I need to call my family and let them know I’m okay. I’m sure they’re worried about me.”
Javan did not want her calling anyone right now. Nothing to remind her of what’s happening outside of that house. He didn’t want anything pulling her mind away from him. “Listen, you don’t need to make any calls right now. Let’s get dressed and watch a movie in the theater room. Afterward, I’ll let you call whomever you’d like.”
“Someone dear to me is probably worried sick about me, Javan. I would like to let her know I’m safe.”
“After the movie, all right? After the movie.”
Brianna did not want to wait, but she did not have a choice. Javan was not giving her his phone. She didn’t want Michelle still stressing about her safety. This was the third time he had insisted she put off calling. She found it a bit peculiar but temporarily pushed her skepticism to the side.
“I’m anxious for you to see the movie I selected.”
“I guess I’ll have to wait then.”
“It won’t be long,” Javan promised.
Brianna hoped it wouldn’t be.
Chapter 41
Frank had been expecting her. He had so much he needed to say. He pressed his hand against the Plexiglas, and she did the same. His heart was beating in his chest. He felt like a little kid again. She always had that effect on him.
“Franklin . . . How are you? Sorry I haven’t been to see you, but I’m sure you understand.”
Frank understood. He was happy to see her at all, given the circumstances.
“What took you so long? You enjoy keeping me waiting?”
She laughed. “Never that. Had some personal business to take care of.”
“I see . . . and what of our business?”
Frank knew that she had not kept up her end of their bargain. He only wanted to see if she would be honest about it.
“I thought our business concluded when we began.”
“We were incidental and as much as I enjoy you . . . It didn’t change anything, did it?”
“It may have.”
Frank had changed things for her, though she had a feeling he would never believe it. “When was the last time you slept with my wife?”
Charlie did not respond. She wanted them both.
“I thought so. The agreement was that I would allow your little tryst as long as you kept Lewis and his daughter away from my family. ”
She regretted having ever made that deal, but at the time, it seemed like her best option. Frank had caught her outside his home. He originally thought about calling the police, but he pestered her for information, trying to get to the bottom of things. She had told him nearly everything she knew about Lewis and her deal with him . . . how she was afraid that he might kill her if she did not follow through. He had agreed to allow the relationship with Lisa to continue uninterrupted, as long as Lisa was willing, and Lisa never had to know; it was between them. She was surprised that he knew who Lewis was and accepted his offer. Both offers.
She could not deny the electricity between them; the connection. It helped that they both knew Jacob too. They were tied in more ways than one. Their fling had spanned the last three months or so. She did not see him as often as she saw Lisa, but when she did . . . It was explosive. They usually only got together when Lisa was meeting with Lewis, but occasionally, Frank would sneak away for her. Franklin had a certain something, and he made their time together count.
Charlie raised an eyebrow. “Have I not done that?”
“I don’t know, have you? The sister came to see me. She had Brianna’s ID. Can you explain that?”
She knew it would only be a matter of time before Michelle made her way to Frank. She had intentionally left out certain pieces of information when she spoke with her to buy him some time, but there was no stopping it. When Michelle left her room that day, she studied the note awhile longer and recognized the handwriting. The note and pictures were from Jacob. He had pulled the pin from the grenade with that move, and the whole situation had become one huge ticking time bomb.
“It must be true.”
“What must be true?”
“Lisa called me.”
Frank shifted his gaze to the tight spirals of the phone’s cord. He didn’t like discussing Lisa with her. The situation was already complicated enough. “And? I nearly killed a man defending her honor, and she has not even bothered to come and see me. I heard she did manage to show up at Lewis’s funeral, though.”
Charlie ignored his comment. He could go on and on about Lewis, and she did not want to hear it today. However, she wanted to address the situation with Jacob. “What happened, Franklin? I’ve been sitting with Jacob every day. The wire in his jaws has kept him from sharing the details, so I’m asking you. Why did you attack him?”
“I had not planned on it. Jacob and I have had our issues, but I had never been so angry in my life. I felt the rage. It took over me. I blacked out.”
“What happened?”
“I found out Lisa had been giving me doctored bank statements.”
“No way.”
Frank took a deep breath and wished it were a lie. “Millions are missing. We were leaving the hospital, and I questioned her about it. It got heated quickly, really out of hand. Then, out of nowhere, she told me . . .”
Frank did not even want to say it out loud. The thought still made him queasy. Still made him angry.
“She told you what? And what does that money have to do with Jacob?” Charlie wanted answers. Jacob was one of the few people Charlie could call a friend, and Frank nearly killed him.
Frank fought through the images swarming his mind, looking for words to finish his thought.
“Frank . . . come on . . . told you what?”
“She said that bastard raped her!”
Frank was getting heated all over again. He took his fist and hit the glass. The guard rushed to the door, but Charlie waved him off.
“Calm down before this short visit is reduced even more so.”
“I’ll tell you what . . . I’d beat his ass all over again.”
She shook her head. This was wrong. Lisa had not known Jacob. She was sure of it.
“When? How?”
“When they were in a foster home together.”
She gasped and nearly fell out of the chair. This was terrible.
“Franklin, that can’t be true.”
“What? What are you talking about? She described it to me in d
etail. How he befriended her, and then came in the middle of the night . . . ripped her clothes . . . and . . . and . . .” Frank stopped himself. He couldn’t bring himself to say it. Tears fell from his eyes as he mentally rehashed the horrid tale.
“No, Franklin, no, that could not have happened.” Charlie was adamant and brought Frank’s gaze up from his lap, through the glass, and held it in her unwavering stare. His strong cheekbones and square jaw hinted at his disbelief, but his eyes revealed a softening resolve.
“Yes, it did! Why would she lie about something like that?” Frank felt his anger rising again. She had to be mistaken. Lisa would not do that.
“I don’t know, Franklin! But she did. Jacob was never in a foster home.”
“Do you mean that I’m sitting in here for nothing?”
She stammered over her words. “I mean . . . Lisa was raped, but it was not Jacob. It was her father. I don’t know how many times it happened, but I saw for myself the last time it did.”
“What do you mean you saw it?”
“I was . . . in a house across the street. I had a clear view from my bedroom window.”
Frank did not know how to feel. Lisa lied to him. Typical. He had wrongly let his emotions blind him.
Charlie held her hands up in mock protest. “I’m not making excuses for her, but I’m sure she had a good reason.”
Frank scoffed. He couldn’t believe it; he didn’t want to hear this. “Are you really defending her, after everything you’ve told me?”
“Things have changed, Franklin.”
She didn’t know what reason Lisa could have for doing this, but she was not going to rush to judgment. Her hands were dirty enough.
“Have they? She is still noticeably absent.”
“Brianna is missing.”
“What? What do you mean she’s missing?”
“That’s why Lisa called me. She needed to talk. I thought she was lying, but if Michelle showed up here with Brianna’s ID . . . It makes sense.”
Frank started breathing heavily, shaking his head in disbelief. He had only been a little late with the payment. Why would they have taken her without even trying to contact him? Surely they know where he is. He had tried to get word out to them, but he didn’t know what he was doing. He must have failed miserably. “That explains why Bria hasn’t been to see me. I should have known something was wrong. I think I know who has her, but I need to get out of here. Get me a lawyer.”
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