Just as he knew he had all he needed and was about to spring his surprise on Anne, it seemed she was about to have some company and Arsen would have to wait to tell her how screwed she was.
Light flooded the small entryway as she opened the door.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“We need to talk,” he heard a man say, but he couldn’t see him.
“Who has the girl?” Anne asked.
“Never mind about her. Aren’t you going to ask me to come inside, Anne?” the man said.
Anne shook her head. “Can’t you see I have company? I’ll come see you in a little while at your place. The place you should be so what happened last time doesn’t happen again. Or did you do as I suggested and end that little problem?”
“If you must know, I have her hiding in the car. If you let me in I can tell you all about it. I took a little walk around your house. I overheard you talking and I know you only have one other person in here with you. So if you’ll let me in we can deal with this really quick then I’ll be out of your hair, Anne.”
Anne hesitated and Arsen had a gut feeling the man was not there for anything good. “You walked around my house, Allen?” she asked and held the door tight in her hand, ready to slam it if need be.
Arsen knew then it was none other than Allen White who was paying his old Dom a visit. He shook his head and leaned against the wall and hoped the woman would close the door. Arsen smelled danger and Allen’s scent was all over it.
“Just let me in, Anne.” Allen’s voice had turned commanding.
Arsen watched as Anne took a step back. “What the hell are you doing, Allen?”
Arsen’s eyes caught Allen White as he walked in and Anne backed up. He was holding a gun out, pointing straight at her. Arsen’s breath caught in his chest and he had no idea what he was going to do to get the gun out of the man's hand.
“Who are you?” Beth asked. “And why the gun?”
“I'm the man who is about to kill this woman and then you, obviously,” Allen answered as he kept moving forward and Anne kept moving backwards.
“Allen, why are you pointing a gun at me, you idiot? We’re on the same side. Or have you forgotten that?” The back of Anne’s legs hit the front of the sofa, stopping her retreat.
“Are we on the same side?” he asked her. “Because I don’t feel like we are. I can see the writing on the wall, Anne. I’m your patsy. Always have been since the first time you came to see me while I was in prison.”
Beth’s voice was shaky as she said, “Look mister, I don't even know who you are. I’m married with little kids please don’t kill me. Let me leave. I swear I’ll never tell a soul what I’ve seen.”
Anne sounded stunned.
“I’ve got things to live for too, Beth. Jesus! This little man isn’t about to really shoot us.” She looked back at Allen. “What are you doing, you idiot? Don't make me come over there and take that gun out of your hand.”
Allen laughed.
“You think you're taking this gun away from me? You’re crazier than I thought you were!”
Beth began to cry and Allen pointed the gun towards Beth who stood several steps away from Anne.
“Maybe I'll take you out first as it seems like you're going to be kind of annoying,” he told her.
Beth shook her head.
“No. I’ll shut up. I'll shut up, I promise. Please let me go, sir. My kids need me!”
Anne spoke up, drawing Allen’s attention back to her, “Allen you need to stop this. Put the gun down. What are you doing? Why are you here with that gun? What's going on with you? We have a deal. I’m not going to do anything but what we’ve agreed to.”
He pointed the gun back Anne.
“I've gotten wise to you. I know you're going to throw me under the bus. I know that you're going to tell everyone I killed all those women. I know what you're going to do.”
“And who told you this? Someone put this into your head.” Anne tapped her temple with one long finger. “That dumb bitch! Gwen put this into your head, didn’t she?”
“If you mean the love of my life, yes it was Gwen who talked to me about this,” he said. “Gwen showed me who you really are. She explained how I'm nothing but a patsy in your whole scheme.”
Arson watched as Anne threw her hands up in the air. All he could see was her back and Beth’s back and he prayed Allen was so focused on them he wouldn't see his eyes peeking at him through the crack in the door
Beth let out a big sob. She started crying uncontrollably and Allen pointed the gun at her again.
“Shut up! Shut up! I can't take that! Shut up or I swear to God I’m going to put a bullet in you first!”
Beth tried her best to shut up. She did everything she could to stop crying.
Anne looked at him and said, “Can I go over there and put my arm around my daughter? Before you kill us, at least let me give my daughter one last hug, you piece of crap!”
“Go ahead,” Allen said as he waved the gun, gesturing for Anne to move the few steps to her daughter. “Give her one last hug. Do whatever you want to do. Give her a kiss for all I care. I don't care what you do, but I'm going to kill you both.”
Anne walked over to her daughter and put her arms around her.
“It's okay Beth. It's okay. Don't worry, this man isn’t really going to kill us. He's kind of crazy, but he's not so crazy he would kill the person who is going to give him more than one million dollars.” Anne turned her head to look at Allen. “Have you forgotten how much money I'm going to give you, Allen? Have you forgotten that it's almost in my hands? It's almost in your hands, Allen!”
“I don't believe you were ever going to give it to me anyway, so you shut your mouth,” he told her as he pulled the gun up and aimed it right at her head. “Pray to God or whoever it is you believe in, because I'm fixing to send you to wherever it is you're going to go. You’re an evil lady so you’ll probably go to hell.”
“Evil!” Anne shouted.
Beth was choking on her sobs and holding on tight to her mother.
“Mom, I love you!”
Anne shouted, “We are not about to die! Stop the damn bawling, Beth! Shit!”
Arsen couldn’t believe that Anne was staring into the face of death and would tell her daughter to stop crying. She was a complete, heartless bitch.
Allen’s hand was shaking as he pointed the gun at the women and Arsen knew the time had come. Allen took a couple of steps and pressed the gun to the side of Beth’s head.
She was screaming and crying and begging for him to spare her life. Allen’s hand was shaking worse and Arsen knew he had to do something.
He slammed the door back as hard as he could. The noise made Allen turn around. He only got two words out of his mouth, “What the…”
Arsen was on him and had wrestled him to the floor. His hand touched the gun which was between them. He felt Allen’s finger on the trigger.
Allen shouted, “Get off me! I’m going to kill you, Arsen! Then I’ll kill them!”
Arsen wasn't about to let him go. He wasn't about to let him up. The pieces would just have to fall where they may.
He tried to position the gun, trying to push the gun into Allen's gut. Allen's finger was still on the trigger as Arsen wrapped his hand around the gun.
Arsen closed his eyes and prayed for the strength and the courage to do what he had to do. Then he squeezed Allen's hand until the sound of the gun going off rang out in the room.
All Arsen could hear was the women screaming. Then a gurgling sound. He assumed it was the sound of blood coming out of someone's body, He knew someone had been shot, but he wasn't sure if it was him or Allen.
His stomach burned and his heart was pounding. Arsen knew his adrenaline was so amped up, if he was shot, he wouldn’t feel it right away.
He closed his eyes and pictured Steele and prayed he’d live to see her again.
It can’t end like this!
STEELE
The afterno
on sun made Detective Fontaine’s blonde locks glow as she walked up to the driver’s side window, Paul had rolled down. They had pulled up on the side of Anne Sinclair’s home, just her cruiser and the Suburban parked right behind it.
Other officers were in the area, but all were waiting for Fontaine’s call for backup before moving in.
“Okay, keep her here, Paul.” She drew her gun.
Paul wiggled his finger for her to come closer. She leaned in the window as he said, “You be careful baby. We have a date later.”
She smiled.
“I know. I will, don't worry, I’ve never been shot yet.”
Paul shook his head.
“I hope you haven’t just jinxed yourself.”
Fontaine gave him a smile, and he gave her a little kiss. Then she turned around and headed towards the house, staying close to the side of the outside wall. Steele’s eyes stayed glued to her as she ducked, going under the large set of windows she figured were in the living room.
Just before Fontaine made it to the door the muffled sound of a gun blast was heard and she looked back over her shoulder at them and hurried into the house. Paul jumped out of the car and ran towards the house.
Steele hauled ass out of the car and ran for the house as well. There was no way she could sit there not knowing who had been shot.
“Steele, what the hell are you doing in here?” Fontaine asked with her jaw clenched.
She was holstering her gun as Beth and Anne stood screaming and crying and holding on to each other. Paul stood between Fontaine and Steel as all looked at the two men on the floor.
Paul said what all were thinking, “Fuck!”
Blood had already stained the white carpet the men were lying on.
“Arsen!” Steele shouted and ran fast to him. She fell on her knees next to him. Her hand on his back, her mouth near his ear. “Baby, please talk to me. Please.”
Arsen’s head moved a little and his eyes opened slowly.
“Hey, Baby. What are you doing here?”
She laughed and tears ran down her cheeks.
“Are you hurt?”
“Not sure about that,” he said. “I feel odd, but not in any real pain. My stomach burns a little though.”
Detective Fontaine kneeled on the other side of him and she took Allen’s hand and checked his pulse.
“I think this one is dead.” She looked up at Paul who was right behind her. “Help me roll Arsen off this guy.”
He nodded and did as she’d told him. They rolled him to his back and Steele stayed right by him. Her eyes went wide as she saw blood covering most of his shirt. “Oh, God!”
Fontaine unbuttoned Arsen’s shirt as he lay perfectly still and kept his eyes focused on Steele.
“I’m sorry I left without telling you where I was going. You must’ve been worried.”
“Don’t worry about that now.” She ran her hand over his forehead, pushing back some damp strands of his dark hair.
Fontaine let out a sigh of relief.
“It’s all the other guy’s blood. No wounds on Arsen.” She gave Steele a wink. “What muscles this man has! Lucky girl.”
Steele laughed and ran her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. With the information he wasn’t shot, Arsen sat up and Steele let him go and took a step back so Paul could help him up.
Paul pulled Arsen into a hug.
“You scared us all, you son of a bitch!”
Steele was so busy starring at Arsen she almost missed seeing Anne slipping out of the living room. She moved quickly to get to the woman.
“Stop!”
Anne didn’t even look back. She took off running. Not nearly fast enough though as Steel caught up to her and had her down on the kitchen floor.
“Stop! Let me go!” Anne screamed.
Fontaine came into the kitchen and placed her knee in the woman’s back.
“Thanks, Steele. I can take her from here.”
“I didn’t do anything!” Anne shouted as she squirmed to get away.
Arsen and Paul walked in and Arsen handed the recorder to Fontaine once she had Anne secured. “Here you go. This will exonerate me and condemn her. Seems Mistress Sinclair has been into some bad things. Revenge for leaving her had her thinking up new punishments for me. It’s an open and shut case with her words on this recording.”
“How dare you, Arsen!” Anne yelled from her position on the floor. “That’s illegal! You can’t record someone who doesn’t know they’re being recorded!”
Arsen let out a sigh.
“I can’t listen to her speak anymore. I’ve had to listen to her voice for far too long as it is.”
Beth’s voice came from behind them.
“Arsen, can I talk to you?”
Steele’s heart clenched, and she looked at Arsen who silently asked her to let him do what he needed to do. She gave him a nod and ran her hand over his cheek.
“I love you, Baby.”
“I love you,” he said them pressed his lips to her forehead.
He walked towards Beth and took her by the hand, leading her away from the crowded kitchen. Steele watched as a pain filled her chest. But she knew Arsen needed this closure.
Still, it wasn’t easy to witness. All the craziness was over. Arsen was a free man, all the hard times were over for him. Steele couldn’t help but wonder how Arsen would feel with all the weight off his shoulders.
She wondered if he might want to slow things down between them now that prison wasn’t hanging over his head. He may have found some feelings left over for Beth.
Beth was Arsen’s age, early thirties, but she looked as if life had been rough on her. Lines around her lips showed she was a smoker and dark circles under her eyes showed she was most likely a drinker too.
Perhaps all that had happened all those years ago had Beth filled with guilt and it was showing on her face and body. Her posture was poor and she had extra weight on her. Arsen could feel sorry for Beth and that could turn into more.
Arsen could feel he needed to save Beth and that would be a powerful thing which could bring the two together again. The woman certainly looked like she needed some kind of help. But she had her own husband to do that for her.
Steele knew if Beth had a choice between the man she’d seen sitting on the porch of their small home and Arsen, she’d be an idiot not to pick Arsen. It circled round and round in Steele’s head and it began to ache with fear of Arsen leaving her for his old flame.
Steele left the kitchen and walked through the living room, finding some other officers had come inside and had Allen’s body covered with some black thing. She stepped out the front door and the light from the sun made her shield her eyes.
Then she heard Arsen’s voice coming from the side of the house. He and Beth must have stepped to the side of the house to talk. She took a couple of steps away. Planning to wait in the Suburban but stopped when she heard Beth say, “I’m more sorry than you’ll ever know, Arsen.”
Steele knew she shouldn’t be listening. But she couldn’t make her feet move. She stood still and listened.
Arsen said, “Thank you, Beth. You don’t know how it helps to hear you say that. All these years I was left wondering if you were ever sorry about what happened.”
“I was a very confused girl back then. And I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am my mother did all she did to you. If I would’ve had any idea about that stuff back then, I swear I would’ve put a stop to it.” Steele heard material move and thought Arsen’s hands must be running up and down Beth’s arms.
She fisted her hands at her sides and had to focus on the fact Arsen needed to hear those things from Beth. No one else could help him heal the wounds she and her family had given Arsen.
The sound of his lips making a little smack against somewhere on Beth made Steele take a step away. She couldn’t take knowing his lips were touching her anywhere.
Arsen’s voice stopped her.
“I know you would’ve. I knew
I could’ve gone to you and told you what she was doing. I just didn’t do it. I take responsibility for my part in it. I told myself for many years that wasn’t anything I could’ve controlled. That was a lie I kept telling myself. Then I had to have all the control in my dealings with women.”
“So, you became the dominant then?” she asked.
“Yes. And I did it for all the wrong reasons.” His voice was soft and then she heard the sound of him running his hands over Beth again as the fabric moved once more.
“That girl who came, is that her? The one you told me about?” she asked.
Steele’s heart stopped beating as she listened as Arsen answered, “Yeah, that’s my Steele. My rock, my savior, my everything.”
Steele walked away then. Giving him his privacy. Whatever he had to do was his to do, and she didn’t need to let her jealousy ruin anything that helped him get over all which had happened to him.
Half way to the car she heard footsteps come up behind her. She turned to find Arsen in his blood-soaked clothes. His arms opened, and she went into them. Her tears flowed as he held her tight.
“I was so afraid.” Her body shook.
His lips pressed against the top of her head as he swayed with her.
“So was I. It’s all over, Baby. Let’s get the hell out of here. I told Fontaine she could talk to me tomorrow. I’m done for the day.”
Steele let him lead her to the back of the Suburban and saw Paul coming out to take them home.
It’s hard to believe this is really over!
The sound of people coming out and talking in medical terms had Steele and Arsen looking back to find a stretcher coming out the front door of the house next to Anne’s.
“Gwen!” Steele said under her breath. “In all the drama I forgot she was in the house next door.” She pulled Arsen along with her to go see Gwen as the paramedics wheeled her to the ambulance.
Arsen called out, “Wait a second. We know her.”
They waited and Gwen raised her head a little.
“Oh my God! You’re alright!”
Steele was crying again as she got to her friend and hugged her.
Savage SEAL’s Virgin: A Submissives’ Secrets Novel Page 64