by Kenya Wright
Baptiste gestured to a big black hat box on the table. “This was on Zola’s bed.”
“What?” I shook my head. “That’s not mine.”
“When I’d scoped out the room, I saw it, but figured it was Zola’s hat box. But when I set the box on the dresser, I noticed how heavy it was and…the smell couldn’t be denied.” Baptiste turned to me. “Sorry, but I opened it.”
“Oh no.” I shook my head. “Of course…that’s fine.”
“I opened it and knew this couldn’t be Zola’s. This was a message from the stalker.” Baptiste touched the top of the box but didn’t lift it as he looked at Hunter. “She shouldn’t see what’s inside.”
I held my hand on my chest. “What’s inside?”
Baptiste glanced at Hunter.
Hunter nodded for him to tell me.
Baptiste shook his head. “There are gold, metal roses inside and on top of each one is a human eyeball.”
My whole body trembled. I stumbled back and sat down. Hunter walked over to me. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” I cleared my throat. “I just needed to sit down after that information.” I did my best to keep my hands from shaking. “Are you sure those are actual human eyes?”
“I’m a connoisseur of body parts,” Baptiste boasted. “Those are definitely eyes, but I would add that the person took it from bodies that had been dead for a while. Rigor mortis has long set in on them. The whites are gray and—”
“We’ve got it, Baptiste.” Hunter held up his hand and walked over to the box.
I turned away as he lifted it.
“No letter with mine this time?” Hunter asked.
“No.” Baptiste shook his head. “But the signature Brokenhearted is on the greeting card sent to Zola.”
My words came out shaky. “Why did he send this?”
“You want it raw?” Hunter asked.
“Yes.”
“He wants you to understand that he knows you’re not in your apartment anymore. And that he can touch you anywhere and, in any place, no matter who’s around you.”
“Yes.” Baptiste added, “He wants you to know that he sees you.”
I rose.
A shiver of fear rushed through me.
Hunter came my way and pulled me into a hug. “Don’t worry about this. I’m done playing with this guy. I’m on it, Zola.”
I leaned my head against his sculpted chest. “Thank you.”
“Get some sleep, Zola.” He moved away. “I’m going to talk to the hotel’s security. A video or someone had to have caught him. Security here is high class. We’ve got him.”
“I hope so.”
“We do.” He walked off, but his gaze lingered on me for a little as if he didn’t want to leave. “Baptiste will be here.”
“I’ll watch out for her.” Baptiste placed the top back on the box. “First, I’ll sage this place, and then we can have some special tea.”
“Don’t give her your special tea, please. She has to get up in the morning.”
“It soothes the soul.” Baptiste shrugged.
“It also gets the average person fucked up. Just stick to the sage.”
I raised my eyebrows. “The sage?”
Hunter walked off. “Baptiste is a bit eccentric.”
“No.” Baptiste shook his head. “I’m respectful to the spirits and the need for balance in our world.”
“O-kay.” I watched Hunter walk away, nervous about being away from him. He’d only been back in my life less than a day, and I’d already become addicted to his attention. It was always that way. I hated being out of his presence.
Hurry back.
With him, I would be safe. I had no fear, when he was around. No worries hit me. I knew deep in my heart that he would protect me with his life.
Suddenly, I remembered something he’d told me long ago.
“Trust me.” Hunter touched my chin and lifted my view to him. “One day, you will be kissed by someone who will die for you.”
I touched my lips, feeling the heat of our kiss on my flesh.
You were right, Hunter. You were definitely right.
17
Immortal Love
Zola
Baptiste held a small bushel of white sage in his hands. Copper thread wound around it. He set the light to the tip. Flames rose. And then, Baptiste blew the fire away. Smoke replaced the blaze, rising into the air in swirls, filling the space in an herby scent. Calm settled along my shoulders.
Hunter took the box and went to talk to security.
I hugged myself and sat on the couch, waiting for his return. A soft blue blanket lay over my legs.
Baptiste turned on the fireplace. “How are you?”
“Fine.” I shifted my view to the flames, wishing I could throw these past moments with the stalker in the fire too.
Baptiste chanted something in another language. I assumed it was French but wasn’t sure. After a few minutes, he turned my way.
“Don’t worry.” Baptiste slowly waved the burning sage throughout the air, leaving a trail of white smoke in his path. “Don’t worry at all, Zola. It will all be over soon.”
“I know.”
“You do?”
“Hunter will find him.”
“He will.” Baptiste nodded. “And I’ll help. It’s the least I can do for him, when he’s done so much for me.”
I smiled. “You two are good friends?”
“We met in boot camp and had a few duty stations together. I’m probably the oldest friend Hunter has, besides your brother.”
I wondered how much Baptiste knew of Hunter and my past. “And now you two work together?”
“Yes. When he started his security company, I was the first person to join.”
“Every day must be an action-packed adventure.”
“And then there are the many days when you’re just babysitting a spoiled asshole. Excuse my French.”
“No problem.”
“Working with Hunter has been some of the best times in my life, but…I plan to retire soon, right after we find out about this stalker.”
“Why are you going to retire, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I lost my wife.” He stared at the burning safe as if the smoke would shift into her face.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s the cycle of our story.”
“Your story?”
“Her and I have had many lives, and throughout it all, we always found each other. My wife has been my husband in a prior life. And before that, we were lesbians. Another time, we were male lovers caught in the rapture of our confusion. We died because of that love.” He sat down, right across from me on the other couch, twirling the sage from side to side in his hand. “And before that, we were bears with little cubs in an ancient mountain. And before that, we were stars that burned for thousands of years. And before that, we’d merged as an iceberg. We were cold, ice. And we were warm. And we were desire. And flesh. And animal.”
Umm…
I sat there speechless.
Eccentric is right, Hunter.
“Sorry.” Baptiste blew at the smoke and watched it drift away. “When it comes to talking about Nakita, there is no logic to my words.”
“Your love sounds beautiful.”
“That’s the only way love can be. Anything else isn’t love. It’s sex. It’s lust. It’s a good time. It’s content. It’s fear to go deeper. But it’s not love.” Baptiste rose and pulled out a pack of New Health cigarettes. “You want to smoke?”
“No, thank you.”
“It’s a nasty habit I just picked up.”
Death did that.
He walked away with a sad expression on his face and went out onto the balcony.
When he closed the glass door, I imagined the many lives that Nikita and he had. I wanted the love he’d described and all its beauty. Every drop of it. Every heartbreaking ache.
I fell asleep on the couch as clouds of sage hovered ov
er me.
The next time I opened my eyes, the sun was barely rising in the sky, and Hunter stood on the deck doing Tai chi. He wore gray pants and a top, no sneakers or socks on his feet. His hair was ruffled as a breeze whipped through it. Dark gray clouds promised a storm above. Still he remained, executing smooth, slow movements on the balcony. His eyes stayed closed as he fanned his big muscular arms around him in a subtle dance with the wind.
He looked more at peace now than I’d ever seen him. I was happy he’d found a way to be happy after all he’d gone through. Baptiste appeared extremely devoted.
Somehow, I fell back to sleep.
Hunter woke me up later.
Now, he was showered and changed.
I watched him the whole time in a daze. For some odd reason, when I woke up this morning, I’d thought it might’ve all been a dream that he’d come back.
So, I studied him, stalking my Hunter like I’d done long ago.
He consumed a pint of iced orange juice, four scrambled eggs, and double bacon. While I nibbled on my fruit, he handed me a large slice of his bacon. After that, I was helping him eat his eggs.
The whole time, we sat by the window.
The city came alive below.
Baptiste appeared next, heading straight to the balcony where he shifted in and out of yoga poses. And there was nothing feminine or soft to the stereotypical idea of the practice. Here he showed the true essence of yoga—the balancing one’s whole body on almost nothing. The flexibility. The possible out of the impossible.
When Baptiste left, Hunter walked out onto the balcony.
I followed with a large cup of tea. Steam rose as I sipped the sweet, warm liquid.
Hunter took out a cigarette.
“What?” Shocked, I said, “I thought you hate smoking.”
“I do. It’s addictive.”
“But you smoke.”
“Because it’s addictive.” He rose and walked out to the balcony. “I only have one in the morning, and not always.”
“Not at night or after lunch?”
“No.”
“That’s still pretty disciplined.”
“It really isn’t. I should’ve knocked out this habit years ago.” He lit the cigarette.
“You’re not going to offer me one?”
“Of course not.” He blew out two rings. “It’s addictive.”
I smiled as the rings floated above him. “That doesn’t smell like a cigarette.”
“I have a guy who makes them for me in London. It’s a Balkan and Turkish mixture lined with herbs.”
The air filled with a perfumed scent.
I grinned. “They also smell expensive.”
“Because they are.” He blew out smoke and drank me in. “I’ve been trying to focus, but I can’t stop thinking about that kiss.”
“Me too.”
“After I find your stalker…there will be more kisses.”
“I would rather have them now, even if you don’t find him.”
“That’s not what will happen.”
“What will happen then?”
“We remain…disciplined until—”
“Hunter, I am not a one-cigarette-a-day-type of person. I want what I want, right when I want it.” I frowned. “And I want you. Now.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?” I asked.
He inhaled the cigarette and then blew it out. “We don’t fuck, until I get this guy.”
The words sounded gruff and hot coming out of that sexy mouth.
“That’s why I’m smoking now.” He took another hit. “I wouldn’t kiss you after smoking one.”
“So, that’s your plan, Hunter. Really? You think you’re going to avoid kissing me? Avoid…fucking me?”
He sneered in desire for a second and then turned away, sticking that damn cigarette back in his mouth. “I’ll find this guy by tonight.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Zola, he sent you eyeballs. We need to focus.”
“Yes! He sent me eyeballs. All the reason why I should get some dick.”
He froze mid-air, stopped for a few seconds, and then stubbed the cigarette out in the ashtray. Next, he closed the distance so fast, I hadn’t expected it. And then, he had me against the wall with my arms up and his hard body pressed against mine.
In a flash, he consumed my mouth and I tasted those perfumed herbs on his tongue. It made the kiss exotic and wild. He dragged himself away from my mouth. “We have to go.”
I bit my lip.
“This is the last day. You’ve got four days of freedom after this.”
“You know my schedule well.” I was breathless.
“Yeah. You have choreography in an hour, the makeup prep and costume fitting after that, then there’s a lunch with CiCi on set, and then the whole video shoot.”
I sighed. “It’s going to be a long day.”
“It will.” He nipped at my lips. “I’ll find this guy while you keep busy.”
“But you’ll be at the video shoot?”
“Of course.”
We kissed some more. My body went crazy. I had no idea how much time passed. Eventually, we stopped and left the hotel suite.
“Did you get any sleep?” I asked Hunter as we hurried onto the elevator.
He held my small carry-on suitcase full of clothes and emergency make up. Lots of times, makeup artists didn’t have the right colors for my complexion at the shoots. It was up to us women of color models to be prepared. Even though Takako never missed the right shade for me, I always brought something just in case.
With the bag slung on his shoulder, he typed into the phone and pressed the lobby button. “I slept for a few hours.”
“After today, you’ll be able to get more sleep,” I said. “I’m off for a while.”
“I’m not sleeping until this guy is dead.”
My body shivered, but relief came too. “You can sleep, Hunter.”
“No.”
“Yes.” Smiling, I reached out for his hand. “Promise, please. Don’t make me have Mom get in this.”
The elevator lowered.
He rolled his eyes. “You can’t call your mom now. If I’m here, she’ll wonder why. And York told me she knows nothing about the stalker.”
I shrugged. “Well played. I wouldn’t want Mom involved right now. She’ll end up having me even more scared, giving me statistics and running out here to pace and fret.”
“She’s not that bad.”
“She can be.”
We arrived at the hotel lobby and rushed through. When we arrived at the car, I climbed in and asked, “Where’s Baptiste?”
“He has a separate mission. He won’t be at the mansion.”
Of course, Trigger had to do a video at a mansion. Where else would a rapper do one?
For the hundredth time that year, I wondered why I’d even dated him. I hadn’t even enjoyed his music, and I was a big lover of hip hop.
The car continued driving throughout Manhattan instead of going in the direction to get to the Bronx.
Hunter must’ve noticed my confusion, because he said, “We have a change of plans.”
“We do?” I asked. “Why?”
“I went over everything. There’s no way the sicko came into the suite while we were gone.” He frowned. “Video caught everyone going in and out the house. There’s also cameras in the living room, back exits, and balcony.”
“So, then what? How did he get those…eyes into the suite?”
“The person must’ve come in during the time you were getting ready for the party.” A dark expression hit his face. “He or she is on your make up team or even someone like Alexander or—”
“What?” Dread filled me. “One of the people doing this is close to me?”
“I think so. They brought the package in there during that time. So much was going on, anyone could’ve slipped it in. It was a nice hat box. It would’ve fit right in with the gowns and everything else. Espe
cially when you and I showered. There were several carts and bags going in and out with shoes and gowns. So the people who delivered are suspects too.”
“But you think it’s Alexander or—”
“I don’t trust any of them right now.” He gave me an intense stare. “We’re picking your team up and riding with them from now on.”
“Okay.”
“Meanwhile, Baptiste will do a little breaking and entering to see which one of them is truly loyal.”
“Breaking and entering in their places?”
“Don’t talk about this with anyone,” he said.
“I won’t, of course.”
“And with CiCi, I saw that she won’t be in the video, but you had a lunch scheduled with her on set.”
“No, she had a part in the video, but she lost the job. We’d scheduled the lunch during when she had it.”
“Why did she lose the job?”
“She didn’t tell me why, but…”
“What?”
“Well, there is a rumor that she hooked up with Trigger and then tried to use a picture against him to get a bigger part in the video.” I shook my head. “But there’s no proof to it, and people love to talk about this stuff.”
“I’ll check on that, but could you do something for me?”
“Sure.”
“Make sure the lunch with her is still happening. I’ll have Baptiste check her place out when you two are talking.”
Unease hit me.
He shrugged. “We have to go there, Zola.”
“I know. I’ll just feel bad if she ends up having nothing to do with this. It’s an invasion of privacy.”
“Same as what this crazy person is doing to you.”
“I know.”
“Anybody that was in the suite last night will get a visit from Baptiste, and maybe a few questions from me.”
I swallowed. “Okay. I hope it isn’t one of them.”
“True. But if it is, I’ll know soon.”
We picked up my team. An uncomfortable tension thickened with each person getting into the limo. Alexander had a black eye and didn’t even try to conceal it. The whole ride, he remained silent. Takako still held the same look of annoyance they had last night. I ignored them, not caring. If they thought I would sit there as they slut-shamed my friend, then they were dead wrong. Takako was new to this industry. A good lesson in keeping their mouth closed was needed if they wanted to continue to rise to the top.