by Jessie Cooke
“You do not want to threaten me.”
The guy had his hand on her arm. She looked uncomfortable. He smiled and Noah heard him say, “It’s not a threat, my beauty, it’s a promise.”
“Ava! I’m so glad I caught up with you.” She looked up at Noah and he couldn’t read the look in her green eyes. Was it shock, confusion, anger? He didn’t care; he wasn’t leaving her alone with the punk. The man had let go of her arm and was looking at Noah now too. “My meeting cancelled. I can get that drink with you after all.”
Before she could speak, the punk said, “She and I were going for dinner…”
“Oh, yeah! Dinner sounds great. Are you driving, Ava, or you want me to get my car? We can all get dinner and then have a drink together.”
Ava smiled. “Sure, I’ll drive. Brian, you don’t mind sitting in back, do you? My boss gets carsick.”
“You know what? I just remembered there is something I have to do this evening,” Brian said, glaring at her.
Noah said, “I’m sorry to hear that…Brian, was it? Well, we’ll do it again sometime when you’re not busy. Ava, are you ready?”
“I’m ready, boss.” She opened her door and hit the unlock button for Noah’s. He got in the passenger side and as they drove away, Noah could see the punk still glaring after them in the side view mirror. “Should I take you to your car?” she asked him.
“Hell no, you promised me a drink or dinner or something. While we’re having it, you can tell me what’s going on with that guy.”
5
The Valentine Killer
He was feeling particularly antsy that night; things hadn’t gone as planned that day. The nosy PI bastard had almost caught him watching the girl. He had considered killing him right there, until he realized he hadn’t seen him at all…he was after someone else entirely. He was a pathetic excuse for a detective. The killer realized that he was too close to him, though, and he had taken himself out of the situation before he was even noticed. Instead of following the girl, he had waited around and followed the other guy instead.
He turned on the computer and typed in: Noah Campbell. He found an old Phoenix PD PR website from January of 2006. There were pictures of all the officers in uniform and a bio for each one. He looked at the officer leaning on the open door of his police cruiser and smiling. He was younger and thinner…but he had that same cocky look on his face that was burnt into the killer’s mind. He read the bio beneath the photograph:
Noah has been a police officer with the Phoenix PD since 2001. He holds a degree in Criminal Justice and has undergone extensive training in the areas of Criminal Investigation, Drug Law Enforcement, and Crime Scene Processing. Noah is a member of the Maricopa County Drug Task Force, and the Arizona Narcotics Officers’ Association. Noah is also one of only four certified operators of the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer in Maricopa County. He is a lifelong resident of the community he serves.
Disgusting! He clicked back and then clicked on another Phoenix PD site from 2011. It was the same PR bullshit, but this photograph looked more like the man he knew and despised. He was dressed in a suit and tie rather than his uniform. This bio said:
Detective Campbell is a ten year veteran of law enforcement. Then it repeated the crap from the first bio and went on to say: He earned his gold shield with the Phoenix PD in 2006 only five years after joining the force. Since then he has been involved in criminal investigations at the local, state, and federal level. He served two years on the narcotics task force working in an undercover capacity before transferring to the homicide division. Detective Campbell has worked closely with the FBI in the apprehension of two serial killers as well as being the lead detective on over forty homicides to date.
2011…that was the year he met his first beauty. The press called him the “Valentine Killer” because of his heart pendants. But they were so stupid…they didn’t even seem to notice the wings. The wings were what sent them to heaven. They were the most important part.
He smiled at the memories and then making himself focus, clicked on the next website. This one said: Campbell Investigations. There was another photo of the cocky bastard and an advertisement for a private detective agency owned and operated by “A veteran of the Phoenix PD who was also a top criminal investigator.”
Top criminal investigator my ass! He hasn’t caught me yet, has he? I almost wish I could let him, just so he’d know that I’d been right under his nose all along. Maybe it’s time to remove him from the equation for good. Before I do…I can see the look on his face as he realizes the truth.
He smiled again at that thought. So much to do….
He knew that Campbell’s PI agency was founded in 2013, after he was forced out of the police department. Yet he still used “Top Criminal Investigator” to lure in clients. Shameless! By that time, the killer had already sent four of his “Angels” to heaven and Campbell still had no idea who he was. Some “top investigator!” He pressed Print and when the papers came out of the printer, he folded them neatly and placed them inside his breast pocket. Then he clicked off the computer with a sigh just as the door to his private den was pushed inward, letting the light from the hallway assault his irises.
“Close the door!”
“What are you doing sitting in here in the dark?” His wife’s nagging sometimes felt like screeching and chirping coming at him from a hundred different directions. It made his head pound and he wanted to take his knife and cut out her larynx.
“The better question is what are you doing barging in here? This is the only place that I can get five minutes of peace.”
“Why are you home from work so early? You didn’t lose your job, did you?”
“Why would you care? Do we need the money?”
“It’s not about the money. Your behavior has been so strange lately and speaking of money…you’ve made quite a few strange purchases. Why are you buying so many new pairs of jeans and t-shirts? You have me a little freaked out. You wear suits to work.”
“Maybe you should mind your own business. Worry about those saggy tits and that lumpy ass of yours. Maybe you should get a job and stop sitting on it watching Oprah every day.” He saw tears spring into her eyes and he almost smiled. When he met her she’d been tall and willowy…all arms and legs. Her breasts hadn’t been more than buds on her chest. She’d gotten a boob job since then of course; she had to keep up with Phoenix’s elite. That might not have been so bad if her ass hadn’t spread out to match it. It was no wonder that he didn’t have any interest in having sex with her any longer. She repulsed him.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I won’t stand for being abused.”
“Then get the fuck out of here and leave me alone!” His voice echoed off the oak-paneled walls of the room and the door reverberated on its hinges as she slammed it behind her. She was becoming a liability that he would have to deal with soon, but not that night. Tonight he had another of his beauties to set free…it had only been a week since the last one, but he could hear her soul crying out to him.
He stood up and reached for the keys on the desk in front of him. He almost forgot that he’d left the pictures out again. Sometimes he stared at them for so long and so intently that he forgot to put them away before he left. That would be a very dangerous mistake. He couldn’t afford to get sloppy. He picked the photos up and opened the locked desk drawer. He started to toss them in and then stopped to look through them one more time before he did. They were so beautiful. He gave the last one a kiss and then after tossing it into the drawer and locking it, he ran a hand down the front of his black jeans…trying to settle himself down. He went over then and locked the door between the office and the hallway and once again stepped outside through the double French doors.
Once outside, he sucked in the air. Nothing had ever been so sweet. Just a few short hours of breathing the stifling air in that house since he had been home was almost unbearable. He was made to be outside, made for the night. He shoved his
hands down into his pockets and began his trek. Tonight’s beauty walked the alleys down by Roosevelt Row.
He had taken his things when he went to see her the night before and he had given her a taste of what she would be waiting for this evening. He couldn’t wait to see her. This one was special…a present for the detective.
“I’m okay,” Ava told Noah again, but the way she had her bottom lip caught between her teeth, he knew that she was anything but.
“Tell me what that freak was threatening you with.”
“He wasn’t threatening me…”
“Ava, I heard you tell him not to threaten you as I walked up.” Why wouldn’t she just tell him what was going on? She had to know that he would protect her.
“You must have misunderstood. He’s an old flame. He’s having a hard time taking no for an answer, that’s all.”
She brought her coffee cup to her lips. She noticed the tremor in her own hand and placed her left hand over her right to steady it as she lifted. She could tell Noah a million times that there was nothing wrong but as long as her hands trembled and the water in her eyes threatened to spill over, he wasn’t going to believe her. He almost physically ached to reach across the table and touch her, he wanted to hold her in his arms and comfort her. They had never had that kind of relationship, though. Noah had been with so many women and he had even had lasting relationships with women that had worked for a while…but he never felt closer to any woman than he did Ava. She was hurting and he felt like he could feel her pain. He wanted to kill the son of a bitch who was causing it, but still he was afraid to touch her.
“Ava, I thought we were friends,” he said, trying a different tactic.
“We are friends.”
“Then why won’t you open up to me?” Noah knew it was kind of silly, but it actually hurt his feelings that she thought there was something she couldn’t tell him.
He could see her thinking about it, considering whether or not she should tell him. Her green eyes were cast down towards the table and almost hidden behind her long, dark lashes as she continued to chew on her bottom lip. She only did that when she was anxious about something, and the fact that he knew that said a lot on its own. Noah rarely paid that much attention, but from the beginning, Ava was different.
Ava and Noah met at a fundraiser. She was wearing a green mermaid dress that was strapless, and the wild, curly red hair had been the only thing touching the soft white of her shoulders. The first thought he had when he saw her was how badly he wanted to get her out of that dress. It was a normal thought for him when he met a beautiful woman, so it didn’t surprise him. The second thought was how badly he wanted to kiss those full, red lips and that long, slender neck. He asked her to dance and as they danced, she told him about herself and he found out that she was Collin’s little sister. Collin and Noah had been close since college and Collin talked about his family all the time, but Noah hadn’t met the sister or parents before that night. Collin had joked a lot about how pushy and bossy his little sister was…but when he talked about her seriously for any reason, he talked about how innocent she was and how virtuous. He’d mentioned to Noah one time that her grandmother had encouraged her to become a nun.
Because of all of that, Noah had a very different picture of her in his head than the woman at that benefit that literally exuded sexuality… But still, he wasn’t going to touch that one. Besides the fact that she had three huge older brothers and she was a devout Irish Catholic, he was afraid that she was a virgin to boot. He knew that was appealing to some men…but Noah was thirty-six years old and sex was his favorite form of recreation. Recreation is a form of relaxation, and a virgin was not conducive to relaxation as far as he was concerned. His thoughts on the subject were that the teaching should take place in the classroom, not on the playground.
Noah made himself bite back the attraction that night although it hadn’t been easy, and every time he ran into her over the next year would have to remind himself again: all-girl Catholic school, three big Irish brothers, rarely dated, probably a virgin. It was like a mantra in his head. When he left the department and opened the office, Collin mentioned to him that she was looking for a job. A detective Noah was, a businessman he was not. He needed an office manager and after talking to her, she seemed like the perfect candidate. She had a degree in Human Resources Management. She was smart, professional, efficient, and most importantly she was hot, but not someone he would sleep with. She came to work for him almost four years ago, and in all that time he had never really touched her. Sometimes that was thanks to multiple cold showers and copious amounts of hand lotion…but whatever got the job done. He had always been afraid that if he touched her, there would be no stopping him and no going back.
“Ava, I don’t want to pressure you,” but I will if I have to. “I just want to help you.” He wanted so badly all of a sudden to be the man that could make everything right for her.
The waitress came over with their food then. Noah had ordered a turkey sandwich and Ava had gotten the house burger with mashed potatoes and gravy instead of French fries. She picked up the burger almost as soon as the waitress walked away and took a big bite out of it. Then she closed her eyes and moaned.
“God, that is so good,” she said. It was another thing that had taken a lot of getting used to. He could practically have an orgasm in his pants just watching her eat. Ava didn’t just eat…she made love to her food. It was a hell of an erotic experience to sit across the table from her while she did it.
Noah took a bite of his sandwich, trying to tear his eyes away from her as he did. He was sure that the look in his eyes was one of pure lust, and the last thing he wanted her to think was that he would in any way try to take advantage of her vulnerability.
He swallowed his sandwich and wondered if it actually tasted like rubber, or maybe he just hadn’t paid enough attention to it as he chewed… “Ava, talk to me.”
She put the burger down and sighed. “You can’t fix this, Noah. You can’t just fix everything.”
“If you’re not going to talk to me, then maybe I should have a talk with him.”
“No! No, Noah. Please. Stay out of this.”
“Give me a good reason.”
“Because it’s not your business.”
“You’re my friend and whatever he’s done has upset you…a lot. That makes it my business.”
“He hasn’t ‘done’ anything…yet. If you go have a talk with him, you’ll just force his hand.”
“Ava…”
“Noah! I have three brothers, I don’t need another one.” Noah took that as his cue. She didn’t want another brother; maybe he’d just make sure she knew that he didn’t want to be one of them. He got up and sat next to her on her side of the booth.
“What are you…?” Before she could finish her sentence, Noah swept his mouth across hers. It was quick…just a little taste. It was the taste that he had been dreaming about for years. Then he pulled his face back and looked into her eyes. They were as wide as saucers.
“I’m sorry, but…” She cut him off then. She wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pulled his mouth back down on hers. Suddenly, he was lost in the feel of her sweet lips and the taste of her tongue as it tangled with his. His arm seemed to slide around her of its own free will and pulled her warm body into his. He forgot he was her boss, they were in public, and he even forgot that he was Noah Campbell…the guy who didn’t do emotional attachments. He forgot about everything for the duration of the kiss and then as soon as he pulled back again and looked at her face, it all came rushing back. “Shit!” he said, running a hand through his hair and undoubtedly leaving it standing straight up.
“Hmm, not the response a girl might expect,” she said with a grin. She was killing him.
“I’m sorry. I just meant…I’m sure that’s not what you needed right now when you have some asshole man terrorizing you. I just wanted you to know that I don’t want to be another brother.”
&
nbsp; In a voice that was still breathless from the kiss she said, “What do you want to be, Noah?”
On top of you, underneath you, next to you, behind you…against you. “I’m your friend, Ava. I want to be your friend.” Her face looked like she’d just been kicked in the stomach and then almost as quickly it changed into one of her dazzling…but fake…smiles.
“Well, good then, because you already are. I should be getting home. Can I drop you at your car?”
“Ava…” She put her fingers to his lips. It took every fiber in his body to keep from kissing them.
“Let it go for now, Noah. I can’t talk about what happened with Brian. Trust me to know how to handle that on my own. If I can’t and I need your help, I’ll ask, okay?”
Shit! He had forgotten about that too. He was just going to tell her that he wanted to kiss her again. This might explain why he didn’t have many close friends.
“Okay, but promise me you will,” Noah said.
“I promise.”
6
Ava thought every little thing about Noah was hot. His thick, dark hair…the smoking hot chocolate brown eyes…the shape of his jaw, the way his shirt rippled when he moved so that she knew the muscles underneath it were smooth and taut…the colorful tattoo that just peeked out from underneath his sleeve every now and again…everything. He was the star in most of her fantasies and some mornings at work she had to avoid looking at him for the first hour or so because she was afraid there would still be residual traces of what he did to her in her dreams in her eyes…And now he’d kissed her, and the worst part was that he’d given her this whisper-soft kiss to prove a point and she had immediately gone into attack mode. She threw herself at him like the hot mess Brian wanted to prove to everyone that she was. She guessed when the truth did come out, that Noah at least wouldn’t be surprised. Ava was so humiliated that she was willing to bet that her face was the same color as her hair.