by April Wilson
“He was released this morning on bail.”
Jake’s eyes narrow as he watches Todd drive past us. “Cocky son-of-a-bitch,” he says.
“He thinks he’s above the law. That the laws don’t apply to him.”
“Narcissistic bastard.”
I laugh. “Yes, he is.”
Jake puts his arm across my shoulders. “Come on. I’ll see you to your apartment. Jamie needs to know about this.”
Jamie. That’s my real concern. I don’t think Todd would actually hurt me, but I know he’d hurt Jamie. “I’m afraid for Jamie,” I say. “I think Todd’s out to hurt him.”
Jake chuckles. “Is Todd armed?”
“I don’t think so. In all the years we were together, he never showed any interest in getting a gun.”
“Then I wouldn’t worry about Jamie,” he says. “If it’s hand-to-hand contact, Todd doesn’t stand a chance.”
When we approach my building, the door opens and out steps the young man who lives in the first-floor apartment. Based on the towering stack of boxes he’s holding, it looks like they’re moving out. The guy props the door open with a brick.
“Hey, pal, don’t prop the door open,” Jake says, retrieving the brick and setting it inside the foyer. “This building has a secured entrance. Leaving the door propped open kind of defeats that, right?”
“Oh, sure, gotcha,” the young man says, continuing down the steps to his DIY moving van.
Jake walks me inside and up the stairs. He watches down the stairs as my neighbor carries several boxes out the door, letting it swing shut behind him.
Jake frowns. “I don’t like having other occupants in the building. They might do something stupid, like prop the door open.”
I laugh. Jake has no idea how right he is. “Mrs. Powell is forgetful, and she’s let Todd into the building several times, thinking he’s my husband.”
My bags are sitting right outside my door. I unlock my door, then turn back to Jake. “Thank you,” I tell him. “For the ride home and for coming to my rescue just now.”
“No problem. Any time.” He gives me a bear hug and pats my back. “I’m glad you came to the wedding. Jamie’s been alone for a long time. It’s good to see him happy.”
Speaking of Jamie, I hear his door close and watch him walk toward us.
“I’m taking off now,” Jake says, slapping his brother’s upper arm. “Why don’t you ask Molly who she ran into outside?”
Jamie turns toward me. “You saw Todd?”
“You kids have a nice evening,” Jake says, heading for the stairs. “You, too, Gus.”
Jamie takes hold of my hands. “Tell me what happened.”
“I saw Todd outside a few minutes ago. He was parked on the street, and when he saw me walking with Gus he came over and spoke to me.”
Jamie’s brow furrows and he shakes his head. “Your ex is nuts. He’s just asking for jailtime.”
“He thinks he’s above the law. He thinks he’ll get off again if I call the police.”
“He’s wrong.” He pulls me into his arms and kisses the top of my head. “Can I come in and hang with you for a while? We could watch a movie, maybe order carryout later. I’ll bring a bottle of wine.”
I slip my arms around his waist and melt into him, loving the solid warmth of his body. “I’d love that.”
* * *
It’s my turn to pick the movie, so we watch one of my favorites – Pitch Perfect. I can watch that movie over and over without getting tired of it. I figure Jamie will be entertained by the music and it won’t matter so much that he can’t see the action. We crash on the sofa, with Gus lying on the floor and Charlie stretched out along the back of the sofa.
Partway through the film, Jamie stretches out on his side along the sofa, and I lie in front of him. He wraps his arm around my waist and holds me close. Throughout the movie, I hear him humming along with the familiar melodies, his voice a rich baritone that makes my insides quiver with delight.
We’re both too comfortable and cozy to want to go out again tonight, so we order Thai food and have it delivered. When the food arrives, I run downstairs to collect it, while Jamie gets a bottled of chilled red wine from his apartment. We spread our feast out on the coffee table and enjoy our food with red wine sipped out of fluted wine glasses.
When we’re done eating, we nestle back onto the sofa again. He’s engaged in the movie, but occasionally I feel his lips in my hair, or along the back of my neck, which makes me shiver.
“What’s it like?” I ask him, leaning back against him. “Listening to a movie when you can’t see what’s happening on the screen?”
“It’s pretty easy to follow the story,” he says. “Filmmakers invest a lot of resources into their soundtracks and special effects. I can pretty well figure out what’s going on just by listening to the audio effects.” He laughs. “To be honest, I saw this movie twice with Lia when it first came out years ago. Mom wouldn’t let her go to the theater alone, so I offered to take her. So this one, I actually saw.”
I can easily picture Jamie as a big brother taking his little sister to the movie theater. I’m sure he was a very good big brother – very protective of his younger siblings. I’m sure he’d make an equally good father one day.
“Do you ever think about having kids?” I ask him.
He tightens his arm around my waist. “Sure. I grew up in in a big family. I always figured I’d have a family of my own one day.”
My bottom is tucked against his groin, and I’m hyperaware of how his erection is pressing against me. When his fingers drift south and slip beneath the waistband of my sweats and into my panties, I suck in a breath, and my insides start quivering.
He laughs softly. “Don’t mind me. Just enjoy the movie.”
When his index finger slips between the folds of my sex, sliding through my wetness, I gasp. “That’s easy for you to say.”
My mind short circuits at that point, and I lose all track of the movie. I press my face in to Jamie’s bicep, which is currently my pillow and concentrate on just trying to breathe as his finger strokes my clitoris, teasing me, arousing me, body and mind. I grow wetter, achier with each brush of his finger. He rubs tiny circles on the little knot of flesh between my legs, fairly vibrating with pleasure as I squirm in his embrace.
I close my eyes and whimper helplessly as the pleasure builds. “Jamie.”
“Hmm?”
He brushes my hair aside with his chin to expose my throat for hot, deep kisses. I know he’s definitely going to leave marks as he sucks on my skin.
His finger is relentless in its torment of my clit, circling my flesh and teasing it, pressing and stroking. My hips start moving on their own, lifting to meet his touch, to increase the pressure right where I need it.
“That’s it,” he murmurs, his voice low and hoarse.
I’m clearly not the only one affected here. I can feel his hot breath on the back of my neck and the muscles in his arms are taut.
He nudges my legs farther apart so he can glide his finger into my opening, which is flushed and slippery. He curls his finger inside me, stroking the front wall of my sex, jacking up the pleasure until I’m practically panting. I can’t help the sounds coming out of me, and they quickly escalate into breathless gasps and whimpers.
“I want to feel you come, just like this,” he says.
“Jamie – ”
He lowers his mouth and sucks on the tender skin beneath my ear. Tingles course through me from the sensation of his mouth on my sensitive skin. Combined with the swelling pleasure deep inside me, it’s more than I can bear.
My body stiffens helplessly as an orgasm sweeps through me, leaving my insides quivering and my heart beat racing.
Jamie rolls me to my back and looms over me, drinking in the sounds I’m making. He coaxes my mouth open and slips his tongue inside, stroking mine, sucking gently as my hips rock through the residual tremors of pleasure.
He pulls his finger o
ut and sucks it clean, which blows my mind.
“Can I stay the night?” he says, his voice little more than a deep rasp.
He’s clearly aroused and very much on edge. I reach between us to caress his erection. My fingers outline the length and shape of him through the fabric of his sweatpants, and he groans as he presses his face into my neck.
“Is that a yes?” he says, part laugh, part groan. “God, it had better be. I don’t think I can take much more.”
Chapter 41
Molly
“Of course you can stay,” I tell him, smiling as he kisses me.
Then he sits up and reaches for his sneakers, which are under the coffee table. “I’ve got to take Gus out for a walk,” he says, dropping a quick kiss on my lips. He puts his glasses on. “I’ll be right back.”
This is happening so fast. He’s going to wheedle his way into my life, into my bed, and into my insecurities. I’m going to be helpless against him.
I leave the door unlocked for him, since he’ll be back in just a few minutes. I head to the bathroom to get ready for bed. I’m shaking, literally, from head to toe.
I slip on a pale blue silky nightgown that just barely covers my thighs. It’s sleeveless and sexy. Even though Jamie can’t see the nightgown, it might boost my confidence to wear it.
After putting out a night-time snack for Charlie and refilling his water bowl in the kitchen, I turn off all the lights and head to my bedroom to wait for Jamie.
I’m surprised at how nervous I am. It’s not like we haven’t done this before, and he’s already explored the terrain of my chest. But still, I feel cold and shaky.
When I hear the apartment door open and close, I feel butterflies in my belly.
He comes down the hall and pauses in my open bedroom doorway. The apartment is dark, and the only light comes through my white lacey bedroom curtains. I can make out the outline of his body, but that’s all, as he stands there watching me silently.
“Gus settled for the night?” I say, hoping to break the awkward silence. I don’t know what he’s waiting for. An invitation?
“I wouldn’t know.”
At the sound of that unexpected voice, I shoot up in bed, grasping the sheet and comforter to my chest. “What are you doing in here?”
I reach for the lamp on the bedside table and switch it on, momentarily blinded by the light. Todd’s standing in my bedroom doorway dressed from head to toe in black. His pale hair is mussed and his light blue eyes are bloodshot.
My heart slams into my throat, threatening to choke me. And then the real fear sets in. Jamie’s going to be back here any second, and he’ll be caught unprepared.
“Get out!” I yell, hoping that Jamie might hear me and be forewarned.
Todd just gives me a look as he walks into my bedroom. “Where’s your boyfriend?” he says.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t have – ”
He grabs the bedding and rips it out of my hands. “Don’t lie to me, Molly. I know you’re screwing the blind guy.”
He crawls onto the bed, looming over me, and when I try to slide out from under him and roll to the other side of the bed, he grabs the back of my nightgown and drags me back. “Not so fast, you little slut. I’m not through with you.”
“Todd – ”
He backhands me, knocking my head back against the headboard. Bright flickering lights blind me for a moment, disorienting me. Then he tugs me down so that I’m lying on my back, and he shoves my nightgown up around my waist. Since I was anticipating Jamie coming to bed, I’m not wearing any panties.
“Stop it!” I scream, trying to push his hands away.
He grabs me around the throat, wrapping his long fingers around my neck and cutting off my air. I grab his wrist and try to pull his hand off me, but he’s too strong.
I can feel my face turning red from the lack of oxygen, and I struggle in vain to pull his hand off my throat.
He reaches with his free hand to unbuckle his belt, then unfastens his jeans.
This can’t be real. This can’t be happening. Who is this monster? He’s not the same man I married a decade ago. When I hear his zipper going down, I redouble my efforts to get free. I’m not going to let him rape me.
My eyesight starts fading to black around the edges, and I’m afraid I’m about to pass out from lack of air. In a desperate measure, I raise my head and bite his forearm as hard as I can, sinking my teeth relentlessly into his flesh. I taste blood, and my stomach turns. But it works. As Todd releases his grip on my throat, I suck in a huge lungful of air.
“You bitch!” he yells, slapping me hard enough to make my ears ring.
He grabs my wrists and pins them above my head, then looks around the room frantically. I think he’s looking for something he can use to secure my wrists.
I buck my hips, trying to dislodge, but he’s too heavy for me to budge.
A moment later, the light goes out, and we’re in the dark. My apartment is eerily silent all of a sudden, and I realize the electricity is off. At first, I’m at a complete loss. Then it dawns on me. Jamie. He must have flipped the breaker. He doesn’t need the light. Throwing the apartment into total darkness gives him an advantage.
“What the fuck?” Todd says, sitting upright on me. He releases my wrists and jumps off the bed.
I hear him pull something out of his back pocket, and then I hear the tell-tale flick of a switchblade opening.
“Jamie!” I scream, trying to warn him.
“Shut up!” Todd hisses at me. He leans close and I can feel the edge of the knife against my cheek. “If you make another sound, I will carve you up.”
But I have to warn Jamie about the knife. Hand-to-hand combat is one thing, but Jamie needs to know if his opponent is armed.
“He has a knife!” I yell at the top of my lungs.
“God dammit!” Todd growls.
And a moment later, I feel the sharp tip of the blade pierce the edge of my cheek. As he swipes down, intending to carve a line in my cheek, I turn my face, trying to get out of his reach.
A moment later, I hear a deafening roar, and Todd is lifted off the bed and tossed to the floor.
I scramble off the bed, landing on the floor between the bed and the wall, away from the struggle I hear ensuing on the opposite side of the bed.
“Molly, get out!” Jamie yells.
Then I hear Todd cry out sharply. “You fucker! I’ll kill you!”
“Molly, go!”
Chapter 42
Jamie
“Come on, Gus, let’s make it quick,” I say to the dog. “Molly’s warm and toasty, and she’s waiting for me.”
We head down the stairs to the foyer, and I hear a lot of activity coming from apartment 1B. A young man is breathing heavily as he walks out the building’s front entrance. It sounds like he’s carrying a heavy load.
As I reach the door, I find it propped wide open with something heavy. Irritated, I kick what feels like a brick out of the way and let the door swing shut.
“Hey, man, leave it open,” the guy says. “I’ve still got a lot of shit to carry out.”
“Don’t leave the door propped open,” I tell him.
“Yeah, whatever,” he says, trudging down the steps toward the street.
He’s probably got a rented moving truck parked at the curb.
I walk Gus a hundred feet or so from the building to one of his favorite trees and wait for him to finish his business. It’s cold outside, and Molly’s waiting for me in her warm bed, hopefully naked. And right now, that’s where I want to be. “Hurry up, pal,” I mutter as Gus sniffs loudly.
Once Gus is done, we head back toward the building.
“Gus, find the stairs,” I tell him, and he leads me up the front stoop. When we reach the front of the building, I feel a strong draft of warm air coming through the open door. Dammit. I told him not to prop the door open.
I bend down and grab the brick, intending to toss it in the trash
can. My downstairs neighbor comes stomping out of his apartment, carrying another load. It sounds like he’s carrying a noisy box of pots and pans.
“I told you not to prop open – ” I stop mid-sentence when I hear a scream from the second floor – a shrill female cry. Molly! I shove Gus’s harness into the guy’s hand and tell him, “Take care of my dog and call 911! Now!” And then I run up the stairs toward Molly’s apartment.
Her door is unlocked and I crack it open, listening. I can hear the muted sounds of a struggle coming from the bedroom.
I slip into the apartment, shutting the door behind me, and open the electrical panel in the corner of the living room, throwing the main breaker to shut off electricity to the apartment. I can operate just fine in the dark; Todd Ferguson can’t.
As soon as the power is cut off, I hear Molly scream, “Jamie!”
Todd hisses, “Shut up!”
Molly cries out in fear. Then Todd tells her, “If you make another sound, I will carve you up.”
He’s got a knife. If he has a knife, chances are he probably doesn’t have a gun. Good.
“He has a knife!” Molly screams in a hoarse voice.
“God dammit!” Todd growls.
Then my blood runs cold when I hear Molly cry out in pain. If he cut her, I’ll kill him!
I move quickly across the living room and down the hallway toward her bedroom. Her apartment is identical to mine, so I can easily navigate the floor plan. When I enter her bedroom, I hear them scuffling on the bed.
I grab hold of Todd’s jacket and lift him off the bed, tossing him to the floor. Then I follow him down, pinning his hand – the one wielding the knife – to the floor.
“Molly, get out!” I yell.
Todd struggles to get to his feet, but I pin him to the floor with a knee to his chest.
“You fucker!” he growls, heaving for breath. He tries to buck me off, but I outweigh him. “I’ll kill you!”
“Molly, go!” I yell. Whatever happens here, I don’t want her to hear it.
My mind registers the sound of Molly running from the room in her bare feet. Once she’s gone, I’m at liberty to take action. I reach for Todd’s knife hand, grasping his wrist and twisting it, wrenching it back until the bones snap. Todd screams, the sound high pitched and desperate.