by WL Knightly
Her skin was warm and soft. When he got to her center, she was completely bare, and her pussy was wet. “Damn, you’re certainly ready.”
He slipped two fingers into her soaking wet channel, and she began to moan. He leaned over and kissed her mouth when the moaning got too heavy, and soon, she came, whimpering from the pleasure. He pulled away and looked around to see if anyone was looking, but no one cared. She was right. He could have her sit on his lap and slow ride him until he filled that pussy up.
But in all that heat, his phone started to ring again. “Damn it.” He pulled it out and looked at the ID before answering. “Detective Darek, how are things in New York?”
Karla rolled her eyes and smiled. Her hand was still in his pants and still working his dick. He tried to keep his breathing to a minimum and didn’t want Darek knowing what he was up to.
“Look, Corey I need—listen, be very careful. Don’t—alone.” The call was breaking up so badly that Corey couldn’t understand what Darek was trying to say, but he’d heard enough that he knew it had to be important.
He pushed Karla’s hand away from his junk and turned to the wall behind them for a better listen. “You’re breaking up, and the club is loud. Slow down and say that again.”
“Alan killed Seth. You need to be careful, man. He said he’s in Phoenix, and if that’s true, you shouldn’t be alone with him.”
“Wait, what? He killed Seth? Fucking hell! Why would he do that?” Corey didn’t know what he was hearing. He felt like he was suddenly in a different universe.
“The killer is trying to use him to kill off Zodiacs. Look, don’t be alone with him. I’m pretty sure he came there to scope you out.”
Corey began to sweat, and it wasn’t from the dirty little slut sitting beside him.
“Are you there, man?”
“Yes, I’m just trying to wrap my head around it.”
“He confessed it to me just twenty minutes ago. I’ve been trying to call and warn you. Get somewhere safe, somewhere he doesn’t know where you are. But whatever you do, don’t go to the police, okay? That is going to put a lot of heat on us we don’t want. I’ll handle this, okay?”
Corey nodded as if Darek could see him. “Okay. But I may have already fucked up. I’m at a nightclub, and I asked him to join me. He’s probably on his way, but he was supposed to be here already. Maybe he left town?”
“I wouldn’t count on it, Corey. He said he wanted you to help him track the killer, and he’s hoping you’ll succeed, but the problem with that is, he’s only got twelve hours, and we know what he’s capable of.” Darek’s voice was strong, and while Corey wanted it to be a joke, he knew it wasn’t. It was a nightmare.
Corey couldn’t believe the man who had sat with him that very morning was there stalking him like a predator. “So, when his clock runs out, he’ll be looking for a victim to get his task done? Is that what you’re telling me?”
“It sounded like it. Be safe, man.”
It was that moment when Corey looked up and saw Alan coming across the room. “Shit, he’s here.” He got to his feet, his pants undone, and quickly ran toward the back exit. He looked back to see that Alan was coming after him, and Karla, bless her little slutty heart, was standing in his way.
“Call me,” she screamed before Alan pushed her aside, causing her to kick him in the shin.
Corey turned and ran, staying on the phone with Darek until he made it out of the building. “I have to go!”
He hung up the phone and continued to the lot where his car was parked. He fished out his keys and jumped in his car. He looked up in time to see Alan stop and get on his phone, and sure enough, as he sped out of the lot, his phone rang.
He wanted to hear what he had to say, but he wasn’t slowing down. “You came all the way here to kill me? Good luck, fucker!”
“I did. I admit that, but slow down before you get the police involved. You know that’s a bad idea.”
“A bad fucking idea was coming here to mess with me. I’m not going out easy, motherfucker, and if you want me, you had better catch me and hope I don’t catch you first.”
“Let me explain, and if you’re still dead set on not trusting me, I’ll leave.”
Corey slowed his speed and took a back road where he was sure not to be found. “What are you going to do? Go kill someone else?”
“I need you to help me, and no, I’ve decided. I’m not going that route. I’ll kill myself first. But before you judge me, you could be in the same situation soon. You all could. Which is why we need to find out more about that phone number. We have to find this killer.”
“I can trace it by myself. I don’t need someone who was stalking me like a lunatic to come over and help me. And speaking of killers, you’re a killer too now.”
Alan let out a growl of frustration. “Do you think I need you to remind me? I know damned good and well what I am, okay? But it’s just like you said. It’s never too late to make a good decision, and I want to make one now.”
“That’s fine and well, but you killed our friend. You may have been a latecomer, but I was with Seth from the beginning. I’ve known him longer, and while it may not mean shit to you, there is some honor between us.”
“They took my wife, Corey. They took her, and they put her in a house and tied her up and gagged her. They left her like that to die if I didn’t do what they said. What would you have done? Should I have let my kids be next? You’ve seen what this sick fuck has done, haven’t you? It’s all over the internet and those so-called fake news stations. But they have it right, you know? The killer is coming for us all. And I’m not giving them their way. I’m going out on my own terms. My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. I should have let Seth live. He wanted to start a family with his wife. He had a political career for fuck’s sake. He really had a shot at all that Carpe Fortuna stuff Bay talked about. He wasn’t a piece of shit like me who gambled his opportunities away so often, his wife didn’t want to be around him anymore.”
“I can’t trust you.”
“If I wanted you dead, Corey, I’d have already killed you, man. I had my gun with me this morning.”
Corey swerved off the road and hit his brakes. He opened his door in time to avoid messing up his car with his stomach contents. He hated that Alan could hear his heaving.
“I’m sorry,” said Alan, whose voice was faint from the phone being in Corey’s lap. “If you let me come over, I’ll give you my gun. You can strip search me. I just want your help. I swear. It doesn’t have to be hard. The killer said I have to show proof. I sent a photo of Seth. We could stage something. make it look real. I just need to buy some time until I figure this out. Please.”
Corey sat up and closed the door. Then he put the phone back to his ear. When he did, he heard a truck start. “I’m just now leaving the club,” said Alan. “I’ll meet you someplace public if you want.”
Corey sighed, not sure he was doing the right thing or just being fucking stupid. “The coffee shop. The one I had just left earlier when you saw me. I will meet you there in fifteen minutes.” He hung up the phone and turned the car around.
Corey knew he would have a good head start and just needed to take a shortcut. Once he lined out and took the exit he needed, he found the shortcut that came out next to his building. He parked his car near the door in case he had to make a fast getaway, and after making sure his clothes were zipped, buttoned, and vomit-free, he walked into the coffee shop and up to the counter.
“Hey, Corey.” His favorite barista always had a warm smile for him, but she was the only other person on the place.
“Working the late shift now, Jessica?”
“Yeah, but just for tonight. I needed the extra hours. Thank god this place is dead this hour.” She leaned on the counter, and he tried not to stare down her top like he did every morning. “Do you want the usual order?”
Knowing that Alan could come in and shoot them both out of desperation, he changed his mind. “
You know what, just make it a donut. I’ve got to get going.”
She took his donut out of the case, rang him up, and he quickly paid the money and hurried out. He ran down the short distance to his building. Alan wasn’t the only one with a gun, and if he dared to try and come around, he’d be the next Zodiac to die.
Chapter 17
Bay
Bay stood looking out across his crowd as Mia snored softly, curled up in the chair beside him. There was a thief among his patrons, and he still couldn’t figure out how half-naked people were finding a place to conceal anything. He shuddered to think where they might hide their loot.
Desperate times.
The crowd of topless women and horny men had thinned out near the end of the night, and though the energy had died, the passion hadn’t. He watched a couple who were going at it on the dancefloor. The woman was bent over, and the man was ramming her hard from behind. It was quite a show, and many around were cheering, some using the display to fuel their own pleasure. They rubbed and stroked themselves, putting on shows of their own.
He could not help but notice that his raven-haired beauty, the one who was faithful in her attendance and a very popular regular, had not shown up again. With two of her recent lovers being bumped, he imagined it would take her a while to be back, but then, maybe she was getting her sexual fantasies fulfilled elsewhere.
He had competitors across the city, and while it wasn’t likely she’d want to start at the bottom of the food chain in new territory, she might be toying with the idea. Or perhaps she was with Darek. The two had certainly spent a lot of time in their private room, and Mia, who had listened at their door, had reported that they were indeed moaning like two whores on payday.
He wondered if that little romance had continued and just what Raven might know. Had the men confided anything? He wondered if he needed to pay her a visit or maybe hook up the next time she came in. She had certainly been around her share of Zodiacs, and he had to admire her tastes. She was rarely seen with slobs, and never in a display like the vulgar one below where the man now had two others lined up for a pounding. That had made her appealing to him, and from what he remembered, she had a nice mouth.
His phone rang, and he glanced over to see if it had bothered Mia. She had been a bored little chatterbox, as she was many nights at the club, but he just wasn’t ready to turn her loose. He had to have one sacred thing in his life, and Mia was that prized possession. But he quickly answered the phone to spare him more of her talking. “It’s nearly three a.m. This had better be good.”
“It’s Alan. I need to talk.”
“Talk away. You can start by telling me what’s going on with you, and don’t lie.” Bay sat down in the chair next to Mia’s. He wondered if Alan had killed Seth and the guilt was more than he could take.
“I killed Seth,” Alan blurted out. “I came to Phoenix to kill Corey.” His voice shook, and Bay could tell the man had been sobbing from the nasal sounds he was making.
“Have you killed Corey?” Bay wanted Corey alive. He was one of the only Zodiacs who didn’t borrow money from him, and if he had a soft spot for any of his Zodiacs, it was the awkward kid who had been bullied for being smarter than everyone else. Maybe it was because Bay could relate. He held his breath and waited for Alan to answer.
Alan was quick with his response and his tone was defensive. “No, I don’t want to kill anyone. I had no choice with Seth; they had my wife.”
“I don’t understand. Who had your wife? The people you owed money to?” Bay had given him thirty grand to settle that debt, and he suspected the man had other financial problems. He would have to draw the line; he couldn’t spend himself into debt bailing these fuckers out for the rest of his life.
“The person killing us. The one who got Tad and the others. They texted me, sent a picture of my wife, and told me if I didn’t kill Seth, that I’d never find her. That they’d kill her and then come after my kids.”
Bay let it sink in. The killer had known about their property deal somehow, and he wondered if they were being watched. And if the killer was willing to travel, that meant the others were in danger too. “And what about Corey? Why him?”
“They said I had to choose another, so with little money and options, I came to see if I could do Corey, but I don’t think I can.” Alan began to sob louder. “I was going to get him to help me, and then Darek got in the way and warned him. Corey and I were supposed to meet and trace the killer’s number, which was something Darek had Corey on before I even showed up. I sat with Corey a while, and fuck, the guy is too fucking likable to kill, but shit, now he says that if I come near him, he’ll kill me first. He’s locked up in his house with his gun, he said.”
Bay had to admire Corey’s instincts and wondered if he even owned a gun. He might be bluffing, but either way, Corey knew better than to trust Alan. Alan was a desperate man in a desperate situation, and that made him totally unpredictable. “Twelve hours is all you have or all you had?”
“The clock’s been ticking for hours, and I have until about nine-thirty to kill before the killer turns me in. I can’t go to prison for murder; I can’t go out like Logan, man. I just can’t. I have kids; I have a family to worry about. I’ve been racking my brain to try and come up with a way out of this, and I just can’t see one. It’s not going to get better.”
Alan’s voice grew more frantic, and Bay could tell the guy was cracking up. “Where are you now?” asked Bay.
“I’ve been driving around all night, trying to think about what to do. I just got back to my hotel. I had already decided to pack my shit and go to San Diego when the deadline came down, and now I’ve already wasted too much time.”
Bay chuckled. “You were going to drive down and kill a man of the church? You’re a mess, my friend.”
“I’m glad you can find humor in my misery. I wonder how funny you’d think it is if I went to the police with everything I fucking know about all of you. Then what?”
“Easy, Alan. I wouldn’t go making threats. It would be a shame if I had to spend the next few hours arranging your murder. Besides, what I wanted to suggest was that you use me. Message the killer and tell them that you need more time, that you want to come after me.” Bay wondered what the killer would think about that.
“I wanted Corey to help me stage a death photo. All they want is to see that I’ve killed someone.” That was an interesting idea, for sure but one that had its own complications. The killer might be able to tell it was fake.
“That’s risky, but it would buy you some time. But you know there is another option. You could take your kids, your wife, and go hide out until this all ends.”
Alan huffed. “I tried. My wife wants time. She says I need to get help and change before she’ll come home.”
“Tell her what you can, that you’re in trouble and they are not safe. She’ll do what’s best for the kids.” Bay figured the woman was already gun-shy. If the trauma from being taken was still there for motivation, he could convince her to go.
“I can’t,” he said. “I can’t have her see me that way. She’ll never go with me if I do.” Alan broke down and wept.
“For fuck’s sake, man up. You’ve ruined your life, not theirs. This killer only wants us to suffer, and if you want that to end, then just kill yourself like Tad did. The killer will have their way and move on to the next one of us. Your wife will mourn you, and then she’ll move on. And you know she’ll care for the kids. She’ll cherish them even more when they are all she has left of you.”
“It’s true, but I’m not a fucking coward. I’m not afraid to stand toe to toe with this killer, but they’re not playing fair. I’m not just going to hand my family over to someone else, and if I die, that’s what’s going to happen.” Alan broke down again.
Bay sighed and rolled his eyes. He didn’t do well with grown men falling apart like children, and he hated when men cried. His father had always been the same, and Bay himself had never shed a single
tear. “Oh, boohoo. I’ve heard enough of your snot sniffles to last a lifetime. Now try and focus. You have options. Either use them or accept your fate. You should be on the phone with Corey trying to get him to trust you instead of wasting time here with me. And I warn you; you keep your fucking mouth shut to the police, do you hear me? Or I’ll make your life so miserable that you’ll wish you could put a bullet in your temple to make it stop. Are we clear, my friend?”
“Loud and clear,” said Alan, sounding like he spoke the words through gritted teeth. “I guess I shouldn’t waste more time fucking around on the phone with you. And when this is over, Bay, I want you to know that I’m done too. I’m out of your fucking Zodiac society bullshit. Seth was right to want out too.”
Bay didn’t care and wondered why Alan would think he did after telling him he should kill himself. “Yeah, well maybe if you hadn’t put a bullet in him, you two could be plotting against me right now. So you can think about that when you’re sitting around hating me. Cause I don’t give a damn. One day, you men will realize that I don’t care about any of you or your fucking problems. So let this be my last bit of advice to you, Alan. Figure it out fast because this killer doesn’t fuck around.”
Bay hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Then he blew it out slowly and looked over to see that he had woken Mia with his loud tone.
She sat up in the chair beside him and stretched, then rubbed her eyes, smearing her makeup, which only made her look sexier. “What time is it?”
It was far too late for Alan’s bullshit. That was for sure. And Bay tried to calm his anger before he took it out on Mia. “It’s time for us to shut this place down for the night.”
She gave a sleepy smile. “Can we go home and fuck?” She leaned over into his lap and rubbed his cock through his pants.
“If you don’t get greedy and take me now, yes.” He looked into her eyes and realized that he didn’t care about anyone, only his baby, and Mia.