“In self-defense. You’re not a murderer.”
“Six months ago, I would have agreed with you, but now I’m not so sure. No one knows who they really are until they’re faced with circumstances that truly put them to the test.”
“I understand that, but--”
“No, you don’t. You can’t possibly understand.”
“Oh really,” Chloe snapped. “And why not? Because I haven’t lost someone I love? Because no one I know has been murdered? My father was killed, just like Kara was.”
“Sorry, Chloe. Shit, I didn’t mean that.” I sat down on the sofa, and tugged gently on her hand so that she collapsed down next to me. “You never talk about him. Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
“You know what happened.”
“I know the basics. You don’t have to elaborate if you don’t want to, but it might help. I’m guessing you don’t talk about it a lot.”
Chloe shook her head. “Mom and I do occasionally, but never for that long. It’s too difficult for both of us.”
“Well, now’s your chance to get it all out in the open.”
“There’s not that much to say. You already know he was killed by the police. They shot him as he was running from a store. They said he’d stolen something, but there was nothing on his body afterwards. Case of mistaken identity I think. Dad did look a bit… disreputable.”
“Was anyone ever convicted?”
“No, Dad wasn’t exactly able to give any evidence. He never regained consciousness, and eventually they had to turn off life support. The bullets damaged both of his kidneys beyond repair, and we couldn’t find a donor.”
“Shit,” I muttered. That must have made his death even harder for Chloe. Knowing that if they could just have found a kidney he would still be alive today. How do you even process that? “I take it your grandparents passed away a while ago?”
“Uh, no, only in the last two years,” Chloe replied, looking confused. “Why do you say that?”
“Aren’t parents usually a match for kidney transplants? I just assumed one of them would have helped him out if they could.”
“Oh, they tried to, but neither of them had compatible kidneys.”
Showed how little attention I had paid in biology class I suppose. No kidney transplant could be guaranteed--sometimes the human body just refused to accept the donated organ, no matter how good a match it was--but I thought parents were usually suitable donors.
“Do you know who it was that fired the fatal shot?” I asked. I knew I was touching on a sensitive subject, but it was the only way I could think of for Chloe to understand why I had to kill Barton.
“No,” she replied with a shake of the head. “The officers involved were suspended, but I don’t know who it was that actually shot Dad.”
“But if you did know, wouldn’t you want them dead?”
Chloe did take a few seconds to consider the question, but her answer was as predicted.
“No, I wouldn’t. It wouldn’t bring Dad back. I’d like to see him punished, but not killed. And I certainly wouldn’t want to bloody my own hands by being the one to do the deed.”
I didn’t know what else to say. We were never going to agree on this. At some point, I would kill Roddy or die trying. If I succeeded in killing him, then I would lose Chloe. She would never trust me again.
“Why do you think it was Roddy who killed Kara?” Chloe asked after a few long minutes of silence.
“I heard the same thing from a number of sources. He wanted the information to get out, so all my contacts came back with the same story.
“Maybe they were wrong.”
“No, it was Roddy’s MO. I got the information from the coroner's report. He kidnapped her, tortured her, and killed her. The knife marks were typical with his style. He’s known for his love of knives.”
“Jesus, I’m so sorry. But--”
“But what, Chloe? Didn’t you hear what I just said? How can I not want to kill this man?”
“Because it wasn’t him.”
I went to dismiss her again, but there was so much heartfelt honesty in her voice that I immediately knew she was telling the truth. Or at least she thought she was.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“I looked into it,” she said. “I can’t tell you how I know this, but Roddy wasn’t even in the country the day Kara died.”
I frowned. How the hell would Chloe know something like that?
“How do you know--”
“I told you, I can’t tell you.”
“But you want me to believe you?”
“Yes.” She took hold of my hand. Hers was cold, so I pressed my other hand on top to help warm it up. It felt like ages since I’d last felt her flesh on mine. Holding her hand was better than sex with any other woman. How was that even possible?
“I trust you,” I said, “but--”
“There can’t be a ‘but.’ You either trust me or you don’t.”
I trusted that she thought she was telling me the truth, but so much just didn’t add up. I had connections everywhere in this city, including the police department. Dad practically had them in his back pocket.
Chloe had only been here a few weeks. How could she possibly know something like that? I failed to believe Roddy had gone on vacation and posted his beach pictures on Facebook.
I squeezed Chloe’s hand. I knew what she wanted to hear. This was the point where I was supposed to call the whole thing off and promise to live a good life from now on. But I couldn’t.
Roddy might not have done the deed himself, but he sure as hell gave the order.
He deserved to pay the price.
And I was the only one who could collect.
This time I did spend the night at Denton’s. Nothing happened, but I slept next to him for the first time. I wondered if he’d ever shared a bed with a woman and not had sex with her. Probably not.
Not going home meant I had no access to my laptop, and no access to my laptop meant I couldn’t upload yesterday’s recording. I was going to catch so much shit for this, but right now I didn’t care.
Denton’s place had been a mess when we’d come back yesterday afternoon, but while I’d been enjoying a lie in, he’d been tidying the place up and cooking breakfast.
“You know we’re both going to be late for work?” I said, as I shoved a piece of toast into my mouth.
The smell of scrambled eggs and sausage wafted over from the kitchen and made my mouth salivate. I hadn’t had a cooked breakfast since I’d moved to Chicago and I was now realizing just how much I missed the food from my favorite café in New York.
“I’m the boss,” Denton responded, as he shoved some spinach leaves into the pan. “I can’t be late. And you’re my assistant, so you can’t be late either.”
“People will gossip,” I replied. “You know what offices are like.”
“There’s nothing to gossip about,” Denton said. “We didn’t do anything last night other than hang out and watch television. Unfortunately.”
“Was there something else you would have rather done?” I teased.
I knew exactly what he’d wanted. I’d fallen asleep with his cock hard and pressing into my back. I wanted him to just take me. To just pull down my panties and thrust himself inside. Instead, he somehow held back, and resisted the urge to follow the instructions his penis was clearly yelling at him.
I’d wanted it as well. At least, physically I had. I’d been dripping wet just thinking about him. But mentally I hadn’t been in the right place.
Things had been a little awkward after all the talk of death and revenge, but a good night’s sleep seemed to have put everything back in its rightful place. For the time being at least.
“I had been hoping to watch the Bulls game,” Denton said, not looking away from the pan in front of him.
“I really hope that’s a joke.”
“Why? You not a Bulls fan?”
I pursed my lips and crossed
my arms under my breasts. “I could feel your cock twitching against my back this morning. I thought you were sending a message in Morse code at one point.”
“I was. The message was ‘get up and make me a cup of coffee.’ ”
“I’m supposed to be the one who makes bad jokes. You’re supposed to be the sulky, silent type.”
“What can I say? I’m in a good mood when I wake up next to a beautiful woman.”
“How good a mood?” I asked.
As hungry as I was, it wasn’t my mouth watering now, demanding to be satisfied. There wasn’t much in life sexier than Denton with a tight t-shirt on, standing in the kitchen cooking. Well, maybe if he had an apron on, too…
“Let me show you,” Denton said, stepping away from the pan and turning the gas off. “This is how good a mood I’m in.”
He walked away from the kitchen worktop so that I could see his lower body. He only wore a pair of boxers, and they were stretching at the seems, with his hard, thick shaft, peaking out the top.
“Holy crap,” I exclaimed. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the size of that thing.”
“I thought I was going to explode last night. Breakfast can wait.”
Denton walked over and grabbed me roughly by the arm, pulling me up from the chair and dragging me towards the bedroom. Breakfast could definitely wait.
We both fell onto the bed in a heap. I wrapped my arms around Denton as he landed on top of me, his lips crushed against mine so hard they never parted while we bounced lightly on the bed.
I wanted him so much. Everything else that had passed between us these last few days seemed irrelevant. My mind wasn’t capable of focusing on facts or logic right now. It was like being in a dream, but one of those ones you could control and savor until you had to wake up and face reality.
Reality was full of choices, problems, and risks. I didn’t want to deal with that right now.
Here, in the moment, all I knew was that I needed him inside me.
His hands quickly parted the robe I’d slipped on this morning, and started exploring my chest, squeezing my pert breasts and running the smooth skin of his fingers over the goosebumps that quickly appeared.
My nipples hardened as his thumbs stroked the tips, teasing them until they had completely surrendered to his touch.
His lips left me, and moved down to plant delicate kisses on my breasts, before he took my nipples between his teeth and bit down gently.
I moaned in response and weaved my fingers into his hair, holding his face to my breasts while his tongue flicked against my stiff nipples, a tantalizing glimpse of what he would soon be doing between my legs.
I reluctantly let go, as his lips moved down my body, placing delicate kisses on the soft skin of my belly until he reached the trimmed mound of soft, curly hair just above my sex.
Denton’s fingers reached out and sampled the hot wetness between my legs as he parted my lips and teased my entrance by sliding a finger inside. I gripped hold of the bedsheets as one finger explored inside me while his thumb rubbed my bud gently.
I relaxed for half a second when his fingers left me, only to be quickly replaced by his tongue on my sex. He explored my folds while I lay on my back just trying to stop the room from spinning.
I was drunk on lust, as I thrust my pussy into his mouth, forcing his tongue inside me as my legs wrapped around his muscular back.
“More,” I groaned, as I kept rocking my hips. He was holding back, going slowly, while I was helpless to do anything about it.
Denton’s arm reached up and pressed my belly down, refusing to let me control the pace. I tried to fight his grip, pushing my sex up into his face with all my might, but I couldn’t move. I was his now.
“Please,” I whimpered. “Please give me more.”
Denton didn’t release his grip on me, but he did move his mouth up to my throbbing bud, taking it between his lips, before caressing it with his tongue. The gentle lashes sent electricity up my spine, making me throw my head back, eyes forced wide open as I stared up at the ceiling.
My wetness dripped down the insides of my thighs as Denton’s tongue brought me closer and closer to the edge. I could have come right then, but I wanted him inside me. I wanted him to feel my orgasm on his cock.
“Fuck me,” I commanded. “Now.”
Denton’s tongue paused, staying pressed gently against my clit while he considered whether or not to give into my demand. In the end, his desire to fuck me must have overcome his desire to tease me, because he pulled away and grabbed a condom from the drawers beside the bed.
His strong hands lifted my knees into the air and parted my thighs before he thrust himself effortlessly inside. I offered up no resistance as he filled me with his large cock.
We skipped past any of the soft and gentle stuff, as I immediately urged him to fuck me harder and faster, not stopping until I finally had the full force of his cock plunging into my wetness. The sound of his heavy balls slapping against my ass made me even wetter, as I imagined him emptying them inside me when he finally couldn’t hold out any longer.
Every part of my body held him tightly. My legs clamped around his. My arms wrapped around his back, with my fingers digging into his skin. My sex squeezed his cock, not wanting him to ever leave me.
My legs doubled back against my body as Denton buried his face in my neck, lightly biting the skin between his teeth.
I couldn’t take it any longer. My breathing quickened until I barely had the strength to expel air at all.
My body had the energy for one final squeeze, as I held Denton tightly against me, before I shook uncontrollably and came hard on his cock.
I was so consumed with my own orgasm, I didn’t even notice Denton finish, but shortly after I came, he pulled out and discarded the condom, now heavy with his seed.
Denton held me in his arms, while I moaned contently and soaked up the moment. The next noise came from our stomachs, reminding us that we hadn’t eaten breakfast and now needed it more than ever.
“Come on,” Denton said, as he rolled away and threw his robe at me. “We’ve earned this meal.”
Neither of us wanted to go into work that day, but I had a meeting at four that I just couldn’t miss. I’d rescheduled it enough times already. Once more and we’d lose a big client.
I told Chloe to stay at the apartment, although she wanted to come into work with me. That wouldn’t have been a good idea; she was practically glowing from the session we’d had in bed this morning. And the one just after lunch. If we went into work together like that, everyone in the office would know exactly what we had been doing.
Not that I was all that subtle myself. It took a real effort not to walk around with a big, stupid grin on my face, and when people said ‘hello’ I immediately replied with a cheerful greeting that was completely unlike my usual grunt.
It sounded cliché, but I definitely had a spring in my step. I was less stressed, and I went hours without thinking about Roddy Barton. This attitude wasn’t conducive to killing someone.
The client meeting flew by, but my good mood led to me giving away some incredibly generous terms that meant we would lose money on the deal for the next year. I needed to stop coming into work after sex with Chloe.
How did happy people ever get any work done?
Chloe sent me an email to tell me she would be cooking dinner and asking if I wanted to come by. I hadn’t finished sending my response when another email came through, this time with a picture attached that made wish I was there already. It was a bit risky to use the work account for those sorts of images, but hey, I was the boss after all.
Chloe tasked me with getting the wine, but other than that, all I had to do was show up. I wanted to leave immediately, but we were closing out the end of the month at work and loads of employees were staying late. It would hardly send out a good message if I left at five.
I decided to stay until six, but not a minute later. I could fake a conversation on my phon
e as I walked out the door to make it sound like I was heading to a dinner meeting.
The minutes ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace. At one point, the time stayed the same for so long that I went to restart my computer thinking it had crashed. What was the point in being the boss if you couldn’t leave whenever the hell you wanted?
Chloe was probably still cooking, anyway. I’d have to wait until after dinner before I managed to strip those clothes off and have my way with her. She’d better not be a slow eater.
I couldn’t stay until six. I just didn’t have the willpower. I picked up my jacket at five forty-five and headed towards the door.
Then the phone rang.
My first thought was to ignore it, but it could be Chloe with an update on dinner. Or telling me to get round as soon as possible for an appetizer that hadn’t been on the menu.
No such luck; it was James.
If I hadn’t seen Dad recently I would have ignored the call, but Dad’s mood had me worried. He was acting rashly, jumping at shadows all the time and overreacting.
I picked up the phone to answer the call. My instincts told me this wasn’t a conversation to have on speakerphone.
“Hey Jimmy,” I said. “I was actually just on my way out.”
“I won’t keep you long. Hey, is Chloe with you?”
“No, she’s left already.” And she’s waiting for me, wearing a pair of pink panties that left nothing to the imagination.
“Good. Listen, I have information. About Chloe.”
“What about her?”
“I’m going to tell you, but you have to promise not to overreact.”
“Asking me not to overreact just makes me think you’ve done something worth reacting to. But you’ve caught me in a good mood, so just tell me.”
“I had some people watch her,” James said. “Some of our men.”
“What do you mean, ‘watch her?’ ” I asked. It sounded like they had been peeking at her in the shower, but that clearly wasn’t it. “How fucking dare you watch her. She’s my employee. This is my company, not yours or Dad’s.”
“We screen all new employees, Denton,” James said calmly. “And something about her didn’t sit right. Her résumé came directly to me for one thing, even though my email address wasn’t on the job listing.”
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