by Tiffani Lynn
“Keep going.”
“It was sloppy, it was weird and it was fast. Probably the worst sexual experience of my life other than my first time. When it was done, we both cried. God, it was awful and I was so embarrassed.
“I felt like I betrayed him. He trusted me with his wife and kids, and instead of looking out for them, I took over being him in every way possible but didn’t realize it until I had sex with his wife.”
“He was dead, Jase. It’s not like he was just out of town. It happens. You were both vulnerable and attractive and attracted to each other. I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”
He shakes his head sadly. “The next day I woke up and called a headhunter and asked him to find me a job somewhere other than Tampa. It didn’t take long and the next thing I knew, I’d moved back here.”
“What did Leslie say after the sex?”
“What was there to say? I apologized, probably a million times, and she cried. There was nothing to say; it was a mistake and we both knew it. When it was time for me to go, she asked me to stay and I explained that if I didn’t leave I’d simply be a replacement for Stu, not someone who really belonged there. She seemed to understand after that.”
“Are you in love with her? If there was no Joe, would you still be with her?”
When he turns to me, my heart aches. Please don’t say you love her.
“No, Mari. Not like you mean. I love her like my sister, which I think is why the sex was so bad. I’m not in love with her.”
By the look in his eyes, I can tell he’s not lying this time. I breathe a sigh of relief and he moves over to kneel in front of me. His fingers slide into my hair and he holds me so I can’t look anywhere else but his amazing aquamarine eyes. “I’m sorry. I’ll never lie to you again. Let me tell you this too, Mari, when we were at dinner with them, there was only one woman in the room who got my blood pumping, one woman I was thinking about taking home and stripping down, and one woman I wanted to wake up next to tomorrow morning, and it was not Leslie. Only you, baby. Please believe me.”
I must be a sucker because I believe every word of it. His mouth meets mine in a tender, tentative kiss but it doesn’t take long to become more. His lips shift to my cheek and slowly work down along the sensitive expanse of my throat. With a swipe of his tongue in the hollow at the base, I’m squirming. “Jase,” I hiss.
“Clothes off, baby,” he demands in a gravelly voice laced with need. Leaning back on his heels, he gives me space to strip down and as soon as my bra drops to the floor, he pushes me onto my back. The kisses resume down along the swell of both breasts. He stops momentarily to tease my nipples to tight buds before moving further south. Each kiss feels softer than the last and I whimper with desire. Please put your mouth on me. I don’t say it out loud, but my hips lift, begging of their own accord.
“Patience sweet Mari,” he mumbles against my skin while he buries his nose in my sex. With his skilled lips and tongue, he works my clit slowly at first as the damp heat between my legs grows. When I cry out in frustration he slips two fingers inside me and curves them to find the secret spot buried within. Now that his fingers and mouth are working me at an escalating pace, it’s not long before I dig my fingernails into his scalp and call his name.
With my body still shuddering, he strips his clothes off and settles between my legs, pushing my knees up high. As he slides in, my body twitches with the aftershocks of my climax and the promise of another on its heels. Jase leans in close and takes my mouth as his hips roll against mine, pushing his thickness in deeper each time. He breaks our kiss and stares at me as he works me, his eyes shining like the water in the Caribbean and I’m mesmerized by the passion held inside. My hips lift to meet each thrust and we’re working feverishly to cross the finish line together. “Touch yourself, baby, I need you to come one more time.” I’m close so it won’t be difficult. Slipping my hand between my legs, I work my clit until I pull another sweet orgasm out of both of us.
Jase collapses on top of me and kisses the skin at my neck while he comes down from the sex high we just experienced.
“I’m sorry, Mari.”
“I forgive you, but no more lies. I don’t care how painful the answer will be.”
“I promise.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dex
Life has been good with Mari since she found out about Leslie. The things that once drove me crazy like the constant chatter and the need to be touching me at all times, have gotten better. Partially because she’s relaxed and doesn’t seem to need that continuous sound to fill the dead air and also because I’ve grown used to it. As for the touching, that’s been the change on my part. I’ve never felt the need for physical contact and now I can’t get enough of it. For me, it’s both arousing and soothing with her.
Today I noticed a change in her appearance and if you would’ve asked me when I first found her again if I’d be happy with those changes, I would’ve answered yes. Now, not so much. I love that she’s not hiding her gorgeous face behind a bunch of unnecessary makeup, but I think the piercings fit her character and if she wants them, I don’t want her to remove them because of some asshole things I said a while ago.
Thank God she can’t remove the tattoos. I could spend hours tracing those just to touch her smooth skin. Never have I found tattoos on a woman attractive until I saw her without clothes the first time, but It’s the locket behind her neck that gets me every time though. Seeing it there, knowing it means so much to her, digs deep inside me, pulling up things I never thought I’d feel. I only wish that the actual necklace would turn up somewhere. I’ve been in touch with all the pawn shops from here to Denver with a special request if it shows up. It was my grandmother’s and that in itself makes it special, but for her to love something that much and have it taken away makes me want to move heaven and earth to get it back for her.
I could buy her a new locket, in fact I’m going to, but it’s the sentimentality behind that one that matters most to me. She protected it during the remainder of her time in foster care, and continued to do so when she was living on the street. She deserves to have it back.
Quinn and I are leaving a run-down apartment complex with a repeat offender, wife beater when my cell phone rings. I miss the call because I’m busy wrestling the loser into the car. As I slide into the front seat, I hit play on the message, not recognizing the number.
What the hell? The call was from Mari and she’s been arrested. She starts crying too hard for me to understand her so I end the message and start the car. Quinn must sense my change in mood because she asks, “You okay? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Can you call the station and find out why Marina was arrested?”
She gasps. “Marina?”
I grind my teeth together and take a deep breath in through my nose. I thought all the cops on this shift knew I was dating her, so why I didn’t get a courtesy call, I don’t know. I also don’t know what would’ve gotten her in trouble. She was supposed to go straight home to my place after eating dinner with Judson and the kids. I knew she wouldn’t sleep well but at least I knew she’d be safe at my place.
Quinn calls, listens, tells them we’ll be there shortly and hangs up the phone. “It’s not good, Dex. She was with a girl at a known cocaine distributor’s house when a raid went down. Detective Downie says she was standing in the middle of the living room holding a suitcase full of it. She swears she didn’t know what was in the suitcase, but Downie doesn’t believe her considering how well-known this drug dealer is. This is bad for her and it won’t look good for you either.”
“Fuck!” I roar and hit the gas with new fervor. I don’t know why I’m in a hurry to get there, but I am. What the hell was she doing? Was she trying to earn extra cash? I know she was talking about getting her own place again, but it was going to be a little longer until she had enough money. I guess it doesn’t matter why she did it, only that she did and effectively ended us and maybe my career with h
er dumb-ass decision.
When we finally get the idiot from the backseat into the station, Quinn takes over so I can figure out what the hell is going on with Marina. I’m so fucking furious I could explode, but I can’t decide who I’m most mad at, the cop that didn’t call me or Marina.
When I enter the room Detective Downie stands abruptly, drawing attention from several cops nearby at their desks. When they follow his line of sight, a few more stand and move in closer to him. If I’m pissed, there isn’t one of those boys who could contain me, but I’m don’t plan to do anything more than have a few words with him.
“What the fuck, Downie? You couldn’t give me a heads-up about this shit? I had to hear it from Marina in a crying phone call? You know that’s not how things roll around here.”
“You couldn’t have gotten her out of it, Dexter. She had several pounds of blow in that suitcase she was holding.”
“I don’t know what the hell happened tonight but I do know I deserved a goddamn phone call. I wouldn’t have tried to get her out of it. But I’d at least like to hear the circumstances before she calls me to bail her ass out. I didn’t have a clue about any of it. Was she selling the shit?”
“She says no. This house has been under surveillance for weeks and no one has seen her before. The girl she was with has been seen frequently.”
“Who is the girl?”
“Amber Johnson.”
“Doesn’t ring any bells. What was Mari doing there? You’ve been told she’s not usually there so there has to be a story.”
“Marina says she went to the residence to help Amber move her stuff out. Marina waited in the living room for her. When Amber was done packing, she brought Marina the suitcase and asked her to take it to the car.”
“Why was Amber leaving?”
“The owner of the house, Jeremiah “Jay-Freak” Boone, her boyfriend, decided it was time to put a beating on her and let me tell you, it was a nasty one.”
“You didn’t believe Marina was there to help her move?”
“Would you? Looks like she was helping her friend steal a ton of blow from a man that beat her. Shit happens all the time. When you see Amber, you’ll understand. I’m surprised she didn’t set the place on fire. But she probably figured she could at least sell the blow and get the money to get out of town. Only problem was Jay-Freak showed up and the raid carried forth like we planned. Marina was caught up in it all. I can’t just let the girl holding pounds of the stuff walk away without checking the story. She needs a lawyer, Dexter, even if she didn’t do anything wrong. It still looks bad. You need to see the captain when you’re done. She’s in interrogation now if you want to see her.”
“Fuck!” I storm out and march toward the interview room knowing I’m close to losing my shit. To make this day worse, Gino strolls past me in the hall and decides to mouth off.
“Heard your girl’s in lock-up. I think she might need a little visit later. Think she’s lonely?”
Without thinking it through I turn and throw a punch so hard he flies off his feet and into the wall with a huge thud. A woman from an office right by where Gino sits, rushes out as I say to him, “You go anywhere near my girl or any other woman who isn’t interested and I hear about it, you won’t make it to your next promotion. I’ve heard enough whispers over the years, and I know what you did to Marina the night we found her, to know what kind of douchebag you are. Keep your fucking hands to yourself, you son of a bitch!” I turn and continue on like nothing happened and I can hear the female cop behind me say, “It’s about time,” and laugh as she returns to her office leaving Gino in a heap on the floor.
When I enter the interrogation room, the cop that’s with her stands and looks at me. “I need a minute with her, man.” I gesture toward Marina. Her tear-streaked face and doe eyes tell me she’s in the middle of hell but I can’t seem to calm down enough to approach her softly.
The cop walks over to me and says, “You’ve got about 10 minutes, man.” Then he pats my arm as he passes.
“What the hell happened Mari? I’ve heard the arresting officer’s story but I want yours.”
“Amber called when I was leaving the ranch. She said her man beat her up and she needed help getting her stuff. Dex, I’ve been in her situation before, I couldn’t leave her to go back in there alone. I knew he was a dealer, but I didn’t know he kept it at his house or that she was taking his stuff. We were only there for about 10 minutes. I sat in the living room while she packed. When she came out, she handed me one of two suitcases and we were turning to leave when Jay came home. He said about five words to her and then the cops busted in the front and back doors. I was scared, but I figured once they saw how beat up she was and that all we had was her clothes, they’d let us go. I had no idea she was taking off with Jay’s cocaine or that I was standing there holding it.”
“Why didn’t you call me when she called you in the first place? What if he would’ve been there, ready to pass out more beatings?”
“Number one, you were working. Number two, I knew you’d hate Amber on sight. I’ve known her a long time and she’s been there for me too many times to count. There was no way I wasn’t going to help her when she called. I had no idea she was stealing his product, though. This isn’t my fault. If you see Amber, you’ll understand, you’ll know why I had to help her. I could never walk away from someone in need.”
I pace the room as I run what she’s said through my head. This is a typical Marina mess. “What happened to making better decisions? You promised me. What made you think going into the house of a known drug dealer was safe or logical?” This time her eyes lower to the table and she rubs her lower lip with her teeth, but gives me no answer.
“Come on Mari, you’ve got to give me something.”
“I’m sorry if this embarrassed you. I only meant to help a friend and I’d probably do it all over again if given the chance—minus the drugs in the suitcase. Being who I am means never letting a friend walk through hell alone. When you see her you’ll know she walked through hell.”
“Anyone who puts you in the position she did, knowing you could get in serious trouble, isn’t a friend, Mari. Why can’t you see that?”
“I can now, but when I made the decision to help her, it was based on previous friendship status. I didn’t realize what kind of friend she was until they opened that suitcase. I can’t go back and fix it now, Jase.”
“I don’t think I can help you with this, Mari. You need a lawyer. I’ll get you one, but there’s nothing else I can do. I’ll be lucky if I don’t lose my job.”
“Why? You weren’t there, you didn’t even know about it.”
“If the woman who shares my bed and my home gets busted for having a shit-ton of blow at a known dealer’s house, it comes back on me. It’s part of my contract. Even if they don’t fire me, this may have tanked my career. I’ve got to go see my captain and get you a lawyer.”
“Jase.” Her eyes plead with me to understand, but I can’t. I’ll never understand how she can get herself into this stuff. She doesn’t consider consequences before she does anything.
I call a lawyer and explain the situation the best I can. Then I call Dee and tell her what happened. My boss sent me home and explained that internal affairs will have to investigate before I can come back to work. I’m not the kind of person who does well with idle time when I’m under a bunch of stress. Even after running, about a million sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups, I’m still not able to settle enough to sit down, much less lie down.
I figure it’s time to go see Marv. Quinn isn’t allowed to talk to me until they interview her later today. When I reach him, he’s gnawing on a granola bar of some sort. I have no idea where he got it but I’m glad to see he’s eating. After some basic pleasantries he squints his eyes and studies me.
“What’s wrong, boy?”
“Marina.”
“Damn, that girl’s an angel. You’d better get your shit straight so you can keep her.”
He doesn’t even flinch or ask why. “You can get another job. You won’t find another girl like her.”
“She was busted with several pounds of cocaine.”
He shrugs. “She’s not a druggie. We both know what those look like and she’s not one. Where did she get it? Did she say why she had it?”
“Wrong place, wrong time, or at least that’s what she says. The girl she was with got beat up by her man and said she needed help getting her stuff out. She didn’t tell Mari that ‘stuff’ meant a ridiculous amount of coke or that Mari would be the one to carry it out the door. By the time it was all said and done she got caught up in a raid, literally holding the bag.”
“Then you’d better be there when she gets out because that girl is tough as nails, but spending a night in jail and you being mad at her on top of it… I’m sure she’s in hell. She has a tender heart.”
“I don’t know what to do.”
“You hire her the best lawyer you can afford because I’m guessing she can’t afford much, and you get her cleared, but you stand by her the whole way.”
“Why are you so big on me staying with her?”
“Because I’ve known you for several years and you’ve always been closed off. I’m a man, I get it, but you take that closed off shit to a whole new level. It’s been obvious since the day you found her again, that she helped you find your heart. You keep everything so close, never letting anyone in, never reaching out. It’s a lonely life. If you find a woman like her, no matter what kind of trouble follows her, you hold tight.”