by A. C. Arthur
Turning into the lot, it dawned on her that she didn’t have a clue as to what kind of car Terrell drove. He hadn’t told her, and she hadn’t had the good sense to ask. So she circled the lot looking for a car with a person sitting behind the wheel. When she didn’t see one, she cursed herself for being stupid enough to come out in the middle of the night, put her car in reverse and made a U-turn to the parking lot exit. Slamming on her brakes, she just narrowly missed a black SUV speeding past her through the exit.
“Asshole!” Pressing her palm against the horn she cursed the driver. Angry with herself, angry with Terrell, and now pissed at this fool that hadn’t had the respect to give her the right-of-way, Leah swore fluently. She was going to go home and get her ass back in bed, and if Terrell called her again she was going to tell him where to go and the quickest route to get there.
The light at the intersection had just turned green so she had to sit at the opening of the parking lot and wait for the few cars to pass. Drumming her fingers against the steering wheel, she thought of all the things she was going to say to Mr. Terrell Pierce the moment she laid eyes on him.
“Getting me out of my bed in the middle of the night,” she muttered to herself while she watched the last of the cars go by. Just as the light turned red and she was about to press the gas, somebody banged on the passenger side door. It was Terrell. She hit the unlock button.
Jumping in, he quickly pulled the door closed behind him and yelled, “Drive!”
“What?” Surprised to see him, and still seething with anger, Leah’s foot remained rooted on the brake.
“Drive, I said!” Pulling the seatbelt across his body, Terrell clicked the lock into place.
“I’m not going anywhere. Where did you come from anyway? I’ve been looking all over this stupid lot for you.”
“Will you shut up and drive the damned car!” She was sexy as hell, but, damn, there were times when she simply talked too much.
Rolling her eyes at him, Leah did as she was told. Making a right turn onto Gay Street she proceeded to the next intersection. “Okay, Sherlock, where to now?”
Terrell was looking from one direction to the other. “I think we lost them.”
“Lost who?”
“Donald! I saw Donald!”
“Where? In the parking lot?”
“Yeah, he got out of his car and walked over to this other dude’s truck and they talked for a while. Then he got in the truck with the other dude and they pulled off.
Leah’s mind went to the SUV that had sped past her moments before. “Was it a black truck?”
“Yeah, you saw it?”
“It almost smashed right into me.” Rolling her eyes, she looked up to see that her light had changed.
“Alright, I heard them say something about a club. Maybe that’s where they’re headed. The nearest clubs are…what’s up Charles Street?” he asked himself. For some reason Leah didn’t strike him as a regular club attendee.
“Unless they were talking about the clubs on Baltimore Street?” she added.
“Baltimore Street?” He frowned, looked at her.
She looked back at him and shrugged. “It’s possible.”
“I guess so.” He looked away, because staring at her had him thinking things that had nothing to do with Donald or where that black SUV had gone.
He wondered if the man she was seeing had any hold on her heart—wondered if she kissed him the way she’d kissed Terrell earlier that day—wondered if she were in love with him.
“Terrell!” Leah screeched to a halt at the corner of Gay and Baltimore Streets. The black SUV was parking in front of one of Baltimore’s many adult entertainment spots. The corner of Gay and Baltimore Streets marked the end of Baltimore’s well-known ‘Block’ where the premium prostitutes and X-rated shops were housed. For years Leah had wondered how it was that prostitution, which was illegal in Maryland, could be permitted to go on directly across the street from the city’s police headquarters. Wasn’t that a contradiction in and of itself?
“Yeah?” Quickly brought back to the matter at hand, he turned to her. Her eyes glittered in the dark interior of the car and he followed her gaze.
“Do you think that’s them?” They both starred at the vehicle parked across the street. There were two people in the front seat but darkness and distance prevented them from being easily identified.
“Yeah, it looks like it. Pull over here and turn the engine off,” he directed her.
“For what? We’re not staying here,” Leah protested.
“Come on, Leah, I just want to see where he goes from here and what they do.” When she looked like she was about to refuse, Terrell reached for her hand. “We’ll just stay for a few minutes, then we can go home. I promise.”
It wasn’t the puppy dog eyes that stared at her, and it definitely wasn’t the warmth spreading throughout her arm. It was the nagging feeling that everything Terrell had told her that afternoon just might be true. There Donald was, parked in a black SUV with another man, doing Lord knows what. The fact that they were in front of the police station had no bearing on the thoughts going through her mind. And when they both got out of the vehicle and headed toward one of the sleazy nude bars on the opposite side of the street, an annoying sense of dread coursed through her.
Pulling the car over, she switched off the ignition and watched the two guys go into the nightclub. Feeling Terrell’s eyes on her, she shrugged. “So they want to see some naked women. That doesn’t prove anything.”
“It sure doesn’t,” Terrell reluctantly agreed.
Minutes later the two men emerged from the building with two more men following them. The four men talked for a few minutes before Donald reached into his jacket and pulled out a medium-sized package. Thanks to their location and the lights from all those sleazy little sex joints, Leah could clearly see one of the men who had followed Donald out of the club pulling a wad of cash out of his pocket and exchanging it for the package Donald held.
Leah gasped and Terrell swore, “That bastard!”
“Terrell, calm down. We don’t know what was in the package,” she rationalized.
“It wasn’t hair products, I guarantee you that.” He all but spat the words at her. “I knew it! I knew it! I knew he wasn’t any good!”
The four men continued their conversation before three other men, who came out of nowhere, joined them. Now there were seven men standing in front of the Club Pussycat. One began yelling, and it looked to Leah as if an argument ensued.
“We should leave now,” she whispered, never taking her eyes off the men across the street.
“In a minute.” His eyes, too, were riveted on the events taking place.
They both gasped when the man who was with Donald pulled out a gun. While his partner motioned for the other men to move into the alley beside the club, Donald looked around to make sure no one had seen them.
Terrell grabbed Leah’s arm, pulling her down into the seat. She crouched down without question. “Terrell, I really think we should leave now,” she whispered, her heart beating frantically. She couldn’t tell if it was because of her close proximity to Terrell or the fear that was quickly consuming her. Ironically, she hoped it was the fear.
“No, I have to see what happens. I have to have proof. Stay here.” Before Leah could stop him, Terrell was opening the car door and stepping out onto the sidewalk.
“Stay here?” she murmured. No, she hadn’t gotten out of her bed and gone down on ‘the Block’ in the middle of the night only to be told to stay in the car. He had clearly bumped his head. She climbed out of the car and ran to catch up to him.
She was so busy looking around to make sure no unmentionable characters were near them that she ran right into his back.
“What?” Terrell turned, startled and confused at seeing her. “I told you to stay in the car. You’re the driver, remember?”
“Are you crazy? I wasn’t staying in that car by myself.”
“I to
ld you we were on a stakeout. Every stakeout has a driver,” he said as he pulled her across the street, out of oncoming traffic.
Leah rolled her eyes and kept her fingers entwined with his. “Every robbery needs a driver, idiot. Stakeouts usually consist of watching only. You’re entering the stupidly spying category now,” she said as they came up on the alley Donald and the men had entered.
Overhead, Leah spied the Club Pussycat and groaned. She’d never been this close to this type of bar before. Naked women, and men doing private things to those naked women, were what she supposed happened there. To her it was repulsive and she cringed at the mere sight of it. Terrell was focused on what was going on in the alley. Leaning his back against the wall, he held Leah’s hand firmly. “Stay behind me.”
Leah looked at him as if he’d spoken a foreign language. “Did you think I was going to bum rush them?”
Terrell frowned. She really did talk too much. “Just stay behind me,” he said in an angry whisper.
Against her better judgment, she flattened her back against the wall and stood stiffly next to him, rolling her eyes towards the sky.
Terrell saw that the men were at the other end of the alley, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. He reached for Leah’s hand, pulling her quickly behind a dumpster.
“Ew, it stinks back here.” Leah pulled her sweatshirt up over her face in an effort to staunch the stench.
“Shhh!” Terrell warned. Peeping around the dumpster, he got a closer view of the scene. Donald’s friend still held his gun on them. All five of the other men stood against the wall.
“You can’t kill us all,” one of the guys that had arrived after the exchange told Donald.
“You think we can’t?” Donald’s voice seemed louder now. “I told you not to mess with us. I warned you and your crew several times. Now it seems we’re gonna have to show you we mean business.”
“It don’t matter, Ray Ray will find you. It’s only a matter of time,” the other guy said.
“That’s okay, the morgue is gonna find you first,” Donald’s companion said. Before the man had a chance to utter another word a shot rang out. The man’s body slumped to the ground.
“Oh my God! Oh my God! He shot him! He shot him!” Leah was ready to turn and run out of the alley, but Terrell grabbed her around the waist with one long arm and slapped his free hand over her mouth.
“Shhh! If you don’t be quiet he’s gonna shoot us too,” he whispered frantically to her ear, positioning them both low and out of sight behind the dumpster.
Her heart raced and tears threatened to spill from her eyes. What was she doing here, witnessing a murder, when she should have been home in her bed fast asleep? She’d known Terrell would be trouble, and now he’d gotten her involved. Only fear that he might be right about them getting shot kept her from biting his hand and running like hell.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Just as Terrell was about to remove his hand from her mouth they heard another gunshot ring out, then another. They couldn’t see what was happening but they jumped at the loud blasts. Leah trembled in his arms. Guilt, and fear that something might happen to her, had him cursing under his breath. He should never have called her, even though the thought of being in an alley witnessing a murder had never crossed his mind. Still, he’d put her in danger, and for that alone he was a bigger jerk than she probably already assumed him to be.
He’d wanted proof that Donald wasn’t good enough for his mother. Tonight he had gotten that in spades, but at what price? Leah was shaking, her body almost limp in his arms as they huddled behind the dumpster. He had to get her out of there as quickly, and as unscathed, as possible. Releasing his hold on her mouth, he grabbed her hand, running across the street and pulling her behind him. He prayed no one had seen them.
When they were safely in the car, they both sat in silence for a moment, trying to catch their breath. Terrell thought for sure the next sound they’d hear would be police sirens, considering the close proximity of the police station, but he was wrong.
“I don’t believe it, I just don’t believe it! And don’t you tell me again that you knew it, because I don’t give a damn what you knew! If you knew he was involved in murder, then why the hell did you call me? Why did you have to get me involved?” Leah screamed.
She was absolutely right, and he was kicking himself right now for that very stupid mistake. But her frantic yelling wasn’t going to help the situation now. They needed to get going. “You can yell at me later, but now I think it’s time for us to get the hell out of here.”
For once, she completely agreed with him. But where were her keys? Bending over, she slid her hands beneath the seat, clutching at nothing. Oh no, not now, she prayed. Reaching across Terrell’s lap she opened the glove compartment and rifled through the things in there. Cursing, she returned her attention to beneath her seat.
“What are you doing?” He’d surmised that she was looking for something, but he hadn’t a clue what. “For a person who didn’t want to come here in the first place, you sure are taking your time leaving.”
She stifled a smart retort. “I can’t find my keys.”
“What?”
“I can’t find my damn keys! I’m not used to chasing around bad guys, you know. I must have dropped my keys when some lunatic left me alone in the car while he went off to save the day.”
Her sarcasm wasn’t lost on him, but the missing keys took precedence over her anger about their situation.
“Oh please, don’t tell me that.”
Terrell was searching for the keys when suddenly she yelled, “Sheesh, they’re right here.” Leah pulled the keys out of her coat pocket and held them up. But before she could start the car, out of the corner of her eye she saw the men emerge from the alley.
“Terrell, look, they’re coming out,” she whispered, as if they were going to hear her from across the street.
Terrell leaned over to see out the driver’s side window. Donald and his partner had come sauntering out of the alley. There was no sign of a gun and no sign of the five men that had gone into the alley with them.
“Where are the others?”
“Do you have to ask?” Terrell replied blandly.
Abruptly, Leah sat back in her seat and stared straight ahead. “Oh God, they’re going to walk right past us.”
Looking through the window, Terrell confirmed that they were, in fact, heading in their direction. Thinking quickly, he grabbed Leah by her jacket and turned her to face him. “Just follow my lead,” he told her before his lips ground roughly into hers.
Blinking in confusion, it took a moment for Leah to realize that Terrell was kissing her. Well, not exactly kissing. His lips were awkwardly pressed against hers, nevertheless causing an amazing bolt of stimulation throughout her body. His eyes were closed and his goatee tickled the sensitive skin around her mouth. His hands were fisted around the lapels of her jacket; still, she felt the smoldering heat of his knuckles as they brushed against her breasts.
Time stood still for all of the three minutes it took as the men passed the car and climbed back into their truck. Terrell heard their retreating footsteps, but was reluctant to break the connection.
Leah, after conceding that this was their only choice, had relaxed into the kiss. His lips still clung to hers and she itched to take the contact further. Her thoughts scattered as she realized this was Terrell—safe, intellectual, quiet Terrell. But it wasn’t the quiet, subdued man she’d thought he was. Tonight she’d seen a completely different side of him, a reckless, bold, intoxicatingly sexy side and he was now kissing her senseless. God, if he had nothing else, he had one amazing pair of lips—and he knew how to use them.
Terrell, about to burst with his own needs, seized the opportunity and pushed his tongue into her mouth. Feverently stroking his tongue against the warm contours of hers, he reveled in her response. While she tried to appear reserved and serious, Ms. Leah Graham was one passionate sister. She kissed him as if
she was starving for him—he could only wish. Still, her tongue dueled with his until all he wanted to do was tear her clothes off and make wondrous love to her.
But this was neither the time nor the place.
In the back of her mind, she knew they should be leaving. She should be driving like a bat out of hell to get home. Instead, she relaxed, allowing her tongue to be stroked and caressed by his. She didn’t see stars, and bells didn’t ring, and yet she was engulfed in warmness that caused her whole body to go limp in the seat. Everything else ceased to exist. The car was their private haven, its close confines blanketing them in intimacy. When his hands moved from the lapels of her jacket to lightly cup her breasts, she thought she would scream with pleasure. Spiky tingles soared through her chest, landing in the pit of her stomach where they expanded and shifted to throb between her legs. The whimpering sound she heard, to her surprise, came from her. She wanted him as she’d never wanted another man in her life.
But this was not the time.
Through the thick haze of his own pleasure, he felt her pushing against his chest. She didn’t like it; she wanted him to stop. Disappointment at her rejection clutched his heart.
Reluctantly he pulled away and willed himself not to look at her. He didn’t want to see the disappointment he was sure would be clear in her eyes. But once the physical connection was broken, her eyes held him captive. He couldn’t turn away, not if his life depended on it.
Leah looked at him. She simply stared into the face that was quickly becoming too familiar. The freshly cut and trimmed goatee looked soft in contrast to the prickliness she’d felt against her skin. His nose was straight, free of bumps and curves, hence the reason his glasses always slid down. Unable to resist the urge, she lifted her hand and, with her index finger, pushed the wire rims up to their rightful position.
He blinked in confusion. Was that pity in her eyes? He hated that most of all. “Sorry,” he grumbled and retreated to the other side of the car. He didn’t need her feeling sorry for him, didn’t want her pity.