“How do I know it’s worth it?” he said to her. “Nothing in this world is free, baby doll. If you want a hit…you’ve got to hit me. Otherwise you can leave and I’ll find some other girl to party with.”
He gestured to Maria, who walked over. John ran his hand over her shirt, feeling her small breasts, then rested back on the bed on his elbows.
“Now, thank me for the hit, Maria,” he said, looking down at his loins, “You know what to do, baby.”
Maria dropped to her knees, undid his belt, then his jeans, reached in and pulled out his organ and went to work, John’s eyes resting on Melanie lazily.
“Now, Maria knows how to party,” he purred.
He let Maria attend him for several minutes but stopped her before he came, then gave her another rock. Maria withdrew to smoke it and he looked up at Melanie, his glistening cock still erect.
“Your turn,” he said to her.
Melanie turned her eyes on Maria hitting the stem, then back on John. Slowly, she moved between his legs and got down on her knees. She took him into her mouth.
John rested his hand on the back of her head.
“That’s right. That’s right, Princess,” he groaned, then forced her head down and started gagging her as Maria’s lighter continued to flick.
*
John had quite a buzz on by the time the girls were ready for more drugs. He had made them both shower together, watching as they fingered each other for his pleasure, then focused much of his time on Melanie, fucking her and brutalizing her because she thought she was too fucking good for this. He called Maria over from time to time to join in, but it was Melanie who got the brunt of his attentions.
John lay on his back, his boxers around his thighs and finished coming in Melanie’s mouth. The girl was straddling his legs and had just finished blowing him for what must have been the fourth time.
“Swallow it all…and I’ll get you more crack,” he breathed at the red-face girl.
Melanie did so and John sighed with satisfaction.
“Pour me a drink, Maria,” he said, sitting up and hitching up his boxers. Melanie climbed out of the bed.
Maria, standing naked next to the dresser, did as he asked and passed the drink to him. John downed it, then looked at the girls consideringly.
“Turn your backs,” he said to them.
Maria and Melanie turned, but Melanie watched through the mirror as John took an envelope full of money out of the pillowcase and withdrew two bills. He put the envelope back.
“All right, you can turn around now. Both of you get dressed,” he said, “and put your pipes and lighters on the dresser.”
The girls obeyed, John watching them closely. When they were dressed he held out a hundred dollar bill for each of them.
“You’re doing good. Go get yourselves some more crack. I’ve got your pipes, but that doesn’t mean you’ll come back. If you leave…don’t expect me to let you back in later. Come right back or the party’s over for you and I’ll get two other girls,” he said.
They nodded and left the motel room, making a beeline for Johnny Dread. The drug dealer could see that Melanie was getting done. She looked as if someone had been beating her she was so red and had dried come on the corner of her mouth, but he didn’t say anything about it. Crack whores were all nasty bitches.
Maria made her buy and went back to John’s room.
Melanie told Johnny Dread what she wanted.
“That white man is taking care of you, huh?” Johnny said as he fished some rocks out of the baggie.
”He’s a fucking pervert. Won’t leave me alone,” Melanie said bitterly. Suddenly she narrowed her eyes and looked up at Johnny.
“He’s got an envelope of money in there. I think it’s all one-hundred dollar bills. It was thick too…and he’s drunk,” she said to Johnny, who looked at her.
“He’s drunk?” he asked her.
Melanie nodded.
“Can you get the money?” Johnny asked her. Melanie shook her head.
”It’s in his pillowcase and he won’t leave the bed,” she said.
Johnny looked toward the room. This was an opportunity.
”I tell you what, Melanie. Go back to the room, and when I knock…let me in and I’ll give you a cut and some rocks,” Johnny said.
Melanie smiled at him.
“All right,” she said.
Johnny gave her an extra rock.
“Good girl,” he said, smiling.
*
Anita was floating on air as Emmet drove her back to their apartment, a smile plastered on her face from ear to ear.
“He’s gone, Emmet. I still can’t believe it,” she gushed, Emmet nodding, but not saying much at all. He was wondering where this placed them now.
He pulled in front of the apartment, got out, walked around and helped Anita out, then they went it. In the hallway, Anita gave him a big, juicy happy kiss that left him smiling at her stupidly as she let them in.
“I’m going to change Emmet,” she said, flouncing off into the bedroom.
Emmet was tempted to go watch her change, but went into the kitchen instead, taking out the Porterhouse. It wasn’t completely defrosted, but close enough. He took off his sports jacket and rolled up his sleeves, taking off his watch and setting it on the counter. He took out a platter, then opened the steak and washed it thoroughly under the faucet, shaking it off before placing it on the counter.
As he was busy setting up to cook, Anita came out of the bedroom wearing her sweats and a t-shirt, her hair in a ponytail. She stopped and watched as Emmet deftly peeled a couple of potatoes with a paring knife, turning each potato in his hand and peeling off the skin in almost a single spiraling thin piece. Wow, he was good at that. It took Anita forever to peel even one potato, and lost quite a bit of potato in the process. Emmet rinsed the potatoes, put them in a pot, added some salt and butter, then put them up to boil. He then retrieved a bag of fresh green beans, washed them and snapped off the ends in the sink, dropping them into another pot of salted water and putting them on the stove to cook. He looked up and saw Anita watching him, and gave her a crooked smile.
“I hope you’re hungry,” he said to her.
“I am,” she said in a low voice.
She found Emmet puttering around the kitchen kind of sexy.
Emmet looked at her and swallowed as he saw the heat in her eyes.
“Food hungry?” he asked her, hope in his voice that Anita was feeling another kind of hunger…a hunger he would willingly feed.
“Oh…that too,” she said with a naughty little smile. Emmet went on point right away.
”Do you want to…to…” he started.
Anita laughed.
”Yes, but not right now, Emmet. Later,” she said to him.
“Oh,” Emmet said, looking a bit put out.
Emmet was starting to realize that women had all the control when it came to sex. But maybe that was a good thing. Emmet knew if he were the one calling the shots, he’d never get off of Anita.
“Emmet?” Anita said as Emmet put a pan on the stovetop and turned it on.
“Yes?” Emmet responded, checking the potatoes and string beans.
“What did you and my father talk about?” she asked him curiously.
“Well, I just introduced myself to him really, and told him we lived together,” Emmet lied. He really was a pretty decent liar when he had to be. He had plenty of practice fudging the truth with June.
“What did he say?” she asked Emmet.
“Not much. He just looked me over. He wasn’t very impressed,” Emmet said. He had seen John give him a measuring look. “Then he said he was passing through town and just wanted to see you before he left.”
This seemed to satisfy Anita.
“Where was he staying?” Anita asked him.
“The same place you were. The Short Stay motel,” Emmet replied, adding the steak to the pan and running the spatula under it quickly as it sizzled, so it wouldn
’t stick. He quickly sliced an onion and added it to the pan.
“He’ll fit right in there,” Anita said, her mouth turned down at the thought of it.
“Better than you did I bet,” Emmet said to her, looking sober.
Anita’s expression softened as she looked at Emmet. He had taken her away from that awful place. And he hardly knew her. She slowly walked into the kitchen and wrapped her arms around Emmet’s neck, pressing her body against him. Emmet instantly wrapped his own arms around her waist. Anita gave him a soft, intimate kiss, flicking her tongue against his lips. Emmet opened his mouth and let her in, feeling himself swelling as she explored his mouth tenderly. Anita broke the kiss, Emmet staring into her eyes hungrily.
“That was good,” he said, licking his lips as if tasting them.
”It will be better later,” she said in a throaty voice that made Emmet’s cock pulse powerfully.
“Is that a promise?” he asked as she removed her arms from around his neck.
“Yes,” Anita said, prying herself out of his grip on her. “Better check that steak.”
Emmet turned quickly and picked up the spatula, checking the steak and stirring the onions. A wonderful scent of seared beef with onions rose and filled the kitchen.
“What do you want for dessert, Anita? We have ice cream, honey buns, chocolate doughnuts…” Emmet said, rattling off the goodies they bought.
“Just you, Emmet,” Anita replied, strolling sexily back into the living room and plopping down on the couch and turning on the television.
Emmet watched her enter the living room, his eyes on her rolling hips. He couldn’t wait to finish eating.
Anita clicked through the stations until she came to the local evening news. She watched as Emmet turned the steak and stirred the string beans.
Anita watched as the weather report came on, and a story about some kittens rescued from a storm drain by good Samaritans.
“Awwww,” Anita crooned as three bedraggled and very unhappy looking kittens were roughly rolled about in a towel by some well meaning animal control person, then deposited in a box and sealed up.
Suddenly the words “Breaking News” flashed across the screen and a scene of several police cars with flashing lights appeared, two officers setting up yellow tape. The news reporter’s voice came on.
“There has been a stabbing death at the Short Stay Motel, an establishment known to cater to drug users and prostitutes in the local area. A guest was the victim of what appears to be a push-in robbery. Footage captured by the security cameras shows a man identified as Clarence Jenkins, better known as Johnny Dread, kicking in the door to room 24…please be aware the footage is disturbing…”
”Emmet,” Anita said in a small frightened voice.
Emmet caught the note of fear in Anita’s voice and took the steak off the stovetop and hurried into the living room just in time to see a black and white image of a black man with something in his hand kicking in the door to a room and disappearing inside. After a second or two, two half dressed women ran from the room, apparently screaming, then the black man appeared again, running away, apparently carrying a pillow. Another man, white and dressed in only in boxers staggered out the door, clutching his chest, blood running down his front and pouring over his legs. He staggered a ways, then fell, people gathering around him and screaming. The reporter’s voice returned.
“The victim of the stabbing has been identified as John Bowen. Some drugs and drugs paraphernalia have been found in the room he occupied. It is believed the death is drug-related. More on this story as it develops.”
Anita stared at the screen as Emmet picked up the remote and clicked the television off. He sat down on the couch and gathered Anita in his arms. She was shaking.
“I’m sorry, Anita,” Emmet said softly.
“I wanted him gone…but not dead, Emmet,” Anita said in a hollow voice, “Just…gone.”
“I know,” Emmet said soothingly.
“I’ve got to call his family…let them know,” Anita said. “His mother’s still alive, though we weren’t close…”
”All right, Anita…we can call them,” Emmet agreed, rocking her gently now.
“I’m going to have to go and claim his body,” she said.
“Yes. But I’ll be with you, Anita. You don’t have to do anything alone. I’ll help you all I can…don’t worry,” he said gently, kissing her on the temple.
Quietly, Anita began to sob.
What happened was that John wasn’t as drunk as he appeared to be, and he wouldn’t let Melanie answer the door when Johnny knocked. Then the drug dealer kicked the door in, and John jumped up as the girls ran out of the room. There was a terrible struggle and Johnny Dread…getting the worst of it, finally drove a knife straight into John’s heart, grabbed the pillow off the bed and ran.
John tried to chase him, staggering out of the room behind the fleeing drug dealer but collapsed. He died a few minutes later on the way to the hospital.
So much for Mexico.
*
John Bowen was cremated after a small service at a local funeral home. Only Emmet and Anita were in attendance, though a light-skinned black girl walked in and sat down for a quick minute to listen, then edged her way out. It was Maria, coming to pay her last respects.
Anita contacted John’s mother, who said she wasn’t traveling anywhere for John, that he was never any good and the world was better without him. His two brothers and one sister had the same sentiment, the sister asking if there was any insurance money. She hung up when Anita told her there wasn’t.
It seemed no one cared about John Bowen.
Emmet paid for the service and cremation of John’s body…his ashes were presented to Anita in an ornate white ceramic box. She brought them back to the apartment and sat down on the couch, holding it in her lap. Emmet sat down next to her, his eyes on her face.
“I’m going to keep his ashes until next summer, then go to Mexico and scatter them there,” Anita said softly to Emmet.
”He would have liked that I think. We can drive down during vacation,” Emmet replied.
“Thank you Emmet,” Anita said with a tremor in her voice, looking down at the box. She stood up and walked over to an oval mirror hung on the wall with a small shelf beneath it. She removed the vase sitting there and replaced it with the box.
“There you go Dad. You’ll be staying with me again…just for a little while,” she said to the box, then walked back over to the couch and sat down next to Emmet, resting her head on his shoulder.
They hadn’t been intimate in more than a week, dealing with the police, media, hospital and funeral arrangements. To be honest, Emmet didn’t even think about touching Anita in any way other than sympathetically, her sadness and loss his primary concern.
Emmet asked Mr. Allen to give her a few days off. Anita was still new and really didn’t qualify for a week away from work, but since Emmet was the new golden boy, and there was an immediate death in the family, Mr. Allen granted it. Emmet set up his interviews from home, making them all for the following week and emailing the list to Mr. Allen to show he was still hard at work, which suited the boss just fine. He could work from the office or at home as long as he produced.
Emmet took care of Anita, making sure she ate and got enough sleep. He woke up twice in the middle of the night to find her side of the bed empty and Anita curled in the armchair in the living room, staring into space, her eyes red from crying. She felt guilty because she had wished her father dead so many times. Emmet would pick her up, carry her back to bed and spoon around her, telling her everything would be all right. He was very kind and supportive and helped her through it all.
Now, Anita rested her head against Emmet’s shoulder as he sat there, quiet and strong for her. He had been so helpful. Anita was sure she couldn’t have dealt with what she had to do concerning her father if not for Emmet’s strong presence and gentle reassurance.
”Everything’s been about my father t
his past week,” Anita said softly.
Emmet nodded.
“Death is like that,” he replied. “You did what a good daughter should. You took care of him. I think his family would have left him to be buried in a potter’s field.”
”Yeah,” Anita sighed. “They didn’t care about him at all. Maybe that’s why he was the way he was.”
Emmet didn’t know. Had John Bowen’s family always been like that, or did John work on every last nerve of every one of them until they wanted nothing to do with him? Well, they’d never know. But at least he had Anita to take care of his ashes and mourn him. No one should leave the earth without at least one person feeling something about it.
“Maybe,” he said shortly.
They sat there a little while in silence. Emmet’s eyes began to flutter as he began to drift off. Anita looked up at him and smiled as he started dozing. Emmet had been through as much as she had, plus working.
“Come on, Emmet, let’s make it an early night,” she said, standing up and pulling him up. Emmet let out a yawn and meekly followed Anita into the bedroom.
They both undressed, Emmet watching as Anita removed her dress, standing in her slip and stockings for a moment before pulling the slip over her head. She was wearing a thong under her stockings and Emmet turned his eyes away as she pulled down her stockings, bending at the waist with her smooth buttocks turned toward him.
He quickly stripped down to his boxers, taking off his glasses, hanging up his suit and climbing into bed, trying to hide his erection. Anita finished undressing, pulled on her short white nightie and climbed into bed, shifting her back close to Emmet, expecting him to spoon around her as usual.
Emmet did, but kept his hips back. This was the first desire-inspired erection he’d had in a week, since Anita was so stressed. Now that everything was over, he was reacting to her again, and felt a little guilty about it. It was still too soon.
“Emmet, what’s wrong?” Anita asked, attempting to snuggle back against him more.
Emmet hitched his hips back.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said.
”So why aren’t you holding me right?” Anita asked, turning now to look at him.
“I’m holding you,” he said, blinking at her.
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