Stoking the Embers (New Adult Romantic Suspense): The Complete Series

by Johnson, Leslie

  “Leave you alone? I am leaving you alone. You’ve not seen me since your very public rejection and now I can’t even walk down the halls of a hospital to see a friend?”

  “What fr…” I swallow and search for the words I need to say. There is no arguing with him, he always has a come-back. While I stumble for something, anything, to get me away from him, he goes on.”

  “Of course, you wouldn’t need to sell anything if you had just accepted my proposal. Lap of luxury, Stephanie. I could have given that to you. Instead, look at you now. A whore. A public humiliation.” He cocks his head to the side, his lips curling into a grin. “How’s school? I bet UNLV’s not very happy with you. Have you been called to the principal’s office yet?”

  I put my hands over my ears. “Stop it. Just stop it.”

  “Stop what, Stephanie?”

  “Everything. Stop everything.”

  He holds his arms out, as if welcoming me to step into them. “I’d be happy to stop it. I can, you know. I can make this all go away, if only you promise to be my wife. As my wife, I’d protect you and you’d never have another worry. You know I’d do that for you. You know that, right?”

  I shake my head. Think! Play to his ego. “I’m not right for you. I’m not good enough for you,” I begin, and his arms fall to his sides. “There are so many women who would fall over themselves to be with you.”

  “That’s very true. In fact, I’ve met someone. Someone with the same… ah… interests as me. She understands me, more than you ever will.”

  It’s a lifeline and I grab for it. “See? I knew you would. I’m really happy for you.” Feed the ego. Feed the ego. “I hope she is everything you deserve.”

  The smile falls from his face, replaced by a look so cold it freezes my lungs. “Don’t play me, Stephanie. I’m not that stupid.”

  “I’m… I didn’t… I only…”

  “Stutter. Stutter. Stutter. Have you forgotten how to talk? Has all that dick damaged your vocal chords?”

  Tears burn the back of my eyes. I can’t win. I’ve never been able to win. I feel every cell in my body sag with sudden defeat.

  “Mmm… that’s better,” Jerome says, but I don’t look up to see his face. My head feels too heavy on my neck to pivot upwards. “See how easy that is? You don’t have to do anything, just let me take care of you.” He lifts a hand to my cheek and I nearly gag in revulsion.

  “Don’t pull away from me, Stephanie.” His hand is clamped on my shoulder. He’s hurting me and I try to pull away, but his thumb is pressing the nerve at my clavicle.

  “Come with me. Be with me.” His words are hypnotizing, the cadence slow and seductive. “I’ll protect you. You’ll be safe with me. I’ll make this all go away.”

  A tear slides down my cheek and I hate myself for it. What would Beth do right now? Kick him in the balls? I’m not brave enough for that. Instead, I ask him a question.

  “How? How could you make this go away?”

  His lips turn up in a fake smile. “Money, babe. It does buy happiness. I’m sure I could pay off whoever’s hacking you. See, I love you. I’d do that for you, even now when I know what a little slut you are.”

  My fingers itch to slap his face and my spine straightens a little. After the shock of seeing him begins to wear off, I realize it’s the perfect time to question him more. Maybe gain some valuable information about what’s been going on.

  “How did you pull all this off? Come on, it’s just you, me and these hospital walls. You can tell me.”

  “Me? It wasn’t me. Didn’t your detective friends tell you that?” His face grew hard and his lips thinned into a taut line. “After all, they searched my home and my car. They hacked into my computers. They fucking questioned me for hours. Six hours! They found nothing.” He lifts his hands, palms facing me. “See, I’m clean.”

  I stare at him, open mouthed.

  He looks at my lips and grins. “Is that an invitation?”

  I snap my mouth shut and his grin falls and his face grows cold again. “I need to go,” I say, and try to get past him again.

  “Where you going? To see your fireman fuck buddy? I’m surprised you still want him after he fucked Beth.”

  That stops me. “How do you know about that?”

  He laughs and opens his arms wide. “The whole world knows about it, babe.”

  “But how do you know about it? Are you cyber stalking me?”

  He laughs. “Cyber stalking, no. Worried about videos of you and me showing up, absolutely.”

  “But… how… what are you talking about?”

  He lifts a shoulder and leans against the wall. “It could happen, right? You don’t know how long these Russian hackers have been hacking you.”

  “What? Russians?”

  Jerome sighs, a deep exhale of breath. He speaks slowly and patiently, like someone would talk to a toddler. “Please keep up. If I have to repeat everything I say twice, you’ll never get to lover boy.”

  Chastised once again, I say nothing. I just wait, feeling stupid.

  “Anyway, as I was trying to tell you,” he says when the silence stretched farther than his patience, “Since I’ve been worried these hackers also videoed you and me when we were together, I’ve been following your X-rated pursuits pretty closely. As you can imagine, it pains me to watch you do with him what you used to do with me. But, alas, I must.”

  Fucker. Fucker. Mother fucker. The word stampedes through my head.

  “I have some information that may help.”

  “What?” The word bubbles out of my mouth. “You’re going to confess?”

  He ignores my outburst. “I was talking with some friends of mine. Former classmates from China who work for the Chinese government now.”

  Chinese? I thought we were talking Russian. I keep quiet and nod for him to go on.

  “They told me they found some other videos buried deep in the internet. It looks like Russians based on how they re-route their IPs and such. All hackers leave a stamp of some sort.”

  “But… why the hell do the Russians care about me? How could I have been targeted by people thousands of miles away?”

  The corner of his mouth lifts and his eyes flicker down to my breasts again. I cross my arms over them and his smirk grows bigger. “Babe, surely you realize that the internet puts the whole world in your backyard—in a tree—with binoculars looking through your window. You can’t hide and these kinds of people don’t care who they hit. They can hack anyone and if they find something juicy… well, you had plenty of juice, babe… they spread it far and wide. By the way, when did you learn to squirt? Damn. That was hot. Never could get you to do that. I always wanted to though.”

  I push past the mortification and focus on his hacker story. He’s lying. And not lying. There may be Russians involved, but I’d bet my mom’s wedding ring that Jerome had them target me. Russians may have hacked my computer, but someone in Las Vegas Nevada put those cameras in my apartment.

  “Jiang told me there are many videos,” he continues, stepping closer. “Some piece of software the Russians wrote. It takes over the cameras of not only cellphones, but also computers.”

  He takes another step closer. “Come on, babe. Let me help you out.”

  “Jerome, none of this makes sense and I think you’re full of shit. Just tell me the truth. It will be your word against mine and since you’re clean,” I air-quote the word, “who’s going to believe me?”

  I feel my face drain of color as he steps close once again, less than a foot away from me now. Run, my mind screams. Listen, my brain urges. I stay in place, remembering I’m in a hospital hallway for goodness sakes, one corridor away from a busy ER. What’s the worst that can happen? Then I remember something else. Never, ever ask that question. Fate doesn’t like to be challenged.

  He leans toward me and my phone beeps and vibrates in my hand. I jump, adrenaline zinging through my system.

  “Answer it,” Jerome says, his eyes darker than I�
�ve ever seen them. When I hesitate, his voice is louder. “You know you want to.”

  Looking down at my hand, I see it’s another ‘anonymous message.’ I slide my thumb across the screen. It says: Watch a fireman put out his own fire. Click here.

  I swallow the fear, the rage, the sadness. I swallow the dread that threatens to burst from me like bile. My belly swells with it, rumbling and roiling with the abject horror in front of me… doubt.

  If Jerome is my stalker, the man intent on shaming me into oblivion… could he be standing here at the same time I receive a new threat?

  I press play with my thumb and watch Ken appear on the screen. He’s sitting at his computer, smiling at the screen. I watch him take his shirt off, the ripple of his muscles as he pulls it over his head. I watch him stand and lower his shorts, taking his boxers with them. While he’s standing, the only thing I can see is his semi-hard erection. He gives it a twirl and it helicopters on the screen. In the background, I hear myself laugh.

  About a week ago, Ken and I had skype videoed each other and our conversation had turned heated and steamy. He’d asked me to touch myself. I told him I would if he did. He’d started stripping and did the little helicopter I’m witnessing again.

  I slam my thumb against the power button of my phone, unable to watch Ken’s humiliation. Not here especially, while I’m being watched so closely.

  “Important?” Jerome asks me, a mask of politeness on his face. His lips don’t twitch, and his shoulders don’t shake with suppressed laughter. His eyes are totally blank.

  “No, it’s nothing.” I stuff my hands in my pockets with my phone to keep them from trembling.

  “Well then, I’ll be going. Nice to bump into you, Stephanie.” He pushes himself off the wall and walks past me. I hear his shoes click down the hallway. They stop and I hear him say, “You know, the FBI is about ten years behind the times. If you want me and my friends to check out all of your computers, I will.”

  I say nothing. I just stand there frozen and listen to his shoes approach me again. I feel his breath in my hair as he leans close. He whispers, “Remember. I can make all this go away. All I need is a little bitty simple ‘yes’.

  Then he’s gone.

  Chapter 10 – Ken

  I look at the clock on the wall and wonder what’s taking Steph so long. She’s probably bumped into another nurse she knows and gotten side tracked from getting our drinks.

  I still can’t believe she’s here. I still can’t believe how good it is to see her. I remember the moment she stepped into the room, her halo of hair shining brightly around her face. An angel. She’s a fucking angel.

  My angel.

  I need to just admit to myself that I’ve fallen crazy hard for this girl. I can fight it all day long… deny, deny, deny. I can justify how much better off I’d be without a girlfriend, how much I’d miss the freedom to fuck anyone I wanted or play PS4 or Xbox without some girl wanting to ‘cuddle’ or ‘talk’.

  The thing is, Steph isn’t like those girls. She doesn’t play stupid female games and make me jump through hoops to please her. She doesn’t run hot and cold just to test my reaction. She has a shit load of drama going on in her life, but she isn’t the source and she doesn’t stir it up. I remember the two weeks of being with her before the virtual horror began. It was easy being with her. Easy to want to be with her. We could talk for hours or be completely silent and watch the game. If she wasn’t interested in watching it too, she’d grab a book or her laptop and nestle in beside me. That’s what I like about her the most. She accepts me for me, hasn’t tried to change me, at least not yet.

  I look at the clock again. Where is she?

  As if in response to my question, she’s suddenly in the doorway, two soft drinks in her hands. She smiles brightly at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She’s also pale. Very pale. As if she’d seen a ghost.

  “What’s wrong?”

  The big smile on her face grows even bigger, as if she thinks showing all those perfectly white teeth will make everything all right. I don’t buy it. Doesn’t she realize how much I know her now? Hell, if I know exactly how to pull her hair until she moans, if I know the precise place inside her that drives her wild, does she really think I won’t notice how fake that damn smile is?

  “Steph? Come here. What’s wrong?”

  The smile slides down and she pulls that lower lip between her teeth. Her eyes grow sad as she sits down next to me, pops open the can of Dr. Pepper and hands it to me.

  I take a drink and wait, knowing she’s processing her words. Another thing I know about her, she’s a processor. She will tell me in her own time.

  “Jerome was here.” I wish she’d chosen her timing better because I damn near choke on my swallow. I spray her with a little mist of the sugary drink and she just brushes it off her arm, rolling her eyes at me and pats me on the back until I stop coughing. Another thing I love about us, we can be totally cool about things like this. Except for the time she farted during sex. She pretty much freaked out about that.

  “I was walking to the vending area and he just showed up in the hallway. Scared me to death.”

  Her hand trembles as she lifts her own drink to her lips. I want to kill the jerk for scaring her again. “What did he say?”

  “Same blah blah about wanting me back and how he could make all this go away.”

  I didn’t need to ask what ‘this’ meant. “So he essentially admitted to being the asshole who did this?”

  She shakes her head. “No, he denied it. He said that with his money, he could protect me. He also said he has Chinese friends who could help. Jerome is blaming the Russians for this, says they’ve targeted me randomly.”

  “Yeah, right. You don’t believe him, do you?”

  She shakes her head again and pulls her phone out of her pocket. “No, although he was pretty convincing and confusing. He claimed that the police searched his house and all his computers and found nothing to pin all this on him. And then… then, while he was standing there, I got a text message. It was this…” She taps a few buttons and hands me her phone. I read the screen. Fuck. I tap the video link and fuck fuck fuck, it’s my face looking back at me.

  I remember this. Steph and I were skyping and I dared her to take off her clothes. Of course, she dared me right back. We both stripped and I—yep, there it is—helicoptered my fucking dick around and around, making her laugh.

  I had asked her to spread her legs for me and she did, although you can’t see her on this video. This video shows only me and my reaction to watching her slide a finger down her center. It shows me stroking myself, grinning like a maniac at her until I squirt cum all over my stomach.

  All I can say is, thank God it was a quickie. And my cum-face looks ridiculous.

  I can’t believe I’m not more pissed off; shock will do it to a person, I suppose. Every part of mine and Steph’s lives have been exposed. I won’t be surprised if there isn’t a video of me taking a shit somewhere online. There’d be someone interested in ‘Watch a fireman take the kids to the pool’ out there somewhere. Sick world we live in.

  “I’m so sorry,” Stephanie begins, and I lift a finger to silence her.

  “Angel, it isn’t your fault.” She smiles at me. It’s the first time I’ve called her that, she seems to like it. She looks down at the bracelet on her wrist and fingers the angel hanging there.

  She told me about the bracelet, how she’d bought it just before her father died. But she hasn’t worn it in a long time; in fact, I’ve never seen her wear it before today. I’m surprised I didn’t notice it before.

  “Your birthday bracelet, you’re wearing it.” I touch the little dog and cat, remembering her telling me how she hoped to one day have animals. Her apartment building doesn’t allow them, or I’d have gone out and gotten her one.

  “Yeah. I thought I had hidden it away long enough. I can’t hide from my past.” She laughs a soft little burst of air that is just short of a sob. “Hell,
I can’t even hide from my present.”

  “Hey now, none of that. No need to hide. We’re in the light from now on, remember.”

  She smiles and nods. “I know. It’s just so embarrassing. Did you see the video of the time you…” she looks around and lowers her voice “…used the anal beads on me?”

  My dick twitches. It certainly remembers. “Yep, saw that one. I keep waiting for the one where I let you do that fucking prostate massage on me.” I press the heels of my hands into my eyes when she laughs.

  “Ah, come on. You love when I play Nurse Stephanie. You know you liked it.”

  I look at her between spread fingers and she’s pointing a finger at me and curling it into a ‘come hither’ gesture. She certainly hithered my cum with that finger. I still can’t believe I let her talk me into that. And I can’t believe we’re laughing about it now. Another thing I love about her.

  Love.

  Damn.

  Before I can think more about that, Captain Frank comes marching through the door. He pauses for a moment when he sees Stephanie and his face goes through a march of its own. It transforms from surprised, to happy, to embarrassed, all in the space of a few seconds.

  “Well, hello Stephanie, didn’t know you were here.” He takes a step toward her when she stands and… freaking shakes her hand. It’s hilarious. I’ve never seen the captain act so uncertain.

  “Hi Captain, do you need to see Ken alone?”

  “No. No, stay. Just dropped by to see how you’re doing and what the doctor said. I’ll have to write up an injury report, get all the paperwork taken care of.”

  I point to my leg. “Got lucky, Cap. Thirty stitches and I’ll be good as new. Apparently, when the SUV hit the beer truck, it tore the front bumper and it was a piece of the ragged metal that got me. They told me to take a couple days off, and then I’ll be back on duty.”

  “That’s good to hear. When I get back to the office, I’ll switch the schedule around and give you a call.”

  He acts as if he is about to leave, but I stop him. “Cap, any updates on Bill? Last I heard he was still in surgery; they were trying to save his leg.” My teeth ground together as I remembered the blood and bone.