Ken steps out and then bundles me in a towel. I bend to take the plastic wrap from his leg and check to make sure the bandage isn’t wet. When I stand back up, he pulls me to him and sinks his mouth against mine. “Let’s go to bed,” he whispers against my lips.
Under the covers, I curl into his side, my head over his heart. “Are you okay? Not your leg. Or ear. You?”
“Yeah, I think so,” he says after twenty of his heartbeats have thumped beneath my ear. “It seems so bizarre now, like a bad dream. I did and didn’t kill a man tonight.”
I thread my fingers through the hairs on his chest. “He pulled the trigger.”
“I held the gun.”
“You saved me. I don’t think I’ve thanked you yet.”
He’s squeezes me tighter. “You saved me right back.” He breathes out a short laugh. “You came out of nowhere. This loud ass scream and then blonde hair flying by. When you started wailing on that guy’s head, I wanted to applaud.”
I shiver. Remembering.
“What do you think he really meant when he said, ‘This isn’t over’?”
I feel Ken shrug. “Hopefully he was just trying to scare you.”
“He succeeded.”
“Yeah, the guy was completely psycho, like a suicide bomber, a kamikaze. I wonder how Jerome got mixed up with someone like him. That’s something I don’t get. If he wants you back so much, why do everything in his power to make you hate him more? It’s totally fucked.”
I think for a moment. “I don’t think he wants me back. I think he thinks I wronged him and all he wants is revenge. It probably gives him a real boner to toss his money around and mess with people’s lives.”
“When I was talking to Beth the other day,” he says and strokes his fingers down my spine, letting his hand settle around the curve of my ass. “She said that Jerome used to be pretty normal until about a year or so ago. She said he changed, became more controlling, and started to hurt you. Hurt you how?”
How do I explain this? “It really started when he was getting close to a breakthrough on the technology he was working on. He was working eighteen hours a day, not eating well, drinking energy drinks like crazy. He would… let off steam with me.” I’m glad the room is dark so Ken can’t see my face. “Control became a really big thing with him. He started calling himself a Dom and wanted me to ask him before I did anything, you know, ask his permission before I ate or went to the bathroom. He would punish me if I broke some arbitrary rule. The thing is, the rules changed all the time.”
“Do you think he was on drugs?”
I shake my head. “The huge personality change suggests it, but I never saw evidence of it. Just the prescription drugs he had been on for years. He was a foster kid, both his parents died on his first day of kindergarten. They dropped him off at school and never came back. Car accident. He had a grandmother who tried to take him in, but he was serious ADD, he said, and he was too much for her to handle. He went into the foster system. A family tried to adopt him once, but brought him back. The ADD again. No one ever tried again so he hopped from one foster home to another. He’d never tell me anything about it, but I always got the feeling he was mistreated at several of them.”
“Mistreated how? Physically? Sexually?”
“Probably both. He wouldn’t say, but he would have terrible nightmares, call out names I couldn’t understand.”
“What type of drugs?”
I had to think for a second. I’d seen the prescription bottles hundreds of times. I was so sleepy, I couldn’t remember the names. Yawning, I try harder to recall the names. “Adderall for sure. He had been on it for a long time, for the ADD. More recently, he was on anti-depressant and anti-anxiety meds. The doctors told him to stop the Adderall, but he refused and bought it off the black market. Said it focused him, made him smarter. Lots of college kids take it to help with school work. But I never saw cocaine or even weed. I don’t know.”
My eyes close, the weight on my eyelids just too heavy to keep them up. I snuggle closer to Ken and feel him kiss my hair.
“You know,” he says, his hand stroking over my breast. “I never said ‘thank you’ for getting me off earlier.”
I smile. “It was my pleasure. You don’t have to thank me.”
He moves to his side, and pushes me onto my back. His hand trails down the center of my stomach as he takes a nipple into his mouth. As tired as I am, my body heats with desire. My hips lift and I spread my legs, welcoming his fingers onto my clit.
“I do need to thank you,” he says as he licks his way down my body. “I want to thank you.” He settles between my legs.
He blows on me, licks up my folds and blows again. “Mmm… I love the way you taste.”
He pushes my legs further apart and dives in, his tongue penetrating me, licking and sucking into my core. His teeth scrape over my clit. Then he takes the sensitive bundle of nerves into his mouth while his fingers push inside.
“Yes.”
Oh God, his thick fingers stretch me and plunge into me. He twists his hand and curls his fingers. I moan and arch from the bed, the zing of pleasure so intense I can’t be still.
“The magic button,” he says as he continues to lick and suck my clit. His fingers move inside me, thrusting and then pounding. I explode, crying out, pulling at his hair. He doesn’t stop, he thrusts and licks and pushes me further. I’m still at my peak when I explode again.
He pulls his fingers from me and I feel their loss. He slides up my body and reaches for a condom. A minute later, he slips inside.
“God, I love you,” he says as my legs hook around his back.
“I love you, Kenneth Hayden Davidson.”
He takes my lips as he takes my body. Giving and receiving.
A perfect fit.
Chapter 6 - Ken
The knock on the door sounds frantic. I check the time. Is it really nine o’clock? I put the pillow over my face and notice Steph hasn’t even stirred. How can anyone sleep that deeply?
The knocking comes again. Kicking too? The entire frame rattles in the other room. Then I hear her. Shit, it’s Beth and she sounds panicked. “Ken, are you there?”
I stumble to the door before remembering I’m naked. “Hold on a second.”
She knocks harder. “Is Steph with you?”
“Yes,” I call back. “Hold on. It’s been a strange night. ”
The fog is lifting and I find a pair of shorts in the laundry basket. I put them on, pinching my cock as I zip the fuckers up. Now I know why God created underwear. Shit, my dick used to be the only place on my body that didn’t hurt. I grin. Maybe I can get Steph to nurse it too.
Hobbling back to the door, I try to remove the chain, but it’s stuck and doesn’t want to come off. Pounding it with my palm only makes it worse. Beth pounds back and I lean my forehead against the door, too exhausted to figure this whole thing out. “Hold on Beth, the security chain isn’t coming off,” I call through the door and open it as far as the chain will allow. She looks pale and worried. And alone.
“Where’s Gage?” I ask her.
“He went to get coffee and donuts. He’ll be here in a flash. We tried calling and no one answered.” The look she gives me is accusing.
“Let me fix the door.” I close it and give it one last whack and the freakin’ chain finally pops out. Note to self: call landlord to fix this before I break my hand beating it to death.
As soon as I open the door, Beth grabs my arm and leads me to my couch. “We heard what happened. I’ve been calling Steph all morning; it goes straight to voicemail. You didn’t answer yours either.” Another accusing look. “Gage made me wait; I wanted to come over right away, but he said we needed to let you get a little sleep.”
“Sorry. We both turned our phones off. She was going to call you this morning. We didn’t realize the grapevine would spread the news so fast.”
“Is she okay?” Beth’s eyes crinkle in the corner, the worry settling deep in her skin. �
�I heard… I heard there was a gun. And a guy was killed. I also heard you were shot.”
I squeeze the hand she places on my arm. I point to my ear. “Just a nick. Stephanie’s fine, just exhausted. She’s dead to the world. Do you want me to wake her up?”
“No. I just needed to know she’s safe.”
A quick knock and then the door opens, Gage walks in, a tray of coffees in one hand, a bag in another. Beth jumps up to help him get things set down. She pulls a coffee out of the holder and hands it to me. “Black.”
“Yeah, black is fine. Double strength if you’ve got it.” I take a sip and my eyes nearly roll back in pleasure. “I thought fighting fires was hard, but this spy shit, if it wasn’t so real it would be fun.”
“From the looks of you, it’s pretty painful too.”
I touch my ear and take another sip. “Got that right.”
Gage pulls Beth onto his lap when he sits down and I notice how they fit together too. It’s weird, she’s so tiny and he’s so tall, a good foot taller than she is. I guess the size doesn’t really matter, but the connection, the wanting to fit together. I still can’t believe I want it.
“Ken, I never in a million years would have thought that Jerome was capable of this,” Beth says, unconsciously stroking her fingers through Gage’s hair. “I just can’t see it. Something doesn’t feel right.”
Gage reaches around Beth and snags the bag of donuts on the table. He chooses one, offers it to Beth before tossing me the bag. I so don’t want to talk about this right now. I want to savor a dozen donuts and then take a nap. I want to forget all this craziness for a while, hang with my friends and then go fuck my girl again.
I sigh. There is no rest from this, not with everything that’s gone down and so many questions in the air. Speaking of questions… “How did you all learn about what went down last night anyway?”
“Flores called a couple hours ago. Steph had told him Beth was with me, but with everything going on, he wanted to double check. Make sure we were alright and didn’t have some dickhead fucking with us too.”
Beth stands and walks to my bedroom, taking a peek inside, like she just needed to see Stephanie for herself. “Can I use your bathroom?”
“Of course.” I point in the right direction.
Once the door has closed, Gage leans forward, his elbows on his knees. “Flores says they think this is bigger than Jerome now. He’s working the case full time, along with the feds. They think it’s connected to something international.”
A sleepy looking Stephanie leans against the doorway of the bedroom. She went to bed with wet hair. I don’t dare laugh at how funny she looks. I take another sip of coffee instead.
“Remember Jerome talking about Russians and the Chinese government the other day at the hospital? He went to school with a Chinese hacker guy; they were pretty tight. Is that why they’re thinking international?”
Beth bursts from the bathroom and pulls Stephanie in her arms. “Oh my god, I’ve been so worried.” The girls cling to each other before Beth steps back and looks her over. She touches the bruise on the side of her face that’s gotten darker during the night. Then she strokes her hands over Stephanie’s hair, trying to get the pieces that look like a peacock to settle down.
“That bad, huh?” Steph asks with a grin.
“Girlfriend, you don’t wanna know.”
“Morning sunshine,” I say to her and lift up a cup a coffee.
She lifts a finger. “I’ll be right back.” She heads into the bathroom and closes the door. I hear an ‘eek’ then ‘holy sh…’ Then the shower turns on. A second later, I hear the shower door slam.
“Anyway,” Gage continues. “Flores doesn’t think Jerome is running this. He may be involved, but this has international fingerprints. He says Russians.”
I stare at him, trying to make the puzzle pieces fall into place. They don’t. “What the fuck would the Russians want with us?”
“Ding. Ding. Ding. Twenty million dollar question.”
I grab the bag of donuts and pull out another glazed. “Why do they want us dead?”
Gage interjects. “They didn’t want you dead, remember? It was like a gag.”
That made even less sense. “So these Russians get together to punk us? Like Ashton Kutcher of the Soviet Union?” I shake my head. It has to be something more.
Gage looks at his watch. “Flores and some fed dudes are meeting with the captain at ten this morning.”
I stand up. He doesn’t need to say anything more. I take my coffee into the bedroom and pull on some clean clothes. By the time I’m finished, I hear the shower turn off. I walk into the bathroom and am nearly chased out by the steam.
“I’m heading to the fire station with Gage in a few minutes,” I say and throw water on my own hair which was standing up in spikes. I pull out the toothpaste to brush my teeth and have to wipe more steam from the mirror first. Behind me, Steph is drying off.
“Should I go?” she asks, but sounds so weary.
“No, baby,” I say through a mouthful of toothpaste. “Stay here with Beth. I’ll fill you in when I get back.”
Looking relieved, she comes up behind me and wraps her arms around my waist. “Thank you. I promise to be less zoned-out when you get back.”
Gage and I kiss our girls before hopping into my truck. “What the fuck happened last night? I only heard a synopsis. ”
I proceed to tell Gage the gory details. The eeny meenie shit, Steph distracting him and the blows she took. Finally, the part that still doesn’t seem real. I can visualize it in my head, but only in slow motion. The struggle for the gun, my having control of it, the smile on his face as he forced my hand to pull the trigger. The mask, that fucking mask.
“That’s some fucked up shit.” Gage pats to the gun in his waistband. “You really should get a carry permit. I’ll help you buy a gun.”
“I don’t know, man. You know how I feel about them. I’m not scared of them, but I just think sometimes they cause more trouble than they stop.”
“I used to think that, but that changed when I felt so helpless in a bar when this guy was beating the shit out of his wife. When I went over to help, he pulled a gun on me. I literally took a crap in my pants. I vowed to never be defenseless again.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right. When this shit settles down I’ll go to the range with you. I haven’t shot a gun since I went that time with Bill Martinez to the desert and we shot a bunch of cans. He’d just got out of the academy and was all gung-ho to show off.”
Gage looks out the side window. “How’s Bill doing? I never really heard much after he got to the hospital.”
I took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “I spoke to his wife yesterday and she said he’s doing better than expected. They first thought the compound fracture had done a bunch of nerve damage and they’d need to take off his leg. It’s not as bad as they first thought. He’s going to be out of work for a while, lots of therapy. The squad is going to do a benefit for him sometime, try to raise some money. Hell, with a wife and two babies, I’m really worried about how they’re going to survive.”
“That sucks so bad,” Gage says. “You never know when it’s time for your ticket to be punched. Or how life can change on a dime.”
“Speaking of life changers. How’s things going with Beth? She got you by the balls yet?”
Gage laughs. “Nah, man. We’re just having fun, enjoying each other. We had a long talk. Neither of us is looking for anything long-term.”
It was my turn to laugh. “Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Be careful, these girls have a way of worming themselves under your skin.”
“You really like her, don’t you?” I could feel Gage looking at me from the corner of his eye.
“Yeah,” I say. “I really do.”
Pulling into the fire station, I notice two cops—detectives, I guess—talking with Captain Frank. It isn’t Flores; I don’t recognize them and the car has US Government
plates. Gage also notices the plates. “Feds are here. Let’s see what they have to say.”
The captain turns and waves us over. “Ken, you and Gage, over here for a minute.”
Jeff, the rookie, is wiping down the truck, pretending to not be interested. He lifts a hand as I walk back. I give him a little salute.
“This is my friend and FBI agent, Bill Ramsen, and his partner, Ellen Grimes. This is Ken Davidson and Gage Larson. I’m glad you all got here. Flores said he’d told you about the meeting.”
The captain looks me up and down. “Son, you look worse every time I see you.” He claps a hand on my back and I reach out to shake the agents’ hands.
“Captain, can we go inside to your office?” Grimes asks and the captain leads the way. “Gage, you need to be there as well. Part of this involves you.”
The cold vinyl is like the chill in the office, both physically and mentally. Ellen chimes in first. “Ken, I know you told the police last night what happened, but something seems strange.”
The goosebumps aren’t from the cold air. “What are you saying?”
“I know you suspect your girlfriend... ” She looks down at her notepad. “Stephanie Vonnegut’s ex-boyfriend. We just can’t find any connection to him in this matter.”
Gage pipes in. “That’s what Flores said. But why would anyone want to kill Ken or Steph, or even me?”
Agent Ramsen takes a seat on the corner of Captain Frank’s desk. He looks at Frank then Grimes. They both nod. “Ken, how well do you know your sister?”
A chair squeaks and the noise cracks through the room, like a shotgun through a quiet forest. I stare back at the people staring at me. I feel like a three year-old getting asked a question my parents already know the answer to.
“Why do you ask? You certainly don’t think Hannah has anything to do with this, do you? ”
“Nothing concrete,” Ramsen says. “We’ve been checking out every lead and anything that smells like it could be a lead. That means checking out family members too.”
Stoking the Embers (New Adult Romantic Suspense): The Complete Series Page 26