by Viva Fox
Tom was drawing one of her legs up to wrap around his waist. She did not hesitate to follow his lead. He was pounding himself hard into her. It felt incredible. Laura clung to his shoulders.
For a moment, she wondered how she had gotten here. She wondered if maybe this was some sort of dream…if she was actually back in Philadelphia fucking Steve. But she wasn’t. She was in a Pittsburgh suburb’s hotel room fucking a man that she had known for barely for two days. This wasn’t her.
But somehow she didn’t mind it.
Laura cried out like she never had before as her orgasm hit. It did not stop him. Laura felt one of his hands move up. It stroked over her neck, rubbing lightly over her Adam’s Apple. Suddenly she heard him groan, felt him shake against her.
“I could do that every day.” He murmured against her ear. Laura laughed.
“I don’t usually do this.” She pressed her lips against his cheek.
“I thought not. So why don’t we do it again?”
******
Laura woke up with her head pounding. She was naked, alone in a tangle of hotel sheets. Sunlight was trying to peak around the heavy curtains.
And someone was knocking on her door.
Laura groaned. She sat up wearily. She hadn’t had a hangover like this is ages. She stumbled out of bed. Yanking open the closet, she maneuvered her way into the hotel issued robe. Pulling the door open, she found herself face to face with Steve.
She apparently looked as bad as she suspected because he took a step backwards.
“What happened to you?”
“Why are you here?” She snapped irritably. She wanted to go back to bed.
“Because they found another body.” That snapped her back to reality.
“Where?”
******
Lake Park was in Allegheny County, which housed Pittsburgh proper. It was, however, a good forty minutes in traffic from the city itself. Its namesake lake sat in the middle of the park with a flowing fountain in the middle. The park was always full of people. It was good sized, but not as big or as remote as Clearwater. That’s why the discovery of the jogger’s body had been such a shock.
She’d been left beside a dumpster right beside one of the most popular playgrounds in the park. A trash collector had thought it was nothing more than a mannequin which had been dumped out for disposal. It wasn’t. It was thirty-five-year-old Sandra Wilks. She was a married mother of two from a nearby subdivision. She ran in the park daily before coming home to get her children ready for school and herself ready for work.
Her running shirt had been pulled up when she was found, exposing her sports bra. She had been strangled. Whoever had done it had taken the time to strangle her with his hands. Nothing else was done.
Laura had pulled herself together to come out. She still had a job to do-regardless of how she felt. Steve had come with her. The team had been called to assist the Allegheny County police because it was odd to find another body strangled and dumped so close to the other. The two parks were about 20 minutes apart-depending on which route you took.
“But if it’s our guy, it doesn’t fit anything like the Clearwater crime scene.” Laura winced when she saw Jones approaching her. He gave her a faint smile.
“But this is the third strangulation victim in the area in two months.” At her questioning look, he clarified. “Greensburg.”
“Of course.” Laura needed to get that file. She’d go through it tonight.
“Lots of people get strangled. Doesn’t mean that it’s done by the same person.” Steve was glaring at Tom.
“It’s not a huge area-not like Philadelphia.” Tom told him firmly.
“Are you saying we find strangulation victims by the hour?” Steve asked, deadpanned.
“All right you two.” Laura grumbled. “Jones, tell your men to go over the scene. See if they can find the actual location of the murder. Steve, go find the nearest Starbucks.”
Steve looked unhappy at being dismissed. She momentarily did not blame him. A month ago she would have wanted him by her side. They were a dynamic team in Philadelphia-everyone knew that.
Now she could barely stand to be near him.
As Steve was walking away from her, Jones was approaching.
“How are you feeling?” He looked a little sheepish now. It was a look she hadn’t expected on him.
“You got me drunk and I woke up alone.” She retorted. “How do you think I’m feeling?” He chuckled nervously. His hands pushed into the pockets of his kakis as he lowered his head.
“Sorry but I woke up and I didn’t want to make things awkward.”
“You mean more awkward than screwing my coworker?” It was early and she was hung over. She was bound to be a little testy. Especially after her first one-night stand since college.
“If it means anything, I am sorry. The alcohol got the best of me.” Jones gave her a more apologetic smile. He was full of surprises that was for sure.
“I am too.” Laura offered. “I’m sorry, I don’t usually do things like that.”
“I didn’t think so. You don’t strike me as that type. I hope that this won’t make things awkward between us.” Laura managed to force up a genuine smile.
“Of course not.” If it was one thing that she could be, it was professional. “After all, we have a case to solve.” Jones gave her another smile.
“Oh, that we do.”
******
Laura was sipping a Coke that afternoon in the interview room at the Allegheny County-Lake Park headquarters. She was still feeling the effects of last night. It was a bad hangover when you could still feel it almost a full day later. Either that, or she was getting too old for this shit. Probably a bit of both.
The door opened. She glanced up to see Steve slipping in. She sighed, but didn’t kick him out. What was the point, really?
“I’m here on business,” he started off. Laura was glad. She was still not in the mood for a relationship talk-even though they needed one.
“So you found something at the lake?” She stood up. Steve shook his head.
“No, not quite.” He reached into his pocket. He withdrew a plastic evidence bag. Laura took it, curious. Inside the bag was a piece of paper.
Troll-do you have friends in Lake Park? Tell them I left them a present……
“How did you find this?” Laura’s hand shook. There was their key that the murders were connected.
“Actually, it was brought into us.” Steve glanced out the door. “The kid is in another rom. He says he’s the Clearwater Troll.”
Laura was already moving.
“I want to talk to him.”
“I figured.” Steve held the door open for her. “Let’s go.”
In an interview room down the hall, a teenage boy wearing a denim jacket over a white t-shirt was nervously running his hands through shaggy brown hair. He looked up as the two entered.
“Should I be talking to you without my mom?” He looked between the two.
“It’s ok. You’re not in any trouble. But Detective Lewis will have your parents called.” Laura sat down at the table, looking back at Steve.
The boy identified himself as Dustin Williams. After he’d given them a phone number, Steve went off to make the call. Laura waited until the door had closed, then turned back to the boy.
“Dustin, I’m Detective Allbright. I want to talk to you about what’s going on in the park.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Ok. So why don’t you tell me exactly what happened?” The boy shrugged. He looked like the athletic type.
“My friends and I have been hanging around up there. Nothing crazy. We just like to go.”
“Did you paint Satin Lives on the wall?” Laura hoped not. He looked like a smart boy. She didn’t want to think that he would make such a poor spelling error.
“No,” Dustin snorted, “that’s been there. And it’s stupid.” Laura nodded.
“Ok. So you guys just decided to make up the troll?” Dustin shrugg
ed again, knitting his fingers together.
“It wasn’t supposed to be anything big. It was just fun. You know, there are bridges in the park. Trolls live under bridges.” Laura nodded. She got his point. “So we just started putting random stuff up there. I brought one of my dad’s old clubs out there.”
“And you never saw anything weird? Or anyone?” Dustin shook his head.
“Nope.”
“Did you see the news about the woman’s body being found?”
“Yep.” Dustin told her. “I didn’t think I should come talk to you then because we didn’t know anything. Ummm,” He looked around, “should I have?”
“Well, we wouldn’t have minded hearing from you as soon as we found everything.” Laura advised him gently. “But I’m glad you came in when you did. Where did you find the note?”
“In the thing where I kept the sign in book.”
“Just today?”
“Yep.”
“Why’d you go up today?” Dustin leaned back in his chair. He extended his hands, and then let them drop back into his lap.
“We just did. We uh…. we….” His voice trailed off awkwardly. He looked down at the table top again. “We uh…just wanted to uh…see if there was anything still there.” Laura really hoped he meant his own stuff and not the murder.
“And the note was the only thing?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you see the news about the other murder?”
“Yeah. That’s what made me go to the cops when I found the note. They were still in the park. It wasn’t hard to find them.” Laura was certain it wasn’t. Since the discovery of the other body, they were keeping a close eye on the local parks.
“Ok, Dustin,” Laura stood up. “I’m going to go check with Detective Lewis about your parents. Once they get here, we’ll have to get their consent to give you a handwriting test.”
“Huh?” The boy looked confused. “Why would you want to see my writing?”
“Just to make sure that you didn’t write the note.” He looked startled. Laura wasn’t entirely sure if it was fear or guilt. Though she had a suspicion it was the former.
“I didn’t write it! Why would I do that?”
“Dustin, I don’t think that you did.” Laura advised him gently. “But just in case anyone ever asks Detective Lewis or I if we checked with you, we have to be able to say that we made sure that you didn’t. We just have to do our jobs.” Dustin didn’t look convinced, but he nodded.
“Ok.”
Out in the hallway, Laura met Steve.
“His parents are on their way. Did you find out anything?”
“I don’t think he really knows anything.” Laura glanced back into the room. “But we have to get the parental consent for a handwriting evaluation. Just to make sure.” Steve agreed.
“Boys will be boys. You never know if they’re just out looking for attention.”
“Exactly. Especially because he saw the news reports about the other body.”
“Oh hell. Ok. I’ll stay here and wait for the parents. Why don’t you head back to the hotel? You’re looking a little…peaked.”
Laura lowered her head. She had a sudden reminder of just why she looked like that. She didn’t know what had gotten into her last night…besides tequila. She was working a case. She couldn’t believe that she had let her professional judgement slip so rapidly.
“Um, yeah….ok.” She was all right with getting away from him. It was becoming abundantly clear how well they worked together. It was too natural. She was letting her guard drop again. This was the Steve she knew…the Steve she had fallen in love with.
“Go.” He reached out for her, and then stopped. He used his outstretched hand to awkwardly pat her shoulder. Laura smiled just as awkwardly, and then turned to head out to her car.
******
Someone was once again knocking on her door. Laura lifted her head wearily. She’d napped, but she felt so dirty she didn’t even know herself. She’d been thinking of a shower, but she didn’t have the energy. But out of obligation, she dragged herself to the door.
Steve stood on the other side of the door. He was holding a bag from a fast food restaurant, and a drink holder with two Styrofoam cups in it.
“Hey.”
“Oh…hey.” Laura’s hostility towards him had dropped since that afternoon. “What’s going on?”
“I…thought you might be hungry. So I brought you some grease.” He smiled, holding out the bag. Laura gave him a soft smile in return.
“Ok. Come in.” He did so without hesitation. Laura felt relieved. They needed to talk. With everything that had gone on between them, she’d managed to lose herself. It was all that she had thought about lying in bed that afternoon.
Steve was already setting up burgers and fries on the desk in the corner of the room. He dragged two chairs over, one across from the other.
“I guess this is the dating life of cops, huh?” He put a straw into the cup before offering it out to her. Laura took it.
“I didn’t realize we were still dating.” Steve sat down. He began slowly unwrapping his burger.
“Laura…. I…. I’m so sorry. Things with Stephanie…” He shook his head. “I don’t know what I was thinking. She and I were working that one case, and we were spending time together…. She feels as bad as I do. We know we were wrong.”
Laura sat down across from him. She picked up a French fry, eating it. It was the first time all day that she was hungry.
“What’s the saying? Once a cheater always a cheater?” Steve frowned.
“Laura.” He set his burger down. “Please.”
“If I hadn’t seen your text messages, would you even have told me?” She remembered the day that she had found those all too well.
“Honestly,” Steve shrugged, “I don’t know. Because as much as I wanted to be honest with you, I knew that you would react exactly as you did.”
“You know me so well.” Laura ate another fry. “You always have.” Steve nodded, returning to his burger.
“Laura, I love you. Stephanie isn’t a woman that I want to be with. I want you. I love you.” Laura bit her lip. She had to tell him.
“I slept with someone else last night.” Steve’s face hardened.
“You? Who?”
“That one State Trooper detective. Jones.”
“Him?” Steve looked as though he might fall out of his chair. “What on earth did you see in him?” Laura shrugged.
“Nothing, really. I was drunk. He…thought we should drink.”
“So he got you drunk and had sex with you?”
“No, no. Don’t say it like that. That’s not how it happened. I went along with it.” She shrugged, staring down at her food. “I don’t know what I was thinking. You know me, I never do things like this.”
“No, you don’t. I’m completely shocked.” Steve took a sip of his drink. “But I get it.”
“You do?” Laura was glad one of them did. “Then please explain it to me.”
“You’re hurting. And you’re hurting because of me. I did this to you. Because I did an asshole thing. And I don’t deserve your forgiveness.” Steve was staring at her. It distracted her from her food. “I won’t ask you for your forgiveness, Laura. But I can only hope that you would be so generous to me. But if you won’t be, I’ll understand.”
Laura felt tears prick into her eyes. This was the Steve she had always known. She’d met him on a case so many years ago. He’d been as sweet tonight as he’d always been those years. He was the only man that she could think of marrying. He understood her career passion, and her crazy schedule. He was so wonderful. Could she really hold this mistake against him forever?
Laura leaned across the desk. She kissed him softly.
“I don’t know that I can forgive you. Not yet at least. But I know that I love you. That the man sitting in front of me right now is the man that I fell in love with.” Steve took her hand.
“So does that mean I
get a second chance?” Laura kissed him again.
“What do you think?”
******
Their food had been forgotten. Steve had pulled her to him. He was kissing her with long, sweet kisses which made her feel like she hadn’t in years. She wondered if she had been wrong to doubt him…wrong to walk away from Philadelphia. It didn’t really matter now. He had followed her here…and he was here now. That was all that she cared about.
They’d moved to the shower. Laura had needed it. She couldn’t handle another moment feeling so dirty. She felt better with his hands on her. That seemed to replace everything.
Their wet bodies modeled together. It felt glorious to press her wet breasts against his chest. She liked the friction of her nipples against his hard muscles. She liked the way his hands cupped her ass as he lifted her up. She let her hand slide between their bodies to guide him into her.
His body felt perfect and right in hers. This was how it was supposed to feel. She wrapped both legs around him as he supported her. She clung to him. The water gushing down on them made the moment even more erotic.
Afterwards, he carried her to the bed. They made love again. This was more traditional. He’d settled over her. She was amazed that he was ready for her again so quickly. But she didn’t argue. She simply moaned as he pushed into her.
Her hands tangled into the sheets as he pushed himself deep into her. His lips fell slowly over her skin. Laura was close. She cried out as the sensation hit her body, shaking around him. Steve cried out into her ear as he came. Afterwards, she held him against her, quietly stroking his hair. This was perfect.
******
Laura awoke early the next morning. This time, she wasn’t alone. Steve was curled in his proper place beside her. She watched him for a long moment. His eyes flickered open. Slowly, he smiled.
“Good morning.”
“Morning.” Laura leaned over to kiss him. “We should get busy.”
“We weren’t busy all night?”
“We were off the clock last night.” Laura tucked herself securely into him. “Today we have a potential serial killer to catch.”
“Speaking of which,” Steve wrapped his arms around her, “you’ve heard about the Greensburg case, right?”
“A bit.” She really only knew what Jones had told her. “I haven’t read the file.”