Guilty Secrets (Campus Love and Murder Sorority Eyes Romance Book 1)

by Christie, Ciara

  He lifted me up into his arms and firmly held my hips so I was hovering gently above his cock. Slowly, almost imperceptibly he gave me the illusion of control by lowering my hips down onto his stiffness.

  He wasn't taking me. But we were taking each other on a glorious exploration of each other. With each movement I cried out in soft, whimpering gasps of desire. All the while he kept his gaze locked on mine. Making me feel safe in his eyes, until at last he was deep inside me.

  He lifted me gently up along his thick shaft, and back down again. Slowly at first, then with increased passion. Grinding my hips against him as I wildly kissed his toned chest and neck. Craving his ferocious kisses on my nipples, I leaned back.

  He gently lowered my back on to the soft sheets as he lowered himself on top of me. Keeping his body weight off my hips and chest, he allowed me to cling to his thrusting passion the way a butterfly is intoxicated by the pollen of a flower.

  His firm but slow thrusts mastered me. Releasing my hunger for everything that he was and could be. The urgency of my fingernails on his back, scratching up and down his rock hard ass, needing him to unleash this frenzied ecstasy building up between us.

  He locked my gaze to his as I felt myself falling in slow motion over that dreamlike cliff edge into that wonderful and terrifying abyss. Dragging him over with me. It was like falling through clouds into an ocean. My entire body convulsed with waves of pleasure and agony as he poured his seed of desire into me.

  As the waves subsided I resurfaced with blissful laughter escaping my lips. I felt the clouds raising me up through the sky. Our eyes and our entwined bodies silently spoke of a shared desire for overwhelming closeness to remain like this forever.

  We cradled each other like we were the most precious things on earth. Safe in the knowledge that he understood me perfectly without a hint of judgment. He accepted me for what I am. He always had. I was just too blind to realize.

  I bathed his face in my tears of joy as we kissed.

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  I was standing at one end of the old wooden jetty. I had no idea how I arrived there. When I looked down at my bare feet I suspected I was dreaming. A young woman in a crimson dress stood at the far end of the jetty with her back to me.

  I felt compelled to walk to her. As I approached within touching distance, I reached out and tapped her shoulder.

  Madison turned to me. The smile on her face said everything I needed to know.

  "I miss you, Madison."

  "I'm always here."

  The sun broke through cloud and as each ray of sunshine crawled across the lake, Madison slowly dissolved into the air. Until at last, I could see right through her to the lake.

  "Don't go!"

  "I'll be here for you, Robyn. When they come."

  "When who comes?"

  She vanished.

  "Madison? Madison? When who comes?"

  I woke up in Harry's arms. For the first time in a long time, life felt blissful. The first time I could remember waking and feeling perfectly relaxed. No signs of any remnants of lingering nightmares.

  I had woken in a truly strange new land. I think they call it love.

  "How do you feel, Robyn?"

  I had no words for Harry. Only kisses.

  Harry's long, tender kisses down my neck led to more love making. Until he realized he'd be late on his first day as Sheriff.

  He leapt from the bed, tripped over my heels and hopped to the shower.

  Eventually, I stopped laughing and slumped back against the mountain of pillows doused in winter sunshine. My mind wondered to Madison. I hoped wherever she was, she was happy for me.

  I felt a small warm feeling in my stomach as if I was bursting to tell someone how happy I was. But I had no one to tell. Madison was gone. So too, my parents.

  I felt an odd tingle in my stomach when I tried to imagine our future together. Somehow it wasn't materializing. I rationalized it was just a natural apprehension and would settle soon enough.

  I hoped the more we learned about each other, the deeper our love would grow. The more certain and secure I would feel.

  My thoughts were abruptly interrupted. While Harry was still in the shower, the doorbell rang.

  I found a sweat top from Harry's closet and pulled it on. It was way to big for me, but felt just right.

  The doorbell rang again. Short sharp stabs of urgency.

  I called out to Harry, but he couldn't hear me from the shower.

  I went to the door, rubbing the sleep in my eyes. After the little sleep I'd had, the early morning sunshine was not doing me any favors. I peeked out through the window.

  I couldn't see who was at the door, but there was a new black sedan with federal plates on the drive.

  My stomach back flipped.

  I opened the door and felt my eyes pop open. A tall young man in a grey suit stood glaring at me over the rim of his sunglasses.

  "Long time, Robyn."

  "Ben? What are you doing here?"

  "It's official F.B.I. business, Robyn. Where's lover boy?"

  "Can't you be happy for me?"

  "I'm not here about you, Robyn. It’s your boyfriend I've come for."

  "What business do you have with Harry?"

  I heard Harry pad out of the shower. I turned to see him wearing nothing but a small white towel around his waist.

  "Robyn, who's this?"

  I shrugged. "Ben, my ex."

  Harry stared over my shoulder. He marched over to Ben and held out his hand.

  "Kind of early for a social visit, don't you think, buddy?"

  Ben took Harry's hand and instigated a macho crush-shake. Neither Ben nor Harry would let go it seemed until one of them had snapped the finger bones of the other.

  A trickle of sweat rolled down Ben's forehead. Ben then reached into his jacket and retrieved a pair of handcuffs. He slapped one cuff over Harry's wrist.

  "Harry Gunn, I'm placing you under arrest."

  Harry scoffed. "What's the problem Agent? Can't take a little hand squeeze? Quantico's recruiting standards are slipping these days."

  I prodded Ben hard in the chest.

  "What's this all about, Ben? Do you hate me so much you can't stand to see me happy for once in my life?"

  Ben stared hard at me.

  "Robyn, this is not about us. This is about your parents."

  I felt myself blink like a rabbit in headlights.

  "What about them? What have my parents got to do with Harry? He never even knew them when they were alive."

  Ben's eyes glazed over. He turned away from me and looked hard at Ben.

  "Harry Gunn, I'm charging you on two counts of kidnapping and murder"

  "Murder of who?" I shouted.

  "Your parents, Robyn. We've finally got the man who killed your parents."

  Ben slapped the other cuff around Harry's other wrist. He wheeled a stunned looking Harry around and pushed him into the arms of another agent.

  I screamed, "Ben, this is crazy! Harry? Harry, tell them this is ridiculous."

  As both agents walked Harry to their car, he glanced over his shoulder at me. "Robyn, I'm innocent. You've got to believe me."

  "Ben, where are you taking Harry?"

  Once Harry was in the back seat of the sedan, Ben walked up the drive and gave me his card.

  "You might want to hire lover boy a lawyer. He's gonna need the best. A real miracle worker."

  Ben drove Harry away as I felt my legs weaken and collapse under me. I slid against the front door to the floor. I stared after their car through the branches of the cherry tree as it disappeared up the road.

  Right at that moment I had never felt so alone.

  The sun broke through a cloud and I knew right there and then that somehow, whatever it took, I'd find a way to prove Harry's innocence.

  CHAPTER SIXTY ONE

  Eight years ago.

  Shard always killed to a slow blues death march. It organized the sniper's thoughts to the rhythm.
It brought with it calm for the kill shot.

  Shard knew the music like a second skin. Imagining an old blues master like Muddy Waters making his ax bleed the solemn death march.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Load and take a deep breath

  Dum dah di dum.

  Be at one with your rifle.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Identify target.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Focus on their eyes.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Make love to their soul.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Measure target velocity.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Pick out your wind marker.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Adjust for wind speed.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Squeeze sand bag for elevation.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Caress your trigger.

  Dum dah di dum.

  Pray for a clean kill

  Dum dah di dum.

  Hold your breath and squeeze.

  The recoil pulsed through Shard's body like a sudden, forceful ejaculation. Shard watched through the telescopic lens of the sniper rifle as the bullet traveled almost a mile along the highway and shattered the windscreen of the fast moving car. The car spun wildly out of control.

  It hit a street sign and flipped on its roof.

  Shard rejoiced in the passenger's look of terror.

  The car skidded across the wet asphalt and crashed through the barrier. In less than three seconds it vanished off the road and plunged down the steep side of the ravine.

  The rush of a kill felt orgasmic. In this case; multiple. F.B.I. Special Agents, Irene and Robert Loxley would no longer stick their noses in other people's business.

  Shard suppressed a gasp and waited for waves of ecstasy to subside.

  Shard slowly stood in the shadows and shed the second skin of camouflage. Shard changed the song. It was time for the post kill music. An up-tempo John Lee Hooker standard.

  As a fiery cloud soared out of the ravine and burned up the sky, Shard sent the cell phone text message:

  Boom, boom!

  CHAPTER SIXTY TWO

  Present day.

  No sooner had I found the love of my life, than he was taken from me.

  My ex, Ben, an agent with the F.B.I. had arrested Harry on charges that I could not come to terms with.

  Ben held Harry in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's field office in nearby Kimberley Falls City. A grey granite building built in the nineteen thirties. I stood at the imposing steps and swallowed hard.

  The shock of Harry's arrest waned. A very real sense of foreboding now gripped me. But before I could contemplate Harry's possible guilt, I needed to view the evidence against him.

  At the marble reception I asked for Ben. I was shown through to the corner office on the second floor. I was introduced to Ben's boss, Special Agent in Charge Jacob D. Jackson. A large man with a firm grip on my hand; if not his waist line.

  He waved his bucket size hand at an empty chair. "Sit, Ms. Loxley."

  Jackson squeezed into a leather chair behind a pine desk.

  Ben stood by the window with a clear view of the outskirts of the city extending to woodland area surrounding the university campus. In the months since I had last seen Ben, he had sharpened up his image. His suits fitted his athletic figure perfectly. His hair was neatly slicked back as if he'd been watching too many Leonardo Di Caprico movies.

  I felt a certain amount of unease at this. After all, he knew Leonardo was my favorite actor.

  Ben had even perfected his bad boy pout of his bottom lip that he knew always propelled a wave of lustful longing through my body. But the upper lip sneer that had over our months together slowly come to signify his vile arrogance and selfish disdain for everyone, including me, was still prominent. Perhaps even more so since we'd last set eyes on each other.

  And now he was using Harry to get back at me for leaving him. How low can an Ex go?

  I sat on the edge of my seat. "Jackson, when can I see Sheriff Gunn?"

  "First things first."

  "Meaning?"

  "You graduated from Quantico. You know how this goes down. So please, do me the courtesy of dropping the pretense. I ask the questions."

  I smiled. This was going to be a game of cat and mouse. But who was the cat?

  "So you intend to use me to build a case against Harry? That's a nonstarter. So perhaps you enlighten me on why we're meeting. What do you really want from me?"

  Jackson glanced over to Ben. "I can see why she graduated top of her class."

  He reached into a drawer in his desk and placed a slim file before me.

  "This is everything we know about Kublai Khan. A billionaire who enjoys a public reputation as a generous philanthropist, including the perks as a major benefactor of Kimberley University. Until two days ago we had a direct line into the shadow world of the real Kublai Khan. We were building up a case proving his involvement in laundering millions of dollars for various terrorist organizations around the world."

  "What's that got to do with me?"

  "Nothing, Ms. Loxley. Or should I say nothing right up until two days ago and the untimely death of Dean Rupert Everhardt. A death, out on Lake Kimberley, that we suspect you and your friends directly or indirectly participated in."

  I scrunched up my toes in my shoes. My throat began to ache. I tried not to swallow.

  "You're saying Dean Everhardt was killed in the explosion at the Ice Palace?"

  "So it would appear. Did you interact with Everhardt that night?"

  I decided to go with the truth as the best defense. For now, at least.

  "I didn't even see the Dean. It was a masked ball. And there were a lot of guests."

  Even before I finished my defense, it was clear Jackson wasn't interested in my answer.

  "Ms. Loxley, thanks to your public exposé of the activities of the secret fraternity known as the Knights of Kimberley, we believe Kublai Khan had Dean Everhardt killed. So if you want to avoid the full weight of federal enforcement bearing down on you, please stop dancing around my questions and start cooperating."

  I contemplated the full weight of federal law enforcement that was Special agent-in-charge Jackson bearing down on me and felt the bile in my stomach rise into my throat.

  "That's a lot of weight for one small girl to bear, Special Agent Jackson. But what's in it for me?"

  "What do you want?"

  "I want to see your evidence against Sheriff Gunn. All of it. And now. Or I walk."

  Jackson glanced at Ben.

  Ben shrugged. He knew I'd do exactly that.

  Jackson reached into the same drawer as earlier and produced another file. Thicker than the last. He handed it over.

  As I went to take it, he held it just out of reach.

  "Ms. Loxley, you better prepare yourself for a shock."

  I nodded. He released the file.

  I swallowed hard and opened it.

  CHAPTER SIXTY THREE

  I browsed through pages of ballistic reports. Photographs of a sniper rifle. Apparently a bullet found in my father's burned and charred body eight years ago, was an exact match for one tested with the rifle. The rifle had only one set of fingerprints.

  Harry's fingerprints.

  I looked up from the file. "How long have you had this evidence?"

  "It turned up the morning after your masked ball."

  "The morning you identified the body of Dean Everhardt?"

  Jackson nodded.

  "Quite the coincidence, wouldn't you say, Special Agent?"

  "Indeed, Ms. Loxley."

  "At Quantico we learned not to believe in coincidences."

  "But they can be very convenient, you must admit, Ms. Loxley."

  "Where was Harry at the time of my parents' deaths?"

  "Gunn says he can't recall."

  "Few people can recollect what they were doing eight weeks ago, let alone eight years, Special Agent."
>
  Jackson and Ben stared at me in smug silence.

  I sighed. "What exactly do you want of me?"

  "We understand that Kublai Khan has, shall we say, a soft spot for you?"

  I shrugged. "Maybe an innocent crush."

  Jackson leaned forward. His chair strained at the exertion of supporting him.

  "Exploit that innocent crush. Right now Khan is seeking out and destroying evidence that connects him to money laundering activities. Find me that evidence before Khan destroys it, or your boyfriend gets the electric chair. Are we clear?"

  "What makes you think I'm capable?"

  "I've read the F.B.I. file on you. Graduated top of your class at Quantico Academy. Gave up a promising career with the F.B.I. to find and bring to justice your sister's killer. Did you succeed?"

  "You read newspapers."

  "I read what you write in them. And what they tell me is you are something special Robyn Loxley. But it also tells me those around you suffer. Collateral damage. So we do this by the book. Got it?"

  Not if he wanted results. I just wasn't a by the book kind of gal.

  "How long do I have?"

  He shrugged. "A day. A week at most. By then Khan will have cleaned his tracks completely."

  "And if I find you that evidence to convict Khan, what do I get?"

  "What do you want?"

  "Exoneration for Sheriff Gunn."

  "You don't know that he isn't the man who murdered your parents. All I can do is offer an open minded federal judge."

  Ben smiled. "Lover boy gets to live the next fifteen to twenty in a six by eight room upstate. But at least he lives."

  The Harry Gunn I knew and loved was no killer. I knew then, to prove his innocence I'd have to find the real killer.

  "Special Agent Jackson, I want to see the file on the original investigation of my parents' deaths. Including the profile of the killer. Give me that, and we have a deal."

  CHAPTER SIXTY FOUR

  Ben gave me the file of the investigation into my parents' deaths. It included a profile of the killer based upon an interview by an unnamed witness.

  Apparently the killer was known simply as Shard.