Jackpot

by Mairsile Leabhair

  “Tell me what you need, baby.”

  Chelsey dug her fingers into Kenny’s shoulders and raised up. “I need you,” she cried as her orgasm erupted inside of her.

  “You’re so beautiful,” Kenny exclaimed, as she watched Chelsey’s face contort with release.

  Chelsey screamed as the last ripple shuddered through her.

  Oh, yeah. Scream for me, baby. Kenny leaned in and captured her screams with a kiss. She held her as Chelsey caught her breath.

  “Wow… I mean… wow, Kenny.”

  “So, it wasn’t any good?” Kenny joked.

  “I’ll show you how good it was,” Chelsey laughed, kneeing Kenny’s already inflamed clitoris.

  “Uncle, uncle!” she cried.

  Suddenly, there was a commotion in the outer room, and Tobias and Sophie clamored down the stairs. Tobias, who led the way, stopped short, causing Sophie to run into him.

  “¡Tetas!” he bellowed, he’s eyes fixated on the girls breasts.

  Chelsey yelped and grabbed a pillow from the floor. It was large enough to cover her, but she grabbed another for more security.

  “We heard a scream!” Sophie exclaimed, waving her broom in the air. Then she saw the girls, naked, on the floor. “Oh, mierda.” Both mother and son stood there gawking at them, until Sophie realized Tobias was beside her. She put her hand over his eyes as the girls grabbed their clothes from the floor.

  “Looks like you two made up. Score one for the Kensteer!” Tobias cheered, peeking around his mother’s fingers.

  “What are you, twelve?” Kenny snapped at him as she pulled her shirt on.

  “Now you know what it’s like to have a little brother,” Chelsey said with a chuckle.

  Kenny handed Chelsey her jacket and then jumped into her pants. “And now you know why I never wanted one.”

  “We heard screams,” Sophie said again, then realized she was still holding the broom up.

  “I thought the game room was soundproof,” Kenny mumbled to herself.

  Chelsey shook her head. “You left the door open, remember?”

  “Oh, well, sorry,” Kenny said with a shrug. “False alarm.”

  “But how brave are you two, coming to our rescue like that,” Chelsey said, finally able to stand up with Kenny’s jacket wrapped tight around her. It came just above her knees and with Kenny’s broad shoulders, gave her plenty of room to cover everything. Plus, it smelled like Kenny, strong and sensitive.

  “Uh, yeah. What she said,” Kenny snickered. Chelsey slapped her on the arm. “Ow,” she feigned and rubbed her arm. “Listen, all kidding aside, everything’s fine, and you can go back to bed now. Sorry to have scared you.”

  “Kenny, did you get a picture tonight?” Sophie asked.

  Chelsey looked at Kenny. “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that in the heat of… oh, um, so, did you?”

  Kenny burst out laughing and Sophie joined in.

  “Now, you knew what I meant.”

  Nodding through her laughter, Kenny searched for her cell phone and realized it was in the jacket that Chelsey was now wearing. “Could you…” Chelsey’s hands were on the inside of the jacket, holding it closed. “I need to reach in and get my phone, okay?”

  Chelsey smirked. “You have to ask?”

  “Yes, if I don’t want Sophie hitting me with that broom.” Kenny caressed her with her eyes, wishing they were alone for just a bit longer. But with that longing came guilt. “When I get Grandma back,” she whispered to Chelsey, “you’re all mine.”

  “I’m already yours,” Chelsey whispered, “and when you get her back, it will be my turn to make your eyes roll back in your head.”

  “They already do, every time I look at you,” Kenny replied, retrieving her cell phone from the jacket.

  “Oh, you’re good.”

  “Are you guys going to do it again?” Tobias asked. “Can I watch?”

  Sophie boxed his ears and pointed toward the stairs. “Vete por favor.”

  Tobias threw up his hands in surrender. “Buenas noches Mamá. Good night, ladies.”

  Kenny held up her hand “Wait, Tobias, in the morning, before you go to school, would you mind doing another sweep of the house?”

  “No problem. I don’t have a class in the morning,” he replied.

  “Good, because I need you to check every room, even the closets and bathrooms. The text was of me talking to the commissioner tonight at the party,” Kenny explained as she walked over to him. “It might have been a warning about talking to the police, or maybe she wanted me to know that she has a partner, which explains how she can be in two places at once.”

  “Damn. That took balls,” Tobias blurted.

  “More like a vagina,” Kenny quipped.

  “I still have some faces to run through the program,” Tobias said. “I can stay and do that if you want me to?”

  Kenny shook her head. “No, it can wait until morning, after the sweep for bugs.”

  “Okay, then. See you all in the morning.”

  “You, too, Sophie. There’s not much more we can do tonight, so why don’t you go back to bed?”

  Stifling a yawn, Sophie responded, “I think you’re right, Kenny. I need my strength to keep up with Felisha later. Buenas noches.”

  Kenny waved as Sophie turned to leave. “Good night, Soph.” When Chelsey didn’t move, Kenny said, “That includes you, too, Chels.”

  “I’ve still got fingerprints to lift and DNA to collect,” Chelsey said, pointing at the countertop full of glasses in plastic bags.

  “It can keep. Besides, without the commissioner’s help, there’s not much we can do with it anyway. Sorry.”

  “It’s not your fault he’s a brick wall. But I do think I should finish collecting the samples.”

  “And I agree. Just not right now. Go get some sleep. I’ll print out the picture and hang it up, then go to bed myself.”

  “All right,” Chelsey pouted and leaned in, brushing a light kiss across Kenny’s lips. “I had a lovely time tonight.”

  Kenny chuckled at the innuendo. “Good, I’m glad. I, um, have something special to ask you, uh, later. But you understand about slowing down so I can concentrate on Grandma, right?”

  Chelsey ran her fingers across Kenny’s collarbones. “I think it’s very mature of you, Mak. I can’t wait to meet your grandmother and tell her just how brave you’ve been through all this.”

  Mak? Kenny always hated it when people shortened her name that way because it reminded her of a big truck, but when Chelsey said it, her heart skipped a beat. “Just don’t tell her how much money I’m spending getting her back. She thinks I’m reckless with my money as it is. When she hears that I paid the ransom, she is not going to be happy with me.”

  Chelsey frowned and stepped back. “Even if it saves her life?”

  “Even then. She’s funny that way.”

  Laughing, Chelsey shook her head, trying to ward off a yawn. “I don’t believe that for a second, but I promise, when I see her, I won’t tell her that part.”

  “Go to bed, Chelsey,” Kenny commanded, kissing her on the nose. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “It is morning, but whatever. You get some sleep, too,” she demanded as she headed for the stairs.

  Kenny’s mind was already on the task at hand when she replied, “I will, I promise.” Just as soon as I go through these photos and find the bastard who took that picture.

  ***

  “I saw that Kenny slept in the game room again,” Chelsey stated as she walked into the kitchen. “And I don’t think she’s been asleep long from the look of the room. She printed out all the photos and spread them out across the floor. Some of them have a red X across the face, I assume that means they’re not a suspect.”

  “Yes, I think we should let her sleep for as long as she can,” Sophie responded, stirring the Huevos a la Mexicana, also known as Mexican scrambled eggs.

  “Oh, something smells wonderful,” Chelsey exclaimed, walking ove
r to the stove.

  “I thought we might need some wake-up food this morning. I’m flavoring the eggs with red tomatoes, white onions, and green jalapeños.”

  Chelsey leaned over the stove and inhaled the delicious smell. “Oh, wow. Who needs coffee?”

  “It’s a good eye-opener. Sit down, I’ll bring you a plate.”

  “Okay, but just a small plate. Since Kenny’s still sleeping, I thought I’d run by my apartment, check on things, and pick up my mail.”

  “Didn’t you leave your car at your apartment?”

  “Yes. I’ll call a cab after breakfast and—”

  “You’ll do no such thing. Take my car. My keys are on the shelf by the garage door.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course. And you’d better leave before Felisha and her crew arrive or you’ll be blocked in.”

  “Oh. That’s right. I should stay and help you with that.”

  Sophie shrugged. “I’m not helping them. That’s what Kenny’s paying them for. I’m just making sure they take only what they’re supposed to.”

  Chelsey scooped up a tablespoon full of eggs. “Okay, I won’t be very long.”

  “I think you have time to eat something,” Sophie chastised.

  “You talked me into it,” Chelsey said as she retrieved two slices of bread from the bread box and popped them in the toaster. “Is there a coffee mug or something with a lid that I could use?”

  “Look in the cabinet over the sink.”

  Chelsey walked over and opened the cabinet door. “Yep, nice big tall one, too.” She rinsed it out and walked over to the coffee pot, filling the mug to the brim. The toaster dinged as the toast popped up. She took out a plate and placed the toast on it. Sophie scooped up a spatula full of eggs and placed it on the toast. “Thank you,” Chelsey said, slicing her sandwich. She grabbed the mug and sandwich and sat down at the table.

  “Want Tabasco sauce with that?”

  Chelsey took a bite and thought she felt steam coming out of her ears. “Um, no thank you,” she gasped, jumping up and grabbing the milk out of the refrigerator. She uncharacteristically drank from the milk bottle, gulping a mouthful without spilling a drop. “Whoa. You weren’t kidding about those eggs.”

  “Oh, please. They’re not as hot as you two were last night,” Sophie chided.

  Chelsey blushed even as she giggled. “I’m sorry we scared you. Kenny and I had a fight, she asked me to leave, and then we just sort of…”

  “Made up?”

  Chelsey blushed deeper, but this time not from embarrassment. “Oh, yessss,” she replied, drawing out the s provocatively.

  “But, why did she ask you to leave?” Sophie asked, sitting down at the table with her coffee.

  Chelsey joined her and propped her elbows on the table, interlacing her fingers together. “She thought her mother had threatened me, but I think she made more out of it than there was. You know how protective Kenny can be.”

  “Oh, sí. For those she cares deeply about, she is very protective.”

  Chelsey gazed at her for a moment. She hadn’t known Sophie very long, but she knew instinctively that she could trust her. “Can I tell you a secret, Sophie?”

  “That you’re in love with her? I already knew that.”

  “What? How could you?”

  “Do you deny it?” Sophie asked with a smirk.

  “No, it’s not that I deny it, I just haven’t acknowledged it yet.”

  Sophie raised an eyebrow. “You mean that you haven’t told Kenny yet?”

  “Right. I haven’t said it out loud.”

  “And you still haven’t, but you will when you’re ready.”

  *

  Chelsey drove out of the affluent neighborhood with a grin on her face. She drove across town to her apartment in the lower-income residential part of the city. Compared to her old rusting Ford Escape that she bought for five-hundred-dollars three years ago, Sophie’s Plymouth, which was older than her car, was luxurious in comparison. Of course, neither one of them could hold a candle to Kenny’s Jaguar.

  She parked and walked over to her own car and unlocked the door. She got in behind the wheel, said a quick prayer, and turned the key. The car whined at being woke up, but the engine finally turned over. She sat in the car, letting the battery charge as her thoughts returned to Kenny.

  “Oh… Kenny.” Chelsey practically drooled her name. “Even covered in garbage and dirt, you took my breath away the first time I saw you.” Her heart beat faster at the quivers tingling between her legs. “And now, I am so—”

  “Get out of the car,” a gruff voice demanded.

  Her head jerked around to the driver’s side window. A small, black .25 caliber semi-automatic handgun, smaller than the hand that held it, but just as terrifying, was pointing at her.

  ***

  “Chelsey! Where’s Chelsey?” Kenny screamed as she ran into the cocktail bar, slowly being transformed back to the formal dining room.

  “Well, good morning to you, too,” Sophie countered. “Or should I say good afternoon?”

  “I’m serious, where’s Chelsey?”

  “She wanted to go by her apartment and pick up her mail so I loaned her my car,” Sophie explained. The terrified look on Kenny’s face caused Sophie’s heart to race. Kenny’s face flushed red, from anger or fear, Sophie wasn’t sure. “Why? Has something happened?”

  Kenny handed her phone to Sophie and pointed at the picture.

  “Well, that’s a very nice picture of Chelsey kissing you, but—”

  “That’s one of the pictures taken by the kidnapper during the party.”

  “What does that mean, Kenny?”

  Kenny swiped the picture and brought up another photo, showing it to Sophie.

  “¡Santa Madre de Dios!”

  Chelsey stood in front of the same wall where they took Deidre’s pictures and had a sorrowful look on her face, as if apologizing for being kidnapped. The sign read, Price has doubled. Eighty million bucks. Forty for grandma and forty for girlfriend, cha-ching!

  The text under the picture read, You invited a cop to your party. Seemed only fitting that I invite your girlfriend to mine.

  Tears streamed down Kenny’s face as Sophie looked up at her.

  “Give us the room,” Kenny demanded.

  Felisha, who was checking off inventory, looked at Kenny in annoyance. But Kenny’s cold glare persuaded her not to challenge the orders. “Everyone, ten minute break, tout de suite.” The cleaning staff dropped what they were doing and filed out the door, happy for once to do as they were told.

  As soon as they closed the door behind them, and Kenny and Sophie were alone, Kenny’s adrenaline drained out of her and she collapsed to the floor and began sobbing.

  “Oh, mi pobre bebé,” Sophie cried and knelt down, wrapping her arms around her. “Oh, cariño. Let it all out, bebé. It’s going to be all right.” She held her like she would her children, rocking with her, rubbing her back until her sobs quieted into sniffles. “None of this was your fault, cariño.”

  “It is my fault, Sophie,” Kenny said, sitting back and wiping her eyes with her sleeve. “I’m in love with her.”

  “I know. And she loves you, too.”

  “She… she does?”

  Sophie nodded. “Yes.”

  “What if I’m not enough, Sophie?”

  “What if you are? They’re counting on you to at least try, so stop this crying and find a way to get the two people you love most back home again.”

  Kenny grabbed Sophie by the shoulders and kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, too, Soph. So, don’t disappear on me, okay?”

  “Not planning to.”

  “Hey, why is everyone standing outside the door?” Tobias asked as he swung the door open and walked in.

  “Not now, Tobías,” Sophie snapped.

  Kenny jumped up and turned away from him so she could rub her eyes. She didn’t want to have to explain why she had been crying. “No, it’s
all right,” she said, finally turning back to Tobias. “Have you swept for bugs yet?”

  “Yes. Found one in the kitchen and another one in the library.”

  “Can you trace it back to the store that sold it?”

  “No, sorry. It’s a pretty common listening device. You can buy it for fifty bucks online,” he answered.

  “What kind of range would a cheap bug like that have?”

  “Not far, maybe five-thousand feet.”

  “A mile. That means they were close by, listening, waiting for their opportunity.”

  “Waiting for what? What opportunity?” he asked.

  Kenny’s eyes watered up again but she swallowed the tears back. “To kidnap Chelsey.”

  His eyes opened wide. “Oh shit. That’s why I didn’t see her earlier.”

  “It could have been any one of us,” Sophie suggested. “They couldn’t have known that Chelsey would leave when she did.”

  “No, maybe not. But my mother threatened her last night and now she’s been abducted. They were targeting her specifically.”

  “But it doesn’t make sense. Now they have two people to hide,” Tobias thought out loud.

  “None of this has made sense from the start,” Kenny said, shaking her head. “The only constant has been the money and how they seem to delight in raising the ante.”

  Sophie frowned. “So, when you say they, you don’t think it’s your mother?”

  “I still think it’s her. I’m just not sure she’s the one in charge of the game. And if she’s not, whoever is in charge will kill my grandmother and Chelsey.”

  ***

  Chelsey was shaking. She was mad, and she was shaking. Mad at herself for not listening to Kenny when she said she was in danger. Mad at Kenny for not being more insistent. Mad at the lottery for causing everything. She would have preferred to fall in love with Kenny without all the hoopla. She’d be just as happy if they both were still working at the plant. At least that way she would know what was real. That their love was based on shared experiences and not overwhelmed by money. Of course, that was a moot point now. She was in love with Kenny and up until an hour ago when a small, mawkish-looking man with a scar on his chin stuck a gun in her face, she was sharing similar experiences. Especially when they made love.