by M. S. Parker
“How may I help you, Ms. Jensen?” The woman who answered the phone had a cool, pleasant voice.
“I need to know if you have any rooms charged to DeVon Ricci. It may be under Mirage Talent.” I didn’t think it would be, but I was hoping she’d think I was calling as an employee checking up on reservations rather than a girlfriend trying to find her man, albeit not for the reasons she suspected.
“Just a moment, please.”
I heard the tapping that indicated she was looking for something on her computer, and then she came back. “You understand, Ms. Jensen, that under normal circumstances, it would be entirely inappropriate for me to hand out information about our guests, that we respect their privacy.”
I started to reply, but she was still talking.
“However, a special note was placed on this account. We were told that we could reveal information to you alone.”
“So you’re saying there is a room under DeVon’s name?”
“I’m saying that should you come to the hotel with a photograph ID, I would be able to provide you with the information I do have.”
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.” I hung up without waiting for a response and started to put my phone in my purse. “Dammit,” I muttered. I wanted to find DeVon first so he didn’t have to hear the truth from someone other than me, but I wasn’t stupid enough to think that Sasha was going to just admit what she’d done and give up without a fight.
I waited until I was in the cab and halfway to the hotel before calling Officer Purdue back and telling him about the room. I didn’t let him question me about where I was because I didn’t want to lie and I knew for sure he’d tell me to stay away. It seemed more prudent to ask for forgiveness rather than permission at this point.
As the taxi grew closer to the hotel, I realized that I hadn’t even considered what it was I was going to say. I couldn’t very well just walk up and say, ‘Hey, by the way, Sasha’s a psycho who kidnapped some kid from Minnesota and brought him here to pretend that he was your son.’ Somehow, I doubted that’d be the most tactful way to approach things. This was going to be hard enough for him to hear.
I tossed a few bills at the driver and headed for the front of the hotel. I was so focused on what I had to say that I almost walked right by him.
“DeVon!”
His head jerked up at the sound of my voice and the pain in his eyes made me wince. He stood, pulling me into a hug tight enough to drive the air from my lungs. He buried his face against the side of my neck. “I love you. I love you so much.”
Anger rose inside me, anger at Sasha for making DeVon hurt like that, for lying to him. For her sake, I hoped the cops would arrive soon, because if I saw her, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep from breaking her nose.
“I love you, too.” I ran my hand over his hair.
“I don’t want to lose you, but I can’t abandon him, Krissy. I can’t be selfish enough to keep you and give up my son.”
I couldn’t stand him thinking this way a moment longer. I hated how blunt I was going to be, but I couldn’t think of another way to say it. “He’s not your son.”
DeVon stiffened but I didn’t let him go. He had to hear it all.
“Sasha’s lying. She’s wanted in Minnesota. She kidnapped a toddler named Joey Turner three years ago.”
I let him go this time when he pulled back. I pushed his hair away from his face.
“What are you saying, Krissy?”
I repeated myself, keeping it simple and clear because I knew this had to be hard to hear. “Emmett isn’t your son.”
“He’s not my son.” There were so many different emotions in that statement that I couldn’t sort them out. He put his hand on my cheek. “I don’t have to choose?”
My heart skipped a beat at the hope and relief in that question. “No, DeVon. You don’t have to choose.”
He lowered his head and kissed me, his mouth firm against mine. I could feel it now, just how much this had been hurting him, the desperation he’d felt, knowing how badly he would hurt me. I nipped at his bottom lip, then whispered against his mouth. “I love you.”
It wasn’t over yet, but we were together, and that was what mattered.
Chapter 19
DeVon
When Sasha had come to me and told me that I had a son, I’d thought my world had been turned upside-down, that everything had changed and nothing would ever be the same. Then I’d started to adjust to the idea of being a father and Sasha had given me the ultimatum and I couldn’t imagine having to make that choice. I’d spent the last two weeks having my heart torn apart, and then Krissy had just unraveled everything with one simple statement.
Emmett wasn’t my son.
I didn’t have a son.
I didn’t have to choose between him and Krissy.
I knew there was a lot we had to talk about and deal with, but there was something I had to do first.
The feel of her lips beneath mine was something I hadn’t thought I would get to feel again. I’d been at that point, ready to give her up for the greater good, to never be with her, never touch her, all to do what was right. I knew it couldn’t be a long kiss, but I made it a good one.
I moaned when her teeth closed on my bottom lip and I wanted nothing more than to take her inside, rent a room and spend the rest of the weekend showing her how much I loved her and how sorry I was that she’d gone through this.
“I love you.”
Not too long ago, I’d never imagined that I would want a woman to say those things to me, but now, I could hear those three words from her over and over again, and never grow tired of them.
I pushed her hair back from her face and sighed. “I intend to show you exactly how I feel about you, but first...”
“We need to make sure the boy’s okay.”
I nodded. “Have you called the police?” I asked.
“They should be about ten minutes behind me,” she said, glancing back as if she’d be able to see them already. A worried look crossed her face. “If Sasha hears them coming, will she do something to Emmett – I mean, Joey?”
I thought of the look in Sasha’s eyes when she’d told me to get out. She’d been crazy enough to kidnap a kid, hold him for three years and then try to convince me that he was mine. Who knew how many other men she’d tried this with. I wondered if there had been others before me. Men out there who thought they were looking for their son.
“She might,” I said. I looked down at her. “He might not be my son, but he is in trouble. I can’t let her take him.”
“What can we do?”
A surge of love went through me as I saw the strength inside her come out. Her strength had been the first thing that had drawn me to her. Well, if I was completely honest, it was her incredibly hot body, but the strength had been there. She had so much spirit and fire, but that wasn’t what I needed from her now. We couldn’t stop Sasha with force or violence. Despite the fact that the idea of hurting a woman sickened me, it wouldn’t do anyone any good.
I had something else in mind. And Krissy wasn’t going to like it.
By the time I’d finished telling her my plan, I knew she didn’t just dislike it. She loathed it, but she knew it was the right thing to do. So she stayed in front of the hotel to give the cops the room number while I went upstairs to distract Sasha.
I used the key this time because I wasn’t sure if she’d let me in right away and I needed to get her away from the boy. If she was in a corner, I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t hurt him, just to spite everyone for thwarting her plans.
“What do you want?” she snapped from where she was sitting in the chair.
My eyes darted towards the boy. His eyes were wide and I could see the fear in them this time. I wanted to reassure him, tell him that it’d be okay and it would all be over soon, that he would be going back to his family, but there was nothing I could do or say with Sasha sitting right there, so I looked away from him and answered Sasha’s question.
>
“It’s over.” I forced myself to think of the agony I would have felt if those words had been true. It made my voice hoarse.
She stood, her eyes narrowing. “What?”
“It’s over with Krissy,” I said. “What you said, about me never being able to see my son, I couldn’t take it. I made the choice. I want to be with you.”
I thought for sure she’d see right through the lies, that there was no way she could believe them for a single second. How could she? After all that had happened between us, how could she think that I wanted her?
“Kiss me.”
It was a demand, not a request, and I could see on her face that she didn’t even consider that I could be lying. When I’d said before that she was a narcissist, I hadn’t understood just how right I was. She wasn’t just self-absorbed. She was delusional, too.
I gestured towards the boy. “Not in front of the kid.” I forced a smile, the kind of cocky, arrogant smile that used to be my usual. It was the look of a man who always got what he wanted, and what he usually wanted was sex. “In case things heat up.”
Lust shone in her eyes as she turned to the boy. “Go into your room. Don’t come out until I tell you to.” She smiled at me. “You might want to put on some headphones or something. Things might get loud.”
I was sickened at the realization that she thought I would fuck her here, rough and hard as I used to, with the boy in the next room. The boy she claimed was our son. The worst part was he didn’t seem fazed by the order. I didn’t even want to think about how many times she’d had the boy – Joey, I told myself, his name was Joey – leave the room so she could get off. One of the things that had appealed to me before had been her insatiable appetite. I knew she hadn’t gone three years without scratching that itch.
“Now, DeVon, I think it’s time we get reacquainted.” She pulled off her tank top. “Fuck me.”
It was odd, I thought, how she could be so demanding, but I knew what she would respond to best. I’d never wanted to be this man again, but I slipped him back on easily and heard the words come out of my mouth in the same harsh tone I’d once known so well.
“Are you telling me what to do? Get on your knees.”
I walked over to the chair as she dropped to her knees. The look on her face said this was exactly what she’d wanted. I just hoped the cops would get here before things went too far. As much as I loved sex, I didn’t want it with her.
There was one way to drag things out. One of the things that Sasha had always liked doing was hearing herself talk. I really didn’t want her to answer the question I was about to ask, but better to hear it than have to act it out.
“What do you want me to do to you?” I settled in the chair like I was planning on being there for a while. I ran my hand over my stomach, then down further, letting my fingers brush the bulge in my jeans. My cock was completely soft, but Sasha didn’t need to know that.
“I want you to whip me. My breasts, my ass, my clit.” She shuffled forward a bit, her breasts jiggling with the movement. “Use a belt on me. I want you to fuck my mouth.”
I heard the faint sound of sirens a moment before they cut off. Sasha didn’t seem to have noticed. That was good. Now I just needed to keep her going a little bit longer.
“I’ve heard that all before.” I made myself sound bored rather than disgusted. “In six years, haven’t you learned anything new?”
She scowled at me and I wondered if I’d gone too far.
“I was pregnant and had a child during that time.” Her tone was petulant, but I recognized it.
I raised an eyebrow. “And you’re telling me that stopped you? I know you, Sasha. You could never go long without a nice, thick cock inside you. Without someone abusing those pretty tits of yours. Come on, be honest.”
A sly smile curved her lips. “There are plenty of men with a taste for women in a, shall we say, certain way?”
I almost broke right there but, fortunately, that was the moment the door burst open and half a dozen cops streamed in, weapons drawn, shouting for everyone to put their hands up. Behind them, I saw Krissy next to an older cop who seemed to be barking out orders as to who was actually the bad guy in the room. I ignored all that. All I cared about was Krissy’s eyes meeting mine and seeing there that we were okay. I nodded at her and she smiled at me.
It was over.
Chapter 20
Krissy
DeVon had insisted he go with Officer Purdue to get Emmett slash Joey. He said that since he was the only one of us who’d met the boy, it’d be better for him to be there. Everyone also agreed that it’d be best to wait to bring him out until after Sasha had been taken away. The biggest problem the cops were having with her was the fact that she wasn’t wearing a shirt and wouldn’t hold still long enough for anyone to get anything on her, and no one wanted to deal with the legal ramifications of marching her out of the hotel half-naked. Her hands were already cuffed behind her, which wasn’t helping, but they hadn’t had a choice. She’d been going after everyone with her nails. Finally, DeVon went into one of the bedrooms, found a long-sleeved shirt and forced it over her head. He wrapped the arms around her waist and then tied them in place, further restraining her.
I was actually kind of surprised that she wasn’t more violent with him or hadn’t spit on him. Instead, she just talked. And talked. And talked. Curses. Threats. What she was going to do to all of us, especially me. The moment I’d walked in, she’d started in on me. She shared all of the things she and DeVon had done together, all of the explicit details of the week they’d been together. I was pretty sure the cops didn’t believe her considering she looked like a raving lunatic, but I knew the things DeVon liked and I was equally as certain that most of what she said was the truth. I didn’t care.
Finally, the cops dragged her out of the room and Officer Purdue went with DeVon to get the boy. This time, when I saw him, I didn’t look for similarities to DeVon but rather to the picture of Joey Turner. It had been a little over three years since that picture had been taken, but I could see it. The shape of his eyes, their color. His hair was longer than it had been, but still had a cowlick in the same place. His face still had some of its baby roundness and I wondered whether if Sasha’d had him a bit longer, he’d have lost enough of that for the resemblance to wane.
DeVon and I rode back to the police station with Joey. Fingerprints and a DNA swab would be done for one hundred percent certainty, but I didn’t think anyone doubted that this was Joey Turner. Officer Purdue made the call from the car. He kept it brief and vague enough that Joey wouldn’t be able to tell what it was about.
The boy was quiet for the entire ride, sitting between DeVon and me with a blank expression on his face. It didn’t really surprise me, though. Before we’d left the hotel, the police had found bottles of tranquilizers. It didn’t take a detective to guess that Joey’s detached behavior was most likely drug-induced. DeVon had said Joey had been sleeping when he’d first gone to the room and I’d seen enough pill-popping socialites to know how groggy they looked after waking up from a drugged sleep. Hell, half of my morning memories of my mother had her looking like that.
By the time we got to the station, Joey was alert enough to know that something was going on. When he asked about Sasha, we told him only that she was going to go away for a long time. The relieved look on his face said that there had been more fear in their relationship than attachment.
“What’s going to happen to me?” he asked as the three of us walked into the police station.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a handful of reporters heading our way. Apparently, the word had gotten out. I hurried DeVon and Joey along until we were in the safety of the building.
“Someone here is going to tell you that,” DeVon said, glancing at me.
I knew what he was thinking. It would’ve been hard enough to have the “I’m your dad” conversation. This one was way out of our depth.
“Hello.” A kind-looking, m
iddle-aged woman approached. The folder tucked under her arm told me she was the social worker on call. The fact that she barely greeted DeVon and me and went straight to Joey made me like her. “My name’s Madeleine and I’m going to tell you what’s going on. Will that be all right?”
Joey glanced up at DeVon and then at me. “Can they come with me?”
Madeleine gave a quick look toward one of the officers who nodded. “If that’s what you want.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to be there when everything came out, but if Joey was brave enough to hear it, so was I. The four of us went into a small side room and waited a few moments while Officer Purdue took Joey’s fingerprints. DeVon and I sat on the couch while Madeleine began to talk to Joey, asking him about things that he remembered about his younger years. She started recently and went further and further back until he finally said that he couldn’t remember anything else.
DeVon reached for my hand, threading his fingers between mine. I could feel the tension radiating off of him. It didn’t sound like Sasha had abused Joey, but she had definitely been neglectful. His memories were almost all sad and lonely ones, each one tearing at my heart. I suddenly wanted to go down to whatever holding cell they had Sasha in and beat the shit out of her. Not for the first time, I thought that it was a good idea I hadn’t gone into criminal law.
Madeleine’s eyes flicked up to the door when Officer Purdue cracked it open. He simply nodded once, confirming what we’d already known. Madeleine looked at DeVon and me as she knelt in front of Joey and took his hands. I knew she was about to tell him the truth. Nothing in what he’d said indicated that he remembered that Sasha wasn’t his real mother. This was going to destroy everything he’d ever known.
DeVon’s hand tightened almost painfully around mine.
“What I’m going to tell you may sound scary or not true, but I want you to trust me, okay?” Her voice was gentle. She waited until he nodded. “The woman you were with, three years ago, she took a little boy named Joey Turner from his parents.”
Joey’s eyes widened and I thought I caught a glimpse of recognition at the name.