A few short days ago I was shot, saved by a hot FBI guy, and fell into a deep crush on said hot guy. Then my apartment was ransacked by the same crazy man who would have killed me had Jonah not saved me. I’d lost a friend, not a best friend, not even a super close one, more of a good acquaintance, but I liked Katrina. She was cool and so nice. She didn’t deserve to be caught up in this. Then again none of the women he hurt, including myself, deserved anything this psychopath was doling out.
Then I had the most amazing day with Jonah, met his parents, and met his nasty ex-wife, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it gave my guy the opportunity to open up about her. Finding out how she’d ruined their marriage was a blow. It would have been for anyone. Learning that your wife betrayed you with your brother would be hard enough, but seeing it in living color had to be like watching a tornado shred through your childhood home. And I could tell from how repeating the story gutted him that the wound was still sore. Though I truly believed him sharing it with me, offloading that hurt onto someone else’s shoulders, helped take some of the weight off him.
And now there was another body.
In my freakin’ car.
I shook my head and clipped some big fat pink Gerbera daisies and plunked them into the waiting vase. The person who ordered them had chosen a sunshine yellow glass vase that would look amazing with a mix of bright pinks, whites, yellows, neon green, and some pops of purple. It was a birthday order and I loved doing the happy designs. Made me smile with all the joyful colors.
Just as I wrapped a bright green satin bow around the yellow vase, finishing off the order, a pitter patter of tiny, fast feet came running into the big, open design space in the back.
“Auntie!” Rory screeched as she entered the back room.
I crouched down and opened my arms. She slammed right into me and I lifted her up and spun around in a circle making her squeal with glee. I kissed her all over her pretty face and neck until she started kicking her little feet. Those suckers were like mini punches. She’d make a good soccer player one day.
I tucked her to my hip and focused on her see-through, amber-colored eyes. Genesis wasn’t one to boast or brag, especially since she worked her butt off in school and college to become a social worker but her child was the most beautiful I’d ever seen. Her African-American, Korean, and Caucasian genetics made my niece stunning. Genesis was constantly getting stopped by people in stores to admire Rory. And on top of it all, the little girl was the most social creature ever. Loved everyone and everything.
“How’s my big girl doing? You ready to help Auntie make flowers?”
“Yes!” She clapped her hands.
“Where’s my little doll-face?” Mama Kerri’s voice echoed through the room as she entered. She placed her hands on her hips. “I see you found Auntie Simone.” She came over to us both and kissed me on the temple than grabbed Rory’s chubby little hand and kissed the inside of her palm until she laughed. “You got her? I’m going to help Delores with some customers up front. They’ve got the two front desk clerks out doing deliveries.”
“Of course.” I bounced my girl. “We’ve got this.”
“Yay!” Rory clapped again, her joy clear on her face. I used a towel to shove aside any dangerous clippings that she might get into then set her on the table. She got up onto her knees and reached for a white daisy. “Pwetty.”
“It is, baby. It’s a daisy.”
She repeated the word. I grabbed the next vase, this one a short, squat, fat, dark green glass. I took the daisy and clipped half of the stem off. “Now put it in the vase like I taught you.”
Rory placed it in the center. For a while I clipped flowers and greens and handed them to her to place into the vase. Every time she put one in, she’d look at it and repeat, “Pwetty.” To her it was a game and I was on board for it. Hearing her joy and laughter and seeing her cute toddler smiles was filling up my cup to full. Soaking my soul in pure innocence. Exactly what I needed.
Mama Kerri entered and leaned against the worktable, watching Rory place the flowers. They were haphazardly put in, but I could move them around just so and it would be perfect.
“She balance you out?” she asked knowingly.
“Filled me right up to full with love and light.” I smiled wide.
“Excellent.”
“You didn’t have to come today, you know.” I clipped another flower and handed it to Rory.
“I do know. I also know that one of my youngest girls is going through something tough to manage. Which means it’s time for her mama and sisters to rally around her and show her the way of sisterhood and family, in order to keep her head above water.”
I hooked my mother around the shoulders and pressed my face against her neck, feeling her pulse thump against my face. Her flowery scent mixed with all the others in the room, but I could still feel her energy wrapping around me in a blanket of comfort.
“Thanks for coming by today,” I whispered against her neck.
“It’s my pleasure to check in on my girls. No thanks needed. I’m glad you got some time with your niece. Sometimes seeing life lived through the eyes of a child can heal many hurts. I wish more people could find that peace.”
“Yeah, me too. Now check out what Rory did, Grandma!” I pointed to the wonky flower display. Rory put her arms out exactly like I did, copying me, her little tongue poking out of the side of her mouth.
“See Gam-Ma, pwetty!” Rory exclaimed happily.
Mama made a big deal oohing and aww-ing over the bouquet.
Which is also when I heard a booming voice rumble, “Where is Simone?” from somewhere in the front of the shop. I knew it was Jonah even though I’d never heard that frightening tone from him.
Mama and I looked at one another worriedly and beat feet to the front.
The second his haunted gaze hit mine, I ran to him. He wrapped me in his arms and pressed his face to my neck. His entire body trembled, gooseflesh appearing on his forearms. I could see Ryan standing outside pacing back and forth, his cellphone plastered to his ear, an angry expression marring his gorgeous features.
I reached for Jonah’s hand and turned, then dragged him to the back room so we could have some privacy. When we got to the back, he immediately came into my arms once more. I held him close while he burrowed into me. Jonah was becoming more affectionate with each day we spent together, but didn’t seem to be a toucher naturally. I, however, was. Since we met, I’d been finding ways to be close.
This was different.
Wrong, different.
Unbearable pain oozed from every single one of his pores as he shook.
I reached for his face and he lifted his head.
There was only one word I could come up with for the scorn and desperation coating the features of Jonah’s handsome face.
Ravaged.
Something broke my man today. No, shattered him.
Staring into his broken, beautiful face, I had trouble getting the words out, fear replacing all the light and happiness I’d soaked up from Rory. “What happened?”
For a long time he just stared at me as though he were cataloguing the details of my face. Then his eyes filled with tears and they fell in tandem.
“He got to her.” The words came out sounding as though his throat had been scraped by sandpaper.
“Who, baby? You’re scaring me,” I choked out, tears filling my own eyes at seeing the raw, gut-wrenching pain spilling from his own.
“Helen.” The name was said in a gritty tone filled to the brim with tortured emotion.
“Helen, your ex? Who got her, honey?” I kept my hands to his cheeks and his gaze on mine.
“The Strangler.” He closed his eyes and more tears spilled down his cheeks, wetting my palms.
I gasped as what he said dawned on me.
His next statement confirmed it.
“He killed my ex-wife and left her dead, desecrated, naked body for me to find in your car.”
; Instantly I reached out and wrapped my arms around him holding him so close you couldn’t have slipped even a piece of paper between us. I tightened my grip wanting him to feel me and my strength straight through to his bones.
“Hold on to me, baby. Just hold on to me. And breathe. Hold on and breathe.”
“I won’t let him have you.”
This was the first thing he’d said since I led him out and into Ryan’s SUV, got him home, and wrapped around me, fully clothed and in his bed, covers and all. Though I did remove our shoes. Ryan had come in twice. Once to bring Jonah a full glass of whiskey, setting it on the nightstand. He hadn’t touched it. He popped in again to see if I wanted him to order food. I told him pizza because everyone loves pizza. It was one of those foods that’s practically impossible to hate, unless you were one of those people that freaked out if there was pineapple on your pizza. I’ve found that particular ingredient has caused some serious wars between friends, and on social media. Me, I didn’t care one way or the other. My mom liked broccoli on pizza. That item I could argue was far stranger than pineapple, but what did I know. I liked most things, even broccoli and, yes, pineapple, on my pizza.
I ran my fingers through his hair over and over in the same pattern, hoping to soothe and comfort him.
“He’s not going to get to me,” I murmured at the crown of his head.
Jonah was tucked to my side, my right hand in his hair, the other across his chest. He was tracing the lines of my fingers one at a time then up my forearm and back down again.
“I’m off the case.” He let out a long breath, his body shuddering with the exhalation.
“Probably for the best. You need to grieve.”
“This is personal now. And it gets worse. What he etched across her chest.” He shook his head and sat up abruptly, reached for the whiskey, and downed at least half in one drink. He wiped the wet from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Tell me,” I urged.
He shook his head. “It’s bad, baby. You don’t need that in your head.”
I reached for his hand and squeezed. “You don’t either, but my guy is beyond hurting. I need to know everything in order to help you get through it. We need to get past this together.”
He gritted his teeth and scowled so fiercely I almost didn’t recognize him. “He’s either following us and saw the fight we had outside my parents’ house last night, or he looked me up and found out about my ex-wife and our divorce through the county recorder’s office. Hell, an online search these days can bring up half the details of someone’s life.” He sucked back more whiskey.
“Okay, so what else is there that you aren’t telling me? Did he, um, did he violate her?” My words were spoken so low I could barely process them myself.
“Not as far as we can tell even though her body was naked. We’ll have to see what the autopsy reveals. It was obvious she was strangled.” His head fell forward, his chin to his chest, shoulders drooping. He looked exhausted, as though the last ten years of his life had been lived in a single day.
“What was the message?”
His voice shook when he said, “You’re Welcome.”
I gasped and covered my shock with my hand over my mouth. “No. Jonah do not take this on. You did not ask for this. Just like I did not ask for Katrina to be killed in my apartment or any of those other women.”
“It was a gift.” He said it as though the words seared his very soul. “To me. Killing my bitch of an ex-wife and displaying her in my new girlfriend’s car like a fucking trophy.”
I was so never touching that car again.
I placed both of my hands on his shoulders. “Look at me, Jonah.”
He ignored me.
“Look at me, honey. Please.”
Either the please or the honey got him to look up.
“You had nothing to do with his decision to kill Helen. Did you want her dead?”
His entire face turned an angry red. “Fuck no! I wanted her to hurt like I did when she obliterated our marriage by sleeping with my fucking brother, but I didn’t want her dead.” He stood up, swung his arm back, and threw the whiskey glass against the brick wall opposite his bed. It smashed on impact, glass shards going all over the wood floor, golden-colored liquid dripping down the wall.
“Fuck!” He roared, his hands going into his hair and tugging on the roots. “He killed Helen! He wrapped his hands around her neck and snuffed the life right out of her. The first woman I ever loved. A woman I planned on raising children with, growing old with. And now he wants to do the same to you. He will not stop until he’s got you. And he’ll start by picking off other people we love. No one is safe. Not my parents, your sisters or your mom. No one.”
I knee-walked across the bed until I could reach him. Then I tugged his shoulders until he slumped back in a sitting position, his elbows to his knees, his head in his hands.
I plastered myself against his back, wrapping my arms around him the best I could. When I got my hands in front of him, he grabbed them and kissed them repeatedly before pressing them to his heart.
“What do you need me to do?”
“I don’t know. Just don’t leave me. You’re not to be out of my sight until this man goes down. Understand?”
I nodded against his neck. “What do we need to do to keep our families safe?”
“Get them the hell out of town. Maybe out of the country.”
“Sonia won’t go. She can’t and I’m sure the media storm is going to hit big time when they find out that the Senator’s ties to this serial killer just got more complex.”
He sighed as the door to his room opened and Ryan held it open.
“Senator Wright is here with her entourage in the living room. The media are crawling all over the front of the house and I need to get on this. Brother, I want to be here for you, but you need me working this, for you.” He glanced at the floor and noticed the mess. “I’ll pour you another glass before I go.” He moved to leave.
“Ryan?” Jonah called out, his voice hoarse.
“Yeah?”
“Find this motherfucker.”
Ryan’s face twisted into one of extreme confidence and true grit. He lifted his chin. “I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will. And thank you.” He reached his hand out.
Ryan took hold, yanked Jonah up, and clapped him on the back in a brotherly man hug. “Take care of our boy, eh?” he said to me.
“Absolutely.”
Jonah reached for me and I stood up and he held my hand as I walked to the other side of the bed where the glass hadn’t spread and put on my mother’s slippers. “I’ll clean this up after we deal with Sonia and her team.”
He held my hand and led me into the living room where we only found her and Quinn. Her team must have been outside.
My sister stood, her entire face pale, her red lips and sky-blue eyes looking so bright against her skin. “Jonah, I’m…I…I’m sorry for your loss.”
He nodded. “Thank you.”
I moved over to my sister and she immediately pulled me into an embrace. Her hold was tight, and I could feel her shaking as she tried to get her emotions under control. She cupped one of my cheeks. “You okay, Sis?”
“Yeah.”
“I was so worried about you and then the media started reporting on the latest victim and tied it to Jonah and your car and I…” She didn’t finish just pulled me into her arms again.
“I’m okay, Sonia. It will be okay. Ryan is going to kick some ass and take some names and find this guy. I have to believe that.” She nodded against my shoulder but didn’t let me go.
Sonia pulled her face back and we stood nose to nose. “You’re everything to me, Simone. You know that, right? I cannot lose you. I simply can’t.”
That time I cupped both of her cheeks. “Look into my face. I’m right here. Alive. Perfectly fine. I mean, I’m not fine-fine, but I’m alive. And I have faith that the FBI will get their man. They have to.”
“SoSo, the press outside want a comment.” Quinn shuffled toward our huddle. He was impeccably dressed in a black bespoke suit, a gray dress shirt, and a shimmery green tie. His dark red hair was slicked up and coiffed perfectly to the side and out of his face. Quinn McCafferty was one hundred percent Irish from the tip of his toes to the top of his red hair and emerald green eyes.
“They can want all they want. My sister’s boyfriend’s ex-wife was just brutally murdered and placed naked in my sister’s car. The same car he planned to strangle and kill my sister in, Quinn. The press can take a flying leap off a building for all I care right now.”
“Okay, so…” He typed into a handheld mini-iPad or some type of electronic device. “Senator Wright is not currently giving any comments on the horrible events that happened today or led up to today’s attack on Agent Fontaine’s ex-wife or her sister Simone. She requests the media give her and her extended family the time to process and grieve. Got it.” Quinn spoke succinctly and left the room and out the front door.
I could hear the roar of the media from all the way in here.
“He’s worth his weight in gold, SoSo.”
She gave me a small smile. “I know. I was lost without him while he was on vacation with his husband the last couple weeks.”
Quinn was married to Niko Chinn-McCafferty who is a mixed martial arts fighter and instructor. When I first met Niko, I swooned big time. Well, for all of ten minutes until I found out he was gay and dating Quinn. Then he just became Quinn’s hot MMA man.
“I can imagine.” I grinned knowing that Sonia did not do well without Quinn. He balanced her out in the workplace the way I hoped a husband would in her personal life.
While we were speaking, I could see Jonah head through the hallway and then come back a few minutes later with a dustpan filled with glass.
“Babe, I was going to do that.”
“My outburst. My mess to clean up. Sonia, would you like a drink?”
Her eyebrows rose and she gestured to the new glass that Ryan had poured before he left. It was sitting on the edge of the bar next to a pizza box none of us had touched. “That whiskey?”
Wild Child (A Soul Sister Novel Book 1) Page 12
