by M. Stratton
She was surprised by her reaction, watching him suck and jerk himself off. She’d never wanted to depend on a man for anything, so she was still a virgin. She had fought and killed to keep her virginity. She wasn’t certain what to do with how her body was reacting to watching him. Tilting her head to the side she wondered how it was even possible and made a note to look it up later.
Once she was left alone at the age of seventeen she knew she’d never have a ‘normal’ life. She was destined to live alone. She was going to make her own rules to live by, and kill by.
Kat knew the next day was going to be no fun. All of the guys had said they had somewhere important to be and left, leaving the women alone. Well, except for the security guards. She knew Evie was going to be looking for her and decided they might as well have their confrontation in front of everyone instead of them all hearing about it second hand.
As Kat walked by the Troublesome Trio on her way to grab a cup of coffee, she stopped and did a double-take at the computer screen. “What in the hell? Please tell me that isn’t what I think it is. Oh, shit! My eyes!” She quickly covered them so as to not see any more of the image.
“Oops, sorry, you shouldn’t move so quietly,” Marie said as she closed the lid to the laptop.
Sighing, Lexi got up from the couch and walked over. “Now what are you all up to?”
“Just doing some research,” Evelyne said innocently.
“You call that research? I call it ‘where the fuck is the bleach’,” Kat said as she backed away, still rubbing her eyes.
Evie came storming into the room and confronted Kat. “What in the hell are you saying to my grandmother?”
“I’m trying to figure out why they were looking at that type of stuff on the computer. Take it down a notch. Trust me, if you had seen what I did,” she shuddered, “you’d be asking the same thing.”
“Really.” Evie crossed her arms and sassed back, “There’s nothing they could show me that would shock me. You forget I grew up with them.”
Kat knew this would shock her and wanted her to suffer the pain of the image too. “I triple dog-dare you. No pun intended.”
“Fine.” Evie went over and lifted the lid of the laptop and quickly slammed it shut her face blanching. “Why … seriously … why would you want to look at that?”
“It’s research.” Leigh spread her hands as if it explained it all.
“Research for what?” Lexi wandered over, curiosity evident, and reached out her hand for the laptop. Evie slammed her hand down on the cover so she couldn’t open it.
“Don’t do it. Trust me; you’ll scar the little one for life. Shit, I’m not even pregnant and I think I scarred my future children.” Evie shuddered.
“Come on. It can’t be that bad.” Lexi tried to pry her hand away.
“A little help here ladies since you started this.”
“Well, see honey, it’s like this.” Evelyne reached for a book and handed it to Lexi. “We’ve gotten into reading smut. Did you know there are all these books out there that go into detail about s-e-x?”
Evie snorted, “Since when did you ever need to spell sex?”
“This isn’t your ‘regular’ sex, this is dirty s-e-x. And this Grey lady,” Evelyne tapped the cover of the book, “she’s out of this world crazy when it comes to writing about s-e-x. Really good, too. Gets all your juices flowing.”
“Would you stop spelling it, we get the idea,” Evie practically screamed at them. “What does that have to do with your ‘research’ that has now blinded two of us?”
“Well, she mentions something that we didn’t think was humanly possible, so we looked it up. And who would have thought, it is possible. I’ll be damned.” Leigh said as she drummed her fingers on the table.
Kat cleared her throat, “And now thanks to you, I have no appetite for breakfast.” She walked back to the couch and picked up the newspaper to read. “What?” she asked as the paper was crumpled into her lap by Evie, who was now sitting in front of her.
“What are you doing to my brother?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing, my ass.”
“Stop fishing for compliments, you know you’ve got a great ass,” Kat sassed back.
“Very funny. Fine, let me put it to you this way. Stay. Away. From. My. Brother.”
Kat sighed; she really didn’t want to do this, but knew that she had to. “Let me put it to you this way. Your brother is a grown man. Your brother knows what he is getting into. Your brother can do whatever the hell he wants to. He has a mind of his own and is just as stubborn as you are. Since you couldn’t get him to back off, you thought you’d try me. I might be quiet; I might hang back in the shadows, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you walk all over me. Back off.” Having said her piece, she stood up to walk away.
Evie stood too, grabbing Kat’s arm to stop her. “Listen here, I won’t let you use him and then toss him away, leaving me to pick up the pieces. That bastard’s got a heart of gold and you’ll just crush it.”
Kat looked down at Evie’s hand still holding onto her arm and then back up at her. “Are you done?”
“Not even close.”
“Evie …” Lexi warned.
“No, Lexi, it’s got to be said. She came here, lied about everything to get a job close to you. She is so focused on revenge that she doesn’t care who gets hurt, as long as she can take Jeremy down. I won’t have my brother be a casualty of her war.”
“Wow, you really are a piece of work, aren’t you Evie?” Kat said as she shook Evie’s hand off her arm and walked away. “I’m only going to say this once. Whatever is between Jackson and me, is just that. Between us. We don’t need everyone else getting in the middle of it. What we decide to do, we decide to do. You don’t know everything. You don’t know what we feel for each other. You don’t know every little thing we’ve talked about. You don’t know ‘us’ as a couple. You don’t know shit and that is what really burns your ass. Get over yourself, lady; you have no reason to judge me so back the fuck off.” Kat was so pissed she was shaking.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Where do you get off being so high and mighty? You’re just another person with baggage from their past that they cling to instead of moving forward. Why? Because it’s so much easier than actually living.”
“Evie, enough.” Lexi started moving toward them.
“No, really Lexi, it’s fine. Let her have her say.” Kat folded her arms across her chest.
“So you can’t have kids. That sucks, but you know what? You aren’t the first, and you won’t be the last. There are other things you can do in order to have kids. But no, you’ve got to go the whole, ‘the only way I’ll feel complete is to kill him’ route. Well, that doesn’t cut it. Suck it up, babe.” Evie slammed her hands flat on the wall next to her.
“You’ve had your say, now I’m going to have mine. You don’t know me. You know nothing about what happened to me. What I went through to even get to the place I am today. Yeah, I’ve got revenge on the brain; a lot of people would, so you deal with that. This is about Jackson and me, and the fact you don’t like it. Well, I seem to remember a time not too long ago when someone else pretty much said, “fuck it” to her best friend and decided to have a relationship with a man that looks exactly like the one who tried to kill her, not once, but twice. I see that’s okay, but not this, not what I did. Well, fuck you, Evie. Fuck. You.” Kat walked out of the room and up the stairs to her room, needing some time to be alone.
A little while later, there was a soft knock on Kat’s door. She turned and saw Evie and let out a sigh. “If you are here for round two, I’ll take a pass if it’s all the same.”
Evie ignored her, walked in and sat down next to her on the window seat. “I’m here to say I’m sorry.”
Kat looked at her in disbelief. “Who are you and what have you done with Evie?”
“Very funny. I know. I don’t say I’m sorry that often. Probably not as often as I
should, but in this case it’s deserved. I am sorry, Kat. I would really appreciate it if you accept my apology.”
“What brought all of this on? You ripped into your brother yesterday and me today. You seem pretty set in your thinking.”
“Well, I was. Then last night, Anthony tried to talk some sense into me. I woke up in a nasty mood, came downstairs, and there you were.”
“Lucky me,” Kat said dryly.
“Shut up. You don’t want to miss this.”
“Hold on, maybe I should record this so I’ll have it for future reference.”
“Are you done?”
“As soon as I mark it on my calendar.” Kat started to get up when Evie placed her hand on her arm, stopping her.
“Please listen. It would appear I’m the only one who has a problem with you and Jackson. Everyone else has told me to butt out. Then, there was what you said about Anthony. It’s true. Once Anthony came into my life, I couldn’t see anything else but him. I knew it was going to cause problems between Lexi and myself, and I don’t want to say I didn’t care, because I did, it’s just, his pull was stronger. There was nothing that could make me give him up. So, I’m just saying, I understand, I’m sorry, and I’ll try to be nicer.”
“Can I have that last part in writing?” Kat snickered.
“Don’t push it.”
“Is this the part where you two hug? Coz I’d love a picture of that,” Jackson said from the doorway.
“Jerkface.” Evie got up and punched him in the arm as she walked by.
“Love you too, sis.” He smiled as she hissed at him as he walked into the room to take the seat his sister just vacated. “So, want to tell me what happened this morning?”
“No.” Kat turned back to look out the window.
“Okay, well let me tell you what I know. After my sister verbally attacked you and you said what needed to be said, I received a phone call from Grams telling me what happened and maybe we big strong men should get back here.”
Kat’s gut knotted. She knew Jackson loved his grandmother and valued her opinion. “Somehow I don’t think she said the last part.”
“Well, maybe not, but you’ve got to admit it is something she’d say. She just wanted to make sure you were okay, and knew that Lexi would like to have Noah around after all the drama. Plus, she knows her granddaughter and that Anthony is the only one who can really handle her.” He leaned back against the wall and locked his fingers behind his head. “So, it would seem that we weren’t needed. One very strong, sexy woman put my sister in her place.”
Kat shrugged. “I just made a point she couldn’t argue with. No biggie.”
Jackson leaned forward until their faces were inches apart. “It is a biggie and you know it. Do you know how hard it’s been keeping my distance from you? When all I want to do is take you in my arms? Kiss you while I’m buried deep inside of you?”
“We can’t.”
“Yes, we can. There is no reason why we can’t. Everyone knows. Everyone accepts.”
“But I’m broken.” Kat couldn’t help it; her voice cracked.
“No. Even if it takes me the rest of my life, I’m going to prove how perfect you are. Don’t you understand? The only one holding you back is you. Damn it, I love you and I’m not letting you go.”
They sat there staring at each other. Kat could feel their connection, almost as a living thing between the two of them. The air seemed to pulsate in time with their synchronized heartbeats. Everything faded into the background except his face, his scent, his breathing. She needed to taste him. Leaning forward, she gently kissed him with the unspoken words of a promise.
The next day started out the same as any other day. Reading the papers, searching for missing women and making phone calls. They were all getting tired of it, but they knew it had to be done; since something might actually come from one of them. They were trying to step up their efforts, as the Halloween party was just a couple of days away.
“I want to make sure everyone knows their parts for the party. I don’t want anything left to chance,” Jackson said later that morning.
Evie groaned. “Come on, we’ve been over the plan like a dozen times already.”
“Since you feel that way about it, why don’t we make it a couple dozen times?”
“Children,” Evelyne said from the kitchen. “Don’t make me come in there. Jackson is right. Now hush, Evie.”
“Fine.”
When Jackson stuck his tongue out at Evie, she backhanded him in the stomach. He cleared his throat and continued, “Kat and I will hide in the back of Bruno’s SUV to the hotel. Bruno will be going there to check on the event and the room that Noah booked for the night. The lady who is organizing the event, Amber, will meet us in the underground garage where we will all ride up in a private elevator to the presidential suite.”
He paused to pop some fruit into his mouth and take a drink of coffee. “Bruno and I will go through the presidential suite to make sure there are no listening or recording devices. Amber has assured us that no one has rented the presidential suite for the two weeks leading up to the event and she has personally selected the maintenance and cleaning crew that work in the suite. She has also been there with them to oversee what they are doing. Bruno has also visited every building that has a direct line of site to the hotel, especially the presidential suite. As long as Kat and I are careful and stay toward the interior walls, no one will know we are in there.”
Lexi raised her hand. “What about lights? Are you guys going to be there all night in the dark?”
“We can’t risk someone noticing the lights on when no one is supposed to be renting it, not to mention shadows. It will be best if we don’t,” Jackson said.
Lexi looked over at Kat. “Are you going to be okay with that?”
“I’ll be fine. Really. Don’t worry about me.”
“But we do,” Evie said and shrugged when everyone looked at her. “What? Well, we do.”
“It’s only for one night. I can get through it. Please don’t worry about me.”
Jackson wanted her to know that he thought she could do this and wanted to get everyone back on track. “She can do it. Besides, have you seen the size of the bathroom? It’s huge; we can always go in there, close the door, make sure no light spills out from the bottom of the door, and turn the lights on. Maybe I can get her to play strip poker.”
“Men,” Evie said and threw an apple at him.
Jackson caught it easily and took a bite of it. “Women.”
“Let’s just stop this before it goes any further,” Lexi remarked dryly. “I just want to make sure that aside from the strip poker, Kat is really going to be fine with everything.”
“Yes, I will be fine with everything, including the strip poker, because I don’t plan on losing.”
“Go get him, girl,” Evie laughed and gave her a high five. “And if you can somehow lock him out of the room while he’s naked that would be great. He hasn’t had that done to him in years, right Lex?”
“And if you could time it, so the most people possible see him, that would really be wonderful,” Lexi said with a small smile.
“Ha-ha, can we get back to the plan?” Jackson looked up at the ceiling.
“I want to hear more about this. What exactly did you do?” Kat asked as she leaned closer to Lexi.
“No, no, no. We’ve got to go over the plan.”
Lexi patted Kat’s arm, “That’s okay; we’ll talk more, later. There’s so much more to tell.”
“I’ll be sure to take notes.” Kat grinned at Jackson.
“As I was saying, Kat and I will spend the night in the suite. Bruno and the security team will be in the suite directly under us. They will monitor final set up for the event and make sure no one attempts to gain access to the presidential suite. Noah and Lexi will arrive at four in the afternoon, and we will all get ready. Lexi and Noah will go down to the party for the dinner. Once dinner is over and Noah has made his speech, they
will make sure their table knows that they are going up to their suite so Lexi can change into a different pair of shoes. Once up there, we will switch places. Since the curtains will be closed, they will be able to move about without worrying someone will see them. We’ll dance the night away, and if Jeremy shows up, we’ll catch him. If not, we’ll return to the suite, get a good night’s sleep then come home.”
“Sounds like we’ve got everything covered. What could go wrong?” Noah said.
A couple of hours later, they were still sitting around reminiscing about growing up, when Anthony’s phone rang. Everyone stopped and listened as they noticed his words and tone. As soon as he hung up, Evie was right there.
“What’s going on? Where is he?”
“It would appear that someone matching Jeremy’s description was seen not too far from here coming out of a country club with an older lady.”
“Where,” Kat asked. “How?”
“Just twenty minutes from here. Actually, it is very close to where the event is. We’ve been watching places where rich older women frequent, looks like it might have finally paid off. We’ve got someone trailing them right now.”
“Let’s go.” Jackson jumped up, grabbed his coat and started for the garage.
“Shouldn’t we leave this up to the police?” Lexi asked while rubbing her belly.
“If it turns up that he is Jeremy, the police will be called,” Anthony said. “Besides, since they don’t really believe he’s alive, I’m not sure they would act on this in time.”
Kat caught up to Jackson. “Please be careful.”
“It’s my middle name.”
“Jackson,” Kat pleaded.
He cupped her face in-between his hands. “Because of you I will always be careful.” Quickly he kissed her nose. “I’ll be back before you know it.”
