by Kirby Elaine
Everything was set as Michael entered the house and headed straight to the bathroom for a shower. I headed to the bedroom to keep him distracted as everyone filed into the back of the house and into the formal dining room.
“Hey.” Michael said as he exited the bathroom, a white towel wrapped tightly around his waist. He leaned over and kissed my lips. “Sorry I got tied up at Liam’s we started playing with the Mustang and then the kids all went down for naps so we shot a few games of pool.”
“It’s no problem. I’m glad to see you two hanging out again.”
I followed him around the room with my eyes as he got dressed, putting on the clothes I had left out for him and raking his damp hair back. It had taken a while for him to decide to cut it and trim own his facial hair so much so that I had forgotten about the clean cut Michael.
“Ready?” He asked.
“Yeah. Let’s hope Nathan and Mack don’t keep us waiting, I’m starving.” I replied slyly knowing that he’d be surprised to see that his sister would be joining us in addition to his brother and Alex.
Michael
I could always count on Krishna to put a smile on my face. I couldn’t hold back my excitement as I wrapped my arms around Leah lifting her into the air. Something about having all of my favorite people in one place change my morale and made me focus on what was really important, my family.
“I can’t believe you flew in for a birthday party. What did Krish have to say to get you here?”
“Absolutely nothing.” She sipped from her glass. “She sent your jet.” She laughed and hugged me again.
“Really? She’s paying that fuel bill.” I joked as I wrapped my arm around my sister and walked out onto the back patio where it seemed everyone had flocked. I greeted everyone else while hanging tightly to Leah.
Krishna had gone all out; the music was playing throughout the yard and house as wait staff circled with hors d’oeuvres and flutes of champagne. I ignored the trays of alcohol and sipped on lemon water as everyone else indulged. I did however join in on cigars with Liam, Nathan and my brother-in-law Eric.
After an hour or so we filed into the dining room, all taking our usual seats. It was the best part of any week made better by Leah’s presence. I waited for the room to quiet before starting the toasts.
“Another year. One of the hardest, I must add. When I checked into rehab, knowing it was the right thing to do before things had gotten any worse, I blocked out all of this, the importance of my family in this whole process. And then Dad passed and it reminded me that you all are the roots that keep me standing. And I’ve been struggling, coping with losing him has been a battle in itself and I’m getting through it with help.” I looked at Krishna who returned a smile. “I guess I’m just trying to say that I’m grateful, no, I’m blessed to be here and to have made it through such a difficult year. And I love each and every one of you for sticking by me and my crazy.” No one said anything, they just returned warm smiles. Krishna gently squeezed my hand when I sat. I cleared my throat. “Let’s eat!”
***
“I’ve been waiting all night for this part.” I said as I unzipped my pants.
“What part is that?” Krishna asked playfully.
“The birthday sex part. Get over here!” Krish playfully pulled away. “Now, woman!”
“Well, if you insist.” She straddled my lap fully dressed in her orange dress and heels. I hiked the dress up and pulled her underwear aside. “And this is how you want it?”
“I want it every which way I can get it, it is my birthday.” I smiled deviously and plunged into her, cupping my hand over her pouty lips.
I had surrendered control to Krishna and relished in having her take me and give me all of herself. She left me satiated and I drifted asleep just after 3 a.m.
***
“Let me take you out for your birthday.” I was up late talking to Krishna on the phone. Just a few weeks and I had fallen hard for her. I had learned more about myself and my own issues in the few weeks of her company than I had with my time previously spent in therapy. It was no secret that I was a wreck, it came with the territory, and it was in my blood.
There was this big issue of loss surrounding the Scott men. My sister had been immune to the crazy while Liam and I along with our father were endlessly recuperating from the loss of women in our lives. I had lost my mother and a woman I swore I’d spend the rest of my life with. Abandonment, the fear of it was certain to plague me. But I knew Krishna Daar, in all of her exotic beauty was the permanence I had been longing for.
“I can’t keep letting you spoil me this way?” She laughed.
“It’s your birthday. I should be able to spoil you.” I begged.
“So, after my birthday, you’ll ease up on the spoiling, just a little?” She asked curiously.
“I promise. But how long before I’ll get to see you again?” I couldn’t get enough of her.
“How tight is the security at your place?” She asked.
“Pretty tight, why?”
“Because if you just ring the bell of a random apartment, and say you have a delivery, any Tom, Dick and Harry will let you in.” She chuckled before the knock came vibrating through the apartment.
“You are a thousand kinds of crazy.” I had opened the door and pulled her close to me, closing the door and pressing her small frame against it. I took her warm lips to mine, enveloping her in all the lust that had been building between us. She pulled back for a breath.
“Missed me?” she managed with a short breath.
“You have no idea.” My lips slammed to hers again. I lifted her and she wrapped her legs around my waist with a graceful ease. I carried her to the bedroom where my spot had been vacated to greet my surprise visitor. “You’re killing me.” I finally breathed after putting her down on the large bed, the dark blue comforter enveloped her as I had enveloped her lips a thousand times in the past week.
“I think you might have found your kryptonite, Superman.” Her top came up over her head allowing her dark hair to fall against her chest.
“I can’t argue with that.” I went to her. I allowed my lips to taste every inch of the brown skin that captivated me at every turn.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say..” she smiled devilishly, “…never mind”
“You’d say what?” I kissed the ripeness of her breast that shyly protruded from her grey lace bra. “You’d say that I’ve fallen in love with you?” She simply nodded. “And I have.” I pulled back from her watching the blue in her eyes glow against the light of the bedside lamp. “I am crazy in love with you, Krishna Daar.”
“I love you too, Michael Cruz.” She closed the gap between us, biting my bottom lip and scratching my bare chest. It was so easy to be with her. It was so easy to love her. She was so real and natural.
I eased her body beneath mine taking her jeans, panties, and bra off in the process. I had no trouble ridding myself of the briefs and pajama pants I’d been wearing. I wanted to know her fully. I wanted to take her apart piece by piece and somehow rebuild her encompassing pieces of myself wherever she needed. I wanted to be the man that completed her. And in this moment, the moment we first made love I wanted to know that I was going to be the last man to ever have her this way.
Without a second thought I kissed her as I eased every inch of myself into her, nothing between us but an undeniable passion. She moaned as her neck arched back, her red lips parting. I paused relishing in the moment. With each additional stroke I felt the desire to release grow. I couldn’t help but spend every one of those seconds with her lips against mine, tasting her moans with each thrust.
“Michael.” She panted. “Michael.”
“I love you, Krishna.” I pulled her body even closer. Her hot thighs gripped my hips as I stared into her eyes. The love she felt for me made her anything but my kryptonite, she was my saving grace and I knew without a doubt that I had to marry her.
***
“I’m telling
you. I’ve looked myself. If they can’t find anything and I can’t find anything, this man is essentially a ghost.” Liam said leaning over my desk. I had been back to work for weeks now and the stress of finding out who Charlie Jenner really was, it was consuming me.
“So, he’s lying?” I asked. “Give me something more. It’s been weeks or searching.”
“He exists on a superficial level. He has photos and articles and special mentions out the ass. Just ask any charity, they know who Jenner is. But that’s where it ends. There is no bank account, no social security information that fits.”
“But he’s living somewhere. And the money from these charities is building community centers and such. There’s no way he’s all bad. But to be concealing his identity, he has to be hiding something.” I replied.
“That’s exactly the thinking I had. I’ve had him followed. He’s rents a small mansion in Baltimore, drives a leased car. Both registered to a Charlie Jenner.”
“I bet that name gets a million pops.”
“That’s just it. Charles Jenner gets a million pops but Charlie, just one, and it’s a deceased infant.” He tossed a file onto the desk. “And this woman, the infant’s mother, popped in the National Missing Person’s Database, disappeared from her home in Florida two years ago, remains found about six months later. Now I’m not one for jumping to conclusions but I’d say we need to keep your wife away from this psycho.”
“Shit!” I pulled out my phone. “Krishna is on her way to a winery in Virginia with him.” I called her number; my hands shook thinking about the worst case scenario. If any of this was true than I’d kill him before I gave him the chance to hurt Krishna.
“Keep calling.” Liam darted from my office sweat on his brow as we had both erupted into fear. My phone buzzed in my hand.
“Krishna.” I said into the phone clenching to my desk.
“Michael, what’s wrong? You sound funny.” She said. I heard music in the background.
“Where are you?”
“Still at the house. Charlie is running a bit late.”
“I’m heading home. Don’t leave. We need to talk about this guy.”
“Oh goodness, Michael. Why do you have to do this? You always make something out of nothing. You have to stop. It’s driving me mad.”
“Listen to me. I don’t think this guy is who he says he is. He could be very dangerous and I—”
“Hold on, this is him calling now.” She clicked off the line and I stood pacing my office. I knew she wouldn’t believe me. “Michael, I really don’t have time for this.” Krishna said when she returned to our call. “I’m leaving now. I’ll be back tonight. I love you.”
“Krishna!” I yelled. Liam stood at the door. “You need to listen to me. I’m not making this stuff up. Do not leave the house with him; I’m on my way home.” I ended the call.
I rushed pass Liam, down the elevator and out to my car. I knew I was right about this guy, my gut told me so. And I also knew that Krishna wouldn’t believe a word I said. So with the folder in hand I marched into the house after barely parking the car, up the stairs and into the bedroom. There was no sign of Krishna. I sat on the edge of the bed looking at the information Liam had collect on Charlie. I didn’t know what to do except to call in my own investigator and to have Krishna tailed.
I returned to the car for my phone and Krishna came walking up the drive.
“What happened?” I asked rushing towards her, pulling her into my arms.
“Nothing happened.” She pulled away. “You asked me not to leave. I met Charlie down at the gate to give him the reservation info for the tasting. Told him I was sorry for cancelling.” She side stepped me and went into the house. I pulled my car into the garage, grabbed my phone and headed into the house and up the staircase.
“Krishna, listen.” I said barging into the bedroom. She was standing with the folder in her hand.
“What is this?” She looked through the papers, the photos of the woman. Graphic photos Liam had managed to acquire.
“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. We don’t think Charlie is who he says he is. We’ve run the name, Krishna. Our guys are good. They got nothing except this name that popped up at every turn. All the others, not him.”
“And? What are you trying to say? He stole someone’s identity?”
“It’s way bigger than that. But that’s part of it.” I sat down and pulled her down beside me. “You said Charlie moves around a lot. That he doesn’t like to settle down. Maybe he was in Florida when this woman went missing, when she was murdered. And I don’t know for certain but I don’t want to take the chance that he’s after you too.”
“This is ridiculous. Charlie’s a good guy. He does amazing work. He’s my friend, Michael.” I cried.
“I know he’s your friend and I can’t deny that he has done some remarkable things here but he doesn’t exist, not to the government. Until we know more, you have to stop spending time around him. Stop letting him in the house and around the kids.” She didn’t say anything. She just nodded and left the room.
Krishna
My mind was racing. I wanted so badly to believe that nothing Michael had told me was the truth, that Charlie was just Charlie, my outgoing friend with a knack for fashion and wine. But Michael wouldn’t deliberately destroy my friendship just for the sake of doing so. He was right. Michael was always right. And I didn’t know how to call things off with Charlie in a fair, reasonable way. I picked up my phone and sent him a message:
K: Let’s take some time apart.
C: Your idea or his?
K: I have to worry about my marriage first and foremost.
C: So his idea then. I told you he’d come back and do this.
K: He has nothing to do with this, Charlie.
C: I’m not convinced. Well, good luck, Krishna. Maybe our paths will cross again.
I starred at the final message and sat my phone beside me on the glass patio table. I tucked my feet beneath myself and looked out at the still pool, over the yard and at the blur through the trees that hid Liam’s house. Maybe my sister-in-law could help shed some light on this. I stood and walked down the cleared stone path to her back patio door. I let myself in.
“Jayda!” I called from the kitchen.
“Hey!” She turned the corner into the kitchen with her toddler Kadin on her hip. “What are you doing here, thought you were headed to the vineyards with Charlie.”
“I was until Michael and your husband went all CSI and convinced me that Charlie was an ax murderer.” I huffed and plopped down on the stool. Jayda grabbed two wine glasses and a bottle of pinot and sat them in front of me. She slid Kadin into the highchair hooked to the counter.
“I knew they were up to something.” She filled the two glasses. “Liam was out of the house in a hurry after the head of his security team showed up with a thick yellow envelop. He said he was headed to the offices.”
“Yeah, well, that thick envelop was full of damning theories as to who Charlie really is. That envelope, full of photos of a twenty something murdered woman from Tallahassee, Florida.” I replied causing Jayda to choke on the sip of wine she had just taken.
“What?!” She said after clearing up the pinot induced cough.
“There was a woman that disappeared from Florida and found murdered some months later. Eerily enough, she had a deceased infant, Charlie Jenner. And my Charlie, He doesn’t exist on paper. Apart from media appearances, he has no paper trail.”
“And they conclude that he’s a murdering psychopath from that?” She slid in next to me.
“Yup. So I called off our friendship, told him I needed to focus on my marriage. And now he thinks Michael made me do it.”
“Well this guy sounds like bad news. I mean, he’s a nice guy, there wasn’t a time I didn’t like hanging out with him but if our husbands say it’s a workable theory, they’re probably right. There’s a reason he keeps seasoned detectives on payroll. If it’s true, they’ll
get the evidence they need to bring him to justice.”
“They’re not cops, Jayda.” I remarked rolling my eyes.
“No but they aren’t the ones to cross. They’ll get to the bottom of it all. I promise.”
“And if they’re wrong?” I asked causing a laugh to escape from Jayda’s lips.
“They aren’t. It’s that simple.”
“Sadly, I hope they are. I really like Charlie, he’s fun.” I pouted.
“I know, honey. There will be other Charlie’s. Well, not other Charlie’s I hope. But other friends.” She laughed again hugging me.
“I hope so because you are downright horrible!” I hugged her back.
“I’m sorry. But this is so Lifetime Original Movie, I can’t help it.”
“Well, I’m going to go home, make dinner or something. Maybe spend time with my husband.” I smiled and hugged Jayda again. “Thanks for the wine.” I gulped down the remainder of the glass and sat it on the table.
“Good luck, Sis.”
Michael
It was obvious that I wasn’t Krishna’s favorite person by the time the sun had come up the next morning. She had a few glasses of wine and proceeded to go in on me about my obsession with her and every person that comes into her life. And by the time we climbed into bed we had “made up”. But the morning sun bought about a whole ‘nother Krishna. Bright and bubbly and faking it to make it. I spent the morning on the phone with Florida detectives and Liam had managed to get the plane ready to fly us and our own detectives down to Florida. It wasn’t planned but out little investigation had reopened the case and launched a joint investigation.
“Hey, I’m leaving around noon. Text me any photos you have of Charlie. We’re heading to Florida.”
“What are you going to Florida for? You’re not a detective, Michael.” She argued.
“I know. But I want to see this one through. If he’s a danger, I want him bought down.” I threw a few changes of clothes into my bag. “You should take the kids and go stay with Jayda.”
