"Kirsty! What the hell are you doing here?"
The two girls ran to hug each other, excited to stumble upon one another like teenagers bumping into each other at the mall.
Phaedra and I watched them disappear into the kitchen in a flurry of chatter before speaking.
"What are you doing here? Your billionaire gets bored of you already?"
"I need your help," I said, disinterested in small talk and snippy comments. "I need to find Judge Kennedy. He has..."
"Bosworth," she chimed in.
"Wait, you knew this."
"I know a lot of things."
"There's no doubt about that," I said.
We glared at each other, unspoken, complicated hatred sizzling between us.
"Come in," she said. "I think we have a lot to talk about."
~
"You look like you've crawled out the grave," said Phaedra as she placed a mug of cocoa in front of me.
"I feel like it."
"How did you find us?"
I nodded over to Katy who pursed her lips and looked down to her hands.
"The emergency book," she said.
Phaedra rubbed her fingers across her forehead.
"Well, you're here now. Let's get to it. We're all looking for the same thing. Except for Katy. Something tells me you were just looking for an excuse to break curfew."
"Can you blame me!" she moaned with her red hair bobbing up and down. "Place is dull as dishwater."
“Focus!”
Kirsty slapped her hand into the center of the table.
“We have a lot to do and it all needs done immediately.”
She glanced in between Phaedra and me, sensing our tension.
“I’ve no doubt we have our differences but the goal for tonight is straightforward. The three of you are to head back into town. I’ve texted a friend of mine and she’ll meet you outside the house. She knows what to do from there.”
“What about you, Kirsty? Where are you going?”
“I’ve called the camp already. I’m staying here to make sure all the children get there safely.”
“Camp?” I asked. “What are you talking about?”
She shot me a look to silence me and I kept quiet.
“Who’s this friend of yours?” I asked, changing the subject.
“Her name’s Cherry,” replied Kirsty. “She met him not that long ago but he’s pretty into her already.”
“What kind of a name is Cherry?” I asked.
“A cute one now get going.
~
The three of us were in the car looking up at the house. If it was any other group of people on any other day we would have made a quaint little rapscallion group of girlfriends. But there were no smiles or raucous antics from inside the car. Just stony silence.
We all watched as a figure shimmied toward the front door, her heels clicking on the ground like the sound of crickets.
"That her?" asked Katy as she leaned forward, excited.
"You're just here for the fun of it, aren't you?" said Phaedra. "It's just one big adventure to you."
Katy shrunk back.
"It's her," I said. "Long blonde hair and skinny. That's what Kirsty said she looked like.
I clicked the door open and she heard me, her ears pricking up at the sound of something so innocuous to most people but a common sound in her life. That and hearing customers' pants hit the floor.
"Kirsty called," she said as she walked over to meet us. "Something about that prick judge."
"What do you know about him?"
"He loves it when I suck his balls."
"Geez. Apart from that."
"He loves blow."
Her voice was sweetly innocent but the way she spoke wasn't. I felt uncomfortable looking at her like I wanted to take her home and tuck her up in bed after a hot dinner.
"You can bring him here?" I asked.
"I can try," she said.
"Can you try really hard?"
She grinned and darted her tongue out over her lower lip that was coated in so much red lip gloss it looks as though she'd busted her way into a jar of strawberry jelly.
"Oh, I can try hard, alright. Real hard."
She licked her lips again and I shuddered.
"I can't thank you enough," I said. "But please, hurry."
Chapter Ten
JUDGE KENNEDY
"Will you get outta here? Go get some cigarettes or coffee or anything. Just make yourself useful for once."
O'Neil glared at me before sliding off the table he'd been sat on for the last two hours like a fucking gargoyle.
"You know a please wouldn't kill you."
"It might," I said. "You're not a doctor."
He was seething but what was he gonna do? He wasn't the boss here. I was the fucking boss. I
I watched as he grabbed his coat and made his way toward the door, sidling up to me as he reached for the handle.
"You're getting out of hand," he said.
"What you talking about?"
"All that shit up your nose is making you crazy."
"Shut the hell up."
His cheeks were puffed out and red with anger but he didn't say another word. Instead, he slinked out the door into the night.
Now it was just me and the doc. I was starting to think he was losing his mind. He'd been mumbling to himself for almost half an hour. For a while I thought he was having a spiritual experience, repeating a mantra over and over again but then I realized he was just going nuts.
I wasn't surprised. I'd go nuts too if I had to stare at O'Neil's face all the time.
My phone rang from somewhere deep in my pocket. As I moved to answer it, I fumbled in my pocket. These days my hands seemed to shake like a leaf. I dropped my phone on the ground but was pleased to see it hadn't shattered. The noise, however, had snapped Bosworth awake. He flinched and glanced up.
"You don't look so well," he said as I struggled to pick the phone off the floor.
"What do you care?"
"I don't but as a doctor I feel obligated to tell you that you look like shit."
"Delightful."
"I mean it. The veins in your eyes look as though they're ready to pop. It wouldn't surprise me if you had a heart attack or a stroke on the way."
At last, I managed to grab the phone and slid it open.
"Fucking doctors," I mumbled as I walked away.
Turning my back on him, I edged my way over to the door as I took the call.
"Who is this?"
"Aaw... You don't remember Cherry?"
"I told you not to call me!"
"But it's important!"
"Honey... I know your pussy's real important but I got a lot on right now."
"I got the blow you wanted."
Fuck, that was the last thing I needed right now. Or was it the best? I needed to stay sharp, to keep my head in the game but I was starting to get tired and the supply tucked away in the inside of my jacket was starting to disappear.
"You'll like it," she said.
"Oh, there's no doubt about that."
"So pure it'll make your whole face numb and it'll keep your dick hard for hours."
"No, honey. That's what you're for."
I looked back over at Bosworth who was slumped against the wall. He didn't look as though he was capable of standing up let alone escaping. I walked over and checked the restraints around his wrists. They were so tight there was a circle of blood around his arm.
"Meet me on the south side of Eglinton Rd."
"The industrial estate?"
"Yeah. I'll be outside in my car. Don't take your time."
~
I heard her heels before I saw her. She came up behind the car, her long bird like legs galloping through the mist.
"How's my boy?" she laughed as she opened my door.
"How's my girl?"
She didn't waste any time and jumped onto my lap. I couldn't resist the feeling of her body pressed up close to mine
and grew hard in an instant.
"Hmmm... You're wet already. I can feel the heat between your legs."
I slid a hand up her skirt and felt her slick lips. She bit into my chest as I pushed a finger inside her.
"Aw. Yeah, that's so good," she said and kissed me hard, her makeup smearing all over my lips.
She unzipped my pants and pulled me free.
"You wanna me to ride it, huh? You wanna feel inside of me?"
I glanced back over at the door to the warehouse. Bosworth was in there alone but it wouldn't be long until O'Neil would be back.
"Hurry," I gasped as she took me in her hands. "Ah fuck that feels so good."
She pumped her hand up and down faster and faster until I felt myself getting close to coming. Then, when I felt my buttocks pull tight as a knot of tension uncoiled itself from deep within my belly, she slid herself onto me. She screamed as I entered her and threw her head back, the frailty of her pale neck almost pearlescent in the moonlight.
I grabbed her hips and came hard and deep inside of her, yelling as I ejaculated.
"Fuck!" I clenched my eyes tight and felt the last shudder of pleasure drain away from me. "Jesus fucking Christ."
She slumped back against the steering wheel, laughing.
At first, I thought she was reaching some drug induced orgasmic euphoria but she was looking out the back of the car, her eyes tracking something as she giggled like a maniac.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
She laughed harder and pulled herself off my cock that was still wet and twitching.
"You have no idea," she said.
"Fucking crazy woman," I said as I zipped up my pants. "Anyway, I haven't got all night. You got the blow? Better be as good as you say it is."
She was still looking out the back window. I followed her gaze in the rearview mirror and saw three figures step out a red sedan. I couldn’t see their faces but I could tell they were all women. There was a familiarity to the smallest one even though I could barely make out her silhouette in the headlights.
It wasn’t the tied up hair or the long skirt I recognized first. It was the gait, the nervous sense of urgency and the hands clasped together.
“Fay?”
I jumped out the car and saw her beside Bothworth’s girlfriend.
“What the fuck? Aren’t you- You’re supposed to be-“
“Stuck in some piece of shit motel room with a rapist,” Etta spat.
They were storming toward me.
“Just tell me where Lincoln is. Is he here? Is he!”
She pushed me hard in the chest with a strength I didn’t think a thing her size could possess.
“Hey!”
“Where is he!”
A bony hand lay softly on my shoulder. I could smell Phaedra’s floral scent as she crept up behind me. In all the years I’d known her she’d always worn the same perfume.
“Tell her where he is,” she said. “It’s the last thing you have to do.”
I tried to turn but something cold and hard stabbed into my ribs. Looking down, I saw a gun pushed against my side.
“Woah, calm down. We can talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about. I’m not yours anymore.”
I could feel how tight she was holding the pistol, how determined her grasp was as her finger rested on the trigger. I could also sense how angry and unhinged she was.
“I’m going to kill you,” she said.
“You wouldn’t dare.”
“That’s what you think. Just tell her where Lincoln is. You’re going to die anyway so do the right thing.”
She pushed the gun harder.
“Okay! Jesus. He’s in there,” I nodded toward the door.
Etta flew at it and burst her way inside. There was a scream of relief, the sound of sobbing, her feet battering down on the floor as she rushed over to him.
Up the street, the sound of drunken laughter and footsteps echoed across the cobbles as some wayward party goers staggered toward us.
“Get inside,” said the old girl. “Now.”
Chapter Eleven
ETTA
"Oh, my God, Linx!"
I lunged toward him and fell at his feet. He looked like hell was but his eyes were sparkling. I took him in my arms and kissed him as hard as I could, cradling his head and holding him close. If there was a way to have held him closer I would have.
We'd barely been apart but it felt like a lifetime. I only stopped kissing him when my tears made our faces slippery and I leaned back to take a breath.
"How did you get here?" he croaked.
I moved around to his back and saw the rope burns on his wrists. Then, as I faced out toward Phaedra who was marching the judge inside, I caught sight of Berger slumped in the corner.
"I'm getting you out of here," I said as I tried to tear at the ropes with my weakened fingers. "I'll get both of you out of here."
In front of me, Kennedy's feet were shuffling toward me. I looked up and saw his face turn a deep shade of purple.
"You can't do this," he said. "You can't."
He was panicking, his eyes darting wildly around the room like a cornered animal.
"Shut your mouth," sneered Phaedra. "It's over. It all ends now!"
He tried to laugh but it came out as a choked splutter.
"What are you talking about? You've gone crazy. You should really see yourself. A tiny thing like you with a gun. Who do you think you are? Miss Marple?"
He laughed again, miserably.
"I just came to tell you one last thing before I stopped it all," she said. "The children are gone. Safe. Nowhere near you and your friends. It's over. I'm not doing your dirty work anymore."
He tensed up, his eyes widening and his face turning even darker. For a second, I was sure I could even see the shape of his heart beat against his chest.
"You're insane," he said. "You wouldn't do that."
His voice was as uncertain as his hands were shaky.
"Would you?"
"Already done. Rescued. Gone."
He gasped in a lungful of air and stared at the wall in horror, struck by the realization.
"So what now?" he asked. "I suppose you're going to kill me and then all of you are going to drive off into the sunset and live happily ever after."
"They might," said Phaedra as she stepped back and flicked the gun over in our direction. "But there's no happy ending for me."
She began walking around Kennedy in circles, her eyes never leaving his and the barrel of the gun never wavering from the direction of his chest.
I watched the peculiar dance as I held onto Lincoln, my nails digging into his shoulders as I tried to tell myself that I was safe because I was with him. That nothing bad would ever happen again because we were together.
At last, Phaedra stopped dancing and stood beside the judge and took his hand in hers. He looked terrified of her but kept his fingers clenched between hers like a reluctant child's.
"It has ended," she said with tears in her eyes. "You can't control me anymore you son of a bitch."
She gave me a final nod then lifted the gun. I waited for her to point it Kennedy but she remained by his side, the barrel pressing into the side of her own head.
"Wait. Phaedra! What are you doing!"
I jumped up but it was too late. Shocked and deafened by the gunfire I was blinded for a fleeting second and stumbled. By the time I reached her, not one but two bodies were lifeless on the ground. The bullet having escaped her head and entered his.
All I could do was look in horror as my ears rang with the echo of the bullet and the blood seeped into my shoes.
Their blood mingled together. Without knowing who they were, you'd be forgiven for thinking they were an innocent old couple who were joined together in a sea of crimson.
Lying side by side, they seemed so powerless, so frail.
When my hearing returned and my legs regained their strength, I stood up, staggering like a newborn
fawn.
"Etta. I thought I'd never see you again," said Lincoln. "I've been thinking about you this whole time."
"You're all I've been thinking about too. I thought you were dead," I cried.
Untying the last of the knots around his arms, I let them drop into the puddle of blood that was surrounding us. Finally, after all this time I could feel his arms around me.
It was heaven. Pure comfort despite what was beside us.
"Etta, how did you get here?" he asked, smothering my face in kisses and holding me tight.
I cried harder, my tears soaking the front of his shirt. He took my face in his hand and looked deep into my eyes.
"How did you get here?" he asked again.
With my whole body shaking, I opened my mouth and felt the saltwater drench my lips.
"I killed a man."
Bonus Chapters
A Doctor’s Touch
Jewels For Panties Series
Book Five
(Chapter 1 -3)
Chapter One
Berger
Chapter Two
Etta
Chapter Three
Lincoln
About The Author
Brooke Kinsley has been in love with words since the day she took her first breath. She loves writing steamy, sexy stories with very strong guys who fall deeply in love with the women they flirt. Coffee and wine inspired her stories and she thinks every person should partake in! Brooke lives in Quebec, Canada with her boyfriend. When she's not crafting stories, she's probably playing with her two cats.
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Jewels and Panties (Book, Six): Puppet Master Page 5
