by M. K. Moore
“Let’s do what we came here to do, and then we can talk wedding dates,” I say.
“That’s the plan,” he replies, winking at me.
The plane lands and we get into a dark SUV that is waiting on the tarmac for us. One of the flight attendants follows us off the plane with some of the bags from shopping today as well as two black duffel bags. When did those get put on board?
I do have to say that it is amazing not to have someone shadowing my every move. I realize that is probably because I am with Benny and I really do love that.
We drive to a really nice hotel right on the strip. He pulls right up and the valet rushes to open my door. I get out of the car on my own. I know Benny well enough to know that someone else touching me will never go over well. He grabs only the duffel bags from the trunk, and we walk into the hotel hand in hand.
“Don’t we need to check-in?” I ask pointing to the reception desk.
“No. We are going straight upstairs to my parent’s room.” He’s all business now and that is sexy as hell.
“Oh, okay.”
“We aren’t staying here, baby. We just gotta do our thing.” I get a little pep in my step.
“Yes. Our thing.” I say excitedly.
Oh, God. What does wanting to be involved in this say about me?
Turns out, I don’t even care what it says.
Chapter Five
Benny
I need to get my head in the game. All I can think about is tasting her again, but I have to get this shit done and then I can get that again. What concerns me the most about this clean up is that the body has been sitting for close to six hours now. It’ll be in almost full rigor and very hard to handle. We take the elevator up to the penthouse. After knocking on the door, my mother answers distraught.
“Mamá, what’s going on? Where’s Papá?” I ask pushing my way inside.
“He’s in the bathroom with it,” she says gesturing toward the back of the room. I look at Pilar who steps into action. “I don’t understand what happened. I mean I know, of course, I know, but damn, I’ve never seen anything like that. He just went crazy.”
“Hola señora. Me llamo Pilar. Let me help you. Let’s sit on the sofa.” She leads her over and sits down with her. I head back to the bathroom and push the door open.
“Papá! What the fuck?” I ask looking around at the carnage. It’s a fucking bloodbath. It’s everywhere. It’s sprayed on the wall, and he’s covered in it. The body is in the tub.
“What? Clean it up,” he says like I don’t know that’s my job.
“Why are you hanging out with him?”
“I’m covered in blood. The last time I killed somebody it was the late seventies and DNA testing wasn’t widespread. I didn’t want to chance getting it on the carpet.” I have so many questions.
“How did you lure him to the bathroom? Who is it?”
“Vadim Popov.” Things are becoming a little clearer now.
“I was taking your mother to see some singer she likes that has a show here. He touched her. Touched what was mine. I knocked his ass out then drug him up here. There is bound to be something on the security tapes. I just saw red.”
“Alright. I’ll take care of it. Strip out of all that. I’ll grab a robe from the closet out there.” I turn and grab the robe after setting my bags down. “Leave the shoes. Everything.” I take my jacket off and roll up my sleeves. My shoulder holster comes off as well. I never go anywhere without my Colt Bright Stainless 38 Super caliber pistol. She has gotten me out of more jams than I care to say. Fuck, I liked this suit and it will be beyond ruined. Once he’s in the robe, I lead him carefully to another bathroom in the suite. “Take a shower as hot as you can stand it. Then go sit with Mom.” Once he’s in the shower, the robe comes back with me to be destroyed.
“Okay, son.” He’s too damn old to be doing shit like this anymore.
I head back into the other bathroom and survey the scene once more. There is so much blood, I can’t tell how he was killed until I find the knife on the edge of the tub. I take my shoes off in the hallway and open my bag. Inside is a handsaw. Best ten dollars I ever spent. I get to work on the body and after an hour, I am sweaty and covered in blood. I finally get to the point where I can fit him into a suitcase, I am not doing that though. I wrap him and his limbs into a large plastic bag and tape it securely. When I look up, I see Pilar standing in the doorway.
“How long have you been standing there?” I ask. Fuck, she is gorgeous.
“Long enough,” she breathes.
“I need you to do me a favor. Normally, there isn’t this much blood.”
“Anything.”
“Can you take the car to the big box store about four miles from here? I am going to need new clothes. Everything.”
“Yeah, of course. Keys, please. I’ll take your mom with me. She seems really freaked out.”
“Yeah. My dad has been in charge since right before he met her. I doubt she’s seen this kind of violence from him before.”
“That makes sense,” she says. “So, the keys?” she asks again, giggling. I am surprised the blood really has not freaked her out.
“I am going to step forward, they are in my right front pants pocket.” I do so, and she reaches her hand into my pocket, careful not to touch any of the blood smeared on my chest. She looks right into my eyes as she fumbles around in my pocket. I know she can feel the damn keys, she is just testing my patience. It wouldn’t be too sanitary to throw her down and fuck her in this disgusting mess, but if she keeps stroking my cock like that, I won’t have a fucking choice. “Pilar,” I growl and her hand stops, completely wrapped around me.
“Yes, Benny?”
“Get the keys, go to the store, and get your ass back here.” My voice is strained. I call on my patron saint, Saint Leonard, for patience. Saint Leonard is the saint who watches over criminals. He intercedes on my behalf with God or so I’m told. She grins, gives me a perfunctory kiss, pulls the keys out and bounces away.
Damn, I love that girl, I think as she walks away from me, her ass swaying from side to side as she does.
I get back to work, now the actual cleaning begins. Using peroxide, a trick my buddy Albie Diaz told me about. He learned it from his new wife, Autumn. They are members of the Diaz Crime Family in Queens. The Italians are our allies. Have been for years. Albie is also a cleaner, so we trade tips as well as have some reinforcements for really big jobs. I kind of wish they were here now, to be honest. What the fuck am I going to do with this body? In Vegas, I don’t have the built-in convenience of Hoboken and the Hudson River. I work quickly and efficiently. By the time I am done the only sign that anything happened here is the bagged-up body on the floor. My phone rings and I see that my cousin, Sophie, is calling me.
“Where are you?” she asks as soon as I accept the video chat.
“Vegas. Duty called.” I can tell she is in her car, but thankfully it doesn’t appear to be moving.
“Ah. Okay. I missed your call earlier. I was dealing with some stuff. What’s up?”
“I needed some advice.”
“Oh advice. I love advice.”
“I know. That’s why I called you.” I say chuckling.
“Are you covered in blood?” she asks quirking her eyebrow at me.
“Of course. But that’s not what I needed advice on.”
“Okay. What’s is it?”
“I assume you heard about dad’s edict?”
“Ugh, yes. What the fuck was he thinking?”
“Right, I don’t know. I need to know how to handle this kind of shit and a wife. How am I going to balance it?”
“Wasn’t your folder the Balzan girl?”
“Yeah. How’d you know that?”
“Eco told me,” she replies shrugging. “Anyways, remember when you got drunk like three months ago at Tiana’s wedding?”
“No,” I say laughing. That was the last time I drank. I heard I acted like an asshole.
; “Well, you did. You were going on and on about her. I assumed you loved her and that this folder would be good news. Am I wrong?”
“No. I do love her, and she is amazing.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“I don’t know. I guess I don’t really have one,” I say grinning.
“I’d say so. I gotta go. I’ve got real problems.”
“What kind of problems, Soph?” My brothers and I would burn the world down for her. She’s an only child and we’ve kind of taken her under our wing.
“Girl problems.”
“Oh.” I definitely don't want to know about the "girl problems" of my cousin.
“Yeah. Love you. See you soon,” she says before hanging up.
After the call, I strip, putting all the soiled clothes, my father’s as well, into one of the trash bags I brought. Then I take a shower in the freshly cleaned tub. When I get done, Pilar is standing there holding bags.
“Um, wow,” she says staring at my naked body.
“Hola señorita. How was the store?” I ask grabbing a towel.
“Store, was um, good. Got you some clothes.”
“Perfect. I’ll be out in a minute,”
“I could stay,” she says licking her lips, still staring.
“Pilar,” I warn. I will not give in and go against her beliefs. She'd resent me forever, plus I'm not popping her cherry by a dead body. That's not classy.
“Alright, fine. I’ll be out with your parents. What are you going to do with that?” she asks pointing to the body.
“Dispose of it,” I say.
“Right. Where?”
“The desert,” I reply making the decision.
She just nods, looks me up and down and sets the bags down.
I get dressed in khaki pants and navy polo shirt she bought. I managed to salvage Pilar’s torn panties. I put them right back into my pocket. When I go out into the living room area, I see that there is a luggage cart by the door.
“I thought you might need that,” Pilar says shrugging.
“Good thinking, señorita.”
“I’m ready to help,” she says standing up.
“You’ve helped.”
“No. No. You promised to teach me everything,” she says playing with the string of pearls at her neck. My mom giggles and my dad clears his throat.
“You guys should go home,” I say to my parents.
“My fiancée and I will take care of the rest.”
“Got it. You guys should take the room. It’s paid up until Friday.” Being that it’s Tuesday, that is plenty of time to make her mine, but I don’t think we will be staying in the murder room.
“Alright. Let’s get your bags on the cart.” Going back into the bathroom, I heft the body over my shoulder and put it on the cart, hiding it with their bags. Thank God my mother travels like she’s going to run out of clothes.
I load the bags and the body into the car then run back into the hotel to get the security tapes. Walking into the security office, I don’t expect them to just hand them over. However, I did not expect such a fancy hotel to have such lax security. There is no one in the room and it only takes a few seconds to realize the person logged in has full admin rights. Thank fuck, no hacking required. I delete the entire day's security footage as well as any indication of my parents staying in the penthouse. I give Mr. and Mrs. Gregory Banks from Ohio an upgrade and notify the front desk to tell them of the change. Once that’s done, I hightail it out of there. I take my parents to the airport. The jet is ready for them. They head home and Vadim’s corpse, Pilar, and I head out into the desert.
Nothing more romantic than that…
Chapter Six
Pilar
The Mojave Desert is majestic even at night. It’s only eight-forty-five, but it’s so dark and I can see all the stars. We don’t have that in New Jersey. Not by a long shot. We find what looks like the entrance to a cave about twenty minutes outside of the city and he stops the car. I get out with him and help him remove the plastic from the body. He leaves him propped up against the rock formation at the opening. He wads the plastic up and stuffs into one of his duffels.
“What now?” I ask. I am a little chilly and a shower sounds amazing.
“We should get a room and I don’t know about you, but I am starving,” he says as we climb back into the car.
“That sounds good to me.”
He holds my hand as we drive back into the city.
“Where do you want to stay?”
“Nothing fancy. Just a motel would be fine.”
“Oh, señorita,” he murmurs.
We drive by the cutest wedding chapel and suddenly he squeals into the parking lot.
“What are we doing?” I ask with bated breath.
“Marry me, now.” It’s more of a statement than a question.
“Yeah. Okay. Let’s do this,” I say. It’s impulsive, but it was going to happen anyway, why not do it on our own terms?
Inside, we have to wait a few minutes for another ceremony to finish. Luckily, the chapel also has a really nice jewelry section and we pick out gold bands to match the engagement ring he gave me earlier. The next thing I know, we are standing in front of a minister dressed like Maverick from Top Gun. I learn that movie is Benny’s favorite and that surprises me. The vows are quick and weird yet somehow perfectly completes this crazy, long-ass day. He pulls me into his arms and kisses me.
“Mi esposa por fin,” he whispers into my ear causing me to shiver.
“Sí, soy tuya,” I reply. Yes. I am his.
Then we sign some documents and are advised that the state of Nevada will mail us our marriage certificate within ten days.
I am married. I am Mrs. Benicio Havier Valladares and man, do I love the sound of that.
We check into the first motel we see, the Sunset Inn. It’s cute and has themed rooms. Ours is jungle themed. I’m literally shaking in anticipation of being fully owned by him.
“I just need to freshen up,” I say grabbing one of the bags from Courtesan’s that made it here.
“I’ll be right here waiting for you,” he says pulling me into his arms and kissing me. Ay Dios Mios, does he kiss me. I kind of stand there shell-shocked, until he turns me toward the bathroom and pats my ass, sending me on my way. His hearty laugh goes all through me. I all but run in there, closing the door behind me. Leaning against it, I try to catch my breath, but it’s no use. I pull my hair up into a messy bun and strip. After turning the shower on, I get in and quickly wash my body.
When I’m done, I step out and dry off. Checking the bag, I see my white bra and panty set with the matching short-sleeved robe. It’s perfect and just what I need. I step back out into the room and find Benny on the bed, sitting, with his back against the headboard, in just the tight boxer briefs I got him. Thank God his mom went with me because I had no idea what size he wears.
I lick my lips and clear my throat. He is covered in tattoos. I didn’t expect that, but damn he looks amazing. He looks up from his phone and I can see his whole demeanor change. He sets his phone on the nightstand, but not before putting some music on. I can’t begin to tell you what is playing other than it is soft and sensual. He stalks toward me and I hold my ground and wait for him.
“Holy shit, señorita,” he growls as he reaches me. He rubs his hands up and down my arms. Even through the fabric, I can feel the heat of hands. Somehow, I am managing a coherent thought.
“Oh, no. That won’t do, Husband. That’ll be señora now. These make it so,” I say grabbing his left hand and mine, holding them palm up so our rings are prevalent.
“My apologies, señora,” he says cordially. The look in his eyes is anything but cordial though. He’s close enough to me that I can feel his hard cock digging into my stomach. I got a good look at it earlier when he was showering. He’s huge and all fucking mine. He dances with me. The tango we do is right out of the movies. It’s so fucking sexy, I might come just from this, I am wet enough.
I can feel it on my thighs, panties ruined and useless.
“What are we doing?” I ask. Why is he delaying the sex I know is going to be off the charts hot? Not that I have anything to compare it too, but I think a woman just knows these things.
“A man deserves to dance with his wife on their wedding day, does he not?” he asks continuing to move me around the room. If he wants to dance, I’ll dance. I try to mimic sex with my every move. With my back to his front, I sway my hips, dropping down, and driving back up. I pray, actually pray, that he really loves me. That this isn’t just something he was told to do.
He leads me to the bed. I turn to face him, opening the robe.
“I’ve kept you waiting long enough, Benicio. I’m yours,” I say dropping the robe to the floor. I see something in him shift. He growls. I drop to my knees before him. Reaching up, I grab the waistband of his boxers and pull them down. His cock springs free, hitting my cheek. Tentatively, I stick my tongue out and taste the creamy white beads of precum at the tip. Moaning, I take more of him in my mouth. He pulls my hair down from the ponytail and his hand's fist in my hair.
“Pilar,” he groans as I take him to the back of my throat and it sends shivers down my spine. I pull off his cock, even though I don’t want to.
“What?” I ask confused. Maybe I wasn’t doing it right or something. He helps me stand. He slowly removes my bra, letting it fall to the floor. Oh, I get it now. My panties quickly follow. When I am completely naked, he steps out of his boxers at his ankles, adding them to the pile. He stares at me like I am his favorite new toy, and, in a way, I guess I am.
“Get on the bed,” he demands, and I scramble to do so.
“Claro, mi vida,” I reply. How does he do this to me?
Chapter Seven
Benny
Has it only been sixteen hours since I laid eyes on her this morning? She’s lying on the bed, her legs spread open wantonly for me. She looks like another sin I will happily commit.
“What are you waiting for?” she asks looking at me like I’ve lost my mind. She isn’t wrong about that. Six months ago, I lost it and I am just now starting to get it back.
