by Stacy-Deanne
She tilted forward. “I’m falling in love with you.”
“No, you’re not.” Jonathan placed a slide on the microscope. “You’re in a vulnerable state and I’m the only man here so—”
“That’s not it.” She stroked his thigh, surprising him with the orgasmic sensation it provided. “It’s you, Jonathan. Please.” She came closer, settling her body between his thighs. “I want to be with you.” She touched his cheek as he caught the magnetic spark in her eyes. “I want to be a part of The Circle.”
“Candra—”
“I wanna repay you for what you’ve done.” She took his hand and his was so much bigger that hers disappeared when he wrapped his fingers around it. “I can give you endless devotion, love and anything you need.”
He squirmed, propping his heels on the railing of the stool.
“And, if you don’t want that then there’s this.” She pulled at the strap of her dress.
“Don’t.” He held her hand in place. “We can’t.”
“Why not?” Her forehead wrinkled, the spark in her eyes growing heavier. “Are you not attracted to me?”
He concentrated on her blushing cleavage peeking through the material. “Candra, this—”
“I’ll give you everything you need.” She clutched his hand in both of hers. “I was brought here for a reason. Let me in.” She gave him a kiss, her devotion cloaking him. “If you want me, you can have me.”
“I can’t have sex with any women outside The Circle.” He swallowed, cursing himself for creating the rule. “I made that vow to the women, and I won’t betray them.” He pushed his legs together to suffocate the painful erection. “No matter how difficult that gets.”
“Then isn’t that a reason to let me into The Circle?” She smiled. “I’ve had sex with men I couldn’t stand and they said I was great. Imagine how good making love would be for us, Jonathan. With how much I care.” Her eyes turned into slits as she moved in for another kiss.
His cell rang.
He sighed, getting it from the table. “Jonathan Wild,” he answered.
“It’s me,” Lucian said.
“Ah, Officer Stavropoulos.” Jonathan gushed. “Did you give Dee the flower?”
Candra leaned back, sticking out her lips.
“Yes.”
“Then don’t tease me.” Jonathan swayed his shoulders. “What did she say?”
“She thought it was from Winston.”
“That loser probably doesn’t even know what an azalea is.”
“Look, this is making me very uncomfortable, Jonathan,” Lucian said. “Dee is a friend and I respect her. I don’t want to keep feeding you information behind her back.”
“Your loyalty lies with me. Who is the reason your father’s alive? If it weren’t for my medicine, the cancer would’ve killed him within months.”
“I’m very grateful for what you did for my dad but can’t we call this even?”
“I need you, Lucian, and you’ll keep paying this debt as long as I need you to.”
Candra leaned against the table with a puzzled expression.
“Dee and Winston love each other. Let them be happy. They need that now more than ever.”
Jonathan sucked his lip. “What do you mean by that?”
“Dee’s pregnant. I heard her and Connie talking about it.”
Jonathan’s shoulders dropped as his stomach filled with rocks. “What?”
“Yes, she’s pregnant. If you love Dee then stop doing this. For the good of her baby at least.”
Jonathan lowered the phone, frozen by Lucian’s words.
Pregnant?
“Jonathan?” Candra grabbed his hand. “What’s wrong?”
He dropped the phone on the floor.
“What is it?” Candra shook him as he slumped against the table. “Jonathan?”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I’m dying without Winston.” Dee sat on her living room couch that night having Chinese takeout with Lisa. “Like I’ve lost a part of me.”
“Hell, both of you are being stupid now.” Lisa dipped her egg roll into the sweet and sour sauce. “Just focus on what’s important, which is that precious baby that’s inside of you. How you feeling?”
“Ugh.” Dee held in a belch as she chewed fried rice. “Besides being sick every hour? My boobs throb, my legs ache, and I’m always dizzy. Damn, I can’t put up with this eight more months.” She belched, groaning from the sour taste. “Ooh, and the gas.”
Lisa turned up her nose.
“I’m not lying.” Dee folded her leg underneath her. “Shoot, I’m passing more gas than Exxon.”
Lisa laughed, covering her mouth.
“Jesus.” Dee rubbed her bloated tummy. “I feel like I’m gonna bust.”
“Not sure I can help with the gas...” Lisa chuckled. “But, I’ll rub your feet for you.”
“Aw.” Dee smiled.
“Even though Winston should do that.”
Dee laid her head back. “What if I can’t handle this?”
“You can handle anything, Deidra Quarter.” Lisa stirred noodles with her chopsticks. “I’m happy for you, but I wish it was me.”
“It will be.” Dee rubbed Lisa’s thigh.
“I’d like to be married first.” She chomped noodles. “I was hinting to Jake about it again and he brushed off the subject.”
“Why do men always say they want to marry you and have babies until it happens?” Dee chewed a scrambled egg chunk. “Will we ever understand them?”
“Hm, probably not.” Lisa laughed, wiggling. “My phone’s vibrating.” She got it out her jeans and read the screen. “It’s Jake.” She spoke with him for a minute then got off the phone. “Girl, he locked himself out the house.”
“What?” Dee laughed.
“Uh-huh. He got home from work and realized he’d lost his house key.” Lisa sighed, setting the food on the table. “I got to go. Man. We were having good girl time too.”
“Yeah, we were.” Dee stood and pulled Lisa into a hug. “You always make me feel better.”
“I could come back.”
“Nah, I’m turning in early.” Dee stretched. “I’ll walk you out.”
She and Lisa went to the front door holding each other’s waists.
“In a few months you won’t be able to put your arm around me.” Dee touched her hips. “I’ll lose all this fineness.”
Lisa giggled as she walked to the stoop. “See you.”
“Good night.” She waited until Lisa drove away and heard a sound in the bushes before she went back inside. “Is anyone there?”
Jonathan walked from behind the hedges. “Hello, Deidra.”
“No!”
“Deidra?” He ran toward her with his arms out. “Wait.”
“Get out of here!” She ran inside and slammed the door. “I’m calling the police!”
“Are you pregnant?” he asked through the door.
She leaned against it, shivering. “Who told you?” she squealed.
“So, it’s true?”
“I swear to God if you don’t get out of here I’ll kill you myself.”
He shook the doorknob. “We need to talk.”
“Go to hell!”
“Is that how you treat the father of your child?”
She froze. “What the hell did you say?”
“Open the door and I’ll explain.”
Panting, Dee ran to her bedroom, got her gun off the end table, and returned to the front door.
“Deidra?” Jonathan knocked.
“I’m opening this door but stay your ass on that porch, do you hear me? I have my gun.”
“Okay.”
She parted the door. “Now what the hell did you say?”
“You’re pregnant.” He rubbed his hands, handsome face glowing. “This is wonderful news.”
“You said this is your baby?”
“Yes.”
She pointed the gun at him. “Just when I think you can’t get a
ny more insane.”
“I’m not lying.” He glanced at her stomach. “I can feel it’s mine.”
“How can it be yours when we never had sex?”
“We did.”
Dee wobbled, lowering the gun. “W...what?”
“We made love, Deidra.” He touched the door, holding a glassy-eyed stare. “It was amazing.”
Nausea raced through her stomach. “No.”
“Those months with you were the best time of my life and we fell in love. You gave yourself to me mind and body.”
“No!” She covered her ears. “Stop trying to manipulate me.”
“It’s true.” He reached for her. “Let me remind you—”
“You’re lying.” She waved the gun. “I never would’ve let you touch me.”
“You wanted me, and I’m going to make you remember that.”
“Why are you doing this, Jonathan? Why can’t you let this go?”
“I’ll never let you go.” He stared at her stomach. “You’re having my child.”
“You don’t even want kids. You throw women out The Circle if they get pregnant.”
“Those women are nothing compared to you.” He closed his eyes. “You rule my heart and my soul, Deidra. I cherish our baby because it’s a symbol of our love. It’ll bond us for eternity.”
“This is Winston’s baby.”
He shook his head.
“You and I never slept together. I’d know it if we had.”
He inched closer. “You told me that being in The Circle was the happiest you’d ever been.”
“You drugged me. I wasn’t myself. The person who spent those three months with you wasn’t real.”
“No, this person is the fake one.” He gestured to her. “You’re hiding behind your outside persona but it’s not who you are.”
“I love Winston, damn you!” She shoved him. “I let your ass walk free, Jonathan. You should be in prison and you can’t let me have peace?”
“I’d rather be in prison if I can’t have you.”
“I’d never cheat on Winston even if I’d been drugged.” She cried, heart breaking at the possibility. “I hate you.”
“Whether you remember or not, you gave yourself to me.” His eyes widened. “You’re a member of The Circle and there’s nothing you can say to change that.”
She raised the gun to his forehead. “I could kill you now.”
His eyes switched to the gun.
“I’d have the best excuse.” She pressed the trigger. “I’ll say you tried to kidnap me again, and I had to defend myself.”
“Killing me won’t change what happened between us.” He wrapped his fingers around the gun, lowering it. “I was inside you and now my baby is inside you.”
She tore to pieces at his vile declaration. “No.”
“Oh, yes I had you many times.” He touched her hand with his fingertip. “And, I will again.” He blew a kiss and walked off into the night.
“Liar.” She slammed the door and slid against it, crying. “I didn’t sleep with him. I didn’t!”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Don’t bullshit me, Rena,” Dee spoke on the phone while pacing in her living room, ten minutes later. “Why does Jonathan think this baby is his?”
“Dee,” she whimpered. “It’s been killing me thinking about how I betrayed you. I’m so sorry.”
“Then help me now. Be honest with me. What the hell’s going on?”
“I tried to stop him.” Rena blubbered. “He said you were his, and that he was tired of waiting for you to come to him.”
Dee closed her eyes, shivering.
“He had sex with you.” The words caught in Rena’s throat. “In front of us.”
Dee covered her mouth, churning with shame, rage and guilt.
“I got sick and had to leave.” Rena sniffled. “The others wouldn’t let me help you. They held me back.”
Dee wobbled from side to side, squealing.
“That wasn’t the only time. He’d drug your drinks and go to your room at night.”
Dee huffed and puffed, hyperventilating.
“Dee, I’m so sorry. I hate myself for letting it happen. I didn’t have the heart to tell you—”
“No!” She threw the phone across the room. “That son of a bitch!” She marched to the mantel and in one swipe, shoved the pictures and vase onto the floor. “That...ooh!” She ripped books off shelves and tossed candles. “You’re gonna pay for this, Jonathan!” She snatched the pillows off the couch and threw them. “Ah!” She kicked over the plant in the corner and ripped down the curtains. “No.” As the rage subsided, she slid to her knees, holding the curtains to her chest. “This can’t be true.” She cried into her hands. “God, no.”
****
“It’s nice to meet you, Mrs. Pak.” Dee watched the inquisitive Korean woman who sat in the interrogation room the next morning. “You believe you have information for us?”
“It’s about my seventeen-year-old stepson, Sung.” Min-jung set her giant Gucci purse on the floor beside her feet. “I think he knows something about the Kengs murder.”
Connie sat on the table, swinging her leg. “What makes you think this?”
Min-jung took a notebook from her purse. “I found this in his room last night.”
Dee took it and looked through a list of names including the Keng family and Tommy Kim. The Kengs’ and Tommy’s names were scratched out. “What is this?”
“I was thinking a hit list perhaps,” Min-jung said.
Connie checked out the notebook. “Isn’t that an odd conclusion to jump to?”
“Sung’s been acting funny since the murder. He’s jumpy and irritable and when those other kids come around, he changes. Like he’s not even himself.”
“What kids?” Dee asked.
“His clique.” Min-jung shrugged. “I’ve always had a bad feeling about them. They act all secretive and refer to themselves as a club.”
Connie scrunched her face. “You’re not talking about the K-Town Crips, are you?”
“No.” Min-jung took a picture out her wallet. “Here’s a photo of Sung and his friends I snatched from his room.”
The teens stood in stiff, erect poses wearing green army jackets with a yellow symbol on the shoulder.
“That’s Priti Yi.” Dee pointed to Priti standing beside August and the other boys who’d been in the car with Priti when Dee and Connie first met her.
“This is Sung,” Min-jung alluded to the feminine boy who was driving Priti and the boys that day.
“What’s that say on the jackets they’re wearing?” Dee struggled to read the letters on the yellow symbol. “I can’t make it out.”
Connie squinted at the photo. “KTA I think. What’s KTA?” she asked Min-jung.
“I have no idea.”
Connie wiggled her mouth. “Maybe they’re a gang.”
Dee shrugged.
“Why would Sung have this notebook and the only ones with names scratched out are dead?” Min-jung shook her head. “None of it makes sense.”
Dee sprung from her chair. “We gotta see what these kids have been up to.”
Connie stared at the photo. “Let’s start with Priti.”
****
That evening, Dee and Connie followed Priti’s car off the highway and into the woods.
Dee turned her Malibu onto the rickety, desolate road, being careful so Priti didn’t see them.
“Easy.” Connie rocked from side to side as Dee navigated through the bumpy surface and deeper into the trees.
She leaned forward, squinting. “Where in the world is this girl going?”
“It’s creepy as hell out here.” Connie gripped the center console. “I’m not in the mood to see Jason any time soon.”
“If Jason doesn’t want to get his ass kicked he better stay wherever the hell he’s at.” Dee followed Priti to a rickety shed made of rotted planks and holes in the roof.
Connie straightened in the seat. “
What the hell?”
Priti turned off the car but didn’t get out.
Dee parked behind a cluster of trees and out of sight. “Why would she be driving all the way out here to go to a damn shed?”
“Looks like a hideout.”
A black Mitsubishi banging a Drake song emerged from the wooded trail and parked by Priti’s car.
“It’s the guys,” Dee said. “What a surprise.”
Priti, August, Sung, and the other Asian boy, exited their vehicles at the same time.
Priti and Sung exchanged heated words in Korean and the others joined in.
“They’re fighting,” Connie whispered.
The men surrounded Priti as she carried on, waving her arms.
Dee sighed. “How much you wanna bet she’s telling them we spoke to her earlier?”
“Yep.” Connie crawled her fingers through her hair. “And, they don’t seem too happy.”
August got in Priti’s face while the other boy Connie and Dee couldn’t identify, pulled August away.
“Enough,” the boy said. “We got more important things to think about.”
“Then the cops giving us shit, Val?” August stood in a wide stance. “I can’t think of anything more important right now.”
“We came here to practice,” Sung said. “Save that energy for the targets, August.”
“Targets?” Dee repeated.
Sung opened the trunk of the Mitsubishi.
The boys grabbed semiautomatics while Priti got a handgun.
“Holy shit.” Connie took quick breaths.
The group examined the guns, aiming them around.
Val perched the shotgun on his shoulder. “Let’s do this.”
They slipped on goggles and protective earmuffs and walked through the trees.
Dee and Connie jumped out the car and followed.
The teens walked for a minute and stopped at a clearing.
Large, porcelain and glass animal statues stood in a circle.
Dee and Connie stooped behind a tree.
Sung shouted in Korean, and the others aimed their weapons toward the animals.
They shot, spraying the statues with bullets until they split in tiny pieces.
“Ah.” Dee covered her ears, the high-pitch popping slicing through her eardrums.
