by Jerry Cole
“That Jenna and I are sisters.” Louise declared proudly. She went over to Jenna and looped her arm around Jenna’s shoulders. “My twin, to be exact.”
“Your twin?”
Eric felt like he had been dropped down Alice’s rabbit hole. The day before, he was friends with both of these women. Now they were declaring to him that everything was a lie.
“Non-identical, to be splitting hairs.” Louise kissed Jenna’s head and walked back to Eric. She was strutting like she had won a prize. “That made it easier to infiltrate your family. No one would have suspected us working together.”
Eric felt like he was about to have a panic attack. For all he knew, he was on his own. Jack was nowhere to be seen, and Kyron was more than likely going to keep his distance today. By the time he finally came back, Eric could be dead. There was a chance that one of his neighbors might have seen Jenna and Louise come in, but Jenna was known to the other households, and they would have thought Louise was another colleague.
No one would know the difference. Eric doubted anyone would hear his screams once the two women got going on him.
“You...you’re going to have to clue me in, Louise. I get you were the ones who killed my family, but I don’t get why. What did they do to you?”
Louise sniggered. She looked at Jenna, who had hopped off the stool. Jenna moved out of Eric’s sight behind him, and Eric felt her press her hands on his shoulders, her sharp nails digging in.
“Adam Schoenauer was our father, Eric.” Louise said. “He got our mother pregnant the same day our sister Ruth was born. He led Mama around, making her believe that they were going to have something together. But as soon as she told him she was pregnant, Schoenauer dropped her like a hot potato.” Louise’s lip curled in a snarl. “The bastard wanted nothing to do with us. Suddenly, he wanted to take the moral high ground and pretend that he hadn’t been fucking around on his wife while she was giving birth.”
“We knew nothing about it until three years ago when Mama died.” Jenna added. She leaned over, her mouth inches from Eric’s ear. “She told us everything, left us the letters and the photographs. Everything to show we were his kids. We had a dad the whole time and we never knew because he refused to acknowledge us.”
They were his sisters? Eric felt like he was in a bizarre episode of the Twilight Zone. He had suspected that his father had affairs, but to have fathered children and tossed them aside?
The more he thought about it, the more it sounded like his dad. Even then, Eric felt sick. Adam Schoenauer had been killed by his own children in the end. Just not the ones he expected.
“I... I didn’t know about this. Really.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Louise said it so matter-of-factly. “None of his children knew.”
“Then why kill Richard and Ruth? Why kill Mom? They did nothing to you.” Eric’s heart was pounding. “If Mom had known about what Dad had done, she would have told Dad to help you. Done something.”
But Louise was shaking her head, her scowl getting even angrier.
“No, she wouldn’t. She might have sympathized with our position, but that woman was scared of our dad. She wouldn’t have told him to do anything.” She swiped her hands through the air. “She simply sat back and let everything happen.”
“It’s why Dad cheated on her so much,” Jenna said. “Your mother wouldn’t say no to anything he did. And we witnessed him fucking a lot of girls while we were finding out everything we could.”
Eric stared up at Louise. It made so much more sense why she wouldn’t have sex with Richard. But getting close to the family by dating him? That just wasn’t right. He looked up at Jenna. It was hard to see her the same way as before after that revelation.
“And what about you? Were you trying to cozy up with me?”
“Pretty much.” Jenna shrugged. “You were the black sheep of the family, but you were still Dad’s flesh and blood. He had given you more time than he ever gave us.”
“You clearly haven’t been paying attention,” Eric muttered.
That got a slap around his head from Jenna. It made his ears ring.
“Dad had to die, Eric. He denied us the day Mom got pregnant,” she hissed. “We lost out on having a father because of a passive little mouse. Mom wouldn’t have been betrayed by someone she believed loved her. And your brother and sister had to die because they were his children.”
“You murdered your own brother and sister! They would have accepted you!”
Louise snorted. “I’d just been pretending to be Richard’s girlfriend, so I highly doubt he would have been on our side. And no way would Ruth would have accepted us. She’s more like our dad than you think. Mean streak she’s got, and you didn’t see it. That girl was smart enough to hide it.” Louise leaned over, her face inches from Eric’s. “They were his blood, and they had to go. They got what we didn’t.”
***
Kyron’s heart was in his mouth as he headed back to Eric’s condo, his siren blaring. He should never have left Eric alone. Even with his conflicting thoughts, Kyron should have taken Eric with him. At least Eric would be safe.
Mr. Gruber had been speaking very fast, but Kyron had got the gist. Two women had turned up and one had hidden while the other knocked at the door. The two of them had jumped Jack and dragged him back inside, shutting the door behind them.
From the descriptions, one of them was most definitely Louise. The other sounded like Jenna, which was confusing. What were those two up to? Kyron had got it into his head that Louise might be involved, but Jenna?
Whoever was involved, Eric was in deep shit.
Kyron cut the siren when he was a block away, pulling carefully onto Eric’s street. He had to take it slowly. If Louise and Jenna were planning on killing Eric, they might panic when they saw him. Stopping outside Gruber’s house, Kyron climbed out and hurried over to Eric’s house. The security system was going to go off if he even tried to get inside, but Eric had mentioned that the sliding door into the kitchen had a faulty wire. It often didn’t work, and he hadn’t got around to fixing it. Kyron crossed his finger that it wasn’t working now.
Getting out his gun, Kyron slipped into the back yard and padded up onto the back porch, wincing when his foot touched a creaky floorboard. The door was closed, but Kyron could see inside by craning his head a little. What he saw made his heart stop.
Eric was tied to a chair in the middle of the kitchen. Plastic sheeting was laid out underneath him. Louise and Jenna were standing around him, both wearing dark clothes and sneakers. Two pairs of gloves were on the counter, as were some white face masks. Jenna had hold of Eric’s shoulders as he struggled while Louise stood before Eric. Her expression was like the cat that had got the cream.
He could hear their voices muffled through the door.
“Where does that leave me?” Eric asked. “You know my problems with Dad.”
“You’re still his son,” Louise accused, “Whether he openly admitted it or not. You got more attention than we ever did.”
What the fuck are they talking about? Kyron touched the handle and tried it. It moved without any noise and Kyron felt the door move. He froze, glancing back inside. The women were more focused on Eric than what was happening around them. That could work in his favor.
“Even though Dad was trying to get you fired, he was still interested in your life.” Jenna sneered. “Even if it was for his own selfish reasons.”
Dad?
“So, you’re going to kill me as well?” Eric demanded. “Because I’m your brother? I thought we were friends. Both of you!”
Oh, shit. Now Kyron saw it. And that was more chilling than a random home invasion. Jenna snorted.
“I saw you as a brother, Eric. If things were different, I would want to pursue a relationship with you. You were the only one decent out of the bunch.” She looked up at Louise, who was scowling. “But we made a decision. And you needed to know that just because you weren’t there when we needed you to be that night,
you weren’t immune because Dad treated you like a third-class citizen.”
Louise rolled her eyes.
“Jenna’s got a softer heart than I have. She was trying to stop you from going, but it wouldn’t have helped. You were still going to die.” Then she giggled. “Soft as she is, you should have seen her when she put a bullet in Judith’s head. Shit, she even scared me.”
“Not as much as when you sent Dad’s ears to Eric yesterday.” Jenna started giggling as well. “I had no idea she was going to do that, and I nearly crapped myself.”
Kyron felt sick. Eric was staring at Louise. His face was pale.
“You did that?”
“Of course.” Louise looked pleased at that. “If I can get to your dad anywhere, even if he’s on a slab, I can certainly get to you. That was a warning.”
“You’re willing to kill me because I had a father and you didn’t? Do you realize how selfish that sounds?”
Louise reached into her pocket and withdrew a slim case. She unzipped it, and Kyron saw the scalpel in her hand.
“It’s no more selfish than what Dad did to us. We could have had him in our lives, although still treating us like we were a secret.” Louise slashed the scalpel through the air, inches from Eric’s face. Eric flinched. “Instead, we had to find out on Mama’s deathbed who he was and what he was really like. How he really felt about us.”
“He deserved to die,” Jenna snarled. She grabbed Eric’s head and wrapped her arm around his throat. “And so do you.”
These two were mad. And they still hadn’t noticed that Kyron was inching his way into the house right behind them. Eric snarled at Louise, who was leaning over him.
“You two are more like Dad than you realize,” he spat. “You didn’t get what you wanted, so you’re taking it away from other people.”
“Glad we’re good at something,” Louise giggled. “Now, bye-bye, big brother.”
Kyron fired. Louise jerked and fell, hitting the plastic sheeting. Jenna screamed and let go of Eric. Then she looked up and saw Kyron entering the room, the gun pointed right at her.
“Don’t you think about moving.”
Jenna whimpered. She started to put her shaking hands up. Moments ago, she had been a killer about to murder another member of her family. Now she was a gibbering mess as Louise lay on the floor, moaning as a red patch spread out on her shoulder.
“Kyron!” Eric was craning his head, his eyes wide as he looked at him. “What the fuck took you so long?”
“Things didn’t go as planned.” Kyron was still focused on Jenna. “Where’s Agent Walters, Jenna? What did you do to him?”
“He’s in the guest room.” Jenna was shaking. “We didn’t kill him. That was...for later…”
Then she burst into tears. Kyron growled and reached for his cuffs, shoved into his back pocket.
“You’re under arrest, Miss Gallagher. Don’t even think about running, or you’ll be killed on the spot.”
Jenna was crying so hard Kyron didn’t think she would be in a state for moving. Eric was wriggling in his chair.
“Any chance of getting me out of this?”
“Maybe later.” Kyron snapped the cuffs tight into Jenna’s wrists and made her sit down at the counter. “You look good tied up like that.”
Eric growled. “I hate you.”
Chapter Ten
Eric was drained. He had been thrown a massive bomb and it had exploded before Eric could take control. He had not expected either Louise or Jenna of being involved. They were the last people he expected. But to know they were his sisters? That was what stuck with him the most.
At least it explained how they got in. Louise was already inside and she let Jenna in. Then they started the massacre. Their father would have fought back, but nothing a few bullets couldn’t handle. Adam’s post-mortem said he had a few extra wounds in his knees and belly.
Which could have been Eric and Jack’s fate. At least Jack was alive, although suffering from a concussion that needed stitches. Eric didn’t want to think about what those two could have done to him just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
They were willing to kill him as well just because he was Adam Schoenauer’s kid. Because he had had Adam in his life? That sounded selfish. Eric could understand the resentment, but this was something else. Jenna was the weaker of the two, and Kyron said she had cracked pretty easily. When Louise told her story, however, Eric had seen the agents leave the interview room in silence, both heading straight outside. She was cold, chilling.
Eric couldn’t believe how easily they had duped everyone.
He wanted to go home. That was out of the question. His house was now a crime scene. It would be some time before Eric was allowed back in. Everyone on the street was going to know his business. That part Eric didn’t care about anymore. He just wanted to go home.
Kyron barely left Eric’s side. He stayed with him as Eric got checked out, and then he got Eric a quiet room at the police station while they did the interrogations. He did leave for a short while when Raquel beckoned him out, but he was back less than five minutes later. Eric tried to get himself settled, distracted somehow, but the memories of what had happened kept flooding back. He was going to go mad if he stayed any longer.
Eventually, Kyron led Eric out to his car. He drove them through Tallahassee in silence until they came to a hotel at the edge of the city. It didn’t take long for him to get a room for the two of them. Kyron led Eric up, carrying a duffel bag with him.
The room was a decent size, with a double bed and connected bathroom. Nothing too fancy, although Eric wouldn’t have cared if they were sleeping on the floor of a warehouse right now; he just wanted somewhere to get away from his memories.
“Where are you staying?” he asked.
“Right here with you.” Kyron put the bag on the floor by the television. “I figured you wouldn’t want to be alone right now.”
“Thank you.”
Kyron paused. He took off his badge and gun holster, laying both on the bag. Then he went back to Eric, slipping his arms around Eric’s waist. Eric leaned into him. This was the first time he had felt warm in hours.
“What’s going on in your head?” Kyron asked.
“Too much.” Eric swallowed. “I’m still struggling.”
“I know.” Kyron cupped Eric’s jaw. “Don’t think about that right now. Focus on yourself. You’re alive and you need to remember that.”
Eric needed more than that. He started unbuttoning Kyron’s shirt, his fingers shaking.
“I might need some help being reminded,” he said.
“I can help you with that.”
Kyron helped unbutton his shirt, tossing it aside as he claimed Eric’s mouth. His kiss was like fire, and Eric moaned. He could get addicted to this man. Maybe he already had.
Kyron grabbed Eric’s t-shirt and tugged it off, pushing Eric toward the bed. Eric sat on the mattress and pulled Kyron with him. Kyron came down, still kissing him with such a ferocity that it was making Eric’s head spin. He was coming alive again. His cock was waking up now, aroused by the friction between them. Now all Eric could think about was getting inside Kyron, or vice versa. He didn’t care which. He just had to have him.
“I was supposed to be making sure you were taking it easy.” Kyron gasped between kisses, rising up and his hands going to Eric’s belt. “But all I can think about is making sure you’re still here. With me.”
“I want that, too.” Eric pushed Kyron’s hands away and undid his belt himself. “Show me I am alive.”
Kyron’s grin was almost feral.
“I can do that. Easy.”
He pushed off the bed and went to his bag. As Eric tugged off his clothes, kicking aside his shoes, Kyron reached into the bag and brought out a condom and bottle of lube. He cast Eric a grin as he started undressing.
“I had a policeman pack a bag for you. He must have found it amusing to buy this for you.”
Eric laugh
ed. The thought of a police officer buying lube was a sight he would have wanted to see. But he could giggle about it later.
***
“Hurry up.”
“Already done.” Kyron slathered the lubricating gel onto his cock, stroking himself as he sauntered back to Eric. “On your hands and knees. Don’t you move.”
“I thought I was the one in charge.”
“Not now.” Kyron spun Eric around, smacking his backside. “And I didn’t say you could argue.”
He pushed Eric down onto his elbows, kicking Eric’s legs out wide. Eric’s heart was pounding as Kyron thrust two fingers into his ass. He moaned as Kyron finger-fucked him, almost pushing Eric forward. Kyron reached around and started stroking Eric’s cock.
“Fuck, you’re so ready for me,” Kyron groaned. “You’re ready for a good fucking, Eric.”
“Then stop talking and do it.”
“As you wish.”
Kyron’s fingers disappeared. Eric felt the wide head of his cock pressing against his asshole. When Kyron pushed, Eric found himself pressed against the bed. Kyron was trembling, his thrusts almost frantic. Eric pushed back, moaning as the ripples of pleasure crawled through his body. His senses were on fire, and he felt like he was about to explode.
If Kyron kept up at this rate, he wasn’t going to last long.
“Eric…” Kyron’s hands tightened on Eric’s hips. “Fuck, you’re…”
He let out a low moan, and his movements became sharp jerks. Then he pulled out of Eric’s ass and flipped him over, kissing Eric hard. Kyron pulled off the condom. Eric felt Kyron’s release splash onto his belly, Kyron’s hand stroking his cock hard. He swallowed Eric’s moans as Eric came, Eric writhing as Kyron’s now-slick belly slid over his. That was more erotic than he imagined.
His head was spinning from the orgasm. Eric trembled as Kyron started slowly kissing down Eric’s belly. He started licking their seed off Eric’s stomach, which had Eric moaning.
“Fuck, Kyron. You look gorgeous like that.”
“Good.” Kyron flashed him a grin, dipping his tongue into Eric’s belly button. “I’ve developed a taste for you.”
