Mine

by Kenya Wright

  Thank God, Hunter returned. Still, I refused to let him see me so weak. He sat right next to me, holding the tea. “It’s okay, Zola.”

  “I know.”

  He handed me the cup. “It’s going to take time for you to get over this.”

  “I should get over it fast. Nothing has really happened to me.”

  “A lot has.”

  “Yes, but I haven’t been raped or physically attacked. I need to get it together.”

  “No, you have a right to be scared. Fuck that.” He took the cup of tea from my hand and placed it on the nightstand. “Come here.”

  I scooted over close to him. The moment I slipped into his arms, my anxiety fell. I felt safe and protected. A shiver rippled through me, and I closed my eyes.

  “It’s going to be okay.” Hunter ran his fingers through my hair. “Soon. I’ll find him soon.”

  I lifted my head and gazed at him. “He’s dangerous. You have to be just as careful as me.”

  “He hides. I don’t. He doesn’t want any of me.”

  I swallowed.

  “But…never mind all of that.” His gaze softened. So did his voice as he landed sweet kisses on my forehead. “I’m close, baby. Very close.”

  “Is there anything else I can do?” I blinked. “Anything I can tell you?”

  “I’ll see, but for now, just focus on us.”

  “That’s easy, but should I—”

  “No. Just focus on us.” Hunter’s voice broke through the wall of terror.

  “Okay.”

  Hunter gripped my shoulders with his strong hands. “I’ve got this. Don’t ever doubt me.”

  “I won’t.” I drew a breath that was spiced with the scent of the man promising to protect me.

  Before he’d come, I’d been losing control—control of my life, my dreams. Control of my emotions. I’d been drowning in tears and vulnerability. Since he’d returned, I felt more anchored, more sheltered from the storm.

  “This will be over soon,” he whispered.

  I made myself believe those words. “You’re right.”

  “And when I get him…” His voice trailed off. A cold silence took its place and filled the room with a huge physical presence, electrifying the air with violent energy. I trembled. Before my eyes, he transformed from a sweet and comforting Hunter to the killer I believed he’d become.

  “Well,” he shook his head, “there’s no need to talk about what I’m going to do with him.”

  I wrapped myself into Hunter’s muscular body, pulling those huge arms over me and resting my head against his chest.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked.

  “Starving.”

  “Are you still an amazing cook, Zuzu?”

  “I try. Do you still have that massive appetite?”

  “Yes, but that’s just because I’m still a growing boy.”

  “Anyway.” I laughed. “Let’s cook something together. Should we go to the grocery store and—”

  “No way. I ordered a full shopping list.”

  “From the hotel?”

  “There’s a full kitchen in the suite. The hotel offers a grocery bill package.”

  I bet they did. The place looks like it will offer anything.

  He let go of me and rose from the bed. “Come on. Let’s see what’s in there.”

  I followed, realized I was still naked, and grabbed his shirt from the carpet. It must’ve been pretty expensive. The smooth fabric slipped over my body as I buttoned it up. It was like a big tent on me. The bottom came close to touching my knees.

  Hunter shook his head. “You’re just going to revert back to old habits and take my shirts again?”

  “Yes. There’s nothing like wearing a man’s shirt, especially when he loves you. It’s like I’m putting you on me.”

  Smirking, he shook his head. “I’m interested to see how this will go with us. We’ve never cooked together.”

  I bit my lip. “We never had sex together either, but that went…well.”

  He raised his eyebrows as he walked to the fridge. “Just well?”

  I opened the fridge door. “It’s in my top five.”

  He moved me away from the fridge, closed the door, and stared at me. “Top five?”

  I laughed. “I’m just playing.”

  He blocked me from getting into the fridge.

  I playfully hit his chest. “Hunter, let me in there. You know damn well know you are the best I’ve ever had. I feel like you made a point of proving that all night.”

  Lust blazed in his eyes. “And how many men have you been with?”

  “What?” I widened my eyes.

  “How many men?”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “Hunter, we were having a moment, and you strayed off to somewhere else.”

  He remained planted in front of the fridge. “I didn’t. You talked about a Top Five. I simply want to know their first and last names.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Maybe even home addresses and social security numbers?”

  “Yes. This is for bodyguard purposes, of course.”

  “Of course. And since you’re my guard, I should know about all your past sexual relationships too.” I gestured to the sitting area. “Go ahead and grab a notebook so we can write down and discuss everyone you’ve slept with.”

  He frowned and moved away. “You’ve won this time.”

  “I thought so.” I rolled my eyes. “With what you did last night, I’m certain you’re not a virgin. You’ve definitely had some experience.”

  “There were others, but you’re the only person in my top five. Top anything. That’s the difference.”

  “Same for me.”

  “I’ll take that for now. Until then…” He smacked my ass. “Make my eggs, woman.”

  I tried to hit him back, but he was already on the other side of the kitchen, grabbing coffee cups and rummaging through cabinets.

  You’re too damn fast for your own good, Hunter.

  In the fridge, I found eggs, butter, and bread. All the great core items of putting together a yummy breakfast. Further exploration gave me spinach, cheese, as well as fresh mangos and papaya.

  “Oh wow.” I found thick slabs of bacon further in the back, yanked it out, and raised it above my head. “Yes! Look.”

  “Bacon?” Hunter fisted the air. “We will feast this morning!”

  Back in the day, Mom always hid the bacon. Even Hunter went wild when it was in the house, and he almost always respected the rules. Three kids could totally eat a single mother out of a reasonable grocery budget. When the bacon was around, we went crazy, making huge BLT sandwiches that we couldn’t finish. Wrapping the slabs around hotdogs, then roasting the covered links in the oven and dropping them in buns with ketchup, mustard, and onions.

  Hunter continued to make us coffee. “Do you remember The Bacon Dance?”

  I thought of York wiggling his hips, thrusting his crotch, and wagging his tongue. “How could I ever get the Bacon Dance out of my mind? It was the only move York knew.”

  Hunter laughed.

  We continued to work around the kitchen, helping each other, here and there. We chatted, reminiscing about our past. We also talked about the future, being careful to not discuss the biggest topic hanging over us.

  What will happen to us next?

  There really wasn’t much time to think. We just allowed ourselves the time to enjoy each other, even while some sicko lurked in the dark and tried to cause terror in every moment of my day.

  Not today. He won’t have my day.

  We ate that morning, and Hunter slipped back into his morning routine—tai-chi on the balcony as he took in the sun rising over the city. I joined him, following the slow lazy movements. I’d done yoga, but this was different. Letting my breaths slowly slip in and out of my body further pushed my anxiety away.

  When we finished, he made us both two cups of tea, and then we both had two very, very expensive cigarettes.

  “I can’t beli
eve I let you talk me into this.” He lit my cigarette. “This is a bad idea.”

  “Why? Are they that good?”

  “You’ll see.” I tried it, breathing in the exotic mixture of herbs and specially dried tobacco. Perfumed smoke left my nostrils. My body hummed with an odd sensation. I blew out a little more. “Yes, this was a bad idea.”

  “Love it?” He lit his.

  “Yes.”

  He blew out smoke. “Well, too bad. I won’t let you pick up the habit.”

  I frowned. “We’ll just finish the pack.”

  He shook his head and slung the pack over the balcony. With my mouth open, I watched it fall several stories down. “Wow. How much was that?”

  “Close to a thousand. I’m glad I had you smoke with me.” He blew out more smoke. “Giving you one of my cigarettes was just the motivation I needed to quit.”

  I inhaled more of it, relishing in the wave of new sensations. “Yeah. I can see how this could be addictive.”

  “The first few cigarettes are only good. The rest are just to keep the addiction going. That’s why I hate companies like Natural Health cigarettes who try to pretend like their brand is healthier than the others.”

  “The world is crazy like that.” I looked out on the city.

  He put out his cigarette. “Yeah. This time, my quitting will work.”

  “You barely smoked as it is.”

  “Still, I’ve always cared about you more than I care about myself. That’s how I know it will work. If I’m around you, I won’t want you picking up my cigarette habit.”

  “Hunter…”

  “What?” he asked as if not knowing how much he could take my breath away with just a few statements.

  “Nothing.” I put my cigarette out and hugged him. “I just love you so much.”

  27

  My Pussy

  Hunter

  I called Stark. “Anything?” I asked.

  “That’s interesting,” Stark said. “I’m tracking you. It says you’re in Hong Kong.”

  I shrugged. “China’s beautiful at this time of year.”

  He chuckled. “Make sure to grab me some tea.”

  “I will.” I walked off onto the balcony and left Zola reading in the hotel suite. “Anything on the paint?”

  “Not yet. It’s with the lab.”

  “How are Baptiste and Meridian?”

  “Nothing out of order. Meridian never left his room, but he never does. The man creeps me out.”

  “And what about Baptiste?” I asked.

  “Determined to find Zola’s stalker. Early this morning, he was on the case, moving forward with the investigation like usual.” Stark lowered his voice. “I followed Baptiste as soon as he left the hotel. It was interesting. He was following Zola’s friend, CiCi. She went into a brothel.”

  “Did he go in?”

  “No. He waited outside and followed her to her place, watched her for a little, wrote down some notes, and left. When we met in the hotel, Baptiste gave me all the pages of notes I’d watched him jot down.”

  “Good. What did you think of Baptiste’s notes?”

  “The friend, CiCi, might know something. The guy that owns the brothel is named Mr. Moon.”

  “Baptiste thought that was CiCi’s pimp.”

  “Well, Moon has a lot of assault charges and two women claimed he raped them. One woman was found dead after she filed the police report. Not a nice guy at all.”

  “Moon could have something to do with Zola.”

  “He could. When Baptiste left the brothel, I rushed back home. He found me in the living room, panting of course. Baptiste let me know his suspicions about CiCi and the brothel owner.”

  Everything checked out with Baptiste and Meridian so far, but they would still need to be watched until I had more of an idea of who it was.

  “How long will you be in China?” Stark asked.

  “This guy is ahead of us. For once, I would like to be ahead of him.” I sighed. “Did Baptiste ask where I was?”

  “No, but he’s smart. He knows after the paint incident you were going to go underground, which is a good case for why he wouldn’t have done it. Besides, I’ve never seen Baptiste shoot without the intention of killing.”

  “Yeah. This stalker is playing games. That means this wouldn’t be Meridian’s style either.”

  Meridian was on the edge of being a serial killer that I might have to put down. He enjoyed killing too much. The fact that no one had died yet made Meridian innocent.

  “Okay.” I nodded. “I’ll check back with you later.”

  “Have fun in China.”

  “I will.” I hung up and left the balcony.

  No news is good news for now.

  The day continued with no problem. For once since I’d been with Zola in New York, she was finally able to rest. She lay stretched out on the couch in the living room, engrossed in some fantasy romance where a legendary sorcerer battled a dark lord who’d kept the love of his life captive. For some reason, she asked me to order braised duck, roasted potatoes, and brussels sprouts.

  Her empty plate sat next to her.

  I’d finished earlier and was ready for dessert. “Did you break into that apple pie yet?”

  “No. The couple hasn’t had their happy ending.”

  Okay. That explains the food order.

  I shook my head. “You still do that?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a tradition.”

  “What are you eating for mysteries these days?”

  “Steak or lamb.”

  “Science fiction novels?”

  “Bacon.”

  “Good, girl.” I leaned my head to the side. “What about fantasy?”

  “I’m trying to be healthier, so I go vegan for fantasy. Since this book is fantasy romance, but heavy on the romance…I went with duck.”

  “That’s wrong, Zola. What did fantasy ever do to you to deserve the vegan treatment?”

  “Vegan food is still good.”

  “I doubt it.”

  She stuck out her tongue and returned to reading.

  I went back to going over files and finding this bastard. I had a couple of angles to look through today.

  But it was hard to pay attention with my beautiful woman next to me. In between sighs and breaks, she would catch me up and summarize the story. It had been a long time since I’d had the time to read. While she fell into her book, I’d been scouring the internet looking for the freak that was bothering her.

  So, it was nice to get updates.

  I pulled up the recent news coverage on the sperm bank burglary. Not many people had reported on it. The ones that did approached the whole situation as a joke, wondering what a person would do with hundreds of men’s sperm. I scanned the article. There’d been no suspects, fingerprints, nor camera footage. For now, the cops were just twirling their dicks and eating doughnuts.

  I’ll have to get the police in on this. I should’ve done it earlier. I’ve been slipping on the job when it comes to Zola.

  Two hours passed.

  I’d finished my research on the computer and had waited long enough for pie. “What happened to Galeo? Has he found her yet?”

  “Galeo is fine. He just went into a cave hidden under—”

  “The dwarf’s layer.”

  “Yes.” She looked up. “How did you know that?”

  “The dwarves seemed shifty when he first met them.”

  Zola flipped the page of her book. “Galeo thought the dwarves were shifty too. He went to a feast with them, pretended to be drunk, and passed out. Once they fell asleep, he searched their cave and found a book that has all these spells.”

  “The book could be the key to finding Raven.”

  She giggled. “Yes.”

  “Why are you laughing?”

  Grinning, she shook her head. “No reason.”

  I fake pouted. “I’m getting some pie.”

  “I told you that you could.”

  “I wante
d to wait for you.”

  She blushed. “Because you’re so romantic.”

  I rose from the couch. “You just let me know, if Galeo finds Raven.”

  “I doubt he’ll find her this book. It’s close to the ending.”

  “Oh no. That’s bullshit.”

  Zola glanced at me. “What’s bullshit?”

  “That Galeo won’t find Raven until the next book.”

  “The main plotline isn’t their love. Galeo is supposed to save the world.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “He can’t save the world without finding Raven.”

  “Why not?”

  “Raven is his strength.”

  “I like that. I never considered it that way.” Zola smiled, placed her bookmark on the page, and closed the book. “This isn’t as heavy with romance as I thought. It’s supposed to be a happy ending by now.”

  “There’s always romance in every book. Most people like to fall in love.”

  “And you?”

  “What?”

  “Do you like to fall in love?”

  I walked off to the kitchen. “You know that’s a complicated answer for me.”

  “So…” She rose and followed me into the kitchen. “So, you never been in love? In all these years that you weren’t talking to me…was there some woman or—”

  “No.”

  “Any big love affairs or—”

  “No.” I opened the fridge and pulled out the pie. “And what about you?”

  She widened her eyes. “Love?”

  “Yes.”

  She swallowed. “No…not me either.”

  I placed the pie on the counter and studied her. “But you’ve dated?”

  “Yes, but I’ve never been in love.”

  Good.

  “Who did you date, and how many?” I asked. “This could help with finding your stalker.”

  It would also help me make sure that no other men would start sniffing back around and thinking they could return to her life. I didn’t know how Mrs. Ellen or York would take our new relationship, but I wouldn’t leave Zola alone anymore.

  She sighed. “Since being in New York, I’ve only dated two guys.”