by C. L. Stone
He takes the blue cheese and puts it on his own salad. I'm the one that showed him how wondrous it can be when it's made right. "You need to eat more; I could wrap both my hands around your waist."
I take a bite and swallow before nodding. "I do eat, every chance I get. Mologan bought me Chinese food this afternoon, and gives me money for food all the time."
He shakes his head. "You can't make a living off what he pays you though. How does he expect you to get an apartment on maybe eighty dollars a week?"
I take my fork and use a spoon to twirl the pasta neatly onto it. I hate slurping it up it up like some kind of animal, getting sauce all over my face and surroundings. "He doesn't know I'm homeless, Keif. And it's going to stay that way. He thinks my parents pay my rent."
"You don't have parents. Neither of us do."
I stare at him with indignation. "I have parents, someone had to make and give birth to me. I just have to find them."
He shrugs and takes a sip of his wine. I do the same. "If they wanted us, they wouldn't have let us be taken away, and put in the system after we were already kids."
The shrimp taste wonderful, must've been sautéed in a garlic butter. "At least you remember where you come from. I don't."
"Be glad. My biological donors were fucked up. They would take me to crack houses and then leave me there for days on end, before they remembered where they left me. That was before cell phones were something even the poor had."
I stay quiet. I doubt my parents were like that. "What do you want to do for your birthday next month? You're turning twenty-five, you'll be a quarter of a century old. I'll have a second job by then. I've been applying for jobs that have graveyard shifts."
He grins. "No. Save your money. If I'm not on a date that night, we can hang out here and watch a movie."
"So who’s the special girl that missed out on this feast? Have a lot of girlfriends now?"
Kiefer shrugs. "I wouldn't call any of them my girlfriends, more like acquaintances. The girl I'd like to have as more doesn't really notice me like that. I was hoping to use this dinner as way to tell her."
I take a sip of my wine. Not bad. I'm not a huge fan of wine, or alcohol in general. "That sucks man, I'm sorry." My phone rings. I pull it out of my back pocket. A 1-800 number, normally I'd ignore it, but my gut says not to. "I think I should take this." I gulp before answering. "Hello?"
"I'm looking for a Miss Sincerity Jones."
"This is she."
"Good, yes. I'm calling from Triangle Prison, we've received your application, and we think you would be perfect for one of our special jobs. Can you start tomorrow evening, say around four?"
They don't want to interview me in person first? They really are desperate. "Oh, yes. Sure! How do I get there though?"
"You work for Mologan's Investigation Services, correct? It shows in our systems that he is not a Norm. We will send your supervisor through to come pick you up there tomorrow. Please be advised to have no Norms in the building at four o'clock on the dot. Once you're shown the inside the prison, you'll be able to take a Void here yourself."
Shit. "All right, thank you!"
"Mmmhm, have a nice rest of your evening." I set down my phone as the call ends. "Who was that?" Kiefer finishes off his glass of wine. Shit, he's a Norm. I can't tell him about Triangle Prison. I shrug. "Got a job as a night guard at some private housing place."
He frowns. "But you don't have any experience doing security work."
I shrug again and take a large sip from my wine. "They were desperate, I guess. You taught me some jujitsu, and Ziggy taught me how to fire a gun. Tasers aren't hard to work. I think I'll be fine."
He frowns and pours himself more wine. "You really need to stop hanging out with him. He'll only take you down with him one way or another."
I sigh whilst picking a cucumber out of my salad and eating it. "Listen. I know you care about me, and I care about you, but Ziggy is a good friend of mine. He used to be a good friend of yours too. Remember? All those years we ran together. No one could separate us."
"Yeah, and then get got all of us sent to juvie when he tried to rob that store while we were with him. You and I both got lucky that they expunged that off our records for good behavior. I couldn't have become a cop and you wouldn't be able to become a P.I."
I take my time eating some pasta. “I was thirteen, you two were fifteen, you can't still be blaming him for something that happened ten years ago. He hasn't been in prison since."
"That's only because he hasn't gotten caught. He'll slip up one day."
Now Kiefer's phone buzzes on the table.
He picks it up. "This is Frog." I take another bite of pasta, finishing off my plate while I watch him. He gets so serious when it comes to work. "I'll be right there."
He hangs up the phone and stands. "I have to go, there's been a murder in Queens and they want my team on the case. We're the best homicide unit in New York after all." He flashes a smile at me. I stand to grab my coat and bag. I guess it will be another night at the office then. "What are you doing?" He stops as he goes to unlock the deadbolts. "Leaving behind you?"
He tsks as waves me off. "Stay. Help yourself to the fridge, food or drink, put some fat back on your bones. There's cheesecake with raspberry and chocolate topping for dessert. Take a shower if you want, and take my bed. I doubt I'll be home before dawn. These things always have a shit ton of intake and paperwork to file." He unlocked the door and opened it. "Are you sure?" A hot shower sounded amazing, but I don't want to make him feel like he has to house my ass when he's not even here. He rolled his eyes. "How long have we known each other? Fifteen years? Yes, Hope. I trust you to be around my stuff and sleep in my bed." He kisses me on the tip of my nose. "Lock the door behind me."
He left and I lock the deadbolts behind him. I sigh and turn to look at the dining room table. Might as well clean up for him. I blow out the candles and pile everything together so I don't have to make more than one trip to the kitchen. I set them on the counter by the sink and get to work washing each one with hot water and soap, before putting it in the drying rack. He isn't the type to ever want to waste electricity on a dishwasher. Too bad I can't find someone like Kiefer; he sure does know how to make a girl feel special and like he put effort into the whole romantic date thing. That girl really missed out on something amazing. With his dining area clean again, I kick off my shoes and slid over to the fridge. Opening it, the cheesecake sits on the top shelf, illuminated by the glow of the lightbulb. I swear I can hear a choir of angels sing right now. The best thing in the world is cheesecake. I could eat my weight in it and never tire. Doesn't matter the flavor. I love cheesecake.
I take out the plastic container. Looks like he got it from some bakery. Doesn't matter to me, he's never been huge on baking. He's more of a cook. I set it down on the counter. If I didn't have any type of restraint I would grab a fork and dig in, but I'm sure he'll want to eat some of this at some point this week. I take down a plate and get a knife. I cut a large slice and put it on the plate. I'll pay him back for it later. A bubble bath while I eat this sounds fucking amazing right now. I can't even remember the last time I could have a bubble bath, probably when I was still a kid. A grin spreads across my lips as I take the plate, and grab my phone from the dining room table. This bath will be amazing. I enter the bathroom and switch on the light.. A CD player and a stack of CD's sat on the back of the toilet; so old school.
Turning on the bath faucet, I peruse his collection of bubble bath and oils on the other side of the tiny CD player. I had no idea he was into this type of stuff. A lot of it looks like the unmarked bottles that the herb shop in Chinatown sold; the one Mologan had me check out. I picked up the only one with tape on the bottle. "Bubble bath, two drops only!" A fuchsia liquid swirls inside. I uncork it and take a whiff. Flowers and something else I can't place, it’s not bad. A dropper sits amongst the other bottles. Oh, yeah, it said only two drops. There has to be a reason for that. I fill
the dropper a quarter of the way and put just two drops into the water. My eyes widen as big, fluffy bubbles form, spreading over the surface. "Woah, what is this stuff?" I recorked the bottle and set it down carefully. The scent of flowers invade the room, my muscles relax. In a few seconds I'm stripped of my clothes. Doesn't he have a washer and dryer in here, too? I could get my laundry done without having to sit in one of the skeevy laundromats. Once the water gets as high as it'll go, I turn off the faucet and grab my cheesecake.
Now, for the music. The first CD on top of the stack is a burned one, a mix of The Beatles. I shrug, sounds good to me. I turn up the volume, Because’s soft notes fade in. "Oh!" I step into the hot water and sit down. Sometimes it pays off to be so small. The water covers all of my body and I can stretch out without being too long for the tub. The raspberry chocolate cheesecake melts in my mouth. So rich, so good. I groan, this is amazing. With the cheesecake finished, I set the plate on the tiled floor. I wish I would've savoured that more. You Never Give Me Your Money plays as I close my eyes and relax further down into the water. "Kiefer, I envy your apartment," I mumble into the bubbles.
4
Sunrays stream through the high window in Keifer's room. Good God, his bed tops any sofa I've slept on the last few months. A rough finger slides down my bare shoulder. "Too tired to even take off the towel, Sin?" Warm lips kiss my bicep. My eyes open in an instant. Kiefer lies next to me, the sheet the only thing between me and his naked form. "I thought you said you wouldn't be back until later? What did you call me?"
"Sin. It's what I used to call you. Back in the good old days." He grins at me; his green-blue eyes sparkle in the stream of sunlight. He leans forward and kisses my nose. I slowly blink at him. Could this really be happening? "You made it clear those days are over for us."
"I've lied to myself about you. I want you again, Sin. I've never stopped wanting you."
He places a simple kiss on my lips and I return it. I touch his face, the body heat and sharp stubble under my fingertips must mean this is real and not another dream. Deepening the kiss, I run the edge of my tongue over his lower lip. He opens to me. I move to lie closer to him, he wraps his arm around my waist and moves me to lie on him. The towel falls off my body. Tears runs down my cheek as I break the kiss. "Are you sure about this? You said you never wanted to be with me again after what I had to do."
He brushes the tears way with the pads of his thumb. "We were young. I was wrong. I understood then why it had to happen, I just didn't want to believe it."
"I've never been with anyone but you, all this time." I kiss him, my fingers go into his hair, tugging at the base of his locks. He groans. Something warm touched my neck, another pair of lips? I jump and turn to glance over my back. A man with long, straight, ebony hair sits on the edge of the bed to my right. His pink eyes bore into mine as he smirks. My cheeks flare with heat, he’s like some kind of Native American sex god. I wish he wasn’t wearing a three-piece suit, even if it does fit well. "You always know how I like my sex, love; Hot, sweaty, and the more people the better." His sultry voice makes me shiver as it graces my ears. I gulp. Where's my instinct to bolt or ask questions?
"More is always better in my book." I turn to look over my other shoulder. A long, lean man with strawberry-blond hair and brown eyes sits close to the head of the bed. He puts a cigarette to his lips and draws in a long breath. The action doesn’t fit his baby face, but I get the feeling he isn’t young in the least. "Frankly put, I just want what he's having." A Korean man lies down next to Kiefer and I. His green streaked hair falls to the top of his shoulders as he props his oval chin up on his hand. He grins at us both. I stare back down at Keifer. His hands rest on my hips. "What's happening right now?"
"You're dreaming, isn't it wonderful?" A young man with milk-chocolate skin and curly, short, ombre-blue hair slides down the wall on the left side of the room. He clutches a pillow in his arms. His eyes remain closed as he rests his chin on it.
"What are you doing, man? Pound her, make her see the heavens above us!" Another man stands at the head of the bed. The red and black tattoos on his arms contrast with the caramel of his skin. Large gages take up both his ears. He brushes his limp mohawk out of the way as he thrusts his hips at us. "I’d much rather see her on my cock, she'd heighten my beauty, after all." The door to Keifer's closet opens, and a man with a dark-brown, short haircut walks out just enough to stare into the mirror hanging on the back of the door. A short, styled beard shapes his pointed jawline as he runs a purple painted fingernail along it. He buttons his pinstriped silver suit; it goes well with his skin—the shade of warm sand—before moving the door more to stare at me through the reflection of the mirror. His brown eyes glint as he grins, showing off a row of perfect, white teeth. “While you all are yammering on about this or that, I’m just going to take her for myself, so she’ll actually be satisfied.” A heavy weight appears behind me, dipping the bed down. I glance back over my shoulder at the newest man. I can’t figure out what’s going on here. I don’t think I need to worry though, nothing inside me says to panic. His dusty-brown hair falls in long curling tendrils down his face. He wears only a black leather vest and matching tight pants. His broad shoulders and rippling muscles look like they would be fun to run my fingers over. A five o’clock shadow covers his square jaw, and a scar ran through his left eyebrow at a sharp angle. He leans forward and wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me against his hot, broad chest. My body flushes with heat.
“What is happening? Who are you people?” My eyes flutter closed as his fingers ghost over the tight peaks of my nipples. The Native American man stands. The shift of his weight off the bed forces me to open my eyes. “Now, now, Greed. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We need to take this thing slow, and you know that.”
The man groans and lets me go. “But we’ve been waiting for them for so long. I don’t want to wait any longer for something I’ve wanted since the we were created.”
The man with strawberry-blond hair puts his cigarette out in his hand. “This is the first time in our history that two defiant Fae have existed at the same time. They are meant for us. Or the Sun and Moon god wouldn’t have told us to wait this long on this plain.”
The man with the mohawk rolls his eyes. "Yes, we know, wait for our chosen partners, together they can help put the world back into balance, or some shit." I rub at my eyes. Perhaps it will change this strange dream back to just Kiefer and me. "I don't understand any of this. Who are you people? Go away, I was about to have a sex dream. Though you ruined it, because I didn’t know it was a dream heading into it." The man with the strawberry-blond hair's words hit me in that instant. "Wait, what in hell is a defiant Fae? You said two defiant Fae." I stare at Keifer. "Is he a Fae, too? Why hasn't he ever told me? Why didn't I know?"
The skinny man lights another cigarette. "How could you have known? You were raised as a Norm for most of your life, you were never taught how to see our world. As for him, he didn't know how to tell you. You'll find out soon what you are, and what that means for us. You must be patient." He stands as well. "See you soon, Sincerity." His image falters before disappearing. "Don't forget to dream." The black man against the wall mumbles as he fades away. "Maybe one day I won't be envious, because I have you already." The Korean man runs a finger down my arm as he grins and fades into nothing as well. Teeth scrape along my bare shoulder. "I'll always want you, don't forget that. Soon, H, soon." His hot breath ghosts over my ear before the weight on the bed behind me lifts. "Don't forget to have her see the stars, man. Only way to treat a woman right, make sure she's satisfied before you." The man with the mohawk winks at me. "Pity I can't have you on my cock now. You really would heighten my beauty." The man smoothed a hair down before stepping back into the closet and closing the door. I stare at the Native American man. "Will any of this make sense when I wake up?" He grins, it sends vibrations of pleasure down my spine as he rebuttoned the middle button of his suit. "No, but it will later tonight, w
hen we meet for real. See you then, love."
I blink and he's gone. Now, just Kiefer and I remain. I stare down at him and run my fingers through his hair. He closes his eyes and pushes himself into my touch. "With every fiber of my being, I wish this wasn't a dream. I miss you, Keif. I hide it from you, make you think I don't care anymore. I'm sorry. I just didn't want to bring a baby into the world, knowing we wouldn't be able to give it the stable life it deserved."
My eyes open to the darkness of Keifer's room. Alone, I lie in his bed. A towel still wrapped around my body, my hair still damp. What the hell was that?
My phone rings, jolting me to the present. I grab for it in the dark, flipping it over. The caller ID screen illuminates the night. Keifer. I gulp. Did he see that dream, too? I shake my head. No. That isn't possible. The time reads two in the morning. I frown. Maybe he doesn't want me here any longer after all. "Hey. What's up?"
A long sigh comes from his end. "Hope, are you sitting down?"
My heart picks up at the grave tone of his voice. "Yes."
"I shouldn't be telling you this, but you need to know." His voice catches as he pauses. "What? Tell me."
"The homicide I got called to today. The person found was..."
My skin tingles at the hairs on my arm stand on end." Yeah?"
"Frog! We need you over here. Now." Another voice barks in the background.
"I have to go. We need to talk. I shouldn't have called you. I can't believe it. Be careful."
The line goes dead. I rub at my face. "What the fuck?" Sleep won't happen for me now. Whose body did they find?
5
Me: Are you Okay? I set down my phone before returning to updating several of our current cases. We’re close to finding that girl’s birth dad, I just know it. My phone buzzes in the next second.
