by WL Knightly
Lane leaned in close and took the wine from the middle of the table to open it. “Wait until you have dessert.” He poured Raven a glass and then Darek. Then he poured himself one and returned the bottle to the center of the table.
She smiled. “I can’t wait.” She took a long pull of wine and gave Lane a seductive look. It was good to see the two getting along, but Darek wondered if they were getting along too well. Surely, Lane was just friendly. He had a feeling it might be more for Raven who had an attraction to Zodiacs.
“I still can’t believe I never met you when you were in New York City,” she said to Lane before she turned her attention to Darek. “We used to go to the same gym and the same coffee shop.”
“Wow, really? That’s crazy. Two passing ships, I suppose?”
“Must have been,” said Lane. “She didn’t tell me how the two of you met.”
Raven looked up at Darek, and he realized by the look on her face, she didn’t want him to tell it either. “I met her through work.”
“That’s what she said.” Lane rolled his eyes. “I have a feeling there was more to it, but I guess I’ll let you off the hook and drop it.” He took a bite of his pasta.
Raven giggled. “We might as well tell him.”
“Be my guest.” Darek shrugged and waited to see what she’d say.
“Darek was sent to Taunt to investigate his friend’s murder, and the two of us ended up hooking up.”
“Damn. I should have known. You’re a lucky man, Darek. She’s a catch.” Lane took a bite of bread and then washed it down with wine.
“I agree. I got lucky.” He couldn’t help but wonder what she was up to.
She downed her wine, and Darek remembered her medication.
“Slow down, baby. You’re medicated, remember?”
“Yeah.” She lifted her hand and put her cast in Darek’s face. “Like I forgot?” She looked at Lane with smoldering eyes. “Pour me some more?”
Lane glanced over at Darek who gave him a cold stare. “As much as I’d like to, I’m not sure it’s a good idea either. You might get sick or pass out.”
“Then you could carry me to bed. Both of you.” She turned and looked at Darek, who tried very hard not to let his jaw hit the floor as she reached for the bottle to pour her own.
“I think you’ve had enough already.” He got up and leaned across the table to take her glass.
“Come on, Darek. You’re not jealous, are you? You knew how I liked it when you found me, remember?”
Darek took a deep breath. “I did.”
Lane shifted in his seat. “I’m afraid I don’t share, sweetheart.” He gave Darek an apologetic look and then took another sip of his wine.
“Who said you had to?” She got up and leaned over to take Darek’s wine. She threw it back before he could stop her. Then she leaned over toward Lane and ran her finger up and down her cleavage. “You could fuck me while he watches. Darek likes to watch. Don’t you? I mean, it’s nothing we haven’t done before, right? Oh, wait. That was Bay, Finn, and Seth.”
Lane turned his eyes on Darek and gave him a look that said he was positively shocked.
Darek wasn’t impressed. “I think you’ve had enough. Maybe you should go and lie down.” He had never felt more humiliated in his life, and while he had never held any of the past over her head, she had used it to make him look like a fool.
She got to her feet, already wobbling a little as she did, and then turned and gave Lane one more seductive look. “Thanks for dinner.”
She disappeared down the hall, and Darek looked down at his food. He didn’t want to disappoint Lane who had worked so hard at being hospitable. So he twirled a forkful of pasta and stuffed it into his mouth. Even though it was delicious, his mood made it no more than ash on his tongue.
Lane sat with him in silence for a moment. “I’m sorry, man. I thought the two of you had a relationship.”
“Me too,” said Darek.
“Now I’m really confused,” said Lane. “So why don’t we talk about something else? The meeting went well. At least, I thought it did.”
“Yeah, it’s good to know we’ve all agreed that the killer can’t turn us against one another,” said Darek with a sarcastic tone.
Lane sighed. “Yeah, no shit. Do you think this is something the killer would have one of us do, though? I mean, on a grand scale?”
“I don’t know.” Darek had seen the killer at work, pitting brother against brother. “They put Alan on Seth, and then Corey. And Corey turned on him, so that meant that Corey was up to bat with the killer, and then he claimed that he wanted things to stop with him. I thought he sounded sincere enough.”
“So, what if this was his way of taking care of it? Maybe he didn’t mean it stopped in that sense, but that he would take us all out. Maybe he gave us up, thinking the killer would wait until he and his girl was gone. She’s the one who changed up the plans; maybe he’s paying for it?”
“No, he was sincere. He met Brandy and asked her to marry him. I don’t think he would have taken a chance like that. Not with her life.” He couldn’t believe that. He just couldn’t think of Corey being that hardcore with so much to lose. “They would have ducked out in plenty of time.”
Lane nodded. “I’m just throwing out theories, man. I don’t understand any of this and hate that I agreed to host this meeting in the first place. I should have said no.”
“We were going to do it on middle ground.” He hadn’t expected him to step up.
“Yeah, I should have listened. It’s just too hard for me to leave the restaurant. Next time, if there are any of us left for another meeting, I’m going to keep my mouth shut.”
They shared a laugh. “And if I’m still around, I’ll remind you.”
“What are you going to do about Raven?” Lane took another bite of his food.
He wasn’t sure what had come over the woman, but by the sound of it, she was trying her best to make sure that when they got back home, he would wash his hands of her.
“I have no idea, man.”
“Look, you know I’m curious, but is what she said true?”
“Yeah, unfortunately. I don’t know what I was thinking hooking up with her, I guess. I mean, she’s so different with me, I didn’t even see all that. You know, I looked past it.”
Lane raised a hand. “No need to explain, man. She’s a great girl. It floored me, and I’m not easily shocked from my days in a courtroom, but do you really see yourself with her long-term?”
“I might could have. I mean, if things weren’t so complicated. She was a rebound from my partner.”
“Wait, she dated your partner?” He closed his eyes and shook his head as if he could shake reality away like an Etch-a-Sketch.
“No, I was with my partner. Me and her had some problems, and I hooked up with Raven on a whim, total accident. But she gave me something I needed. I’ve been with her a little while, and I even let her stay with me. Now, I’m not sure what to think. I feel like a chump.”
“Talk to her.” Lane got to his feet. “She didn’t act out like that for nothing. She might have been testing you.” He walked away to the kitchen, and Darek poured himself another glass of wine, which he quickly downed. He was going to have to get to the bottom of what was bugging her, and if she wanted things to end, he could make it really easy for her.
Chapter 8
Darek
After the embarrassing show at dinner, Darek had to go check on Raven before turning in for the night. With her true confession of her connection to not only Darek but other members, she’d made herself sound like some kind of Zodiac groupie, which Darek thought might give Lane the wrong impression about her and her knowledge of the club.
In fact, she had been nothing more than a hook up for the others, but Darek had never seen her that way, and he didn’t appreciate her making it sound as if he had brought an escort with him.
He walked down the hall from the dining room, and when he came to the be
droom door, he expected to open it and find her curled up in bed. So when he walked in and found it empty, he wondered where she’d gone off to.
The sound of water trickling brought his head around, and he went to the bathroom door, which was slightly ajar and pushed it open.
Raven sat in the tub, her hair pinned back to make her look like a goddess, and the bubbles that surrounded her did all they could to hide her perky breasts and just barely failed at the task.
Her eyes were fixed ahead in a blank expression that managed to say so much, and yet nothing at all.
“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” he asked, walking into the room.
She didn’t even blink. “You know.”
“What I know is you presented yourself like a whore, which is something I’ve never treated you like. I know your past is pretty colorful, as well as the long list of experience you’ve had with many others, but I never let that cloud the way I feel about you and how I feel when I’m with you.”
“This can’t keep going on, Darek. I’m just trying to make it easier for you. Let’s be real; you don’t love me.”
He gave her a sideward look as his blood began to boil. “Ah, so now you’re going to start telling me what I do and don’t feel. Well, listen up. It’s not black or white, Raven. My feelings are a lot more complicated than that, so don’t fucking tell me what I feel and what I don’t.” He pointed a finger in her direction as his jaw tightened. “Have I treated you like a whore? Or like a friend? Haven’t I shown you respect? Yet you make me look like a customer in front of my friend.”
“I’m sorry. It’s complicated for me too, okay? Do you even understand what it’s been like for me?”
“Hard, I know. But I told you we’d get through it.”
“You also told me what it wouldn’t be. That you weren’t looking for a relationship and strings.” She held her arm up from where it rested on the side of the tub. “Scars come with strings whether you like them to or not. How can I move on from this with you and not want more?”
Darek realized it had all been her way of pushing him away but only because she thought she couldn’t have him.
“I just want you to tell me something, Darek.” She looked up at him, meeting his stare with enough emotion that his chest began to ache. “When those bullets were flying, where was your mind?”
She needed the truth. “I had so much on my mind.” He scrubbed his face with his palms. “I’m a cop, Raven. In those situations, it’s never just one thing. It’s many. What’s happening? Where’s the danger coming from? How do I stop it? But if you have to hear it, the one thing I kept thinking was that you might not make it. And it scared me to death.”
“But that wasn’t all, was it? You said it was many things, so what else was in that head of yours?”
“Lizzy.”
“Because she’s the one you love. Not me.” She gave him a longing look.
“I don’t—”
“Don’t say you don’t know, Darek. Don’t even fucking say that.”
“All right, yeah, I do love her. I mean, I think I’m in love with her, but it’s so damaged and complicated that no, I’m not sure.”
“But you see why this is hard for me. I broke my own rules with you. I got too close, and now this.” Her voice cracked so much, she paused to take a long, calming breath. “You want to know what I keep thinking?”
“Of course.” He cared about her so much, and he thought he’d shown it. He didn’t understand why she thought he wouldn’t care about such things.
“I kept thinking that I had to live with this scar for the rest of my life, and how all it would be is a constant reminder of how I didn’t get the one thing I wanted more than anything else.” She rose up out of the water, the suds still sticking to her skin as she grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself.
“I didn’t know you felt that way.” He took her hand and helped her out of the tub but stood between her and the door.
“Because you don’t want to see it. I know we’ve toyed back and forth, and I know things are really crazy for you, but I can’t help how I feel, and if you don’t feel the same, then I think we need to stop it now. It’s going to hurt enough as it is, but if it goes on, I’ll never recover. The scars are only going to get deeper.” She put a hand on his shoulder and then started to walk around him, but he couldn’t let her go like that.
He took her by the wrist and held her there. “I can’t make promises, babe.”
She pulled away and took a step back. “Tell me how you feel then. Tell me something; anything to make me feel like I’m wrong.”
He didn’t want to see her go. He knew that whatever he did now was going to either be the final nail in their coffin or the beginning of something beautiful, but ultimately, his move was the same. The outcome was solely in her hands.
He moved forward and, with a swift tug, pulled the towel away from her. Her skin was an angry pink, both supple and fragrant from the hot bath. He brought his hand around her neck, and she stood as still as a statue as he leaned forward and crushed his lips to hers with a slow, deliberate kiss that deepened and grew feverish between them.
She pulled away and met his eyes, and then her hands moved to undress him, first taking care of his zipper and then undoing the buttons on his shirt. He had every last one of them to stop things from progressing, but he didn’t want it to stop. Not even with the image of Lizzy burning somewhere deep in his mind.
She moved closer, and every inch of her body was against his, their feet touching, his leg moving between her legs, the feel of her warm, wet center grinding on his thigh, the feel of her tight nipples brushing his chest as their lips moved together.
He wrapped his arms around her tighter, hitching her up and holding her bottom, cupping her round cheeks and brushing the tips of his fingers against her slit. He thought about taking her down to the floor or placing her bottom on the sink, but for once, he wasn’t going to treat her like that. Like all that mattered was getting off. That wasn’t going to be a move that saved them.
He carried her to the bed and placed her gently against the white cotton sheets. Then he moved over her, gently parting her legs to nestle his hips between them. He stared into her eyes that were glossy with tears and moved forward to kiss her slowly as he caressed her soft skin.
Darek made sure not to miss an inch of it, planting kisses as she moaned, working his way down her body with them until he was at her soft, round breasts. He didn’t tug her nipples like usual. Instead, he danced his tongue around them, taking special care to give each on equal attention. And then he moved down, dragging his tongue along her tummy, moving his way to her hip where he planted another kiss before moving to her mound.
He trailed his tongue there, and she let out a soft moan, no more than a breath, as she moved her hips against him.
He continued to pleasure her, licking and sucking, nibbling and exploring until she coaxed him forward to meet her eyes. Without a word, she reached down and stroked him as she centered him against her.
Darek pushed slowly into her, and soon, they weren’t fucking but making love. She met his eyes with emotion in her stare, the longing so intense now that he was certain he’d sealed his fate with this woman, knowing what it would mean, but feeling not only that he owed it to her, but to himself to make it happen. He would push all thoughts of others away and make his life about them. He knew it with the sincerest parts of his soul.
He brought her over the edge. His own release followed seconds later.
She looked deep into his eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you too.” He knew what he was saying, and he was prepared for the consequences, but then she moved off of him and laid flat on her back, taking his hand in hers.
She brought it to her lips, and after planting a soft kiss on his knuckles, she rolled over to face him. “I’ve decided to go to my cousin’s in St. Louis.” She wiped her face. “I’m leaving as soon as I get home and gather my things
.”
Darek felt something tear apart inside him as she rolled away from his side and turned to face the other way. He placed a hand on her hip. “Now we’ll both have scars.”
Chapter 9
Justin
Justin couldn’t help but think how long a walk it was from his room to Corey’s, and while it was only seven doors down to the right, it seemed like miles had stretched between them. It wasn’t from him being weak. No, he knew the distance was all in his head.
He had sincerely wanted to help Corey when he first showed up at his house. It had always been in his nature to take on the enemy, and this killer, the one taking out his old friends, had seemed like the right cause.
Justin hadn’t even considered the casualties, that Brandy would fall in love with Corey. It wasn’t that he’d done anything to let her know how he felt. He’d just been content to fuck whoever would give him the time of day instead of trying to make anything real with the one person he loved. He’d done his best to take care of her, but it didn’t stop her from being interested in everyone else that had come along, and while it bothered him, he had continued to allow it, never thinking she’d feel anything serious for any of the men and knowing that if any of them tried anything, he’d rip their balls off and feed them to them.
He’d never had to worry, though. She hadn’t had any luck in keeping anyone around, and while he was entertaining other women, he always had his eye on her, wondering if they’d ever catch the right wave together.
Then Corey came along, and she’d been so fucking happy. And honestly, he liked seeing Corey happy too. The scrawny kid, who was bullied, the one who came to camp to get away from the abuse he suffered at school, deserved a break. Now he’d grown up and earned it.
As Justin walked to his room, he tried to remember it wasn’t the man’s fault he’d chosen her. It had just happened. Their timing had been perfect.
He came to the door and knocked, and though he expected Brandy to call him in, Corey’s low voice sounded the invitation.
