by Penny Dee
I started to giggle, as if the champagne had gone to my head. A sweet, innocent virgin, in over her head with a suave, worldly senator.
His tongue slid across his lip. A sheen of sweat beaded on his forehead.
“Perhaps we could take this somewhere a little more private,” he suggested.
I drained my glass. “I thought you would never ask.”
Tonight was worth a fortune, and despite hating what I did, the money was too good to refuse.
Besides, Alex would never stand for me telling him no.
BULL
I hated having to leave her. To untangle my body from the warmth of hers and ride off into a cool, damp day. But I had to meet an informant on the other side of town. Another amoeba who occasionally supplied the Kings with information scraped from the filth of our county. His name was Bug, a small-time criminal who had done the occasional stint over at East Mississippi Correctional. He had his dirty fingers in a lot of pots. A lot of filth. A lot of shit I didn’t want to even contemplate.
He lived down a dirt road in a weather-beaten house, with car wrecks and broken kids’ toys littering the dead lawn. He had two wives, both of whom he pimped out, and a teenage nanny who liked to drive the wives crazy by strutting around in her tight denim shorts and a tight t-shirt that showed off her flat stomach and generous boobs.
It was a weird setup, but apart from a few calls to Bucky when the wives got to fighting, it was a setup that worked for them.
When I arrived, Bug was sitting on his derelict porch, smoking a cigarette and nursing a black cup of coffee in a glass jar. One of his wives sat next to him, a chubby baby latched onto her gargantuan breast. When I pulled up, he gave her a sharp nod and she disappeared inside.
“Nice to see you made it.” Bug’s voice was whiny, and when he spoke, his wispy ginger mustache shook like a hairy caterpillar over his thin lips. “Haven’t seen you out these parts in a long time, Bull.”
I stepped onto the porch and a floorboard groaned beneath my boot. “It’s been a while.”
He wiped his hands down his dirty t-shirt and offered me one. Reluctantly, I shook it.
“You said on the phone that you had some information.”
He ground out his cigarette with his boot. “Had a visitor yesterday, thought you might like to hear what he got to say.”
“Go on.”
His eyes gleamed greedily. “Like I said on the phone, I got something you need to hear…but for a price.”
I pulled a small bag of weed from my back pocket and dropped it on the side table next to him.
Bug grinned, revealing a mouth of tobacco-stained teeth.
“Like I was saying, we had a visitor yesterday. Said he was just visiting for work. Some security detail for a businessman staying just out of town. Said his boss had some business in Destiny. Said he didn’t know what the business was about, but he’d overheard some talk about getting revenge on a biker.”
As he spoke, a blonde girl in tight denim shorts and a blouse tied at her flat stomach stepped onto the porch from inside the house. When her dark eyes found mine, a seductive smile curled on her dry lips.
“And why would this visitor tell you all of this?” I asked turning back to Bug. “He a friend of yours.”
Bug looked sheepish.
“He was visiting with Tammy.” He jutted his chin toward the blonde girl who was now leaning against the porch railing. “Got real chatty when he was receiving some horizontal refreshment.”
So it wasn’t just his wives he pimped out.
I watched as he took another cigarette from behind his ear and lit it.
“This boss have a name?” I asked.
Was it Martel?
My stomach twisted with a sudden expectation.
Could it really be that easy?
“He mentioned a name a few times,” came a female voice from behind me. I turned my head. The blonde girl was walking slowly toward me, her eyes hooded, her lips twitching with dark amusement. She circled me, radiating sex and seduction.
“And that name was?”
“Mr. Carisi.”
The name rolled off her tongue like silk.
But it wasn’t familiar.
“That all he say about his boss?” I asked, ignoring her getting closer to me as she continued to circle. Any minute she was going to pounce. When she slid her hand up my chest, I peeled it off me and took a step back. She was marketing something I wasn’t interested in.
Bug licked his thin lips. “You like what you see? I’ll do you a good discount. Promise you won’t be disappointed.”
But I ignored him and focused on the girl.
“Can you tell me anything else?” When she reached for me again, I held her wrist to stop her. “I ain’t interested in that, darlin’. Now before I walk away from here feeling like this was a complete waste of my fucking time, can you tell me anything else?”
She narrowed her eyes and wrenched her wrist free.
“Only that his boss had some beef with someone in Destiny.”
“Was that someone me?”
“He didn’t say.”
My eyes darted to Bug. “You said he mentioned a biker.”
“I did…I mean, I’m sure…didn’t you say something about a biker, Tammy?”
“I don’t remember on account I was busy getting fucked in the ass at the time.”
Realizing they were wasting my time, I glared at Bug. “Next time, don’t fucking ring me unless you have something real. Not some fabricated bullshit.” I pointed to the bag of weed on the table. “You fucking owe me, and when I come collecting, you better be ready to pay. And I don’t mean in fucking pussy!”
I stormed off the porch to my bike and took off into a breezy morning.
I’d left Taylor’s arms for this?
Bug had taken a random piece of information to lure me to his cesspit of a home for a bag of weed, and hoping to make a quick buck on the side by pimping his nanny out to me.
If I wasn’t so full of fairy dust from my night with Taylor, I’d be more than pissed, I’d be black with rage.
Riding back to the clubhouse, I pulled over next to a field of corn and called Taylor. She didn’t answer the first call, but picked up the second.
“Hey.” I couldn’t help but smile when I heard her voice. I was looking forward to seeing her and having her beautiful body under mine later. I needed to kiss her sweet lips to get the foul taste of sleaze out of my mouth.
“Hey.” Her voice was smoky, like she was still tangled in the warm bed I’d left her in.
“I’ve got some business back at the clubhouse, but I can wrap it up in a few hours. You want to go out for supper? Or you want to eat in?”
She hesitated. “Yeah, I don’t know…I mean…I’m not sure.”
There was something strange in her voice.
“I can pick up some takeout and be at your place by six.”
“Yeah…I don’t know…”
She sounded off.
“Babe, is everything okay?”
I heard her hesitate again. “Maybe tonight isn’t a good idea.”
“You don’t want me to come over?”
I heard her swallow thickly as she hesitated. “I’ve got a bit of a headache.”
I looked across at the corn crops swaying in the gentle wind.
“I’m very good with my hands. Scalp massages happen to be my specialty.”
She chuckled softly. “That’s definitely not your specialty.”
“I can do that, too, if you think it will help,” I added huskily, knowing exactly what she was talking about.
She laughed again but it faded fast. “Maybe I should have an early night.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I think…I’m just tired.”
She was blowing me off.
She didn’t sound tired.
She sounded like she was lying.
Had last night scared her off? She’d seemed fine this morning. So soft and welcoming. H
ell, she’d trembled beneath me, moaning my name with pleasure when I’d made her come.
But now…something wasn’t quite right.
Was she pulling away from me?
Fuck.
“Are you sure that’s it?” I asked, my voice hard.
She hesitated, and it twisted a knot in my chest.
“Sure. Yes. Of course.”
She was lying. I could hear it in her voice. I raked my hand through my hair. I knew I should let it go. Get off the phone and see her tomorrow. But the idea that she was pulling away from us fucking killed me.
“Listen, are we okay?” The long pause told me we weren’t.
I thought I heard her bite back a sob, but I couldn’t be sure. Her voice was small. “I just feel a little unwell tonight. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
I nodded, not because of her comment, but because my suspicions were right, something was wrong and she was avoiding me.
I had taken things too far.
Gotten lost in what I felt for her.
And it had frightened her.
Now she was running scared.
Feeling uneasy, I decided to let it go. I wanted to make her mine, but I was fighting an invisible entity. Something I couldn’t see. Something she wouldn’t share. And if I pushed, she would retreat even further.
“If you change your mind, give me a call, okay?”
Something was wrong with my little bird, and the idea that she might regret what was happening between us gutted me.
But I would give her the space she wanted tonight. Then tomorrow, I was going to find out what the fuck had gone wrong.
TAYLOR
After I hung up from Bull, I picked up Noah and took him home. When it got dark, I crawled into bed, feeling heavy with emotion. I knew Bull wanted answers. And he deserved them. But I was afraid once I opened that can of worms it would be the end for us.
I thought about last night and this morning, and my stomach churned with guilt and regret. What we had was magical. But it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. And I’d been foolish getting lost in the addictive delirium of it.
I turned restlessly on my bed, finding it hard to relax. Since receiving that phone call my world had turned upside down. My heart had broken.
Now, my body ached and my head pounded with anxiety, until I could barely keep my eyes open. I squeezed them shut and let go of my thoughts, allowing my mind to drift away as I sank into a strange, broken twilight sleep.
Sunlight glittered through trees with a dreamy, late afternoon light. We lay on the warm grass, laughing, the perfume of spring magnolias hanging in the air. I loved these moments with Jacob. Loved how we laughed and how at ease we were together.
Jacob was my very best friend in the whole world. Someone I loved. I didn’t need to be anyone but myself with him.
The sound of the car pulling into the driveway drew our attention away from our laughter. I rolled onto my stomach and watched Alex’s wife, Victoria, bring her Porsche to a stop, and climb out, her dark bob bouncing as she walked inside. I glanced over at Jacob who was watching her intently.
“Do you love her?” I asked.
His eyes shifted to me. I could see he was going to deny it. But only for a split second. Because then his eyes softened and he looked coy. “How long have you known?”
I thought about the moment I’d found out about my best friend and Victoria. How I’d come home from an early gym class and sat in the garden with a glass of lemonade and my favorite Stephen King book, Dolores Claiborne. How I’d heard the soft moans drift over to me from the pool house. How I’d seen his face buried between Victoria’s thighs when I’d peeked in through the side window. How she’d arched her back as he made her come with his tongue.
I sat up. “Are you kidding me? I’ve known for weeks. You may think you can hide the fact that you’re all giddy over a woman, Jacob Campbell, but you can’t hide it from me.”
His handsome face broke into the boyish grin I was sure won a thousand hearts. “You don’t mind?”
I took his hand. “You know how much I love you. I just want you to be happy.”
“But what about Alex…”
I shrugged. I loved Alex. But I knew he could be difficult and ruthless. It was no surprise he was onto his fifth wife. I had never seen him be mean to Victoria but I’d heard her sobbing in her room one night when she didn’t know I was home. When I’d asked her about it the next day, she had denied it. Said it must’ve been Emilia, the housekeeper, and then chided me for eavesdropping. When I heard her sobbing a few nights later, I knew better than to bring it up again.
I knew she was unhappy. But it wasn’t always like that. In the beginning, she couldn’t keep her hands off my godfather. She was always laughing gaily, always touching him with affection. But they all started out like that. All of his wives. I never knew wife one, because she was gone before I came along. But wives two, three, and four, all got sucked into the darkness after a few years of marriage.
Victoria was nice. I liked her. She was much younger than the others. And she always treated me kindly. I figured if Jacob made her happy, then who was I to stop it? I also knew if Alex found out about it, there would be hell to pay. I didn’t see the fairness. If Alex was allowed his dalliances, why couldn’t Victoria?
“You didn’t answer the question,” I said, poking him in the ribs.
“Yes. I do.”
I laughed at him. “Well, well, well. Jacob’s got himself a lady friend,” I teased, poking him some more.
“Can you keep a secret?” he asked.
“Haven’t I already proved that? I’ve known about you and Victoria for weeks.”
“Good point.”
“What’s the secret?”
He looked around us, checking to make sure no one was about. He had nothing to worry about. Apart from Victoria inside the house, and a couple of security guards at the end of the driveway, we were alone.
“We’re running away together.”
I straightened. “You’re leaving?”
A weird sensation tightened in the pit of my gut. My best friend was leaving me.
“We need to get away from here.”
“But I’ll never see you again.”
“You’ll be okay,” he said gently. “You’re the toughest person I know.”
I looked away. Tears welled in my eyes and it was the strangest feeling. I wasn’t a crier. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I had all the emotions other people seemed to have. But now, sitting here with my best friend and hearing him tell me he was running away, I felt like crying.
“You could come with us,” he said.
I laughed through my sadness. “Yeah, being a third wheel sounds super appealing.”
His smile was weak. “We have to get away from here.”
“I know.”
“And you and Noah should too.”
“And leave all of this,” I said, gesturing to the immaculate gardens and the sprawling estate that had been my home for the past eight years.
Jacob’s eyes were gentle. “Is Alex still talking about marrying you off to Jean-Paul?”
A tiny coil of anxiety began to unfurl in my stomach at the mention of the arranged marriage between me and Jean-Paul.
He was the eldest son of one of Alex’s closest business partners, and recently Alex had gotten the idea in his head that our families should unite in marriage.
But I didn’t want to marry him. Hell, I didn’t even like Jean-Paul. He walked around like he was the most important thing on God’s planet. A gift to women. Rich. Powerful. All because his father was a well-known crime lord.
But Alex knew I would do anything for him and pushed me on the idea.
He assured me that the marriage would be a business arrangement, that it would strengthen ties between the families.
I could handle marrying Jean-Paul if it was a marriage of name only. But there was no way I was letting the arrogant jerk put his hands on me.
“It wouldn�
��t be a real marriage, Jacob. Alex says we’d be married in name only.”
“Are you sure about that? I mean, he says that now…”
“What do you mean? If Alex says—”
“He’s lying to you, Taylor. Once you’re married to Jean-Paul, you will be expected to be his wife in all sense of the word.”
I felt a chill trickle down my spine.
“Alex wouldn’t expect that.”
“He does. He told Victoria that you’d have to learn to be more accommodating to your husband once you were married, whether you liked it or not.”
I frowned. Jacob was wrong. Alex wouldn’t lie to me.
Jacob looked hesitant. “I know what he makes you do.”
My eyes darted to his, and his sudden revelation caused my words to snag in my throat. “You do?”
He nodded. “You don’t have to do it, Taylor. He has no right to make you.”
“How long have you known?”
“Not until recently. I saw you once—”
“Forget what you saw. Promise me, Jacob.” Fear licked at my skin like a hot flame. If Alex knew, he’d kill him. “I don’t want you to talk about it.”
“You have a choice. You don’t have to do that for him—”
“You don’t understand.”
“He forces you to—”
“Please don’t say anymore!”
A wall of unspoken words went up between us.
He knew. And I hated that he knew.
Because now that he knew what I let Alex do to me, he would look at me differently.
The silence between us stretched on for what seemed like eternity.
Then, Jacob chuckled. “We’ve been best friends for the past three years, and that’s the first awkward silence we’ve ever had.”
My laugh was half-hearted. “I suppose so.”
“You know what this calls for?”
“No, what?”
He launched at me. Tickling me until we were both rolling on the ground and I was laughing so hard I thought I might pee.
It was Alex’s voice breaking into the afternoon air that stopped us. I looked up. He stood across the lawn from us, his dark eyes narrowed, the sleeves of his crisp white shirt rolled up to the elbows.
“You two need to follow me.” His voice was as sharp as a knife’s edge.
