She was getting agitated. She continually shifted in her seat, her brow furrowed, and she kept her gaze on her cup.
“Did Sierra give you any indication when she was going to blow this all open?” Thomas asked.
“Soon, it was going to be soon. She had all the information. If we can find the statements, it will prove what I’m saying is true.”
“I don’t disbelieve you, Lily. I just need to get as many facts as possible.”
“You need to find the statements, and you need to find Sister Anna.”
“I wasn’t aware Sister Anna was missing,” I said.
“Have you spoken to her?”
“I have, and I’m due to meet her soon,” I replied.
Her eyes widened. I noticed a very slight shake to her hand as she lifted her coffee cup. Although I imagined it to be cold, she took a sip anyway.
“Can we take a break? Maybe I’ll make some fresh coffee. My nerves are jangling from last night still,” she said. She planted a smile back on her face.
“You know what, that would be great. And you’re doing well, Lily. This is such a help for us,” I said.
“While you’re doing that, I’ve got some traps for you, just in case that animal makes a return. Want to help me lay them?” Thomas said, looking at me.
“Sure, why not.”
We left Lily in the kitchen and walked around the side of the house.
“She’s cracking. She’s desperate for those statements and now worried that I’m speaking to Sister Anna. She seemed adamant that Sister Anna couldn’t have killed those people. Makes me think she knows who did,” I said.
“I agree. Although, playing devil’s advocate here, that doesn’t mean she was involved, just that she’s on the run from someone she knows. Gabe, I know we said we’d wait another day, but I’ve passed over all that I know to the state police. I’ve flagged Lily as a flight risk and spoken to someone I know well. They’re going to take a look at the file today and then advise.
“And I have a name for the cell Sister Anna used. Surprise, surprise, it’s not registered to Sister Anna but, and you’re not going to like this, it’s registered to Sierra Malone.”
“What the fuck?”
He raised his eyebrows at me. “She didn’t have a cell. I used to moan at her for not having one.”
“Perhaps she got it just to have contact with the sister. And knowing how naïve she was, she wouldn’t have thought to use a fake name.”
“If you traced it, then so could anyone,” I said.
He nodded. “It could be how they came to know your address, Gabe.”
“Or Sister Anna is involved.”
He sighed. “This is why I called in the state, this is getting beyond my capabilities to investigate.”
I pulled my phone from my pocket. “I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to send a text and tell Sister Anna, or whoever the fuck we’re dealing with, that I have Lily here. If they are after her, they’ll come for her. If not, we know Lily is part of the problem for sure.”
“Gabe, think about that. These people have killed. Without being caught.”
“Done.” I showed him the text.
Sister Anna, please, it’s real important you get back to me. I have Lily here, at my house, I need to know if what she’s telling me is true. We think we know where the statements are.
“Fuck, Gabe.” Thomas pinched the top of his nose and screwed his eyes shut. “You might have just brought the devil to your door.”
Lily was back in the yard when we returned. It was time to escalate things.
“I think I might know where Sierra hid those statements,” I said.
She turned toward me. “Where?”
“I’m going to check first, I might be wrong.”
“Gabe, we need those statements, then we can go to the police, or the press,” she said.
“I know. That’s what I intend to do. I’m going to do what my wife would have wanted and blow this whole thing wide open.”
“I’ll get the feds involved soon as you have them,” Thomas said, playing along.
He picked up his pad and pencil, not that he’d written a word; hopefully he’d committed it to memory.
“I’ll head off to the station and check in later, okay?” he said, and made his way back to his car.
A couple of minutes after he’d left, I received a text. Lily tensed when she saw my phone vibrate on the table. I picked it up.
Round the clock surveillance, don’t fucking shoot anyone unless you know it isn’t me.
I deleted it and chuckled.
“What’s funny?” Lily said.
“Thomas reminding me not to walk down the alley, he set some traps.”
“I’m worried,” she said.
“Why? Exposing these people is what Sierra wanted. It’s the right thing to do and once that’s happened, you will be safe.”
“Will I?”
“You can’t spend your life running, Lily.”
“I’m just not sure you understand who you are dealing with,” she said, her voice fell to a whisper.
“Then tell me.” I leaned forward and took one of her hands in mine.
At that moment she looked vulnerable. She looked scared, and again my mind was in turmoil. Had I gotten it all wrong? I was confused. One minute I disliked her, the next I felt sorry for her. One minute I felt she was lying to me, the next she just wasn’t sure of the truth herself. I had to get a grip. I’d set wheels in motion that could end up terrifying or satisfying.
Lily and I spent the day either in the house or the yard. She was getting bored; I could see that. I sat at the kitchen table and carried on with some accounting, she sat and read. I took a couple of calls from Mom, enquiring after Lily, and spoke at length to Taylor about her riding lesson. She told me all about the foal, how she’d watched it feed, and her and Dad had led them both to a small paddock for the first time. The enthusiasm in her voice as she described the foal’s first gallop around the paddock had me smiling.
“You become animated when you talk to her,” Lily said. She’d walked into the kitchen to refresh her drink.
“She’s my life.”
“I can see that. May I?” She indicated to a chair at the table.
I piled my paperwork to one side and smiled.
“I wish I had that. Sometimes, I’m jealous of Sierra and the life she had, and then I remember her start was so much worse than mine. I’d love a family of my own.”
“You don’t need a partner to have a child,” I said.
She chuckled bitterly. “I can’t see anyone wanting to settle down with me.”
I wasn’t going to answer. I wasn’t prepared to offer sympathy or pander to her self-doubt if she was just playing me.
“You want to go out for a drive?” I said. As much as she was going stir-crazy, so was I.
“Oh, yes, that would be great. Maybe we can go and see your folks and Taylor?”
I checked my watch. “They’ll be having dinner, I imagine. We’ll visit them tomorrow.”
“I’ll grab my sneakers,” she said and rushed upstairs.
While she did, I sent a text to Thomas.
Going out for an hour, house will be empty.
He replied. Sure you should? I’ve got Syd in a car outside your house.
Syd was one of the part-timers Thomas relied on. He was a full-fledged, sworn in deputy, but not required full-time. He wasn’t someone any of us really knew, kept himself to himself mainly.
I’ll keep in touch. I replied.
I heard Lily bound back down the stairs. She was sat on the lower step, tying her laces, when I got to the front door. I grabbed my truck keys from a sideboard and set the alarm. Without asking, Lily slipped on my hoodie and covered her head.
We drove out of town with nowhere really in mind until I remembered a spot I’d visited when I was a teen. I found the dirt track and headed up toward a ridge that overlooked the town. At night it was a pretty place to park an
d watch the stars. There was a small parking lot for hikers who wanted to head off in the woodland that snaked around one side of the town.
“This is a pretty spot when the sun goes down,” I said as I parked the truck.
“I bet. It’s just good to get some fresh air.” Lily opened her door once I’d come to a stop and climbed out.
I wasn’t concerned about her running, she’d have a long fucking jog back to town, and the opposite direction was just miles of forest. I watched her pull the hoodie off and then stretch. The tank rose showing a toned midriff.
“I needed this, thank you,” she said.
I opened the back of the truck bed and sat with my legs dangling. “Climb up,” I said.
I held out a hand to help her. She laughed as she sat beside me. She placed her hands slightly behind her and leaned back, closing her eyes, and raising her face to the sun.
“Did you have a good childhood?” I asked.
Without opening her eyes, she answered. “I guess so. They were very religious, probably why they went to a convent to get me. We didn’t do holidays or fun days out, but they were kind enough. I was homeschooled for most of the time, as were the boys.”
“Do you keep in contact with any of them?”
“Not really. I’m not saying they were in it for the money, but I always felt, they didn’t want children but felt they had to. Does that make sense?”
“Sure. I guess, considering they were Catholic they probably felt duty bound, or whatever.”
“Oh, they weren’t Catholic, they were Divinus Pueri, close though.”
“Never heard of it,” I said as I casually shook loose a cigarette. I lit it and handed it to her.
“Tell me something about you,” she said as she sat upright again.
“What do you want to know?”
“How old where you when you skipped town?”
“Twenty, I think. My parents weren’t pleased, as you can imagine. I’d gotten involved in a couple of fights, not paid ones. Tore up the diner,” I said with a laugh.
“So you were a bad boy then,” she said.
“Bored, more likely.”
The conversation was easy, or so I wanted her to believe. I was filing away anything she said worthy of reporting back. But somewhere deep inside, I was, for the first time in a while, enjoying myself. If I closed my eyes and didn’t look at her, if I took myself out of the past few days to another time, maybe in the future when my life wasn’t such hell, I’d be having fun.
“What is that tattoo you have?”
She’d remembered the tattoo from seeing me heading to the bathroom, I guessed.
“A heart, an anatomically correct heart.”
“That’s a strange tattoo to have.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I tell Taylor it’s there for her, it beats only for her. If she puts her hand over it she feels my real heart.” I omitted the real reason.
Lily slid from the truck then turned to face me. She didn’t speak as she took the one step needed to be close enough. She reached forward and placed her hand on my chest. My body stiffened at her touch, and I felt her lift her hand away just slightly.
“I’m sorry, I just wanted to feel,” she whispered.
I tried to relax as I felt the pressure increase when she placed her hand back. She stared straight at me. I saw her eyes darken as she took another step forward until she was between my knees.
We didn’t speak, and I slowed my breathing, so she wouldn’t feel my heart beginning to race at her touch. In my mind, as much as I tried not to, I saw Sierra, I felt Sierra.
Lily closed the gap between us, her face was just inches from mine. I could feel her breath against my skin and her fingers curled in my t-shirt, bunching it in her fist. Just as her lips ghosted mine, I spoke.
“We need to get back,” I said.
Her hand slid down my chest, and she only pulled it away when she reached the top of my jeans. She took a step back.
“I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I…”
Again, tears formed in her eyes, and as she walked to the passenger door, I saw her angrily brush them away. I took a deep breath as I slid from the truck and bolted the tailgate closed. I took an even deeper breath as I placed my hand on the door handle, opened it, and climbed in.
She didn’t look at me all the whole way back; she didn’t speak. I was grateful, she would hear the huskiness in my voice that arousal created. I pulled into the driveway and she didn’t wait to put the hoodie on. That made me pissed. I slammed the car door shut as she made her way to the front door. I covered her with my body as I leaned over to place the key in the lock. I felt her shrink away. She stumbled into the house as I pushed the door open.
“I said I was sorry,” she said.
“I know.”
“Then why are you mad at me?” Her voice hitched as she held back a sob.
“Because you just got out the truck, not fucking caring if anyone saw you. How many times have I asked you to protect yourself? Anyone could have seen you. Forget the fucking neighbors, I’m talking anyone after you. Sometimes, I get the impression you want to be seen.”
She ran her tongue over her lower lip before sucking it into her mouth. It was a childish gesture but one that made my cock twitch. She wouldn’t look at me, opting to keep her gaze lowered to the floor.
“I won’t do it again. I didn’t think, I was embarrassed, okay?”
“Until this is fucking solved, I have to keep you safe, Lily. Do you understand?”
Finally she looked up at me. Tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Why, Gabe? Why? No one else has ever wanted to, bothered to. I lied to you. I didn’t have an okay childhood; it was hell on earth. I just made up a childhood, so it was a little more bearable. Somewhere along the line, I started to believe it myself.”
That was my undoing. Whether what I did was born of anger, lust, frustration, or just sheer fucking desire for my wife, I wasn’t sure. I pushed her against the wall. I cupped her chin with my hand and forced her head up to mine. I pressed my body against hers until her breath hitched in her throat and her eyes darkened again. My mouth crashed down on hers, I forced my tongue between her lips. I kissed her like a man starved of water taking his fist sips.
Her hands slid up my sides, dragging my t-shirt with them. I pulled back long enough for her to raise it over my head. I threaded one hand in her hair, behind her head, and held her still as I devoured her mouth again. She moaned as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
I reached down and grabbed her thigh, wrapping her leg around my waist as I ground into her. She raised her other, and it was my body weight pinning her against the wall that held her there.
My cock was painfully hard, straining against the tightness of my jeans. I wanted to bury myself in her; I wanted to fuck her so hard she cried out. I lowered my hands to cup her ass, supporting her as I took a step back and carried her up the stairs. She broke our kiss, her tongue trailed over my chin, across my jawbone as I stumbled up and to my bedroom. I kicked open the door and lowered her to the bed.
I watched as she ripped the tank over her head, undid her bra and slid it from her arms. I unbuttoned my jeans and let them fall. She’d only just managed to wriggle from her own before I climbed on the bed and covered her body with mine. I held myself above her as she hooked her fingers under her panties and lowered them. Not one word had been spoken and I was glad. I didn’t want conversation, I wanted her body and my pent up release.
Without any foreplay, I positioned my cock at her entrance, feeling how wet she was. She raised her arms, gripping the headboard as I sunk insider her. I fucked her hard. The headboard banged against the wall, the legs of the bed slid on the wooden floor and her moans grew louder.
Sweat dripped from my brow landing on her lips. I watched as her tongue slid across them and tasted it. The eyes that stared back at me were hard, challenging.
“Harder,” she whispered.
I pulle
d out of her and flipped her body over. I pulled at her hips until she was on her knees then pushed into her again. Her body jolted up the bed with every angry thrust. Her moans had become screams of pleasure as she came. I wrapped my hand in her hair and pulled hard, forcing her head up. Between her gasps I heard her chuckle.
“So you like it rough, huh?” I said through gritted teeth.
She didn’t answer but I felt her nod her head.
I wasn’t sure what had come over me. The person that reached under with his fingers to tease her clitoris, to coat them with her juices, the person that used that to lubricate her ass and insert one finger, then two, wasn’t me. Or was it? I felt like I’d left my body, I was on the outside watching.
The screaming of the word, ‘stop’ in my head was drowned out by the desire to fuck her ass, which I then did. From her reaction, that wasn’t something new for her. Without lubrication, she should have been crying out in pain, instead she was slamming it toward me every time I withdrew and plunged back in.
The tightness of her and the willingness to accept my cock so deep inside, scrambled my brain. I could no longer think rationally. A sheen of sweat coated her skin as I withdrew one last time. My cum spurted over her back, hot milky liquid gently slid down her side and dripped to the bedding. I watched as she reached for it before rolling to her back. Her fingers were sticky as she placed them in her mouth and sucked my cum from them.
She placed one hand between her thighs, teasing herself. She arched her back off the bed, and I sat back on my heels and watched. Her pussy glistened as she inserted two fingers and worked out another orgasm. My mouth watered as her scent hit my nostrils. Instead of doing what I wanted, which was to sink my tongue inside and taste her, I slid from the bed. I grabbed her wrist as I did and dragged her to the bathroom with me.
My heart was pounding in my chest and my hands shook. I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I looked wild, deranged. I punched the fucking mirror, and it was with pleasure that I saw the glass shatter and blood spurt from my knuckles. Lily squealed in shock. I stepped into the shower, pulling her with me and turned the dial to the hottest I could stand. I stood with my hands on the wall, my head bowed, watching the water run red as it washed the blood from my hands, trapping her inside my arms. Her skin had turned a bright shade of red from the heat of the water.
Gabriel: A thriller (Standalone within the Divinus Pueri series) Page 11
