It was almost noon but I was exhausted after the long trip and Devon had not been sleeping well for once. I think the trip had knocked him out of sorts with the changing environments. He would settle down in a few days. I just had to wait it out.
I was almost off to sleep when my phone rang. I grabbed it off the bed to confirm that Tony was calling me yet again. He never called twice in a row, though. That was not his style. He was persistent without being whiny or needy. That was one of the things I found so sexy about him.
Or at least used to until I discovered he was a liar and a killer.
But it wasn't him. The caller ID was from NYU. I had sent them an application a long time ago and never heard from them. My heart leaped at the prospect of good news.
“Hello?” I asked.
“Yes, Miss Banks?”
“Yes.”
"This is Nigel Crawford with NYU Law School. I wanted to speak with you to discuss your application for a professorship. Are you available to come in for an interview tomorrow at two?"
“Yes, absolutely,” I replied.
When I got off the phone it was all I could do to keep from screaming with joy. I couldn’t believe it.
I had just been offered a full-time job as a professor of Constitutional Law at NYU Law School. It was just completely out of the blue and it was a dream of mine coming true.
I might not have been on my way to making the kind of money that being a partner in a large law firm would give me, but I was going to be instrumental in training future lawyers and judges. It was something to be damn proud of.
I could hardly contain my excitement when after the interview, Nigel Crawford offered me the job on the spot. He said that he’d been most impressed with my resume when he received it almost a year before, but they did not have any openings. The professor who was supposed to retire then decided to stay on for another year. And he was now officially retiring. I would be taking his spot.
I couldn’t believe it. By the time I left the office I was feeling a bit lightheaded. I had to remember to breathe deeply, I had been so nervous. I wanted to just run up to every person I saw and announce the news. But I was able to hold it together.
Tears were streaming down my face as I arrived back at my car. I tried to hold them back until I was out of public view and by the time I sank down behind the wheel the dam burst open and the tears began to fall. I had been so scared, so worried for so long. I was going to be able to take care of my bills and I was going to be able to take care of my baby boy. I have never felt so happy in my entire life. It was almost like a miracle had just happened right in front of me and I was having trouble distinguishing reality from a dream.
Derek was almost as happy as I was when I called and told him the great news.
“Wow, you know I have to take you out tonight to celebrate,” Derek said. “Just as friends, of course,” he added quickly.
I smiled. “What if I don’t want to go as friends?”
“What?”
“How about you pick me up for a real date tonight?” I asked.
He could not contain his excitement. “Ok, sounds great!”
And it was great. Derek took me to a nice Italian place that looked fancier and pricier than it actually was. It was pretty quaint and the food was delicious. Derek ordered the most expensive bottle of wine that they had and poured my glass pretty full for me.
“You aren’t trying to get me drunk, are you?” I teased.
“Well, the more you drink the cooler I am,” Derek replied.
Actually, as a shifter alcohol did not really have quite the same effect as it did on humans. If we drank enough we could get pretty relaxed and feel really good, but it was short-lived and it was not the extreme drunkenness that affected any of our faculties.
After we finished eating Derek invited me to join him on the dance floor over by the bar area. I obliged and we had a few slow dances together.
I was surprised at what an elegant dancer he was. I was also surprised by how much fun I was having with him.
I had surprised myself when I suggested a real date with us. But I was so overwhelmed with emotions that I decided it just felt like the right thing to do. I felt like throwing caution to the wind and giving it a shot. I still wasn’t sure I would ever develop real romantic feelings for Derek, but it was definitely something I decided I was open to exploring, albeit slowly. I thought he would understand that.
After dinner, Derek dropped me off in front of my building and we said goodnight. He did not go for the kiss, which I was relieved for. It would have been very awkward. We are such good friends that even though it was technically a date I didn't want to complicate matters by going for that. If it was meant to be it would wait.
I said goodnight and walked into my building. It had been a fun evening, but I was exhausted and it was getting late. I had to relieve my babysitter who was probably getting anxious to get home.
The second I walked through the doors I stopped dead in my tracks. Tony was sitting there in one of the chairs in the lounge area. He smiled revealing his easygoing manner and his eyes lit up showing me how glad he was to see me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Well, I was waiting for you of course,” Tony said. “You look terrific. What are you all dressed up for?”
“None of your business,” I said.
Tony got the idea. “Oh, I guess you were out for the evening. Was that Derek’s car I saw? Are you two…?”
“That is none of your business,” I said. “I don’t have anything to say to you.”
"Can we talk? Please, just talk with me outside for five minutes. After that, I'll go. Please."
I knew I was going to regret it but I relented and I followed him outside. He made sure no one else was around and then he spoke.
“I did not kill that girl. You have to believe me. I have proof,” Tony said.
“What proof?”
He pulled out his phone and began playing a video. It is a video of himself getting into bed and falling asleep. There is a time lapse on the video that he has transferred over from his laptop and put on his phone. Tony was asleep during the time that the girl was killed. The camera dated and stamped the time in the bottom of the screen.
“Why did you take this video?”
"I do it every month to make sure that I did not wake up and shift. As a pure shifter, and as part of the Grizzly clan, when it is a full moon I can't control the shift. I take special pills that have been developed by ancient medicine men in my clan. They've been passed down to us for centuries. I am usually ok until after midnight when the moon is at its highest peak. At that point, I can't control the shift and I lose all of my reasoning. I basically black out during the shift and I have no idea what I do during that time. That is why I take the pills. To keep that shift from happening and to let me sleep peacefully. But even with the pills, there is still a possibility that I might shift. So that is why I record myself on the nights of the full moon every month."
“So, you really couldn’t have done it. But I saw your sweatshirt with the rip in it.”
“I ripped that playing football with my family the week before.”
I felt the tears starting up in my eyes.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I... I’m a fool. I don’t even know where to begin.”
“It’s ok. I saw how it looked. You couldn’t have known. I tried to explain to Derek’s family, but they wouldn’t hear me out any more than you did. I’ve been trying to tell you this since then. I had to make sure you knew I was not a murderer.”
I couldn’t help myself. I threw my arms around him and pulled him close. My lips instantly found his. He kissed me back hard. Oh, it was so perfect to have his warm embrace again.
I could not hold back the tears of joy. I had tried to deny it and avoid even thinking about it but I was so hurt by this. I didn’t even realize how in love with Tony I was until I thought he was a monster and that the man I had fallen in lo
ve with was a total lie.
Ten minutes later we were upstairs. Devon was asleep. I paid his babysitter Julia, and the second she left Tony and I were in the bedroom.
I didn't even want to take time with foreplay. I could not hold back my aggression. Much to Tony's pleasant surprise I basically attacked him with a fiery passion. I ripped his clothes off as fast as I could and as he tried to playfully resist I tapped into the bear strength and pinned his hands down with one hand.
An instant later he was deep inside of me. I loved being on top. I had so much control, so much freedom, the pleasure was intense, and I loved to see the pleasure in Tony’s eyes as I rode him to completion.
It was probably the quickest, dirtiest, and most animalistic sex I’d ever had. But I figured we had plenty of time to take things slow.
“Oh, My God!”
Tony’s voice from beside me jarred me awake. I could hear a mix of terror, confusion, and total disbelief as he sputtered those words.
I jerked up out of bed throwing off the cover of a deep sleep that I was really into to see what was going on. The bright sunshine bursting through the windows was blinding and I asked myself for the millionth time why I did not replace those curtains with darker ones.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Tony was looking at his phone. I glanced down and saw his Facebook page pulled up to a Facebook Live feed.
"If you are just joining us Beth White is being sought after in connection with that brutal murder at the Mountainside Ski Lodge in Mountainside, West Virginia. Earlier this week the body of twenty-one-year-old Theresa Woods was found viciously mauled to death in the woods near the resort. Authorities initially ruled it an animal attack, but after a thorough investigation found traces of human DNA and other physical evidence that suggested otherwise. The DNA results came back to identify Beth Marie White as the main suspect in connection with this vicious crime."
“I don’t believe it,” I said.
“I don’t either. How could she do this?”
“I have to talk to Derek,” I said.
A half hour later I was sitting with Derek at his apartment. I was surprised he even decided to speak with me.
“Why did she do this? I just don’t understand,” I said.
“Because of Tony. She called me when she was on the run from the cops this morning. She told me that she loved me and that she was sorry if she ever did anything to hurt me or the family. She wanted me to tell mom, dad, and Keith that. I asked her why. She said she did it because she somehow found out about you and Tony. She thought that if she could make you think he was a killer then you would dump him. If she couldn’t have him then she wasn’t going to let you have him either. I can’t believe it. She has lost her mind completely. She needs help.”
“Well, do you have any idea where she is? If you know, Derek you have to contact the cops.” I said.
“No. She wouldn’t tell me. I think she is going to do something crazy. I think she might kill herself.”
“What? She wouldn’t. No matter how bad things seem—“
“You don’t know her like I do. She has lost her mind completely. I think she is going to get some silver bullets and do herself in. it’s the only way. I’m not sure where she is or where she is going. I just don’t know.”
Derek was really getting emotional now. I knew that he loved his sister, even though they were not close at all. I could tell that he still cared for her and would never be the same if something happened to her.
I just hoped the police found her in time.
“How’s he holding up?” Tony asked when I arrived at the park about two blocks away from Derek’s. Tony was sitting on the bench watching Devon who was in his stroller. I asked him to wait there with Devon because I did not think Derek could handle that Tony and I were together right now.
“He will be ok,” I said.
“It will take time. All things do, but they always work out eventually,” Tony said.
I smiled as he stood up and began pushing Devon’s stroller. As we walked together I looked down at my child.
I’ve never seen a happier smile on his face.
Chapter Eleven
When I opened the door to my apartment I knew something was wrong. The entire place was completely dark; there were no lights turned on anywhere despite the fact that it was after six at night
I had just gotten home from a long meeting with the Dean to discuss how the semester was going to shape up, if I had a syllabus in place I was putting together yet, how the course had previously been set up, my office hours, my class schedule, and the publication requirements that I would be expected to complete each year.
As a law professor, I would be expected to publish essays and legal papers periodically as a requirement of the job. I was not sure what the hell I was supposed to write about, but I supposed I was going to have to go into research mode at some point and make it happen.
Despite the fact that a meeting I expected to last two hours, ended up lasting four because I had to meet with the Dean of the department and the Dean of the university, I was in a surprisingly good mood. In just three weeks I would start my first semester as a teacher.
I had to admit it was going to be weird sitting on the other side of the classroom for once, but in a sense, it was no different than teaching the jury what they were looking for, what the evidence really meant, and how they should think about things to reach their final conclusion in court.
I was excited and nervous all at the same time. It felt very much like there was some crazy tug of war happening inside of my body right then. But I was optimistic, for the first time in a while, optimistic about the future.
I had called Julia and let her know I was going to be late and she said that was fine. She had sat with baby Devon for a long time and there was not a person on the earth I trusted him more than her.
I imagined that he had taken a nap and she had too. The past few weeks had been brutal on her studying nonstop for exams. Soon I was going to be the mean professor who made lives miserable for so many young students. It was going to be great.
I sat my purse down on the chair and went to the fridge to grab a soda. I was dying of thirst, and even though I had been slacking on my water intake, sometimes a girl was just in the mood for sugar. This was one of those times.
I sat my coat down on the kitchen chair and quietly walked into the living room and turned on the lamp. I figured that Julia had fallen asleep on the couch (it wouldn’t have been the first time). But she was not there.
That was odd. The apartment wasn't that big. I hadn't begun receiving any of my checks from teaching yet and even though Tony had offered to let me and Devon move into his place, I was content to make it on my own two feet. As great as things were and the fact that I was falling more and more madly in love with him every single day, living together was a big step. Not just for me, but for Devon. I don't think a bachelor has any idea what he is getting himself in for when he signs up to live with a one-year-old.
As I walked through the apartment with no sign of Julia and no sounds coming from Devon’s room, I started to get scared. There was an eerie feeling that came over me right then. I don’t know how I knew, but I did. There was something horribly wrong.
I found myself jogging those last few feet to Devon’s bedroom door. I flung the door open and flipped on the light. Devon’s crib was empty. He was not there.
Julia. She was lying on the floor, face down, a bit of blood trickling out from her head.
I couldn’t breathe. Every mother’s worse nightmare, the one that every single mother on the planet pictures happening at least once a day to her kids, the thing that wakes you up screaming in the middle of the night more often than you would ever admit to anybody- was happening to me right now.
My baby was gone.
“Devon!” I screamed.
I clutched the sides of my head as I made my way to his crib. Out of some last minute desperate strand of hope, I though
t he might be there, hiding under the blanket somehow.
A groan came from the floor. Julia!
I knelt down beside Julia and helped her turn over. She was conscious but obviously very dazed.
“Julia! Where is Devon! What happened? Are you ok?”
I knew that she could not focus on hardly anything right then but I could not stop myself from asking her every single question in the world right away.
“A lady…” she moaned. Her eyes closed as she tried to doze off again. I knew she at least had a concussion. There was a huge gash on her forehead.
I lightly smacked her face to keep her with me.
“Julia, you have to think. What happened?”
“A lady hit me… she came out of nowhere… I heard her taking him.”
Julia began to doze off again.
I reached for my phone and dialed 911.
I received an answer on the second ring. “Nine-one-one. What is your emergency?” The voice was calm, almost serene. Very eerie.
"My baby has been kidnapped! Please come quick! Oh, my God! Please! My babysitter has been attacked! Someone took my baby! We need an ambulance to 175 Mercer Lane. Apart 5 B. Please come quickly!"
I was speaking so fast I had no idea if the operator could hear me or not. I was losing it. I had to regain my composure. Freaking out was not going to help anything. I took several deep breaths as the operator repeated the information back to me.
“Ok, ma’am an ambulance and police officer are on their way.”
“Ok,” I said hanging up.
I didn’t know what to do. I needed to find Devon. Who would have taken my son?
I stopped suddenly. My mind was racing a mile a minute. I had to get myself under control or I would never find him. A cop was on the way, but they were too slow. Even if they got here they would probably give me some stupid story about how they would let me know if they found out any information, meanwhile, I would do nothing but wait. I couldn't let that happen. If Devon was found, it was going to be up to me. I would tear the city apart—
Beth.
The word popped into my brain. I had no idea why at first, but as I dwelled on it I became aware of a scent. Devon’s room did not smell normal. It did not smell just like him, or like Julia, or even like me. It was different. There was a difference to it.
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