by Jessie Cooke
That night Kat asked Dillon about that. At first, he wanted to talk about how she was too young to be reading all of that, but finally he told her, “Your mother kept that room because we fought, a lot. She’d go there to calm down and when she came home in the mornings, we’d make up. She wasn’t having an affair…and I did not kill her.”
“I read that they saw you there that night. What were you doing there?” The police had security footage of Dillon going into the hotel around three-thirty a.m. and leaving just after four. Kat would have been asleep at that time. He left her alone to…do what? Murder his wife?
“Our fight was bad that night, Kitty-Kat,” Dillon had told her. “I just wanted to talk to her. But she wouldn’t answer the door. She wouldn’t let me in, so I left. It was a couple of hours later when housekeeping found her body. I didn’t kill your mother. I loved her more than my own life.”
Kat wasn’t sure she bought that story, but she didn’t outright accuse Dillon at that point. For the next two years, however, as she read every article she could get her hands on and she started spending more and more time on the streets, running with a bad crowd…her thoughts began to turn dark. She had dreams about him strangling her mother and smiling while he did it. She had nightmares of him coming after her next. Kat was twelve years old when Dillon came home early and found her with an older boy. She was drunk and about to do something she’d regret for the rest of her life, at least once she sobered up. Dillon beat the nineteen-year-old up pretty badly. Kat remembered being both surprised and impressed. She had no idea Dillon could fight, in spite of the fact that he was constantly running his mouth and pissing someone off.
The next day Dillon had packed them up and they’d moved to Massachusetts, just like that. Kat was too young then to know Dillon had to be planning it for a while. Either way, she was pissed. Massachusetts was his home, not hers and the move was just another crack in the already shaky foundation of their relationship. Kat and Dillon did nothing but fight and if she hadn’t met Dax when she was thirteen, her life could have gone in a very different direction. Dax went a long way in convincing her that Dillon had only done what he thought was best for her. Kat supposed she never gave him enough credit. But she also never completely convinced herself that he was innocent either. Sometimes, mostly late at night, it still gnawed at her. If this detective had other ideas, she couldn’t wait to hear them.
A knock on the bathroom door brought her out of her thoughts. “Hey, you’ve been in there a long time. Just checking to make sure you’re okay?”
It took Kat about three seconds to decide she didn’t want to think about Dillon or her mother any more that night. “I’m okay,” she said, “But I could use some company.” The door was pushed open immediately and David was already stripping off his clothes as he walked in. He deposited them on the floor and pulled open the shower door and stepped in with her. He wrapped his arms around her and she could feel that his cock was already hardening as it brushed up against her thigh. He put his mouth on her neck and kissed across her throat. Kat threw her head back and let the water flow over her hair while he suckled at her neck and slid his hands up her wet body to grab onto her breasts. She reached down and took hold of his cock, wrapping her hand firmly around it and feeling it throb against her palm. David slid his mouth from her neck across to her shoulders and kissed his way down to her breasts. Still holding one in his hand, he stuck his tongue out and curled it around her hard nipple. Kat’s body was shaking all over and David wrapped his other arm around her waist to hold her upright. She stroked him while he pleasured her breasts, and her pussy was so wet that she could feel the thick secretions running down along the insides of her thighs.
David’s mouth eventually left her breasts and traveled slowly down her stomach. He sucked and kissed at her smooth skin, leaving little bite marks in his wake as he lowered himself down to his knees on the tile floor. The warm water cascaded down over the two, and he put his arms around her butt and pulled her hips into his face. Kat opened her thighs and David began to lick along the insides of them, just around the outside of her hot, aching pussy. Kat grabbed his head and tried to push it where she wanted it, but he was in the mood to tease and he was a hell of a lot stronger than her. His tongue barely touched her lips, just along the outside, before he shifted her so that he could lick the other side. She was moaning and whimpering when he finally licked along her slit, opening her slightly with his tongue. He pressed his face into her clit at last and let his tongue slide up inside of her. She held onto the back of his head, and he let his tongue move in and out of her before sliding it out again and licking, sucking, and even nibbling at her lips and clit. She was panting hard and her body was rigid as he sucked her clit into his mouth and flicked it hard and fast with his tongue. At last the volcano deep in Kat’s core erupted and the orgasm hit her like a ton of bricks.
“Fuck,” she panted out as David slid up her body and got back up to his feet. He grinned down at her and she said it again.
“Is that an expletive, expression, or a request?”
Kat turned off the water and said, “It’s a fucking demand. Fuck me, David. Now.”
David put his hands on her hips and crouching down slightly, he let his hard cock slide in between her smooth thighs. She expected him to enter her, but instead he held onto her thighs and pressed them inward while he slid his cock back and forth, fucking the space between her thighs and rubbing against her overstimulated clit with every stroke. Kat leaned back into the wall, and David bent forward and covered her mouth with his while he tantalized and teased. His big hands slid around to her ass and he squeezed her cheeks while rocking into her. His breaths were becoming more ragged with each stroke and for a second Kat thought he might come just like that. But David had other plans. He used his hold on her butt to lift her up off the floor. Kat put her legs around him and David pushed her back into the cold tile. She reached down between them and lined his cock up with her opening, and they both groaned in ecstasy as she slid down his shaft.
David held her there for several seconds and then, with the muscles bulging in his arms, he started moving her up and down. Kat rocked back and forth, using the wall behind her to push against with her back. She found his lips with her own then and began to lick, bite, and suck at them as the feelings of ecstasy consumed her. David was groaning and panting, and just before Kat was ready for another orgasm, David suddenly lifted her up off his cock and lowered her to the floor. She had to grab onto the wall to keep from falling while David opened the shower door and stepped out. He took her by the hand and led her to the bed, leaving a trail of water in their wake. Neither of them noticed it, or the fact that they were soaking the bed as they fell on top of that. David kissed her again, all over her face and neck and shoulders, and then he rolled her over and entered her pussy from behind.
Kat gripped onto the comforter to steady herself. David was drilling into her with such force that she was pushed forward each time and she had to hold on to keep from slamming into the headboard. He was like a man possessed and once again he was using her body to get the satisfaction he needed, and she loved it. He fucked her for a long time, so long that she knew she’d be sore in the morning. But Kat wasn’t complaining. It felt so good that she would have been willing to go all night long. The harder her pounded into her, the wetter her pussy got until he was slipping and sliding in her juices. She felt his hands clamp down tightly on her hips and his body surge forward against her back and the rumble as he groaned into her skin just before he came. He whispered her name repeatedly as he gently rocked into her, straightening her up and pulling her into his lap and up against his chest. He kissed her neck and all the way up to her ear and then he whispered, “I love you, Kat.” She kissed him back and wiggled out of his lap to pull him down on the bed next to her. David pulled the comforter over their still damp bodies and she snuggled into him. She didn’t say it back…again…but this time she at least admitted to herself that she was feeling
it.
32
“Be nice.”
“Seriously?” Angel looked over her shoulder at her old man as he followed her into the hospital. Dax had already been there to visit Dillon, but this was the first chance Angel had. She’d tried to send him off to do whatever he needed to do, but he’d insisted on going with her. “Did you just come because you think I’m going to cause a scene? What kind of person do you think I am? I have more compassion that that.”
“I know you do, baby. You and Kat are just like…”
“Oil and water?” she finished.
He grinned. “I was thinking more like dynamite and a match.”
“Shut up.” She rolled her eyes at him and shifted the flowers she was carrying in her hand to the other one as she pushed the elevator button. They rode up in silence and got off on the ninth floor. Dax sent Kat a text that they were there and she was smiling when she pushed open the waiting room door…until she saw Angel and then the smile fell. Angel was determined for this one meeting between them to go smoothly though. She stood up and held the flowers out to Kat. “These are for…you.”
The edges of Kat’s lips curled up as she took them. “Thanks. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“Well, I wanted to…show my support for you.”
“I’m going to go in and see Dillon,” Dax said. They both turned on him and he grinned before slipping through the door. Kat sighed and stuck the flowers up to her nose before sitting down. Angel sat down next to her and for several awkward minutes, they sat there in silence.
“How is he?” Angel finally asked.
“About the same,” Kat said.
Another awkward silence and Angel said, “David told me that you’re going to give him part of your liver.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s…admirable.”
Kat snorted like she was trying to suppress a laugh. “Thanks.”
“Kat, there’s something I need to say to you…”
“Let’s not do this, Angel. You don’t have to say anything.”
“But I do. David told me what happened to you that day and I can’t stop thinking about how awful it must have been for you. I can’t stop thinking about how horrible I was. I want to apologize, but that just seems so…I don’t know, the words just don’t seem like enough.”
“It’s fine, Angel. It was a long time ago.”
“It’s not fine. I put my hands on you when you were suffering an unimaginable loss. I didn’t give you the opportunity to explain. I told David horrible things about you…”
Kat smiled and said, “Are you trying to apologize or make me dislike you even more?”
Angel sighed. “I’m trying to apologize, but it seems so lame at this point.”
“It’s fine,” she said again, “I accept your apology. You were just looking out for your family.”
“I was being a snotty, irrational bitch.”
“That too,” Kat said, still smiling. Angel smiled back and said:
“I do lose my mind when it comes to my family.”
“That’s not a bad thing,” Kat said. “But it’s over…”
“Is it?”
“Excuse me?”
“David doesn’t seem to think it’s over. He still loves you, Kat.”
A muscle in Kat’s cheek twitched. Angel wondered why she always had to try so hard not to show emotion. “David and I will figure all that out, but thanks for your concern.”
“I’m not being nosy, or pushy…he was just so broken when you left before, Kat. You’re not planning on leaving again when Dillon is better, are you?”
Kat chuckled again. “Not a bit nosy, or pushy.”
“I’m not trying to start a fight. I just don’t want to see him hurt, again.”
Kat bit down on her lip and Angel wondered what she was biting back. “I’m not going to hurt him,” she said, “But I’m also not going to justify my life to you, Angel. Even before that day at the clinic, you had already made up your mind that I wasn’t good enough to be a part of the Brady family. David’s a big boy, he gets to decide what he wants.”
“You’re right.” Kat furrowed her brow and looked at Angel suspiciously.
“What do you mean, I’m right?”
Angel laughed. “Just that you’re right. David is a big boy. He is also smart and mature and kind and capable of making his own decisions. I’m sorry if my concern for my brothers comes off as snotty and hateful sometimes…” Kat raised her eyebrows. “Fine, most of the time. I’ll stay out of it, as long as he doesn’t get hurt.”
Kat laughed. “That’s a veiled threat if I ever heard one. But I get it. Thanks for the apology.”
Angel nodded. “So…when is your surgery?”
“I’m not sure yet. They’re still working me up. Hopefully soon; I need to get back to work.”
Dax came back into the room then. “The bar is taken care of. You don’t have to worry about getting back to work any time soon.”
“Well, there is my brand-new catering business. Sorry, it’s not making you much money with me sitting in here every day.”
Dax sat down next to Angel and took her hand, almost absently. Angel loved the way he did that, like he was just compelled on some kind of primal level to touch her when she was close. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll work it all out when Dillon is better…and you, I hear? Is that surgery you’re having major?”
“It’s not bad,” Kat said. “I’ll be in the hospital for about five days after.”
Dax whistled through his teeth. “That sounds major to me. I’m glad you’re doing that for him, though, Dillon’s a good guy.”
“When he’s sober,” Kat said, rolling her eyes. “Hopefully he’ll stay that way and not pickle my liver too.”
“I think you giving him part of your liver and saving his life might be a big incentive.”
“We’ll see,” she said with a smile. She stood up and said, “I better get back in there, he usually wakes up yelling for his pain meds about this time.”
Dax and Angel stood up too. “Let us know if you need anything,” Dax told her as he gave her a hug. Angel’s stomach still clenched when he touched her…but she was trying. When Dax let go of her Kat said:
“I will, and thanks for the flowers, Angel.” Kat took a step back when she said it, like she was afraid Angel was going to try to hug her. Angel almost laughed. A friendly conversation was practically a miracle. She wasn’t about to try to touch her.
“You’re welcome,” she said. “Tammy and Harley both send their love and they also said to call them if you need anything. We didn’t want to all bombard you here.”
“I appreciate the thoughts, thanks.” Dax and Angel stood there and watched Kat go back toward the ICU. Once she was gone Angel said:
“How do you suppose she’s paying for the operation?”
“She has insurance, I think…from her job in L.A.”
“But what about Dillon? I had a case a while back where this man died because he didn’t have medical insurance and the hospital refused to do the surgery without a huge deposit. I found out that transplant surgery can cost something like a quarter of a million dollars, or more.”
Dax suddenly looked worried. “Her biggest complaint when she first got here was that Dillon’s medical bills were eating up all of her cash. I have no idea how she’s going to pay for it.” The crease in his forehead told her he was going to worry about it until he found out. She was almost sorry she brought it up. Dax had enough to worry about as it was.
David sat across from the detective at the coffee shop, listening to him talk and trying not to concentrate on the strange way he pronounced some of his words. He was Creole and although his accent wasn’t thick, some of his words made no sense to David and he felt like he was missing part of the point. The man was intense and almost scary…not physically, but there was just something strange about him. At last he took a breath and David said:
“Detective Munroe, I’m not sure how
the case you’re working has any connection to the death of Victoria Brown…”
“The body that turned up after the flood was strangled. Her trachea was crushed.”
“Yes, but Mrs. Brown was found in a hotel room in the French Quarter. Your body was found in the swamp…”
“The two women looked very similar. They worked in similar capacities and…”
“How old was the lady you found?” David knew he shouldn’t interrupt, but the man talked extraordinarily slow and David was anxious to get back to Dorchester, and Kat.
“She was twenty-nine.”
Victoria Brown had been thirty-two. “Was she married?”
“Yes. Her husband reported her missing ten years ago, and he’s been looking for her ever since.”
“Ten years ago? She’s been dead that long?”
“Yes. It looks like she was probably buried in a shallow grave near the swamp. The flood pushed the body up and she was found floating by a fisherman. Another day or two and there probably wouldn’t have been anything left, thanks to all the predators out there.”
“That was still eight years after Victoria Brown was killed. Other than the manner of death, I’m not seeing any more connection than she had to the prostitutes that were strangled.”
“I don’t think the prostitutes are connected.”
“But you’re convinced this one was—why?”
“Can I show you something?”
“Sure.” David looked at his watch. He was annoyed that he’d driven all the way to Boston and it was going to turn out to be a bust. He watched as the detective pulled a photograph out of his briefcase and laid it on the table between them. The picture was of a pretty young woman with long, dark hair. She did look similar to Victoria, but not identical by any means. The picture was a boudoir photograph and she was lying on her side, wearing a scant piece of lingerie. David would have questioned the detective’s use of that particular photo had he not immediately noticed the tattoo. It was a heart atop a triangle, and a sword or wand ran across the top of it and through the middle. There was also a symbol behind it that looked like the skeleton of a spine and pelvis. A chill ran down his arms as he looked back up at the man. “That’s the same tattoo that Victoria Brown had.”
