Pierced: Pierced Trilogy Boxed Set

by Lashell Collins

  “What’s so funny?” Lee asks, looking at me with a smile.

  “Nothing. I’m just thinking about the twins,” I tell him.

  “Fatherhood agrees with you, kid,” Lee says quietly. “So does happiness. It’s very rewarding for me to watch you and Samantha together. Obviously in love, wrangling those two little ones. It’s nice to see.”

  “Oh yeah? Well, since you’re feeling so sentimental, I’ll let you in on a little secret.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Sam’s pregnant.”

  He stares at me in wonder for a second. “That’s great, kid! That is great, isn’t it? I mean, you guys are happy about it?”

  “Yeah, we’re thrilled. We talked about it for months before we decided to try for another one.”

  He slaps me soundly on the back, grinning from ear to ear. “That is great news, son! I am so happy for you! Twins again?

  I laugh out loud. “Uh, I don’t know about that; the stick just turned blue this morning. We don’t see the doctor until Tuesday. I’ll keep you posted though.”

  We sit and watch Leo play for a while longer and I look over to my right, at a picnic table situated a few yards away, to see the most beautiful girl in the world watching me. I wink at her and she smiles at me and blows me a kiss. Then she bends down to Livvie and whispers in her ear and points over to me. Livvie nods her head and takes off running, coming straight toward me, and I open my arms wide and catch her, bringing her up to sit on my knee.

  “You having fun, Princess?” I ask and she nods at me, looking over at her brother. “You want to go play with Leo in the sand?”

  “Yes, Daddy.”

  “Okay, go on. Be careful,” I say, setting her on her feet, and she runs over to the sandbox. I glance back at Samantha at the picnic table and she smiles and mouths a silent ‘thank you’ to me, and I smile at her.

  We’ve made a good team these last four years, raising two happy toddlers and building our respective careers. Samantha’s really made a name for herself, both as an artist and as a philanthropist. Her foundation, Works of Heart, that she started shortly after we got married, raises millions of dollars each year to fund various art and music programs geared toward children and young adults, and supports several of the area’s performing and visual arts organizations, as well as various charities that deal with battered women and children. It’s a cause that’s come to mean a lot to her. She seems to have really found her niche and I am so proud of her. I’m constantly in awe of the way she effortlessly juggles the foundation and motherhood and me. But she does it all with seeming ease; she is just amazing.

  “So, how’s the new position working out, Guy?” Lee’s voice pulls me back to the here and now. “What is it, going on five months now?”

  “Closer to six. And I’m finally starting to feel like I’ve hit my stride, you know? Like I know the ins and outs of the game,” I tell him. “Like I know what the hell it is I’m supposed to be doing,” I laugh, and he laughs with me.

  “Well, I talked to Marcos a few days ago and he says you’re doing a hell of a job so far,” Lee says. This news takes me by surprise.

  “Really? He said that?”

  “He did. Said there couldn’t have been a better man to take over the Detective section. He’s real proud of you.”

  His words make me smile. Means a lot knowing that Captain Marcos is behind me. Then I frown slightly, wondering if this is a good time to run something past him. I glance anxiously off to my right once more and note that Samantha is deep in conversation with Lindy Conner. They’ve become close friends over the last four years, and she and I hang out with the Conners often. I know that this is indeed the perfect time to talk to Lee while she’s occupied.

  “Listen, Lee,” I begin, taking a deep, anxious breath, “one of the reasons I wanted you to meet us here this afternoon is because I wanted to show you something. Get your opinion on this.” Slowly, I pull a small envelope from the back pocket of my jeans, and hand it to him, glancing Sam’s way once more. Lee takes the envelope from my hand with a slight puzzled frown, and begins to slowly turn it over in his hands, examining it.

  It’s a nondescript, plain white envelope with the words ‘Detective & Mrs. Pierce’ scrawled on the front in bad penmanship. Lee looks up at me, his eyes asking a silent question, and I nod slightly, indicating I want him to open it and check out its contents. I watch as he opens the envelope and pulls out the single slip of paper and unfolds it. Silently, he reads the note, and his puzzled frown grows deeper. He turns the note over in his hands, quickly assessing there’s nothing else written on the back, then he looks up at me.

  “That’s it?” he asks, still frowning, and I nod my head.

  “Yep.”

  “Where did you get this?”

  “It was in my unit box yesterday.”

  His frown morphs into a look of shock. “This was in your unit box at the PD?”

  Silently, I nod once more, looking him in the eye. He knows as well as I do that, even though they’re meant to be an in-house mail system of sorts, any Tom, Dick or Harry who ventures into the station has ready access to those unit boxes. He breaks our eye contact and looks off toward the sandbox where the kids are still playing, and I can see his mind working. He looks down at the note once more.

  “Game delayed. But not over,” he reads aloud. Then his eyes narrow as he studies it. He looks up at me suddenly. “Does that statement mean anything to you? Maybe a running joke with one of the guys or one of your bandmates?”

  “Nope. Means nothing.”

  “Could they maybe be referring to our monthly poker game?” Lee asks. And I know that he’s just thinking out loud. Running all the possibilities and eliminating the unlikely. The starting point for any good detective.

  “No. If it was from one of those guys, they would have signed it. And they wouldn’t have written it this way,” I reason as I point to the note still in his hand. “All caps to make the handwriting harder to trace. And I dusted it and the envelope for prints but, of course, they’re clean.”

  Lee raises an eyebrow at me. “You have a theory about where this came from,” he says. And it’s more of a statement of fact than a question.

  I hesitate a beat before I answer, nodding slowly. “I saw a similar note once, about four years ago. But that one wasn’t meant for me. It was addressed to Samantha.”

  Lee’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and he slowly shakes his head at me. “Son, you know that can’t be possible. He is still behind bars, serving his time.”

  “I know,” I say quietly. “I even made a couple of calls after this thing showed up yesterday, to confirm that.”

  “And?”

  “And … Echols is still sitting in Walla Walla,” I say with a quiet, worried sigh, referring to the Washington State Penitentiary.

  “Well, there you go, Guy. And once his time’s served, he moves on to the next state to do it all over again. He can’t get to you or your family.” Lee’s voice is brimming with overconfidence, and I wonder if he’s trying to assure me or himself.

  I nod silently again as I take the note and place it back into its envelope, then stuff it back into my pocket.

  “Is this a private conversation, gentlemen?” Her sweet voice instantly turns my insides to molten lava. She is so damn sexy, and I look up into those gorgeous green eyes that sparkle at me. But I can’t help the small ripple of anxiety that runs through me, and I glance quickly at Lee, who understands instantly that Sam knows nothing about the note I just showed him.

  “Actually, it’s the end of a conversation, my dear,” Lee says as he stands. “I’m going over to the sandbox to say goodbye to my grand-babies and then I’ve got a few errands to run before I head over to Ann’s house,” he says, referring to his oldest daughter. “She feels she needs entertain me and feed me dinner when her mother’s away so, I let her. Besides, more grand-babies to visit!”

  Samantha giggles at him, and I stand to shake his hand as he
gives her a hug. He gives me a knowing glance before he heads over to the sandbox, and I know that we’ll resume our conversation about the mysterious note later.

  As he moves over to the children, I pull Samantha into my arms as I stand behind her, and we watch as Leo and Livvie run into his arms and give him kisses and hugs as he tells them he’s leaving. Sometimes I still can’t get over how he dotes on them, treating them as if they are his real grandchildren. Why not, Pierce? He’s always treated you like it’s his blood flowing through your veins. I smile at that thought.

  “Bye bye, grandpa,” they shout as he waves to us and walks off toward the parking lot.

  The twins turn back to their sand projects as Sam and I stand in our embrace, watching them. And I can’t help but think about the note again. I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to them. Or to Sam. And I slowly let my hands drift down toward her belly, caressing her nonexistent baby bump.

  “You ready for one more munchkin?” I whisper as I kiss the spot behind her ear that always makes her shiver. And I smile as she lightly shudders right on cue.

  “Are you having second thoughts, Lieutenant?” she asks softly. “Because it’s a little late if you are.”

  “Oh no, baby,” I whisper. “I am not having second thoughts. You and the munchkins are the best decision I ever made.” I kiss her ear and she softly moans, melting against me.

  “Mmm. What do you say we leave the picnic and put the twins down for their nap early. Then we can continue this conversation in private.”

  I chuckle at her. “Somehow I get the feeling you’re not planning on doing much talking during that conversation, Mrs. Pierce.”

  “Would that be a problem for you, Lieutenant Pierce?”

  “No problem at all, baby,” I whisper, smiling at her.

  Pierced By Christmas

  Prologue

  It's funny how things work in prison, he thought. How certain guys always seem to find likeminded souls among their fellow inmates. Drug offenders tend to flock to other drug offenders. Child molesters and pedophiles tend to connect with other sickos of a similar ilk. The same could be said of sexual offenders as well. That's the label the system had placed on him. On both of them.

  “Oh, I've got a plan,” he told his friend as he watched the guard patrolling the barbed wire fence in the distance. “One I've been hatching for a while now. Ever since I got word that my out date was set.”

  “Does this plan involve what we talked about before?” his tattooed friend asked quietly, glancing sideways at him as they sat on the small set of bleachers in the exercise yard.

  He smiled. “You mean paying a visit to our mutual friend?”

  “That son of a bitch ain't no friend of mine,” his friend replied. “But yeah.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it's on my short list of things to do. But I'm gonna do more than just pay him a visit though. Mr. hot-shot cop has a few things in his life that are precious to him now, not the least of which is a pretty little wife. So, we're gonna have some fun. And she and I are gonna do a little dancing.”

  His friend smiled as he looked at him. “What is it with you and married women?”

  He shrugged his shoulders as he smiled back at him. “What is it with you and rich women?”

  His friend sighed as he thought about it. “I don't know. The rich ones are just so … snobby. Stuck-up bitches, looking down on me when they're really begging for it, you know? Like they think their shit don't stink or something, and they're just begging for me to show 'em that it does.”

  He nodded his head. This is why he had allowed his friend to remain in his orbit – because they shared a similar proclivity, and a similar philosophy about it.

  “I guess it's the same with the married ones. They walk around pretending their little world is perfect. But it's not perfect, 'cause he can't protect her. And deep down, they all know it. Hell, sometimes I'd swear that she can feel me watching. Waiting for me to come. Like that cunt that testified at my trial. That bitch and her husband are first on my list of things to do. Once I've seen to that, then I'll move on to our friend.”

  “Just make sure you ram his wife once for me,” he said quietly. “And make sure it hurts! But I gotta warn you … that little bitch is a fighter. She won't just lay there and take it.”

  “I'll keep that in mind,” he nodded. “How would you like to get in on my game though?”

  His friend looked at him with raised eyebrows. “Well, you know I'm stuck here. I'm done. How can I get in on this game?”

  He shrugged his shoulders once more. “Thought you might want to send our friend a little note to start the ball rolling. I get out in three months. If we send a note now, it'll drive him crazy for a while wondering where the danger's coming from. Then by the time I'm free he'll have forgotten all about it.”

  His friend smiled again, nodding his head. “Yeah, I'll send him a note. I know just what I want it to say too.” He grew serious as he thought about it. “Game delayed. But not over.”

  Chapter One

  Joshua

  My eyes flutter open and quickly squint from the bright morning light filtering in through the sheer curtains on the french doors that lead to our private deck, and I blink at the alarm clock. I don't even know why I set it anymore; I always wake before it goes off. Reaching out to turn it off, I stretch a little, taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly. I feel the brush of her hair at my back and I smile thinking about those magical green eyes that I love so much. Samantha.

  Slowly, I turn over, reaching out to wrap my arm around her and pull her close. Only I'm met with a much smaller version of the woman I seek, and I frown when I realize that the hair that lightly brushed against my back belongs to my daughter, not my wife. Livvie is sound asleep, tucked snuggly against me, her chestnut hair fanned out across her face and my pillow as her little feet peak out from beneath her yellow Disney princesses nightgown, and I can't help but smile. Glancing up, I see my smile reflected in Samantha's as she silently points to the foot of the bed.

  Leaning up slightly, I follow her direction and look to the end of the bed, and I see Leo sleeping just as soundly near our feet, curled up in a tight ball and clutching his stuffed toy police cruiser like a teddy bear. I chuckle to myself and shake my head. That kid goes nowhere without at least one car on him.

  I turn back and look at Samantha and she is beaming at me. And I suddenly feel so blessed. How the hell did you get this damn lucky, Pierce? Returning her smile, I crook my finger at her and motion her to me. She gently raises up as I lean in and kiss her, slow and deep, as I caress her face.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Pierce,” I whisper, looking into her enchanting bright green eyes.

  “Good morning, Lieutenant Pierce,” she whispers back.

  “When were we invaded?”

  She giggles slightly. “An hour ago maybe? They padded in here together this time,” she says softly.

  “Oh, a unified front, huh?” I ask and Sam giggles softly again. “Time to push them back,” I say softly as I climb out the bed and bend to take Livvie into my arms.

  “I know you're only joking but, you've got to stop using war terminology for dealing with them,” she smiles, looking up at me.

  “Are you kidding?” I whisper, continuing to yank her chain. “It is us against them, baby; and we are quickly losing the battle!” She is laughing quietly as I gently take my three year old princess into my arms and carry her back to the nursery across the hall. I lay her down in her big girl bed and lightly brush her soft brown hair off her face as I cover her up. Then I head back to the master suite and repeat the process with Leo.

  I take him to the nursery and lay him down in his car-shaped bed and place his stuffed police cruiser under the covers with him and lightly brush my hand over his soft, dark brown curls. Eventually, they'll each have their own room. But for now, they both feel better still being in this room together. And I smile as I think back on my initial misgivings about Sam and I moving
into this huge house. I think I even asked her what we needed with five bedrooms. And now here we are with the twins and a baby on the way. Filling 'em up pretty quickly, Pierce!

  I enter our bedroom and lock the door behind me. The munchkins were both still sleeping when I put them down, but I don't want to chance them walking in on Mommy and Daddy's playtime. Been there, done that. More than once. And I'm not sure who's more traumatized, them or me!

  “I'm on to you, Lieutenant,” Samantha says as I remove my briefs and climb back into the bed with her.

  “Oh?”

  “Mmm hmm,” she mumbles, raising an eyebrow at me. “I know that you've purposely been waking up at least an hour earlier than you need to, all so that you can take care of these … urges of yours.”

  I can't help laughing at her choice of words, but I notice she has already removed her own nightgown. The twins have taught us to be a little quicker about these things. “Well, what can I say, Sunshine? I have needs. And only you can satisfy them, baby,” I offer softly as I caress her cheek.

  She blushes slightly at my words and bites her bottom lip. She is so gorgeous.

  “And my tactics were working just fine before the munchkins decided that it's fun to climb into bed with us in the mornings.”

  She giggles at me and I can't stand the anticipation. I kiss her passionately, silencing her girlish giggle and caressing her tongue with my own. She moans into my mouth as her hands find their way into my hair, holding my mouth to hers as my hands roam over her soft skin.

  As long as I live, I will never tire of making love to this woman. She is so amazing, and I can never seem to get enough of her. My mouth moves hungrily over skin, feasting on her sweet flesh as I go. Her neck, her breasts, her ribcage and her waist. I'm eager to taste her honeyed nectar. She moans softly as I reach my destination, her back arching and her fingers twisting in my hair. I take my time here, savoring the taste of her, loving the way her body convulses as my tongue refuses to relent.