by Faith Gibson
“Wow, thank you, Mr. Cassidy,” Bethany says.
“Please, call me Ryan. And you’re welcome. As long as I’m here, I’d like to get the things Jared stored in the attic for me. After that, I’ll be out of your hair.”
“Yeah, sure. Do you need a hand?” Jimmy asks.
“That’d be great. It’s only a few boxes.” I walk down the hall and pull on the cord to the drop-down stairs. I flip on the light switch and start climbing. The narrow steps creak under my weight, but the house is older, and things were made pretty sturdy back in the seventies. I grab a box and hand it down to Jimmy. He stacks them at the bottom of the steps until I have them all. Together, we haul them outside to the car.
“Sweet ride,” Jimmy says, admiring the SS.
“Thanks. Jared fixed it up.” Once the boxes are loaded, I ease the deck lid down until it clicks.
“I sure appreciate you letting us stay. We’ve treated your home as if we own it ourselves.”
“I can see that, Jimmy. Just keep it up, and you can stay as long as you want.” I shake his hand again and wave at Bethany, who is watching us from the door. She gives me a sweet smile and a wave back. I want to say something to Jimmy about treasuring what he has, but the words get caught in my throat. I angle into the front seat, and as I’m driving away, I promise myself I’ll never set eyes on this house again.
Chapter 19
Cass
Jared has been working late every night to get a high-dollar bike ready for a customer. His talent amazes me. If I didn’t have my own shit going on, I’d sit and watch him for hours as he creates art out of flat sheets of metal. I’d also watch as the plain paint job became a masterpiece. Snake not only inks intricate tattoos, he also paints amazing scenes and designs on Jared’s bikes. It’s no wonder they sell for six figures. I know Jared has to pay the men who help him, but fuck! The bikes bring in double what the older cars do, and he’s let three of these bad boys go in the short time I’ve been here. He’s bringing in the cake, so why is he still living in this little cracker box of a house?
I guess since it’s just me and him, he doesn’t need anything bigger. I’ll be moving out soon, and then it’ll just be him and Zeus. He doesn’t spend that much time in the house, so yeah, I can understand why he keeps it. Why have a huge house filled with nothing but furniture and silence? I need to remember that when I start looking for a place of my own. It’ll just be me. Maybe I’ll get a dog to keep me company at night. Maybe I’ll get two so they’ll have a buddy during the day.
I don’t bother to tell my cousin I’m leaving. He knows my routine. I come home from the shop, shower, eat supper, clean the kitchen, and then I’m out the door. Sometimes I get home before he goes to bed. Most of the time I don’t. He thinks I’m getting pussy every night. He’s even said as much. I let him believe what he wants. The less he knows, the better. I check the time. I need to stop and pick up another burner phone, but I only have a short window for what I have planned since I stayed at work finishing up a job. Tonight takes precedence over the phone. It can wait until tomorrow on my lunch break.
I drive to the safe house to change into clothes Jared would question. While I may have worn suits in my younger days, I only wear jeans and T-shirts now. I have no reason to put on anything nicer as far as he knows. He did notice the haircut and beard trim, but he didn’t give me too much shit other than saying I looked more human now. I growled for good measure, but he’s right.
I pull on the suit and become someone else. Someone whose life isn’t forfeit. I change from being Ryan Cassidy, mechanic, to Theodore Finch, entrepreneur. The man doing his best to fool Amanda into believing if things were different, she could have a life with him.
If she knew I had been by her house and watched her husband fuck her over the back of the sofa, I wonder if it would turn her on. I also wonder how she’d feel if she knew Neil fucked her less than an hour after sticking it to Violet. Not only that, but how would Neil feel knowing I was in his home without him aware. Now that I’ve seen the Perrys together more than once, I sense an underlying current of something that borders on hate between the couple. Since I wasn’t married long enough to get to the point of hating her or her hating me, I don’t know what could have happened in all these years to get them to this point.
If I had to guess, I would say it has something to do with Neil fucking around on Amanda. I would also say it has something to do with Neil being a rat bastard. I would like to think I never would have cheated on her, but I can’t know that for sure. People change when their circumstances change. Whenever I hear that old adage about a zebra never changing its stripes, I call bullshit. Maybe the zebra doesn’t, but humans sure as fuck do. I’m proof positive of that.
I’ve left enough time between visits so Amanda won’t be suspicious. Theodore has been away on business. Now that he’s back in town, he needs to see the woman he’s falling for. It’s a shame I have to use the beautiful woman this way, but it is what it is. When all is said and done, she’ll see her husband for the man he truly is, and maybe she can get on with her life and find someone else. Someone who’ll treat her the way a woman should be treated. Then again, I don’t know Amanda Perry. The real Amanda Perry. Maybe she deserves everything she’s getting.
You can live with someone and never know who they are below the surface. Again, I’m proof of that. Jared sees the cousin who is scarred from the shit cards he was dealt thirteen years ago trying to get back on his feet. I work a day job, and I fuck my “girlfriend” at night. That’s the man Jared sees. He has no idea the shit I get up to when I leave his house. He has no idea the plan in motion. The men I deal with. The women I use. He wouldn’t be surprised if he found all this out. He wouldn’t judge me, either. I don’t want him to find out until after it’s over.
Violet and I have our nights with the Perrys orchestrated so there’s no chance of me getting caught. She’s already sent the text letting me know Neil’s sitting in a booth knocking back whiskey. I take advantage of the knowledge and drive to the hotel Amanda and I have agreed to meet in. This room is different than the one we met in before. It’s much nicer. I have upped the ante, and tonight, I’m going to sink the hook further into Mrs. Perry. It’s a shame this can’t be Lexie. If I were headed to meet Mrs. Murdock, I would have packed an overnight bag. I would be looking forward to the evening spent naked with the woman who has stolen my every waking thought.
Instead, I put on my game face. I slip out of Cass mode and into Theodore’s skin. I call for room service and order a bottle of champagne. The bottle is chilling in the center of the table when Amanda knocks on the door. I look through the peephole to be sure it’s her before I open up. She’s all decked out like she was the night I introduced Theodore to her. I wonder how she explains the fancy clothes to her husband. Amanda is a secretary. She doesn’t dress up for work. She doesn’t go out to parties.
“Mrs. Perry, you look stunning,” I say, laying the charm on thick as I lift her hand and kiss her knuckles.
“Thank you. You look handsome as always.” Her eyes travel from my freshly styled hair and neat beard down the expensive suit covering my body.
I close the door behind her and lead her to the living area of the suite. “Please, have a seat.” I pour two glasses of champagne and offer her one. Her eyes light up as she looks up at me from where she’s sitting with her long legs crossed at the knee. I sit on the sofa next to her and hold up my glass. “Here’s to a lovely night together. May we make a memory to take with us that will keep us warm on those cold, lonely nights.” We clink our glasses together and sip the bubbly shit. I find it to be something I actually enjoy.
“How was your trip?” she asks as she runs a red fingernail down my thigh. The contact should have my cock getting ready for what’s to come, but I feel nothing. Fuck. I’m already getting desensitized to her. That’s not good. While I bring up an image of a different woman, I rattle off about a trip I never took. I did a little homework on a city in Ita
ly so I’m able to give her some bullshit that sounds somewhat believable. Unless she asks specifics, I’m keeping the details to a minimum.
“Boring. I was in a magnificent Italian town with only a stuffed shirt to spend my time with. Had I been accompanied by a lovely companion, I wouldn’t have cut the trip short. As it were, I could only take so much talk of mergers and acquisitions.”
“What exactly are you planning on merging?” she asks, finishing off her champagne, where as I have only taken a couple of sips. I stand and retrieve the bottle, filling her glass full once again. Remembering her behavior when she’d had too much wine, I decide to get Amanda tipsy at the least. Thinking now I should have ordered more than one bottle, I pick up the phone and dial room service, ordering a second.
“I’m sure you’re being kind in asking for the boring details, and I appreciate it, Amanda. It’s rare to find a woman who doesn’t want to talk about herself all night long.” Hopefully mentioning other women will fuel a bit of jealousy. I’m not saying she should already be head over heels in love with me, but she should be falling at least somewhat for Theodore. If I’ve learned anything in what I studied about women, it’s they want to feel wanted. Needed. Adored. I need her to feel these things, but she also needs to want me all for herself.
“But since you asked, I am looking to purchase a pharmaceutical company. If things go as planned, I will add it to my already thriving distributorship in the US, becoming one of the largest producers of body enhancement vitamins in the world. I hope to retire within the next five years. I am ready to settle on the small island I own in the Pacific, where I can sip Mai Tais all day and relax under the stars all night.” I chose something generic enough to hopefully be boring to her. I didn’t want to have to expound on something I knew absolutely nothing about. “If this pans out, I will be moving to Italy for several months where I can oversee the transition from the old owner to the new one – me.”
Amanda frowns as my words sink in. Theodore could be leaving for a while. “Let’s not worry about that until it happens. Tonight…” I hold my glass up. “Tonight, I want to forget about anything but us.” I place a gentle kiss on her lips before taking another sip. Ryan Cassidy doesn’t do gentle. Not anymore. You do with Lexie. I seriously wish I could turn my internal voice off. I don’t need to focus on the woman I want. Tonight, I’m not Cass. I’m someone else. I refill her half-empty glass, and she continues to drink it like it’s water. Just as we empty the first bottle, someone knocks on the door. I peer through the peephole just to be on the safe side. I open it and accept the second bottle, allowing the waiter to take the empty. I sign off on the receipt and close the door behind the man.
Popping the top, I make small talk while I get Amanda inebriated. I chat her up about her day at work. She rambles on about the mundane duties she has to perform, and I do my best to give her my attention. When we have done away with the contents of the second bottle, I pull Amanda to her feet. “As beautiful as you look in this dress, I am dying to see you out of it.” I turn her away from me and slowly lower the zipper. Her bare back is revealed all the way down to her ass. Amanda has on no bra or panties. “No panties?”
“You keep taking them away from me,” she mutters. She’s not wrong. I slide the dress off her shoulders and down her arms, allowing it to puddle at her feet. She is now bare except for a pair of fuck-me stilettos. I can’t help but compare her body with Lexie’s. Where Lexie is soft but fit, Amanda is plump. Not that there’s anything wrong with a little extra weight. I always thought she could have used a few extra pounds. If I want to impress Amanda, I have to keep the maudlin thoughts at bay. I pull up the memory of the last time I was with Lexie, and my dick roars to life. I’ve decided to not fight the pull she has on me. I’ll enjoy what time I have with her until all this is over. Then I’ll use those memories as fodder for my nightly jerk-off sessions.
With Amanda in her heels, it puts her ass at cock level. If I were here as myself, I’d bend her over and fuck her ass until she couldn’t sit down. Since I’m not, I take a deep breath and run my fingers across her skin. “Don’t move,” I instruct. Taking my time, I tease her mercilessly. I nip at her neck and shoulders while my hands toy with her nipples. I trail my fingertips down her stomach to her clit, while dragging my tongue down her spine, over the swell of her ass. Dipping my finger between her legs, I capture the moisture already gathering in her folds. If this were Lexie, I would feast on her pussy until I couldn’t breathe. Since she’s not, and I don’t have as much time as I’d like, I remove my clothes and lay them across the chair so they don’t get wrinkled.
When I have the condom wrapping my dick, I tell Amanda, “Get on the bed on your hands and knees.” I can pretend she’s someone else as long as I don’t see her face. She does as instructed and arches her back, jacking her ass higher. I’m still tempted to fuck her tight hole, but I slide my dick into her wet pussy instead. Amanda moans when I fill her up, rocking back against my thighs. She’s greedy for me. “Please, Teddy,” she begs, shortening my name as if we were familiar lovers. I slap her ass cheek, and she moans again, louder this time. It shouldn’t surprise me she’s into a little pain considering she’s married to a sadist. I want her to have something more out of this experience. I really should fuck her while staring longingly into her eyes, but I don’t think I can pull that off.
I set up a slow rhythm and bend over her back, once again biting at her flesh. Unlike the quick fuck up her ass Neil gave her spread over the sofa, I draw out both our pleasure, offering sexy words against her ear. I close my eyes and pretend she’s someone else when I’m ready to find my release. Picturing her face, my breathing hitches, but it doesn’t last as the face changes to Lexie’s. Yep. I am well and truly fucked.
Chapter 20
Adam
Adam never expected to hear from Charles Cutler once he quit the force. He made it clear he wanted nothing to do with Adam or Neil or their brand of justice. Charlie had plenty of his own vices, but sentencing an innocent man, one of their own, to prison wasn’t one of them. So when Charlie called Adam to ask what the fuck was going on, his hackles were raised.
“You wanna tell me why the fuck I’m waking up to find shit that was supposed to be buried lying on my fucking desk? A desk in my locked house. My house that has a security system that was bypassed.”
“Charlie, you wanna be a little more specific?”
“The article in the paper with our photo from thirteen years ago. Is that specific enough?”
“Fuck. Could that be it?” Adam muttered more to himself than Charlie.
“Be what?” Charlie asked.
When Adam thought of the meaning of the tarot cards it made sense, but the kid wouldn’t have the balls to do something like go after wanted convicts. Even if he did have the cajones, he wasn’t that smart.
“Have you been watching the news?” Adam asked.
“Of course I watch the news. Why?”
“The serial killer with the tarot cards? He sent Neil and me identical cards like he left on two of the victims. He also left that same newspaper article on two of the other victims.”
“It can’t be Cassidy. He got thirty years.”
“He did, but he was released on early parole. Extenuating circumstances, if you can believe that shit.”
“What kind of circumstances could lead to cutting more than half his sentence?”
“It’s one of those ‘need to know’ situations, and according to the powers that be, I don’t need to know.”
“The fuck you don’t. If he’s out and wants revenge, that goes to motive. Do you have eyes on the kid?”
“Yeah, I’ve checked him out. He’s keeping his nose squeaky clean just like he did before being sent away. His parole officer has nothing but good things to say about him. He’s working and living with his cousin. Goes to work and goes home. There’s a girl he’s been seeing. That’s it.”
“I’d like to know what he did to get out. Fuck, Murdock. I d
on’t need this shit right now.”
“None of us needs this shit. Ever. All I can say is whoever’s doing this is smart. Smarter than the kid. It’s someone who knows the system. Knows forensics. Knows us.”
“Someone like Cassidy. You need to figure out who it is before he does more than break into our houses. My security system was bypassed, and it’s state of the art.”
“Neil and I are doing everything we can, which right now isn’t much. Other than the tarot cards and the newspaper articles, there aren’t any clues to go on.”
Charles let out a long sigh. “Just find this fucker.” The line went dead, and Adam stared at his phone. He ran a hand down his face before sliding it around to squeeze the muscles in his neck. Now that Charlie was receiving visits, Adam had no doubt whoever was responsible was somehow connected to Ryan Cassidy and that night.
Adam had checked on his former partner the minute he received the newspaper clipping. It was possible Ryan had shared the details of that night with a cellmate and someone had decided to make it look like the kid was getting retribution. It wouldn’t be the first time a crime had been pinned on someone else. That’s exactly why they were in the mess they currently found themselves in.
He had yet to set eyes on Ryan personally, and Adam wondered how much prison changed the kid. Adam had seen hardened criminals get chewed up and spit out on more than one occasion. He almost felt bad for sending someone so pure into the fray. Adam had doubted Ryan would last a month behind bars, yet here he was, thirteen years later, back among the free folks.
When Adam got back to the precinct, the captain’s office door was closed. Adam had just sat down at his desk when Murray walked out. He glanced over at Adam frowning, put his head down, and hurried toward the elevator. He never came to their part of the precinct unless he had something important to show the captain. Speaking of… two men in suits followed Murray out of the captain’s office. Adam had seen enough Feds to know what was going on. It had only been a matter of time before the FBI took over. He was surprised it took them as long as it had. With the second murder having the same MO as the first, it pointed to a serial killer. With each subsequent kill, there was no doubt about it.
