Tap Dancing with the Devil

by Faith Gibson

  “I don’t have to tell you it’s got a kick to it,” Dad reminds me, even though he doesn’t need to. I remember.

  Grinning, I ease out onto the street and keep my foot light on the gas pedal, getting used to the power. I’m sure if I looked in the mirror, I’d laugh at the cheesy smile on my face, but I can’t help it. This is one moment I’ve dreamed of since I was old enough to drive. I take us out of the neighborhood toward the interstate. There’s no way I’m not going to take this baby on the open road. Dad is sitting back, pretty as you please in the passenger seat. His arm is resting against the door frame. When I accelerate onto the onramp and continue gaining speed to merge into traffic, the gears automatically shift. I might have let out a loud “whoop,” and my father might have laughed. “That’s my girl,” he mutters.

  I don’t go too far. Just far enough that I thoroughly enjoy my time behind the wheel. When we get back to the house, I back the car into the driveway and garage like a pro. Did I mention my father taught me how to drive? I turn the motor off, but neither of us move to get out. When I look at him to thank him, the words get caught in my throat. His smile has turned sad, and I’m afraid to find out what he’s thinking. “Sugar bean, are you happy? It’s just… your mother. She worries about you.”

  It’s sweet that he thinks I don’t know he’s worried, too. How do I answer him? For the most part I’m miserable. Except for those stolen moments with a stranger that are sure to disappear when he gets what he wants, I’m not happy. “My salon is doing great, and I have a new friend who…” I can’t explain what the thief does. Not to my dad, anyway. “I’m good.” I smile, trying to assure him that I really am okay.

  “You know I’d move heaven and earth for you.”

  “I do, Dad. I do know that. I got lucky when God was handing out parents.”

  “We’re the lucky ones, Lex. Your mom and I are so proud of the woman you became. The woman you are. We just want you to be as happy as we are.”

  I laugh and my smile is now genuine. “No one is as happy as the two of you are. You should write a book on how a marriage is supposed to be. I think a lot of people would buy it. Then they would hate you.”

  “I don’t know about all that. I have your mother to thank for the life we have. That woman is amazing.” Dad gets a wistful look in his eyes, and if I’m not mistaken, a different kind of look indicating thoughts that I don’t want to imagine my parents doing. I know they still have an active sex life, and I’m glad for them.

  “Okay, Wayne, you’ve hogged her enough. I need my girl time,” Mom says from the kitchen doorway.

  “You heard the woman.”

  I pull the key from the ignition and hold it out. “Thanks for letting me drive. You have no idea how happy that made me.”

  “Oh, I might have a good idea,” he says, covering my hand with his larger one. We grin at each other, sharing that one last moment before I go have girl time.

  Dad remains in the garage while my mom and I head to the living room where we sit together on the sofa. She’s never given me my space when she wants to talk. Always sitting next to me where she can hold my hand. She doesn’t wait to tell me what’s on her mind. “Alexa Grace, I’m worried about you. I…” When I try to interrupt, she shushes me. “No, let me say my piece. I gave up on wanting grandchildren a long time ago. Once you told me Adam had himself fixed, I knew the possibility was gone. But honey, it doesn’t mean I’ve given up on you being happy. I’m not sure why you’ve stuck with the prick all these years.”

  When I gasp, she waves her hand in the air. “Oh, whatever. He is a prick. I want you to know that your dad and I have your back. Whether you finally decide to chance leaving him, or you chance finding someone else who makes you happy if just for a little while…”

  I cannot believe my mother is saying she’s okay with me cheating. And why now? I swear the woman is a mind reader. “Mom, I’m not–”

  “No. I know you. I know the kind of woman you are, because I raised you. Still, I can’t stand the thought of you not being as happy as I am, and I know you aren’t. There’s no way you can be, because you didn’t marry a man like your father. I’m not judging you, Alexa. I am judging that husband of yours. I will never judge you. No matter what. Just promise me you’ll open yourself up to the possibility of finding your happiness before it’s too late.”

  I pull my mother into a hug, letting the tears fall as she gives me her strength. “I promise.”

  Chapter 22

  Cass

  Tonight I’m going to pay Lexie a little visit. I don’t need to search her home; I need to search her body. She is a full-blown obsession. One I don’t need but can’t seem to shake. First, I have to take a look inside the Perry residence without them there to distract me. There’s something I’m missing. Something from that night, and it has to do with Neil. Their house is in a nice neighborhood as well, but it’s nothing like the Murdock’s. If I were Neil, I’d want what Adam has. They’re both veteran detectives. They’ve been on the force the same amount of time, so their pay should be close to the same. Either Adam came into some money somewhere, or he’s not sharing the bribe money with his partner.

  I make a call and wait while the alarm is bypassed. I should have learned to do this part myself so I don’t have to depend on someone else. Someone who could possibly put me at risk. If I get caught breaking and entering, I’m right back in hell. I have Amanda’s panties. I had planned on putting those somewhere conspicuous where Neil would find them, but he and Adam drive separate vehicles. Neither has been riding around with a partner, so that little part of the plan has done no good. Yet.

  Neil doesn’t keep his office locked like Adam does. Either he trusts his wife, or he has nothing to hide. Or he keeps his secrets locked up somewhere else. The tracker I placed on his car has been invaluable. I leave a miniscule piece of technology under the lip of his desk. Unless he runs his hands along the side, he’ll never find it. “Test, 1-2,” I say in a normal tone into the empty room.

  A text comes through telling me the bug is working properly.

  I take a few minutes to look around the office for anything I can use against Neil as well as anything that could possibly tell me why I was framed. Thirteen years is a long time to hold onto anything that could implicate you in a cover-up, but he might be holding onto that evidence as assurance. I don’t know whose idea it was to frame me for my wife’s murder. I don’t know if they planned it all along for some nefarious reason, or if some crazy shit went down and I was the patsy.

  As far as I know, there is no one in my family who would attract the attention of someone enough to go after one of us. My father wasn’t a cop or a city official. He was a regular joe with a regular job. He didn’t have the religious stick up his ass as far as my mother did, but he did go to church and provide for his family the way a man should. He never took a hand to either of us. Never raised his voice unless he was yelling at his favorite team on the television. He was an only child, same as me. I can’t see my mother making anyone mad, either.

  Jared was the only one in the family who was less than perfect – my mother’s words, not mine – but his sins were small time and shouldn’t have had anything to do with me or my wife. My wife’s side of the family was not as straight up as mine. She grew up without her father around. He left when she was ten, but no one knows why. He was the cliché who went out for a pack of smokes and never came back, leaving her mother to watch after her and her younger brother. My mother-in-law was a good woman. Lindy didn’t believe I had anything to do with my wife’s death, and that trust filtered down to her son. Johnny was only twelve when my wife and I got married, so I’m fairly certain it had nothing to do with him.

  Things always come back to me. I can’t figure that out, though. I loved my wife, and as far as I know, she loved me. We were going to have a baby. I was going to be a father, but someone took that away from me. I asked both Adam and Neil why they would arrest me, but neither man said one word to me
other than to read me my Miranda rights. The interrogation was done by the detective at the time, and he believed Adam and Neil over me. The evidence was circumstantial. Of course my fingerprints were everywhere. It was my goddamn house. I’m hopeful Adam’s computer will give me the answers I’m looking for, since I’m coming up short at Neil’s.

  After I lock back up, I head to where I can hopefully forget about the past for a little while. I know Lexie’s schedule. She’ll be home alone when I sneak in through their kitchen door. One of my contacts saw Adam head toward downtown Houston, so I have a little time. When I arrive, I find that a security system has been installed. I make the same phone call as I did at the Perry residence and wait until the red light turns green. This is going to make visiting Lexie more difficult but not impossible. When I pad quietly through the house, I find Lexie outside on their back patio. Her hip is leaning against the railing. She has a glass of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Before I step out to join her, I make sure the motion sensor lights are turned off. Even though the neighboring houses aren’t right on top of each other, they are close enough to get a glimpse of what’s going on next door.

  I stand just inside the door watching her. I wish she wouldn’t smoke, but it would be hypocritical of me if I asked her to quit. She places the filter between her lips and inhales. She holds the nicotine deep in her lungs before exhaling a smooth, thin line of smoke into the evening air. I want to be that cigarette. I want Lexie to wrap her lips around my cock, drawing me deep before letting me go. This moment reminds me of a country song I heard about a woman being smoke. I get that. Completely. When she’s finished with the cigarette, I clear my throat, and she turns my way. I’m standing in the shadows so only she can see me.

  “Eli,” she whispers and moves toward me. I want so much to tell her to call me Ryan, but it’s too soon. I want to tell her to call me hers, but that’ll probably never be. So, I open my arms and wait. Once she’s close enough, she sets her empty glass on a side table and steps into my body, wrapping her arms around me, placing her cheek to my chest. As much as I want to fuck her, it’s these silent moments just being together that mean the most. There’s something intimate about holding onto someone in the dark with no words, letting your bodies do the talking. When she pulls back to look up at my face, I lower my head meeting her lips with mine. I’ve come to look forward to the mixture of wine and nicotine on her tongue almost as much as the taste of her juices after she comes.

  I have taken off both gloves so I can feel her skin. I sink one hand into her long hair and fist it enough to guide her head a little to the left, giving me the perfect angle to slide my tongue in deeper. The soft moan I’ve also come to crave escapes her throat as I deepen the kiss. I use my free hand to hold her close to me, relishing her breasts crushed against my stomach. Her fingernails dig into the skin of my back as she slides her hands underneath my T-shirt. There’s no way she can miss my cock getting harder the longer we stand there. I want her to know how much she turns me on. I push my erection against her stomach before I press my knee between her legs, nudging against her clit. I catch her whimper in my mouth before we come up for air.

  Lexie rides my thigh, rubbing up and down as she holds onto my biceps to keep from falling. Biting her bottom lip, she closes her eyes and loses herself. I am willing to use my hand or my mouth to get her off, but the way she’s lost in the moment is so fucking sexy. For a woman who doesn’t want to cheat on her husband, she has no problem with getting off with me. Either I’ve worn her down, or she doesn’t feel like it’s cheating if there’s no penetration. I’m biding my time until I can feel her pussy surrounding my cock. It will happen. I will make her mine at some point, if only for one night. It goes back to the obsession. I’ve convinced myself it isn’t because she reminds me of her, and I know I’m right. It’s so much more than that, even though I can’t pinpoint what it is. I know it isn’t the fact that she’s Murdock’s wife and I’m getting one over on him. If that were the case, I’d be taken with Amanda, too. I’m not. I’m ready for that part of the plan to be over.

  It’s Lexie herself that calls to me on a level I never thought I’d feel again. And if I’m being honest here, it’s deeper than anything I felt with my wife. I loved my wife, but this… I feel like I can’t breathe properly when I’m not in Lexie’s presence. As soon as she’s in my arms, the world is righted. I crave to run my hands over her bare skin. All of it. From the waist up will have to do for now. I pull back long enough to lift her blouse over her head. Her nipples are hard and pressing against the thin fabric of her bra. I reach between her breasts and unhook it, freeing her beautiful tits.

  Bending low, I lift her left breast, taking the nipple in my mouth, sucking hard enough for another whimper to fill the air. I do this to both hard peaks. Lexie is beautiful, standing before me bare from the waist up. I don’t move to take her shorts off. I don’t want her to think we’re going to fuck. That’s going to happen, but not until she says it is. I lead her to the sofa where she straddles my lap. While I focus on her tits, she begins to writhe against my cock, riding it like she would if I was balls deep inside.

  I love the fact that we don’t have to speak. Lexie closes her eyes, but I want her looking at me. Seeing who it is she’s using to get herself off. I tweak a nipple hard, and her eyes fly open on a gasp. “Eyes open, baby.” She nods and gives me a smile. I want to see that smile every fucking day. Her hands on my shoulders dig in for leverage as she moves up my cock before sliding back down. She blushes, but she doesn’t take her eyes off mine. I continue to roll her nipples between my fingers in the same slow rhythm she has going on my lap. My dick is leaking and so fucking angry that I’m not taking her pussy the way I really want.

  My need to be around Lexie is greater than my need to fuck her. So my dick will just have to ache until she’s ready to give in to what I know she wants on some level. I have to keep giving her a taste until her need to make love to me is greater than her faithfulness to her husband. I know I’m a bastard for encouraging her to cheat. I just don’t care. I want Alexa Murdock for myself. I want what she has to offer. Not just her body, but every fucking thing about her. I want it. I want her.

  When she begins to take shallower breaths, I squeeze harder and tell her, “That’s it, baby. Rub that beautiful pussy against me. Use me, Lex. Use me to get yourself off. But know this, doll. One day very soon, I will have my mouth on your pussy. I am going to taste your sweetness on my tongue.” My words spur her on, and she digs her nails into my shoulders as her orgasm flows through her body. She closes her eyes tight as she calls out my name.

  “Eli. Oh, oh…”

  I almost come in my jeans. My name falling from her lips is like water to a parched man. It quenches the thirst only to make me want that much more. I want to hear my name when my dick is buried inside her heaven. One day.

  When Lexie opens her eyes, she leans in and kisses me. As her hands find their way into my hair, I pull my shirt up so I can feel her tits on my bare skin. I then spread my big hands over her back, touching as much of her as I can. I’ve never had someone kiss me the way she is. There’s so much emotion being shared between us as our tongues dance together. I would give almost anything for this to be my life. To be able to hold this woman, to kiss her, fuck her, anytime I felt like it. But my life is slipping in and stealing moments here and there. For now, that’s going to have to be enough. I’m afraid in the end it’s all I’ll ever have.

  As bad as I hate to, I pull my lips away from hers. Placing one hand on her cheek, I rub my thumb back and forth while I take in every detail of her face in this moment. I pull her bottom lip down, and she touches my thumb with her tongue. My cock pulses in my jeans, and while I’d love nothing more than to pull it out and let her take care of the ache, I need to leave before we get caught. Gently, I push her away from me and place my lips to her neck, deeply inhaling her scent to take with me. I wish I could bottle the way she smells. Did I say I’m obsessed with
her?

  “I hate to leave, but I gotta get out of here.”

  Lexie moves off my lap, and I stand, pulling her back into my arms. Leaving is getting harder each time I come to see her. Bending low, I capture her mouth for one more kiss. Before I turn her loose, I set my lips to her forehead and inhale her scent one more time.

  Chapter 23

  Cass

  After I stop off to see my parole officer, I head back to Jared’s, where Zeus meets me at my car. I kneel down and give him a good rubbing. Jared gives me a chin lift then goes back to whatever it is he’s doing. He left my dinner in the microwave, so I grab a beer while the food heats. I take both to my room and open the laptop. I’ve just finished eating when I come across the information I’ve been searching for all this time.

  As soon as I see the name of the folder, I know I have what I’ve been looking for. I have to suck in a deep breath to keep the food I ate earlier from coming back up. I click on the file which is titled with her name and prepare myself for what I’m about to find. I didn’t prepare enough. Adam Murdock documented every single thing about that night. Everything except why. I know why he would cover his ass by keeping notes and case files on his personal computer. That way Neil or Charles couldn’t come back later and say it was all Adam. He made it clear the part each of them played in covering up what really happened the night my wife was murdered and they pinned it on me.

  With bile rising in my throat, I finish reading the entire file. Once the last word passes by my eyes, I rush to the bathroom and puke my guts up. Remembering the final words on the page, I puke some more. When there’s nothing left on my stomach and I’m doing nothing more than dry heaving, I flush the toilet and sit back hard on my ass, scrubbing a hand down my face. This latest bit of information has thrown a wrench into my plan. Every bit of good Lexie might have offered me just went down the toilet. Literally. What I felt all those years in prison, the plotting and planning, has nothing on the wrath that is flowing through my veins.