02 Heller's Revenge - Heller

by JD Nixon

  The following Saturday on his way out himself, he dropped me off at Will’s place. It was the first time I’d seen him since I’d started the assignment with Meili and I was as nervous as hell, not sure of my feelings towards him anymore. But as soon as he opened his door and leaned on the doorway, smiling at me with affection, his brown eyes warm and welcoming, I knew my feelings hadn’t changed. He opened his arms and I stepped right into them. He led me by the hand down the hallway to his bedroom where he left me in no doubt that his feelings for me were also as strong as ever.

  Afterwards, muscles relaxed and soft with pleasure, I rolled on my side to face him. “Will, we’ve never really talked about it before, but do we have an exclusive relationship?”

  My question made him uncomfortable and he sat up, leaning against the bed head, pulling the sheet up to cover himself.

  “Will?” I looked up at him questioningly.

  “I’ve had some other dates while we’ve been together, Tilly. We just don’t see each other often enough for me to consider us to be in a proper relationship. We’re lucky to see each other once a week. And you’re on assignment for long periods. And even when I do see you, there are so many rules about it that it’s like dating at high school again.”

  Well, that was news to me. I sat up then as well. “How many other dates? And by dates do you mean that, or is that just a euphemism?”

  He squirmed under my inquisition. “I’ve slept with some other women.”

  I couldn’t have been more shocked. “When? While I was working for that IT guy? Just now when I’ve been on assignment? When I was in hospital after the accident?”

  Anger rose up in me. There I’d been, feeling guilty about my short fling with Meili when Will had been putting it about liberally the whole time I’d been seeing him. I was incredibly hurt.

  He looked down at his hands, not answering, which was answer enough. “I thought you were sleeping with Heller. I thought it would be okay with you.”

  I looked at him sharply. “I’ve never slept with Heller, I told you. He’s my boss.”

  He shrugged unapologetically. “You’re very close to him. He’s an extremely good-looking man. He loves you. What’s a man to think?”

  “I think he should believe that what his girlfriend tells him is the truth.” I couldn’t hide the snarkiness from my tone.

  “I’m sorry, Tilly.”

  “Do you really love me, Will? Or are you just using me for sex?” I asked him bluntly. “Because I believed you when you told me that you loved me.”

  “I do love you! I do want you to move in with me so we can have a proper relationship. I want to be in an exclusive relationship with you.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Can we be exclusive from now on then? I’ve always thought of you as my boyfriend, right from the beginning when we started going out. I’ve always thought we were exclusive.”

  “Of course we can, Tilly. But are we able to spend more time together? That’s the big issue. I mean, the sex is hot, but we can’t have a real relationship if we never see each other. For me, it has to be more than sex. I’m ready to settle down.”

  “I’ll try as hard as I can, I promise.”

  “Okay, consider yourself an official girlfriend then.” And he kissed me. It was as though he was bestowing some kind of honour on me. I didn’t appreciate the gesture because I’d always thought I’d had that honour in the first place. “Let’s organise that weekend away. Soon.”

  I agreed and laid back and let him screw me again, losing myself in the pleasure. But the whole conversation had rubbed some of the shine off our relationship. I know I wasn’t really in a position to criticise him about sleeping with other women, but I meant it when I said we’d be exclusive from now on. I did want to be his girlfriend. I did have feelings for him.

  Chapter 27

  “Had a nice time?” Heller enquired as I did up my seatbelt. He had picked me up from Will’s place as usual.

  “Yeah, it was nice,” I said in a subdued voice.

  “Something the matter, my sweet?”

  I thought about telling him what had happened between Will and me, but my phone rang before I could answer him. It was Brian, almost cheerful with suppressed excitement.

  “We’ve caught him, Tilly!”

  “Oh my God, that’s wonderful news! How did you catch him?”

  “He went underground pretty effectively and nobody was telling us anything. It was so frustrating. But he stupidly ran a red light this afternoon, was pulled over by a traffic cop who called it in and got the red alert. The fucker realised he was in trouble and took off, abandoning his car and his girlfriend and little daughter. The traffic cop gave chase and brought him down.”

  “I’m so happy, Brian.”

  “Me too. We’re interviewing the bastard as soon as he’s processed for the traffic violation. Can you come down to ID him?”

  “Now?” It was very early in the morning.

  “Sure, if you’re free.”

  “We’ll be there as soon as possible.” I hung up and turned to Heller. “They’ve caught Meili’s murderer. Brian wants me to make an ID on him. Can we head there now, please?”

  He did a u-turn and sped off towards the police station without a word, lucky enough to find a car vacating a street parking spot. He skilfully manoeuvred the Mercedes into the space and we alighted. I asked for Brian at the counter and he came out after a while, smiling from ear to ear. I had almost forgotten just what a sweet smile he had, it had been so long since I’d seen it. I wondered if it was capturing Meili’s murderer or his reconciliation with Gayle that caused it. He ushered us to the back offices, Heller making it perfectly clear that he was going to accompany me, whether Brian liked it or not. The two men ignored each other, a crackle of hostility still apparent between them.

  The suspect was being held in one of the interview rooms with film equipment for recording interviews. There was a pane of one-way glass between it and a small viewing room. Brian ushered us into the viewing room and we could see clearly into the interview room. A man with curly brown hair sat at the table drinking a can of Coke, alone in the room except for a uniformed cop guarding him.

  “It’s him,” I said straight away, not even the slightest bit of doubt crossing my mind. “I had a good look at him when I was chasing him. He turned around to check on me and then I saw his face again when we tussled on the ground. Also, it’s definitely the same man that’s in my photos.”

  And I gave Brian a huge hug, feeling very emotional again. “Thank you so much for catching him, Brian. I feel now that I’ve done everything I possibly could to bring Meili’s murderer to justice.”

  Heller handed me his hankie without a word and slid his arm around me, pulling me close and kissing me on the forehead. I smiled up at him gratefully and leaned against him, taking comfort from him as usual, dabbing my eyes and hoping my mascara wasn’t running everywhere.

  “He’s denying everything of course, but the evidence is fairly overwhelming. Don’t forget about the court case, Tilly. You’ll have to testify,” Brian said, eyeing off Heller’s affection towards me with distrust and disapproval. He addressed him for the first time, in a patently hostile tone. “Why don’t you keep your sleazy hands off my sister?”

  “Why don’t you mind your own business?” Heller responded in a cool, amused voice. “Do you hear Matilda complaining about my hands?” And deliberately provocative, he ran his hand up and down my arm caressingly, possessively, leaning forward to kiss me on the forehead again, his eyes locked on Brian, a taunting smile playing on his lips.

  I shrugged Heller’s arm off angrily, not appreciating being used for his own cruel amusement and heaved a weary inner sigh. Two alpha males together – it was never going to be a comfortable relationship, especially now they had some history. But this was entirely the wrong time for rivalry to flare up again. Heller merely smiled at me. He’s so arrogant sometimes.

 
“Can I stay to watch you interview him?” I asked Brian, wanting to change the topic and reduce the antagonism in the room.

  “No, you fucking can’t,” he snapped, back to his usual self. “It’s not public entertainment, it’s police work. What you can do now is leave.”

  And he pushed us out of the room and out to the reception area again. We took the hint and left, heading back home again.

  “Matilda, you did a very good job on that assignment. You did everything short of actually catching the man for the police, and I know you almost did that as well. I’m very proud of you,” Heller said as we drove.

  “I didn’t stop Meili being killed though, did I?” I said glumly, his praise failing to cheer me up.

  “Nobody was asking you to do that. You did what he wanted. You witnessed his death and made sure he didn’t die alone. He appeared very happy in the photos you took before he died. You were having fun together, weren’t you?”

  I swallowed with emotion and nodded. “Yeah, we had a lot of fun together.”

  “He knew he was going to be killed. It was just a matter of when. You made sure he died happy and not alone. And he had an easy death too. He wasn’t tortured and wasn’t aware. And the last thing he probably saw was you, a friend. Who could ask for more than that?”

  I hadn’t thought about it that way before. Meili had looked up at me when I called his name so I would have been the last thing he saw. He had smiled at me too, I remembered. He could have died afraid and alone like poor Inge, but I made sure that didn’t happen to him. And instead of berating myself for not saving his life, I started to feel proud of myself for what I’d managed to do.

  “Thanks Heller. You’ve made me feel better.”

  “I’d want you to be the last thing I saw before I died too,” he said.

  “Heller, what a thing to say! It’s so morbid. You’ll never die; you’re far too tough. Death’s probably afraid of you!” I laughed and he joined in.

  That night, he came down to my flat and I let him back into my bed. Snuggled up against his hard body, smelling his familiar scent and experiencing the familiar feel of his arms around me, I was glad he was there and kissed him slowly to show him. It sounded wrong, but I never thought of the time I spent with Heller, or anything I did with him, as being unfaithful to Will. I don’t know the reason for that, because God knows he was a very sexy temptation. It was as if Heller was a part of me or something, and it was only natural to be with him. And that every second I spent with Will was robbing Heller of me, not the other way around. I didn’t know how to explain it better than that, but I know that’s the way Heller looked at it as well.

  “I missed you a lot, Matilda. Somehow, you’ve become a necessity for me, like oxygen or water. When you’re not around, I only feel half-alive.” Well, he did a better job of explaining it than I had.

  “That’s because I annoy you so much, you feel that lack when I’m not around,” I said lightly.

  “You really have no idea, do you?” he asked.

  “About what?”

  He laughed in his low, sexy growl and I had that funny feeling in my stomach again. He moved over on top of me and pinned my hands down with his, our fingers entwined, kissing me insistently, his tongue boldly exploring mine. After a while, he forced my legs apart with his knee and rubbed his erection against me. His hardness pressing against my sensitive spot felt unbelievably good and I wrapped my legs around him to get a better angle for myself. There was no doubt about it – he was talented at knowing how to turn a woman on. I was just settling into an exceedingly pleasurable rhythm when he suddenly stopped and sat up, straddling my legs, still pinning me down with his hands. He regarded my aroused features thoughtfully.

  “I’ll bet that Eriksen was growing very fond of you,” he said, his expression unreadable, his voice dangerously quiet.

  I didn’t know what to say to that, so I looked back at him steadily and said nothing, wishing he’d go back to rubbing against me. I needed some basic animal release.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?”

  I remained quiet.

  “Matilda?”

  Not a word from me.

  “Your silence tells me everything.”

  “Does it?” I said eventually, avoiding eye contact. “I had a big crush on him. He was nice about it.” Very, very nice, indeed.

  “Who initiated the sex?”

  “What do you mean?” My heart started pounding. He couldn’t possibly know, could he? God! How did he seem to know everything about me? Did he watch me every second of the day? Was he psychic? My desire for him died a quick death as I realised that he’d blindsided me again.

  “Those photos, Matilda,” he said, icy blue eyes burning into me. “All your emotions are on show in them. The both of you. Two emotionally open people, taking photos of themselves together after sharing some intimate moments. Very touching.” His tone wasn’t cool or amused, but sharp and merciless.

  I remained silent, mouth dry. A frisson of fear ran down my spine. He had me trapped and I tried to roll away, tried to free my hands, but he pushed down on me harder.

  “Matilda?” He leaned down closer. I could feel his hot breath on my face as he spoke.

  “I made a promise to myself that I would never speak to anyone about what happened between Meili and me. And I meant it,” I said, holding his blazing stare, my breathing uneven.

  “I couldn’t care less about your promises. Answer my question. Who initiated the sex?”

  “It doesn’t matter anymore. Meili’s dead. I won’t be seeing him again.” I sounded incredibly cheated and bitter, even to my own ears.

  “Who, Matilda?” he shouted into my face, a cruel hard edge in his voice. I flinched with fear.

  “Him,” I confessed softly. I wanted to cry. I wanted him to leave. I didn’t want him to ever touch me again.

  “He’s lucky he’s dead.”

  It was a shockingly vicious thing to say, and said in a shockingly vicious tone. I wanted to slap him hard across his face. I wanted to scratch my fingernails down his cheeks and leave red welts. I wanted to hurt him. My right hand jerked in reflex. He crushed it in his and I bit down on my cry of agony.

  “You will never sleep with a client again, do you understand?” His face was so close to mine our noses were almost touching. I’d never heard such a cold, menacing voice in my life.

  “Yes,” I said in a small voice, my fury fleeing, chased away by my fear.

  And I knew just how angry he was because he rolled off me without another word and headed for the door, his erection still hard.

  “I’m not sorry I did it. It was the right thing to do. It was wonderful,” I called after him defiantly, not caring if he yelled at me some more or even if he hurt me. He rounded on me rapidly, flames of anger shooting from his eyes.

  “No, it wasn’t the right thing to do!” he yelled. “It was unprofessional of you.”

  “You’re such a hypocrite!” I spat out. “You slept with Jenna Mackenzie!”

  He returned to the bed in three steps, looming over me in the dark, and I drew back, afraid of what he’d do. “I’m the boss and I set the rules. Understand? If I sleep with a client, it’s because I judge that it will be of benefit to my business. I don’t allow my staff the luxury of making that kind of judgement. If one of my men slept with a client, I would fire him without a second thought.”

  “Go ahead and fire me then!” I dared him in fury. “I don’t care. I don’t want to work for you anyway.”

  He continued to stare at me for a few moments, then turned and left, slamming the door behind him.

  We both took a while to calm down after that episode, but eventually we made up. I’ve never been very good at staying angry with people. I was sure he was an expert at maintaining the rage, but not with people he cared about, I hoped. And no matter what went on between us, I had absolutely no doubt that he did care about me in his own way.

  Will and I finally organised our weekend away, and I w
as excited thinking about being able to spend so long with him. Heller had unwillingly agreed to let me go, but only after I gave him every last detail of the resort, which room we’d be staying in, which restaurants we’d dine in and what we were planning on doing during every second of the stay. I also had to promise to keep my phone on the entire time. Will wasn’t thrilled, but could appreciate the reasons for Heller’s over-protectiveness, considering my accident and the other events of the last few months.

  The resort was five-star luxury and we spared no expense, having massages, ordering champagne and breakfast from room service and eating well at the local restaurants. We had three nights together and we made the most of them. We shagged each other senseless, until we were utterly exhausted, indolent with over-satiation and Will jokingly complained of dehydration.

  We held hands all day and cuddled all night just as I had wanted, and the horrors and nastiness of the last few months drained away with Will’s soft kisses and tender caresses. I didn’t think about Heller for days and he was considerate enough not to contact me during my weekend away.

  It was our last night together and we were sitting on the upstairs deck of a modern fusion restaurant, finishing the remains of a delicious meal, looking out over the ocean. It was beautiful. The sun had just set and we’d enjoyed a spectacular view of it from the deck. I lamented our return to our ordinary lives where we would be lucky to see other once a week again.

  Will snatched my hand off the table and brought it to his lips, kissing it gently. I smiled at him. Gee, he was cute, I thought, with his wild curly brown hair and tender brown eyes.

  “Tilly,” he said. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, Will,” I replied automatically, my eyes drawn away from him by the beauty of the night sky. It was a glorious sight and I was glad to be alive.

  “I think I loved you from the first time I set eyes on you at the bar. In that nightclub. Do you remember?”