by Aven Jayce
“It was before all this other shit happened, and no, I don’t want to rush anything, but I’m also not going to lose a woman like you, that’s for damn sure.”
“Well, I’m not going anywhere, I promise. Not unless I want to end up under a layer of concrete in your garage, right?” she jokes.
She turns to Mera who’s coming out of her junked-up state.
“What are you going to do with her?” she asks.
I check my watch and shake my head. “Right now? Not much. We can leave her here since the bed’s already full of piss and blood. Then I’ll deal with her at nightfall.”
“We,” Jules says. “You’re not leaving me out this time.”
“We’ll discuss it later... so how’d you get her up here?”
“How’d you get that guy in your garage?”
“Easy, I told him he needed to give you an apology.”
“Sweet.”
I nod. “Most people are gullible and I’m assuming Mera was the same.”
She gives me a wide-eyed look. “Oh my god, I can’t believe how easy it was. I told her I had a family suite because it was all that was left when I checked in and if she wanted, she could stay in the extra bed ‘til morning. She brought a few things from her truck and followed me straight up and inside. I didn’t have to do a thing; it was crazy. I kept thinking to myself, wow, this must be how a lot of killers get their victims—act friendly to people and invite them over... then she offered me some of her Special K, but I declined, she shot up and was out. Done,” she speaks enthusiastically. “Oh, I used the cuffs that were under your bed. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Nope. Don’t mind a bit. So you’ve been keeping her drugged?”
“Yeah, I wanted you to get some sleep. I’ve been shooting her with the same amount I saw her take when she first arrived, it knocks her out, but it doesn’t last all that long.”
I nod. “It’s a high dose if she’s not moving or communicating. I’m surprised she doesn’t snort the stuff like most people. She has it in liquid form, which means it’s likely from some vet’s office instead of from the street. And I bet with the dose you gave her, she’s entered a K-hole; it’s like a near-death experience.”
“So you’ve tried it?”
“It’s a shitty drug I took at one of my father’s parties back in Vegas that turned me into a drooling, graceless mess—something I’d never touch again. I’m sure Mera enjoys it because it puts her in a fantasy world where she imagines people are viewing her as a queen.”
There’s slight movement in the bed, a mumble, and a twitch of her foot.
“I’ll tape her mouth for the rest of the day and check on her from time to time. Did anyone see you bring her truck around?”
She shakes her head. “It was four in the morning, after you went to bed. The hotel was quiet. What do we do with it? Should we drive it off a cliff?”
“No. This isn’t a movie. Trust me, we want to take it back to where Mera came from, or where she was headed. Luckily, it’s the same destination for her truck as the guy’s car. I’ll figure out the details today.” I eye my watch again. “Sooner than later, I hope.”
“I better get ready for work. You sure this is okay?”
“What? That you’re not marrying me? Fuck no, it’s not okay, but I’ll drown my sorrows in a bottle of whiskey and forget about your ass by the end of the day.”
“No,” she laughs. “I meant—”
“I know what you were referring to.” I take her hand, leading her to my front door. “You got your key card?”
She nods, taking it out of her sweatshirt.
“The rest of your clothing, shoes, towel, and other things?”
She looks down; what she has on is it.
“Do you have your third hand?”
She stares inquisitively, looking down at my dick then with a grin, she brings the Berti out and kisses it.
“Still have your sanity?” I ask lovingly, while brushing her cheek with the back of my hand.
Another nod.
“Everything you did was brilliant, from your maturity in the pool and the way you took control of the situation with Mera, to your cleverness afterward and your restraint in our relationship. I’m amazed you walked into my life.”
“You’re such a sweetheart this morning, but I’m not saying yes to your proposal.”
I shrug. “It was worth another shot, now kiss me, you wickedly beautiful woman.”
She smiles and grips my neck, bringing my mouth to hers in a marathon of tongue and hip action. We laugh with pressed lips, her wrists secured and raised above her head, my cock rubbing her pussy, and both of us inserting dirty talk into our moment of play.
“You have no idea how much you turn me on. Tell me you can’t wait to feel my cock.”
“You better fuck me hard with it tonight... fuck me until I call out your name and cum.”
“Mmm,” I moan while pulling her sweatshirt up and kissing her tits. “Spread your legs so I can fuck your pussy right now.” I prod my dick toward her and clutch her chin.
“It’s tempting, but I gotta go. My boss gets irritated when I’m late.” She bats her eyelashes.
“Funny.” I smirk.
She pulls her sweatshirt down, reaches under my robe and strokes my dick, then whispers, “Can’t wait to see your cum face tonight,” then she walks out.
“Oh, she’s good.” I rest my head against the door, breathless, touching my cock.
“Sarah?”
“Damn it.” I tighten my robe and peer toward the second floor. “Better get the duct tape.”
“Hey, bitch!”
I can hear her all the way down to my garage, swearing up a storm as I’m looking for the tape, calling for help as I stare at the cars, and saying she’s gonna kill someone if she’s not set free. God, she’s fucking loud. Good thing Jules’ room is next to my suite and will be a buffer for some of the noise. It’s amazing that one woman can sound like a herd of cattle.
When I walk upstairs and into the bedroom, she’s grumbling ‘bitch this’ and ‘bitch that’ while trying to get out of bed.
“Good morning, Mera Calloway.” I smile. “Welcome to my hotel. I hope you’re enjoying your stay.”
“Fuck!” She tilts her head back then tries a quick jut forward, trying to sit up; only she doesn’t have the strength to do so.
“You look exactly like Dayne did before I killed him, a beached whale on dry land. Poor thing.”
I take my blade out of my robe and she screams.
“Now, now, calm down. I’m only cutting the tape.”
She looks at her stomach and screams for her ‘friend.’ “Sarah! What did you with her, Mark? Sarah! No...” She turns her head, trying to escape the tape.
“That’s better,” I remark. “I never did find your loud, rowdy voice very attractive. Now shut the fuck up. I doubt my guests can hear you, but I sure as fuck can.”
She winces and rolls to the opposite side of the bed, searching for an escape.
“Guess the cuffs aren’t enough,” I sigh, walking back to my garage for some rope.
I pour a cup of coffee after another long trip down and back up, carrying the cup and the rope with me into the bedroom. She’s on the floor, wiggling like a worm on pavement after a heavy rain. I watch her for a while, sipping my morning coffee and slicing the rope into two pieces.
“It’s a magnificent morning, don’t you think?”
Her response is muffled under the tape.
“Too bad you can’t enjoy it,” I say, lifting her back into bed and tying her to the posts, aggravated that I got blood and urine on my robe.
I pick up my coffee and finish the morning alone, reading the paper in my bedroom, doing a set of sit-ups and push-ups, and showering off a days worth of blood, sweat, and sex.
Pussy boy.
My father’s voice enters my head when I wipe the steamed mirror with a towel and g
aze at my reflection.
If you were anything like me you’d be fucking that tied up bitch in your bed. Don’t waste a free meal.
I place my hand on the mirror, covering my blue eyes like I’m silencing his mouth.
Bring your cock out and make her suck you off. Women dig that shit before you kill ‘em.
“Get the fuck out of my head.” I look away from the mirror, reaching for my cologne in need of a distraction. I dab a spot on each of my wrists and neck before putting on my watch, seeing a missed call from Jules.
Good, someone to talk to besides Paul Jameson. I call her back straightaway, hoping her voice clears my head.
“Hey, beautiful,” I say. “You called? Everything okay downstairs?”
“It’s busy, but no issues. Look, I thought of something I wanted to say to you, but I think I’ll wait to tell you in person. Maybe tonight. You can forget I called.”
I smile... she’s going to say yes.
“It’s not about the proposal.”
I frown. Wrong again.
“Just tell me, I could use a diversion to my morning routine.”
“Hold on.” She talks to a guest then gets back on the line. “It’s amazing how many people are leaving together after turning in a key card from one room. Some of them totally scammed you.”
“I know, it happens all the time with events like this. The Marathon’s over today and the hotel will be calm again until ski season begins... about two weeks.” I stare at my reflection; a gold towel wrapped around my waist, my hair finger-combed into place, and my fingertips trailing over my abs and stomach.
I hooked your sister up with Star. Fuck, they made me a hell of a lot more money than you ever did. I don’t know why I didn’t think to bring her into my company sooner. I wasted years with you on camera when I should’ve just used you for the behind the scenes desk work. That’s where you shine, right sunflower? Behind the scenes... a desk job? What... are you jealous? You’ve always been the jealous type, not the Jameson type.
My fists clench. “Fuck you.”
“What?”
“Sorry.” I turn away from my reflection. “Distract me,” I request.
“Are you talking to your mirror again?”
“You know me so well,” I exhale.
“I worry about you when you’re alone in that bathroom, Mark. Get dressed and come downstairs would you? Please? I’d love to know you were in the office behind me instead of alone upstairs.”
Desk job pussy.
“I’ll be down soon,” I whisper, ending the call and sliding down to the floor with my hands over my face.
I’d like to smash the mirror again, but it does nothing for me. I need to figure out a better way to put to rest some of this shit with my father. The one person I can talk to about him is Cove, except he’s so fucked in the head because of my dad that our conversation would be an unhealthy, never-ending, bitch-fest about the man.
And I know these thoughts are my own, my father’s not really in my head. The words are what I believe he’d say... it’s not real, just like my relationship with him was a sham from the day I was born until he was killed.
I toy with my watch, bringing up my sister’s cell number, then Cove’s, sending him a text.
I love you.
I should’ve sent it to Jules, but he needs it more, even though it’s something he’ll ignore like the one from last night. When I think about my father, he’s the next person who comes to mind. I can’t help it, he just does.
“Fuck, you bastard. You never told me that you loved me,” I say to my father, while resting my head against the bathroom cabinet. “I only needed to hear it one time, just once.” I shake my head. “What would’ve made you proud of me? Anything? Or nothing... there’s nothing I could’ve done... nothing. No matter how many people I fucked, killed, or how much money I made you, it wouldn’t have mattered. I was nothing.”
You needed to be an entirely different person for me to love you. Isn’t that why you hate your own son?
“Fuck! I despise my mind sometimes.”
Thank fuck my thoughts get sidetracked when I hear an incoming call from Jules.
“Hey sweet thing.” I take a deep breath and massage my eyes with my thumb and forefinger, trying to clear my head of my father.
“Are you rubbing your gun under your chin?”
“No,” I laugh, “not this time.”
“What are you doing?”
“Getting ready for work.”
She doesn’t respond, but I hear her heels clicking on my wood floor as she walks through the lobby. “Be right back, Chloe,” she says before her footfalls soften, reaching the damask patterned carpet in the corridor.
“I wanted to tell you something,” she says quietly. “You know I like you, right? I mean...”
“I’m in no mood to get dumped by someone over the phone like we’re teenagers. You’re right, if this is what you called about before, say it to my face.”
“Mark, get real. I love you.”
“Sorry, I’m a bit off right now. What is it?”
“You can’t fix people, you can only join them.”
I smile. “Oh yeah?”
“Just listen. You don’t need fixing. Okay? I love you for who you are and I wouldn’t want to change you. You haven’t tried to change me and you didn’t force me into your way of life. I’ve made my own choices of how far I wanted to be involved with you and all of this, I still am. I think you’re incredible just the way you are, perhaps crazy, okay, definitely fucked up, but amazing too. You deserve happiness in your life and... hell, I can’t believe I’m saying this... I think some of the things you do make you happy and I’d like to share those moments with you because I enjoy them too. I guess we’re both fucked in the head, but neither one of us needs to change. Right? I know I’m right. Don’t answer that. That’s all. Nothing else. That’s my opinion. No fixing. You’re perfect in my eyes. Now get your ass down here so I can see you while I’m working.”
I swallow hard, unable to respond with the baseball-size lump in my throat, but ready to follow her order. Standing, I end the call and look in the mirror wanting to see if the tear she placed in my eye is real.
“I’ll be right down, love.”
LADY OF THE NIGHT
“HI.”
My sister’s cheerful voice comes through my cell as I take her call in the lobby of my hotel. I’m using my actual smartphone today, waiting on a private call from my guy in Vegas so he can give me a drop off address for the vehicles. No need to announce the situation in my garage to the world if I don’t have to.
“Hey, Soph. You guys make it back okay?”
“Yeah, no offense, but it’s so nice to be home.”
“None taken.”
“The boys are happy, I’m happy, Cove’s happy, the wine bar’s even happy to have us back,” she laughs. “I’ve been in St. Louis now for over a decade and when I think of home, this is it, not Philly where we grew up.”
I lean back in the gold stuffed chair next to the burning fireplace and watch the guests arriving for the evening check in. I nod to some of them, wearing one of my finest suits with my arm raised over top of the chair and my fingers dangling over the side while we chat.
“How’s Daxton?”
“Oddly, he seems fine. Do you think that’s okay? It’s like he doesn’t even care. I don’t know what to do.”
“Sometimes it’s best not to do anything.”
“Perhaps,” she sighs. “That’s why I’m calling. Can you do me a favor?”
“Another one... geez I don’t know, Soph.”
“No jokes, this is serious.”
“You know I’ll help you out any way I can. What’s the favor?”
“Please stop taunting my husband.”
“What? Fuck that.” I look around to make sure no one heard my foul language and continue the conversation in a quieter tone. “Is that what he sa
id?”
“He’s at the Scarlett and doesn’t know I’m calling you, this is between you and me, but, he does walk around the house mumbling about your texts so I know he’s annoyed.”
“Tell him to grow a pair and just admit we’re family.”
“Mark, stop.”
I lower my arm and tap the armrest. “What’s it gonna take?” I whisper. “I’ve tried everything over the years.”
“That’s just it, you try all the time, just leave him alone for a while. We’ve had this conversation time and time again, but this time I need you to listen.”
Jules sends me a smile from across the room while she signs for the delivery of fresh lilies. She opens the long flower boxes and her shiny blonde hair falls forward, gracing the white petals. The head of housekeeping arrives to distribute them to the rooms as Jules saves a few for the front counter. Her face comes alive on the days when the flowers arrive, like they’ve been delivered specially for her.
“Mark?”
“I’m listening.”
“What did I say?”
“That I needed to listen.”
“Ergh.”
“I heard you loud and clear, Sophia,” I laugh. “Look, I’m your big brother, I’m supposed to tease you.”
“Forever?”
“Forever.”
“But you heard me?”
“Yes, I’ll give it a rest.”
“Thanks, now here’s my second request.”
“Oh, now there’s another?”
“Listen, please.”
“Shoot.”
“That’s the opposite of what I’m asking.” She hesitates, aware her boys are in the background requesting dinner. “In a minute,” she whispers to them before getting back on the line. “Cove mentioned some things to me last night and I want you to let it go.”
“Be specific.”
“Hold on.” Her cell’s muffled, but I can hear her ask Dax and Xav to play in their room until she’s off the phone. A minute later, the boys’ voices can no longer be heard and the line’s silent. “Still there?”
