“But you’ll still touch me right?” She raised her eyebrows as if to entice me.
“Angel, I’ll touch you every day and every way I know how until the day I die … starting with right now.”
I’m not going to lie. Waking up to a naked woman next to me is great, but waking up next to a naked woman I love is the best feeling in the entire world. It was new to me—everything I was feeling with Autumn was new. My heart felt different … My love for Alyssa had never felt like this. I knew I’d never forget her. I couldn’t; she was my first love. But Autumn was the one I was going to make happy forever.
I slid down her body, the sheets coming with me to expose her beautiful frame. I sucked on each nipple, making them harden before licking my way down her flat stomach. My dick started to stiffen, waking up and ready for action. The taste of her skin was like nothing I’d ever tasted before. She was perfect—perfect for me.
Her back arched as I made my way down to taste her. She spread her legs, opening herself for me. I could smell her desire and my mouth watered, wanting a taste. She moaned the moment my tongue took the first lick.
As I continued to lick, suck and pump my fingers into her, everything dawned on me. I had no more secrets to share with her. She knew about Alyssa. She saw firsthand my relationship with whiskey and she knew what I did for a living. I had nothing left to hide.
If I knew my angel up in heaven like I thought I did, Alyssa had sent me to Vegas to save Autumn from Rich. I wasn’t truly happy until I met Autumn, and I didn’t meet her until she decided to leave him. The timeline lined up perfectly, and everything worked out as it was supposed to.
“Fuck, angel. You taste like heaven.”
“Do you call me angel because of her?”
I stopped licking and raised my head enough to see her face. “Who? Alyssa?”
She looked down at me. “Yeah.”
I sat back on my heels and we stared at each other for a few beats. “Do you want to talk about this now or do you want to come?”
She laughed slightly. “I want to come, but I was wondering if clients ever pleasured you?”
“With a blow job?”
She nodded her head.
“A few times, but it was mostly about their pleasure.”
“I want to do that for you.”
A smile spread across my face. “I won’t object to that.”
I returned to her sweet pussy, tasting her until she moaned and squeezed her thighs against my head. Afterward, I kissed her, letting her taste herself before we switched places. My dick was hard as steel, and just the thought of Autumn’s mouth wrapped around my cock had me aching with need.
“I might not be as good as other women who have done this.”
“Angel, just the fact that it’s you is already better than anything I’ve done in the past.”
She chuckled under her breath, a blush spreading across her cheeks. Her soft hand wrapped around my dick and I instantly groaned. Having Autumn wrap her hand around my shaft felt perfect.
I watched her under hooded eyes as she kneeled between my parted legs and lowered her head. The moment her hot mouth engulfed the head of my dick, I thought I was going to come right then and there. Her tongue ran across the tip, tasting the bead of pre-cum that was oozing out, then ran along the sides before she took as much of me as she could into her mouth.
Her mouth was just the right size as it sucked, sending chills down my body that quickly heated up as I got closer and closer to coming. Autumn used her hand to pump while her mouth and tongue worked together until I was on the cusp. She then used her free hand and cupped my balls, making me groan as cum shot down her throat.
“Was it—”
“Yeah, angel, it was perfect. Now, how many more times do you want to come?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Autumn
Almost three weeks after Rich died, Detective Evans and Detective King knocked on our front door.
“Is Mrs. Jones here?”
“Yes,” I heard Gabe respond.
I didn’t know how they knew that I’d be at Gabe and Paul’s house. Maybe they stopped by the house I shared with Rich—I no longer called that house my home. Or maybe they took a chance and drove by Gabe’s and saw my car. Whatever the reason, I was still nervous when I heard Detective Evans ask if I were available.
“Mrs. Jones.” Detective Evans nodded in greeting as I sat on the couch in the living room.
I stood and shook their hands. “What can I do for you detectives?”
“We have news regarding your husband,” Detective King said. They sat opposite me as Gabe leaned against the wall near me. “The tox screen came back. Mr. Jones and Mr. Romero were poisoned.”
“Poisoned?” I asked, looking briefly at Gabe.
“With what? Do you know by who?” Gabe asked before I could.
“We were lucky enough to find the footage from the video cameras in the house,” Detective Evans replied. “Do you know the guy who Mr. Jones got into an altercation with at the party a few weeks ago?”
“No, I don’t. That was the first time I’d seen him and I didn’t get a good look.”
“You’re husband had loaned him money, and we think Mr. White didn’t want to pay it back.”
“Think?” Gabe asked.
“Mr. White isn’t exactly cooperating,” Detective King replied.
“But you know he poisoned them?” I asked.
“The footage we recovered showed Mr. White going to the bar area and using a syringe to inject a liquid into several bottles. We tested those bottles and found Rohypnol.”
“Wait,” Gabe interjected. “Like the date rape drug?”
“Exactly,” Detective Evans stated. “The medical examiner determined that both Mr. Jones and Mr. Romero consumed approximately eight to ten milligrams of the Rohypnol from the Grey Goose bottle. The other bottles we tested had anywhere from twenty to thirty milligrams of the drug in them.”
“Wouldn’t that just make them pass out?” I asked.
“In rape cases, the tox screen only shows one to one and a half milligrams of the drug in their system. Mr. Jones and Mr. Romero consumed almost ten times that amount. With that amount of Rohypnol, the medical examiner determined that their blood pressure dropped and then their respiratory system started to shut down until they could no longer breathe,” Detective King stated.
Gabe sat down on the couch next to me and grabbed my hands. I needed the contact. I needed to feel that I wasn’t alone in this, and having the comfort he provided was all I needed. If I hadn’t left Rich that night, there was a chance I could have been killed. I took a few seconds to process everything while the room was silent.
“Now what?” I finally asked.
“Mr. White is being held in custody until his trial. He’s pleaded not guilty in the bail hearing, but like I said, we have him on camera.” Detective Evans answered.
I chuckled sarcastically under my breath; if he only knew why Rich had those cameras.
“Is Autumn in danger?” Gabe asked.
“We don’t think so,” Detective King answered.
“When is his trial?” I asked.
“In about seven months.”
“Seven months? Will I have to go to the trial?” I asked.
The detectives looked at each other and then back to me. “We know you were leaving Mr. Jones, but the public doesn’t. It would probably be in your best interest to play the grieving widow. From what we’ve learned and heard, Mr. Jones has a lot of enemies,” Detective Evans confirmed.
“He never included me in anything to do with his business. I’m not even sure I know what he did.”
“That’s probably a good thing,” Detective King said. “The less his enemies know, the better.”
I nodded. “But they’ll know about me if they go to his funeral.”
“I got you, angel,” Gabe said, kissing the top of my head.
I knew he did. Gabe had a way about himself that made me th
ink we were bulletproof when we were together.
We received the information we needed to claim Rich’s body. After Gabe had walked the detectives out, we sat in silence. I looked up at him.
“So … I need to plan his funeral.”
“I know you don’t want to, angel. But I agree with the detectives and think you should keep up appearances.”
“I guess.” I sighed.
“Angel, you won. You beat him. You survived him.”
It doesn’t rain that often in Las Vegas, but it rained the day we held Rich’s funeral. It felt as if it were one more jab toward me—like Rich was looking down on us and wanted me to stand in a black dress while the cold rain surrounded me.
I hated that I needed to keep up appearances, but as Trista, Trina, and friends of Rich’s arrived, I did the “wife” thing and hugged when I was supposed to, gave a tight smile when someone told me they were sorry and nodded when they said they couldn’t believe he was murdered.
Gabe briefly said hello to Trista and I smiled. I couldn’t imagine walking in and finding someone dead—let alone two people.
I was going to say hello to Trina, but she steered clear of me and I was okay with that. If she wanted to be the grieving mistress, then whatever.
As the service started, Gabe stood on one side of me while my dad stood on the other, the rain beating down on us. Paul, Brandi, her husband and my mom stood around us as I stared down at the mud, pretending to listen to how Rich was a great man. I wanted to stop the service, tell everyone that what the priest was saying were lies, but instead, I waited until it was my turn to throw dirt on Rich’s grave. I didn’t want to give a speech, and I didn’t shed a tear until I felt the dirt in my hand. I felt a rush of relief wash over me as I tossed it onto the lowered casket.
The tears streamed down my face as I finally realized that he’d never hurt me or anyone again.
Chapter Thirty
Gabe
In the two months since Rich’s funeral, Autumn, Jackson and I attended a weekend course in Texas and had become certified as self-defense instructors. We’d attended a weekend course in Texas and each became certified. When I pitched the idea to Autumn, she cried. At first I didn’t understand her tears until she explained that it was a perfect idea because she wanted to save other women like I’d saved her. She didn’t want to go back to working at a bank and while Rich had left plenty of money behind, we both knew it would run out eventually if we weren’t working.
What stunned us both was the amount of money Rich had loaned to people. Instead of dealing with Rich’s clients, Autumn closed the doors on Jones Investments. I didn’t blame her. Rich was involved in shady shit and since it had got him killed, we all knew the best thing was to forgive each loan. It would also increase Autumn’s safety to anyone who Rich may have pissed off over the years. Autumn, Jackson and I had also become certified firearm instructors. It made Autumn feel safer even if we believed she wasn’t in danger any longer.
“You know how you think I’m the smartest person in the entire world?” I joked.
“Yeah.” She laughed and shook her head.
“I might know where we can teach our class until we can buy a warehouse.”
She perked up. “Oh? Where?”
“Club 24.”
“Really?”
“I need to talk to Blake first, but I think it would work out. Even if it were once a week.”
Since we went to Club 24 almost every day, I’d become friends with the new manager, Blake Montgomery. His brother owned the gym, and Blake had relocated to manage the compound as Jackson would say. I knew I could talk Blake into letting us teach in a one-hour time slot.
“I think that sounds perfect.” Autumn came and sat next to me on the couch. “We go there all the time anyway. Why not make money doing it.” She chuckled.
I grinned and kissed the top of her head. “That’s what he said.”
She sat up and gave me a confused look.
“Why not make money doing it,” I repeated.
She shook her head again as she smiled. “You’re lucky that’s not a sore subject for me anymore.”
“I wouldn’t joke if it were.”
She rolled her eyes. “Men…”
“Speaking of doing it …” I raised my eyebrows with a huge grin.
She stood. “Last one in our room does all of the pleasing.” She took off running down the hall before I was able to stand from the couch.
What my angel didn’t realize was that I’d always let her win because nothing satisfied me more than making her come.
Multiple times.
Autumn fell asleep in my arms, and while sleeping next to her was one of my favorite activities, there was something I needed to do without her knowing.
I slowly got out of bed, making sure not to wake her and slipped on my basketball shorts. I never thought that I would be doing this again. If you had asked me eight months ago where I saw myself in five years, I would have told you dead.
While my laptop booted up, I jumped into the shower in the spare bathroom to wash the sweat from my body. Rolling around with Autumn was always a workout. I made sure I gave her the best of me each time. Sometimes my arms would burn as I pumped my fingers hard and fast to bring her to shattering, and sometimes my thighs burned as I took her from the back and made her come multiple times before I would. But each time we made love, I did whatever it took to make up for what she’d missed out on before we met. I knew I couldn’t fuck the memory of Rich from her mind, but I was determined to make her forget his touch.
After turning off the shower, I grabbed my towel and began to dry my body until I saw the note on the steamy mirror.
She’ll be good for you, C.H.
At first I thought that it was Jackson playing a trick on me until I realized it wasn’t his handwriting. It wasn’t Autumn’s either. I didn’t believe in ghosts … but angels … I believed in angels and I knew Alyssa was always looking down on me. I sat on the lid of the toilet, tears running down my cheeks. Alyssa’s nickname for me was C.H. I didn’t know how it was possible, but the note was from her.
“I miss you,” I whispered. I “I didn’t get to tell you that day and I hope you knew that I loved you. I know in my heart you had something to do with bringing Autumn and me together, so thank you. I’m not sure how the other side works, but please make sure I don’t fuck this up. You’re right—she is good for me.” I wiped the tears from my face. “I’ll always love you, babe.”
When I stood and looked at the foggy mirror, the note was gone.
The last time I designed a ring, my world was turned upside down.
When I logged into my account, the ring I designed for Alyssa was still on file. As I stared at the princess cut diamond, I knew I could easily order that ring for Autumn and crawl back into bed with her. But there were three things wrong with that option: one, when I looked at the design, I saw Alyssa, not Autumn. Two, Rich called Autumn his princess and three, her engagement ring from Rich was a princess cut diamond.
So instead, I clicked the new design button as Jackson walked in the front door. He walked into the dining room, looked at the computer and said, “You gotta girl back home we don’t know about, Cap?”
I turned to him, remembering he said that when he caught me designing a ring before. “Something like that.”
Epilogue
Autumn
March 9th
The final connection with Rich was over.
I didn’t want to go to the trial for the guy that killed Rich, but I decided to go on the day the verdict was being read for the double murder of Rich and Remo. I wanted to see his face as they read the guilty verdicts. I wanted to silently thank him for causing the commotion at Rich’s party almost a year ago. Mr. White was a murderer, but he also made me put my plan into motion. He’ll never know that he helped me, but I will. I’ll always remember that night—it was the beginning of me being happy again.
Finally, the judge entered the cou
rtroom and when asked, the foreman read the verdict.
Guilty … On all counts.
Gabe wrapped me in his arms, hugging me tight and I cried. I didn’t know why I was crying. It was as if I couldn’t control my emotions. Finally everything to do with Rich was done and it felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.
While we drove home, I texted Brandi the guilty verdict and told her I felt sick to my stomach. She replied back:
Brandi: Maybe you’re pregnant.
I read her text and chuckled under my breath then stopped. Holy shit.
The next day, I got a home pregnancy test and sure enough, Brandi was right: I was pregnant.
“Did you tell him yet?” Brandi asked as we watched our guys plus Paul, Nick, Vinny and Brad load our stuff in the moving truck. Gabe and I were moving into our own house today.
“Not yet.”
“When?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know … Soon though.”
“You just bought a house together. I doubt he’s going to leave you high and dry.”
“I know. I just haven’t had a chance yet. We’ve been busy getting our business up and going. It just hasn’t been the right time.”
While I was with Rich, I thought the pill would prevent me from getting pregnant. I’m thankful that it did. When I saw the blue lines appear on the home pregnancy test, my heart stopped. I always hoped that God wouldn’t have me bring a child into this world with a man like Rich. As I stared at the test, I knew God knew what he was doing.
Gabe and I were meant to be together and me being pregnant was just another sign.
“Angel,” Gabe called, walking toward us. He knelt beside me. “Are you two going to help or—”
“Leave us alone, Gabe,” Brandi said. “We’re watching hot guys sweat.”
“What she said.” I laughed.
Gabe shook his head and stood. “Women.” He chuckled and walked away.
Angels & Whiskey Page 24
