Mallory

by Michelle Love

  His blue eyes moved to look at hers.

  “It’s just that I’m getting more and more worried about Arsen.” He turned the phone around and showed her the message Arsen had received earlier that morning. “He left with whoever it was who sent this message asking him to meet them this morning. Arsen just got into the car with a wave of his hand and they drove away. I didn’t get to see who it was.”

  Steele’s face went pale.

  “Was it a man or a woman?”

  Paul shook his head. “I didn’t get to see a thing. The windows were tinted a dark black.”

  “What kind of car was it?” she asked.

  “A blue Camaro.” Paul pushed the button to call the number that was all sevens. A recording came on telling him that was not a valid number and he pushed the button to end the call. “Just as I thought. That number isn’t anything we can track him by. I should’ve chased his ass down and made them stop.”

  Steele let out a sigh.

  “Paul, don’t blame yourself. The man thinks he’s ten feet tall and bulletproof sometimes.”

  Paul let out a laugh and walked out of the office.

  “You don’t have to tell me that. I know that man better than anyone. He’s hard headed and completely self-destructive at times. What he did with women was…” He shut up and glanced at Steele.

  Her cheeks had turned pink with embarrassment.

  “I know. It’s okay.”

  Paul reached out and touched her arm as they walked back to the kitchen.

  “He’s different with you, Steele. He’s better with you.”

  She nodded.

  “I wonder why he would take off with someone.”

  Steele gestured for Paul to sit at the table. He took a chair, and she brought him a cup of coffee.

  “Thanks,” he said as he picked up the sugar bowl and put a couple of spoonfuls into the cup.

  Steele made up two plates with eggs, bacon, and toast and took them to the table and sat across from Paul. After taking a bite of the eggs and a sip of her coffee, she asked, “Do you think Arsen can truly be happy with a vanilla woman like I am?”

  Paul looked at her and smiled.

  “You aren’t vanilla, Steele. I like to think of you as a brilliant variation of flavors. A little chocolate, a touch of vanilla and some spicy cinnamon.”

  She smiled with the compliment. Then her cheeks turned scarlet as she thought about how many things she’d done with Arsen while the man across from her drove the car, a mere rolled up window between them.

  Steele shook her head with the memories of all she’d done with the man in the back of that car. Her panties went damp with the thoughts which had flashed through her mind.

  “It has occurred to me you know a lot about our sex life, Paul,” she said as she looked at her plate, not daring to meet his gaze as she felt him staring at her.

  He laughed.

  “I wear headphones, Steele. I have no wish to hear what goes on in the back of the SUV.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief, but the fact was he knew what they were doing in the back of that car and that was embarrassing to her.

  “Paul, do you think I’m a trampy slut?”

  “Look at me,” he said with an air of authority she knew he’d learned from Arsen. She raised her head and did as he said. “You are no tramp, Steele. I could tell you weren’t one of those girls when I first saw you in your boots and jeans. You and he clicked. You had something. I know you would never have done what you did without that spark that instant connection you two had from the very start.”

  “That night. Was he really waiting for me?” she asked then sipped her coffee. “It seems impossible to me. He’s so damn good looking. I just can’t imagine Arsen Sloan sitting in a car waiting for any woman to come outside.”

  Paul laughed.

  “I was surprised by him saying he wanted to wait for you. You’re right, he’s not the kind of man to wait on a half chance with a woman. He’s the guy who goes in takes who he wants and the women are grateful for the time he gives them.”

  Steele looked away.

  “He’s had more than his fair share of women, hasn’t he?”

  Paul cleared his throat.

  “I shouldn’t have said that. Please have that stricken from the record.” He laughed.

  Steele did too.

  “Paul, I can’t help worrying about where he is right now. And who he’s with. And what the fuck they’re doing.”

  Paul shook his head.

  “I’m sure it’s just a person who can help him find out more about the murders, Steele. He’ll be back before we know it and hopefully he’ll have some great answers that will get him out of all this shit he’s in.”

  “It wasn’t Anne, was it?” Steele’s eyes were beginning to shine with unshed tears.

  “It wasn’t her car.” He said, making her feel a little better.

  She didn’t trust that woman at all. She knew she had a certain hold over Arsen because of all the abuse and she was afraid of Arsen reverting back to his old self. It had been a fear she’d had since she found everything out about the complex man.

  “I’m supposed to be in my first class in half an hour, but I won’t be able to concentrate anyway. I’m staying home today. At least until Arsen makes it back.” She got up and put her empty plate in the sink.

  Paul followed and asked, “You want me to hang out here with you?”

  She turned with a smile.

  “Would you? That would be so nice of you, Paul. It would help me not to get all crazy and jump to conclusions. I have to admit the pictures going through my mind of Arsen in a hotel room with Anne, or anyone really, keep coming in and haunting me. I love that man and jealousy is a thing which is nearly constant in me for him.”

  “I assure you he’s not doing anything like that. I’m more worried he’s put his trust in someone who’s out to hurt him.” Paul took her by the arm and led her to the living room where they sat on a plush sofa.

  “That is worse than what I’m thinking,” she said and sighed. “There is just no good scenario is there?”

  He shrugged his wide shoulders.

  “Well, there is one. He could be with someone who is helping him get to the bottom of all this shit.”

  She nodded in agreement.

  “That would be so fucking fantastic.”

  The bell chimed with a call from the doorman and Steele made her way to the small box beside the elevator.

  “Yes?”

  “There is a Detective Fontaine to see Mr. Sloan.”

  “Send her up,” she said then sighed. “Fantastic.”

  Paul was behind her as she turned.

  “What do you think this is about?” he asked.

  She shook her head.

  “No idea. It just keeps getting better and better around here.”

  They waited for the detective and in a few minutes she was stepping off the elevator with a paper in her hand.

  “I need to see Arsen,” she said.

  “He’s not here at the moment. What’s that?” Steele asked as she gestured to the paper. “And what about my roommate, Gwen?”

  “A warrant for his arrest for the other two women’s murders is what this is,” she answered. “We have officers looking for her, that’s the best we can do with no leads yet. Where is Arsen?”

  Paul answered, “He left about five this morning with someone in a blue Camaro.”

  “Five?” Fontaine asked. “That was quite a while ago. Doesn’t he have his phone? Let him know I need him back here ASAP.”

  Steele sighed and walked towards the living room.

  “You may as well come in and have a seat. He left his phone here. He’s been gone five hours now. Hopefully, he’ll be back soon.”

  The detective sat down and crossed her long legs, the red pencil skirt raising up a bit and showing more of her leg than Steele thought was professional.

  “How long does he usually take, Miss Gannon?” she asked.
>
  Steele looked at her with a confused expression.

  “Pardon?”

  “To fuck?” Her cold eyes starred into Steele’s.

  Paul laughed and sat down near the detective as Steele sat on the sofa across from them.

  “Whoa. I better stay close to you Detective. This one here can be a real hell cat and I don’t want you to get hurt. You should really watch what you say.”

  Fontaine’s eyes ran up and down Steele who was nearly a foot shorter and thinner than the tall woman.

  “This little thing? She couldn’t hurt a fly.”

  Steele knew she was being baited so her temper was even.

  “Fontaine, you cannot goad me into a fight. Sorry. I’m worried Arsen has put his trust into someone he shouldn’t have. Perhaps you could find out who the hell that car belongs to? You do have the hook up to get that accomplished, don’t you?”

  Paul smiled.

  “Good thinking, Steele.” He turned to the detective. “The building has cameras out front. The car should show up on them at five this morning and you could get the plates and call them in. Then we’ll at least have a name for who he’s with.”

  She nodded.

  “Do you know why he would leave with this person?”

  Steele nodded.

  “Someone sent him a text from a fake number. It said they needed to talk. I suppose he found it was someone he knew. And someone he trusted enough to get into the car without saying a word to Paul.”

  The detective laughed.

  “Arsen should trust no one at this time and no one should trust him, either. The man is now being accused of all three murders and you, my dear girl, are quite the idiot for being alone with him so much. I get it, the man is a God. He has it all. Wealth, the body, the great looks. That hair is something I dream about.”

  Steele smiled.

  “It’s soft and silky and smells like Heaven. I love tangling my hands up in it when his mouth is making me climax.”

  Fontaine’s brows went up high.

  “Touché, Miss Gannon!”

  “I told you, a hell cat,” Paul said as pink flushed his tanned cheeks.

  “Speaking of your sex life with the accused murderer,” Fontaine said with a smile covering her red stained lips. “How rough does it get?”

  Steele leaned up and gave the detective a smile. “Oh, it’s hot. But he’s never hurt me.”

  “Perhaps you have a higher pain threshold than others,” she said as she uncrossed her legs and leaned back on the sofa.

  Steele shook her head.

  “Quite the opposite. I have a very low threshold for pain. He’s very gentle with me. He’s the kind of man who finds out what a woman wants and gives it to her. He’s kind of magical that way. Knows what I want before I do.”

  “So, you aren’t worried he’s out there right now spanking some helpless female into submission because he can’t do that to you?” she asked. “People like that have needs, Miss Gannon. Maybe you don’t realize that.”

  Paul cleared his throat.

  “Okay, this is my boss and good friend you’re talking about Detective. I need to remind you Miss Gannon here is a law student and an intern for both Tanner Goldstein and Arsen. She is not to be treated the way you’re treating her.”

  Steele smiled at Paul.

  “Thank you, Paul.”

  The detective’s eyes moved back and forth between the two rapidly.

  “Hmm. What about you two? What’s going on here? Why are you two all alone in Arsen’s apartment?”

  Paul laughed and shook his head.

  “I would never go behind Arsen’s back and go after any women that’s his. It’s a matter of respect. And just so you know. If he is ever put in jail or prison, I will be escorting Miss Gannon to see him and anywhere else she goes. So you will see us together often if that happens. It doesn’t mean we’re fucking each other.”

  Steele’s cheeks went pink, and she coughed. Then Paul stood.

  “How about some coffee while you wait?”

  The detective nodded.

  “That would be nice. Thank you.”

  The two women eyed one another while Paul left the room. Then Steele said, “Look, you can help here. I need you to understand some things about the man I love and would gladly give my life for. He’s a tortured soul. He doesn’t deserve what’s happening to him.”

  “Said every woman involved with a killer ever,” Fontaine said with a sigh. “Poor girl. He did it. He killed those women. Now, I think there is a slight possibility the first one was an accident, but I think the sadistic man inside him liked it. It thrilled him. So he found another woman who liked that kind of stuff and went too far with it again, but this time on purpose. Getting his rocks off to it a second time. Then he knew one more who’d let him do that to her and he did it again.”

  Steele shook her head.

  “You don’t know him at all. He’s not that way. He has a soft streak. He can be tough and arrogant and even mean sometimes. But he has this soft spot.”

  The detective laughed.

  “So you think he has a soft spot for you?”

  Steele frowned.

  “He does. It’s not a thing I particularly like. He was weak when he was younger. Before Anne Sinclair got a hold of him and fucked him up royally. Somehow, with me, he’s going back to that weakness again. I hate I’m doing that to him.”

  “Maybe he’s feeling secure for once,” the detective said as she looked around the room.

  A fresh bouquet of colorful flowers filled a vase on a small table. It was the only thing soft in the room filled with fine, dark brown, leather furnishings. No other soft touches were in the room. It was entirely masculine.

  “Maybe,” Steele agreed. “You know that Sinclair woman told Arsen she had a friend who was interning at the place the women are being autopsied at. She said that friend told her all three women had elevated chemicals in their bodies. She said they had been killed with some drug which is easily hidden in the body. I can’t remember the name of it. But I was wondering if you saw that on the reports.”

  “Did she say who the friend is? Because I’ve been down there and there’s only two people who work there and there is no intern.” Fontaine leaned forward and tapped her long fingers on her chin.

  “There’s not?” Steele sat up too and Paul came in with a tray of coffees.

  “Here we go, ladies.” He sat the tray on the coffee table between them and handed them their cups.

  Steele asked, “Paul, you were there when Anne Sinclair and Arsen talked, right?”

  He nodded and took his place near the detective again.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Tell her what all the old bat said to him.” Steele took her coffee and sat back.

  After a lengthy discussion about all Anne had said, the detective was showing signs of having an internal battle with what the truth was.

  “There’s a pretty good chance Arsen is being set up.”

  Steele made a long sigh and sat up.

  “So what are you going to do about this?”

  “I think I should go downstairs and talk to the building manager and get the plates off that car if possible. If that’s Anne who he’s with she could be doing something awful to him.” The detective stood and took off to go downstairs. She looked over her shoulder. “I’ll be back. Stay here.”

  “Finally,” Steele said. “Maybe the damn police will do something to help Arsen instead of trying so hard to make sure he rots away in jail.” Steele got up. “I’m going to change out of these clothes and into something more comfortable since I’ll be staying here instead of going to classes.”

  She left the living room and went to the bedroom. The room she now shared with Arsen. Her body began shaking as she thought about where he might be.

  Her mind kept taking her to awful thoughts. Him and Anne in a room somewhere. Anne beating him and fucking him.

  Steele fell on the bed and tried hard not to cry. She got
up and pulled her skirt off and kicked off the high heels. She unbuttoned her blouse and lay back down in her lacey bra and panty set Arsen had ordered for her.

  Arsen had given her a whole new wardrobe. A car was being put together made specifically for her. He was taking care of her much better than she had ever taken care of herself.

  Thanks to the way he had taught her to eat and exercise, she was firm and getting more fit each day. If he was going back to that life with Anne, it would devastate her.

  Steele ran her hands over her body and imagined it was Arsen who was doing it. The last night he’d made her feel so good. He’d taken a long bath with her, they drank a little wine and then he took her to bed.

  Heat had flushed her body with his first touch. His lips pressed against hers and took her away from all thoughts of Gwen. Even though she knew she should only be thinking about her friend and what might be happening to her, Steele wanted to be taken away for a little while.

  Arsen could manage to do that with a simple touch. That night his touch was anything but simple as he ran his fingertips over her breasts and stomach. His lips touched her stomach, sending chills all over her.

  His dark eyes gazed at her as he said, “One day this flat stomach will be round with our baby, Steele.”

  She smiled and recalled the amazing feeling those words gave her. She hadn’t even thought about having kids.

  “You want kids, Arsen?”

  “With you I do,” he’d said. Soft kisses he made all over her stomach.

  Her heart swelled with love for him and she knew he was it for her. No one would ever come close to being what he was to her. He would one day be her husband and the father of her children.

  It seemed to be far away in a future which was not entirely certain. The dark cloud of prison constantly hung over the man’s shoulders. Steele shuddered as his lips pressed against her clit.

  His teeth took it gently, and she moaned with the sweet feeling it gave her. He made a low growl and bit it a little harder. It sent waves of pleasure through her.

  Her hands fisted the sheet beneath her.

  “Arsen!”

  His tongue flicked at the swelling pearl between his teeth and with every deft flick of his tongue she felt a jolt go through her, straight to a place deep inside her.