Focus: Exposure Series Book Two

by Jocoby, Annie

  “Thanks,” she said. “Take care, CJ. You’re a brave girl.”

  “Thanks yourself,” I said, and I hung up.

  I took a deep breath, and tried to think this whole thing through.

  Okay. Here’s how it might have gone. Asher owed these Albanians something, or he did something to one of their members a long time ago. All this time, though, he has been protected by his dad. Something happened to the dad, let’s say. Maybe he was killed, maybe he retired, maybe he was deposed in a coup of some sort. At any rate, let’s just say that the dad no longer had the ability to protect Asher.

  So, these Albanians want something from him, and he gives me to them. All along, though, he plans the whole chain of events whereby the Albanians receive good money for me, from Yuri, who’s an associate of Asher’s. That pays off his debt, whatever it is, and then, what, Yuri double-crosses him and sells me to somebody else? Then Asher gets upset, and makes a transaction for me at that end, when I’m with Robert.

  I sighed and decided that I had watched too many movies. Because wouldn’t it be easier for Asher just to give these Albanians money, instead of giving them me? After all, these Albanians didn’t end up with me, they ended up with money from Yuri. Asher just giving them cash would be the same thing. Wouldn’t it?

  Maybe, maybe not. Maybe those Albanians violated me while I was in their custody. That would be something extra for them, on top of the money they got from Yuri. Perhaps there was a whole sadism thing with this group, whereby it was much more “fun” to sell a woman than just to receive money for nothing at all.

  I had no idea. All that I knew was that Asher was Russian, and ran with the mob when he was young. Yuri was clearly Russian, and, although there wasn’t necessarily a confirmation from Marisa that he was with the mob, all signs pointed to it being so.

  I shook my head. I had to simply stop. Stop thinking all of these worst-case scenarios, until I got to actually talk to Asher about it.

  The problem that I was having was that I knew nothing about him. I had a feeling for him, and that was that he brought out something in me, emotionally, that I had never felt before. I felt very strongly for him, almost as if I were drawn to him. I couldn’t pinpoint it. If I had to guess, I would say that there was a center of my brain that did remember him. Perhaps it was the part of my brain where my emotions were stored. So, while I couldn’t intellectually remember him, he brought out these emotions in me that were still in there, somewhere.

  Because I felt that I was in love with him, and that wasn’t rational. According to my rational brain, I just met the guy a matter of weeks ago. But my emotional brain was head-over-heels for him.

  Perhaps that was a good sign. Or maybe my emotions were clouding my reason. Because if I couldn’t really remember him, then he could hide who he was before very easily. And maybe he was a bad guy.

  But wouldn’t Scarlett know if he were a bad guy before? She seemed to think that he was a decent guy.

  Even though he hid his past from me before.

  He wasn’t hiding his past now, though. Wasn’t that a strike in his favor?

  All day long, I went back and forth with it. There were hints that Asher was a bad guy, and hints that he was a good guy. I couldn’t really tell which of these thoughts were which.

  Could I go with my gut? If I did, then I would take Asher at face-value, and trust him implicitly.

  As soon as I decided to do that, though, my rational brain would take over, and I would be, once again, asking myself how I got into the clutches of this Yuri person. Asher found me, right away, and knew just where I was. How did that happen if he weren’t involved with the whole abduction? If he had no involvement in it, whatsoever, how could he just find out where I was?

  He had to have an involvement in all of it. He had to. Unless he could have just used his connections here to find out where I was. But that would still mean that he was lying, because he insisted that he was a legitimate businessman and had left the entire mob scene behind. So, how did he still have close ties, close enough to find me? Either he was straight, or he wasn’t. If he was straight, then I didn’t think that he could just find me so quickly.

  By the end of the day, I decided that Asher was lying about something. I wasn’t sure what. Either he was lying about his current ties to the mob, or he was lying about his involvement in my abduction. Probably both.

  The whole thing turned my stomach.

  Chapter 29

  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to confront Asher about this whole thing before he took his trip to DC. And, upsettingly enough, Scarlett had not yet returned from her mother’s house, so the whole thing about the traumatic incident that nobody would tell me about was also still up in the air. Asher insisted that Scarlett would have to be the one to tell me.

  I tried to talk to Asher, but he was so involved with preparing for the congressional testimony that he simply never had time.

  “I want to talk to you about what happened when you were involved in that accident, CJ, but I would really like to wait until this testimony is over.”

  “I understand,” I said, but I didn’t. I was stewing, to tell the absolute truth.

  “CJ,” he said. “The offer still stands about coming with me to DC. I would love to have you there, as long as you understand that I need to work long hours while I’m there. I could certainly set you up with some tour groups, though, so you can have fun while I’m working there.”

  “When do you give testimony?”

  “Thursday,” he said. “We could stay in DC over the weekend, though, if you like.”

  I took a deep breath. I would be leaving, and Scarlett would come home and see that I was gone. Which would postpone the entire talk that she and I were going to have still further, of course. There was a part of me that was upset about that.

  But a much bigger part of me was relieved. This news, whatever it was, was shaping up to be something that would rock me to my core. I could feel it. I could sense it. And the encounter with Emily confirmed it. Whatever it was, it sent me into the mental hospital.

  So, I was also happy that this news could be put off a bit longer. I could live in this bubble until then.

  In the meantime, though, I had to get to the bottom of this Asher business. I had to look him in the eye and ask him everything that I needed to ask him about Yuri, Robert and why he kept all of this from me. If I could do that, then maybe I could trust him. If he gave me evasive answers, though, I knew that I couldn’t trust him. I would just have to walk away from him at that point.

  “Okay,” I said, feeling anxious to get this over with. I didn’t want to wait until he got back from DC. I wanted to talk to him about it as soon as I could.

  “Good,” he said. “Now, would you rather fly in with me on Wednesday, or have me fly you in Thursday evening? If you come with me on Wednesday, then be prepared for me to shut you out until this testimony has been given. I don’t want you to think that I’m rude, but, as I said before, if you want to come with me on Wednesday, you can, and I’ll make sure you’re set up with a good tour company that can show you all the sites while I’m in the capitol building.”

  “I’d like to come with you on Wednesday,” I said. “I won’t be a bug, I promise.”

  He chuckled. “Believe me, CJ, you could never be a bug. Okay, then, I’ll send a limo around on Wednesday afternoon, and you can meet me in the airport. We’ll take my plane out there.”

  It was set, then. I would have to wait, of course, to talk to him about the serious things that I needed to talk about. That was going to be difficult. But, I was going to have things that would take my mind off of all of that, and I would be close to him.

  What alternative was there? If I didn’t go with him on Wednesday, then I would be all alone in my apartment, stewing and stewing. At least this way, I could occupy my time with staring at Asher’s gorgeous face, seeing the sights of DC and basking in the feelings that I had whenever I was around him. These feelings, these em
otions, were of love for him and being protected by him. My rational brain had many, many doubts about this man, but my inner core was still doing backflips about him.

  The serious talk would come, and then I could get a read on what was going on with him.

  Wednesday rolled around, and Asher sent a limousine to pick me up. The limo was headed for JFK Airport, which was where Asher’s corporate jet was parked. In spite of my apprehension about everything, I was excited. I had never been on a corporate jet before, so this was something that was going to be completely new for me.

  I got there, and Asher was waiting for me on the jet. He stood up, and put his arms around me. He put his face in my hair, and inhaled. “Oh, CJ,” he said. “I missed you.”

  I could tell he missed me. He immediately had an erection that I could feel as he hugged me.

  “I missed you too,” I said, even though it had only been a few days since I had last seen him. And I really had missed him. Ever since I woke up from that coma and saw his handsome face, I had been inexorably drawn to him.

  I just wished that I could turn off my brain.

  He kissed me passionately, his soft lips enveloping my own. He sighed. “I have to study these reports on the way down there, but I really need a quickie with you. I hope you don’t mind. Otherwise, I doubt that I could concentrate on the things that I desperately need to concentrate on.”

  I shook my head, and looked around. “We’re all alone?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Ordinarily, I would have a sky hostess come on the flight with me, but I chose to not have her on this trip. I knew that I would want to be alone with you, as dangerous as that is for me right now. You are a distraction for me, CJ Parker, like you will never know.”

  At that, he pushed me lightly down on the leather couch, and unbuttoned my blouse. In no time, he had my bra unhooked, and he was feeling my breasts with his masculine hands. He sucked them eagerly, groaning a little. “Goddamn, have I ever told you how beautiful your body is?” he said, while he unbuttoned my blouse more, his lips tracing his fingers as they both made their way down my waist. “Your breasts are just phenomenal.”

  I just shook my head, and let myself go. What he was doing felt amazing to me, and I completely forgot all the misgivings that I had about him. Just for that moment, and the moments that would follow, I turned off my brain and I just let the amazing feeling, of having this gorgeous man’s mouth on my body, wash over me.

  He unbuckled his dress pants, and brought out his throbbing manhood. He pulled both of my legs on the seat, and pushed up my skirt while removing my panties at the same time. I still had on my shirt, but it was completely unbuttoned, and my bra was still unhooked from the front. He also was mostly clothed, but his pants were open enough for his dick to poke through. He sheathed it effortlessly, and plunged it into me, making me scream.

  He kissed me passionately while we rocked back and forth on the leather seats. The plane took off, and I got the feeling in my stomach that I always got as a plane makes it ascent into the sky. This time, the feeling was that much more intense, as he buried himself deeply into me, and continued to thrust into me deeper and deeper until I felt like I was completely filled up with him.

  “Is this your first time fucking on a plane?” he asked me, in between kisses.

  “It is,” I said. “And I can see what all the fuss is about.”

  He chuckled lightly, and then tickled my clit with his fingers. I felt a rush, such as I had never felt before, and I couldn’t stop myself from screaming out. His fingers on his other hand found their way into my ass, as his other hand was firmly on my clit. His mouth returned to my breasts, and I reared back my head and arched my back in ecstasy.

  After about a half hour of his teasing and thrusting and kissing, he groaned and laid down on top of me. I wrapped my legs around him, not wanting him to separate from me just yet.

  He smiled, and gently played with my hair. “Did you like that, CJ?” he said. “Just imagine how much fun we’re going to have on the way back. I’ll have this congressional thing behind me, and I’ll be in the mood to really make you scream, all the way back to New York.”

  Unfortunately, the flight time wasn’t long at all, and I felt the plane start to descend. Asher shook his head, but he was smiling. “So much for my getting anything done on the plane,” he said. “I’m sorry, CJ, but, just for tonight, we’re going to have to have separate hotel rooms. There’s no way I’m going to be able to concentrate on these reports if you’re in the same room with me.”

  I loved that I had that effect on him. That I made him so hard. He made me just as wet.

  I decided, then and there, that I was going to believe in him, at least until he gave me a reason not to. I still would ask him all the questions that I needed to about Yuri and Robert and the Bardha group. I had to get to the bottom of it all. But I also needed to have an open mind, and try to trust and believe him if he told me that he had nothing to do with all of that.

  There was a chance that the fact that he gave me the most powerful orgasms of my life was clouding my judgment. I hoped and prayed that this wasn’t the case, though. Whatever it was that he told me about all of that, I was going to have to examine the evidence dispassionately and draw my own conclusions from his words.

  After the amazing fucking we just did on the plane, though, I hoped that I could still have an open mind.

  That was going to be necessary if I was going to go into a relationship with Asher with my eyes wide open.

  Chapter 30

  The next day, I went sight-seeing. I knew that Asher and I were going to be meeting that evening after he gave his testimony, and I was going to have to hammer him then about Yuri and all of that. But, I had to put it out of my mind, because there was no point in obsessing over it. And there was so much to see in the nation’s capitol.

  I wandered through the Smithsonian museums. I really wanted to go to the natural history museum to see the Hope Diamond, and the American History museum to see the pop cultural artifacts, including Fonzie’s jacket and Archie Bunker’s chair. I grew up with the reruns of these shows, because my mom loved them so much.

  As I wandered through the American History museum, and I saw all the different things that were in there that demonstrated the fads of yesteryear and the icons of all the days past, I thought of my family. My mother. I had no idea where she was, or why she wasn’t calling me. I just stood there, looking at Archie’s chair, remembering when I watched that show with mother when it was on Nick at Nite. I personally always found it hilarious, and wondered why we couldn’t have shows like that on today. Pointed and satirical, it made light of so many serious issues, while delivering a punch at the same time. Archie even said the word “goddamn.” I had to replay him saying that on my DVR, because I couldn’t believe it.

  Ted’s blue blazer from the Mary Tyler Moore show was in the case with Fonzie’s jacket. I didn’t see that show as much, but I did liken myself to the independent news lady, Mary, because that was how I saw myself. I called my magazine before I came to DC, and I was soon going to return to my job there. They were excited to have me back. I was just as excited to go back to them. I really enjoyed photography. Granted, I had no memory of actually being a photographer, but I loved learning about it at NYU. There was so much that you could capture with a photograph. So many haunted emotions in people’s eyes, and if you knew how to bring it out, the picture could be quite powerful.

  There was so much to see in that museum, and I knew that I only had the day to see everything I wanted to see. Asher would be with me the next day, and, while I knew that he and I would probably see the city together, it wouldn’t quite be the same. I always enjoyed going to museums by myself, because I really wanted to absorb everything.

  I spent hours at that museum and the Natural History museum, looking at fossils, gems and dinosaur bones.

  The next stop was the Vietnam memorial, and I looked at the tree that had letters to the dead soldiers. I read
several of these letters, tears coming to my eyes. I couldn’t imagine their grief. The hole that’s left when someone you love dies. I had been lucky, thus far, because I hadn’t experienced something like that. I had my family. They might have been dysfunctional, but we loved one another very much. These letters show that the pain of losing someone never goes away. Here it was, 40 years after the fall of Saigon, and their pain was still as fresh as it ever was, as shown by these letters.

  By that time, it was almost 6 o’clock, and Asher was calling me. “Where are you?” he asked. “I’ll come and meet you.”

  “At the Vietnam memorial,” I said. I was still choked up after reading those letters, so my voice was catching.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. He sounded genuinely concerned.

  “Oh, nothing,” I said. “I just get emotional reading these letters to these soldiers. It’s so horrible that they died for no good reason.”

  Asher paused on the phone. “Yes, the Wall is a very emotional experience.”

  “How did the testimony go?”

  “Really well. I think that I did some good. Now that that’s over, I’ll come pick you up and we’ll go to dinner at the Minibar.” The Minibar was apparently a fine dining place that Asher and I had talked about earlier.

  “I’m not really dressed for that.”

  “We’ll go back to the hotel, silly, and get showered and ready.”

  “Okay,” I said. “But I can walk back to the hotel from here.”

  “If you like,” he said. “I’ll see you in about a half hour, then, okay?”

  “See you then.”

  I walked back to the hotel, thinking all along about the letters to the dead soldiers. So, I was in a very contemplative mood when I got to the hotel room. Asher was already there, laying down on the bed, his shoes off and his collar undone. He got up when I walked through the door and held me in his arms.