Before The Night Is Over

by Sandy Sullivan

  “Jeff,” she said softly, hoping to catch his attention.

  He quickly spun around at the sound of her voice.

  “Elizabeth? What are you doing here?”

  “I followed you after you hit Laurel at her apartment. You aren’t going to hurt her. I won’t let you.”

  The crazy laughter coming from his mouth sent chills down her back.

  “You? You can’t stop me. I’m tired of her getting in the middle of things between us, Elizabeth. The fucking cops are asking way too many questions after your trip to the emergency room. I can’t have them snooping around.”

  She stepped closer and put her body between Laurel and him. “You won’t hurt her.”

  “Get out of the way, bitch. I’ll take care of you after I’m done with her.”

  “I heard what you said about those other women, Jeff. You killed them? How could you do such a thing? I know you like to punish me when I’m bad. I understand that, but kill someone?”

  “Shut up, Elizabeth. Just shut up.”

  She pulled Laurel’s revolver out from behind her back and pointed it at her husband. “I’m going to untie her. You stay there.”

  He took a step towards her.

  “I said, stay there.”

  “You don’t know how to shoot a gun, Elizabeth. Give it to me and we’ll forget this ever happened. All right, sweetheart? You know I love you.”

  Her hand wavered.

  “Don’t listen to him, Elizabeth. He’s fucking crazy. He’s going to kill me and probably you too, now.”

  “He’s my husband, Laurel,” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes. “I love him.”

  “Elizabeth please,” Laurel begged as she wiggled her hands trying to get one free. “Step back here towards me and untie me.”

  “Give me the gun, Elizabeth,” he said and then jumped toward her, knocking the gun from her hand. He brought his fist back and punched her hard, throwing her back away from the gun and into the pile of leaves. “You sniveling bitch!” His voice roared in the darkness, bouncing off the trees and she covered her ears as tears rolled down her cheeks.

  I’ve failed. He’s going to kill us both before this nightmare ends.

  Jeff picked up the gun and moved toward Laurel. “I thought I’d beat the shit out of you before I killed you, but now that your lovely sister has given me your weapon to use, I think I’ll just blow your brains out and be done with you.” The butt of the pistol rested against Laurel’s temple and all of his attention seemed focused on her.

  No, no, no. Elizabeth’s hands moved around in the pile of leaves next to her and closed around a heavy branch. I have to stop this. I have to save Laurel. She picked up the heavy tree limb, slowly got to her feet and swung it at Jeff’s head. The sickening thud as it connected with his skull, broke the silence of the forest around them and he slipped to the ground. The blank expression in his open eyes told her he wouldn’t hurt either of them again.

  “Oh, God. Oh God,” Elizabeth said and then pressed her knuckles to her lips. “What have I done?”

  “Elizabeth!” Laurel snapped. “Untie me, now!”

  Her fingers shook as she worked the chains and ropes loose to let her sister free. “I’m sorry, Laurel. God, I’m so sorry.”

  When the bonds fell away, Laurel grabbed her shoulders and hugged her so tight, she thought she might break some ribs.

  “Listen to me, Elizabeth. There is nothing to be sorry for, honey. You saved me—saved us both. He won’t hurt anyone every again.” Laurel wrapped an arm around her shoulders and they walked back towards her car to retrieve the cell phone she’d dropped on the floor.

  Within moments, the wail of sirens broke the silence and the flash of blue and red lights lit up the night.

  * * * *

  The high-pitch ring of the phone on the nightstand brought Kale upright in the bed. He looked around confused for a moment, trying to figure out where he was. The phone rang again and he reached over to grab it.

  Where the hell is Laurel?

  “Hello,” he croaked into the phone.

  “Kale?”

  “Laurel? What the hell? Why are you calling your own phone? Where are you?”

  “I need you,” she choked out and then cleared her throat. “Knock on Teresa’s door and have her watch Kimmy. I’m at the park on Oak Street on the other side of town.”

  “Tell me what’s going on,” he said, pulling on his pants and shirt.

  “I…I can’t over the phone.”

  “Do I hear sirens?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m okay.”

  “That’s not what I asked, Laurel. Are you all right?”

  “I will be when you get here.”

  He slipped on his socks and boots, then grabbed for his keys. “I’ll be there shortly. Stay there.” God, he wanted to say I love you, so badly his teeth ached from grinding them together.

  Two quick raps on the door to Teresa’s apartment and she called, “Who’s there?”

  “It’s me, Kale. Laurel’s friend.” Teresa opened the door with a sleepy-eyed blink. “Can you come over and watch Kimmy for a bit. I’m not sure what’s going on, but Laurel just called and she’s on the other side of town.”

  “Oh, Lord. I hope she’s okay,” Teresa said, coming out into the hall and following him into Laurel’s apartment.

  “I think she’s fine. I need to get over there and find out what’s going on. I’ll call when I can.”

  Taking the steps two at a time, he raced to his truck, cranked the engine and popped it into gear hardly a second after his butt hit the seat.

  “She’s all right. She said she’s all right.” The chant sounded hollow, but it was all he had until he held her again.

  Ten minutes later, he whipped into the parking lot of the park. Cop cars were everywhere. Blue and red lights flashed, bouncing color off the trees and scant buildings nearby. He was out of the truck before it even stopped; running toward where she stood with her sister huddled in a blanket.

  “Laurel?”

  “Kale! Oh, God, Kale,” she whispered, tears welling in her eyes as she dropped the blanket and threw herself into his arms.

  “God, baby, what happened? I don’t understand,” he said, brushing the hair back from her face and noticing the bruise forming on her jaw and cheek. “What the fuck?”

  “Jeff.”

  “Elizabeth’s husband, Jeff?”

  “Yeah. I got out of the bed because I needed to think. He called telling me Elizabeth wasn’t moving. I grabbed my keys to go to her house and see what was going on, but he jumped me in the parking lot of the complex, knocked me out and drove me here. Apparently, Elizabeth had followed him and then followed us here.”

  “I’ll kill him with my bare hands,” he growled, pushing her back and searching the area for the son of a bitch. Death wouldn’t be enough for the man.

  “No need. He’s dead.”

  “Dead?”

  “Yeah, he was going to shoot me and Elizabeth. She hit him with a tree branch.”

  Kale shook with rage so strong he fought to keep it under control. Luckily, the man was already dead. “I wish I’d been here, darlin’.” He softly stroked his fingers over her face. “I didn’t protect you.”

  “He could have hurt you or Kimberly. I couldn’t have handled it if he had. It’s bad enough he hurt Elizabeth, but I would lose my mind if he hurt you.” Her whole body shook with tremors.

  Smoothing both hands down her back and up to her shoulders, she slowly calmed and leaned into his embrace. Her warm breath skipped over his neck with each exhalation. Her hands held him tight against her like she thought he might disappear. He wasn’t going anywhere—not now—not ever.

  “Officer Hayes,” the chief said, stopping at her side.

  “Yes?”

  “We’ll need a formal statement, but the information you’ve already given us is enough for tonight. You and your sister are free to go. She
has to stay in the area though until the official investigation is concluded.”

  “I’m taking them both back to Laurel’s apartment for now and then they’ll be at my place out on Crescent Highway.” He pulled out a business card and handed to the chief. “If you need to reach me.”

  “Much obliged, Kale. Take care of those two. They’ve had a rough night.”

  He piled Laurel and Elizabeth into his truck and drove them back to Laurel’s apartment. They packed up a sleepy Kimberly, some clothes for both of them and bid Teresa goodbye, telling her where they could be reached.

  “They need to be away from here tonight,” he told Teresa.

  “You take care of those girls, Kale.” She laid her hand on his cheek and whispered, “She’s lucky to have such a man as you in love with her.”

  “Thanks, Teresa. You’ve been a godsend.”

  When the lights of his place came into view fifteen minutes later, he released the breath he hadn’t been aware of holding. Laurel was tucked into his side in the middle of the seat with Elizabeth silently staring out the window on the passenger side and Kimberly behind them.

  He took them all into the house, showed Elizabeth the guestroom, and tucked Kimberly onto the couch with her blanket. Once they were settled, he picked Laurel up in his arms and strode up the stairs to his room.

  “Kale, I don’t think—”

  “Don’t think right now, darlin’. I need to hold you. I could have lost you tonight and the thought scares the hell out of me.”

  Bringing them both down on top of the covers on his bed, he pulled her to his side and tried to calm the tremors of his body.

  “Do you hurt anywhere?” he asked, once she laid her head on his chest and sighed.

  “Besides my jaw, my face, my arms, my legs and every other part of my body…no.”

  “How about a hot shower?”

  “No, I just want you to hold me.”

  The warm drop of her tears soaked through the cotton of his shirt.

  “Don’t cry, honey.”

  “I can’t help it, Kale. I wanted to kill him. If I would have been able to get my gun from Elizabeth, I would have shot him.”

  “I know.”

  “He killed those girls.”

  “Girls?”

  “Yeah. The three murders I’ve been investigating. He told me he killed them.”

  “I’m so sorry.”

  One hand snaked under the hem of his T-shirt as she pushed the material up his chest.

  “Laurel, honey, you’re hurt.”

  “I don’t care, Kale. I need you to make love to me. Make the memories go away even for a little while. Please.”

  “I can’t tell you no even if I should,” he replied, sitting up and stripping his shirt off over his head. He quickly stood and dropped his jeans to the floor, grabbed a condom from the nightstand and laid it on the top. By the time he had his clothes off, Laurel already lay naked across the quilt on his bed. “This is gonna be slow and easy.”

  He cupped her face between his palms, careful not to put too much pressure on the spots where Jeff had hit her and took her lips. The slow glide of his tongue over her lips made his cock sit up and take notice, not that it hadn’t already noticed every curve and every crevice of the gorgeous woman in his bed. She groaned and flicked her tongue against his. Unable to stop the wave of desire rushing him headlong into claiming her, he pushed his tongue into the warm cavern of her mouth and rolled them over so she lay sprawled on his chest.

  He pulled his mouth from hers, opened his eyes and whispered, “This way you control everythin’ so I don’t hurt you.”

  “You would never hurt me, Kale. I know that.”

  She kissed her way down his chest, stopping to flick his nipple with her tongue and then nip at the tip with her teeth. He grabbed her upper arms to forestall her movements. There would be no way she could take him in her mouth with her jaw bruised and banged up.

  “What?”

  “Come up here. Put your hands on the headboard and spread those gorgeous thighs.”

  He scooted down so she straddled his face, grasped her hips in both hands and then licked from slit to clit.

  “Oh, God.”

  “Good?”

  “Oh yes. Don’t stop, please.”

  He stiffened his tongue and wiggled it between her pussy lips. A low moan told him she enjoyed the touch. Several flicks of his tongue on her clit and she shuddered above him. He drove two fingers deep into her pussy and concentrated on the hard little nub until she screamed his name and flooded his mouth with her sweet juice. Her breath came out in short, hard pants as he pulled her down next to him.

  “Better?”

  “A little, but I need you inside me. Fill me up, Kale.” He went to grab the condom from the nightstand, but she stalled his hand. “I’m clean. I haven’t been with anyone besides you since Dennis. I need to feel every inch of you without barriers. Please?”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life as being with you.”

  She crawled over his chest, straddled his hips and sank down slowly until he was buried balls deep in her sweet pussy.

  “Ride me, baby.”

  “Oh, yeah. So good.” Her fingers plucked at his nipples and he cradled her hips with his hands to help her move.

  The hot wet sheath of her pussy caressed his dick like velvet with each rock of her hips. He could feel each ripple of her vagina and each shudder of her body. It felt like heaven without the barrier between them. Skin to skin, heart to heart.

  Within moments, she sped up her movements against him and he could feel her pussy quiver and clamp down as her climax approached.

  “Come for me, darlin’,” he whispered, rolling her nipples between his fingers and lifting his pelvis so he could give her the maximum depth.

  “Kale,” she screamed, throwing back her head and arching her back when her climax hit.

  “Perfect. So perfect,” he said, slamming into her several more times until semen shot out of the end of his dick and he groaned in satisfaction.

  “God, we’re good together,” she murmured, lying on his chest several minutes later.

  “Yes, we are.”

  “You know, tonight taught me something.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yes. To take what I want without worrying about what the future might bring. To take a chance again.” She pushed off his chest and stared down into his face with those gorgeous eyes. “I love you, Kale. I know I said I didn’t want a relationship and that I could never love anyone besides Dennis, but I was wrong. I need you in my life, in my bed and in my heart.”

  “Thank the Lord.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I realized tonight I love you and I don’t want to you live without you. I need you—you and Kimmy. You mean everything to me.”

  With a happy sigh, she laid back down on his chest.

  He threaded their fingers together and kissed the tips. “Marry me?”

  She glanced up and tears sparkled on her lashes. “You want to marry me?”

  “Of course, I do. I want to live the rest of my life with you. Raise babies with you. Teach you how to ride a horse and be a rancher’s wife.”

  “But you’re an architect,” she replied with a giggle.

  “Rancher or architect, it doesn’t matter. I need you with me—always.”

  Her head went back down on his chest and he held his breath as he waited for her answer.

  “I would love to marry you and do all those things you mentioned, although I’m not sure about the horse thing.”

  “You bumper sticker on your car says save a horse, ride a cowboy. How about now?”

  “Only if you swear to teach Kimmy how to ride a horse, not a cowboy, before she’s eighteen.”

  “I’ll have the shotgun ready, darlin.”

  Epilogue

  “Enough with all the mushy stuff, Kale. Let’s get on with the weddin’, young man. Th
is old woman has an appointment this afternoon,” Mrs. Oliver said, from her spot in the front of the church pews.

  The rest of the guest laughed, but he only has eyes for his wife. “Hold your bloomers on, Mrs. O. I’ve got a wife to kiss.”

  Kimberly bounced on the pew from her spot next to Natalie and Cade.

  “You better do a hell of a lot more than kiss her, but save it for the honeymoon. I expect me some adopted great grandbabies soon since Natalie and Cade seemed to have forgotten how it’s done.”

  The snort from Cade and the giggle coming from Natalie had Kale rolling his eyes.

  He couldn’t help but laugh. God, he loved Natalie’s grandmother. The woman kept them all on their toes every minute they were around her.

  It had taken eight months of planning to get this far and he wasn’t about to rush through it.

  “I love you, Red,” he said, cupping her face between his palms.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Kiss, kiss, kiss,” Kimmy said as she jumped up and down on the floor. Cade kept one hand on the back of her dress to keep her from running amok.

  It hadn’t been a huge wedding—just the right size. His family, Natalie and Cade, and her sister along with the few friends she’d made in town during the last eight months of living with him. Laurel didn’t want a big wedding anyway, she’d said, and he wanted to give her everything.

  “Shall we do as our daughter wants?” he asked, watching her eyes light up with love.

  “Oh, I don’t know, Mr. Dunn,” she replied, coyly dropping her gaze to his chest and then glancing up through her lashes.

  “No?”

  “I’m going to do what I want.” She dropped her voice to a mere whisper. “Lick you. Suck you and drive you insane since you’ve done nothing but tease me for the last week telling me we can’t have sex until after the wedding.”

  He released a low growl and yanked her up against his chest. He cupped her ass cheek with one hand, while the other tangled in her loose strands of hair down her back. He brushed his lips over hers and then drove his tongue between her lips.

  “Yeah, baby! Whoot! Whoot! Whoot!” Mrs. Oliver shouted from her spot in the pews.