Naughty and Nice

by Sarah J. Brooks

  “I do.” I didn’t mention I was dating the owner of the casino. I glanced over at the clock. “But my shift is almost over, so I’d better get going. I’ll see you around, Jake.”

  “See you around, Rebecca!” he called as I turned on my heel and headed back to the bar. I waved over my shoulder.

  “He’s cute.” Melina grinned as I reached the bar. “Was he hitting on you?”

  “No, he … I know him.” He wasn’t a friend, which was what I’d been about to say.

  “Well, if I didn’t have a boyfriend, I’d be getting his number.” Her eyes lingered on him as she spoke.

  “If you break up with your boyfriend, I’ll be sure to get you his number, how’s that sound?”

  “Sounds fucking perfect.” Her eyes sparkled as she finally turned to look at me. “You’re getting off, right?”

  “Yup.”

  “Alright, see you tomorrow. And have a good night.”

  I sure as hell hoped I was going to have a good night. But I still wasn’t even sure if Dean would actually make it home in time for dinner so I didn’t reply; I just headed for the change room and changed out of my uniform. Tucking it into my purse neatly, I slipped into a dark blue skirt and a black cowl neck T-shirt. It wasn’t anything crazy fancy, but when I looked in the mirror, I felt pretty, and right now that was all that mattered to me.

  I had to make a quick stop to pick up the stuff for dinner, and thankfully they had everything I wanted, and it was affordable.

  When I got to Dean’s, I used the spare key that he’d told me was under a stone in the garden to let myself in and headed right for the kitchen.

  How’s work?

  I sent the text right before getting to my own work on dinner.

  Long. Waiting for reporters to show up; they are 30 min late. -_-

  Oh :(

  How’s dinner coming along? What should I be expecting? ;)

  A surprise ;)

  I crossed over to the frying pan with the sausage and bacon. My meal was nothing fancy, but beans and buns were a staple, and I’d been told I made wonderful beans, so I was going to make them and hope they impressed Dean. If not, I’d order pizza or something.

  It took me half an hour to get everything ready to go and the beans, along with the meat, in the crockpot, then it was just a matter of waiting.

  Dean still had another two hours at least at work, so I wasn’t too worried; it was just a matter of finding a way to spend that time.

  And boy did I find a way to spend it.

  I know snooping is wrong, but really who doesn’t do it? I bit my lip looking around his living room. Besides the TV, the bookshelf, and the video games, there was a couch, a coffee table, and a couple end tables. The end tables had some nuts and seeds in them, along with a little black book that had phone numbers. It put my mind at ease to see things like “mom” and “mom’s cell” in there, along with the fact that a lot of them were male, and they all had little notes about how they’d met—most seemed to be business associates.

  I knew it was stupid that it made me happy to know that the majority of people in his address book were male, I mean for all I knew, he could be into guys, but it still did.

  After I was done in the living room, I made my way into the bedroom. Although I’d been in it before, I’d never really looked around. I did, however, notice once that there was a black box in the closet. And if movies had taught me anything, it was that boxes should always be opened.

  I crossed to the closet quickly and pulled it open. Despite the fact I knew Dean would be gone for a couple hours, my heart still raced as I reached for the closet door and pulled it open.

  My brow furrowed as I stared down at all the papers. That’s what the box was; it was filled with papers. Pulling out a handful, I caught sight of some pictures as well. I grabbed a handful of the pictures and flipped through them. The girl in the brown hair that was cut to her ears and spiked up. She smiled widely at the camera as she held a drink in her hand. I flipped to the next one.

  In this one, she was flipping the camera off with her tongue sticking out. I didn’t realize it made me smile until the smile vanished when I flipped to the next picture. This time she wasn’t alone. Dean was there with her; he had his arms wrapped around her tightly and was kissing her cheek. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach as I remembered I was going through his stuff. Right now, I needed to know who she was.

  Putting the pictures aside, I looked at the papers. They were all newspapers.

  Woman killed in park late at night.

  22-year-old Jessica Bright was killed Oct 23rd around midnight and 1:00 a.m. There currently are no suspects, but sources say that she was involved in a fight the night she was killed.

  Jessica was found yesterday morning; cause of death is believed to be strangulation. Police refused to comment but did tell us that this was an ongoing investigation, and that they would provide us with updates when possible.

  I stared down at the clipping for a long time. Who was Jessica Bright to Dean? And why would he have clippings of her death? Even if they had been together, wasn’t that creepy? I looked through a couple other newspaper clippings, but they were all pretty much the same. She died, police were looking for the killer; one did say that they had a potential suspect—a lover of hers who she had been having the fight with that night. My heart did a back flip. Dean had to be the lover—right?

  I took a deep breath; that was silly. To think Dean could be a killer, he was so kind and caring. But you hardly know him. It was true—I’d never seen him mad or, well anything other than happy, but still … you didn’t just accuse someone of being a murderer because of newspaper clippings you found in their room. I mean, that would mean I’d have to admit to snooping through his stuff, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to do that.

  I pushed myself up, grabbed the pictures and put them back into the box. As I reached for the clippings, I paused, staring down at them. What’s the deal? I asked myself, even though I knew I didn’t have the answer. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and took a picture of the girl’s name. Jessica Bright. I was sure I’d remember it but wanted to have a backup plan so I didn’t have to go through his stuff again if I could avoid it. I put the clippings back in and placed the lid back on the box before carrying it over to the closet and putting it back where I had found it.

  My heart sank as I stared at it for a few seconds. Talk about skeletons in the closet. My fingers curled around the handle of the closet and I pushed it shut.

  My heart skipped a beat as I heard the shrill of a doorbell. Taking a deep breath, I double checked that the closet was closed; you know, just in case Dean was ringing his doorbell instead of just coming in or something stupid like that. I rolled my eyes at myself and headed for the door as quickly as I could. The outline of a woman was visible as I reached for the door and pulled it open.

  She stared at me with wide eyes. I waited 20 seconds to see if she would say anything to me.

  “Hi?” she finally said with a smile.

  “Oh, um, hi. Is Dean able to come to the door?”

  “I’m sorry; Dean’s not here at the moment.” My brow furrowed as jealousy nipped at me. “Are you a friend of his?”

  “No,” she said quickly. “We’re not friends; I had some business to do with him.”

  “Oh.” I nodded, not really believing her.

  I gave the woman a good up and down. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, highest cheekbones and thick lips. She didn’t wear much makeup, but she didn’t need it to look pretty, she looked almost perfect in her simple leather jacket and a pair of jeans that fit her perfectly. I stared down at her Gucci boots and her Prada purse.

  Well, she must be one of his “rich” friends. For a split second, I felt a lump form in my throat. Even if I did open my own business and do well enough, I’d probably never do well enough to afford half of what she was wearing.

  “So, would you like me to take a message for you?” I cleared my throat bef
ore looking down at my cell phone. “He should only be gone a couple more hours.”

  “It’s fine. I’m sure we will see each other sometime soon.” She smiled as she looked me over. “Are you, like, his maid or something?”

  My eyes widened as I opened my mouth to say something very rude, but taking a deep breath, I changed my mind just in time. “Yea, or something.” I gave her a snide smile. “Well, have a good day.”

  And without another word from her or myself, I closed the door. Well, more slammed it than anything else. Who the fuck was she?

  Who did she think she was to call me the goddamn maid? I looked down at my clothes. Were they that bad? I thought I actually looked kinda cute today in my yoga pants and tank top, I mean, sure it was simple, but so what? It’s not like I was at work or something; I was just at my boyfriend’s making him dinner.

  I froze as I realized what I’d just thought, and then swallowed dryly. My boyfriend. That is what Dean was, right?

  I bit my lip. Yes.

  We hadn’t come out and said it, but the relationship had moved fast.

  Wait, who the fuck was that bitch? And what business did she have with my boyfriend? I frowned as I reached for my phone to text him and checked the time. He wouldn’t be gone that much longer; I’d just wait for him to get home, and then I’d tell him about that girl. Part of me wanted to see how he would react.

  *

  “So…” I poked at the beans with my fork. “How was your day?”

  “It was long.” As he told me all about his day, I didn’t listen. I couldn’t stop thinking about the newspaper clippings I’d seen in that box. Why would he have those?

  I swallowed dryly trying to get them out of my mind, but I couldn’t.

  “How was your day, Rebecca?”

  My own name snapped me back into reality.

  “Oh … it was … it was good.” I forced a smile over my lips. “I … I just, well, I worked and didn’t really do anything. I tried to work on some marketing ideas for my business, but that’s about it.” Forcing a smile over my face, I tried not to be a damper on the day. “Oh … and some girl stopped by while I was making dinner.”

  “What?” Dean perked right up as if it was something that scared him. Who would have thought that Dean would be scared of a girl? Maybe it’s not that he’s scared of her, maybe he’s scared of you meeting her.

  No. That wasn’t like Dean, right? I nodded. “Yea, she wanted to see you … she said it was about business or something. Did you give a reporter your home address?”

  “No. I wouldn’t have done that.”

  “Maybe Melina did; she might know who it was. The girl, I don’t even remember if she gave me her name or not … she said she was here to talk to you, and when I said you weren’t home she just kinda left, saying she’d speak to you some other time then, but she didn’t want to leave a message with me.” I frowned, looking at him. “You have no clue who it could have been?”

  As if he picked up on what I was implying, he stared at me blankly. “Really? Melina’s not enough of an issue? You have to add another girl in here?”

  “I didn’t say anything.”

  “Yea, well you didn’t have to. I know the look on your face.”

  Anger simmered inside me. What made him think he had a right to talk to me like that? I was the one finding random news articles about women dying and then having random girls knock on his door and leave as soon as they saw me.

  “Yes, ’cause this is all my fault.” I glared at him. He stared at me for thirty seconds before I opened my mouth again. “You know, I’m actually really nice about Melina. I like her, and I don’t actually think you’re fucking her.” Whether or not they had in the past, I wasn’t so sure about, but I wasn’t going to admit that. “But I’m not sorry if I don’t like random girls showing up at your door who I’ve never seen before. Of course it bothers me! You’re saying it wouldn’t bother you if there were random guys showing up at my door?” I shook my head. “You work all the fucking time. And I never know what you’re doing or who you’re doing it with because you always tell me not to stay. I put a lot of faith in you for only having known you a couple weeks, and I’m not sorry I’m questioning you because anyone in their right fucking mine would be. You’re saying you wouldn’t?”

  I didn’t realize I hadn’t taken time to breathe until I stopped talking and inhaled deeply trying to refill my lungs.

  Dean just stared at me. “What can I do to put your mind at ease?”

  “You can tell me the truth.”

  “The truth is that I have no clue who you’re talking about, and I’m kinda freaked out that you just told me some random girl showed up at my house and that she wanted to talk to me.”

  I swallowed dryly trying to decide if I could believe him. It honestly seemed like he sounded truthful, but maybe he was just a really good liar.

  “Have you and Melina ever had sex?”

  Dean stared at me. “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  I needed to know if he was telling me the truth.

  “No. But we’ve kissed before.” His cheeks flushed. “A long time ago.”

  “Alright.” I took a bite of my dinner to avoid talking as I processed everything he’d said. If he didn’t actually know about the girl showing up, and he didn’t actually know who she was, should we be worried? “Should we go to the cops?”

  “I was thinking something a little different. A private detective.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Alright. Why?”

  “Because, I don’t like cops, and the information gets tossed all around. We don’t know who this girl is or what she’s been told, or what she’s after for that matter. She could be a stalker, or she could be something else.”

  What kind of shit does he think is after him? I took another bite of food, so I didn’t have to say anything.

  Dean looked at me; for a split second, I had all his attention. “Are we okay?”

  I swallowed mulling it over. “I don’t know, are we?”

  “I want us to be, but if there is something we need to work through …”

  “Well, one of these days you’re going to have to open up to me.”

  “I will, and eventually, you will know all my deep, dark secrets.” He smiled with his lips, but it wasn’t there in his eyes.

  We finished our dinner mostly in silence, though it wasn’t strained, and when we did speak it wasn’t bad. I thought of what we’d talked about, not sure of whether I believed him, but I really wanted to, so I decided I’d give him a shot.

  I smiled as I grabbed both our empty bowls and stood, crossing over to the sink. “So, do you have any work to get done tonight?”

  “No, I’m all yours tonight. Do you want to sleep over?” I turned to see him grinning at me.

  My heart skipped a beat, and for a split second, I forgot all those reasons I was mad at him a little while ago. I bit the inside of my cheek, mulling it over.

  “I guess I could stay the night.” I smiled, stepping towards him. Was there a way you wanted to spend the night?”

  “I had a couple ideas.”

  “Really?”

  “Would you rather I fuck you in the shower? Or I take you to the bedroom and tease you until you’re begging to have my cock inside you?”

  My heart raced as arousal ran down my spine, pooling in the pit of my stomach. “Why don’t we start in the shower and see where it goes.” It wasn’t really a question, and Dean didn’t have an answer for me.

  We both rushed for the bathroom. Dean was naked before me, so as he got the water ready, I slipped out of the last of my clothing before joining him in the shower. My fingers ran over every inch of hard muscle that was in his chest, lower and lower over his abs and to his cock, which was getting hard.

  I grinned, my fingers wrapping around it. Dean inhaled deeply as he reached out, his fingers brushing over the curves of my body and slipping between my legs. I bit back a moan as the water poured over us, wetting my
body and hair. Letting go of his cock, I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into a kiss.

  His arms wrapped around my hips, drawing me closer to him as I closed my eyes to keep the water out of them, our kiss deepening. My teeth grazed his lower lip, and Dean moaned softly.

  Dean’s hands slipped down to my butt, cupping it gently as his fingers dug into my skin. He pulled away for a fraction of a second. “Just for the record, you’re not … into that are you?” He sounded nervous.

  It took me a couple seconds to realize what he meant before I laughed softly. “Never tried it honestly, never felt the need to.”

  “Good.” Without another word, he pulled me back into a kiss, his teeth grazing my lower lip gently before his lips trailed along my jawline and towards my neck. I moaned as he nipped gently at my neck, covering every inch of skin he could get to in kisses and soft nips.

  I rolled over the next morning and opened my eyes. Looking around, my brow furrowed. Where was he? I chewed my lip, knowing the answer to that. He wasn’t here. He wasn’t even home, was he? I felt a knot in the pit of my stomach. That kind of hurt you get when you feel like someone’s just let you down, and you don’t think you’ll ever be able to get over it, and then you start to question if you’re crazy or if you’re not good enough—yea, that kind of hurt.

  Quit being a drama queen, I thought, sitting up and slipping out from under the covers. The windows were open, and a cool breeze blew through them. I reached for my pants and slipped them on, then grabbed my bra and slipped into it as I made my way into the kitchen. A note on the fridge was the first thing to catch my eyes because it had my name on it.

  Rebecca,

  Sorry, I couldn’t stay longer, and you looked so beautiful sleeping, I didn’t want to wake you. Will see you later. Hope you slept well, even without me around.

  Dean.

  I pulled the letter from the fridge and stared at it, feeling a little bad for being mad when I woke up. I knew that being at work was probably the last thing he actually wanted to do right now, but I still couldn’t help feeling a little hurt he hadn’t even woke me up to say goodbye.

  Biting my lip, I padded over to my purse, pulling my phone out of my pocket as my mind raced. I took a deep breath, mulling it over. I hadn’t called in sick for work in the past eight years, and I was honestly feeling fine, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to face anyone there, including Dean, to be honest. Last night we’d gone to bed happy, but this morning, I woke up and not having him there … it was just harder than I’d expected it to be. I had research to do today because I damn well wasn’t going to sit around and wait for him to tell me who this girl was. Since starting work, I hadn’t gotten much time to myself. It was either seeing Dean after work or at the weekends, or I was with Katie, and if I was with Katie it normally meant I was working on hot chocolate related stuff, which was all fine, but I couldn’t remember the last time I actually just sat down and did something nice for myself, or had a hot bubble bath or binge watched movies without pants on.