The Bad Husband (The Husband Series Book 2)

by Lucian Bane

  “He…he has visions of…murders. And in one vision he buried a woman, and to find out if it was real or just a delusion, they went to the location and found it was real. They found the girl’s body.”

  Alice slapped her hand over her mouth. “Charlie! Don’t shit me!”

  “I wouldn’t shit you about this!”

  She slowly removed her hand. “Is he…how is he…”

  He shook his head at her. “He told me to watch him. Not to trust him. Ever since we got here, he said everything from this place is stronger, making him more…like that…evil freak.”

  “Is that why your father chose Nebraska?”

  “Yes, and he found out another thing. This Frank guy didn’t work alone. And guess who the guy is that he worked for?”

  “Who?”

  He pulled her to the bed and opened up his notes on the phone. “The man’s entire family owns the town of Friend. He owns everything here, the law included.”

  “Oh my God, Charlie. And he is a part of the killings?”

  He hurried to the pics. “Look. We found a music note under his hair. He had a nightmare about killing a woman and he saw his face in the mirror and saw a music note above his ear. When we looked, it was there! More evidence. And today when I’m trying to get a good look at the note to search online for some kind of clue, I look for others and see there’s more. We stopped and got hair clippers, came back and he shaved his head. There were seven notes on his head, Alice. Seven.”

  “Why would he have this?”

  “That’s what I have to figure out.” He looked at her suddenly.

  “What’s wrong?” she wondered.

  He put his phone down and grabbed her face, kissing her. Before he knew it, he was devouring her on the bed.

  “Charlie, you…”

  “God, I missed you. I’m so happy I told you.”

  “Yes!” she cried, pushing him back a little. “Do not hide from me ever again! Promise!”

  He let out a breath, kissing her again, promising as he did. Her leg found its way between his and pushed right into his arousal. “Alice,” he strained, pushing back.

  “Let me, Charlie,” she whispered, reaching with a hungry hand to stroke over him. He groaned, kissing her, pumping his hips into her eager fingers.

  “Alice, I…I want you,” he whispered, his mouth sucking at the silk of her neck. The pull of her fingers in his hair made him dizzier. Hotter.

  She did one of her moves on him, putting him on his back. She had his pants opened and lowering before he could think and the next second, her mouth devoured all of him at once. He gripped her head tight, holding her still at feeling his orgasm already there. He was sure it wasn’t supposed to happen instantly and some part of him knew to stop it.

  “Wait,” he gasped.

  “No!” she cried, pushing his hands away then yanking his pants and underwear all the way off. When she returned, Charlie opened his legs for her, and she froze at seeing it. “Charlie,” she whispered, her gaze hot on her target.

  His body heaved as he watched her crawling back on the bed. She shoved his legs open more.

  “God, Alice,” he shot out, praying she’d treat intimacy with him like the self-defense lessons. He loved the feeling of her rough playing.

  “I’ve dreamed of this,” she said, sliding her hands along his inner thighs as she knelt between them.

  She took hold of the base and held it tall, hurrying to it with her lips and kissing it with a sweet affection. His eyes rolled in his head as desire blasted through his lungs. She stroked her other hand over his balls, and he opened for her more. The heat demanded it, made him forget all those moral things that mattered and were vitally important. Her hot mouth going all the way to the base of him was the only divine rule he knew.

  “Do it Alice, God hurry, I need it. Then I’m going to do you,” he blasted. “I’m going to do you so good.”

  He wanted to watch more than anything, but the pleasure was too much, too hot. He panted and groaned, clutching the angelic vision of her right as everything collided inside him. Comets of heat blasted through his muscles and caged him in its power, forcing him to bow to its glorious will.

  Before he could even recover, she attacked him with a kiss. The taste of himself on her tongue shocked him then turned his desire lethal.

  “No, your turn,” he ordered at her mouth when she still fought to touch him. He blindly yanked at her clothes while his mouth devoured any part he could get to. He stopped only long enough to snatch her shirt off before returning to her mouth, kissing the plump silk. Hunger had everything on him rock hard and the anticipation of what he was about to do to her was unlike anything he’d ever felt. He finally broke the kiss and moved down, squeezing too hard at her breast before apologizing all over them with his mouth. As he listened to the sounds she made, he focused on her nipples, realizing the perfectly shaped nubs were hot spots of pleasure. He switched between soft licking, then sucking, dizzy with all his learning. When his teeth grazed, the harsh, thick moan she gave nearly undid his mind. Jackpot.

  It didn’t surprise him that his sweet Alice liked things non-delicate. He remembered that other place of ecstasy he had to have now. She’d given him mind-blowing oral twice and he had to make up for his lack.

  When he had her naked, he knelt between her legs, taking in her angelic body. His heart hammered as he realized in that second… this is mine.

  He lowered to her navel and kissed softly, tracing the exact shape and discovering the depth. He never thought he’d love the feel of somebody pulling his hair the way she did. Knowing what brought it made him want her to pull it more. He had to smile when she pushed him to go lower. He let her direct, knowing she was impatient for it. Not as much as he was.

  “I’ve never done this,” he reminded her when he was there, stroking her with his fingers, pushing and feeling her. Even as he wondered what to do, his fingers pushed her open. The moment his eyes landed on her clit, he knew that was his target. He leaned in and gave it a testing flick.

  “Yes!”

  His body seemed to have a mind of its own, fingers pushing her open more to double check his data with five more of the same licks. She gave him a yes for each one. The scent of her had him ravenous and when she opened herself wider, he gave her clit all of his mouth, kissing it softly. He added his tongue a little more with each kiss. It was like there was no wrong way with this spot. But he wanted the perfect way. He listened and paid attention to how she moved and moaned. He decided her reaching for it with those tiny hip-flicks and straining grunts were his favorite. They might not be the signs of perfection, but they were perfect to him.

  He got lost to controlling the volume and intensity of each as he placed his open mouth over her clit and formed a gentle suction, letting his tongue press in against the bud. He gave a groan when her hands pulled in his hair, harder. This time she moved him against her. His heart pummeled in his dick at that. Without breaking contact, he barely moved his head left and right, letting his greedy satisfaction pour out in thick grunts right on her.

  “Charlie!” she cried out between quick breaths, her hips bucking faster. He dug his fingers into the soft lips where he ate, pulling them wider apart, moving his head more on her. “Don’t stop! Like that, oh! Like that Charlie.”

  God yes. His nails dug into her and she began to buck and tremble under his mouth. Her fingers pulled harder than ever in his hair as the sexiest, most devastating moans and cries burst out of her.

  When the divine sounds lessened, he carefully pulled his mouth off her, gently kissing the spot he’d just thoroughly eaten. “Wow,” he whispered, not wanting to leave that place. He gave a leisure lick over the spot again, bringing a jerk to her body. He did it again, seeing it was super sensitive. God, he wanted to do it again already.

  He realized he wasn’t done. He needed to bury his fingers in that hot silk again. With his middle finger, he carefully inched his way into her. She was back to wriggling, fingers
in his hair again, hips reaching and rocking. It was like Heaven Part Two.

  C-H-A-R-L-I-E

  “Charlie!”

  Charlie bolted up from the small desk at Alice’s half yell. “What?” He hurried to the bed where she conducted her research away from his obsessive need to touch her.

  She turned the screen to him as he sat. “I used to do these puzzles when I was twelve. It’s called music cryptology and you match notes to letters. Look at this!” She held the tablet up she’d scribbled on. “The notes create the pitch letters CDABGEE, and that spells, C-H-A-R-L-I-E!”

  “What?” he whispered, staring. “I mean…it could be another word. The notes could go in any order.”

  “Well, yes, I guess they could. We can try different ways. Does the number 3412655 mean anything?”

  “That’s my address.”

  She gasped with wide eyes and mouth. “Charlie, that’s the numbers for the pitch letters!”

  “Are you sure?”

  She nodded a lot.

  “Holy shit…that…that can’t be a coincidence, right?”

  She shook her head with a lot of no’s.

  He stared at her, awestruck. What did it mean? This man had musical notes that spelled his name and his address? How? Why? He watched as Alice typed quickly. “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for anything about Mr. Frank that has those numbers or letters. If he somehow knew you or your father, then…maybe…he is trying to get to you!”

  Terror gripped his guts. “Why? Why would he?”

  “Maybe because of what Frank knows?” she cried. “Maybe your dad has something of his memory they want or need?”

  Charlie’s mind spun. “Dad said he felt like…the things we were finding out was leading him to something bad.”

  “He did?”

  Charlie glanced at her. “Earlier in the bathroom.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t tell him until we know,” Alice whispered.

  He was already nodding, also remembering what his dad had said. To do what it took to protect them. “Agreed.”

  “What will you tell him?”

  “That…I’m still looking, I don’t know.” He studied her. “You can’t tell him you know, or that I told you. Don’t act weird either.”

  Her eyes popped with her nod. “I will do my best. I can act!”

  Charlie hurried back to his desk.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Looking for anything and everything on Frank.” He froze and turned in his chair. “Your dad…wouldn’t he have files on him? Or the doctors?” He suddenly shook his head, realizing.

  “What?”

  “I just…everything happened so quick and perfectly,” Charlie said. “I considered it a miracle, and still think that, but…what if there’s a reason why it was so perfect?”

  She scooted back on the bed with her laptop. “I’ll find out all the information on the doctors involved with this, including the ones at the hospital where your dad was.”

  He went to the bed with his laptop and climbed on next to her, like two Pilates in a cockpit.

  “Look!” Alice shot out, shoving the laptop toward him. “Dr. Cobbins is on the board of trustee for the local women and children's shelter. Mr. Friend is president!”

  “Wow,” Charlie whispered, thinking. “Could they have wanted to do something with his head? Or…his brain or his memories?”

  Alice sucked in a breath. “I heard my dad talk about cloning with people’s memories!”

  “Seriously? Does he…”

  She shook her head, “I don’t know. He’s a man of science. There isn’t much he wouldn’t try.”

  “Has he?”

  “Not that I know of. I can ask.”

  “God no!” Charlie hurried. “You can’t tell anybody. We don’t know who to trust.”

  “He’s my dad!”

  “Alice, listen.” He set the laptop down, turning to her. “I’m not saying your dad might be bad, but if the people he works with are, he could get hurt just knowing that somebody is asking. We have to find out answers some way that doesn’t require talking to people who might even be unknowingly involved I think.”

  She seemed to think for two seconds before nodding. “You’re right. Nobody should know. We need to just find out ourselves.”

  He let out a sigh and leaned, kissing her. “Thank you.”

  He grabbed his laptop again, returning to his virtual desk next to her, wondering what next. “What about his mother?” Charlie asked.

  “Who, Frank’s?”

  “Yes. Maybe we could go talk to her and see what we can learn. If this town owns Frank, then likely everything online is going to cover his tracks.”

  “You’re right. But… how or why would she talk to us?”

  “Maybe we could…be working on a report? About…”

  “Accidents involving car crashes?”

  “That could work, yes. Something school related. Like statistics. We could be writing a paper on it and need to get real evidence or… what do they call it… field data.”

  “Right! Yes. But…how will we get there?” she wondered.

  “Where is she?” Charlie tried to remember now.

  They both went for their keyboards at the same time and Charlie called out her address. “Find it on the map.”

  She showed him the screen and he looked. “Where is Friend in location to that? Put in our address and get distance and directions.”

  She went back to it. “Oh, it’s only seven miles from here, Charlie. She’s on the outskirts of town, opposite of us.”

  “How would we get there?” he wondered. “I wish to God I’d had a chance to get my driver’s license before leaving Kansas. I’d taken the classes and everything. All that was left was the driving test. A permit requires me to have a licensed driver with me, and we don’t want anybody knowing so that’s out.”

  “Maybe you can just…drive.”

  He shook his head. “I can’t risk getting stopped in town by these nuts. And now that I’m carrying protection, if they find it, they’d have every reason to throw us in jail since I’m not open carrying. And yes, this is an open carry state.” He realized she had no clue what he was talking about.

  “You have a gun?” she seemed to finally figure out.

  “Yes. I told my dad I’d get one from Uncle Leroy when we got here.”

  “For what?”

  He stared at the laptop screen, hating that answer. “To protect our family from anything or anybody that might try to hurt it.” He couldn’t bring himself to say from his dad but judging by the empathetic look she burned into his face, he didn’t need to.

  “My father wanted me to get my license at twenty-one,” she said, picking up that he needed to change the subject. “What about Mr. Haiku? He can drive us?”

  Charlie considered that, plopping his leg over hers. “He can, but…”

  “We tell him we want to walk downtown and see the sights.” She started typing again. “They have antiques! I love antiques,” she cried. “Perfect reason.”

  “When is Mother’s Day?” Charlie wondered.

  “Oh! Good idea,” she said, typing in the search. “May 9th.”

  “We’re only just in April.”

  “But it works. We’ll just play the teenagers who want to be alone? What else is in town that we want to do,” she wondered, back at the computer. “They have a theater!” she discovered. “I’ve never been to one!”

  “That’s a good one. We can skip the movie and go on our visit?” He regarded the fallen look on her face with a smile. “Oh, you want to go to the movies.”

  She turned back the computer, her full lips puckered, and her nose scrunched. “We don’t have to.”

  “How about find something else we pretend to want to do and actually do the movies? Like the antiques.” Seeing she really wanted that too, he laughed.

  “I’ll give up the antiques,” she decided.

  “What about the gift for our mo
thers? Keep looking for something else.”

  “They have a library,” she found. “A park! A skating rink!”

  Charlie couldn’t keep from kissing her adorable cheek at how she thought each was a paradise. “You’re going to have to sacrifice one of these! Or we can do them another day.”

  “Yessss,” she cried, wiggling on the bed. “Do you think they’ll buy it?”

  “We’ll see,” Charlie said. “But we’ll need to have a plan with Frank’s mother. Really play the part.” He considered something. “How far from town is she?”

  She went back to the map. “Let me type in the theater address. It’s right in the middle of town.” He leaned in, putting his hand on the bed behind her and resting his chin on her shoulder. “A little over two miles,” she said. “That’s nothing.”

  “Hmmm. How long does it take to walk that and back?”

  Again, she typed. “We walk 3 mph we get there in 40 minutes. Interview for…an hour? Walk back in 40, that’s…”

  “140 minutes.”

  “So about two and a half hours,” she said. “Very doable.”

  “Add an extra hour for unknown variables.”

  “Three and a half hours. Four max. Still doable,” she said.

  He sat back in his spot. “Now we just have to figure out what we’re going to ask. Come up with a legitimate process.”

  “And when. Should we call her first?”

  He eyed her, trying not to see her beauty. “We would, for something like this.” He pointed at her. “You could be a sexy exchange student living with us.”

  “And why are you in Nebraska?” she asked, not biting his flirt bait.

  “Weeeee, are on our yearly field trip? What kind of cool stuff would we want to learn about?”

  A few seconds later she found ideas. “They have a zoo! And a place called… Carhenge?” She laughed, and he looked. “It’s like Stonehenge but with cars! We should go there! And there’s this,” she pointed, leaning in to peck his cheek while he looked.

  “Scotts Bluff National Monument.” He turned his face and eyed her before darting in for a peck on her lips. “All places we’re discovering.”

  “For our scrapbooking!” she thought with wide eyes, making him steal another kiss.