by DL Gallie
Grabbing my things, I head down to my car and drive over to her place. Pulling up, I turn the car off and climb out. I walk up the stairs and knock on the door. An attractive woman opens the door and stares at me through the screen. “Can I help you?” she cautiously asks.
“I hope so. I’m looking for Cressida Bayliss,” I state.
“That’s me. I’m Cress,” she says, her face etched with hesitation.
“I’m Agent Corey Cox, I’d like to ask you a few questions about Creed Dawson.”
“Is he okay?” she asks, her voice raising an octave.
“As far as I’m aware, yes. Can you tell me about your relationship with him?”
She opens the screen door and steps out onto the porch. “Creed and I dated for a few years about five years ago. He’s the father of my daughter, Lexi.” She pauses. “Is he in trouble?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss that, but he is someone we are looking into.”
“Fucking asshole,” she whispers, “I knew something was up.”
That statement piques my interest. “How so?” I ask.
“He’s changed recently.” Those three words concern me and I’m not liking where this conversation is heading. “He’s become verbally abusive toward me. He’s telling Lex horrible things about me and when she comes home, she’s upset. Lately she hasn’t been enjoying herself when she’s with him.”
“How old is your daughter?”
“She’s five.”
“When was the last time you saw Mr. Dawson?”
“Probably a week ago when he dropped Lexi off, but he’s texted me a few times. Do I need to be worried about him with my daughter?”
“You know him better than I do, Ms. Bayliss, but trust your judgment. You seem like a smart woman.” She nods at me, but I notice that all the color has drained from her face. “Can I ask what your relationship with him is now?”
“Civil, I guess.” She shrugs.
“No, I mean, personally?”
“We aren’t in a physical relationship, if that’s what you mean. He’s the father, if you can call him that, of my daughter and that’s it. I spend as little time with him as possible.”
“Why is that?”
“He’s a dick,” she honestly tells me. “If it wasn’t for Lexi, he wouldn’t be in my life at all. I tolerate him for Lexi and for her only.”
I’m processing her words when a deep voice says, “Cress, is everything okay?”
She looks over my shoulder at the man and nods, then she looks back at me, “As I said, Agent Cox, apart from handover with my daughter, I don’t know what Creed gets up to. Hell, I don’t even know where he lives.”
Well, this was a bust, I think to myself. “Okay, well thank you for your time, Ms. Bayliss.” Pulling a card out, I hand it to her. “If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to contact me.”
Nodding at her and the guy, I turn around and head back to my car. Once I’m behind the wheel, I open the file and stare at the surveillance photo of Creed Dawson. This guy is a smarmy son of a bitch, he’s a loose cannon, and I don’t like the feeling that’s developing in my stomach when it comes to him. He’s almost as crazy as Kye, but whereas Kye is calm, cool, and collected, this guy is a crazy psychopath.
My phone’s alarm goes off reminding me to head over to Baylor’s for our first catch-up in an hour. When I think of her, I think about what I heard before I came here and I grind my teeth. Why does the fact she was making out with Vlahos irk me so much?
Putting my car into drive, I head back to the headquarters so I can change and pick up my ‘work’ van.
Forty-five minutes later, I pull up to Baylor and Avery’s apartment. These overalls are uncomfortable as fuck. With everything I need in hand, I head into the building. Taking the stairs rather than the elevator, I step onto their floor and walk toward their apartment.
Raising my hand, I knock. I can sense her shuffling on the other side, and when the door swings open, I’m taken aback at the vision before me. Baylor is wearing a white halter dress that hugs her curves and highlights her tits perfectly. On her feet are purple heels that elongate her legs, and I imagine her legs wrapped about my waist. The heels digging into my ass as I kiss the life out of her. Her voice snaps my attention back to the present. “Are you going to come in? Or are you just going to stand there and eye-fuck me?”
“Watch your mouth, Kitten.”
“Stop fucking calling me Kitten.”
“Meow,” I say, as I step around her and inside. As I walk past her, I’m assaulted with her scent. It’s sweet, like candy, the total opposite of her personality, which is dark and musty. I walk over to the sofa and sit, pulling out my files and stare up at her.
“Make yourself at home, why don’t you?” she sasses.
“Thanks, I will. So got anything for me?”
“Nope,” she states, as she sits next to me.
“Maybe if you stop making out with him, you’d have something for me,” I vehemently snap at her, my words shocking me. I’m being extremely unprofessional right now, but Baylor brings out this side of me. I stand, needing to get away from her right now; I walk around the coffee table and stare over at her.
“I’ve kissed him once and that was after he was shot and stitched up.”
“So you kiss anyone if they’ve been shot?”
“I’d like to fucking shoot you,” she sassily snaps at me.
“Feeling’s mutual, Kitten.”
She stands and storms over to me and pokes me in the chest. “Stop. Fucking. Calling. Me. Kitten.”
“Stop making out with the suspect and do your job.”
We stand toe to toe, staring at one another. Something passes between us. The air thickens, much like my dick. Reaching over, I grip her cheeks in my palms and slam my lips to hers. She covers my hands and deepens the kiss. My tongue slides in and out of her mouth, while she wraps her leg around me, pulling us closer. Our kiss is frenzied and carnal. The sound of keys sliding into the front door lock grabs my attention. I push Baylor away from me, just as the front door opens and Avery walks in.
“Sorry, I’m late,” she says. “Traffic was terrible.” She looks over to us. Both of us are disheveled and breathing heavily. “What’s going on?”
I’m at a loss for words right now; I have never acted so unprofessionally in all of my career. This woman causes my brain to stop functioning.
“I was telling Agent Cox here how I kissed Kye this morning, getting him to trust me the only way I know possible.”
“Whoring yourself?” I say, and as soon as I say those two words, I instantly regret them.
“I’m just doing as you told me,” she says, turning to face me. “You told me to do whatever it takes to bring Kye to his knees and trust me, I did exactly that.” She winks and turns her attention back to Ave. “How was your day, sis?”
Her nonchalant actions piss me off but at the same time, I’m more turned on than I ever have been before. This woman is going to be the death of me…and possibly my career.
9
Baylor
Holy fuck, Cox is kissing me, and holy fuck, can this man kiss. Corey-fucking-Cox sure knows how to kiss a woman. I’m ready to rip my dress over my head, turn around, and let him fuck me senseless over the arm of the sofa, but Ave arrives and prevents that from happening. Thankfully…I think. When he calls me a whore, I see red and any feelings of wanting to fuck disappear as quickly as they came.
The next words out of my mouth are complete bullshit but fuck him. “…You told me to do whatever it takes to bring Kye to his knees and trust me, I did exactly that.” I throw him a wink and poke my tongue into my cheek, insinuating I gave Kye a blow job.
Turning to face Ave, I smile sweetly. “How was your day, sis?”
“Good,” she drawls the word out. She can sense she’s walked in on something but she’s too nice to state the obvious.
“That’s great,” I tell her, she stares at me. Imploring with her
eyes for me to say something, but I’m at a loss to explain it right now. One minute we’re bickering and the next, he’s tongue fucking me. And can I say, it was the best tongue fucking of my life…I can only imagine what he’d be like between the sheets.
Shaking my head, those dirty disappear and I come back to the present to hear Ave and Cox talking about Creed. “…he’s a dick. Plain and simple.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” I add, “He’s a crazy motherfucking dickwad.” He eyes me intently. My body and clit is aware of his intense stare. It’s getting annoying so, being the mature woman I am, I stick my tongue out at him and smirk.
“As I was saying, he’s psycho crazy.” I look over to Ave, “What did Cressida ever see in him?”
She shrugs. “Beats me. If it wasn’t for Lexi, she wouldn’t have anything to do with Dickwad Dawson.”
“That’s the best nickname for him. Lexi is a cute kid. She’s sassy like her mom.” Ave looks at me in confusion. “Dickwad stopped by with her the other day.”
Her eyes widen. “Don’t worry, Kye put a stop to that. He lost his shit when he saw her there with him.”
“Who brings their kid to a place like that?” Cox asks.
In unison, Ave and I both say, “A dickwad.” Then we laugh. In the last few weeks, our twin thing is returning.
“I’ll give it to Kye,” I add, “he refuses to hurt woman and children.”
“Tell that to his sister and mother,” Cox says.
My eyes snap to his. “They were killed by accident. He didn’t want to hurt them.” My defense of Kye is confusing right now.
“Accident or not, Kye’s actions killed his mother and sister. Don’t underestimate this man, Ms. Evans. Given the chance, he will end you too. I’ve seen men like him change in the blink of an eye. As they garner more power, it goes to their head and clouds their judgement. Kye Vlahos is a classic sociopath, please bear that in mind.” The room falls silent and we process his words. “And with that, we’ll wrap up today’s meet. I’ll see you again in three days’ time. Unless you uncover something before then.”
“Thank you, Agent Cox,” Ave says, ever the polite one. “So far, you are holding up your end and keeping Bay safe.”
“Please, I’m keeping myself safe. See you soon, Cox,” I say, waving at him with a sweet smile on my face.
With that, he turns and walks toward the door. Ave says goodbye and closes the door behind him. She turns to face me, and I smile at her, “Thank you,” I say.
“What for?”
“For always having my back. For always being by my side.”
She walks over to me, throws her arm around my shoulder, and pulls me in for a side hug. “I’ll stand by you, Bay. Always. I won’t let anybody hurt you. You’re my twinsie.” She grabs my hand and leads me into the kitchen.
“And I won’t let anyone hurt you either,” I tell her, and I mean it. After what Smallie and River did to her, thinking she was me; I knew I had to make up for it, and my past actions too. “And I’ll stop hurting you too. You’re my twinsie, Avie, and I’m sorry. So so sorry for all that I’ve done and how I’ve treated you recently. You’ve always been on Team Baylor and I’ve let you down, but this is my chance to make you proud.”
“And I am, Bay. I’m so proud of you right now for owning your mistakes, I just wish it was in a safe ‘non-bring-down-a-mafia-drug-ring’ way.”
We stare at one another and a calmness washes over me. I know Avie and I will be fine. We will get back to our BayBay and Avie selves and be happier than we’ve ever been.
“Hey, Bay,” she says, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, what’s up, Avie?”
“Are you subconsciously singing that I’ll stand by you song right now?”
“Yes.” We both laugh. She grabs her phone, pulls up Spotify and clicks play. I open a bottle of red and pour us two glasses of wine. With our drinks in hand, we head into the living room and sit on the sofa. We listen as Chrissie Hynde from the Pretenders sings “I’ll Stand By You.” We join in singing the chorus, but Ave and I aren’t half as good as Chrissie.
The song finishes and as is the emotional roller coaster that is Spotify random, we are now listening to “Butterfly” by Crazy Town.
Ave turns the volume down and looks over at me. I can tell from the look in the eye, she’s about to interrogate me regarding what she walked in on. I was secretly hoping she’d forget, but Ave doesn’t forget anything. “Okay, so…” She drags out the word so, waiting for me to talk.
“So what?” I ask, playing coy, but I know exactly what Ave’s referring to…the kiss. The fucking out-of-this-world kiss that rocked me to my core.
“What did I walk in on earlier?” She raises her hand to silence me when I go to deny it. She gives me the ‘don’t mess with me’ teacher look. “I have eyes, Bay, and I could feel the tension between you and Corey.”
Not sure how to answer, I pick up my wine glass and chug back the contents. Since my glass is now empty, I stand up and walk back into the kitchen. Topping up my glass, I grab a new bottle and the open one, and walk back into the living room.
“Wow, a second bottle, this must be good,” Ave teases.
“Not sure I’d describe it as good.”
“Well, how would you describe it then?”
“Confusing in an already precarious situation.”
“Okay, well start at the beginning and tell me.”
“Cox and I kissed just before you arrived. One minute we were arguing about me kissing Kye and the next, he was tongue fucking me. If you hadn’t walked in, I would have begged for him to bend me over the sofa and fuck me.”
“You kissed Kye?” she questions.
“That’s what you’re focusing on now?”
“Well, yeah, I’ll get to the Cox kissing but first, why did you kiss Kye? And how does Cox know?”
“There’s a listening thingy-ma-giggy in my phone. Kye got stabbed—”
“What? How?”
“With a knife,” I cheekily say, as Ave eyes me. “He was out with Creed and returned stabbed. Monica, his bimbo bitch doctor came and stitched him up, they’ve fucked before and I saw red. Don’t know why I got angry, but I did. He found me and then we kissed, but while I was kissing him, I was picturing Cox. I stopped it before it went further. Anyway, Cox brought it up before you arrived, and then he kissed me and I kissed him back. Then you came home, and well, you know the rest.”
“That’s a lot of kissing,” she says.
“Yep,” I say letting the P pop. “And it will never happen again…with either of them.”
“Bay, I don’t believe you.”
I look at her, purse my lips, and shake my head. “Yeah, I don’t believe myself either.”
We both fall silent and sip on our wine then Ave breaks the silence. “Can I ask you a question?” I nod my head, “Who’s the better kisser?”
Without thinking, I blurt out, “Cox.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. That man is fine. I wonder what he’s packing.”
“Avery Evans,” I playfully scold, “what has gotten into you?”
“Flynn,” she replies with a wink. I shake my head.
“You dirty, dirty girl. What has happened to my sweet and innocent sister?”
“She met a sexy-as-sin Irish doctor, who makes her do things she would never ever do.”
“Like what?” I ask. Ave and I really haven’t had a chance to chat about her new relationship.
“Well, the night we met, not only did I have my first one-night stand but I also let him finger fuck me in the restroom alcove at The Tavern.”
“Is it wrong that I’m kind of proud of you regarding this?”
“Cress said something similar.” She takes a sip then adds, “I think Corey might be your Flynn.”
“Nah, I need this to be over so I can forget about Corey-fucking-Cox.”
“You really think you can forget about him after this?”
“I have to. We are
too different. It would never work between us.”
“Flynn and I are total opposites,” she says. “We work.” I ponder her words and wonder, could Cox and I be more than whatever the hell we are right now?
“You two are a classic opposites attract, I’m glad that my stupidity didn’t ruin that for you because I have never seen you happier.”
“Flynn makes me happy, he brings me out of my shell. I miss not seeing him when he’s on nights.” I realize that I too become sad when I don’t see Cox. He has wormed his way into my cold, dead heart, but we can be nothing more than informant and handler. Maybe if we’d met under other circumstances, I could see us working out, but I’m a criminal and he’s the law. He hates me and I, I don’t know how I feel about him.
For the rest of the evening, Ave and I listen to music, drink wine, and hang out, just like we used to. It’s the perfect way to end a stressful and confusing day.
Later that night, as I lie in bed, I think over everything that has happened and how my life has changed. Things concerning Agent Corey Cox are blurring and I don’t know what to do. And that scares the living shit out of me.
10
Corey
It’s been two weeks since I kissed Baylor and ever since then it’s all I’ve thought about. Hell, I’ve even jerked off in the shower with visions of her on her knees. Her pouty lips wrapped around my shaft as it slides in and out of her mouth. Fuck, my dick is hard once again.
Thankfully I’m alone right now. I readjust myself and look across the road, still no movement. I’m staking out the doctor who has been working with the Vlahos family for the last few years. Flipping open the file, I reread the details regarding Dr. Monica Quinn. She’s thirty-four years old. Graduated top of her class from Johns Hopkins and now runs a practice in the burbs. How does a successfully doctor like her end up working for the mafia? The door opens and out walks the lady of the hour. When I see her in person, I can see why she’s their doctor. She has dark brown hair, killer legs, and massive fake tits. Why women do that to themselves amazes me.
