Temptations - The Complete Series Page 27

  My mind started to turn. “Alright,” I finally said. “We got to do this, and we have to do it quickly. The sun’s going to be coming up in a matter of hours, and, well, if we delay this, you’re literally going to have a mess on your hands in this heat.”

  Charlotte was standing there, shaking her head. “No. I don’t want any part of this.”

  “Okay, then,” I said, giving my keys to her. “Take off. Take the Audi home. Mom will drive me home when this gets taken care of.”

  “I can’t believe what you’re about to do.”

  “Believe it. Because it’s happening.” I didn’t even have the time to think about it. “Okay, mom, it’s 2 AM. We have about 3 hours to get this show on the road.”

  Mom was nodding her head, but she wasn’t shaking anymore. “Slade, I don’t know about this.”

  “Mom, I do. I do. It’s either we get rid of this body, or you’re going down for murder again. You have a prior. I personally have no desire to see you behind bars again. And I really don’t want to see you on death row. You were just starting to get your life back on track. Or trying to, anyhow. Mom, we need to do this. Now, you get his head and…”

  “We can’t just take him out of the house like this.”

  “I know. Give me the sheet off your bed.”

  At that, she went into her bedroom and brought out a sheet. Charlotte was still standing in the living room, seemingly in shock. “Are you in or out?” I asked her.

  “Out. I’ll, I’ll, I’ll see you later.” At that, she went out the door.

  Mom and I wrapped the body in a sheet and I lifted him over my shoulder. He was dead weight, of course, so he was incredibly heavy. I was hyped up with adrenaline at that time, and I had spent several years lifting weights, so I was able to carry him with relative ease down to my mom’s van, which was parked on the street. I threw him in the back and mom and I got into the front.

  I then drove off.

  “Where are we going?”

  “I have a boat in the slip on the Port,” I said. “We’ll just have to get far out to sea and hope to god that this guy becomes fish food.”

  “Don’t we need cement or something? We need to weigh him down, don’t we?”

  “You’re right.” I looked out the window and noticed a crumbling brick wall. “Perfect. Listen, go up and get Tara’s leash and I’ll get some of these bricks.” I got out of the car, and loaded the back of the van up with bricks while my mother went upstairs to get Tara’s leash. I didn’t see Tara when I went into the apartment, but I knew that she was probably kenneled, so I wasn’t too alarmed.

  Mom came back out with the dog leash and got in the front seat. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  “I do. I think.” Truth be told, I was more on autopilot than anything. All that I knew was that I wasn’t going to allow my mother to be on trial for another homicide. Yes, it was seemingly self-defense, although it might not have even be that. Would a reasonable person in my mother’s shoes feel that her life had been threatened? That was the test for self-defense, and, from what my mother told me, this guy merely approached her when she shot him dead. He was in her apartment, though, uninvited. Mom might have won this case.

  She might have won this case, but I didn’t want to take that chance. I knew, therefore, that she and I were doing the right thing.

  We drove to the Port where there were rows of boats lined up in their slips. We got to mine and I carried the dead guy on my shoulders again. I looked around and was relieved not to see anyone. It seemed as if the stars were aligned for us, considering the fact that we hadn’t run into a single person. It was late, or early, depending upon how you looked at it, but I knew that people often lived on their boat. I was deathly afraid of running into somebody, but nobody was awake at this hour.

  I placed the dead guy on the deck of the boat and turned to my mother. “Okay, I’m going to drive this thing. You go on down below. If something happens, I want you to hide.”

  “Hide? Where?”

  “Below the bed, there’s a drawer. There’s clothes in there, but you can fit. The drawer will shut by itself. You need to get in there and hide if you hear people up here talking to me.”

  “No. I won’t let you get in trouble because of me.”

  “Mom. Listen. If anybody is going to get into trouble because of this, it should be me, not you. I’m 18 and my record is clean. My adoptive parents have a lot of money, so they’re going to be able to hire the best attorney for me if it’s needed. But you’re a different story. You have no money to hire a good attorney. Your record isn’t clean. No, mom. If I need to take the blame for this, I will, but I will not let you be involved.”

  She started to cry again. “I don’t deserve this. I don’t deserve you.”

  “Okay,” I said, starting up the boat. “I know that you feel that you don’t deserve me, but mom, I love you and I’ll do anything to make sure that you’re safe. Now, go on downstairs and get in that drawer if you hear voices up here. Please.”

  She went below and I got the boat running.

  I drove out to the sea and when I got about three miles off shore, I decided that the water was deep enough to where this Hugh would sink to the bottom.

  Then, I chained bricks onto his entire body before pushing him over the side of the boat. I watched him sink before heading back to my slip.

  It was only then, after I felt a sense of relief in getting rid of the body, that I allowed myself to feel. I could hear my heart beating and it was pounding out of my chest. My hand, which was gripping the steering wheel, was shaking. The boat was swaying in the water, I was shaking so hard. My mind also replayed what had just happened.

  I just covered up a homicide. That truth hit me like a blast of cold air. The outside atmosphere was cool and there was a heavy fog. That was how I felt inside – foggy and cold. What was going to happen when this man was reported missing? I never even bothered to ask my mom if anyone knew that she was going on a date with him that evening. If somebody did know that she was seeing him, then the entire thing was going to cave in on both of us.

  Although I don’t remember the trip, the boat was now coming into the harbor, so I went down below to find my mother. She was sitting on the bed, a blanket wrapped around her, just staring at the wall. “Mom,” I said to her. “Are you okay?”

  She shook her head. “I put you in danger. I never should have called you. I just should have called the police. They would have believed me about how it happened. Wouldn’t they?”

  “We couldn’t take that chance, mom,” I said. “I admit, this plan wasn’t well thought-out at all. I’m embarrassed to admit that I never even asked you if somebody knew that you and he were going out last evening.”

  She shook her head and wrapped the blanket around her tighter. “No. Nobody knew that we were going out. He did tell me that – he told me that he was embarrassed to be going out with me, because the other guys he worked with look down on us prisoners. I was offended when he told me that he was embarrassed to be out with me. I now have to say thank god he didn’t tell anyone, huh?”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. There was a chance, just a slight chance, that nobody would ever point the finger at either of us.

  Then it hit me, like another blast of cold air.

  Charlotte knew what we did.

  Chapter 3

  Serena – Present Day

  I ended up staying in the hospital for three more days. I guess that I was in worse shape than I had thought. Luke and Dalilah stayed with me, for the most part, while I was in the hospital, and so did Slade. I think that, by the end of my stay, the three of them had become friends. Much to my relief, because I really did care about whether or not those two approved of Slade.

  At the end of the three days, I felt strong. I was anxious to get out of that bed and get on with it. Now that I knew, for sure, that Malcolm was going to try to throw Slade’s case so that the suspicion wasn’t on him, it was time for me to take the bul
l by the horns. I needed to speak with the investigator in Slade’s case and find out more information about the killer. If the killer was right-handed, then, hopefully, that would take suspicion off of Slade.

  So, when the hospital let me out, I knew that I was going to have to throw myself into the case. I was going to not only clear Slade, but also find a way to take Malcolm down. It wasn’t going to be easy, because I had to do all of this while not attracting his attention. He couldn’t know what I was doing, of course. If he even so much as sniffed that I was onto him, that would be all she wrote. I’d be off the case and probably would end up losing my job.

  Proving that Malcolm did it was going to be a delicate operation. To say the very least.

  When I got out of the hospital, Slade took me right to my home. “Bella and Gigi are waiting for you there,” he said. “I got them out of the pooch hotel this morning.”

  I covered his hand with mine as I sat in the front seat of his hybrid Porsche. “You think of everything.” I swallowed hard. I had to talk to Slade about this whole vision that I had with Jordan and I was going to have to get his reaction. He and I were going to have to put our heads together to figure out ways to bring down Malcolm and exonerate him. Yet, I could sense that there was something that he wasn’t telling me. Something that was going to complicate my mission to clear his name.

  What was it?

  He turned and smiled at me and gripped my hand. “I really like your brother and sister-in-law,” he said. “And their little daughter is beautiful.”

  “They like you, too.” And they did by then. Slade had charmed them as he charmed everyone else around him.

  I took a deep breath. I started to talk to him but I opened my mouth and nothing at all came out. I felt as if my words couldn’t form. I was like a stroke patient who simply couldn’t speak.

  Why couldn’t I speak?

  We pulled up to my home and I unlocked the door. I could hear the little dogs barking excitedly inside their kennel and I raced to the kennel to let them out. Their little bodies squirmed in absolute delight. I picked each one up, and both dogs covered my face with kisses. I inhaled their puppy scent knowing that it was only a matter of time until they lost that special scent that I loved so much.

  “Thank you so much,” I said to Slade. “For bringing my babies home.”

  Slade smiled and walked over to me. “I know how much these dogs mean to you, so of course I was going to bring them home to you.”

  After I greeted them, I put them outside so that they could do their business. I watched them for a little while, as they sniffed around the flower beds and chased each other through the little yard. I had to admit, they brought me nothing but delight. Everything else in my life was in flux, but the love of these two dogs was a constant for me.

  Slade came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. He massaged them lightly, and I reared back my head. It felt so good having his hands on me. They trailed my skin, leaving the little tingles and heat in their wake. He snaked his arms around my waist and one of his hands made its way up to my breast and cupped it lightly.

  I sighed, feeling lost in his touch, yet, I was preoccupied. I had to bring up what I knew about Malcolm and I had no clue how he was going to react. He had been so weird about this whole case. It seemed that he not only had no interest in helping with his own defense, but had actively stood in my way when I tried to go down different paths to help him. He told me it was because he was concerned about my welfare and I had no doubt that this was true. But there was something else, and, now that I knew that Charlotte and Malcolm did this murder, I was suspicious again about Slade. It all seemed too convenient – Charlotte was the mastermind and Malcolm was the tool. Charlotte was Slade’s ex-girlfriend. Malcolm was now his attorney.

  I was clearly missing something in this picture. But what was it?

  He started to kiss the back of my neck while his hand was gently exploring underneath my shirt. I couldn’t help but lose my breath as I reveled in his touch. “I’m so happy that you’re home. I’ve thought of little else but this for the past few days. Getting you alone has been paramount on my mind.”

  I smiled and bowed my head. I tried to get the distracting thoughts out of my head, but it was difficult. I had to talk to him.

  I decided not to bring up the subject of Malcolm and Charlotte right away, but, at the same time, I wanted to put off having sex with him. I didn’t feel that I was in the right frame of mind at that moment, and I didn’t know how to turn off my brain about all that had happened and all that I had found out.

  “How is your mother?”

  He sighed and I felt his head on my back. “It doesn’t look good. I want you to meet her, Serena. I don’t know how much time she has left, but it’s important to me that you get to know her. She’s been such an important part of my life for so long that it’s difficult to imagine a time when she won’t be here. I guess I have to accept that, though.”

  I turned around and put my head on his chest. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Slade. You’ve already gone through so much. It doesn’t seem fair. She’s just too young.”

  He put his hand in my hair and I could hear his heart pounding. His skin felt warm, which was comforting to me. “Well, never fear. My mother’s church back in Brooklyn is praying for her.”

  I looked at him. “You’re an atheist. Why are you comforted by people praying for your mother?”

  “I’m not. I think that it’s bullshit. And it is, if you think about it. If you assume that God has saved X, Y or Z, then you’re saying that God plays favorites. Because for every person whose cancer was cured by the power of prayer, there are millions who die. Frankly, it’s offensive to believe that God cured this person, but lets all these others suffer and die.” He shrugged. “But my mother believes in it and she thinks that her parish will help her recover. Maybe there’s a placebo effect in all of that. I certainly don’t want her to give up hope, so I need to encourage her any way I can. I humor her when she gets these cards and letters from the people back home who are praying for her.”

  I smiled. “I know that you’re a cynic, and believe me, I can relate. I’ve always asked those questions myself. Why there is so much suffering in this world, and how God can just turn a blind eye to the people who need Him? I don’t believe that God gets involved with our individual lives, so I don’t necessarily believe that he can save somebody either. But I will never go so far as to say that God doesn’t exist. I think that he’s ‘laissez faire’, in that he doesn’t intervene in our lives, but I do believe that he’s out there.”

  He held me closer and brought my face up to his. He kissed me full on the lips and I felt him devour me. I lost my breath and felt my body heat up. “I’d love to talk more about this, but Serena, I need to get you alone. Now.”

  In spite of my misgivings, I nodded my head and let him lead me, by the hand, to my bedroom. As I lay down on the bed, I realized that it wasn’t my bed anymore. Rather, it felt like his bed. “Did you buy me a new bed?” I asked him. “This bed feels like your Vividus.”

  He smiled. “You might not have allowed me to buy you an entire house, but I hope that you can accept this gift.”

  I had to laugh. This was a $70,000 mattress and worth every penny. My old mattress was a Sealy and wasn’t exactly cheap, but it was nothing like this. I felt like I was sleeping on air. “I accept this gift, Mr. Bridgewell. Now, I hope you don’t mind fucking my brains out on it.”

  It was his turn to laugh. “Oh, I will. And I can’t wait.” He raised one of my legs and stroked it gently. He squeezed my foot playfully while his other hand was slowly tickling my upper thigh. His finger found my clit, and he rubbed it lightly between his thumb and forefinger. I groaned as I felt his other fingers explore inside of me. I felt like I was soaking, waiting for his enormous cock to enter me.

  Still, he teased me. He kissed my thigh while his free hand was stroking my calf and his other hand was still exploring inside of me. I gro
aned as I felt his hand go from clit to my ass and back again. His face was still buried in my thigh, as his lips and tongue were languidly making their marks on my skin. He made his way to my clit and I felt his lips and tongue on that part of me. I sighed, loving the feeling of him gently lapping at my lady parts. He did such an amazing job with this. It was exactly how I liked it – gentle, but not too gentle. There was passion in the way that he did this, as there was passion in everything that he did.

  “Oh, Slade,” I groaned. “You’re driving me crazy. Please. I need to have you inside of me.”

  “I will get there. You just have to be patient. It’s been a few days since we’ve been alone like this, and I want to savor it. I want to savor you.”

  My breathing started coming faster and faster and there was no doubt about it. He was driving me wild. My skin was prickling and goosebumps had traveled throughout my body. I felt like my nether parts were on fire while he remained between my legs, his tongue and lips becoming more insistent with each passing moment.

  He finally made his way up my stomach and breasts, and his tongue was lightly kissing, sucking and biting my nipples. At first he nibbled on my right nipple, as he always did. He soon was biting harder and harder, and I groaned. There was a slight ripple of pain as he bit down on my nipple, and it created a sensation like I used to get when I would experiment with nipple clamps.

  I firmly held his head on my breast because I desperately wanted him to keep biting me like that. I wanted him to brand me, to mark up my breasts so that everyone would know that I belonged to him.

  After a few minutes, he stopped biting me and he flipped me on my stomach. My bare back was exposed to him. He put something over my eyes and tied it behind my head. “Serena,” he said. “What is your safe word?”

  My entire body felt like it was on fire when he asked me that. I couldn’t believe how excited I was. “Orange,” I said. “My safe word is orange.”