Naomi

 

“What do you mean, you’re going away for a few days?” Grace lifted her head from looking in the fridge and her eyes came to mine. “And why am I just now hearing about this?”

I shrugged. “It was a last-minute decision.”

“Girl, do not shrug at me with your ‘it was a last-minute decision’ shit,” she snapped with her hands on her hips.

“I—”

“I, nothing.” Her hands flew up in the air then landed back on her hips. Her eyes swept to the breakroom door where Marcy was walking in and Grace pinned her at the threshold with a glare.

“I’ll come back later,” Marcy mumbled, backing out.

“Good thinking,” Grace bit out then turned her attention back to me. “Mimi, child—”

I held up my hand, stopping her words. “Grace, I know you mean well, but I need to go see Braydon,” I told her, then went back to stirring the creamer in my coffee.

She moved next to me and spoke quietly. “Mimi, I know you have something brewing inside there, sweetheart.” She tapped the side of my head gently.

I took a deep breath as the tears began to burn my eyes.

“Talk to me.”

“I”—my voice was shaky and I was only able to choke out— “I can’t right now.”

Grace’s arms came around me, I twisted, and she held me tight. It’d been a while since someone had hugged me, actually showed me pure affection without wanting anything in return, so I allowed myself to feel her warmth and shed a few tears. Work was not an acceptable place to crumble, so after I took a few shuddering, deep breaths, Grace pulled back from me.

She wiped my cheek. “You go, honey, do what you have to, and I’ll be waiting when you get back,” was all she said, then gave me a small sad smile and walked out of the breakroom, shutting the door behind her.

I focused on the closed wooden door, hoping that I’d be able to close the door to the secrecies of Braydon lately. It wasn’t until I heard Grace shout, “Fred, you go in that breakroom right now I’ll break ya fingers,” that I smiled. I heard Fred, one of the janitors, huff and grumble something while I went back to making my coffee.

 

****

 

 

The morning had been long and somber since I couldn’t seem to snap out of my mood. I was at least grateful that I’d had no bitchy patrons to deal with. Then again, Wednesdays were always our slow day. Chase’s text messages had started around 10:00 a.m. with his normal, How’s it going?

I ignored it.

The second one came in about an hour later. Are you going to answer me?

I ignored that one too.

Roughly fifteen minutes after receiving the second message the cell rang with an incoming call from Chase Black.

I disregarded that and turned all sound off.

It wasn’t until later when I sat in my car shoveling French fries into my mouth that I took out the cell. I’d expected to find the screen lit up with texts and missed calls. But I’d been wrong. There was a voicemail, and that was it. With a mouth full of delicious fried potatoes, I played the message.

“Let’s get this straight.” His voice was gritty and low and I felt it in my belly as I swallowed the lump of potatoes slowly. “I do not like playing little games.” My skin prickled from the chilling tone of Chase’s voice. The iciness disappeared as he went on, “I text, you text back, No.” The velvet rasp of him using his nickname for me had me clenching my thighs shut. “I call, you answer.” I stared out the car window. I wasn’t looking at anything special, just envisioning what he might possibly look like. It was the deep, low, soothing tone that came next. “You got all that, baby?” That had me closing my eyes, a warm tingle coursing through my body and my pussy spasming.

He called me baby….

My eyes sprang open, I reached for my caramel shake in the console cup holder, and took a huge gulp through the straw, feeling the cool liquid flow down my throat and into my stomach, the coldness calming my excited body swiftly.

Oh my God!

He had me questioning…everything: my marriage and whether or not I still actually wanted Braydon. All the reactions my body felt just from his voice. His dominance, which some might look at as his being a controlling ass, whereas I liked it. It was a turn-on.

As confusion clouded my mind, my finger hovered over the number that would erase the message. Then the screen answered for me as it displayed a new text message. I tapped at the phone a few times and brought it up.

Chase: One minute to answer this, got it?

Before my brain even registered what it was doing, I answered, I’m not in the mood today, Chase.

It wasn’t even a minute later when the next message came in. Talk to me, No?

With my eyes fixed on the four words, a ton of conflicting emotions ran through my mind. I needed to talk to someone about what was going on but clearly, he wasn’t the right person. 

I texted back, Maybe another time.

His response was again not even a minute later, but this time the screen alerted me of an incoming call. I didn’t answer it. The display went black and then highlighted with a text message. I opened it up and read.

For fuck’s sake, Naomi, answer the damn phone!

My fingers moved over the small keypad as I lied, I’m at work.

I watched the screen, the messages between us open. The bubble popped up.

You call me the minute your ass hits your car seat and no fucking around, got it?

I typed, Yes, sir.

As I was just about to back out of the messages and close the cell, a text appeared.

Now you’re learning.

I didn’t answer but I felt those words hit me between my legs.

Stupid fucking body!

 

****

 

Once I walked back into the Landslide from lunch all hell had broken loose. The computers had crashed, which had definitely made the day go by in a flash but not without a headache as a reminder of how stressful it had been. I’d stayed until the computers were back up and running which was two hours later than I’d been scheduled to leave.

My only thoughts as I sluggishly walked to my Range Rover were of a hot bath, frozen pizza and the Food Network. Then my mind wandered to how wonderful it’d be to install a TV on the wall in front of the tub. That’d be heaven as I could bathe, eat pizza and watch TV at the same time.

So when my ass did hit the seat of my car, my mind wasn’t on calling Chase, it was on the luxuries of what a flat screen above my sunken tub could provide.

As I entered the house the phone was ringing. I quickly walked to the desk in the kitchen and reached for the receiver.

“Hello,” I greeted, a little breathy.

“Where the fuck’ve you been?” Chase’s voice boomed through the earpiece.

I blinked rapidly as I answered slowly, “Excuse me?”

“I told you to call me when your ass hit the seat,” he grated out and went on, “Has it hit the fuckin’ seat, Naomi?”

“Of course it did,” I snapped back. “If it didn’t I wouldn’t be home.”

He expelled a huge puff of air. “Cute won’t work this time—”

“I’m not trying to be cute, Chase,” I cut him off, moving to put my purse on the connecting counter. “It’s a fact.”

“Fuckin’ hell,” he mumbled lowly, as if he were talking more to himself than to me.

“The computers crashed at work, I stayed till they were back up and then I had this brilliant idea of installing a TV in my bathroom. So, my thoughts were—”

He interrupted, “Come again?”

“The computers at work, they—”

He broke in again. “The other.”

“First,” I started, and cocked my hip, hand on it, as I continued, “it’s rude to interrupt someone when they’re talking. Second, what do you mean by the other? The TV?” I questioned.

I heard a smile on his lips as he answered, “No, you’ve cut me off before and—”

“Yes, but I’m sure that was for good reason.”

“Babe, you just did it again.” He chuckled.

The easy tone in combination of calling me babe had my hand coming off my hip and to the counter, where I held on. The hair on the back of my neck stood as my breath quickened. I could feel the pounding of my heart travel down into my belly and settle in my core.

“No?” he called.

“I….” I cleared the thickness from my throat and whispered, “I’m here.”

“Call right away next time, yeah?” he asked in a low, deep rumble.

“Yeah,” I assured him.

“We good now?” he tested.

“Yeah,” I replied as my shaky legs took me over to the fridge, where I snatched the bottle of wine. Next I went to the cupboard and grabbed a glass, then poured a healthy amount.

“Now tell me about this TV in the bathroom idea,” he pressed.

And I did. Because I thought it was brilliant.

Before I knew it, we slipped into casual conversation. We stayed on the phone through my making and eating pizza while he ordered and ate a burger. There were muffled voices in the background, possible intercom voices as well, but it was hard to make out. Every time I asked him where he was he either avoided the question or said nowhere special. After the third time, I let it go.

Chase told me he was thirty-three and had a sister who was two years younger than him and that he needed to spend more time with her and her family. When I’d probed him on why, he’d given a vague answer about always being busy with work. That had sent a pang to my heart, considering he was doing work for me and I was keeping him from spending time with his sister and her family.

He also shared that her husband was a great guy and he couldn’t have picked anyone better for her. That made me smile. Not only for the nice things he had to say about his brother-in-law, but that his sister had a wonderful man in her life. 

Every woman deserved that.

The pride in his voice shone through as he began to talk about his eight-year-old nephew. It was evident that he adored him.  

He hadn’t given me too much information on his friends. I knew that he hung around with two guys when he had some free time. Actually, he hadn’t divulged too much detail about any part of his life; he kept things simple. When I realized he’d blown off the question about his parents and put obvious boundaries in place, I didn’t ask many more about it. 

When the time came for me to share, I gave him the basics too. I told him both my parents had passed within five years of each other due to cancer. That I lost them at a very early age and that my grandmother had raised me from the age of sixteen. Furthermore, that every day it still hurt but I kept moving forward.

I’d also revealed that my gram was my only living relative. He hadn’t been shocked by this information as many people normally are, so I sallied forth and told him all about her. How when I was younger, my friend and I would spend most of our time at Gram’s kitchen table, gossiping as she sat right there putting her two cents in. He’d asked why I only had one friend and I’d told him.

When I lost my dad I’d slipped into slight depression, but when my mom passed I shut everyone out. It had taken roughly three years to get back to myself and everyone had moved on by then, except Cheryl Montague. She’d been the only friend that stayed through it all. Others had done their part in the beginning with their condolences but then slowly stepped away as time went on. I couldn’t fully blame them as we were young and at a time for mapping out the future. 

When he asked more about my gram, I revealed how strong a woman she’d been in losing her husband, son, then daughter-in-law, and then to have taken on the responsibility of raising her only grandchild. I’d never met my mother’s parents, as they’d died in a car accident before I’d been born.

I did have some memories of my grandfather and how he’d bounce me on his knee while sitting on the porch telling me he heard rocks in my belly. I remember him always smelling like hot tar, as he’d worked as an asphalt paver. He’d passed a good few years before my dad did. I hadn’t shared this information with Chase though.

I described the lavish nursing home that my gram was currently living in, in Georgia. Told him that her dementia had been getting worse every day, and how desperately I wanted to see her. When Chase had inquired why I hadn’t seen her in a while, I informed him that Braydon didn’t like the idea of me going alone. This answer got me a grumbling huff from him.

I ignored it.

Then we moved on to my fondness for baking. He said he would eventually have to taste something I’d made. I told him that would mean we’d have to meet because that was the only way he was getting anything. That got me a rumbling chuckle from him, which in return gave me a nice stream of warmth through my body with tingles in certain areas.

Four hours later, I sat curled up on the expensive, rough fabric couch in my den with the phone to my ear. The sensations that had surged through my body had now settled and silence hung on the line.

“We’ll just have to see,” Chase said, breaking the stillness.

“I guess, we will. Oh, by the way, why did you call?” I chuckled at my just asking after our long conversation.

“To talk about the case.”

“Oh,” I drawled out. “Sorry I went on and on then.”

“No worries. I enjoyed the conversation,” he whispered.

“Me too,” I returned then yawned. “Sorry, long day.”

“Time for you to get some sleep,” he ordered.

I rose from the couch. “What about the case?”

“We’ll talk about it another time. It’s late,” he replied.

There were beeps coming from his end and I asked, “What is that?”

“Nothing,” Chase said quickly. “No, it’s time to hang up.”

His nickname hit me in the core as it began to heat. But as quickly as that heat hit me it diminished because I knew he was right.

“Okay,” I said somberly. “Have a good night, Chase.”

He replied in his low, rough voice, “You too, sweetheart.”

Then the line was dead air.

I clutched the cell in my hand as I took the stairs at a jog. Once in my bedroom, I went to the nightstand and retrieved the little blue jewelry box, snatched out my small purple vibrator and slipped underneath the covers.

I came hard.

And multiple times as I replayed his voice in my head.

 

****

 

Chase

 

I slid into the seat of my Caddy and let out a sigh as the gray leather hugged my ass. Sitting on a bench inside a parking garage then having to settle for coach seating had my ass screaming.

The area was abandoned as I pulled out of reserved parking. This didn’t surprise me as it was three in the morning, a time when my ass would be in bed if I hadn’t changed my flight last minute.

I’d tried many times to tell Naomi I needed to get off the phone but I couldn’t speak the words. I’d figured I’d chat with her until my flight was ready to board, which was around seven. But once she started talking about her past and opening up to me, I never boarded my flight. I had to quickly book the next flight out, which was a red-eye.

But it sure as fuck was worth the extra money and time.

Even though I’d already pretty much known everything about her, just listening to her tell me was fucking beautiful. Her expressive voice had me craving to be face-to-face with her as she opened up about her life. To hold her as her voice became gloomy when she spoke about her grandmother. Or to soothe her as she expelled all the painful memories in her life.

With all the information I’d discovered in Texas, more pain was going to come her way. I thought of all the ways I could soften the blow I had to give but with all that I knew, it was impossible.

This woman deserved the best out of life because she’d been dealt a shitty hand. She needed someone to pick up all her cards and put them back in order. And when they did and she aimed that fucking phenomenal smile their way, it would be worth the effort.

And I wanted to be that person.

 

****

 

By the time I walked into my place, I was too wound up to sleep. There was one missing piece to the puzzle of Braydon McAllister and I needed to find it. He apparently had a drug problem, by all the blow I’d seen him consume when I was at his and Rene’s little drug soiree.

There’d been ten people including myself and Braydon McAllister aka Ross Smith in attendance. It started off with liquor bottles being brought out, then the array of cocaine and weed. When it came to my time to test the product before I bought any, I had my ruse down to a tee. Hold the rolled dollar bill between my ring and middle finger with my index tight against them. Bill to my nose, hand close to the blow, rapidly swipe across the table letting the coke fall to the floor between my legs. Then come up like a fucking animal and smash the dust into the rug or sweep it around.

Most times people were already too strung out to realize what I’d done. That’s when “drugged out” Chase came out and he talked a lot. He asked a ton of questions. And one had been in reference to the wedding band on Braydon’s finger. The fucker had had the nerve to hold up both hands that had an array of different rings on them and state he wasn’t married. All with a smile on his face and a chuckle after it. When I flashed him an I’m-gonna-rip-your-fucking-throat-out look, his face changed and he called to Rene.

Drugs changed people, I knew that. But, there had been something not sitting right with me. I felt it in my gut and I didn’t get that feeling much but when I did, I was usually right. The pictures I’d seen of Braydon McAllister compared to the Braydon McAllister that had been sitting next to me were night and day. His hair was longer, messy, and his face was drawn and ashy. The guy must have been hitting the blow really fucking hard.

When Rene came and sat on his lap, stuck her tongue in his grimy mouth, and then slurred, “Yeah?” he whispered in her ear and I thought my cover may have been blown.

But when she got up, grabbed another girl and started groping her, I knew I was in the clear. The two girls dropped to the floor and began tearing at each other’s clothes. Once they were naked, Rene started to eat the girl’s pussy. Braydon leaned over to me, elbowed my arm and said, “Bet you’ve never seen this show before?” 

I didn’t answer him, just gave a nod and a smile. If he fucking knew half the shit I’d seen and done, I’d be his goddamn hero. But I just sat there drinking my cheap-ass whiskey and watching the performance that everyone else had become enthralled in.

Of course watching two girls licking each other’s cunts was a fucking turn-on, but watching two strung out drunk sluts do it, not so much.

With the spectacle playing out, I took the time to talk to Braydon. And I couldn’t have picked a better time because with his eyes focused on the girls, he talked. When the girls began to crawl my way, licking their lips, I had all the information I needed. So instead of staying and getting sucked off by two mouths that had probably been on more cocks than I liked, I stood and told them thanks and I’d be in touch.

Since the girls then aimed their crawl toward Braydon, he just gave me a wave of his hand, but before slipping out the door, I turned to look at him one more time. My head jerked back as I viewed doubles. I even blinked a few times but the vision of one Braydon getting his dick sucked while the other pumped his dick into Rene’s pussy from behind hadn’t cleared. When I’d closed the door behind me, I vigorously rubbed my eyes and vowed never to drink cheap ass whiskey again.  

But now as I sat in front of my computer, tapping my hand on the arm of the chair, I reran everything he’d said in my head. Something wasn’t matching up. If this was the life he wanted to live, why not just divorce Naomi? The only real conclusion I came up with was money.

“I’m waiting for a bitch to die so I can get my money.”

With those thirteen words playing in my head, I headed to my kitchen. As I stared at the whiskey bottle on the counter, I thought of the image I’d seen before leaving the party. Maybe it wasn’t the cheap whiskey. No, it had to be. Once, I had a glass of Jack in my hand, I went out onto the balcony, lit a smoke, took a drag, then took a pull of the whiskey and looked out at the starry sky.

“I’m waiting for a bitch to die so I can get my money.”

What the fuck did that mean?

Halfway through my drink and a few drags of my cigarette, it hit me. Quickly stubbing out the smoke then moving inside, I roughly placed the glass on the island counter as I swiftly made my way to the office. Sitting down, I double-tapped an icon, put my password in, and then entered Aurora Gladstone into the search bar. And there it was, all laid out for me.

Fucking bingo!

Or… so I thought.