6
GARETH
I grumbled under my breath as I stepped off the elevator. I stalked down the hall toward my office with a fierce glower, leaving a wake of wary glances as I passed. I'd just returned from the courthouse early Friday afternoon, and my mood was complete shit. I knew that a lot of it had to do with my lingering concussion and the headache starting to throb behind my eyes, but it had been the longest week of my entire goddamn life. Work had been difficult since anytime I focused too long on anything, the headaches began as I struggled to concentrate. I felt constantly exhausted since I was still battling insomnia, and I wasn't sure if it was from the concussion or sexual frustration.
Malory and I decided that we needed to sleep apart until the weekend since it was all I could do not to fuck her into the mattress the nights she spent with me last weekend, my healing wound be damned. I'd told her that she wasn't allowed to come until we could be together again, and decided the same for myself to heighten the pleasure when we finally had sex tonight. However, I was questioning my sanity with that decision now. I'd been horny and irritable all week from lack of sex, and wasn't able do a damn thing about it.
I missed Malory too. I'd seen her several times to have dinner or lunch with her, and we talked on the phone every night, but it wasn't enough. Even without the sex, her warm presence next to me at night felt so right, like that was where she belonged, and it eased the nightmares I hadn't told anyone about. I kept seeing Leonard Rigby dying right in front of me over and over again in my dreams, when I actually managed to sleep, then I'd wake to a surge of guilt, even if it had been self-defense. At least no charges were going to be leveled against me. It didn't assuage the guilt much, nor did the fact that the autopsy showed that he was OD'ing on meth that night too. He was already close to death when I stabbed him and hastened his end, but I'd still killed a human being and had to live with that.
By the time I finally walked through the door into my office space, my irritation had morphed into a somber numbness that left me feeling empty and demoralized. This day couldn't end soon enough, so I could see my Malory again. I hoped that dominating her and reaffirming our bond through sex could pull me out of this funk.
"Good afternoon, Gareth," Elaine, my legal assistant, said with a smile as I walked across the reception area toward my office door.
I stifled the irritated growl that almost came out of me and merely nodded in acknowledgment as I passed her. I'd already been short with her enough this week. Her eyes narrowed with concern for the umpteenth time today, and made me feel even worse. I really should send her flowers on Monday as an apology for being an asshole.
Her desk phone began ringing, and I paused to see if it was a call I needed to take before I closed myself up in my office to brood for a while.
"Law Office of Gareth Caxton," she said in a professional tone. "How may I help you?" She spoke again after a pause. "I understand, sir, let me see if he's available." Another pause. "Calm down, sir. I'll be right back."
I gave her a questioning expression as she put the call on hold.
"It's a Travis Taylor on the line for you," she said with a furrowed brow. "He said you know him?"
"Who?" My face went blank in utter shock. I only knew one person by that name, and I must have heard Elaine wrong.
"Travis Taylor," Elaine repeated.
What? Why the fuck was my ex-wife's current husband calling me? I didn't think it was possible, but my foul mood suddenly worsened.
"Tell him I'm unavailable," I growled out irritably and continued toward my office.
I refused to speak to him. I didn't want anything to do with my ex-wife or her husband. My future was with Malory, and I wasn't going to let the ghost of Ryan come between us anymore. I'd almost lost Malory twice now because of my hangups from my failed marriage, and I wouldn't risk it happening again. I loved her, and she was mine. Nothing was taking her from me.
"But he says he's in jail," Elaine replied.
I whirled around. "Jail?" I barked out in surprise. "For what?" That was the last thing I ever expected to hear.
"I don't know, but he sounded pretty desperate."
I sighed and closed my eyes for a long moment, my head throbbing in time to my heartbeat now with an excruciating cadence that made my stomach roil with nausea. Regardless of my feelings about the woman he married, and my suspicions that he'd made a cuckold out of me before I'd even been separated from Ryan, the man was obviously in trouble. He had kids too. Fuck me.
"Gareth?" Elaine finally asked.
I snarled in frustration and did the right thing. "Transfer the call," I snapped out and stormed into my office without another word, slamming the door in my wake.
My office phone began ringing as I rounded my desk, and I stared at it fearfully like it was some threatening and dangerous thing. I had the sudden ill at ease feeling that I was about to start something I'd end up deeply regretting. I briefly considered ignoring the call, but I knew he'd only just call again. Besides, if he was desperate enough to call me, it must be something really bad. I sighed. Damn me for being a bleeding heart. Why did I feel sorry for the man? I shook my head in disgust with myself as I dropped into my chair, then picked up the phone with a fierce scowl.
"Caxton," I said tersely.
"Oh thank God," he blurted out. "You have to help me, Caxton." He spoke in a breathless and panicked rush. "The cops showed up at my work and arrested me. I don't understand. I never hurt her. It was never like that, but now she's dead, and they think I did it. I don't even know what happened to her. Fuck, Ryan can't know about her, about any of this. You have to get me out of here before she figures it out." He gasped. "What if the press finds out, or my family? Fuck. I don't know what to do."
"Stop," I interrupted him harshly before he panicked completely. "Are you saying you've been arrested for a homicide?" What. The. Fuck. I couldn't warp my head around the absurdity of what he'd said.
"I didn't do it," he continued. "I didn't kill anybody. I'm innocent. She was fine when I left her at that hotel, and then-"
"That's enough," I cut him off sharply. "Stop talking, you don't know who's listening." I knew the police routinely listened in on phone calls. "Sit tight and keep your goddamn mouth shut. I'll be there soon."
I ended the call without another word and stared at the phone for a long incredulous moment. Not only had my ex-wife's husband been arrested for murder, it sounded like he'd also been cheating on her.
"Well, I'll be damned," I murmured as I stood to leave. It looked like Ryan finally got her wish, she actually had herself an unfaithful husband. It was hard not to think it served the bitch right.
A short time later, I arrived at the jail and pulled into a parking space. I went to open the driver's door, but paused. I reached behind my back and pulled my CZ 75 9mm pistol out of its belt holster. I couldn't take it into the police station, no matter how much its presence soothed me. I stared down at it, its grip comforting and reassuring in my hand.
I'd been carrying the weapon everywhere since I came back to work, except for court and the police station. It helped ease the anxiety I had about being outside of my apartment since I was attacked. I'd never carried it this much in the whole time I owned it. I purchased it several years ago and obtained a conceal carry permit for it because I wanted to be prepared if a client or one of their associates ever threatened me. The damned thing hadn't done me a bit of good two weeks ago, locked up in my closet and me clueless that I was even threatened by anybody.
I shook my head with a sigh and tucked it into the glove box for safe keeping, then got out of my Range Rover. I crossed the parking lot as I glanced around to stay aware of my surroundings, another thing I was doing to cope with my anxiety. No one was sneaking up on me again, goddamn it. Yeah, I might be a little paranoid, but who could blame me.
Once I was inside and through security, I was swiftly led to the conference room I requested. I usually talked to one of the detectives before meeting with a client, to get an idea of what I was walking into and suss out any of my client's lies, but this time my curiosity was so piqued that I decided to talk to Taylor first. I only waited for a short time before he was escorted into the small bland room. The blank-faced officer who brought him in unfastened his handcuffs then quietly left the room.
Travis Taylor was a mess, both his demeanor and his appearance. He was wearing a navy Brioni suit that was rumpled, and his short blond hair looked like he'd been repeatedly running his hands through it. It was sticking out all over his head. His bluish gray eyes were wide and panicked, and tension thrummed through his entire body.
"I didn't do it," he said frantically as he rushed toward me. "You have to believe me." He shook his head jerkily as he flung himself into the chair across the small table from me. He started pulling at his hair frantically. "I need your help Caxton. Ryan can't know. She can't know any of this, or I'll lose everything." He blinked rapidly. "The prenup is ironclad." He leaned forward earnestly. "You were smart. She was never able to prove you did it, and you got away with it. You can help me hide this from Ry-"
"Stop!" I interrupted him viciously as I slammed a fist down on the table, the sudden noise loud and startling in the small space we occupied. I glared at him balefully, red searing rage igniting inside me in an instant. "I. Never. Cheated. On. My. Wife," I snarled out harshly through clenched teeth, each word sharp and carefully enunciated.
Seriously, this was why he'd called me to represent him, to hide his infidelity?
I leaned toward him menacingly, and he shrank away with wide fearful eyes. "I don't know what Ryan told you about me, but I'm not a man who compromises his integrity for anyone or anything. I take it as a personal insult for anyone even to suggest it. You'd do well to be more concerned with a murder charge than being caught with your pants down by your wife." I gave him a hard meaningful stare. "I would think the possibility of a life sentence or the death penalty would make your prenup the last thing on your mind, Taylor. Or perhaps whether your children will grow up without their father."
His eyes were huge with shock now. The bastard hadn't even thought that far ahead. Was he dense, or really that self-absorbed? Probably both. Either way, I decided I was done. I stood and started walking toward the door.
"Wh...where are you going?" he asked in confusion.
I ignored him.
"W...wait," he called out. "You can't just leave."
I turned around and stared at him incredulously. "Yes, I can."
"But...but I thought you were going to represent me," he continued in an alarmed voice.
"No, I'm not, but I can suggest someone else for you," I told him since I didn't want to leave him completely without help. I turned and moved toward the door again.
"Gareth, please." He was begging now in a voice that was low and sincere, and filled with equal parts fear and desperation. I turned to see him fall to his knees in his designer suit on the cheap beige carpeting. "You're the best criminal defense attorney in the city. Everyone knows that. Please stay and help me. For my kids. Without me, they'll only have Ryan." His eyes welled with tears, his expression grave. "They need me."
I closed my eyes, knowing how very right he was about that. Ryan wasn't exactly maternal, much like my own mother. I could only imagine what my childhood would have been like if I'd only had her, and not my father to temper her self-absorption with the unconditional love and support he'd always given me. Travis Taylor might be a philandering idiot, but from the look on his face now, it was obvious he loved his kids, and I couldn't in good conscience walk away.
I let out a heavy sigh. "Very well," I said, cursing myself as I said it. I opened my eyes and stared down at him witheringly. "But if you expect me to be dishonest or to compromise myself in any way, I'll leave you to fucking rot."
His widened fearfully. "I won't. I promise. Just please help me."
I walked back to sit at the table again, motioning for him to do the same.
"Now," I said with a fierce scowl as he sat down across from me. "Tell me everything you know, and leave nothing out."
He nodded jerkily and began to speak, telling me about the woman named Tess Richards that he'd been having an affair with for several months now. The last time he saw her was in the hotel room that he'd met her on Tuesday for their lunchtime tryst, and he assured me that she was alive and well when he left the room. He hadn't heard from her since, and hadn't expected to see her until the following Tuesday when they planned to hook up again. The next thing he knew, the police showed up to take him into custody at his family's investment banking company, Von Taylor Financial. He didn't even know how Tess died or why they thought he killed her, since he refused to say a word to the police until he talked to me. He'd actually done himself a favor with that decision. Maybe he wasn't a complete idiot after all.
"What did you do after you left her in the hotel?" I asked next. If I could find him an alibi, I might be able to wrap this up today.
His eyes slid away from mine for a second as he pulled his hands under the table. He blinked rapidly as he made eye contact again. "There isn't much to tell," he said slowly. He bit his lip and shrugged as he fidgeted in his chair. "I went home, and didn't go anywhere the rest of the day."
"Can anyone corroborate that?" I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously. I suddenly had the distinct impression that he was lying to me, hiding something, or both. I'd been lied to by clients enough now to tell most of the time. "A housekeeper, a nanny, perhaps your wife?"
"No." He shook his head vehemently. "The help has Tuesdays off, and Ryan takes the kids to her mother's house, so she can have her weekly spa day. She didn't come home until early evening."
"How convenient," I muttered under my breath.
He picked the perfect day of the week to cheat and not get caught. Ryan's weekly spa day was sacrosanct, and she never missed it for anything and was completely incommunicado for the duration. I guess some things never changed. Those were the days I'd go to the gym and spar without her nagging me about it.
He either didn't hear me or chose to ignore my snide comment. "So what do we do now?" he asked anxiously. "I need to get home."
I understood his underlying meaning. He needed to get home before Ryan became suspicious. That wasn't my problem, but I could try to get him out on bail today. What he chose to tell or not tell Ryan after that didn't concern me or my duties as his lawyer.
"I'm going to speak to the detectives, then pull some strings at the courthouse, and try to get you out of here today," I told him with a stiff nod as I rose from my chair. The man had money, and his family had a lot of clout in the community. It should be enough to get him in to see a judge yet today.
His relief was palpable and profound, but premature. He wasn't out of the woods yet, not even close, and if he kept lying to me and concealing things, he was only going to hurt himself, whether he was really guilty or not. I didn't tell him that, or that I would be looking over the case file and having my investigator look into it as well. I was going to get to the bottom of this whether he chose to be honest with me or not. Then I'd confront him with his lies and see where the cards fell, and with any luck, I could wrap this up quickly and painlessly.
**********
I was vibrating with tension as the elevator ascended to my penthouse, the stress of today and my pent-up sexual frustration from the entire week finally reaching the breaking point. I rubbed at my temples, trying to ease the headache throbbing inside my skull, even though I knew what would really take it away, what would take all of it away. My Malory, her body, her submission, and her love, I needed all of it. I needed her to ease the storm raging inside me.
Taylor's case wasn't clear cut like I'd hoped, and a quick resolution didn't seem viable at this point. The evidence the police had so far, his fingerprints and the video of him leaving the hotel room, all seemed to point to him being guilty, but my gut feeling said otherwise. The woman, Tess Richards, had been bound and gagged then strangled to death with rope. I had a hard time believing Taylor had done anything like that. He might be an idiot, but he didn't strike me as a violent man or someone who would get his hands dirty enough to kill someone. Unfortunately, my gut feeling wasn't going to get the charges dropped, so I contacted my investigator, Scott Conrad, to start looking into it. Hopefully, he'd have something useful for me in the next few days.
Meanwhile, Taylor had set bail and gone home, and I was going to put the case out of my head for the weekend. It's not like I could do anything about it now, or even talk to Malory about it. I took my client's confidentiality very seriously and never discussed my cases with anyone not authorized. In this case, I was relieved about that. I didn't think she would take kindly to me representing my ex-wife's husband, even if I was mostly doing it for his kids. My failed marriage and my ex-wife were touchy subjects that I was happy not to broach, for fear it would potentially threaten my future with Malory again. I tried to ignore the niggling worry in the back of my head that feared it still might. I shook that thought away as the elevator doors slid open on my floor.
"What up, G," Jared, my dog walker and Jane's twenty-year-old son, announced with a grin as he was stepping through my open apartment door into the foyer in front of me. He must have just dropped Reggie off from their walk. "How was the high-powered lawyer business today?"
"Long and grueling," I growled out in a tired voice as I stepped off the elevator. I'd gotten home much later than I intended thanks to taking Taylor's case.
"That sucks." He frowned for a second, then smirked. "Good thing someone's waiting inside to cheer you up," he added with a sly wink as he jerked a thumb back toward the apartment.
I gave him a wicked smile. "I'm a very lucky man."
"Amen to that, bro." He grinned and lifted his fist up toward me.
I shook my head and indulged him in a fist bump, then watched him step onto the elevator.
"Catch ya later, G," he said with waggling brows as he disappeared behind the closing doors.
I turned and walked into my apartment, a wash of relief falling over me as I finally felt safe again. Reggie rushed up to me as I closed the door, dancing happily around me as I hung my coat up and moved into the kitchen. There was no one in sight, and the heavenly scent of cooked food permeated the room from whatever Jane had left in the warming drawer for dinner. My stomach growled loudly, but I had no intention of feeding that appetite just yet. I hungered for something else, someone else.
I set my brief case on the kitchen island, and turned to go hunt down Malory, only to find her stepping off the stairs across the room. I stilled and stared at her in stunned silence. She strutted toward me in a deep forest green camisole that barely covered her unmentionables, its satiny fabric fluttering around her hips as she moved. Her perfect little breasts were just visible through the sheer lace that formed its bodice, her nipples already pebbled and hard. Her brilliant red hair cascaded in soft waves around her pale freckled shoulders. She stopped in front of me and lowered her eyes demurely, then gracefully dropped to the floor in one fluid motion to kneel in front of me, her head bowed and her hands on her knees.
Holy. Fucking. Shit. She was breathtakingly beautiful, and all mine. My dick was hard in an instant, throbbing and straining uncomfortably in my slacks. My God I needed relief, and I knew just how to get it.
"Take out my dick, and suck me off," I commanded in a harsh rasp. I needed to come now, or I'd never last when I was balls deep inside her later.
"Yes, sir," she said in a breathy whisper.
She rose up on her knees and reached for my fly, her nimble fingers unbuckling my belt and lowering my zipper. I watched her hand dip into my boxer briefs, and I gasped as her warm fingers wrapped firmly around my shaft to pull my cock out gently. She paused with her mouth mere millimeters from my tip and met my gaze, her eyes turning a brilliant jade with desire. Her tongue flicked out to tease my tip, her hand squeezing me just the way I liked as her eyes danced with happiness.
"Good girl," I forced out in a strangled voice as lust seared through me in a rush, my body shuddering with it.
She leaned in, her eyes still locked on mine, and ran her tongue up my shaft from root to tip. She swirled her tongue just below the crown, then suddenly took me all the way into her warm wet mouth as deep as she could until I bumped against the back of her throat.
"Oh fuck," I gasped out, my knees feeling like they might buckle. "Oh, Malory."
She hummed and began to bob her head in earnest, her tongue sliding along the underside, and the wide crown rubbing deliciously along the roof of her mouth with each pass. It felt like fucking heaven. No one gave head like my Malory, no one.
One of her hands wrapped around the base, her other reaching up to cup and caress my balls. My knees felt like rubber again, and I had to slap a hand on the kitchen island to stay upright. I latched onto her hair with the other and held on for dear life as she worked me over. Sweet bliss filled me up, its warm electric current flowing through my limbs setting my body on fire. This wouldn't take long at all.
Her head moved faster, her hand tightening around my shaft as I felt my orgasm rushing up on me. She hummed happily again, her tongue doing that magical swirling motion below my crown again, and I was done for. My release hit me hard and fast, igniting and exploding out of me in a mind-blowing blast of pleasure. I fisted both hands in Malory's hair and pushed in deep until I hit the back of her throat, and my good girl took it all. I watched her take every last damn drop, swallowing and moaning around my dick enthusiastically. I groaned out her name repeatedly as my orgasm shuddered through me and shattered me completely. It was goddamn fucking beautiful.
After the last burst of pleasure faded from my body, she pulled away and licked me clean with soft wet strokes of her talented tongue as my body quaked with aftershocks. When she was finished, she gazed up at me with eyes dark and hazy with lust, and a wicked self-satisfied smile.
"Good girl," I gasped out hoarsely, my dick already twitching and hardening again, since this was only an appetizer to the main event.
"Upstairs," I snapped out sharply. "On all fours on the bed." I leaned down next to her ear and added fiercely, "Now."
Malory rose and hurried away to obey, and I was gifted with a glorious view of her sweet ass peeking out from under her camisole. I followed slowly in her wake as a wave of calming dominance fell over me and put me at ease. Now, at long last, it was time to play.