Deviant Intent: OBSESSION Page 8

  I wanted to be alone with my thoughts, but at the same time I needed to wear somebody out. I needed to get this helplessness out of my system in the worst way.

  My thoughts went immediately to Niki; I don’t know why they did, maybe it was because it felt like she was no longer mad at me anymore. After all, there were no hard feelings anymore.

  I pulled her business card out of my wallet, and only then did I really pay attention to the fact that there was writing on the back of it.

  When you’re ready, we need to talk, the message read.

  Yeah, we did need to clear the air between us.

  But not when we’re in the middle of a homicide case.

  I couldn’t help but wonder what she had to talk to me about. So, I called and left a message on her cell phone, nothing specific. But I found myself succumbing to her voice over the voicemail.

  That worried me a little bit. Maybe I was a little more grief stricken than I realized.

  I needed to figure this out, or else I wouldn’t be able to get any sleep tonight.

  Nightmares haunted me. I couldn’t escape them, no matter how hard I tried.

  About a woman from my past...

  And a promise that I never intended to keep.

  The next morning I was in the front lobby of the Sheraton Airport Hotel.

  Why, you ask?

  Some old habits never die hard.

  It was the same hotel that Sherrie and I used to spend our more depraved and nastier nights, when we were first married.

  It was bittersweet being here, but it was probably the first real lead that I could follow that brought me closer to the person that killed Sherrie.

  The woman at the front desk was a short and petite young woman, reminded me a lot of Jada Pinkett-Smith in her younger days. The skirt that she was wearing as part of her uniform accentuated her form quite nicely and gave the hint of an apple bottom.

  I prefer them thicker, but she was definitely easy on the eyes.

  “How may I assist you, sir?” the young lady asked in a very demure tone.

  “Yes, miss, I was hoping you would be able to help me. I was wondering if you would be able to help me in a situation that I am trying to help solve,” I tried to set her up as best I could, but my nerves had me repeating myself because I didn’t want to screw this up. I felt like a rookie on the force all over again. “There was a young lady that stayed at the hotel a couple of nights ago, a Sherrie James, and I need to find out the person that she was with when she checked in.”

  The young lady flinched for a minute, as if she knew she wasn’t supposed to do what she was going to do. “I’m sorry, sir, hotel policy forbids me from giving that kind of information out.”

  “I’m sorry, miss?”

  “My name is Loren, sir.”

  “Loren, I understand the position that I am putting you in, but I am hoping to find out who killed Ms. James a couple of nights ago,” I quietly whispered so that only she could hear me.

  I placed my hand on top of hers as I said it, and she began to blush, which let me know that she was willing. It was just a matter of finding the right motivation.

  I found my opening when I looked into her eyes and she immediately cast her eyes downward. Her hand started trembling under mine, and she began chewing on her bottom lip as if she were waiting for me to take the lead.

  “Loren, tell me what I need to do to get what I need to help solve this case?” I asked in earnest, trying to not give away her submissive demeanor. “I don’t want to get you into any trouble, and I know that it’s been slow in the hotel the past few days.”

  “Sir, I,” Loren hesitated, then, while no one was looking, started a few keystrokes and quickly authorized a card to the room that Sherrie stayed in, “I want to come up with you, to make sure that you aren’t disturbed, if you wish for me to, sir?”

  I nodded and waited for her to come from behind the counter so we could head up into the elevator.

  Yeah, I knew it was a long shot, but I secretly hoped that housekeeping didn’t do that thorough of a job cleaning.

  Once we got to the floor that the room was located, Loren and I walked to the room. She opened the door and waited for me to enter.

  “I’m here if you need me, sir,” she quietly stated, leaning against the wall next to the door. “I am on a 30 minute break, and I am at your command, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

  “Thank you, Loren, I might just take you up on that,” I flirted, knowing full well I had no business leading this beautiful creature on like that.

  I checked the areas under the bed, the phones, places that most wouldn’t think to look, trying to find a stray piece of DNA to have the lab test for me. I still had some connections, and as long as they weren’t backlogged I could get away with it, with certain kickbacks of course.

  I struck pay-dirt in the bathroom, when I found a few strands of hair still stuck in the basin of the shower stall. The hair was reddish-brown; Sherrie’s hair was not.

  I walked back to where Loren was standing at the door and asked her, “Did anyone have this room after Sherrie and her date?”

  “No, sir, I checked,” Loren answered promptly, her eyes still cast downward, not daring to look in my eyes.

  “Thank you Loren, I know you stuck your neck out for me. Is there anything that I can do in return?” I knew I was setting myself up, especially when she was giving up major vibes that she was into me.

  Not that I didn’t want her, too.

  But this was a business trip, not pleasure.

  “Actually, sir, I didn’t want to give myself away, but I recognized you from one of the munches that I attend, and I knew Sherrie, too,” Loren finally raised her eyes to me, and I saw the mist in her eyes. “I wanted to help you because she was a good person. She helped me when I first came into the scene, and she spoke very passionately about you, Dominic.”

  To say that I was completely floored didn’t give the phrase justice.

  I guess my ex-wife didn’t hate me as much as I originally thought she did.

  Damn, I have a lot to learn about women, especially submissives. How the hell Ramesses and Neferterri are able to handle the girls that they have I’ll probably never understand.

  I blinked away my own tears and replied to her, “If you need anything, anything at all when in the scene, you have my assistance.”

  I kissed her cheek as we headed out of the elevator so that she could head back to work. I really didn’t know how to react at the present moment, but it did strengthen my resolve to get this handled with absolute swiftness.

  Sherrie would want me to.

  ~Eleven~

  “Come back to bed, sexy.”

  Niki lay on her back, her head turned toward the bathroom into which her lover had disappeared. The sheet was pulled down far enough that the crack of her ass was exposed.

  “Ready for me already?” a sultry voice called from the bathroom.

  “Oh, absolutely, I only have another hour or so till I have to be in court, so come back to me!” Niki rolled onto her stomach, looked at her watch, and then she glanced at her suit stored neatly over the chair. “Come on, sexy, don’t make me beg!”

  The killer emerged from the bathroom, possessing a burning candle and a bottle of red wine. “Are you ready to play, sweetie?”

  “For the last six weeks, sexy, I have always been ready to play.”

  The killer walked to the side of the bed.

  The killer took a sip of wine and moved to Niki. The two took in a deep, long kiss that hints of the taste of a dry red wine. “Move over a bit.”

  Niki made room for the killer who lay next to her. The killer lowered a finger to her nipple, the soft bud growing harder almost immediately. Without warning, the killer spilled a bit of wine to her nipple, creating the appearance of her lactating.

  “Hmmm,” the killer remarked, sucking her nipple dry. “Momma never tasted this good.”

  Before Niki could respond, her mouth was full
of the killer’s tongue again. Their tongues entwined as the killer slid an index finger deep inside Niki’s pussy and a second finger inside her ass.

  In a smooth, sudden motion, the killer climbed over Niki, and in an inverted position, began slowly licking around the folds of Niki’s pussy. Niki immediately followed suit, sucking furiously while in the 69 position that they were in.

  Niki thought, If my ex partner could see me now.

  The killer lowered down to Niki’s soft petals and lightly kissed each one. With the skill of two fore fingers, the killer parted the two soft pieces of flesh, revealing a very wet, musky pussy. The fingers got wetted with Niki’s pleasure, while turning full attention directly to Niki’s clit.

  The killer’s broad strokes became more direct, deftly forming a skilled tongue into a point and attacked Niki’s button, licking and sucking it into oblivion.

  Niki began to lose control of her own passion, but tried to keep focus on the task she had above her lips.

  From the corner, the killer spied the candle.

  The killer grabbed it and positioned the candle over Niki’s belly. While sitting upright on Niki’s face, the killer allowed the wax to spill on Niki’s belly, sending a wave of pleasure and pain through her body.

  Niki stopped sucking, a low growl escaping her lips as she lost her concentration from the sudden shock of the wax hitting her flesh.

  “Keep sucking, bitch,” the killer commanded. Niki moaned with pleasure, her submissive side coming out. Niki’s goal of pleasing the killer became so much more important.

  Niki sucked harder as the killer poured more wax on the inside of her thighs, letting a few drops fall across her exposed clit. The killer watched with sadistic pleasure as Niki twitched and thrashed about with each stinging drip of the wax.

  After the wax hardened, the killer lowered back down and continued to tongue-fuck Niki, filling her and positioning her clit for easier access.

  Niki came hard, nearly losing her voice from screaming as the pleasure propelled her to try and return the favor, knowing the killer would resist her advances. The killer then moved up and cuddled with Niki and comforted her until the waves subsided.

  They lay in that position until Niki ordered the killer to get up.

  “I have to go,” she informed the killer. Suddenly, the positions flipped and Niki was back to being the cop.

  “When will I see you again?” the killer asked.

  “Soon. My new friend would love you.”

  “New friend?”

  Niki kissed the killer. “I’ll explain the next time.”

  Niki walked to the bathroom to clean up before heading to work. As she peeled the wax from her stomach, it formed the shape of a ‘V’, the bottom of which came about a half an each from the slit of her labia.

  “Interesting,” she mused.

  I hated being shot at.

  Always have. Always will.

  Since I’d actually been injured the first two times people shot at me when I was a cop I think you’ll agree that my aversion is firmly based in objective reality. At least this time they’d missed me.

  Missed me three times, actually…

  Amateurs…

  I looked around for the shooter, but with the traffic on the street and people screaming and running for cover it was an impossible task. I thought a blue Lexus might have held the guy since it had peeled away shortly after the shots, but that might just have been someone smart pulling out of the target area.

  Since I was sure someone would already have called 911 I rolled over onto my back, pulled out my cell phone and called Niki.

  “Niki, it’s Dom.”

  “Have you got something for me?”

  Loaded question, but I was too shaken to flirt at that moment.

  “I’m not really sure,” I admitted. “I think someone just shot three bullets at me outside my house. I’m going to wait around and talk to the investigating officers.”

  “I’ll be down in a few minutes. Tell them I’m coming.”

  “Alright.”

  I checked to make sure I hadn’t been grazed and then stood up and took a look around. Operating on the assumption that the blue Lexus had held the shooter and that I had been the target I did a quick scan to see if I could spot the bullet impacts.

  It wasn’t hard. One bullet had gone wide to my right and spider-webbed the glass on the front door. A small mark on the brick might be the impact of a second bullet which put the third bullet into the window of the living room.

  The first patrol officer showed up about then and I explained where the bullets hit. The neighbors were all out to check on me as I walked outside. After the paramedics arrived I spotted Niki talking to another patrol officer. I walked over and caught her attention.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “A little twitchy, that’s all.”

  “I saw the ambulance, are you sure you’re okay, Dom?” her eyes were scanning me from head to toe as if she was looking for an entry wound.

  Was that concern I imagined in my ex partner’s voice?

  “Naw, I’m cool, just have to check the damage on the house to see what else got hit,” I explained.

  “Oh. You think you were the target?”

  “Yeah, take a look.”

  We walked over to the doorway and I pointed to the bullet impacts. The thing about shooting multiple shots in rapid succession is that your aiming point tends to climb. A disciplined shooter can compensate for this, but I’d never heard of an aiming point going noticeably downward. Besides, a more disciplined shooter wouldn’t have missed me with three shots.

  Like I said before… amateurs.

  “There, there, and there,” I said, pointing at the marks of the bullet entries. “I’d guess it was a right-handed shooter, but that’s just a guess. Since I was walking out the door at the time and that’s where the impact trail starts I’d guess I was the target.”

  “Yeah,” she nodded in agreement. “Why?”

  “Well, I’m working a couple of cases, so there’s no telling,” I replied.

  “No jealous husbands?”

  “Naw, but I need to check with the other detective that I’m working that case with. Detective Reddick, do you know her?”

  I knew it was a stretch, but I firmly believe in all cards being on the table… especially if I had plans on being greedy concerning the both of them.

  “I think I’ve heard her name on the band a few times. Good detective, not as good as you were, but a very good detective,” Niki teased.

  Were? Yeah right.

  “Oh I see, you want to hit a man while he’s shaken up from being shot at,” I teased back. For a minute, it felt like old times when we put each others’ lives in our hands.

  “Perhaps I did that to see what you would do,” she quietly whispered in my ear. “Give the patrol guys your statement and we’ll talk sometime this evening.”

  “I still need to figure out a way to get into the Indigo Lounge this evening,” I told her. “The name associated on peaches’ list is supposed to be working an event this evening.”

  “So go talk to her, we can talk after.”

  “It’s not that easy. The Indigo Lounge is couples only on Saturday nights. Finding someone to go with me is not a simple task.”

  I could have called Natasha to go with me, since we’d already developed a vibe and rhythm, but I didn’t want to come off as putting her in sexual atmospheres just to get some.

  Niki chewed her lower lip for a moment and then nodded. “I’ll go with you. What time should I pick you up?”

  I’d been hoping for that response, but it still surprised me. What also surprised me was that she was picking me up instead of just meeting me at the club.

  “Nine,” I said.

  “Wear something sexy?” she asked.

  “Slinky and sexy,” I amended.

  “I’ll see you then,” she called back over her shoulder.

  I watched her go and reflected that it was a
funny day when I could be shot at and still feel so good.

  “Tell me about the Indigo Lounge.”

  “It’s another adult club, just like Club Coquette. It’s a private membership club, and a place where adults can go and have sex together,” I explained. “They mostly cater to the swingers, but twice a month they have fetish nights to bring in the bondage crowd. It’s pretty upscale and they screen everyone to keep it that way. Speaking of which, are you carrying?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a personal weapon,” Niki told me.

  “No guns or knives are allowed on site. We’re going to have to step through a metal detector and your purse will have to go through an x-ray machine.”

  “They’ve got that kind of money?”

  “Yes, like I said, it is very upscale,” I explained further.

  “Shit. What about you?”

  “I’m naked,” meaning that I didn’t have a weapon on me, either…

  “So, if it’s a private membership club, how did you get into it?” Niki asked with accusing eyes, as if I’d been in the loop for a minute.

  I laughed her off. “I’m a P.I. now, remember? I’m supposed to be well versed in these things. Besides, I have to have the right connections when dealing in these types of cases.”

  We got in the truck and began heading up to Dunwoody to follow up on the lead.

  My mind couldn’t help wandering on the way up. Niki was in the passenger seat, letting the music consume her, so there was little doubt that she sensed my trepidation about being around her at that moment.

  I mean, sure, I had Natasha going for a minute, but that was a slight bit business as well as pleasure. That was a simple case of putting the cart before the horse in some fashion. I didn’t worry about it just yet because I thought that it would just be a case and then it was over.

  This was different.

  Niki was with me when the divorce papers were hand delivered to me to be signed. She was with me when I had to move out of the house in Cascade Heights and into a studio apartment in College Park. There was a developed intimacy that cannot be ignored.

  She’d seen me at my worst, which made me take another look at myself, and why she might still be a little upset with me for leaving her at the precinct.