A Test of Love: Interracial Erotic Romance (Chasing Love) (29 page)

Someone with a pastry cutter or just a twisted idea of what was right.

That ringing lifted in my head. Pain thumped at the center of my skull. It was a headache that I knew wouldn’t go away until after I got this whole image out of my mind.

How can I ever forget shit like this? Are you like, me Benny? Do you like to make the murder messy so that you won’t forget? Or is it even worse, do you just enjoy the playing part?

A freezing shiver ran up my spine. Strands of blond hair stuck to different parts of the mattress. On the floor was the top of a cracked skull. I had no idea where the other half lay. My heart’beats boomed in my ears, matching my increased pulse. Sweat soaked under my arms. I had to get out of the room. It was hard to move. My feet stayed heavy on the ground as if weighed down by the world.

I wasn’t even sure if Dawn did it or not.

A shower started in the bathroom to my right. I stopped breathing, that simple. At one moment, oxygen swooshed in. The next second, everything inside of me froze.

Benny is still here.

Dawn had been unlucky. She had the room with a bathroom inside of it. I was sure Chase probably gave it to her because she expected it. No doubt she liked the idea of having better than everyone else. It made sense. But a bathroom would be ideal for someone like Benny. When Chase and I had Dawn downstairs talking, it gave Benny plenty of time to sneak into her room and hide in there. By the time she entered, her death was ready to come true. There would’ve been no saving her. Maybe he got her right in the bathroom. I was sure there was a thick shower curtain. I had a dark blue one in mine. I always checked the shower before taking a piss. It was just an odd habit of mine. My brothers used to jump out and scare me when I was a kid. Shit like that always kept me on my toes—looking under beds in strange hotels rooms, opening closets after a long day, and making sure all the windows were locked.

Fuck. Benny must’ve jumped out of that shower, knocked Dawn out, and dragged her to the bed.

The pitter-patter of shower water increased. Whistling sounded next. Benny’s signature whistling.

If anyone asked Viv or Jazz, they probably would not remember a time when he whistled. But I could think of many. The night he cleaned up the dead pedophile I’d killed in Jazz’s bed, Benny whistled. He made music with his lips like people played flutes or conducted an orchestra. As a kid, it had haunted me. Later, I caught him making more music. Lucy’s yapping dog had been lost. Only Viv liked him. The dog bit anyone who came near him or Viv. Regardless, Jazz had us searching for the furry bastard all day. I’d sneaked back to the house to steal some candy and juice out of their fridge. Benny stood in front of the sink, washing bloody hands, and belting out a tune with his lips.

Sometimes he picked us up, blowing a cheery tune and reeking of blood. The girls sat in the back. They never noticed as they talked about cute boys and the latest fashion fads around school. They didn’t have to sit in the passenger seat and spy the crusted red stuff caked under his nails or the odd glossy look of his eyes.

I knew you were fucked up, Benny, but not this bad.

“When in love, I go boop doo be woop!”

I flinched at Benny’s joyful singing.

“Oh, baby, when you’re around, I’m like dip do bee woop!”

I backed out of there. I could’ve run, but I didn’t. It wasn’t like an investigation would’ve been done. I was sure Benny had people coming to take care of his mess.

“And when I see your face! Oh, when I see your face!” Benny clapped in time with each lyric. “There’s no other gal that could take your place!”

Benny’s whistling of whatever song’s chorus he belted out came next. That high-pitched tune scraped over my eardrums just like the sound of someone digging their nails into the surface of a chalkboard and scratching it across until every nail broke and all the people surrounding covered their ears.

I entered the hallway and shut the door. Viv had waited for me to come out. Seeing her image was just the thing I needed to clear away everything else decaying in my head.

“Is that my father singing?” Annoyance laced her voice.

“Yes. Pack your bags.”

“What?”

Inhaling in and exhaling out, with each second that passed, I cupped my face. “Viv, just please listen to me. Go downstairs, pack your bags, and lock the door.” I removed my hands. “In fact, take a cab and wait at the airport.”

“Am I in danger? What’s going on?”

“I don’t think anything would happen to you.” I figured Benny had a hold of himself enough to not kill his kids. That might have been the one time in my life that I was proud to be his son. “I just think that the shit is about to hit the fan. . .very, very soon.” I spied Wendy going back into her room and didn’t know if I should tell her to run or keep her there. On one hand, she didn’t deserve the fate that Benny had ready for her. On the other, I couldn’t let her kill my sister.

“Whatever happens, you need to be far away from it,” I said.

“But—”

“Viv, just trust me. Get your stuff, pack, and leave. Don’t come upstairs. Don’t say goodbye.”

“What about Jasmine?”

Jazz can deal with blood, and she’s probably the only one of us that can calm Benny down.

“I got Jazz. Please, go. I just can’t worry about the both of you.”

“You don’t have to because—”

I seized her arms with my shaking fingers. “Please.”

She stared down at my hands. “You’re shaking.”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never known you to be scared.”

“Now you see why you should go?”

She checked the door. “My father did something bad?”

That’s an understatement.

“Has Chase calmed Lucy down?” I noticed Lucy’s door was now closed.

“Yes. She went back into her room.”

I released Viv. “Do me a favor and take Lucy with you if you can. If she’s bugging and won’t reply, then leave her.”

“Take Lucy?”

“Yes.”

Lucy shouldn’t die for nothing.

Benny would kill her. I knew that the moment he stepped into the kitchen talking about biscuits and pastry tools. Sure, he sought Jazz’s protection, but the man enjoyed squashing the life out of people. He’d kill all three women whether they had something to do with the murders or not. I couldn’t let that happen. I knew Lucy had nothing to do with this. I was sure of it, just from looking into her eyes.

“Do you think you could get Lucy out of here?” I asked Viv. “If not, maybe I’ll try, before talking to Chase.”

“And when I see your face! Oh, when I see your face!” Benny’s singing traveled out to the hallway. He was probably in the bedroom drying off as she sang an upbeat tune next to a smashed-in corpse. “There’s no other gal that could take your place! No gal! Do bi do wo! That can take your place!”

For some reason the singing made me tremble more. I had to get control of myself. “Go ahead, Viv.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine.”

She rushed off to her room.

“Viv,” I said right before she placed her hand on the doorknob. “I love you.”

She paused for several seconds and then finally said, “I love you, too.”

Chapter 25

CHASE

I held Lucy close to me. Most of the time, she didn’t enjoy someone touching her, but when she drowned in sorrow, she allowed me to embrace her. She’d stopped shivering and sobbing.

Her voice came out hoarse. “Is our arrangement really over?”

“Yes.” I patted her back. “How are you feeling right now?”

“Better.” She wiped her face. “Troy mentioned—”

“Don’t, Lucy. We don’t need to talk about it unless you want to.”

“I don’t.”

“Okay.” I checked my watch. I’d been in the room comforting Lucy for more than ten minutes. It was time to go soon. I understood enough about women to realize that Jasmine might not appreciate me consoling an ex-girlfriend, even if I’d never had sex with Lucy. I had no intention to get back on probation.

“Would you like me to get you something to drink?” I asked.

“No.” Lucy climbed out of my arms and hugged herself. “I’m scared.”

“Why?”

“Dawn and Wendy did it. All this time they really worked together and killed the others. Jasmine, everybody.” Her flesh paled. “What are you going to do?”

I scooted over. “What makes you think Dawn and Wendy were the ones involved?”

“Troy said that all this time Wendy had been drinking water, not liquor.”

I tensed. “Why would she pretend to be drunk?”

“To make people think that she was too out of it to be any trouble and the last person people would assume to be a killer,” she said.

Wendy? You did it?

“But which one do you think was killing everyone? Dawn or Wendy or. . .do you think they did it together?” Lucy asked.

Wendy isn’t an alcoholic. Everything is starting to finally make sense.

“Dawn doesn’t do dirty work, she assigns it.” I jumped up. “Due to Wendy being drunk all of the time, I was really relaxed with her.”

A vision of Wendy stumbling around my video monitoring room in my apartment came to my mind. Giggling, she claimed to have found the room by mistake.

“Wendy, you know my bathroom is farther down the hall.”

She bumped into the wall. “I’m too wasted for directions. Ooh, televisions! What’s all of this?” She flipped on switches and cheered as everyone’s apartments came up on the screens. Everyone slept but us.

Wendy wrapped her fingers around the joystick in the center and played with the various camera angles. “Do you watch us all?”

“Sometimes.”

She opened her robe. Nothing lay underneath as the material dropped to the floor. “Is there a time when you don’t watch us?”

I drank in those perky pink nipples. “When I’m on dates with one of you or at work.”

She lifted her chin and looked at me. “How long do you think this will last?”

“What?”

“Our relationship. All of us here together.”

It was an interesting question, one I’d considered since we started. “I’m not sure. I hope we can do this forever.”

“But are you happy?”

“How can anybody really know if they’re happy? Sometimes I’m laughing and smiling. Sometimes I’m not.”

“But do you feel like something else is missing?” She bit her lip.

“No.”

“Then why do you need a fourth girlfriend?”

This was the first time Wendy had ever discussed our situation. Dawn had been the main one to poke and analyze. How could I explain to my present girlfriend that I was happy, but not happy enough, my hunger reasonably quenched but not full?

“This will be the first time we have a fourth girl. Have you read Vicky’s file yet?” I asked.

“No,” Wendy slurred. “You know I don’t read or any of that stuff. You know what I like to do.”

I chuckled. “Yes. I know what you like.”

“Will Vicky be the end?” She focused the main screen to the empty apartment that had been freshly painted for Vicky. A four sat on the outside of the door. Red, white, and black served as the interior’s decorating scheme. My investigators discovered that those were Vicky’s favorite colors.

“Yes. Vicky will be the end.”

“And if we don’t like her?” She burped and giggled.

Yawning, I shut off the screens, captured her hand, and pulled her to me. “Then you can all come to me and I’ll fix it.”

“Dawn says we need a voting system or something.”

“Dawn won’t be getting rid of any women unless I say so.”

Wendy’s laugh escaped her lips and crowded the room. “Don’t be so sure, Chase. We have our ways, as women. We’re all little lionesses here. . .well, not Lucy.”

“You all are lionesses, but I’m the lion.”

“Okay, Lion,” she slurred. “Where’s my glass. Didn’t I set it down in here?”

Releasing her hand, I got it from the small table near the door. “Here you go.”

She grabbed the glass, took a sip, and then pierced me with her gaze. “Don’t hurt me, Chase.”

“I won’t.”

Her voice came out in a low whisper. “Sometimes I feel like just a spectator of love. It’s like I’m never participating, just watching as love moves all around me.”

“You’re more than that to me.”

“Am I?”

“Always.”

“But you love Dawn.”

I smirked. “We both do.”

“And Lucy is just your friend, really. She’s never been a threat.”

Something about the way she said threat made me uneasy, but I shook that thought away and headed to the living room to pour my own glass of brandy. “No one is a threat here.”

“Of course not. Especially if it just stays as Dawn, you, and I. We’re so good together.”

“And Lucy.”

“Sure.”

“And Vicky.”

The hopeful smile left her face. “If Vicky doesn’t work, will you end this search for a fourth girlfriend?”

“Yes,” I lied. “But Vicky will work.”

“Well, this arrangement is about sacrifice. Something greater. I won’t let anybody mess that up for all of us.”

I poured my glass to the rim. “Now you’re sounding like Dawn.”

“She makes a lot of good points.”

“Be careful with Dawn.” I took a large gulp and prepared for the alcohol to burn my throat. “If Dawn gets upset, she’ll have you committing bloody murder.”

Shaking her head, Wendy laughed. “Well, let’s hope it never comes to that.”

“Lucy, I have to go. Will you be okay?” I rose and rushed to the door, not even waiting for an answer. I had to talk to Dawn and Wendy. Maybe even have Troy question one, while I dealt with the other. They couldn’t be in the same room. They would just check each other’s faces before lying.