Avenging Alex (10 page)

John dropped his sports jacket as they stepped onto the elevator of the Marriott and fumbled with the buttons of Alex's blouse like he was enthusiastically unwrapping an anticipated gift. She pulled and undid his belt with aplomb and dropped to her knees, unleashing his penis and taking its girth into her mouth. He leaned back against the wall and moaned. They jumped when the elevator dinged. Without enough time to pull himself together, John grabbed his jacket to cover himself. Alex unsuccessfully stuffed the tail of her blouse back into the waistband of her skirt, leaving her lace black bra exposed.

An older woman stepped in and sneered, “Humph,” shooting them a side-glance of disdain. John cleared his throat and snorted. Alex buried her face into his chest to stifle her laughter. They exited the elevator, falling into one another, and left the elderly woman rolling her eyes and grunting with displeasure.

“You are something else,” John observed, taking the keycard and opening the door to the room.

“You ain't seen nothin' yet, Inspector,” Alex replied.

Once inside the room they yanked the covers back from the bed, disrobed, and licked, sucked, and thrust their way into carnal euphoria.

 

 

“Damn, I needed that,” Alex purred like a satisfied kitten. “After the way this day started I thought it was going to be a complete bust, but being with you here . . . now . . . makes it all worth it.”

“I'm glad I could help.” John pulled her into a kiss. “You're pretty wild, you know that?”

“Are you complaining?”

“Not at all. I'm just glad I could keep up.”

Alex swept the hair from her face and sat up on her elbows. She caressed the hairs of his leg with her foot and played with his flaccid penis. “Care to ‘keep up' one more time?”

John pretended to be asleep and snored.

“Uh-huh, I know you are not asleep.”

He laughed and opened his eyes, and pulled her over on top of him. “You keep this up and you're never going to get rid of me.”

“Well, maybe I don't want to get rid of you,” she responded.

“That's a good thing.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Absolutely.”

He rolled her over, nibbling her earlobes and neck. His hands pinned hers to the bed and she squirmed as his tongue licked the salty residue of sex from her skin. She inhaled deeply and held her breath as his lips worked her prone nipples in concert. When he released her hands she cradled his shaven head close to her bosom and kissed it. His fingertips glided down her stomach as if plucking out a tune on a keyboard, making their way back to her clitoris. She opened her legs, allowing him full access as he stimulated her into another quivering climax. When she was fully satisfied he lay on his side and pulled her into him, entwining the strength of his legs into the firm softness of hers as they drifted off to sleep.

After dancing around the forbidden for months, they were finally together. And in that moment nothing and no one else mattered.

Federal and state insignias, service accommodations, plaques, and stoic portraits of bureaucrats lined the walls leading into the marshal's office. Acrylic diffusers covered fluorescent ceiling lights emitting white noise and muting their everyday office routine. Harley Donovan leaned back in his chair with his boots propped up on his oak wood desk, perusing the contents of a confidential document and whistling “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”

“You're late,” he barked, as John rushed in. Impishly peering over the documents he resembled a praying mantis with the deep warm green of his gaze. “Where ya been, buddy?”

John pulled off his jacket and threw it over his chair. “I overslept.”

“Bullshit. You haven't overslept since you stopped suckin' your mama's tit.”

John poured his coffee and shot a look over his shoulder. “To hell with you, Harley.”

“You were with a woman, weren't you? You and Lorraine gettin' back together?”

“Mind your business, Donovan,” John snapped. He sat down to his desk and logged in to his computer.

“Somethin's different about you.” The man stood up and sniffed around John's chair like a bloodhound. “You had sex last night.”

John recoiled. “Hey, back the hell up, man.”

Donovan combed his fingers through his thick, wavy dark brown hair and folded his arms. “Well, I'll be damned.” He leaned on John's desk and whispered, “You did it, didn't you?”

“Did what?”

“You finally banged that Sullivan chick?”

John pushed back from his desk and stood up. “This coffee's disgusting.”

“Don't try to deny it. It's written all over your face, and probably your cock, too.”

“My cock,” John jeered, pouring more sugar into his cup. “You sound like some overrated porn star.”

The man laughed. “What word would you prefer I use that wouldn't offend your delicate sensibilities, dick, johnson, schlong, man meat? Either way you hit that, didn't you?”

John set his coffee cup down, grabbed Donovan by the arm, and pulled him aside. “Will you keep your voice down?”

“Don't get me wrong, man. I'm all for satisfying the libido. If you're gettin' a little action on the side that's your prerogative.”

“Harley, come on, man.”

“What? That woman is fine as frog's hair. If she even looked at me twice I'd be all over that.”

John shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed. “Are you gonna give me shit about this?”

“Do I need to?”

“It just happened, that's all. We didn't plan it.”

“No, sir. That did not just happen.” Donovan laughed.

“Dude, will you shut the hell up?”

Noting John's growing irritation Donovan lowered his voice. “That particular cat's been scratchin' at that post for a long time. I knew you'd cave sooner or later. Every time she calls you go runnin', anytime, night or day. I can't say that I blame you though.”

“Look, you can't . . . You're not gonna tell Toliver about this, are you?”

Donovan glanced around to see who among the three other people in the office might be listening. “How long have we been partners?”

John shrugged his shoulder. “Hell, I don't know. Four years.”

“Five.” Donovan corrected him. “I got this assignment January 16, 2005. I remember 'cause it was the day after I lost Bear. Havin' to put my dog down was somethin' I'll never forget. Somethin' like that stays with you, you know what I mean?”

“So, what's your point, Harley?”

“My point is we've been through some rough times together. We went through them as partners. Hey, I'm Uncle Donny, right? I got your back, my friend.”

“Yeah, well, I hope so.”

“What? Are you doubtin' me now? You know you can trust me, John. Besides, if I was an enemy you'd know it.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah, it's like my granddaddy Herman always said, ‘your best enemies are the ones you don't see comin'.' Just don't let this thing you're doin' make you lose focus.”

John went back to his coffee cup. “Now this shit is cold.”

Donovan pressed on. “So, what are you gonna do?”

“About what?”

“C'mon, you know what I'm talkin' about.”

“I don't know yet.”

“Well, while you're decidin' do you mind if I give Lorraine a call?”

John looked at the man as if he should already know what his response would be.

Donovan threw up his hands. “Hey, I was just checkin'. At any rate you need to figure out what you're gonna do about this Sullivan situation before it goes south on you. You've heard the expression you don't shit where you eat. You wouldn't be the first hombre who let his dick get him into trouble. And gettin' that particular cat back in the bag is gonna be a helluva lot harder than when you let it out.”

“Let me guess, another wise old saying from your dear ol' Granddaddy Herman.”

Donovan laughed. “Man, I could write a book.”

“I think that subject has already been covered.” John chuckled. “It's called
You Might Be a Redneck If.
You know you look a lot like the dude who wrote it.”

Donovan smirked. “Ha! Ha!”

 

 

The bell on the door drew Alex's attention from the customer she was checking out at the counter. The sight of Lorraine Chase unnerved her. Momentarily distracted she ran the credit card in her hand upside down through the terminal. She quickly righted herself, bagged the woman's purchases, and completed the transaction.

One of the other clerks made her way over to Lorraine to see if she could be of assistance.

“No, thank you,” Lorraine responded and continued to the register.

Alex mounted her game face. “Is there something I can do for you, Mrs. Chase?”

“Do you know why I'm here, Ms. Sullivan?”

“I assume you either have an exchange, or there's something else you're interested in purchasing.”

“I wouldn't be so glib if I were you. We need to talk and I don't think you want me to make a scene in front of these people, do you?”

Alex cut her eyes toward Margot, who was dressing a mannequin near the window and gazing at them with gossip-mongering interest.

Undaunted, Lorraine stood and eyed Alex as if to intimidate her. Alex glared back defiantly.

“We can either have this conversation here, or we can go somewhere else, Ms. Sullivan. Either way I'm not leaving here before I say what I came to say.”

Alex sucked in her cheeks. “All right. I'll meet you outside in the square.”

Celeste approached them. “Mrs. Chase, is there a problem?”

“No, not at all,” Lorraine said without taking her gaze away from Alex. “I just need to have a few words with Ms. Sullivan. We need to clear up a personal matter.” With that Lorraine turned and left the shop in a fragrant whoosh of Giorgio.

“Celeste, I need to take a quick break. This shouldn't take long,” Alex said evenly. Not waiting for the woman to respond, Alex cinched the leather sash of her dress and followed Lorraine into the quadrant surrounding the boutique. She didn't want a fight but if there were to be a physical altercation, given her Bronx, New York upbringing, she was confident that Lorraine Chase was ill matched.

Lorraine began by lobbing an insult. “I find it curious how you can afford to wear Armani. You can't be making that much working here.”

“You don't know what I can afford. And I seriously doubt if you're here to critique my wardrobe,” Alex shot back.

“Fine, I'll get to the point, Adriane, or whatever your name is.”

The caustic snipe “whatever your name is” gave Alex pause. She didn't know exactly what, if anything, Lorraine knew about her. She didn't want to make any assumptions. Alex peered over her shoulder back toward the shop window to see Margot and another salesgirl peering out. She shifted her position behind a terracotta fountain angling out from the side of the building to force Lorraine out of their sightline.

“What do you want, Mrs. Chase?”

Lorraine pulled her sunglasses from the crown of her stylish bob and slid them up the bridge of her nose. “I don't know what my husband has told you about our relationship, but I can assure you that he's not going to do anything that would put you over the welfare of his children.”

Alex's gaze narrowed. “Excuse me.”

Lorraine inched closer. “Don't feign innocence, Ms. Sullivan. It doesn't suit you. Please don't insult me by pretending nothing is going on between the two of you.”

“I'm not going to insult you by pretending anything, Mrs. Chase. And I won't give you the benefit of defending myself against your groundless speculations. The only reason I came out here to speak to you is to keep my business
my
business. If there are problems in your marriage you may want to take a long, hard look in the mirror. “

“I don't know what delusions you've conjured up about you and my husband being together, but it's never going to happen.”

“You know what, I don't have the time or the energy for this discussion.” Alex sidestepped Lorraine and started back. “If you're going to fight for John, you should be sure it's a fight you can win.”

“Did he tell you what happened between us the night we went to our daughter's dance recital? He came back to the house after . . . Our house.”

Alex huffed. “And the two of you kissed. Yes, he told me.”

“Oh, it was a lot more than that. I suspect he didn't tell you everything.”

In that moment Alex thought about all the other women like Lorraine she'd encountered in her lifetime, and she knew just how to put an end to this tiresome presumption. “Let me ask you something, Lorraine, where was all this determination to hold on to your husband when you cheated on him? If the time you spent together was so all-consuming why are you even here? Why the hell do you feel threatened by me? Is all of this desperation worth holding on to someone who doesn't want to be held on to?”

Lorraine's pinched expression said everything that needed to be said.

“That's what I thought,” Alex sneered. “Have a good day, Mrs. Chase.” With that she sashayed back inside the boutique.

“What was that about?” Margot asked.

“It was nothing,” Alex replied. “Just a misunderstanding.”

Alex disregarded the glances exchanged between Margot, the salesgirl, and two other customers.

 

 

By that afternoon the backlash from Lorraine's visit came back to bite her in the ass. Lorraine had rallied her resources and friends and threatened to boycott La Bella if Alex wasn't “dealt with.”

Celeste poked her head out of her office door. “Adriane, can I talk to you?”

Alex smirked, shook her head, and went into the woman's office, expecting the worst. She would not be disappointed.

Celeste was seated behind her marble-top desk with a sober expression on her face and her weathered hands clasped in front of her. “Close the door and have a seat,” Celeste instructed.

Alex complied.

“I just got off the phone with Lorraine Chase. I'm not happy with what she had to tell me concerning her visit with you earlier today. I've also been on the phone with several of our regular patrons . . . all of them complaining about you. I—”

“You're firing me,” Alex interrupted.

“I hope you understand that we can't have you working here under these circumstances. It would be very bad for business. I'm sorry, Adriane. Your last check will be sent to you by mail.”

“Fine. I'll get my things.”

Alex's unceremonious departure wasn't completely unforeseen. Driving home she pulled the $300 Italian silk scarf she'd taken as a parting gift from her purse and smirked. The gauntlet had been thrown down. She couldn't know what else Lorraine Chase had up her sleeve. But, she knew better than anyone that a scorned woman was a dangerous woman. This was a setback, but it wouldn't be the last.

Her cell phone rang. It was John.

“Hello.”

“Hey, how're you doing?”

“I'm fine.”

“You sound funny. Is something wrong?”

“I had an interesting encounter with your wife again today.”

“What did she say?”

“She implied that something more was going on with the two of you than what you told me.”

John scoffed. “I thought she might.”

“She said you weren't going to do anything to hurt your children, and I assume that means that she has no intention of giving you up without a fight.”

“There's nothing left for her to fight for,” John responded.

“She doesn't seem to agree with that assessment. And I guess it didn't help that I baited her,” Alex countered.

“It doesn't matter,” John assured her. “Listen, I really want to spend some time with you. Do you want to grab some dinner after you get off work tonight?”

“Well, thanks to your lovely wife I no longer have a job.”

“What did she do?”

“Apparently several complaints came in shortly after she left. Celeste didn't want to lose her most valuable customers, so I became expendable.”

“Dammit,” John spat.

“Don't worry about it. She did exactly what I would have done if I was in her shoes. It's just a job. I found that one, I can get another one.”