Beautiful Prey: The Storm Series (9 page)

 “Yes, I cook,” she confirmed. “I’m free for dinner
tomorrow.”

“So we’ll have dinner tomorrow, at your place.”

As they began to eat, Victoria looked up at Jack. “Since
you’ve just invited yourself into my home, I think that we should discuss some
things.”

He leaned back in his chair, clearly interested in what she
wanted to talk about. Victoria didn’t know why she was so nervous.

They were two consenting adults who needed to make
responsible choices so she asked him, “Jack, well the thing is, we’ve had a lot
of sex in the very short time that we’ve known each other and we haven’t been
using protection. That’s not something that I do. I’m usually more responsible.
We’ve never discussed our... Well, I guess we should…” She lost her words
nervously. She was shocked how she was mumbling over her words like a teenager.
“Are you currently in a relationship or sleeping with someone?” Victoria took a
deep breath and laughed out loud at herself, causing Jack to smile.

He leaned forward, and his smiled disappeared. His
expression turned serious, and he began to speak. “Victoria, I don’t share and
I expect you not to share. I won’t be having sex with any other women. The last
woman that I had sex with was Caroline. It happened twice, and the last time
was a month ago. With others in the past, I’ve always worn protection. I don’t
know how you and I landed on this road, but I’m not upset about it. I can show
you my medical records, and we can arrange birth control. I said ‘mine’ and I
meant it. As long as we are seeing each other, I expect to be the only man
touching you. Are you going to be able to handle that, Victoria?”

Victoria was stunned by Jack’s blunt response, and she was
at a complete loss of words. She stared at him in silence, until she realized
that he was actually waiting for an answer. “Yes,” was all she could come up
with.

Victoria had no problem with monogamy. After all, she hadn’t
had sex in over a year and she really didn’t want to think of Jack with another
woman. She couldn’t imagine him doing to another woman the things that he did
to her.

Jack reached over the table and pulled Victoria from her
seat. He led her around the table and onto his lap. For the rest of the evening
they made out like teenagers, enjoying the purple and orange streaks on the
horizon until the sun finally set.

It was getting late and Victoria had to go to work in the
morning, so they headed back to the dock. Victoria had to talk him into driving
her home. Jack wanted her to spend the night with him and allow him to drive
her to work, but she really needed to be home to prepare for the next day. When
they pulled up in front of her building, Victoria didn’t even try to hide her
disappointment. She turned to Jack and poked out her bottom lip. He turned off
the car, hopped out, and jogged around to open Victoria’s door. They walked
hand-in-hand to the door and shared a passion-filled goodnight kiss.

Jack grabbed Victoria’s hand and placed it against his
hardness, whispering, “See what you’re leaving me with?”

 “Thanks for a great weekend, Jack,” she mumbled into
his mouth as they continued to kiss. “I had a wonderful time.”

Victoria pulled away and Jack moaned his protest. “See you
soon,” he uttered as he headed back to his car. 

She watched his backside for a few extra seconds before
entering the building. Victoria damn near skipped up the stairs whistling like
Cinderella.

           
“Damn, the man gives good weekend,” Victoria said to herself while wearing a
girlish grin.

           
When she reached the top of the stairs, Victoria’s fairytale inspired mood ran
smack into Mrs. O’Malley’s frowning face. Victoria walked over to her apartment
and decided not to let the mean old lady spoil her good mood.

           
“I hope you secured the entry door when you came in,” Victoria heard from
behind her back.

           
She responded, “Yes, ma’am,” as she entered her apartment.

Before she could get the door closed, she heard the old lady
comment, “We don’t need any more of your friends in this building,”

           
Victoria turned to look at her. Hatred for Victoria was dripping from the old
woman’s face. She decided against cursing the old lady out, so she turned back
into her apartment and slammed her door.

           
“That old bitch needs a Jack Storm to clean out her old pipes,” Victoria said
as she laughed and locked the deadbolt.

           
 She headed down the hall to her bedroom. As she dropped her purse on the
bed, the beep from her phone indicated that she had a text message. Looking at
the screen, she saw a message from Jack.

           
The text read: “I miss you already.”

           
Victoria quickly responded: “Miss you too. See you soon.
Muahhhh
!”

           
She tossed the phone back on her bed and got her clothes ready for work the
next day. After a hot shower, Victoria returned calls and text messages. She
had four missed calls from Tracy, so she decided to call and tell her all about
her very hot weekend. Upon calling her friend, she learned that Tracy and Steve
were still hot and heavy. They made a dinner date for Tuesday and said
goodnight. Victoria was exhausted, so she set her alarm and went to bed.

The blare of the alarm snatched Victoria from a deep sleep.
She had to keep it on her dresser across the room instead of the nightstand
next to her bed; otherwise she would keep hitting the snooze button.

           
“Ugh,” she grunted as she peeled the sheet and comforter from her body. She
padded her way over to the alarm clock to shut it off and headed to the
bathroom. Forty-five minutes later, she was taking her last sip of coffee and
heading out the door. She slung her bag over her shoulder and secured the lock
on her apartment door. With no sign of Mrs. O’Malley, Victoria ran down the
stairs and out the door. She walked over to her car and was stopped in her
tracks by the sight of bold red writing on her windshield. The word “MINE!”
flashed back at her, striking fear in her.

           
 Victoria slowly approached her car and swiped at the writing. It wasn’t
paint because it easily wiped off.

           
“What in the fuck?!”

           
She tried to figure out who was toying with her. Dante had left several voice
messages saying that he wanted to talk, but writing on her car wasn’t like
Dante. The furthest he’d gone was leaving cards and roses on her windshield or
notes under her door. Maybe he was tired of being ignored. Jack had also said
the word “mine” to Victoria, but she’d just agreed to be his, so he had no need
to reiterate it.

           
Victoria was going to be late, so she hopped in her car and activated the
windshield wipers. The windshield was smeared in red, so she pushed the button
to release the washer fluid. The wipers cleared enough of the windshield to get
her to a carwash. Victoria left the carwash pissed that someone had messed with
her car. She decided that she would ask the building manager for a peek at the
security tapes. She had no intention of becoming the victim of a stalker.

           
When she got to the station, she stopped by Deon on the way to the locker room.

           
“We got a new girl,” he said with a smile that was way too big.

           
Considering Deon’s smile, Victoria assumed that the new girl was pretty. She
gave Deon a knowing smile and asked, “Who is she?”

           
“She is fine as hell,” Deon practically sang as he walked Victoria to the
locker room. He gave her a brief rundown on the new girl. She learned that her
name was Natasha and she was from the Narcotics Division. He said that she was
pushed out because she filed a sexual harassment complaint against a drunken
commander after he grabbed her breast at a Christmas party. Victoria thought
the woman was brave because she had been harassed sexually by bosses since the
day she started on the police department and, after seeing what happened to
other women that complained, she chose to develop a thick skin and ignore it.
It just wasn’t worth the hassle. After all, it’s not like they were going to
actually punish the powerful men. They’d have some scared to death sergeant
from Internal Affairs investigate the complaint. Did the department really
believe that a sergeant would enforce a punishment on someone that outranked
them? Hell no! They’d just say it didn’t happen and shit on the woman that
complained for the rest of her career.

           
Victoria thought that this Natasha woman was brave indeed. She liked her
already. Victoria told Deon that she’d see him in roll call and entered the
locker room to change. As she dressed, she thought back to the writing on her
car. If it wasn’t paint, what was it? It looked like blood. She dismissed that
thought and slipped into her shoes. Victoria knew she should’ve called a unit
to do a report but she would’ve been late for work. She walked over to the
mirror and inspected her outfit. She wore a hot pink one-shouldered spandex
dress that barely covered her ass. It molded to her body and her nipples
protruded rudely through the thin material. On her feet were six-inch gladiator
stilettos. She knew she was dressed the part because she felt dirty. She
applied dark eyeliner, glossed her lips, and inspected herself in the mirror
one last time.

           
Victoria chuckled and said out loud, “Hell, I’d stop for me.”

           
 She walked out of the locker room and headed to roll call. Victoria
walked into the roll call room to the normal “
oohs
”
and “
ahhs
” and took a seat next to the new girl.

           
“Hi, I’m Vic,” she whispered.

           
Natasha blinked at Victoria’s semi-nakedness and responded shyly, “I’m Natasha.
It’s nice to meet you.”

           
 “You too,” Victoria said turning to watch the sergeant stumble to the
front of the room.

           
She couldn’t believe that this bastard was drunk already. She turned to Deon
with her eyebrows knitted together. He shrugged his shoulders and laughed.
Sargent Banner introduced Natasha to the team as if he was less than happy that
she was there. Then he managed to slur the need to catch the killer that had
apparently struck again over the weekend. Only the
victimology
was different this time. Sargent Banner passed out folders filled with
photographs and detailed reports. The previous victims had been street
prostitutes as opposed to the latest victim who was an internet call girl.
Although the killer was branching out, his method of death remained the same.
He would carve the word “whore” across the victim’s breasts, apparently while
she was still alive, and then he would rape her repeatedly before strangling
her to death. This murder appeared more brutal to Victoria. The victim was
strangled and, according to the coroner’s report, she was stabbed repeatedly
after she died. The killer was escalating. Obviously, he had become angry, and
Victoria wondered why.

           
“Price, before you hit the streets today, you’ll create an internet profile,”
the sergeant said snapping her from her thoughts.

Victoria could feel all eyes on her. She turned and smiled
at a horrified Natasha. She looked back at her other teammates who began to
voice their protests.

           
Victoria turned to her partner to see him shaking his head.

           
“You’re not doing that,” Steve said in a very calm voice.

           
Sargent Banner shouted over the protests. “It’s her job!”

           
Victoria noticed that the weasel made sure not to direct his comments to Steve.
Her gigantic partner didn’t respond well to being yelled at.

           
“This came from way above me! We don’t have time to train this new girl, and
we’re running out of time! Officer Price knew what she was signing up for when
she came to vice!”

           
The drunk asshole continued to talk about Victoria like she wasn’t in the room,
and she’d had enough.

           
She held her hand up to shut him up and said, “Yes, I knew what I signed up for
when I came to vice, and I accept the fact that I have a dangerous job. What I
didn’t sign up for was to die stupidly. I am an undercover officer. You and the
so called ‘powers that be’ have put me in a uniform and shoved me in front of
damn near the entire city of Chicago. Now I’m bait for a fucking killer?!”

           
Sargent Banner gathered his things and walked out the room mumbling over his
shoulder, “You’ll do your job.”

           
Victoria stood and walked out of the noisy room. She walked over to her desk
and sat at the computer. She looked up to see Deon, Steve, and Miguel
approaching her desk.

           
Deon looked at Victoria like she’d grown a second head and asked, “What the
hell are you doing?”

           
“My job,” she answered as she returned her attention to the computer.

           
She heard Steve say, “Vic, this ain’t a good idea.”

           
Without looking up, Victoria asked, “What am I supposed to do? Say no and lose
my spot in vice?” She looked up at a worried Steve and continued, “I’ve worked
too hard to get here. Don’t worry so much. What are the odds that this guy
actually saw me at the Taste or could even recognize me if he saw me again?”