Burnt (21 page)

***

T
ara stroked the back of Kevin’s hair as he slowly released himself from her.

“Let’s go check out the bed,” she said, raising herself up slowly to get out of the hot tub.

Kevin looked as eager as she was and followed close behind. When they reached the bedroom she felt his arms wrapping around her stomach. His lips went back to her neck and remained there, teasing and tormenting her need. She reached up and back, and wrapped her hand around his neck, inviting him to caress her nipples with his hands as he kissed further down her shoulder.

“Ahhh...” she sighed. Her body relaxed against his, accepting all that he was offering. Tara groaned as his tongue roamed down past her shoulders and along the lines of her body. She felt him turning her around and their lips connected with a strong, needy force. Every touch made her clit throb and ache for him to rejoin her. He gently lowered her to the bed and laid her head on the pillow, never breaking from the desperate kiss.

Kevin hovered his body over her, propping himself up with one arm as the other roamed down between her legs.

“God, Kevin, you turn me on so much,” she mustered between the kiss, letting her hands roamed up and down the sides of his body.

She wrapped her legs around his hips to bring him closer. He took her message and lowered himself on her, spreading the tender folds of her opening so he could rock her world. She bucked her hips back and forth, only wanting to take as much of him deep inside. But he was teasing. He pulled out and slid the tip around her opening.

She breathed heavily, craving what he was about to do.

“Please,” she whimpered.

“Not yet,” he whispered, sliding down the bed to his perch between her legs.

His mouth lightly touched the outer lips of her pussy. She groaned louder, bracing herself for his next move. His tongue slithered in her opening and ran up and down her clit.

“Yes...” she moaned, closing her eyes and arching her back up with his sensual touch. He went in deeper, slowly moving his tongue up and down inside her.

“Oh God...” she cried, grabbing his hair and pushing him down. He moved in and out with a vigorous tenacity. She moved her hips harder against him, begging for speed to match his tongue’s intensity.

“Yes...yes...yes...” she cried, rubbing her fingers through his hair.

She came with a force she didn’t expect.

“Ugh...” She crashed back to the bed, panting from the exertion of her hips. She moaned with comfort, still taking in every move he made with his tongue.

She gasped out every breath as his mouth left her pussy and trailed up to tantalize her breasts. His tongue lovingly caressed them, moving first her left nipple and then her right. She was wet, breathless, and anxious for more. The way he made her body rebound with mounting carnal hunger was mind-blowing. She opened her eyes when she felt his lips freeing themselves from her breasts. He was now hovering above her and staring into her eyes.

“Everything I could ever want is right here,” he said, caressing her neck and slowly lifting her up to meet his lips.

She wrapped her arms around his body and he fell down on top of her. The words continued to play in her mind. Everything she could ever want was right here too. As the words echoed inside of her mind, she felt his rock hard manhood pressed up against her opening. He entered her, moving up and down. She felt his urgency as he fluidly plunged in and out of her. She sighed as noise of the squeaking bed spread through the room. It was only getting better.

***

J
ake walked back to where he had left Tara and Kevin. It was two hours later and he was sure they would be gone. He smiled as he found the car still there. It had been so easy to syphon out his gas while they were making out on the blanket. If only they had cared enough, they would have noticed. He was relieved to see they didn’t attempt to get gas and go back to the car. He tried to open the car doors but noticed his brother was smart enough to have locked them.

Jake turned around and got back in his car. He knew Kevin well enough to know he would go to the nearest hotel and stop to rest. Jake hoped he would. He made his way to the hotel and found the nearest parking spot.
Kevin has to pay
, the voiced egged him on, reminding him he was there to claim his woman. Jake got out of the car and went into the hotel.
There’s no way Tara can refuse you if you fight for her
, they said, strengthening Jake’s resolve for what he was about to do. He walked up to the desk where he saw a petite brunette behind the desk. Revealing his most charming smile, he hoped it would work on her.

“Hello, welcome to Paradise Inn. How may I help you?” Her smile was bright and cheery. It was the first thing he noticed.

“Hello,” he answered. “My friend is staying here tonight. He phoned and asked me to stop by. It’s Kevin Crawford. He didn’t give me his room number and when I tried to call him back...it goes straight to voicemail. Will you please let me know what room he’s in?”

She smiled but then looked apologetic. “I’m sorry, but we have a strict policy. We’re not allowed to give customers’ room information out to anybody. I’m so sorry.”

He grew irritated but tried to put in his best effort. “You’re telling me you can’t bend the rules, not even just this once?”

She shook her head. “Nope, sorry. It’s company policy.”

This wasn’t going as planned. Jake was not leaving that hotel without the information he wanted. He didn’t care what he had to do to get it.

***

K
evin jerked out of sleep as he heard the sound of sirens. For a moment, he thought he was only dreaming, but then he saw the flashing of the lights shining through the window. He sat up quickly, but gingerly slid out of bed. Tara looked like she was sleeping soundly and he didn’t want to wake her, or give her anything more to worry about. He walked over to the window and held back the curtains. There was an EMS and a few police cars tearing into the parking lot of the hotel.

“What’s going on?” Tara asked as she slowly woke up.

He turned around and stared at her.

“There’s an EMS and some cop cars here. You might want to get dressed.”

He ran into the living room to scoop up their clothes, and returned to hand hers to her. He put on his jeans and looked back up at her.

“I’m going to go out and see what’s going on. Don’t leave the room.”

She nodded, getting dressed as he left the bedroom. He glanced at the clock before he left the hotel room. It was two o’clock. There was activity up and down the hallway. When he saw an officer getting ready to hurry past him, he stopped him.

“Get back inside your room,” the officer ordered.

“What’s going on?” Kevin asked.

“Get back in your room now!” he shouted with urgency.

Kevin slowly retreated back to the room. He closed the door and saw Tara walking out of the bedroom. She was already completely dressed.

“What’s going on?” she asked, looking scared.

He walked over to her and shrugged.

“I don’t know. The officer told me to get back inside.”

He looked back at the door and the sound of running feet kept going up and down the hallway.

“It’s probably not over yet, whatever they’re dealing with. It’s best if we just listen.”

“I’m scared,” she admitted.

He wrapped his arms around her. This was just another thing they had to overcome that evening. He didn’t want to admit he was scared, too.

“We’re fine as long as we stay here. Don’t worry, okay?”

“I’ll try, she admitted.

They walked over to the couch and she stopped to hand him his shirt. All the evidence of his bloody nose was on that shirt. He laughed as he took it from her it. He didn’t need the reminder of his fight with Jake, but it was the only shirt he had to wear. He threw it aside and pulled her down on the couch with him.

“You can try to get some more rest,” he said, but it wasn’t going to be easy for either of them.

“I just want you to hold me,” she replied. Kevin pulled her against him. It was the easiest request Tara could have made. The room was so quiet he could almost hear her heartbeat. Trying to put her at ease, he hummed. He wasn’t sure what tune it was, but it broke up the monotony in the room. He tenderly kissed the top of her head and searched for her hand to hold. Squeezing it tightly, he continuing to hum the tune.

Kevin wasn’t sure how long they had been in that position when he heard a knock on the door. They both jumped and he saw the frightened look in Tara’s eyes. He sat up, shifting Tara over so he could get up. He grabbed the shirt and put it on before going to answer the door. It was Officer Jessup. Her eyes fell over him, landing on his bloody shirt.

“Officer Jessup. What are you doing here?”

“Funny. That’s exactly what I was going to ask you. I saw your name on the hotel room list and I just had to come see for myself. Nice shirt...” She looked down at the red splotches. “Mind telling me what happened tonight?”

Kevin looked over his shoulder to where Tara was still sitting. The thought of saying it was from Jake, didn’t seem practical. The last thing he wanted was to offer her more ammunition about his brother.

“I was in an altercation. I took care of it but we were forced to stay here for the night. My car wouldn’t start and it was late. I really didn’t want to walk home. That’s it.”

She nodded but didn’t seem too convinced of what he was saying.

“It’s true,” Tara piped up from behind him.

“Ms. Matthews...it’s a pleasure seeing you too,” Officer Jessup said. She then looked back at him. “Who were you in an altercation with?”

“I’d prefer not to say,” he answered. He wasn’t used to withholding information from the police but now this was twice he wasn’t telling them the facts. Except this wasn’t really a lie. It was omission.

“Well, you’re not on trial, so I can’t force you to answer the question,” she remarked, looking between Kevin and Tara. “However, I can inform you of what happened her tonight. There’s been another killing.”

He heard Tara groan behind him.

“Really? Here?” he asked.

The officer nodded. “Yes and this time the killer left something behind.”

“What?” he asked.

“It’s all over the news. Maybe you should check it out. I’m assuming you don’t know anything and this blood has nothing to do with what happened here tonight at the hotel, right?”

He nodded.

“Correct. You’re more than welcome to test the blood. You’ll see it’s mine.” He pointed to his nose. “If you haven’t noticed, my nose is bloody, too.”

“Oh...that’s what I noticed.”

He frantically shook his head. “I had nothing to do with it. I don’t even know who was killed!”

“Okay, if you insist. Just don’t plan on leaving town, just in case we need to question you. Have a good night...” She glanced at her watch. “Or day.”

Kevin shut the door as she walked away, and turned back around to Tara.

“Someone was murdered here?” she asked, looking even more petrified.

He wanted to protect her but he wasn’t doing a very good job of it. She had already heard everything Officer Jessup shared.

“It appears so, but we don’t know the circumstances.” He walked past her and went to the television. He picked up the remote and sat down on the couch. She soon joined him. He turned on the television and flipped through some channels until he came to a picture of the hotel on a news channel. Tara took his hand as he turned up the volume.

Another reporter took the spotlight.

“Dixie?” Tara replied quietly.

“That’s the name of the person who checked us in,” Kevin remembered.

He turned back to the screen as the reporter continued.

Kevin covered his mouth, staring at the photo of the hat that had appeared on the inset of the TV screen. He didn’t want to believe it. It was the same hat he had given his brother when they were teens.

“Kevin...” Tara called to him slowly.

He turned to her and saw the fear in her eyes. He shook his head. His worst nightmare was coming true.

“I know,” he whispered.

His pulse was racing but nothing could stop the truth that screamed in his head. It was something he had denied for too long. Jake was responsible for the murders.

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

He looked at her. “What can I do? I have to admit I was wrong. I shouldn’t have been so quick to say he was innocent.”

“He’s your brother,” she replied as if it should be enough.

“Yes, but tonight proved he isn’t exactly the boy he used to be. I’m just so sorry I got upset with you. You were probably the only one who saw things clearly. Well, you and the police.”

“I don’t think so, Kevin. He just worried me.”

He stood up from the couch and grabbed his cell phone out of his jeans pocket.

“You’re going to call now?” she asked. “They’re probably still here.”

“I just want to call.”

He knew Tara was right, but didn’t want to have to face Officer Jessup. He figured it was easier to do on the phone. He started to dial up the number but she reached out and stopped him.

“If you tell them what we suspect, then you’re confessing that we lied to them. We’ll also be in trouble.”

He hadn’t really thought about it. He needed to warn the police.

“I’ll figure a way to get us out of this mess. I just shouldn’t have been so naïve.”