Deadly Lover (14 page)

“No, I suppose not. Lil, Bradley hasn’t been…satisfied…with Rose for years. Haven’t you ever wondered why those two don’t have any kids?”

Lily shrugged. He told me their marriage is in trouble.”

Sara’s expression turned from amused to condemning in an instant. “I bet he did, that lowlife scum.”

Lily laughed. “Aren’t you the one that suggested I consider doing him again for old time’s sake?”

“That isn’t exactly what I said. Besides, being a lowlife doesn’t mean he isn’t sexy man candy.”

Lily chuckled. Laughter was something she’d let fade from her life and now that she’d found it again, she wanted to savor it. Together she and Sara laughed their way through the edibles and a second round of drinks. Then Sara dragged her onto the dance floor and Lily gave herself permission to take an hour to ignore everything and swallow the dose of medicine her cousin was prescribing.

He watched the two women emerge from the privacy booth, struggling to control his anger. She had no right to hide from him. They’d picked their club well, the latest tech, no possibility of overriding without planning.

He’d followed them from the Forensic building, of course. Had to cool his heels while they hid themselves away. He took another swallow of his whiskey, letting the burn fire his anger. Had they spoken of him? Had Lily mentioned him to Sara?

His vision tinged green as he watched her dance. Men couldn’t help noticing her athletic body, even hidden away beneath her conservative clothes, and it didn’t take them long to be maneuvering for a turn, bumping their bodies against hers. Quick, vague touches. Sensual slides.

He would have to punish her for allowing it. She was his. The thought made his dick hard. He’d punish her then he’d show her the glory of being touched by someone who held life and death in his hands.

Lily keyed in her code to the side entrance of her building and headed up the interior stairwell. She was halfway to the first switchback before she heard the slight rasp of husky breathing. Her hand went instinctively to her weapon. She kept it there as she hugged the wall, taking the steps slowly. Heart pounding. Her pulse loud in her ears.

She leaned around the corner...

Relief washed through her. “Damn it, Bradley.” Heart settling back to a normal rhythm, she eased her hand away from her pistol. He sat on the top step, listing slightly to one side.

He made an effort to get to his feet, leaning heavily on the banister. “Hey, beautiful. ’Bout time you got home.”

“You’re drunk, Bradley.”

He grinned. “Well. Yes. Yes, I am. But not too drunk.” His expression turned sober, even though
he
clearly wasn’t. “You ditched me today, Lily.” His bottom lip stuck out in a pout.

Lily stepped around him and onto the landing, well aware Bradley followed in her wake. “You’re saying you went out and got drunk because I didn’t spend my entire day holding your hand?”

“Strictly speaking, you didn’t hold m’hand a’tal. Mebe if you did I might not’ve minded getting ditched.”

Once she cleared her door’s security locks and wedged it open, she faced him. He was just a step behind her and their bodies collided. He wrapped his hands around her arms to steady himself. His fingers squeezed gently as he held on to her and pressed closer. He smelled like expensive whiskey. She brushed him away.

“Come on, Lily. Ask me in.”

“You’re drunk. Why would I want a drunk in my place?”

He swayed on his feet. “’Cause I might not make it home safe if you don’t let me in. After all...I am drunk.”

For several heartbeats they stared at one another. His stupid grin softened and turned wistful.

“I remember the first time I saw you. You looked so... beautiful... and so lost. God, what were we, thirteen?”

Lily sighed. “About that.”

“Your stepfather brought the family t’our homecoming reception. We’d been in some godforsaken African country for two years and you looked like a fairytale princess in your green party gown.”

Lily’s fingernails dug into the doorframe. “I hated that dress”

Bradley laughed. “I know. Knew it then. That’s why I took you up t’the games suite. Knew you’d rather thrash me at foosball than dance.”

He’d rescued her from excruciating boredom. He’d made her feel comfortable, put her at ease, when she hadn’t felt comfortable since her father had died. When her mother remarried, they’d gone from back yard barbeques and tag football to cocktail parties and art galleries. He was right, she had been lost.

She looked into his familiar gray eyes and saw the lanky teenager who’d made her laugh and helped her escape from a countless number of her stepfather’s stuffy social engagements. “Come on in.” She swung the door wide. “I’ll get you some coffee and call for transport.”

Lily wasn’t surprised when Bradley went straight toward her bed. He sat on the edge and fell back, arms stretched wide. She used her com-lens to turn up the lights and engage the locks then slipped out of her coat and holster. She heated a carton of coffee then carried it over to him.

He looked up and smiled. “I could stay here.”

“No,” she said. “You couldn’t.”

His position on the bed accentuated the lean lines of his body and left him looking vulnerable, playful.

“Sit up and drink your coffee.”

He stretched a hand out, palm up, asking for help. She set the coffee down then put her hand in his, prepared to steady him. She should have known better. With a firm grip he pulled her down and she ended up sprawled across his hard body. “Bradley, you idiot.”

He cupped her face gently, stroked her cheek with his thumb. “You’re always wound so tight. Le’me help you relax.”

The heat of his body beneath her and the look in those gray eyes tugged at long buried memories. She moved her free hand up his rib cage and watched his eyes close and his breathing change. There was little to stop her from leaning in and pressing her lips to his soft, sensual mouth. Loyalty to a sister that hadn’t given her the same consideration? Pride? Were they worth more than the physical pleasure, the satisfaction a vindictive indulgence might provide?

She moved her hand to the center of his chest and pushed her shoulders up and away from him. His eyes fluttered open and he reached up, wrapping an arm around her waist. The move aligned their lower bodies in a more intimate way.

“Luv me,” he whispered.

That was the problem. She didn’t love him anymore. She had once, but not now. Pulling free of him, she clambered off the bed. His arm fell away and his eyes drifted shut again.

She stood over him and watched as the drink dragged him down into sleep. He was her past. She wasn’t the same person she’d been when she’d loved him. The person she was now needed a stronger man. A man who understood loyalty. A man who understood there were things that couldn’t be fixed with charm and pretty words, no matter how sincere. A man who understood the woman she’d become. She didn’t expect love in her future, but that was no reason to hang on to her past.

Lily put the coffee back in the mini-fridge and slipped back into her coat and holster. With one last look over her shoulder she lowered the lights, stepped into the hall, and reset the security.

Everything that had happened in the last forty-eight hours rattled around in her head. She needed time to think, to put things in perspective. And there was only one place guaranteed to reestablish her priorities.

The mechanical noises, beeps, and hums of the med center pecked at Lily like a hungry woodpecker. She concentrated on her com-link and the building’s subnet feeding her directions deep into the med center labyrinth.

She recognized the bulldog-faced Detective Newman standing at the nurses’ station down the hall from Jennifer Richardson’s room. He acknowledged her and waved her past. The two men sitting by Jennifer’s bed were more of a surprise.

The bigger man was instantly aware of her. His hair was military short but the open-throated poet’s shirt and tight black pants tagged him as an alt. It took her a moment, but she recognized the guy kneeling between his thighs and wrapped in his arms as the other victim from the hallway outside Jennifer’s apartment. He was wearing a lot more clothes, a lot less blood.

They stood in a single graceful motion as she entered the room. Her pulse sped up a bit in appreciation of the agility it took for a man to go from kneeling to standing without anything in-between. The victim from Jennifer’s apartment stepped forward, pulling free of the other man’s supportive embrace. “
Mais
, you, you’re the woman from ...” His voice carried undertones of old Louisiana, maybe Cajun, that she hadn’t caught before. His skin was pale, setting off blue-black hair that hung to his collar and eyes so true blue they could inspire sonnets about azure pools and moonlight. He wore a tight blue T-shirt and well-worn jeans. Narrow silver bracelets ringed his wrists.

“That’s right,” she said. “Lily Rowan. Glad to see you’re okay.”

He reached a hand down to squeeze the muscles of the injured leg. “
Oui
. Lucas, he made sure of it. Me, I’m Tie LeRoue. I live next to Jen. This is Lucas Delaponte.”

“A pleasure.” Delaponte stepped into place beside LeRoue. “I’m in your debt,
cher
. Had you not dealt with the Ormney, my Tie would have surely gotten himself into even worse trouble.” There was a touch of scolding mixed with tender indulgence in his tone. A more cultured version of the younger man’s patois laced his accent.

Lily let her gaze drift to the woman in the bed. A machine breathed for her, pushing air into her lungs. Aside from the artificial rise and fall of her chest, she lay still. “How’s she doing?”

Tie spoke softly, as if he didn’t want the patient to hear. “She’s dying, her. Docs say her intestines, spleen, and liver were all shredded and she lost too much blood. The damage is too severe and she ain’t strong enough to take the regeneration fast enough to recover.” His voice trembled. “
Oui
, she’s dying. Oughtn’t die alone, I say.”

Lily turned back to him. Lucas had wrapped his arms around Tie again as the two men stood back to chest.

“Were you close to her?”

“We were friends,” said Tie.

“All three of you?” Lily asked.

He started to answer, but Lucas quieted him, tightening his arms around his shoulders. “Is there a reason for you asking,
cher
?”

“Another girl was killed today. I think there’s a connection and I want to find out what’s going on.”

“Tie already answered Metro’s questions.”

But Lily doubted Lucas had answered any questions. And she doubted Tie had been completely forthcoming. Not out of any wrong doing or complicity, just to protect the girl. She hadn’t come to the Med Center for an interrogation, but she suspected Lucas would be the key to getting the truth about Jennifer Richardson.

“I’m not with Metro, but it would help if you could talk with me about her. I can promise you I’ll protect her privacy.” She met Lucas’s intense scrutiny, wearing her sincerity as plainly as she could.

Finally, he answered. “She’s Tie’s friend, but we did play together a few times. The three of us. She liked to be bound.”

“Not by her clients,” said Tie. “And she wasn’t in the life. Just adventurous. She wanted to play with people she felt safe with, so I introduced her to Luc.”

“That was over a year ago, now,” said Lucas.

Lily studied Jen’s broken body. There was still the question of why the Ormney, Lanyak, had been in Jennifer’s apartment. She remembered the way Oz had grieved over Mary. They’d been more than coworkers. More than friends. She’d bet her favorite pulse rifle on it. She turned back to the two men.

“You said Jennifer was adventurous. Had you ever seen an Ormney visit her before?”

Tie looked instantly uncomfortable.

“It’s all right,
beb
,” said Lucas. “I think Lily will keep her word to protect Jen.”

Tie kept silent for a full minute. Until Lucas commanded him to “answer her” in a firm masculine tone that made the smaller man shiver in his arms.

“I’d seen the Ormney in the building before. She talked about him.”

“Was he a client?” The very idea went against everything the public had been led to believe about the Ormney.

“
Non
,” said Tie. Lily breathed a little easier for a heartbeat, then Tie added, “They were lovers.”

Jennifer Richardson had taken an Ormney lover.

The idea should have shocked Lily. It would have disgusted or terrified many Earth-natives. But not Tie LeRoue or his dominant partner. They had known and they’d kept that knowledge quiet to protect Jennifer from ridicule.

“Please,” said Lily. “Tell me about it.”

Tie and Lucas shared a silent exchange and Luc excused himself to go get drinks from the cafeteria. Lily and Tie settled into the two guest chairs. Tie leaned forward, hands clasped, forearms braced on wide-spread knees.

“She met him about six months ago. She thought he was sweet. A gentle giant, that’s what she called him.”

“Did they become lovers then?”

“Not at first. He met her in the market, carried her things home for her. He didn’t like her being a sex worker. Normally, Jen wouldn’t have put up with that, but he didn’t mean no harm with it. Just didn’t understand. They don’t have nothing like it, I guess.”

“No,” Lily agreed. “Procreation and family lines are very important in their culture. That would make sex work almost sacrilegious to them.”

“Not so much he didn’t want to do it with her, though,” said Tie. There was no malice in his voice. “Took a few months. She offered, I think. Said he seemed lonely. She’s a kindhearted soul.”

“So it was a pity thing?”

“
Non
, not just that. She was sweet on him.” His cheeks pinked as he spoke. “Ah, she liked what he did for her too. He was a big mother f— Ah, a big fella. They say size don’ matter, but sometime it do. Tie’s grin was sin incarnate. “
Mais
,
oui
. Sometime it can be real nice.”