Guilty Pleasure (13 page)

“
It’s okay,
Nicole.”

Nicole pulled herself together and then
stepped out of his embrace.

“
You can go freshen up in
my bathroom. Give yourself a moment.”

Michael watched her quickly hurry over to
the bathroom. Damn it, he was going to have to tell that woman he
loved her. She needed to hear those damn words. He never told
anyone that he loved them before. Not even his other two
girlfriends. He didn’t know anything about love, nor did he care to
learn about it. He watched her come back out. She grabbed her purse
and straightened her dress out. She looked at him. She looked
vulnerable yet the warmth and love in her eyes was undeniable.

“
Are you
alright?”

“
I will be. We are going to
talk with that poor girl who almost became another victim of
Johnny. The last thing she needs is to see some strange woman be an
emotional mess,” Nicole said.

He walked over to her and gently ran his
hand down her hair. “I’m sure you will bring her a measure of
comfort.”

“
How do you know
that?”

“
You bring me
comfort.”

He leaned in and kissed her tenderly then he
stepped back. He went back over to his desk and grabbed his
briefcase. “We better head out. Are you sure you are okay?”

“
Yep.”

“
Alright. They have her in
the interrogation room I spoke to Johnny in. The prosecutor will be
observing like you did.”

“
Why?”

“
She wants to make sure I
don’t harass the witness.”

“
You wouldn’t harass
her.”

“
Of course not. But the
prosecutor is Lexi Taylor and she has got the hots for me. She
takes any chance she can to get near me.”

“
Oh that bitch better not
think about…” Nicole stopped talking when Michael started to laugh.
She loved his laughter and quickly her jealousy was
cooled.

***

Nicole waited in the interrogation room with
Michael as they waited for the witness to show up.

“
What is the witness’
name?” Nicole asked.

“
Ashley Strickland. Let me
do the talking you just observe.”

“
Yes, Sir.”

Nicole’s whole body tensed when the door
opened. A very attractive woman wearing a business suit came in.
She looked to be the same age as Michael.

“
Michael, it is always a
pleasure to see you.”

Michael stood and went over to her. “Hello
Lexi, where is the witness? I would like to get this over with so
the poor girl doesn’t have to be put through undue stress.”

“
Sure, you really care
about the witness. You forget who you are talking to.” Lexi’s
attention went to Nicole. “Why is your pretty young assistant
glaring at me? Don’t tell me you have fucked her
already.”

“
Hey, who the fuck do you
think you are?” Nicole said as she quickly stood.

“
Well, I’m going to take
that as a yes. You must have a magical cock on you, Michael, if
that little thing is willing to go toe to toe with me.”

“
How about you try to be
professional, Lexi,” Michael said.

“
I’m always professional.”
She moved closer to Michael. “Maybe someday you might let me sample
that magical cock of yours.”

“
Back off, bitch,” Nicole
said.

“
Calm down, girl. Michael,
you should explain to your booty call that I am the head prosecutor
and that I could squash her career.”

Michael moved closer to her. “You will leave
Nicole alone. Now bring in the witness and try to remember to act
like a lady.”

Lexi shot Michael a daggered look then left
the room.

“
Nicole, you must remember
to act professional.”

“
I’m sorry, that bitch just
pressed all my buttons at once.”

“
That was her intention. I
won’t let her hurt your career.”

“
I’m not worried about
that. I didn’t like the way she talked to you.”

“
Gather yourself, the
witness will be here any moment.”

Michael watched her close her eyes and take
several deep breaths.

“
I’m good,” she
said.

Michael tended to forget that Nicole was ten
years younger than him. Her career was new and her outlook on life
was less jaded, though it sounded like her life wasn’t too easy to
begin with. He cleared his thoughts and tried not to think about
this. That damn Lexi, he wished he could cut her fucking throat and
be done with the bitch. Someday maybe he would find a way to do
just that. Right now, he had to focus on controlling his inner
demon. A part of him wanted to kill this witness just so he could
rub it in Johnny’s face. Another part of him wanted to fuck with
this victim’s mind, psychological torture was almost as satisfying
as physical torture. Yet, he had to focus on his job, especially
with Nicole sitting right here and that bitch Lexi looking on in
the other room.

“
Michael?”

Michael snapped out of his thoughts when he
heard Nicole’s voice.

“
Wow, you were deep in
thought.”

“
What do you
mean?”

“
I was trying to get your
attention for the last couple of moments. They said Ashley will be
here in five minutes. What were you thinking about?”

“
How to approach
questioning this victim without upsetting her.”

“
Oh, but why don’t you just
call her by her name. Why do you call her victim?”

“
Nicole, you have to
separate yourself from the job. You can’t feel for all of
them.”

Michael stood when the door opened.

A police officer escorted a very young woman
inside. He instructed her to sit down and asked if she wanted
anything to drink.

Nicole looked at Ashley. This girl couldn’t
be no more than nineteen years old at most. She had a really pretty
face. She wasn’t that much taller than Nicole. She was curvy and
had badly dyed blonde hair. She wore faded jeans and a fitted
T-shirt that had a unicorn picture on it.

“
Hello, Ashley, I’m Michael
and this is my assistant Nicole.”

“
You are defending that
piece of shit aren’t you?” Ashley angrily said.

“
Yes.”

“
Why do I have to talk to
you?”

“
I don’t want to make this
any more unpleasant than it needs to be, but I will be cross
examining you when you take the stand.”

“
Someone should rape and
strangle Johnny, make him feel what he put those poor women
through. I thank God that I managed to get away from
him.”

“
Thank God,
huh.”

“
Yes. Why?”

“
I find it odd that some
hooker would be thanking God for anything.”

“
Michael?” Nicole
said.

“
Nicole, I told you to sit
there quietly.”

“
Yes, Sir.”

“
I do what I have to do to
survive,” Ashley said.

“
A lot of women do what
they have to do to survive, but that doesn’t entail renting their
bodies out.”

“
Hey, what the fuck is your
problem.”

“
See, you are easy to get
riled up. A woman in your profession must know there are risks to
going off with some strange man. What made you decide that it was
safe to go off with Johnny down some dirty alley? What did he pay
you to do?”

“
He wanted a blow job. It
was Saturday night so I wanted to make it quick. He looked harmless
enough. You have seen him.”

“
So, you were going to get
down on your knees behind some trash dumpster and suck his cock for
a measly twenty bucks, that is the going rate for your kind isn’t
it?”

“
Look at you in your fancy
suit passing down judgement.”

“
What drug are you are
addicted to that would make you take such a risk.”

“
I don’t have to answer
that.”

“
Not here, no you don’t
have to, but I guarantee I will ask the same question in
court.”

“
Why?”

“
I have to do what’s best
for my client. I have to make that jury see that your life and all
of those other women’s lives wasn’t that great of a loss. Poor
Johnny suffers from a mental illness and thank God he didn’t decide
to kill someone who might have mattered.”

“
Michael?!” Nicole said as
she stood.

“
Sit the fuck down,
Nicole.”

Nicole slowly sat.

“
My life matters, you son
of a bitch! Those other women he killed mattered. How dare you say
otherwise!”

“
Are you angry?”

“
You are fucking right I’m
angry.”

“
Good.”

“
What game are you
playing?”

“
I want you to remember how
angry I got you today. Use that anger to keep your shit together on
that witness stand. You show that jury that your life matters that
those other women mattered. Let them see Johnny for the monster he
is. Because I guarantee you I will do everything in my power to get
my client the least punishment I can. You want that asshole to
suffer don’t you?”

“
Yes.”

“
Now tell me how you got
away from him.”

“
I kicked him in the balls
and ran like hell. I don’t know how I managed to get into a
position to kick him, all I remember was connecting and feeling him
let go. I ran as fast as I could praying some place was still open.
I saw the neon sign of that bar and rushed in there. The bartender
wasn’t going to help me at first and told me to tell my pimp to
keep his girls out of his bar.”

“
Were there many people in
there?”

“
No, just a couple of drunk
guys and the bartender. Thankfully, a nice older man who believed
me and was going to stay with me until the cops came.”

Michael wanted to smile. That stupid fucker
could have pretended to be her pimp and drag her ass out of there.
Her only hero was an older man. Michael wanted to laugh at Johnny’s
stupidity. He couldn’t wait to share this with that asshole the
next time he saw him.

“
Times up, sexy,” Lexi said
as she came into the room.

“
You remember that anger,
Ashley,” Michael said.

Lexi escorted Ashley out of the room.

“
You wanted her to get
angry with you?” Nicole said.

“
Of course, otherwise she
would crumble on the stand and make my job really easy.”

“
You don’t want to get
Johnny a lighter sentence?”

“
No, someone like him
doesn’t deserve to live. But since there is no death sentence in
Illinois, life in prison will have to suffice.” Michael could
easily make an insanity case for Johnny, but he didn’t want to. He
wanted that idiot to suffer. Since Johnny was afraid to take on a
male victim he would stand no chance with the prisoners he will be
forced to live out his life. Michael gave Johnny two years at most
before that fucker got himself killed.

“
I’m sorry, I should have
listened and just sat here quietly. I just couldn’t believe you
were saying those awful things to her.”

“
I had to get her mad so
she would fight.” Michael stood and headed to the door.

“
She didn’t have to talk to
you, but she did, why?”

“
I’m sure Lexi talked her
into it.”

“
She did that so she could
get close to you. What a fucking bitch.”

“
That’s part of the reason.
The other part is Lexi wants the witness to get a feel for me
before we go to court. It is a sound strategy.”

“
You sound like you admire
Lexi.” Nicole pouted.

“
Don’t get jealous, woman,
I admire her skill as a prosecutor, she is a hard bitch to
beat.”

Michael left the room and Nicole followed.
They went back to his car. He started driving to his apartment.

“
Lexi is really pretty and
she is about your age.”

Michael pulled into Millennium Park. He got
out of the car then went over to her side and opened the door.

“
Come here, Nicole.”
Michael grabbed her hand and helped her out of the car. He slammed
the door shut then led her to the Millennium Monument, thankfully
there weren’t that many people here. He walked off to the side of
the monument and pulled her into his arms. He kissed her roughly,
lifting her up. He leaned her against the marble of the
monument.

“
Your jealousy isn’t
necessary,” he said as he pulled her dress up.

“
She is so…”

“
She is a fucking bitch.
She doesn’t compare to you, woman.” He tore her panties off. “I
told you not to wear panties when you are with me.” He quickly
undid his pants.

“
Michael, someone will see
us.”

“
I don’t give a fuck.” He
pulled his pants down with one hand as he held her up with the
other. He drove his cock into her. He bit her lip causing her to
wince. “You are mine and I’m yours, woman.”