Love Again (16 page)

Lennie got down off the desk and put her clothes back on, “You think I’m going to let you boss me around?”

“I’m not bossing you around, I’m just tired of this friendship bullshit!  You want everything between us to happen just as bad as I do, if I have to hold you against your will to get you to agree to a relationship—I will.”

“You’re an ass.”

I smiled then leaned in and kissed her softly on the lips, “Don’t forget Double A batteries.”

She went into the bathroom, “That’s better, sorry to say but the Kleenex’s just didn’t do a good job.

Tiffany gave me a smug smile as we walked past her, “See you tomorrow!” She said with a smile and a wink. 

On the drive to my place Lennie was quiet so I reached over and grabbed her hand, “What’s going through that beautiful head of yours?” I asked.

“This all just seems to be moving too fast, I haven’t heard anything more about the divorce and I’m already falling for you.  I just feel like a…”

“Don’t even finish that sentence, because you’re not!” I lifted her hand to my lips and kissed her knuckles, “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since the first day I met you.”

“It’s all so fast!” She said, her voice wavering.

“Everything happens for a reason, we’ll take it one day at a time.  I just know I’ve never felt like this with anybody else.”

She didn’t respond, instead she simply nodded her head.

The up’s and down’s I was going through were wearing me out, physically and mentally.  I hadn’t heard from the attorney about my divorce and that worried me.  Things with Dominique were picture perfect, he was so loving and caring but I felt like I wasn’t being fair to him.  I really REALLY liked him and if I listened to my heart, I was falling in love with Dominique. 

It was everything about him but the one thing that I loved the most was his kiss.  When he kissed me it was like time stood still, I had no worries, no stress and always wanted more from him.  I knew that I wouldn’t be able to keep him in the friend zone for very long, it was like a challenge to him.  A challenge he knew he would win. 

“So, tell me what kind of fantasies you have.” He said when he climbed into my bed. 

I laughed, “Fantasies?’

“Yeah, I’m sure in all those books you’ve read that you have some desire to try new stuff.”

I continued to laugh then tapped my head, “They’re going to stay up here and be my little secret.” I told him.

“Come on, we always talk about our day to day stuff…change it up a bit—humor me.” He pushed the covers down so my torso was exposed.  I was wearing a spaghetti strap nightshirt and a pair of booty shorts.  “Or I can torture it out of you.” He said with a grin as he circled one of my nipples. 

“Good luck with that!” I stated, knowing that if anybody could get me to tell my fantasies…it was him.

“Is that a
challenge
, I would hope that by now you know that I’m a very determined person.” Then he covered my nipple with his mouth, even through the thin fabric the sensation felt amazing. 

“Public sex…I want to have sex in public.  Not like in a perverted way where kids are watching.  I just want to be doing something…”

“That can get us both arrested?” he laughed when he said it.  “But I’m down to do it.  What else?”

“Promise not to think I’m a—you know?” I could feel that I was blushing.

“Nothing you say or do can ever make me think that about you.” He said with a sincere tone.

“I sorta want to make a sex tape.” I blurted out.

His eyebrows shot up, “A sex tape?  Those have been known to get in the wrong hands and cause a lot of trouble for people.  But, once again, I’m down to do it.”

“Have you made one before?” I asked him.

“Not a tape no, but I’ve taken pictures during sex.” He shrugged his shoulders.

“Have you ever dominated in the bedroom?”

“I do that with you all the time.” He grinned. I shook my head and covered my face.  “Or do you mean like the really kinky kind of domination?” Dominique pulled my hands away.  “Lennie?”

“Okay, yes!  I want to feel like I’ll explode or go mad if I don’t get to have an orgasm.  I also fantasize about having a three sum.”  I could feel myself blushing again. 

“Two chicks?” He asked hopefully. 

I glared over at him, “No, two men.”

“Hmm…I don’t know if I could keep from choking another man if he touched you.”

“These are just fantasies, remember?  It’s my turn to ask you stuff now.” I smiled at him.

“Ask away!” He leaned against the headboard with his hands behind his head.  I kneeled on my knees and slowly slid my finger from his hip line and up his torso. 

“Is it hard for you being with a white woman?”

He didn’t even hesitate before he answered, “Hell no, I love you and…”

My eyes got big he snapped his mouth shut, “What did you just say?” tears filled my eyes. 

Dominique grabbed my hips and pulled me onto his lap so I was straddling him, “Don’t freak out, it slipped—but it’s true.  I fucking hate being away from you, my day is shit unless I get to see you and kiss you.  I could give two shit’s less what your skin color is Lennie, it’s what’s in here and here that I love.” He tapped over my heart and then my head.  “I know it’s fast and scares you but trust me, it scares the hell out of me too.”

Everything he said was the same for me, but I couldn’t tell him.  I didn’t want things to change between us. 

“Say something, fuck.” He pulled me against him and I started crying.  “Don’t pull away from me please…please.” He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me.  My heart was pounding so hard there was no way he couldn’t feel it.  “Lennie, please…please say something.”

I stared into his eyes, finally after a minute I whispered, “I’m so scared.”

His lips pressed hard against mine, “I’m not going to hurt you, you’re my white gold.  I’ll do everything in my power to make you shine even when you don’t feel like you can.”

As badly as I wanted to tell him that I loved him, I couldn’t say the words.  I couldn’t put myself out there yet, the fear of being hurt trumped my heart again.

“Come here, quit over thinking everything.  I don’t expect you to say it back right now, I can’t leave town feeling like you’re going to run from me the minute I leave.” Dominique said as he slid down in the bed. 

“Just give me a little more time, okay?” I looked up at him. 

“I will, I just want you to trust me.”

I nodded my head, “I know.” I whispered. 

The soft thudding of Dominique’s heart and the feather soft touch of his hand rubbing against my back, I fell asleep against the chest of the man I loved.

~~~~~~

“You know, I would have never thought things would be like this between us.  I loved you, then you turned into somebody else.”

I was dreaming that Justin was talking to me.

“God I’ll never forget the first time we met, the first time we kissed, danced together, you were so naïve and innocent.  Now look at you.  You’ve turned into a lying little whore.”

The bed sagged and he brushed hair away from my face, “Mom was right about you all along.”

My eyes snapped open when he traced his finger down my cheek, it wasn’t a dream…he was actually IN.MY.HOUSE! I pulled away so fast I almost fell out of the bed. 

“How did you get in here?  Get the hell out!” I yelled.

“Is that any way to talk to your husband?  Don’t worry, you’re nigger doesn’t know I’m here.  I waited for him to leave.  Can’t believe you used your birthday and graduation years for your security code.” He laughed. 

I scurried out of the bed, “Leave!  I don’t want you here.” I tried to run out of the room to the kitchen where I had my cell phone plugged in. 

He quickly stopped me just before I could get to the door, “Lennie, Lennie, Lennie…” he tisked and shook his head.  “You should really stop trying to fool yourself.  We both know that you’re still in love with me and always will be.  I almost signed those divorce papers so I would be done with a cunt like you, but, then my attorney brought something to my attention.” His grin was pure evil. 

“Justin, I don’t love you anymore!” I yelled in his face and annunciated each word. 

He wrapped his hand around my throat and pushed me against the wall, “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out that you have a shit ton of money hidden in a bank somewhere?”

The blue eyes that I had once loved were now dull and angry, he had lost so much weight his eyes were starting to sink deeper.  My vision was getting blurry with tears and from lack of oxygen, he used his other hand to stroke my cheek.  My stomach knotted and I felt like I was going to throw up. 

“Poor Lennie, this must be so hard on you since your daddy fucked around on dear old mommy and left you both.”

I quickly raised my knee and connecting with his groin, his hand dropped from my throat when he dropped to the floor.  “You fucking BITCH!” he coughed out. 

I bent over and gasped for air then darted out of the room, I only made it a few steps before Justin tackled me to the floor.  “Get off of me!” I screamed.  He smashed my face into the wood floor and put his knee in the middle of my back.

“Where’s the money Lennie?” He growled in my ear.  When I didn’t answer he pushed his knee deeper and fisted my hair in his hands before smashing my face against the floor.  “ANSWER ME!”

“I…I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I mumbled.  Blood filled my mouth and my face throbbed. 

He yanked me up by my hair and dragged me into the living room, “Bullshit you lying fucking bitch!” Justin pushed me down on the couch.  “That new car cost you a hell of a chunk of money!  Next time I wouldn’t take your famous fuck buddy with you and let the dealership post it all over their website, this house cost you a pretty fucking penny too.  You sure wasted no time moving on.” He was pacing in front of me.  I wanted to scream but I knew that nobody would be able to hear me.  “Technically we’re still married, what’s your is mine.” He gave me a sadistic smile.

I shook my head, “I…I signed the papers.  The car was returned.”

Justin stopped pacing, “Sixty days is how long it takes to finalize.  Trust me if I could have convinced the system to be done sooner I would.”

He was confusing me, “So you just want money? Then you’ll leave me alone?  I don’t understand how I’m the bad person.  You’re the one that was cheating on me Justin…and using drugs!”

“You CHANGED!  Once you started working you fucking changed.” He yelled

“You were probably cheating on me before I started working!  I gave up everything for you.  I had no friends besides Corrina.  I don’t understand why you’re here, why you’re doing this to me.  Just for money?!” I was trying not to cry.  If truth be told I don’t think Justin even knew why he was there.

“Where’s the money?”

Just as I was about to ask him a question, my cell phone rang.  I tried to stand up but he pulled a black hand gun out from the waistband of his jeans and pointed it at me.  “I wouldn’t fucking move if I were you.” With the gun still pointed at me he walked over to where my phone was.  “Aww--it’s lover boy.”

“Stop!” I yelled but he just laughed.  Then he answered the phone.

My heart sank, Dominique’s flight to Florida would take about three hours.  I looked at the clock and knew that he wouldn’t be able to help me.

I wrapped my arms around myself when I heard his voice over speakerphone, Justin’s sinister laugh sending chills over my body.  I closed my eyes and started crying, when would I ever be free from Justin and the pain he caused me?

I had scared the hell out of her when I told her that I loved her, but, I had to tell her.  She needed to know exactly how I felt about her.  As she fell asleep I stared at the ceiling, she was everything to me and I’d wait as long as I had to for her to stop fighting with herself and admit that she was in love with me too.  That night I dreamed about her;
we were in Cancun for our wedding.  She wore a short white strapless dress, her hair fell in dark red curls against her sun kissed skin.  The way her green eyes shined with tears as she repeated the vows.  Kissing her, sealing our marriage, “I love you so much.” She whispered against my lips. 

“You just made me the happiest man alive, I love you.” I kissed her again.  We danced on the beach, the sun setting slowly in the horizon.  Back in the cottage, I took my time kissing her, touching every inch of her soft skin after I undressed her.  Her soft moans and sighs encouraged me to take my time.  I would never get tired of Lennie, she had showed me what true love was like and I wanted to show her how much I loved everything about her.
 

My phone beeped, waking me up, I wanted to throw it across the room and return to my peaceful sleep.  Lennie was beside me on her stomach, one hand tucked under her pillow the other resting on my chest over my heart.  I gently moved her hand to my mouth and kissed it before getting out of bed. 

I showered and dressed then went back over to the bed, she had moved so that she was spread out over the bed.  I lifted the edge of the pillow that was covering her head, “I love you.” I whispered then kissed her on the corner of her mouth.  The soft morning light filtered through the curtains, she moaned then snuggled against my pillow.  I didn’t want to leave her but I had a two-day photo shoot I had already rescheduled when I was moving into my house. 

On the flight to Florida I couldn’t stop thinking about the dream, I smiled, someday it would be true.  Just not anytime soon.  I reclined my seat and fell asleep.  The flight attendant woke me up to let me know we would be landing soon.  I wasn’t sure if it was because her cold hand against my arm had startled me awake, or the fact that in my dream there was a woman hidden in shadows crying and every time I tried to walk toward her she went deeper into the darkness.  Whatever it was I felt like something was wrong. 

As soon as I stepped off my personal jet, I was greeted by the limo driver.  He introduced himself to me and put my luggage I the trunk of the car.  I opened the back door and got in the back seat, the feeling that something was wrong weighed heavy on me still. 

I pulled my phone out so I could call Lennie, hopefully she was awake by now because I needed to hear her beautiful voice.  The phone rang a couple times before a man answered, I pulled my phone away and looked at the display to make sure that I had called the right person.  The picture of Lennie in her bikini at my house was on the display…I had called the right number so who the fuck had answered her phone?

“What’s wrong lover boy?  Cat got your tongue?” the guy said.

“Who the fuck is this and why are you answering Lennie’s phone?” I asked angrily. 

When he laughed is when I figured out who it was…Justin.  My blood ran cold and I was instantly pissed off. 

“You should probably be asking how my
wife
is doing since she wasn’t able to answer her phone.”

“I will fucking kill you if you hurt her, put her on the phone.” I yelled.  I couldn’t stop talking to him to send Trevor a text so I reached to the front and grabbed the drivers cell phone off of his hip. 

“Sorry, I don’t think you really need to talk to another mans
wife
I speak for both Lennie and I when I say that you need to leave her alone.”

I typed Trevor’s number in to the recipient line and sent him a text:

Phone
: Go to Lennie’s…Call the cops!

Trevor
:  Who the fuck is this?

Phone
:  Dom, get over there now.  Her ex is there, fucking hurry!

“Turn the fucking car around now!”  I yelled at the driver. 

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“DO IT!” I yelled louder. 

I braced myself against the door as he made a sharp U-Turn.  I didn’t bother looking out the window to see how close he was to causing a wreck, the horns blaring were indicative enough.

Justin laughed in the background, “By the time you get here asshole, we won’t be here.  I’m taking my
wife
and we are leaving.  I can’t believe I forgot how beautiful she is in the morning, obviously I need to get reacquainted with her body.”

“I’ll fucking kill you, let me talk to her!”

Trevor text me back:

Trevor
:  On my way, traffic is horrible I’ll let you know when I get there.  PD is on their way over there.

“
It’s on speakerphone talk away.” Justin said with a laugh.

“LENNIE?” I called out her name.

I heard a shuffling sound and Justin say something that I couldn’t understand, “I’m sorry, I…I love him.”

“Bull shit!  Don’t you leave with him!” My hands were shaking and my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest. 

“I—have to.  Goodbye Dominique.” I could tell she was starting to cry. 

“Don’t!...” The line went dead.  I tried calling her back but the phone rang and rang until her voicemail picked up.  “FUCK…FUCK…FUCK!” I punched the seat repeatedly. 

Finally the limo pulled up at the hanger where my jet was, the pilot did a double take when he seen me climb out of the car and run toward him. 

“Mr. Hastings I thought…”

“You either fly this son of a bitch or I do.” I yelled at him.

It took thirty minutes before we were able to get clearance for take off that meant for the next three hours I would have no way to know what the hell was going on at Lennie’s.

I couldn’t sit still so I paced up and down the short isle, the flight attendant repeatedly asking me if I could please sit down. 

I whipped around, “Do you see any other fucking people on my jet besides me, you and the fucking pilots?  No!  Don’t fucking tell me to sit down again.” I harshly told her.  Finally after feeling like I was going to wear a path through the floor I went to the small bedroom in the back of the jet and sat down on the bed.  With my elbows resting on my knees, I prayed for Lennie to be strong and for Justin to leave her alone. 

My head was pounding and my anger still raging by the time the jet touched down.  Trevor met me at the hanger, “It’s not good.” He told me.

“Did he take her?”

Trevor nodded his head, “Left her cell phone and purse on the counter and her car in the driveway.  I’ve been to his place and both vehicles are there so I can’t figure out what he left with her in.  Tried calling his cell phone and it goes straight to voicemail.”

“Has Corrina heard from her?” I asked trying to keep from throwing myself on the ground in a raging fit

“Nope, nothing.”

We went back to Lennie’s house, cops were just getting ready to leave when we showed up.

“The fuck?  You’re not leaving!” I snapped at one of them.

“Sir we will file a missing person report after twenty four hours, since they are still legally married.  For all we know they are somewhere talking and don’t want to be disturbed.”

“Are you
fucking
kidding me?!” I yelled.

“I’m sorry but we’ve done all we can right now.” The short little prick walked past me.  Trevor stopped me from reaching out and grabbing him by the neck of his shirt.

“Noooo you don’t, you’re not going to jail…yet.  Let’s go inside and wait for Corrina to get here.  We’ll find her Dominique.” He wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and walked inside. 

I couldn’t sit down once inside the house, I paced the living room then walked back to the last place I had seen her.  As I walked down the hallway I spotted drops of blood on the hardwood floor, instantly my anger went from pissed off to murderous pissed off.  “Did they not see this shit?” I yelled at Trevor. 

He walked over to where I was standing, “Yeah they took pictures of it, I don’t know what makes them think they are off some where just talking.” He shook his head.

When Corrina showed up she was bawling, “I’m going to kill him when I find him.” She threw herself at Trevor.  He hugged her as she sobbed. 

We all the sat down and tried to figure out why Justin had suddenly showed back up, “The son of a bitch had to be close by when I left.” I told them.  “How the hell did he know the code to her security system or where the extra key was?”

Corrina sniffled, “She uses the same passcode for everything,” her eyes got big, “Oh no, her bank account!” she run over to where Lennie’s phone was and called the bank.   Her face paled, “How much did she take out?”  After a minute she hung up.  “Lennie withdrew two million this morning, they were in a black SUV with dark tinted windows.  The bank is going to review the surveillance footage and contact the cops if they have a good read on the tag number.”

I turned and punched the wall, the dry wall broke under my knuckles.  “We have to wait twenty four hours…BULLSHIT!”  Then a thought hit me, “Jill…maybe she knows what’s going on!”

Corrina sifted through her purse, “I still have this cell phone of Justin’s!” with shaking hands she powered it on scrolled through the call log and called Jill then handed me the phone.  She didn’t answer so I hung up and waited a few minutes before I called back, I would call so much she would be annoyed and have to answer. 

“Hello?” a woman whispered into the phone. 

“Jill?” I snapped.

“No, I’m sorry, this is nurse Janelle.  The phone was ringing and I tried to shut it off but answered it instead.”

“Where’s Jill?” I was frustrated, pissed off and confused.

“All I can tell you is she’s in ICU at Mount Sinai, are you family?” she asked.

“No, just a close friend concerned about her.  I hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days.” I lied.

“She’s in ICU room number eight twenty two.”

Then the call was disconnected. 

“Why is she in ICU?” Corrina questioned.

I looked at her, “Do I look like I know the answer to that?  I’m not flying out there to see, I’ll have Tiffany go.  She knows Jill’s parents.”

Tiffany couldn’t leave the office fast enough while I was talking to her, she promised to keep me updated the very minute she talked to them.

Now it was a waiting game…and me being impatient wasn’t going to be good.