The Season of Sin (Peace In The Storm Publishing Presents) (21 page)

“Obsessed?” Steven raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not how Lisa paints it out to be. He fell in love with her. I mean, I couldn’t believe he’d be that dumb but some women have that effect on men. When she came into the picture our friendship just went downhill.”

“How?” Brianna asked.

Kael held onto the couch. “Billy was like a brother to me, man.” Antoinette took his shivering hand.  “We were always so close but when Lisa popped up that was all he cared about. It was like she put some spell on him. Billy didn’t do the right things all the time but he had a heart. He never would’ve done anything wrong if it hadn’t been for Lisa.”

Antoinette laid her head on his shoulder.

“Billy had a lot of women in his life. I mean he loved women. But he didn’t talk about anyone or look at anyone the way he did Lisa.  He fell for her hard.  They didn’t even know each other long before he got hooked on her.”

“Hooked enough to stalk her?”

“The point is even if he did stalk her or whatever, Lisa changed Billy into something he didn’t even know he’d become. Women can do that you know? They really can. I don’t care what she said about Billy. He wouldn’t have done anything to her unless she pushed him to. She was like his drug.”

Steven lowered his head.

“You okay?” Brianna asked Steven.

“You said something about Billy in trouble.”

“Billy owed some people a lot of money,” Kael said. “He was in the hole for thousands.  He went to the old man but his daddy didn’t have that kind of money.  Antoinette and I, well we put all our money into running the bar so we sure didn’t have it.  But Lisa did. She had more than enough.  About two months after they met, she came back to Chicago and offered him forty thousand dollars.”

Brianna whistled.

“Wait now.” Steven put his cup on the table beside the floral centerpiece.  “Why would Zoë give Billy that much money?”

“I don’t know but if Billy thinks I believe she did it just to be nice, he was crazy. They had something fishy going. People you hardly know don’t usually give you thousands of dollars. I asked him why she gave him the money and every time he answered it was a different reason. No telling what he did for that bitch.” 

“So how long did she know Billy?” Brianna asked.

“Oh man it’s been at least a year and a half. And that shit she said about her just coming up here every so often is bullshit.  Every time I looked around she was in Chicago. The more I saw her, the more suspicious I got.” He shook his head.  “Anyway, Billy got the money, blew it and ran off. I guess that’s how he ended up in New York. Don’t ask me how he knew where she was but obviously he tracked her down.”

Antoinette moved her long brown hair out of her cup. “Then the cops started harassing me and Kael.”

Steven leaned up. “Cops?”

“Yeah.” Antoinette sipped. “They came over here and to the bar. Asking us where Billy was after he left town.  We told them we didn’t know and they told us to let them know if we hear from him.  That wasn’t long before he got killed.”

Brianna moved her feet from Steven’s lap. “Why did the police wanna talk to Billy?”

“They felt he knew some information about this guy, Kenneth Brockman’s murder.”

“Kenneth Brockman?” Steven gaped. 

“Yeah he was some guy who was killed,” Antoinette said.  “He was shot. They think Billy knew something.”

“Bree.” Steven batted his eyes. 

“Jim Klein.” Her hands trembled. “Holy shit.”

“This has to be some mistake.”

“I don’t think so, Steve.”

Antoinette put her feet up. “Who’s Jim Klein?”

Kael scooted up. “Does Brockman’s death mean something to you guys? What does this have to do with Lisa?”

“Not sure.” Steven made a fist.  “But I’m gonna find out.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Three Weeks Later

Steven pretended to be asleep when Zoë’s cell rang that night. He peeked when she got out of the bed. She stood naked by his dresser with her back turned. She slipped on his shirt. When she looked his way, he closed his eyes.

She told the person on the phone to hold on.  Her finger brushed Steven’s lips and a light kiss followed.

“
What
?” She spoke to the caller. “No. What do you want? I have nothing to say to you.” She sneaked out and closed the door.

Steven put on his pants and tiptoed into the hall.  He leaned down on the stairs. Zoë slunk into the kitchen. “Why would you need to talk to me?” She turned on the light and stood by the food cabinet with her hand on her hip. “You’ve been acting like I don’t even exist for weeks.”

She walked to the refrigerator with his shirt hugging her ass. Whether she was hiding something or not, he couldn’t ignore how much he wanted to throw her down and make her scream the way he had an hour ago.

“Why I’m angry?” Zoë poured a glass of apple juice.  “Oh jeez I can’t guess why.” She put the juice back in the refrigerator. “How about you betraying me and coming here when I specifically told you not to?” She got a stalk of celery out of the vegetable tray.  “Uh-huh. Everything was fine until you showed up.” She got the cheese sauce from the cabinet and dipped her celery stick in it.  “I just want you to leave. I can handle this.”

Steven propped his arms on the railing.

“You love me? Yeah I bet not as much as her huh?” Zoë chomped the celery stick.  “You damn right I’m jealous.”

Steven sat on the top step of the stairs.

“Let’s just be honest okay? I can’t compare to her. I never did. I’ll always be second best!” She threw the celery in the sink.  “Of course I love you. I wanted you to stay away so you wouldn’t get hurt.” She put the cheese sauce up.  “You always say you wanna protect me, well I was trying to do that for you.  She’ll never accept you in her life.  Not the way you want her to.”

Steven moved down two steps.

“You know I miss you too. I wanted to come to your hotel but she’s always there.” She scratched her forehead.  “Yeah I know. I’m sorry I spoke to you that way but I just don’t understand why you came to Albany. Yeah. I know.” She sniffled.  “It’s been hard for me too.”

Steven moved down another step.

“The Daily Inn motel? Well you’re right, no one we know would see us there and we do need to talk.” She sucked the celery stalk. “I’m sorry I got angry. I’ll never love another man the way I love you.”

Steven dug his fingernails into the railing.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a little while. Bye.” Zoë clicked off.

Steven ran to the bedroom, snatched off his pants and hopped into bed. 

“Steve?” Zoë rushed in. “Steve?” She poked his chest.

“Hmm?” He faked a yawn and stretched. “Is something wrong?”

“No I just gotta go.”

“Go?  You gotta be kidding me.”

“No something came up.” She kissed him. “I’m sorry. I was hoping I could stay over but I got something to do.”

 “Did I hear your phone or was I dreaming?”

“It wasn’t anybody.”

“Hey.” He pulled her on top of him. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She got her bra and panties off the floor. “I just gotta go. Can you understand that?” She threw his shirt on the dresser.

“Yeah I guess.” He kicked under the covers.

“Don’t pout.” She fastened her bra. “I’ll make it up to you.” She zipped her skintight black jeans. “I’ll give you a blowjob next time.”

“And that would be different from any other time we meet, how?”

She sat beside him with a slick smile. “Okay how about this? Next time I’ll let you do anything, anything you want to me in every possible position you can.” She sucked his nipple.

He kissed her. “I’m gonna make sure you keep that promise.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“A woman as beautiful and sexy as you can ask me anything.” He pulled her hair back.

Her fingers crawled down his chest. “How do you feel about me?  I mean really?”

“Uh, you know how I feel. I like you a lot. You know that right?”

“Is it just for sex?  Because this has been going on a while and I’d like to know.”

“No.” He scratched his head.  “It’s not just sex.”

“Then how come you’ve never taken me out on a date?  We just meet up for sex and it feels so cheap.”

“You didn’t used to feel that way.”

“Yeah but I do now.” She put her hands on his stomach and rested her head.

“Umm I didn’t know you felt that way. You should’ve told me. I would’ve taken you out. Where do you want to go?”

“I shouldn’t have to ask.”

“Zoë what’s with the attitude? I’m not a damn mind reader. You have to tell me what you want.”

“I want us to be a real couple.”

“You…uh…you do?” He tried to catch his breath but wasn’t sure he had any left.

“I’m not trying to put you on the spot or make any demands but I really care about you.  I love the time we spend together. I haven’t been this happy in a long time. I want to be your girlfriend. I’m falling in love with you. I know you’re surprised and feel like this is coming out of the blue. Maybe it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have had sex with you so quickly that first time.  I regret that now.”

He rested on the pillow.

“You don’t have to say anything.” She put her finger on his lips. “I understand if you’re not there yet.”

Yet?  He wasn’t sure if he’d
ever
be there.

“Zoë you mean a lot to me okay? You’re a very special person.”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Have we been having sex or making love?”

Why did women always do this? At one point he thought he could learn to love her.  But his feelings for her hadn’t moved since they had sex on Jasmine’s stairs. He cared about her.  He wasn’t the kind of man who could have sex with someone and not care.  But love?  He couldn’t bring his mouth to say that word around her. He felt obligated but not once had he felt he loved her.  He loved Bree. 

He’d been so desperate to teach Bree a lesson.  He felt if he moved on, it would force Bree to take him back. Shit
that’s
what he wanted. 

Now he had this gorgeous woman in front of him who’d just spilled her guts. Was he a jerk or just an idiot? Any man would kill to be with a woman like Zoë Peron.  But if Brianna gave him one tiny bit of a shot with her he’d drop Zoë on the spot.

Yep he was a jerk.

“I…”

“Shh. You don’t have to answer that.”

“Well we really haven’t known each other all that long right?  It takes time.”

She caressed his face. “Yeah you’re right.”

“If we’re talking getting serious, we need to know more about each other.”

“I think we already do.” She went to kiss him but he stopped her.

“Sexually speaking, we know each other very well.” He touched the ends of her hair. “But I want to know about you in general.”

“I don’t understand. What else would you need to know? We’ve talked about my modeling, where I went to college and me being adopted.”

“But you don’t talk about your adoptive family. You don’t talk about your parents. You don’t talk about where you grew up or where you’re from. Have you lived in New York all your life? If not, where did you grow up? How many guys have you dated? How many serious relationships? I don’t know enough about you, Zoë.”

“What’s with you lately?  How come every time we’re together now I only get questions?”

“You’re the one who just said you want us to get serious. Well I can’t if I don’t know you well enough. You know all about my family and past. I’ve been upfront even about Bree. You haven’t shared much of anything. I’m beginning to think you’re using sex to divert me from asking about you or something. I care about you and I just wanna know more about you.”

“But why all of a sudden you’re so anxious to know more? At first just knowing how to make me come was enough for you.”

“Is that another diversion? You just asked me how I felt about you and I told you that being in love is part of knowing someone.”

“You do know me.” She got her barrette off the dresser. “You know what’s important.”

 “What’s the matter?”

“I don’t like being interrogated all right?” She got her comb from her purse.

“So because I wanna know more about you, it’s an interrogation? Why? You got something to hide?” He threw the covers off.

“No.  But man you’ve been a drag lately.  Every time we’re together it ends up with these questions and I don’t like how you look at me lately.”

“And how do I look?”

“Like that.” She pointed. “Like you’re accusing me of something.  I don’t need this shit, Steven. I like you a lot and it hurts that you seem to be only suspicious of me.”

“Wait.” He held her.  “I just asked some questions. Why are you getting so upset?”

“I’m not upset but I feel like something has changed with you.  I hope Bree hasn’t been planting things in your head.”

“She wouldn’t do that.”

“Steve.” She combed her hair. “You might think you know women but I am one and we’re all shady sometimes.” She made a tight ponytail and clipped it down with her barrette.  “Even Bree’s not perfect.”

“I never said she was.”

“Did she get a bunch of questions after you guys made love or did you save such special treatment for me?”

“I don’t understand the attitude at all. You act like I accused you of being with another man or something.”

She put on her earrings.

“You’re not right?”

“Not what?” She put on her bracelet.

“Seeing someone else?”

“Stop it, Steve. Goddamn it what’s going on? Of course I’m not seeing someone else but I don’t get you. I ask you if we can be serious, you give me the runaround now you wanna know if I’m with someone else.” She got her lipstick and eyebrow pencil out of her purse. “You really don’t have the right to ask.”

“You’re right.  I don’t.”

She painted her eyebrows. “I’m not seeing anyone else.  I really, really like you. Don’t I show that every time we’re together?”

“Yes.”

“And I’ll share more okay but I’m very private. It’s just how I’ve always been. It takes time for me to open up.  But please don’t doubt that I want us to be more than just sex. I mean that with all my heart.”