Protective Custody Read online

  “Don’t you worry about it. I’m fine, you hear? I beat Mr. Kingston at shuffleboard yesterday. Finally.”

  She smiled and rubbed a knot of tension from her neck. “I knew you would. Are you taking your medicine, Gram? A nurse stopped me on my way out last time and told me you’ve been giving her a hard time about your blood-pressure pill.”

  Her grandmother groaned. “Damn things make me so sleepy. But Dr. Odell said I have to, so I took it today. Didn’t give nobody no problem about it. You can ask ’em.”

  Megan relaxed. “Good.”

  “That nice Jerome came by to see me on Monday. Brought me candy and everything. All the old ladies here were so jealous. I think he may be planning to propose to you, honey.”

  Sharp pains stabbed at Megan’s forehead. “Gram, I told you. I broke up with Jerome last month.”

  “But he cares about you. You’re nearly thirty, darlin’. If you don’t find a man to marry you soon, well…”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Jerome isn’t the one.”

  Gram sighed. “I suppose that white boy was, hmm? I told you, girl, he’s out of your league. Bad things happen when folks like us don’t stick to our own.”

  Her headache intensified. “That’s old-fashioned thinking. We’ve had this discussion before. And I don’t need any man to make me happy, Gram. If I find one, great. If not, well, that’s okay too.”

  “Oh, Megan. Are you dating that white man again? You tryin’ to make this old woman die of a broken heart?”

  A broken heart. That perfectly describes what leaving Will did to me.

  She’d never accept Will. “Of course not.”

  “Well, thank the Lord. You come see me soon, you hear?”

  Her shoulders sank. “Yes, ma’am. I promise.”

  “You’re a good girl.”

  “Bye, Gram.” She hung up and started toward the kitchen. A small pop startled her. Then the house went dark. She stopped at the window. The rain had picked up, but not so strong to knock out the power.

  At least it was still light enough that she could negotiate the house without a flashlight. She went straight for the pantry and pulled out a few candles and an electric lantern. The wall phone rang before she could light a match. Maybe Gram had forgotten something.

  “Hello?”

  That same evil laughter from earlier rang through the line.

  “Who’s there?” All the air whooshed from her lungs. She slammed the phone down. A scream stuck in her throat as she scrambled to the counter and plucked a big knife from the butcher block.

  A tall shadow crossed the foyer. She tightened her grip on the knife and wished her cell phone wasn’t on the opposite end of the house. Pressing against the wall, she sidestepped toward the back door. She clicked the bolt open and pushed, but nothing happened. She shoved with all her might and managed to get it open.

  She made it next door in seconds. Pounding on the door, she kept glancing over her shoulder, expecting someone to be there.

  Her neighbors weren’t home so she channeled all her confidence and returned to her house. “Who’s there?” she shouted at the top of her lungs.

  The front door creaked, but when she checked, there was nothing there.

  A noise drew her attention to the living room. She clutched the knife, inched forward and peered through the doorway. The room was empty. Am I crazy?

  Her imagination was getting the best of her.

  When brakes squealed outside, she ran to the front windows. A white SUV sped away. Could it have been the same one that had followed them on the way home?

  Jerome? Didn’t his sister own a similar vehicle that he sometimes borrowed?

  It hadn’t been her imagination. Someone was trying to frighten her, and doing a damn good job. She slid to the floor, terror clawing at her throat.

  Could he be responsible for the threatening calls? The voice was so muffled it could have been anyone. Maybe he’d left the fake head on her porch too. His maturity level was on par with a teenage boy, so that was certainly a possibility. She prayed it was Jerome. A little stalking was more manageable than having a murderer after her.

  She ought to let Will know about this. It could wait until he arrived, but she wanted to hear his voice and get an idea when he’d be arriving.

  Will answered, sounding nearly as harried as earlier.

  “Hey. My power’s out.” A pang of jealousy stabbed at her insides when a woman spoke in the background. She hadn’t even asked if he was dating anyone. Her body suddenly felt heavy and sluggish, and her headache returned.

  “Is it storming there?” Will asked.

  “Yeah, but not bad.”

  “But you’re okay?”

  “Of course. Fine.”

  “We’re almost done here. I’ll be over in half an hour.”

  “Sure. Take your time.”

  Will was being so sweet, giving up his time to help her. She didn’t want to take advantage or lead him on. She could never hurt him like that again. Or Gram, for that matter. No one would suffer as long as she kept things platonic with Will. If only she could get her heart on the same page as her head.

  She hung up and glanced out the window. The storm clouds were building. She wished she could shake the feeling that something bad was coming her way. Something really bad.

  ***

  Ed Dawkins walked Will to the door and patted the younger man’s back. “Thanks for helping me set up the surround sound, buddy. Not exactly in your job description, huh?”

  “I had to see for myself what a four-thousand-dollar television looked like. Tell your wife I’ll be here for the Super Bowl. And the World Series. In fact, just warn her that I’m moving in for baseball and football seasons.”

  Ed’s stomach burned when he thought about the money he and Veronica had spent in the past month. He pointed to Will’s cell phone. “Was that your new girlfriend a few minutes ago? She tell you how high to jump?”

  Will’s smile faded. “Nobody believes her about the murder. She thinks the guy’s after her. If he is, who’ll protect her besides me?”

  “Have you considered the possibility that she could have made it all up or that she’d had too much to drink and imagined the whole thing?”

  His lips flattened into a line. “She knows what she saw. I’m just helping her out. And she’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Come on, buddy. I’ve known you too long.” He moved closer and hooked his arm around Will’s shoulder. “Don’t look now, but she’s already got you pussy-whipped.”

  Will shook him off.

  Damn it. He’d pushed too hard. He hadn’t meant to piss the kid off. But he hated for his friend to make the same mistakes he had with Veronica. The moment he’d laid eyes on her, dancing onstage at the topless bar where she used to work, he had to have her. It started as a fling, an ego stroke to soothe his midlife crisis. Before he knew it, he’d fallen for her, and there was no looking back. “I’m teasing you. I know you’re too smart to let a girl get the best of you. Shit, I’m not one to talk, huh? My wife leads me around by my dick.”

  That earned him a chuckle.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.” Will glanced toward the back of the house. “Goodbye, Veronica. Nice to see you.”

  “Bye.”

  Why didn’t she ever say thank you for anything? Will had been working on the speakers and hookups for more than two hours. Ed shut the door as Will drove off.

  Veronica’s breathy voice pulled him toward the living room. “I want to show you something.”

  He loosened his collar as he crossed the threshold and found her standing in front of his brand-new giant-screen TV. She wore only a gold chain around her waist and a pair of gold spike-heeled shoes. Come-fuck-me pumps, she liked to call them. Her blond hair spilled over her shoulders, pointing to her upturned nipples. And her legs, oh God. The best part was the spot where they connected to the rest of her sweet body. That little tuft of blond fuzz she had waxed every other week. Now, that was
money well spent.

  His pulse quickened. Damn, he had the sexiest wife on the planet. She was worth it all—all the extra hours he put in so she could buy whatever she wanted, take short vacations with her girlfriends, live in the house they couldn’t really afford. How could he deny her anything?

  She held the remote. “I love my new television, Eddie Bear.” She shut off the TV and took a few steps toward him.

  His cock sprang to life, and that familiar heat flooded his body. “How much do you like it?” He never tired of her erotic games or her double-D tits, which he’d bought and paid for several times over.

  “So much that I think it deserves some better furniture around it. And new drapes and stuff.” She centered a hand on his chest, then crawled her fingers down his shirt before stopping right above his belt.

  Mentally calculating how much she’d want this time, he scratched his head. He’d already overdrawn their checking account once this month, but he’d find the money somehow. “I told you, kitten, we have to rein in our expenses, just for a little while.” Futile, but worth a shot.

  She sniffled, then pursed her five-bill, collagen-enhanced lips. Was she going to cry? She lifted his hand to her breast. He shut his eyes and tried not to react. But her soft, smooth skin felt so luxurious in his calloused palm. And her scent, like exotic spices, attracted him like the sweetest ambrosia. It was no use.

  “You want to make me happy, don’t you? You always say so.” She got down on her knees, opened his belt, then yanked at the button above his fly. “I try so hard to please you.” She gazed up at him with eyes the color of a summer sky.

  He couldn’t hold back a sigh when she lowered his zipper. His hard-on tented his boxers. “Yes, kitten. I want you to be happy.”

  Reaching into the opening in his shorts, she closed her fingers around his cock. “I do whatever you ask, don’t I?” She raked her long fingernails over his taut flesh. The pain instantly morphed into pleasure.

  “Yes.” God, she turned him on. He loved her silky hair and glossy pink lips. Deep cleavage and firm tits with nipples like rubies. “Lick it.”

  She grinned, then gave his erection a long stroke of her tongue. Only one. “I bought some new lingerie. Want to see it?”

  Just blow me.

  “Now, kitten? Can’t it wait until…after?” He pointed to his cock. “You got me all ready.”

  Her bottom lip quivered in a practiced pout. “But I bought it special for you.”

  “And you can put on a fashion show for me later. I know how much you love that.” Why did she insist on tormenting him like this every time? Couldn’t she just give it to him like a normal wife? He slid his gaze over her lithe body. How many fifty-two-year-old schmucks like him had a hot, young wife like Veronica? He had to be the luckiest bastard in the entire fucking world.

  “Okay, kitten. Let’s see what you bought.”

  She let out a delighted squeal, then led him by the hand to their bedroom. He propped his feet on the bed and waited as she dragged three fancy boutique bags out of the closet and leaned them against a chair. She opened one and plucked out a slinky scrap of black fabric edged in lace.

  He unbuttoned his shirt and took in the show. Veronica lifted one of those long legs, then the other and stepped into the silk panties. She shook her hips as she pulled them up to rest on her slim hips. Then she spun around. Her perfect, round ass was smooth and tanned, thanks to the tanning bed she’d installed in the guest room. He’d never understood why she needed one when she could lie by the pool most of the year, but she’d convinced him the contraption was necessary by letting him fuck that suntanned ass.

  “You like?” She strutted to the bed and crawled onto it like a predatory cat.

  “What do you think?” He lay back on a pillow and smiled as she took his erection in hand.

  She hovered over him and gave the head of his cock a teasing kiss. “Mmm. Tastes good.”

  “Then eat it all. Every last drop.” He couldn’t resist her games. She was his drug, one that lifted him higher, made him feel better than anything. He knew he was addicted from the start.

  She sucked and stroked and licked. He shut his eyes and surrendered to his lust. His universe shrank to the size of their bed. Nothing existed but the ecstasy Veronica gave him. He’d do anything to protect it.

  Her head bobbed up and down over his cock. She slid her fingers over his balls, tantalizing him with those sharp nails and that naughty tongue. Sweet, hot pressure coiled inside him. He smoothed his hand over her hair, but she nudged him away.

  Oh right. She hated for him to mess up her hair. He didn’t give a shit about all her rules. He’d do anything as long as she kept sucking him and raking her teeth over his flesh. But without warning, she stopped and sat up. She wiped her arm across her mouth and sighed.

  No! “What’s wrong, kitten? Why’d you stop?”

  “I have to tell you something, Eddie Bear.” She fixed him with a pouty frown.

  Not now! “Wait until we’re finished, please.”

  “As long as you won’t be mad at me.” She lowered her gaze, and he knew it would cost him big.

  He wiped his hand across his sweaty brow. “I promise I won’t be mad.” He caught her arm and gently pulled her toward him.

  She giggled as she straddled him. Then she slid her pussy along his hard-on. But her new panties stood between them.

  Reaching between her legs, he grabbed the fabric and moved it aside. He eased her delicate lips apart so he could feel her sex on his. “That’s better, huh?”

  She nodded and rocked her hips, sliding over his shaft. He cupped her breasts, played with the nipples until they puckered. Her hot pussy scorched his cock, tormented him with delight. He yearned to bury himself inside her. “Sit on it, kitten. Please.”

  “You sure you’ll forgive me?”

  He clenched his jaw, holding back a scream. “Yes. Please, baby. Just fuck me now.”

  She lifted herself onto his cock and took him all the way inside. He grabbed her waist to force her closer. The heavenly confines of her tight pussy pushed his pleasure into overdrive.

  He didn’t care what she’d done. Anything was worth what she gave him as she rocked and moaned and gyrated above him. She rode him as if he were a champion stallion, filling him with the lusty vigor of youth.

  “Fuck me, daddy,” she cried.

  He grasped the full swell of her breasts and squeezed them hard. His balls constricted as he grew closer and closer to his release. She tightened around his shaft, squeezing his cock in her hot grip. His body drowned in a whirlwind of blissful sensation as his orgasm hit. He pumped into her, fast and hard and let loose a growl from deep in his chest. He thrust a few final times, then gasped when she milked him with those talented muscles.

  “Sweet Jesus, kitten. That was amazing.”

  He caught her fluffing her hair, glancing toward the mirror. Did she even enjoy sex with him? He banished the thought. Of course she did. She loved him, after all.

  She moved off him and grabbed a silky robe from the end of the bed. As she wrapped it around herself, she eyed him, and her mask slipped. Only for a second, but he was sure. She’d rarely shown him that face, but it was surprisingly intelligent.

  And colder than Neptune.

  Time to pay for the pleasure. “What’s the problem, Veronica?” He steeled himself for something bad, something expensive.

  She sighed and drew her knees up against her chest. “Well, you know when Cassidy and I went to Atlantic City last weekend?”

  He swallowed hard. Please, not another gambling debt. “Yes.”

  “My luck couldn’t have been better the first day. We played roulette and twenty-one, and I was up like six thousand bucks. She was up four. I told Cassidy we should quit while we were ahead, but she had the hots for this one dealer and begged me to go back the next day.” She wrung her hands.

  “Mmm-hmm.” He reached for a towel from the night-table drawer to clean himself.

 
; “Um, well, I could hardly sit there and not play.” She gave him those doe eyes that could melt an iceberg.

  His stomach knotted. “How much did you lose?”

  She huffed. “It’s all Cassidy’s fault. And the dude turned out to be gay. Can you believe it?”

  “How much, Veronica?”

  Her downcast gaze spoke volumes. “Ten thousand.”

  Acid bubbled up in his throat. “Oh God, honey.” He scrubbed a hand over his face.

  “The manager at the casino said my credit was good, but now he’s calling. They want their money, Eddie Bear. I don’t think they’re nice people.”

  He could hardly suck in a breath. “Veronica, I was a cop for twenty-five years. And now you’ve got me dealing with casino riffraff. Ten thousand?”

  Oh God.

  She crawled to him and hugged his neck. “I’m sorry.” She kissed his forehead and his cheek, but he shoved her away.

  What the hell was he going to do?

  Chapter Five

  Darkness engulfed Megan’s house like a black cloud, yet the other homes in the cul-de-sac had lights burning. The hair on the back of Will’s neck rose as he hurried to the porch. He knocked hard and called out so he didn’t frighten her.

  The instant she opened the door, he noticed her knit brow and the frown on that gorgeous mouth. She’s okay.

  Relief flowed through him as he drew her into his arms and breathed her vanilla scent.

  “Thank you for coming,” she said against his chest.

  Emotions warred inside him. He wanted more than anything to keep her safe, to always be there for her. But he had a bad habit of letting people down. The notion that she was starting to depend on him weighed heavily on his shoulders. “Tell me what happened.”

  She backed away, and the loss of contact left him cold. He stepped inside and shut the door. “You said someone drove away in a hurry?”

  He recalled running his fingers through her hair, kissing her delicious lips, tasting her sweet sex. The memory curled around his senses and heated him from the inside out.

  “A white SUV.” She lowered her gaze and flushed.