Deadly Temptations (5 page)

Mader’s growl
followed, his body pumping even faster causing her walls to tighten like a fist
around him. Digging his hands into her hips, he pushed in one last time.

There was lots of
heavy breathing going on as he turned her around to face him. She put her arms
around him and rested her head on his shoulder.

“That was fucking
incredible,” he said as he stroked her hair. She responded by linking her arms
around his waist and hugging him tightly.

THEY
got dressed and to his car only because Denise declined the shower invitation.
If she went there with him the sun would rise before she made it back to her
place. And alone is what she needed r
ight now. Her head was a fucking
mess.

MADER
cursed. He was afraid this was going to screw things up between them. Denise
became distant the moment she sat in the car and the ride to reality came
crashing over them.

This relationship had
the potential to move into areas he didn’t anticipate. He would have loved for
her to spend the night but pushing had never been his method.

She didn’t live far
and they arrived within fifteen minutes. Mader insisted on walking her in.

Her door was slightly
ajar and they walked right into a disaster zone. Her apartment had been
completely trashed.

“Son of a Bitch!”
Mader yelled. “Denise, hold up. Let me go first.”

He cursed again when
she kept on walking through the mess and into her bedroom. At the bathroom
door, writi
ng scribbled on the mirror with red lipstick read,
No one messes with what’s mine, bitch!

Mader came up behind
her, his jaw tight with plenty of pissed-off. “I’m calling the police. This is
bullshit.”

IT
took over an hour for the officers to get all the
details. Sylvia
arrived minutes after Mader’s call. Another unit was called in to go to Gina’s
house and arrest her.

Denise, just as
everyone else, knew she wouldn’t be there. The apartment was dusted for finger
prints but nothing had turned up yet. Whoever had done this knew what they were
doing. Which meant Gina was not alone.

Denise’s phone rang.
It was Angie’s cell number.

“Hello”

“Denise, this is
Angie’s aunt.” The woman was sobbing. Denise felt as if she had been kicked in
the stomach.

“Wha-What happened? Is
Angie there?”

“No. She was in a bad
car accident. They have her in the ER. I am out here waiting to hear.”

Denise lost her
ability to stand and plopped down right on the pavement.

Sylvia grabbed the
phone from her shaking hand. “Hello?”

“Yes? Denise?”

“No. It’s Sylvia. I
work with Denise. Is there something I can help you with?”

“Then that means you
also know my niece, Angie. She’s been in a terrible car accident.

Sylvia took a deep
breath. “I am so sorry to hear that. Listen, keep us posted on her progress and
call us no matter the time.”

“Yes. I will. Thank
you.”

Sylvia pushed the end
button and glanced behind her. Denise was still on the pavement, Mader next to
her.

“This can’t be
happening. That poor girl,” Denise whispered.

Mader took her into
his arms and let her cry.

DEPUTY
JONES walked to his cruiser with a whole lot of pissed off. Gina Rhodes hadn’t
been seen since that afternoon accompanied by a man coming out of her
apartment.

He signaled to the
other deputy who was leaning against his cruiser watching the apartment in case
Gina made an appearance while Jones spoke with the neighbors.

“She’s gone. I’ll wrap
up the paperwork and put out the alert.” Jones said before speaking into his
shoulder mic.

With the report that
had come on earlier, there was no doubt she was a prime suspect in Angie
Bomstead’s accident, along with everything else.

Mader took Denise’s
bag, placing it at the mouth of the hallway. “You need a nice hot shower. Use
my bathroom, the double doors at
the end of the hall.”

Denise nodded. She
probably looked as bad as she felt.

“I swear, if I knew
this bitch was going to hurt you like this, I would have steered clear.” He
came closer and hugged her.

Denise wrapped her
arms around his waist and held on. “What a fucking picture this makes. I think
I’m going to cry.”

Mader tensed.

Denise pulled back and
her eyes went wide. Gina stood directly behind them. A gun leveled right at
her.

“How the hell did you
get in here?” Mader growled.

She laughed. “Amazing
what a few tears and a blowjob will get you these days.

Mader scowled. If he
lived through this the head of security was going to receive a nice letter from
his attorney.

“Now,” Gina said.
“Enough of the how. Let’s get with the program. Have you banged her yet? I
mean, that is your specialty, right? Bang them and leave them.”

“I find it hard to
believe I ever had anything to do with you.”

Gina got real close,
her pink glossy lips puckering as if she were about to kiss him. “Well you did
and you enjoyed every minute of it.” She watched Denise as she spoke.

“You are fucking
crazy.” Mader pushed Denise behind him.

“Hmmmm...I’m actually
pretty brilliant. But everybody is too stupid to see it.” She waved the gun
around as she spoke.

“All this means
nothing witho
ut the right person to share it with.” Gina’s face
contorted with fury making her look like a demented
Bratz
doll. “And you should
be sharing it with me, not this skinny bitch.”

Gina raised the gun
and pointed it at them again. “Two months, Troy. Two months of groveling and
you haven’t even touched me. You think you’re too good for me?”

DENISE
kept quiet. Opening her mouth would only aggravate the situation. Gina was
totally out of her mind.

For the second time
that day, Denise jumped when her cellular went off. It was in her purse next to
the bag on the floor. Denise looked at Gina then back to her purse.

“Go ahead and answer
that. Wouldn’t want anyone wondering if you’re in trouble.” Gina motioned for
her to move.

Denise pulled her
phone out and answered.

“Ms. Milton this is
Officer Jones. Just wanted to let you know Ms. Rhodes was not in residence.”

Denise stared down the
barrel of the weapon trained right at her. “We are fine, thanks. We took the
back roads here. Goodbye.” Denise ended the call and held her hands up.

“Who the hell was
that?” Gina asked

“A coworker of mine,
checking in with me.”

Gina tilted her head
to the side. “How sweet. You.” She pointed at Mader. “You and I are going to
take a little vacation together.”

Gina motioned for him
to move away from Denise then grabbed her by the hair. “If you try anything I
will plug him in the kneecaps. I’ve heard it’s pretty painful.”

“Okay, handsome. Go on
in and pack yourself an overnight bag. Any tricks and you’ll force me to follow
through on my promise then shoot your girlfriend in this pretty face of hers.”
She shoved the barrel into Denise’s cheek.

Mader walked down the
hall and waited when he got to the end. Gina took longer since she was busy
dragging Denise along with her.

Mader opened the door
and went to his closet. Grabbing a small bag he pulled a couple of sweats off
the hangers and stuffed them in quickly. He looked back and reached the hidden
compartment behind a shoe rack where he stashed his nine.

“Hurry up. This isn’t
for a month long cruise or anything.” Gina smiled when he approached with a
duffle ready to go.

Gina backed her way
out of the bedroom with Denise in front of her like a human shield.

“That’s a good boy,”
she purred as Mader followed her slowly.

They made it out to
the living room. “Now I am sad to say it’s lights out for your girl.”

TOOK
the back roads here? Just what the hell was Denise Milton smoking? Jones
repeated the phrase to himself one more time. Rhodes here. As in Gina Rhodes.

“Motherfucker!” Jones
radioed in for back up and punched his cruiser into reverse. Lights blaring he
raced in the opposite direction.

DENISE
closed her eyes, the barrel of the gun at her temple. Would Gina actually go
through with it? Was she that far gone to kill her and kidnap Mader?

“That’s right bitch.
All my life everything I’ve ever wanted has been taken from me. Everything.
First my father’s love when he married that stupid cunt with her sniveling
brat. But I took good care of her.” Gina let out a manic laugh.

“A quick push down the
stairs pretty much ended that predicament. You know, things were never quite
the same afterward. I seemed to be the problem. Imagine that. Cunt took off and
my father blamed me.” Her brows lowered and for a moment she appeared to hunch
into her misery.

MADER
watched her eyes dart from the gun to him. She was completely undone, her
circuits were shorting out and that trigger finger was getting nervous.

“Well I guess this
short segment of my biography gets pretty boring. We have places to go,
darling.”

A loud noise clapped
through the air and the door knobs blew apart, five deputies burst in, guns
trained on Gina.

“Put the gun down and
step away, Ms. Rhodes.” Jones instructed.

Gina loosened her hold
on Denise for a few seconds, surprise etched on her face. Then Gina pulled her
back in just as quickly.

“Put the weapon down
or we’ll shoot!” Jones yelled.

Gina was too busy
looking at the deputies to see when Mader pulled out his gun. She turned
slightly to the side placing Denise more strategically in their line of fire
which gave Mader a much better shot.

“She can’t have him!
I’m gonna kill her!” she screeched.

THE
officers didn’t have a clear shot and Mader knew it. He took aim and let the
bullet fly. It struck Gina at the temple and blew out the other sid
e.
Blood spurted from the exit in a brilliant shower. It all seemed to happen in
slow motion, the police rushing forward, Denise falling to the floor as the
weight of a dead women settled on top of her.

Mader dropped the gun
and pulled the body off, Gina’s
sightless eyes stared at him and he
cringed at having ever known her.

Denise flew into his
arms. They held onto each other even after the ambulance arrived and the ME
pronounced Gina dead. Mader shook in the aftermath of what he had just done. He
closed his mind off to the guilt but he would never forget how Gina’s body had
dropped and the blood…

He took a deep breath.
If he wouldn’t have fired that shot, Denise would be dead and that was not an
option.

His apartment was a
crime scene now, the door handles blown apart, yellow tape flapping against the
doorway. Building security was crawling all over his space and asking the
deputies questions.

Mader wanted to rip
the guy but he was getting it good from Jones and having trouble explaining how
one of his employees let a stranger in. Mader would be making that phone call
to his attorney first thing in the morning.

Jones came and sat
across from them. “I think things are pretty wrapped up here. They got you a
fancy hotel for your trouble with security and will have your locks replaced by
the end of the day tomorrow.

Just wanted to let you
know we apprehended her accomplice. He was waiting downstairs. Looks like he
could be involved with Angie’s accident.

“Shit.” Mader
muttered.

“Well. You guys are
free to go. Take care and I’ll be in touch.”

Mader stood and took
the deputy’s hand. “Thank you for getting here.”

“Thanks to your lady’s
quick thinking.” Jones patted Denise on the shoulder and she gave him a
tremulous smile.

“Pretty good shot, my
man. We have a place for you on the squad.”

Mader waved him off.
“I’ve spent some time at the shooting range to relieve stress.” He winked at
Denise. “And thanks but no thanks. I’m good right here.” He said giving Denise
a squeeze.

Leaving the penthouse
in the hands of professionals, Denise and Mader grabbed their overnight bags
and headed to their hotel suite.

Once there, Mader
striped them both and got them into the shower. He held her as she sobbed, her
body shaking all over.

A little while later,
she looked up at him and smiled. “I’m finished with the girly crying. I had to
get that out.”

He pushed her wet hair
away from her face. “That’s my girl.” Mader dried her up and they slipped into
the huge bed together.