Paranormal Erotic Romance Box Set (33 page)

I gripped the bone and planted my feet into the floor.

“Okay...go!” he said.

James quickly yanked my end of the bone out of my hand.

“I won the prize,” he said and sat down at the table.
“Now, you tell me a secret.”

“The bone was slippery,” I said and wiped my hand on my
dress. “Okay, a secret about me...”

“Sit down. I’m asking the questions,” James said.

“Wait, we didn’t work that out before so it’s not fair.
You never said that the winner gets to ask the loser whatever they want.”

“So, write to the Governor about the injustice. I want to
know why you married him.”

“I told you before they killed me. I was jealous of the
relationship he had with Nellie and I wanted to show her that I was better.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“You’re not a woman.”

“But why him? Surely you could have found a million men in
Boston.”

“Because he was the closest and it seemed the easiest.”

“What did your parents do to you?” he said.

“That’s two secrets and not part of the deal.”

“There is no deal.”

“Well, that’s my deal. Let’s go again,” I said and picked
up the bone.

“Okay, big time,” James said and grabbed the bone. “Get
ready to tell another secret.”

We each gripped the ends of the bone and pulled against
one another. I directed all my strength into that bone and pulled with
everything inside me. I was determined to win a secret from James.

“Oh, you’re upping your game, huh?” James said as he
struggled with the bone.

“I am going to win, you wimp,” I said and bore down and
yanked. “I feel like a wolf struggling to pull a piece of meat out of a
squirrel’s mouth.”

“You’re the squirrel!” James said.

“Fuck you, I am the wolf. You are the squirrel!”

“You best watch out, I’m going to pull you to the other
side. Then, I will tear your ass apart,” James said and yanked hard on the
bone.

And then it came.

“James!” I said and released the bone.

James flew back, took out the suit of armor in the corner
of the library and slid across the wood floor on his ass.

“What the fuck, Sophia?

“I just thought--”

“You owe me a secret now!”

“Fine, okay. Listen--”

“No, two secrets!”

I pulled James off the floor and dragged him over to the
couch.

“Sit down and listen to me, please? I figured it
out...Brandt and Nellie. I cannot believe how simple it is.”

“Tell me,” he said.

“The wolves. I’ll use the wolves.”

“Baby doll, it won’t matter,” he said and pulled me beside
him. “The wolves are a part of our world. Even if the wolves do your dirty
work, the effect will be the same.”

“No, you don’t understand. I know--”

“It doesn’t matter who does it, if it’s done by any of us,
Brandt and Nellie will stay.”

“No, but--”

“I know that it’s disappointing.”

“Would you shut the fuck up and let me finish!”

“Wow,” he said and shook his head.

“Please?”

“Go ahead.”

“I know they can’t kill them, but they can bring them to
the line.”

“Yeah and so can we. That’s what I was attempting to get
at before I was interrupted. Rude, by the way.”

“You don’t get it. The wolves bring gifts, offerings to
the other animals. The other animals are attracted to the wolves and those
gifts. The wolves push the gifts over the line with their noses. Anthony says
there are wolves and coyotes and even a black bear or two. This area more than
any other because of the woods. Brandt and Nellie are the offering, James!”

“The wolves push them over the line,” James said.

“Yes! And the other animals, the animals the wolves
summon, tear their asses apart.”

“Sophia, this could--”

“Tell me it will work.”

“Work.”

“I have to work out the confession though. I mean, I want
them dead, of course, but I also need to think of Bobby Allen.”

“We need to plan it out,” James said and squeezed my knee.

“Adelaide?”

“Yes.”

“Will you come with me? I think I pissed her off last time.”

James and I went to Adelaide as the sun rose and I woke
her again.

“Twice in twenty-four hours? And I see you brought back
up. Lucky me,” Adelaide said as her face cracked.

“Adelaide, Sophia has a plan and wants to run it by you,”
James said and hopped up on the alter.

“Make it fast, Sophia,” she said.

I told Adelaide of my idea and included as many details as
possible.

“So, what do you think?” I said and flicked a leaf off her
shoulder.

“I think that there are a few variables that you haven’t
thought of,” she said.

“Such as?”

“Such as, what if the wolves kill their victims before
they get them to the line?”

“They’ll be instructed not to,” I said.

“Instructed? They’re not schoolchildren, Sophia. They are
wild beasts.”

“Anthony says they are here to do our bidding,” I said.

“True, but they can be...unpredictable. You put fresh meat
in their mouths, they may not be able to resist the urge to bite.”

“They won’t without the command,” I said. “Besides, I will
make sure they’re well fed. What else?”

“Well, you’re counting on the presence of vicious animals
on the other side capable of doing their bidding. You have one night, one shot
to get this right. What if, at that moment, only a few pigeons and maybe a frog
show up at the line?”

“We’ll condition them...Pavlov’s dog. I have two weeks and
the wolves will show up every single night, at the same time. They will come to
expect it.”

“Oh, that’s a good one,” James said.

“Thanks. The only thing I have to work out is their
confession. They must die, but Bobby Allen must also be exonerated.”

“And how will you not interfere in their deaths? How will
you ensure the Laws are not broken?”

“Because it is not me who’s doing it. It’s--”

“The wolves,” Adelaide said.

“Yep.”

“Do you think you can pull this off without getting yourself
or the others hurt?”

“I have to,” I said.

“Okay,” she said, her face cracking as she smiled, “make
it happen.”

“I felt it shelter to speak to you.”

Emily Dickinson

The two week plan that became known at the Battleroy as
Operation
Try A Little Tenderness
, unfolded the day James and I met with Adelaide,
during a meeting I held with the others.

Little Andy Larabee and Mica Morrison were in charge of
staying in the barn with the wolves and training them for the mission. They
used scraps of meat as the bait and Andy Larabee to represent animals who lived
on the other side.

Perry Alden was in charge of stealing the steaks that
Anthony, me and Judah Roderick took to the wolves every night at nine o’clock.
After they fed, we’d command them over to the main grounds of the Battleroy.

Dr. Newlander was in charge of meeting us at the property
line by the woods with the meat. Once the wolves arrived, they lay down at the
line with the meat in front of their noses and waited for anything to come out
of the woods.

May Gaspar was stationed at the front desk and listened
and watched for any mention of Brandt’s or Nellie’s name. A very important job,
May took her position very seriously, hardly ever leaving her post unless it
was to join Tony for dinner or a walk.

Jonas Dashiell was in charge of bringing any questions we
had to Adelaide and informing her of our progress.

Perry’s girlfriend Mary McDonald, along with Jennie-Lynn
and Tara, were in charge of scouring the papers every day and instructed to
come to me with any news on my case, any item that mentioned Brandt or Nellie
and any words written about Bobby Allen.

Céline and Patrick were in charge of the staging of Room
165 which had not been occupied since my death. They cleared the room as much
as they could without arousing suspicion. Patrick hid a portable tape recorder
under the bed that he stole from the guest in Room 609 who caused a big stink
about his missing property to Mr. Conway.

For thirteen days, every second of everyone’s time was
consumed with the plan. There was an excitement in enacting this revenge, in
being part of the plan. The others gladly toiled as hard as I and not because
they all had the same sense of justice, but because they wanted to be part of
it, included in a community action that benefitted one of their community
members. Connection is good for the soul in any state. It was exciting to
belong and the sum of all of the parts equaled a compelling force. We were an
amalgamation of warriors who worked in concert to bring down a couple of the
biggest bags of shit in history.

And on February 13, 1968, we all came together in the
ballroom for an amazing party catered by Heinrich who spent four nights
sneaking around the kitchen and hiding food in order to put out his most
elegant banquet. We danced and sang for hours. Anthony and May Gaspar could not
resist the touch of one another and he passed his official job as caretaker of
the wolves to Andy Larabee.

“Well, Pearson, you pulled it off,” James said after the
party when we were back in the library.

He pulled me down onto the floor beside him.

“I never had a doubt,” he said.

“Never?”

“Okay, I had a few,” he said as he leaned back against the
wall and I rested my head on his chest.

“I’ve not pulled anything off yet,” I said.

“You will.”

“And if I don’t?”

“And if you don’t, Sophia,” James said and sighed, “you
still accomplished a hell of a lot more than most.”

“There is no second place here, James. The plan must work,
if it doesn’t, they go free and Bobby Allen does not.”

“Yes,” he said. “By the way, you know you still owe me two
secrets.”

“I do?”

“Have you forgotten already? I sailed across the library
on my ass after you released the bone?”

“Ah, okay. Hit me with it.”

I looked up at James’ face and his jaw tensed.

“Why do you love me?”

“What?”

“Just what I said. Why do you love me?”

I sat up and stared at him, but he stared straight ahead
into the fire.

“That’s not a secret,” I said and bit his earlobe.

“Really, I want you to tell me. Not just my cock, but me.
The truth, Sophia.”

I looked at James and smiled.

“Were you ever able to sit next to someone and feel every
muscle in your body go slack? Where you didn’t rehearse the most
inconsequential sentence in your head a million times before you said it because
you feared you would piss the other person off or make yourself look foolish?
Where you didn’t suck in your gut or arrange your body to look most appealing?”

“I--”

“No, don’t answer that.”

“Okay,” he said and smiled. “Go on.”

“Well, I was never able to do any of that until I met you.
That’s why what I feel for you is better than just love. I like you, James. I
like the person that you are. And what’s more, I like the person that I am with
you. My entire being used to be one big charley horse and now, it is relaxed.”

“That is, without a doubt, the best compliment anyone has
ever given me.”

“Good,” I said and smiled. “It’s true though. It’s not
just the staggering gifts your cock gives, it is the whole of you. You are my
friend.”

“Yes, I am. And I would do anything for you, Sophia. Just
to see you smile. And just to make all of your charley horses go away.”

“Will you do me a favor?” I said.

“Absolutely,” James said and untied the belt on my robe.
“Anything you want.”

“Hold that thought,” I said and hugged his waist. “First,
I want you to tell me a secret.”

“But you still owe me another secret,” he said.

“I will tell you another secret, whatever you want, but
please tell me just one.”

James ran his fingers through my hair and closed his eyes.

“When she was alive, my mother always called me her little
amoeba,” he said and sighed. “She told me that amoebas are independent and
strong, they don’t need anyone to do anything for them and they make it all on
their own. That is what my mother loved about me.

“When she died, I was fifteen-years-old. I went to the
store and bought a beautiful card for her funeral. I couldn’t think of my own
words to express my devastation, but I felt that if I left something for her,
she wouldn’t forget me. I signed the card: ‘your little amoeba.’ I don’t know
that I want to talk about--”

“Please, James,” I said and rested my head on his chest.

“Okay,” James said and twirled my hair around his finger.
“My father hated the relationship between my mother and I. He felt that my
mother was weak and that it would rub off on me. But he was so fucking wrong.
Anyway, my father read the card and after her funeral, he called me into his
office. He said that an amoeba is neither independent nor strong. That an
amoeba is nothing but a single-celled blob that always proves to be the weakest
link in any chain and accomplishes absolutely nothing. I spent my life proving
my father wrong.”

I sat up and looked at him. He stared into the fire as he
blinked back the tears in his eyes.

“I want you inside me now,” I said as I lay back and
opened my robe.

“That’s all it takes?” James said and shifted his body on
top of mine.

“Less than that, actually, but I’m glad you shared that
with me.”

“You still owe me a secret,” he said.

“Just shut up and fuck me.”

That night after he fucked me, I wrapped my legs around
his waist and we slept entwined.

At eleven o’clock the next morning, after Heinrich woke
James and I, my hands shook as I buttoned my dress and I felt doubts about my
plan.

“Sophia, whatever is running through that mind of yours,
make it stop. You look an absolute wreck and you are supposed to be leading
us,” James said as we walked down the hall to the lobby.