Sarah Woods Mystery Series (Volume 6) (23 page)

I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder and tried to act casual. “Oh, they’re busy.”

That made him laugh. “I’ll bet they are. What are you doing out here in the kitchen all by your lonesome?”

“I was thirsty.” I coughed into my fist just to demonstrate how dry my throat really was.

He smiled and nodded, and I realized he was just messing with me.

“Let me guess,” he said, rubbing his chin, giving me a good stare down. “It’s your first time.”

It wouldn’t take a brain surgeon to figure that one out, but he seemed to act as if I should be dazzled by his brilliant observational abilities. “Yep, it’s true.”

He placed his hands on my shoulders and huddled close to me, like a football coach. “Can I give you some advice, Sarah? Try to leave your brain out of the experience. Let your body do all the thinking.”

Thanks for the pep talk, Freud. You really have me figured out. I cleared my throat and said, “Truth is, I think the idea of swinging was more enticing than the reality of it. Having casual sex with strangers seems so shallow.”

He shook his head. “But how do you know unless you try? Like anything, you have to ease into it.”

I wasn’t about to get into a discussion about the virtues of free love so I changed the subject. “By the way, why did you come alone? Your wife not feeling well? Wait, don’t tell me... she has a headache.”

Julian inched closer to me, and I could feel his warm breath on my face. He fondled a strand of my hair and said, “She’s out of town for business. Besides, this isn’t the first time I’ve come alone. Bob and June don’t mind.”

That’s when it came to me. The reason Julian Pike’s name sounded familiar is because I’d heard it on the news recently in a media blitz. “You’re that defense attorney,” I said, trying to recall the details from his last case. His client was a judge from Boston who allegedly raped an under-aged girl. He was found innocent after a lengthy, well-publicized trial thanks to Julian.

He tilted his head and regarded me with a smile. “That’s right. I take it you followed the case.”

“I couldn’t escape it unless I kept the TV turned off for two months.”

He chuckled, clearly enjoying the afterglow of his victory. “Just doing my job.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I guess someone has to defend killers and rapists.”

He raised an eyebrow, probably wondering if he should take offense to my comment. If anything, he seemed to be aroused by it. “Tell me Sarah, what do
you
do?”

Without hesitation, I said, “I’m a private investigator.”

A spark flashed in his eyes. “Really? That’s funny because before I went to law school, I thought about being a private detective. I enrolled in one of those online courses for two thousand bucks. Once I paid, I never heard back from them. I figured, either I just got scammed, or this is my first case.”

“Which was it?”

“A scam, of course,” he said, with a shrug. “I never did get that money back.”

I didn’t believe his story for a second. I suspect he was having a little fun mocking my industry. “Well, it’s been nice chatting with you. Don’t let me keep you.” I nodded toward the bedrooms.

“Won’t you join me, then?”

I almost laughed in his face. How could he actually think I’d be willing to jump in bed with him five minutes after meeting him? Then I had to remind myself - that’s what people do at swing parties. “As it turns out, I’m feeling a little under the weather tonight. I might be coming down with a cold. I don’t want to get anyone sick, so I’m just here tonight for the refreshments and sparkling conversation.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t budge. “I’m quite content in the presence of your company. I have to say, though, you don’t look sick to me.” He glanced down at my wine glass, almost empty. “Let me get you a refill.”

This guy wasn’t getting the hint. Did I have to come right out and say, leave me alone? “No, thank you. In fact, I should switch to water.”

“That’s no fun,” he said, reaching into his pants pocket. He withdrew a small vial, opened it, and tapped out a stream of white powdery substance onto the back of his hand. “I’m willing to share if you’re interested. It’ll clear up your cold in no time.”

“Cocaine? No thanks.”

He gave a slight shrug. “Suit yourself.”

With fascination, I watched as he snorted the stuff up his nostril, making a hideous sound as he did it. The effect seemed instantaneous. He blinked hard a few times, and his eyes and face lit up. It was like someone had turned on a switch and he became a different person. “Damn, I love this shit.” He dusted off his hand, returned the vial to his pocket and poured himself a whisky straight up. He downed the drink in two sips and poured himself another.

Maybe he treated the cocaine as a form of aphrodisiac. Or this was his typical way of decompressing from a hectic work week. Either way, I just wanted to get away from him. “I should probably go check on my boyfriend. It was nice meeting you.”

As I turned away from him and began heading out of the kitchen, he grabbed my forearm. “Wait a second. We were just starting to get to know each other. Am I really that despicable?”

“First of all,” I said, turning around to face him with a firm look. “I don’t like being manhandled.”

With a sheepish grin, he released my arm. “I’m sorry. I just get excited when I meet a pretty lady. You should take it as a compliment.”

“I already told you I’m not interested in hooking up with anyone tonight. You’re wasting your time with me.”

Cocaine tends to make people hyper. I’ve never tried it, but I know the signs. Julian’s voice was getting louder as he spat out questions that didn’t make sense. I didn’t feel as if I were in any physical danger but the intense eyes were freaking me out.  “Look, Julian, I’m not in the mood, okay? If you don’t mind, I’d really like to go find my boyfriend. He’s probably wondering what’s taking me so long.”

He moved in and placed a sweaty hand on my shoulder. “If he was so worried about you, he’d be out here looking for you. He’s obviously busy. I mean, that’s why you came here. To be with other people. To experiment. I’d really like to experiment with you, Sarah.”

His other hand found my waist, and he pulled me even closer. Our faces were inches apart. I resisted the urge to knee him in the groin. Instead, I pushed him away with the palm of my hand firmly on his chest. “You might be used to getting any woman you want, but I’m not interested. Are you hearing me?”

He seemed dumbfounded at first and then let out a laugh, as if I were joking. “I see what you’re doing. Playing hard to get. Well, it’s working because I’m rock hard. See for yourself.”

He glanced down at his groin and my eyes followed. Sure enough, there was a bulge in his pants.

…and that’s when I heard a door open and shut. To my right, Carter had just emerged from the community room and was heading right to us, a troubled look on his face.

“Sarah, is everything okay?”

Julian took a step back and tried to hide his boner with his hand, but Carter didn’t seem to miss a beat.

Carter approached quickly and sized up this stranger beside me. “Who are you?”

Julian wiped his hand on his pants and held it out. “Julian Pike. Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

Carter ignored the gesture and turned to me. “Are you okay? Did he touch you?”

“I’m fine,” I said. “I was just about to head back to the room to see you.”

Julian took a small baggie out of his pocket and held it up, wiggled it around tauntingly. “Hey, you guys ever tried Ecstasy?” He opened the baggie, popped one into his mouth and swallowed it dry. Then he held it out for Carter. “Here, it’ll give you the best orgasm in the world, I swear.”

“It was my understanding that drugs are not allowed.”

Julian snorted in reply. He was becoming excessively jittery. Beads of perspiration glistened from his upper lip. “Oh, come on, guys. Rules are made to be broken. I mean, that’s why we’re all here, right? Say, you guys want a drink? I could use one. Whisky or vodka?” Julian turned around toward the bar but lost his balance. He grabbed the edge of the counter and caught himself, but the vial of cocaine fell out of his pocket and tumbled to the floor.

Carter bent over to pick it up and didn’t give it back to him. “Cocaine and Ecstasy don’t mix. You could have a heart attack.”

Julian held out his hand. “C’mon man, don’t be a killjoy. I know what I’m doing.”

“You need to slow down before you hurt yourself.”

Julian lunged toward Carter, arm reaching out as if to grab the vial. Carter blocked his arm and swiftly moved to the side, causing Julian to stumble a bit. “I’ll give it back if you promise to leave here, now. In fact, I’ll escort you to your car.”

“I can’t drive home like this.”

“I know that,” Carter said. “Who said anything about driving?”

Julian lunged again, reaching for Carter’s back pocket. “I need another bump. Just one more and I’m done for the night.”

Carter deftly evaded Julian’s clumsy attempt. “You’re already way past done. Time to leave.”

Julian wasn’t giving up. He moved to Carter’s left side and reached around his backside where he groped for the vial. With greater force, Carter seized his arm and held firm, causing Julian to wince in pain. “I guess you refuse to listen to reason. What am I gonna do with you?”

What Julian did next, nobody could have expected. He planted a big kiss on Carter’s lips.

Stunned, Carter shoved Julian so hard, he nearly flew back across the room. The back of his head made contact with the counter’s edge, causing a domino effect of glasses and bottles to come crashing down.

I could tell by Carter’s face, he regretted the way he’d reacted, but I didn’t necessarily blame him.

“Damn,” he said to me. “What the hell just happened?”

Julian was on the floor, holding the back of his head. I didn’t see any blood, but I went over to check him out. “Let me look at you.”

To my surprise, he began laughing hysterically.

I backed away from him. “What’s so funny?”

“I like you guys,” he said. “This is the most fun I’ve had in a while.” He searched the floor around him and found the vial.

“C’mon,” Carter said. “Time to go.”

Julian looked up from the floor and gave Carter a pouty face. “Why so angry? You never been kissed by another guy before?”

Carter didn’t have a chance to respond because June Porter came running into the kitchen with only her underwear on. “What the hell is going on out here?” When she looked down and saw Julian on the floor, she folded her arms across her chest and frowned. “Oh, it’s you. I should have known.”

He waved from the floor. “You’re looking scrumptious tonight, June. Been working out?”

She didn’t fall for the flattery. “What happened?”

“I like sitting on the floor. It’s nice and cool down here.”

She sighed, impatiently. “I told you not to come back here until you learned to control yourself. Do I have to remind you what happened last time?”

Julian made a confused face, as if he had no idea what she was talking about.

“Of course you don’t remember.” Her tone became more exasperated. “You were stoned out of your mind, just like now. You have a problem, Julian. Until you get some help, I don’t want to see you inside my house. Plus, you know the rules. You can’t come here without your wife.”

Julian struggled to get to his feet, then made an effort to smooth out his clothes. “Kristina asked for a divorce. I’m a wreck.”

June’s tight expression softened a bit. “I’m sorry to hear that, but it still doesn’t give you the right to come here and make a fool out of yourself in front of my guests.” She turned to look and Carter and me. “I apologize for Mr. Pike’s behavior. I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Julian immediately began sweeping the counter with a towel, gathering the shards of glass together in a pile. “I’ll have this cleaned up in no time.”

“Just stop it, Julian.” June grabbed the towel out of his hand. “I’m going to call you a cab.”

“Please,” he said. “I don’t want to go home just yet. Can I crash in one of the bedrooms? Just for a few hours until I’m fine to drive.”

“Okay,” she said, holding out her hand, palm facing up. “But you need to give me the drugs. All of ’em.”

Reluctantly, Julian emptied his pockets, producing the cocaine vial and the baggie of pills. “Will I get them back when I leave?”

June glared at him, waiting. Reluctantly, he handed over the vial and the baggie.

I figured Carter would never mention the infamous kiss, and thankfully, Julian did not bring it up, either. Some things are best forgotten entirely.

Once Julian had left the room, June finished cleaning up the broken glasses with Carter’s and my help.

“Why don’t you go enjoy yourselves,” she said to us, shooing us away. “I can handle this mess.”

Carter gave me the discreet look that said, we’re here to do a job, remember? “I think I’ll go back and see what the gang is up to.” Carter headed back to the community room while I stayed in the kitchen with June.

“I have to admit,” I said to her. “I don’t think I’m ready to get naked with strangers. I thought I’d be more daring, but I’m not.”