The Eyes Tell No Lies (8 page)

Arie hadn’t seen Xavier since that day, not even at graduation. She suspected her
father and her uncles had something to do with it
,
especially
after
she heard the
one-sided conversation a few days later
.

Arie and Cris rode the whole way in silence, both thinking about the kiss. Wondering
if a kiss on the cheek lit their bodies on fire, what would a mouth-watering, heated,
tongues-dueling kiss do?

Cris didn’t know what to think since Arie never said anything about the kiss. It
had him contemplating whether or not she had the same feelings he did coursing through
her body.
Fuck, would you
focus
on the case before you miss something,
Cris thought as he pulled into a dark, practically deserted parking lot with only
one
lamppost.

“This parking lot is the perfect place to abduct someone. Why doesn’t he do it here?”
Cris wondered aloud.

“He wants to feel the rush of getting away with kidnapping someone in the daytime,”
Arie said as she pulled down the visor and applied a fresh coat of lip-gloss.

“Yeah, I think so too and it is also feels like he is taunting us all,” Cris said
as he took a deep breath and blew it out.

“Let’s go,” Arie said as she reached for the handle of the passenger side door.

“Wait, hold on a second, I will get the door for you,” Cris said as he took the keys
out of the ignition and exited the car.

Arie could hear footsteps quickly approaching them just as he opened her door. He
reached for his gun and was about to pull it until Arie stopped him. As the footsteps
grew closer, he could hear a female
shriek. Cris saw a short woman with dark-brown hair running toward him. He began
to make out some of her features the closer she got to them and something about her
sparked his memory. He hoped like hell that it wasn’t one of his old flings running
up to them.

When the five-foot tiny woman with dark-brown hair was close enough, she threw herself
into Arie’s arms. She had a rosy pale skin color with a few freckles spread across
her face. He realized then the woman
was
who
m
he had seen on a number of his visits to Arie’s home a few months back. While the
women hugged each other, Cris kept his eyes on a six foot eight,
bald
black man with muscles bulging
.
The man reminded him
a little
of his partner
.
Derrick’s muscles didn’t bulge as much and he
did have
hair.

“Jo
rdan
Baxter and you are
?
” Kylee’s husband said as he stuck out his hand to Cris. Arie was like a younger
sister to him and he wanted to know who the guy she was with.

“Cris
Crow,” Cris said as he took Jordan’
s h
and
and shook it firmly.

“Detective Crow, are you still making up excuses to see Arie again?” Kylee asked with
a smirk on her face as they walked to the back entrance of the pool hall.

“What? They were not excuses but legitimate reasons why I was there,” Cris stumbled
out, he was glad no one could see his face at the moment since it was red with embarrassment.

“No, they weren’t, even a blind person could tell they were not, no offense, Arie,
just an expression.”

Arie knew Kylee meant no harm by it, she was just one of those people who rarely thought
before they said anything or acted. She was extra bubbly and was a total chatterbox,
but Arie loved her anyway. Kylee’s husband was the total opposite of her, he was
quiet but made his presence known in other ways. He thought long and hard before
he said anything to anyone.

Cris and Arie followed Kylee and
Jordan
down some dark stairs leading into a brick building that looked abandoned.
Jordan
raised his hand and knocked three times, paused, and knocked four more times onto
the brown steel door.

“What is the theme?” a deep male voice called out from an opening in the door that
wasn’t there just a few moments ago.

“Thirty one flavors of pure ecstasy,”
Jordan
said just loud enough for the four of them and the man at the door to hear.

The door quickly opened and
Jordan
was pulled into a man hug. “Hey,
Jordan
, why you didn’t tell me you were stopping by?”

“Last minute thing, finally got my sister to come out and celebrate,”
Jordan
said with a fake smile plastered on his face.

“Damn, why didn’t you tell me your sister was so fucking hot? I would have helped
you convince her to come out a lot sooner,” the man said as he glanced around
Jordan
and saw Arie standing there.

“Um, because she is engaged,” Kylee’s voice boomed out from behind her husband even
though she was tiny, everything about her was packed with a bang.

Kylee didn’t like how the pool halls back door bouncer was checking out her sister.
Since he smelled the same as her abusive ex-husband—scum, she didn’t want Arie going
through the same abuse she experienced for years.

“
Jordan
, I have to use the bathroom, now,” Kylee called once more and pushed pass the bouncer,
who was blocking the stairs that led into the pool hall.

Cris chuckled under his breath as he watched the small powerhouse. Arie discreetly
elbowed him since she was the only one who could hear him.

“Arie, Cris,
Jordan
, are you guys coming?” Kylee turned around and asked when she was halfway up the
stairs and noticed none of them moved.

Arie shook her head as she reached for Cris’s hand and dragged him along with
Jordan
following behind. Arie knew by the look on Kylee’s face when she turned around that
if they didn’t hurry she was going to cause a scene. She knew something about the
bouncer annoyed Kylee and she was going to find out soon.

Arie noticed a long dark hallway when she reached the top of the stairs. The hallway
light gave off enough light for them to see in front of them as they began to walk
through the hallway.

“Why is this hallway so damn long?” Arie asked aloud without even noticing.

“This hallway leads to a side door right next to the front door of the pool hall.
So we have to walk all the way to the front of building,” Kylee answered as she pushed
open the side door.

As they entered the room, both Cris and Arie were surprised at how the pool hall looked.
They thought the inside would look just as run down as the outside. Dark wood floors
covered the entire middle floor where the circular bar with matching barstools was.
On the left side was the dance floor and on the right were the pool tables and restrooms.

Green, blue, and red lights moved in a circle around the bar and dance floor. As
for the thirty-one flavors of ecstasy, there were thirty-one different drinks for
the night that promised to give you pure ecstasy now and a hangover later.

“I already have a pool table in the middle of the room reserved for us,”
Jordan
said as he directed them to the middle of the pool table area.

As they were racking the balls, a server approached them. “Hi, I am Stacy and I will
be your personal server for today,” Stacy said as she handed them the list of the
drinks.

“A
round
of mellow yellow and seventh heaven ecstasy all around.”
Jordan
waited until the waitress left before he said anything else. “The mellow yellow
and seventh ecstasy are the lightest drinks of the night. You have to order at least
two drinks off the theme of the night menu before you can order a beer or anything
else,”
Jordan
finished saying as he placed two bar stools for Arie and Kylee next to the pool table
until it was their turn.

Arie and Cris placed themselves where they were able to see everyone in the entire
pool hall without looking like they were trying to. Cris waited until the server
placed their drinks and turned to leave before he started the game.

Arie had never drank alcohol before in her life. She picked up the mellow yellow
one first, well, at least she thought it was that one since the drink was yellow.
She waited and watched everyone else’s reactions as they took the shot. When she
noticed neither of them grunted nor made a face, she decided to take the drink in
one swallow. Arie knew it was a mistake as soon as the drink hit the back of her
throat. It burned and her eyes watered a little bit but as the drink went down, she
actually found out she liked the burn. Her hand instantly went to the next drink
and it was even stronger and better than the last.

The guys were a few minutes into their game when a familiar figure approached their
table.

“Tate, what are you doing here?” Cris looked up and asked his cousin, when he noticed
a shadow over the table.

“Mark dragged me here with him and I noticed you guys so decided to come over and
say hello,” Tate said with a nervous
lift to
his voice that nobody but Arie seemed to notice.

Arie got the same weird creepy feeling she got whenever Tate talked and whatever slight
buzz she had was quickly gone. In her eyes, the more she watched Tate, the more he
looked like he was hiding something. Arie half listened as Cris introduced Tate to
the others, trying to see
Jordan
’s and Kylee’s take on him from their facial expressions.

“Come on, let’s leave the guys to their game and hit the dance floor,” Kylee said
as she dragged Arie to the dance floor, not waiting for an answer.

Once on the dance floor, Arie and Kylee closed their eyes and let their bodies move
to the sound of the beat. Neither of them noticed all eyes instantly went to them
as soon as they started dancing.

Arie slightly opened her eyes a little and began to scan every corner of the pool
hall looking for anything or anyone that seemed out of place. She hated how almost
all the men in the hall were staring at her. Many questions ran through her mind.
What was she thinking, coming out the house in a dress like that? Did she not look
in the mirror before leaving
for
the bar? I would die if my woman had a body like that.
The thoughts ran rapid through her head until an arm slid across her waist and her
eyes immediately shot open.

Cris and
Jordan
both noticed the grunts and murmurs as they floated around the pool hall at the same
time. Cris’s eyes followed the direction the men in the bar were pointing at. His
eyes instantly landed on Arie, who was in the middle of the dance floor drawing the
attention from everyone in the hall. Even though they weren’t together, he didn’t
like the fact the men had their eyes on her.

Arie didn’t know who was behind her until she snatched his arm off her waist, turned
around with the quickness, ready to strike. She relaxed when she noticed it was Cris
and let him pull her into his arms, swaying to the music with him. It was as if their
bodies were made for each other as they moved to the music.

Cris couldn’t help himself as he leaned down and whispered into Arie’s ear, “You’ve
got quite the fan base.”

Arie instantly shook her head, she knew they weren’t staring at her for the reason
Cris thought they were.

“You don’t think so?” Cris said as he turned her around and then said to her, “Look
into their eyes and tell me who they are looking at and what their eyes are filled
with.”

Arie could feel Cris’s hot breath massaging the side of her neck, making her dazed,
and feeling confused. “They’re looking at me and I see straight lust in their eyes.”

“Exactly, so don’t ever doubt not only what your body can do to a man, but your mind
as well, especially me,” Cris answered as he guided her back to the pool table where
Jordan
and Kylee were waiting for them.

They played pool for another hour before finally leaving the pool hall with
more than
enough insight
.

Arie pulled out her tablet and jotted down every suspicious person and activity she
saw in the club as Cris drove her home. During the night, she had discreetly got
their names from either Kylee or
Jordan
.

“Got anything good?” Cris asked her as he pulled into her driveway.

“Yeah, but I am not finished yet, I will let you look at my notes in the morning,”
Arie said as she climbed out of the car.

Cris got out of the car behind her and followed her to her doorstep.

“Goodnight, see you in the morning,” Arie said as she opened her door and walked into
her home.

“Night.” Cris didn’t turn and leave until he knew she was safely in the house and
the door was looked.