Unforgettable (21 page)

I stroked his dick and pulled him
closer to me.

“
I see you’re already hard
as a rock.”

“
Oh, yeah.” He was
panting.

I eased him back in a chair.

“
Mmmhmm. You certainly are
going to be within my top ten percent…maybe five.”

I went back to my bag and pulled out an
eighteen inch ruler.

“
Let’s see now. Oh, yes…six
inches and one eighth. Very impressive. Can’t wait to feel you,
deep, so deep…”

“
Wow. That’s cold. Seems to
be stuck.”

“
Probably the instant glue I
put on it.” I held the ruler like a handle on his quickly shrinking
penis.

“
You what? You bitch. Get
this off!”

“
I want you to listen to me
very closely, John, and if I like how you respond I will give you
the acetone to take this off. I am Jack’s
therapist.
I am here to help his foot
heal and to get him up and moving again.
That’s
what I’m paid for. Understand?
Not sex.”

“
Oh yes. Very sorry. Sorry
about the Chicago thing…can I have the acetone now?”

I took my phone out and took a picture
of him.

“
This stays between us. You
cause any trouble and this picture will fall into the wrong hands.
Agree?”

“
Yes, yes. Just give me the
damn stuff. It’s really pulling now.”

I smiled and gave him two large bottles
of fingernail polish remover and a bag of cotton balls, tying my
dress back again. I left leaving the door open.

Kelly walked in and burst into fits of
laughter. I smiled and walked back to Jack.

Laughter was now spreading like
wildfire.

I showed Jack my picture and I thought
he was going to fall on the floor laughing. He had changed into
Chinos and a black tee shirt and he looked good enough to eat.
Which I was contemplating.

“
I think it would be wise if
we got the hell out of here,” I whispered.

In the car Jack took my
hand.

“
A good friend of mine told
me I was being too hard on you.”

“
Wise friend.”

“
I was hoping you would do
me the honor of going on a date with me.”

“
When?”

“
Now.”

“
Okay.”

“
Let’s go eat. I’m
starving.” He told Roger, “Tony’s.”

We drove to Tony’s, Jack and I snuggled
in the backseat. Jack stretched out as much as he could, propping
his leg on my lap.

I clucked at him.

“
I know, I know. Bad foot.
Bad Jack.”

“
Tomorrow you need some
rest.”

“
I agree with that.” Smiling
he lit a cigar. I threw it out the window.

“
Bad cigar. Bad
Jack.”

He laughed.

“
That cigar did absolutely
nothing to you.”

Sting was on the radio…

….you’ll remember me when
the west wind moves upon the fields of

barley….

“
Will you always remember
me?” I whispered.

“
I won’t have to. You’ll
always be with me.”

He pulled me up on top of him and held
me.

“
I’m never going to let you
go.”

…
feel her body rise when
you kiss her mouth…

“
This is such a beautiful,
romantic song. ‘Feels so good to just lay here with
you.”

Unbuttoning his shirt I kissed his
chest playing with his silk tangle of hair. My eyes drifted closed
and I fell into a warm, contented slumber.

Silverman was sitting
alone, staring at the reports on his desk.

The Chief had piled on
twice as much work as the other detectives. Old cold cases. Cases
that would take legwork. Cases he would never solve. And then get
dismissed.

He was surprised when his
phone range and it was Hilton.

"Got a minute?"

"Sure."

"The Governor and the Mayor
are having a friendly drink. Thought you might be
thirsty."

"Where?"

"We're sitting
outside."

Silverman sighed. This was
not going to be good. Why didn't he go into the shoe
business.

He was bone tired as he
walked out into the warm night air to waiting limousine.

Forty-five minutes later we arrived at
Tony’s. Surrounding the main floor was a New Orleans style balcony
with wrought iron railings and Spanish moss.

“
This is so beautiful,” I
whispered.

“
You don’t have to
whisper.”

People stared and pointed as we walked
through and took a service elevator to the balcony. A woman played
the piano in the corner. Lights were dim.

“
I want to dance with you,”
he held my hand. “You are so amazingly beautiful.”

“
Where do you think Fritz
is?”

He put his drink down, folding his
hands. He stared.

“
You know, if you want to
make a go of it with Fritz, I’ll understand. He’s a good man. ‘Been
my best friend for fifteen years. And I am an excellent judge of
character.”

“
You’re serious.”

“
Not a bit, but I thought it
would sound noble of me to say it. If you end up with Fritz…I’ll
have to deal with it.”

“
I know it seems like I’m
just a tease, that I should just go to bed with you and we can
become lovers, and this tug and pull would end. I don’t mean to do
that…to be a tease. I’ve never had trouble with men…like this. In
fact…that’s why Welsh attacked me.”

“
You’re going to have to
explain that one.”

“
He had been watching me for
a long time…months. When I would have men over, and we’d end up in
bed, he’d watch. He told me all about it. Told me all the things I
had done, how I did it. He said I was evil, vile, sinful. That’s
why Satan wanted me so much.”

He stared at me.

Finally he said, “Now it makes sense.
You were bad and that’s why this horrible thing
happened.

“
You know that none of that
is true. Human beings have sex. All the time. All over the place.
Do you know how many people are having sex right now, in this
block?”

“
Not really.”

“
Forty eight. Oh, no,
forty-nine.”

“
Odd man out?”

“
Or three men
in.”

“
Or two men, one woman, or
three women, or two women, one man.”

He swirled his scotch, clinking the ice
against the glass.

“
Doesn’t make them bad.
Doesn’t make you bad. We’re all like little rabbits, humping
constantly. Only I doubt rabbits have such conflicts about it. I’ve
never met a rabbit psychiatrist.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, hugging
myself.

“
Damn, Jack, I wish it would
all go away.”

He rubbed my bare back.

“
It will. In time. It
will.”

We went home.

“
I’m exhausted, I’m going to
bed,” I said.

“
Come on,” he threw down one
crutch and held onto my arm.

I was laughing.

“
What are we doing? I feel
like we’re in a three-legged race.”

“
Come on.”

He dragged me into the den. There were
flowers everywhere, and candles flickering around the room. A small
red box was sitting on the bed.

“
Wow. This is…., what is
this?”

He sat on the bed and handed me the
box.

I looked at it skeptically.

“
Open it.”

I untied the bow and lifted the
lid.

“
It’s a key with a gold
heart. ‘Sam’s house.’ You gave me a key.”

I sat down next to him.

“
I know you’ve been feeling
lost. I just wanted you to know this is your home. No matter who
you choose or what happens.”

“
Sam’s house,” I repeated.
“So how many women…”

“
None. Just Sam.”

“
This means a
lot.”

“
I know, love.”

I kissed him and he lay me
down.

“
I’ve got to have you,
Sam.”

“
I know. But not
tonight.”

I kissed him rolling on top of him,
then slipped away upstairs.

I heard as I walked down the
hall.

“
Damn! That didn’t work.
Woman’s gonna be the death of me.”

I grinned. I held the key in my fist.
Sam’s house.

I went to bed in the black and white
room.

I fell asleep immediately.

“
Lilith, my Lilith, I am
coming for you.” I woke feeling a scream coming out of my mouth. My
heart was pounding and my muscles would not move.

“
Where are you?”

“
Remember…remember. I want
you again my Lilith. You will bear my child this time…take your
clothes off now, I am going to….I will take pieces of you, in my
mouth, delicious. You’re going to bear my son. I’ll take you…I’ll
keep you…feel my knife now? Feel it, my Lilith? Of course you
do…Sweet blood, such sweet blood, my Lilith…”

I screamed and ran downstairs to Jack.
I shook him awake.

“
He’s here…he’s in my
room…he’s in my room!”

He picked up the phone.

“
Okay. Security’s going to
check out your room.”

“
Get up! He’s
here.”

I ran to the kitchen and found the
biggest knives and ran back to him.

His phone rang.

“
Sam, there’s no one here.
You probably had a dream.”

“
No. It was him. I was
awake. It was Welsh. Please…”

I cried so hard my teeth
rattled.

“
Come here, Sam. Put the
knives down. Sleep with me. You’re safe.”

“
Don’t patronize me. He was
here.”

“
Did you see
him?”

“
No. Just his
voice.”

He called Roger and told him what had
happened.

“
Tomorrow. A full sweep.
Maybe we need to look at everyone coming into this house. See if
there’s something we’ve missed.” He hung up.

“
I’ll call Silverman in the
morning.”

I rolled over facing Tonto.

“
That may not be a good
idea. He may take me away.”

“
I won’t let
him.”

He put his arm over me and nuzzled my
neck.

“
I want you to stay right
here with me.”

“
What do you think it
was?”

“
Might be that someone
within our ranks is helping the bastard to scare you.”

“
He sure did a mighty fine
job.”

“
I can’t sleep. I don’t want
to sleep. He told me everything he’s going to do to me. And…he
wants to make babies. Sons of Satan. He wants to keep me, Jack.
He’s going to cut out pieces of me and eat them…and he’s going to
keep me. I wish I had died the first time. I can’t take this.
‘Can’t do this.”

“
Shh shh. Lay down with me.
I’m so glad you lived. I want you right here, need you right here.
Nothing’s going to happen. Too many people watching. Now tell me
something.”

“
What?”

He thought. “What our wedding will be
like.”

“
Our wedding.”

“
Yup, big-assed Hollywood
wedding. And you will be so amazingly beautiful…tell me about your
dress.”

“
White.”

“
You’re not getting into
this.”

“
I can’t imagine
it.”

“
Beautiful white satin
dress. Strapless. Bare, nibbable shoulders. Your hair up with
little flowers in it.”

“
Sounds oh so nice. A good
cake. I love wedding cake.”

“
Best cake.”

He kissed me.

“
And best of all, the
wedding night.” His face touched mine, so loving, so
gentle.

“
The wedding
night.”

“
I strip you out of that
fantastic dress…”

“…
dress. And I’d have a
garter belt and a lace-up corset. I’ve always wanted to wear
that…”

He moaned and played with my
nipple.

“
Sweet Sam, marry me. I
gotta see you in that garter belt. I gotta take it off you and make
love to what’s underneath.”

“
So sweet,” I murmured, very
sleepy. “You swear I’ll be okay if I go to sleep?”

“
Swear. I’ll stay with you
all night. And the rest of your life.”

I buried my face in his
chest.