The Sometime Sister by Katherine Nichols (ebook reader for comics .txt) 📕

I intended to be contrite when I explained how Prez said Stella’s housekeeper would only speak to me, but I was getting sick and tired of his high-handedness. Sure, his morning had been a waste, but at least he hadn’t gotten arrested and thrown into a Third World jail.

I braced myself and tilted the glass. The second swallow was just as awful, but since I knew what to expect, I relaxed a bit as the heat radiated through me. I set it on the table and stared at him.

“Are you ready to hear my side?” I asked.

For the next ten minutes, I recounted my conversation with Prez and Eva’s insistence I come alone. I explained how Ramirez interrupted us and finished with how Prez’s lawyer friend negotiated my release. Then I thanked Justin for bailing me out and apologized for wasting his morning.

I kept my meeting with Adelmo a secret.

“You did more than waste my time, Grace.” He stood and looked down at me. “You showed a complete lack of faith.”

His expression made me forget how obnoxious he’d been earlier.

“You trusted some burned-out beach boy more than you do me and Harry.”

I felt another round of remorse.

“It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I began.

“Don’t give me that bullshit! You haven’t been honest with me this entire trip.”

“Honest? You’re mad at me because I haven’t been honest? You tell me my mother hired you to kill someone and then never say whether you plan on doing it. How could I trust you?”

He slammed his palm on the table.

“How could you believe I’m a stone-cold killer? Is that who you thought I was yesterday in the car? Does being with a potential murderer turn you on?”

“Please, I need some time to think.” I stood and pushed away so quickly my chair tipped and crashed onto the floor. I stumbled past it and ran toward my room, but he was too quick and caught me at the doorway.

He held my shoulders and glared. “I’m not a killer, Grace. Your mother was half out of her mind when she found out what happened. She told Mike she intended to find someone to settle the score. Said she knew some tough guys from her old neighborhood—hillbilly Mafia types. He was afraid she’d ask the wrong person and get arrested, or worse, so he called me. I agreed to go along so things wouldn’t get out of control. You weren’t supposed to know anything about it, but I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut around you. It’s awful what your sister and Ben did to you. But someday you’re going to have to learn to trust people.

I dissolved into his chest, warmed by his heat. He crushed his body against mine, then covered my mouth with his. The kiss was soft, moving from my mouth to my neck. I pulled him close and gasped as his lips touched flesh.

He leaned away from me. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

I couldn’t remember when I’d been more certain of anything. I nodded and led him into my room. We stood beside the bed. He guided my body to his and began kissing me again, more insistent now, as he cupped the fullness of my hips.

When I glimpsed our reflection in the mirror, I panicked. I had very little confidence in the love-making department. Before Ben I’d only had two serious relationships, my college boyfriend and an accountant I met through a friend. Sex with the first one was enthusiastic but bumbling. With the second, it was thorough but systematic and uninspired. Sex with Ben had been a production. Rose petals strewn across the bedspread, champagne on ice, expensive lingerie. But it became clear he was the star of the show.

My initial clue was the oval mirror mounted on the ceiling above his bed. The first time we had sex at his place, the lights were mercifully low, so I hadn’t seen it. I had too much wine in anticipation of being seduced and threw myself into the act with my personal imitation of reckless abandon. Things had been progressing nicely when he started barraging me with a series of dirty questions. Did I like it when he did that? Or this? Maybe I wanted that? I was at a loss for responses. Later, I learned it had nothing to do with my answers. It was about the interrogation, a sexual grilling. I was so busy trying to process information, I didn’t realize we finished. It wasn’t until the next morning, when I had the creepy notion we were being watched, that I noticed my naked reflection gazing down on me.

When I told him I was uncomfortable performing with myself as an audience, he explained that he loved seeing me from every angle. I ignored the fact that the mirror had preceded me or that he got more time in front of it than I did. He assured me I would come to love looking at myself. I never did.

I always wondered how the script had changed when it was Stella’s body hovering over him. My sister was not a supporting actress.

Justin’s hands moved from my hips to my breasts, brushing over my nipples. I moaned and guided his hand inside my blouse. He sat and pulled me onto his lap. I wrapped my legs around his waist, and thoughts of Ben and the past disappeared.

Chapter 25

I woke alone in tangled sheets and heard Justin talking in the other room. I slipped into my clothes and joined him.

“It turns out Harry’s trip to the city wasn’t a complete bust. Cordoza gave him the name of the guy who took photos of the accident and Harry met with him.” He paused before adding, “He has the pictures, Grace.”

“Oh.” I had trouble speaking. Guilt surged over me. For the past few hours, I hadn’t thought of Stella at all. I had been behaving like some college coed on spring break. But