Kissing Trouble (8 page)

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied, horribly when her voice gave a tremor, betraying just how hot the longing was.

His grin was slow and devastating, but it was also knowing and wicked. “Don’t you?” His gaze traveled down her flushed face to linger on the front of her top where she could feel the fabric straining over the hard peaks of her nipples. They tightened almost painfully under the hot scrutiny of his eyes. “Well, then, I would be really careful how you watch a guy, sweetheart, because I
will
fuck you, long, hard, and fast. That’s what your eyes are begging me to do.”

The pang blossomed into a full blown throb of agony that almost sent her to the floor. It shot splinters of electricity up her limbs to crackle in the pit of her stomach. Images of him filling her, stretching her walls, and sliding deep inside her nearly tore a whimper from her lips. She bit it back and willed herself to get a grip.

“You’re imagining things.” She muttered with far more resolve than she possessed. She swallowed audibly and turned her attention to the two fiddling with Mason’s glasses. “Can you two go upstairs while I change into my swimsuit?”

“I’ll watch them.” Mason took his glasses off Wendy’s face and tweaked her nose fondly.

Julie hesitated. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely! Now hurry.” He rounded those darkened eyes on her face, the look in them hungry. “I want to get you wet.”

Jelly-kneed and tongue-tied for the first time in her life, Julie could think of nothing to say that wouldn’t wind up with her begging him to make it stop. She had to remind herself he was toying with her. That he probably didn’t even mean it, in which case, it was just cruel and she was sure she would die from female blue balls—if such a thing existed.

Turning on her heels, she hurried from the room and down the hall. At the front doors, she paused, wondering if anyone bothered picking up that morning’s paper. She then wondered if anyone even bothered delivering that far from town.

Bypassing her original destination towards the stairs, she crossed to the door, wrenched it open ... and screamed.

T
hey hung from the doorframe, a macabre wind chime held by fishing wire, their limp little bodies swaying with the late afternoon breeze that was now tinted with the coppery scent of blood and meat that had been left in the sun too long. It was the smell that instantly shut her up. It slammed into the back of her throat, tickling her gag reflex.

Julie staggered back, away from the smell and sight, and collided with something that had long, strong arms snapping around her. She didn’t care whose hold she was in. She turned into their naked chest and mashed her face into their neck.

“Julie?” The pulse at Mason’s throat hammered against her lips. “What...?”

Words failed him as he stared at the open doorway. His arms tightened around her as he swore under his breath.

“What’s going on?” Wendy appeared in the hallway alongside Rick. A second later, Dustin and Shaun were also standing in the hallway with confusion and alarm on their faces.

Mason came out of his shock first; he slammed the front door shut and turned to the crowd with a trembling and clammy Julie still clasped to him protectively.

“Mouse,” he told them with a completely calm tone. He even sounded amused. “Girls,” he added and she could almost hear the roll of his eyes.

Rick giggled.

“I’m not afraid of a mouse,” Wendy declared, affronted.

“But you’re brave,” Mason told her. “Julie ... not so much. Hey, I think I saw a box of cookies in the cupboard. Why don’t you guys wait for us in the kitchen, okay?”

“Julie said we can’t—”

“It’s fine,” Julie choked out, extracting herself from Mason’s sturdy hold. “Just stay in the kitchen.”

“Come on before she comes out of her shock!” Rick hissed and grabbed his sister.

Wendy didn’t need to be told twice. She chased Rick into the kitchen. A moment later, a new set of feet hurried down the stairs. Luis glanced anxiously from face to face with questions in his eyes.

“What’s going on? I heard screaming.”

Rather than answer his friend, Mason waved Dustin over. “Can you do me a favor? Can you keep an eye on Rick and Wendy for a few minutes?”

“Why? What’s going on?” Dustin asked.

“Some cat brought a dead mouse to the door. I don’t want them to see it when I clean it up.” Said so smoothly, even Julie, who knew it was a complete lie, almost believed him. Wanted to believe him. “I could really use your help, bro.”

Dustin seemed to swell with the idea of being needed, especially by someone he considered as cool as Mason. He puffed out his thin chest and gave a terse nod. “No problem.”

“Thanks, man.”

With a shared fist bump, he darted into the kitchen with his siblings. And only when he was gone did the light fade from Mason’s eyes. He marched to the door and wrenched it open. Julie was prepared this time—she turned away. The hand she had no recollection of mashing into her mouth felt sweaty and hot against her skin, but she didn’t take it away.

“Whose idea of a sick joke is this?” he growled in a low hiss, gaze darting between Shaun and Luis.

“Dude, I was in the living room the whole time,” Shaun said.

Luis just stared, open mouthed in horror. There was a green tinge soaking through his pale complexion. She prayed to god he didn’t vomit, because there would be no stopping her from following suit if he did.

“Someone did this,” Mason said fiercely. “And since we’re the only ones tall enough to reach—”

“Why are you looking at us?” Shaun snapped. “It could have easily been her.” He jabbed a finger towards Julie.

“It wasn’t me!” Julie willed herself to say. “I would never do something so vile!”

“Well, we’ve been in the house this whole time,” Shaun said. “One of us would have heard if someone was hammering kittens into the doorframe.”

Julie’s stomach heaved at his blasé attitude towards the situation. She tasted bile in her throat when she swallowed.

“Keep your fucking voice down!” Mason snarled. “We were out for most of the morning with the kids. You two were the only ones here.”

“And we didn’t hear jack!” Shaun replied hotly. “Unless you’re accusing us of being psychopaths?”

Mason straightened his shoulders and stared at his two friends. “We are the only people here for miles. It’s literally an hour drive into town. That’s how isolated we are. Someone here did this.”

No one spoke, or looked at anyone else. The silence was deafening, overpowered by the stench Mason was letting waft into the foyer through the door he held open. Julie wished he would shut it. With every soft breeze, the limp little figures swayed and the sight was just revolting and heart wrenching.

At long last, when it became apparent that no one was going to admit to the crime, Mason shut the door and sighed.

“Help me clean it up before the kids see,” he said to his friends.

“Wait!” Julie moved to stand between them and him. “You can’t clean it up. We have to phone the police. This is serious.”

For one fleeting second, Mason and Shaun exchanged glances over her head before those blue eyes were on her once more.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” he said.

Julie blinked and then frowned. “Not necessary? Someone butchered those poor...” She couldn’t even bring herself to say it. “And then hung them up like Christmas ornaments. I’m sorry, but we’re phoning the police.”

Mason exhaled so heavily that it ended in a low growl. “Okay, fine. I’ll phone them. You get the kids out to the pool.”

“The pool? Why—?”

“Because they’re expecting it and if you want to keep this from them, they can’t be here when the police arrive.”

Julie shook her head. “But I—”

“I’ll call you when they get here. I promise,” he added when she continued to stand there.

Cradling her insides together solely by willpower alone, Julie accepted his assurance with a solemn nod. She ducked her head and made a straight line to the powder room and the solitude it promised.

Inside, she locked the door and slumped over the sink. Her stomach muscles churned and coiled like an angry serpent prepared to lash out. It writhed until she was all but sagging under the counter. It was by sheer grace that she heaved herself up. Her fingers fumbled with the knob as she twisted cold water into the porcelain basin and scrubbed at her face. The icy burn of it on her flushed face made her choke upon contact, but she splashed until she was no longer in danger of fainting.

It had to have been Shaun, she thought, snapping the water off and reaching for a hand towel. No one else was capable of that much cruelty. She had often wondered how Mason could be friends with someone who took pleasure in terrorizing others. But shoving people in the hallway and knocking books out of people’s hands was a far leap from torturing and killing innocent creatures. Or was one synonymous with the other? Escalation of crimes wasn’t unheard of. Small, cruel things later growing into more heinous and nightmarish acts. At least, that’s what her textbooks said about serial killers. After all, wasn’t the torture of animals the first step?

She shuddered and held her breath as another wave of nausea passed over her. Her heart drummed between her ears, almost muffling the low, urgent whispers coming from the hallway.

“You’re not seriously going to phone the police,” Shaun was saying when she held her breath and moved to listen more closely.

“I said I would,” came Mason’s short retort.

“Why? Because some walking vagina told you to?”

Julie’s gasp of disgusted outrage was swallowed by Mason’s agitated response.

“No, because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Right,” Shaun scoffed. “You know exactly what will happen the minute you call the cops, and yet you’re still going to do it because you’ve always been a little bitch when it comes to her.”

“This has nothing to do with her.”

“Bullshit!” Shaun spat. “She is the root of everything you’ve ever done.”

Confusion drew Julie’s brows in a knot between her eyes. She pressed closer to the door, but whatever Mason said was too low to hear, although the tone rippled with an anger that left a hot wave through the room.

“You expect me to believe that?” Shaun shot back. “Like I don’t know—”

“Shaun, enough.”

Mason didn’t shout, but there was a finality in his tone that speared the air with an icy arrow. Julie half expected ice particles to begin forming on the door and dripping off the doorknob.

“I get that you’re pissed,” Mason continued in a more even tone. “Because of your nose—”

“Fucking right I’m pissed!” Shaun practically shouted. “Question is, why aren’t you?”

“Because I know why she did it.” Mason was cool and collected again. “Those are my cousins in there and she was protecting them. I’m not going to blame her for that. Also, if you guys are telling me you didn’t do that shit outside, then someone did and, like it or not, we need to call the police.”

There was more snarling and growling from Shaun, silence from Mason and finally, the stomp of boots on the stairs as someone—Julie assumed it was Shaun judging from the furious pounding—left the hallway. There was a heartbeat of silence, then a door slamming shut overhead.

She pushed away from the door now that there was nothing left to hear. She straightened her clothes, ran anxious hands through her hair, and double checked her reflection before prying open the door and peeking out.

The foyer was void of life. The low whine of commercials spilled out of the sitting room and there was a chattering coming from the kitchen. She padded quietly to the first door and peered in. Dustin, Rick, and Wendy looked up from the table, faces smudged with chocolate and a whole box of Oreos empty on the table between them. From the island, Luis met her glance, still looking ashen and shaken, but he gave her a feasible smile that was probably meant to comfort her if it hadn’t appeared so strained.

“You said we could!” Rick said quickly, as if worried she was about to chew them out.

Julie smiled at him halfheartedly at him. “It’s okay, but now you have to wait to get into the pool.”

“Can we still play outside?” Wendy asked.

Casting another glance at Luis, Julie nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Whooping in excitement, Wendy and Rick hopped out of their chairs and bolted for the backdoor. Dustin popped another cookie into his mouth and followed. Unlike his siblings, he wasn’t dressed for swimming. He still wore his jeans and t-shirt and his DS was poking out of his pocket. Julie let it go. She was in no mood to argue.

“Did he call?” she asked Luis once the kids were out the door.

He nodded. “He’s upstairs,” he said. “He asked me to stay with you guys. If that’s okay?”

Julie nodded. “Of course.”

They left the kitchen together and ventured down the stone step towards the flat stretch of land separating the house from the lake. The grass here was unnaturally bright, almost artificial and the pool was a blue gem right in the center. The grass around it was more faded, almost yellow where they ran alongside the path leading down to the dock. A basketball court and outdoor lounge area sat beneath a beautiful, white canopy, looking more like a resort than a cabin in the woods.

Julie went for the lounge as the Rick and Wendy chased each other around the basketball court. Luis took the recliner next to her as Dustin flopped down in one of the chairs surrounding the glass table almost ten feet from where Julie sat and pulled out his game system. No one spoke. Only the rustle of leaves as the wind blew through the branches and the children’s squeals broke the silence.

“Are you okay?” Luis asked quietly.

Jolted from her reverie, Julie looked at him. “No, honestly. I’m kind of really freaked out.”

Luis nodded. “I’m really sorry.”

Julie shrugged. “Not your fault. I mean, it’s not like you did it.” She searched his face. “Right?”

Both of his hands went up in the air, a sign of surrender. “I swear.”

Maybe it was the fact that he looked positively clammy, but she believed him.

“I just can’t believe someone could do something like that,” she whispered.