A Test of Love: Interracial Erotic Romance (Chasing Love) (13 page)

He stiffened within his hold on me. “I. . .”

“Chase, you can’t keep me out.”

“But I’m just—”

“Trying to protect me I know, but that won’t work.” I leaned away from him and stared into his eyes. “I don’t like being in the dark when my life is on the line. You need to tell me everything and it starts tonight.”

He released me and edged away. “Some things may not be relative to this sicko ’who’s out to get you. I need you to respect that and not push me to tell you.”

“Like what?”

“Those two rooms.”

“What if they are related to why this person is trying to come after me and your girlfriends that were murdered.”

“They’re not. Trust me.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. If the person who is doing this is Dawn, Wendy, Lucy, or even Benny, then they’re not relative to those rooms. They know nothing about what’s in there or why they even exist.”

“Who does?”

“Only my father and the staff who goes in there to clean them a few times a year.”

“But—”

“And I would like you to not ask your brother to break into any of my property.”

I crossed my arms around my chest. “Well, if anybody will get in trouble for that it’s me.”

“No one is in trouble, just don’t have him do it again. . .please. I’ll tell you everything else, but when it comes to those rooms, we leave it alone.” He offered his hand. I didn’t shake it.

“Will you tell me about this buried body and gun that you think was used by the person to shoot me?”

“Yes.”

“Now?”

He groaned. “Must it be now? Let’s see if they find the gun first.”

“They’re looking for it now?”

“In a few hours, yes.”

“Then tell me this story now.”

“Take off your robe.” He directed his gaze to my tie. “If I’m going to be dragged back to one of many days that I wish I could forget, I’ll do it with you half-naked and close to me.”

“Half-naked?”

“Take off that robe. I’ll take anything else off if I need to.” He remained a few inches or so away from me, yet the heat radiating from him told me that he would do what he promised. Plus, he was in a telling mood. I didn’t want to get him off track.

“Okay. Go ahead.” I took it off. The robe fell to the floor.

I only wore a white cotton gown that fell down to my knees. It was one of those thin numbers, nothing to shield me from the breeze that brushed against my nipples and made me shiver. Although it wasn’t the sexiest thing I could sleep in, it formed around my body with ease and gave Chase just enough to look at and drool over. He’d attempted to rip it off when I first came out of the bathroom. I’d had to remind him that he was still cut off from that part of me due to the kidnapping.

“Take off the gown.”

“Nice try. Maybe I’ll take it off if I believe you’re really being straight with me.”

He headed over to the table, pulled a chair out, sat down, and gestured for me to come over. I obliged. All around us the small Italian town slept. Only the rustling of things that crept in the night could be heard. When I sat down, Chase kissed me on my cheek. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”

“Quit stalling.”

He frowned. “Lucy’s parents were pretty sick people.”

Tension built in my shoulders as I prepared myself for the rest of his story.

“They did things to Lucy that other people couldn’t see, but hurt her just the same. They touched her the way parents should never touch a kid, and they did it with the thinking that it was love.” He sighed. “Her mother was a distant cousin of my father. They were all into kinky things, which is how they all ended up spending a lot of time around each other.”

“I don’t understand.”

“There was a secret club in Atrani that allowed sexual activities for the wealthy in need of their privacy. Dawn’s father sort of was the founder of this. They didn’t have a set location. They more planned to meet each summer and bring in whatever they needed. When I was putting Lucy’s binder together, my people didn’t dig as deep as they could have due to all of the various people involved. My father hung out with powerful men, ones who would realize I was poking around and deal with me accordingly.”

I swallowed down a bit of fear.

“My father also collected guns. I don’t believe he was ever as kinky as his friends. He just enjoys not having any limits when it comes to his pleasures. His guns are a great example. He bought many types, from antiques to modern assault rifles, celebrity-owned weapons to illegal hand guns. Most were loaded, but he never shot them. He just likes being surrounded by danger, I think. He loves the rush of death right there hanging on the walls. He stopped keeping guns in the house after that summer.”

“Why?”

He raised his head up and stared at the stars. “Dawn was fascinated with these guns. At thirteen, all I could think about was girls. My hormones ripped through me, and I was putty in her hands. We barely played with the other kids who came with our parents’. . .friends.”

“Not even Lucy?”

“No. Her parents.” He twisted his face in disgust. “They always kept her close.”

Another shiver crept up my spine. “Okay.”

“Late at night, I would sneak out of the house and have Dawn meet me at the beach. The only way I could get her out is to promise to bring a gun. I always took the antique ones because Dad didn’t favor them as much as the others. I was a stupid kid. If I had been using my brain, I would’ve realized that he didn’t mess with the antiques because they cost over a million dollars each.”

“A mill?”

He nodded. “Dawn and I had been kissing a lot that summer. I knew if I brought down something that would truly impress her, then I could probably touch her breasts.”

“Really? That was your big goal for the summer?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I was thirteen. Anyway, this antique was a part of a pair. They were steel-mounted saddle pistols owned by George Washington.”

“You’re playing, right? Shouldn’t they be in a museum or something?”

“You don’t understand my father. He’s a bit eccentric. He bought them at a Christie’s auction in New York. That being said, he did keep them with several various museums throughout the year. Summer was when he put them on display for his friends.”

“How do you even have bullets for them?”

“Anything is possible with the right amount of money.”

“Okay, so you’re telling me you sneaked out of the house with a gun worth. . .what?”

“Each one is worth a million dollars.”

“Damn. You were going to let Dawn shoot those?”

“Just one, and yes. I was hoping she would be so impressed that I could get what I wanted.”

“A feel of nipple?” I shook my head.

“I was a bit insatiable back then.”

“Sounds more like you were stupid and horny.”

“Maybe.” No humor showed on his face. I’d been trying to keep a light mood. His face darkened in the moonlight as he closed his eyes. “Dawn and I shot four bullets. There were only three left. She had them on the ground next to her along with the gun. On the other side, we made out.”

“So the gun did impress her?”

Ignoring me, he didn’t open his eyes or get rid of that grim expression. “There were these huge cliffs that had sandy grooves cut through them. Lots of people would sneak in there and make out. That’s where we were when Lucy’s father dragged her out onto the beach. He’d been pulling her along by her hair as she screamed and tried to grab for sand. She kept kicking it up with her feet and begging him to stop.”

My breath caught in my throat.

“We had no idea what to do. Dawn had suspected something was wrong with Lucy’s father. Everyone called him Mac, as a sort of nickname because he was pretty big like a Mac truck. He stayed quiet a lot. Sometimes he just sat there and watched all of us kids play and it just made my skin crawl, but I could never figure out why. Dawn swore he would lick his lips. I never saw it. That night, I realized that she must’ve been right. Mac pulled his pants down and began to rape his daughter right there on the sand. He laughed the whole time.” Chase shivered and tightened his grip on my hip. “When he entered her, Lucy stopped screaming. She just looked at the sand and said nothing.”

“Oh, my God.” I held myself.

“I was just frozen. Here I was a thirteen-year-old boy, already scared that I would get caught being outside, and I have this ridiculously expensive gun that my father would definitely kill me over. And Mac several feet in front of us, on the beach, raping his own child.”

“How long did this go on?”

“I. . .I don’t know. I just remember Dawn tapping my arm and handing me the gun. She’d already filled it with bullets. I never even heard her. This buzzing noise just sounded in my ears. I must’ve been in shock or something. I had no idea what Dawn was saying, I could just see her lips moving as she gave me the gun. It was so cold in my hands and heavy, really heavy. I gripped it, pointed, and pulled the trigger not even knowing if I would hit him or even if bullets were actually inside the barrel.”

Silence passed. My mouth hung open. He remained stiff and unyielding. The wind blew through his hair, tousling his chestnut waves. My whole body felt as cold as that gun he’d just described.

They were all only thirteen. Oh, my god.

“I shot with Mom a lot. Dad wasn’t into shooting. Mom thought it would brighten her moods; she battled with anxiety and depression.” He opened his eyes and centered all of his attention on me. “So when I shot Lucy’s father, I shot Mac right in the head. Blood sprayed on Lucy, and again she didn’t make a sound. His body fell off of her tiny body and dropped to the side of her. She still didn’t cry or scream. Dawn ran over there. I stumbled out later. . .and then. . .”

“What? And then what?”

“Dawn’s father, mine too, and three of their friends came out of the shadows.”

What?

“They’d been close by the whole time.” Chase spat out the words as if they filled his mouth with nastiness. “They’d been smoking cigars or something and had been watching this man rape his daughter.”

“Wait a minute. No. I don’t understand. Didn’t you see them?”

“Not when Mac dragged Lucy out. It was the only thing I could focus on. But our fathers had been around the whole time.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Well, I never discussed why they were there, clearly. I’d just killed their friend who was raping his own daughter, something they casually witnessed. Even worse, I was my Dad’s son, and he was a man no one would ever consider crossing. Lucy’s father had strong connections in the oil industry. His murder would be national news. People would ask questions, like why were they all there at that point in the night or even in the town to begin with.” He searched my face as if wondering what I was thinking. “So you know what I will say next, right?”

“No.”

“Benny took care of it. They called him in seconds and he rushed out to the beach.”

“He’d already been in Atrani?”

“Yes. I’m almost positive he was a part of their club. Although I don’t think he ever knew about what was happening to Lucy. He seemed very irate about it as soon as he spotted her damaged and lying in the sand. Either way, Benny took care of it, right there on the beach. He cut Mac up, got my fathers to help him dig, and dumped Mac there. Benny believed that Mac was too powerful to have too many people privy to the information. He didn’t even want our fathers’ security to come on the beach and help.”

“And the gun was buried too?”

“No. Benny said he would take care of it. My father’s no fool. He didn’t like the idea of Benny having concrete proof that his kid shot Mac. They argued. I was scared that there would be another dead body on the beach that night. Clearly, they’d been drinking and doing other things. Most of them were red-eyed as they thrust their hands around in quick movements.”

“And what did Lucy do?”

“She just lay on the ground, smiling.” He gripped me tighter, so hard it hurt. I had to gently push his hands away. “She just had this really delirious smile on her face. No one could look her way for more than a few seconds, not even Dawn, who held her the whole time. But back to the gun. I’d been holding it the whole time and knew it was important. Benny and Dad began to sort of fight. They were two drunken men screaming and trying to throw punches as others pulled them apart. In that moment, I slung the gun on the ground, covered it up with tons of sand, picked up a huge rock as if it was a gun, and screamed as a ran to the shore, ‘I’m just going to throw it in the ocean!’ As you can imagine, all of these men now turned their attention to me as I’m racing to the ocean. They’re rushing for me. I get there before them and throw the rock in. They hear the splash and have no reason to believe that I didn’t do it. It’s dark and plainly I’m an idiot kid.”

“You’re not an idiot. You saved Lucy.”

He rubbed his eyes. “That’s what she’s been saying almost every year since then. I saved her. While the men and Dad came close to beating the shit out of me, Dawn and Lucy buried the gun.”

“So do you know where it’s at exactly?”

“I never saw it and didn’t even want to think about it again. Dawn told me she buried it where we made out. That’s it.”

Bullcrap.

“So only Dawn and Lucy truly know what happened with the gun?” I asked.

“Yes. And in order to shoot a gun like this you need special bullets. They’re called vintage ammo in auctions and are really expensive to buy. They’re so rare that when my men discovered those bullets in the alley, I knew it had to be one of them, not Benny or any of our fathers.”

His phone rang. He rushed with getting it out of his pocket. “Did you find it?”

The voice sounded muffled as I sat on his lap. Chase’s darkened expression lowered even further. “And the body? Okay. No. Clean it up and get out of there.”

He clicked his phone off and turned to me. “They found the body right where I said it would be, but there’s no gun, just a few bullets.” He hit the table next to us. “Fuck!”

I jumped up. “Chase, calm down.”

“It’s fucking one of them.” He wouldn’t stop shaking his head. “I never really thought it could be one of them. I always hoped for some enemy out there in the world that I didn’t know. Some person that just had it in for me that I could find and get rid of with no problem. Not a woman that had lain in my bed or one I had trusted.”