Beautiful Prey: The Storm Series (4 page)

CHAPTER 6

STORM

Jack
stood at the window of his penthouse apartment atop Storm Tower and sipped his scotch.

He stared at Chicago’s impressive skyline. He took another
sip and looked down at the busy streets. He wondered if his caramel beauty was
out
strolling
the dangerous streets of Chicago. He
couldn’t believe that he was becoming protective of a woman that he didn’t
know. He walked over to the sofa and retrieved a file from the coffee table.

John, Jack’s head of security, had done a very thorough
investigation, so Jack had Victoria Price’s complete life story in his hands.
She had been a cop for ten years, and a very good cop at that. Her career as a
police officer was impressive. She’d studied self-defense for years and she
specialized in hand-to-hand combat. She was even an instructor at a local YMCA.
She had two loving parents. Her father was African American, and her mother was
Dominican. She had one sister and one brother. Her entire family lived in South
Carolina. She had been engaged at one time to some asshole lawyer, Dante
Roberts, until she walked in on him in bed with another woman.

What would
make a man want another woman after having Victoria
?

She was also a volunteer for the Sickle Cell Association of
Illinois, and she was sponsoring a ball that Saturday. He had Mary secure him a
ticket. That would be when Jack would make his move. She was participating in a
bachelorette auction. That was one bid that he didn’t intend to lose. He had
every intention of seducing Victoria Price Saturday night. 

She is
worth every penny
, he thought to himself. 

His ringing phone interrupted his thoughts of Victoria. He
stared at the caller ID and debated on whether he should answer. It was
Caroline; a woman that he’d had sex with a couple of times. Caroline Miller was
your typical spoiled little rich girl living off of Daddy’s money, but Jack’s
net worth made Daddy look blue collar.

Caroline was no fool. She wanted more than sex. Jack didn’t
do more, but he answered the call none-the-less.

“Storm.”

“Baby, where’ve you been?” Caroline was using that whiny
voice that Jack couldn’t stand.

Jack had absolutely no patience for this shit. “Busy. What
do you want?”

“I miss you, baby. I wanna drop by.”

“Not tonight, Caroline.”

Jack wasn’t interested at all. He could’ve definitely used
the release, and Caroline was definitely beautiful in a superficial kind of way.
She was petite with long blonde hair, a peaches and cream complexion, green
eyes, and enormous fake boobs. But Jack had no desire to spend an evening with
Caroline. He couldn’t get himself to focus on anyone other than Victoria. He
just needed one night with her so that he could get her out of his system once
and for all.

“Caroline, I have to go.”

He ended the call abruptly, not giving her a chance at a
whiny protest. He placed the folder containing Victoria’s information back on
the coffee table and headed to his home gym to relieve his sexual frustration.

Forty-five minutes and a bucket of sweat later, he was still
picturing that bead of sweat rolling into Victoria’s caramel cleavage. Jack
abandoned his workout and headed for the master bath to shower. He peeled the
wet clothes from his body and jumped in the shower. He turned the knob to
adjust the temperature. It started spraying cold water, which was good. He
definitely needed to cool off. As the water warmed, his thoughts returned to
Victoria. He imagined those long brown legs wrapped around his waist as he
thrust his cock deep in her pussy over and over again. He could easily picture
her big tits bouncing as he pounded into her. He could almost taste her as he
imagined licking and sucking her hard brown nipples.

He couldn’t take it anymore, so he wrapped his hand around
his cock and began slowly stroking up and down. In his deep sexual thoughts,
the harder he thrust and pounded her pussy into submission, the more her big
tits bounced. He stroked his rock-hard cock faster and harder. He was so close.
He could feel his balls tightening. Jack released with a loud moan and shot hot
semen all over his hand and the shower floor. When he caught his breath, he
realized that Saturday wouldn’t arrive soon enough.

CHAPTER 7

VICTORIA

 “Thank
God it’s Friday,” Victoria sighed as she hopped out of the covert car that
Steve was driving.

After three days of avoiding cameras while securing the Taste
of Chicago, Victoria was almost happy to be streetwalking again. She said a
silent prayer that no one would recognize her from her time in uniform. She
walked over to her designated corner and strolled up and down the street.

Today’s ensemble consisted of a black liquid mini-dress with
strategically placed cutouts and black gladiator stilettos. Five minutes into
her stroll, she spotted a black Escalade parked down the block. Victoria
started walking in the direction of the vehicle, but it took off suddenly.

She shrugged and thought to herself;
maybe I’m not his type
.

She turned and walked back to the corner with a little extra
sway in her hips. A red Mustang pulled to the curb. Victoria sashayed towards
the vehicle and leaned into the passenger side window.

She smiled and spoke to the driver. “Hey, baby. You need a
date?”

The man flashed a toothless smile at Victoria and replied,
“I sure do, Beautiful”.

She smiled back and asked, “What
kinda
party did you have in mind, Big Man?”

“I want a full ride, Sexy.” He winked. “I got a hundred for
a blowjob and summa that good pussy,” he growled.

Yes, he actually growled. The fool already had his pants
unzipped. Victoria was sure that he needed a bath.

“You got condoms?”

The dirty John’s answer was, “Don’t like rubbers, so I’ll
give you another fifty to go raw.”

“Cool,” she said with a smile. What she was thinking
was,
this nasty
mothafucka
!

Victoria performed a secret takedown signal to a watching
Steve. The team rushed in and arrested the nasty would-be John.

Two hours passed and Victoria had six men in custody. It was
time for a short break, so she started to walk across the street and jump in
the car with Steve. Before she could get to the corner, a tall skinny
twenty-something-year-old punk walked past her and smacked her on her ass.

Oh hell no
!

Victoria turned around and punched the little asshole square
in his nose. She didn’t like being touched. The idiot grabbed his nose and fell
to the ground. He shot a hateful look her way, but before he could get to his
feet, he was being “handled” by Steve and Deon. By the time the rest of the
team arrived, the little molester was very apologetic. He became arrestee
number seven.

The team headed into the station to process the arrestees.
Victoria and her team quickly finished the paperwork and headed out. She was
tired and needed her rest because she’d have a busy day the next day. She was
so excited about the ball. She and Tracy had planned a spa day in preparation
for the big event. It would be a day full of primping and pampering for them
both. The gown that she chose for the event was the most expensive item in her
closet. She usually didn’t spend a lot of money on clothing, except shoes. Cops
didn’t make enough to have designer wardrobes. Yet, since she was throwing
herself in the bachelorette auction, she figured she should at least look her
best. She was hoping the auction went well. The charity really needed funds.

Victoria hopped in her car and started it up. She pulled out
of the lot, turned her radio up, and starting singing along with Robin
Thicke’s
“Blurred Lines”. Victoria was close to her
apartment when she turned her radio down and studied her rear view mirror. She
could have sworn that the same vehicle had been behind her since she left the station.

She wondered if she was being followed.

Victoria decided to drive by her apartment building. She
definitely wasn’t about to lead whoever was following her to her home. She kept
driving straight until she reached the traffic light at Cottage Grove. She made
a right and headed north. The vehicle that was following her kept straight.
After about four blocks, Victoria decided that maybe she was overreacting. So
she made a right turn and drove towards her apartment. When she turned onto her
block, she did a quick survey and pulled into the parking lot. She parked her
car, hopped out, and headed towards the building holding her nine-millimeter by
her side. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she didn’t give a damn. A little
heat went a long way.

She made her way into the building and up the stairs. Sure
enough, Mrs. O’Malley was standing her nosy ass in the doorway.

“Did you give one of your men a key to the entry door?” Mrs.
O’Malley was snarling as she waited for an answer.

“One of my men?
Mrs.
O’Malley, when have you ever seen a man over here?” Victoria finished with, “I
don’t have any men.”

“Well, some
man…
,”
she paused as if she wanted to call him something else, “…was sniffing around
your door.”

This made the hairs on the back of Victoria’s neck stand.
“Mrs. O’Malley, what did this man look like?”

The old lady looked down and spotted the gun in Victoria’s
hand. “He looked like a thug!”

Then the mean old lady stepped back and slammed the door in Victoria’s
face. Victoria wanted to kick her damn door in, but she decided against it.
Instead, she unlocked her apartment and went inside. Well, one thing Victoria
was sure of, judging from Mrs. O’Malley’s reaction, was that her visitor was
definitely black. Like normal, Victoria tossed her bag on the floor by the
front door. She looked down and noticed a note that had been slipped under her
door. She picked it up and it read: “Missing you. Will see you soon…Dante.”

“Not if I see you first,” she said out loud. She walked into
the kitchen and tossed it in the trash.

Victoria threw a TV dinner in the microwave and poured
herself a glass of her favorite red wine. She grabbed her dinner and wine and
sat on the sofa. She’d set her DVR to record Scandal and she was ready to relax
and watch Olivia Pope fix the world. She didn’t give her cheating ex-fiancé
another thought.

CHAPTER 8

 VICTORIA

Victoria
was well rested. She hadn’t gotten this much sleep in what seemed like ages.
She rolled over and looked at the clock.

“Shit!”

It was nine o’clock. She was supposed to meet Tracy at the
salon at nine-thirty. She jumped from her bed, ran into the bathroom, and took
a record-breaking short shower. She brushed her teeth and threw her hair into a
high ponytail. She ran into her room, searched her drawers for underwear, and
grabbed the first pair of sweats that she could find. Then she slipped on a
t-shirt and some sneakers.

On the way out, she snatched her keys and tossed her phone
and her weapon in her purse. She was ready to roll. After she locked up, she
ran down the stairs and out the front door towards the parking lot. When she
reached her car, she noticed one red rose tucked into her windshield wipers.
Attached to it was a card that simply read: “Mine”.

She didn’t know what was going on with Dante. Maybe his
on-again/off-again ex dumped him. She didn’t care. He was no longer her
problem. She tossed the rose and the card to the ground, jumped in her baby,
and headed to the salon. When she arrived at the salon, it was almost ten
o’clock. She walked in and found Tracy sitting in the waiting area.

Tracy looked up at Victoria and rolled her eyes. “I swear,
you’re
gonna
be late for your own funeral.”

Victoria smiled and responded with, “I’m pretty sure that’s
a good thing.”

“Let’s go. They were waiting on you and Lord knows you need
a lot of work done,” Tracy said with a giggle.

“Whatever.”

Four hours later, the ladies had been shampooed, styled,
manicured, plucked, and waxed everywhere. They were being escorted to big
relaxing chairs for their final treatment: pedicures. This was a perfect
opportunity for Victoria to get the juicy details about her partner and her
best friend. She waited until they were relaxed and soaking their feet in the
hot soapy water.

“So, dish,” Victoria blurted out.

Tracy tried to play dumb.
“About what?”

Victoria looked Tracy in the eye. “Don’t make me beat you,”
she threatened.

Tracy laughed before confessing, “I like him.”

“Like wanna-be-in-a-relationship-with-him like him?”

“Yeah,” Tracy cooed with a goofy grin.

“My best friend and my partner.
This
might not be so good for me.” Victoria shook her head. “Just please be good to
each other. I don’t wanna be caught in the middle,” Victoria pleaded.

“Vic, I really like him, and we’ve been seeing each other
every day since we met at the club,” Tracy admitted.

“Okay. Well, let’s get to the important stuff,” Victoria
said with a grin on her face.

 ”What stuff?”

“Again, don’t make me beat you.”

Tracy’s face turned red, which Victoria found funny since
she had a deep brown complexion.

Tracy smiled and said, “I’ll tell you this much; he fucks
just as
good
as he looks.”

Victoria
threw her head back and laughed. “Don’t tell me anymore,” she pleaded.

They relaxed into a comfortable silence. When their spa time
was over, she hugged and kissed her friend goodbye and told her that she would
see her at the ball. She jumped in her car and kept the windows up so she
wouldn’t mess up her hair. She had to stop by the Barrington Country Club,
which was located in one of Chicago’s most affluent suburbs. She had to meet
with the event planner to make sure everything was going according to plan. She
arrived at five o’clock. When she walked into the ballroom, it took her breath
away. It was absolutely beautiful and totally complete. This was new. She’d
hired a new event-planning firm this year because of problems with her previous
planners. She was highly impressed. There was nothing for her to do there,
which gave her more time to get dressed. She gave the thumbs up to one of the
planners across the room and headed out of the door. She jumped in her ride and
headed to her apartment so she could begin the task of making herself biddable.
She had two and a half hours left to prepare.

*   *   *   *

Victoria
stood in front of the mirror and almost didn’t recognize herself. The beautiful
copper colored gown made her caramel skin appear to glow. It hugged her body in
all the right places. It allowed a tasteful amount of cleavage but draped
dangerously down her back, resting right above her bottom. The dress clung to
her body with a slight flair below her hips. The satiny material flowed like
liquid.

She selected a gold rhinestone studded strappy sandal. The
five-inch heel made her stand at least 5’9”. Her hair was pinned in a side
up-do with bouncy curls cascading down one side of her face. She applied a
small amount of makeup, all earth tones. She wanted to enhance, not cover. She
twirled in front of the full-length mirror and noticed how dangerously low the
back of her dress was.

“
Daaaaayum
,”
she sang, as she was impressed with her own reflection.

Victoria absolutely loved dressing like a lady, as opposed
to the streetwalker that she posed as for work. She was almost giddy. The
Sickle Cell Association sent a car for her, so she grabbed her lip-gloss and
phone and tossed them in her clutch. She walked out into the hall and locked
her door. She turned to see Mrs. O’Malley in her doorway. The old lady’s eyes
nearly popped out of her head.

She mumbled, “Pretty”. Then she stepped back and slammed the
door in Victoria’s face.

Wow
, Victoria
thought to herself as she smiled and made her way to her chauffeured vehicle.