While they were in bed, and Jordan’s head lay on Vince’s chest, Vince put his hand in Jordan’s hair and asked, “Why did you get upset earlier?”
“I don’t know, I feel like,” he shook his head and felt the rough hairs of Vince’s chest against his cheek. His hand went out to the flat muscles of his stomach. “Ari’s replacing her sister with me.”
“For whatever reason she fell for you, she did.” Vince closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the pillow. “I swear I thought she had fallen for you. I was sure she was going to break my heart. If you hadn’t told me to kiss her…” Vince chuckled. “I would have still kissed her, just when you weren’t around.
“So I’m just the third wheel?” Jordan’s voice cracked. He tried to move away, but Vince held him tight.
“No, Jordan. You’re like dessert.” Jordan grinned at that, and closed his eyes.
Vince drove Charlotte to meet with Sam Clark at the jail. Sam arranged for Charlotte to see Ari. They had to do it through glass and phones, but at least they could see and talk to each other. Ari cried when she saw her mom. “You shouldn’t be here. If the Secretary’s people find you they’ll…”
Then she became quiet. She didn’t know if the phones were bugged. And then she felt paranoid. Vince watched from a distance as Ari and Charlotte chatted for the first time in five years. They both held their hands to the glass, and they both cried. Before Charlotte hung up the phone she said, “I understand why you did what you did.”
“Thanks, mom,” Ari said proudly.
Vince took Charlotte’s place briefly. “Your mom’s staying in your apartment. Jordan will take care of her and make sure she has everything she needs.”
“How is Jordan,” Ari wondered. “Is he coping?”
Vince thought of how he helped Jordan cope and chuckled. “You could say that.”
“Take care of him,” Ari implored.
“I’m trying my hardest,” Vince said with a grin. “We both love you and miss you so much. I hope you know that.” He couldn’t resist the urge to put his hand against the glass too. He knew he couldn’t touch her, but it was the next best thing. She kissed her palm, and placed hers against the glass as well.
“I miss you both.” Her voice was wispy, light. She wasn’t herself, Vince could tell.
“You’ll be home with us soon,” he said as he hung up the phone.
As they left they had to fight through a crowd of over ten thousand women. All of them carried signs, and all of them chanted for Arianna’s release. Police and corrections officers tried to corral them into one area, but they refused. Vince shielded Charlotte as best as he could with his right arm. One of the protesters screamed out she was Ari’s mother, and they all reached for her. Thankfully they made it to the SUV in one piece.
Vince called Jordan as soon as they were in the SUV. “There’s news,” Jordan said. “Tune the satellite radio to the news channel. How is Ari?”
“Worried about you,” Vince admitted.
“Did you tell her I’m fine,” he asked. “Don’t tell her I’m coming apart. I want her to think I’m being strong.”
“I told her you’re coping,” Vince said. “What’s the news? You’re on speaker.”
“Mrs. Tremblay has been charged with 120 counts of murder, 120 counts of murder for hire, racketeering, and Selena Davies threw in a few terrorism charges as well. That woman is very intelligent,” Jordan stated.
“Yes,” Vince said coolly.
“She’s panicking because that finger print is nowhere to be found.” Jordan continued.
“Good. Keep it that way.”
“I already have,” Jordan said as he hung up the phone.
They arrived back at Ari’s apartment, and journalists had settled in on the parking lot. The empty field between the road and the lot was filled with news vans, and journalists with cameras and microphones filled every space not indicated as a parking spot or driving lane. And when they saw Vince and Charlotte the cameras started rolling and the microphones were shoved in their faces.
“Ms. Becker, do you have a comment?”
“How do you feel about your daughter being the Sex Offender Killer?”
Vince hurried her inside somehow, and they settled into Jordan’s cozy apartment. Charlotte turned on the news, and Vince watched with her for a short time. The protesters at the jail were now twenty thousand strong, and more were showing up at the mall and at capitol buildings around the country. Eight sex offenders were now dead; more had to be hospitalized. Shirts were being sold at the protests that read “I am Arianna,” and “I am Jasmine.” Charlotte excused herself when she saw it, and returned to Arianna’s apartment.
So Vince was alone, again. Jordan returned to work with the promise not to blackmail anyone or release any more information. But someone needed to keep an eye on Selena Davies and make sure she didn’t get the information she needed, and that was Jordan.
Vince felt useless again, until his phone rang and the caller ID read Selena Davies. “What can I do for you, counselor?”
“You can meet me at my office,” Selena snapped.
“I will meet you, but not at your office.” He didn’t know if it was bugged, and he didn’t trust her. “How about that salad truck you like so well.”
“I’ll meet you there in thirty,” she agreed. Salad, he thought as he fought his way to the car. What had Jordan done to him?
He took the car to the metro, then took the metro into the city. The riders, especially the women, recognized him. Some clapped, some shook his hand, and most of them asked him to tell Ari thank you. He’d never wanted to be a celebrity, but he didn’t mind being recognized as Arianna’s boyfriend. That felt nice.
He sat on a bench and waited for Selena for five minutes as he ate a salad with bottled water. He felt different, but it felt good. He noticed the pigeons pecking the ground for food, mothers jogging past with their infants in strollers, and he pictured Ari pregnant. That was definitely different.
Selena arrived looking like she just stepped out of the salon in a soft pink skirt and a light grey wool sweater that she’d left unbuttoned down to her lacy pink bra. She was trying to distract him, seduce him, and manipulate him. He was definitely immune to her now, his body didn’t react at all. Or maybe it was because he and Jordan had shared hand jobs in the shower that morning.
“What do you want Selena?” He glared at her breasts, then frowned as he returned to his salad. She could tell he was no longer interested. And he was one of her favorite booty calls; top five at least.
“Talk your new girl into testifying,” she urged. “This is getting out of hand. There are now reports of twelve dead sex offenders out there, in two days.”
“I tried to get her to cooperate. She’s adamant she doesn’t want to end up in the system,” Vince shrugged. He faced forward, and she stared at his profile. He looked happy, damn him. He even smiled when a little boy chased past them on the sidewalk with his dad close behind him.
“She’s already in the system,” Selena argued. Then she stared down at her salad. “So are you fucking both of them, or just her?”
Her lack of tact would have shocked him if he hadn’t participated in more than one orgy with her. But how she just assumed that she could discuss his love life pissed him off. “Who I make love to is none of your business,” Vince ground out.
“You must just be fucking him. Are you keeping Arianna on the side to make it not feel so gay?” She was jealous. She tried hard to get Vince’s attention, doing more and more outrageous things if he asked her to. She would have fallen hard for him, with the slightest encouragement she would have been his. And it wasn’t just his looks, or his raw power, it was also his open-mindedness. He would do damn near anything in bed.
“No, as a matter of fact, Arianna likes it right in the middle,” Vince said with a chuckle. “And jealousy looks horrible on you, Selena. You’re on your own with Ari, and I’d hope she makes you suffer but I know you like that.”
Selena watched him walk away. The man was breathtaking from any angle, in any state of dress or undress. She scoffed and tore her gaze away. Now she had to face Arianna alone, if she would talk without her lawyer. Maybe she could sweet talk Sam Clark.
When Vince returned to Jordan’s apartment he and Charlotte were having lunch consisting of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. “Are you hungry,” Jordan asked as soon as he entered.
“No thanks,” he said as he joined them at the table. “I ate a salad.” Jordan gave him an approving glance and Vince grinned.
“I saw Selena,” Vince admitted. Jordan’s eyes narrowed. “She wants me to convince Arianna to testify.”
“Five more sex offenders were killed so far today,” Jordan informed him. “That brings the total to seventeen.”
“In two days?” Vince whistled through his teeth. “It’s like open season out there.”
Jordan tried hard not to look happy, but his light brown eyes glimmered with the knowledge. “I hate to think now that seventeen poor women will go on trial, and perhaps spend their lives behind bars. Imagine what their loved ones are going through.”
“I’m sorry, you’re right,” Vince said somberly.
“So are you two a couple,” Charlotte asked from out of nowhere. Her bright blue eyes sparkled when they both turned to her and said, “No,” in unison. Then they both gazed at each other, as if they were upset that the other didn’t think they were a couple. “So which one of you is dating Arianna,” she continued. Both men sat wide eyed and open mouthed. Neither could answer. “So she’s dating both of you. That’s interesting,” she nodded. “She always did have a thing for guys with dark hair and brown eyes, just like her father.” Now they knew where her daughters got their brains.
She observed first one, then the other’s reaction. Jordan swallowed hard, and Vince smiled like the cat who stole the cream. So this little ménage was the older man’s idea, obviously. But he seemed to be devoted to both Arianna and Jordan. She couldn’t say she was upset. Arianna could do worse than two good-looking, well employed men.
Both men were speechless, and Charlotte giggled lightly. “I’m just happy she’s alive, and healthy. I don’t care if she has two boyfriends together at the same time. I wish I would have thought of it at her age.” They had no idea if she was teasing or serious, but it didn’t matter. The fact that Ari’s mother wasn’t going to freak out about it, and almost encouraged it, helped their mood.
After lunch, which Ari didn’t touch, she was informed she had a visitor. A male officer who stared at her with distrust escorted her to a visiting area without phones or glass, but with bars and no windows. Sam Clark sat uncomfortably beside Selena Davies. Arianna wondered if it was because they’d had a relationship and he ended it, or because she wanted to have a relationship and he told her no. Either way Selena tried hard to display her assets in the best light, and Sam tried to ignore them.
“Arianna, Ms. Davies would like to discuss something with you,” Sam said when she entered the room. He stood politely and pulled out the chair for her. Not only was he extremely handsome, but he was a gentleman as well. And his blue eyes seemed to melt into puddles when he looked at her. “And I’m inclined to allow it.” He inhaled deeply and nodded at Selena. He was not happy at all to be beside her.
“Arianna, a total of seventeen men have been killed in the past two days,” Selena stated, and waited for Arianna to react.
Ari didn’t, though; she sat stone-faced and said, “Continue.”
“Thousands and thousands of women are protesting, there are twenty thousand or more outside these walls right now.” Selena pulled a tablet out of a different expensive bag and tabbed through the pictures. Women carried signs and wore t-shirts that made Arianna smile. “Does this amuse you?”
“I like her t-shirt,” Arianna said as she pointed to a woman wearing a “Free Arianna” shirt.
“Twenty-seven men have been taken to the hospital, some of them barely alive,” Selena continued.
Then someone needed to finish the job, Arianna thought.
“We want you…” She stopped, then corrected herself. “We
need
you to speak to the public and tell them what they are doing is wrong. Women are forming mobs. Men are living in fear.”
“If they’ve done nothing wrong, what do they have to fear?” Arianna said it with just enough humor to make it sound innocuous. Sam grinned, but Selena became agitated. “I would say the tables have turned.”
“It’s a witch hunt, Arianna. Who’s to say they’ll stop at sex offenders? Maybe they’ll move on to men they just don’t like?” Selena implored. “You are the only person who can stop this. We want you to go in front of the cameras and ask the women to stop, tell them to go home.”
Arianna thought for a few moments. She actually thought about the victims, the families. She thought about the children, sisters, mothers of the women who could go to jail. And then she thought, fuck it. They deserved their revenge just like she did.
“There’s only one way this ends,” Ari said slowly. “You let me go, you drop the charges, and you take me off the front page. They’ll forget, they always do. And life will get back to normal.”
Sam gave her a sly look, but he couldn’t hide his smile.
“I’m not just going to let you leave, Arianna. You’ve taken countless lives; note I didn’t say innocent but it’s not for you to decide who lives and who dies.” Selena was visibly upset. She seemed to really feel deeply for her role in upholding the law. At least she felt deeply about something.
“Not unless I’m free and given immunity. That’s my final offer, take it or leave it,” Arianna shrugged.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Selena stated as she stood to leave. She disliked Arianna even more.
“She’s breaking,” Sam said under his breath as Selena walked off. “Stay strong.” He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, and then he was gone too.