The Perfect Deception (14 page)

A
little after eleven a.m. the next day, Nate was back in his loft. “It’s good to see this place,” he told Jessica. “I hate hospitals!”

“I’m not a big fan of them either. How are you feeling?”

“Are you going to ask me that every five minutes?”

“Maybe.”

He chuckled.

“I’m just—”

“Concerned. I know.” He held her face between his hands and kissed her lips. “I’m a little weak, but otherwise, I feel okay. It’s nice to have a woman to take care of me. But you didn’t have to take off work.”

“The Christmas trip was the first vacation for me in a while and I went back to work early. I’ve got a bunch of vacation days. Besides,” she said, wrapping her arms around him, “I like taking care of you.” They kissed.

“Oh, really.” They kissed again. “In that case, I’ll avail you of every possible opportunity. But first, I need a shower. My body will feel better after that.”

“And food, right? Did they feed you this morning?”

“You can’t call what they serve patients
food
. But I’m not hungry.”

“The doctor said you had to eat, and drink liquids. While you shower, I’m going to run and get a few things. If you need anything, call me. Okay?”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Ooh”—she wriggled her eyebrows in a seductive walk toward him—“I’ve got some medicine to give you when you . . . get back your strength.”

“Baby, I’ll be more than ready for that prescription. Oh, and here.” He reached into the nightstand drawer. “Take this spare key. When you return, I might be asleep.”

As soon as Jessica left, Nathan walked straight to his closet. After a quick scan through his suits, he moved to the clothes hamper. Inside was his suit jacket. He pulled it out, immediately tapping the inside pocket for a little blue box. It was there. A sigh of relief escaped his lips.
Good. She didn’t see it.
The weight of this relief coupled with the fatigue of illness hit him full force. He swayed. The wall caught him. After a quick shower, he brought a bottle of water up to the bedroom, grabbed his cell phone and laptop, and crawled into bed. He had true gratitude for a boss like Broderick, who’d suggested they postpone the promotion announcement until he was feeling better. Nathan wouldn’t hear of it. “I’ll see you tomorrow, boss, bright and early,” he’d told him earlier that morning. Nathan looked forward to wearing the title
vice president
.

Once situated, he checked e-mails and returned calls that had come in to the office. After relaying to Kenneth the latest information on the Vegas club possibility, he dialed Sherri.

“Hey, Sis. I was on another call.”

“It’s okay. I was just touching base. And just in time, I see. What is wrong with you?”

“What do you mean?”

“Boy, don’t try to kid a kidder. I’ve known you all of your life and mine, and can tell when something’s wrong. Your date last night went that badly?”

“Sent me to the hospital.”

“What?”

It was a weak laugh, but her humorous reaction was duly noted. He told her what happened.

“I don’t know, Nate. You’re trying to downplay the situation, but passing out sounds serious to me. You need to take those tests.”

“I will . . . eventually.”

“No, Nate. Now. After the VP promotion hoopla, take a couple days to focus on your health. Remember, a dead VP can’t make much money.”

“You’re right, Sis. I’ll take care.”

“Make sure you do.”

 

Jessica stood at her kitchen counter, carefully mixing Nathan’s special OJ blend. She sighed, and mixed in a little more “vitamins.” “He’s got that big meeting tomorrow,” she mumbled to herself, replacing the cap on the soda. “If he doesn’t show up, that will look very suspicious. Just a little will do for now.”

She placed these and other items in a box and set it by the front door. Next up was placing an order at one of Nathan’s favorite delis to pick up soup and sandwiches. She’d purchased items for another pot of homemade soup. But she’d wait until the weekend to serve up this special concoction, when his becoming ill would go unnoticed by everyone but her.

“Do I have everything?” She’d placed the call to the restaurant and now double-checked to see that she had what she needed for a four-night stay at Nathan’s place.
Sissy’s phone.
“Right.” She headed toward the bedroom where the phone had been charging but midway stopped in her tracks.
Maybe I shouldn’t take it. What if Nathan sees it? How will I explain having two phones?
After another second, she continued to the room. That phone was her only connection to Sissy. No way could she leave it. So she scooped it up along with her other items and headed to the restaurant on her way to Nathan’s house.

She was almost to his door when the burner phone rang.
Yikes! I forgot to silence the ringer!
Quickly backing away from his door she set down the box of beverages and reached for the phone. “Oh my God, Sissy, that was close.”

“What happened?”

“I was just about to walk into Nathan’s house!”

“Why not just leave the phone at home?”

Jessica told her.

“Maybe in the four days that you’re there you can finish the job.”

“What happened to going slowly to not arouse suspicion?”

“Because of what my attorney told me this morning. Nathan’s sister’s attorney has sent another letter to the judge about denying my parole ‘for their safety.’ ”

“How can they even do that?”

“I don’t know. Their attorney probably told them I could someday get out. So of course those assholes go running to the judge with their sanctimonious bullshit! Losing her brother will rock their perfect little world. Then she’ll know how it feels to have someone you love taken away from you.”

Jessica’s regular cell phone rang. She retrieved it from her purse. “Sissy, it’s Nate calling. I’ve got to go.”

“Speed it up.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Instead of answering Nathan’s call, she walked to the door and let herself in. “I’m here, babe!” After setting down the box in the kitchen, she walked upstairs to the master suite and sat on the bed. “What do you need?”

“I was going to ask you to stop by the deli on your way here. Never mind, though. I’ll order from one of the delivery menus.”

“I’m way ahead of you,” she beamed, leaning over for a kiss before standing. “One turkey breast sandwich and a bowl of soup, coming up!”

“You already went by the deli?”

She nodded. “See how in sync we are?”

“I do see, and I like it.”

She fixed two trays, pouring both of their glasses of soda from the uncontaminated container. They ate and then lounged in his king-size bed. Throughout the afternoon, Nathan alternated between work and sleep. By evening he was feeling much better. He enjoyed a good night’s sleep with Jessica snuggled in his arms.

The next morning, he kissed Jessica good-bye and drove to his future as a top executive of a leading consulting firm.

 

After celebrating his promotion at a dinner with his colleagues, Nathan spent a quiet evening at home with his sweetheart. Friday morning he almost felt back to his old self. Friday night he and Jessica went to dinner and a movie, unwinding at home with his new preferred drink: OJ, with a small amount of Hennessy. Unfortunately for him, alcohol was not the only small thing that added to this mix, a fact that by early Saturday morning, had Nathan rethinking his decision to argue with the ER doctor last weekend and demand an early release.

“H
ey, Sis.” Nathan hadn’t the strength to hold the phone, so after pushing the speaker button, he laid it on his chest.

“Are you sick again?” Panicked concern was evident in Sherri’s voice.

“Looks like it.”

“But we just talked Thursday, after your promotion. You sounded fine.”

“I felt good, too. Same thing yesterday morning, and when Jessica and I went out last night. It was all good. Then about two o’clock this morning . . . stomach cramps again.”

“Interesting how Jessica’s always involved when you get sick. Maybe you’re allergic to her.”

“Look, don’t start, okay? She’s probably why I’m not even more ill. She’s taking very good care of me.”

Topics then switched from Jessica and Nate to Sherri and Randall and life in Virginia. Nathan promised his sister that he’d keep her updated on his mysterious health situation and then ended the call. He went downstairs and found Jessica sitting in the living room with an iPad on her lap. “Hey, you.”

As soon as Jessica saw Nathan pass through the living room on the way to the kitchen, she jumped up. “What can I get you, babe?”

An amused expression crossed his face as he stopped and turned around. “You’re too good to me. Relax. I’m just getting a glass of juice, and will try to hang out down here awhile. I’m going stir-crazy in the bedroom.”

Jessica acted as though he hadn’t spoken. Quick steps closed the distance between them. “You need your rest, Nate. Let me get it.”

Nathan gently yet firmly took her hands in his. “No.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “You’ve already done more than enough. In fact, would you like some juice? It’s time I served you for a minute.”

“Uh, no. I’m good.”

“Cool. Then go back to what you’re doing. I’ll join you in a sec.” He walked straight to the fridge, opened the door, and looked inside. “Babe.”

“Huh?”

“Why are their two bottles of juice opened?”

“Oh. I, uh, thought I’d grabbed the one that was open and accidentally opened the wrong one.”

“Do you want a glass?”

Jessica barely succeeded in not reacting to the thought of drinking her own poison. “No, babe. I’m good.”

He poured a drink and then walked to the couch and sat down beside her. “What are you doing?”

“Just surfing the Web.”

“Sounds exciting.”

“About as exciting as you sleeping half the day.” She closed the window she’d been viewing and turned to him. “Are you feeling better?”

“I don’t know, to tell you the truth. One day I’m fine. The next, I feel like I’m about to meet Jesus. I feel a little weak now but . . . I’m all right, I guess.” He ran a hand up her arm. “Good enough to give you the loving that I haven’t been able to since Valentine’s Day.”

An image of the beautiful engagement ring Jessica had placed back in the suit coat pocket flashed in her mind.
Give me loving, but not the ring!
It was hard enough to murder a man who was mostly kind and had made love to her better than any other in life. She doubted even her sister’s heart would be hard enough to murder a fiancé.

She ran a hand over his groin. “Is this what you’re talking about?”

“Absolutely.”

Thank goodness!
“Well . . . let’s get this party started!”

That’s all the encouragement Nathan needed. He wrapped his arms around her and seared her with a kiss that stole her breath. His hands began to roam, scorching her body wherever they touched: buttocks, waist, nipples fondled and tweaked into hardened peaks. She could have sworn there was a cord between her nipples and her nana.Wetness was immediate, and her nub vied for equal opportunity attention. Usually Nathan was the aggressor, but today it was Jessica who hurriedly ripped off her tee and unzipped his pants and pulled down her sweats. With no foreplay or protection, she slid down on his rock-hard shaft, riding, grinding, pumping, until . . . the flag began to fly at half-mast.

She hurriedly rescued the bullet that had eased out of her firearm and tried to reignite the heat. Nothing doing. The soldier was no longer at attention. The steel rod was now a flaccid noodle. In short, the thrill had gone.

“I’m sorry—”

“It’s okay—”

They both spoke at once as good manners tried to cover up embarrassment and shame.

“Damn.” Nathan fell back against the couch as Jessica scurried off his lap.

“Baby, you’re sick.” A statement that was well-intentioned, but considering the circumstances was woefully inadequate. She cuddled against him. “But no less amazing.”

The next thing Jessica knew she’d been lifted from the couch and placed on the ottoman. Before she could recover from this surprise move, Nathan had spread her legs and buried his head in her heat, his mouth finding her pearl with the precision of a heat-seeking missile. The assault was as intoxicating as it was surprising. His tongue slid along the crease of her folds—slowly, thoroughly lapping her nectar. The sensations were unlike anything she’d felt before; her body squirmed to get away lest she die from pleasure. At the same time, her hands held this torturer’s head firmly in place.

The orgasm started in her big toe and spiraled straight up to her scalp. Whimpers followed screams as another ripped through her, and then one more. She lay breathless on the ottoman, her body limp and spent and satisfied.

“The way you look now makes me feel amazing,” Nathan said, kissing her softly as he stood. “My stomach is acting up again. I think I’ll go lie down.”

He held the smile until he was behind her, then allowed the worry he felt to cover his face. He slowly climbed the stairs. Never before had his soldier failed to snap to attention at the sign of a romp.
What the hell is going on?

 

Jessica held her head in her hands, trying to contain her tears. Her silent cry was anguished.
I can’t, Sissy. I just can’t . . . do . . . this.
But she had to; it was the only way she could have what she’d always wanted and never experienced—a close familial relationship. She stood, her legs still a little shaky from Nathan’s orally induced seismic orgasm. Pacing from the couch to the window to the dining room and back, thoughts continued.
Why is this the only choice? Why does the man my sister wants dead have to be the most amazing one I’ve ever met? “Don’t think for one second that when it came to me going to prison Nathan wasn’t fully on his sister’s side,”
her sister had said. Jessica knew firsthand that this was true. He’d apologized, but if made to choose sides again between her and Sherri, did Jessica really believe he’d choose her? “No!” Jessica heard Sissy’s voice scream in her mind. If it was a matter of her life, he’d definitely choose Sherri. It was a matter of Sissy’s life right now.

She angrily wiped away the tears that had escaped despite her resolve not to cry. “Just stop it,” she scolded herself through gritted teeth. “Just do what you have to do.”
The sooner I finish this, the sooner this pain will go away. I can only hope that someday I’ll meet another man who is half as good to me as Nathan.
With that, she walked into the kitchen, and then up to the bedroom.

“Here, babe. I brought some tea to help you sleep.”

Nathan sat up. “How’d you know I was still awake?”

“Just figured you might be.” She handed him the cup.

“I really appreciate you.” He sipped the steamy brew. Love-filled eyes drank in Jessica’s beauty . . . and something else. “What’s the matter, Jessica?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“I detect sadness behind your smile.”

“Oh. I, uh, am just worried about you, babe. I want you to get better.”

“Me too.” The arsenic worked quickly, and this time she’d added a crushed up pain pill to try and lessen the painful cramps. Nathan was out and snoring before he finished the tea. Jessica took the cup back down to the kitchen, washed it thoroughly, and then reached for her iPad. Hopefully there was something on Netflix that would take her mind off the hell of a drama otherwise known as her life.

The movie she watched hadn’t done it. Thoughts of Nate left little room for any other topic to pierce her mind. She went up to check on him. He was no longer snoring, hardly seemed to breathe. She called his name, shook him roughly, and still he slept.
Is he . . . ?
She placed a shaky finger under his nose and almost fainted with relief. She’d felt his breath! Hearing her phone, she rushed downstairs to answer it. The call was from an unknown phone number, one she wouldn’t have answered had she not been so discombobulated.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Jessica. This is Sherri Atwater. I hope you don’t mind but after his health scare, I requested your number from Nate in case of another emergency.”

“Oh, um, of course.”

“Are you at his house?”

“Yes.”

“Thank goodness. Can you please put him on the phone?”

Jessica took a deep breath before answering. The last thing she needed was a suspicious Sherri hounding her with questions, but she wondered if even an explosion in the middle of the bed would wake Nathan right now. “He’s asleep.”

“At four in the afternoon?”

“He didn’t sleep well last night.” When Sherri didn’t immediately respond, Jessica laughed and added, “And he got up really early this morning . . . to work from here.”

More silence.When Sherri spoke again, the very thing Jessica hoped to not raise—suspicion—laced each word. “That’s interesting. Because I spoke with him this morning, and he sounded too sick to work.”

Dang it, I wish I’d known they talked!
“I know, but since his promotion that job has been everything.”

“Tell Nathan I’m getting ready to call and to answer his phone.”

“He’s asleep, Sherri. I’ll tell him to call you when he wakes up. But don’t worry about him, okay? I’m taking real good care of your brother.”

“I appreciate that, but I am worried about him and so is Mom. He’s almost never sick. I won’t talk long, but I promised Mom I’d speak to him before calling her back.”

“Again, when he wakes up”—
please let him wake up
—“he’ll call you.”

An hour later, her phone rang again. “Hi, Sherri.”

“Jessica, he’s still not answering his phone.”

“He’s still asleep.”

“Please wake him up. I am very concerned and need to speak with him.”

“And he needs his rest. If you have a message for him, I’ll be glad to pass it on. But I’m not going to pass my phone to him and I’m not going to turn on his ringer.”

“You turned his ringer off? How are you going to block calls to my brother? I’m sure you’re doing this out of your concern for him, but can you understand that I’m worrying, too?”

“But you shouldn’t. Other than this flu bug or whatever that must be going around his office . . . he’s fine.”

“Don’t you think it’s odd that he’s sleeping so much?”

“Not for someone with the flu. And it’s his work, too. Like I said, he hasn’t been sleeping much, which is why I am
not
going to wake him up.”

“Excuse me?”

“Girl, bye.”

Jessica hung up quickly, before saying something that she’d later regret. Giving orders and making demands. Who did Sherri think she was talking to?
I told her he was fine. Hell, what else does she need to know?

Nathan woke up shortly thereafter. Jessica chose not to tell Nathan about his sister’s call. Instead, when he finally expressed a desire to eat, she fed him arsenic-laced soup that he washed down with antifreeze-laden orange juice. The sooner this whole sordid deed was done, the sooner she could try and put this horror behind her.

Two hour later, he was puking like a dog.

Thirty minutes after that, the doorbell rang.

Nathan’s brow creased as he looked over his shoulder from his kneeling position in front of the toilet.

Jessica hurriedly stood and headed for the stairs. “I’ll get rid of whoever it is.” Heart pounding, she raced down the stairs. Now was not the time for an unannounced visit from one of Nathan’s friends.

At the bottom step she paused to catch her breath, then tiptoed to the front door. A cautious eye glimpsed the view beyond the peephole.
Shit!
Jessica leaned against the door, her hand covering a heart that now beat furiously. No way could she let this visitor in.
Please, just go away.

As if in answer, the doorbell rang again.

“Who is it?” An ashen-faced Nathan appeared at the top of the stairs, clutching his stomach.

“Don’t worry about it, babe. I’ll handle it.”

“Jessica, why don’t you just—” Another heave and a race to the bathroom.

“We don’t want what you’re selling. Stop ringing the damn bell!”

“Open this door!”

“That sounds like . . . is that my sister?” Nathan’s voice was a mixture of sickness and surprise.

“No, babe. Just somebody with magazines, probably a Jehovah’s Witness. Go lie down!”

The toilet flushed.

Ding. Dong.
Pause.
Ding. Dong.
A fervent knocking.
Ding-dongdingdongdingdong.

Nathan began slowly making his way downstairs.

“Babe, don’t! I said I’d handle this!”

“Not as good as they’re handling that doorbell.”

Jessica rushed to meet him before his foot touched the bottom step. “Let’s just ignore them,” she suggested, firmly turning him around with a hand on his waist. “Whoever it is will eventually get tired and go away.”

They were almost to the top of the stairs when both heard a key being placed in the lock. Their heads whipped around in time to see the knob turning and the door opening.

“What the hell?” Nathan pushed Jessica behind him and hurried down the stairs.