The Sandstone Affair (An Erotic Romance Novel) (23 page)

I sit in silence for a few minutes, the eyes
of everyone in both the male and female cells glancing my direction. It’s clear
that most of them realize that the guard’s comment was pure bullshit, but a few
are not so sure. A young woman with a group of streetwalkers cautiously
approaches and sits just outside of arm’s reach. She looks at me with the world
weary eyes of an eighty year old though she can’t be more than twenty-two.

“You really kill somebody?” she asks. I’m
tempted to act like it’s true, but the last thing either of us probably need in
our lives right now is another lie.

“No,” I say quietly. “But I’ve thought about
it.”

“Me too!” She laughs with a big broad smile.
Her friends watching the conversation relax and go back to talking amongst
themselves. “That pimp on 23
^rd
, Stomper, I’d like to take him down.
You here like us? You know, working for a livin’?”

My mind flashes back to Sandstone Ventures
and presents a vivid image of me on my knees, Blake’s grotesque hand pulling me
toward him. I think of the pictures of Valerie James in various positions with
interview subjects. I think of every assignment the members of my journalism
class begged for and made promises to get. I realize, in some way, everyone in
media is “working for a livin.”

“Something like that,” I say, trying to sound
more streetwise than I am.

“You a pretty girl,” the young woman says. “You
should try Lexington and Dale. They’d probably find a spot for you since you’re
an uptown girl.”

“Um, well, after this experience I think I’m
going to stop.” I say in a non-committal hush. If I was going to lie anyway I
should have stuck with the murder–it would be more believable.

“Duh. That’s what I mean.” She gives me the
eye roll that proves I’ve already said something stupid. “You know, Walden
House on Lexington? They have those classes to get you certified as assistants
and shit. Off the streets and in the doctor’s office or whatever. I wanted to
do that but they only have the money to take three or four at a time. But you
being uptown and new? They could get you in school.”

“Thanks,” I say and look toward the wall
hoping she reads body language well enough to know I’m done. She does. I try to
make a mental note to check out this place she’s telling me about because there
might be a story there, and then laugh at myself. Here I am thinking like a
magazine owner when at this very moment some judge is handing my magazine to
Blake Stone and Valerie James.

There’s no clock in sight from the holding
cell and of course none of us have a watch or any other personal belongings. It
makes sense. If we could actually see the hours of our life ticking away while
we wait for our destiny, we would riot, or at least go insane. Insanity is what
I’m trying to hold off as I obsess over what Mark must be doing now. I know he
needs my verified signature and I know I am as far from being able to sign
those forms as humanly possible. Tick, tock. Tick, tock. The clock on the wall
may be absent, but the one in my head just keeps counting down–like a time
bomb.

I lean back and try to calm myself with
thoughts of soothing blue oceans and Enya music, but a timeline of events keeps
interrupting the peace. I remember the confusion of walking in and seeing that
sleazy lawyer, Kenneth Allen in my office, the twisting burning knot in the pit
of my stomach when I realized I was being displaced, the searing anger as I
drove over to Sandstone Ventures, and the wet, primal desire when Mark bent me
over his desk.

From there my mental train switches tracks
and the scenery stops showcasing Blake or Valerie or Lynx. All I see is Mark
and me.

I’m swept up in the whirlwind of the last
thirty days. It began with Mark, his heavy body pushing me over the desk, the
feeling of him behind me, his strength, his lust, creating a powerful longing
in me I thought was long since dead. My ears burn when I remember his hot
breath on my ear as he said to me, “This is what you need.” That was the door
that opened a whole new world to me.

After that, I went from the frigid and bitter
woman, dedicating what was left of my life and energy to words that could be
printed on a page to a woman pressed up against an Escalade in a parking lot,
my skirt hiked up around my hips as Mark’s hardness pushed into me, thrusting
himself into my body over and over until all I could do was wrap my arms around
him and hang on as my body spasmed to his rhythm and my mouth fell open in
unbridled pleasure.

“You will submit every part of your body,
your mind and your soul to my will,” Mark said at the beginning. I agreed
having no idea how much truth that statement would hold. I remember doubting
him at the time, even as I dropped to my knees before him, wrapping my mouth
around his thick cock, taking him as far into me as possible. My head bobbing
up and down as I felt his hand guiding me, encouraging me, filling me with his
seed. My mouth waters now, just wanting his taste and girth filling it.

I shake, and then, I remember the frightening
moment in the pool, my hands bound, my heart pounding, buoyed in the water only
by my trust and his strength.

Having relied on my ability to stuff my
feelings, I thrived on the practical and the controllable aspects of my life.
Then in one night, over his lap, I opened all the old doors. I can still feel
his heavy hand rubbing my trembling ass, the sharp sting of the brush smacking
my skin over and over, punishing me, pushing me, burning through my defenses,
my denials and getting the very core of my being. I cried that night, releasing
the pain and letting go of all regrets. He smoothed the tears from my face and
entered my body with the nurturing healing pulse of his being in me. He
transformed my tears into the wet joy of passion as I moaned under him.

Through it all, the hot and angry fucking,
the slow and beautiful loving, the trials and temptations, his patient teaching
and my stumbling submission, it always ended the same. He held me gently with
kisses and kindness telling me it would always be okay. His words from the pool
echo inside me now, providing the last life line I have left.

“I’ll never let you fall.”

“Julia!”

I snap out of my trance and realize the whole
cell is staring at me. I blushing, hopeful they can’t guess what’s been going
on inside my head or my responding, swelling cleft.

“Sharp! Julia!” The guard’s agitated tone
evidences her impatience.

“Yes Ma’am?” I walk over to the cell door,
shocked to see her opening the heavy grate.

“Let’s go, Sharp,” she grumbles.

“I thought I didn’t get a call?” I ask,
clearly confused about what’s happening. It’s way too soon for them to be
sending me to court. I am just not that lucky.

“You don’t.” She sighed. “You got friends in
high places, Rich Bitch, I’ll grant you that. You’re not even getting
arraigned.”

“I’m not? What’s happening to me then?” She’s
so glum I can’t tell if something good or bad is going on. She walks me down
the narrow hallway and out the same door I came in. We end up in the center of
booking. I look around terrified that something happened and I have to start
the whole process again when I see a familiar face.

“Hello, Miss Sharp. Lovely to see you again.”
He smiles broadly, holding the manila envelope containing my few personal
items.

“Mr. Clank! What are you doing here?” I stand
still in the center of the room fuzzily aware that the guard has let go of my
arm and walked back to holding.

“Making a deal and helping a friend.” He
hands me the envelope and taps my arm. “I saw you when I walked in. I called
Mark and he told me about the violated restraining order. They wanted me to
stall on bailing out the Arturi brothers and I wanted them to speed up your
release, so it worked out. We don’t have time to talk now; you’ve got to get to
the courthouse. Everyone is waiting for you.”

Clank walks me quickly through the maze of
the station. I glance at the clock and it’s ten past one. I have twenty minutes
left. I expect him to take me into the parking garage but we end up on the
sidewalk in front of the station.

“By the time we get the car out of here and
find parking at the courthouse you’ll be late.” He points up the street. “The
courthouse is three blocks that way. Run!”

Realizing that this is going to be the most
important sprint of my life, I drop my shoes at his feet and take off. I won’t
fail and I won’t fall. I know it.

Running into the courthouse, breathless and
crazed, I’m not entirely surprised they stop me at the door. I slow down long
enough to run some fingers through my hair, transitioning it from an “I just
got out of jail” look to an “I just woke up and starting running around like a
banshee” style. I manage to hold it together long enough to go through the
metal detector which is pretty easy considering I had tossed my envelope and my
shoes at Mr. Clank’s feet. Amazingly, they let me go.

“I need to sign something. I’m looking for
the business court, transfers and judicial something or another,” I say to the
guard. He manages to choke down a laugh. I can tell what he is thinking, but to
his credit he doesn’t say it out loud.

“Third floor. Court is three-sixteen; Bailiff
signings is three-ten on the left.”

“Thank you.” I nearly kiss him, but run off
instead. The elevator doors are closed so I don’t even bother with it and take
the stairs bounding up two or three at a time. It takes a minute for my vision
to adjust to the bright lighting of the corridor. I dash to 310 as soon as I
see the number and open the door to see a group of people standing around a
desk.

Mark is there, with Paul Fries, Kevin
Johnson, our former IT person, some blonde woman I don’t recognize who looks
like she belongs with the streetwalkers in my holding cell, and signing a
document in front of the bailiff is Valerie James.

Oh, no. It’s too late.

“No!” I call from the door with as much of a
voice as my oxygen-deprived body can produce. I stumble into the room, everyone
turning to look. I try to get to the table as quickly as I can, with this weird
idea I can stop her before she finishes writing her name and reverse the entire
last month of my life. Mark steps in front of me.

“Julia,” Mark says rationally.

“No!” I shout. I begin hitting him with my
useless balled up fists. Over and over I smack him in the chest. “No. No. No.
No. No!”

“Julia!” he hisses sternly through clenched
teeth. “Julia, stop!”

“It’s gone,” I whimper as I put my head on
his chest, collapsing like a deflated balloon. “Lynx is really gone.”

“No, Julia it’s not.” Mark grabs me by the
arms and holds me up so I can look in his eyes. “Lynx is fine. Lynx is going to
be yours for a long, long time.”

“Really? Then what the hell is
she
doing here and what is she signing?” I attempt to point at Valerie but my arm
is too tired to raise more than six inches.

“She’s signing a deposition.” Mark replies
factually. “Now take a second and catch your breath. You’re making a scene.”

I take his advice and stop for a second to
let my body slow down and my brain speed back up.

“I don’t understand,” I finally confess. He
walks me toward the desk where everyone is still staring at me.

“Valerie gave a legal deposition about Blake.
She told the court all about how Blake broke into her files and took her
personal documents and photos. She testified that Blake offered her Lynx in
return for personal favors. She laid everything out before the court. She made
the case.”

I must still be delirious, because I can’t
believe what I’m hearing. Valerie James, my arch-rival and lifelong enemy
exposed her secrets and went out of her way to save me?

“Julia,” Valerie says as she glides over.
With an unexpected gentle hand she brushes a long strand of my hair out of my
face and offers me a tissue to take care of the tears stinging the corner of my
eye. “I didn’t know.”

“What?” I stand there in shock as she leans
down and looks at me directly. Her eyes don’t have the fire, the sarcasm, or
the superiority I always used to see in them. Right now, they show nothing but
compassion.

“I didn’t know Blake had stolen Lynx out from
under you or any of the terrible things he put you through. He called me about
two months ago and said Lynx had violated some agreements and wasn’t a good
investment. He told me he was planning to shut you down and asked if I would be
interested in taking it over. I’ve always wanted Ladies World to have the edge
you have, so I agreed.”