“Hello?” I call out as I step inside my home. The kitchen and living room reek of Pine-Sol and Mr. Clean. The fumes bring tears to my eyes while throwing me into a coughing fit. Through the burning of my retinas, I glance toward the stairs, my mind instantly reliving Beth’s gasping breath before Scarlett pops out from around the corner.
“Oh, thank God! I was so worried!”
Flying into my arms, Scarlett holds me tight, mumbling into my chest how the day was impossible without me.
“I saw them take you away and almost lost my mind! What happened?! Tell me, tell me! Was my dad a hard-ass? Did he seem suspicious? I cleaned the house because I’m assuming they’re coming down here at some point, but don’t worry! After I’ve bleached everything, I’m going to dilute it with other cleaners, so it isn’t as suspicious in case of a luminol. Oh! And I found your security system and deleted all the footage from the last six months. Oh, and—!”
“Scarlett! My love, baby! Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop,” I say, slamming my hand over her plump lips. Then, when her breathing isn’t so erratic, I drop my palm and attach my mouth in its place. Swirling my tongue around hers, I wait until she’s liquid in my arms before mumbling, “You’re so fucking perfect, pretty girl. What would I do without you?”
“Let’s never find out,” she says, bringing me in for one last kiss before spinning around to run back up the stairs. I watch her full ass bounce with each step, wondering if there’s time for a quick fuck, but then I remember now isn’t the fucking time. There’s too much to do before tomorrow comes.
“What rooms haven’t you done?”
Standing from her kneeling position on the floor, she twists her head, brows doing that pinching thing just like her father before uttering, “I’ve done them all, even the bathrooms. I just have to do the walls now.”
Surprised, I glance around my spotless house. It isn’t small by any means, so how did she get so much done so quickly?
“I live with a detective, Theodore. I know how to fucking clean.”
Grabbing her soaking, gloved-covered hand, I wrap them around my neck while I fold her body backward. She bends for me with ease, molding to what I want as she stares into my soul with flaming eyes.
She wants me just as bad, but I know what to do to have her dripping down her thighs.
“Tell me what to do, my love. Your word is my command.”
Scarlett Dane
CHAPTER XXXIV
I arrive home just as Mom finishes plating dinner.I wish I was starving for her Tortellini soup, but my head is killing me from all those chemicals. I can barely keep down my water, much less try with food. The shower I took at Theodore’s helped, but only a little.
Hoping she’s too distracted with the bowls to notice my hair doesn’t look like it did this morning, I say a quick hello, using my need to pee as an excuse not to offer an embrace.
Racing up the stairs, I lock myself in my room and bolt into the bathroom. Still in my clothes, I jump under the spray of the shower, letting the scorching water wash away anything left behind. I don’t actually know how effective this is, but it can’t hurt. To keep Theodore and myself safe, I’ll do anything.
Since I’m already here, I decide to take another shower. My products always make me feel a little better inside. Because I cleansed only an hour before, this only takes about ten minutes. When I’m finished, I wrap a warm towel around my torso and creep into the room.
I ran in here in such a hurry that I threw my backpack wherever. Retrieving it, I bring it into the bathroom and dig through the big pocket.
“Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but just in case our phones are taken and searched, I got us these.” I take the nondescript burner phone from his grasp and study the screen.
“I’m going to send you one last message from my number, and then we can’t text from there again.”
That message from two weeks ago was Theodore breaking off our relationship. He explains that his wife found out and threatened to expose him while taking him for everything he’s worth, all before breaking my heart.
It’s believable and cruel. I even shed a little tear while reading it, then Theodore pulled out the burners he bought us, and all was well again.
“I already programmed my number inside. So all you have to do is text me. But only from this phone! Understand?”
“Yes, Sir,” I said, taking it from his palm before dragging him into the shower with me.
It was my first time having sex against cold, wet glass while scalding droplets fell upon our heads. His fierce tempo brought us to our knees, and even when our bodies hit the slick, tiled floor, we didn’t stop until we shattered in each other’s hold. We came undone and remade ourselves into something stronger, a united force that nothing and no one will take down.
Today was my second experience being connected in that way. As we sat naked, separated by a wall of water crashing between us, we let our sins roll down the drain.
“After this, it’s just me and you, pretty girl. There will never be anyone else, no one to come between us.”
“I know,” I confirmed, swirling the water around my fingers. There’s a bit of blood under my nails from scraping the cracks in the wood. Its pigment turns the water a pretty pink. I kind of like it. “Because if there were… they would die, too.”
