The Boy Next Door (36 page)

Brody got one more phone call. The smile on his face told me that the plan was in motion. “I have the coordinates. Once this is done, our life will be forever entwined. They will want us to disappear. I could easily go into the armed forces again, but I think that a private task force off books would be more to my liking. It still means that I will have to carry a gun and most likely go to those war torn countries in a peace keeping effort. The one thing that you will have to live with is that I will always be surrounded by danger in some way.” I patted his knee, gradually making my way up to feel that there was a resurgence underneath his pants.

“It’s only been less than an hour. How is it that you can be this hard after blowing your brains out two times?” I had to smile in the darkness, knowing that he was most likely thinking about me. I was still slightly amazed, but also amused by the fact that I had gotten to him in that way.

“I can’t help it. It sometimes has a mind of its own. I know that your nubile body is sitting right beside me and I can’t exactly ignore that.” With that sentiment, he was inching closer, until his own hand was making a slow and agonizing climb up my left thigh. I think he had forgotten that I was bare underneath. When his hand came in contact with my smooth soft skin, he gasped in shock, but then he smirked like a kid in a candy store.

“We haven’t seen each other in so long that it’s hard to keep our hands off of each other. You keep doing…that and I may have to ask you to pull over for a moment.” I thought that might slow him down, but it only served to feed his ego. “I mean it…you’re turning me into somebody that I don’t recognize.” The wanton little slut underneath this prim and proper young lady was begging to get out for the second time tonight. His finger circled my clit, using the wetness from my own hole to slide around the surface. I grabbed onto the dashboard, digging my nails in and opening my mouth to the feeling that was gripping me tightly.

He wasn’t even looking at me, keeping his eyes on the road, while performing a task that was better left for someone that had full concentration. If this was him not at his best, then I was in for a huge surprise after everything was said and done. Grinding around on that thumb, I was able to use the momentum of my own body and the feel of his thumb to get me exactly where I wanted to go.

“I won’t be able to stop myself. You’ve been warned that you should stop this…stop this…oh god…faster… Yes… Yes…Yes.” I was slamming down my hands on the dashboard with a sense of euphoria holding me in the moment. I was barely coming out of it, when I heard the sound of what had to be a car backfiring. The driver side mirror on the truck exploded into fragments, letting us both know that we were under fire.

“I don’t get it. There’s no way that they could possibly know where I’m at.” I looked on my person for anything that was left that wasn’t there before. There was nothing and then I saw something glinting from the moonlight streaming through the windshield. The watch that Brody wore with a sort of pride was his Achilles heel. I pulled it from his wrist, looking at the back and seeing the inscription of Anthony welcoming him to the family. I didn’t even have to pull off the back to know that Anthony had low jacked his second in command.

I rolled down the window and tossed the watch onto the ground where it splintered into a million pieces, bouncing down the pavement toward the very vehicle that was now tailing us from behind. “I guess your bond with your brother isn’t as strong as you thought it was. Anthony is not a man that trusts easily. You need to lose them. There is a spot coming up and I think that it might just work in our favor.” He had his foot right to the floor, but this old truck did not have the same kind of power that today’s engines have.

When we got to the particular spot, I reached over and turned off the dash lights, essentially making us disappear. I turned the wheel sharply, barely missing the guardrail and then hearing the unmistakable crunch of metal meeting metal. I saw the sparks behind us in the rearview mirror. The car that had been following did not see the guardrail. It went over the embankment and flipped two times, before coming to a stop at the bottom.

“That was some quick thinking. You took a lot for granted that we were going to miss joining them in that accident.” I did see from the headlights behind us that we were not out of the woods. We had gotten rid of the leading car, but there was still one shadowing from behind. I heard the gunshots and the way that they pinged against the metal of this coffin on wheels. “Do you have any more in that bag of tricks of yours?” I shrugged my shoulders, a little more worried about my life. “Never mind, I’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way.” He gripped the wheel, until the whites of his fingers were digging into the surface. I think I knew instinctively that it was a good thing that I was wearing my seat belt. I braced myself before he suddenly slammed on the brakes. I knew exactly what he was playing at. This was not going to be easy on my constitution.

I heard the sound of somebody trying to come to a stop, but their momentum had carried them a little bit too far. The back of this truck slammed into the grill of the black sedan behind us. The hood crumpled and there was this steam followed by a billow of black smoke from the radiator. This truck was built in the seventies when quality was more important. The jarring impact threw us back and forth in our seats. I could only hope that we wouldn’t come away with this with some form of extreme whiplash.

I was momentarily knocked out of commission, but I did hear Brody kicking out the door. I turned slowly to see him approach the vehicle with a gun in hand. I thought for sure that he was going to execute them, but instead he smashed the window with the butt of the gun. He used his fist to immobilize the driver. I saw Anthony bleeding from the forehead and scrambling along the side of the road to get away.

“Don’t kill me…please… I don’t want to die.” For a man that showed a callous disregard for my own well being, he was showing himself to be a coward underneath it all. He had his eyes closed and he was crying with his hands up to try to defend himself. “You don’t have to do this…I’ll give you anything.” He was shaking in his boots and Brody stood over him with that gun outstretched and ready to use it. At the last second, he gave him a swift boot to the side of his head.

He walked away and I don’t think that I could’ve been any prouder of him. He got back in and he looked over at me, before putting the truck back in gear and ripping the grill off the car. It stayed with us down the road for several miles, but finally dislodged around a sharp corner.

His hand was holding mine. We continued to drive without the constant threat of somebody coming after us. We ditched the vehicle a few miles down the road, taking to public transportation.

When we arrived at the non disclosed location, his commander was waiting there with an air of superiority. His hands were clasped behind him and he escorted us in to give our statements. I knew that Brody would have some damaging evidence. He was not the kind of man to go into anything without an exit strategy. He presented them with a long list of crimes that Anthony committed. We would both have to testify, but until then we were going to be sequestered into witness protection.

It was agreed to before hand that we would be able to choose our own vocation. I changed my hairstyle and before long we were in a small town on the outskirts of Colorado.

Brody was working with his commander under the cover of a new identity. I was going to work as a high school English teacher. It was a step down, but I still felt like I was doing the right thing. I found out shortly after that I was pregnant. I had to break the news to Brody while he was away on assignment. I never did get in touch with my brother. He had made his bed. We were both going to have to live with the fact that we were no longer a family. Thankfully, I had my own family to take the place of the one that I lost.

THE END

The Boy Next Door

Chapter One

Victoria smoothed a stray curl back into her messy chestnut bun and sighed heavily.  She dropped her key on top of the envelope on the coffee table, and locked the apartment door from the inside, before shutting it firmly.  Her green eyes brimmed with tears, but she willed them back down.  She had cried too many tears over Michael already and refused to shed one more.

The strap from her laptop bag dug into her shoulder but the pain was dull compared to her heartache.  Her Honda Civic was already loaded down with everything she wanted to take, and the work computer was simply the last of her belongings.

She glimpsed herself in the rearview mirror before she backed out of her parking space, and she realized that not just time had taken a toll on her, but the decisions she had made left their marks as well.  The bruise on her eye had finally faded to a hideous yellowish green color but for work it was easily covered with makeup.

A few minutes later she was knocking on Amber’s door, and her best friend welcomed her by enfolding her in a hug.  Victoria rested her forehead on her friend’s shoulder and released the breath trapped in her lungs.

Victoria had taken the day off from her job at the law firm, and had packed up everything in a matter of hours.  Prior to that day, Amber had agreed to let her use the guest room at her apartment until plans could be made.

It was almost dinnertime, and Victoria was famished after skipping food all day.  She had been in such a hurry to get her things and be gone before Michael returned from work that she had neglected to eat anything.

Amber heard Victoria’s tummy rumble and giggled softly.  She pointed at the coffee table which was loaded down with food and two bottles of wine.  Victoria quickly fired off a text message to her boss that she was going to miss tomorrow as well.

“Let’s unpack my car first,” she suggested as she dropped her purse and computer bag next to the couch.

The short curvy blonde nodded and they dragged in the three suitcases and two cardboard boxes with ease.  With all of the items safely stowed in the second bedroom, the two women changed into tee shirts and yoga pants, and settled down on the couch for the evening.

Amber had been Victoria’s best friend since high school, and she knew better than to launch into the interrogation until Victoria was ready.  She clicked on an old comedy movie and passed over a plate so that Victoria could load it up.

Both women tended to be foodies, a byproduct of attending law school in New York together, and the spread that Amber had prepared looked delicious to the starving Victoria.  She dug in heartily and filled her plate with summer sausage, cheddar and pepperjack cheese, little rounds of French bread, pepper and onion jam, and a generous dab of spicy brown mustard.  The velvety Merlot went perfectly with all of it.

The movie played in the background while Victoria enjoyed her snacks.  She stared straight ahead without really seeing the screen, but the numbness was a welcome respite from the reality of her situation.  There was a comfortable silence in the room with the two friends, and neither felt the need to make any more noise than what was required to eat and drink.

As the credits began to roll, Victoria and Amber finished off the second bottle of wine.

“Damn, I wish I hadn’t quit smoking,” Victoria commented.

Amber laughed, “I have some if you want.”

“Yes, please, but let’s go to the patio.”

Amber dug two packs out of her purse and they uncorked another bottle of wine as they headed to the patio in front of Amber’s apartment.

Victoria took a long drag and exhaled slowly, savoring the slight burn in her lungs.  Another glass of Merlot helped soothe it away, and added to the flush that was starting to fill her bloodstream.

Amber propped her legs up on the small plastic table and leaned back to blow smoke rings up at the ceiling.

Victoria chuckled, “I’ve never mastered that.”

“It’s all in the tongue,” Amber giggled.

“Never mastered that either,” Victoria laughed, “but any old boyfriend can tell you that.”

“Pervert,” Amber threw at Victoria, who stuck her tongue out.

As Victoria made a Merlot-inspired face at her best friend, her eyes darted over the wrought-iron railing and glimpsed one of the sexiest men she had ever seen in real life.

Her heart nearly stopped as her eyes raked over his bulging biceps and down the flat hard planes of his chest barely hidden by the snug white tank top.  Her gaze stopped just short of the waistband of his low-slung jeans before she pulled her eyes away.

“What?” Amber bit back a laugh as she watched Victoria’s pale creamy cheeks flush pink.

“N-N-Nothing,” Victoria stammered as she tried to compose herself through the fog of red wine.

Amber’s blond ponytail whipped around as she turned to see what had caught Victoria’s attention, and Victoria could hear her hiss as she sucked in air when her eyes landed on the same tanned body that she had seen.