Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
R ockwell
I love my sister. I love my sister. I love my sister.
But good lord, could I kill her right now.
“Claude? Hang on. I’ll be right down.”
I stare at the beautiful girl sitting in the chair in front of me, her skirt all hitched up, her legs spread, stockings meeting bare thighs, glistening pussy begging me to shove my cock inside her and fuck her till she screams my name.
She’s still trembling from her climax, her hands gripping the sides of the chair seat. “Lift,” I say.
“K.” Her limbs languid, she lazily obeys, and I tug the skirt that refuses to be unzipped back down in place.
What can I offer Claudia to stall her, keep her from coming up here?
I do not want this room tainted with Claudia’s presence.
We’re close but no brother and sister should be that close.
“It’s okay,” Lily whispers.
I call out to Claudia, stalling her. “Pour yourself a glass of wine! There’s some chardonnay in the fridge.”
“I know, I’m the one who opened the bottle. Remember?” she calls up the stairs. “I delivered all those salads you probably haven’t touched.” Her voice gets quieter as she moves further into the downstairs, toward the kitchen. “Alcohol would be the only thing in your fridge if it wasn’t for me.”
When I’m sure Claudia is not coming up the stairs, I grab Lily’s hand, pulling her from the room. I lock the door and grab her shoulders in my hands, “I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I have no idea why she’s here.”
She looks from right to left, her cheeks still flushed from our encounter. “What should I do?”
I’ve already pushed her to her limits tonight. Having her explain to my sister why she’s here, how she has a stalker, and that she’ll be staying with me, it’s too much. Instead, I bring her into the living room, settling her into the plush velvet oversized deep sofa. “Stay here. I’ll get rid of her.”
Stopping by the mirror on my landing, I straighten my clothing, smoothing back my hair before I jog down the stairs.
Keeping my voice down, I enter my kitchen, saying, “Haven’t you heard of a heads-up text?” I go to the sink, washing my hands.
Claudia sits on one of my black leather kitchen stools, a full wineglass in her hand. “Um… yeah. Two texts and a phone call. Have you heard of answering your phone?” She hops down from her seat, striding over to the counter. She picks up my phone from where I earlier discarded it, waggling it in the air.
“Thanks.” I take it from her, trying to remember which pocket I put the panties in. I slip the phone into my back pocket. “I was busy.”
Thinking of sweet Lily upstairs, curled up on my sofa and all the things I want to do with her, I press Claudia for the reason of her visit, hoping to send her on her way as soon as possible. “What’s up?”
“This super strange guy stopped by the office. Of course, with our Bachman security eyes and ears hidden all over, I wasn’t worried but still…” Her nose wrinkles as she gives a little shiver. “He gave me the creeps.”
Claudia’s words make ice form in my bloodstream. An immediate sense of danger fills the space around me. I pace the kitchen. “What did he want?”
She takes a long, slow sip of her wine before she answers. Again, her timing is terrible. Finally, she shrugs.
“Dunno.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? You just said a super creepy guy came to the office and you didn’t find out why he was there?”
She shrugs again. “He walked in, said hello. I didn’t like the look of him. I told him to come back tomorrow when you’re around. Then he left.”
“You didn’t even ask what he wanted?”
“I’m not a cop. I wasn’t going to interrogate him.” She takes another sip of wine. “We have people for that.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “We do.” And I’d love to have our people get a hold of this guy right now. And eliminate this threat. I slip my phone from where I’ve just put it in my pocket.
The pocket that does not currently hold Lily’s lace panties.
He has to be the guy that’s stalking Lily. Why else would he suddenly show up at my office? The day she starts working for me? Not wanting to expose Lily’s personal business before I even know the full story of what’s going on, I tread lightly before I text Eli.
I ask, “Did he ask for anyone?”
She shakes her head. “Nope. But I had this weird feeling I’ve seen him somewhere.” Her fingers scroll over her phone screen.
Claudia is always willing to talk for hours when I don’t want to listen. Now when I want to know every single detail of what went on, she’s suddenly tight lipped, her attention elsewhere.
“Can you at least put that phone down?”
“Nope.” She keeps scrolling.
“Claude—”
Just when I’m about to lose my shit and kick her out, she holds up her screen to show me something. “See. Look.”
My forty-year-old eyesight letting me down, I take the phone from her so I can get a closer look.
“I told you to get yourself some readers,” she mumbles.
“I do not need glasses.” I scan the article.
Man Escapes from Welsh Prison
The site looks like one of the True Crime blogs she’s obsessed with. Her and her fifty shut-in online friends thinking they can solve cold cases in their spare time while drinking copious amounts of wine and ignoring any interactions that might lead to a real relationship.
Relief. This man’s visit probably has nothing to do with Lily. Unless Claudia’s wrong and it’s not a man from a Welsh prison.
“Why would someone possibly escape from a UK prison, make it all the way to New York City, then come to our office?”
“He’s probably seeking the protection of the Bachmans. Why else?”
“I doubt that’s the man that you saw today.” I shake my head. “You listen to too many true crime podcasts, sis.”
She’s so sure of herself as she speaks. “Oh, it’s him. I’m sure of it. I’m alerting all security tomorrow morning to let them know what we’re dealing with.”
But we’ve been down this road before…
“Can we please look over the security camera footage first? Me, you, some coffee. We’ll look over the tapes and make sure this is the guy you saw before…”
“Before I make a fool of myself again?” she snaps. “Last time that girl totally looked exactly like missing baby Lucy from the Catskills. Even you admitted they could be twins!”
“But it wasn’t baby Lucy, was it? It was a paralegal from Wentworth’s who grew up in Milwaukee but just happened to have the same scar over her right eyebrow. And you had our entire team searching the city for her only to find the woman and scare the absolute shit out of her when we did.”
“Okay, okay. That was a royal fuckup. I admit it.” She takes the phone from me, tapping her fingernail against the picture of the escaped convict. “But this is him. I’m telling you.” Finally, she stands, grabbing her purse to go. “And when we have coffee tomorrow morning, you’re going to see that I’m right.”
She lifts her glass to her lips, downing the last of her wine. I’ve almost got her out the front door when the sound of an adorable, petite sneeze comes from upstairs.
“What.” Claudia’s head snaps over her shoulder to face me. “Was that?”
“Nothing. Must be that air filtration system Rockland had added.”
She goes into detective mode. “Nope. No, it wasn’t. That was most surely a very feminine sounding sneeze, coming from your second floor living room.” She eyes me. “But you never have women over.”
“I do alright,” I say.
“No.” She shakes her head. “I mean you never, ever have women over. Who is it?”
“No one.”
Her eyes flash. “It’s her, isn’t it? Our hot little front desk girl.”
Before I can stop her, Claudia is flying up the stairs, heading right into Lily’s space. My house is instantly filled with friendly, womanly chatter. Holding my hand to my head, I moan.
There’s no way I’ll be getting that zipper down tonight.