Chapter 15 #2
“I’m JD, the building custodian here. What can I do to help?”
“Just keep your eyes open and let me know if you spot anybody hanging around who doesn’t belong here. We’re gonna have one of our guys with her anytime she’s in the building. Tony is the one assigned to watch her today.”
“He won’t interfere with any of the other artists using the studio,” Lauren assured him.
JD nodded, then patted her arm. “It’ll be fine. Keeping you safe from your ex is what matters. Tara’s out with the flu, but I’ll make sure she knows to stay alert when she comes back.”
“She’s the receptionist,” Lauren explained.
“I’d feel a hell of a lot better if this building was more secure,” I told him. “Lauren mentioned that people are given a code for the keypad entry to get in after hours. Can the front door be kept locked during the day, and everybody can just use the keypad to get in until this gets resolved?”
JD looked thoughtful, then nodded. “I’ll have to run it by my aunt – she owns the place – but I don’t think that will be a problem. Once she gives me the OK, I’ll get the codes distributed to people who have space booked, and get the building locked down.”
I thanked him, and he showed us the emergency exits, which were locked on the outside, and hardwired with alarms that sounded when the doors were opened from the inside.
“The only other door into this place is the overhead door in the back of the building. It opens into the supply room so we can bring in deliveries, or big pieces of equipment, but it’s kept locked at all times.”
We traded cell phone numbers, and I introduced him to Tony when he arrived. JD offered to get Tony a folding chair to use, and they headed toward the supply room.
“It’s almost time for my session to start,” Lauren pointed out. “Let me show you the smaller recording booths that I rent to do the audiobooks.”
I followed her down the hall, and she stopped at a door labeled with the number four. She opened it, flicking on the light switch as she stepped inside.
“This is the one I’m using today, but they’re all the same,” she said, placing her purse on the desk.
I glanced around the small space, taking note of the acoustic foam panels adhered to the walls and ceiling to dampen the sound, and the microphone attached to an adjustable arm that jutted out from the wall above the desk.
“So, this is where the magic happens.”
Lauren paused in the act of removing her tablet from her bag, giving me a smirk as she quietly murmured, “I thought that was my bedroom?”
I chuckled, then closed the door behind me, since Lauren wanted to keep our arrangement private.
“That was definitely magical,” I agreed, stepping closer and pulling her in for a kiss. Long moments later, I released her and reluctantly took a step back. Her face was flushed, and her lips were slightly swollen. She looked sexy as fuck.
“I’d better let you get to work,” I said, knowing that she was anxious about wasting time on her booth rental.
“Yeah,” she agreed huskily, turning toward the desk to pull more things from her purse. No wonder the damned bag was so big. It was packed with headphones, an insulated water bottle, a tube of lip balm, and…what the hell was that?
“Uh, babe, why did you bring a fuckin’ vibrator to work?
If you’re feeling a little needy this morning, I’d be happy to help with that.
” I moved in close, taking hold of her hips and pulling her back against me until the swell of her ass rested over my zipper.
“I could bend you over this desk right now, and with all this soundproofing in here, nobody would hear you scream my name.”
She giggled as she squirmed out of my hold. “I use it on my neck, and the vibration relaxes the laryngeal muscles in my throat, you pervert.”
“Really?” I asked skeptically.
“Yes, really,” she insisted. “It helps with vocal fatigue. There are all sorts of tricks of the trade.” She picked up a baggie filled with hard, plastic straws in various widths.
“For instance, straw phonation is an exercise that involves vocalizing through a straw to ease vocal strain and enhance voice control.”
She picked up the lip balm. “And by using this, I decrease the possibility of lip-smacking sounds when I speak.”
“Keeps ‘em soft for kissing, too,” I observed, making her smile.
“That, too,” she agreed. “I do vocal warmups before each session, just like you do before exercising. I hum, do some deep breathing for diaphragm control, lip trills to relax my lips and facial muscles,” she demonstrated that, and it looked a lot like she was blowing raspberries just like we did when we were little kids.
“I hum the scales to help with pitch; I even say tongue twisters to improve articulation.”
I had no idea how much was involved with voice work. It was a helluva lot more complicated than just reading something out loud into a microphone.
“I need to be careful with what I wear, because certain fabrics create background noise when I move. I try not to shift around in the chair while I’m recording for the same reason.”
“I’ll bet that’s tough when you’re doing a long session,” I observed.
“It does make my back stiff, that’s for sure, plus even with the straws and the vibrator, my throat still gets sore. I do some gentle full-body stretching exercises and have a couple of cups of hot tea with honey and lemon, and that helps on those days.”
“If you ever need a massage just let me know,” I teased, flexing my fingers. “As you may have noticed last night, I have great hands, babe.”
She rolled her eyes, and I smiled at the gesture I’d come to expect from her.
“What’s this?” I picked up a small plastic cube with a button on it.
“That’s the clicker I use to make it easier for the editor to splice my recording with Ben’s.
He’s the narrator handling all the male character voices.
Since he lives in Florida, we each record our parts for a chapter, then upload the file to a shared drive.
When I say my lines, I hit the clicker,” she reached for it and demonstrated.
“When the completed files are sent to the editor for post-production, as soon as they hear the click, they know to splice in Ben’s part next. ”
“Wouldn’t it be easier if both of you were in the same room, recording it live?”
She nodded, then shrugged. “In an ideal world, yes, but it’s not always feasible to choose two narrators who live in the same area.
If one narrator has to travel and stay in another location for the duration of the recording, it adds to the overall price of production, so cutting and splicing two files ends up being more cost-effective for the author. ”
Lauren glanced up at the digital clock on the wall. “Crap, it’s later than I realized. I need to get started, and you need to get to the gym” she said, standing on her tiptoes to give me a quick and altogether unsatisfying peck on the lips.
She reached around behind me and opened the door, then shooed me out of the room.
“I’ll see you tonight,” she said, then smiled at Tony, who was now stationed outside the door.
“Lock the door to the booth,” I directed as she closed the door, nodding in approval when the lock engaged.
I left a few minutes later, after giving Tony a list of instructions.
I sent Bull a text from the parking lot, asking him to check into JD. If he was going to have access to Lauren, I wanted to be sure there wasn’t anything sketchy in his background.
Bull called me with an update a few hours later, when I was in my office trying to rearrange the scheduling. Rossi’s fighters wanted to book additional practice time in the octagon, and I needed to line up some extra sparring partners for them.
“The good news is that I got access to Beau’s phone and computer since the dumbfuck uses the same password for both.
He opened the attachment late last night.
The bad news is that I didn’t find shit on either one, aside from a fuckton of porn, and profiles on just about every dating and hookup app in existence. ”
“So, he didn’t send the emails?”
“Not from either of those devices, but if he was smart he bought a burner phone that couldn’t be traced back to him. He could have also used those gaming systems Lauren mentioned. Unfortunately, I can’t hack into those until he turns them on and connects to his network.”
“Dammit,” I muttered, slamming my palm down on my desk.
“I’ll keep at it, man, and the second he connects the burner phone or his game systems to his Wi-Fi, we’ll be able to nail his ass to the wall,” Bull assured me.
“I also started running that name you sent me earlier. I should have background intel later this afternoon.”
When Tony called mid-afternoon to let me know that Lauren was done for the day, I told him I would leave early, too. “Just stay with her at the house until I get there, and then you can take off.”
I parked in the garage forty minutes later, and Tony walked over to meet me as I got off my bike.
“Everything was quiet today, and the custodian got the OK to keep the building locked,” he reported.
“Oh, and we ran into that Dustin guy when we were leaving. Lauren told him about the asshole stalking her.” He hesitated, nervously rubbing his hand on the back of his neck.
“He gave her a hug, but he didn’t try anything else.
She seemed OK with it, and you said Bull had cleared him, so I didn’t stop him. ”
My gut twinged in what I’d come to recognize as jealousy, a feeling completely foreign to me before meeting Lauren. I pushed it aside and focused on responding to Tony.
“It’s not a big deal. Thanks for the update. I’ll text you later about the schedule for tomorrow.”
I used the spare key Lauren had given me to unlock the front door, finding her lounging on the couch, with a mug of what I assumed to be hot tea in one hand, her Kindle resting on her lap, and the cat curled up at her feet.
“Hey, babe, did you have a good session?” I locked the door behind me and activated the alarm, then bent to remove my boots.
“Yes, I was able to get a lot done, but my voice is just about shot,” she sighed, sounding slightly huskier than usual. “This is my second cup of tea.” She took a sip, then leaned forward to set the mug on the coffee table.
I shrugged out of my cut and draped it over the back of the chair, then settled on the couch next to her.
“Maybe you need to do some of those relaxation things you were telling me about this morning? You could show me how you use that vibrator, and then I can show you an even better use for it,” I teased, running my hand up her denim-clad thigh and giving it a gentle squeeze.
She looked slightly appalled. “Eww…I use that on my neck, Trick.”
“It was just a suggestion, darlin’,” I shrugged.
She put the Kindle down on the couch next to her, then stood up.
“That one is strictly reserved for my vocal massage. The one in my bedroom gets used for the fun stuff.”
She arched her brow, smiling seductively, then turned around and waltzed her fine ass across the living room, putting an extra sway in her step. She stopped when she reached the hallway and turned her head to look at me.
“Are you coming?”
“Not yet,” I smirked at the double entendre, “but I plan to, preferably more than once.” I practically vaulted myself off the couch and lunged for her, but she let out a throaty laugh and dashed toward her bedroom.
I reached back and grabbed the neck of my T-shirt and drew it over my head as I stalked after her. I walked into the bedroom to find her ripping back the covers.
She peeled her own T-shirt off, and when she reached for her bra closure, I decided it was time to take over.
“Let me,” I said, flipping open the front clasp with practiced ease. I slid the straps down her arms, letting the blue satin and lace fall to the floor. I cupped her tits, thumbing over the pale pink tips that hardened under my touch. She gasped softly as her whole body shivered.
She placed her palms on my chest when I stepped closer, running her fingernails lightly over my skin and causing my own nipples to pucker at the slight contact.
Her hands dropped down to my waist, and before I knew it, her nimble fingers had unbuckled my belt and were working on the button of my jeans.
That spurred me into action, and within moments we were both naked, our bodies aligning perfectly as I pulled her against me. We kissed frantically, as if we hadn’t touched each other for weeks, rather than hours.