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Friday, July 29, 2005
Dark Facade - Part 2
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Thursday, July 28, 2005
Dark Facade - Part 1
“He is so damn cute!” Lisa said dreamily staring at the screen of a slightly tanned white man with the widest smile.
Maxine wrinkled her nose at the screen. She was never into white guys, but heck, it was a free country and Lisa was at the point in her life where she wanted to look for more – meaning she was tired of all the brothas bull crap and didn’t want to deal with them anymore. “Looks can be deceiving,” Maxine said sarcastically. “A five thousand dollar computer monitor can make anyone look cute.”
Lisa snorted. “You just don’t get it, Max.”
“Get what? That you’re on the Internet looking for a white man? It’s some pretty weird stuff out there, girl, so you better me careful.” Maxine went over to her desk and turned on her computer.
Coming over to her desk, Lisa’s lean framed leaned over. “You don’t get that black brothers are just plain lazy. I need a man whose going to work for me. Appreciate me. Worship the damn ground I walk on.”
Nodding over to the computer screen of the guy with the omnipresent stare, Maxine asked coolly, “And you think he can do this for you?”
“At this point, anything is better than those trifling as niggas out there.”
“You don’t have to be black to be a nigga,” Maxine teased, pulling up her reports from yesterday. “Fine, Lisa. Find your man online and I’ll dance at your wedding, okay?”
Right then she just wanted to drop the subject and get to work.
“Don’t worry,” Lisa said walking back over to her desk to continue to stare at the screen of the picture. “It’ll be soon. We’re going out tonight.”
Stopping her work, Maxine looked over at her co-worker worriedly. “Didn’t you just meet him?”
“Yeah, but when you do your thing online things move fast.”
“That’s just way to fast, Lisa.”
“Last time I checked I was grown, Max. Quit your worrying.” Lisa huffed. “That’s your problem, Max, you have this great single life and you don’t know what to do with it. You’re childless with a great job and no trifling family to bother you. You need to be out there taking chances, meeting new people.”
“Going out with a complete stranger is not my idea of living.”
Maxine let it go and continued working. She wasn’t going to let her co-workers stupidity interfere with her work. Even though Lisa was about the only thing in Max’s life that could be called a close friend, Max didn’t voice her opinion about Lisa’s promiscuous lifestyle.
Working at Bianchi/Bellini Marketing as graphic designers, they had become fast friends from the first day they had worked together four years ago. They loved their job and hardly ever missed a day of work.
The day dragged on and Maxine paid very little attention to Lisa and how she spoke about this all to wonderful online stranger. Lisa had gone so far as to put his face in her screen saver so when she went to lunch, Maxine had to stare at those deep turquoise eyes and even notice that there was a small scar directly above his left eyebrow. That perfect teeth large smile seemed to be proprietary, but Maxine was no fool. This man probably sent this out to millions of women just to get some bootie.
In her opinion, white men were no better than any other man. They were all after one thing and Maxine had made too many mistakes in the past to even let that bother her.
By the end of the day, Lisa was just too happy and rushed out of there to get ready for her date.
Going home to her boring existence, Maxine fixed a TV dinner, watched a little CSI and then went to bed. This was her daily routine except on Sunday’s when she didn’t go to work she just slept all day long.
As she relaxed and prepared to sleep, for some reason, she thought about Lisa and wondered what she was doing on her hot date. Maxine’s mind relaxed and next thing she knew she felt warm all over.
Tingles encompassed her body as wet kisses hungrily showered her face, neck, and then down to her chest. Her nipples hardened and pulsed and she felt the wet mouth suckle her tips and then a soft tongue laved the entire breast before moving to the other one.
Between her legs, she could feel the moistness increase and wanted to feel even more between her legs. Who was doing to this her? It felt so good, so damn good.
Reaching down, she cupped the face reluctant to stop the beautiful oral ministrations, but too curious to know who could make her feel so wonderful.
Bold passionate turquoise eyes met her own and that beautiful smile-
Awaking screaming, Maxine clutched the covers and looked frantically around the room. Once she was assured she was alone, she laid back down.
Damn Lisa!
Getting to work the next day she was almost too embarrassed about the dream to face Lisa and was glad no one was in the office when she entered. Quickly, Maxine got to work immediately.
When their supervisor came in at ten asking where was Lisa, Maxine looked at the empty desk and frowned. Not wanting to get Lisa in trouble, she lied to her boss and said, “I forgot to tell you
that she called in sick.”
He looked at her suspiciously. “Well, okay. Can you get me an update on that logo she was working on? I want to sign off on those changes by the end of the day.”
Maxine nodded eagerly trying not to look worried. “Sure. I’ll get that over to you right away.”
When he was gone, she called Lisa’s home but there was no answer. Looking over at Lisa’s computer, she had to wonder what happened on the date.
Already knowing Lisa’s password, she was able to get in on Lisa’s computer and access her Palm Calendar. Lisa had the yesterday’s date in red, meaning it was important. Clicking on yesterday’s events, Maxine saw typed in red letters, BIG DATE! 1552 Milwaukee @ Detroit Masquerade. This wasn’t Lisa’s address, so Maxine printed out this page and called Lisa’s home again.
There was no answer to her home number or cell phone number.
Maxine knew Lisa had a kid, but the father of the child had custody and the child only came over every other weekend. With tomorrow being Friday, Maxine knew Lisa had to pop up somewhere.
The date must have been pretty hot!
Maxine went to Lisa’s home on lunch. No one was there and Lisa’s car wasn’t in the driveway.
‘Why am I so worried? She’s a grown woman, she said so herself!’
Getting back in her car, she reached in her purse and looked at the address she had printed off.
‘Damn Lisa! Why’d you have to go on the date and not tell anyone where you were going?’
Putting her car in drive, she checked her watch. There was still time to make a quick run just to check out the address.
‘Go to the police!’ her common sense screamed, yet the realization was that Lisa hadn’t been missing over 48 hours and the police wouldn’t care. Plus Maxine was a relative so they probably wouldn’t let her file a missing persons report.
This wasn’t like Lisa. Even though she took some chances, she would never do anything crazy or dumb.
Or would she?
As Maxine headed to the 1552 Milwaukee address, all she could think about was those deep turquoise eyes and that irresistible smile. Would he be there?
Maxine wrinkled her nose at the screen. She was never into white guys, but heck, it was a free country and Lisa was at the point in her life where she wanted to look for more – meaning she was tired of all the brothas bull crap and didn’t want to deal with them anymore. “Looks can be deceiving,” Maxine said sarcastically. “A five thousand dollar computer monitor can make anyone look cute.”
Lisa snorted. “You just don’t get it, Max.”
“Get what? That you’re on the Internet looking for a white man? It’s some pretty weird stuff out there, girl, so you better me careful.” Maxine went over to her desk and turned on her computer.
Coming over to her desk, Lisa’s lean framed leaned over. “You don’t get that black brothers are just plain lazy. I need a man whose going to work for me. Appreciate me. Worship the damn ground I walk on.”
Nodding over to the computer screen of the guy with the omnipresent stare, Maxine asked coolly, “And you think he can do this for you?”
“At this point, anything is better than those trifling as niggas out there.”
“You don’t have to be black to be a nigga,” Maxine teased, pulling up her reports from yesterday. “Fine, Lisa. Find your man online and I’ll dance at your wedding, okay?”
Right then she just wanted to drop the subject and get to work.
“Don’t worry,” Lisa said walking back over to her desk to continue to stare at the screen of the picture. “It’ll be soon. We’re going out tonight.”
Stopping her work, Maxine looked over at her co-worker worriedly. “Didn’t you just meet him?”
“Yeah, but when you do your thing online things move fast.”
“That’s just way to fast, Lisa.”
“Last time I checked I was grown, Max. Quit your worrying.” Lisa huffed. “That’s your problem, Max, you have this great single life and you don’t know what to do with it. You’re childless with a great job and no trifling family to bother you. You need to be out there taking chances, meeting new people.”
“Going out with a complete stranger is not my idea of living.”
Maxine let it go and continued working. She wasn’t going to let her co-workers stupidity interfere with her work. Even though Lisa was about the only thing in Max’s life that could be called a close friend, Max didn’t voice her opinion about Lisa’s promiscuous lifestyle.
Working at Bianchi/Bellini Marketing as graphic designers, they had become fast friends from the first day they had worked together four years ago. They loved their job and hardly ever missed a day of work.
The day dragged on and Maxine paid very little attention to Lisa and how she spoke about this all to wonderful online stranger. Lisa had gone so far as to put his face in her screen saver so when she went to lunch, Maxine had to stare at those deep turquoise eyes and even notice that there was a small scar directly above his left eyebrow. That perfect teeth large smile seemed to be proprietary, but Maxine was no fool. This man probably sent this out to millions of women just to get some bootie.
In her opinion, white men were no better than any other man. They were all after one thing and Maxine had made too many mistakes in the past to even let that bother her.
By the end of the day, Lisa was just too happy and rushed out of there to get ready for her date.
Going home to her boring existence, Maxine fixed a TV dinner, watched a little CSI and then went to bed. This was her daily routine except on Sunday’s when she didn’t go to work she just slept all day long.
As she relaxed and prepared to sleep, for some reason, she thought about Lisa and wondered what she was doing on her hot date. Maxine’s mind relaxed and next thing she knew she felt warm all over.
Tingles encompassed her body as wet kisses hungrily showered her face, neck, and then down to her chest. Her nipples hardened and pulsed and she felt the wet mouth suckle her tips and then a soft tongue laved the entire breast before moving to the other one.
Between her legs, she could feel the moistness increase and wanted to feel even more between her legs. Who was doing to this her? It felt so good, so damn good.
Reaching down, she cupped the face reluctant to stop the beautiful oral ministrations, but too curious to know who could make her feel so wonderful.
Bold passionate turquoise eyes met her own and that beautiful smile-
Awaking screaming, Maxine clutched the covers and looked frantically around the room. Once she was assured she was alone, she laid back down.
Damn Lisa!
Getting to work the next day she was almost too embarrassed about the dream to face Lisa and was glad no one was in the office when she entered. Quickly, Maxine got to work immediately.
When their supervisor came in at ten asking where was Lisa, Maxine looked at the empty desk and frowned. Not wanting to get Lisa in trouble, she lied to her boss and said, “I forgot to tell you
that she called in sick.”
He looked at her suspiciously. “Well, okay. Can you get me an update on that logo she was working on? I want to sign off on those changes by the end of the day.”
Maxine nodded eagerly trying not to look worried. “Sure. I’ll get that over to you right away.”
When he was gone, she called Lisa’s home but there was no answer. Looking over at Lisa’s computer, she had to wonder what happened on the date.
Already knowing Lisa’s password, she was able to get in on Lisa’s computer and access her Palm Calendar. Lisa had the yesterday’s date in red, meaning it was important. Clicking on yesterday’s events, Maxine saw typed in red letters, BIG DATE! 1552 Milwaukee @ Detroit Masquerade. This wasn’t Lisa’s address, so Maxine printed out this page and called Lisa’s home again.
There was no answer to her home number or cell phone number.
Maxine knew Lisa had a kid, but the father of the child had custody and the child only came over every other weekend. With tomorrow being Friday, Maxine knew Lisa had to pop up somewhere.
The date must have been pretty hot!
Maxine went to Lisa’s home on lunch. No one was there and Lisa’s car wasn’t in the driveway.
‘Why am I so worried? She’s a grown woman, she said so herself!’
Getting back in her car, she reached in her purse and looked at the address she had printed off.
‘Damn Lisa! Why’d you have to go on the date and not tell anyone where you were going?’
Putting her car in drive, she checked her watch. There was still time to make a quick run just to check out the address.
‘Go to the police!’ her common sense screamed, yet the realization was that Lisa hadn’t been missing over 48 hours and the police wouldn’t care. Plus Maxine was a relative so they probably wouldn’t let her file a missing persons report.
This wasn’t like Lisa. Even though she took some chances, she would never do anything crazy or dumb.
Or would she?
As Maxine headed to the 1552 Milwaukee address, all she could think about was those deep turquoise eyes and that irresistible smile. Would he be there?
Dark Facade - Part 1 (c) 2005 Sylvia Hubbard
Author's Note for upcoming story: Dark Facade
Yeah, I know i said i was going to do nothing to lose, but I changed it up and started a new one that I thought you guys would enjoy.
The story starts basically with Maxine, an AA graphic designer who has no life, realizing that her best friend and coworker disappeared the day after telling Maxine she was going out on a hot date with a man she met on the Internet.
Now it's up to Maxine to find out what happened to Lisa and who was this mysterious man who emailed his picture to her friend that Maxine just can't stop thinking about.
Enjoy and please leave comments.
This story can be found in the July Archieve Folder
The story starts basically with Maxine, an AA graphic designer who has no life, realizing that her best friend and coworker disappeared the day after telling Maxine she was going out on a hot date with a man she met on the Internet.
Now it's up to Maxine to find out what happened to Lisa and who was this mysterious man who emailed his picture to her friend that Maxine just can't stop thinking about.
Enjoy and please leave comments.
This story can be found in the July Archieve Folder
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Red Heart - Book Cover
Be on the lookout for Red Heart. I just finished the book cover. Thank you for enjoying your reading.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Red Heart - Chapter 6 partial
The door opened to a somewhat nice looking guy with friendly brown eyes. Stephen was taken aback at his undress state, but he pushed past him grumbling about wanting to speak to Jode before the man could stop him. He was looking for a fight to relieve the stress building up inside of him, and this man was five inches shorter than him. Stocky, but as much steel Stephen lifted a day, he was positive he could take this guy.
"Jode is busy, can I say who's here to see her?" the man asked only a bit upset at his rudeness.
"Stephen Heart."
The man's demeanor immediately changed and Stephen was positive the man knew exactly who he was.
In his most menacing tone, Stephen stepped up to the man, "Go ahead and hit me, I'm just looking to hurt someone."
"I'm not a fighter, but I won't let you hurt Jode."
He only sneered repulsed at this man's caring for Jode. Moving away, he went towards the front room. The double wooden doors were closed, but he burst through them and stopped at the doorway.
Jode sat up gasping. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Minding my own business," he mocked her.
She stood up not caring about her undressed state. "You're in my house, Stefan, so I suggest you leave."
"Or what? You'll call the police. Tell him to get his hands off of me now!" he ordered Jode.
"Is the police necessary, Jode?" her gentleman asked at the doorway.
She saw his hands on Stephen's shoulder. "Go up to the bedroom Kevin, please." She looked at her friend and when he didn't move, she said, "I'll scream if I need assistance."
Kevin moved his arm away, snatched up his shirt, and warned, "I'll be listening out."
When he left, Stephen slammed the doors behind him and turned back to Jode. "Did I interrupt you?"
"That's none of your business."
He dropped the diary down on the coffee table. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"She was going to Chicago."
"There was nothing to tell. She came to me for help." Jode picked up the diary. "That's why I gave her the money."
He passed her a receipt. "She bought a car with it."
"A car? Jode didn't have a driver's license."
This time he frowned. "How the hell could she purchase a car?"
"If you have the money, you can do anything you want." She snatched the receipt away from him careful not to touch his hand and picked up her clothes from the floor. "She only spent four hundred on the car and seventy-five on the tow. There's still about two hundred and something not accounted for."
"What did she need a tow? Why would she buy a broken down car? What sense would that make?"
\
"Were these for me?" she asked about the receipt and the diary.
"Somewhat. You wanted answers and since you don't believe me, I thought you'd believe Kasey."
She gathered the diary and the receipt and placed them above her fireplace. He'd followed right behind her, so close she could feel his breath on her shoulder and closed her eyes hoping he would just leave.
"I..." His voice trailed off.
Jode held her breath, hoping and praying he would just leave. The silence held more tension than any words could ever muster.
"The diary was insightful. She's kept it since you left after..." His hands moved to her sides and she allowed him to pull her to him and wrap his arms around her waist. "Who is he, Jode?"
It was hard to swallow with his proximity affecting her. "A friend."
"How close?" he asked his lips brushed her ear. "Should I stop?"
Why was he tormenting her like this? Biting hard on her lip, she was in a frenzy not knowing how to answer his question.
He turned her around to face him. "One word, Jode. That's all I need. Should I stop?"
To find out more, be on the look out for Red Heart at this author's Lulu.com site (http://lulu.com/SylviaHubbard) by August 2005, or go to paypal and transfer $13.00 (price includes shipping and handling) to hubbooks@yahoo.com to order your book early
Next up: Nothing to Lose (starting at the end of this week)
Friday, July 22, 2005
Red Heart - Chapter 5
"He raped you?" Kevin interrupted yet again horrified.
Jode tried to make it sound as if it was no big thing. "No...If you call a lot of foreplay rape, then maybe."
Kevin shook his head not believing what he'd heard. "This is not the Jode I know. You're strong willed, stubborn to the core, you don't take shit from anyone. I can't believe you allowed this boy to do this to you." He was enraged. A side of the sweet tempered Kevin she'd never seen before.
"Kevin, this was the past."
"There are issues with the man you need to work out. He raped you!"
"I don't want to talk of this if you're going to spout charges."
Kevin calmed himself down and held her close as if to comfort her. "If I had only known I wouldn't have been so..." his voice trailed off.
"So what? What are you talking about?"
"When we were together, I could feel something keeping you and I thought maybe it was a broken heart or something. I didn't know it was rape."
Flustered, Jode refuted, "It wasn't rape, stop saying that."
"Did he force his will on you?"
Kevin had graduated with a BS in psychology with a minor in accounting. He could mind fucked the best of them, but Jode was not going to let him work his psychology on her.
"Kevin, I think I allowed these things to happen because of my self-esteem. I was ugly at that time. Horribly ugly and no one person really paid attention to me." She lowered her head in shame. “Kevin, I didn’t scrub my skin to death, because I felt bad about what he did to me. I did it because some part of me actually enjoyed it. True, I was young and I didn’t know a hoot about boys, or love, or evenI wanted his touch”
There was a long silence in the room as they stared at each other. Kevin held her closer and Jode relaxed, laying her head on his chest.
Quietly, Kevin said, "It's hard to imagine you ugly, Jode. Look at you."
She blushed. "Yes, a long time of wearing braces and a lot of Noxzema. The passing of time, maturity and patience did the rest."
"He was still wrong to take advantage of your innocence,” Kevin said sourly. “Did anyone find out about that night?"
She shrugged. "Are you going to let me finish?"
Kevin cursed under his breath, but encouraged her to continue.
# # #
His mouth enveloped the small tips making them harder until her body felt like it was going to explode. Her fingers moved though his thick red hair as his hot oral cavity played havoc on her chest. His hand moved down between her legs and her wetness was evident by his easy access into her. She didn't fight, but responded to his every touch. How he knew to do these things to her seemed amazing and she didn't stop him, no matter how wrong it felt.
Abruptly, he stopped and pulled her up to a sitting position. "My turn slim," he whispered against her lips. As he captured her mouth, he guided her hands inside the boxers he wore until her small fingers circumference a mysterious velvety softness. When she tried to gasp and draw away, his kisses became more urgent and his hands became more needy until she relaxed and allowed him to guide her own fingers into pleasing him. She wanted to look down and see what he looked like because what she felt was bigger than a polish sausage and much more hard. But he continued the distraction with his lips until finally he was moaning as if she were hurting him.
At that moment, she knew she was in charge and he was releasing his control at that moment over to her and the power inside of her at that moment was unbelievable. He released her lips and buried his face in her neck.
"Don't stop," he groaned, holding her tight against him as her hands continued their motion he'd taught her.
Soon she felt warm stickiness all over her hands and him and wondered where had that come from. He was holding her so tight she thought she had stopped breathing just as he did in the few seconds the wetness covered her palms.
Amazingly, he recovered quickly and grabbed the covers. Snatching her hands from where they still gripped him, he cleaned them off with the covers and nudged her off the bed.
"Put your clothes on!" he barked.
Quickly she put her clothes on, and then he snapped, "Get out!"
She looked down at her hands still moist and there was some stickiness still between her fingers. For some reason she wanted to apologize, but her lips wouldn't move.
Opening the door, she gasped as Andrea stood in front of the doorway looking very accusingly at her.
Looking back at Stephen she saw him using the blanket to cover himself. "What do you want?" he snapped at Andrea.
"I was looking for Jode. What are you doing in his room?"
"I-I..." Jode couldn't come up with one thing.
"She was lost. Get the hell out my room. The bathroom's down the hall," he growled.
Jode quickly walked out and closed the door behind her. Andrea followed her to the bathroom and enclosed them in there.
"You weren't lost, were you?"
It almost hurt to swallow, Jode was so nervous. "I guess I was sleepy I went in the wrong door."
"You lie. You were in there a long time."
Jode's heart raced. If anyone knew she'd die. "He was fussing at me." She quickly washed her hands and moved past Andrea out the bathroom. "Leave me alone," she ordered and went
back downstairs.
Andrea continued to give her accusing looks the rest of that day, but she didn't say anything to anyone.
For a week, he left her alone, and then Kasey appeared at her home late one night after her father had gotten a strange call and left out. "Did you hear?" Kasey asked.
"What?"
"They're sending him away to military school immediately! Tomorrow! He was arrested at a drug house and my dad had to go down and pick him up, and then they found out some other stuff."
"Like what?"
"Some girl told he was feeling them up."
Jode's heart dropped. "Who?"
"They wouldn't tell me. They were whispering so low, I didn't hear the name, but my mother called your dad to come down and help them out. They told me to come down here to see how you're doing."
Jode didn't feel too well, but she didn't want Kasey to know that. "What else did they say about this girl?"
"It was someone at the party. Do you know who?"
"How do you know it was someone?"
"Because I heard my mother say 'she was just here for Kasey's party, if that happened why didn't she tell? You think it was Tonya?
"No, I don't think so."
Kasey made her own deductions. "He wouldn't hurt you, and Rita's too fat. I bet it was Andrea and she's probably felt him up and now feels guilty. Are you alright, Jode?"
"I'm fine." Her body was shaking so bad she didn't know what to do. "I just need a glass of water. Can you get me a glass of water?"
While Kasey left to do this, she composed herself. No one didn't know, did they?
After three hours, Kasey left as soon as her father came home. Jode pretended to be very tired and went straight to bed. Her father came up to her room as Jode was lying down wrapped tightly in her bed.
"You can talk to me about anything, Jode," he said.
"I know Daddy."
"Did anyone hurt you recently?"
She hesitated, before she said, "No."
He took her hand in his. "I won't be angry at you. I won't hurt you, Jode. I'll still love you if someone did something to you. Did they?"
"No Daddy," she continued to lie.
He sighed defeated and left.
Jode cried the rest of the night. Lying to her father was difficult, but she couldn't let anyone know how much she had enjoyed doing that to Stephen. It was perverted and her father would never understand that how Jode had enjoyed it because at the time she couldn’t understand it either.
# # #
"So he was sent away?" Kevin asked.
"Until he graduated and afterwards I don't think he learned his lesson, but I wasn't around since my father sent me to live with my aunt in New Jersey for the rest of my schooling as if he were trying to hide me. I think he knew I was lying, but I was protecting him and my own guilt."
"You shouldn't have."
After a moment, Jode admitted, "He came to me one last time."
"When?”
"The night before he was due to go. He was going to run away from home. He knocked on my window with a rock."
"And?"
# # #
She hesitantly got up and looked out the backyard window. He stood there looking up at her.
Quietly, she put on a robe and went out the side door. Immediately he noticed she didn't have on any shoes and scooped her up carrying her to the shelter as if she were a baby. For some reason, she didn't fight him.
When they were inside, he caressed her face gently. "I know you didn't tell, slim. I know who told and that's alright because they don't know what really happened." She almost detected a hint of shame in his voice, but she couldn't be sure.
"I won't," she said.
"It won't matter. I'm not coming back to this place anymore."
"Why did you come to me?"
He didn't answer with words, but drew her close to him and she didn't fight as his mouth captured hers again and again. It felt good and she didn't think she would ever receive attention like this from anyone ever again.
While he distracted her, he had unbuttoned his pants and removed himself from its jeans prison, and then he guided her hands to him. She knew what he wanted...she knew what he needed.
# # #
Kevin didn't interrupt as Jode explained the last time she'd saw Stephen. He listened with an open ear even noting the excited inflection in her voice and the way her eyes danced when she spoke of the intimacy they shared.
"He didn't run away that night. After we were done, he used a handkerchief to clean my hands, and then he kissed me longingly as if he knew this would never happen again. He went right back home and I watched the next morning comforting Kasey as Eric drove away with Stephen in the car. He waved, but I don't know if it was at me or Kasey. Either way, I didn't wave back, because I knew everyone was watching me - watching us, just like they were at the funeral."
"Andrea told?"
"She told Michelle. I think it was out of jealousy or just hatred. She never looked at me the same and I didn't care. I was glad my dad sent me away because I couldn't take her accusing eyes. During this time I was away, unfortunately, Kasey started hanging around with addicts and smokers. I think it was her way to retaliate against her parents for sending her brother away in the beginning, but then I think that's why I would indulge Kasey when she needed money here or there because I felt it was my fault her brother was sent away. The possible implications of Stephen molesting me were too much for Eric to bear. He was an upstanding community member running for city council and to know his stepson fondled a minor was too much to bear. Even if it was just a rumor, I don't think Eric wanted Stephen anywhere near the house anymore. Yet there were other things."
"Like?"
"Like Michelle had Stephen when she was sixteen and Stephen's father, as I found out later, was a sexual predator. He was shot in an attempt rape of an old lady who happened to have a thirty-eight in her purse, which was why Stephen came to live with them. On top of that, I later learned Stephen was way past puberty. He was the only boy in tenth grade that had to shave once a day, he had all his body hair, and he had a very powerful sex drive. I heard Michelle one day talking with my mother at how Stephen was just like his father and would have a trillion babies by the time he was twenty." While they had talked she had taken off her business jacket and skirt to reveal the slip she wore underneath her clothes. He'd only taken off his shirt to get comfortable on the soft fluffy rug.
"Does he?"
"I don't think so. Kasey said if he had babies around the neighborhood anyone would certainly know because of his red hair."
"And you? How do you really feel about him?"
"It was all a game to him and I treat it as such. I still fear him a lot, because of our past, but then like you said, I'm strong willed and I don't take shit from anyone."
Kevin chuckled kissing her cheek.
The doorbell rung and he jumped up to answer it before she could think about who it would be.
Jode tried to make it sound as if it was no big thing. "No...If you call a lot of foreplay rape, then maybe."
Kevin shook his head not believing what he'd heard. "This is not the Jode I know. You're strong willed, stubborn to the core, you don't take shit from anyone. I can't believe you allowed this boy to do this to you." He was enraged. A side of the sweet tempered Kevin she'd never seen before.
"Kevin, this was the past."
"There are issues with the man you need to work out. He raped you!"
"I don't want to talk of this if you're going to spout charges."
Kevin calmed himself down and held her close as if to comfort her. "If I had only known I wouldn't have been so..." his voice trailed off.
"So what? What are you talking about?"
"When we were together, I could feel something keeping you and I thought maybe it was a broken heart or something. I didn't know it was rape."
Flustered, Jode refuted, "It wasn't rape, stop saying that."
"Did he force his will on you?"
Kevin had graduated with a BS in psychology with a minor in accounting. He could mind fucked the best of them, but Jode was not going to let him work his psychology on her.
"Kevin, I think I allowed these things to happen because of my self-esteem. I was ugly at that time. Horribly ugly and no one person really paid attention to me." She lowered her head in shame. “Kevin, I didn’t scrub my skin to death, because I felt bad about what he did to me. I did it because some part of me actually enjoyed it. True, I was young and I didn’t know a hoot about boys, or love, or evenI wanted his touch”
There was a long silence in the room as they stared at each other. Kevin held her closer and Jode relaxed, laying her head on his chest.
Quietly, Kevin said, "It's hard to imagine you ugly, Jode. Look at you."
She blushed. "Yes, a long time of wearing braces and a lot of Noxzema. The passing of time, maturity and patience did the rest."
"He was still wrong to take advantage of your innocence,” Kevin said sourly. “Did anyone find out about that night?"
She shrugged. "Are you going to let me finish?"
Kevin cursed under his breath, but encouraged her to continue.
# # #
His mouth enveloped the small tips making them harder until her body felt like it was going to explode. Her fingers moved though his thick red hair as his hot oral cavity played havoc on her chest. His hand moved down between her legs and her wetness was evident by his easy access into her. She didn't fight, but responded to his every touch. How he knew to do these things to her seemed amazing and she didn't stop him, no matter how wrong it felt.
Abruptly, he stopped and pulled her up to a sitting position. "My turn slim," he whispered against her lips. As he captured her mouth, he guided her hands inside the boxers he wore until her small fingers circumference a mysterious velvety softness. When she tried to gasp and draw away, his kisses became more urgent and his hands became more needy until she relaxed and allowed him to guide her own fingers into pleasing him. She wanted to look down and see what he looked like because what she felt was bigger than a polish sausage and much more hard. But he continued the distraction with his lips until finally he was moaning as if she were hurting him.
At that moment, she knew she was in charge and he was releasing his control at that moment over to her and the power inside of her at that moment was unbelievable. He released her lips and buried his face in her neck.
"Don't stop," he groaned, holding her tight against him as her hands continued their motion he'd taught her.
Soon she felt warm stickiness all over her hands and him and wondered where had that come from. He was holding her so tight she thought she had stopped breathing just as he did in the few seconds the wetness covered her palms.
Amazingly, he recovered quickly and grabbed the covers. Snatching her hands from where they still gripped him, he cleaned them off with the covers and nudged her off the bed.
"Put your clothes on!" he barked.
Quickly she put her clothes on, and then he snapped, "Get out!"
She looked down at her hands still moist and there was some stickiness still between her fingers. For some reason she wanted to apologize, but her lips wouldn't move.
Opening the door, she gasped as Andrea stood in front of the doorway looking very accusingly at her.
Looking back at Stephen she saw him using the blanket to cover himself. "What do you want?" he snapped at Andrea.
"I was looking for Jode. What are you doing in his room?"
"I-I..." Jode couldn't come up with one thing.
"She was lost. Get the hell out my room. The bathroom's down the hall," he growled.
Jode quickly walked out and closed the door behind her. Andrea followed her to the bathroom and enclosed them in there.
"You weren't lost, were you?"
It almost hurt to swallow, Jode was so nervous. "I guess I was sleepy I went in the wrong door."
"You lie. You were in there a long time."
Jode's heart raced. If anyone knew she'd die. "He was fussing at me." She quickly washed her hands and moved past Andrea out the bathroom. "Leave me alone," she ordered and went
back downstairs.
Andrea continued to give her accusing looks the rest of that day, but she didn't say anything to anyone.
For a week, he left her alone, and then Kasey appeared at her home late one night after her father had gotten a strange call and left out. "Did you hear?" Kasey asked.
"What?"
"They're sending him away to military school immediately! Tomorrow! He was arrested at a drug house and my dad had to go down and pick him up, and then they found out some other stuff."
"Like what?"
"Some girl told he was feeling them up."
Jode's heart dropped. "Who?"
"They wouldn't tell me. They were whispering so low, I didn't hear the name, but my mother called your dad to come down and help them out. They told me to come down here to see how you're doing."
Jode didn't feel too well, but she didn't want Kasey to know that. "What else did they say about this girl?"
"It was someone at the party. Do you know who?"
"How do you know it was someone?"
"Because I heard my mother say 'she was just here for Kasey's party, if that happened why didn't she tell? You think it was Tonya?
"No, I don't think so."
Kasey made her own deductions. "He wouldn't hurt you, and Rita's too fat. I bet it was Andrea and she's probably felt him up and now feels guilty. Are you alright, Jode?"
"I'm fine." Her body was shaking so bad she didn't know what to do. "I just need a glass of water. Can you get me a glass of water?"
While Kasey left to do this, she composed herself. No one didn't know, did they?
After three hours, Kasey left as soon as her father came home. Jode pretended to be very tired and went straight to bed. Her father came up to her room as Jode was lying down wrapped tightly in her bed.
"You can talk to me about anything, Jode," he said.
"I know Daddy."
"Did anyone hurt you recently?"
She hesitated, before she said, "No."
He took her hand in his. "I won't be angry at you. I won't hurt you, Jode. I'll still love you if someone did something to you. Did they?"
"No Daddy," she continued to lie.
He sighed defeated and left.
Jode cried the rest of the night. Lying to her father was difficult, but she couldn't let anyone know how much she had enjoyed doing that to Stephen. It was perverted and her father would never understand that how Jode had enjoyed it because at the time she couldn’t understand it either.
# # #
"So he was sent away?" Kevin asked.
"Until he graduated and afterwards I don't think he learned his lesson, but I wasn't around since my father sent me to live with my aunt in New Jersey for the rest of my schooling as if he were trying to hide me. I think he knew I was lying, but I was protecting him and my own guilt."
"You shouldn't have."
After a moment, Jode admitted, "He came to me one last time."
"When?”
"The night before he was due to go. He was going to run away from home. He knocked on my window with a rock."
"And?"
# # #
She hesitantly got up and looked out the backyard window. He stood there looking up at her.
Quietly, she put on a robe and went out the side door. Immediately he noticed she didn't have on any shoes and scooped her up carrying her to the shelter as if she were a baby. For some reason, she didn't fight him.
When they were inside, he caressed her face gently. "I know you didn't tell, slim. I know who told and that's alright because they don't know what really happened." She almost detected a hint of shame in his voice, but she couldn't be sure.
"I won't," she said.
"It won't matter. I'm not coming back to this place anymore."
"Why did you come to me?"
He didn't answer with words, but drew her close to him and she didn't fight as his mouth captured hers again and again. It felt good and she didn't think she would ever receive attention like this from anyone ever again.
While he distracted her, he had unbuttoned his pants and removed himself from its jeans prison, and then he guided her hands to him. She knew what he wanted...she knew what he needed.
# # #
Kevin didn't interrupt as Jode explained the last time she'd saw Stephen. He listened with an open ear even noting the excited inflection in her voice and the way her eyes danced when she spoke of the intimacy they shared.
"He didn't run away that night. After we were done, he used a handkerchief to clean my hands, and then he kissed me longingly as if he knew this would never happen again. He went right back home and I watched the next morning comforting Kasey as Eric drove away with Stephen in the car. He waved, but I don't know if it was at me or Kasey. Either way, I didn't wave back, because I knew everyone was watching me - watching us, just like they were at the funeral."
"Andrea told?"
"She told Michelle. I think it was out of jealousy or just hatred. She never looked at me the same and I didn't care. I was glad my dad sent me away because I couldn't take her accusing eyes. During this time I was away, unfortunately, Kasey started hanging around with addicts and smokers. I think it was her way to retaliate against her parents for sending her brother away in the beginning, but then I think that's why I would indulge Kasey when she needed money here or there because I felt it was my fault her brother was sent away. The possible implications of Stephen molesting me were too much for Eric to bear. He was an upstanding community member running for city council and to know his stepson fondled a minor was too much to bear. Even if it was just a rumor, I don't think Eric wanted Stephen anywhere near the house anymore. Yet there were other things."
"Like?"
"Like Michelle had Stephen when she was sixteen and Stephen's father, as I found out later, was a sexual predator. He was shot in an attempt rape of an old lady who happened to have a thirty-eight in her purse, which was why Stephen came to live with them. On top of that, I later learned Stephen was way past puberty. He was the only boy in tenth grade that had to shave once a day, he had all his body hair, and he had a very powerful sex drive. I heard Michelle one day talking with my mother at how Stephen was just like his father and would have a trillion babies by the time he was twenty." While they had talked she had taken off her business jacket and skirt to reveal the slip she wore underneath her clothes. He'd only taken off his shirt to get comfortable on the soft fluffy rug.
"Does he?"
"I don't think so. Kasey said if he had babies around the neighborhood anyone would certainly know because of his red hair."
"And you? How do you really feel about him?"
"It was all a game to him and I treat it as such. I still fear him a lot, because of our past, but then like you said, I'm strong willed and I don't take shit from anyone."
Kevin chuckled kissing her cheek.
The doorbell rung and he jumped up to answer it before she could think about who it would be.
Red Heart - chapter 5 (c) Sylvia Hubbard
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Red Heart - Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Stephen Heart came to live with his mother and stepfather, the Hamilton's, when Jode was ten. At the time, he was thirteen and Jode thought he was pretty handsome although different because of his deep auburn-brown hair that contrasted with his dark skin.
He had pretended she didn't exist for a couple of weeks when he came, until one day when he came to get Kasey down at Jode's house.
"Mom said come home," he ordered his sister gruffly.
Kasey immediately left, leaving him alone with her best friend. Although Jode's mother was home, Karen Price paid more attention to the idiot box than she did her own daughter - which Jode found out later, it was because of several miscarriages her mother experienced, but at the time her parents kept this all from her. Jode didn't find this out until she was seventeen, away at college and her father called to let her know Karen had taken an overdose of sleeping pills.
Stephen stood above her looking down as if Jode had done something to him. She met his burnt-orange eyes, waiting for his next move. Without any warning, he grabbed a handful of skin, pinching so hard tears actually sprung from her eyes.
"Why'd you do that?!" she cried, rubbing the bruised area.
"Because I can," he snickered, and then shoved her to the ground. "And you better keep your stupid mouth close, slim." He walked away.
More events of this nature started to happen at least once a week. He would wait until she was alone - either walking home from school or going to and from the store. Once on her way home from school, he grabbed her kicking and screaming and carried her over his shoulder like a potato sack behind an abandoned building where he threw her to the ground, then laid on top of her. His hand covered her mouth and nose. When she stopped struggling and screaming he removed his hand to only replace with his mouth. Jode tried to fight even more, but it was useless.
He was bigger and stronger.
When she ceased her fighting he'd jump up and run away.
This attack would happen every once in a while between the pinching, shoving, and pigtail burning.
Kasey realized her friend was terrified of Stephen and told her father about Stephen scarring her, but Jode would never tell her or Kasey's father the details, too scared of what Stephen may do to her.
# # #
"Eric ordered Stephen to leave me be and I think it got worse after that because he'd wait until I would be alone for long periods of time. Sometimes he'd make me late coming home just holding me down and groping me until I was crying and begging, or once he stuffed me in a locker after school when he snuck in the middle school. He always knew where I'd be alone as if he were stalking me all the time. Sometimes he'd just pinched me, and other times he'd make me kiss him for a long time."
"Make you, Jode?" Kevin questioned.
Jode sighed tiredly pretending she didn’t hear her friend and continued.
# # #
Stephen had come to get his sister for his mother. Kasey convinced Jode that if they hid he wouldn't be able to bother Jode. There was this space behind the garage, which was like a clubhouse to them. Jode's father had built a shelter where the girl's could play.
At thirteen, Jode and Kasey thought this was a perfect hiding place, but Stephen found them and chased both girl's around the backyard until he caught Jode. He picked up her writhing body and threw her over his shoulder like a potato sack.
Kasey tried to fight him, but Stephen only shoved her into a pile of leaves.
"Leave her alone!" Kasey demanded. "Daddy said to stop bothering her."
"Shut your mouth and go home!" he ordered.
Jode moaned in desperation.
"You won't hurt her, Stevie, will you?" Kasey asked worriedly.
"GO!" he ordered.
"I'll be right back Jode," Kasey promised her friend and ran off leaving them alone.
Jode cried softly defeated. He dumped her in the pile of leaves and before she could scramble up, Stephen pinned her to the ground in the same fashion he always had. Today she wore a skirt and it was hiked above her crotch.
She tried to twist away, but he pulled on her arms until the pain in her shoulders made her cry out and become still.
"Do it!" he ordered above her.
"Stephen no! Please - ouch"
He was pulling her arms upwards. "Do it and you'll get it good if I even feel those damn braces."
Shivering, she raised her head up, pressing her lips together and connected her mouth to his. Instinctively parting her lips, her tongue moved to intertwine with his own until he moved away just a little and she laid her head back down to the ground.
"More," he ordered.
Her neck hurt from craning to meet his lips. He made nothing easy for her. "No more, please," she begged.
His hand came up to her chin to hold her head upward. "You'll do it until I say so, slim. Now do it."
She slowly parted her lips and extended her tongue between them. His mouth descended and -
# # #
"Good Lord, Jode that wasn't bullying! It was molestation!" Kevin interrupted.
"Are you going to let me finish?"
He ignored this impatient question. “How old were you on this incident?”
Jode had to think about it, but finally answered, “thirteen.”
“You were just a baby! He bullied you like this since you were ten?”
Shaking her head, she said, “It started about a year after he moved in. I’m bunching them all together, but it was few and far between. Sometimes I’d see him alone and he’d just pretend I wasn’t there.”
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Jode shrugged. "He told me if I did I would get in just as much trouble, so I kept it a secret."
He sighed concerned. "And you've never confronted him about what he did?"
"It was all part of some game of bullying. I just don't know why he chose me. I was lanky, pimple faced, with braces. By the time he hit high school all the girls his age and not his age wanted him."
"But he picked on you only? Are you sure there weren't others?"
"Kasey would know. I even heard once Eric and Kasey's mother, Michelle, discussing about the fact that he didn't seem to be interested in any girls, but he was definitely not gay." She blushed. "Now can I finish?"
Still appalled, Kevin asked, "What else is there?"
# # #
Their tongues moved together like a symphony. By this time she knew what he wanted from her when it came to kissing and she was an excellent student, learning fast. He let go of her wrist and chin. Instinctively her arms circled his neck and shoulders and his hand moved down to the side of her body. He moved over on her side never breaking the kiss and his hand descended down under her skirt and into her underwear. This had been his first venture between her legs, but Jode's body responded by parting her legs to give him full access.
His finger slid easily between her virgin skin fueled by her own wetness, brushing the sensitive nub making her shudder, then she gasped as he pressed gently inside of her.
A car door slammed nearby breaking the moment and the kiss. Both their eyes looked down to where his hand stayed and when their eyes met they both knew he'd crossed into a new territory very forbidden.
His eyes seemed to glisten and dance before her. Jode had never seen him look that way.
Footsteps coming broke the tension and he jerked up and leaped over the backyard fence into the next yard to escape.
Jode's father reappeared over her asking if she was all right. She lied and told him she was, and then followed him in the house. As always she went straight to the bathroom and brushed her teeth repeatedly. She then took the longest hottest shower and scrubbed her skin until it was raw and sore, trying to rub the internal guilt of what she had done with Stephen away.
Kasey called her before dinner to let her know she hadn't returned because Michelle told Kasey they were going to have a sleepover to celebrate her past birthday last weekend with a sleepover. Jode tried to be happy, but after her ordeal with Stephen it was hard, until Kasey swore her mother would order Stephen to his room for the whole night. Jode was very grateful.
Along with Jode, Kasey invited Tonya and Rita Mitchell (fraternal twins that were like fat and skinny) and Andrea Parker. All of them were in the same grade with Andrea being the oldest since she'd dropped back a grade. She had a major crush on Stephen and often told her group of friends they would marry. In the past, Andrea told Kasey it was best if Kasey dumped Jode as a best friend and took her on since they would be sisters once Andrea married Stephen.
Kasey told Andrea that was a load of bull and Jode would be her best friend until eternity ended.
The night of the party, Jode was having a great time. Being an only child, any chance to get out the house was fantastic. Kasey's mother was a wonderful hostess. She had pizza kits and chocolate ice cream then let the girl's bunk down in the living room watching horror movies before she went to her bedroom.
Eric was away on a business trip.
All the girls sat up and started gossiping about different thing keeping their voices low.
Andrea asked everyone, "Has anyone seen a boy's thing?"
"It's called a penis," Tonya snipped. "And we have." Indicating her sister also.
Kasey and Jode giggled quietly.
"Where?" Andrea asked.
Rita, the pudgy one, said, "When our cousin Jackson moved in, he was lying on the basement couch after he'd taken a shower. Me and Tonya sat on the basement stairs while he watched a dirty move and touched himself."
Tonya's eyes went as big as saucers. "It grew!"
Everyone giggled.
"Of course it grows, silly," Andrea always acted like the know-it-all.
"Have you seen one?" Tonya challenged her.
"Me and this boy was kissing and he asked me to show him my stuff. I told him I would if I saw his first. He did and he even let me touch it."
"Was it big?" Kasey asked.
"No," Andrea said disappointedly.
"The one I saw was," Kasey confessed.
Tonya and Rita gasped. "Who?"
Kasey blushed. "My brother."
All the rest, except Jode, leaned into hear more.
"He was getting out the shower and I opened the door. It was so long!"
"Did it grow?" Rita asked.
"No, it was soft, but long and thick."
"Like a hot dog?" Andrea teased.
Kasey shook her head seriously. "A polish sausage."
This sent them all in a fit of giggles. Jode only laugh cause she would have looked out of place if she didn’t. Everyone looked at her for a confession.
"I've never seen one," Jode confessed. She knew this was because she didn't have any males in the house, except her father who only took his clothes off in his room, and she wasn't pretty enough to have any boy wanting to touch her like Andrea. Admitting this made her seem like a baby compared to the other girls.
"You're not missing anything," Kasey snorted.
They laughed again.
"I wish I could have seen it," Andrea said to Kasey, referring back to Stephen. "I think he's so cute and I bet he looks real nice without clothes."
"Why don't you go up there now? He sleeps naked,” Kasey teased disgusted at Andrea’s wantonness to her brother.
Andrea didn’t care what Kasey thought. She gasped excitedly, "No way! How do you know this?"
"Because when I go sometimes to wake him up, his hairy butt is sticking out the covers.” Kasey dramatically choked in repugnance. “I heard my mother tell my dad that he's overdeveloped like his dad - whatever that means."
They peeled in another round of laughter. Jode again only laughed because the rest of them laughed.
All of them finally dozed off asleep, Jode and Kasey being the last ones.
Jode was awakened near daybreak fighting for air. Her eyes popped open to stare up into Stephen's upside down face.
"Get up and follow me," he sneered.
Quietly, she got up and in the darkness he took her hand to lead her upstairs to his room. Once he dragged her inside, he closed the door and turned on a small lamp. This was the first time in his room, because he kept it locked tighter than Fort Knox whenever she came over with Kasey, who never dared to venture in. It was a normal blue color with the usual current hit singers of the eighties on the wall. There was a bookshelf on the wall with different schoolbooks, a set of encyclopedia's, other reference books and a collection of Iceberg Slim books.
The sound of his voice so low drew her attention back to him. "Take off your clothes," he ordered.
Defying him of course would be some sick punishment he'd already planned for her, yet this went pass torture and she knew it, but was hopeless in stopping. Once she stood bare in front of him, he ordered her to lie on the bed.
She did and waited as he moved along side of her. Automatically her arms moved above her head and she waited for his next command. His eyes moved from her mouth down her body and he saw her flushed knowing his eyes didn't miss anything.
One hand supported his head to give him the leverage to look down at her, while his other hand was free to roam her body starting at her neck, moving over the small of her breast. At fourteen, her body was just developing. Her breasts were still tender and the womanly curve of her waist had just started to show.
Jode never broke eye contact with him, knowing he was waiting to defeat her, even as tears streamed from her eyes in humility. "Please-"
His finger pressed against her lips to stop her words. "Can you tell me you've never been touched like this?" he asked as his finger lightly rubbed against her bottom lip.
His inquiry caught her off guard. There was a weird need in his voice. "No," she answered in a whisper.
"Why?"
She blushed. "Boy's don't like me like that."
"And no ones touched your lips like me, slim?"
"No."
His response was to kiss her on his lips, neck, chest, then-
Stephen Heart came to live with his mother and stepfather, the Hamilton's, when Jode was ten. At the time, he was thirteen and Jode thought he was pretty handsome although different because of his deep auburn-brown hair that contrasted with his dark skin.
He had pretended she didn't exist for a couple of weeks when he came, until one day when he came to get Kasey down at Jode's house.
"Mom said come home," he ordered his sister gruffly.
Kasey immediately left, leaving him alone with her best friend. Although Jode's mother was home, Karen Price paid more attention to the idiot box than she did her own daughter - which Jode found out later, it was because of several miscarriages her mother experienced, but at the time her parents kept this all from her. Jode didn't find this out until she was seventeen, away at college and her father called to let her know Karen had taken an overdose of sleeping pills.
Stephen stood above her looking down as if Jode had done something to him. She met his burnt-orange eyes, waiting for his next move. Without any warning, he grabbed a handful of skin, pinching so hard tears actually sprung from her eyes.
"Why'd you do that?!" she cried, rubbing the bruised area.
"Because I can," he snickered, and then shoved her to the ground. "And you better keep your stupid mouth close, slim." He walked away.
More events of this nature started to happen at least once a week. He would wait until she was alone - either walking home from school or going to and from the store. Once on her way home from school, he grabbed her kicking and screaming and carried her over his shoulder like a potato sack behind an abandoned building where he threw her to the ground, then laid on top of her. His hand covered her mouth and nose. When she stopped struggling and screaming he removed his hand to only replace with his mouth. Jode tried to fight even more, but it was useless.
He was bigger and stronger.
When she ceased her fighting he'd jump up and run away.
This attack would happen every once in a while between the pinching, shoving, and pigtail burning.
Kasey realized her friend was terrified of Stephen and told her father about Stephen scarring her, but Jode would never tell her or Kasey's father the details, too scared of what Stephen may do to her.
# # #
"Eric ordered Stephen to leave me be and I think it got worse after that because he'd wait until I would be alone for long periods of time. Sometimes he'd make me late coming home just holding me down and groping me until I was crying and begging, or once he stuffed me in a locker after school when he snuck in the middle school. He always knew where I'd be alone as if he were stalking me all the time. Sometimes he'd just pinched me, and other times he'd make me kiss him for a long time."
"Make you, Jode?" Kevin questioned.
Jode sighed tiredly pretending she didn’t hear her friend and continued.
# # #
Stephen had come to get his sister for his mother. Kasey convinced Jode that if they hid he wouldn't be able to bother Jode. There was this space behind the garage, which was like a clubhouse to them. Jode's father had built a shelter where the girl's could play.
At thirteen, Jode and Kasey thought this was a perfect hiding place, but Stephen found them and chased both girl's around the backyard until he caught Jode. He picked up her writhing body and threw her over his shoulder like a potato sack.
Kasey tried to fight him, but Stephen only shoved her into a pile of leaves.
"Leave her alone!" Kasey demanded. "Daddy said to stop bothering her."
"Shut your mouth and go home!" he ordered.
Jode moaned in desperation.
"You won't hurt her, Stevie, will you?" Kasey asked worriedly.
"GO!" he ordered.
"I'll be right back Jode," Kasey promised her friend and ran off leaving them alone.
Jode cried softly defeated. He dumped her in the pile of leaves and before she could scramble up, Stephen pinned her to the ground in the same fashion he always had. Today she wore a skirt and it was hiked above her crotch.
She tried to twist away, but he pulled on her arms until the pain in her shoulders made her cry out and become still.
"Do it!" he ordered above her.
"Stephen no! Please - ouch"
He was pulling her arms upwards. "Do it and you'll get it good if I even feel those damn braces."
Shivering, she raised her head up, pressing her lips together and connected her mouth to his. Instinctively parting her lips, her tongue moved to intertwine with his own until he moved away just a little and she laid her head back down to the ground.
"More," he ordered.
Her neck hurt from craning to meet his lips. He made nothing easy for her. "No more, please," she begged.
His hand came up to her chin to hold her head upward. "You'll do it until I say so, slim. Now do it."
She slowly parted her lips and extended her tongue between them. His mouth descended and -
# # #
"Good Lord, Jode that wasn't bullying! It was molestation!" Kevin interrupted.
"Are you going to let me finish?"
He ignored this impatient question. “How old were you on this incident?”
Jode had to think about it, but finally answered, “thirteen.”
“You were just a baby! He bullied you like this since you were ten?”
Shaking her head, she said, “It started about a year after he moved in. I’m bunching them all together, but it was few and far between. Sometimes I’d see him alone and he’d just pretend I wasn’t there.”
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
Jode shrugged. "He told me if I did I would get in just as much trouble, so I kept it a secret."
He sighed concerned. "And you've never confronted him about what he did?"
"It was all part of some game of bullying. I just don't know why he chose me. I was lanky, pimple faced, with braces. By the time he hit high school all the girls his age and not his age wanted him."
"But he picked on you only? Are you sure there weren't others?"
"Kasey would know. I even heard once Eric and Kasey's mother, Michelle, discussing about the fact that he didn't seem to be interested in any girls, but he was definitely not gay." She blushed. "Now can I finish?"
Still appalled, Kevin asked, "What else is there?"
# # #
Their tongues moved together like a symphony. By this time she knew what he wanted from her when it came to kissing and she was an excellent student, learning fast. He let go of her wrist and chin. Instinctively her arms circled his neck and shoulders and his hand moved down to the side of her body. He moved over on her side never breaking the kiss and his hand descended down under her skirt and into her underwear. This had been his first venture between her legs, but Jode's body responded by parting her legs to give him full access.
His finger slid easily between her virgin skin fueled by her own wetness, brushing the sensitive nub making her shudder, then she gasped as he pressed gently inside of her.
A car door slammed nearby breaking the moment and the kiss. Both their eyes looked down to where his hand stayed and when their eyes met they both knew he'd crossed into a new territory very forbidden.
His eyes seemed to glisten and dance before her. Jode had never seen him look that way.
Footsteps coming broke the tension and he jerked up and leaped over the backyard fence into the next yard to escape.
Jode's father reappeared over her asking if she was all right. She lied and told him she was, and then followed him in the house. As always she went straight to the bathroom and brushed her teeth repeatedly. She then took the longest hottest shower and scrubbed her skin until it was raw and sore, trying to rub the internal guilt of what she had done with Stephen away.
Kasey called her before dinner to let her know she hadn't returned because Michelle told Kasey they were going to have a sleepover to celebrate her past birthday last weekend with a sleepover. Jode tried to be happy, but after her ordeal with Stephen it was hard, until Kasey swore her mother would order Stephen to his room for the whole night. Jode was very grateful.
Along with Jode, Kasey invited Tonya and Rita Mitchell (fraternal twins that were like fat and skinny) and Andrea Parker. All of them were in the same grade with Andrea being the oldest since she'd dropped back a grade. She had a major crush on Stephen and often told her group of friends they would marry. In the past, Andrea told Kasey it was best if Kasey dumped Jode as a best friend and took her on since they would be sisters once Andrea married Stephen.
Kasey told Andrea that was a load of bull and Jode would be her best friend until eternity ended.
The night of the party, Jode was having a great time. Being an only child, any chance to get out the house was fantastic. Kasey's mother was a wonderful hostess. She had pizza kits and chocolate ice cream then let the girl's bunk down in the living room watching horror movies before she went to her bedroom.
Eric was away on a business trip.
All the girls sat up and started gossiping about different thing keeping their voices low.
Andrea asked everyone, "Has anyone seen a boy's thing?"
"It's called a penis," Tonya snipped. "And we have." Indicating her sister also.
Kasey and Jode giggled quietly.
"Where?" Andrea asked.
Rita, the pudgy one, said, "When our cousin Jackson moved in, he was lying on the basement couch after he'd taken a shower. Me and Tonya sat on the basement stairs while he watched a dirty move and touched himself."
Tonya's eyes went as big as saucers. "It grew!"
Everyone giggled.
"Of course it grows, silly," Andrea always acted like the know-it-all.
"Have you seen one?" Tonya challenged her.
"Me and this boy was kissing and he asked me to show him my stuff. I told him I would if I saw his first. He did and he even let me touch it."
"Was it big?" Kasey asked.
"No," Andrea said disappointedly.
"The one I saw was," Kasey confessed.
Tonya and Rita gasped. "Who?"
Kasey blushed. "My brother."
All the rest, except Jode, leaned into hear more.
"He was getting out the shower and I opened the door. It was so long!"
"Did it grow?" Rita asked.
"No, it was soft, but long and thick."
"Like a hot dog?" Andrea teased.
Kasey shook her head seriously. "A polish sausage."
This sent them all in a fit of giggles. Jode only laugh cause she would have looked out of place if she didn’t. Everyone looked at her for a confession.
"I've never seen one," Jode confessed. She knew this was because she didn't have any males in the house, except her father who only took his clothes off in his room, and she wasn't pretty enough to have any boy wanting to touch her like Andrea. Admitting this made her seem like a baby compared to the other girls.
"You're not missing anything," Kasey snorted.
They laughed again.
"I wish I could have seen it," Andrea said to Kasey, referring back to Stephen. "I think he's so cute and I bet he looks real nice without clothes."
"Why don't you go up there now? He sleeps naked,” Kasey teased disgusted at Andrea’s wantonness to her brother.
Andrea didn’t care what Kasey thought. She gasped excitedly, "No way! How do you know this?"
"Because when I go sometimes to wake him up, his hairy butt is sticking out the covers.” Kasey dramatically choked in repugnance. “I heard my mother tell my dad that he's overdeveloped like his dad - whatever that means."
They peeled in another round of laughter. Jode again only laughed because the rest of them laughed.
All of them finally dozed off asleep, Jode and Kasey being the last ones.
Jode was awakened near daybreak fighting for air. Her eyes popped open to stare up into Stephen's upside down face.
"Get up and follow me," he sneered.
Quietly, she got up and in the darkness he took her hand to lead her upstairs to his room. Once he dragged her inside, he closed the door and turned on a small lamp. This was the first time in his room, because he kept it locked tighter than Fort Knox whenever she came over with Kasey, who never dared to venture in. It was a normal blue color with the usual current hit singers of the eighties on the wall. There was a bookshelf on the wall with different schoolbooks, a set of encyclopedia's, other reference books and a collection of Iceberg Slim books.
The sound of his voice so low drew her attention back to him. "Take off your clothes," he ordered.
Defying him of course would be some sick punishment he'd already planned for her, yet this went pass torture and she knew it, but was hopeless in stopping. Once she stood bare in front of him, he ordered her to lie on the bed.
She did and waited as he moved along side of her. Automatically her arms moved above her head and she waited for his next command. His eyes moved from her mouth down her body and he saw her flushed knowing his eyes didn't miss anything.
One hand supported his head to give him the leverage to look down at her, while his other hand was free to roam her body starting at her neck, moving over the small of her breast. At fourteen, her body was just developing. Her breasts were still tender and the womanly curve of her waist had just started to show.
Jode never broke eye contact with him, knowing he was waiting to defeat her, even as tears streamed from her eyes in humility. "Please-"
His finger pressed against her lips to stop her words. "Can you tell me you've never been touched like this?" he asked as his finger lightly rubbed against her bottom lip.
His inquiry caught her off guard. There was a weird need in his voice. "No," she answered in a whisper.
"Why?"
She blushed. "Boy's don't like me like that."
"And no ones touched your lips like me, slim?"
"No."
His response was to kiss her on his lips, neck, chest, then-
Red Heart Chapter 4 (c) Sylvia Hubbard
Author's note about upcoming Red Heart chapter
I would like to note at this time, as this story progresses, it won't be for the faint of heart. Keep in mind things may seem to be going wrong and things may not seem right or moral, but in the end it all works out.
For the faint of heart, please skip the next three chapters and come back to us at that point, LOL.
Your author
Sylvia Hubbard
BTW, don't forget to check out my other personal blog at:
http://LoveABlackWoman.blogspot.com
It's called "How to Love a Black Woman" and I share my personal experiences and my life's opinion on what men need to do in order to love me or any black woman. Share your opinion with me by making comments.
For the faint of heart, please skip the next three chapters and come back to us at that point, LOL.
Your author
Sylvia Hubbard
BTW, don't forget to check out my other personal blog at:
http://LoveABlackWoman.blogspot.com
It's called "How to Love a Black Woman" and I share my personal experiences and my life's opinion on what men need to do in order to love me or any black woman. Share your opinion with me by making comments.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Red Heart - Chapter 3
She froze hearing his voice and the menacing tone that filled the air. Turning slowly, she faced Stephen bravely pushing away the childhood chill that always surfaced when he came around. "Minding my own business."
"In Kasey's place? How did you get in here?" he asked suspiciously.
The boxes in his hands indicated he was there to clean the place up. "Kasey gave me a key the last time I saw her. She said with Pete dead she didn't like being the only one with the key. How did you get yours?"
Out the box he pulled a female's purse and her heart raced a little. Kasey's purse?
"How did you get her purse?" she had to ask.
"That's none of your business," he sneered and moved past her to the picture she had just placed back on the mantel. "Why are you here?" he demanded to know.
"I was looking around. She was my friend. I wanted to know what happened. I have a right to know."
"You have a right to leave out before I forget I was reformed and finish what was started a long time ago, woman," he growled.
"I don't scare as easily."
He stepped so close, she could smell the cologne he wore sending her senses into a flurry. "You sure about that?"
"All I want is the truth, Stefan-"
His arm shot out so fast, she didn't register his moves until his mouth was covering hers drawing her response just as quickly and when he moved away cursing, she was left catching her breathe. "Leave before..." his voice was strained as he had his back to her.
She gathered her equilibrium. "I wanted to help you-"
"LEAVE!"
Jode grabbed her purse and went out the door only pausing at the doorway to look at his stiff back as he clutched the mantel for support as if it was holding him from doing what he really wanted to do. She was almost tempted to stay to see what he would do to her, but Jode knew she'd be crazy to test him like that.
What was it about her that seemed to make him lose control? She wondered as she drove to one of Kasey's familiar spots. And how, after so long away from each other, she still had that affect on him?
Before going inside, she unfolded the piece of papers after tucking the small silver key some place safe in her car. On the first piece of paper was hard to read handwriting - chicken scratch of several phone numbers and then the initials AT and beside it was 411. This was confusing in itself, but the second sheet of paper was exactly what she was looking for all day. Kasey's list.
1. Pack items needed for trip
2. Inform Hessa about decision
3. Go to clinic
4. Leave letter for Jaye and deliver to Pam
5. Deliver rest of Pete's stuff back.
6. Go to AT to make sure stuff is there.
7. Tell Jode where property is. She'll know what to do!!!
8. Be free!!!
It was Kasey's writing and Jode was positive this was the last thing to do list Kasey had made for herself. Why would Kasey need to hide it from everyone and why was a piece of paper with this list? The only thing it had in common was the letters AT. What they had in common was a mystery to Jode.
She went into the hangout and upon asking Kasey's party friends about Pete, they were able to let her know what happened to Pete.
He was a drug runner for Alphonso Knight, a big time drug dealer of heroin on the Westside of Detroit. Alphonso had been trying to ease into the eastside, but Dwight Montgomery, another high rolling dealer who owned the big money spots on the eastside didn’t like sharing the limelight.
For years, Montgomery and Knight have taken pot shots at each other and it seemed a losing battle for Knight until he received some political backing. Since then, Knight began to slowly wipe out Montgomery's territory one block at a time.
According to the story, Pete had a large responsibility to get three quarters of a million dollars over to Knight by midnight from doing pickups all weekend long. Somehow, Montgomery's men found out about the pickup and stuck Pete up for the money. Pete gave them something better - the next hit on Montgomery, but when he gave the money over to Knight a quarter of the money was missing. Pete said Montgomery's men took it. Those men were dead in less than twenty-four hours, but Montgomery was able to avoid the sting.
Andrea Parker who was pregnant by one of Montgomery's men went to Knight to let him know Pete told about the hit and Pete also took the money for himself.
For three days Pete was tortured slowly to confess. Alphonso wanted his money, but Pete kept to his story that Montgomery's men took it and beat him down about the tip.
They made a tape of Pete's death and sent it to Kasey, but no one else saw the tape except Kasey because the tape mysterious disappeared according to Kasey.
Jode remembered Kasey's first phone call and it had to have been around the time Kasey saw the tape.
Alphonso killed her for the money? That wouldn't be a reason to kill someone in Alphonso's nature when he could make more money by having them work to pay it off with interest.
It wasn't hard to forget Alphonso Knight from the past. He used to hang out with Stephen in high school before Stephen was sent away.
Stephen use to deal drugs in a gang called the Knight Brother's headed by Alphonso. They worked most with dime bags hitting the downtown and suburb clubs. Once Stephen got out of military school, he still served five years in prison for being the driver in a vehicle of a drive by. The judge dealt harshly with him because who Stephen’s father was and also Stephen wouldn't admit who the shooter in the car was, but everyone suspected it had to be Alphonso.
Alphonso always thought it amusing at how Stephen went out of his way to pester Jode.
# # #
While pondering the past, Kevin Allen, a very good friend of Jode from college came by her home to see if she was okay. He was also the CEO of her Internet Company and while she was away he pulled rank in running the business.
After going over the company's business he questioned her about what was troubling her.
Kevin, with his connected low cut beard and moustache, had been a trusted friend since college. They'd dated very briefly, but enjoyed their friendship so much and decided to put that part of their relation on the back burner.
He had a nice natural friendly face, with a soft brawny body of 5'8. He was more of a mental man cut for the office with a manicure every week to match his beautiful hands. He worked out a bit, but he wasn't cut like Stephen.
Why she was making comparisons against that jerk to Kevin? Kevin was sweet, thoughtful, smart, and he cared a lot for her. He wouldn't hurt her. He was safe to be around. Kevin was everything that Stephen was not.
Jode told him the gist of everything, delighted to pour out her troubles to him.
He knew this was very important to her. "Find that tape and you have something on Knight, won't you?" he asked
"Find the tape with Pete's confession and I could blackmail Montgomery to help me out too. Both men would want it."
"Who do you want to give it too?"
She shrugged. "I'm finding out much too much stuff at once, with nothing to do with it."
"What about the money you gave Kasey? You think she actually bought drugs?"
"No. Kase was serious in her need to go away, but there are no receipts around the house. No proof of any kind. It's as if someone didn't want me or anyone else to know about what happened to her or what she was doing."
"You said something about her leaving a list?"
She took out the paper and showed it to him, explaining, "Kase always made things to do. Ever since I've know her. She may have changed over the years, but whenever she had tasks or appointments, she would write down what she had to do in order to complete the job."
He studied the papers. "No idea what those initials could be?"
"Nope."
"Who is Hess?"
"From her friends, Pete's mother and someone told me that she would probably know about Pam and Jay. Hess knew a lot about what her son did, but she was crippled and could never stop him from his life of crime."
"So you think Stephen could be apart of Kasey's death?"
"He had the purse and he wouldn't tell me where he got it from. I think I have a right to know these things."
"But it was in bad taste to accuse him of being apart of her death."
"If you knew Stephen like I knew Stephen, then it wouldn't be in bad taste. All fingers point to him, Kev."
Her frustration concerned him and he decided to change the subject for a moment. "What did you cook, Jode?"
She warmed them up the broccoli and chicken she had made yesterday. They laid out on the comfortable white rug in front of the fire in the front room. Most times they spent all night together talking about nothing. Their relationship was platonic and they didn't want more from each other.
"So what about this brother? I sense a lot of hostility coming from you when you speak of him."
"What about him? He's a big horrible bully and I believe he had something to do with Kasey's murder, but I don't have definite proof.”
"Her own brother, Jode? I know you harbor some animosity for this guy that you don't want to discuss, but to go so far to say he did this-"
"My judgment of people does not affect my justice," she said heatedly.
Kevin snorted. "You forget you can't give me a load of bullshit." He poured two glasses of wine. "Keep it simple and start from the beginning so I can understand."
She'd never talked about the past events with Stephen. Not even to Kasey - although Kasey sensed something was not right and that Jode was terrified of him. Recounting the past now seemed almost embarrassing because she had let it go so far, but Kevin listened with an open mind and heart as he always had in the past.
Red Heart Chapter 3 (c) Sylvia Hubbard
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Red Heart Chapter 2
Looking at the paper again for the correct directions, he put the car in park not believing where he was - in the middle of a very nice townhouse area of Southfield, a suburb just outside of Detroit. He walked pass the blue Mercedes parked in the driveway and ran his hand along the perfect corners of the vehicle.
In all his life, he had never known anyone who could just walk into a car lot and pay for a car, but he remembered Kasey telling him how Jode strode in some dealer and pointed out the blue Mercedes. When the salesman asked if she would be leasing the vehicle, Jode had promptly wrote a check out for the full amount of the car and drove it out the showroom the same day. Kasey thought it was hilarious, but he thought Jode was being a showoff.
She opened the door before he knocked. Today, she was dressed rather casual in some khaki's and a Detroit Tigers shirt. Her ear length hair was pulled up in a loose wrap with ringlets of curls coming out around the edges. He could feel those deep grey/green eyes examining him just as he was examining her.
Was she still scared of him? He wondered. Jode had grown into a beautiful woman from the skinny mouthful of braces pimply knock-knee stick. He remembered by her last year of junior high she had acne so bad, she looked more red than brown, but as he looked at the heart shaped face now, he could not find one blotchy flaw on her smooth light caramel skin. Along with a beautiful face, she had a nice fit body to match and she was not so short anymore. At five foot eight, she had a nice tight figure that his eyes were definitely drawn to.
"Did you have trouble finding the place?" she asked.
The hint of berries touched his nostrils and his mind swirled at what she was wearing underneath those clothes. "No, you gave pretty good instructions."
She moved out the way stiffly, "Welcome to my casa, Stephen."
He smirked to himself. Jode was the only one who called him Stephen. She had a lisp when she was younger and after three years of speech therapy it had disappeared, but she still continued to call him Stefan (with the f clearing pronounced) while everyone else called him Stephen or "Red," which was his nickname. "Pretty nice, for a Popsicle stick, Jode." He turned around to face her after she let him in.
When she faced him after closing the door, again she looked ill at eased and even inched around him.
'She still feared him,' he surmised.
Guiding him into the front room, she already had the coffee hot and ready for them and offered him a cup. He refused and sat down on the pastel looking couch. "What do you want, Jode, that you didn't want to discuss over the phone?"
"I didn't because I felt it was something I needed to discuss in person. When was the last time you spoke with Kasey?"
"Before she committed suicide? Two days before. She seemed distant and she was shaking. I figured she was just pheening." As if he were defending himself, he said, "I told her several times to stay away from that shit, but you know Kasey did whatever she thought was cool and fun. I just figured she needed a hit and she asked me for several dollars, but of course I told her to bug off. I wasn't going to contribute to her habit."
Jode frowned. "Why would she need money when I loaned her seven hundred a week ago?"
"You gave her that amount of money?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Are you crazy? She was a drug addict, Jode. I think any fool would know where that money went."
Jode didn’t show the hurt she felt for his cruel words, but Stephan was always opening his mouth without caring what it did to the other person. "She didn't use it for drugs,” Jode defended. “She must have used it for something else, but what else could she have used it for?"
The question was rhetorical by the way her eyes were drifting beyond him to nowhere, yet he was still stuck on the fact that she had given his sister some money. "You wanted to help her, but giving her money wasn't helping her. You're probably the one who helped her buy that large dose. Do you know how much crack you can buy on the street for seven hundred?"
"For your information, she wasn't pheening for crack, she was addicted to heroin."
"Well you should know since you helped her keep the habit."
She shot to her feet angrily. "You can take your accusations and stick them where the sun don't shine, Stefen. I won't have you blaming me for what happened to her especially since I don't think she did it."
"And who do you think did this?"
"Someone else. Someone she was close to."
He could read the accusation in her eyes. "Kasey wasn't close to a lot of people. Who are you saying?"
Jode sat down. "I just want to find out the real truth. Kasey was checking herself in a clinic to get better." She handed him some documents with his sister's handwriting on it. "We went together to get her checked in, but she said she had to take care of some things for Peter. She was terrified and she wanted to get off the drugs right away."
"Why didn't she come to me?" He knew this was Kasey's handwriting and the grief look on his face as to why his sister had not come to him, was too real.
Jode excused herself from his presence when her phone rung. He watched her leave and wondered what else did Jode know?
# # #
Jode put the receiver down. Some people had great timing, but what did she expect when they thought they were God. Sometimes it felt like it.
Returning to the front room, Stephen had moved to the large picture window with a coffee cup and was staring out to nowhere. His grief seemed real when she had shown him the papers and now she almost doubted he was apart of what she had found out, yet she would not tell him everything - not yet. He had fooled her before in the past with false concern only to hurt her more. She didn't want to be fooled again.
Having him in her home was too unnerving. Jode felt like a fool because she was so worried he would pinch her arm or take out a lighter and try to burn her hair. It didn't matter if he was older, that little girl fear of him hurting her like he use to still made her terrified of him.
Yet, she couldn’t help notice from the back the broad shoulders, burliness of a very well fit body, firm butt, long legs, and well-groomed head of hair.
Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat to let him know she had rejoined him.
Stephen turned around to face her. Upon the last time they had seen each other, she had been thirteen and he was two years her senior in tenth grade. The only things changed about himself was he was much more buff, with tighter muscles, and he had grown taller, about four more inches making him a nice six feet.
"What else do you know about Kasey?" he asked.
She approached arms length of him, to fearful to get any closer. "I should be asking you. I hadn't spoken to her and when I began to get worried, I couldn't reach her. She had her phone cut off, and she sold the cell phone she used. I tried to go to her old hangouts and they said they hadn't seen her. I figured if she needed help close by you would be the person she would go to."
"Unless she didn't trust me?" he guessed.
She nodded. "Which is why I have to wonder about your involvement with her problem? How much did you know about it?"
His burnt camel eyes narrowed to slits and a chill went down her back. "You think I would hurt my sister?"
"Can you explain why she wouldn't come to you?"
"How the fuck do I know that, Jode? I was there for her. I never refused her anything as long as it was reasonable. You think I had something to do with her problem?"
Bravely, she said, "I think you had something to do with her the night she died, Stefan."
He hurled the cup in his hand across the room against the wall. "Fuck you and this high and mighty shit. You think you can just pop up in our lives again, make your accusations and then think nobody will fuck you up for it." Stephen stepped forward as if to hurt her, but she didn't back down although there was fear in her eyes, but her body stayed put. "You were so stupid then and you're still stupid now, Jode," he seethed through clenched teeth before he stalked out purposely bumping her shoulder and slamming the door.
Jode closed her eyes to compose herself. Again she had not gotten what she wanted out of him. It took a few seconds to clean up the mess Stephen made. The more she thought about her fear of him, the more peeved she became with herself. His bullying days were over. They were two grown adults and she had never backed down from a fight in her adult life, yet… This was Stephen. They had a history. He knew her when she was little and vulnerable. He knew her weaknesses like no other man.
Afterwards she went to her office in the back of her house. Opening up a file, she put on her reading glasses and read the location of Stephen's workplace. He had been working for Dale Steel Company out in Dearborn for the past five years. She could imagine how he remained so buff because hauling all that steel around was a hard job. Packing up her purse, she jotted the address down and went to her car.
First she would stop in the office to do a few hours of work, and then she would stop by the medical examiner’s office. They would tell her if the articles she was trying to locate were released to Stephen.
To her surprise the coroner office still had the articles. Dawning on some rubber gloves, she picked through the jacket, shirt and pants, yet did not find the item she was looking for. "Are you positive this is everything? She didn't have a purse or satchel?" she questioned the assistant who had dug out the package.
"That's what came in with the body and that's what I put in the bag. Maybe she dropped it. You could request a sweep of the scene."
Jode had no doubt forensics had already swept the scene very well and there was nothing to report. Biting her lip out of habit, she wondered how could she find out where Kasey could have gone before "ending it all" in the middle of a dead end alley. The first clue to a mystery was that Kasey usually hung out in downtown or eastside. She never went on the Westside unless there was some kind of big party, but she always went with a group. Could there have been a group she'd overlooked?
She thought about Kasey's last words to her, "I just have to take care of a few things before I stay, Jode. Things Pete would need me to close up and things I have to put to rest."
'What things, Kase?' she had wanted to ask, but didn't want to press her luck in getting Kasey off her addiction. If she was willing to take it this far, then she shouldn't have had to push.
Pete's business. She had to take care of something Pete needed her to do.
That was it! Jode would have to find out what had killed Pete in order to solve Kasey's mysterious death. Going back to Kasey's place, she was glad it was still intact and decided to search around for anything of Pete's. There was a picture of Kasey and Pete on the mantel.
Kasey had the same burnt orange/brown eyes like her brother, but she didn't have the reddish brown hair like Stephen. Her long shoulder length black hair was naturally curly.
Jode took a good look at Pete. Blotched red eyes, swollen nose, and dark circles under the eyes are all that stood out to Jode. What Kasey saw in him was a mystery to her?
Lifting the picture, it felt heavy for the cheap frame around it and she flipped it to open the back. Inside were two sheets of paper and wrapped up in them was a key. Placing the back in place, after putting the items in her pocket she heard a door open behind her.
"What the hell are you doing here?" a deep sneer behind her came.
Red Heart Chapter 2 (c) Sylvia Hubbard
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