Bound by Rapture (10 page)

Her gaze trailed up and down my body. “You’re not as pretty as your pictures. You know that?” 

“Funny, from the way Cole described you, I thought you would have a crooked nose and ride on a broomstick,” I quipped.

“Oh, no, honey. You misunderstood Cole when he talked about me. I’m a
bitch
, not a witch.” A smile tweaked at the corners of her plastic-surgery enhanced lips.

“What’s going on out here?” Vic stepped out of the bedroom he and Chris were sharing. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, just a pair of black boxers. 

“Oh, now lookie what we have here. Cole didn’t say he was doing the Jewel of the Sea
and
Poseidon.” She stepped around the couch and walked over to Vic. “Guess his tastes have changed. Texas does that to people though, right?”

“It’s time for you to go.” Randy grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the front door. “I have specific instructions not to let you near Julia. You can go anywhere else you please, but Julia is off limits. Understand?”

“Oh, come on. Three men strip-searched me out there. You know I don’t have any weapons on me,” she hissed. 

“Stop, Randy.” I was surprised to hear my own voice. “Why are you here?” I directed my question to Jennifer. 

Randy paused at the front door where Leon and two other men waited. Jennifer snatched her arm out of his grasp and smiled widely at me, revealing perfect white teeth. “I came to save my son.”

I snorted. “Well, you’re a little late. He’s already in jail and bond hasn’t been set yet.”

“Oh, I know. I’m the reason he’s in there.”

I frowned and glanced at Randy who was looking at her with confusion equal to mine. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you are a stupid one, aren’t you? I don’t get what Cole sees in you. Sure you’ve got some fake tits, but anyone can buy those. He could put some in Elaine and get a better result.” She moved and perched herself in the recliner.

Something about her words struck a nerve. Maybe it was because things with Cole had seemed to spiral out control. Everything was good one moment, but in the next he was distant, upset, and I didn’t know how to reach him. And then he was gone, in jail and a man convicted of murdering his own brother. But I didn’t think that’s what it was, not really. I knew it was because she’d brought up Elaine. That stupid whore who wanted me dead. 

I walked around and sat down on the couch across from her. “You have no idea what I’ve been through. So, you need to get to the point.” I gripped the tops of my knees. 

“What is that, a threat?” She crossed her legs and smirked at me.

“Yes. It is. Why is Cole in jail?”

“I don’t think you understand, little stripper. Those men out there, they might be loyal to Cole, but I have about one hundred more of them just waiting to fuck someone up. So don’t think you have all the power just because four pathetic men have your back.”

“Don’t threaten her.” I’d forgotten about Vic. He came around to sit next to me. “I don’t care whose mom you are. You don’t talk to Jewel like that.”

Jennifer’s smile widened. “Hmm. This is an interesting layer I wasn’t expecting.” Her gaze bounced between us. Calculation danced in her eyes. 

“Why is Cole in jail?” I asked again, irritated. 

“He’s a murderer.” The smile still hadn’t left her lips.

“He didn’t kill my friend Mandi, and he didn’t try to kill me.”

“Of course he didn’t.” She rolled her eyes. “He wouldn’t kill his flavor of the month.”

Her words were like a knife digging into my skin. “He loves me.”

Vic flinched and Jennifer leaned toward me, uncrossing her long legs. “That’s what they all say.” 

A horrible poisonous ache snaked its way through my body, her words reaffirming my worst fear. 

“But that’s beside the point,” she said. “The point is…Cole is in jail because I paid the judge to have him brought in and held.”

“What? Why?”

“Because your dumb ass is going to get him killed.”

“Wh—”

“Oh, don’t act so surprised, okay? It’s no secret someone is trying to kill you. That hideous scar on your neck attests to that. And whoever this person is, is threatening my son as well. And I can’t have that.”

“So, you had him put in jail?”

She smiled as if I was the biggest idiot she’d ever seen in her life. “Yes. To protect him. He won’t be in there long, though. I paid the judge heavy cash to hold off his arraignment, but they can’t hold him forever. Once he’s arraigned, and bail is set, he will be out and free, and again unsafe because of
you
.”

“But—”

“But what? My son is a big boy who can take care of himself? I know that. But he’s also controlled by his dick and doesn’t know what’s good for him. Clearly.” She raked her gaze up and down my form again. “But he is the only child I have left. And one day I would like to be a grandmother to the children he and
Elaine
will give me. Which is why I need you.” 

I ignored the comment about Elaine. “Need me for what?”

“You are going to draw this psycho out and we are going to handle them and finish this bullshit before Cole gets out of jail. As much as I don’t want to, it looks like the two of us are going to have to work together.” 

I frowned. “How do I know you aren’t the one doing this?” I touched my neck. “How do I know you aren’t working with Elaine to try to kill me?”

She giggled. The bitch actually giggled. “You think Elaine is doing this?”

I didn’t respond, just stared at her. 

“Oh my gosh, you do!” She patted her knee, as if she could barely contain herself. “Oh, honey. Elaine isn’t behind this. She would be too afraid of what Cole would do to her when he found out. And believe me. He
would
find out. She knows what he did to Garrett. She wasn’t there, but she saw the pictures. She doesn’t want to end up buried in the back of my pasture either.” Her words were stiff and precise, emotionless.

“But he couldn’t have done that.” I know I sounded stupid, but I just couldn’t bring myself to accept that Cole had actually murdered his brother.

“He did it. And it’s done.”

“You sound awfully cold about something so serious.”

“I am cold, honey. Haven’t you been listening? We need to get shit done. I don’t want to sit here all day and hold your hand while I walk you through reality. So, here’s a quick overview. Cole, my son, murdered his own brother. He beat the shit out of him, and then he cut his heart out. And there’s no denying it. I came home. I saw the blood on Cole’s skin. On his face.” She leaned in, her dark gaze haunted. “On his hands. There was so much blood he was black with it. I knew what he’d done and I hated him for it. I
still
fucking hate him. But he’s all I have left. And I won’t lose him, too.” Her gaze bore into mine. “Do you understand, Julia? We don’t have much time. And I want this finished before he’s out on bail.”

“Why should I trust you?” My hand trembled as I ran it through my hair. “How do I know you aren’t the one behind all this, that you aren’t trying to get some sort of sick revenge for what he did to your other son?”

“I wouldn’t kill Cole, or anyone else. I’m no murderer.”

“No, but you don’t mind starving your own children.” 

Her face turned an ugly red color. “He told you?” Her voice trembled like she was scared. 

It was my turn to smile. “He told me more than that.”

She regained her composure quickly, looking away and tossing her hair over her shoulder. She cleared her throat. “If I wanted you dead, I would have gotten it right the first time with a bullet through that pretty little head of yours, and I would’ve been out of the country a long time ago. If I wanted Cole dead, I would have hired someone to shank him in prison ten years ago. But I didn’t.” She clasped her hands in her lap, big bright diamonds glittering on her fingers. “I hate him, Julia. You should know that I do. But I love him
more
. Which is why I’m here. And you’re going to help me. I know you will because you love him, as pathetic as that makes you—you do.”

I couldn’t believe Cole was in jail, that his mother had put him there. And that I was sitting across from her on Vic’s flower-print couch, wearing a My Little Pony t-shirt and buying into her shit.
Am I? Am I buying into this, is that what I’m doing?

I knew I was. I stared at her. The woman who hurt my Cole and knew I didn’t have a choice. 

“What do you want me to do?”

EIGHT

Julia.

I couldn’t believe I was here. It seemed surreal, like I was reliving my past. I stood in the center of the stage at Rapture in the middle of a clear sparkling bowl. The room was dark and there were hushed whispers from the audience. Their voices seemed to slash through the room.

My skin tingled with fear and anticipation for what I was about to do. I had missed this; I couldn’t deny the feeling I got from dancing in front of hundreds of hungry stares. It was exhilarating, freeing. 

I never thought I would be here again, especially under these circumstances. With Cole’s mom in the audience, and guards hidden in every corner of the room—trying to lure out the mastermind behind my attacks. And that’s exactly what her plan entailed. The person coming after me had become sloppy, a little desperate even, and if they saw an opportunity where I was on display they would jump on it. 

It had barely been fifteen hours since I’d sat with her in my living room and yet Rapture was completely filled to the brim. When the Rapture website and Facebook page posted about the Jewel of the Sea and Poseidon returning for an encore performance, people lined up outside the business to be the first to get in. Some special front row seats were posted for sale online, and they had sold out in less than an hour. 

I would have been flattered if this wasn’t a plan to lure out a murderer. 

Azure colored lights flashed on, illuminating my body, painting me in a blue hue just as the slow sound of a piano began playing over the loudspeakers. There was no introduction. No booming DJ voice telling the packed building what was coming. They all knew. They knew it would be me, their Jewel of the Sea. I writhed slowly, feeling the familiar clink of the beads that hung from my bejeweled top. This one was covered in sparkling white gems that glittered like diamonds. 

I had looked at myself in the mirror in disbelief before I’d stepped on stage. Who would have thought I would return to this place? I’d been stalked by a billionaire, nearly murdered, and fallen in love with the stalker. Now I was shaking my ass on the stage that had made me thousands of dollars to try and save his life.

I rolled my hips to the slow beat, letting my hands trail up and down the silver pole behind me. Memories of when Cole had strung me up on this very pole pushed to the forefront of my mind, but I shoved those thoughts away. I scanned the crowd nervously, but all the faces blended together. 

“You could die if you do this.”
Vic’s words from earlier filtered into my brain. I knew the consequences better than anyone. But I didn’t care about that. I didn’t want to die, that was for certain, but it was the memory of Cole’s face as he climbed in that police car that had me agreeing to this. He had looked so lost. Like something inside him had died. And I didn’t want that for him. I didn’t want him to be in danger because of me. It was why I had tried to push him away before. 

I spun around, hooking my leg on the pole as the beat picked up, arching my back as far as I could before I pressed my chest into the cool metal and thrust my hips forward, grinding against the pole as I dangled several feet off the ground. The warm oil started to pour from the spout above me, just like I knew it would, but it still shocked me, practically taking my breath away.

It was so smooth, so silky against my body. I had almost forgotten what it was like. Sweet ribbons of heaven sliding down my sinful body, cleansing me. Like the oil, I let the music wash over me as I spun around. I gave the audience my back, letting them get a full view of my ass in the skin-tight skirt that barely covered anything. 

I knew the way it looked, the way the cerulean lights glinted off the pale sequins, sending a million little lights smattering in all directions. I knew how to jiggle my ass in just the right way to make a man desperate for more. 

I let the music carry me away as I spun round and round and made love to that fucking pole. Pushing all my worries away, my fears. I became lost in the animalistic movements. The dance meant to lure, to compel, to control. My heart thrummed with the beat and I wanted to drown in it and be lost forever. It was a world where only I existed. Just me and the music and the oil. The hot oil that took me back to rough hands. To fucking a piece of my shirt until I came in front of crowd of hungry gazes.

The memory was enough. It made me writhe harder. It made the little g-string against my cunt become soaked with more than just baby-oil. 

Before I knew it, I wasn’t alone in the bowl. Vic had joined me. His pants were the same color as my outfit, sparkling with gems, tight on his lean body. He circled me. It was our typical routine. He was the great Greek god, Poseidon. And I was the little Jewel he could ravage. There was a familiar hunger in his eyes as he gazed at me and I could see the thick outline of his dick in his pants. If it were anyone else, I’d be nervous. But I knew Vic. He was my best friend. We had done this more times than I could count. Hell, I had fucked him once a month for two years.