Curtis (11 page)

“That’s when I showed up.” She nodded
again. “The number he used to call your phone and your father’s is a cell. And
the person it’s registered to is dead as well. I’m betting he killed them for
the phone and he took it from his or her body, or he lifted it from someone. Either
way, it’s hard to trace. Not impossible, but hard all the same.”

“I started to do a…wait a minute. I’m
not marrying you. I’ve got a plane ticket to go back to California in a few
days. Besides, I don’t even like you. And you most assuredly don’t like me.”

“No. No, I don’t. I love you.” She
looked to see who he was talking about and he pulled her chin to his. “I have
loved you nearly all my life. And I’ve already talked to Daniel and he said you
love me as well.”

“He didn’t tell you the truth. I don’t…I’ve
been in love with him…with Daniel. And I’m not going to…what are you doing now?”
He sat up and reached into his coat pocket before lying back down beside her. “Curtis,
you have to know that we can’t suit. We have different things we want out of
life, things—”

“Do you want to be happy, Kylie?” She
nodded. “I want you to be happy as well. Do you want to be with someone that
you could love forever?” She nodded again and started to speak, but he put his
hand over her mouth. “I’m not finished. I want you to be happy at all costs. I
want to keep you safe and warm. I love you, Kylie Washington, and have since
the first time I had you beneath me.”

“Curtis, even you know that you can’t
love someone that fast. We only had sex a few days ago. It’s just that you’re
needy and I’m here.” He kissed her long and hard and left her breathless. “That
was nice.”

He laughed. “The first time I had you
beneath me was when you decided to play football with us. Remember? It was a
cold fall day and you’d been watching us…well, watching Daniel, from your
porch. When we decided to even up the sides when Jesse went in the house you
came over and tried to play. I tackled you and gave you a concussion. Your
father was pissed, hell, my mother was livid for a week, and you had a shiner
and stitches in your lower lip.” He pulled the scarred area into his mouth and
nipped. “I’ve wanted to do that for years.”

She closed her eyes when he continued a
path down to her neck. By the time he had her blouse open again, she was
wrapping her fingers into his hair. Need coiled in her belly and she wanted him
to take her now. As soon as his hot mouth took her nipple she arched up to him
and held him to her.

“Kylie, I can’t take you here, but I can
give you what you need.” She nodded. Anything to ease the ache in her body. “You’ll
have to be quiet, love. When you come, you have a tendency to scream. If you do
that we’ll get caught. Can you keep it down to a dull roar?”

“Yes. Please, Curtis. I hurt with need.”
He moved his hand down her waist to the top of her jeans. When he slid his
fingers under the band she moaned deep, and nearly came up off the mattress
when he opened the button.

“Quiet now. This is going to be fast
because if I take too much time, I’m going to get naked and slide my cock deep
into your heat.” His fingers moved to her panties and she widened her legs. “That’s
it, baby. Let me touch you.”

As soon as he moved into her folds she
knew that she wasn’t going to last much longer. Riding his hand as his mouth
took her breast, she had to bite her hand to keep quiet. This was much harder
than she’d thought it would be. As he worried her clit and her nipple, she
reached for him. A slight brush against his cock made him moan.

“Don’t, love.” His voice was heavy with
need. “If you touch me again I’m going to come in my pants. And as appealing as
that sounds right now, everyone in this hospital is going to see what we’ve
been up to.” He slid his finger into her, pushed his thumb against her clit,
and she came apart. His hand coming down over her mouth made her realize that
she was crying out, but she didn’t care at this point. Her world was suddenly a
bright kaleidoscope of colors and stars. Her last thought before she blacked
out was that she loved him.

Chapter 9

Eric read the paper twice. There was
nothing about the old man being dead. So, he thought, the woman, whoever she
was, had gotten there in time. He had hoped that with her father dead the woman
would sell him the property without a quibble. But it seemed that plan hadn’t
worked either. He glared at the note again.

“‘M’ who?” he asked the paper again. He’d
spent most of the night going over every entry in the stupid notebook and hadn’t
found a single name that began with the letter. Then he’d gone over the book
everywhere, binding as well as the pages, to see if there was something hidden
within one of them. Still nothing.

Mary walked in at that moment and set
his usual tray on the desk. He looked at the note again then at her. What the
hell, it was worth a try.

“Who do you know that might have worked
with my father? Someone that would have signed their name with the letter ‘M’?”

She looked thoughtful as she moved back
his chair for him. “You had an aunt Margaret, but she was as dumb as rocks and
probably couldn’t spell ‘M’ if her life depended on it. I think she’s dead now.
Does this person need to be alive?”

“No.” He sat down as she uncovered the
silver covers. “I kind of hope the person is, but it’s not necessary, I
suppose.”

“There was this woman who had a torrid
affair with your grandda. She’s dead too and I think her name was Marilynn. Strange
woman. I think she spent a great deal of her short life coked up.” He was
beginning to think this was a waste of time. “Then there was your mother. Her
name was Michelle. Her parents were…let me see…Micky and Rochelle Barr. She isn’t
dead, but I think she’s in one of those homes for the criminally insane. She
tried to kill off your father a few too many times and he had her committed.”

He’d always thought his mother had died
during his birth. He asked her where she was now. “Oh, upstate somewhere. I get
a card from her caretakers every Christmas. Your daddy, he donated a lot of
money to them to keep her quiet. Michelle was reputed to have been feeding
information to the Feds by leaving them notes at the library. No one could
prove it, but still, it was hard to kill her off if it was true.”

Except for his father. It appeared that
he knew a bit more than he had told anyone. He looked over at the note and
wondered if he had found it and had her committed to avoid whatever fell on her
spilling over onto him as well. If he didn’t tell the organization the truth,
then she’d be committed and he’d still have the money. The organization would
have most assuredly found out about it if it became public about the money.

“Do you know who in the Feds she might
have been talking to? Or was it something she made up?” He’d heard from his
father that his mother was the biggest liar in the world. She’d tell one on you
if you were standing right next to her.

Mary shrugged. “Don’t know. Could have
been all in her mind. She was something of a crackhead too. Mostly it was to
get away from your daddy, but she’d sometimes get high she would leave you to
me. Never seen a woman more unsuited at being a mom than her.”

He realized then that he didn’t even
know what she looked like. There were never any pictures around, and the few
times that he’d asked his father about her he’d been hit or sent to his room. He
wondered now if her supposedly talking to the Feds had anything to do with it. But
if she knew about the money why didn’t anyone go and get it?

“I’d like to find out where she is. If
you could get me that information, I’d appreciate it.” She nodded and went to
the door. “Mary, do you know if there were any other children besides me?”

He didn’t know why he’d asked that. He’d
been content with being an only child, but something made him ask.

She looked at him as if he’d been very
odd, but answered. “You have an older sister and a younger one. Don’t know much
about them other than they were taken away when your daddy took himself off to
prison that first time.” She nodded to the books on the wall. “Somewhere in
there is an album. Don’t know how it’ll help you much, but there were some
pictures in here at one time. The older one is about forty now and the younger
one…I’d say she’s about thirty-five or thereabouts.”

He sat there in stunned silence. Sisters.
He wondered if they were his or his step sisters. The younger one would more
than likely be simply because he’d never seen her. He started to the wall of
books and went back to the table. There would be plenty enough time for that
later. Right now he needed to get that building.

He’d called the Hunter Corporation and
had asked to speak to Curtis Hunter. He was told that Mr. Hunter was out on an
emergency and wasn’t expected to be back until tomorrow. Eric wondered if it
had anything to do with the Washington bastard, but decided that more than
likely not. The girl had handled everything and the old man was simply a means
to an end. He called the local hospital next.

“I’m sorry, sir, but unless you can give
me more information than his last name I can’t give you any information on our
patients.” She sounded as if she had yawned and then continued. “You’ll have to
contact a family member and get that information from them. I’m sorry.”

The line went dead before he could tell
her what he thought of her customer service. She made him feel as if his call
wasn’t as important as anyone else who had called in and he felt as if it was. He
laid the phone on his desk and fumed about the lack of cooperation he was
getting. Picking up the phone again he made another call. This one, he was sure
would get results.

“I need someone removed. As soon as
possible, if not before.” The voice at the other end simply grunted. “Where do
I send what you need?”

“Main Post Office. One hour.” The line
went dead and he laid his phone down. He pulled out an envelope and a sheet of
paper. After printing out the information, making sure that he didn’t make any
of the letters the same, he wiped it down and put it into an envelope. He
nearly forgot himself and licked the envelope closed, but caught himself. People
were so distrusting now days. After having Mary take it to the lock box that
only he and one other person had the key to he decided to go out.

Eric wasn’t much of a ladies’ man. He
wasn’t gay by any means, but women, especially women he wasn’t sure of, made
him feel…well, dirty. When he had a hooker, the only type of woman he ever had
sex with, she came to the house and showered using the soap and towels he gave
her before he’d even touch her. Then he’d…well, they never told a soul who they’d
been with nor where he’d taken them. The back lot of this property was becoming
quite the little graveyard. He got into his car to find entertainment for the
night.

He had to get that building. His funds
were running low and having to take out Curtis Hunter was going to cost him
much more than he thought reasonable. For one thing, the man was worth more
than a man had a right to be, and for another, there was the stupid family.

Eric knew who they were. Rich, handsome,
and full of themselves. He’d heard that one of them had married poorly and had
thought the man a fool. He’d been taught that moving up was the only way to go
and going in any other direction was foolhardy as well as costly. Money is what
made the world go around. His phone ringing had him pulling over.

“I found out how much was in the bank. The
record filed with the police back then says that there were bearer bonds as
well as a great deal of jewelry stolen. Most of the lock boxes were numbered
and it seemed as if the robbers had it down as to which ones to open.” That
didn’t surprise Eric. His father had been very resourceful. “According to the
records kept back then the estimated worth of the jewels is nearly four million
at today’s prices. The cash another five.”

“And the bonds? Are they still worth
anything more than the paper they’re printed on?” Christ, he hoped so. The rest
was going to save his ass, but the bonds could keep him in money for a little
longer.

“Oh yeah. Most of them are stocks, from
what my resources tell me. And if they’re only worth half what he thinks, they
could be worth as much as fifty million.”

He was glad he’d pulled over. His heart
was pounding so hard that he could hear his blood as it raced in his veins. Fifty
million dollars. He tried to think what that might look like and realized how
many zeroes that was.

“I see.” He tried to sound calm, as if
this amount of money was something he dealt with daily. “And if not, then how
much are we talking?”

Even at half, he was going to be rich;
less than that…well, he could live with it, but it wasn’t going to be good. He
waited for the man to answer, knowing that he was going to try and lowball him
so that if it turned out to be untrue Eric wouldn’t take it out on him. Little
did he know, he was already a walking dead man.

“Our guess is, at the very minimum,
there was close to sixty million in cash and other sundry. At today’s
prices…you could have very close to two hundred million.”

Now that he could live with. He closed
the phone when the man started asking questions. Questions he knew were going
to piss him off. He’d only used this source once before and, while he’d been
happy, he never really trusted him.