DONKEY: A Stepbrother Sports Romance (With FREE Bonus Novel Charged!) (41 page)

“Had I known you were coming, Detective, I would have made you some dinner.”

Pandora was quickly alongside her mother, her gaze going even more quickly to Benjamin.

“We were just talking about you, Detective”, Pandora said. “Who have you brought with you this time?”

Detective Foster coughed nervously. He wasn’t a nervous man by character, but for some reason, in the presence of these two women, he felt like a child confessing to secretly eating the last piece of chocolate cake. A pencil extended from his fingers went from side to side to introduce them.

“Sergeant Thomas Ewell, Lab Technician Benjamin Pope. Can we come in please?”

“I thought you’d never ask, Detective”, Alexis said, linking her arm in his and guiding him into the house. Taking her cue from her mother, Pandora did the same with Benjamin Pope. Thomas ducked under the door’s crossbeam and then took out his notebook just in case there was anything he needed to write down.

Detective Foster paused in the hallway, even though Alexis had planned to guide him all the way to the sanctuary and where the ice was rapidly melting in her glass of whiskey.

“To what do I owe the pleasure, Detective?” Alexis asked. “Have you come to arrest me, or are you going to tell me you’ve found the culprit already?”

The Detective took off his hat, under which there was a smattering of unkempt hair. He pushed it to the side as best he could.

“Benjamin needs to take a few more samples if that’s ok?”

“Oh for heaven’s sake”, Alexis barked. “How many samples do you need, Detective? I thought you’d done all that the last time you people were here.”

“If it’s all the same to you.”

“Very well, but if you haven’t found anything yet, you can’t keep on looking until you do. It’s quite possible my husband was killed by someone outside of this family, don’t you think?”

“That’s exactly why we need to do the tests Mrs. Mandrake De Vries.”

“Logan”, Alexis spat. “I never took my husband’s god awful name, and it’s Alexis. You know me well enough Detective, and besides which, I’ve seen the way you pretend you’re not looking at me.”

Pandora, Benjamin and Thomas all giggled a little, while Detective Foster tried to defend himself with a garbled string of broken words. After that, he went as red as a tomato.

“Don’t worry Detective, you’re not the first. Now, what do you want?”

The Detective composed himself. “Benjamin will be an hour at the most. Can you show him the bedroom please.”

“I’ll do that”, Pandora volunteered.

“Why on earth would you want to go in the bedrooms? My husband died in his office.”

“We just need to check the samples we have already taken.”

“The samples you have already-. Detective”, Alexis said, taking hold of his arm. “What are you doing here really?”

Detective Foster cleared his throat. “Do you have somewhere we can talk privately?”

Alexis’s eyes glistened. “Oh Detective, I knew you’d really come for me.”

***

G
racey had never felt so embarrassed. She had no idea what had come over her. As soon as she had enough wherewithal to work out where she was and what must have happened, she struggled to pull herself away from Leighton and cover her naked body. It was a naked body that was still tingling and throbbing from her head to her toes, but it was a naked body nonetheless. Leighton held on to her playfully before she finally managed to pull away from him. He was still sat there, erect and smiling, while Gracey battled to get her panties and pants back on.

“That was incredible”, Leighton said, his hands folded together behind his head. “Even though you didn’t let me finish, that was one of the best-”

“Sorry”, Gracey mumbled. “Maybe we shouldn’t have. Shit.”

In her haste to get dressed and cover herself, Gracey struggled to find the hole for her right leg to go in, twisting her foot up in the seat of her pants in the process and tumbling forwards onto Leighton’s lap.

“Well if you insist”, Leighton said.

Gracey looked up to him from where she had landed. She couldn’t see his face because his monstrous cock was blocking her view. If she stuck out her tongue, she’d be able to run it along the length of his shaft all the way to the top and back again. It was so tempting, so difficult to resist, but that’s exactly what she had to do. Leighton wanted her to make him come, which meant that as soon as she did, she risked losing her power over him.

Instead of placing him carefully into her mouth and sucking his ejaculation onto her tongue, she showed an inhuman amount of restraint, gathered herself together and pushed herself up to sit alongside him. Sat down, and finally composed enough to take control of the situation again, she found it a lot easier to pull on her clothes.

“You should get dressed”, she said, and Leighton couldn’t help but laugh.

***

T
here were two state police cars and Detective Foster’s unmarked car parked in the drive when Leighton’s limo pulled in.

“What the hell is going on now?”, Gracey said, her hand gripping Leighton’s tightly. “Haven’t they hassled us enough?”

As their car passed the front of the house looking for somewhere to park, they could see briefly into the huge room that used to be her stepfather’s office. Through one window, Pandora was busy giving a statement to Thomas Ewell, one eye on her sister Isabella, who sat to the side with the look of someone who had already confessed, while Alexis enjoyed a glass of her dead husband’s bourbon, a distant, steely look in her eyes. Through another, Detective Foster was looking directly at them, his hands in his pockets as he rocked on his heels, his large frame filling most of the window pane.

“It looks like they might be waiting for you”, Leighton offered. “Or us.”

When Gracey got to the door, it was already standing open, a uniformed officer stood guard.

“What’s going on?” Gracey said, fear climbing slowly through her body, enough to choke her words. Leighton was right behind her, careful not to show any indication of what had just happened between them, in accordance with Gracey’s wishes.

“Can I ask you what you are doing in my house?” Leighton asked the officer, annoyed by what he saw as continued and unnecessary harassment.

“Please”, the officer said, his arm up to direct them. “They are in the room at the end of the hall waiting for you. Detective Foster will explain everything.”

“Do you have a warrant for this?” Leighton asked, while Gracey hurried away towards her stepfather’s former office.

“Please, Sir. You’ll have to see Detective Foster.”

Gracey burst through the doors so dramatically, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her.

“Oh, Gracey”, Alexis offered, a crocodile tear running down her cheek. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Tell you what”, Leighton asked. There was something about this that he immediately didn’t like.

“Typical”, Pandora said. “I bet they’ve been fucking as well. Or at least he has.”

Isabella kept her eyes to the ground, preferring to ignore what was going on. Leighton noticed someone in behind him, and turned to face a line of four uniformed police officers blocking their exit.

“Mom”, Gracey said, worry straining her voice, but Alexis wouldn’t respond. All she did was shake her head. Pandora shook her head too. “Slut”, she said, rolling her eyes at her youngest sister.

Detective Foster had not yet pulled himself away from the window pane. He only did so when Leighton called his name, “Foster, I’ll have your badge for this. If you don’t explain to me now what is going on and show me a warrant for this unscheduled intrusion-”

Detective Foster turned around before Leighton had finished his sentence.

“Gracey Logan”, the Detective began. “I am arresting you on suspicion of the murder of your stepfather Philip Mandrake De Vries.”

“No”, Gracey said, shaking her head and bursting into tears.

“Are you mad?” Leighton shouted at him.

“Please don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be”, Detective Foster said.

“Pandora? Alexis? What do you know about this? What have you done?” Leighton was absolutely furious.

“Ask Gracey”, Pandora said. “The murderous slut.”

“Get them out of my house”, Alexis barked. “It makes me sick sat here in the room he was killed in. How dare they?”

“Leighton Tempest”, the Detective went on. “I am arresting you on suspicion of accessory to murder-”

“This is insane. You’ve all gone insane”, Leighton said, almost laughing at the preposterousness of it. “This is a joke, right?”

Based on the expression on the faces of the officers, it definitely wasn’t a joke.

“Ewell, please take Leighton and Gracey out of here and read them their rights.”

“Whoa, wait a second, Detective”, Leighton said, his arm up defensively. “Under what rights do you have to arrest us?”

“Leighton, with all due respect, this is my job. You can talk about your rights at the police station.”

“You’re making a huge mistake, Detective.”

“Yes, we’ll see about that”, Foster retorted.

“When my legal team is finished with you, you’ll be lucky to get a night shift security job at a mental hospital.”

“Leighton, this will be much easier if you cooperate”, Foster said flatly.

“Get them out of my house”, Alexis barked again. “I can’t stand it for one more minute. That conniving bastard and my Gracey. I can’t believe what they have done.”

Alexis’s performance was so good, even Pandora was beginning to be convinced.

“Mom”, Gracey begged, desperate for her support.

“You are no daughter of mine”, Alexis scowled, her head twisted to the side theatrically. “Not anymore. Get out of here before I lose my temper.”

“Murderer”, Pandora spat out again, but this time it was too much for Gracey to take. She broke free of the light hold one of the uniformed officers had put on her, to launch herself at her sister. Leighton was quick to pull her back, but not before Gracey had scratched her sister’s cheek and pulled out a lump of her hair.

“You see”, Pandora screamed, up on her feet now to point at her sister, horrified by what had just happened. “You see what she is capable of?”

Leighton held her tightly, and she wept loudly across his shoulder, before Thomas Ewell felt enough was enough, and broke their embrace so they could both be taken away.

“Leighton”, Gracey said, fighting to get near him again, her eyes red and cheeks wet with tears. “I didn’t do it. Whatever they say, I didn’t do it.”

“I know”, Leighton said calmly. “Don’t worry. Don’t say anything until I get you my lawyer. We’ll be through this in no time, I promise.”

“Time to go”, Detective Foster said. “Take them to the cars.”

Gracey, now a sobbing, shivering mess, and Leighton, absolutely indignant at the arrest but willing to comply in the ways that were being asked of him just to get it over with quickly, were put in separate cars that had been parked alongside each other, so for the briefest of moments before they pulled away, they could see each other framed by the glass of the back windows but were unable to move to comfort each other.

It was during that moment that Gracey mouthed the words “help me”, and Leighton felt completely impotent because he couldn’t do anything else but sit there. When her car pulled away, he had no idea when he would see her next.

Detective Foster watched it all again from the position by the window, that up until that night had been Alexis’s area of repose.

“I’ll need you both to come to the station and give a sworn statement”, Foster said.

Pandora was being looked after by Benjamin Pope, who seemed more concerned by the scratch on her cheek than anyone else. Isabella still hadn’t looked at anything else but the carpet.

“Please let me know if you need anything”, Foster said to Alexis, turning this time to face her.

“Detective”, Alexis said in her sultry way, “What exactly is it you think you are able to provide me?”

***

P
andora couldn’t believe how right she had been all along. Gracey was obviously as guilty as sin, that sexy lab assistant Benjamin had confirmed it without Pandora even needing to take her clothes off to ask him. That’s why Detective Foster was there in the first place. He’d come over to arrest her. It was clear that Leighton was in on it too, and Pandora making up a little white lie about him being at the house before it all happened was just what the Detective needed to seal the case. There was nothing wrong with that. It was clear Leighton was up to no good anyway, he’d lied about why he was here in the first place, which was a good indication he was capable of lying about other things. Pandora made sure she mentioned that to the Detective, the Sergeant, Benjamin Pope and anyone else who would listen. Isabella was easy to convince to go along with her story as well. She would have done anything for her older sister and anything to get her hands on that damn pony. Pandora felt rather pleased with herself. Things might not turn out too badly after all. It was Leighton’s word against hers and Isabella’s and two always beat one no matter which way you looked at it. You didn’t have to be a genius to work that out. She might not get to fuck him, but it didn’t matter, there were always other men in the world, and if she had money, she could pick and choose as she pleased.

S
everal years earlier...

H
e fell in love with her the moment he set eyes on her, he just didn’t know until a few years later that love was what it really was.

For him, then, eight years old and as wet behind the ears as they came, it was a pain in his stomach when she wasn’t there, and a heat everywhere else when she was. He had a crippling urge to talk to her, or just be near her, no matter whether he had anything to say or she had any desire to hear it, but it was there all the same, and there was no way to refuse it. If nothing else he was persistent, and persistence was as admirable a quality as he could offer, at least until he got a job, and made enough money to buy her the things she kept saying she wanted.