Freeing Lana Read online

  “Or what about the way she looks up at you while her tongue is licking underneath your balls, tell me that ain’t the shit, brother, tell me it ain’t.”

  “Stop it.”

  Sergio was pleading now, unaware that the knife was coming dangerously away from the man’s throat. He didn’t want to hear any more of this. He knew there was something in it that reflected what he had already known, that it was during that time she began to understand she really did like it rough. He found himself questioning if perhaps that’s why he hadn’t been good enough for her before, not rough enough.

  “Just stop it,” he repeated.

  “What tough guy, you never wondered if she was thinking of me when you got your dick in her, or when she’s sucking you off? Really, never? Come on now, you know she is. Hell, the last time she came out to the prison she sat right there and hand-fucked herself while I watched, telling me all the while that she missed my dick up her ass. Christ, the fucking guards had to drag her ass out of there.”

  That was more than Sergio could take. He felt himself stumbling backward, but before he could regain his balance, Daniel was up out of the chair and kicked him in the groin, sending him to the floor in a heap. Before he knew it, he was on top of him, prying the knife out of his hand. Sergio tried to push him off, but Daniel put the knife to his neck, causing him to stop. His hand came down hard across Sergio’s cheek, and he thought the bone might have cracked from the impact. Fuck, this had turned into a disaster really quick.

  3

  “High maintenance, that’s what it is.”

  Lana laughed at the thought, though she knew it was truer than she would have liked. It wasn’t that all of it had been her fault, Lord knew that, but she could see how she could be seen a difficult bitch to anyone, even someone like Sergio. Ok, time to put an end to the foolishness, she thought with a smile. As she lit one of the joints she had retrieved from Sergio’s secret box in the recliner with one hand, Lana slid the other between her legs.

  The soft cotton of Sergio’s boxer briefs felt good against her skin, not the silky feel of the panties she had worn at one time, not that soft, but somehow it just felt better. She assumed it had something to do with the fact they were his, that at some point before their last trip to the washing machine, they had been wrapped snugly around that beautiful cock of his. She took another long hit on the joint, holding it in as her fingers presses the arm cloth slightly between her pussy lips. The smoke came out of her mouth, reaching longingly for the ceiling, wrapped in a deep moan from Lana’s lips.

  Her middle finger wormed its way through maze of the small opening in the shorts’ front and slipped easily inside her. She worked the lone finger just inside her pussy lips, grinding her hood against her own clit with gentle pressure from her palm. Then she plunged it inside her along with a second finger, her mind still picturing the top of Sergio’s head, his hair locked in her death-grip as his tongue plowed deeply into her. Her own tongue licked her lips as she fucked herself with her fingers, knowing as soon as he walked through the front door, she would beg him to take her again.

  Lana took the last drag on the weed, dropping the remnant safely into the ashtray behind her as she made her way to Sergio’s recliner. His shorts fell to the floor somewhere between the two rooms and she tossed her night shirt over her shoulder, climbing onto the arm of the chair, her legs on either side of it. She dug her fingertips into the back of the chair, burying her face deep into the maroon leather, smelling the lingering hint of his cologne, his intoxicating sweat. She licked the leather as her hips began rocking on the chair, grinding against the place where his hand would often seen resting.

  She reached behind her with one hand, her catching just a whiff of her own scent on her fingers as it passed her face. She tangled those sticky sweet fingers into the long curly hair behind her head, making a fist and causing her to pull her own hair. Her other hand found its way between hr and the chair long enough to rub against her slickened slit, before sticking her fingers in her mouth, sucking on them brutally. It was just as when he put his dick in her mouth immediately after pulling it out of her. Lana relished the taste, convincing herself she could taste is sweat on her skin.

  Her right leg worked its way upward, putting her foot on the seat of the chair and allowing the arm she was riding better access between her legs as she continued to grind against the wet leather. Her hand pulled against her hair, forcing her head back, almost to her shoulders, as the other clinched the back of the recliner to keep her from tumbling to the floor as she rocked, slipped against the chair.

  Sergio’s lingering scent from the chair mingled with that of her own, making her head swim as she approached orgasm, and it was at that moment, at the glorious, deliciously wet moment that she realized she no longer needed the black hood. Daniel Morrow could shove it directly up his ass as far as she was concerned. She had tasted Sergio’s soul, and it tasted like hers. Even in his absence she was with him, and always would be. No longer dependant, and no longer weak, Lana Martin was free. When Sergio got home, she wouldn’t beg him to fuck her, she wouldn’t have to. He would just do it, his every motion, his every thrust an extension of her lust.

  She rolled over into the chair, exhausted.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Sergio, his left eye already swelling to the point he couldn’t see out of it, strained to see the figure in the other room. He couldn’t make him out completely, but he was fairly certain it was Daniel’s father, Tink standing there. He had said something Sergio hadn’t quite caught, but it had been enough to get the attention of him as well as the man beating the shit out of him, while holding his own knife to his throat.

  “You can’t be serious,’ he heard Daniel say to the man.

  “I am serious,” he said, “now get the fuck off of him like I said!”

  Sergio felt a sense of relief as the man got off of his chest in spite of the final backhand that stung like a motherfucker. He managed to roll over onto one elbow and get a better look at the man with his good eye. It was Tink, but Sergio’s relief was short lived as he noticed the pistol in the hand of the former police detective. From the kettle to the fire, he though rolling back onto his back and closing his eyes.

  “He was trying to kill me,” he heard Daniel protesting, “and bet your ass, he would have come in there and done the same to you next.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” Tink said wryly. “Now, take a seat so we can all have a little chat.”

  “Jesus,” Sergio heard the younger man say, but it was dutifully followed by the sound of him falling into the chair, just the same.

  “You too, Sergio. That’s your name right, Sergio?”

  “Yeah, that’s my name,” he said, again rolling onto his side, this time only to feel Daniel kick him in the side and knocking him back over. It wasn’t a powerful kick, just enough to let him know he was not out of the woods just yet. He didn’t need the reminder. There was no doubt he would still most likely die here in this house tonight.

  “That’s enough I said, Danny.”

  “Don’t call me that, Tommie.”

  Sergio made it to his knees again, wondering f the two men hated each other or were just fucking around. He supposed the latter. Tink placed a chair to his left, well out of the reach of Daniel’s feet should he decide to go ahead and kick him again in spite of his father’s warning, and motioned for him to take a seat. After retrieving another one just like it from the kitchen, he sat down himself, forming a rough triangle between the three of them. This is just great, Sergio thought, the first meeting of the Grand Order Of All Those Who Have Had Their Dick Up Lana’s Ass, just fucking perfect.

  “So, what’s all this about then?”

  “I already told you,” Daniel interjected, “he was trying to kill us.”

  “Shut up for a damn minute,” Tink said before turning to Sergio. “You, start talking.”

  “Well, the halfwit is half right,” he said, amused at his own cleverness in the face
of what he was sure was his own certain death. Tink chuckled.

  “You mean you only came to kill him, I take it?”

  “That’s right,” Sergio said, glaring at Daniel, wishing like hell he could get another shot at the fucker.

  “And if I let you walk out of here…” Tink started, but was unable to finish when Daniel immediately stood up and began yelling.

  “There’s no way he’s walking out of here; I’ll kill him myself!”

  “Sit the fuck down and shut up! I have a Goddamn headache, and I’m tired of your yelling,” Tink said rubbing his temple, before finishing his question for Sergio.

  “So,” he started again, glaring at Daniel, seemingly daring him to interrupt again, “if I let you walk out of here, Mr. Sergio, what then?”

  Sergio knew the right answer, the one that might – if any answer could anyway – save his life, but he wasn’t going to beg, not here, and certainly not to these men.

  “I’ll come back tomorrow night and kill him then,” he said, still staring at Daniel, and having to fight the urge to smile when Daniel flinched a little at his words.

  “Yeah, I guess I already knew that,” Tink confirmed. “Is there any way I can talk you out of it.”

  “No, I’m afraid not,” he said looking over at the older man. “There’s no way she’ll ever be safe with him loose somewhere.”

  There was a long, uncomfortable silence after this, and Sergio had time to think that if he believed in God, really truly believed in him, then this would probably be the last chance he would have to ask forgiveness. But he didn’t believe, and he had already decided he wasn’t going to beg, not even God. So instead, he let him mind wander back to Lana. She was his God, as far as deities were concerned, and if his last thought was coming quickly, then he intended for it to be about her. But Tink’s voice drew him back to the situation around him.

  “Yeah, I guess I already knew that too,” he said. Sergio and Daniel both look at him, not really sure what he meant by that.

  “Tink, or Dad I mean,” Daniel stammered, “what are you talking about?” Tink ignored him, instead turning his attention to Sergio.

  “Go on,” he said, “get out of here.”

  “Dad, no!”

  Sergio, still half convinced he would be shot before he could reach the door, stood up, his eyes still fixed on Tink. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Daniel, his head on a swivel as it shot back and forth between them.

  “Go on,” Tink repeated, “before I change my mind.”

  That was all he needed, just the slightest reassurance – whether it was truly genuine or not – and he headed for the door, Daniel rising to his feet behind him. He thought he would try to stop him, but his attention was clearly on his father at that point, so Sergio pushed the door open and hit the front steps, already in a run. As he reached the corner of the street where he had parked his car, Sergio heard a gunshot. He froze momentarily, his hand already on the car’s door handle, as several nearby dogs took up a synchronized chorus of protest at the loud sound, and removed any question in his head that he had really heard it. Then he heard a second shot and the dogs were suddenly quiet.

  The drive back across the city went by lost in a surreal fog for Sergio. A part of him kept expecting to see the red and blue lights of a police cruiser in his rearview mirror, but they never came. Another part of him almost wanted to go back and make sure what he thought had happened really had taken place, but he wouldn’t. Instead, he simply chose to believe that Lana was safe now, and that was all that mattered. His mind was generous enough to provide a brief, fairly focused image to pass by the front of his thoughts, one that showed Daniel Morrow with two bullet holes in his forehead. Sergio smiled and turned on the radio.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  1

  Mel Massey stood outside the house, smoking a cigarette while the crime scene guys did their thing. He had already been inside and knew perfectly well what it would take then several weeks to confirm, so there was no need to get in their way right now. He would take another pass through the house after they left since he had a better idea of what he was looking for than they did. Some of the other detectives would probably come by tomorrow, but by that time, Mel would certain they would find anything he didn’t want them to find.

  He had made been just around the corner when the call had come in about shots fired in this neighborhood. There hadn’t been a specific address given, so it had given him time to make two separate trips to his car before anyone else had arrived here. By that time, Daniel’s notebooks had been removed, as had the ones Tink had kept between his mattresses, the ones neither Daniel nor Lana herself had known about. Also missing was the garbage bag from the dumpster in the alley. The black mask was probably the only thing in the bag that would make the front page of the paper, but he would make sure of that later, somewhere else.

  A relatively large assortment of what Mel thought someone else would call toys also found their way into the trunk of his car long before anyone else had a chance to see them. The way he saw it, it wouldn’t make any difference anyway. He was saddened to see that some of the items were very similar to the things Lana had described originally when she had been rescued. Somehow, though they had never been found at the scene, they had managed to show u here. If the investigation had gone on the way it probably had been intended after Daniel’s release from prison, they might have been found, but it didn’t matter now.

  Mel Massey knew there would always be questions surrounding Lana Martin, as well as the events that had taken place in Daniel Morrow’s home, and then of course in Tink’s. With everything he had removed from the scene tonight, he was certain he could alleviate some of them and most likely restore her honor in the eyes of the public, but not without completely destroying anything good Tink had ever done in his career. Mel saw no point in that, not at this point. Lana Martin was safe, and that would just have to be enough for now.

  When the first television crew showed up, Mel made his way back to his car, taking himself out of their view so they wouldn’t even be tempted to ask him anything. James Plowick, the shift commander during the night shift, would be there soon enough, and he could deal with that shit. Hell, he lived for it anyway. He pulled Tink’s cell phone out if his pocket and looked through the pictures.

  “Damn Tink, what the fuck were you thinking?”

  He began deleting all the pictures of Lana, starting at the top and working his way down the long list. He paused only once, when he came upon a picture that seemed a little more innocent than the others, just Lana sitting innocently at the table, but he went ahead and deleted it as well. The last thing those fucking sharks needed was the slightest hint of blood in the water to stir shit up even more than it already was.

  After the pictures, Mel began deleting contacts in the phone. Anything he couldn’t say for a fact was work related disappeared immediately. He found reason to pause once during this list as well just like with the pictures, but this time before he deleted the contact, he typed the name and number into his own phone. Sometime later, after all this had blown over, at least as far as something like this could blow over anyway, he thought he just might want to call that number.

  Mel watched as Plowick talked with the group of reporters that now outnumbered the police officers themselves. It was a complete cluster fuck by now. When it looked like they were finally wrapping it up, he got out of his car and called the shift commander over to the side.

  “Hey, I’m not sure if it means anything, but Tink left this in my car when I drove him home,” he said handing the man Tink’s cell phone. The man stuck it in his pocket, looking around to see if anyone had seen him do it.

  “Thanks,” he said finally, “I’ll take a look at it later, when I get back to the office perhaps.”

  Mel just nodded, knowing if he had missed anything on the phone, this guy wouldn’t, and it would be gone long before anyone else got a look at the phone. That’s just the way things were, even if
the man in question was no longer one of their own. If nothing else, Tink had earned that much at least.

  Mel walked away, knowing he would be back later. In his car, as he made his way around all the damn news vans, he flipped his phone opened and looked at the number he had copied from Tink’s. Yeah, he’d definitely be making that call one day. Sergio Marsilis hadn’t seen the last of Mel Massey.

  2

  He stood there above her, watching her sleep in his chair, the very definition of beautiful. She had no idea what he had been through tonight, and if he could help it, she never would. She had already seen enough of the ugliness the world had to offer; she had paid her dues and then some, the way he saw it. The Daniel Morrows of the world would always be there somewhere, lurking in the shadows that fringed the rest of us, but they couldn’t let it change the way they saw the world itself. He walked past her intending to grab a beer, but she caught his hand as he passed.

  “I’ve missed you,” she said, squeezing his hand in hers.

  “I’m here, Lana. You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.”

  She smiled, but her eyes were already closed again. Sergio walked back to the door and locked it, turning the tumbler as quietly as he could. Yeah, they were still out there somewhere, and they would always want to corrupt what they couldn’t possibly understand. The secret of it all was plain and simple, the way he saw it; you just had to go on with your life and not let them change you, no matter what.

  The smile was still on Lana’s face when he passed by her again and it filled his heart with a joy he could hardly contain. He wanted to curl up in the chair with her and just hold her, just love her, but her happiness was more important than his own, so as long as that smile was on her face, Sergio would never wake her. She could sleep until the end of time of that was what she wanted to do, and he would be happy that she was smiling. She deserved to smile more than anyone he had ever met and now she was finally free.