Thanks to Guest M for the review. I hope you start a trend.
For those waiting for the return of our favorite trio of lovers, Chapter 42 will be devoted to them.
Since, M gave me a review concerning, you know who…the mermaid that everyone loves to hate. We will stay on that track.
Chapter 41
The small motel less than a mile from the Interstate held one car in its parking lot. A late afternoon during the middle of the week attracts few guests. In a room next to the black Mercedes the occupants rest after their mid-afternoon tryst.
Light brown fingers grazed the tanned chest, as the woman's knee rests on his lower stomach.
"Can I ask about this little hole?" She fingers the divot on his left pectoral. "And that gash on your back?"
"A gift…from a foreigner when I toured the mid-east." His tone is casual. "The back is an exit wound. Ugly, hah?"
"I'm sorry."
"Why?" His quick response.
Maddie is taken back by the unusual reply.
"You are a hard guy to figure." She whispers. A hasty ponytail holds the explosion of soft black curls set free from an intense encounter.
"Why, I'm just the normal idiot every guy is or has the potential to be." His words are directed to the white ceiling with enough cracks to take on the appearance of a roadmap.
"I figured…well, Joe, I figured this would be a quickie." She slides her cheek onto his shoulder. "A…you know?" Moist lips kiss her lover's cheek.
"No, I don't know." Turning, "enlighten me."
"You were so passionate. You were so.." She pushes on her elbow to look at his face. "I felt…true…" The young woman runs her tongue over a lower lip. Her breath blankets her lover.
"You mean, the kind of sex only a guy with real feelings for you could deliver?" His voice is soft.
"I wouldn't go that far, but." She moves her body over his. "But it's a start."
"Maddie, what if I told you, I was in a destructive relationship."
"Please, Joe…we are experts about that."
"No," he takes her arms and turns her to the side. "I mean, very destructive. A relationship that will end with me dead."
Her eyebrows move upward. "Joe, I won't be that woman that would ruin a moment like we just had by asking, do all women you screw feel this way after."
"Thank you for not asking." He replies.
"But if it's that bad, and believe me I don't want you to explain," she inhales. "Why put up with it. I mean, you are a, well…I swear every woman that sees you wants you."
"Yeah, sure…I'm a real hunk." His tone is not one of conceit. "Talking like that, you remind me of someone." He snorts a half-hearted laugh.
"Why do you do that?" Maddie asks. She looks into his green eyes. "For someone with your background. Your life…your looks." She puts her finger over his lips. "Please, let me finish. I don't need another one of your quick witted remarks."
Joe remains placid and receptive to her words.
"You are an international spy. Like in the movies. Nicole can't believe you volunteered for this assignment."
"What else did security-risk Martinez tell you?"
"We became good friends in the Philippines, and she is no security risk." Maddie's tone is direct and strained with a touch of anger.
"I'm sorry. Sometimes, I just can't…" Joe's voice fades. "He takes a breath to explain.
Raising her hand to stop any remark from the man with the beaten expression.
"Your self-esteem is lower than the ground you walk on."
"Maddie," his throat dries from the stress to speak.
"Joe, I wanted you from the first moment, I heard your voice." She places a soft kiss on his lips. "And poor Hope, she's just feeling her new-found womanhood…and then she meets a guy like you."
He casts his vision downward.
"I was talking to Nicole about future experiments with stem cells and," she sits up. Her breasts catch his eye.
"Stop looking at my boobs." She chuckles, bringing a smile to his face.
"To make you laugh, out of nowhere, she brings you in the conversation" Maddie smirks.
"Asks me, 'how many women do you think a guy like that has slept with,' me?" She grunts. "In the middle of a meeting with Ben and Ryn and Chief Hawkins, asks me that."
"Maddie, you are beautiful." Kneeling in front of her, he embraces the young woman and places a gentle kiss on her lips. "I wish things were different." He whispers.
"Your soul is what attracted me." Maddie continues to speak about his spiritual qualities.
He pays no attention to her and continues to kiss her cheek and neck. Joe's palms draw circles on the squirming spine.
"Joe, you are getting me…"
Maddie puts her mouth on his as their embrace deepens.
Falling to the mattress, Joe uses his right knee to spread her legs.
"But, Joe, we don't…have enough time."
"I'll give you the quickie you want." He lifts his head and shoots an errant right eyebrow upward.
Bristol Cove
A tall woman with light colored hair and large horn rimmed glasses strolls across the street from Helen's shop.
I'll keep these on. The sky is too overcast to wear my sunglasses.
Thinking of the information gathered in conversations with Joe, the casually dressed attractive young women stops at a dress shop's window.
If you want to hide. Do it in plain sight.
Her mind is alive with memories and plans for the future.
My Joe is right. Look like everyone else. Someday once that bitch is dead I can start living. I can become a different person. My poor Joe will have Angel, forever.
She smiles at the thought of this invisibility among the humans. A short black jean jacket stops over a pair of gray high waisted beach pants. Under her bare ankles are flip-flops.
The kind of outfit a woman would wear if she needed to go to the store.
I'll keep my jacket open. This stupid top will add to my ignorant, lazy human woman persona.
The white scoop top spells out Bristol Cove Mermaid Capital of the world.
A tricolored hobo style bag hangs from her left shoulder, a rose colored strap keep the satchel steady as she opens its beige tinted neck to look into the fuscia bottom. Her fingers brush the 9mm aside to hold a mysterious looking firearm. The weapon appears more like a child's toy with its bloated barrel.
It feels full. Good! Her mind screams with satisfaction.
One spray and that bitch, Ryn will be unconscious.
"Now to wait my chance." She murmurs.
Light brown eyes widen as the reflection in the store window causes her nostrils to flair.
The bitch's daughter.