October
"I do not understand why anyone would intentionally ask for murdering, psychotic children to come after them by tying some dead plants to their porch as decoration!"
Annie had a thing about corn stalks.
Well, to be completely honest, Annie had a lot of things about a lot of things. But corn stalks were pretty high up on that list - had been ever since she first watched Children of the Corn. Beth wasn't especially attached to that particular staple of fall decor herself. She preferred color and vibrancy when given a choice. But sometimes it felt like the first choice Beth ever truly made for herself was approaching Rio that fateful afternoon three months prior.
"Judith stopped by," Beth offered in explanation. "She claimed she had extras."
She had also chastised Beth for failing to make Dean's house feel like a home. It didn't matter how many times Beth explained to her mother-in-law that the children and parents in their neighborhood didn't go trick-or-treating door-to-door, that instead the entire community - well, almost the entire community - gathered at the nearby park with their cars, and their costumes, and their candy. Their street trunk-or-treated instead. It was safer that way. But Judith didn't want to hear it. During a previous year, Beth even tried to put her off with concerns that the corn stalks would attract pests onto the front porch. The next thing she knew, they had an exterminator. Judith hired them one.
The corn stalks and gourds, though, were just a symptom of the disease. It wasn't until after their vows were said that Beth realized, in agreeing to marry Dean, she had also agreed to subjugate her own thoughts and ideas and transform herself into Judith 2.0. And Beth went along with it… up to a certain point. She let the Bolands choose where she would live, how she would decorate her house, and they even dictated what meals she cooked. What she wouldn't do, however, was allow them to determine when or even if she ever became a mother.
"If ever there was someone scarier than killer kids," Annie muttered to herself, though Beth heard her loud and clear. Judith was just one notch below Dean on Annie's list of least favorite people.
Rather than actually respond, Beth poured her sister a bourbon. It wasn't Annie's drink of choice, but Beth had splurged for once, using a little of the money she had earned from working with Rio for something other than the retainer for her divorce lawyer, and she wanted to share the simple pleasure with one of the few people she loved. At the same time, she topped up her own drink, too.
"What are we celebrating?" Annie took a small sip and immediately started coughing. "Jesus, that stings." Beth actually found it to be pretty damn smooth. "Or maybe we're commiserating? After all, you just survived a visit from the monster-in-law."
Beth shrugged. She tipped the crystal tumbler and watched how the late afternoon sun reflected off of the glass, made the liquor glow almost persimmon. "Just felt like a drink."
"Why couldn't you have felt like a better drink? Something… grapier?"
She was saved from having to answer when Ruby entered through the side kitchen door, bringing in with her a distraction and a gust of frosty air. It seemed like, as soon as the calendar flipped into October, so too had the weather. Fall had hit Detroit with a vengeance. There was frost on the grass every morning, and the leaves were falling faster than Rio and Beth could keep up with them. It both thrilled and terrified her.
"Sorry, I'm late," Ruby greeted them breathlessly. She had obviously been rushing to get there. "What did I miss?"
"Oh, nothing," Annie started. However, when Annie said 'oh, nothing,' they all knew that she was about to let loose a whole hell of a lot of snark. "Just… Beth has suddenly decided that she's Frank Sinatra reincarnated."
"Well, she has the blue eyes," Ruby bantered along.
"Judith is summoning evil little people again."
"Yeah, I saw the corn stalks," Ruby sympathized.
"And I have the perfect Halloween costumes… for the kids."
"We actually haven't started discussing ideas yet," Beth contradicted, sliding Ruby a finger of bourbon while she talked.
Maybe she had been falling down on the job of best friend and big sister lately, but Beth prided herself on being a good aunt. No, not just a good aunt; a great aunt, and part of her duties as Sadie and Sara's Aunt Beth was to make them their Halloween costumes. It was the one thing about the holiday season that she actually looked forward to. It didn't matter if she was actively avoiding Ruby and Annie at the moment, so they couldn't realize what she was up to with Rio. She'd risk their suspicions if it meant she didn't disappoint her nieces.
"So, picture this," Annie spread out her hands like she was painting a picture for them. Or a scene. "Sara as Lillian, Sadie as Annie, and I'll go as Megan… with the hat, and the headphones, and the ace bandage, and I'll carry a bunch of puppies around all night. Of the stuffed animal variety, of course."
"How many times do we have to tell you that people won't get the joke, Annie, if you dress up as random Fine & Frugal customers?" Screwing up her face in confusion, she added, "and why would you have your daughter dress up as you?"
She glanced over at Ruby for support… only to find her best friend throwing a mean side eye at Annie. "Bridesmaids? Really?"
"It's a classic!," Annie defended.
"It came out last year," Ruby fired back. As they bickered, Beth bounced her gaze between the two women. They were obviously talking about a movie, but that's all Beth had gathered. "And Sara hasn't watched it."
"There's plenty of time before Halloween to rectify that parenting fail."
Scowling, Ruby argued, "she's four."
"So, what's your point exactly?," Annie challenged, rolling her eyes. "Sadie's loves Bridesmaids."
"There's an entire bit about explosive diarrhea and pooping one's pants, and she's five. Of course she's going to like it… even if she doesn't completely understand what's happening."
With a furrowed, confused brow, Annie wanted to know, "what's not to like?"
"Look, I just don't think that it's an appropriate costume for my daughter," Ruby held her ground.
"Oh, come on, Dude!" Throwing her arms up, Annie cajoled, "nobody but us will even need to know that she's Lillian. To everyone else, she'll just be the adorable child bride, complete with a custom made knock-off Beth Boland original wedding dress. Plus, you know you want to walk around all night lip syncing to Wilson Phillips' "Hold On!"
Ruby narrowed her eyes, obviously considering Annie's argument. "I mean, it's no "Push It," but I can rock Wilson Phillips, too." At that point, Annie climbed off of her stool to bounce on the toes of her feet, hands clutched before her in hopeful supplication. "Oh, fine. But if Stan complains, I'm blaming you."
"I'll take full responsibility for my brilliance. Don't you worry!"
"And did that brilliance extend to you remembering to bring me some pictures of these dresses that I need to make," Beth questioned her sister.
"I did you one better," Annie remarked, reaching for her bag. Rather than photos, however, she removed a DVD. "I bought you your own copy." Beth sighed, but she accepted the movie without comment. She really didn't have two hours to waste, so she'd probably just use Dean's computer later and look up for herself the pictures she would need. But Annie didn't need to know that. "Figured - what, with the holidays coming up and then your anniversary, you could use a good laugh."
Like Beth's marriage itself wasn't enough of a joke.
But Annie wasn't wrong either. The holidays weren't… easy for her. As much as Ruby and Annie tried to include Beth, they had their own families, their own traditions, and she had… the Bolands. Kenneth, Judith, and Dean had a set way that they liked to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they were not interested in deviating away from their traditions to make room for Beth or her own rituals. Plus, the holidays inevitably triggered her in-laws' baby fever, Kenneth taking issue with the fact that Dean still hadn't managed to make him a grandfather, to give him an heir, and Judith passive-aggressively calling into question Beth's femininity and womanly abilities.
Like clockwork, for the last three months of the year, Dean would suddenly be hell bent on having sex with her. Beth always found ways to put him off, but it was just one more thing about her husband that annoyed her. Dean didn't really want to be a father - at least, not yet. When Sadie and Sara were babies, he held them like ticking bombs, always had an excuse why he couldn't or shouldn't learn to change a diaper, and he thought burping them was more of a competition than a health and safety necessity.
Hell, Dean was too cheap to even participate in trunk-or-treat, using the excuse that he felt awkward attending when they didn't have any children of their own... nevermind the fact that Mrs. Karpinsky and their other elderly neighbors had bid farewell to their own child bearing years several decades prior, but they still participated. So, year after year, she and Dean were the only two people on the street who didn't show up at the block's Halloween party, yet he allowed his parents to bully him into pressuring her for a baby every holiday season. Thankfully, the New Year would roll around, and Dean would once again forget all about his sudden urge to start a family, but Beth's irritation would stay with her, further souring her feelings towards Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.
With any luck, though, Beth would have already attended her last Boland holiday. If everything went according to plan, she and Dean would be officially separated before Judith could even assign Beth a dish to bring for Thanksgiving dinner. In fact, Dean's selfish and antisocial… at least when the other husbands and children were around… ways could prove advantageous. While Dean stayed home behind closed curtains with the porch light off, gorging himself on bite sized candy bars and watching Ghostbusters! for the hundredth time, the rest of the neighborhood would be at the party, Beth and Rio would be each other's alibi, and the houses belonging to the dozen women Dean was having affairs with would be empty and just waiting to be stripped clean of their valuables.
"You know, I think I'll take apart my own wedding dress and use the fabric to create Sara's costume."
"Damn, that's cold, Bee," Ruby winced.
But Beth just shrugged, the prospect of destroying one of the major symbols of her own marriage making her grin.
Suddenly feeling the need to move, to do something with her hands, to relieve the burning pressure in her chest and crawling up her throat, Beth stood, angling her steps towards the refrigerator… and that was before Ruby changed the subject, tentatively asking, "can we ask how the job search is going?"
Although she had long since drained her glass of bourbon, Beth opened the freezer, reached inside, and fisted a handful of ice, dropping it with a melodic twinkle into the otherwise empty tumbler. She took her bourbon neat, so it wasn't like she was going back for more, but ice simply on its own, for some reason, sounded entirely too appealing to turn down. Using her hip to close the fridge once again, Beth rounded on her best friend and sister, already shaking a couple of frozen cubes into her mouth and chewing while she contemplated the question.
As she had requested, Ruby… and surprisingly Annie, too… had respected her wishes and not pried into the changes she had just hinted towards making in her life. For that, she was grateful. Plus, with every day that flew by, Beth marched ever closer to her divorce papers being ready, to pulling off the burglary job with Rio and his guys, to officially leaving her husband. She somehow needed to find a way to prepare Ruby and Annie for those changes while still protecting herself - and them - from the truth.
So, she continued to stick with the broad strokes, keeping the details to herself. "You know, I think I might have something lined up."
"Ooh, let me guess," Annie quickly became excited. Beth wasn't sure if her sister's enthusiasm was for her new career prospects or because she just liked to predict things. Annie had gone through a whole phase where she was convinced that she could train herself to have ESP. The psychic aspirations quickly fizzled, but the penchant for assumptions had not. "A craft store?"
"The job's not in retail." At least, she didn't think so. Rio, so far, had been quite scant with the details, and while Beth had only known him for a few months, she already understood that, with Rio, it was best to let him come to her. He'd tell her what she needed to know when she needed to know it and not a moment before… no matter how many questions she might ask or how persistently she grilled him, and the more patient she was, the sooner he seemed to find her ready for his confidences. "I'll be working closely with a local businessman, actually."
"Doing what exactly," Ruby wanted to know. Beth could hear her best friend trying - yet failing - to keep her skepticism from her voice. She tried not to take offense, recognizing that her statement was quite vague.
"We really haven't discussed the details yet."
Ruby didn't look convinced, but it was Annie who narrowed and ran her gaze up and down Beth's standing form. "It's not, like, sex stuff, is it?"
"Annie!," Beth cried out her dissent, her insult, her humiliation.
Meanwhile, Ruby turned towards the younger woman in shock. Eyes wide in disbelief, Beth's best friend said, "I cannot believe you just went there."
"What," Annie defended herself, shrugging casually… like the question had just asked itself. "Look at her! If she was getting it on the regular from a local businessman, it would explain… that." To emphasize her point, Annie waved her hand in Beth's general direction.
"Explain what," Beth demanded to know.
"You know." When Beth shook her head, because, no, she didn't know; that's why she demanded an explanation from her baby sister, Annie elaborated, "you're all… loose. And dewy. And, frankly, your boobs have never looked better. It's disgusting. And I hate you."
Well, that wasn't so bad. In fact, Annie's accusations were suspiciously close to being compliments. Too bad that put Beth even more on edge, because Annie's compliments were usually backhanded or at least bewildering in nature to everyone except Annie, and that unsettled feeling had Beth defending herself. "I've been a lot more active recently - going outside more, doing physical things. I think… I think I'm just in a healthier place now."
"That's really good, Bee," Ruby complimented, smiling at Beth and reaching a hand out to squeeze her own in encouragement.
But Annie sounded disappointed when she sighed, "oh." Slumping further against the kitchen island, her sister bemoaned, "and here I thought you had finally found someone to dick you down real good." Before Beth could sputter her protest - not that Annie was wrong, but the way she said it certainly was - and before Ruby could reprimand her, Annie was already continuing, "I was sure it was either that or Dean had finally managed to nut up and put some bacon in that drawer!"
Ruby groaned, and Beth sputtered, "I am not pregnant!"
"I mean, are you sure," Annie pushed, obviously doubting her.
"Even if I wasn't on birth control, Annie," - which was the real reason why Beth could be and sound so confident in her denial, "Dean and I haven't had sex in years."
"Really," Ruby wanted to know, sounding both dismayed for her and absolutely incredulous. Even without asking, Beth knew her disbelief stemmed from sympathy for Beth and not confusion as to how someone could hold themselves back from jumping Dean. Ruby might not have been as vocal in her dislike of Beth's husband as Annie had been over the years, but she'd made her position clear on the matter nevertheless.
"God, you're gonna get carpal tunnel," Annie sighed in worry.
"And on that note," Beth started waving her arms, insinuating that she wanted her best friend and sister to stand up, to start making their way towards the door. And they did. But it was slow going, and their entire exodus was marked by lingering looks of pity and worry. "I should really get started on those costumes. I have the girls' general measurements but will let you know when the dresses are ready for them to come over and try them on for alterations."
"I know people say that exercise is good for you, but I always thought that was more lazy shaming than anything else," Annie commented to Ruby as they walked out of Beth's house. "Now, I don't know, though. Should we, like, do a burpee or something?"
"Do you even know what a burpee is?"
"No," Annie answered truthfully. "It kind of sounds like tinkling in your pants when you release a powerful belch, which - let me tell you - I would be excellent at!"
Ruby snorted in amusement. "That's just called motherhood."
At that point, they rounded the corner of the house, disappearing from Beth's sight and taking their voices with them. Tipping back her cup and letting the last few, slowly melting ice cubes clink into her mouth, Beth shut and locked the door behind them. As she started to chew, she stopped at the freezer to top off her glass and then headed towards her room, hoping, before the night was over and Dean came slinking home, that Rio would stop by. Knowing that Annie and Ruby were coming over that evening, he hadn't stuck around after they finished work. It had only been a few hours since she had last seen him, but Beth found herself missing Rio anyway. Wanting to be with someone that much? She'd never had that before - not with Dean, not with Annie, not even with Ruby. It was new for Beth, different, and sometimes she worried about what it all meant and what she would do if or when Rio got tired of her. But those were tomorrow's problems. For now, Beth was going to enjoy being with him while it lasted.
!
Annie was never going to let her live this down.
With everything going on in her life, the timing could not be worse. Well, actually, that wasn't true. If this had happened to Beth during the first six months of her marriage, that would have been worse. But it also would have been less about timing and absolutely everything to do with it happening with the wrong man. She wasn't sure if Rio was the right man either. Three months into… whatever it was they were doing together and still married, Beth shouldn't need to decide that yet. However, even with so much uncertainty, she knew that she'd rather be doing this with him than with Dean - with anyone else, for that matter.
Sitting on the closed toilet seat - knees angled and pressed together to keep the sides of her short, floral robe modestly folded over her legs, Beth stared down at the positive pregnancy test held loosely in her hands. It was ironic how one tiny, insignificant, featherlight piece of plastic could provoke such momentous reactions, could announce such tremendous change. But couldn't the same be said about the tiny life growing inside of her? The baby was a rapidly dividing ball of cells much smaller than the home pregnancy test which detected its presence, yet it was actually the cause of those life altering reactions and changes.
Nothing really had prompted Beth to think she was pregnant. She wasn't nauseous. Her boobs didn't hurt or tingle, she didn't have any weird food cravings or aversions, and her periods had been light or non-existent for years - the pill having that added benefit. But as Beth started work on the girls' Halloween costumes; as she raked leaves and winterized yards with Rio, as she continued to sleep with Rio and plan the upcoming robberies with him; as she did her best to avoid Dean while maneuvering him into position to take the fall for them should anyone be blamed; as Beth felt the ready divorce papers hidden away in her delicates drawer calling to her night after night, begging her to throw caution and reason out of the window and serve them to Dean now rather than waiting until after the heist was done, Annie's words lingered. They lingered, and they taunted, and then they burrowed so deep into Beth's brain that, when she went to the grocery store during her weekly, Sunday errand run, she impetuously bought a test.
It turned out that the purchase wasn't so rash after all.
She didn't take the test right away. After returning home the afternoon before, Beth had secreted it away, box and all, to yet another hiding place where Dean would never find it: inside of her empty, washed, lidded, and stored away crock pot. And then she tried to forget about it, telling herself that it was a waste of $11.99. Beth went about the rest of her day, her night, and her Monday morning like nothing was different, like she wasn't different. Yet, she knew. It made no sense, and it shouldn't have happened, but as soon as she held that test in her hands, Beth had started accepting the fact that the improbable was not only likely but also the reality. So, by the time she slipped away from Rio a few minutes early that evening - offering him some random, distracted, amateur excuse that she couldn't even remember thirty second later, somehow peeing on that plastic stick had gone from a precaution to a foregone conclusion.
"What the fuck is this?"
Beth had been so lost in her thoughts - her mind and vision narrowed onto the positive test in her hands - that she didn't hear the doorknob rattling until Rio's voice broke through the haze of her new knowledge. Seemingly on autopilot, she stood up and moved across the bathroom - all the while, Rio's words urged her towards him. "This had better be an accident, because if you didn't want me to join you, all you had to do was…."
Whatever he was about to say - already naked and half hard as he had obviously been planning on a repeat performance of the first time they had sex - trailed off when Beth unlocked and opened the door, silently holding the test up for Rio to see. And he looked at it, but it was like he didn't recognize it at first. Rio's head tilted to the side, his lips pursed - maybe in thought, perhaps ready to ask a question, and then his gaze flickered up to hers before falling once more unto the plastic stick. Then, so quickly that Beth had to blink several times in order to clear her vision and make sure that she hadn't just imagined the movement, Rio snatched the test from her fingers, bringing it up to within inches of his face.
"Well, damn," he drawled, his tone without any inflection whatsoever. Rio gave nothing away. Beth couldn't tell what he thought, how he felt. Was he mad at her, the situation, both? Was he happy? Was he in shock? Was he a giant, knotted cluster of indiscernible emotions like she was? Catching her eyes with his own and not allowing them to skitter away, Rio decisively stated, "this changes everything, Mami."
Well, obviously. And Beth was about to tell Rio just that when he started talking once again. "Look, I've been tryin' to stay out of your way, lettin' you get your house in order the way you see fit. I didn't grow up with a bunch of women not to learn when to keep my mouth shut and get out of a Boss Bitch's way."
There was a part of Beth that wanted to linger on Rio's statements, to delve deeper into them. It had nothing to do with the baby, their baby, being any less of a pressing issue but, rather, everything to do with Rio so casually mentioning something personal, something about his past, and his family, and who he was underneath the persona he showed her neighborhood… and even the affected, posturing pretense he wore almost like a second skin in all but the most raw and honest of moments. But then his next words stole back her attention to the matter at hand with a vengeance.
"But, now, if you think you're stayin' here - married to that ass and still livin' under his roof - while you're carryin' my kid, well… we're gonna have problems, Baby."
The last thing Beth wanted was to be Dean's wife, pregnant or not pregnant, but there was so much riding on her making sure that he didn't have an alibi on the night when they broke into a dozen homes and, hopefully, stole enough to fund Rio's next business venture. Instinctively, Beth reached out to take back the pregnancy test that Rio was still holding. She went to toss it away but stopped short. She simply… couldn't. Her hesitancy wasn't born from a fear of discovery, though. It was… emotional. That stupid plastic stick with her urine on it was proof that she and Rio had conceived a child together. It felt special - like the rest of the house could burn down, but as long as Beth made it out with that home pregnancy test, she'd have everything she needed or wanted from the past six years of her life. Instead, she placed it carefully down on the counter, buying herself time to decide what to do with it. "What about the heist," Beth protested - her question perhaps not as heated as it might have been if she wasn't suddenly finding herself so sentimental.
"Fuck the job." Before Beth could form a protest, Rio continued, "you ain't goin' anywhere near it now."
Surprisingly, his command somewhat allayed her concerns. Sure, Beth didn't appreciate being told what to do, but at least it didn't seem like Rio was planning to call the whole thing off now that she was pregnant. But she still sought confirmation by asking, "we're still moving forward, though… with the plan?"
"I'm movin' forward, yeah," Rio emphasized his own involvement while precluding hers. "And I'll bring in another one of my guys to take your place, but you'll be somewhere safe, securing yourself an airtight alibi. It'll be one more person I gotta pay, but I'll make up for it with a better split. I ain't worried."
No, he wouldn't be. Because a better split meant that Beth was no longer getting one… or it would at least be significantly less. Folding her arms over her chest and tilting her chin up in order to glare at him, she challenged, "because I'm getting cut out?"
"I ain't payin' you to go out to dinner with your lady friends, Sweetheart. Besides, what do you need with a cut now, anyway?"
Beth scoffed. "If anything, I need even more of a cut now. I just don't need to pay for my divorce, a place to live, and basic necessities until I have a steady, reliable income. Now, I also have a pregnancy and a baby to pay for!" With everything she listed, Beth ticked off the expense on her fingers. "It's not like agreeing to work for you comes with a benefits package or healthcare."
"I don't know," Rio smirked, sauntering forward to take hold of Beth by the hips. "I think I've been real generous with my perks."
Heat suffused her face. "I've given you just as many perks," Beth countered icily, "if not more. And you know that's not what I'm talking about, Rio!"
"Baby, you don't need to worry about any of that stuff any more. I'll take care of you."
She flinched, attempted to pull away from him, but Rio wouldn't let her. "What's that supposed to mean?" Without giving him a chance to respond, she railed against him. "If you think, just because I'm pregnant with your child, that I'm going to be okay with becoming your kept woman? Well, you're going to have another thing coming!"
"Oh, you can work for me all you want, Honey," Rio argued, looking absolutely unfazed by her warning, by her temper. "As long as you're not breakin' into houses or doin' somethin' else risky as fuck."
"Then what are you saying, Rio?"
"I'm sayin' that you don't need to find or pay for a place to live, because you're movin' in with me. And it's my kid, too, so I gotchu, Mami. Whatever you and the baby need, I'll cover it - not because you're my woman but because you're my partner. You'll be contribution' just as much as I am. But differently. Most importantly," Rio emphasized his next words by lowering the tone of his voice into a whispered rasp. Most people thought that, when they really wanted to be heard, they needed to yell. But not Rio. No, he knew that people wanted to hear what he had to say as much as if not more than he wanted them to, so he would speak softer, persuading his audience to pay attention, not forcing them. "I'm handlin' your divorce now. That dumbass husband of yours is gonna sign those papers tonight, they're gettin' filed in the mornin', and he'll realize real quick that he wants you to be free of him and his bullshit as soon as fuckin' possible."
"And if he doesn't do what you want, if he digs in his heels?" Beth wasn't sure why she was pushing. She really didn't think that Dean would put up much of a fight… at least, not once he was confronted by Rio. But she was curious as to how Rio would handle any opposition.
"Then I'll dig a fuckin' hole eight feet long, two and a half feet wide, and contrary to popular belief, four feet deep and bury his sorry ass where no one will ever find him."
"Please don't," Beth pleaded. She could see a shadow fall over Rio's already dark yet somehow still luminous gaze when he thought she was requesting mercy for her soon-to-be ex-husband. "As his widow, I would inherit everything, and I'm trying to avoid paying even a share of his debt; I don't want the whole thing."
A wide, pleased grin split apart Rio's far too sensual mouth - the corners of his eyes crinkling and his perfect teeth beaming bright and white towards her. "A'ight, Darlin'. I'll just knock him around a li'l if he puts up a fight - make sure my aim ain't true, hittin' him a little off center."
Unimpressed… yet also twistedly flattered, Beth warned, "let's try to avoid shooting him at all, okay? If I have to avoid risk and stay out of trouble, so do you." Rio went to argue with her, but Beth cut him off. "No, I'm serious. In fact, if I'm not participating in our upcoming job, then neither are you."
"Oh, you makin' demands now, Elizabeth?"
"When it comes to our child, yes, I am," she didn't deny it. "If all of the profits from the heist are going towards this new business opportunity, then you can afford to pay someone to take your place as well. Dean will cave, and he'll sign the divorce papers, because he's weak, but he's also a very petty man. He won't realize that we've positioned him to take the fall for the thefts, but he will see them as a chance to get back at you. He'll blame you for the robberies, and the police will listen to him - at least at first."
"Because he's a white man who belongs in a hood like this, and I'm just the brown man mowin' the lawns." Of course Rio would understand Beth's fears. He had been living with them all of his life.
"So, it's just as important… if not more so… for you to have a cover for that night, too. We might be changing our plans, but the one aspect of them that can remain the same is that we can still be each other's alibis."
"And how exactly you proposin' we do that, Sweetheart?" Turning them so that they were both facing the mirror, Rio stood behind Beth. As he lowered himself slightly to rest his chin on her right shoulder, his hands dropped to the sash of her robe, effortlessly untying it. The floral fabric immediately parted, catching on her breasts but still leaving a generous ribbon of bare and bared skin, including her naked center, on display and ready for the taking. Rio wrapped himself around her - one palm cupping her heat, while the other massaged her still flat belly. "Did you have somethin' like this in mind, because I'm thinkin', as much as I would enjoy establishin' that alibi, we might need somethin' a little more… public."
Grinning, Beth replied, "if this is your way of asking me out on a date, then I accept."
"Nah, Mama. This is me endin' our negotiations by acceptin' your terms." Dipping his head forward, Rio peeled her robe the rest of the way off of Beth's shoulders with nothing but his teeth. It hadn't even finished pooling at their feet before she could feel his hard cock nudging at her mound. "Now, how about we hammer out the details, yeah?"
Despite his words, however, what followed was not Rio fucking her. He wasn't overly gentle either, but the sex was slower, more sensual, yet still equally as demanding and rewarding as it always was. Rio nudged her legs apart wide enough to wedge his own hips into place behind her. Once he was fully seated inside of her pussy, Beth's inner walls gripping him with a desperate tightness in the hopes that he would never leave, Rio stood up straight. That, combined with him taking Beth's arms and pulling them up and back to circle and hold onto his neck, caused her body to bow outwards, her hips thrusting towards the mirror. Once Rio had her body exactly where he wanted her, he started to move.
His strokes were long and deep, measured and full. Beth couldn't take her eyes off of them, avidly watching where her cunt was spread open around Rio's heavy, generous cock, how her body could swallow him whole over, and over, and over again and, greedy for more, never want to stop. Under the bright lights of the bathroom vanity, she could see where her arousal glistened on his florid length. The sight made her crave to see what their spent cum would look like smeared and combined under the same unflinching illumination and reflected back at her through the glass. Beth only peeled her gaze away long enough to peer up at Rio, wanting to watch and appreciate him watching them.
But Rio wasn't looking at the mirror. He wasn't even looking at where his dick was breaking her apart only to make her feel more whole than ever.
No, instead, Rio was staring, unblinkingly, down onto her lower abdomen. There, his hands were stretched out - the long, elegant fingers following the line where her thighs met her hips and brushing against her mound, her cunt; his thumbs angled inwards and meeting together at the center where her belly button still dipped inwards. Until Beth really focused on Rio, she thought that his grip on her was to better hold her open and put her on display, but that wasn't it at all. Instead, he was actually framing her womb with his touch - accepting, and shielding, and admiring, and already loving the baby, their baby, that she was carrying.
The realization made Beth all but forget about her pussy's need, her body's want, about watching Rio give and take both. Eyes flying up to watch his face in the mirror, as soon as Beth saw the blatant and tender, naked and reverent emotions so openly being shared, so freely being revealed, she came - harder, and higher, and brighter, and bolder, and better than ever before. Beth sobbed with her release, and when she felt its milking pulsations pull Rio right along with her - his cum spraying her clenching inner walls before trickling out of her, the euphoria seemed to last for just that much longer, its intensity building that much more.
Even after he softened, Rio stayed inside of her, stayed draped and folded around her. Beth, if possible, pressed herself even deeper into his embrace, and Rio randomly scattered kisses along her glowing, damp skin wherever he could reach without having to move away - behind her ear, where her shoulder met her neck, along her collar bone, the sharp point at the back of her jaw, directly over top of the freckle that dotted the very top of her bicep. They stayed there even after the sweat on their bodies cooled, dried; they stayed together even after the mess between their legs set. Rio only pulled away and out of her when they heard the front door open, signaling that Dean was home.
"Start packin' your things, Elizabeth. I'll be back to help you once I'm done dealin' with your husband."
As he started to step away, she spoke up, telling him, "the papers are in my…."
"... lingerie drawer," Rio finished for her with an indulgent grin. "I know, Sweetheart."
He knew, because he knew her. He knew her, and he liked her, and he wanted their baby, and Beth was starting to think, maybe even hope, that Rio knew, because he loved her - was in love with her… just as she had realized, and accepted, and acknowledged what she had already known - that she was in love with him - at the very same second that she looked down on that positive home pregnancy test and confirmed that they were going to be a family.
!
It didn't matter that she was expecting it. Hell, Beth had predicted it would happen. She was still caught off guard - jumping when that brisk, caustic knock interrupted the muted, homey sounds of the loft; tensing when she opened the door to find two detectives, not even uniformed officers, waiting for her on the other side. Or, well, not for her but for Rio… as their reactions - a rapid shift from confrontational to apologetic - quickly revealed.
"Oh, sorry, Ma'am," one of the plain clothes cops immediately apologized, straightening up to his full, though not impressive, height. The move, while surely intended to galvanize… or maybe even intimidate, simply made his cliche paunch more noticeable. "We must have the wrong place."
Briefly, she considered playing along, letting them leave because of their discrimination and misjudgement… only to come back again after they double checked with dispatch, the building supervisor, who-or-whatever their source of information. Wasting their time would serve them right, but it wouldn't start Beth off on the right foot with the detectives - both of whom were white, and she needed this interview to go well, especially if she wanted the show she was about to perform to be a one night only event.
And she did.
Plastering on her most accommodating smile, Beth asked, "if you can tell me who you're looking for, maybe I could help?"
The partners looked at each other, shrugged. Their expressions clearly read why the hell not - like they had nothing to lose by talking with her for a few more minutes. She'd either point them in the right direction, or they'd walk away no worse off than they were before she offered to assist them.
"We're looking for Rio Herrera in connection with a string of robberies that occurred tonight out in Northville. If he's your neighbor, and you could point us to his unit, it's really important that we question him."
"He's not my neighbor," she said succinctly. If they heard the sudden ice in her tone - and she couldn't help it, their assumptions cracking the pleasant mask she wore, they didn't react other than to frown at the thought that they were going to be forced to put a little more effort into tracking down their suspect. "We live together." To emphasize her point, at that exact moment - maybe Rio had been listening; perhaps he just had perfect timing, the door to the bathroom opened behind her, and Rio emerged all loose and relaxed, dressed in nothing but a pair of low-hanging black basketball shorts.
"Oh." Beth wasn't sure which one of the detectives reacted - they hadn't bothered to identify themselves yet. Even if they had, she wasn't looking at them anyway, her eyes tracking Rio's movements across the open loft. He came right up to her side. He didn't stand behind her, and he didn't attempt to angle his body in front of her either. Instead, they stood together. Equal. A united front. No one, but especially not two detectives, needed to know that, in anticipating, whether it was Dean or someone else from Beth's old neighborhood, the police would want to talk with Rio about the heists, they had disagreed about how to handle the cops - Rio wanting to run everything through his lawyer, while Beth didn't think that was necessary, not with alibis and a better suspect (if not the actual perpetrator) to hand over practically gift wrapped.
Rio must have noticed her frustration, because he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in close to him while turning his head to nuzzle her temple. "You a'ight, Mami?" The words were for her alone, though there was no way the detectives had not been able to hear him as well. At her short, acknowledging nod, Rio returned to facing the open doorway, morphing into a potent hybrid of dismissive and antagonistic. "I didn't do it. I don't know anything' about it. Now, get the fuck out outta my building."
"You don't even know what we're here about," one of the detectives pointed out, immediately annoyed.
"Don't matter."
Addressing Rio, though she never took her eyes off of the two cops, Beth acted like Rio was as unwitting as he claimed. "They said there were robberies tonight out where I used to live, and they want to ask you about them."
"Mr. Herrera has also been running a lawncare business out in Northville since the… wait," the detective who was speaking interrupted himself, pivoting all of his attention onto Beth. "Did you say you lived in Northville?"
"Yes. I moved a couple of weeks ago. But I don't see how that or Rio mowing yards there is relevant to your investigation."
The same police officer continued, "Mr. Herrera was… suggested to us as a person of interest."
"Why?," Beth demanded to know. When the two cops exchanged a hesitant look, she pressed them. "Because someone actually saw him committing the crime, or is it because his skin is darker, and he has tattoos, and he doesn't belong in a place like Northville?" This time, she didn't give them a chance to respond. "If it's the former, your witness is lying, and we can prove it; if it is the latter, then I'm sure you can understand why I'm a former resident."
As he reached for a pen and a small notebook, the detective who had mainly been silent up to that point asked, "are you saying that Mr. Herrera has been with you all evening, Ma'am?"
"He has."
"And can anyone else back up your claim?"
"Oh… only about a dozen other people, including the top ranked OB-GYN in Detroit." Both cops' eyes landed in shock upon her. "We heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time tonight, but instead of celebrating, we're dealing with this… prejudiced nonsense."
And maybe it was exactly that juxtaposition that had thrown Beth earlier when she opened the door to the police. Literally listening to her child's life had been the most beautiful experience of her entire existence… until she looked up and saw Rio's face as he shared in that moment with her. They had left the doctor's office giddy with hope and possibilities, with joy. The last thing on their minds, as improbable as it seemed now in that moment with the detectives, was the series of thefts they had been planning for months. As soon as they got home, Beth went off to shower first, Rio following immediately after her. They could have showered together, but Rio didn't want to fuck her there. He wanted her in bed. Their bed. So, they had agreed to rush through cleaning up from the day - Beth still feeling sticky from the doppler gel - before losing themselves in each other's bodies.
But then the cops showed up, and it didn't matter if Rio was behind the burglaries or not. There was no proof to justify the investigating officers immediately seeking him out with questions, with suspicions, when there was no way all of the evidence had even been collected yet. All they had was racial profiling. Whether it was their own or someone else's didn't matter - not to Beth. Maybe it had been naive of her to think this confrontation would come later, that they'd have the night to themselves… only for the rest of the world to greet them again with the sun in the morning.
Bringing her back to the moment, the detective taking notes asked, "and what is your name, Ma'am?"
"Until my divorce goes through, it's still Beth - Elizabeth - Boland."
Again, the two cops exchanged pointed glances with each other, silently communicating. "So, is Dean Boland your husband?"
"Soon-to-be ex," Beth emphasized. "The paperwork has been signed, filed. Everything else is a formality. I just want out of my marriage. Why," she purposefully turned her voice curious, less hostile and more confused. She also folded her arms over her chest, feeling suddenly exposed in her comfortable yoga pants and Rio's t-shirt that she now favored wearing around the loft. Beth wasn't sure if it was hearing Dean's name or experiencing the full weight of the detectives' scrutiny which made her self-conscious of her casual dress. "Was my old house one of the ones robbed tonight?"
"No. Twelve places were hit but not your former residence." The partner who wasn't taking notes shrugged - he must have been the lead, seemingly giving permission to the younger police officer to give her more information. "Mr. Boland was actually the person who suggested we speak to Mr. Herrera."
"Of course he was."
"What's that supposed to mean," the lead detective wanted to know, angling his hands on his hips.
"Just that… I'm far enough along in my pregnancy to have heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time this evening, but I only officially left my husband two weeks ago. You do the math, and then tell me why you think you're really here."
For the first time in several minutes, Rio spoke. "Were all twelve victims customers of mine?"
"Well, no," the younger cop admitted. "But several of them were, and you know the neighborhood. You've worked there for months."
"That's nothing more than a coincidence," Beth dismissed. "And if you're looking at everyone who has knowledge of the neighborhood because of their jobs, then I hope you're also going to question the mailman, the exterminator, the sanitation workers, the meter readers, the broadband technicians. The list is endless. It's the suburbs. No one takes care of anything themselves if they can pay someone else to do it for them." Then, acting as if it had just occurred to her, Beth added, "plus, it's Halloween, which means nobody was home tonight. Everybody would have been down at the park at the block trunk-or-treat party. Well, everybody except Dean."
"Why would you say that," the junior detective asked.
Oh so casually… like it was obvious information that everyone knew, Beth replied, "oh, Dean never attends any of those neighborhood events. He always said he felt awkward, because we didn't have kids, but I think it's really because we couldn't afford it… at least, not in a manner that would support the image of a successful car salesman that Dean needed the neighbors to see. If they realized that his business was in the red, that he had pretty much bankrupted us in order to try and bail out the dealership, they'd stop buying their cars from him, making the problem even worse, not to mention humiliating him. I'm sure he thought it was better to be seen as rude than broke." Rolling her eyes, she feigned dark amusement, "it's ironic, you know, that someone with motive and opportunity was able to baselessly implicate somebody else simply because he was white and he pointed the finger at a man who wasn't."
Before the cops could address Beth's comment, Rio somewhat shifted the topic. "Twelve houses doesn't seem random to me. Can you tell us who was robbed? I mean, it'll be in the papers anyway, won't it?"
"Until we finish our preliminary investigation, I'm afraid we cannot share that information." After a brief pause, the older detective hedged, "unless... that number means something to you or you have some other insight that you could share with us."
Rio looked over at Beth, the move signaling that the decision was hers. She returned his glance, bit her lip, and then peered hesitantly back at the cops. "I'm sure it's just a coincidence."
"Why don't you let us be the judge of that," the lead encouraged.
"Well, it's just…," Beth paused, twisting her fingers together nervously. "I wasn't the first to cheat. I suspected Dean of having affairs during practically our entire marriage. But four months ago, I found proof. There were all of these credit card charges for stores I'd never been to, restaurants I'd never even heard of, things we didn't have. Of course, my first thought was fraud, but Dean was paying the bill minimums without question. So, I started digging. My husband was spending a small fortune - money we definitely didn't have - on take out and expensive wine, perfume and bath products, lingerie - all in sizes I couldn't wear. A dozen different sizes."
"Ma'am, are you accusing Dean Boland of breaking into and then robbing twelve of his neighbors' homes tonight?"
Looking directly into the older cop's hard stare, Beth quietly answered, "that's not my place, Detective. I'm telling you that Rio Herrera could not and did not break into and then rob twelve homes in Northville this evening. I'm expressing my disappointment that the Detroit Police Department would allow bias and resentment to drive its criminal investigations. And I am advising you to take a closer look at what, for this particular case, motivated your source to throw suspicion elsewhere." After taking a deep, bracing breath, Beth exhaled and then reached for the open door, "if that is all, I'd like the chance to salvage what is left of my evening, and I think the two of you have a job to do. Hopefully, this time, you manage to actually do some genuine police work and not somebody else's dirty work."
Without waiting for a response, Beth politely shut and locked the door.
When everything was said and done, it wouldn't matter if Dean was arrested for and charged with the twelve counts of robbery. Beth and Rio would learn the next day if the job proved lucrative enough to finance his new business venture. Either way, they knew their next course of action, and the groundwork had been laid to protect them. All that mattered was that the police could never prove their involvement. Between their solid alibis, the professionalism of Rio's men, and Dean's personal and financial indiscretions, Beth felt confident that they had gotten away with their crimes.
As for any sort of need or desire for revenge, she already had it. Beth was getting her divorce. She had both security and excitement. She had opportunities for what felt like the first time in her life. She had Rio, and in less than seven months, she'd have their child, too. Dean, on the other hand, had nothing but a bunch of meaningless affairs and a destroyed reputation. Even if he never officially became a suspect, he was still ruined in the court of public opinion. With the pending divorce and the increased scrutiny on him and everyone else in her old neighborhood, it was only a matter of time before Dean's secrets would be revealed, his cheating - the act itself and who he cheated with - and his bad business practices becoming common knowledge.
"Damn, Elizabeth," Rio moaned. Suddenly, he was in front of her - one hand on her hip, walking her backwards towards their bed, while the other worked his shorts off to the floor. He wore nothing underneath the mesh fabric, and it should have only been a matter of a slight push to get him completely naked, but Rio had to contend with his huge, straining cock, and it was obvious that, while his mind was on his dick, on getting it inside of her as quickly as possible, need and desire were overriding any other considerations. "I didn't think it was possible for me to want you more than I did in that doctor's office tonight, but after watchin' you just now?"
He licked his lips, sucking the lower one into his mouth before releasing it with an obscene pop. Rio's eyes dragged along her body, greedily taking her all in. Even completely dressed still, his appreciation was blatant and arousing. "If you don't take me all the way into that tight, wet pussy within the next thirty seconds, I'm gonna cum on the first bare piece of your skin that my cock can find, yeah?" Beth immediately started stripping, throwing her clothes off and moving as fast as she could without tearing her eyes from Rio's. "Your stomach, your tits, your back, your ass, your face. I need to fuck you so bad and cum so hard that I might just paint all of you with my seed. But you don't want that, do you, Mami?"
Finally reaching the edge of the bed, Beth crawled onto the luxuriously large and unbelievably comfortable mattress, scooting back until her head met the pillows and spreading her legs as wide as they could go in invitation, in offering, in submission, in insistence. "No, you want me to cum inside of you," Rio answered his own question. Fisting and pumping his cock, he climbed onto the bed, kneeling before her. "You're already full of me. Got my baby inside of you. But you still want more; you always want more. Because you're just as greedy for my cock, for my cum, as I am for your sweet, lush, thirsty cunt."
"Yes," Beth moaned out, feeling the liquid of her need trickling out of her center - her pussy lips clenching on nothing in her desperation to be filled by Rio. And he knew it, too. He knew that, despite being able to fantasize about what she wanted him to do to her and recall what he had already done, she burned with embarrassment when she tried to voice those same thoughts. But hearing the words, the promises of what was to come, from Rio's sensual mouth turned Beth on so much, aroused her to the point where Rio had wondered out loud if he could get her to cum from the sound of his voice alone. He threatened to try it someday, too, but luckily, Beth realized, as he took hold of her hips and started to sink inside of her, Rio denying her his cock, his fingers, his mouth and tongue wasn't going to happen that night.