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Nervously, she glanced over at me again as the prosecution began to speak, outlining in their opening statements what I was being accused of. I barely heard them. And Taylor wasn't paying much attention either. There were no notes being scribbled in her cheap, lined pad. Her eyes kept flickering towards me and then darting away guiltily, but she didn’t say anything. She didn’t raise her hand and tell the foreman that she knew me...intimately. She didn’t ask to be excused. Instead, Taylor sat there with the hands that had been curled around my cock only a few days ago, crossed demurely in her lap.
And that’s how she came across. Demure. Butter wouldn’t melt sweet. Not that I was fooled by women who looked like that. Even before Taylor had blipped to life on my radar, I had been surrounded by women like that. First Darcie had ensnared the young biker Havoc with her English accent before needing to be saved, and then there was Keeley who had made a born crime boss chase her for years. I liked both of those women. I liked them a lot and respected them even more because under all their femininity, they were stronger than most men I knew. Maybe that was why I found Taylor so captivating, because she reminded me of them. Not in looks, but in her whole mannerism. Taylor was good. And Gio was right when he had once told me that men like us needed some goodness in our lives. Still, unlike them, I wasn’t in love with Taylor. I wasn’t even sure a man like me was capable of feeling anything but vague interest.
Taylor interested me, and the feel of her tight body underneath mine had been heaven on earth, but that’s as far as it went. Lust and interest and the need to walk out of this courtroom a free man. A gasp caught my attention. A breathy, girly sound that I had heard before. Taylor had made similar sounds when I had taken her to my hotel room. The moment my tongue had touched the tender skin between her thighs, she had let out an eerily similar sound. Surprise had taken her. And it happened again as the prosecution started to wax lyrical about all the heinous crimes I had been accused of in the past. I didn’t say a word. That wasn’t my job. But the woman next to me was quick to respond, reminding the room that I had never been found guilty of any charges brought against me in the past. I smiled. I would have liked a more aggressive attorney, but Gio had insisted. And I had to agree. She was good for my image. After all, if such a tiny old woman wasn’t scared of me, then why should they be?
I smiled at the jurors, trying to keep an almost apologetic look on my face. It was only when my eyes landed on Taylor’s again that I let the smile become something more. I looked at her and with my eyes alone, forced her to remember the feel of my hands on her. If the sudden flush in her cheeks was anything to go by, she did remember, as vividly as I did. Settling myself back, I relaxed. Gio had nothing to worry about. Even if his back–up plan never came to anything, I knew Taylor would never speak out against me, and if she did? Who would believe her? A jilted lover.
As a very last resort, I could always… I shook the thought away. She wouldn’t put me away, so I didn’t need to think about those things. It was much better to spend my time thinking of other, much nicer memories of her. Like how she had felt when I dragged her up onto her hands and knees and pressed myself into her body from behind. How she had purred as I let my fingers play over her clit as I filled her.
The taste of her. The feel of her. Even the memories were intoxicating. I shifted in my seat, fixing myself under the table, but not once did I let my eyes leave her face. She knew what I was thinking because she was being racked with the same memories. I might be getting turned on by them, but not Taylor. She was questioning herself. Her judgement, her taste, but mostly she was trying to work out what my game was and whether she had been in any danger.
She was in danger, not her life of course, but because when I was done with her, she would be ruined for all others. No one else would even come close and if they did…well, if they did, then there were ways of dealing with them. I didn’t share and Taylor Lawson was about to realise that I didn’t lose either.
It happened like clockwork. The mumbling, the rustling of papers. Gio had come through for me like I knew he would, but then I should have never doubted him. I had a moment of sympathy for whatever fool had agreed to be the fall guy, but it was short–lived. The case would be adjourned until the police could look into the new evidence and the prosecution could decide whether to continue or not. At the very least, that would give me a little time to put the rest of my plan into action.
Catching Taylor's eyes, I smiled.
TAYLOR
Ikept it together until I stumbled down the steps of the courthouse. I don’t know what new evidence was given to the judge that made him halt proceedings, and I didn’t care much. I had heard enough, though. Horrible, despicable things that turned my stomach. But I couldn’t link what I was hearing with the man who sat just across the room from me, or the man I had spent the night with. It wasn’t even that he hadn't been demanding and bossy that night because he had, but he hadn't made me feel uncomfortable. Surely if he had been some dangerous killer, then I would have felt uneasy at least? I prided myself on my instincts. Had I been totally wrong about him? Had I been intimate with a killer? Or worse, had he singled me out because he knew somehow, I would end up sitting on the jury for his case?
Hell, had I been in danger? Was I still? The thought made me feel sick.
No, I forced myself to suck in a great lungful of calming air. I fell into a sitting position on the curb, my head in my hands as I tried to compose myself. It must have been a coincidence. My hands fumbling, I reached into my bag for the letter that he had left on the nightstand. I didn’t need to read the words because I had them memorised. It had to be some mistake. No killer could write such beautiful words. It just wasn’t possible. Which meant the Judge was an innocent man.
Either that or I wasn't as good at reading people as I thought I was.
I wanted to believe he was a good man, and that I hadn't been daydreaming over a killer for the last week, but the doubt was there, niggling hard at my thoughts. Because what if I was wrong? What if, what if?
I groaned, shaking my head and forced myself to my feet. It didn’t really matter what I believed. The jury would either find him guilty or not depending on the evidence, but I knew I couldn’t be on that jury. Not anymore, not now that I knew him personally. I had to turn around and go back into the courtroom and explain to them. Hesitating, I stared up at the closed doors. I knew what I should do, but my feet wouldn’t move. I couldn’t bring myself to go back in there and admit what had happened between me and the Judge. Even if it was the right thing to do, I couldn’t do it.
Monday, I would do it Monday. Or maybe email someone over the weekend. I would explain and then I could put all of this mess behind me. Innocent or not, I had to put the Judge out of my head.
Holding my bag in front of me like it was some kind of shield, I headed towards the nearest tube station with my head down. But I couldn’t get my mind off of him. It didn't matter how much I tried. The Judge, that’s what they called him. I giggled without thinking. And more than one person turned to look quizzically at me. I ignored them all. The Judge, what a strange name. Somewhere in the court opening, his real name was mentioned, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what it was. I would have to ask him when I next saw him.
The thought made me pause. I couldn’t ask him because I wasn’t going to see him again. Not outside the courtroom, anyway. Even the romantic in me knew that this wasn’t some romance novel. This wasn’t some situation where we would live happily ever after. Whether The Judge was innocent of this particular crime or not, he was connected to some very dangerous people. Very, very dangerous people if the attorneys had been telling the truth. I didn’t have any room in my simple life for that. Not if I wanted all my dreams to come true.
Making my way towards the tube station, I lost myself in the crowds that thronged the street. It was so easy to do that in this city, and it gave me a chance to gather my thoughts around me. I was in sight of the station when my phone began to ring. The loud, incessant rings made me jump. Coming to a stop so suddenly that the man behind me bumped into my shoulder, I reached into my bag for it without really looking. My attention was on the man who had just shoulder barged me.
Tall, dark–haired, expensive suit. He would have looked like a thousand other London professionals on any other day, but today, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that I had seen him before. The width of his shoulders was so familiar. I stared at his retreating back, bringing my phone to my ear. But I barely heard Annie's excited chatter, not until she screamed my name loud enough to force the phone away from my ear with a grimace.
“Taylor, are you listening to me?”
“Yeah, I mean no. Can you repeat that?”
“Drinks at Kudos. I won a damn competition, and we are going to PARTY.” She screamed down the phone, causing me to grimace again. It sounded very much like she had started the party without me. There was a certain slur to her speech that only came when she’d already had one too many cocktails.
“I don’t know, Annie. The last time I went out drinking…” I faltered, and the words died on my lips. Annie was my best friend, but I couldn’t tell her right then that the man I’d had the best sex of my life with was the man who was on trial. A suspected murderer. I would tell her, of course. But in private, when I had worked out my own feelings on the matter.
“Don’t want to hear your excuses, Taylor. Get your ass here.”
I searched for the man's grey suit in the sea of other grey suits and came back blank. He was gone. Clearly, I was being paranoid. No one was following me. Why would they be? “Fine, I'll be there as soon as I can.” Maybe having a drink with my friends was just what I needed to forget about the mess that was my life right now. It sure sounded better than sitting in my tiny flat with only my thoughts for company.
* * *
Club Kudos was the hippest and most sought–after hang out place in the city and it was next to impossible to get into. I knew because Annie had been trying for months. How she had managed to get a VIP table on a Friday night I didn’t know, but I was glad she had. The place was stunning. With low moody lights, it screamed elegance with a perfect mixture of old and new. At least it would have screamed elegance if the first thing I saw when I walked through the door wasn’t my best friend, clearly already drunk, dancing on the table.
And no one said a word. No security came to drag her down. No management kicked us out. They didn’t even bother looking in her direction. It was like we were invisible.
