Dutch chocolate 9, p.24
Dutch Chocolate 9, page 24
Maybelline gave Hillary a sharp, hard look. Hillary’s words had a ring of truth as they always did. Her son had refused to come with her to see about his sister’s health. She cleared her throat. “What say you, Marsha? Do we let her see Vita or not?”
Marsha’s cellphone notified her of a text, which she read, and cussed again. “Son of a bitch. He’s just now telling me about your reassignment.”
“Hey, you’re in the boonies like you wanted in order to raise a family. You know that takes you out of the loop most of the time, Sharpie.” Hillary studied her once upon a time handler. They almost had a thing going on until Sharpie won’t allow it to go anywhere.
“I take it you’re still a loner.”
Hillary shrugged. “You know it’s better that way.”
“Why the need to see the Kane woman again?” Marsha asked.
Hillary rubbed her neck. “To revisit what could have been with us.”
Marsha flushed bright red. “You’re out of line, Jones.”
“Am I, Sharpie? I remember a time when women and sometimes men were your thing. Does he know about that?”
Marsha nodded. “I told him everything about me. For nearly eighteen months, he stayed home and played Mr. Mom with the triplets while I went to work in the city. Even now, he’s still babysits. He plays with them and still can’t discipline them like I can. He built the house we live in up here, Hilly.”
Hillary studied Marsha, noting the glow in her eyes. “And you love him.”
“Yes, I do.”
Maybelline interrupted. “Sharpie, we escort her down to the med-RV. We monitor her. We keep her away from everybody. In and out.”
Marsha shrugged. “In and then out, Jones.”
Minutes later, Hillary walked into the med-RV. She went straight to the rear just as Sharpie directed. She found two beds. Vita Kane occupied one bed. May’s daughter occupied the other one. She walked over to the daughter’s bed first. She studied Tanya, noting the bruising and swelling on her face, hands and arms. Tanya moved around in her sleep. The gown moved up to her hips. It shifted in the front, revealing the catheter insert and the bandaging keeping her arms stiffly against her sides. She adjusted Tanya’s gown, making sure it covered the important parts of the young woman. Then she pulled the covers up to the elastic bandage around her ribcage.
“Somebody beat the hell out of you, Little Tee,” Hillary’s rumbling low voice remarked.
Tanya frowned in her sleep. “Mom?” She struggled to open her eyes.
“Rest, kid. Just close your eyes and rest,” Hillary whispered. She walked over to Vita’s bed and smiled. The swelling around Vita’s eyes wasn’t quite as bad today as when she saw her days ago. She would love to check her belly and chest to see if her injuries were as bad as she thought they might be. There was no way to do that without her permission. When she cleared her throat, Vita’s eyes popped open.
“You? What are you doing here? How did you find me? Who are you anyway?” Vita asked, frowning at the corrections officer.
“My real name is Hillary Jones.”
“Your real name?” Vita’s frown grew deeper. “That implies you have fake names too.”
“I do.” Hillary watched Vita’s frown grow deeper still.
“Are you really a corrections officer?”
Hillary sighed. “Sometimes.”
Vita’s eyes grew larger. She examined Hillary’s face again “Sometimes? Sometimes? OMG, you’re undercover! For who … who do you work for?”
“Look, I just came by to check on you. Did you see a doctor? What did he say about your injuries?”
“You know I did. I mean, look at this place. It’s a mini hospital.”
Hillary studied Vita. Then she sat down in one of the chairs. “You nearly fainted inside. Your belly and ribcage were severely bruised. How are you now?”
“I’m not fainting anymore. My belly hurts every time I breathe. So do my ribs.”
“If it hurts so much, why don’t you just stop breathing?” Hillary remarked with a twinkle in her eyes.
“Ha, ha, very funny.” Vita sighed. “If I asked you to help me to the bathroom, would you do it and not make a big deal?”
Hillary looked uncomfortable and rubbed her neck. She sighed then came over and pushed the bed railing down. “Place your arms around my neck and I’ll carry you there and back.”
“I can walk.”
“Don’t be stubborn. Arms around my neck.” Hillary slid her hands underneath Vita’s hips and lifted her easily then carried her to the bathroom. She set Vita down in front of the toilet seat. She noticed the boxers when she pulled up Vita’s gown. She pulled them down and helped Vita settle on the toilet. “Tell me when you’re ready to get back into bed.” Then she closed the door for privacy.
“Ow! Ouch! O-o-o-o-oh, it burns when I pee,” Vita complained.
“It’s either the meds or the boxers rubbed into your stuff while you slept. Want me to look when you come out?”
“Humph!”
“Yes or no?”
Vita patted herself dry, gasping at the burning sensation again. “Ready.”
“Let’s try something that worked for me.” Hillary grabbed a washcloth soaked it in cold water. “Open your legs.”
When Vita did, Hillary pressed the icy cloth directly on her vaginal lips. In response, Vita grabbed on to Hillary’s brown crewcut-shaped hairstyle then gasped. “God, that’s freezing.” She kept playing with Hillary’s hair until the cloth grew warmer. “Your hair is thick but coarse.”
“That describes me perfectly.”
“Thick but coarse?”
Hillary nodded. “Yep, that’s me.” She removed the cloth and stood up. “Once more?”
Vita nodded. “Please. I need to sit, though.”
Hillary rinsed the cloth and ran ice cold water over it. “You could sit on my lap. I could hold it against you.”
“Are you my guardian angel? There were times in there when I felt somebody was looking out for me,” Vita asked as she settled on Hillary’s muscular thighs and then relaxed back against a warm, sturdy chest. Gentle fingers opened her lips to press the icy washcloth against them. “I can feel your heart beating against my head. It’s beating fast.”
“That’s because you excite me a great deal. More than most women I’ve met.”
“Oh?”
“I had to come here to see you before they sent me on another assignment.”
“Providing medical treatment is your idea of excitement?”
“What would you have me do? You’re injured. Your stuff burns. I’m sure if we stripped you naked, I’d see even darker bruises on your belly and probably your chest. They probably hurt too.” She looked down into the hospital’s gown. She could see rosy red-brown nipples hardening. “Your nipples are quite beautiful when they get hard. They make me want to suck them to find out if they’re sweet or tart.” She sighed then shifted on the toilet seat.
“Is it me or is something growing underneath my hips?”
“It’s your imagination. It’s got to be,” Hillary whispered. “Anything more and I’d want you to straddle me and see where that took us.”
Minutes later, Hillary had pulled her own jeans and boxers down to the ankles. Then she helped Vita remove her borrowed knit boxers. They’d found KY jelly in the medicine cabinet. Vita applied it to the stiff, thick clit wiggling underneath her hands. Hillary lifted Vita then settled her on the tip, allowing gravity and Vita’s weight to move her downward. She squeezed her eyes shut. “Oh Lordy. You feel so good. I haven’t. Been too long.” She couldn’t help it. When Vita placed her bandaged hands around her neck, she thrust gently upward into the wonderful heat of Vita’s vagina. She shifted her thighs and shoved deeper then moved out only to shove into Vita again. She kissed Vita’s sore lips tenderly until Vita grabbed her collar to yank her closer then jammed her tongue deeper.
They both moaned aloud their sexual attraction then showed it.
Vita looked down, watching Hillary’s stiff dark pink clit push up between her maple thighs. She was desperate to see her lover’s sturdy chest. Bandaged hands or not, she managed to unzip the quilted vest of Hillary’s uniform. Her black tie was yanked off. The blue uniform shirt came off next and lastly the thermal shirt and bra with it. Hillary’s beige chest was muscular. However, her full, firm breasts with their rosy nipples provided a stark contrast to the rest of her muscular body. She leaned in and sucked on Hillary’s full breast like a baby and imagined she drew a little milk.
“Mmm, your nips taste good,” Vita whispered.
“OMG! That’s a sensitive spot. Oh, Pretty Baby,” Hillary murmured. She grabbed on to Vita’s shoulders to thrust into Vita’s vagina deeper. “Suck harder. Gonna make me come, Pretty Baby. Suck harder. Twist ‘em if you want. Wanna make you come too. Huh. Huh. Huh. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Pretty Baby, can I fuck you hard?”
Vita moaned her answer. “Yes, please.” She met Hillary’s upward movements, thrust with thrust for thrust so deep and slick too. “Too hot,” she whispered. “Take off my gown.” She leaned up to jam her tongue into Hillary’s waiting lips.
They moved mutually up and down like a seesaw then in and out.
They remained joined when Hillary helped Vita pull off the hospital gown. Her eyes lingered on the deeply bruised area of Vita’s belly and ribs. She issued a regret-filled sigh. “Aw, Pretty Baby, I’m sorry I couldn’t prevent the hurts.”
Vita stared into intense eyes. “I’m alive to fight another day. I didn’t think I would be.”
“Tell me if this hurts you.” Hillary lightly fingered marvelous maple-colored breasts that were larger than her own. She watched Vita’s eyes close with pleasure then she bit carefully into her lower lip. “You like?” Vita nodded silently. She licked one nipple and then the other until both were slick and shiny from her tongue. When she sucked hard, Vita moaned. Her vagina throbbed then her vaginal muscles contracted and released, rippling up and down Hillary’s fat clit. It was enough to make juicy juice. “Coming, Pretty Baby,” Hillary stopped sucking to whisper hoarsely.
Vita didn’t need to answer. Her educated, throbbing vagina did the talking for her. Minutes later, she watched Hillary, the pretend corrections officer, pulling up her boxers and her uniform’s navy slacks. “Will I see you again, ever?”
Hillary turned around to study Vita with intense eyes. “Do you want to? They said you and the kid were going to be a thing.”
“Who’s they?” Vita asked, wondering if her assumptions were correct.
“My bosses.”
“I’m guessing here. Would your bosses be DC Dodge or Special Agent Sharpe-Pirelli?”
“May earlier in my career. Sharpie now.”
Vita’s eyes widened. “Both of them?” She watched as Hillary nodded.
“Are you and her going to be thing?”
Vita sighed. “I thought so months ago. The thought of all that seriousness scared me. I came up here to think things through.”
Hillary stared at Vita. “Nope. You ran away from Tanya. In age, she’s a kid. In here,” she pointed to her head, “she’s not.” She pointed below the waist. “Here, I never had the pleasure, but you did. She surprised you, didn’t she? As I recall, she was a very determined kid. I bet she even asked how she could improve her swagger.” She chuckled, watching the blush creep up Vita’s cheeks. “She’s a human sponge. She absorbs everything, or she wants to. Under the right trainer, she could be a glorious woman, wife and mother. The wrong woman could hurt her deeply. She’d probably never recover from it.”
“I’m not anybody’s trainer. I’m far too old to bear the grandkids DC Dodge wants.” Vita exhaled. “She has a son. Let him do his duty as a son and give her an heir.”
“He’s an asshole! The world doesn’t deserve another one, not even a little baby one.” Hillary continued to stare at Vita. “I don’t scare you because we both love pleasure. We understand each other. I won’t ask for anything else. You won’t give me anything else.”
“You’re saying that I won’t see you again.”
Hillary grinned at Vita and then winked at her. “The next time you go down for murder, you just might.” She bent down. “Arms around my neck.” She noted Vita’s stubborn reluctance. “Just do it.” When she brought Vita back to the main room, they both discovered Tanya awake, and watching them.
“Hilly Jones? What the hell are you doing here?” Tanya broke into a wide grin as she chuckled. “Did my mother call you?”
“Not exactly. I was working a case undercover.”
Tanya noted how Hillary carried Vita into the room and tucked her into the bed. “Working at what? Or is it a secret assignment?”
“I met Vita in the corrections system.”
Tanya nodded. “Whose idea was it, my mother’s or somebody else’s?”
“I haven’t worked for your mom in years. I’m at the FBI now. My handler had me watch out for Vita while she was in there.”
“I’d say congrats on the assignment, except look at her, Hilly. She got the shit beat out of her in your effing prison system. Some effing looking out you did!”
Hands balled into fists, Hillary strode over to Tanya’s bed. “Fuck you, Rookie Detective! You don’t know shit.”
“If I could use my hands, I’d kick the shit out of you right now.”
“Go back to sleep, Rookie. Get your rest. You deserve it,” Hillary muttered. She could see how Tanya was fighting the drugs in her system. She reached out to stroke Tanya’s forehead. “Stop fighting the meds, Little Tee. Relax. Let them take you away from your pain, your cares and troubles.”
“Need to talk to you. Noises in room. Fucking noises?”
Hillary sighed. “Relax, Tee. Close your eyes and relax.” She continued to stroke Tanya’s forehead. She didn’t want to lie, but the kid was too weak to hear the truth right now. “It’s the meds. They make you hear things and see things.” She watched Tanya’s slight nod then her eyes drooped closed.
“Have to pee,” Tanya murmured. “Take me to the bathroom.”
“Go ahead, Little Tee. It’s okay. I won’t watch.” Hillary could hear the urine entering the bag. “Feel better now?”
“Wanna sleep.” Tanya began to snore until Hillary elevated the bed and the snoring stopped. Tanya sighed then began to sleep deeply.
“You’d make a good nurse,” Vita remarked, laughing.
“Nope, I draw the line at changing adult diapers and wiping adult behinds.” Hillary studied Vita again. “If she asks you to marry you,” she sighed, “tell her what we did first. If she still asks you, marry her, Vita.”
Twenty-eight: Where to do we go from here? Do you even know?
Marsha and Maybelline sat on the wraparound porch’s left side. They could easily see the med-RV as they sipped hot coffee with a little cream and ate some of Lottie’s famous biscuits. They were cold this time. Marsha glanced at her cellphone then rose from one of wooden outdoor chairs Bonita and G-Ma built with Ozzie and Angelo’s help. They’d made it from tree branches of a lightning-struck tree. It was the first one they’d made. It wasn’t so pretty but oh so very comfortable. They were working on another three chairs in the small barn they’d converted into a workshop behind the farmhouse. G-Ma did her weaving there or in the storage area at the craft shop. Ozzie, Dutch and Linda did their sketches and paintings there. Tony and Angelo sometimes brought the kids stayed there to knit baby things and try them on the kids.
“Exactly how long does it take for an in and out, Maybelline? Here’s my version. ‘Jones asks: How’re you doing? Then Vita says: I’m fine. Jones says: Well good. You seem fine. See you the next time you need protection. Bye.’ That took all of seventy-five seconds to say.”
Maybelline snorted and snickered. “Surely, you aren’t that naïve? You don’t really think they’re only talking, Marsha?”
Marsha rubbed her chin in thought before expressing one. “But your daughter is in there too.”
“Yes, and she’s heavily sedated. I very seriously doubt if she hears anything or understands what she hears or sees. Not that I think either one would do anything in front of my daughter. There’s always the bathroom.”
“OMG! OMG, Maybelline!” Marsha frowned at her new friend, then in a calmer voice remarked, “I thought you wanted a daughter-in-law and Vita was your perfect fit.”
“Tanya has to ask. Vita has to say yes.” Maybelline studied Marsha. “Hilly can be very persuasive when she wants to be. It’s one the qualities that makes a good undercover. As you know, another one is being a risktaker. A walking-on-the-narrowest-ledge risktaker.”
“Which we both know that she is. Why Vita Kane? What’s the attraction, Maybelline?”
“Loneliness is a bitch. Sometimes, you just need a brief interlude. Then you go back and do your job.” Maybelline exhaled loudly. “I believe Vita Kane played that role for our girl today.” She studied Marsha’s face until she bowed her head and looked at her boots. “Were you an interlude for Hilly once upon a time?” Maybelline asked softly.
“I … I.” Marsha sighed. “Was it that obvious?”
Maybelline held up a thumb and finger that almost touched. “A little bit, just a little bit. He doesn’t know about her, does he?”
“She was the woman who got away.” Marsha sighed. “I let her go because I wanted a decent career. I wanted her to have one as well. I knew she wouldn’t say anything. She knew I wouldn’t either.”
“Neither, will I.” Maybelline promised.
They both saw the front door of the med-RV open. Hillary Jones stepped outside. She spotted them on the porch and waved. Then she walked up the long driveway with an agent escort meeting her halfway.
Marsha sighed as she watched Hillary Jones’s long-legged, hip-rolling gait. “That’s it. A wave and a walk back to her car?”
“Why would you think she’d do more than wave? You’ve already told her that you’re happily married and with kids. That Angelo plays a major role in raising them. And you love him dearly for it.”
