Jameson Hotel - the Dark Suite Series: Parts One, Two & Three (13 page)

“I’m not in the mood
to fuck. Start packing your shit so we can leave.”

I roll on top of him
and press his head firmly into the pillow. “Wussy ingrate. Who cares if
you’re
not in the mood? Don’t you think
I deserve to get laid after killing
Dayne
last
night?”

“Get the fuck off
me!” His fist makes contact with my chest and then hits me square in the jaw,
swinging frantically to be released. I set him free and laugh as he hurdles out
of bed.

“Damn it, Mark, you
bastard. How the fuck did you get in here? Where are
Soph
and the kids? What the hell time is it?”

He stomps off and
slams the door of the bathroom, swearing up a storm as he takes a piss.

“They went for a
swim,” I call out. “Get dressed so we can have breakfast.”

“Fuck no!” He
flushes and opens the door. “Why?”

“Jesus Christ,
because we’re family, that’s why. Don’t you want to shoot the shit before you
race away to your enchanted little life in St. Louis?”

“Not really.”

I walk to the
bathroom and lean against the doorframe, watching him stare into the mirror,
sighing, and then starting to trim and shave his facial hair. His hands shake,
either from the alcohol or because he needs to chill after I just scared the
shit out of him.

“You
gonna
look like your old self again?”

“I only grew a beard
while in your captivity. Now that I’m free, I can...”

“Alright, buddy,” I
cut him off, “I can tell you’re being an ass to cover your embarrassment. But
let me tell you something. Sophia knew you weren’t man enough to take control
of the situation and this time she turned to her big bro instead of her
husband. Grow a pair and get over it.”

“Your giant ego has
smothered your ability to think clearly. My wife knows full well I can protect
my family.”

“Ah-huh.” I grin.

“Mark, we’re here
because we knew if anything got fucked up that someone would go to prison, and
Soph
said that person should definitely be you and not me.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s the truth,”
he says. “Sad, isn’t it? That we’d throw you under the bus to save ourselves.”

“See, that’s
disrespectful.”

“Yep.” He gets
dressed and runs his fingers through his hair. “I’m assuming you’ve already
told Sophia you want to eat breakfast together?”

“She said she
couldn’t wait.”

“I bet.” He shakes
his head and douses his wrists with cologne.

“Did you ever tell
the kids about
Dayne
?” I ask.

“Fuck no.” I’m given
a look like I’m crazy.

“Well, one of them
warned me with a flashlight the other night that I was in danger, because a
split second after the flashlight turned off,
Dayne’s
red sight was on my chest. They must know something.”

“I’m sure it was a
coincidence. They think we’re on a primitive skills vacation.”

I chuckle. “That’s
what you told them? And primitive skills involves playing video games?”

“They play hunting
games. We did the best we could. Look, they don’t need to hear about this shit
with
Dayne
or about your fucking father, ever. I’d
hate for them to have nightmares. I told them the gunshots were an accident
from a hunter. They’re innocent boys. Only a few years younger...”

He stops
mid-sentence and sighs then grabs his wallet from the dresser. I know exactly
what he was about to say. His kids are only a few years younger than he was
when my father raped him.

I place my hand on
his back for comfort as we make our way out of the suite, but he does his usual
brush off and steps away.

“They’re still
little boys,” he whispers. “And as long as I’m alive, my children will remain
untainted and unaware of Paul Jameson’s disgusting life as well as your present
gruesome way of living.”

I’m silent as he
locks the door. I should remind him that they sprouted from a Jameson. They’re
already infected with Jameson blood, but I’d rather not get into it with him
before breakfast.

“I’ll meet you down
there. Say you’re with me and my staff will put you in one of the private
eating areas overlooking the lake.”

I turn and see Jules
coming out of her room as Cove walks away.

I bet she’s tired of
waiting. She sashays toward me and is already dressed for work, looking radiant
as always, wearing the new heels and short tight skirt I just bought her,
carrying her Jameson sport jacket, and flaunting dark red lipstick. It’s my
favorite ‘bend her over the desk, grip her hair, and fuck her doggy style’ type
of outfit. And when we meet in the corridor, my eyes drop immediately to the
cleavage emerging from her blouse before gifting her a kiss on the cheek.

“I love how your
eyes devour me like I’m a piece of chocolate cake,” she says.

“You’re more like a
mouthwatering steak dinner and a flavorsome glass of red wine. Meat that
expands my cock and alcohol that warms my heart.”

 
She laughs and follows me to the restaurant.
“That was one of the nastiest and yet most romantic things you’ve ever said to
me.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“I meant, thank you
for everything this morning. I’m still amazed that you did all that shit for
me.”

“No problem,” she
says again before changing the subject. “Do you have French toast on the menu?”

“It’s a breakfast
buffet, so yes... Jules?”

“Hmm?” She locks her
arm around mine as we walk side-by-side.

I want to tell her
that I think we were made for one another, but it comes out all wrong. “I think
you’re a bit fucked in the head.”

She sighs and passes
along a scornful look. “Speaking of fucked in the head, I think I’ll start
calling you pie face.”

“Well, speaking of
pie face, I want you to meet my sister.”

“Really?” She seems
genuinely excited as I hold open the door to the restaurant.

“Yes, all of her,
not just her head baked into a pie.”

“The pie face
comment was just a joke.” She grins.

“I know.”

The hostess leads us
to one of the private dining areas where a pitcher of juice and a carafe of
coffee are already on the table. Sophia is spreading jam on a piece of toast
while her kids are using the butter knives to have a mini sword fight.

“Who’s the ho, Uncle
Mark?”
Daxton
asks.

“
Dax
,”
Sophia says. “That’s impolite. How do you know that word?”

“It’s in the video
game you gave us. Bitches and hos, bitches and hos!” he says as my sister
closes her eyes and shakes her head.

“Looks like you’re
the one who fucked up this time,” I laugh at her.

“Mark, watch the
language,” she says hypocritically.

“Just let it go. You
can’t keep your kids from swearing. It’s unrealistic,” I say. “And if you just
let them say whatever the hell they want, they’ll eventually tire of using
those words.”

“Like you?” Jules
cuts in.

Sophia puts out her
hand with a smirk and says, “I like you. I’m Sophia, Mark’s sister.”

“Jules,” she
responds as they shake.

“These are my sons,
Daxton
and Xavier.” She wipes their wavy dark hair from
their foreheads and the two flash exaggerated smiles, showing dimples and white
teeth. Fuck, they look so much like Cove. However, they do have my sister’s
eyes, the eyes of my father.

We sit and I ask the
boys to get us each a plate of French toast and a hardboiled egg. They dash
happily toward the buffet table, shirtless, with dripping wet shorts and only
socks on their feet. Kids that age don’t understand seasonal changes.

“Dad! You shaved the
vagina off your face,” Xavier shouts from a distance as Cove enters the room
carrying the local newspaper. He nods toward his son and smiles apologetically
to the guests before joining us in the back room at the table.

“My handsome
husband’s back,” Sophia says dotingly. “Looking good, Babe.”

He takes one of the
Mariposa Lilies from the middle of the table and sets it in front of his wife.
“Thanks, Dove,” he responds with his favorite nickname for her before looking
questionably over at Jules.

“I’m Jules.”

“Cove,” he says
while glancing at his kids. “
Soph
, we’re leaving this
afternoon. My parents are getting back from their cruise in two days and our
managers can’t run our bar forever. Besides, the kids need to get their asses
back in school.”

“No they don’t. I’m
going to continue homeschooling them until December. They can go back after the
holidays. And you know we probably won’t be able to get a flight for a day or
two.”

I laugh, unaware my
sister was
teaching
her kids at home.

“What, Mark?” she
says defensively. “I graduated from Temple University, remember? I know a thing
or two about fourth grade math and science and other
things
.”

“I don’t care about
your degree. They still need to be in school for peer interaction, if nothing
else.”

“Anyway,” Cove cuts
in. “If there’s anything left to discuss....” He pauses and looks at Jules.

“It’s okay,” I say.
“We can talk in front of her. She knows.”

“Knows what?” Cove
raises his voice.

“Mark, what did you
do?” Sophia sets her fork down with an evil eye. “What did you tell her?”

“I overheard
everything last night,” she explains. “I’m fine with it.”

“Fine with what?” My
sister questions with distrust.

“You know... the
Dayne
situation. It’s okay. I understand.”

“You don’t
understand
jackshit
,” Cove snaps. “Mark, you asshole.
What the fuck’s going on with you? This is yet another thing we need to deal
with.”

I pull out my blade
and slam it into the middle of the wooden table, demanding silence in the room.
Startled and on guard, they straighten their backs and tighten their lips.
“Stop bitching. I’m tired of it,” I seethe. “Nothing needs
fixing
. Not me, or this situation. If I trust the woman sitting
next to me then that should be good enough for the two of you. Fuck. You know
me better than that. For Christ’s sake, she cleaned up the blood in the
garage.”

Jules laughs as she
pulls my blade from the table and places it in front of me. “What are you going
to do, knife your family?” She smiles. “They just met me, Mark. Give them some
time. There’s no need to exaggerate your tough guy attitude just to impress
me.”

“Holy shit,” Cove
whispers, waiting for me to strike.

“Wow.” Sophia covers
her ears, knowing full well I’m not going to let another person dominate this
table.

But I say nothing.

“Mark?” My sister
prods me to respond.

“As I was saying...”
I continue and ignore what just occurred. Jules will be punished in private for
that one later.

“The two of you can
trust her and we’ll leave it at that.”

“You mean we can
trust her for as long as you do.” Cove shakes his head. “And what happens when
you get tired of her? Are you
gonna
take her for a ride in your boat? How many bodies do you have in that Lake
anyway?”

“Did you put
Dayne
in the Lake?” Jules whispers.

“Some friendly
advice,” Cove stands and looks for the boys then turns back to Jules, “get out
now. Take off on a bus and start over. Don’t look back, just get as far away
from this fucker as you can.” He pauses and searches the room with his eyes.
“Where the hell are
Dax
and
Xav
?”

Sophia looks around
then points toward the opposite end of the restaurant at the back window. “
Ug
, they’re swimming in the pool again. Bring them inside,
please. They need to eat.”

Cove tosses the
newspaper on the table then takes the towel from the back of the chair and
walks away.

“What blood in the
garage and what bodies?” Sophia leans closer to me. “What the hell, Mark? I
wish someone would fill me in. I’m the only one who doesn’t know what
happened.”

“Oh, you should’ve
seen it,” Jules says in an animated tone. “There was a whole bunch of blood
from
Dayne
on the garage floor and more leading to
Mark’s truck, not to mention the smears in his truck bed.”

“Stop,” I raise my
hand, “that’s enough.”

“Fine, I’ll just ask
Cove for the details later,” Sophia sighs, picking at her food before she turns
to Jules. “How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.”

Twenty-two?
Sophia mouths to me.