Taboo Unchained(20)
“This morning,” I snarl out, tasting her fear on her lips. It's an absolutely heady concoction, melting over and consuming me. Miss Holiday wasn't afraid of Mark, of being raped, of having her person violated, but she sure is terrified of me now. I do my best not to smile. “I had a plan for Mark. A time, a place, a tried and true method. Now, I have DNA evidence slathered across my home and a street full of nosy neighbors. How the hell did you get in here anyway?”
“I stole a key off your ring,” Audra gasps, struggling for breath. Her cheeks redden and her hands come up to grip my wrists. With a sigh, I release her and step back, watching as she crumples to the floor.
“What a clever, little witch you are, Miss Holiday.” I straighten the sleeves of my jacket and turn towards the kitchen. My footsteps sound ridiculously loud in the ensuing silence, echoed only by Audra's labored breathing. A key off my ring. Hmm. Impressive. “It isn't easy to pull one over on me,” I admit, getting my best bottle of Chardonnay from the wine cooler and setting it on the counter. “Even more so to sneak into my back door with a body.” My mouth twitches and I hear Audra's heels moving across the floor towards me. I don't trust the bitch as far as I can throw her, so I keep her reflection locked in the window over the sink.
“I wasn't even that quiet,” she scoffs, and I have to really fight the urge to snatch the bottle in my hand and throw it at her. Instead, I pull the cork out and pour two glasses without spilling a single drop. “I wasn't even trying to be quiet. I was hoping you'd help me.” I raise my brow, but I don't turn around. My nightmares were worse than I thought. If she's telling the truth that is. She could simply be trying to pull the wool over my eyes. “Instead I had to pay some homeless guy to help me.” I almost break the stem on my wineglass.
“You invited a homeless man into my house? With a dead body in your possession. Audra Holiday, you are not a brilliant woman, are you?”
“Oh, fuck you, you arrogant sociopath.” My spine curls and my entire face gets so tight, the skin on my cheeks begins to ache. Sociopath. Hah. I only wish I were a sociopath. Psychopath would be the more likely term – although that, too, is debatable. I put the cork back in the wine bottle and grab both glasses, turning to face Audra with a neutral expression on my face. I hold out her glass and wait.
Audra's eyes flick back and forth, taking in my perfect kitchen, my Carrera marble countertops, my shaker cabinets, and my pot filler. Yes, I have a fucking pot filler. If there's one place in my life I want luxury and excess, it's in the fucking kitchen. Audra crosses one arm over her chest, propping up her ridiculously full breasts. It's doubtful she's wearing any sort of bra underneath that flimsy nothing. I wait, my arm perfectly still, the second wine glass frozen in the space between us. I don't worry that she won't come to me; she will. She already has.
“You were sleeping like a rock. I stood by your bed and stared at your face.”
“Try the Chardonnay. It's full bodied with an interesting mixture of almonds and honeyed citrus.” I swirl the glass under my nose. “I'm no expert, but I'd have to say the perfume is delectable, rather racy if I daresay.”
“Are you fucking insane?” Audra asks, her voice like velvet against my skin. I drink her fear in like wine, tasting it, swirling it around on my tongue as I breathe in the textured air between us. If my hands tighten imperceptibly on the stem of Audra's glass, who the fuck would know? My mouth twitches in irritation.
“Insane? My dear, you have quite the limited perspective.” The word slides from my mouth like poison. Audra leans her sultry form against the soft buttery yellow of my walls, the brightness of her hair and the slinky darkness of her dress almost tawdry in the cool white lighting. “You … paid a homeless man to drag a rapist's corpse into my living room. While I slept. If we have a contest for crazy, I might not be the only candidate for first.”
“It's not like he knew it was a body.” I raise both eyebrows and take a few, careful steps forward, my loafers sliding across the gleaming hardwood floors. Audra keeps her hands tucked behind the delicious curve of her ass. “I managed to bag Mark up and put him in a wheelbarrow. I tossed some bags of dirt over the top and had the guy wheel it to your place.” My eyebrows stay raised as I pass over the glass and she finally – fucking finally – takes it.
“What a brilliantly ridiculous fucking plan. I'm sure nobody noticed anything suspicious.” The wine ends up on my chest and the glass shatters on the floor. My practiced perfection slips and my glass follows right after. I grab Audra by her upper arms and slam her into the wall. When she spits in my face, I go ballistic. The beast howls in violent rage, and my hand comes up before I can stop myself. I come so close to striking Audra that her hair whirls around her face as if caught in a breeze. At the last second, I pull away, spinning and jamming the fingers of both hands through my hair.