“Just the two of us, right? Nobody else for as long as I’m here?”
“What do you mean? Do you think I’d want a threesome or something?”
“No.” She laughed as she lightly slapped my chest. “I mean you don’t sleep with any other women and I don’t sleep with any other men. We’d be exclusive in the sex department.”
“Ah. Well, as long as I know I’m getting it from you, I won’t have to look elsewhere.”
“And neither will I. Shall we shake on it to seal the deal?” She held out her hand.
“I can think of much better ways to seal the deal.” I pulled her on top of me.
Everly
I was in the hallway of the hotel when I heard the faint sound of that song playing. I slowly began to walk, following the music to see where it was coming from. The closer I got, the louder the music became. Looking to my right, I saw a door that was partially open. Room number 322. Swallowing hard, I carefully pushed open the door. The gruesome sight was enough to jolt me out of a sound sleep. I quickly sat up and grabbed my throat as I gasped for air.
“What the hell? Are you okay?” Asher asked as he grabbed hold of my arm.
I looked over at him in confusion for I didn’t remember falling asleep.
“Just peachy,” I said as I climbed out of bed and grabbed the robe that was lying across the chair.
“Where are you going?” Asher asked as I left the room.
Grabbing my phone from my purse, I called Daniel.
“What’s up, Everly?”
“I saw something, Daniel. A woman in the hotel I’m at. Room 322. She was murdered.”
“Yeah. I know. We’re here now. Where are you?”
“Suite 2210. I’m with Asher.”
“I’ll be up in a few minutes.” He sighed.
“What is going on?” Asher asked as he walked into the living room.
“For one, a woman was just found murdered in your hotel.”
“What!” he exclaimed.
“I saw it. Daniel is on his way up.”
“Now? For what? It’s midnight.”
“To talk to me.”
“I think we both better get dressed.” He sighed.
“How did I fall asleep?” I asked.
“We were talking and then you were out. You looked peaceful and I didn’t want to wake you.”
“Well you should have.” I shook my head as I slipped on my dress and heard a knock on the door.
I opened the door to the hotel room and Daniel stepped inside.
“Do you know who she is?” I asked.
“Her name is Amy Reynolds and she’s the third victim in the last two weeks. The other two women were high end call girls, and I can guarantee Amy Reynolds is one as well. What exactly did you see, Everly?”
“He plays a song while he’s murdering them.”
“What song?”
“At Last by Etta James. I’ve been hearing that damn song all day. He drugs them first by offering a glass of wine.”
“We never found any wine bottle or glasses in the rooms.”
“That’s because he brings the bottle of wine and the glass with him. Once they’re out, he puts on that song and then undresses them, but he doesn’t rape them. He just stares at their bodies. Then he goes into his bag and gets out the shaver he uses to shave one side of their head. Then he strangles them.”
“Each of the victims did have one side of their head shaved. We’re trying to figure out why he does that,” Daniel spoke.
“I don’t know why.”
“Did you see the man who’s doing this?”
“No. Not yet anyway.”
“Who rented the room?” Asher asked.
“The rooms are always in the victim’s names because they work for themselves. Obviously, this guy searches for them on the internet,” Daniel said.
“I’m sorry. That’s all I saw.”
“It’s okay. I’ll let you two get back to what you were doing.” A cocky smirk crossed his face. “By the way, Diana told me tonight.”
“And?” I grinned.
“I’m in shock, but I’m really happy. I’ll see you at home.”
As soon as the door shut, I turned and looked at Asher who stood there cocking his head at me.
18
Asher
I couldn’t believe when I looked over and Everly had fallen asleep. I knew I had worn her out, so I was going to let her sleep for a while before waking her up to take her home. While she slept, I browsed on my phone. She wasn’t out thirty minutes before she scared the living shit out of me. She later told me that was the reason she didn’t stay with anyone after sex. Now it made sense to me why she was in such a hurry to leave the first night we’d slept together.
It made me very uneasy knowing a murder took place in my hotel. That wasn’t going to be good for business unless the police hurry and find the murderer. I’d have to do damage control in the morning because I knew the press was going to be outside my building.
I climbed into bed and decided to do some research on Miss Everly King. When I googled her name, the first thing that popped up was her life coaching business. I couldn’t help but smile at her business picture. To look at her, you’d never know she possessed something so unnatural. I wasn’t surprised when she agreed to my proposal regarding the two of us while she was in New York. I only offered because fucking her was amazing and she’d be easily available. I could have her anytime the need arose, and the best part was, she’d be heading back to Rhode Island in a couple of months and she’d be nothing but a distant memory. The only thing I was unsure of was if I could handle this thing of hers if it happened again while we were together.
After checking out her business page, I scrolled further down and ran across an article with her picture as a child and the headline: Local Six-Year-Old Psychic Girl Finds Missing Sixteen-Year-Old Girl.
Clicking on the article, I began to read it. The one thing I noticed was it took place in Connecticut, not Rhode Island.
“Mr. Remington, any comment on the woman who was murdered in your hotel last night?” a reporter asked as I tried to get into the building.
“It was a tragedy, and our thoughts go out to the woman’s family. The NYPD have assured me that they are doing everything in their power to track down the murderer. Now if you’ll excuse me,” I said as I made my way inside the building.
The rest of the day was a shit show at best. Everything that could go wrong, did, and I was highly frustrated.
Everly
“So how did the two of you leave it last night?” Diana asked me.
“He really didn’t say much. In fact, after Daniel left the hotel room, Asher became freakishly quiet. We climbed in his car and he drove me home. There’s something else I need to tell you.” I bit down on my bottom lip as I stared at her.
“Oh God. What?”
“We’re kind of using each other for sex.”
“What do you mean?”
“He asked me last night since I’m in town for a couple of months if I would be interested in —okay, I’m not going to beat around the bush about it. Since I’m in town, we are going to be having a friends with benefits relationship. Just sex, only the two of us, for as long I’m here.”