I Know What You Read (10 page)

You felt so weak in my hands, weak liked the first moments of our tender kiss—but I loved kissing you hard even more.  I enjoyed the feel of your firm breasts in my hands as I rolled your nipples with the tips of my fingers.  I want you, Jade—I want all of you.  Will you let me in or will you lock me out?  Put your answer inside this envelope and leave it on your desk.  Don’t make it difficult on me, Jade.  I’m falling for you, but I’ll leave you alone if you can’t handle this. If you don’t want me after our last encounter then this will be the final note.

It was signed,
The one who knows what you read.

She reread it, feeling the hot silk liquid starting to flow between her legs.  She could imagine all of it.  She could feel his touch.  She recalled his thrilling kiss.  She wanted him—she couldn’t deny it, but could she consent to sex with a mystery man?

The only person she had left on her list of possibles was Russell.  He was in his late twenties or early thirties.  He was quiet and a little bit shy.  She rarely ever actually saw him because it seemed that he tried to time his cleaning duties to avoid being in her office when she was.  That would give him plenty of time to snoop, and he could carry the envelopes unnoticed in his janitorial cart.  He was on the thin side, but he was the right height.  He wasn’t particularly handsome, but he wasn’t bad looking either; Russell was an average Joe.  She knew he’d been in her office this morning because her trash bag had already been replaced.  That coincided with the story showing up.  Russell was looking guiltier by the second.  But how did he know where she lived?

It was time to go find him and end this erotic charade.  If he wanted to go out with her, it was going to have to be a face-to-face date.  No more sneaking into her house business! There were at least eight janitors, so it took her a little while to find him.  He was down in the break room depositing quarters into the Coke machine when she approached him from behind.

She decided not to say anything, but rather to tap him on the shoulder.  He turned quickly, seemingly surprised to see who touched him.  She started to speak when she noticed something that eliminated him immediately; Russell had a new growth of blonde mustache on his upper lip.

“Yes, ma’am?”

Her mouth opened, but she couldn’t stop staring at his lip, “How long have you had a mustache?”

He gave her a peculiar look as if she had no business asking that question, but he answered, “I guess I’ve had it for four or five weeks now.”  Her expression must have puzzled him.  “It’s not against company policy.  Why’d you want to know?”

The man who kissed her last night was clean shaven.  “I’m working on a—a piece about a new barber shop.  I was just curious how long it takes a man to grow one,” she said.  “It looks…” she paused, thoroughly upset that her last suspect wasn’t her blackmailer.

He stared at her expectantly.

She suddenly realized she hadn’t finished her sentence, “It looks really nice on you, Russell.”  She started to turn away, when she decided to ask one more question.  “Russell, I was just wondering if you’ve noticed anyone going into my office lately when I’m not here?”

“No, not really.  I mean, it seems like lots of people go in and out of there.”

She nodded and then mumbled her thanks and headed back upstairs.  She stopped at Kristen’s desk, “Are you positive that you wrote down everyone who went into my office the other day?”

She looked at Jade as if she were crazy, “I didn’t even go pee,” she stated flatly.  “Yes, I wrote down everyone.”

Jade stood there drumming her fingers on the front counter as she watched her office in the distance.  Suddenly, she saw someone walk into her office and walk out immediately.  She pointed.

Kristen turned to see who she was pointing at.  “He delivers the interoffice mail, Jade.  Zac goes in everyone’s office.”

“You didn’t write him down.”

“He’s in and out in two seconds; he wouldn’t have time to steal something.”

“Maybe not, but I bet he’d have time to deliver something!”

“But you said—”

She didn’t give Kristen time to finish as she dashed after the mail boy.  She seriously hoped she was wrong because she was pretty sure that handsome Zachary was all of about sixteen or seventeen years old. He was in a high school work program and went to school for one period then arrived at the paper each morning by nine.  She wondered if he was her ‘admirer,’ could she end up in jail because she’d asked him to kiss her and feel her up last night? 

He moved quickly from office to office, but he stopped when she called his name.  He gave her a coy smile as she approached.

“Hey,” he said with a little rise to his eyebrows.

“Zac, do you know what I read?”  If he was the one, she saw no reason to beat around the bush—with a minor!

He had a blank expression and then he smiled broadly, “Is this a trick question?  The
newspaper,
right?”

“Where were you Friday morning around two a.m.?”

The smile fell completely off his face and he looked panicked.

Bingo! She had her man—er—ah—boy. “You know you can go to jail for breaking and entering, not to mention sexual assault.”

“But—but I—I had a key.”

“How the hell did you get a key?!” she snapped.

“She gave it to me.”

“Who gave it to you?”

“Taryn.”

“Who’s Taryn and how did she get my house key?”

“Your house key?  You live at Taryn’s house?”

This conversation was horribly derailed.  “Zac what are you talking about?”

His face turned scarlet, “Sleeping with Taryn.  What are
you
talking about?”

“Who is Taryn?”

“My girlfriend—and it was consensual—and she’s eighteen, but her dad would freak flippin’ out if he knew I was there Friday morning.”

She shook her head and turned to walk away.

“Hey, you aren’t going to say anything, are you?”

“No.  I just thought you’d been putting stuff in my office.”

“Oh that,” he said suddenly sounding as if he knew exactly what she was talking about.

She turned slowly, “Have you been putting stuff in my office?”

“The manila envelopes with no writing on them?  Yeah, that was me.”

“Who gave them to you?”

“Nobody…I mean, I never see who leaves them on my mail cart.  I found the first one with a five attached to it, and a note that said to leave it in your office when you weren’t in.”

She was a step closer to solving the mystery, but at the same time she felt as if she might as well be back at the beginning.  Once again, it could be anyone who worked at the paper.

She returned to her desk and stared at the papers.  Zac hadn’t delivered all of the notes, especially not the small slip of paper, and probably not the vibrator.  Whoever was doing this was making sure not to draw too much attention with frequent trips to her office.

She had to decide.  She picked up the pages to the story.  It was only one chapter this time.  There was enough time to read through it, but she decided to torment her admirer a little.  She placed the pages inside her briefcase.  She’d read it tonight and deprive her blackmailer of his pleasure.  Before she walked out of the office, she wrote a note and left it on her desk:
Installed a new alarm system.  Don’t break in.  Call me.
  Jade wrote her cell number then folded the paper over and put the initials IKWYR on the outside and left it on her desk.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“No—say it dirty.”

That night, with her house alarm on and a pile of pillows propped behind her, she sat on her bed and began reading the chapter.  As the tension in the story built, Jade paused and thought about what was in her nightstand.  She put the papers down and leaned over and opened the drawer.  She nibbled her nail as she stared at the small vibrator.  She’d never owned one and she was intensely curious.  She picked it up and turned it on.  Wow—it really was quiet.  She ran it over the top of her silk night shorts.  It only took one sample to realize she
wanted
to play with it.  She took it to the bathroom and thoroughly washed it then returned to her bed, minus her night shorts and panties.

With the story in one hand and the vibrator in the other she continued reading.  The thing that surprised her about the story was that due to overwhelming circumstances the man and the woman couldn’t engage in intercourse, but he was using ‘other’ ways to pleasure her body.  Jade resisted the urge to turn on the vibrator and join them, but she could feel the ache building low in her stomach; the kind of ache that needed to be released. 

With the chapter finished, she leaned back on the pillows and parted her bent knees and rubbed the tip of the stilled vibrator in her wet entrance and then up to her clit.  Oh yes, it was time to play.  She turned it on and dipped again.  Shit!  That was exquisite!  Wow, one wrong move and she’d come before she could contain herself.  She moved it away from her clit and pushed the end of it about an inch inside her body.  Damn, she was glad he gave her the mini-model because if it had been long she would impale herself on the pleasurable bastard! 

She’d never been loud in the bedroom, but she couldn’t keep herself from moaning in extreme delight.  She couldn’t wait, and it no longer mattered if she orgasmed quickly or not—she just wanted to get off!  She angled it flat against her body so the vibrations went from her hungry entrance to her clit.  Wham!!  The sensations slammed her senses. 

“Son-of-a-bitch!” she cried out, rocking to her side and closing her legs.  That little bastard could produce a monster-size ‘O!’  She stayed that way for a little while; smiling as she considered how fun it had been to use her mystery man’s toy.  The orgasm had been magnificent and intense!  Erotica might not be her only new habit as she began to wonder what other delights might ‘come’ from an adult store.

The next morning, the note on her desk appeared to be undisturbed.  The next day, she wondered if he had given up.  And, even though she hated to admit it to herself, she truly hoped he hadn’t.  Wednesday afternoon as she prepared to go home, she noticed a slip of paper fall to the pavement when she opened her car door. Her heart skipped a beat when she read the single word:
Tonight
.  She swallowed hard and headed for home. 

Around eight p.m., her cell alerted her that she had a text message.  When she checked it was from an SMS messaging service and all it said was,
I know what you read
.  Her pulse began to pound and her crotch began to tingle—this was nerves and anticipation all in one!

A moment later, another text came in.  This time it read,
Step
outside and finally meet me
. 

Holy shit, she’d never been so nervous in her life!  She wanted this mystery solved, but now she was scared.  What if it was someone she didn’t like?  What if it was someone she didn’t really know?  The paper had several hundred employees.  She peeked out the window, but didn’t see anyone.  With all the bravery she could muster, she opened the front door and stepped outside.

“Hello?” she tentatively called.  She walked from the relative safety of her front door and headed down the walkway toward the end of her garage.  When she reached it, she peered cautiously around the corner, fully expecting to see a strange vehicle, but there was nothing in her driveway.  She looked down at the cell phone in her hand and reread the message.  He didn’t say anything about not being there yet.  She walked to the end of her drive and looked each way in the dim lamplight down the street for unfamiliar vehicles parked in the road.  A car turned the corner and she froze.  With the headlights shining on her, she couldn’t even tell what kind of car it was.  It slowed briefly then passed her.  It was a neighbor from several houses down.

This was enough game!  Her shred of bravery vanished, and instead she was scared, slightly cold, and angry that she still didn’t know the identity of this person.  She muttered about how stupid she was as she closed the front door.  Just as she turned the deadbolt, someone grabbed her from behind and a gloved hand covered her mouth.  She freaked!  He had lured her outside and then slipped in through the front door when she walked to the end of the drive!

She was kicking and screaming out of sheer terror as he wrestled her to the carpeted floor.  He was too strong for her, pinning her easily.  Several panicked seconds passed before she realized he was shushing her and softly saying her name.  She was still struggling, but not nearly as hard as when he first grabbed her.

“Stop it,” she managed to muffle from under his glove.

“Don’t scream,” he whispered.  “Okay?”

She nodded, but when she did, tears seemed to well up and pour out of her from nowhere.  “I don’t want to do this,” she choked as he removed his hand from her mouth.  “Please, please, don’t hurt me.  Let me go.  Stop, please, stop.”

She was still crying as he gently pulled her arms behind her.

“No,” came the whispered response as he locked a pair of handcuffs in place.  “I—won’t—hurt—you,” he breathed in her ear.  “Like—last—time,” he continued.

He slipped a blindfold over her tear stained eyes and the room turned black.  Their last encounter was no longer relevant for her.  The passion in those memories had faded and all she was considering now was that she was a prisoner of someone she couldn’t identify.  He accepted her refusal the first time, but this time he clearly told her no when she asked him to stop.

She was still crying as he rolled her over. 

“Shhh, Jade,” he crooned, his now bare hands wiping the tears from her cheeks.

She felt his kisses on her forehead and temple, his hands gliding from her throat to the opening in her blouse.  She inhaled as his palm briefly slipped over her breast and moved to her rib cage.  “I want you to stop,” she asked again.

He didn’t say anything as his hand returned to cup her breast.  His thumb and index finger briefly pinched down on her nipple under her bra.