Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [82]
“You didn’t disgrace yourself publicly the way I did. You didn’t pose naked for a national magazine. And you didn’t costar in a porno movie that makes it possible for the whole world to watch you screwing a couple of guys.”
“No, my sins were different,” Cathy admitted. “But nonetheless unforgivable by some standards. I kept the truth about Seth’s paternity from both him and from Jack for nearly sixteen years. My son grew up believing that Mark Cantrell was his father. And Jack never knew he had a son. And yet both Seth and Jack forgave me. Mike will—”
“Never forgive me.”
Cathy’s fragile smile melted away as she sighed quietly.
Shelley Gilbert cleared her throat. Lorie and Cathy glanced at her.
“Am I interrupting?” Shelley asked.
“No, of course not.” When Lorie studied her bodyguard’s expression, she felt a sudden uneasiness flutter through her. “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing to do with your case,” Shelley assured her, then glanced away, but not before Lorie noted the sheen of moisture in her eyes.
Lorie and Cathy exchanged I-wonder-what-it-is? looks, and then Lorie said, “Is there anything we can do? I mean, you seem—”
“I’m okay.” Shelley met their gazes directly and her facial muscles tightened in an obvious effort to retain control. “Nicole Powell called. One of the secretaries at the Powell Agency, a sweet kid—Kristi Arians—was killed tonight. The details are sketchy, but Nic said the Knoxville PD is treating her death as a homicide.”
“Oh, Shelley, that’s terrible,” Lorie said.
“Ironic, huh? A Powell Agency employee murdered. I saw her only a couple of weeks ago. She was showing me her engagement ring.”
“Is there anything—?” Lorie asked.
“No, thanks,” Shelley replied instantly, not allowing Lorie to finish her sentence. “I’m okay. Really.”
She wasn’t and they all knew it, but Lorie didn’t press the matter. And before either she or Cathy could think of anything to say, Jack entered the kitchen.
“Everybody’s asking about you, honey,” he said and then suddenly picked up on the strained atmosphere. “Is everything okay in here?”
“Everything’s fine.” Cathy slipped her arm through his. “I’m ready to go tell our guests all about our honeymoon.”
“You don’t want to tell them everything.” Jack chuckled.
“None of the X-rated stuff, I promise.”
As soon as Lorie and Shelley were alone in the kitchen, Lorie said, “We can leave whenever you’re ready.”
“I don’t want you to cut your evening short because I got bad news about a fellow Powell employee.”
“I don’t mind,” Lorie told her. “I wouldn’t have come if Cathy wasn’t my best friend.”
“I’ll let Sheriff Birkett know that we’re ready to go,” Shelley said.
“No, don’t do that. Let him stay and enjoy the party. His mother and children and girlfriend are here. I’ll tell Cathy and she can let him know later. You and I can just slip out the back door and go home.”
Listening to the moans and groans, the cries and sighs of the men and women in the throes of sexual pleasure, he masturbated in a frenzy of excitement. When he sensed that he was on the verge of coming, he closed his eyes, blotting out the laptop screen, and imagined himself as one of the participants. As he climaxed, his ejaculation squirted onto the towel he had placed beneath him. His body trembled with release. He lay there on the hotel bed for several minutes as the aftershocks danced along his nerve endings. And then he got up, walked into the bathroom, and turned on the shower. Naked and beginning to feel ashamed of what he’d done, he stood under the shower and washed himself thoroughly from head to toe.
This time, just as every time in the past, he had been unable to stop himself from being sexually stimulated when he watched Midnight Masquerade. He always jerked off, always had a mind-blowing orgasm, and always felt guilty as hell afterward. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop himself. He was addicted to this movie, its power over