Sailor moaned softly. “Put your hands on me, Bodhi Creed.”
Bodhi pulled her top down and took her nipple into his mouth, his fingers sliding into the waistband of her denim shorts, stroking her lower belly then massaging her clit. “You’re getting wet, baby.”
Sailor responded with a moan then Bodhi tumbled her to the carpet, yanking her shorts and her panties down. “This isn’t the recording studio,” Sailor chuckled as he kissed her belly then blew raspberries on it, making her shriek with laughter.
“There’s time enough for the studio,” he said gruffly, hitching her legs around his and thrusting his rigid cock inside her. Sailor sighed happily as they began to make love, and she thought to herself,Maybe. Maybe Bodhi’s right. Maybe no-one can touch us…
In the next few hours, she would be shown, in the most painful way possible, just how wrong they both were.
“You got the words wrongagain,” Tim complained, and Soleil rolled her eyes, going back over the song they were singing together again. As usual, the Los Angeles traffic had ground to a halt, and the clock was edging ever nearer to nine. Tim didn’t seem bothered by being late, but it made her feel like a bad aunt, so she’d deliberately set off a few minutes earlier, only to be constrained by a traffic accident up ahead.
“Dang it,” she said, for once not cursing in Tim’s presence. That made her feel like a bad aunt too. She glanced over to Tim. He was so different from the shy, sullen boy she’d met almost a year ago; he had thrived under Bodhi, Sailor’s and she had to admit, even her own care. “Hey kiddo, you talk to your mom this week?”
Tim nodded. “She says she’s feeling a lot better now. I talked to Evan too.”
“You did? That’s good.”
“Yeah. I didn’t tell Dad that. I don’t think he likes Evan.”
Soleil smiled at Tim. “He just doesn’t know him, buddy. I think your Dad’s just a little jealous that Evan got to raise for so many years.”
“Okay. But that’s not Evan’s fault.”
“No, it’s not. And it’s not your dad’s, it’s just how things are.”
Tim was silent for a long time. “I think it’s my mom’s fault. I feel kind of angry with her.”
Soleil shook her head. “No, Timbo. Sometimes we make decisions based on what is the best at the time. Your mom made a choice. Whether it was the best one or not, it was her choice. That’s all anyone could do.”
“I don’t want to go back to live with her.”
That shocked Soleil, and she swallowed a sudden lump in her throat. “Why not, pal?”
“Because…I think I make her sad. That’s why she went away.”
Tim’s word broke Soleil’s, heart. “No, sweetheart, you didn’t make her sad. And look at it this way, because your mom was sad, and that happens to us from time to time, you got to know your dad, and Sailor and me. And your grandma and Claudio and Tag, of course.”
Tim smiled at the mention of his canine friend back in Italy. “I’d like a dog.”
“Talk to your dad, I’m sure he’d get you one.”
Tim nodded happily. “I like living with Dad and Sailor and you. Will you live with us forever?”
Soleil, touched, grinned at him. “Sure you want me to? You know those missing Pop Tarts? That wasme.”
Tim laughed. “I knew they hadn’t been stolen!”
Soleil peered out at the traffic in frustration. “Timbo, I’m going to get off the freeway here and go a different way. It might make us a little late, but not more than this damn traffic will. Okay with you?”
“Sure.”
Soleil pulled the car onto the off-ramp and off the freeway, not noticing the black SUV following behind them. They drove around the back streets for a while until they were only a few blocks from Tim’s school.
“So, what you got on today, kid…”
Soleil didn’t finish her sentence as her car was sidelined by the black SUV. It cornered their vehicle, slamming into it again and again, and didn’t let up until both Soleil and Tim were both stunned and concussed. Then Tim’s door was wrenched open, and he was grabbed by a large man. Tim started to scream and Soleil, yelling, was about to get out of her seat when she was grabbed and pinned back against her seat by someone who jumped in the back of her car. A hand was clamped over her mouth. A tall man, dragging Tim around to Soleil’s door, held Tim’s head, so he was staring directly at Soleil.
“Now, watch, Timmy. Watch what happens when you disobey me.”