The Latticed Gate Ch. 03

Elle was still standing at the bedroom door of the guest room as her mind continued to wander. Every detail from that night with Jake was clearly visible in her consciousness. When he took control of her body outside at the gate, it had opened a Pandora's box of memories, emotions, taboos and sexual pleasures. No wonder she kept having the same dream of being fucked senseless!

After agreeing that they would be 'one on one' it began in earnest and she soon realized that it was that skin-to-skin contact with no condom hampering him that made him fuck her to the point she nearly passed out from exhaustion. He stole one pleasure after another until her body felt insanely abused. He took her again and again, sampling the many pleasures she could physically offer, pussy, ass, mouth; pain intermingled with pleasure. His sexual appetite was endless! No wonder he needed to fuck so many women. On top of that, he liked his sex rough.

As if she had become his plaything, she easily met with his approval and demands which kept him aroused. When it was over and he finally left to begin his day at the precinct, daylight was breaking.

The entire day after, she couldn't stop the onslaught of sexual memories. She thought he might ring her, but he didn't, nor did he call the following day leaving her to believe that he had got what he wanted and had simply kicked her to the curb. That thought diminished her. She was glad she had the art exhibition in Los Angeles to distract her and that she would be flying out the following day. Forty-eight hours after their tryst at the gate, she was on a plane to Los Angeles, relieved to put distance between the two of them, berating herself the whole time for having put herself in a position of being his one and only, yet forced to face the stark reality that she was nothing more than an easy lay; another one of his long line of sluts.

It was the second to last day of her week in Los Angeles that she received an unexpected call from him on her cell phone, a number she hadn't given him. It should have felt creepy, but hearing his deep voice, it boomeranged and suddenly she could nearly feel his hands sliding over her ass and gripping it brutally hard as she sat on top of him frantically pumping his dick in and out of her. When he cried out in ecstasy as he was coming, the pitch was like a melancholic wail and as she gazed down at him she felt like she was witnessing something in his being that was quite vulnerable.

Hearing his voice had made her insides flutter.

Why haven't you answered my calls, he harshly interrogated, sounding quite irritated. So, he had called, she thought. She told him she was out of town on business. When he found out she was in Los Angeles he became quite irate that she hadn't told him which resulted in a nasty shouting match until she simply hung up on him. He called back repeatedly but she wouldn't pick up. He left several angry and demanding messages. The following day he called again, his demeanor calm and composed, sexy even.

"Elle, I'm sorry for getting so angry. Please don't be mad...I just...I need to see you," his sex-laden voice was desperate. "I need to feel you...I need to touch you! Please call me back and let me know when you're coming home. I'll be waiting to hear from you, cher."

Even though everything about him was infiltrating her being, she didn't return his call, she couldn't. Her mind was jumbled. Between his angry outbursts and his sweet-talking charm she didn't know if she was coming or going! And then there was the fact that he had used his position and contacts as a police detective to track her down and she couldn't help but feel like he was stalking her. She called Lacy for perspective, although she withheld all of the embarrassing sexual details.

When Lacy told her to report him to the police, she was too ashamed to tell her he was the police!

Elle pulled her robe tight across her body. Last night when she got home there were over fifteen messages from him on her landline answering machine, some saying how much he had enjoyed her and needed to see her again, others demanding that she call him. Listening to their overall content made her suspicious. Why had he waited two whole days before making the effort to contact her? What was his game?

"Seriously, Elle," Lacy sat up in bed, her voice pulling Elle back to real time. "Why are you just standing there, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she lied. "You were sleeping so peaceful I was debating if I should wake you..."

"What time did we go to bed?"

"A little after four..."

"And you're up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?"

"It's a party town, sleep is overrated! Come on, let's get dressed. Beignets and café au lait are just steps away. Can't you smell them?"

Lacy flipped the covers from her body and extended her legs out until her feet were planted firmly on the floor. She dragged into an upright position.

"Okay, but only on the condition that you dish on what's up with you...?"

As she looked up at her, Elle twisted her lips.

"Forget it then," Lacy huffed indifferently and plopped back onto the bed. "I can get beignets and coffee any time!"

"Okay! But it's complicated..." she frowned.

"Complicated? And when isn't it with you?" she smiled and got out of bed.

* * * * * * * *

At Café du Monde, two café-au-laits and two orders of beignets later, the two thirty-something women were engrossed in their private conversation. Elle gave her an abridged version interspersed with a few sordid details that included how Jake had fucked her outside at the gate leading into the courtyard. Lacy appeared to lap up the juicy details of Elle's love life like a thirsty dog on a summer day.

"So let me get this right, you let the player play you?"

"Don't make it sound like I'm debased, you've done way worse!"

Lacy laughed.

"We all know I'm a different story! I just didn't think you had it in you to let go like that...?"

Elle's eyes fell blank. There were a lot of things Lacy didn't know about her, degrading and humiliating things that she had spent her life trying to bury.

"So how attracted are you to this player slash stalker?"

Elle sucked her teeth and tilted her head to the side and gazed deep into her friend's eyes.

"Oh shit, please don't tell me you're falling for this guy?" Lacy perked in her seat. "Elle...? She dragged out her name. "He's someone you have fun with, you don't get hung up on these types, it's against the rules!"

"I'm not hung up!" she defended.

"Bullshit! He's got you strung out! That must have been some damned good pipe he laid on you!"

Elle smiled coquettishly. She got that right!

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Elle said scooting her chair back.

Both women rose and dusted the customary powdered sugar from their clothes. They stepped out onto Decatur Street which was fairly quiet; still too early for the avalanche of tourists and the merry-making that had saturated the balmy air and anchored it to the cobblestone streets throughout the wee hours of the morning.

Lacy was actually happy to finally be in NOLA with her girl, but as she walked alongside her, she couldn't help but sense that something dark was going on inside of her, something more than fucking around with a player and falling for him.

As they waited for a car to pass, they jaywalked across the street just as the unmarked police car made a quick u-turn with a quick flip of its siren and police lights flashing on the front grill of the car. Both women turned around.

Lacy watched a plain clothes officer in a pair of slacks and a dress, long-sleeved shirt with a shoulder holster housing what appeared to be a large caliber gun as he stepped out of the vehicle. His partner also exited and waited at the passenger door. Standing at the front of the car, the officer motioned the women toward him as if they were in trouble.

"Oh fuck," Lacy murmured under her breath. "Tell me this isn't happening!"

"It's not," Elle deadpanned, a defiant stare taking hold of her face. Elle slid her arm into Lacy's and walked towards the awaiting officer.

With the women now standing but a few feet in front of him, Lacy couldn't help but notice how absolutely drop-dead gorgeous he was as the man's piercing blue eyes went from one woman to the other. As Lacy looked at his partner across the car, as buffed as the one standing in front of her, she shook her head. This was obvious grandstanding, plain and simple!

"Both of you could be cited for jaywalking..." his deep voice crooned as he raised a brow.

"Are you trying to embarrass us? You want people to think we've done something wrong?" Elle asked contemptuously which surprised Lacy.

"Elle...?" she said softly knowing how good Elle was at instigating shit and how it always got them into trouble.

"You did do something wrong!" he retorted, a slight frown now on his face. "You could have caused an accident!"

"An accident? With who? The light pole? There's no cars out here...we didn't do anything wrong!"

Reaching into the opened car window, he pulled out a pad. Elle pivoted her head.

"What? You're going to write me a ticket?" she blasted with attitude. Lacy was shocked by her insolent demeanor.

"Elle! You're making it worse...!" she declared, her voice filled with trepidation.

As the officer gazed at Elle, his stance became challenging.

"I think you should lose the attitude and stop mouthing off to me!" He boldly stated.

Suddenly Lacy pulled Elle aside.

"What are you doing?" she whispered, but Elle merely pulled away from her and struck a rebellious pose.

"Mouthing off...?" she said confrontationally.

Fearing the consequences of this exchange, Lacy moved in front of Elle and addressed the officer directly.

"Look, we're sorry. My best friend and I weren't paying attention, but really, there were no cars out here! We didn't think it would be a problem!"

"I'm not sorry!" Elle hissed.

"You need to listen to your friend..." the baritone voice suddenly warned.

"Or what?" she impudently balked. Lacy yanked Elle's arm.

"I can't believe you're doing this!" she whispered to her.

"Do you want to keep pushing and see what happens?" the officer responded, his fierce eyes burrowing into Elle.

"No...she doesn't!" Lacy interjected on her behalf.

"Lacy, this is whack! This ass who all of a sudden is in our faces is..."

Lacy suddenly grabbed her arm.

"No you didn't! Be quiet, Elle, we're going to end up in jail!"

"Really? I'd like to see how he'd explain that!" she scowled. "You see, Lacy, this man who seems to suddenly have a problem with my mouth is Detective Jacob Chevalier...aka Jake!"

"The player?" it slipped from her mouth. "Oh shit!" she mumbled. Why didn't Elle tell her, or at least give her some kind of heads-up? Yet, it could've been worse; she could've called him the 'stalker'.

Lacy's eyes bounced from Elle to Jake and then to his partner, who had glanced up and chuckled at her declaration. But when Jake's and Elle's eyes locked in an intense gaze, she could see first-hand their chemistry was crazy.

"I don't have a problem with that beautiful mouth of yours," Jake suddenly crooned, "but you and I both know it's better served elsewhere..." His tongue sensually wet his lip.

Lacy's eyebrows lifted at the innuendo as she watched Elle's face flush. Suddenly, Jake shifted his eyes to her.

"Lacy...so you're her best friend?" He asked as if uncovering a piece to Elle's puzzle. Lacy nodded. Damn, he looked good! "It's nice to meet you..." he offered his hand and she shook it. Oh hell, Lacy thought, no wonder Elle was falling, this one was way over the top, looks, charm and a fuck machine? Whew! Seeing as how he had clipped her girl, Lacy decided to take a shot at him.

"Your reputation precedes you..." Lacy boldly offered, "...and I see why. So, this must be another one of those games you two play, like at the gate?" She lifted a brow. The surprise on Jake's face that she had peeped him was priceless. Even though Elle had shot disapproving eyes in her direction, Lacy was a player in her own right and bantering with one of her male counterparts felt right on time. "Do you arrest her and cuff her now?" Lacy giggled.

Elle jerked Lacy's arm to shut her up while Jake's eyes shifted with amusing interest. Those blue eyes gave her friend the once over, they had nasty written all over them!

"Is that a game Elle wants to play?" he retorted, his sexy blue eyes never leaving her.

Touche', Lacy thought as she heard the slight gasp escape Elle's mouth. She watched her friend's eyes rivet towards the cuffs on his belt. His hand fingered them and when she looked up at him, embarrassment overtook her face.

"Lacy," Jake offered a stealth smile. Uh-oh, Lacy thought, she recognized the tone. He was prepping a comeback. "She's your best friend, you obviously share secrets, tell me, do you think Elle would play that game with me?"

"Lace!" Elle warned only to shoot scornful eyes in his direction. "Back off, Jake!"

He impishly grinned and suddenly reached out and ran the back of his hand along Elle's face. She recoiled.

"I'm very good at extracting information..." he suggestively taunted.

"I bet you are," Lacy interjected under her breath while Jake's attention remained on Elle.

"Don't you have to go back to work?" Elle suddenly spouted as a cell phone rang inside the car. His partner got back into the passenger seat to take the call. Lacy could feel the sexual tension between Jake and Elle brewing and as Jake's eyes tightened in Elle's direction, it made her feel kind of sorry for him. Perhaps it wasn't what he had put on Elle, but in fact, it was Elle that had laid down a brand of sex on him that had him looking all smitten.

"When'd you get back in town?" Jake's voice went serious but remained sexy.

"Last night..." Elle demurely stated.

"Were you going to call me?

"Yeah..."

"...when?"

Elle said nothing, merely stared at him.

"Am I going to see you tonight?"

"No, Lacy and I are..."

"...oh no you don't! I won't be the excuse!"

Jake suddenly laughed at her friend's cagey betrayal and the look it plastered on Elle's face.

"So tonight?" he said to Elle who bit her lip and continued her silent stare. "Seven. I'll pick you up."

* * * * * * *

"You are a waynch!" Elle snarled at Lacy. "I won't be the excuse? That was fucked up!" Elle said annoyed as the two women walked through the Quarter.

"I'm not anybody's wench!"

"I didn't say wench, I said waynch! How could you do that?"

"Can I tell you what I think?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"I think you've pulled that player!" Lacy raised her eyebrows.

"What?" Elle stopped dead in her tracks with a look of perplexed confusion. "No..." her voice doubtful. "Why do you say that?"

"The way he looked at you...the things he said to you...and you, who I thought was my best friend left out big chunks of details! That's why I wouldn't be your excuse!"

"What are you talking about?"

Lacy pulled on her arm and led her across the street.

"We both know that beautiful mouth of yours is better served elsewhere? You didn't tell me you sucked his dick and from what I can gather you must've done an excellent job because you obviously left a lingering impression!"

Elle's face flushed almost crimson.

"What else did you do with him?"

"Nothing!"

"That's shitty shit, Elle! Why can't you tell me?"

"I did stuff with him, okay!" she snapped. "I let him do things to me! I liked it! I wanted him to!" the tears welled in Elle's eyes. Suddenly, Lacy pulled her into one of the café's on St. Peter's street and sat with her in a quiet corner.

"What's wrong, Elle? Why are you crying?"

"It was slutty, Lace..."

"So what? It was private, between the two of you!"

"He fucked me without a condom!"

"What? Are you crazy? He's a player! You don't even know where that shit has been! Why?"

"You don't think I asked him to wear one? He didn't care, he did it because he could! Yes, he can be charming and he's beautiful to look at but he can be mean and heavy-handed...you saw how he pulled us over like that...he gets what he wants! And maybe sometimes he doesn't know the difference between a woman and one of his fucking criminals! Yeah, he did me all night without a condom! So go ahead, judge me!"

"I'm not judging you, Elle, I just know you! In your most drunken stupor, you always have remembered the condom!" As Lacy studied her, Elle closed her eyes hard. "Are you worried that he gave you something?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"He said he always uses them, except with me he didn't want to..."

"And you believed him?"

"Only because of how he acted when he was inside me..."

"How'd he act?"

"Like he was really feeling it, like he was feeling the sensations for the first time..." Elle's mouth twisted. "But then, he's a player, right, he's got this shit down..."

"Call him and tell him the plans have changed."

Elle snickered. "You think it's that easy..."

"Then I'll call him and tell him that I changed my mind and we're going out."

"And he'll show up!"

"I'm sorry, Elle, I thought you liked him..."

"I do! That's the problem!"