Locking You (The Boston Kirkpatrick's #2) Read online

  Locking You

  S. Donahue

  Locking You - First Edition, December 2014

  Copyright © 2014 S. Donahue - All rights reserved.

  Locking You is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or places is strictly and entirely coincidental.

  Front Cover image obtained from © konradbak – deposit photos

  Interior photo-Wedding Collage Photo @Matthew Gibson- 123Rf

  This is a self-published work. All rights belong to the author S. Donahue. If you are a publishing house with interest in the author or this book, please contact S. Donahue at [email protected]

  Please note that no parts of this book may be copied, used, or redistributed in any manner without written consent from the author.

  Book cover by Addison Kline, Interior design by S. Donahue.

  Garamond and Georgia Font used for Kindle only.

  ISBN: 1500815802

  ISBN-13: 978-1500815806

  In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours.

  In all the world, there is no love for you like mine

  -Maya Angelou

  Chapter 1

  Joella

  They say people come into your life for a reason. Brendan Kirkpatrick came into mine so that he could become my husband. Oh…and so we can have hot sweaty sex every day of our lives.

  We met a year ago yesterday. In October, at the Red Sox game, he proposed to me. I was totally not expecting it. We wanted to wait to plan the wedding and just enjoy being together, but pressures from both families forced us to pick a date and plan away. We decided it was reasonable since I almost died last year in the line of duty protecting Brendan’s business… well, former business. I went undercover as a stripper and was shot by another stripper drug lord named Roxy. Come to find out she has a child with Brendan’s assumed to be dead brother, who is actually indeed alive.

  Needless to say, Brendan and I have been through a lot in our lives, but we are ready to become one. We have been living together for the past year and it has been great. Brendan is so caring and loving. We do everything together. We try to make sure that we have dinner together every night at six p.m. Sometimes my schedule gets in the way, but for the most part we regroup together at that time.

  I’m sitting at the kitchen table eating my magnificent eggs that Marco prepared. He is telling me all about his kids and all the funny things that happened at school yesterday. I was laughing out loud when Brendan came into the kitchen looking dapper in a navy blue suit with his collar open. His Armani cologne vaporized the room. He grabs a cup of coffee and kisses me on the cheek before joining me at the table.

  “Hey gawgeous,” he says with his sexy smile.

  I still get tingles all over my body when he calls me that.

  “Hi,” I say back smiling and waving really cute in a flirtatious way.

  While Marco has his back to us, horn dog is pointing at the table mouthing that he wants me on top of it. I roll my eyes at him. The damn chef is two feet away. I mouth back, “Control yourself.”

  He laughs.

  “I have a meeting downtown for a perspective new business.”

  “Wow, that’s great. What kind of business?”

  “A casino/hotel”

  “That’s exciting. Wait… I don’t think that’s such a great idea.”

  “Why?”

  “Your brother is a recovering gambler. It wouldn’t be good for him. It’s temptation. He just moved back to Boston two months ago.”

  “I know you’re concerned about Connor, but we talked about it and he’s okay with it. He’s a big boy.”

  “Who faked his own death?”

  “Yeah, well…what can I say, he’s an asshole.”

  “So, is this being built or does it exist,” I ask breaking apart a piece of bacon as we speak.

  “It already exists, but the current owner drove it to the ground. I’m going to buy it, build it back up and make it successful. I have a lot of plans for it. We are possibly going to open a night club inside of it called Hush II.”

  “You hated the business, that’s why you sold Hush I.”

  “Connor is going to own it and run it out of the casino.”

  “I don’t like this idea. You’re usually a smart business man.”

  “What’s wrong with you this morning?”

  “Nothing. I love Connor like a brother. He’s great, but I just don’t want to see you back in the same situation as before.”

  “Sweetie, let me have the meeting first. I don’t have to make a decision today. This investment will set us up for the future.”

  “You already have millions.”

  “Correction- we have millions and we will have billions.”

  “Baby, money isn’t everything. If you were poor, I would still love you.”

  “I know. That’s why I love you so much. Trust me. I’m making the right decision.”

  “If you tell me Billy is going to manage it, I will be speechless.”

  “He asked.”

  “How did he know?”

  “Connor told him.”

  “Why would anyone tell him anything?”

  “He’s clean and straight. He’s sorry for everything that happened. He wants forgiveness and he’s trying to make a better life for himself.”

  “Baby, you’re gullible.”

  “I am not.”

  “You are so,” Marco says from the stove.

  “Thanks Marco,” I say giving him the thumbs up sign.

  I think this is a bad idea. I don’t want to tell him what to do. I’m in a tough position. It’s not my money, although he says it is. I don’t even spend it. He gave me a black American Express card and I never used it. He deposited extreme amounts of money into my bank account. Who needs that much money? The only money I use is for the wedding.

  “I just want you to make the right decision.”

  “I will. I promise. I have to go before I’m late.”

  He comes over and gives me a hug and lifts me in the air. As he puts me down on the ground, he kisses me. Marco is totally used to us by now.

  “Mmmm… Go save the world and I’ll see you back here at six.”

  “I’m trying to get done work early today. I have to pick up our wedding bands.”

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “If you want to.”

  “We can meet here at three,” he suggests.

  “Okay see you then. Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  He leaves the kitchen. I watch him go. I don’t have a good feeling about this deal, but the same way he couldn’t tell me to quit my job, is the same way I can’t tell him what to do. Are we supposed to start making each other’s decisions or do we stay independent? Marriage means we work together to come up with the best possible options.

  My work phone rings taking me out of my thoughts.

  “Soriano here.”

  “Hey, it’s Jeremy. I need you down on scene.”

  “Where at?”

  “O’Malley’s Hotel and Casino”

  “What’s going on?”

  “Apparent suicide of owner.”

  “Get the fuck out of here,” I yell hitting my hand on my forehead.

  “Yeah, do you know him?”

  “No…nothing.”

  “I’m leaving now.”

  I have to call Brendan now. I dial his cell.

  “Hey Sweetie,” he says on the first ring.

  “Where are you?”

  “On my way to the meeting.”
/>
  “Is it at the hotel/casino?”

  “No, It’s with the banker and investor. Why?”

  “I just got called to the casino because the owner apparently committed suicide.”

  “You got to be fucking kidding me.”

  “No, I’m leaving now. Did they cancel the meeting yet?”

  “No. they might not know yet.”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Brendan, cancel for now.”

  “They’re beeping in now. Let me get this. I’ll call you back.”

  “Okay, be careful.”

  I jump in my police vehicle and throw my siren on. Driving through this traffic in the morning is mayhem. I can see this is going to be a long day. The rings are going to have to wait.

  Chapter 2

  Brendan

  I can’t believe this is fucking happening. I met with the owner, Kieran O’Malley, three days ago. He was willing to sell the property and business. He was in great spirits and said he was planning on relocating to Florida with his wife to start over. Why would he kill himself? He clearly didn’t look like someone who was suicidal.

  I just hung up the phone with the investor, Macklin Carney. He said we would need to put this transaction on hold until we find out what is going on. The property was in foreclosure, but was still owned by Kieran. There were many people involved due to the status. If Kieran didn’t come up with the money, he would lose everything. That is where I came in. He decided to sell the business instead of losing it. The problem now is that the business will go to the wife and she has to decide if she will sell or not, unless he has a will stating otherwise.

  I’m calling Joella to tell her about the change of events. She isn’t picking up. I leave her a voice message.

  “Hey sweetie, my meeting was cancelled. I’m heading to my office. Call my cell if you need me. Love you.”

  I head to Kirkpatrick Enterprise. It isn’t a major company, but it’s growing. I have a Human Resources department, Customer Service Team, Billing, etc. I set this up so my businesses will run smoothly. If any tenants have any issues, they just need to call customer service and they will send someone out right away to fix any issues.

  Jocelyn is in her office when I arrive.

  “Why are you here? I thought you had a meeting,” she asked.

  “I did until the owner of the company killed himself.”

  “Oh Dear Lord.”

  “Since I have some free time, I will review the reports you put on my desk yesterday.”

  “Okay.”

  I sit in my chair wondering why someone would take their own life. The business may have been failing, but he could have bounced back. He was still young at forty years old. He was only 3 years older than me. I thought he was a really nice guy. I’m taking this rather hard. I need to focus on something else. Maybe I’ll focus on my fiancés tight ass. How I wish I was gripping it right now from behind. Just thinking of her makes me so horny. My cock is starting to stiffen at the thought of her riding me tonight.

  My phone buzzing on my desk takes me out of my glorious daydream. It’s Brad Roberts. He is the husband of Joella’s cousin Gia. We met a couple times at family functions. We are teaming up to buy a business in Wildwood, NJ, a shore resort town. We have big plans and should make a profitable turnaround. This dude is filthy rich. He could be the next Donald Trump.

  I pick up the phone because right about now I need good news.

  “Hey Brad, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing much, man. I wanted to check and see if you and Joella are still coming to Atlantic City this weekend.”

  “Yes, I hope so. We’ll be flying in if we do. We need to get away. It has been crazy with all the wedding planning. We need time to just relax. I booked our room at the Borgata.”

  “Oh good, we are staying there too. I think the ladies set it up for us to be at the same hotel.”

  “How’s our deal going?” I ask him.

  “Great. While they are at the spa on Sunday, we can drive over to Wildwood so you can look at the property.”

  “That would be great. We are going to be arriving at the Atlantic City airport on Friday night.”

  “Sounds like a plan. We can pick you up when you land.”

  “Thanks so much. Listen I have to go Joella is beeping in on my other line.”

  “I hear ya man. I’ll see you on Friday night.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Talk to you later.”

  I flash over to Joella.

  “Hey sweetie, I called you. I was just talking to Brad. We’re still on for Friday?”

  “I hope.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Kieran O’Malley was murdered. Stay where you’re at. I’m on my way over. I need to talk to you.”

  “What the fuck, Joella?”

  “I know baby. I’ll be there very soon.”

  This is definitely not good news.

  Chapter 3

  Joella

  When I arrived on scene this morning, Mr. O’Malley’s wife had already been called. She came rushing down to the site like a bat out of hell. She cried and screamed demands. She was acting like a raving lunatic. I mean there’s grieving and then there’s Lisa O’Malley. I had some of the other police officers take her to a car and calm her down while I checked out the body.

  Mr. O’Malley was found in his office by an employee around 8 A.M. According to the medical examiner, he had already been dead for 3 hours. I knew from the angle he was positioned and the site of the gunshot wound that he didn’t kill himself. I also noticed faint red marks on his neck. I pointed it out to the medical examiner. He stated that he already had them marked down as preliminary. My gut was telling me he was murdered. I interviewed the employee who found him dead. He was going into Mr. O’Malley’s office to hand in a report when he noticed him lying on the floor. He called the police right away. He was very shaken up. I could tell he was telling the truth.

  I make my way to the wife. She is drinking coffee and yelling at the officers. I couldn’t talk to her while she was acting crazy in the middle of the street.

  “Wilson, take her to the station and put her in an interrogation room. I can’t talk to her down here. She needs to calm down,” I say addressing the rookie cop.

  “Come on Mrs. O’Malley, we’re taking you to the station,” he says to her.

  “You’re arresting me?” she screams in my face.

  “No. I need to speak to you and I refuse to do it here with you acting like a damn lunatic.”

  “I’m calling my lawyer,” she threatens.

  “You don’t need one, unless you think you do. We could do this nicely, but you choose otherwise. You don’t have to go to the station. You can walk away, but I will question you because your husband did in fact die, in case you forgot.”

  “I remember, bitch. I’ll never forget. I want the people who did this held responsible.”

  “Interesting, take her to the station.”

  I sit in my police car running a check on Lisa O’Malley. She is very wealthy and Kieran is her 3rd husband. She’s one of those. I need to look into her in more detail later. I need to know everything about her. Who would want to murder Mr. O’Malley? That is the question.

  Uhhh… traffic in this city sucks. I’m driving over to Brendan’s office and it is taking forever. I’m thinking back to the interrogation conversation with Lisa O’Malley and it has me pissed off.

  When I arrived at the station, I had to mentally prepare myself to deal with this woman. She was very angry for some reason.

  Wilson walked up to me. “She’s in room 3. Good Luck with that one.”

  “Thanks.”

  I pushed the door open and she rolled her eyes at me.

  “I saw that.”

  “Good,” she yelled.

  “I see you’re calmer,” I said sarcastically.

  “You have me locked in this dungeon.”

  “I need to find out what happened to your husband and I need your coop
eration. I’m not holding you against your will. I told you that.”

  “Instead of questioning me like a criminal, the killer is out there.”

  “Who told you he was killed?”

  “I’m assuming, plus he would never kill himself and leave me.”

  She was still angry. What is her deal? Most widowers would be sad and depressed.

  “Why are you so angry?”

  “I don’t like how I’m being treated. You are acting like I’m the killer. Even at the hotel the cops put me in a police car.”

  “Maybe because you’re acting nuts.” I stood up from the table and opened the door for her. I was not in the mood for this rich bitch today.

  She didn’t walk out the door. “Now, can we move forward? Why was your husband, Mr. Kieran O’Malley at the hotel at 5 A.M.?”

  “He goes to the hotel all hours, day and night, depending if there are issues or not. He was saying something about missing money. He left the house at 3:30 A.M.”

  “So whatever happened, it happened between 3:30 and 5:30 A.M. I’m going to need to verify the last time he was seen alive. I will have to pull video cameras.”

  “I think there are several people who would want him dead,” she said.

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Well, it’s no secret that the hotel and casino were suffering. I’m thinking it could be a banker or investor that may have killed him. Wait, you know he met with these two guys the other day to sell the business. Their names were Brendan and Connor Kirkpatrick.”

  No, this bitch did not go there.

  “And you think one of these men killed your husband. You saw them?”

  “No,” she said with an attitude.

  “What makes you think they killed him?”

  “Why wouldn’t they? They want him dead. They want his business.”

  “Are they threatening you?”

  “No.”

  I stood up and got in her face.

  “Don’t make up stories or taint other people’s name. You can’t just speculate. When you have valid information, call me,” I said handing her my card. “Now, get out of my face.”

  “Soriano, my office now,” Jeremy said pointing down the hall.