“That’s the way my face reacts to evil, Daughter of Darkness.” Noticing Jean concentrating on her iPhone screen next to her, Rachel turned in Nick’s direction, opening her robe to reveal Nick’s gift of a short silk, black, see through negligee. She also put on light makeup for the moment. Although very pregnant, Rachel knew the effect she had on Nick no matter what she wore in a provocative way.
Nick, who enjoyed the mother/daughter exchange without ever looking away from his scene, glanced at Rachel, his mouth tightening at seeing her pose. He knew the game. She would do this only minutes away from him walking Jean to school. Nick never questioned whether he was a killer psychopath. He did question the general opinion psychopaths pretended all their feelings, and everything in life was an act. Knowing he had tortured and murdered a man only hours before affected his lust for Rachel not at all, even in her last month of pregnancy. His problem was she knew how to play him as if she were reeling in a twenty inch trout. Nick checked his watch, promising a long period of payback the moment he returned. He then made gestures with both his hands and mouth at the still posing Rachel. He mimicked what was in store for her that she loved, but pretended disgust at, until in the middle of exactly what she professed to hate. Rachel gasped, blushed, and tied her robe at the same time.
“Go brush your teeth, toasty. We leave in five minutes. I’ll clean your mess when I get back. Gus may or may not make it in time.”
“Okay, Dad.” Jean slurped a last crumb filled mouthful of tea for Rachel’s benefit, and ran upstairs with Deke on her trail.
“You vulgar snot!”
“You teasing vamp!” Nick gathered the pretending to resist Rachel into his arms.
“Don’t even think for a second you’ll be doing anything of the sort to me, now or ever.”
“We’ll see. You may say no now, and yes…yes…yes later.” Nick’s hands roved gently over Rachel, nuzzling her neck, while listening with satisfaction to her moaning indications she might very well make a liar of herself when he returned. Then the doorbell rang. “Perfect timing, Gus… you prick.”
Nick checked to make sure it was Gus on his kitchen monitor, and then went to answer the door. “I didn’t think I’d see you here this morning, Payaso. Would you like a cup of coffee to sip on the way?”
“Sure. I couldn’t resist coming along to hear your plans. Besides, Tina kicked me out of bed to get her a double latte at seven. After I collected my fee, I decided I may as well take a shower, and satisfy my curiosity.” Gus sipped from the travel mug Nick handed him, while giving Rachel a wave. “Good coffee, Nick. Did you know if you order a plain black coffee at Starbucks, the robot at the register goes into massive brain freeze?”
Nick chuckled. “Yeah, I learned my lesson about ordering plain coffee in a specialty coffee assembly line place. To their credit, they actually sit you down, and make it for you. It’s funny when you think about how hard it actually is getting coffee in a coffee specialty place. Then, I remember I’m a cement head, and if I wanted plain coffee, I should have stayed home.”
“That’s right, cement head,” Rachel called over her shoulder from the teapot. “Deny that’s the reason you do it too, Gus. I dare you.”
Gus raised his hand. “Guilty. I do it only for the entertainment value, and if I have time to waste. I didn’t this morning.”
They moved to the door with Nick holding Deke’s leash apparatus. Hearing it clinking around, Deke flew down the stairs, to take a position near Nick’s feet. Jean, only a minute behind, hugged Rachel. “Remember, today’s a half day for some goofy reason, so don’t get to fooling around, and forget about me.”
“Why you little…” Rachel barely missed snagging the backpack before Jean disappeared through the front door. “That calls for a room displacement visit. See you guys later.”
“What’s a room displacement visit?”
“Rachel disturbs everything in Jean’s room as if she’s doing a cell check at Folsom Prison. It drives Jean nuts. That’s the reason we have a keyed deadbolt on our bedroom door, because Jean seeks revenge immediately. She caught Rachel by surprise when the Mommy didn’t envision payback on the part of the Daughter of Darkness.”
Gus shut the door behind him, and reset the security code. “Damn, Nick. I can imagine you feeding off this, poking the hornets’ nest the second it settles down.”
“I do no such thing. Rachel and Jean do not require any outside help to instigate an act of war. They light each other off at every opportunity. Deke and I are only neutral observers.”