Love Hurts: The Love Duet Read online

  Six homes were broken into in the last month, then last week we got called to two more, each one a day apart from the other. This time, however, the homeowners were home sleeping. The perpetrator either surprised that they were home or didn’t care, tied up the occupants in their bedrooms, then hit them repeatedly with a blunt object like a machete handle. They’d obviously brought it with them because no weapon matching the wounds was found at either scene.

  If it was teens, as first suspected, they’d catapulted from malicious mischief to felony assault and theft of a motor vehicle.

  Yanking my t-shirt over my head, and quickly shoving my feet into my pants, then my shoes, I grabbed my sports bag and signalled to Darth I was heading out. Nothing, not my brother or a gang of bored teens playing a dangerous game was going to keep me from meeting Zoe tonight dead on seven p.m.

  “I can’t believe I haven’t been here. I don’t remember this place being here ten years ago,” I said to Zoe, looking around the quaint restaurant. The dim lighting, deep reds and dark greys added to the cosy feel of the place.

  “It wasn’t, you probably know it as the old pinball parlour, Games and More Games. They gutted the whole building and started over again. The young kids and some adults mourned the day the renovations began,” Zoe told me, her green eyes sparkling as she spoke.

  I looked around again, it finally dawning on me.

  “Ah yes, I didn’t spend much time there, but Deck did.” I watched Zoe closely at the mention of her ex, waiting to see if his name affected her at all. But all she did was nod and smile.

  “That’s how I met him actually. He was playing pinball with Cooper Steel, and I accidently bumped into him when he celebrated a win a little too exuberantly, knocking me over on my arse.

  “I knew he had a brother but not that his brother was his twin.” She went on to explain.

  “We aren’t close as far as brothers go, let alone twins. Deck and I have butted heads since we could talk.”

  Zoe nodded, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth. Fuck what I wouldn’t give to suck that lip into my mouth again. Shifting in my seat, I tried to calm the beast in my jeans. Tonight’s about getting to know each other, see where her head is at, then maybe, hopefully …

  “I see the resemblance, obviously I did that night long ago as well,” she said referring to that perfect night, a pink blush covering her cheeks.

  “But now I can see there are more than a few differences, where Deck scowls you just look intense, when he smiles it’s cocky with you it’s more… friendly.”

  I leaned forward over the table, my eyes locked on hers.

  “What else?” I growled barely containing myself from shoving the water glasses and tableware to the floor and dragging her over to me.

  Her pink lips pouted for a second in thought, another reason for my cock to twitch in need.

  “Let’s see, Deck doesn’t have a sexy dimple in his chin like you, and — your eyes.” All of a sudden she exclaimed, “You both have brilliant blue eyes, but yours have flecks of golden brown in them. That night, I knew, other than the obvious, that there was something different when I looked into them—” she trailed off as if lost in the past. I needed to know what she meant when she said other than the obvious, what had been obvious to her that night? What was the clue that I wasn’t Deck?

  “What was it that told you I wasn’t him?” I prompted her.

  “The way you kissed me,” she whispered shyly. “Deck never kissed me like that, he was never really big on kissing in the first place, still isn’t.” She admitted shrugging giving me the impression that it didn’t worry her too much.

  Any other time it would piss me off talking about my brother’s lips on the woman I wanted, this time however it was a necessary evil. Getting the information on their past relationship can only help me plan how fast I pushed forward with Zoe’s and my relationship.

  “Okay,” I said with a sigh, running my hand down my face, not believing I was about to go somewhere I never thought or wanted to go. “Let’s talk about Deck for a minute. How long were you two together?” I asked trying very hard not to grit my teeth or tear the place apart.

  “We, um, saw each other on and off for eleven years or so. As I said, we met here about a year before he went off to join the army. We started just as friends, but that sort of morphed into a friend with benefits situation.” Zoe started off straight away with honesty, surprising me.

  “I hung out at their parties, as you know, the Steel brothers were very famous for their parties back in the day.”

  I grunted at that. “Famous or infamous,” I mumbled. I only made an appearance at two Steel parties in my lifetime and that was two too many.

  “Yeah, they got a bit rowdy, didn’t they?” Zoe said with a laugh of her own. A laugh that sounded like tinkling bells.

  God give me strength I was turning into a poetic wanker, and even though it was true, I decided to keep that sappy nugget to myself.

  “And you and Deck hooked up at the parties?”

  “Yeah, but not all the time. Deck and I weren’t committed, he was free to look elsewhere as was I,” she said it so flippantly I could hardly believe that a female was so causal talking about a man she was seeing not wanting at least a promise to be faithful.

  Suddenly I was confused, Zoe was saying all the right things to lessen my anxiety over the possible love triangle I was seriously stepping into now. Then why the haste to get out of my arms and down the hospital hall that night. I took a minute to get my thoughts together before asking her my next question.

  “So, what you are saying is you and Deck don’t have a commitment now nor did you back then, so why did you take off like a scalded cat from me at the hospital?”

  Zoe dropped her chin to her chest and growled out a frustrated groan.

  “I knew you would ask me that,” she mumbled into her flowy top, my mum would call it a blouse. I called it an annoying obstacle from seeing her full firm breasts, the impression they made against my chest was not something I would or could ever forget.

  Just as I was about to let her off the hook, her head popped up making her fluffy curls bounce around her pretty face.

  “Firstly, there is no commitment. I am not saying I am a slut, because I’m not—”

  Acting fast, I reached out and took her hands in mine. My temper rarely surfaced, but hearing Zoe say that ugly word in reference to herself angered me more than I thought possible.

  “Don’t say that about yourself ever again. There are all kinds of relationships, some are committed and some aren’t. People talk I get that, but no one has the right to judge you,” I told her fervently, ready to take on anyone who says otherwise.

  The sweet smile Zoe bestowed on me had me puffing out my chest a little and calmed my rage a lot.

  “Relax Tarzan, and it so happens I agree with you. But, that doesn’t mean everyone else does. I copped a few nasty comments here and there about our arrangement, especially when Deck was on deployment. People in town, some not most, thought I was just a damsel waiting for Deck to come home and throw me a few crumbs of his time. I wasn’t, but as you said, people talk and when they do, they tend to have an opinion.”

  “Well you know what they say about people’s opinions,” I muttered darkly.

  “Yeah, they are like arseholes, everyone has one,” Zoe finished laughing, and I couldn’t help but join in. Her casual approach to this talk was more than I hoped for, in fact it was fucking refreshing. She wasn’t bitter or gunning for Deck’s head on a platter.

  Picking up the glass of water in front of me, I motioned for her to continue.

  “Okay, so that night I went to the hospital to hand in my notice. At the time, I worked there in the emergency department in admissions but because I applied for another job at a private medical clinic, my supervisor asked me to come and see her while she was on shift. I didn’t end up getting the job but had I not gone that night —” she paused and gave me a ‘you know what I mean�
�� look.

  “When I was leaving I saw you, who I thought was Deck, standing with his dad. I’d never met his dad officially, but it was obvious who he was with the physical resemblance. You all look so much alike, other than your hair and the scruff on your face. I figured he was on leave and decided not to shave, I put two and two together and came up with five,” she said ruefully.

  “And,” I prompted.

  “I knew the second your lips landed on mine you weren’t Deck. But I couldn’t stop kissing you, it was everything I’d ever wanted in a kiss.”

  My mouth dried despite just having a drink of water.

  Fuck is she thinking that she wanted to feel like that when she used to kiss Deck? Jesus this shit could drive a person to drink. Why are you doing this to yourself Johnston?

  “Jason stop, I can practically hear what is going on in your head. Let me explain before you go jumping to even more wrong conclusions,” she implored me, her face soft with concern for me. Then her hands covered mine and everything settled inside me again. Her touch, for some reason, was the catalyst for calming me. Entwining my fingers with hers, I stroked my thumb along the smooth skin of her small hand and nodded.

  “Just keep touching me while you talk, okay?”

  Nodding her head, she mirrored what I was doing with her thumb on me, both of us focused on each other.

  “You happened to me in a time of my life when I wasn’t ready for something I knew you could offer me. That kiss was magical and beautiful, and it has stayed with me every day since. But back then, an earth-shattering wow moment was too much for my nineteen-year-old self to handle. At the time, I wasn’t ready for forever, and I wasn’t ready for another Johnston brother.” She shook her head and smiled sadly. “Deck was more than enough to deal with and figure out.”

  “And now. Are you ready now? Is Deck now part of your past?”

  A shadow passed over Zoe’s face, but left before I could decipher what it meant.

  Surprising me, Zoe stood up her hands still joined with mine and leaned over the table. Her lips touched mine in a brief kiss, soft and sweet and full of promise.

  “Deck and I are definitely just friends now, no benefits. As for the other part of your question,” she paused, her eyes boring into mine, her lips inches from mine, “yes, I am.”

  Chapter 7

  “You let the suspect go!” I shouted, the second I entered the main office at the police station. To say I am pissed off was an understatement, after last night I should be on cloud nine. Dinner with Zoe was better than phenomenal. After all the Deck stuff was talked out and I understood their past relationship better and most importantly believed Zoe when she told me she was not in love with him and never had been; we started to get down to getting to know each other.

  The night ended with us parting at our cars but not before I kissed her senseless, making sure her dreams would be of me all night.

  Yeah, I could have taken her home and made love to her. My dick certainly had been in on that plan, but he wasn’t in charge my heart was leading me.

  This was more than a fuck you to Deck or a passing fancy. Zoe is my future and while sinking balls deep in her pussy is high on my list of priorities, on the very top was making sure she was comfortable and happy with me first before any intimacy happened between us.

  So, this morning in the shower I pumped another one out thinking of Zoe’s sexy mouth sucking on my cock, making me come harder than I did hours before when I got home and pumped my cock hard as I thought about our kiss, her taste still on my tongue.

  Now my good mood was long gone, thanks to a call from above to release my only suspect in the home invasion case, plaguing not only me but the town. The crime spree of what we suspected was teenagers was taking a dangerous turn, and if it kept going, someone was going to get seriously hurt or worse, if we didn’t catch them soon.

  But letting the only suspect walk out the door without so much as surveillance was not helping me put a stop to the worrying violations.

  My partner Jobe appeared out of nowhere and stepped in front of me.

  “Calm down mate, they had to let him go. We had nothing to hold him on, once the allotted legal time was up he walked. He has rights you know that, so let’s focus on finding something more concrete to hold him on,” Jobe said with his usual sensibility.

  Both of us got sent to Ballarat seven years ago, after spending our probationary time in Mildura. From there we transferred here and worked hard to do the best as officers of the law until the opportunity arose to progress to detectives. At first, my interests lay with the Operational Response Unit, and in fact, spent a year on the ORU. But the hours on the road and the senseless traffic accidents I attended took its toll really quick.

  I got to the point of seeing car accident victims every time I closed my eyes at night; sleep became non-existent without help from a glass of whiskey or sleeping pills. I didn’t want to become a law enforcement statistic succumbing to the job, so I opted out and went down the road of detecting, investigating and preventing instead. I really found my niche as part of the Crime Investigation Unit and have been a part of it for five years now.

  My job was important to me and ninety-nine percent of the time I thrived on every aspect of it. But decisions like this one, letting a dangerous person back on the streets irked me more than I liked. Protocol and rules governed our job, but so did the simple hunch. And I had one bigger than Mt Everest.

  “I don’t care how it happens, but I want him watched. Anyone he comes into contact with becomes a suspect too. He isn’t working alone, we know that from the last two homeowner’s statements. They are getting brazen Jobe, and it’s only a matter of time before they do more than injure people with those machetes they use when invading their homes,” I said thumping my fist on the desk I was standing alongside. The frustration and anger spilling out of me. I was expected to uphold the law, and doing it with one hand tied behind my back was adding to my foul disposition.

  Putting on my game face, I nodded at Jobe.

  “Well, ready to face the senior sergeant and give him an earful?” I put all thoughts of Zoe to the back of my mind, I had to if I was going to do my job properly. The ugliness of these crimes was never going to touch my Nymph, be it physically or mentally.

  “Being your partner is never boring Johnston, dangerous and entertaining but never boring.”

  I gave Jobe my middle finger along with a smirk and took off for the boss’ office. Today was going to be a long day, I just hoped I get off early enough to see Zoe tonight.

  “I really am sorry about tonight Zoe, by the time I clocked off —”

  “Would you stop apologising Jason. I understand completely,” Zoe cut me off, her sweet voice travelling through the phone.

  Laying in my bed talking on the phone to Zoe, you would think I would rather be doing anything else but that, but you would be dead wrong.

  After three hours of overtime on this case today, it had been too late for Zoe and me to go on our first official date. Despite being shit-arse tired, I offered to pick her up and take her out for a late dinner. Instead, she suggested a phone date, I’d never heard of them before but now, I have to say I kinda liked them.

  “Okay, so tell me about your job. How did you decide on nursing?” I asked her, settling back in the nest of pillows I had set up behind me.

  “Well, when we first met, I was working at the reception in the ER department at night and then doing my enrolled nursing course. But once I finished, I discovered that being an EN didn’t offer much in the way of jobs. So, I went back and studied Registered Nursing, which took less time with the credits from my EN certificate.”

  “What is the difference between the two?” I asked her, truly interested in hearing about her profession. Other than the fact that I got to hear her sexy husky voice of course.

  “Basically, money and availability of jobs. While I went back to school, I thought that I could get a job on the weekends in a medical clinic, but ev
en that was difficult. All I kept hearing was I had no experience or they wanted an RN. I had already quit the night job, so I got a job working at my friend’s mum’s coffee shop on Saturday and Sundays.”

  “How long did you work there?”

  “The whole time I was studying for my nursing degree, around three years. Not long after I finished up there it closed. Stella, that’s my friend, well her mum got cancer and had to close up the shop. Her new husband said it would be better for her while she was going through treatment. Personally, I think he just wanted the money from the sale. Poor Stella, it broke her heart.” Suddenly, Zoe’s voice went from excited to sad as she talked about her friend’s mum.

  “Did her mum get better?”

  “No, she died,” Zoe said sadly.

  “Fuck, that sucks.” My mind went back to my mother’s brush with illness years ago when I thought she had cancer. Even though it turned out to be something less deadly, the operation to remove the tumour from her liver took its toll on Mum’s health for a long while after.

  “Yeah, poor Stella lost her mum and now she is controlled by her stepdad and stepbrothers. She doesn’t say much, but I know there is something bad going on there. She is younger than me and I worry about her there alone, hey her stepfather is a cop maybe you know him.”

  “What’s his name?” I asked noncommittally. As a rule, cops at my station were pretty loyal and we rarely had a problem with each other. Hearing that a police officer wasn’t doing right by his wife’s child didn’t send off any warning bells and getting involved in someone’s personal life didn’t appeal to me. Zoe sounded pretty worried about her friend though, and if I could do a little nosing around without getting in the middle of something I would.

  “Ah, I just know him as Gary. Her last name is Hogan, she didn’t change her name when her mum remarried.” Zoe offered. I knew a firefighter with the last name of Hogan, Carson was a good mate as was his best mates, Hoove and Chase. My station close to the station where they worked. All three men were good friends, but I was closest to Chase, his daughter had been murdered earlier this year by her mother’s deranged boyfriend. Chase not only lost his little girl that night but Melly, her mother, too. Attending the scene of a double murder/homicide was something that stayed with you for a long fucking time.