Ari
JuddO’Connorworkedas a carpenter, was forty-two years old, weighed two hundred and sixty pounds, and was fucking his son’s best friend, although nobody knew. He ate the same thing for lunch every day — a tuna sandwich — and followed the same routine. He was out of his house by seven a.m. to get to the construction site for the new library. The old building burned down several months ago.
It took me roughly two weeks to find out Judd wasn’t an innocent man who just happened to work on the new library. He and a few of his men who’d been strapped for work deliberately set the building on fire so they could pitch an offer to build a new one. They hadn’t known the librarian was living in the basement, and the woman died. They proposed the library be named after her.
Most of what I found on Judd at first was gossip, but if there was one thing my old man had taught me, it was that where there was smoke, there was often fire. And Judd was so knee deep in the flames he should have been burning.
Shaw, of course, had no idea what I was up to. I promised him not to go after Judd, and I hadn’t broken my promise. I hadn’t made a move toward Judd; I just dug up as much dirt as possible about him.
Thank god, I was small. My slender frame got me into places without being seen. I flashed a smile, giggled a little, and they all thought me harmless and let their guard down around me. That was how I followed his closest friend, Bryan, from the construction site one day to the bar where he often had a drink in the afternoon.
I discovered he and Judd were occasional fuck buddies, but they weren’t too chummy with each other since Judd started fucking the kid from the high school. Bryan was jealous and mad enough to mouth off to a harmless boy about standing by Judd and them getting that contract after the place had gone up in flames. He spoke in euphemisms, but I was no dummy. He and Judd torched that place and let that woman die.
My relationship with Shaw progressed beautifully, and I was happy, though at times he was distracted. I finally dragged the truth out of him that Judd’s kid had been kicked out of school. Shaw wanted me to stay put in the house, never leaving nor opening the door to strangers unless he was home. I placated him with smiles, but he eyed me with unease. Like he found it difficult to believe a word I’d said to him.
Night times were my favorites. We fucked. My god, did we fuck, and then I fell asleep, sucking his dick. Sometimes he stroked my hair. Other times he wanted me up in bed next to him, my back against his front as his arms lay heavily over me. Shaw sweated like a pig during the night, but I didn’t mind.
For the two weeks since Shaw sprinkled me with his pee, I’d been stalking Judd and learning as much about him as I could without him or Shaw noticing. I’d used the excuse of jogging in the morning, which Shaw hated. No way was he going to run with me, so he had no choice but to allow me to go out.
I told Shaw I went to the park, which was safer, but I would park my car down the road from Judd’s house, then follow him to where he worked. A couple of times, I doubled back to his house and searched through his stuff. He had a pile of unpaid bills, his house was messy, with meth in the drawer, and lewd pictures. The guy was apparently not too smart.
He kept pictures of his misdeeds. Pictures of his son’s friend sucking his dick, of his son’s bruised back — which I would have bet he caused — and of the library and other buildings he’d burned down. Those pictures, plus what his drunken fuck buddy had said, left no doubt they’d burned down the library, killing that innocent woman. I took shots of the photographs with my camera, then almost got caught when his son came home drunk with some girl who was already half-naked. I escaped through the backdoor.
At first, I got all the evidence I needed about Judd in case he tried any funny business with Daddy, but I never intended to use it. Until last night, when the phone rang and I answered it.
“Hey, this is Daddy’s phone.”
From the kitchen, Daddy’s laugh carried to me. “Ari, that’s not how you answer the phone.”
“Is that what he makes you call him when he’s fucking you?” Judd.
My light and happy mood from showing Daddy how to bake banana bread evaporated.
“Please don’t call this phone anymore,” I said politely and hung up.
He called back promptly, and I answered. “I said—”
“I know what you said, but now you better hear what I have to say. Tell Shaw he’s screwed. I’m gonna make you call me Daddy while I fuck you up so much he doesn’t want you anymore.”
I sucked in a deep breath and turned to Shaw, who’d entered the living room.
“Who is it?” he asked.
I put down the phone. “Just an insurance salesman.” What Shaw didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.
But then the damn phone rang again, and when Shaw stretched his hand out, I gave him the phone. I’d been behaving for him and I didn’t want to ruin our night any more than this stupid bastard was about to do.
“This is Shaw,” he answered the phone. “Who’s this?”
If only I could hear what Judd said, but I could guess enough from Daddy’s stony expression. He placed a hand around my waist and pulled me possessively against his side, holding me so tightly he crushed my ribs.
“You touch a hair on his head, Judd, and that’s the last thing you’ll do,” he growled into the phone, then hung up.
“Too tight,” I said, and he eased his hold on me.
“You lied to me. Didn’t I tell you no more lies?”
“This is different. I didn’t want you to be upset.”