Killer

Chapter 35: What Lies Beneath

"What time is it?" A suspicious voice whispered in my ear. "Time for Sunny to die!"

I instantly shot up. The dark, familiar figure that had been looming over my face quickly disappeared. Instead, I was in a bright motel room. There were clothes scattered on the floor. On the small TV, there was an episode of Spongebob Squarepants on the screen. The round clock above ticked to 7:32, and I assumed it was already morning from outside as the sun softly shone through the dusty blinds. I moved my legs and softly tensed at the pain in between.

I looked right beside me, and it made a lot of sense. Tre was soundly asleep on his front. He had his arm thrown over his eyes, and his sexy back was shown as his chocolate-colored skin was perfect and soft. His short dreadlocks were messy all over his head, and he smelled like some kind of cinnamon cologne. The morning sun glinted in over the messy sheets from last night's activity. I watched as Tre removed his arm from his face and opened his gorgeous, dark brown, almond-shaped eyes.

"Hey," he reached over and linked his arm around my waist, pulling my naked body toward him. "Are you sore?"

"A little bit," I whispered, holding back. I could still hear that chilling voice from my nightmare. Time for Sunny to die! It was Rachel's voice.

Tre frowned. "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing," I blurted, looking away. "I had a bad...dream."

"You want to talk about it?"

I hesitated. I wished I could just forget about her death, but it was hard. Instead, I shook my head.

"It's okay, c'mere."

Movement — Like Lust

Tre and I spent the next few minutes kissing and exploring each other's bodies. I got a rush of pleasurable relief. It reminded me that everything was going to be alright. I was safe in Tre's arms.

This was the first time I truly felt giddy. I haven't slept with any other guy beside Jace since we used to cuddle in his bed, although we never had sex. The feeling was something else. Last night, Tre and I enjoyed each other so much that the inside warmth and comfort were too damn dreamy for us to stop. In the middle of the night, we had fallen into sleep immediately. I was so satisfied.

Tre began kissing me more forcefully now, sliding his mouth onto my neck as I arched my head back. My messy blonde hair fell down. I brought my body much closer to his. I could feel his big hands tracing my naked skin. "You want a round two?" he playfully asked.

"Fuck yes," I whispered.

I placed myself on top of him as Tre slowly inserted himself into me once again. He kept a good grip on my hips. My heart pounded in my ears as I simply rode him. I was no longer a virgin, as before, when I used to believe sex was discriminating as it was in everything else in my life. That was all gone since I finally did it with the perfect person.

Tre was the right person all along. There was no going back anymore; he truly made me feel comfortable in my body.

After three episodes of Spongebob, I rolled back on my side of the bed, smiling endlessly at the popcorn ceiling. So much for rocking slow on my end that made Tre take over and just pound up. I turned myself in the sheets to face him and whispered. "That was so good."

"Thanks," Tre whispered back. "You feel so good."

It was partly over morning now, entering the afternoon, when Tre and I were lying in the motel bed together, purposefully missing school. Before we could doze off again, I wanted to talk to him about the real cause of Rachel's death.

I couldn't help but ask him. "Tre, do you sometimes think about Rachel and that night?"

"Yeah, all the time. Why ask?" He responded.

"I had a nightmare about her last night. I was just wondering..." I then shivered. "Have you gotten a chance to speak to the police?"

"No, I haven't." Tre turned his body so that we were facing each other.

"Well, it will be the best that you know this," I said as I sat up on the bed. "The police told me that Rachel died from alcohol poisoning. Someone put battery acid into her drink. They assumed she was murdered."

Tre looked absolutely appalled. "Jesus fucking Christ."

"I know. It's so twisted."

"But why? Why was she killed like...that?"

I heavily sighed, if only I knew myself. "I don't know, but aren't you dying to?"

Tre nodded. "Yeah, I do. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Let's try to recall what happened the night of Mila's party to see if we could piece things together," I suggested. "Who might target Rachel and somewhat else? At least from our perspectives."

"Okay."

"Have you spoke to her at all that night? Hell, what did you even do?" I asked Tre.

"Well, I was in Mila's den with some guys from the football team. I had that bear costume on when I tried to break dance in front of them. We were drinking some beer and..." His handsome face furrowed as if he were trying to think much further back. "Then I had to go use it and head to the bathroom. On my way there, I ran into Rachel in the hallway, but we didn't talk to each other that night."

I blinked. "Why didn't you talk to her?"

Tre rolled his eyes. "She was my ex. I didn't want to initiate a conversation with her because she was with someone else."

I leaped out of bed and surveyed the conservation. I needed any clue that could seriously help right now. "Who was she talking to? What did they look like?"

"Whoever she was flirting and talking to had a black mask covering their face. They also wore a red cape as well. I don't know who it was."

I gasped at what Tre was revealing.

I tried to think and remember more details about who could match that description from that night. "Shit, did she have her drink around that person?"

"I believe so," Tre said slowly. "That awful night was a blur. It happened so quick." He shook his messy dreads and hopelessly shrugged. "This was before I went to the bathroom. I remembered Rachel was dressed as a sexy nurse."

I finished him off, looking down at our pile of clothes that was still on the floor. "Then she probably came outside and saw me. I was in Mila's backyard with Jace when we got into a fight and he left to smoke. That was when Rachel threw the drink at me."

Tre piped in. "It couldn't be us because we were in the bathroom together when she fell into the pool and died."

"Correct, it feels sketchy," I agreed. "Like something is missing."

I left it as that. I took a long, hot shower to rinse my body from head to toe. My heart was still pounding from what Tre said about that night. Rachel was probably talking to someone who killed her. I felt overwhelmed with nerves, anxious about the Tanglewood killer, but totally blissed about Tre. When I came out of the shower, Tre was sitting on the edge of the bed. Our motel room smelled like body sweat and love. I reached for his hand and slowly traced my thumb over his skin.

"Maybe tomorrow morning we can go into the city." Tre pulled me down so I could sit on his lap. "And do something fun."

"Okay," I muttered.

I was willing to get to the bottom of Rachel's death and what could really unfold.