Her Bear In Mind by Maria Amor Read Free Book Online Page B

He started at her heel and made his way up her leg, kissing and caressing the whole way. Sierra moaned as he gently nibbled on her inner thigh. He kissed the lace on her panties before ripping them off in one sudden motion. Sierra gasped and some tiny part of her brain considered protesting. But that voice was drowned out as he slid his hands up to her breasts and unhooked her bra. He gazed down at her naked body for a moment, drinking her in.
     
    “What are you waiting for?” she asked him breathlessly.
     
    He grinned wickedly and unzipped his jeans.
     
    Sierra’s phone started to ring, blaring rudely out of her purse by the door.
     
    “Sorry, just give me a minute.” Sierra said.
     
    “Are you seriously going to answer that?” Joe asked incredulously.
     
    Sierra climbed off the bed and walked over to her purse.
     
    “What can I say? I’m married to my job.”
     
    But it wasn’t work on the caller ID, it was Molly.
     
    Sierra answered the phone.
     
    “ Not a good time Molly .” she said.
     
    On the other end of the line Molly sobbed hysterically.
     
    “Molly? Molly, calm down. Tell me what’s wrong.”
     

CHAPTER 6
    Joe drove her back to her apartment. Sierra’s throat went dry as she saw the flashing lights on the police cars out front. Inside two cops were asking Molly questions. An EMT was hovering over her, applying an ice pack to the massive bruise blooming on her right eye. The blow had split her eyebrow down the middle in a jagged line now held together with butterfly bandages.
     
    The apartment was trashed. The glass-topped coffee table had been flipped over, leaving glittering shards all over the carpet. There was a hole in the wall where the assailant had thrown a can of paint against it. The bright red paint had splattered everywhere, standing out starkly against the white walls. The TV had also been knocked over and smashed in. He had taken a knife to their couch, exposing the stuffing. Worse yet, he’d done the same to several of Molly’s paintings, turning her works of art into shredded strips of painted canvas.
     
    Molly had her sketch pad on her lap. She was sketching her assailant with a charcoal pencil clutched in her shaking hand. Even upside-down and from across the room Sierra recognized Eric’s face in the drawing. Etched in charcoal, his long hair looked like wisps of smoke. The cold expression in his eyes bored into her and she couldn’t help but feel a wave of guilt wash over her. Was this her fault? Had Molly been caught in the cross fire caused by her ambition?
     
    Sierra rushed over and hugged her.
     
    “Are you okay?” she asked. “How bad are you hurt?”
     
    “That son-of-a-bitch destroyed my paintings.”
     
    “I saw. Molly, I’m so sorry.”
     
    “He wanted you. He kept asking where you were and I didn’t know where the hell you were even if I’d wanted to tell him. Which I didn’t. Because I’m a really fucking good friend.”
     
    “You are the best of the friends. I’m going to buy you new overpriced paints. And wine.”
     
    One of the cops interrupted.
     
    “Do you know this man?” he asked, indicating the charcoal drawing.
     
    “No.” Sierra lied. “I’ve never seen him before.”
     
    “Any idea why someone might want to hurt you?”
     
    “I told you,” Molly interjected. “She’s a reporter. She basically pisses people off for a living. It could have been for dozens of reasons, right, Sierra?”
     
    “Yeah.” Sierra agreed, seizing on the plausible narrative like a life raft. “I can call my editor and have him scan the hate mail file to you.”
     
    “Please do,” the cop said.
     
    The cops continued to question them for the next hour.  When they asked Molly to go over it all again for the third time that night, Joe stepped in and demanded if it was necessary. The cops, bashful after being chastised by the governor, agreed to call it a night. They promised to have a patrol car check in on them periodically,