Chapter 22
1022 Words
Steven came out of the elevator on the seventh floor and headed down to Sheila's apartment. He had only knocked twice when the door flung open and Sheila flew into his arms, almost knocking him down.
"Easy, tiger," he teased, wrapping his arms around her.
"I missed you so much, Steven."
They remained in each other's embrace for a while before Sheila detached herself from him and led him inside the apartment with a warm smile. She had been cooking when he'd called that she was coming over. The whole house smelled delicious. Alice had exhausted the food she'd kept in the freezer before travelling and since Sheila was the better cook between them, she'd not prepared any new dishes except a lone egg salad that Sheila had thrown out cause it smelled foul.
"Hope Alice got to you on time," Steven said, watching as she swirled over to the gas cooker to turn it off.
"She did," Sheila replied. She felt Steven's hands wrap around her lower back from behind and she tilted her neck to let him plant kisses on her neck, before turning around to face him.
"I missed you too, baby," Steven said, before locking lips with hers. They kissed passionately for a while, with their hands running all over each other. As Sheila felt Steven unbuckled the button of her jean trousers, she reached for his hands and held them.
"Alice might be home any minute from now," she told him, in between kisses. They had had s*x severally in Steven's house but that was because Sheila felt more comfortable there since Steven lived alone. Alice and her did not share a room, but the fact remained that they shared the apartment. Not that she had any issues with Alice knowing they'd had s*x in her house if they ever did, but Sheila was just a private person who took the interests of other people to heart. She wouldn't appreciate leaving bed in the middle of a post coitus cuddle to open the door for her roommate, and she definitely would not like Alice seeing Steven walk out of her room half naked with his hair dishevelled. That was a sight only for her eyes.
"We'll be quiet," Steven said, reaching in for another kiss. Sheila indulged him for a minute and then pulled away with a sigh.
"You were going to tell me your findings from the bugs planted in Clark's house, remember? Before Alice gets here."
Steven sighed and pulled his face away from her. He walked over to the living room and sat on the sofa while Sheila tidied up the kitchen before joining him. She moved closer to him and lay her head on his chest letting him stroke her hair. They turned on the TV but neither of them had their concentration on it.
"You were sort of right to suspect Clinton for being the stalker."
"Told you I was right," Sheila said, a tone of triumph in her voice.
"But we have reason to believe he's not working alone."
Steven got his phone out of his pocket and played a voice recording. Sheila recognised the voice in the recording as Clinton's. He seemed to be on the phone with someone and was instructing the person to keep watch over an AL in Sterling Industries. Sheila guessed AL was a codename for Alice. He also told the person to let him know when next he saw the owner of First Bite. Sheila's hand flew to her mouth. Steven saw her reaction and turned off the recording.
"I think you've heard enough, babe."
"Steven, this man is more dangerous than we thought. He's stalking me too."
"Yeah, appears so. I figured he would cause you live with Alice."
"We need to take this to the police immediately. This is all the information they need.
"We can't exactly do that, Sheila. You know they'll ask how we got this recording. We could get Derrick in trouble. He could lose his job for breaking the law."
"Derrick is a police officer and he was simply carrying out an investigation. They'll understand," Sheila said standing up. Her voice was louder now and Steven looked at her calmly.
"Babe, I understand you're trying to help Alice. But we can't do it this way. We can't let Derrick get in trouble because of Clinton. That will be totally unfair. We're gonna get Clinton red-handed. That's the only way he can arrested."
"Red-handed? What? We're gonna wait for him to attack Alice before he's caught?"
"Exactly. But he won't be successful in the attack. Because this time, he won't be the only one stalking Alice."
"What are you saying, Steven?"
"Derrick is keeping an eye on Alice now as well. She knows about it, he informed her and she's been cooperating. We're going to lure Clinton to try and make a move and when he does, we will be ready to pounce," Steven explained and slammed his palms together for emphasis on the pounce.
Sheila paced the living room with her hands on her hips. Their plan seemed like a good one and she would really hate for Stevens brother to get in trouble because of all this. But wasn't it too dangerous for Alice? What if Clark harmed her before they were able to pounce on him as Steven said? She put her hands on her head and sighed. She just had to trust him. At least now they were sure of who the stalker was.
Steve got up and cuddled her in his arms. She let her head hang on his shoulder while he rubbed small circles on her back. She smiled when she felt Steven's lips trailing kisses down her neck.
"Alice isn't home yet," he said to her in a groggy voice.
"You naughty, nasty boy," Sheila said, laughing. She needed him right now more than he needed her, more than her regard for her rules.
And when Alice returned from work later that night, Sheila and Steven were cuddled up in Sheila's bed naked and fast asleep.
- Writer
