Reaching out, ZaZa put her hands on top of Tania’s, which were already playing between her thighs, and encouraged her partner to rub her harder and faster.
Then she placed her own hands between Tania’s thighs. She knew the other woman wouldn’t mind the change in the routine, and would be happy to oblige.
ZaZa put one oiled finger inside of Tania. Tania put one oiled finger inside of ZaZa. Two women mimicking each other’s movements.
Twenty-Eight
When I came, it was sharp and intense and hard-won. Noah had been waiting for it, holding back until he felt my body stiffen, and then he let go, moaning into my ear. The same ear he had been gently and patiently whispering into-a breeze of words that had, in the end, been the same mantra that urged me into an orgasm.
When he rolled off me he didn’t disengage completely, but left our sides touching and our legs crossed. Once he’d caught his breath, he reached out and played with my hair.
“I can’t stop,” he said. “I’m exhausted but I can’t keep my hands off you.”
“I’m flattered.” I kissed him lightly on his lips.
After I pulled away, I saw him open his mouth and then shut it, as if he had been about to say something and changed his mind. Sometimes I wished I wasn’t so damn observant. I didn’t want to be an expert at sensing and noticing and understanding other people’s emotional states when I was involved. I closed my eyes.
“I’m not going to give up on you, you know,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
“You don’t know?”
I opened my eyes and looked at him. “I have no idea.” And I didn’t. His words had caught me by surprise.
“Are you as afraid of us as you seem to be?”
“You know, Detective Jordain, it’s not in the slightest bit sexy for you to lie here and psychoanalyze me.”
“Au contraire, my dear. It’s utterly sexy. Two of us, naked and glistening with lovemaking, and me figuring out your very complicated brain. There’s nothing I’d rather be doing.”
I laughed. He leaned over and kissed me. Not a light and teasing kiss as mine had been a minute before, but a long kiss, with his lips pressed tight against mine, letting it last and linger, taking my breath away. He knew that, too.
“You’re completely relaxed now, aren’t you?”
“Hmm.”
“Good. Just lie there now. There’s more I want to do to you.”
With his hands on me, the way he was holding me, I couldn’t have thought about anything else if I’d wanted to.
Twenty-Nine
Tania was gasping for breath and ZaZa smiled at the intensity of the orgasm she’d given her, increasing the pressure of her fingers on Tania’s clitoris. She wasn’t going to stop. As soon as her partner’s breathing slowed and her orgasm ended she was going to start on her again, and then again. She was going to amaze her. And then, later, when the camera was off, she was going to tell Tania how she really felt about her.
Focusing, listening to the other woman’s breathing, ZaZa waited to hear the intensity slow down. Damn, this was lasting a long time. She waited. Still there was no slowing down. Something was wrong.
Maybe Tania wasn’t gasping in the throes of an orgasm. Maybe she was gulping for air.
“What is it?” ZaZa whispered, not wanting to break the mood for all the men who were watching, but concerned about her friend.
When Tania slumped over and continued the rasping, ZaZa really began to worry. Clearly this was not a sexually-induced reaction, but before she could do anything, she felt the first wave of nausea overtake her. It hit her hard. Failing to hold it back, she vomited uncontrollably, right there on her own bed. Her head suddenly ached, too. Bad. She couldn’t breathe. Christ. Everything was blurry, confusing. She tried to say something. To tell Tania she was sick, too, but she was so dizzy. She could see Tania at the end of the bed, curled up in a ball, shaking, and she wanted to reach out to her, but she couldn’t figure out how to move in that direction. Nothing was where it should be, everything was skewed.
“I’m really sick,” Tania whispered.
ZaZa couldn’t even answer. She just stared at her with eyes that felt as if they were on fire.
“You’re sick, too,” Tania said. She tried to get up but couldn’t find her balance.
ZaZa was willing her to get up. She had never felt so bad in her life. She needed some water. Some air. She needed to be able to breathe. More than water, she needed help. Tania needed help, too. ZaZa could see that.
Finally, using the back of a chair and then the edge of a table, Tania managed to make it to the desk where the computer was. Where the phone was.
ZaZa tried to talk, to tell her to tell them to hurry, but all that came out was a low and raspy moan. She couldn’t form the words, but she could still see what was happening.
She watched Tania pick up the phone. She was so sick, but she was thinking about how at that moment, Tania had broken the computer connection and ZaZa’s broadcast had gone dead in thousands of homes, hotel rooms and offices. She’d also tipped over a glass of wine that spilled onto the keyboard and shorted out the motherboard. One way or another, that Web cast was fated to go dark.
Right before ZaZa passed out, she saw Tania manage to dial 911.
Sunday Twelve days remaining
Thirty
The phone rang, jarring me awake. I could barely open my eyes, and I reached for my cell phone where I always left it when I was away from my daughter, on the bedside table. But before I could find it-while I was still groping in the dark- I heard Noah talking. It was his phone.
I lay there listening to the one-sided conversation, unable to fill in the gaps but making wild guesses at what was going on.
“What time?”
Pause.
“What hospital?”
Pause.
“How are they?”
Pause.
“Which one?” One last pause. “Okay. I’ll be there in a few hours. I can turn around and fly back here for Monday.”
I heard the click as he shut the phone and the thud as he put it back on his nightstand. As he lay back, his breath was rapid and his body was tense.
“Noah? What happened?”
“Did you hear that? I’m sorry it woke you.”
“No, it’s fine. What is it, though? What happened?”
“Looks like another poisoning.”
I sat up in bed and leaned on my elbow. In the ambient early morning light, I could see that Noah’s features were drawn.
“I’m going to have to go back to New York this morning,” he said.
“I’ll come with you.”
“You know, you could stay. Your ticket isn’t until tonight and there’s a lot that-”
“No, I don’t want to be here without you. We can come back and you can show me the rest of your city. Tell me about the woman. Is she dead?”
“Women. There were two of them. One has a chance, the other…they don’t think so.”
“What happened?”
“Crazy. This is so crazy.” He rubbed his eyes and ran his hand through his tousled hair.
“Christ, I’m sorry, Morgan. We finally have a whole weekend together and now this.”
“It’s okay, just tell me what happened.”
“Men watching the Web cast saw them getting sick and started calling it in…dozens of them…just like the last time… it might have taken forever to find them again but one of the women managed to call 911 before she passed out. The ambulance got there in four minutes.”
He rubbed his eyes again.
“Would you like me to order up some coffee? It’s already six o’clock. The menu said room service started an hour ago.”
“Yes, coffee. And food, too. I’ll call the airlines and try to get us out of here.” He picked up his cell but just stared at it. “Two women. One’s twenty-two, the other one is twenty-three. And God knows how many men, just watching it happen.”