FIRST ONE DOWN: A Paul Sutton Novel Read online

  FIRST ONE DOWN

  R.J. Belle

  Contents

  TITLE PAGE

  LEGAL

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  DEDICATION

  OPEN QUOTE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  CHAPTER 21

  CHAPTER 22

  CHAPTER 23

  CHAPTER 24

  CHAPTER 25

  CHAPTER 26

  CHAPTER 27

  CHAPTER 28

  CHAPTER 29

  CHAPTER 30

  CHAPTER 31

  CHAPTER 32

  CHAPTER 33

  CHAPTER 34

  CHAPTER 35

  CHAPTER 36

  CHAPTER 37

  CHAPTER 38

  CHAPTER 39

  CHAPTER 40

  CHAPTER 41

  CHAPTER 42

  CHAPTER 43

  CHAPTER 44

  CHAPTER 45

  CHAPTER 46

  CHAPTER 47

  CHAPTER 48

  CHAPTER 49

  END QUOTE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  FIRST ONE DOWN

  A Paul Sutton Novel

  R.J. Belle

  Copyright © 2014 by R.J. Belle

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Edited by: Helen Gerth Mahi Cover design by: Elderlemon Design www.elderlemondesign.com

  Copyright © 2014 by R.J. Belle All rights reserved.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

  To my mom: for sticking by me on my crazy days when the lines between my reality, and my character’s realities, were often drastically blurred.

  To Ryan, JD, Lana and Bella: the amount of love you have filled my world with, simply by your existence, is immeasurable.

  To my man: for gracefully and unconditionally loving me through my most neurotic days and allowing me the space required to write in solitude.

  To my Gram: for looking down on me always and pushing me to pursue my dreams - I still hear you in my heart.

  To GG, Ms. Hall, V, Mrs. Migoya, Ms. Fox and TMB: for the positive energy and bright light that you have all consistently enriched my life with. For whom you are and the many ways you’ve helped me get through my toughest days, I cannot thank you enough.

  To my Editor: I found a confidence through your mentoring that I will forever be indebted to you for.

  And last, but certainly not least, Jami Waldon: You are my favorite horse trainer and the most powerful warrior princess I know. Our roads will forever be glued together by years of love, heartbreaking tragedy and the common threads that tied our individual lives back together piece by beautiful, broken piece. Love you long time!

  FIRST ONE DOWN

  R.J. Belle

  Dedicated to the broken.

  Eventually we will all find our way.

  You clearly see the mask I wear and you label me a monster. Yet, you do not look beyond my mask. You will never fully understand the soul of the man behind it because your fear of what is lurking beyond is infinitely greater than your fear of the mask itself.

  -NW

  CHAPTER 1

  Encinitas, CA

  December 24, 2009

  He sat on a small stool at the far side of the dimly lit room staring at her body. She was pale, delicate and beautifully still. Her arms raised above her head, held in place by the chains that hung from a large, silver hook in the ceiling, were an amazing sight to behold. Both toned and tanned legs were turned to the side, as if she were trying to assume the fetal position. Her breasts, created by the hands of a very skilled cosmetic surgeon, pointed upwards in a glorious display of perfection. Looking at her seductive, full lips made him long to bend down and press his own lips, hard, against them. Those lips still had a hint of the pink lipstick he had sent to her earlier that week. The package he had sent had also contained white lace panties and a lace up corset. Closing his eyes, he began to imagine the expression on her face as she had opened the gold box trimmed in red ribbon, and fantasized about what would come - about what he would do to her.

  He was overwhelmed by a sense of desire viewing her naked flesh. She was lying still ready to be taken. He wanted to take her one last time. Experience her full submission to him. Gaze upon her as she complied with every command he gave. Feel the wetness between her legs that her submission brought. She loved it just as much as he did. She needed him to control her, just as he needed to exert his control over her.

  He stood up and walked to the side of the bed. Her golden blonde hair fanned out in soft tangles about the top portion of the bed. Bending down he buried his whole face into the silken mass. He breathed her scent in; the soft, feminine fragrance of her perfume was intoxicating. It reminded him of the jasmine shrubs that were planted below the kitchen window of his childhood home. After a moment, he put an arm around her torso lifting her gently while releasing the chains that held her arms captive. He laid her back onto the bed and sat next to her.

  His fingertips trailed slowly from her forehead down the length of her face, past her jawline and stopped on those breasts. His large hand began giving attention to a nipple. That type of touch usually made the tiny, dark brown nub harden instantly. He loved how firm they became, how sensitive they were and how much pain they could take. But nothing changed; her body was unresponsive. He closed his eyes, and his hand continued its journey passing over her taught belly, past her navel. When he reached the space between her legs, he parted her lips to expose her opening. He shoved three fingers inside, thrusting them in deep and then pulling them almost all the way out - repeating this numerous times, harder and deeper, until he had himself worked into a frenzy. He opened his eyes, pulled them out and quickly moved off of the bed. He stood looking down at his own naked body and the massive erection waiting to be taken care of. His pulse quickened, he felt his anger rising and he knew he needed to use a technique to maintain control. He could not lose control. He had to stay in charge, keep everything in order; he had to erase the twisted thoughts of what he wanted to do to this bitch who left him with a hard on, who left him unsatisfied.

  He began breathing deeply in and out. Closing his eyes tight and wrapping massive arms around himself, he began to dig his fingers into his shoulders. He could feel his body begin to rock back and forth. He fought hard to stay out of that space, "Don't go there, you are in control, she disobeyed, she deserved the punishment she received, you are the ruler, you are the Master, you did what you had to do," he s
aid aloud to himself.

  His body stilled, and he opened his eyes and looked around the room. Almost an hour had gone by, he was cold and it would be daylight in just a few hours. He had to take care of this problem.

  He showered, dressed and mixed a protein shake which he downed quickly and hurried into the storage room. He came out carrying a large duffle bag over his shoulder, took it into the room, and began to partially unpack it. First he pulled out a pair of surgical gloves and carefully put them on, making sure to avoid causing any tears in the latex with his large hands. Next he pulled out an oversized thick nylon blanket and removed it from its plastic wrapper. He lifted her up easily and moved her body to the far side of the bed and placed the nylon blanket on the other side. As he breathed in her scent one last time, he lifted her limp body and placed it on top of the blanket, then carefully wrapped the edge over her long ways rolling her until she was completely encased. Reaching back into the bag, he grabbed the duct tape and cut two long pieces off and secured both ends of the blanket. He took the bag down to his truck, lifted up the back window of the camper shell and lowered the lift gate then headed back up to the bedroom to get her body. Her small frame and light weight were easy to heft over his shoulder and carrying her out to the truck was effortless; he didn't even break a sweat.

  With her body secured in the bed of the truck, he started up the engine, clicked the button on the garage door opener and backed out onto his dark and quiet street. The only disruption of the peaceful, middle of the night setting was the hard rain coming down, but that would be an asset, he thought to himself. A flash of red caught his eye. The car looked vaguely familiar; the rain began to lash even harder at the windshield. He couldn't get distracted. He was on his way now, and the problem was almost solved.

  He was satisfied with the isolated location he had chosen to dump her body. She loved the beach, and he was giving her more than he felt she deserved by leaving her in such a beautiful place. She was the perfect little submissive. Perfect until she chose not to comply. Perfect until he found out that his hands were not the only hands that had touched her body. Perfect until she demanded more of him than he wanted to give. He set the rules, not her, not any of them. Why was that so hard for some of them to understand? He explained the rules clearly. If they followed the rules they were rewarded. If they did not follow the rules, they were punished. If he lost control, they were eliminated. It was that simple.

  Peering out of the windshield through the sheets of rain, he located and pulled into the empty clearing off the side of the road. As he parked, the rain subsided and the bright moonlight shone through a break in the clouds high above allowing for greater visibility. He lifted her body from the truck bed and, reaching back for the duffel bag, picked it up and carried both down the rocky embankment towards the shore. The hard rain had made the embankment slippery, and he carefully planted his feet onto rocks and not the sand between them. No sense in leaving a trail, this had to be clean, he must be cautious. Dropping her body onto the shore just past the embankment, he retrieved scissors from the duffle and cut the nylon blanket away from her body. Once she was free from the fabric, he grabbed the back of her head and lifted her up by her wild golden blonde locks - her body coming almost all the way off of the sand. He yanked her back towards himself and tossed her, face down, onto the sand. Taking his knife out of the duffle, he turned her body to the side and sliced violently at her breasts, then stopped before he lost himself in the savagery of the act he was preforming, in clear view of possible late night on-lookers. He stood over her body for a brief moment beating back his twisted urges, when he heard a sound in the distance. It came from an empty lot near the lighthouse at the far end of the shoreline. Looking up and focusing his attention in the direction of the noise, he couldn't quite make out the shape in the shadows of the lot. He suddenly remembered the red car he had seen as he left his house. Its familiarity was no longer an idle puzzle but an immediate concern. His mind began to race. Had someone witnessed what he just did, he wondered. Panic had set in, he couldn't afford to get caught - that would end the game and he wasn't close to calling it quits. As he climbed the slippery embankment, he looked up at the lot several times waiting for the red car and its occupant to make a move. Just as he had reached the truck, the taillights of the car became visible as it pulled back onto the main road. Nate had another problem to deal with now, but it was an easy one to solve. Getting in the truck, he wiped off the sweat that had formed on his forehead, scanned the surrounding area to assure himself he hadn't been seen by anyone else, and headed home.

  After taking special care to discard any evidence, he went into the bathroom. Using vivid, recent memories he masturbated right up to the point that he could feel the rise of ejaculation then he stopped himself abruptly. He would not allow himself complete pleasure until he replaced her with another. Next time he would make a wiser choice, the next one would be the right one. It would be a woman who knew how to follow rules. It would be a woman who wouldn't force him to end the game before he was done playing.

  He pulled his pants up and went into the bedroom and lay upon the bed sheet that still smelled of her. He looked up at the ceiling and stared at the hooks for several minutes. Memories of the women before her flooded his mind. There had been many; he could recall each one of them, he could visualize their lips, their facial expressions and he could remember the sounds of their moans, and their screams. He could not recall many names; to him they were merely objects, there for his pleasure. There was only one that he could remember every single detail about. Everything - including her name. It was that one who filled his thoughts as he drifted off to sleep while looking at the chains that hung down from the ceiling. They were empty now, but that would be temporary.

  CHAPTER 2

  Stafford, VA

  December 28, 2009

  Colonel Andrew Carmichael awoke from a deep sleep to loud and insistent banging at the front door. He jumped up and made his way down the dark hallway to find out what the cause of the commotion was. He peered out through the small pane of glass in the middle of the door and saw two Stafford County Sheriff Deputies on the front step.

  "Good evening Colonel Carmichael, sorry for the late hour, Sir. May we please come inside and have a word?"

  Andrew nodded his approval and moved back from the doorway opening up a passage for the two deputies to enter through. As he closed the door behind him one of the deputies asked, "Is there someone in your family or a friend nearby that you would like to call over?"

  Being a Marine for 21 years and a party to several death notifications, Andrew knew he was about to receive devastating news. "No, I will be fine on my own. Who is it?"

  "Sir, we regret to inform you that at approximately three o'clock Pacific Standard Time today, your wife was found dead near a lighthouse in San Diego County. The cause of death is being investigated as a homicide, Sir. We are extremely sorry for your loss..."

  Andrew quit listening after the word homicide. His thoughts were spinning, and he felt the air leave his body swiftly as if somebody had punched him square in the chest. He felt his legs begin to buckle and caught the wall with his hand. As he held on to the wall he asked, "what, who, what the hell....who found her? How, how did she die? Did she suffer..."

  The larger deputy leaned down next to Andrew and said, "Sir, we do not have any additional information and we are not privy, as of now, to the details. San Diego PD will be in contact with you shortly, and I need a contact number to pass along to the homicide detective handling your wife's case."

  Andrew shrugged the deputy's hand off of his shoulder, stood up and scribbled his cell number down on a scrap piece of paper from the entry table.

  “Tell whoever is handling my wife’s case to call me immediately,” Andrew ordered as he tossed the paper in the direction of the deputies.

  As soon as the front door closed behind them, Andrew picked up a large crystal vase that sat on the entry table and threw it across the front
room. It shattered leaving a gaping hole in the drywall. Glass shards flew in every direction, many making their way to the entry tile.

  Andrew got dressed, grabbed his truck keys and wallet and headed out the front door in a hurry. He got in and started up his truck, threw it in drive and pushed the gas pedal all the way to the floor. He knew where he was going. He should have gone before something bad had happened to her. He knew something wasn't right. He had sensed her fear; he had heard it in her voice the last time they spoke on the phone, just three days prior. He got on the highway and headed for the airport.

  CHAPTER 3

  Encinitas, CA

  December 24, 2009

  Kali felt her stomach tighten as she hit her blinker and slowly made the right turn into Nate's subdivision. There were so many emotions swirling around inside of her. She felt that at any moment she might breakdown in a fit of tears or hyperventilation, and she had no idea which one would come first.

  She did not have concrete evidence that anything was going on between Nate and Olivia, but Kali had become a firm believer in trusting her inner voice. She had read the energy between them loud and clear the past several times Nate had come to the facility she and Olivia both worked at.

  As Kali approached Nate's street, she was overwhelmed by a deep sense of longing. God how she had missed his touch this past week. It was Christmas Eve. Even though he had told her he had to get caught up on reports, she desperately needed to feel his hands on her, and she didn't want him to face Christmas morning alone. She knew this would be considered an act of defiance on her part. She knew there would be a price to pay for that. She didn't care.

  Kali gasped when she saw a flash of red in her peripheral vision as she drove down the street towards his house. She slammed on the brakes and peered into her rear view mirror but couldn't make out the vehicle through the sheets of rain pouring down. She threw her SUV into reverse and accelerated until she was almost even with the red sports car. Kali read the license plate and there was no mistake - it was Olivia's car.