Guilty Pleasure by Justus Roux Page B

counter.
He opened his refrigerator to grab the bottle of wine he had in
there and was surprised to find it full of food. There was a note
on the top shelf.
    Your maid service is awesome. They grabbed
the groceries I asked them to. Now you will be able to make
yourself stuff to eat without having to call delivery. Love Nicole.
P.S. Most of the stuff you can just microwave or you can make
yourself a sandwich, quick and easy, like you like it.
    He opened up a couple of the cupboards and
saw they were full too. He set the wine bottle down. He really
didn’t know what to think about Nicole’s kind gesture. He was still
disappointed that Linda didn’t last too long. His need wasn’t
completely squelched.
    He grabbed his phone and dialed.
    “ Michael?” Nicole said
sleepily.
    “ I just found your
surprises. Thank you.”
    “ You’re welcome,” she said
cheerfully.
    “ Tomorrow you are coming
home with me. For now, go back to sleep.”
    “ Okay.”
    He hung up the phone. He couldn’t take her
saying she loved him right at this moment. He went and took a
shower then headed to his closet. He opened the small safe that was
in there and pulled out a book. Inside were three locks of hair.
One was from Joshua Lewis, his first kill and at one time his best
friend. He didn’t want to kill him but he couldn’t stop the impulse
to do so. Luckily, he made the kill look like an accident. He ran
his fingers over the lock of hair. This was the only kill he had a
modicum of remorse for. He turned the page and looked at the next
lock of hair. Jenny Thompson, his first real relationship. He
turned the page again and looked at the next lock of hair. Kim
Nichols, his next attempt at normalcy. He turned the page it was
blank. He grabbed the pen that was inside the box. He wrote Nicole
Fisher. He stared at her name written there for quite some time. He
slowly closed the book and put it back into his safe then he left
his bedroom and walked over to the balcony that was off the main
living area. He looked out across the city. He was going to let
himself feel something for Nicole. Maybe she would be the balance
of normalcy he needed. Not that he felt the need to be normal. Yet,
appearances had to be maintain. He couldn’t control his need to
kill, nor did he ever want to. He was made this way for a reason.
He needed no absolution or to have someone come to his rescue.
Nicole would give him a break from himself. If she couldn’t be that
for him then she would end up being another victim.
     
    ***
     
    Nicole headed into Michael’s office. He was
putting some paperwork into his briefcase.
    “ Are you ready for today,
Nicole?”
    “ Yes. Are you alright from
yesterday?”
    Michael looked at her. She was wearing a
very pretty yellow dress which suited her. “About the flowers and
stuff you put in my apartment. I told you that I didn’t mind that
you did that.”
    “ Not that. You had to talk
to Johnny yesterday.”
    “ Oh, yeah I’m alright. I
have dealt with a few killers in my career.”
    She moved closer to his desk. “You have to
shut that stuff out so you can deal with your job right?”
    Michael could see the hopeful look in her
eyes. She was expecting something from him, so he will play along.
The truth was nothing about his job was disturbing. Listening to
gruesome accounts of killings didn’t faze him in the least, in
fact, he enjoyed comparing himself to those other killers.
    “ Yeah, I have learned to
shut my emotions off so I can handle what some of those scumbags
tell me.” When he saw her face light up he knew he said exactly
what she wanted to hear.
    “ I knew it. That damn
detective was saying awful things about you. I told him you had to
shut off your emotions to deal with hearing all the gruesome
details.”
    “ I’m assuming you are
talking about Tim Dane. That guy just doesn’t like me for some
reason. Don’t let what he said get to you.”
    He was surprised when she rushed over and
hugged him tightly. He