Just joining the live story? Start at He Touched Me Chapter One | Click here
About Author | About Live Story | Other Books By This Author |
Donate to my Editing Fund | Buy Books On Amazon
So If you’re reading currently for me as I’m writing this it’s 2025 and i’ve picked this story back up. Yeah, I got a lot of explaining to do , but for now I’m updating and rewriting these chapters.
Here’s my Grammarly Report for this chapter
Performance
Word Count
Readability
…Enjoy
Chapter Fourteen – This Wasn’t A Dream
“You want this!”
This voice wasn’t Magnum’s, but it sounded like his, except it was a demand, not an ask, as she remembered before going to sleep.
A cold chill swept her up, and she cried, locked in her body and scared.
“Daaamnnnn Princess!” a deep timbre growled in lust. “Take it! You want this!”
Closing her eyes tighter, Zuri wasn’t sure the voice she heard had come from her dreams… or a memory. Her brain was partially awake and more asleep.
That voice! Like Magnum’s, but not like he had said it last night.
Yes, she remembered what that voice had done to her senses so long ago, and the memories instantly made her tingle.
A bar, she snuck in with her fake ID. She was young, too young, but the makeup, wig, and the grown clothing she stole from her neighbor’s closet could’ve made any man forget how old she really was.
“I know you aren’t twenty-one,” the bouncer had said.
And there was something about his face… no, his eyes.
The memory started to fog. Zuri’s past drug-induced brain wouldn’t let her remember. Why’d she remember some past guy having Magnum’s voice, but so harsh? Demanding.
Her mother’s voice could be heard far away, “Let the past stay in the past, Zuri. You don’t want to go back there.”
Throwing herself into drugs so early in life and then her promiscuous behavior to fight the drug addiction had been no better. Growing up, accepting adulthood, and becoming a woman had always terrified her.
Yet she had made an adult decision. Become Magnum’s mistress for four months – At his beck and call.
Now you’re his.
She was back in bed, and she looked to the side of the bed, where she saw a broad form. Was Magnum still in the room? Had he been watching her sleep?
“You want this!” he ordered in a harsh whisper as if in her dreams she would obey, but why did this chill her to the bone? Was this him? Her imagination.
Voices from the past that mixed with the current?
Shooting up in bed in the darkened room, Zuri looked around frantically for someone or something to be changed. Magnum wasn’t around. She was all alone. The curtains were still drawn, but all the lights were out, and her bedroom door was still closed.
She hadn’t dreamed so hard since… Not since before Rodney.
A lot of the past was forgotten on purpose because most of her reality back then was drug use or sex with men she didn’t know or care to know, but every blue moon, there was a yearning to indulge.
No! You can’t indulge like that. Good girls don’t do things like that. And she wanted to be a good girl. For her father, right?
Focus on what will help you get ahead. Yes, her father’s research, and she still needed to obtain the tablet, her diary, and all the pictures from her life. She had been meaning to save everything to the cloud but had never gotten around to it.
Zuri’s head started to hurt, and she concentrated on the present, shaking off the odd dream, the tingling of sexual indulgence from the past, and the frustration of not having her items from her mom’s house.
Being with Rodney had caused her to forget much of her past. Perhaps it was because he dominated her spirit, suppressed her own desires, and made her focus on his problems. He brought the kinds of issues that gave her stomach aches, led to restless nights, and made her forget who she once was.
But you won’t go back to Rodney, so stop thinking about him, she ordered herself.
To force herself to feel better, Zuri thought about last night only with Magnum. Looking down on the side of the bed, she saw that her underwear had been taken off.
She didn’t remember Magnum doing so while she was awake. Perhaps he had come back? Had he done something else to her while she slept?
Damn, was he that skilled?
Slowly getting out of bed, Zuri walked into the front room to see that all the lights had been turned off, and no one was there.
It was six in the morning.
She was all alone in the hotel room.
Going back to the bedroom, she noticed the drink she had prepared for him was empty. She didn’t remember him drinking anything.
She didn’t remember a lot of the details, except when he touched her body.
Zuri remembered his touch.
Knowing Tyler wouldn’t be late, she got ready to see him.
Going into the bathroom, she looked in the mirror at herself and noticed a darkening on her side. Had the massage been that rough? she wondered.
No, she remembered at least it being pleasant enough not to feel rough.
Yet, Zuri always had a high pain tolerance, and when she was young, she could wrestle with the neighborhood boys just as hard. Even through her promiscuous times, she remembered going off the deep end, loving how rough men could get.
“Let the past stay in the past, Zuri. You don’t want to go back there.”
Just as she finished in the shower, a breakfast tray arrived with a bouquet of yellow roses and baby’s breath, along with a business suit in her size and shoes.
Tyler must not have trusted her to have picked out an outfit.
She found a card in the flowers.
“Thank you for last night. M.”
Magnus sent the clothes and flowers? She smiled as she put the card in her purse and then ate breakfast.
This is just an arrangement. You will not get your feelings involved.
Yet, she had to note that even Rodney had never been this generous and attentive.
Lucas knocked at her door about fifteen minutes to nine. Today, the bodyguard was dressed in nice dress pants, a dress shirt, and a vest. She realized the garment was most likely to hide the large handgun on the side of his body, and he had a smaller pistol in his ankle as well. Being around the wrong people had made her accustomed to seeing this.
“Are you ready?” Lucas questioned.
“You’re coming with us?”
“I’m your driver and your protection, Ms. Carter,” he said. “Especially when you’re leaving the hotel.”
Annoyed, she asked, “I’m not royalty or some celebrity.”
“True, but a threat to your life is a threat to my job.” He looked dead serious, leaning against the doorway of her hotel room. “And I’ve been paid to make sure you at least live until they can catch whoever was trying to bring you harm.”
Nonchalantly, Zuri said, as she gathered her purse and jacket to leave, “Since I’ve been here, I haven’t been in any danger.”
“That you know of,” he said. “Since you’ve been in this hotel; twice, two strange people have tried to get into the employee closet where they keep the uniforms locked up. One employee was assaulted and stripped down, and spotted a stranger on this floor just last night. And I’ve been noticing a strange woman, darkly dressed, in the lobby, on your floor, randomly, since you’ve been in the hotel.”
Frowning, Zuri wondered if Rodney and her mother were desperately trying to get to her.
It was hard to believe her mother was trying to kill her, or even hurt her.
How could the woman her father described in the letter be the woman she knew as a mother?
Following Lucas down to the lobby, Tyler was standing, freshly groomed, and getting off the phone as she approached. He was very meticulous about his dress and always looked impressive. If the lawyer weren’t so annoying, she would find him extremely handsome.
Tyler looked at her, approvingly from head to foot. “I see you can walk straight,” he noted.
Zuri blushed profusely as Lucas left them to retrieve the car.
“Since I haven’t heard from him either, I’m assuming the two of you both enjoyed your night,” Tyler determined.
“I don’t kiss and tell, so if you’re trying to get details, you won’t get them from me,” she said.
They walked to the waiting car, where they sat in the back, and Lucas drove to the address Tyler had given.
Tyler handed her a well-worn, very thick brown envelope. “According to notes from Armando, this was retrieved from a bank box your father’s name was on. He opened up without anyone’s knowledge, with specific instructions only to be revealed after his death.”
Zuri opened the envelope and found a thick journal inside. She ran her hands over the front leather cover with her father’s engraved name.
Fondly, she pressed the book up to her nose and could almost smell her father—his warm hugs and the kisses right below her ear.
“I love you, Zuri. I love you so much,” Benjamin used to say every time he hugged her.
At that moment, she missed her father.
“Are you going to read through it?” Tyler asked.
“Did you?” she questioned the lawyer warily.
“Actually, no. It was for your initial perusal. Those were strict instructions, but I can’t help but admit I’m inquisitive.”
Zuri used the rest of the trip to look through the notes her father had written. The majority of the book consisted of instructions on forensic procedures and records from various lectures he’d attended. Throughout the journal in the gutter, there were handwritten formulas. Near the middle, a large section had been partitioned to gather algorithms and notes for a unique new method he was developing. This formula was written in pencil and is still very legible despite the paper’s age. Towards the end of the journal, the entries became more personal as he documented his illness and his feelings for her.
Zuri noted that her name was mentioned much more in the end entries, but she didn’t want to get into her father’s last days in front of the prying lawyer.
Although the very last entry, her father wrote the number forty-four repeatedly, almost angrily.
“You’re frowning a lot,” Tyler noted. “Should I be worried?”
“Not at all. From what I have determined, my father was developing a formula to remove various crime stains from surfaces, like a special cleaning solution that would remove bodily fluids without harming the surface it touched. Most likely, his illness got in the way of him finishing up or even bringing things to fruition.”
“Or he needed to concentrate more on his daughter than his life’s work?” Tyler guessed.
A twinge of guilt filled her. Her father hadn’t told her how sick he was, so even after recovering from drugs and then falling into promiscuous behavior, Zuri selfishly thought about herself until her father was on his deathbed.
Tyler’s eyes lit up in excitement. “Do you think you could make this?”
“It seems doable, but I would need a lab.”
“I could get you that,” the lawyer said quite quickly. “And if you create it, I’d help you get a patent for the work.”
Narrowing her eyes suspiciously, she asked, “In exchange for what?”
He smiled devilishly, “I see you’re learning nothing is for free, Ms. Carter.”
“You’re an outstanding teacher,” she replied.
“Twenty-five percent of any profit.”
“Five,” she countered.
He shifted uncomfortably. “Twenty.”
Shaking her head determinedly, she said, “Twelve, but only if you invest in the lab time from your pocket.”
“Deal.” He extended his hand, and she shook in agreement, looking back down at her father’s writing. Zuri was very confident she could carry on his work if given the chance. When she was in school, lab work gave her a rush, and she loved discovering evidence under the microscope. Science and math were her forte, though her mother preferred spending more time in the field.
Knowing she could accomplish something without consulting her mother, she felt so gratified and confidently held the book against her chest. Finishing her father’s work would be vital. To help him carry on his legacy, Zuri felt she could handle this adulting thing on her own.
The car stopped in front of a newly built office building.
She was reasonably sure this was The Bellini Enterprise, and she couldn’t believe they were stopping in front of the valet door.
She looked at Tyler.
“We’re going to see a Bellini?” she questioned.
“You could say that,” he said with dread.
“You don’t sound happy about it,” she noted.
“You sound excited. So I take it you are familiar with the family?”
“Who wouldn’t?!” she said. “You don’t have to go far to hear that they moved to Detroit, rebuilt a beautiful downtown structure to rival one of the biggest buildings in Detroit, and were buying up property like it’s going out of style all over Michigan and the world.”
“Good, then I don’t have to convince you to grow the fuck up and be confident,” Tyler said as they got out of the car. Lucas stayed behind her a few feet back, and if she didn’t try to pay attention to him, she wouldn’t notice he was around. The young man took his job very seriously, but she still didn’t understand the idea of having a personal bodyguard.
Maybe she had just panicked and thrown everything out of proportion. This situation was only between Rodney and her mother. People she had known for what seemed forever. Rodney said he loved her. Her mother had given birth to her! Why would they want to harm her? Or possibly kill her?
For money? All this for money?
In her heart of hearts, Zuri couldn’t believe these two people were out to hurt her. They cared about her, right?
Well, if that were true, they wouldn’t have slept together.
She took a deep breath, but she felt Tyler thought she was nervous.
“Taylor Bellini’s bark is worse than her bite,” he assured Zuri as they went up the elevator.
“We’re going to see Taylor?” Zuri asked, fascinated.
“Could you stop the wonderment tone?!” Tyler snipped as they stepped off the elevator and headed to a receptionist who looked exhausted already.
“Mr. Black?” the woman questioned warily.
“Yes,” Tyler confirmed.
“Ms. Bellini will see you immediately,” the woman said, escorting them through the double doors into a dark oak office.
Oddly, Zuri didn’t think Taylor Bellini, an Italian-Spanish heiress and in charge of all estate sales in the Bellini Enterprise, would have such a dreary place to work. It was as if a man had built this office, and the woman had moved in. Around the walls were stacks of paintings, statues, and old books. Towards the middle of the office was a new steel desk, and a woman was taking off her glasses and standing up to greet them.
“When my brother arrives, please have him wait out there,” Taylor Bellini ordered the assistant.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Tyler, do you or the girl require drinks?” Taylor asked.
Zuri flinched at being called ‘the girl.’ “No, this girl doesn’t,” she said, speaking up for herself.
Taylor looked shocked that Zuri could talk.
“Zuri Carter,” Tyler said. “I’d like you to meet Taylor Bellini.”
The woman was exotically beautiful with luscious, natural tan skin, dark mahogany thick hair to her waist, and startling olive-green eyes. She stood about five-eight, but with the four-inch heels, she could almost look Tyler in the eye with her extended height.
The businesswoman was also taking a visual assessment of Zuri.
Her olive eyes were direct and critical, but that was usual for a Bellini, and Zuri was going to find out Taylor Bellini was one of the second most powerful women in the Bellini Enterprise family.
And for Zuri, doing business with her would mean a change in her life.
Something Zuri would have never dreamed could happen to her.
Adulthood was coming hard and fast for her, but after last night with Magnum, Zuri felt ready for the challenge.
He Touched Me (c) 2016 Sylvia Hubbard
Companion Books
More Free Reads by this author: Click here
Subscribe to this author’s updates for more literary works to come. CLICK HERE
To read more of this author’s work, check out her fiction list at:
https://sylviahubbard.com/fictionbooks
Or get books on amazon at:
http://amazon.com/author/sylviahubbard
So, for me this chapter with a little bit all over the place (felt like I was trapped in an ADHD moment). Staring out with a dream and the flow of events. The fact that Tyler didn’t ask if Magnum took the drink. The fact that there was no follow-up or rebuttal questions asked in regards to the two strangers. She seemed very calm at the mention of it. Based on other chapters she seems like she would have been frantic and panicking and ready to move or mention it to Tyler.🤷🏿♀️
It’s so many questions I have to ask. So many head-scratching moments and missed opportunities in this chapter. Did Zuri drink the drink unknowingly in the middle of the night? Did Magnum really come back in the middle of the night or was it Lucas or *wait a minute drum roll* was it someone else?I have more questions the strangers, the laptop, the threat(s) on her life, Taylor, Tyler, the formulas, 44(which I believe has something to do with her mother or *gasp* 🤐🤐🤐) ?
Either way this will make it a great filler chapter once you clean it up a little bit or maybe do a little restructuring.
*Again please note these are my opinion as a reader, but you have to write the book the way that works best for you.*
I approve this comment
okay, what’s the gasp – zipping the mouth close thingy? lol I was halfway sleep reading the comments initially (mentally drained) but now I’m up and drinking coffee.
And please never hold back on opinions. Gurl, if you go back and see the vicious comments they were dropping during Dark Facade, you’d be shock I continued the story or continued writing.
Also, please ask the question about Taylor and Tyler. I’m curious about that as well.
STORY SPOILER: 44 does not have to do with her mother.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
The 🤐🤐🤐 means I’m keeping my lips zipped. I do a lot of things for dramatic effects and other reader engagement. I’ll definitely ask my questions about Tyler and Taylor in the next chapter.
Ok I feel like this chapter is leading up to something big. I don’t think anyone wants to believe their mother is evil but Zuri better stop being so naive. I’m also wondering if Magnum is the father of her baby, that I don’t believe died at birth. There are so many twist and turns this story can take and I can’t wait.
Chapters 14 and 15 seem to be the same thing or am I missing something and I really hate it for missing something. You are by far my favorite Arthur I don’t care what media outlet you use for your book I’m buying a book just let me know when and where. I’ve already started a chart I’m so desperate for a notebook from you I started rereading all your other books and making it excel chart to link who’s who and what is what.