by Katie Dowe
“I like this punishment,” she had told him as she wrapped her hands around his neck. “Peter,” she had whispered as he pushed into her.
“No,” he said raggedly as he dropped the shirt to the floor. “Leah.” He cried out in agony and opening the bottle, he put it to his head.
*****
Leah curled up on the side of the bed and felt the aching from the bout of crying she had engaged in since she reached her apartment. She felt lifeless like there was nothing to live for! She could not believe that she had allowed herself to fall in love with a man like him! But could she have helped falling for him, she thought feverishly. From the very minute she saw him, there had been something there and it had kept on building until now she had no idea how she was going to manage without him!
Chapter 10
“Honey, you cannot just lie here in bed for the entire day,” Naomi fretted as she looked at her friend.
“Why not?” Leah sniffed as she put away the piece of paper towel she had been using to blow her nose. “Is there a law that says a girl cannot grieve the loss of her first love?”
Naomi came and sat on the edge of the bed. “The fact that you did not see the need to share that first love with your best friend begs the question of whether or not it was love.”
Leah pushed back the comforter and got off the bed. “Trust me, it was love.”
“Was?” Naomi called out to her as she made her way to the bathroom.
“Is.” Leah came back into the room and climbed into bed. She pulled her knees up to her chin. “I am in love with him, Naomi, and it happened so fast that I had no idea it was even happening.”
“Trust you to fall in love with one of the most eligible bachelors in the world and a billionaire to boot!”
“A fat lot it got me,” she said miserably. It had been two days since that awful incident at his apartment and she kept hoping he would call and tell her he had made a mistake. But from what she knew of Peter, she knew she was never going to get that call.
“So, what now?” Naomi asked her quietly. She had been pretty bowled over when she had called her friend and she had told her everything through tears.
“I am going to find a way to pick myself up and go and look for another job. I have some money saved up so I am going to take a week before I do that.”
“Trans is hiring.”
Leah shook her head. “I don’t want to go back there, Naomi. There is going to be too much speculation.”
“Honey, I don’t know what to say.”
“There is nothing to say. I reached too high and it bit me in the ass. But I am strong and resilient and I am going to get through this!”
******
“Billionaire Peter Schulz seen here with beautiful actress Moira Madden at the launch of the new private airlines that the company added to its already lucrative package. This service is a kind of air taxi that gets you in and around town as fast as you can say: ‘Let’s fly!’ The two have been seen at functions for the past week and speculations are rife that romance is in the air!”
Peter put aside the paper with a bleak look on his face. It had been two weeks since he had told her to leave his apartment and exactly two weeks since he had been in a complete state of numbness.
“Mr. Schulz, you have Ms. Madden on line one.”
“Tell her I will call her back,” he said shortly.
“Yes, sir.”
Peter leaned back against his chair and closed his eyes wearily. It had been torture traveling on the aircraft without her there. He had gotten a replacement, a preppy woman with black hair and green eyes, and had snapped at her the first day. She was not Leah. If she was Leah, she would know that he took his coffee a certain way. If she was Leah, she would have smiled that seductive smile she always had even when he was being his most surly. If she was Leah, she would not take any crap from him or anyone else! He missed her! Every night he went to bed, he thought about her! He picked up the phone several times to call her but decided against it. He would just end up hurting her like he did before. He was not capable of any sort of relationship and he knew that deep down. He had been going out with Moira because what the outside world did not know was that it was a mutually beneficial relationship. Moira was a closet lesbian and it was not prudent for her to reveal who she really was right now and he did not want a real relationship so it worked out fine for both of them. He took her to functions and the press got the idea that they were a couple, which was very far from the truth. He knew her a long time ago when she just started her acting career but they had lost track with each other. He had met her again at a function and they had started talking.
“Fancy seeing you here!” she had exclaimed as she hugged him.
“How are you?” he had asked her politely.
“Apparently better than you.” She had looked at him critically. She had plucked a flute of champagne from a passing waiter and linked her hand through his arm. “Are you seeing anyone?” she had asked him bluntly.
He had stiffened at her touch and if he was not so polite he would he moved away from her. “Why?”
“Don’t worry, darling,” she had told him with a laugh. “I bat for another team.”
He had looked at her puzzled and she had taken him over to a secluded spot where they sat and talked.
“I have battled with this for years. Since I was a teenager, I discovered that I had these feelings for girls. I deliberately tried to ‘cure’ myself by going out with the most macho boys in school. The jocks, trying to prove that I was in fact straight. I went through a period of such depression that I tried to commit suicide at one point. My parents thought I was going through a dark stage in my life and made me go to a shrink.” She had laughed ruefully. “I never told them anything because they were church-going fanatics and would never understand. I come across as being this straight femme fatale in all my movies and I have to behave a certain way and avoid being labeled as a woman who likes women.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
She shrugged and sipped her champagne, her eyes going around the room. “I have a feeling that we are both suffering.”
“How do you figure that?” he had asked her, curious in spite of himself.
“You are emanating waves of grief, whether over the loss of someone you love or something else. My money is on a broken heart.”
“Some would disagree with you. I have been told I have no heart,” he said sardonically.
“I disagree.” She had smiled at him slightly. “I have a proposition.”
“What’s that?”
“When I am in town, you act as my date.”
“Why would I want to do that?”
“I have a feeling that you want to keep the eager women at bay.” Her eyes glinted with amusement a she looked around the room. Women were constantly looking over at their direction with longing eyes.
He followed her gaze and his eyes met those of Candace’s. She had not spoken to him since he had told her it was over, but she was around whenever he was at a function. “I might just take you up on that,” he had told her. And he had done that. He straightened up and went back to work. In time, he would get over her!
******
“God, it’s cold!” Leah stamped the powdery snow off her booted feet before pushing the door open and holding it for her dad who had the bags of grocery. It was the last day of January and the snow had come down in droves last night causing a white blanket to lay thickly on the ground around them. She had put her life back together slowly and with determination and was now working at a small private airline. It was not as much money as when she had worked for him but she was satisfied and somehow she had a sense of peace until she saw his picture in the papers or saw him on the television. She had been given her severance package which had been much too generous. She had thought about sending it back but had decided to keep it. She was going out with Dan now, and even though he was sweet and kind and thoughtful, she had told him that it was only as fr
iends for now. She was never going to be ready for anything major right now, not after Peter!
She took the packages from him and brought them to the kitchen. She was on a three-day break and she had decided to spend some time with her father. Dan was off to Europe and would not be back for a week. She was secretly happy about that because even though she had told him it was just friends, she knew he kept expecting something more.
“How about something warm, Dad?” she called out to him. “Dad?”
She put the groceries back down and went swiftly into the living room.
“Dad!”
She rushed over to where he was slumped on the sofa his eyes closed.
“Dad!”
She shook him, but he would not move. She hurriedly reached for the phone and dialed the emergency number.
******
“I am so happy we could get the chance to talk, Peter.” Virginia passed the glass of wine to her son tentatively and then took her seat opposite to him on the sofa. He had hardly spoken to her since the incident at his apartment and this was the first time he had come to the manor since then. She had called and said it was urgent that spoke to him and he had reluctantly agreed to come by. He looked so aloof that it was frightening!
“What is so important, Mother?” His dark blue eyes so like her own looked at her without expression.
“I want to apologize for the way I behaved at your apartment-”
“It’s in the past,” he interrupted her coolly. “What do you need?”
“I am giving up the manor.”
His eyes flared with surprise as he stared at her. “Why?”
She shrugged eloquently and crossed her legs before responding. “You were right. There are too many bad memories here and it is way too big for me. It is also very drafty and the upkeep is too much.”
“I thought you loved it here.” He looked around the living room briefly, his mind drifting back to a Christmas when he was about ten and had come downstairs to see a gigantic Christmas tree with lights blazing. He had thought it had been put there for him only to realize that his parents were having associates over and they had children so the tree had been put there to accommodate them. He had never looked at the season the same again!
“I thought I did too.” She looked at him. “I am sorry for everything.”
He inclined his head formally.
“Are you still seeing her?”
“No,” he said abruptly as he got to his feet and went to pour himself some more wine. “You want me to see about the sale of it?” he asked her formally as he rested his booted foot on the mantel.
“Please,” she said with a smile. “I am thinking of taking an extended cruise to the Caribbean to sort my head out.”
“When are you planning on?” he asked her politely.
“Next week.”
“I will have everything sorted out by the time you get back.”
“Thank you.” She hesitated and looked at him. “You deserve to be happy.”
He laughed shortly at that. “Whose opinion is that?”
“Mine,” she told him. “I knew your childhood was not very good-”
“It was a mess!” he interrupted her coldly.
She hung her head in shame and took a few minutes before she could respond. “I have no excuse for any of it.”
“It’s in the past and I really do not want to discuss it.” He tossed back the wine. “Is there anything else?”
“Could we have dinner before I leave?”
He hesitated and looked as if he was about to say no and then he nodded. “I will see you then.” He put the glass away and taking his coat from the hovering maid he headed out leaving her to stare after him.
*****
“Complete bed rest for the next two weeks,” the doctor told him firmly.
“I am going to go stir crazy-”
“I will see to it that he gets it,” Leah interrupted quickly. “Dad, you are going to do this even if I have to tie you to the bed.”
He reached out a hand to squeeze hers. “I am sorry I scared you, baby girl,” he said softly.
“I would appreciate you not doing that again.” She thought she had lost him and for a moment her heart had come close to stop beating!
“I promise that I will take my medication when I am supposed to and rest when I feel tired.”
She bent and kissed his lined cheek softly. “You are all I have, Dad, and I don’t want to be without you.”
He hugged her. “When are you going to call that young man of yours?” he asked her casually.
“Dad, you know Dan is flying over Europe.”
“Not that one. I mean the one who has your heart.”
She pulled away and made a production of pulling up the sheets around him. “It’s over between us.”
“Is it?” His shaggy brows lifted as he looked at her. “You are still pining over him and you are not the Leah I am used to. You hardly laugh anymore and when you do it does not reach those beautiful eyes of yours.”
“You are imagining things,” she told him lightly.
“I know you better than you know yourself and I know when you are not happy. Call him, baby girl, life is too short,” he said gently.
“He made it very clear that he did not want a relationship.”
“Sometimes we as men have no idea what we really want.” He reached out to squeeze her small hands. “Your mother was the love of my life and even after she has been dead for so many years, I still pine for her and miss her like crazy. No one can ever take that spot she has in my heart. I have the feeling that you have found a love like that.”
“What should I do? Bash him over the head with a frying pan and make him love me?” she asked him ruefully. “He made his choice, Dad, and I have to deal with it. Besides, he is seeing someone else so it did not take long for him to move on.”
“Smokescreen like the young man you are seeing,” he told her shrewdly. “Don’t allow him to fall in love with you and you have no intention of returning that love. Break it off before it is too late for him.”
*****
“The private aircraft transporting billionaire Peter Schulz went down minutes after take-off. The report is that a mechanical problem was discovered shortly after they went in the air. It was the expert maneuvering of the pilot that landed them on the side of the runway. Mr. Schulz had a slight concussion and they are keeping him overnight at a private facility to make sure everything is okay. The pilot sustained head injuries and the stewardess some scrapes and bruises, but otherwise they are recovering.”
Leah read the report in horror, her heart thumping inside her chest. It had been two weeks since her dad had had the minor heart attack and he was back home and recovering. She had taken his advice and broken it off with Dan, who had looked at her with such hurt that she had found herself regretting ever giving him hope! She sat in her apartment and stared at the wall for a moment before picking up the phone. She was just about to hang up when he answered.
“Hello?” His deep voice was almost her undoing.
“I read the papers. Are you okay?” she asked him softly.
There was a slight pause and Leah regretted her impulse.
“I am just a little banged up.” His voice sounded hoarse. “I was thinking about you.”
“How is Reginald?” she asked him, refusing to acknowledge what he had just said to her.
“He will live.” He paused again. “I am getting out of here in the morning. Can we meet at the apartment and talk?”
“We have nothing to talk about.”
“Please.”
“No, Peter. You said some things to me that I am not likely to forget. I am happy that you are okay.”
“Look, Leah. I am a mess. I have endured thirty years of being a big mess and I did not want to put that on you.”
“It was not your decision to make,” she blurted out. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Anyway, that’s beside the point now. I have to go.
”
“Come to the apartment tomorrow.”
“Isn’t Moira Madden going to be there? I am sure she would not want you to recover by yourself.”
“We are not in that kind of relationship. We need to talk, Leah.”
“I think we are all talked out.” She hung up before he could respond. With a determined expression on her face, she turned her phone off. Now that she knew that he was okay, she could rest in peace. But who was she kidding? She thought grimly. Her dad was right! She was in love with him and there was no way it was going to end!
******
“You have a very tough head, darling.” Moira leaned over and kissed him lightly on the cheek. She had been out of town when she heard and flew right back. The press had had a field day with her walking into the private medical center, but she had not only done it for them alone; she had come to really care for Peter. He was a very good friend.
“You did not have to come,” he told her with a small smile.
“How would it look if the man I am seeing has an accident and I am not here?” She sat on one of the chairs and folded her hands in her lap.
“How long are you going to play that card?” he asked her quietly.
“Are you getting tired of me already?” she joked.