by Maggie Thom
Bailey snuggled back into the solid warmth that surrounded her and let herself drift in that half wakeful, half sleeping state. For the first time ever she felt wholly and completely safe. It was that thought that brought her awake. She opened her eyes to a pencil sketch of an old clown walking with a cane. It was beautiful in its simplicity and yet the expression on the clown's face was of that of sad awareness.
She tried to think about what would make a clown unhappy - age, no longer funny?
The feeling of warm, naked skin pressed against her back snapped her out of her reverie and her sleepy state.
Guy. Wow. She couldn't help but smile at the amazing night they'd spent together. He was one special guy. It had been a crazy whim of hers to climb in his shower but she'd woken alone, scared and tired of always running. So for a change rather than leaving, she ran towards something she wanted. And she definitely wanted Guy.
As though he were aware of her thoughts, his left hand splayed over her stomach while the other rubbed down her thigh. A shiver of electricity shot through her. Knowing it was now or never, she inched herself away. She made it the edge of the bed when those two strong arms she'd just untangled herself from wrapped around her and pulled her back.
"Eeekkk."
"Where are you going?" he said groggily. Rolling over, he pulled her on top of him.
"Go back to sleep. It's time for me to return to my room." The dim light coming in through the window suggested it wasn't quite yet dawn.
"No."
She looked down at the handsome face inches from her own. The slightly crooked nose was so tempting she ran her forefinger down the center of it.
"Fist fight."
"Oh?"
"Grade nine. Mason wanted my girlfriend, Becky. I took offense, so I punched him. Bit of a mistake. The kid was built like a Mac Truck. Luckily, he only got the one punch in. Not so lucky for me, a broken nose and a badly sprained hand."
Bailey chuckled then leaned forward and kissed first his nose and then his hand.
"Thank you. I don't feel so bad about it anymore." He smiled as he claimed her lips. He tucked her in beside him. "How are you feeling?"
"Okay."
"How about emotionally?" He peered down into her face.
She met his gaze before looking away. Her hands jerked the blanket back and forth in a tug of war. "Screwed up. I don't know what to say. My life isn't mine. I-"
"Do you want to talk about it? I can maybe shed some light on all that's occurred." He rested his forehead against hers. "I'm really sorry this all happened to you."
She nodded, not sure if she was really ready but glad that it was only the two of them.
"It seems Mr. Lund had a heart attack and is in the hospital in Edmonton. He's recuperating and should be fine. Just in time to go to jail, with what we've learned so far on that Jump Drive you gave us. There's enough to put him away for years and we haven't even cracked half of it."
"He was my mom's lawyer. How did she get tangled up with him?" She snorted in disgust.
"Like I should be surprised. My life was full of losers. Not a surprise that the one you think is different than the scum selling drugs and the prostitutes on the streets really only wears nicer clothes and hides it better."
"It seems he was involved with your? Donna and Doug Zajic. Lund married above his social status and must have thought that when Doug Zajic, a Member of Parliament, came into his life, he was set. I'm still not clear but it would seem that Mr. Lund lived a life of?" Guy stared at the wall for a few seconds. "I don't even know how to put it. He liked boys. Young ones. There's no proof other than some mention of photos but I think?"
She sat up. "Oh my God. He was badgering me about a picture. At the time I thought it was odd but didn't pay much attention. He seemed very anxious to know its whereabouts and had mom ever shown it to me. I told him she'd burned a picture once. He seemed to relax and be quite energized by that." She looked at Guy. "Don't tell me she had a snapshot of him with a young man."
"I wish I could tell you that but I think it was of a young boy. It seems your mom was using it to blackmail him. He, in turn blackmailed Doug. Maybe he had evidence of Doug's abusing Donna and that if he didn't pay Lund would leak it to the media. Not something a government official could handle. He also manipulated your mom and made her life a living hell for screwing with him. It seems he had quite a list of people he was blackmailing. One of the accounts that Graham was able to crack looks like a tidy nest egg in an offshore account, ranging around twenty million dollars."
"That son of a bitch. We lived like dogs. Sometimes I'd go days without eating. Any food I could scrounge I'd give to Mom so she could keep working." Bailey paused for a second. "Isn't that interesting? I always thought Mom worked but other than the candy store in Calgary, I don't know where or what she did. I know that she got desperate and depressed and when that happened, I was the one who had to bring in the money."
He rubbed her shoulder being careful not to touch the twenty or so nicks covering her skin. "Was that the scams she had you do?"
"Yeah." She hung her head, let her hair fall over her face. "In all honesty I'm the one who started it. I was desperate. Hungry. Cold. Tired of not having anything. I played up to this sharply dressed man, I got him interested in what a young girl could do for him. When he had his pants down I took his money and ran. It was easy. Mom was angry at first but then she knew we had few options. From there the ante went up. And I got better at it."
Guy pulled her into his arms. Settling back against the headboard, he stroked her hair. "You were a kid living in an adult world, having to survive. I don't think you did anything wrong. Or anything different than any other kid would have done."
"The newspapers. I don't understand the newspapers."
He looked at her quizzically.
"Mom used to order, find, purchase, every major and some minor newspapers she could get her hands on. Why?"
"Hmmm. What if she was trying to keep up with what was happening in the political arena. If her husband was an MP then there are good odds that he'd be in the newspaper. If she was as distrustful as I think, then maybe she wanted to make sure he wasn't coming after her? Going to find her?"
Bailey thought about that for a few minutes. "It makes sense. If I remember correctly she always read the business, political sections first. Then she'd comb the rest of it for information. The ones that I threw out?" her hand flew to her mouth, "the house. I haven't cleaned out the house. I only have a week to do so. I don't think I even locked it. Guy?" Horrified that she'd forgotten about her mom's place.
"It's okay. I was there after you and I locked it up. Don't worry, we'll get it cleaned up."
She ignored the 'we' and thought about who she could call to go in and pack it up. Get rid of everything. Everything but her suitcase and clothes. As soon as she had that thought, she realized she didn't care anymore. She just knew that she couldn't go back there. There might be answers in all those papers dating back to the year she ended up with Donna and the years they moved but she wasn't sure she wanted any more information. What she knew was that life hadn't turned out the way it should have for her. Resting her cheek against Guy's chest, she couldn't resist the urge to rub against the soft dusting of hair, not because it was so amazing but because she needed to feel something real. "Who's been chasing us?"
"It seems the first guy that you met in your mom's house - was sent by Lund. He was a petty thief. I don't think Lund meant for him to do more than to follow you. The other guy we aren't sure but my guess is he was hired by Uncle Geoff. He couldn't afford to have you come back here."
They'd already talked into the wee hours, about Geoffrey and his role in her life. She wasn't looking forward to hearing it all over again with the real members of her family. Feeling sick inside over all that had transpired just because she'd been born, she let her hand slide up Guy's forearm, shoulder, down over his chest, moving lower. Her tongue flicked out and lapped at his erect nipple.
"Conversa
tion over." He slid down under the covers letting his hands slide down the sides of her body and then back up to caress her full breasts.
She smiled a sad knowing smile. Her glance flicked to the picture beside the bed. She now understood the clown's look. Letting go was going to be hard but she knew she had now and wasn't about to let it pass her by. She gave herself over to the incredible sensations coursing through her body.