by Brock, V. L.
Fighting to kick start my reserved energy to lift my head straight, I watched the grin on Walker’s face spread to his eyes. “Is this your way of apologizing?” I asked.
Less than impressed when Laurie and Walker ganged up on me, and dragged my ass up onto the tiny stage to join in with their rendition of ‘Mustang Sally’ over the karaoke, I cursed like a sailor, and was told he would make it up to me. Behind the bar, Carriag merely laughing at my feeble attempts of protest, and not coming to my aid as I was hijacked by his son and niece, was something I was going to damn well remember.
“You can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it, darlin’.” I was very much aware of his rough, workman hands skating over my instep, caressing my ankle and skating up my calf to behind my knee as he shifted to the edge of his seat, practically leaning into my personal space with his legs parted. “I’ve been telling you for over a year that I was going to get you up on that thing––”
The heat radiating from his eyes evaporated every drop of saliva I had, making my lips wither as my lungs fought for vital breath. My gaze combed over his profile, landing at his luring, pale lips.
“––And I did, darlin’,” he added, before shimmying back into the opposite chair, and resuming the sweet, pleasurable sensation of his thumbs massaging into my sole.
I tipped my head back once again, silently praying for the Lord to help me as I handed myself over to the blissful sensations he prompted in my body, which also happened to torture my mind.
“Son,” Walker halted the pleasurable, circular motions, I felt him shift beneath my foot, so I knew he was craning back to look at his father. “I’m going to take Laurie home, could you two lock up for me?”
“’Aye, no problem.”
“The keys are behind the bar. Goodnight, Kady,” he and Laurie called in unison.
“Night both, thanks for a fun night.” And as they left, I was left wondering what it was about being left alone in private with someone of the opposite sex, that makes it so…tempting? The barriers lower, and that persuasive seduction, that appeal, the charging between you and that one person, the mutual attraction, the excitement, the thrill, need, longing and desire…it’s impossible to stray from. It’s impossible to ignore.
“I’m getting a beer; do you want anything, darlin’?”
“No, I’m fine,” I yawned.
“Very well,” his voice was somewhat strained as he reared up from the chair ahead, relinquishing my foot of his touch. The sound of his dress shoes over the dark, hardwood flooring reverberated around the room as he made his way to the bar behind him. Damn, it was such a sexy sound.
As he did so, I lifted my ass from the seat, slipped back on my shoe and in an attempt to wake myself up, I headed over to the jukebox.
Perusing the choices displayed, I smiled to myself and bit my lip as I made my selection. The soft intro sounded from the box, my index fingers danced to the rhythm against the glass before I turned my body to be met by Walker on the customer side of the bar, his left palm shifted from the bottle of Bud and laid flat against the emerald surface. He looked phenomenal, casually standing there in his three-piece suit, his hair combed over, the dark scruff coating his mouth and eyes so piercing, I could feel the warmth radiated from them as he speared his gaze into my body.
I slowly closed the distance, arching my shoulder, swaying my hips and playfully manipulating my body into small, timid dance moves, which earned me a shy, affectionate smile.
“I had no idea you liked the Jackson Five,” he said, leisurely pushing himself away from the counter. He treaded deliberately and with purpose toward me, until we finally met in the middle. The soft, timing sound of his shoes scuffing across the flooring made every muscle in my body spasm with pleasurable and addictive force.
“I love them, and Michael. Playing their music was the only way my mom could get me to sleep at night when I was a kid.”
We were standing toe to toe, chest to chest. His intoxicating cologne graced my nostrils, while, with hands at our side, our fingertips found their way to each other. I peeked down at our hands when I felt a small tug on the links of the silver bracelet.
His small smile was heard through the sigh of approval. “I can’t believe you wore this,” he said, the bear being caressed between his thumb and middle finger.
I stole a look up at his gorgeous face, a smattering of hair around his mouth, and gazed aimlessly into The Indian Ocean, an ocean I could happily be stranded in. I licked my lips. “I don’t get to wear it as often as I’d like, but I will wear it whenever I can. Now, Dance with me?” It was a statement, but somehow, longing hijacked my words and posed it as a question.
“What kind of man would refuse his wife?” Oh, we were back in character. That was making it so much harder.
Smiling, Walker coiled his arm around my waist, my right hand placed in the warmth of his palm, while my left caressed his muscular bicep. Rhythmically swaying, we gazed into one another’s eyes as we lightly serenaded each other. I could never stay quiet while listening to the Jackson Five, so as I mouthed, “Just call my name,” Walker surprised me, coming in directly after, his rugged, perfect indie style voice shadowing mine with the words, “And I’ll be there.”
We were bathed by lyrics which were meaningful to us, to our relationship as his head dropped and his brow fixed against my own, his breath warm and enticing as I felt his exhale against my lips. Although it went unsaid, I think we both realized that this song was in fact, our song, and always would be.
Swaying in each other’s arms he breathed my name, making it sound like Katy, once again.
We both had our eyes closed when I replied with, “Hmm…”
“Leave him. Leave, Liam.” We came to a pause, my eyes sprang open and I was greeted with a shimmering tide, the waves proving too much as a lone tear escaped over Walker’s eyelid.
“What? I–”
“I told you before, Kady, when you were in Pinewood. I wouldn’t be able to offer you the world at your feet like Liam can, but if you were mine, I would offer you a world of happiness.”
Pinewood? That means…I furrowed my brow, the creases carved into my forehead like a sculptor had just carved into my flesh as if I was his next marble project. “You…you were there? You actually came to see me?” Although a year had passed since my first break, we never spoke about it. For so long I had considered that moment to have been another delusion in my head.
“Yes, darlin’, I was there. I saw you and I told you to not give up. I had no choice but to leave the way I did because seeing you like that killed me.”
I sagged in his arms as the song began again on its repetitive cycle.
“Kady, that outfit on your back, one article of clothing in your closet may cost more than a month of my rent, but I have a little saved up, we could move away, somewhere Liam won’t ever find us, somewhere I can keep you safe…somewhere where we can be together and you don’t have to worry about beatings, or punishments.
“I hate knowing what he’s doing to you, how he’s treated you, but unable to do anything about it because of the ramifications for you, Kady. I can’t save you from him while you’re still with him, darlin’.” He closed his mouth with a loud exhale through his nose.
“I can’t do this Walker. I can’t…” I had no idea what I was attempting to say. His declaration had completely thrown me.
My body was left cold as his hands were removed from my waist and my right hand. Instead, they held my face, coaxing my gaze upward to maintain eye contact as he searched my eyes. “Since the first day I laid my eyes on you, I was snared. You’re the classy uptown girl and I’m the downtown guy, I don’t have much to give. But I give you me, Kady. Please…” He glided his thumb pad over my lower lip while my breath caught in my chest. “Kiss me…”
In that moment, the guilt I felt was abundant because I wanted to, I wanted to so badly, but I couldn’t just up and leave Liam, even though I was still waiting for him to change back into the cari
ng man that he was at the beginning, the man he promised that he would give back to me on the beach, not the monster that he still shared his body with. And with everything that he had done with Ent-icing and my medical bills…I owed him.
My own tears were making their escape, leaving warm streaks down my cheeks. “I can’t. I’m no cheater, Walker––”
“Look me in the eyes, Kady, and tell me that you don’t feel anything for me.”
A spell passed in silence, yet the music continued in the background. Isn’t it strange how you can enjoy a song when you’re happy, yet the lyrics have a profound meaning when you’re torn? Eighteen months had passed. Walker had been right there beside me through the obstacles I’d faced and that alone strengthened us––strengthened my feelings. It was time to admit defeat. “I can’t,” I sighed.
“Then you’re already cheating on him, darlin’.”
Terrified by his words and my feelings, I ripped myself away from his hands with a step backward, and I tore out of McGinty’s like a tornado in a trailer park. I had no choice. I had to remove myself before I gave up entirely, and ran back inside, into the arms of a man who, regardless of his own emotions, had been, and will continue to be there for me…to care for me without asking for anything in return. No matter what my decision may be.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The sound of the alarm clock tore me away from a night of vivid yet disturbing dreams. Disturbing dreams caused by a disturbing end to a rather fun night.
The brunt end of my exasperation was delivered upon the alarm as I hit it full force to get it to shut the Hell up. Today was Friday. Today was the day that Liam was due back home. I didn’t know how I felt about it. I hadn’t missed him. In actual fact, I found I had grown somewhat relieved when he went on each business trip. That was the part of me that was slowly finding her independence again. The part of me that felt marginally normal…whatever that was.
With an arch of my back and a pleasant groan, I kicked the comforter off my body and made my way into the en-suite, whipping my negligee over my head as I went, and headed for a shower.
In and out within ten minutes, I set about hastily blow-drying my shoulder length blond hair, fixed my face with a little makeup and, considering it was dress down Friday, tossed on a pair of faded jeans and a white blouse, before heading down the stairs.
It was when I was halfway down the staircase that I sighted a folded piece of paper having been pushed through the mailbox, and waiting on my hallway flooring. With a bemused frown set firmly in place, I descended the final few wooden stairs and bent to retrieve the note. Unfolding it, it simply read:
ENT-ICING, 8:45 a.m.
No name, no please or thank you. Just a simple directive. Instinctively, I twisted my left wrist upward, considering my watch face was always displayed on the inner side of my arm, and checked the time. It was already 8:25 a.m. It was too early for this, I hadn’t even had my morning coffee, and by seems of things, it was going to remain that way until I located a coffee shop.
I shoved my feet into a pair of black heeled boots with a great sigh, then fetched my car keys out of the bowl on the sideboard under the balustrade, and headed out.
“Good morning, Kady,” a voice called as I derived the front steps and made my way to the driveway along the right of the house.
“Morning, Mrs. Steinbeck.”
“I was going to ask,” her voice was shadowed by the sound of her famous shuffling of slippers as she approached. I began to wonder if she actually owned decent shoes. “Is there any way you could do my granddaughter’s birthday cake? It’s in two weeks and my daughter has left it awful late, no one can fit her in.”
I pulled open the door of my Audi SUV and slipped inside. “I’ll have to check the schedule, Mrs. Steinbeck,” I called through the open door. “But I’m sure that shouldn’t be a problem. Just pop into the shop when you’re not busy so we can take the details.”
“Perfect. Have a lovely day, Kady.”
“You, too,” I called, my voice shaded by the sound of my door slamming shut. The seatbelt locked into place, I started the ignition, pulled out of the driveway, and headed to Bricksdale Square with my mystery note.
Within fifteen minutes, I was pulling up outside of the pink awning, with the gold scripted words of ‘Ent-icing’ upon it. Dropping from the car, I peeked around. The shop was still closed. The bustling sounds which usually came from the Square were near nonexistent. Only the proprietors of the surrounding workplaces were bustling in and out of their stores, preparing for opening hours.
It was like a fucking Ghost Town and that was enough to unnerve me.
I was inspecting the note again, studying the handwriting as carefully as possible. For a fleeting moment I considered it to be Liam with one of his surprises, but it wasn’t his writing. It was when my thumb glided over the ink when I jumped as an old-fashioned public payphone incased in a silver surround a little down the way of Ent-icing, began to toll. Within eight steps, I was at the phone and lifting the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Madison Avenue, ten minutes.”
I didn’t recognize the voice, it was terse and sounded muffled, however, before I could ask who it was I was speaking to, they hung up, leaving me in the lurch and confounded as I sped back to the car, and headed south to Madison.
Slipping from behind the wheel after I put the car into park at the sidewalk, I checked the time again. At nearly 9:00 a.m., my irritation was mounting. It was far too early for this type of activity. I didn’t like it one bit. I hated games especially games that felt like scavenger hunts.
With each ticking second, I was preparing myself to personally send the person pulling the strings behind this one, to Hell, considering I still hadn’t had my first caffeine fix of the day.
I scanned the block left to right then checked my watch again. My heart was thrumming in my chest, my head was spinning and my stomach was moments away from expelling stomach acid onto the sidewalk.
A person wearing a black baseball cap with the lip down low, practically concealing his face, was heading straight towards me. His black hoodie looked a little too extreme considering the sun was blaring down on us, casting shadows of the buildings behind me, onto the street.
“Hey, watch it,” I chided when he ran into me head on, sending me staggering backward.
“Sorry,” he muttered, forcing a newspaper into my hands before subtly continuing down the block.
I took a moment to unfold the Boston Times I had just been forced with. A note was safely placed into the crease. In red marker it simply read:
VENUE 129,
MIDDLE BOOTH,
READ ME…
This was getting beyond a fucking joke now. But at least I’d finally have my coffee. So, again, I did as instructed and headed to the barista around the corner.
I slipped into the middle booth with my mug of happiness, having ordered a skinny latte, and began to read the paper as instructed. I was moments away from rivaling a tantrum of a toddler in a toy store when I overheard a familiar chuckle––a chuckle that sounded like one too many cigarettes had been drawn upon. Peeking over the pages ever so slightly, I was face to face…well, face to back, with Liv and Liam standing together at the register.
My stomach flipped and adrenaline gushed when I heard him tell her, “Go and get us a seat, gorgeous,” and with a playful swat on her backside, they both smiled merrily as she walked away. The wall of my booth vibrated behind my back as she slipped in behind me, clearing her throat.
What the fuck was going on? I felt like a spectator.
The pleather padded barrier behind me shook again as Liam slipped in the booth with the person who was supposed to be my best friend.
My face was disguised by the paper while the masochist in me was found to be intently listening to the twosome. It was when the sound of wet, passionate kisses sounded that I scrunched my face up and screwed my eyes shut, questioning what the fuck was going on around me.
“Thank you for an amazing week, Liam,” said Liv. I could imagine her sweeping her fingertips up and down his arm. I had to fight the instant reaction to confront them there and then.
“You’re worth it. I’m glad you enjoyed it, but regardless, I still don’t think I’ve had my fill of you just yet.” His words were cut by a soft suggestive groan and another wet kiss. I felt sick. I had to stop listening, but for the life of me, I couldn’t tear myself away. I could feel my heart beating in my stomach.
“Liam,” the barrier shook again, the material squealed so I knew she had shifted. “I think we should tell, Kady. It’s not fai––”
“Hey, don’t you worry your sexy little head over a thing. Things are going smoothly, Liv. Why ripple the water? She doesn’t suspect a thing.” I overheard a derisive snort. I sensed his statement wasn’t yet finished when Liv interjected.
“Liam, the time will come when she’ll start suspecting. We’ve been caught by her too many times now. You can’t keep forcing those pills down her throat and telling her it’s just another delusion, or having her sent back to that God awful place just so we can have time together.”
Tears flooded my cheeks. What…? He’s…they’ve…I’m not crazy? Is that what all that meant? Everything that I was convinced I’d witnessed, was true? I’m not delusional? My mind was being played with like a ball of yarn by a dangerously, sadistic wild cat?
Lowering the paper, I forced myself to pick up my coffee and hoped that a sip would gift me with a further degree of understanding.
“Liv, baby, if we continue this way, then we all get what we want.” With that coaxing tone laced through his words, he virtually sounded like The Devil himself. It was a tone I was unfortunately, more than familiar with.
A sharp shooting pain surged down my right arm. My hand befell to numbness while my grip became nonexistent, sent my mug clattering to the table, the warm liquid gushed out coating the table and seeping to the brown tile.