PassionsPoison

by Lexi Post

  She’d been followed. A sharp pain in her stomach had her doubling over. She reached for her Tums. Popping four in her mouth, she took deep breaths. As the tablets coated her stomach, she gathered all the paper and dumped it into her purse. He’s not happy. That had to mean Zach. Oh God. The same package must have been delivered to Zach! She was as positive of that fact as the dread overwhelming her. The question was, did he receive a letter too? Did he open it?

  She raced out the door and headed for her car, ignoring the cold air and her lack of coat. How long had Craig had the letter? An hour? All day? Whoever had it delivered to him must have known how scattered Craig was. Either that or it was pure bad luck.

  Her hands trembled as she turned the key in the ignition. She drove as fast as she dared along the winding back roads until she reached Zach’s. The mud in the driveway had hardened, which made it easy to drive straight to the house. A light shone from inside. Jumping from her vehicle, she ran to the basement door and knocked. Her racing heart had her taking short breaths, forming white puffs against the glass window.

  When there was no answer, she tried the door. It was locked. She knocked louder as dread filled her soul. She couldn’t have found him just to lose him. Fate couldn’t be so cruel.

  “Come on, Zach. Open the door. Please.”

  She pounded on the door with no results. Frustrated and scared, she ran to the side of the deck and took the stairs two at a time. She peered in the sliding-glass door and found him. The photos lay scattered across the coffee table in the living room. Zach sat on a couch, a bottle of Johnny Walker in one hand, a two-page typed letter spread on the cushion next to him.

  Bea groaned as he lifted the bottle and took a large gulp.

  “Oh God, no.” She banged on the glass.

  Zach looked up and focused on her slowly. His face twisted in disgust.

  “Let me explain!” she yelled as loud as she could, her body trembling with panic. She had to get in there. It wasn’t what he thought. She tugged on the door. It didn’t budge. The tears flowed from her eyes and her vision blurred. This couldn’t be happening. Why would someone do this to her, her only chance, her one hope?

  She wiped the water from her eyes with a shaky hand and tried the other slider. It remained in place. She gazed at Zach. “Please, open the door. Let me explain.”

  He gave her a snide grin before he saluted her with the scotch bottle and took another gulp.

  Her stomach twisted hard and she pressed her arm against the pain. She’d lost him. The hopelessness caused tears to come fast, but she couldn’t accept it. She shook her head in desperate denial. “Zach, please. Open the door.”

  He leaned forward and picked up the TV remote, which lay next to the photos.

  She pressed both hands against the glass. “Zach, it’s not what you think! They’re old photos! Please, don’t throw us away!”

  He looked at her again and sneered, then the television popped on and the volume went so loud she couldn’t hear herself.

  She stopped pounding on the door and watched as he stared at the television and laughed. Laughed.

  Her heart shriveled inside her chest. Her breaths caught in her throat, sore from yelling in the frigid temperature. She grabbed at her stomach, unable to move as defeat settled upon her like a winter cape.

  She made herself leave the deck and forced her legs to carry her to her car.

  Her tears dried as she drove home, her whole body turning numb. She climbed the stairs to her apartment, dragging herself up as if she were an unwilling sacrifice to a vengeful god. She couldn’t go back to her life before. She couldn’t do it. She’d experienced what could be, what she wanted with her whole being. She loved Zach.

  She dropped her purse on the table, her old table. Her old life. She had a good job, lived in an apartment and had to sleep with a different man every week. She hated that life. She was tired of it. She didn’t want it. She wanted Zach!

  Bea lashed out and sent a plant flying across the kitchen. Dirt and green leaves scattered over the floor. She grabbed a beer from her fridge. “Happy now, Mom?” She saluted the air with Zach’s Bud Light. “Who would have guessed you could be so wrong.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Zach held his hands over his ears. Why wouldn’t the pounding stop? He cracked one eyelid and found two large feet standing at his sliding-glass door. Only one person had feet that big.

  Carefully, he removed his hand and motioned with his finger to wait before attempting to raise his head from the cool pine floor. Bracing himself on the couch, he squinted and managed to stand, but the pounding in his head reached new levels. Josh had to have a painkiller with him.

  With that sustaining hope, Zach made it to the door and flipped the lock. The door flew from his hand as it slid open. Cold air hit his body, numbing the pain for an instant before—

  “Why the hell did you throw the floor bolt on the door downstairs? I couldn’t get in. Jesus, what the hell happened to you?”

  Zach’s knees buckled, but unfortunately he stayed conscious as he slumped down again, the hard floor reacquainting him with last night.

  “You’re in bad shape, my friend,” Josh whispered as he hauled him up against the couch.

  He didn’t plan to give a response to such an obvious statement. Holding his head, he tried to keep his pulse from pounding between his ears.

  Josh nudged his arm. “Here, drink.”

  He sniffed, but smelled nothing so he drank the liquid handed to him.

  As Josh walked to the other couch, Zach covered his ears against the sound. He wasn’t sure if he blacked out again, but it seemed only minutes later when Josh woke him.

  “Okay, enough sleeping on the floor. What happened?”

  Zach glanced up to find his friend towering over him. Surprised by the lack of pain in his head, he moved it right and left, then looked at Josh again. “What was in that stuff?”

  “Just a little something I concocted in med school.” Josh strolled back to the couch and cracked a beer. “I made it to help me pull all-nighters, but discovered it works great on hangovers as well.”

  Zach pulled himself onto the cushions behind him, still nervous he’d start the blinding pain in his head again. “Hell, you should market that.”

  “I don’t think so. There’s a controlled drug in there. I’d prefer not to go to jail.”

  Leaning forward, Zach grabbed the water bottle Josh had left for him. After a few good swallows, he felt better, but still tired. “What are you doing here?”

  His friend stared at him as if he’d grown horns. Maybe he didn’t want to know the answer.

  Josh picked up his beer and toasted him. “It’s Saturday. You offered me your place for the weekend because you had decided to take a break from Bea and go see your mom and dad. Remember? Though why you’d see your parents instead of having sex is a mystery to me.”

  Bea. The photos. Everything came back in a rush, or almost everything. He ran his hands over his face. “Hell, how many days have I been out of it?”

  Josh surveyed him from head to toe. “I’m going to hazard a guess it’s been two days since you were sober and conscious. I base that solely on the number and variety of empty bottles I took from your living room. That and the post-office stamp on the envelope I found lying on the floor.”

  Gut-wrenching pain took Zach’s breath away as the photos of Bea with other men flashed across his mind.

  Josh strode into the kitchen and came back with another beer. “Here. You look as if you could use one. But nothing stronger, got it?” He grinned. “Doctor’s orders.”

  Zach took a swig and set the beer on the table. “Christ. What an idiot I am. I fell for her act.”

  Josh rested his long legs on the coffee table and crossed them. “First, who can blame you? She’s downright hot. Truly the queen of the hotties, I mean that body is—”

  “Hey, you’re talking about my girlfriend there. I mean ex-girlfriend.” Zach had no idea where his anger ca
me from, but knowing Josh had stared at Bea’s body in those photos had him struggling not to reach over and punch his friend. It didn’t make sense.

  Josh sobered. “Wow, did you fall for this girl?”

  Zach shook his head and took another swallow of beer.

  Josh eyed him. “You weren’t even this messed up after Lisa.”

  Zach shrugged, unwilling to compare photos of a woman in the act of cheating to his late fiancée’s run-in with a moose. Lisa had meant everything to him, but she had been killed instantly when she hit the moose with her car, the animal’s large body flying through the windshield. Yes, the pain had been bad, but she was gone, forever. But Bea…the pain in his chest returned. Bea loved him. He would bet his house on it. And she was still alive, in the next town over. His throat closed, making it hard to swallow.

  “Hey, Zach. You still with me, buddy?”

  He crossed his ankle over his knee in an attempt to appear less affected, but the movement sent a potent waft of Scotch up from his jeans. He grimaced. Hell, he was rank.

  Josh set his beer on the end table and leaned back. “So what did she say when you confronted her with the pictures?”

  A vision of Bea crying on his deck popped into his head. Had she been here? Christ, he couldn’t remember, but a niggling sensation in the back of his mind had him feeling uncomfortable. “I haven’t spoken to her about them.”

  Josh crossed his hands behind his head as if he planned to pick out all the gory details. “So you haven’t broken it off yet. Does she know you have them?”

  Zach looked at his friend, but didn’t see him. He saw Bea at the window asking to come in and he…he… What the hell did he do? “She knows I’ve seen them but—” He was sure he would remember if he had let her in. He had seen her on his deck and then he— “Oh Christ.”

  Josh perked up. “What?”

  He groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “I was a real ass. I wouldn’t even let her in. I didn’t want to hear it.” The feelings rushed back and with them a need to dull the pain again. He lifted his head and grabbed the beer and gulped. The cold alcohol did nothing for him. He put the half-empty bottle down with a thud.

  Josh shrugged. “From what I saw and read, there wasn’t much left to learn.”

  He glanced around the room. “What did you do with the letter and photos?”

  “Over there.” Josh angled his head toward the kitchen table. “Who sent them? The postmark said Tamwick, but I didn’t see a name on the letter.”

  Zach ran his hands over his face again. “I don’t know.”

  “I’m sure it doesn’t matter. Who cares what motivated the person to send that packet? It’s not as if you need to talk to her anyway. I mean, it’s all there in black and white. Besides, it was time to break it off anyway, right?”

  Zach stared at the sheets of paper he could see piled on the kitchen table. “Yeah, right, I guess.”

  Josh smirked. “Of course I’m right. I told you, I’m a genius.”

  He took another swig of beer and stared at the leafless trees outside. The scenery didn’t soothe him like it usually did, which left getting drunk or working the chainsaw to escape the pain. Since he didn’t relish the idea of another head-splitting, timber-falling headache, he might as well work. Maybe carving into the wood would make him forget that Bea still existed. “I’m going to work.”

  Josh sat forward. “What? It’s frigid outside, you’ll freeze. Don’t you like my company?”

  Zach strode to the stairs. “Nothing personal, Josh, but you planned on being here alone this weekend, so feel free to do as you please. Maybe you can get lucky. Me, I’ve got a carving to finish.”

  * * * * *

  “Bea? You okay? You don’t look very good.”

  She forced her gaze to focus on Kayla, standing in the doorway of her office. “I’m fine, just tired.”

  Kayla strode in and placed her hand on her forehead. “I don’t think so. You’re hotter than a tin roof in June.”

  Bea jerked away. “I have a little fever. Don’t worry. I took aspirin. It’ll go away. I get these sometimes.” Though she tried to avoid them until now. The poison in her system had built up more than she’d ever experienced. She had come by herself last night with her specially made porous dildo, which made it possible for her to go to work, but she needed a man. She just couldn’t bring herself to find one. Masturbating only expelled some poison. Most of it seeped right back into her body through her skin. Boy, her mother would be so disappointed in her. No husband, no baby and dead at thirty.

  Kayla shook her head. “I don’t like it.”

  She turned back to her computer. “I’m sorry you don’t like it, but I have work to do.”

  Kayla backed up a step. “Now I know you’re not well. You never snap. Just because Zach dumped you doesn’t mean you can let yourself go. I’m calling my doctor. You need to see someone.”

  “No!” Bea slammed her hands on the desk and let her head drop. “Will you let me do my work, please?”

  Kayla shook her head. Something was very wrong. “Okay, but I’m going to keep checking on you.”

  Gary peeked around the corner. “Kayla, could you come here a minute?”

  Torn between work and her friend, she sighed, but went to the front desk. “What do you need, Gary?”

  “This just came for Bea. You told me to let you know when another one arrived.”

  Kayla stared at the envelope with “To Bea Rappaccini” printed on it. If she gave the letter to Bea now, the woman would have a nervous breakdown. “Thanks, Gary. Did you see who brought it?”

  “Yeah, the kid from the ice-cream shop down by the Hillside Inn. He tried to be discreet, dropping it on the counter when I was busy, but I noticed.”

  “Excellent, Gary. This is very important. I think the police will be thrilled to hear you caught sight of who has been leaving these letters.”

  Gary puffed with pride, but another customer demanded his attention.

  Kayla took the opportunity to peek in on Bea. Poking her head around the corner, she gasped. Bea had fallen from her chair and lay motionless on the floor. Kayla ran to her side. “Bea, can you hear me?”

  “Mom?”

  Oh shit. Kayla felt Bea’s forehead and grimaced at the heat radiating off her. Except for two bright spots of color on her cheeks, her face was pale. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, making them appear sunken. Kayla tamped down her rising fear and, cradling her friend in her arms, pulled Bea’s purse off the desk, grabbed the cell phone from it and scanned the contacts. Finding Susan Rappaccini’s name, she dialed, proud that her hand barely shook.

  Susan answered. “Hello? Is that you, Bea?”

  Kayla cringed at the hopeful sound in the woman’s voice. “Hi, Susan, this is Kayla. You need to come quick. Bea’s fainted and she asked for you.”

  “Oh my God. I’ll be right there.”

  Kayla closed the cell phone and dropped it on the floor. “It’s okay. Your mom’s on the way.”

  Bea struggled to sit. “Mom? No. I can’t. She can’t.”

  Kayla propped her against the desk. “Listen, lady. It’s either your mom or I’m calling 9-1-1.”

  Bea’s shoulders sagged. “Fine.”

  * * * * *

  Susan left the guest bedroom and wrung her hands. She’d never seen anyone in her family in such bad shape. Praying her daughter would use the porous dildo she gave her until they could figure something out, she entered the living room.

  Gerry stopped pacing. “How is she?”

  Susan shook her head.

  He enveloped her in his massive arms. “Shhh. We’ll fix her. Don’t worry.”

  She cuddled her face against his black muscle shirt and almost gave in to the tears smarting her eyes. “She’s really bad. It’s as if she doesn’t care anymore.”

  Gerry moved her back to arm’s length. “You listen to me, Susan. We’re going to get our gal back on her feet if I have to kidnap every man or doctor this si
de of the Connecticut River.”

  She nodded. He was right. Between them all, they would come up with something. “I just have to figure out who can help her. We can’t give her a man, she only wants Zach and he dumped her.”

  Gerry let go and whipped out his cell phone. “There you go. Now we’re talking. I’ll call my boys. We’ll get him over here right now.”

  Susan grasped his arm. “No, that won’t work because he won’t have sex with her. Bea said he thinks she cheated on him. We can’t force him to have sex.”

  Gerry’s face fell and his arms dropped to his sides, the cell phone useless in his big hand. “Maybe I could think of something.”

  Susan smiled sadly, but shook her head. “If only I knew someone Bea liked well enough to have rebound sex or which of her lovers likes her, but I haven’t met any of them except Zach and Phillip. Wait. That’s it! Phillip loves our Bea desperately. Give me your phone. I have his number on the fridge.”

  She ran into the kitchen and scanned the many pieces of scrap paper she had taped to the refrigerator. She always kept Phillip’s in the upper-right corner, a good place of Karma for long-lasting love. Or at least, she thought it was. “Ha, here it is.”

  She dialed quickly.

  He answered on the first ring. “Hi, Susan, does Bea want to see me now?”

  “I hope so. She’s in bad shape and I’m at a loss what to do. Can you come by right away?”

  “I’d be happy to.”

  Susan sighed with relief. “Thank you. How long will it take you to get here from there?”

  He laughed. “Actually, about ten minutes. As it happens, I’m in town this weekend.”