by Stella Moore
Tucking his pistol into the waistband of his jeans, Paul checked the peephole. Sure enough, Franklin was on the other side of the door. Bracing for a fight, Paul opened the door.
“Franklin. Long time, no see. What brings you to my door?”
“Cut the shit, Paul. Where’s Penny?”
“Haven’t seen her. You two have a fight or something?”
Paul saw it then, just a flash of what lurked beneath the surface. He’d known there was something off about the man from the start, but what he saw standing in the hall in front of him froze the blood in his veins. Penny had never stood a chance against him.
He let Franklin push by him. If it came to it, he had the law on his side that way. He watched as Franklin prowled the apartment. “Told you, she’s not here.” Paul saw the punch coming, but he let it land. His head snapped back, and he saw red. Gripping Franklin’s shirt, he plowed his fist into the other man’s nose, dark pleasure coursing through him at the spurt of blood.
“Here’s how this is going to work,” Paul said cheerfully, landing another blow to Franklin’s gut. “You will not contact her. You will not come back here. If you see her on the street, you will turn and walk the other way. Got it?”
Hate bloomed in Franklin’s eyes as he sneered. “She’s mine. You can’t keep her from me forever.”
Reaching behind him, Paul pulled the pistol from his jeans and pressed it to Franklin’s temple, grimly pleased when terror, bright and shiny, replaced the hate in the other man’s eyes. “She’s not yours anymore. If you come near her again, I will kill you. And I will enjoy it. Got it?” He gave Franklin a shove toward the door, keeping the gun trained on him.
“You’re fucking crazy. I’ll come for her—when you least expect it.”
Paul cocked the gun, and the color drained from Franklin’s face. “I think I changed my mind. I’ll just tell the cops you broke in here, looking for her and you attacked me. Law should be on my side. Even if it’s not, it’ll be worth it.”
With one final glare, Franklin stumbled to the door, wrenched it open and fled. Pulling his phone from his pocket, Paul hit a button and dialed a familiar number.
“Yeah. We need to talk. Meet me at my place.”
Half an hour later, the doorbell rang again. Checking the peephole, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Mike’s annoyed face. He opened the door and Mike’s face switched from annoyed to shocked to amused in a heartbeat. “Run into a wall, pretty boy?”
“More like a fist. Come on in. I need a drink.” Turning away, Paul led the way to the living room and poured them both a glass of whiskey.
“Why are we drinking at ten in the morning?” Mike asked, taking a sip of his drink. “Something happen?”
“Penny came by last night. She’s staying with us for now.”
All traces of amusement fled Mike’s face. “She’s here? Where is she? I want to see her. Penny!” He turned, looking for her.
“She’s not here. Elisa took her out for the day so she could get some things she needed and just get away for a bit.”
“What kind of things? What’s going on, Paul?”
“He hurt her.” Sometimes you just had to be blunt. Put it all on the table, and let the person get over the shock of it before you offered an explanation. “It’s why she hasn’t been around. Why she missed the wedding. He hurt her and I think, on some level, he broke her. At least a part of her.”
Fury, raw and fierce, washed over Mike’s face. “And she’s just out shopping like it’s any other fucking Saturday? Where are the cops? Why isn’t this asshole in jail?”
Paul shook his head. “She didn’t want cops. She may, down the road, but right now she doesn’t want them. We tried to get her to go this morning, but she refused. There’s something else.”
“What?”
“He came here. Looking for her. I, uh, persuaded him to leave.”
“That where you get that shiner?”
“Yeah.”
“Good,” Mike grunted, downing the rest of his whiskey. “So, what are we going to do about it?”
“That’s the other reason I called. I think you should hire a bodyguard for Penny. Someone she won’t see or notice who can keep an eye on her from a distance and intercept him if he goes after her.”
“I’ll take care of it. When are they getting back?”
“Should be soon. Elisa said they wouldn’t stay gone too long. You can hang out if you want.”
“Yeah. Let me just call Anna and let her know I’ll be home later.”
When Penny walked through the door a few hours later, she took one look at Michael and dropped her bags and ran to him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t hate me,” she sobbed into his neck as he held her. Mike’s eyes met Paul’s over his sister’s shoulder, and the grief in them echoed what Paul felt in his own heart.
“I don’t hate you, baby doll. I love you, so fucking much. I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too. I wanted to call, or visit but he wouldn’t… I couldn’t. I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You’re here now. You’re safe.” This time when Mike’s eyes met Paul’s, they were full of rage and determination. “You’re safe, baby. Nobody will ever hurt you again.”
Chapter 14
It was another two months before Elisa could convince Penny that she needed to talk to someone. Sitting in the small waiting room of Dr. Melissa French’s office, she nervously fiddled with her phone while she waited for Penny’s first session to finish. When the door opened, she pushed to her feet, hovering by the couch as Penny finished talking to the petite beauty.
Dr. French didn’t fit Elisa’s idea of a psychiatrist, with her shockingly gorgeous face and the straight midnight black hair that fell nearly to her waist. She wasn’t even wearing glasses. But the research Elisa had done said she was the best in a hundred-mile radius, and she specialized in dominant/submissive relationships.
Penny turned and smiled, but the tiredness in her eyes still broke Elisa’s heart. She hadn’t slept well the night before. Elisa had crawled into bed with her in the middle of the night after Penny’s shouting had woken her up. She wondered if Penny even remembered the nightmare, or that she’d wept in her sleep.
She forced a smile for the doctor when Dr. French approached her, holding out a small, delicate hand. Despite being a few inches taller than Elisa, she seemed smaller somehow. Almost like she’d disappear if you breathed on her too hard. “You must be Elisa,” she said, surprising Elisa with her soft, smoky voice.
“Guilty as charged,” Elisa replied, accepting the handshake.
“I’m very pleased to meet you. You’re a good friend for accompanying Penny this afternoon.”
“It’s what family does,” Elisa said with a shrug, earning her an appreciative smile from the doctor.
“Yes, I suppose it is. It was a pleasure to meet you both. I’ll see you next week, Penny?”
Penny nodded quietly, and they left the comfortable little office. Elisa held her tongue, hoping Penny would speak first. They were halfway home when she decided she couldn’t stand the silence a second longer.
“So? How’d it go?”
“She’s nice.”
“Is that all? What did you talk about? Did she say anything?”
Penny shrugged. “We just kind of chatted. I think she was trying to get to know me better, or something. She didn’t say much, other than to ask some questions. But she did tell me it’s a process, and that I won’t get better immediately.”
Elisa frowned at the windshield. “I guess she’s probably right, but I was hoping you guys would’ve made some kind of progress today.”
Penny fell silent again until they pulled into the parking lot of Elisa’s apartment building. When Elisa started to climb out of the car, Penny’s hand on her arm stopped her. Closing the door again, she turned back to her friend.
“I’ve already made progress. I know it may not seem like it, to you. But I can take m
ore than two steps outside without checking over my shoulder. Sometimes I still feel like he’s watching me, but it doesn’t send me running into the closest store to hide when I’m at the mall. And the other day, I came home from a shoot in the middle of Paul spanking you and I didn’t have a complete meltdown.
“I know how hard this must be for you. And I know from the outside, it seems like I’m still stuck in the same place. But I promise, I’m getting better. It’s just going to take time. And I love you, so much, for letting me take the time I need. I’ll never be able to repay you guys for taking me in like this.”
It was a long while before Elisa could speak again. Penny was right. If she had stopped to think about it, she would have realized all of the small steps toward healing her friend had already taken. The biggest being the therapy session they’d just come from.
“When did you hear Paul spanking me?”
Penny laughed and the tension in the car dissolved. “Last Saturday. I had that family portrait shoot I went to all day, remember? I came home early, but I left again to give you guys time to finish in private. What did you do, anyway?”
Elisa rolled her eyes. “Went over my budget. Again. I don’t even understand why I have one, since it’s not like we don’t both have trust funds just sitting in the bank collecting dust. But he makes the rules, so I just have to deal with it, I guess.”
“He makes rules to make you a better person. You two have the type of relationship I always wanted. It’s nice to see that it can work. You guys are great together.”
There was something wistful in Penny’s voice, but Elisa decided she wouldn’t push. They’d had enough heavy conversation for one day. And as far as Elisa was concerned, they were done letting Franklin Pierce have any control over their lives.
Chapter 15
Big fat negative.
Elisa Davenport stared at the white stick in her hand, willing the second line to appear. But, just as the previous twenty-two months, nothing happened. A minute passed, then three, then five and still just the single line stared back at her, mocking her. Fighting back the tears that threatened, she buried the test in the trash can before returning to bed.
Pulling the covers up to her neck, she grabbed her e-reader off the nightstand and picked up where she’d left off with the dashing pirate, and the nobleman’s daughter who was currently being held for ransom. Not that the earl’s daughter seemed to mind, judging by the number of salacious sex scenes Elisa had been treated to so far.
Guilt niggled at her, but she did her best to ignore it. When she’d quit her teaching job last year to focus on her writing, Paul had been almost overwhelmingly supportive, but he had also laid down the law about her keeping to a schedule. Lying in bed all day reading naughty books was not, as he would say, a productive use of her time.
Not that he’d do anything about it, she thought, her mind drifting to her handsome husband. He hadn’t spanked her once in nearly two months, despite threats and promises to the contrary. Her throat ached again with the effort to hold back tears.
Unable to focus, she tossed the e-reader aside and stared at the ceiling. She wondered when her life had come so completely unraveled. From the moment he’d spanked her in the cab of his truck, they’d been inseparable. Completely, unbelievably, cry-in-your-popcorn, romance-movie in love.
But lately, things were just different between them. And it wasn’t just the lack of spankings, though that was definitely putting a strain on their relationship. The test that morning was negative because they’d only made love three times that month, and only once had been within her fertile window.
Annoyed with herself, Elisa forced herself out of bed. Grabbing her phone, she shot a text to Penny, jokingly reminding her to bring her back a piece of volcano from Hawaii. Penny and her boyfriend Eric, were leaving the next morning for a week in Hawaii. A few minutes later, her phone signaled an incoming text.
One volcano rock. Got it. Wanna come help me pack? Eric got called in.
Helping her bestie pack for the super romantic trip of a lifetime wasn’t high on Elisa’s list of things to get excited about, but maybe getting out of the house for a bit would help pull her out of the funk she was in.
On my way.
Thirty minutes later, Elisa let herself in to Penny’s apartment. “I was starving, so I grabbed some breakfast on the way over. You want the chocolate croissant or—whoa.”
Penny sat cross legged in the middle of her living room, surrounded by piles of clothes, shoes, and toiletries. She looked up and Elisa nearly laughed at the panic in her eyes. “Eric said he’d handle the packing, because his dad was a Boy Scout or something and he knows how to pack. But there’s some kind of emergency at the Knoxville store and he thinks he’ll be gone all day. So now I have to pack, for both of us. But I’m hopeless. Help!”
“Okay, first of all, breathe. Second of all,” she wound her way through the piles and joined Penny on the floor, handing her a cup of coffee and the bag of pastries she’d picked up on her way over and said, “have some coffee and some chocolate.”
Penny dug into the bag and pulled out a chocolate croissant. She bit into the flaky pastry with a small moan and took a sip of coffee.
“Better?” Elisa asked.
Penny nodded. “Much. But there’s still so much to do. I don’t even know where to start.”
“Start with the carry ons. Pack an outfit for each of you, along with some of your makeup. That way, if your luggage is lost, you have something to wear the next day.”
“That’s an excellent idea. I’m so glad I called you.” Penny reached for a small bag, wincing a little when she shifted. Elisa felt twin pangs of sympathy and jealousy.
“You okay?” she asked casually.
Penny rolled her eyes. “When Eric got the call that they needed him today, I flipped out a little. You know he doesn’t usually mind when I swear, unless it’s directed at him. I just hope I can manage to stay out of trouble until we get to Hawaii. I’m not trying to be stuck on a plane for several hours when I can barely sit.”
Elisa made a noncommittal noise and focused on fitting Penny’s clothes in her suitcase.
“Hey, you okay?”
Elisa forced a smile at her friend’s concerned question. “I’m excellent. Just a little tired. I think Aunt Flo is coming for a visit.”
“Oh, sweetie. I’m sorry. I know how hard you guys have been trying.” Penny gave her arm a sympathetic squeeze, and for a moment Elisa was tempted to tell her about everything that had been going on with her and Paul. But Penny was leaving for her dream vacation the next day, and Elisa didn’t want to bog her down with her issues right before she left.
“Yeah, it sucks, but it’ll happen when it’s supposed to. Hand me that pile of underwear behind you, I think I can fit it all in this zipper pocket here.”
They spent the next few hours packing and talking about the trip. By the time she left that afternoon, the fog of sadness and self-pity from that morning had mostly lifted. Deciding to do something special for dinner to see if maybe she could get Paul in the mood to have some fun, she detoured to the grocery store. She wasn’t an excellent cook, but she could whip up southern comfort foods with the best of them. Deciding on meatloaf and homemade mashed potatoes, she gathered her supplies and checked out.
At home, she started with the potatoes. Although she’d never been overly domestic, there was something about preparing a home cooked meal that soothed her. By five, dinner was mostly ready. At five thirty, she picked up her phone and noticed the text from Paul, saying he’d be late getting home.
She tried to remind herself that he was in the middle of a huge project, and that she knew his job could sometimes be demanding. But it didn’t help fend off the disappointment that swamped her. This was the third night this week that he’d had to work late. And it was Friday. She wondered what the hell could be so important that they couldn’t leave on time on a Friday night.
Pouring herself a glass of wine, she cur
led up on the couch with her reader. Nearly two hours later, she heard a car door shut in the driveway.
“Hey baby, I’m home. Something smells delicious.” When Paul walked into the living room, it was like her entire being focused on him. It had always been that way for her, and she’d assumed it had always been that way for him, too. Lately, though, she wasn’t so sure.
Elisa glanced up and forced a smile. “Hey. Long day?”
Paul groaned and fell onto the couch next to her. “You have no idea. This project may be the death of me. But, it’s a huge client for us, so it’ll be worth it in the end. What about you? Get any writing done?”
The guilt came back with a vengeance. “No. Penny had a packing emergency, so I spent the day with her, then I came home and made dinner.”
Her stomach clenched when he frowned at her. “You spent the entire day helping Penny pack for a week-long trip?”
“Eric had an emergency at work he had to take care. Downfall of being the boss, I guess. So we had to pack for both of them.”
Paul was eyeing her with a look she’d seen probably hundreds of times in the twelve years they’d been together. “How long did you stay after the packing was done?”
She shrugged, the casual gesture at odds with her racing heart. “I don’t know. A few hours, I guess.”
“Elisa, when you quit your job, you agreed to stick to a schedule. And you also agreed to let me know ahead of time if the schedule changed.”
Anger shoved guilt out of the picture. “Yeah, well, you don’t seem to give a fuck what I do lately, so I didn’t think you’d care. Dinner’s in the kitchen. I’m going to bed.” She shoved herself up off the couch and stormed to the bedroom, slamming the door behind her. The sound echoed throughout the house, making her wince.
Well, if she’d wanted him to spank her, she was about to get her wish. Paul was strict, more so than most of the men in their circles, and he absolutely did not tolerate her swearing at him or slamming doors. The fact that she had just done both made her feel a little nauseous.