The List

by Alice Ward

  “Did you have a good day?” she asked.

  “A wonderful day,” I said, knowing I was lying.

  “Good. You look like you’ve gotten some sun.”

  “It must have been the window in the car, or maybe when I went to the park.”

  “Which park was that?”

  I felt the noose closing. “I was driving to the office after lunch and needed a bathroom. The park was right there and afterwards, I sat on a picnic table for a while to enjoy the ducks. Time got away from me.”

  She nodded. “That can happen, for sure. Why don’t you go wash up? Dinner will be ready in ten minutes,” she said. I nodded and kissed the top of her head before I went upstairs.

  Auggie

  Liar.

  I called the clinic to get Worth’s credit card number for a bill I’d found in my stack that I assumed he’d created. He wasn’t there. I opened the laptop and looked again at the Facebook posts. Park, my ass. I slammed the lid shut again and went to the kitchen to finish something. I only had to decide whether it would be the salad or my marriage.

  Worth came into the kitchen and snatched up Ford, blowing bubbles on his chubby tummy. Ford laughed and Worth continued to play with him.

  “Dinner is ready,” I said and pointed at Worth’s chair with intent.

  “Okay, thanks!” He was so cheerful; so deceptively cheerful. Maybe he was happier with her than he was with me. That’s when the truth struck me. I represented things he didn’t want to think about. Before, I reminded him of our parents’ affair and the mistreatment he’d received as a child from his father. Now, I reminded him of the offspring of that affair — Linc. He wanted to rid himself of that legacy, no matter what it took.

  I realized then that he’d invited Linc to the barbecue so that I would get used to having him around. Maybe Worth wanted me off his hands and Linc was to become the recipient of my liability. Of course! It would be so much easier to just pile up the problem people in his life into one house and he’d be free of it forever. Linc didn’t need him. I knew the same people as Worth did. I could act as the liaison between Linc’s nefarious connections and his need to get into the inner circle so he could set races. That would free Worth from the threat to his practice, to his life in general.

  This also answered why Worth was so overtly flirting with his director of the Cincinnati clinic. He knew I’d find out. He knew I would come unhinged and leave him.

  Of course! Worth was a master of mental manipulation. He’d spent his life learning it from his father and then from professors in college. He practiced it every day when he had a patient in the chair. He’d constructed this whole tableau in order to free himself from his problems; all in one bundle.

  Worth had manipulated me from the very beginning. I went to him as a patient and he convinced me I didn’t need his help — at least not in the sense of his being my doctor. He flirted and pressured me to be his girlfriend, and later, his wife. Once I was his wife, I had been conquered and he was on to his next challenge.

  Worth had to learn that the world was not his oyster. His narcissism needed to be taken down a few notches. I knew just the person for that job. Me. Worthington LaViere, III had finally met his match!

  CHAPTER TEN

  Auggie

  I sat across the table from the devil himself.

  The man who lay behind my nightmares sat opposite me and what was more, I was trying to convince him to take me on as a partner. Hell had frozen over.

  Linc sat back in his chair, his foot balancing on his opposite thigh as he chewed a toothpick and considered what I’d just proposed.

  “Let me get this straight,” he said in a voice that dripped of sarcastic skepticism. “You expect me to believe that you want to help me? Why would you do that?”

  I was ready for this. “I’m not going to lie. If I told you it was because you were my brother and I cared about you, you’d know I’m lying. No, I’m out to teach a lesson and oddly enough, you’re the best candidate to help me do that. You get what you want, and then some. I get what I want. This is a weird alliance, these ties between Worth, you and I. They don’t write soap operas this complicated.”

  “Damned right,” he allowed, putting his feet flat on the floor and signaling the waitress to bring him another drink.

  I continued on. “So, as I see it, there’s something in this for everybody. To begin with, I’m sure you’re having regrets about moving Mother in with you. She’s like drinking a glass of acid before breakfast.”

  He was looking down at his glass, but I didn’t miss the fact that he rolled his eyes.

  “It’s okay.” I continued. “She has that effect on everyone. The only one who can even remotely control her is me. I’m the mouse the cat likes to paw at, only I don’t let her get to me. That infuriates her even more. I know how much to let her have her way so she feels in control. We need her, though. As tarnished as she may be, she’s still a socialite and carries some power — even if it is the threat of exposure for all the secrets she knows. Nonetheless, we can keep her in position and use her when the time is right.”

  He nodded, sipping his drink while deep in thought.

  “Then there’s me. I need to pay someone a little lesson about manipulation and a little pay-back for the fool he has made of me. There’s probably no one on this planet he hates more than you right now. That makes you perfect.”

  He nodded again, enjoying my admission of his power over Worth and my acknowledgement of his owning it. He was a combination of my mother and Worth’s father, that much was obvious. Fortunately, I knew how to feed them both until they thought they were full, but their bellies were never satisfied.

  “My son is mine. I don’t want him touched. That’s a hard rule. I’m going to do my level best to straighten out the core of bad genetics before they have a chance to take hold. I want him to be the first legitimately good LaViere since the damned name planted its first seed. I won’t compromise on this, Linc.”

  “I understand. Don’t really give a shit about the kid. Just want what’s owed me, on my terms.”

  “Then we come to you. I’ll help you get what’s owed you, and it certainly wasn’t Mother or a farm that you don’t have the money to properly run, much less the knowledge. I know the same people Worth does. I can put you in that inner circle and you can run rampant for all I care. They’ve all got secrets in their closets somewhere. That’s what Worth was after and I can see now it’s a genetic thing. So, I’ll put you in the position you want and you and Worth can go at each other like the battle of the tyrants. I really don’t care.”

  He looked highly skeptical. “And just how do you plan to accomplish all this?” he asked with a humorous snarl.

  “You’ll leave that to me for the most part, but you’ll see the progress as I go, so just be patient. I don’t like people looking over my shoulder. You can ask Mother about that. She’s tried it all her life and all it got her was to be more and more ignored. What you do need to know is that we’re going to turn the LaViere farm into the country’s premiere breeding facility. It will be state of the art, reservation only and I’ll bring in the people you want to fleece. I’ll get you into the circle and you take it from there.”

  “That simple.”

  “Of course it’s that simple. The best plans are always simple. Look, I’ve laid out the roles here. You can be yourself, Mother can be herself and I can as well. That’s why it works. Everyone is doing what they always do. It will only be me who combines the ingredients in a way that keeps everyone satisfied with the outcome. Everyone that is, but Worth, and he won’t know about it until it’s too late for him to stop me.”

  “He trusts you?”

  I met his eyes. “Yes.”

  “And you’d throw that all away to get back at him?”

  I looked down at my drink. “I’ve never had him. He’s always been a one-man team.”

  Linc nodded and the deal was sealed. It was time for the mind games to begin.

&n
bsp; ***

  Worth was home early that night. He seemed to sense that I wasn’t my normal self and I believe he’d come home to have time for observation. He sat in the kitchen, playing with Ford on his lap, but watching me while I moved around, making dinner.

  I was wearing one of my shorter miniskirts, full with a peasant blouse tucked in. I made sure I bent low to put things in the oven and Worth caught a full view of my lack of underclothes. He never questioned it. I knew he thought I was doing it to tantalize him for dessert.

  At one point, he could stand it no more and tucked Ford into his padded high chair. Betsy had the night off and we were alone in the house. I was at the sink, scrubbing a bowl. Worth came up behind me, his hand sliding beneath my skirt and up the inside of my leg. He probed my pussy with his index finger and despite myself, I couldn’t help but orgasm. He laughed gently, kissing the back of my neck as he turned away, but not before I saw his full erection. I fought to maintain control, but it was no good. I turned off the water and spun around, following him back to his chair. I knelt before him, my fingers smoothly sliding down his zipper and unbuttoning his pants. I released his cock from his shorts and it sprang to full attention.

  With a scorching slowness, I kissed the inside of his thighs, my hands pumping him gently as he waited for the cavern of my mouth. He closed his eyes and let his head fall backwards, intent upon the sensation. My lips moved across every centimeter of skin that was not his penis, drawing him out until the anticipation was too much to stand. He grabbed my head by a handful of hair and forced my mouth upon his swollen shaft. I opened fully and let it go down as far as I could take it. His growl of enjoyment told me it was far enough. Flicking my tongue, I moved my head in a circular motion, using my hands to cover the areas my mouth did not. He was completely and utterly in my control, at his most vulnerable. Round and round, from the base to the tip, I mouthed and licked him. Goosebumps popped out on his arms and he groaned with the mindless sensation that had him in its grip.

  He could stand it no longer and lifted me by the waist, settling me upon his cock, my pussy soaked with my own juices that would now mix with his. I began to rock from side to side gently, my tunnel massaging him as he mushroomed to fill me. He pulled up my blouse and his head ducked beneath as he began to suck my breasts. I pulled his face into me, bending to kiss his earlobes and blow into the recesses of his ears. This inflamed him, I knew that.

  He pulled me hard against him, desperately trying to match inch to inch of skin between us. Just as I knew he was about to explode, I raised one leg and slid off. He protested loudly, but I slid the dish of strawberry jelly toward me. I dipped my finger and used it to paint his hard dick, then licked off the residue with lips puffed by his kisses. I let the jelly cover my cheeks and chin; a visual of his maleness marking my face. I pushed his thighs far apart and licked every part of him, front to back. He was going crazy.

  He went to pull me atop him again, to finish his release, but I shook my head. “Not with all the jelly — that wouldn’t be a good idea to have inside me.” I thought he would faint with need, but he accepted my logic. Instead, I began pumping him, my fist tight around his pulsing shaft. Furiously at first, I slowed and went lighter with every passing moment until his erection had dwindled and he was left with nothing more than a sticky mess over his crotch and clothing. The jelly prevented my hand from sliding smoothly and the effect was almost like sandpaper.

  “Ohhhh.” I feigned disappointment. “Hurry and shower and change. I’ll keep dinner hot for you.” There was a flash of something in his eyes I couldn’t read, but he obliged and left the room. I went to the sink and washed my pussy and then with another cloth, my breasts and face. I threw these away and went back to cooking dinner.

  Worth was back in only a few minutes, his hair still wet from his hasty shower. He looked like a young boy who’d been promised candy if he ate his dinner.

  “Sit down, your dinner’s finished,” I urged him.

  He almost fell into the chair. I think he was hoping I was speaking with euphemisms and would finish him sexually, but I calmly pulled the roast chicken from the oven, as well as the ceramic bowl of mashed potatoes and home-cooked green beans that were warming within. He was practically salivating at the attention and coziness of our setting. Coffee was ready to go and I pulled the final triumph, an apple pie topped with French crumbles, from the warming tray and set it on a trivet on the table. His eyes lit like the child who couldn’t decide which present to open first.

  “Look good?” I asked as he began to fill his plate.

  “Sweetheart, this is wonderful.” He could hardly clear a word with a bit of drool at the delicious odors that permeated the room.

  I let him eat a bit before I spoke. Just about two bites of everything on his plate. “Worth?” I mewled.

  “Yes, sweetheart?” His senses were in hyper mode.

  “Do you trust me?”

  He paused with a fork just at his lips. “Trust you? Well, of course I trust you. Why wouldn’t I?” His brain was still wrapped in the sex and covered with mashed potatoes and butter from the green beans.

  “I mean, trust me in every sense, without hesitation, without question?” I put to him again.

  “Yes, sweetheart.” He took another huge bite. His appetite was exactly where I’d hoped. “Why all these questions?”

  “Well…” I began, pushing around my food without him noticing that I’d not yet taken a single bite. “Just thinking. For example, what if I were to tell you that at this very moment, one thing is true?”

  He was absently giving himself another portion of chicken. “What’s that, sweetheart?”

  I laid my fork down a bit loudly and said in a very clear voice, “What if I were to tell you that one of us is a liar and I’ve put poison in that person’s food?”

  My words got through his glutton haze and his eyes opened widely as they sank in. “What kind of poison?” he asked, slamming down his fork and grabbing his napkin to spit the food from his mouth. He ran to the patio door and stuck his finger down his throat, retching onto the fragrant evening grass.

  I smiled to myself, left my food untouched, took Ford and went upstairs. I locked the door and slept on the bed in Ford’s room that night. Before I fell asleep, I heard Worth leave, his car spinning down the drive and onto the pavement. I’m guessing he went to the ER, but perhaps he went to her.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Auggie

  I’d never seen the entire interior of Worth’s family home. I would see it now, and it would become my refuge. But first, there was the matter of Mother.

  She sat in a wingback chair at the far side of the living room. The light was behind her and her outline resembled that of a witch. Even Ford started to cry, although he knew nothing of witches. Unless you counted his grandmother.

  “Mother,” I acknowledged her.

  “Auggie,” she returned.

  We were like two sumo wrestlers, circling one another to see who would make the first lunge to take the other down and who would anticipate and sidestep.

  “I see you’ve brought the baby.” She made the first attempt.

  “His name is Ford, if you remember. He’s named for our family.” I sidestepped.

  “Was my name, once upon a time,” she tried again.

  “Mother, pity won’t work. You earned your banishment.”

  “So, why are you here?” She was focused and suspicious. I couldn’t blame her. I would be too.

  “At Linc’s invitation. So, how does it feel to finally sit in the throne you coveted for so long?” I went for her knees.

  She didn’t reply. I had her on her back.

  “What do you want from me?” she asked angrily.

  “Actually, I’ve come to give you something,” I told her and I sensed her distrust.

  “I have everything I could want, now.” She let the statement lie there and sink in. Once again, a jab at the fact that she didn’t consider me to be worthy of her motherh
ood.

  “You must be very proud of Linc, despite the fact that another woman raised him.” I went for her throat.

  “What have you come to give me?” she asked, sidestepping.

  “A chance to earn back your position in the community. I can make you acceptable in the right circles. You can resume your place.”

  She laughed. It was a ragged sound, and I noticed an echo of Linc’s own sarcasm in her voice.

  The room felt warm and it wasn’t the sunshine streaming through the windows. It was the heat of debate and I fought to keep my cool.

  Mother was dressed in a tangerine cotton dress, sleeveless and slim-fitting. She wore a string of beads about her neck; a pseudo crown for the one that wasn’t available for her head.

  I sat down, Ford on my lap. I didn’t put him down on the floor. I needed him in my arms in case a hasty retreat was called for.

  “Why would you help me, of all people? You said I was the one who held you back all these years,” she speculated with derision.

  “It’s not out of love, I can assure you that.” I took the honest path. “It just happens that helping you aligns with something I want more.”

  “And that is?” she queried me, watching my face for a telling look.

  “That is my business,” I responded, keeping the tone of my voice mysterious.

  This made her smile. “Little Auggie, finally learning to keep her mouth shut and her eyes open. I wondered how long it would take,” she speculated, her sadistic comment hitting its mark.

  “I had an excellent teacher,” I parried and realized we would have to stop this fencing if we were to accomplish what I’d come for.

  She recognized the same thing and finally asked, “What do you want from me?”

  “In all truth, I want two things. I want you to treat me like an adult and respect what I’m doing, and secondly, I want you to get to know your grandson. I will be around here a great deal and it would be appreciated if you’d help to look after him.”