Worth Any Price

by Jacqueline DeGroot

  “I cleaned the house while you were gone. I got your dry cleaning. I even made a few casseroles for when you got back. I know how you hate to cook.” He was almost whimpering as he held his smarting ear. Blood was wetting his palm.

  She dropped her purse to the floor, scattering the rest of the contents. “Well clean up this shit, unpack my bags, and fix me something to eat. And you better not have missed taping any of my soaps. Where are they?”

  Quickly he went to the VCR, ejected his tape, and inserted hers. Surreptitiously, he tucked his under the TV stand in the small space between the carpet and the first shelf. He pushed it as far back as he could with his fingers. “Here you are honey bun, I just put the first one in for you. You got four tapes. They’re all in order stacked here. Just sit down and I’ll press play.”

  “That’s better,” she said kicking his butt as he knelt on the floor in front of the entertainment system. “Now clean up this mess and get me a drink. Then you can fix my dinner.”

  “Yes, of course. It won’t take me but a minute.”

  He scrambled out of her way and made his way to the kitchen. Experience had taught him that the drink was priority number one. Dinner could wait until he put all her things away. Then if he was lucky she’d be too tired or too drunk to berate or beat him anymore and just fall asleep watching her precious soaps. At least he got to finish his dream. His wonderful dream where he was powerful and handsome, and his wife was young and beautiful and he had the pleasure of showing her off.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Yes, Meggie I’ve got him. I have your Toby. Follow every instruction, to the letter, and I’ll bring him back. Call the donut brigade, and I’ll kill him.

  First: It’s a little known fact, but Topsail Island allows topless sunbathing. They can’t kick you off the beach for it, all they can do is ask you to move to a more secluded area. Do that for me—go topless on the beach. From the moment you cross the beach access, I want to see you topless and wearing a thong. Yes, I’m going to be there along with hundreds of others. I can’t wait. Tomorrow at eleven. Stay on the beach until noon, so I’ll have ample time to ogle you. And don’t forget to wear sunscreen.

  Second: I love your new Sebring convertible. Put the top down and drive to Westfield Mall. Park in front of Sears tomorrow afternoon at three. Take off all your clothes then get out of the car and put them in the trunk. Get back in the car and drive up and down Oleander Avenue until you get pulled over by a cop. I guess if you want to get this part over with sooner, you could run a red light or break the speed limit to get their attention. I don’t care whether they write you up or not, I just want them to see you—naked. Along with everyone else driving on the avenue, especially the truckers. You never know, I might be one of them.

  Third: Your ex is a piece of work, isn’t he? Let’s give him a real reason to be jealous. Let’s set up a nice little betrayal. Have Dr. Rand Cheswick, his best friend and tennis partner, bugger you on the first green of Wilmington National Golf Course tomorrow night at eight P.M. In case you don’t know what buggering means, it means he has to take you in your asshole. Tell him to come in your crack right in front of the swing check video camera, or it doesn’t count. Now for the betrayal—your ex has to catch the good doctor fucking you in your ass. Set it up and see to it. Do everything right and Toby will come home shortly thereafter.

  So far she’d done everything right. With nervous, sweaty palms she’d driven to Topsail. At the access, she’d removed her cover up and dropped it into her beach bag, then proceeded down to the beach. The first people to see her were surfers coming off the beach and the shocked looks on their faces as they had approached and then passed by, shamed her to her toes. But she’d held her head high and kept on walking, hoping that the beach wouldn’t be crowded. But it had been. And within a span of five minutes, she’d known that over 300 men, women, and children had seen her exposed breasts and buttocks as she’d made her way through the sand to an out-of-the-way spot. The oversized sunglasses had helped to hide her tears as she’d walked by men openly leering and commenting. “Holy shit!” “Look at that!” “Momma Mia that woman’s topless!” “Shameful hussy!” a woman had yelled. “Nice ass!” “Momma look that lady has no shirt!” The final humiliation had been when she’d seen several teenage boys with camera phones taking pictures of her and presumably sending them off all to their friends.

  A beach patrol officer on his trike had pulled up and rode along side her as she walked. Then he had cleared his throat and called over to her, “Ma’am, you’ll have to move to a less populated part of the beach.”

  “I am officer!” she had yelled back. “I am!” He’d ridden beside her, his head turned to watch her, until she was at least the length of two football fields away from any other sunbathers. When she’d put her beach bag down and spread her towel out, he’d nodded, tilted his head as if he’d suddenly recognized her, then made a big turn in the sand. When he’d taken off down the beach in the opposite direction, he’d sprayed sand over her and her towel. She’d picked it up, shook it out, and then laid it out again. Kneeling, then stretching out on her stomach, she cried.

  Over the course of an hour, no less than six trikes had come down to check her out, all with a different male on board. She hadn’t given them the benefit of turning over. When the hour was up, she’d picked up her towel, shook it, and put it back in her beach bag to make the long, degrading trek back. “There she is again!” “Good God Almighty!” “Martha, would you look at that! She’s showin’ her ninnies!” “Fabulous, just fabulous,” a middle-aged man in a Speedo had said, and then had practically followed her all the way to the access. She looked around trying to see if she could pinpoint the man who had her baby, but no one fit the sleazy image that she had of him in her mind. And actually, most of the men leering at her had that lusty, half-lidded glazed look, and no wonder!

  By the time she got to the access, word had spread up and down the beach and people were walking fast to have their own look-see. She’d walked quickly down the access, and when she’d come to the end of it, she’d whipped her cover-up out of her beach bag and put it on. It was the most wonderful thing, to be able to cover herself and deny the curious eyes.

  At three she’d pulled up in front of Sears, removed her clothes, got out of the car, and put them in the trunk. Several shoppers stopped in their tracks to ogle, but she hadn’t given them the time of day. She’d quickly gotten back into her car, pulled out of the space, and had headed for the exit to Oleander Avenue. She’d had to wait at the light, and when a pickup truck pulled alongside, she’d cringed. The window had come down ominously slow and an old black man with white whiskers had whistled through an almost toothless mouth. “Honey Pot! You ain’t got no clothes on! Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmm!” The light changed and she’d peeled off to the right, cutting in front of him. From that moment, she’d tried everything she could to get noticed by a cop. But there didn’t seem to be any cruisers around. She’d prayed that the light at South College would be green for her, because that was the longest light in the city. No such luck. When she’d seen it turn yellow a full block away, she had slowed and inched her way forward. A carload of teenagers had passed her. Then it had stopped, waiting for her to catch up. The whooping and hollering as the boys in the car had leaned out of the windows for a better look had drawn the attention of a family in an SUV. They had been cruising on her other side. The husband started craning his neck from the opposite side of the vehicle to get a better look. Her eyes had met the woman’s, and she had seen the disdain in them. Lady, if you only knew, she had thought.

  She’d had to drive almost to the end of Oleander Extended before she saw a cruiser come onto Oleander from a side street. She’d taken that opportunity to lay on the horn and then had flagrantly cut two cars off to get to the opposite curb lane. When she’d seen the blue light and heard the loud whelp coming from behind, it had been wi
th both relief and dread. She had pulled over and waited for the cop to walk to her car. Then she’d simply sat there staring straight ahead as he’d taken inventory. “Ma’am you do know that’s illegal, don’t cha?”

  “What? Cutting those cars off or driving naked?”

  “Both. But let’s just talk about one.” He’d looked around the interior of the car. “Where are your clothes?”

  “In the trunk.”

  “How about your license and registration?”

  “Also in the trunk.”

  “Well, normally, I would ask you to get them for me, but how about you open the trunk for me and I’ll get them.”

  “Sure.” She’d hit the button on the dash and popped the trunk. He’d stepped back, shaken his head, and had spoken something into the microphone at his collar. She hadn’t heard what he’d been saying as he’d walked to the back of her car, but she’d heard him chuckle a few times.

  Traffic had slowed considerably as people rubbernecked to see what was going on. When they’d caught a glimpse of a naked woman behind the wheel, their eyes had flown wide and their heads had turned back as they’d crawled along. She’d wanted to hang her head, but she’d forced herself to look up at the sky instead.

  He’d come back with a pile of clothes, which he’d dumped in her lap along with her purse.

  “How about you dress first, then look for your license and registration.”

  “Happy to.”

  She’d taken the citation he’d written for unlawful lane changing and thanked him for stopping her. He’d quirked his eyebrow and bent his head to her. “How’s that?” No one ever thanked him for pulling them over.

  “I said, thank you for being there and pulling me over. I appreciate it.”

  “Sure. Anytime,” he’d quipped and had turned to go back to his cruiser. Then he had stopped and turned back. “Is this something you plan on doing again sometime?”

  “No. This was the first and only time.”

  “Do you mind my asking . . .?”

  She cut him off. “I lost a bet. Don’t ask.”

  “Oh.” He’d shaken his head and sauntered back to his car.

  She’d dropped her head onto the steering wheel, waited for her heart to slow a bit, then driven to the hospital to find Dr. Cheswick.

  Dr. Cheswick was off duty so she had to have him paged. She waited for him to call the number she left for him, the number at the nurse’s station on the surgical floor.

  When it rang, she picked it up as she normally would have, “Nurse Ryan.”

  “This is Dr. Cheswick, someone there trying to reach me?”

  “Yeah, me.”

  “Is this Meggie Ryan?”

  “Yes.”

  “What can I do for you, Meggie.”

  “Can you spare a few minutes, I need to talk to you.”

  “Is this about a patient?”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “Is it about Thomas?”

  “No, not really. It’s about my son.”

  “Sure, I can spare the time. When?”

  “Now would be good. Can you meet me now?”

  “I’m just coming off the golf course, I’d like to take a shower. Where do you want to meet?”

  “How about the bar at Eddie Romanelli’s in half an hour?”

  “Make it an hour.”

  “All right. I’ll see you there.”

  She spent the hour building up courage and trying to figure out how to approach him about helping her with phase three of The Voyeur’s ransom demands.

  When she saw Rand Cheswick come into the restaurant bar area an hour later, she had to blink hard. The man was an Adonis, tall and broad shouldered with wavy light brown hair. He was wearing a white polo shirt that stretched across his broad chest. The Izod shirt was tucked into tan Dockers. On his feet were brown loafers, worn without socks. He looked some kind of sexy. How was it she had never noticed how handsome this man was? Could it be that the only other times she’d seen him he’d been wearing a surgical cap and mask? She waved to get his attention and he gave her a broad smile. What a perfect mouth! Straight white teeth and full sensual lips! Good God Almighty! she thought as he walked over to where she was sitting at the end of the bar. His being so attractive made her even more nervous.

  “Hi!” he said as he took the empty seat next to her.

  “Hi!’ she said sticking her hand out. “I feel like we should introduce ourselves as I’ve only seen you over an operating room table.”

  He chuckled, took her hand in his and gave it a firm shake.

  “Would you mind if we got a booth? What I have to talk to you about is very private.”

  “I don’t mind at all.” He stood and waited for her to slide off her stool, then he led her to the hostess station where he asked for a booth in a corner.

  When they were seated he asked her what she wanted to drink. “Just a Coke, please.” When the waitress came to their table he ordered her a Coke and a vodka tonic for himself.

  “So what’s on your mind?” he asked.

  Even with the extra hour, she hadn’t figured out how to broach this with him, so she just took the note out of her purse and handed it to him. “I got this yesterday.”

  He unfolded it and read it while she waited, while she watched his expression change from idle curiosity to outright horror.

  “Jesus!”

  “Yeah.”

  “Oh my God. Meggie, I am so sorry.” He shook his head more than a few times and then he read it again. When he finished, he folded it and handed it back to her. “So, am I to believe you’ve already done the first two?”

  The tears that had been pouring down her face had been confirmation enough. He slid off of his bench and moved around to slide onto hers. He wrapped her in his arms and he held her face to his chest while she cried. “Oh, Meggie. Jesus Christ,” he whispered.

  He continued to hold her, stroking her hair and her back, and even though she was trying to be quiet, her sobs attracted the attention of nearby diners. When the waitress left their drinks on the table, she gave him a questioning look, but he just waved her away. Everybody probably assumed that he was breaking up with her and he felt like a cad. When she finally cried herself out, soaking the front of his shirt in the process, she pulled away from him. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve been strong all day, but I just can’t believe all that’s happening! It’s been awful. I have never been so humiliated in my life.”

  “I can imagine.” His eyes dropped to her chest and he thought about the full swells that were under her light summer sweater. Quickly he looked back to her face, but not before she had noticed where his eyes had been.

  “Sorry.” What else could he say?

  A moment of silence ensued before he asked, “How is it that he knows you so well?”

  “I have racked my brain for hours trying to figure that out, but no one comes to mind, no one at all.”

  Again there was silence for a few moments, then he asked another question, “Have you ever done this before?”

  “What? Paraded around naked?”

  “No, anal intercourse.”

  Silence again. “Well, not intentionally. Thomas was really drunk one night and forced himself in the wrong place. But he’d liked it so much that I couldn’t get him out. It was awful.”

  “It’s going to be awful this time too, then.”

  “You’re up for it?”

  “Well now that’s an interesting choice of words.”

  She blushed so quickly and so completely that he had to laugh.

  “Well the way I figure it, Thomas will kill me if I do, and he’ll kill me if I don’t. But there’
s no choice here Meggie, for either of us. Thomas and I have been good friends for many years, I knew him before he started drinking. I remember when he fell in love with you. And knowing how he still feels about you, this smacks of betrayal, big time. But we have to think of Toby and what’s best for him. I just hope Thomas realizes that.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered.

  He reached over, picked up her hand and gave it a squeeze. Then he looked at his watch.

  “I have to make a phone call, I’ll be right back.”

  “You’re not calling the police are you?” she asked, her eyes accusing him of betrayal before his confirmation or denial.

  “No, I’m canceling a date.”

  “Oh.”

  She watched as he walked outside to use his cell phone.

  Oh yeah, cancel your date, by all means. You have a sure thing with me tonight. She was pleased to find that she still had her warped sense of humor.

  And so it began. She called Thomas and told him to meet her on the first hole of the golf course at eight.

  Chapter Seventeen

  As they walked up the emerald green mound of grass, one phrase kept repeating itself over and over in their fogged minds: He has to take you in your asshole. Tell him to come in your crack right in front of the swing check video camera, or it doesn’t count. His first thought following, was how awful this was going to be for her, hers was how grateful she was that he had agreed to do this despicable thing.

  Upon reaching the designated tee box, the single flood lamp triggered by the motion sensor clicked on, and a stark, white light that illuminated the area instantly blinded them. They both knew the camera had started filming.