by Flora Dain
She gazes at me in despair. ‘I asked aroun’. Everybody says you’re real nice, Mz Dean. A bunch of us was standin’ at the back watchin’ that movie guy. It was him whistled that popcorn tune. That made me think maybe you kin help us. The good Lord knows we ain’t got nobody else.’
The drive back takes a while. I’m upset and keep getting lost. Finally Darnley flags me over and goes on ahead for me to follow. Sad as I am for Wayne and his mom, I’m scared of the effect on Darnley. To get so close to another victim …
But when we arrive there’s no time to reflect. We have visitors. Eldon and Billy are in the sitting room.
Darnley’s been tight-lipped since we left the Formans. Now he explodes. ‘So what the fuck was all that about, Eldon? That thing at the Academy? Popcorn? Are you crazy?’
Eldon stares at him. ‘Whoa. What’s up, bro? So I got a little carried away. So what?’
Darnley glares at him, but we can see from Eldon’s blank look that he’s truly innocent. Billy looks dumbfounded. They even argue about his on-the-spot scenario.
Eldon shrugs. ‘Where’s it from? How do I know, dude? It just popped up. Calm down.’
The atmosphere quietens over dinner and a beer or two. The brothers finally make peace over Eldon’s invitation to the Red Sox –Yankees championship play-off in a couple of weeks.
After they’ve gone we talk at last about Wayne and Lola Forman. To my relief Darnley’s positively brisk.
‘Look, Ella, I know it’s sad, but please stay out of this. It all happened a long time ago. They’ll simply pay her to shut up. Maybe that’s what she’s angling for.’
‘But is there anything we can do? You know some good lawyers, right?’ I grin, but my feeble joke falls flat. His family might be the founders of one of Boston’s most prestigious law firms but their issues with the Kraik Corporation are deeply personal and freshly painful.
I change tack. ‘Maybe if she had a little help with legal fees …’ I tail off, uneasy. He makes me wear thousands of dollars’ worth of bling just for kinky sex. Surely he sees a mismatch here?
I swallow and try again. ‘Could you support her son’s statement in some way? Maybe anonymously? If there were others out there …’ I tail off into a heavy silence.
He pours himself a drink, walks over to the window and stares out over the trees towards the faint glow in the sky over the city. Below the windows, spotlights in the manicured gardens etch his angular profile in a line of gold.
When he finally speaks his voice is hoarse. ‘We’ve been through this. I’ve told you what would happen of any of that stuff ever got out. Apart from what it would do to Eldon. He’s screwed up enough as it is. He’s only just starting to straighten out and make something of himself. He’s even got a girl. And she’s good for him. Smart and funny and sharp. And as for my business, it could affect thousands of people. We’d lose market share, we’d shed jobs, the whole bit. And what if Dad’s firm took it on and lost? He’d face ruin too. Not to mention the scandal if Lydia’s past life came out. And a murder investigation? Let’s not even go there.’
He frowns. ‘You’re asking one hell of a lot. It’ll be quicker and easier all round just to give the woman a couple of a million to shut up. Somebody will in the end. Give it time. I will, if necessary. Whatever she says, everybody’s got their price.’
My own temper’s rising now. ‘Have they? I get you’re upset, Darnley. What I don’t get is why you’re so offhand about it. I just wondered if you could help. I’m sorry I asked.’
Now the air between us crackles with fury.
‘Oh, sure. It’s easy to ask. But do you have any idea what it is you’re asking?’ He takes a gulp of his drink and turns to me, his eyes burning. ‘After Kraik I had a choice. Go apeshit or move on. So I moved on. I built myself back up and when I’d done that I built up my business. And now you’re asking me to tear it all down again? Not to mention all the lives that go with it?’
He drains his drink and slams his glass down on a side table. It hits the polished wood with a crack like a pistol shot. He turns back to the window and folds his arms.
What have I said? This man has suffered enough. I’m asking him to kick away his ladder to success and put at risk the very empire that’s made him whole again.
With a weary sigh I head for the door. Empires are complicated. They don’t just come apart and reassemble like toy-kits. ‘I know it’s impossible. I’m sorry I asked. Forget I said anything.’
‘It’s easy for you.’ He’s still bitter. ‘You don’t have other people depending on you for survival.’
I pause. ‘Yes, I do. Lola Forman. I’m all she’s got, me and a son who’s not afraid to tell the truth.’
In my own room I start to get ready for bed. It looks like sex is off the menu tonight so I slip into an oversize T-shirt and bunch my hair to keep it clear of the sink while I wash. As I bury my face in a towel I freeze as a firm, warm hand steals round my waist.
He’s standing right behind me. I can feel his warmth at my back, his breath on my neck. I stand very still as the tiny hairs that stood up in alarm all over my body lie down again and preen. In the mirror our eyes lock. Slowly my towel slides to the floor.
When he speaks his voice is low. ‘You left somebody out.’
I swivel in his arms as my pulse races into overdrive and a thump of arousal starts to pound. ‘Who?’
I hardly care. I could stay like this for ever, with his eyes locked on mine, his hands on my waist, moving gently over my flanks as he fondles the curves where my waist dips in and my ribcage swells out and then moves lower, to where my backside juts out a little as he pulls me close. Slowly he inches up my T-shirt at the back and slips his hand underneath, his touch on my backside warm, electric, sparking all over me like shimmers of neon.
‘I depend on you too. You keep me sane, Ella.’
He flicks one of my silky bunches with his fingers. ‘And what’s this? This what you wear when I’m not around?’
I bite my lip. ‘I thought you’d avoid me tonight. I –’
His eyes narrow. ‘Seriously? With you in schoolgirl bunches and an oversize T-shirt?’
He smiles slowly, his grin dark and knowing. I shiver as his voice lowers to a satisfied purr. ‘And she even sniffs my boxers. I’m a very lucky man.’ His lips find mine and his tongue plunders my mouth as his hands reacquaint themselves with my landscapes, his lingering, intimate touch reminding me what we’ve been missing these last hours. Slowly he draws me across the room and we collapse together onto my bed.
I want to ask him how he feels. I want to know if he’s OK after this thunderbolt from his past, but now I hardly need to. His mouth and his hands are doing it for me. And they’re telling me he’s not only fine, he wants some action.
As he sprawls full length underneath me and pulls me up over him he grins. ‘Seriously, you’d no idea this would happen?’ He pushes me up into a sitting position on his hips, then peels my T-shirt over my head and twists it round my arms and knots it.
Now I’m caught fast, my arms way up high. I bend my elbows with an effort and clasp my hands together as he pulls me forward so he can torment my nipples with his mouth.
‘No, frankly. And while we’re on the subject, why do you never believe me?’
He pushes my breasts together and pulls me down towards him, leaning up to take great mouthfuls of them one at a time. I yelp as his eager tongue dabs at my puckered, rumpled nipples as they stiffen and swell, making them sparkle all over with tiny prickles of heat as he gnaws and dabs and sucks, forcing my breasts into mounds and burying his face between them.
‘Arch back, I want to reach. Push them forward.’
His voice is husky, his commands curt as his calm ebbs away. His need is urgent and raw. He hoists himself up on the pillows and makes me straddle his lap. ‘Turn round and kneel up. I want to see your ass. Keep your arms up. From down here it gives your back a really interesting line.’
‘What, I’m an orna
ment now?’ I laugh, part excited, part scared, as he probes and prods at my rear end with his thumbs, his hands holding me fast, his mouth dropping soft kisses on the curves of my arched backside.
‘Not sure. I’d better look. Open wider.’
He’s sliding below me now to get his face closer to my hot, pulsing places, his fingers teasing and questing, feeling their way along the outer line of my throbbing, hidden gullies with soft, purposeful movements. It’s maddening and wildly arousing. But the worst thing is trying to balance. With my arms behind my head I have to arch my body so my ass juts high up over his face and my breasts thrust forward.
‘Very nice. Hold it right there. Why do I never believe you? Good question, Ella. Why do you think? Maybe I’m suspicious by nature. Maybe when something happens in your drama class that only you could possibly know anything about, maybe I smell a rat. Why did Eldon come out with all that stuff about popcorn? You must know something. Think.’
He’s licking me now, making me shudder with the intensity of the sensation, but he sounds fierce. His fingers are skilful but his anger still simmers, lacing his touch with danger. And now his erection looks angry too, barely inches from my face and leaping to attention. The temptation to lick is almost more than I can bear but as I lean forward he twitches it away.
‘Hey. I want an answer.’
I close my eyes and whimper as his tongue makes a sudden attack on my swelling, pulsing mound, where my hidden little centre is throbbing with excitement, close to bursting with all this attention, shamed by this reverse approach. From up here everything feels the wrong way round …
It’s an effort to speak, but I must. If this interrogation-by-sex thing is some new CIA technique, it’s scarily effective. ‘It was an accident. Awful for you, I grant, but not my fault …’ I tail off and whimper again as his tongue plunges inside me, eating me out like I’m ice cream. The feeling is extraordinary and now my climax is barely seconds away. I can’t hold out much longer. I can hardly breathe.
‘Go on.’ He’s laughing now, I swear. And his erection is getting even harder and glossier and only inches from my face and he won’t even let me taste while he’s taking full advantage of my open, exposed position. And now my sides ache and my arms ache …
‘Aagh.’ I yell as my climax explodes, convulsing my belly in a spasm of pleasure that floods over me, reaching all the way to the tips of my straining fingertips and along the curl of my arching toes. I hang over him, panting, while his greedy tongue continues to feast.
‘Well? Hold the position.’
As my breathing steadies I waver a little and arch my back, fighting the urge to flop down beside him, finding it harder than ever to balance. ‘I can’t explain it. It’s a mystery.’
‘Really? That I find hard to believe.’
My breathing’s slowing now as my brain gets back into gear. ‘I know,’ I say quietly. ‘But it’s true.’
There’s a few seconds’ pause, like he’s considering this. ‘OK, you can taste now. But keep your arms up.’
He shifts below me so I can reach and as my climax ripples away into a happy, golden glow I lunge forward and take him deep, over and over, reaching right down to his root, pulling away to lick and tease him and then plunging again, eager to bring him on before the choking starts.
I feel so proud of myself I lunge again and again and, sure enough, he can’t resist. He’s gripping my rear with both hands now, holding me fast to steady my balance. It’s easier now I’m impaled on him, feasting like he feasted on me, and all at once he pulls away and flips me over and surges up on top of me, his eyes burning down into mine.
‘I want to believe you, Ella. I really do.’ And as he stops my mouth with his own and surges up inside me our fight goes on hold, for a little while at least.
Keeping him sane is my favourite activity. Keen to avoid any more argument, I excel myself. And when we finally fall asleep I’m satisfied that for the next few hours he’ll be as sane as any man on the planet.
When we finally make it to Fenway Park for the long-awaited play-off with the Yankees and reunite with Billy and Eldon, the game is the last thing on my mind, despite our excellent seats being well down the stadium and Billy’s infectious excitement at having actually dragged us out to watch a game. Luckily the first half goes well. The scores stay pretty even, so no family feud has broken out yet, although I hate to think how this may end up should one side win.
Billy leans close to me. ‘What have you done to Darnley? He looks terrible.’
‘Does he?’ I glance at him in alarm. He’s further along the row, sharing some joke with his brother. At this angle the sunlight slants off his face. And now I notice his cheekbones seem sharper than usual, the hollows over his jaw a fraction deeper.
‘I guess he’s been busy lately. Billy, you remember those documents you brought to Camp Akela in the summer?’
She rolls her eyes. ‘Do I ever? What a nightmare. Lucky Darnley took it as well as he did. Eldon was so worried.’ She takes a generous bite out of her hotdog and then narrows her eyes. ‘Wait. You think Darnley’s still got issues?’
Here I must tread with care. There’s a lot about that incident that must never come out. While Eldon was closely affected by the revelations in the Kraik papers and Billy still talks him through it, the sheaf of documents she delivered to Lydia in the summer told only Lydia’s side of the story. The rest lies hidden. Or I thought it did – until this week.
‘It’s just … Billy, was there anything else in that box of papers? Did Lydia ever tell you what was there? Private emails, newspaper cuttings, anything like that?’
It’s a long shot. The whole ceremonial she made it into was an ordeal for everybody, me included. Nobody wants this stuff raked up all over again.
Billy’s sharp little eyes are thoughtful. ‘One thing puzzled me. Still does.’
My heart skips a beat. ‘So there was more?’
The players are getting into their places now. In seconds I’ll lose her. As the umpire walks out to restart the game and the cheers around us swell to a deafening roar she leans close to me, ignoring Eldon’s impatient tug on her arm.
She frowns. ‘It’s not that. It’s just, there was so much stuff. I mean, why? Over two people having a secret affair nobody knew about? It didn’t make sense.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It’s funny how the closer you are to someone the less you see them.
Billy’s right. Darnley’s starting to look stressed. Little things, like the way the light slants off his face at sharper angles than before. Like the way he spends long hours on business – but alone, not striding about in front of me while he shaves in the mornings or pacing our room half-dressed at night so I can admire the goods. He shuts himself away like a sulky teen and emerges looking immaculate but gaunt.
So that incident in the balcony scene did shake him up, and badly.
He’s just hiding it.
And now I notice those phone calls. Maybe he had them before, but now I know what they’re about I seem to hear them all the time. From the odd remark I catch, they’re mostly from Aaron, but they all end the same way: Darnley slamming a door or clamming up in rigid silence. How many years has this been going on?
I ache for him. But how can I help him if he won’t talk? When I ask him he just sighs and makes another call or throws down his phone and pulls me close and stops my mouth with his. Or looks deep into my eyes and warns me off.
‘Hey. Stay out of this. You’re the only place I feel sane.’
What follows is always intense and passionate and deeply satisfying, but he never actually answers the question.
Something’s wrong.
He wakes early like always but now I start to notice another change: he’s away all day and comes in late. When we actually get to eat together he’s moody and silent. I might still be living in Billy’s apartment, except I’m in a house as big as a palace, five miles out of the city and an awful lot more lonely.
Is this it? Has it tipped him over some edge?
He should see a shrink. He barely even sees me.
I’m busy at work. October wears on and the leaves start to turn. It’s a spectacular time in this part of the world and one of my favourite seasons, but with so much on my mind even the fall loses its charm.
And this business of Lola Forman and her boy preys on me. How can I help them? I start to chase up theories of my own.
Billy’s revelation that there were other papers in that collection she delivered to Lydia has started me thinking. Suppose other children were affected? Not all kids like practical jokes. Some even freak at clowns. Maybe they’re still out there somewhere. But how can I find out?
I call Billy to fix a date for coffee somewhere near her office. Coffee’s fun but she’s oddly low. I learn she’s uneasy about Eldon’s so-called movie career and wishes he had a real job.
‘Trouble is, these artsy people are giving him ideas. He’s not Cecil B. de Mille, he’s just some amateur playing around on his dad’s allowance. Seriously, I’m thinking of giving him up.’ I’m shocked but I can see her point.
Cautiously I ask the money question I came for. ‘Any chance you could ask Aaron about those Kraik papers? Lydia must have opened them. And they won’t mind, surely? You being in the firm and practically family?’
She looks shocked. ‘I can’t do that. Anyway Aaron’s hardly ever in the office now he’s retired. And for why? Leave well alone, Ella. You want Eldon and Darnley to freak all over again?’
No dice. Another item for my to-do list.
As Halloween approaches I start quietly to panic. It seems Darnley’s family make a big thing of this. It’s their last get-together before Aaron and Lydia fly down to Florida for the winter. The party will be one of Lydia’s black-tie specials at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Everybody will be there.
I’ve got nothing new to wear. Worse, Billy mentioned costumes.
I usually leave all this to Darnley but with him so preoccupied I’m getting nervous. Am I supposed to do it? And now it’s only days away. The month has slipped by. Today’s Wednesday. Halloween’s this coming Saturday. At this rate I’ll see him for barely six minutes before then.