by JA Johnston
Lucas had a meeting out of the office this afternoon, so I left a little early to get dinner prepared. The table is set, wine is chilled, and I just took the roast out of the oven. I hear him enter our home from the garage. “I’m in the kitchen.” I say loudly. When he enters the kitchen, I notice that he looks angry and upset.
“What’s wrong?” I go to him and wrap my arms around his neck.
Lucas wraps his arms around my waist, “I don’t know where to begin.” He says as he places an affectionate kiss on my forehead.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“After dinner.” He looks into my eyes, “I am going to enjoy our meal, it smells delicious.” He smiles lightly.
“You’re home just in time. It’s ready. I hope you’re hungry.” I smile back reassuringly.
After we eat, Lucas helps me clean up. We go sit in the living room after he pours us a second glass of wine. Just as we settle down, the doorbell rings. Lucas goes to answer the door with a huff and walks back in with his Uncle Alex.
“Good evening Amelia.” He says, “I just wanted to stop by and see how Lucas’ meeting went.” He looks at me longingly, “You must have made dinner, it smells delicious in here.” He smirks at me.
“You just missed it. And yes, it was delicious.” I smirk back.
“I’m just curious, is it the food or you?” He says with a dark look in his eyes.
Lucas clears his throat when he returns from the kitchen with another glass of wine for Alex. “Will you please stop flirting with my wife.” He glares at him.
“I can’t help it, Lucas, your wife is too beautiful.” He winks at me.
I swear Alex likes to make me uncomfortable in his presence. The first time I met him I blew off his flirting since he didn’t know who I was. But he still flirts, sometimes.
“How did the meeting go with Mr. Bennett?” He asks.
“Mr. Bennett? My grandfather?” I ask focusing on Lucas.
Lucas looks at me apprehensively. “Yes, your grandfather.” He pauses. “I didn’t tell you because I honestly didn’t know what he wanted. I thought it was going to be some sort of a getting to know me.” He’s pacing the floor in front of me. “He never said anything to me on the island before or after the wedding.”
“What did he talk to you about?” I ask hesitantly.
He stops and stares at me. “Your grandfather. He gave me advice on how a married man needs to handle his wife. Or I should say, how he handles his wife. How your father handled your mother. How he expects a Bennett woman to be handled. How he expects them to behave.”
“What exactly did he say?” I gulp.
He exhales and glances at Alex. Alex looks at him with raised eyebrows, then looks at me warily.
“He said that a Bennett woman should know her place is at home, not working. That she is to be bred and handled with a very firm hand.” Lucas looks at me anxiously, “I am expected to be part of Bennett Corporation since no female can be the heir. Only a male.”
As I’m listening to Lucas recant the details of my grandfather’s conversation, my mind is reeling. Thoughts of my mother and father are surfacing. Repressed memories are crashing to the forefront of my mind. Tears begin spilling down my face.
“Courtney!” My father is yelling from the kitchen. “What the hell have you done all day? This kitchen is a mess.”
“Amelia and I made a cake earlier. I went to get her cleaned up first, then I was coming back down here to clean up the kitchen.” She says in a timid voice. “I didn’t expect you home this early. Dinner isn’t ready.”
“You should always anticipate my arrival at any time.” He sneers. I’m sitting at the table coloring. I look up and see daddy approaching mommy. She’s walking backward while holding his gaze. “Well, since dinner isn’t ready we have time for you to attend to my needs.”
My mother glances in my direction, then back to my father, “But Amelia…”
Smack!
He slaps her across the face. My mother holds her hand to where he slapped her and I come flying out of my chair running towards them. My father looks down at me loveless, “Why weren’t you a boy?” He turns and walks out.
“Amelia! Amelia!” I hear Lucas saying my name. I look into his eyes; he’s looking at me worryingly. “Where did you go?”
My throat feels tight. I close my eyes and shake my head. Lucas is holding me close to him and Alex has moved sitting beside me rubbing my back. “Just a very bad memory.” I finally manage to say in a sobbing voice.
“What was it? You can tell me.” He says lovingly.
I shake my head yes. I look at Alex as he gets up and sits across from us. Lucas holds me still. “I was just remembering something from my childhood. When you said only an heir can be a male, it triggered something my father said to me once.”
Lucas is rubbing my hand and his other hand is rubbing my back; Alex is being very watchful. “What did he say?” Lucas asks.
“He looked at me and asked why wasn’t I a boy.”
“That shouldn’t have you shaking and crying like this Amelia.” Alex says quietly.
I look at Alex; he doesn’t know about my childhood. At least I don’t think he does. “He said that after he yelled and slapped my mother for not cleaning up the kitchen mess before he got home.”
Lucas pulls me closer to him. “What?” Alex asks angrily. “Did your father do that often?” Lucas tenses beside me. He hasn’t told Alex then.
“My father is in jail.” I try to say calmly, but it comes out shaky. “He beat my mother.” I take a gulp of air, in an uneasy voice; “He beat her to her death.”
Alex looks jolted. He looks crushed. He looks to Lucas; “Why didn’t you tell me?” He looks back at me tenderly, “I didn’t know Amelia. If there’s anything that I can do for you, please let me know. But right now,” he pauses and glances a Lucas, “you need Lucas.” Alex leaves us. I hear him mumble as he leaves, it sounds something like “Cort.”
“Is that all you remember?” Lucas asks.
“We made a cake for him that day. That’s why the kitchen was a mess. My mother let me help. I wanted to make a cake for him, it was Valentine’s day.” I say tearfully. “I wanted my daddy to be my Valentine.”
Lucas holds me tighter and closer as I sob uncontrollably into his chest. I’m not sure how long we are there when I finally manage to ask; “What did you say to my grandfather?”
Lucas drops his head against the side of mine. “I told him that I respectfully decline his invitation to his company. That I am far too busy with my own.”
“I am going to guess that he didn’t like that answer.” I state in a shaky voice.
“No, he didn’t like it. He also didn’t like it when I told him that I like my women strong like you. One that can hold their own in the workplace while making a house a home.” He ends softly. “Then he looked at me and said that our marriage needed to be annulled. That he would find the man that would treat you the way you should and would be treated.”
Now I’m the one who tenses. “Our marriage is not going to be annulled,” Lucas assures me. “I told him to stay away from us. To stay away from you. That we didn’t need anything from the Bennett’s.” He turns me to face him. “I didn’t mean to speak for you, but he had me so angry Amelia. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to kill him. That’s how he raised your father. That’s why your mother…” He doesn’t finish his sentence. His eyes are red.
“Lucas, I’m not mad.” I kiss him. “I’m glad that you told him that. I don’t want to see him, ever again.” I say sullenly. “I’m just afraid that he may not stop there.”
I’m not sure how long we sit there. Eventually, we made it to our bed. We both sleep restlessly that night.
Seventeen years, one month
I’VE BEEN WORKING alongside Piper for a month now. Seeing the business from this side is different than I expected. I’m a little leery now too. If you solicit sex with a client, then we can be charged with prostituti
on. Well, I know I’ve never solicited my clients. I usually just let it happen. My clients tipped generously when I slept with them.
I don’t know how many of the girls are sleeping with clients or even if they solicit them. If they get caught, we all do. Especially me, now that my name is on the business license.
I’ve kept my clients for now. If it gets to be too much to handle, then I’ll have to let them know. I only have six clients on contract with me personally. I have sex with three of them, well it may be two clients, not sure what I would say I do with John. He’s different. Now I’m wondering if maybe it’s one, I haven’t heard from Alex in a month.
After I left Piper’s, I decided to stop at the coffee shop for a Frappuccino. I turn from the counter with a drink in hand and bump into something hard. An arm goes around my waist and a warm voice says, “You didn’t run into me this time, but I still don’t want you to fall and waste a perfectly good drink.”
I look up and see familiar gorgeous hazel eyes. He’s smiling down at me with his arm around my waist still, the runner from the park, Adam Hunter. “Thank you for saving me and my drink.” I smile at him as I look up at him.
“It’s my pleasure.” He’s still smiling. “I honestly didn’t know if I would ever see you again. I went back to the waterfront the next day after meeting you hoping to see you again.”
“You mean run into you?” I say lightly.
“Yes, run into me.” He chuckles. He removes his arm from my waist. He sticks his hand out, “I’m Adam Hunter.” He smiles.
“I remember, Adam Hunter. I’m Amelia Bennett.” I smile back.
“I remember, Amelia Bennett. Would you like to sit at a table with me?” he asks while gesturing with his hand towards an empty table.
“I’d like that.” I honestly would like to. There’s something about his eyes and the way his hand felt in mine. Warm, that’s the word I’m looking for. He makes me feel warm inside. I’ve never had that feeling and yet it seems familiar.
We sit looking at one another. Finally, he says, “I’ve had all these thoughts of what I would talk to you about if I ever met you again, and they’ve just left me.” He laughs. “I don’t think that has ever happened to me.”
“Well, that makes two of us.” I say. “I usually don’t even sit down and have coffee with someone I just met.”
“Technically, this is our second meeting.” He grins at me.
“Yes, it is.” I stare into his eyes. “Tell me, Adam, what do you do besides rescuing women from falling?” I ask smartly.
He chuckles. “I buy floundering businesses and revive them.”
I smile, “You must be superman. You save women and businesses. You’re wearing a suit, but no glasses. Do you have a leotard and cape on underneath?” I say jokingly.
That earns me a bigger laugh. “Would you like for me to be superman?” He says with a twinkle in his eye. “I can assure you, there is no leotard or cape under my suit.” He studies me, “But if you would like to get to know me better, why don’t you have dinner with me tonight?” he asks.
Dinner? I bite my lower lip, I smile, “Yes, I’d like that.”
He grins widely, “Now I just need to know where to pick you up at?”
After much deliberating with myself, I give him my address. We talk some more, then leave the shop together.
Adam turns to me, “I’ll see you at 6:30.” He’s smiling and I am too.
“Looking forward to it.”
I’m a nervous wreck. What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I agree to this date? I am Amelia Cierra Bennett. I don’t do nervous. I don’t date. Then I remember Adam, his eyes, his voice. Damn, even thinking of him I get this warm feeling deep inside me. What the hell is this feeling?
I finally decide on an outfit and begin getting ready. While we were having coffee, I managed to not answer questions on what I do for a living. But will I be able to do that all night? Will I be able to deflect question after question that I don’t want to answer? Here come my nerves again. DAMN!
At exactly 6:30 the doorman calls up to let me know that Adam is here. I don’t want him to come into my apartment, so I head down to the lobby. He’s standing there with his back turned away from me. He’s about six-foot-two, broad shoulders, dark brown hair, a little bit of gray is beginning to show by his temples. If he turns around and has a pair of Clark Kent eyeglasses on, I’m going to faint.
He turns when I approach. No glasses! Oh well. He’s still hot as hell and his hazel eyes hold my gaze. We’re lightly smiling at one another.
“You didn’t want to invite me up?” He asks.
“I let you know where I live, but I need to get to know you better before you see the inside of my apartment.” I’m still smiling and suck in my lower lip a little.
“Okay. That goes both ways. We get to know one another better before we invite one another to our homes.” He smirks.
Damn. “Okay. I agree.” I smirk back.
As we’re talking and eating dinner at The Salted Pier, a beautiful restaurant that’s overlooking the waterfront. I feel as if someone is staring at me. I look around, but I do not see anyone that I know.
“So, Amelia, what is it that you do for a living? You live in a really nice apartment building.” He asks.
And here it is. I was wondering how much longer he was going to put off asking. I don’t know how many more times I can deflect this question, so I go with a simple truth. “Well, if you must know, I just finished college. So, I am looking into a career that suits me.” Okay, I have a career, but I don’t know how he will handle if I tell him I’m an escort getting ready to run her own escorting business.
“Really?! What area is your degree in?” He asks curiously.
“Business.” I smile.
“A beautiful woman like you wanting to get into the business field. Any specific type of business interest you?”
How to answer, let’s see, I run an escort agency. I don’t think that will go over well. “Right now, I’m interested in the business of getting to know you.” Cheesy, I know. “I’m sure my career path will come along in the not too distant future.” God, I hope that was enough of a deflection.
Adam is smiling, “I like that business choice. And it seems that I am interested in the same business choice.”
We continue talking. So far, I have learned that he’s 35 and is a Business Entrepreneur. He buys failing/struggling businesses to improve them or he cuts his losses, but he also invests in businesses that are thriving. He has a younger brother who works with him, both parents are doctors.
I tell him I’m an only child who was raised mostly by my father and grandparents after my mother’s death.
“I am so sorry. I don’t know what it would be like to not have my mother around.” He states.
“I had my grandmother. Honestly, I don’t remember a whole lot about my mother.” I lie. I remember my mother. She was beautiful, kind and so loving. She loved me, I know this because of the warm feeling I got whenever she hugged me. The same way I feel around Grams and …
“Do you remember what she looked like?” his question cuts off my thought.
“Well, people say I look a lot like her. We both have reddish brown hair, but her eyes were brown. Mine are blue, so I didn’t get that from her.”
“Maybe you got them from your father.” He smiles.
My father has hazel eyes, like his. Nope, I didn’t get them from him either. “No, I think from my Pops, my mother’s father. He died not long after my mother. So, I really don’t know.” I put my napkin down, “Can you excuse me for a moment? I need to go to the restroom. I’ll be right back.”
Adam stands when I do, “I’ll be here waiting.”
What am I doing? I’m giving him too much of me. “Pull yourself together Amelia.” I say out loud while looking at myself in the bathroom mirror. “This evening has to end now. Go back out there and nicely explain about ending the evening.” I sigh, “But I don’t want to.” I look at
myself in the mirror. “But I really need to. I am not somebody to love.”
As I exit the restroom I walk right into Alex. What is he doing here? I look up at him, “Hello Alex. How are you this evening?”
“Hello, Amelia. I’m fine, I would ask how you are, but you’re obviously…hmmm, what’s wrong?” He asks. “It’s obvious to me that you are not with a client, so it must be a date. Has he done something to you?” He looks angered.
I sigh, “Alex it’s really none of your business if I am with a client or date. So, if you will excuse me.” I try to make my way past him.
Alex grabs my arm as I try to pass, “You didn’t answer my question.”
I yank my arm from his grasp, “I don’t know what gives you the right to grab me or question me.” We are both glaring at one another.
“Uncle?” We both turn to see Lucas standing a few feet from us. He walks closer to us. He looks at Alex, then turns his gaze to me, “Everything alright, Amelia?”
“Yes, everything’s fine.” I say rather forcefully. I sigh, this has nothing to do with Lucas. I look up at him, “I need to go.” I turn and face Alex, “Goodnight!” I say rather harshly. Then walk away from them both.
Adam stands as I approach, “Are you feeling okay? You look pale.”
“Oh Adam, this is not how I saw this evening.” I feel so overwhelmed with too many emotions, I’m not even certain how I feel at the moment.
“I hope it wasn’t my company that made you feel this way. I thought we were getting along just fine.” He looks at me questionably.
“No! Please don’t think that. I am having a really good time or I was until a moment ago. But that’s not on you.” I say sincerely.
He smiles. “Come on then. I already paid, maybe the fresh air will help. We could walk back to your apartment if you’d like, it’s not that far?”
“I think that might be good.” I take a deep cleansing breathe, “As long as Superman is beside me in case I fall.” I smile at him.