FrenchQuarter.htm

by Lacey Alexander

  He laughed. “Well, I hope not, but I’m sure they’d enjoy the view from the outside.”

  She did don the dress again in order for Jack to drive her home, and even as rumpled from sleep as she was, she thought he seemed aroused by the sight of her in it.

  “So,” he said, pulling into the driveway of Lynda’s opulent home, “tonight? Or…do you need an evening to rest?”

  The truth was—she did need an evening to rest. She needed an evening to look for a new place to live, to maybe figure out how to get the rest of her things from Todd’s house, to get her life reorganized a little since the shock of having it turned upside down. But she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be with Jack—he was beginning to seem as essential to her as air or water. “Tell you what,” she said with a hopeful smile. “Maybe we could…tone things down a little. Maybe you could come over here for a change, we’ll order a pizza or something simple, and just have a quiet evening.”

  “All right.” He nodded, but she couldn’t tell if he was disappointed by the suggestion. She had no idea if Lynda would be home tonight, or if they’d have any chance for sex; surely he was wondering the same thing.

  As she kissed him goodbye, she said, “Last night, Jack, was…the most extraordinary experience I’ve ever had.”

  “Me, too,” he told her. “Merci, chere. Thank you for giving me that. Fulfilling my fantasy.”

  She gazed into his dark, hypnotic eyes. “It was truly my pleasure.”

  * * * * *

  It had been a long day and by the end of it, Liz was glad she’d opted for a quieter-than-usual night with Jack. She still wasn’t sure if such an evening would satisfy a man with such a zest for life and sex, but her odyssey of the past few days had left her exhausted.

  Walking in the front door, she found the house quiet—and a note from Lynda on the refrigerator: Barhopping tonight on Bourbon with some old friends. If you and Jack are in the neighborhood, keep an eye out for me—I’ll probably be the drunk one pretending it’s still Mardi Gras and flashing her tits at young boys for beads : ) Hope you had a nice night with Jack, honey—and hope the red dress wowed him.

  What an understatement, she thought with a chuckle. Both the part about the dress wowing him and the part about having a nice night with Jack.

  Although she adored Lynda, she couldn’t be sorry her friend had other plans tonight, so she and Jack could be alone. Climbing the stairs to her room, she contemplated what to wear for this evening’s get-together and decided to play it simple yet a little bit naughty with a pair of denim shorts and a fitted t-shirt—a sexy bra and panty set underneath.

  Shedding the day’s suit, blouse, and pantyhose onto her bed, she moved to the dresser and opened the drawer where she’d placed her lingerie. She selected a demi-bra and matching thong made of sky blue lace.

  Padding down the hall in the white bra and panties she’d worn to work, she entered the bathroom and washed up with a cool cloth—the grueling heat and humidity she’d been warned to expect in New Orleans’ summer months was coming on full force already and she wanted to freshen up before seeing her lover this evening.

  Upon returning to her room, she shed her bra, adding it to the pile on the bed, and had just reached for the sexy blue one when she heard a noise and looked up to see the closet door opening.

  Fright assailed her, freezing her in place.

  A second later, Todd appeared, his eyes filled with venom.

  Damn it, damn it, damn it—she’d been so typically naïve to think he wouldn’t realize where she’d gone. She’d just thought…oh hell, she’d wanted to think he wouldn’t realize she was there because it had been a simple, easy answer when she’d needed one, and she’d honestly never thought Todd was crazy enough to sneak into someone else’s home—but clearly she’d underestimated him again.

  “You look lovely, my dear,” he said, a wry smile reshaping his face.

  She felt more truly naked before him than ever before—felt his eyes assaulting her, turning her into more of an object than a person. She instinctively reached for the blouse she’d recently discarded, holding it up over her breasts.

  “Come now, you don’t think you can keep me from what’s rightfully mine, do you, Elizabeth?”

  Oh God, he really was off the deep end! Her only choice, though, was to act tough, be tough. “Look, Todd, I don’t know what you think you’re doing, sneaking into Lynda’s house and hiding in my closet, but I suggest you get out of here before I call the police.”

  He glanced at the room’s phone—unfortunately located on the side of the bed where he currently stood. He looked smug, still wearing a menacing smile. “I don’t think you’ll be able to make that call, my love. And I don’t think you really want to, either.”

  She blinked, nonplussed by his bizarre demeanor. For the first time, he was actually scaring her—a lot. Before now, she’d taken these episodes as aberrant behavior based on his shock over the breakup, but finally she was seeing—believing—that this was the real Todd.

  She had to figure a way out of this situation, and that meant she had to keep herself from panicking.

  He began slowly rounding the bed, heading toward her. She refused to cower, though—and only hoped her fear didn’t show on her face.

  “Elizabeth, my dear, I can only presume you were planning to put on that hot little bra and panties for the Neanderthal who came to your rescue a few days ago, but I forgive you. You’re just a little confused right now.” He stood directly in front of her, only a foot away. “You’re angry with me and I understand that. But you don’t really want anyone else, you only want me. And I’m fully prepared to remind you just how much.”

  She shook her head. “Todd, you’re delusional. I don’t want you. We are over, okay? Listen to me. We’re done. And I don’t know why you want me so much—now you’re free to have whoever you want in your lap whenever you want. So go home and leave me alone.”

  “My dear little Elizabeth,” he said, as if berating an unruly child. “I want you because you’ll be the perfect wife. We belong together—you know that as much as I do. So I might get a little extracurricular entertainment on the side now and then. What does it matter? You’ve had your fun with your big caveman, but that’s over now. From now on, you’re only going to be with me.”

  A sense of self-preservation forced her to finally take a step back from him, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist, using the other hand to rip the blouse away from her chest. “You have such great tits, my love—just seeing them right now has me turned on.” He tightened his grip so much it hurt. “You’re going to fuck me now, Elizabeth. You’re going to fuck me just like you’ve been fucking that other guy. Only you’re going to like it better with me, do you hear me? Then when we’re done, you’re going to tell me how much you missed it, and how good I was. And we’re going to go home together where we belong, where all this nonsense can come to an end.”

  Up to now, Liz had kept her head about her. She’d been frightened, but able to act brave, still not quite believing Todd would really do something like hurt her, or—God forbid—rape her. Before a week ago, she’d never seen him behave this way. He might have been sneaking off to Club Venus every night for weeks, but when he’d been with her, he’d remained his steady, reliable, respectful self. Today, though, his eyes were different than she ever remembered them being. Maybe she just hadn’t really looked at them all that much before. Or maybe she just hadn’t wanted to see, because back then, good conservative Liz always played the role she was given without protest or doubt. Now, a true sense of panic began to bite into her, seeming to gnaw at her from the inside out.

  Still, she had to try to reason with him, even if he was out of his mind. She was here alone, Jack wasn’t due for another hour, and she certainly couldn’t overpower Todd. Reasoning with him was her only hope.

  “Todd, I’m not having sex with you. You need to go. Now.” She’d sounded forceful, but her voice had come out shaky, damn it.

>   “I can’t go without making love to you, darling. Once I do, you’ll realize we belong together. You won’t want anyone else. You’ll just want to put this whole silly breakup behind us, like I do, and get on with our life together.”

  He continued squeezing her arm so tight it hurt. “Let go of me, Todd. Let go of me right now.”

  “Are you going to make love to me the way a good wife should?”

  She let out a nervous breath. “Of course not.”

  “Then I can’t let you go yet.”

  As panic began to consume her, she reacted with her gut and tried to jerk her arm away. His grip was too tight and she only succeeded in pulling him off balance, making him crash into her—his other arm came around her nearly naked body, tight.

  “Fuck me, Elizabeth,” he growled as if they were sharing mutual passion. “Fuck me now.”

  Chapter 10

  She couldn’t take this—having his arms around her, being naked with him, against him. Following her instincts, she began to struggle, and when that didn’t work, she drove her knee upward into his crotch as hard as she could.

  Thank God—a direct hit. It made him release her entirely as he yelped and curled into himself, backing away. “You bitch!”

  Just then the doorbell rang and, even in her state of near-nakedness, Liz ran out the door, down the hall, down the steps, thinking of nothing but getting help before Todd got his strength back. She ripped open the door to find Jack on the other side.

  “Chere,” he said with a wicked little smile, taking in her nakedness but not her panic, “I thought we were gonna have a quiet evenin’, but—”

  She shook her head furiously. “Todd’s upstairs. He was waiting in my closet. He came out when I was changing clothes.”

  Jack’s eyes turned instantly hard and black as he absorbed her words. His stance grew rigid and his hands curled into fists. “Did he hurt you?”

  She thought vaguely about her sore arm, but knew she’d gotten off lucky. “No. Not quite. I mean…I think he was going to…but then I…” She couldn’t get anything sensible out of her mouth.

  Yet it didn’t matter because Jack stepped inside, shut the door and headed to the stairs. By the time he reached the top, Todd was yelling, “Come back here, you bitch! I’m not done with you yet!”

  Jack headed straight toward the voice and Liz frantically followed.

  When she stepped in the room, Jack was hovering over Todd’s crumpled form. He looked back at her. “What happened to him, chere?”

  “I kneed him in the balls.”

  Even through his anger, she saw the admiration in his eyes. “Nice job. But it’s not half as bad as the little shit deserves.”

  Jack reached for a robe on a nearby hook and tossed it to Liz, reminding her she wore nothing but a pair of white undies. She slid the silky beige robe on, cinching the tie tight in front.

  “Get the hell out of here,” Todd suddenly spat at Jack from his place on the floor. “She’s mine and we don’t need an outsider interfering in our business.”

  Jack looked from Todd to Liz and said in a surprisingly calm tone, “Darlin’, why don’t you give me just a few minutes alone with Todd here.”

  Liz had no idea what Jack intended to do to Todd, but she hardly cared. This had been the scare of her life and she was more than ready to exit the room and leave the decisions in Jack’s hands.

  * * * * *

  Once she was gone, Jack looked down on the little creep and thought about what to do. He wanted to beat the shit out of him, wanted to pound him to an unrecognizable pulp. Given the adrenaline pumping through his veins, he thought he could do it with ease.

  But he had to play this smart. Todd was the sort of “upstanding” guy who could sic the police on him, all the while seeming totally aboveboard with his suit and tie life of high finance. And even though a lot of the New Orleans police knew Jack—by reputation if not personally—some of them didn’t like him. They didn’t like a guy who could solve the cases they couldn’t, who could make them look bad at their profession.

  He wanted to teach Todd a hard lesson, but he also didn’t want to go to jail for assault—not the least of which reason was that if he was in jail, who would keep Todd away from Liz?

  Even so, as he stood there watching Todd slowly rise to his feet, he just couldn’t help himself—he pulled back his fist and slammed it squarely into Todd’s jaw. The blow knocked him back to the floor and again Jack thought of all the things he’d like to do to a guy who attacks women—his woman especially. When Todd once again stumbled to his feet, muttering, “You better back off, buddy, or you’ll be sorry,” Jack said, “No, Todd, you’re the sorry one,” and belted him in the gut.

  Todd doubled over and Jack felt damn good as his fist began to ache from the contact with Todd’s jaw. It was satisfying to inflict pain on the asshole.

  But he had to stop before he got carried away. So he simply dropped to one knee, hovering over Todd, and lifted him by his shirt collar. “Listen to me, you shithead. You’re gonna stop botherin’ Liz right now. In fact, you’re gonna do more than that. You’re gonna stay as far away from her as you physically can. ‘Cause if I find out you’ve so much as looked at her, let alone talked to her or touched her, I promise you’re gonna hurt a lot worse than you do right now. Got it?”

  The man on the floor looked as if he might break into tears, but then he seemed to regain a bit of his usual pompous air. “Are you threatening me?”

  Releasing Todd’s collar, Jack shrugged. “No, not me. You must have misunderstood. And if you bother tellin’ anyone about this, I guarantee that’s how it’ll come out. I’m pretty convincin’ when I need to be.” Jack leaned a little closer to Todd, tried to look a little more dangerous. “Now, do you get the message here? Do you understand that you’re gonna leave her alone?”

  Todd still looked defiant, and Jack mentally dared him to disagree—it would be all the incentive he needed to rip the man to shreds, jail or no jail. But Todd finally said, “Yeah, sure, I got the message.”

  “Good. ‘Cause you know those balls Liz just kicked? Give me a reason and I’ll tear ‘em off and feed ‘em to you with a spoon.”

  With that, he yanked Todd to his feet, handily bending one of the dickhead’s arms behind his back so he couldn’t break free of the hold. Without wasting anymore words on the little shit, Jack escorted him from the room. Liz stood by the stairs, eyes wide.

  “This asshole won’t be botherin’ you anymore. Right?” He jerked hard on Todd’s arm.

  “Yeah. Right.”

  Accompanying Todd down the stairs, his arm still locked behind his back, Jack opened the big front door and gave the creep a shove. Todd stumbled down the front steps, landing on the walk. “Get the fuck outta here,” Jack said, “and don’t even think about comin’ back.” He slammed the door and locked it, looking up to see his sweet Liz padding down the steps on bare feet, the satiny robe hugging her curves.

  He met her at the bottom and swept her into his arms in a huge, protective bear hug.

  “Thank God you showed up when you did,” she whispered against his chest.

  He smiled lightly to himself. “Oh, I don’t know—looked to me like you did a pretty good job of takin’ care of him all by yourself.”

  “Wh-what are you even doing here?” She looked up into his eyes. “I wasn’t expecting you for another hour or so, and I was so sure I was alone and on my own with him.”

  He shrugged, still holding her. “I just had a feelin’ maybe I should come early.” Part wanting to see her so bad it hurt, but also part P.I.’s instinct—like before, something had indeed nagged at him, urging him to check on her and make sure she was okay. He said a silent prayer of thanks to have been blessed with such gut feelings.

  Gazing down at her, he lifted one hand to push the hair from her face. “It’s time you move in with me, chere. I can’t stand knowin’ this guy is right next door to you.”

  He thought she looked tempted, almost
heard the “yes” leaving her lips, but instead she gently pulled free of his embrace and walked into the living room to sit down on the couch, her back to him. “We’ll see, Jack. We’ll see.”

  He sighed, glad she couldn’t take in his face at the moment. He could read the writing on the wall clearly enough—she still had no interest in turning this into a serious relationship. Which he’d known already, but somehow, in these last few minutes, he’d hoped against hope that maybe things would have changed.

  Whenever she left him, it was going to wound him in a way he might never really recover from. It wasn’t a choice, or a circumstance that might change—he knew as surely as he knew alligators lived in the bayou that it’s just how things were.

  “How about I order that pizza?” he said, now just wanting to comfort her in whatever little ways he might be capable of. He walked around the couch to face her. Her expression looked a little more peaceful than a moment ago, which made the fist squeezing his heart loosen a little.

  “That would be nice.” She pointed toward the kitchen. “Phone book’s in the drawer by the fridge. Anything but anchovies and onions.” She got to her feet. “I’m going to go get dressed now. I just…kind of want to have clothes on right now—you know?”

  He nodded, and for the first time, he thought he understood how close she’d come to being raped by her ex-fiancé. The knowledge sent a cold chill slithering down his spine. “Sure, darlin’, I understand. Go get dressed.”

  As Jack thumbed through the phone book looking for a pizza place, he made a decision. Just threatening Todd wasn’t good enough. As he’d contemplated a few days back, he was going to have to do something about the jerk, take some measures to keep Liz safe—without her knowledge, of course.

  What she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

  * * * * *

  The world seemed almost normal and sane as they lounged on the couch, an open pizza box on the coffee table, an old movie on the TV. Liz nibbled at the crust of the slice she’d just eaten, feeling full. She wore the tee and shorts she’d intended; Jack, too, was casual in blue jeans and a t-shirt.