“Come into my office for a minute, would ya? I moved the table away from the wall, and there’s a shitload of dust needs cleaned up.” She followed him into his office across the hall, dragging the vacuum cleaner behind her. He closed the door behind them, flipping the lock, and a streak of fear burned down her spine. He crossed the room and leaned over a table he’d pulled a half foot from the wall. “See this?”
“Yeah, I see. I’ll vacuum under there.”
“No, come over here so I can show you.”
Feeling trapped, she pressed her back against the door. She hated going anywhere near him. Mr. Fletcher was a touchy guy, always putting his arm around her or squeezing her shoulders like he did this morning. If he’d just keep his hands to himself, he wouldn’t be so bad.
“I see it. I’ll vacuum after you leave.”
“Now come here, darlin’. I want to point out exactly what needs done.”
Darla slowly crossed the room, dragging the vacuum behind her, and stood beside him, glancing over the table at the accumulated dirt along the baseboard. Mr. Fletcher got behind her and pressed until she was folded at the waist. He slipped his arm around her stomach and said, “See that? All that dirt?” He had a thick bulge in his pants that he rubbed against her butt. “You use that cute contraption of yours to make it all better, will ya?”
He chuckled against her ear. Bile rose in her throat, and her heart thumped in triple time. She didn’t like the way he had her crushed against the table. The more she tried to squirm out from under him, the more he shoved her from behind.
“Okay, Mr. Fletcher. I’ll take care of it.”
“Oh, I know you will.” His voice was silky smooth as his sour breath brushed against her cheek.
“Let me up, Mr. Fletcher.”
“Sure, honey. If that’s what you want.”
Darla braced her hands against the edge of the table and pushed with all her strength, finally creating enough room to wiggle out from under him. She rushed to the door, but her hand was shaking so badly, she couldn’t turn the lock before he was behind her again. His laugh was sick and sinister, not at all jovial like he’d wanted her to believe.
“You are a quick one, I’ll tell ya that.” He wrapped both hands around her belly, wedging them up under her breasts. “Come on now, honey, give your ol’ boss some loving.”
“No.”
“Now Darla Jean, is that any way to treat your elders?” His hands moved to her breasts, cupping each one in his big hands.
“Stop, Mr. Fletcher. I’ll tell my dad.”
His laugh was so loud, it bounced off the walls. “Your daddy’s a fine worker, but mechanics are a dime a dozen. He knows I can replace him in a heartbeat. This’ll be our little secret.” He nuzzled his nose in her hair. “Damn, you smell good. Is that vanilla cologne you’re wearing?” He flipped her around to face him and flattened her back against the door, poking his big, round belly into her chest. His enormous hands grabbed each cheek of her rear end, squeezing until she whimpered. “You wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize your daddy’s job, now would ya?”
“Please stop.” Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. She turned her head as he tried to kiss her.
“Come on now, little darlin’. Give ol’ Clyde a nice, wet kiss.”
“No. Let me go.” She raised her knee, but he was too quick. He grabbed her leg and forced it apart, driving his pelvis between her legs. “I’ll scream.”
Before she could draw a breath, he slapped his hand over her mouth and lifted her off her feet. “You listen to me, you little bitch. You’ll not scream, unless it’s from the pleasure I’m about to give ya.”
Darla pummeled her fists against his back, kicking her feet into his shins, but there was nothing she could do to stop him.
“You’ve been struttin’ that cute little ass of yours around here for over a year, trying to get my attention. Well, you’ve got it.”
What was he talking about? She came to work with her hair in a ponytail, wearing old jeans and a baggy T-shirt. There was nothing sexy about the way she dressed, and if he was in the office on the days she cleaned, she stayed as far away from him as possible. She’d seen the way he flirted with the office girls and female customers, and she didn’t want that kind of attention.
“I’m going to remove my hand from those pretty, little lips of yours, and you’re going to open up and give ol’ Clyde that wet kiss I been wanting. Then I’m going to show you what that hot little body of yours was made for.”
Darla clamped her eyes closed and swallowed the scream forming in her lungs. He had her locked in a vice, plastered against the door, and she had no way to escape. When he finished plundering her mouth, he unzipped her jeans and pushed her to the floor. Having some space to move, she kicked and squirmed, trying to get away, but he was too strong, too quick.
“Settle your little ass down, young lady. You want your daddy to keep his job? You better find a way to make me happy.”
After pushing his trousers to the floor and dropping his plaid boxers, he gripped her wrists in one hand, wrenched them over her head, and smothered her mouth with his dry, cracked lips. He shoved her legs apart with his knees until she thought they’d snap and rammed his thick, calloused fingers inside.
Where was Dad? Billy Ben?
He kept his mouth locked on hers, making it impossible for her to scream. He poked and plundered until she was raw, unable to move from the weight of him. When he finished with his fingers, he leaned up and pushed with a groan. Stars danced behind her lids as he plunged inside her, and the room went black.
She wasn’t sure how long she had lain on his office floor, but woke up with one of his Fletcher Ford jackets draped over her like a blanket. Slowly she rose up on her elbows, sucking in a breath while pain seared through her stomach and between her legs.
“Well, now, there you are, honey.” Clyde Fletcher cruised back into his office, shutting the door behind him, smiling as if it was perfectly normal to have a teenaged girl lying half-naked on his office floor. “How ya doing?” He held out a hand to help her to her feet.
Darla’s legs were so sore and weak, she nearly dropped to her knees. She gave in to Mr. Fletcher’s helping arms. “There now, honey. It’s always rough the first time, but you’ll like it, I promise.”
He helped her to his sofa and fed her feet back into her pant legs, dressing her like she was a child. For all intents and purposes, she was a child—or she had been until this monster had gotten a hold of her. He brushed his thick fingers through her hair as she tugged the hairband from her disheveled ponytail.
“Listen, sweetheart,” he said as if she was his willing lover. “I’m sorry if it didn’t go quite the way you wanted it, but I promise next time I’ll be more gentle. You just can’t threaten to scream or tell your daddy next time.”
Darla gritted her teeth, pulling the zipper up on her jeans. “There won’t be a next time.”
Again, that laugh that made her teeth rattle was more warning than mirth. “Sure there will be because if you try to do something stupid like quit this little job of yours, your daddy will find himself in the unemployment line. When I get done telling the whole town how he embezzled money and auto parts from me, he won’t be able to get another job. Might be kind of hard to feed six kids.”
“You’re a monster.”
“Now, honey,” he chuckled, placing a kiss on her cheek. “Is that any way to talk to your boyfriend?”
“You’re not my boyfriend.”
“You and I are going to have a nice, little relationship. Maybe I’ll even take you out on my boat sometime up at the lake. Would you like that?” He nuzzled his lips against her neck while Darla froze like a statue. “Or maybe you’d like one of those cute, little Fiestas on the lot. You’d look downright adorable driving one of those.”
“No.”
Mr. Fletcher threw back his head with a hearty laugh and tweaked her breast. “You’ll come around. There’s nothing a lady likes bet
ter than a little loving and a nice car to drive.” He squeezed her knee as he got up from the sofa. “You run on home now. I’ll see you next Saturday.”
Like a zombie, dazed and confused, Darla rose from the couch and opened the door. She left the vacuum in his office and didn’t bother putting away the dust rag and furniture polish as she walked through the bookkeeping office. He followed her as far as the back door and whispered in her ear, “Wear something sexy next week.”
The next Saturday, and every weekend until summer, Darla walked to the auto dealership, cleaned the offices until Mr. Fletcher arrived, and robotically followed him to his office. Rather than scream or fight, she laid down on the floor, tugged her shirt over her head, shimmied out of her jeans, and stared at the ceiling squares, quietly humming a tune while he pumped up and down until he was satisfied.
For her cooperation, he gave her a raise, her dad kept his job, and she ended up pregnant.
TWELVE
“My brother Tim died in a motorcycle accident in June. Dad took a couple of weeks off and didn’t make me go to work on Saturdays.” Jason draped his arm around her shoulder, but she shrugged off his sympathy. “In a strange, sick way, I think of Tim as my guardian angel. God took him so that I could get away from Clyde Fletcher.”
“You couldn’t tell your parents about your pregnancy because they were in mourning?”
“If I told them I was pregnant, I’d have to tell them about me and Mr. Fletcher. My dad would’ve killed him. I couldn’t leave my mom with five kids to raise on her own while Dad rotted in jail. Besides, they were a mess after Tim died. I couldn’t put that on them.”
“So you went to live with Patsy?”
“She’s my cousin, but we’re more like sisters. She’s only five years older than me. When she came back for Tim’s funeral, I told her what happened. I made her promise not to tell Mom and Dad. My parents were so sad and numb, they didn’t argue when I told them I wanted to spend the summer with her. She had just moved into her own apartment and was planning her wedding to Tony, so I told Mom and Dad I was going to help her. I don’t know what I would’ve done without her.” Darla hadn’t been aware she’d been crying until Jason grazed his fingers along her cheeks and wiped the dampness on his pants.
“You’ve caught me without a handkerchief.” His mock chuckle tugged at her heart. He had witnessed her cry more than anyone in her life, and he was always sympathetic to her emotions.
“I’m sorry. Will I ever stop crying in front of you?”
“Probably not.” He laughed as he turned her face to him and wiped her tears from her cheeks. “There’s no need to feel embarrassed.”
“Why are you so nice to me?”
Jason shrugged, his face flushed. “It’s not hard.”
Darla leaned into his warm hands cupping her face and smiled. It felt good. She wanted more. “I appreciate your kindness, but what about Meghan? What will I tell her about her biological father?”
“Tell her the truth. Tell her a dirty old man took advantage of a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl. She’ll understand.”
Darla sat back, putting some distance between them. She immediately missed the warmth of his touch. “But how will that make her feel, knowing she was conceived that way? Won’t it crush her to know she wasn’t created out of love?”
“I think you’ve proven your love for her by giving her up for adoption. You could’ve chosen to abort.” This time, she didn’t fight it when he pulled her into his arms. He held her close, resting his face against her head. “She wouldn’t have been born, and we would’ve never met. That’s two things that your love prevented and I’m glad.”
Their little corner of the park had turned dark with the sun about to set, but for the first time in years, Darla’s future seemed bright. She’d unburdened herself of the horrific event from her past and had been supported, not scorned. Jason could’ve so easily pushed her away, judged her for giving in to Mr. Fletcher’s manipulation, called her a coward and a whore—two words she’d called herself for years. Instead, he folded her in his arms where she felt safe and accepted.
“Should I tell her tonight or wait?”
“Meghan’s been asking for a long time. I think you should tell her as soon as you feel comfortable.”
“I’ll never feel comfortable.” Darla chuckled and leaned back, looking into his kind gaze. “But I know I can do it now, thanks to you.”
“Me?”
“You could’ve refused to let me ever see her again, called me all sorts of vile names, which I deserve, but instead—”
“My God, Darla.” A shiver of fear rushed down her back as he gripped her shoulders. “You were fifteen, raped, and blackmailed by that sick man. You don’t deserve anything but sympathy. Because of his perverted ways, you’ve beaten yourself up all these years and took the blame, while he’s gone on to do great things—elected governor, no less.”
“I wish I had been brave and spoke up when he first ran for office. Instead, I holed up in my house whenever he came to town for a political rally or speech.”
“If it weren’t for exposing Meghan to the humiliation, I’d tell you to go for it. It’s never too late to report him. For all we know, he’s doing the same thing to one of his interns right now.”
She curled into his arms when she pictured some young, unsuspecting intern being forced to do unspeakable things with him on the state capital floor. When she shivered at the thought, Jason pulled her closer.
“It’s getting late. I better get back to Meghan.”
“And I better pick up Patsy for dinner.”
Both had places to be, but he didn’t seem any more ready to let her go than she wanted to leave. Intoxicated by the light fragrance of fabric softener on his shirt and his woodsy cologne while his strong arms formed a cocoon around her, she wanted to stay like this forever.
“You better get going,” he said, not making a move.
“Yeah, I should.” Darla sighed and slowly pulled out of his arms. He looked as disappointed as she felt.
“You’re an amazing woman, braver than you think.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
“I would. I just did.” Jason smiled sweetly as he brushed the back of his hand across her temple. “Earlier, you thought I kissed you just because I was overwhelmed by fear. For the record, I’m going to kiss you now because I’m overwhelmed by you.”
Darla sucked in a shocked breath as Jason took hold of her chin and leaned in for a kiss. He started out tenderly, lightly brushing his lips against hers, and then leaned back to check her reaction. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her mouth to his, letting him know she wanted his kiss, needed it. For the first time in eighteen years, she welcomed a man’s advances. Her heart swelled, her stomach flip-flopped, and tingling desire coursed through every part of her body. She had all the feelings that she knew were perfectly normal for a woman but hadn’t experienced until now. Those emotions had been frozen inside the scared teenager trapped inside her mind and body all these years.
His tongue tasted of mint as it tangled with hers—the most amazing sensation—and she needed more. His chuckle vibrated in her mouth as she rose up and plastered herself against him, tightening her arms around his neck. My God, this was the best feeling. His kisses and his hands, slowly rubbing up and down her back, were doing strange things to her insides. It was otherworldly and she couldn’t get enough.
“Mm, Darla?” he mumbled against her lips. “Hey.” He grabbed her upper arms and tapped a quick kiss on her lips before pushing her away. “We better slow down. We’re in a public park, remember?”
“Oh…right.” Darla fell against the bench, flushed and feverish. How embarrassing. Never in her life had she experienced that. She’d been on a few dates over the years with very nice men, even made out a time or two, but never took it any further, certainly never having that kind of reaction. She’d felt fear, sometimes repulsion, at best indifference, but never the hot, fiery desire th
at had burned through her core. There was something different about Jason Byrne. “I’m…um…sorry.” She swiped the back of her hand across her forehead and cleared her throat. “I just—what must you think of me?”
“Don’t apologize.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and whispered in her ear. “I liked it. We can pick up where we left off later if you want.”
“Oh my, well, I have to go get Patsy.” She popped to her feet and smoothed her hands over her skirt. “We’ll stop back to see Meghan after dinner.”
“Okay, but Darla—”
“I’ll bring you back a hamburger or something. Is that okay? Should I bring one to Meghan? She’s not on a restricted diet is she? If she is, I could bring her a salad. Does she like salad?”
Jason stood up and laid his hands on her shoulders, dipping down to meet her gaze. “Darla, slow down. I won’t push you into something you’re not ready for.”
How had he read her thoughts? Yes, she’d savored his kisses, but moving on to the next step and the next after that scared her. She’d only been with one man, and that had been against her will—horrifying and torturous. She hated everything about it. What if she still did? Jason was a wonderful man. She didn’t want to disappoint him.
“Stop worrying.” He rubbed his thumb between her brows, easing the tension. “I just meant I like kissing you, that’s it.”
“Oh, well, okay.”
“I got the impression you liked kissing me, too.”
Why were they still talking about this? “Yes, well…” She ran her fingers through her hair, catching a few strands between her fingers. “I better go. Tell Meghan I’ll see her later.”
She rushed across the park, cringing at what had just happened. She’d wantonly thrown herself at him, giving him the impression she was a loose woman. It was bad enough that she’d brought Meghan into the world under less than desirable circumstances, but to think her mother was a slut, well, Darla would be lucky if he let her see Meghan again.
Whatever It Takes: A Highland Springs Romance (Whatever Series Book 4) Page 10