Alexander (18 page)

Heather Colleen had been tied to the bed. Her arms above were lashed to the headboard and her legs, wide open, had been secured to the legs of the bed. She was naked except for a gag in her mouth and even from the doorway, Victoria could see the tears.

Steven was just rising from the bed just as naked as her daughter. His spent cock was still covered in blood from what Victoria knew was her daughter’s virginity. Neither of them, Steven nor Heather Colleen, noticed her.

“
You were so tight, darling, tighter than I ever had before. Maybe I’ll do this again before I let you go. Maybe.” Steven ran his hand up and down his hardening cock. “You’re a much better pussy then your fat cow of a mother. But I had to marry her to get to you. What I really wanted anyway.”

His cock was hard now and Victoria could hear her daughter’s screams. Before Victoria could move, Steven continued talking. And what he said made her madder than what he’d done to her daughter.

“
Of course I’m not really married to her. There are many, many more wives before her and I’m sure many after. I like virgins, you see, and take my prize from the hapless and often time ugly mothers before I move on to the next gift the girl has to offer me.”

Heather Colleen looked right at her and started screaming. Steven turned quickly and backed away from the bed, grabbing up the first thing he could to cover himself.

“
She lured me in here,” he claimed hastily. “You can’t blame a man for being weak when she throws herself at me day and night.” Victoria didn’t say anything but looked at her daughter. “She wanted me to tie her up. She said…she said it was a game she played. She did this, not me.”

Victoria picked up the first heavy object she could reach and threw it. She hadn’t been aiming at anything in particular and thought it was just blind luck that the glass paperweight hit him in the forehead. Steven dropped like dead weight.

Calling the police had been automatic, she thought now. She hadn’t wanted his corpse on the floor and thought it was the best way to deal with it. She knew now, however, that if she had to do it all over, she wouldn’t have. She would have just thrown him out and bundled Heather Colleen up and taken her away. But by the time the ambulance had arrived and the first police cruiser, it was too late.

The lawyer told her it was a slam dunk case. His semen and her blood on him had been about all they’d needed to put him away. Of course the dozen or so girls, some in their late twenties by then, had come forward as soon as the news broke about him. They all claimed the same thing. He’d raped them by tying them to the bed and after taking their virginity, he’d beaten them, threatened them to silence, and left.

Heather Colleen had been kept out of it for the most part. She’d been a minor then so without Victoria’s permission, they couldn’t question her and by the time the trial was going, Victoria had already thrown her out. Her daughter wouldn’t do what she wanted so she had meant to teach her a lesson. She didn’t count on her having a backbone or worse yet, Victoria’s father to stepping in to help her out. When she thought of him being there for the granddaughter and not his own daughter, Victoria would get angry all over again.

A runaway, she’d told everyone. The news and the media had driven Heather Colleen to run and Victoria could only hope her daughter wouldn’t become one of the thousands of other runaways and show up dead. The sympathy that Victoria had gotten from that had been delicious and she had milked it for all she was worth.

Then when she’d had Steven killed while he’d been in prison, she’d gotten a lot more. A wealthy man like him gone wrong, the papers had said. Too bad Heather Colleen couldn’t be here to hear the news, Victoria had told one reporter. That had lasted for another year or so.

Victoria’s biggest fear was that someone would find her daughter or worse yet, she’d come forward with her brat. Victoria had tried for years to get Heather Colleen to get rid of it, but she would always refuse. And now this man…James somebody was asking questions.

She didn’t think it was a coincidence that her father and this James person were to contact her at the same time. They were in this together, she just knew it. Something…anything to make her life more difficult, and she just wouldn’t have it.

Heather Colleen was at her lies again. Her daughter was talking to this—Victoria looked down at the other letter she’d received and saw that his name was Alexander—person and stirring up trouble again. Well, Victoria was smarter and much more finically secure than her daughter; she’d made sure of that. It was time to take action, to make sure that this man wouldn’t believe her daughter, but only her. Things she couldn’t undo were depending on no one finding out that Victoria had tossed her unwed pregnant daughter out and had known all along where she’d been.

Victoria was wondering if she should find this man and show him what a horrible person her daughter was. Unless of course she could convince Heather Colleen to shed herself of the abomination, the child she’d had out of wedlock, and come back to live with her. She would forgive the child if she would only do what she said. Victoria wasn’t concerned if she and her father mended fences or not. He’d be dead soon enough so what did it matter to her? Picking up the phone, she decided to take matters into her own hands and pay a little visit to Mr. James.

“
Wallace,” she said to the butler when he answered the phone. “Pack a bag for me. I’m going to Columbus for a few days.”

“
It’s Henry, ma’am. And of course. Shall I make arrangements for you to stay somewhere then?”

She closed her eyes. Did he really expect her to remember his name? What the hell was she paying people for, so she could be their buddy?

“
I believe that would ensure you keeping your job for a bit longer if you do.” She hung up knowing that as soon as she returned, she’d be replacing Wallace, or Henry, or whatever the hell his name was.

~~~

Alex parked outside the bakery at near closing and looked inside. They were busy. The door was barely closed before someone else was opening it again. He hated to admit it, but he was nervous. He looked over at Tom.

“
She ain’t gonna hurt you with a store full of people. Best go in and face the music, son. Me and Jacky-boy will be waiting out here for you.”

Alex wasn’t encouraged by Tom’s assurances that she wouldn’t hurt him. He was pretty sure she would, and he didn’t know if he didn’t deserve it or not. He looked at the store front again and wondered if he should start out by telling her how sorry he was or to just simply go in on his hands and knees and beg.

Alex had picked up Tom at work and together, they’d gone to get Jack. Alex’s mom had told him to bring them all to Thanksgiving dinner at her house. Apparently, his dad had told her everything. Everything they’d talked about at the mall.

“
You’d do well to make this girl happy, Alexander. She sounds like someone I could like and you know how much you already do. Make this work, all right?”

Alex had gone straight to the library and read the newspaper clippings about the trial and how the minor had run away. Heather’s name hadn’t been mentioned, but Alex had known it was her. Then he’d gone to the courthouse and found someone his mom knew, and was able to purchase a transcript of the trial as well. Even skimming over it, he knew enough now to surmise that Baxter had raped her and he’d deserved to die.

Now he was ready to do whatever he needed to make it up to Heather. Because sometime between the time he’d met her and now, he’d fallen in love with her. He was pretty sure his mother had known it before him.

“
Do you think she has any sharp knives or weapons in there with her? Not that I don’t deserve her hurting me, but still. My mom will be really disappointed if I die during the holidays.” He was half kidding and was really surprised when Jack giggled behind him.

Alex thought he couldn’t love a kid more than he did this one and turned in his seat to talk to him. “Think maybe you should come in and be my bodyguard? It might soften her up a bit to see you first.”

“
Mom won’t hurt you much. You have to watch out for her foot, though. She taps it when she’s mad. The faster it goes, the madder she is at you. And her brows, watch them too.”

When Jack didn’t elaborate, Alex looked at Tom before asking. At his shrug, he turned back to Jack. “What about her brows, buddy. Do they flame up or something?”

“
No, sir, they raise. Like her temper. Grandpa Tom said that it was like a barometer, the higher the pressure, the higher they go. If they go all the way to her hair, then you are gonna be grounded for a long time.”

Jack had sounded so sincere that Alex couldn’t laugh. It had been hard, but he managed to just keep it under control. He got out of the car and went inside, knowing that her brows were going to be at her hairline if not a little higher.

Alex saw Caroline first. She was grinning at him. “If you’ve come to piss her off more, I may have to kiss you.”

That stopped him. “Why? And why do you think I—” He stopped talking when her brow rose.

Alex was going to ask his dad about that one. Were women’s brows sort of an indicator for men to know just when to shut the fuck up? He was going to have to pay more attention to his sister too.

“
You did and you very well know it. She said she bakes when she’s stressed or mad. I would say from her muttering and her output that you’ve done something really bad.” She looked him up and down. “And you without a single flower or a box of candy. You must be going back there as a dead man is all I can figure.”

“
Flowers. I should…where can I get her some?”

He was backing toward the door when he saw her. All thoughts of flowers and eyebrows fled his mind. Before he knew it, he was pulling her into his arms. What he should have remembered about her was the brows and the foot.

The head to the nose was completely unexpected, as was her foot coming down on the top of his. By the time he’d backed away, his shirt was covered in blood and he was sure his nose was broken. When she started toward him, he nearly fell over the chair behind him trying to get away.

“
Sit down,” Heather snapped. He sat. He was actually afraid not to. This was a side of her he’d not seen and he wasn’t altogether sure he liked it. “What do you think you’re about? You’ve no right to kiss me or to touch me here. I’m working.”

He hissed when she put a wet towel on his face none too gently. Even with his face throbbing, he could see her brow up high and he could hear her foot tapping a mile a minute. He might have laughed, but he was a tad terrified she’d kill him.

“
I didn’t mean to touch you, but—”

“
Then what were you thinking? Hum? Or were you? No, don’t answer that. You were thinking. Thinking you can treat me like…like some…I don’t know what.” She pulled the wet towel back and he could see her tears. “This isn’t working. We will move back into the shelter tonight. It’s best—”

“
No,” he roared, coming up out of the chair. “You aren’t leaving me.” He picked her up and set her on the counter where sprinkles and icing was strewn about. When she started to get down, he simply stared at her. “I’m an idiot.” He swore he heard her say she wouldn’t argue with him about that, but he chose to ignore it. “I’ve been an idiot before about a woman and I lost my heart. She did things, said things that made me think I’d never give my heart to anyone again. Then your son came along and sat down beside me. So I—”

“
And it’s my fault too that you—”

“
Hush, I’m not finished. He folds his cupcake wrappers, did you know that? And he is the neatest kid I’ve ever known. Then you come along and I figure out where he gets his compulsive tendencies and his smart mouth from. You, Heather, you are his mom.”

“
I’m well aware of being his mother. If you are finished, I’d like to gather my family and get out of your hair.” She started to get down off the table. Alex stepped up to her and bracketed her there with his arms on either side of her. “Let me go.”

“
I fell in love with your grandda too. Fell in love with his odd way of getting around the story with a tale of nothing. And do you know what else?”

“
You’re making no sense. Let me down from here. I’ve work—”

“
I fell in love with you too.” He could see the shock in her eyes just before they became angry again. He loved that about her too. Her quick mind.

“
You don’t know what you’re talking about. Let me down this minute. I have to make sure that Grandda has Jack so that we can move our things tonight.”

“
I have them both in my car. We’re going to go to my mom’s and have Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. But tonight, I’m going to make love to you, slowly and all night.”

Her eyes darkened and he watched her tongue wet her lush lips. He felt his cock harden at the thought of tasting her again and he moved slowly toward her mouth. Her sigh nearly had him throw her back on the table and take her there, but he was aware that they weren’t in a place he could indulge in that right at the moment.

“
Give me your mouth, Heather. Let me drink from you.” Alex brushed his mouth over hers and moaned. “You taste like sugar to me, warm cookies and hot fires, of carnal thoughts and sex. I want you, Heather, right here right now.”

He pulled her close and covered his mouth with his. Her hands encircled his neck and she opened beneath him. His tongue dove and took even as she wrapped her legs around his hips. Using his left hand, he pulled her body flush with his and felt her moan into his mouth. Pain ripped him away from her and had him stagger slightly. He wasn’t sure what had happened until a voice behind him had him turning to protect Heather.