Finding Christina (Wild Rose #2) (8 page)

Once outside, she pulled her phone from her purse and dialed Addie’s number. “I’m done.”

“Great! We’re just around the corner. Are you hungry? Is everything okay?” Addie chirped.

“I’m a little hungry and everything is okay.”

“See you in a few!”

Christina disconnected the call, placed the phone back in her purse and sat down on the steps leading into the building. Tipping her face up, she soaked in the warm sunshine.
My life is a freaking mess. What am I going to do?

A honk pulled her from her reverie and she opened her eyes to see Addie and the kids waving from the car. Christina stood and shuffled to the vehicle. “Hey,” she stated, opening the door and sliding into the seat.

“Well?”

Christina pulled from her purse the picture of her baby the doctor had given her and handed it to Addie. “I’m due June 27
th
.”

“Oh wow! How exciting!”

Christina kept the sex of her baby to herself for the time being. She didn’t want anyone to know just yet.
Hell, I haven’t even processed it yet.
“Do you want to grab lunch?”

The afternoon was spent at the children’s favorite restaurant where they played in the play place and picked at their chicken and fries. Later that evening she helped Addie make a simple spaghetti dinner and they all stayed up late watching a silly movie on the Disney channel. Christina enjoyed the feeling of being in a family instead of watching the movie.

Aaliyah dozed off with her head propped against Christina’s thigh and Addie smiled fondly over at them. “She likes you.”

Christina glanced down at the little girl. “I like her too.”

“We all like you.”

Christina’s heart swelled and she blinked back tears. “I like you guys.”

“Well, I think it’s time for me to get all these kids in bed,” Addie murmured and River and Gray whined softly. She placed a finger to her lips to shush them, as she swept Aaliyah up in her arms. “Don’t wake the baby. Good night, Christina.”

“Night, Christina,” the boys echoed.

“Good night, everyone.”

She sat in silence for a few moments after Addie took the children to bed and smiled to herself.
One day I will have this with my son. We will be a family.

The days blurred into each other and before Christina knew what had occurred, she was leaving the Cotter family. Their kindness and friendship had taken her through some of her darkest days, and though she knew many more would come, she felt certain that she could handle it all. Somehow.

Addie had passed along a few more outfits and Christina had them all packed in the little bag they had given her. The clothes replaced the ones she had lost after her attack as her suitcase had never been found. She’d never heard another peep out of the police either. With a soft sigh she walked from her bedroom and into the living room where she found the family waiting for her.

“I want you to keep in touch with us and let us know how you’re doing.” Addie murmured, rushing forward and pulling her into a hug.

“Of course I will. Thank you for taking me in. Not many people would do that.” Tears filled her eyes and her voice hitched.

“Not many people would still be standing here with the burden on your shoulders either.” Patrick countered, taking his turn for a hug. “All we ask is that you do something good for someone else.”

“I will. We better get going or we’ll miss the plane.” Christina smiled tightly, visibly nervous with the emotion in the room.

“Absolutely. I’ll get you to the airport.”

“We were glad to have you with us, Christina, and if you ever need us, just call, please. You’re not alone.” Addie offered soothingly.

“Thank you, Addie. You’re one of the nicest people I’ve ever met,” Christina murmured, embarrassment coloring her pale cheeks.

The children came in from their playroom suddenly and Aaliyah wailed, “She’s leaving?”

Christina turned and knelt, opening her arms to hug the little girl. “Yes, I am. It was nice to meet you.”

Aaliyah hugged her back and sniffled on her shoulder. “Don’t go.”

“I have some things I need to do, sweetie.”

“Then you can come back?” Chocolate brown eyes stared up into her face and Christina was unnerved by the innocent sweetness she saw there.

“Maybe one day,” she vaguely promised, hating to lie to the little girl.

The boys told her goodbye and after one last hug from Addie, she followed Patrick out to the car. She climbed in the SUV and buckled herself in. Panic didn’t fill her this time as Patrick slid in beside her. “You okay?” he asked.

“I’m okay. Thank you again to you and your family.”

“It was nothing.” Patrick brushed off the appreciation.

“No, it was something. You could have very easily left me out on the street. Plenty of people would have. Instead, you opened your home and your family to me.” Christina insisted.

“Well, we were glad to have you.”

Tears filled her eyes again and she turned to the window and stared out at the passing landscape. Altogether too soon, they parked in the lot at the airport. Patrick shut off the engine. “Want me to come in with you?”

Christina shook her head firmly, as she opened the door of the SUV. “No. I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?” Patrick paused with his hand on the seatbelt buckle.

“I’m sure.” She insisted, as she stepped out of the vehicle. “Go spend time with your family.”

“Call us when you get back to your dorm, please?”

“I will.” Christina assured him. “I won’t take rides from strange men. I’ll just hop the bus and go to my dorm. No big deal.”

“Safe travels.” Patrick smiled kindly.

Christina closed the door and waved as she hurried across the street and into the airport. She couldn’t bear to have him hug her again, regardless of how kind he had been. She checked her bags and picked up her ticket at the kiosk. Once she went through security, she hurried to her gate to wait for her flight.

Her pulse picked up with each man that passed by her and she squeezed her eyes closed, begging her brain to stop thinking everyone was out to hurt her. Finally, the plane began to board and she took her window seat with relief. A middle-aged woman sat down beside her and Christina pretended to doze to avoid small talk. She was not in the mood to hear about the woman’s many grandchildren and how wonderful their lives were.

The plane taxied down the runway and coasted up into the air. The flight was mercifully short, and Christina was glad to leave the confined space of the plane. She picked up her luggage and stalked to the information desk. The elderly black man sitting there smiled as she stepped up to the desk.

“How can I help you?”

“When is the next bus coming through?” she blurted abruptly, needing to get as far away from her bad memories as she possibly could.

“Oh, not for a couple of hours yet.” Darkness would soon envelop the town and the last thing Christina wanted was to be out and alone in the dark.

“Can you call me a taxi?” Her voice came out strangled and high pitched in her panic and it wasn’t lost on the older man.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yep, it’s great, but I could use a taxi.”
Not that it’s a damn bit of your business!

“You got it.” He picked up a phone and dialed a number. She halfway listened to his conversation and then jumped as he touched her arm. “Miss, they’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“Thanks,” she murmured, hurrying to the front doors of the airport. She stood waiting there until the yellow taxi pulled up and stopped. Pushing open the doors, she stepped out into the brisk air and hustled down to the taxi. Flinging the door open, she slid inside and gave him the address to the dorm.

The driver attempted to make small talk, but Christina wasn’t interested. She pointedly pulled out her phone and pretended to play with it to avoid his annoying questions. Finally they came to the campus and Christina pulled her debit card out to pay for her fare. “Thanks for the ride,” she mumbled as she jumped out of the taxi. Dusk was slowly settling at the edge of the trees and she was nearly hyperventilating as she rushed inside.

Her keys were in a zipped pocket and she grasped them quickly, her hands shaking violently as she came to her door. Glancing around in terror, she slipped the key into the lock and let herself into the room. Shutting the door firmly behind her, she locked it and shoved the computer chair under the knob.

Sobs shook her shoulders as she dropped everything on the floor and began pulling her clothes off. Once she was naked she stepped into the shower and turned the water on as hot as she dared. The water running down her face mingled with her tears as she wept. A keening cry escaped her lips as she scrubbed herself, hoping that somehow she could scrub the taint from her body and soul. As if scrubbing hard could remove the terrible memories and get rid of everything that had occurred.

Holding back her feelings had lasted only so long, and now she felt. She felt the way Rand had used her body. The crushing pressure of his fingers around her neck. Then Earl came into the picture, the way he’d told her she was so beautiful. Christina scrubbed harder, her skin turning red from her assault. In the end she still didn’t feel clean and as the water cooled, she shut it off. Toweling dry she stared in the mirror for a moment.

Even missing two teeth and some faint residual swelling, Christina was pretty. And she hated it. Fingering her long, wet, blonde hair for a moment, she glanced again at the girl in the mirror. Her hair had always been one of the prettiest things about her, and if it was gone? A haunting smile brushed her lips and she stumbled into the front of her dorm. Frantically she began opening drawers on her desk and a soft sob bubbled from her throat as she found what she was searching for.

Lurching back to the bathroom, she grasped the cold, metal sewing scissors in her hand and a hank of blonde hair in the other. Macabre laughter came from somewhere deep inside as she wept and cut at her hair. Damp curls fell to the floor around her and still she kept cutting. Finally there were no more long strands to cut and her hair hung haphazardly around her skull in jagged bits. Wiping her eyes, she stared at the girl in the mirror now. No one would say she was necessarily beautiful anymore, not with her hair looking as it did. Instead she looked simply crazy.

It will keep people away from me. Maybe I’ll just make them all think I’m crazy.
With her sadness spent, she put the scissors away and cleaned up the hair that littered the floor. Drying her eyes and blowing her nose, she moved back into the front of the dorm and dressed before pulling her phone from her purse and calling Addie.

“Hello?” Addie’s soft voice came across the line.

“Hi, Addie, I just wanted to let you know I made it in. I’m unpacking now and I’ll keep you updated with how things go.” She struggled to keep the tone of her voice bland so that Addie wouldn’t know anything was wrong.

“I’m glad you made it in safe and everything is okay. Just remember, anytime you want to talk, I’m here.” Addie offered, and Christina knew if she needed the kind woman that she’d be there.

Christina smiled and swallowed against the emotion clouding her throat. “Thank you. I’m going to go. You guys have a good night.”

“You too, sweetheart!”

Disconnecting the phone, Christina fell back against her pillows and sighed.
I have to figure out what I’m going to do. I don’t have much time.
Exhaustion weighed heavy on her and with one last yawn, her eyes slid closed.
Tomorrow…tomorrow I’ll make plans.

Christina tossed and turned in the little bed all night long, her heart heavy with worry. She knew what she had to do, but she didn’t want to. As the sun crept between the blinds on her window, she stopped forcing herself to sleep any longer. With classes starting in a couple of days, most teachers were back in their offices and she had one teacher she needed to see before she did anything else.

Christina approached his door and her heart clung in her throat as she knocked. A space of a breath passed and a gruff, “Come in!” beckoned her inside the small, dusty smelling room.

Opening the door, she stared at the portly middle-aged man with the bad comb over and a shudder passed through her.
Where the hell was my mind in letting him screw me? My God, he’s disgusting.
A smirk crossed his beefy lips and he crossed his arms over his chest as Christina closed the door behind herself.

“Well, well, well, Miss Christina Morgan. Back so soon?” He leaned against the edge of his desk and his smirk turned into a grin.

Christina pushed her choppy hair back and shook her head firmly. “Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart.”

“No? You seemed real happy to get a good grade from me. Are you back to start on this semester? It’s going to cost you a little more this time.” He grinned lecherously.

“Professor Humphrey—Ted, can I call you Ted? I am not back to get some more of your inadequate package.” Christina informed him with a shudder. She walked through the classroom, her hand trailing on the desks as she meandered through the room.

“My package is far from inadequate!” Ted spluttered, his face coloring with embarrassment.

“I guess size is in the eye of the beholder…or the vagina of the feeler, perhaps,” Christina retorted, continuing her slow pace through the room.

“Why are you here?” Ted barked, his patience obviously tested.

Christina pointed at a desk. “May I sit?”

Ted held out his hand and rolled his eyes. “By all means, be comfortable.”

Christina arranged herself in the seat and clasped her hands in front of her. “Do you have a family, Ted?”

Ted paced the room, jamming his hands in his pockets. “Why? Are you going to blackmail me?”

“No, I’m not, I am just curious,” Christina assured him, tipping her head to the side and staring at him thoughtfully.

She watched the frustrated man hunch his shoulders and sigh. “Yes, I have a family.”

“Wife? Kids?” Christina pressed, needing to know the answer.

Ted turned suddenly, his brown eyes shining with anger. “Why?”

“Just answer the question, Ted. All will be made clear in time.” Christina reassured him.

Ted lumbered to his desk and sat down with a huff in his swiveling chair. “Yes, my wife, Betty and I have been married for twenty years. We have three kids, from seventeen to six.”

“What are your kids’ names?” Christina blurted, not knowing why it mattered, but wanting to know anyway.

“Why? Why does it matter?” Ted snapped and rubbed his temples.

“Because I am asking. Satisfy my curiosity, Ted.” Christina shrugged one thin shoulder and propped her chin up on her hand, attempting to look as calm as possible.

“Lizzie is seventeen, Toby is twelve, and Aislynn is six,” Ted muttered, wiping his hand against his sweater. She wondered if his palms were sweating.

“Let me ask you, Ted. When Lizzie goes to college, how would you feel about a professor asking her to suck his dick for a good grade?” Christina blurted. “She’s two years younger than me.”

Ted paled visibly and he tugged at the collar of his shirt. “That won’t happen. Lizzie is a good girl.”

“And I’m not.” Christina finished for him. “So you prey on the girls who don’t seem like good ones. How many have you done this to?”

“Done what to? It’s not like you didn’t want it. Girls like you like being treated like a slut.” Ted sniffed and looked down at his cuticles as though he was inspecting something, all nonchalant.

“Oh, don’t get on your high horse. Believe me, girls like me aren’t into tiny penises.” Christina snorted and rolled her eyes.

“As I said before, my package is thoroughly adequate. You look like shit, what the hell happened to you?” Ted sneered and rested his elbow on his desk.

Christina smiled widely, a soft chuckle escaping between her lips. “That doesn’t really matter, does it? It’s not like you care.”

Ted shrugged, picked up his coffee mug and took a slow sip. “No, it doesn’t matter and no. frankly I don’t care. I was just being polite.”

“Well, tell me, Ted, how many girls since me?” Christina insisted.

“Are you jealous?” Ted smiled, leaning back in his chair and clasping his hands over his paunch.

Christina laughed out loud. “Hardly, sweetheart. Just tell me, how many?”

“Three.” Ted smirked, blatantly proud of his prowess.

Christina stood and slowly sashayed to his desk. Her index finger trailed along the edge of the wood and at the end she glanced at the tip, frowning at the dust she found there. “Three…” she murmured softly.

“Disappointed? Thought I was only after you?” Ted grinned and she fought back the bile racing up her throat.
You’re such a frickin’ perv!

“No. I’m not. But I think there’s something you should know.” She hopped up on the edge of his desk and swung her legs back and forth, trying hard to stay calm.

“Look, I’m growing weary with your games.” Ted rubbed his forehead.

Christina inched closer to him and once she sat directly in front of his chair, she parted her legs and beckoned him closer with her finger. “That’s not what you said before…”

Ted flushed and squirmed in his chair. “I thought you said you weren’t here for that.”

“Oh!” Christina grinned, sliding off the desk and ambling away. “I’m not.”

“Then what are you here for?” he snapped.

“Do you fuck your wife without a condom?” Christina asked.

“That’s none of your concern!” Ted squeaked, pulling at his collar again, relieving the pressure on his florid neck.

“Oh, but it is. Just tell me, do you bareback your wife or wrap it up?” Christina stepped up to the white board and picked up a marker.

“I-I do not use a condom with my wife. This is so inappropriate. I should not be having this conversation with a student!” Ted flushed harder and unbuttoned the first button on his shirt.

Christina guffawed as she opened the marker. “Oh, you say that
this
is inappropriate, but not what we did, and what you do to young ladies trying to get an education. Oh, Ted, dumb, dumb little Ted. Do you remember the afternoon around midterms when you were doing me on your desk?”

“Barely,” he quipped, waving his hand in the air as if fanning away a noxious smell. “It wasn’t exactly memorable.”

Christina smirked and her eyebrow rose. “It was memorable for me, dear,” she drawled slowly, scribbling on the white board. She wrote ‘I’m pregnant’ on the board and capped the marker, turning slowly to see Ted’s reaction.

Ted had grown very pale and beads of sweat had popped out on his brow. “It’s not mine!” he choked out, unbuttoning the second button of his shirt.

Christina smiled and erased the words with the black eraser. “Oh, but there’s more you should know…but we’ll save that for a bit later. How do you think sweet, sweet Betty would feel knowing you fathered a child with me?”

“It’s. Not. Mine,” he reiterated, his jowls trembling in fury.

Christina pulled her phone from her pocket and opened the browser. “I wonder if your phone number is listed online. Is sweet Betty home today? Oh, wouldn’t she love to talk to me.”

Ted jumped up and rushed toward her. Christina held up a hand. “Touch me and I dial and wreck your precious little home life with pathetic, sweet little Betty.”

“You wouldn’t dare! It would wreck your scholarship with the school,” Ted hissed as he struggled to breathe.

Christina smirked as her thumb hovered over Ted’s home number. “What if I don’t care, Ted? What if I have nothing left to lose?”

“You’re crazy! I’ll just tell them it isn’t mine…” Ted yelled, running his hand through his balding hair and mussing his perfect comb over.

“And I could take you to court and prove it’s yours. The judge would make sure of that.” Christina reminded him.

Ted backed up a step and mopped his brow with the back of his hand. “You wouldn’t.”

Her eyebrow arched up and she chuckled. “Wouldn’t I?”

“What do you want? Money? A guaranteed A+ for the semester? Fine, I’ll do both.” Ted moved to his desk and flung the drawer open, trembling hands grasping his checkbook.

Christina laughed harder then, the sound hollow and sharp. “I don’t want either of those.”

Ted paused and slipped the checkbook back in the drawer. “Then what do you want?”

Christina jammed her hands in the pockets of her yoga pants. “I want you to write a letter saying you sign away your rights to my child.”

“What? How do I even know it’s mine?” Ted argued.

“It’s yours. All I’m asking for is a simple letter stating that you will not try to take my child and that you want nothing to do with it,” Christina stated simply.

“It won’t hold up in court even if I do.” Ted snorted as he gripped the edge of his desk.

“Get it notarized. I want this letter by lunchtime, or I am going to the Dean and I am going to tell him in detail everything you did to me. And that you’ve done it to others. Then I’ll call your wife.” Christina threatened, her voice cold.

Ted collapsed in his chair. “You’re a crazy bitch.”

“We’ve established that.” Christina smiled brightly. “Now, the letter. I want it written and notarized. We can meet at the little diner on 9
th
street at one-thirty this afternoon. If you’re not there…” Christina hurried to the door and as she opened it she hissed, “You’re fucked.”

He roared in frustration as she rushed into the hallway and Christina couldn’t stop the smile spreading across her mouth even as she quivered. Running to the bathroom, she threw up the little food she’d eaten that morning. Slipping out to the sinks, she washed her hands and face and rinsed her mouth. Staring up at the mirror, she smirked again and blew out a slow breath.
He’ll be there. He has too much to lose.