Red Collar (8 page)

What would her father have thought of her if he knew she had resorted to prostitution to save her family f
rom miserable poverty? Would he still be as proud of her as he had been when he had beamed brightly during her college graduation or when he had bragged about her being a secretary?

Neither of her parents ever made it past
grade eleven in high school. By graduating college, her father sincerely believed she had moved mountains.

She rocked herself tenderly in the shower. It had been long since she missed her father
so much.  She finally understood the burden of solitude her father carried ever since her mother cascaded her life into alcoholism. She, like him, was all alone to bear her pain. And for the first time, she feared she possessed the same demons that tormented her mother; a dying urge to resort to the evils of the bottle to drown her sorrows.

*****

Clayton opened his eyes slowly. Almost immediately he could smell her scent linger in the bedroom. He leisurely stretched across the bed to feel her. But all he felt were his sheets.

His body stiffened. She was probably helping herself to breakfast. He had awoken much later than usual. He looked over at the clock on his bedside table. It was well past eight o’clock in the morning.

He swung his legs over the side and pulled over a pair of boxers. He was already yearning to have her again he might as well not bothered.

He strolled over to the living room, anticipating that she would be by the windows sipping a hot cup of coffee and most probably have one
made for him as well. The very thought stirred a heated desire inside of him.

But t
he living room was as bare as it always was each morning he had spent in that apartment, and so was the kitchen. There was no smell of coffee, no dirtied cups tracing her lips, no nothing that evidenced her use of the kitchen.

He tensed.
She can’t have left. They had an incredible night. The best as far as he could remember. He felt that what he shared with her, he never felt with any other woman before.

His mind rapidly scanned over the details of the night. He had torn her dress. It was practically un-wearable.

His pace quickened towards his bedroom, his eyes scouring the floor. The dress was gone. How the heck had she worn it? He combed a frustrating hand through his hair.

She didn’t want to be his mistress, he recalled her saying. His jaw clenched, his eyes darkening.

He reached for his cell and scrolled down for her number. He wanted her back. At any cost.

*****

Kate heard her mother coughing incessantly. She pulled on her dress and rushed over to her. There was no time to feel sorry for herself any more. She had her fair share of crying and now she must look towards the best interests of her family. That was all that mattered.

“You okay, Mom?” she asked, nearing the bed.

“I’ll be fine,” her mother replied, pulling in another deep breath.

Kate furrowed her brow. “You’re running out of breath. I have to take you to the hospital.”

“No, I will be fine,” her mother insisted. “It’s nothing.” She tried to heave herself up against the bed-head. And when she failed, she punched against the mattress in frustration.

Kate fixed her pillows and helped her mother up. “All you had to do was ask,” she said, impatiently. “You know I’d have helped you up.”

“You never ask for help,” her mother snapped. “Why should I then?”

“That’s no
t fair, Mom,” Kate said, hurt, although she understood her mother was speaking out of her frustrating circumstances.

Her mother sighed. “I’m sorry, Kate. I’m sorry I got you into this mess. I’m sorry I never did anything right in my entire life. And even as I say that, I’
m sorry I still desire for another drop of alcohol. Just one more taste of it.”

Kate held her mother’s hands. “Don’t say that Mom. Don’t even think of it. If you take any more of that, I’m afraid we’ll lose you.”

Her mother smiled. “And how do you think I’ll get any more of that sweet poison? As much as I would like it, Rudy and Libby won’t get me any. And there is nobody else who does care to visit your poor mother and sneak her any alcohol past your security senses.” She rubbed Kate’s hand. “It’s just a pathetic woman’s dying wish. Ignore it.”

Kate
’s eyes stung by her words. “How can you so easily say that, Mom? Your love for alcohol destroyed Dad’s life. He lived with your memories and died in them, hoping all the time you’d return to him,
for
him. Your addiction has affected us all and we’re the living consequences of it. Alive and yet not fully alive. Struggling through life because of your bad choices. Does it even occur to you, we all want our mom back? At least
I
want you back. The others- Libby, Rudy, Johnny and Lily, they never knew the wonderful mother you once were. I’m afraid Lily will not even remember you. She’s so young. So how can you just so easily say you want another drink when all it has done was shatter our lives? Don’t you love us? Not even a little to stop wanting any more of it?”

Terri cupped her daughter’s face. “I love you all a lot. But addiction is such, that even though you’re fully aware of the harm it can do to you, you still crave for it.
Don’t you realize it? You carry it too. The addiction gene.”

Kate looked up at her in shock. “Mom,” she protested. “I haven’t been addicted to anything in my
entire life.”

Terri smiled. “Oh yes, you have. You’re addicted to me and to those four brats out there that belong to me.” She sighed
again. “It isn’t too late, Kate. Send them away to foster care, and carry on with your life. I’ll bear the brunt of that sin. You, on the other hand, don’t deserve to slave the way you do. I made the biggest mistake when I came back into your life. I should have known what you would do for us. You take on responsibility just as your father did. A bit too seriously, I’m afraid. I think I may have slightly taken advantage of that quality too when I did contact you for help the first time.”

“And you think I could just walk away, happy to live a life, knowing that my siblings are in foster
care? Mom, you’ve lost your mind.”

“They are strong kids. They’ll manage.”

Kate huffed. “Yeah, Libby will. So might Rudy and Johnny. But what about Lily? She’s only a baby.”

Terri grinned. “She’
s your baby.”

“Mom.” Kate rolled her eyes in disbelief.

“You’re the only mother she has. I see the way she follows you around.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Kate said, shaking her head. “That topic has
now officially been closed. You need your medication.” She reached to the bedside table and picked a handful of bottles. She frowned as she inspected the contents. “You’re running out of ursodial and prednisone.”

“I’ll manage,” her mother replied, pulling in another deep breath. “You’ve started work. You’
ll be paid soon, right?”

Her gut knotted, her face paling from the memories of last night.

“Kate,” her mother asked, worriedly. “Are you alright?”

“Yes,” she attempted a
small smile. She shook her head to calm her mother. “It is you I’m worried about. We need to go to the hospital, Mom. The doctor said you have to go to the hospital if you suffer from a shortness of breath.”

“I’m just tired,” her mother insisted.

“Mom, I can practically hear you wheezing from here.”

“Give me a prednisone. I will be fine.”

Kate spilt out a pill, her mind rapidly skimming over her strategies to save her family.

*****

She laid her mother back on her bed. She had been painstakingly watching her for a while, afraid she would lose her breath at any moment. Finally, when her wheezing lessened, her eyes fluttering from the drowsiness of her medication, Kate released a contented sigh.

She heard her phone buzzing in her bedroom and rushed off to answer it. She was still hopeful for an interview from
her other job applications she had lodged earlier. Although, it was unlikely she would ever be offered an obscene salary again.

She didn’t recognize the number and answered it with a rising optimism in her chest.

“Hello,” she said.

“Where the hell are you!” the man demanded at the other end.

She paled when she recognized his voice. Her mind reasoned furiously. It couldn’t be Clayton. Why would
he
call
her
?

“Who is this?” she spoke carefully into the phone.

“How do you think I felt when I woke up this morning and found you had disappeared!”

“Clayton?”
she said, her legs trembling beneath her. She sat heavily on the edge of her bed, her heart in her mouth.

“No woman has ever dared to do what you did, Kate Ripley. And I will make you pay for it,” he threatened, furiously.

She didn’t respond well to threats, anger and irrationality rapidly coursing through her veins. “So you felt cheap. Made you feel like a whore. Now, you understand how I feel when you demand for me to be your mistress.”

A silent static hovered between them.

“You agreed to do this and you will abide by its terms,” he said sternly.

“I’ve changed my mind as you had. I told you that already. I told you I didn’t want to be your mistress before we did what we did. I will look upon it as a one-night stand and no more.”

“I don’t do one-night stands. This was a contract and as far as I’m concerned, it still stands. It seems there are some fine prints to discuss with you. Now, shall I come over to your place or should I take it to the media, as you first suggested?”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Kate said, shakily, her mind racing over the shocking reactions of her family and friends. “That would only mar your own reputation. You wouldn’t risk it.”

“My dear, Kate, there are many ways of disclosing the details of this affair without risking my own good name.”

Kate paled. Ther
e was a higher probability that she would be seen as the vamp in this story. The tart for hire, the gold-digger seeking to abuse and malign the status of a wealthy man. If anything, she would be inclined to lose more than he. With all his wealth and power, it would be simply a passing news, while she would be left to face the consequences for a lifetime. Her mind re-collected Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton. Except Monica Lewinsky didn’t have four dependent under-aged siblings, living in squalor with a cirrhosis afflicted dying mother.

“ Kate, do you want me to come over to your place or you
, mine?” he repeated, frustratingly. “I need an answer now.”

“No,” she spat out quickly.

“No?”  he asked, unsurely. “Don’t make this hard, Kate. It’s not hard to find out where you live. I can always ask Bob Whitton to look up the details of your first contract.”

“No, don’t do that,” she said. She couldn’t
bear him discovering the manner in which she lived. If there was anything she could do, she was at least determined to retain her pride and her ego. “I’ll come over to your place,” she said, slowly.

“In an hour,” he demanded.

“I can’t come in an hour,” she retorted, incredulously.

“And why not!”

She took in a sharp breath. This man was so frustratingly annoying, she found Libby milder to her temper. “I’ll be there tonight at seven.”

“I won’t wait until seven in the evening to discuss the details of your predicament!”

“Well, you have to!” she screamed back. “I’ve got a life other than the one that unfortunately includes you. And if you dare as come looking for me before seven, the hell with the entire deal. Media or court, whatever!”

She turned off her phone before he could answer
her. She wished it was one of those old phones where she could take her anger out on by banging its handset repeatedly.

She threw her cell on
to her bed and looked furiously at it, her mind reeling over the details of their conversation. What fine prints? What could be worse than being the mistress of the despicable Clayton Reid?

It was very rarely that Clayton was defied and least of all by a woman.
He clenched his teeth, his fists in a tight grip.

He had thought she would have come running to him after
threatening her. Instead she had smugly told him to wait until the evening.

He paced his bedroom furiously like a spoil
t child. He had gotten his way for so long that her defiance enraged him.

He called his personal assistant
for his appointments in an effort to deviate his anger.

“
And then there is Maxwell Haase’s launch party on his new fashion line at eight-thirty tonight,” trailed Evan Spann.

“Cancel it,”
Clayton sulked into his phone. “Cancel anything and everything after six and clear my day tomorrow.”