[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
The next morning, Elisabeth awoke with a raging hangover. Covering her eyes, she sat up slowly and tried to take in her surroundings. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and looked around at the bedroom. Where am I?

“Good morning,” Nick said as he came through the door, a glass of water and two aspirin in his hands. “How are you feeling?”

Gladly accepting the aspirin, she just shrugged. “I’ve had better days, that’s for sure. How much did I drink last night?” She wasn’t sure exactly what happened the night before, but she knew she had been plastered if she couldn’t remember much of anything. She could barely remember standing outside Hurricane talking to Nick, but everything before and after that was a complete blur.

Nick smiled and sat down beside her, gently running his hand through her sable hair. “I don’t know, but you were pretty trashed.”

“Yeah, I can’t really remember what happened.”

Nick chuckled to himself and shifted his weight on the bed. “Let’s just say you had Hurricane going wild when I got there.”

“What? How?” she asked quickly and tried her best to remember what she had done. She could remember Greta being there and then she remembered talking to Nick outside the bar, but she was still unsure about what she was doing before then.

“Well…” he hesitated, “Let’s just say last night was the first night I’ve ever seen entertainment like you.”

“Oh God,” Elisabeth’s cheeks blazed with embarrassment. “What was I doing?”

“Dancing on top of the bar,” he laughed as her eyes grew wide and her face turned another two shades of red. “Don’t worry, you didn’t undress; I think I got there before you could.”

“That doesn’t make it much better, Nick,” she mumbled and rubbed her hands over her face.

“Why don’t you go take a warm shower and I’ll make you some breakfast?”

“You don’t have to do that,” she started to protest. She was only a little hungry anyway.

Nick smiled and unexpectedly pulled her to him, pressing their bodies together. “I know I don’t have to, but I want to. I think if I’m making breakfast while you’re in the shower I’ll behave,” he said and cocked his eyebrow as a sexy smirk formed on his lips.

Elisabeth smiled and playfully pushed him away. Getting up she turned to look at him. “Who said you had to behave?” she questioned and left the room to find the bathroom.

Damn! he thought before heading to the kitchen.

***

Nick slowly made his way down the hallway to his bedroom, careful not to spill any juice or food. Gently pushing the door open with his foot, he saw that Elisabeth was sitting on his bed facing away from him. He watched as she applied a generous amount of body lotion to her legs and then began to massage it into her calves. Nick smiled and placed the tray on his bedside table.

“Here, let me do that while you eat,” he grinned.

“Oh, it’s okay. You don’t have to-” Elisabeth started to protest but Nick had picked the tray back up and positioned it over her lap. Then he promptly took a seat at the foot of the bed and brought her legs over his lap.

Elisabeth couldn’t help but smile at Nick as he gingerly began to work the sweet smelling lotion onto her legs. She couldn’t remember ever having a man take the time to do that for her. “Hmm, you’re good. Have you done this before?”

“Oh, no, not really,” he smiled boyishly.

“Where are your grandparents?” she asked after a moment of silence worry suddenly filled her dark eyes.

“They had some errands to run today so they are out till tonight.”

“Okay,” she said with a nod. “I know this wouldn’t be good if they found me here with you.”

Nick frowned at the doubt that filled her eyes. Is she having second thoughts? No, she just doesn’t want people to gossip…that’s it… “Even if they had an opinion of what I’m doing, they don’t ever say anything. They know I’m an adult and I can take care of myself; they’re very understanding when it comes to my privacy.”

Elisabeth forced a smile and took a sip of orange juice. They may have been understanding, but she was sure that they wouldn’t approve of her being an older, married woman.

***

“Are you okay, sweetie?” Greta asked quietly as they pulled up in front of the Butler residence.

Elisabeth nodded idly and stared out the window at nothing in particular. She decided it would be best if she called Greta to take her home so her mother wouldn’t jump all over her like she was a teenager late for curfew. “Yeah, I guess…”

“You don’t sound okay. Did something happen last night?” Greta’s concern made Elisabeth smile.

“No, nothing happened. I just…well…have you ever just really dreaded going home?”

“Aww, sure honey, that’s normal.”

“Yeah, I guess,” she mumbled. “Thanks for the ride home.”

“It’s fine,” Greta smiled and then added with a wink, “You were with me the entire night.”

“Thanks,” she leaned over and gave her friend a quick hug. “I owe you.”

“Don’t forget you said that,” Greta grinned and watched as Elisabeth slowly made her way up to the front door.

Getting inside, Elisabeth dropped her handbag on the table in the foyer and started for the stairs. She froze when she heard Joshua talking to her father in the den. What in the hell is he doing here? Slowly, Elisabeth walked into the spacious room and stood staring as Joshua sat on the couch, his back to her, talking to her parents who at the moment were laughing at some little quip Joshua had thrown out.

“Elisabeth, how are you sweetie?” Abigail smiled when she noticed her daughter standing in the doorway. “Did you have fun last night?”

"Loads," she answered evenly as Joshua stood and turned to face her, a sly smile on his face.

"Well, we'll leave you two alone." Abigail smiled, shooting her daughter a look that seemed to say "Joshua really isn't as bad as you have made him out to be." Robert followed suit, stopping long enough to give his daughter a kiss on the cheek.

“Ahh, Lizzie, darling…” Joshua’s voice was sickeningly sweet as he greeted her the way a loving husband would.

“Joshua,” Elisabeth stiffened as he laced his arm around her waist and placed a kiss on her lips. I’m going to be sick, she thought and tried to push him away. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a husband come see his wife?” Joshua feigned affection.

“Not this husband,” Elisabeth’s voice lowered and her gaze hardened. Shrugging his hands away from her body, she turned and started up the stairs. Unfortunately, Joshua was hot on her trail.

“Lizzie, baby…” he said in an annoyingly whiny voice as he followed her into the bedroom. Once inside the privacy of the room, Joshua’s demeanor quickly changed from loving husband to the son of a bitch he truly was. Grabbing Elisabeth roughly by the shoulders, he shoved her against the wall and dropped his voice to a menacing whisper. “Where the hell were you last night?”

“I went out with Greta,” she said trying in vain to free her small frame from his grasp. “If you must know, she took me out and got me drunk so I stayed the night with her. If you don’t believe me, call her and ask.”

“Cut the shit, Elisabeth,” he said and placed one large hand on her throat. “I know you arrived with Greta, but you didn’t leave with her.”

“Oh please, Joshua,” she scoffed, unafraid that he was threatening to choke her. “Why do you always assume something?”

“Because I know people in this town and don’t you forget that”

“Joshua, what are you talking about?” she asked and felt his hand slide away from her throat and into her hair. Before she knew what he was doing, Joshua swiftly moved Elisabeth from against the wall and shoved her down onto the bed. Elisabeth didn’t have time to react before she felt his body pressing on top of her. “Get off of me!”

“What’s wrong, Lizzie?” his face held false confusion. “Can’t a husband show his wife how much he loves her?”

Elisabeth struggled against his grasp. He had her arms pinned above her head and she felt his free hand sliding over her body. “Stop it!”

“Oh, I get it,” he nodded as his hand slid over her breast, “I’m not Nick.”

Closing her eyes, she tried to block him out, but it was no use. Joshua was taunting her; he was determined to make her miserable. “Please, leave me alone.”

“Does he touch you like this?” he asked and ran his hand up her thigh. Moving his hand around to her backside, he roughly pulled her body up against his. “Or is that how he touches you?”

Elisabeth squeezed her eyes shut and tried to fight back the tears that were pricking her eyes. “Why are you doing this? Stop!”

Joshua’s eyes darkened and he took Elisabeth’s face in his hand. “I want you to feel like the whore you are.” Not saying another word, he let her go and got off the bed.

She watched as he straightened his clothing and exited the room. Fighting the urge to throw her lamp at him, Elisabeth curled up on her bed as she began to cry.

***

Joshua walked quickly down the stairs and into the kitchen where Kaitlyn and Jacob were having a snack. Placing a kiss on his daughter’s forehead and ruffling his son’s hair, he looked at his mother-in-law and smiled. “Thank you for everything, Abigail.”

“Oh, it’s no problem hon,” she smiled warmly.

“Where are you going, Daddy?” Kaitlyn questioned, her eyes clouded with sadness.

“I just have some things to take care of, sweetie pie. I’ll be back soon and we can all go out as a family. Sound good?”

“Yeah,” she smiled.

“Okay, sweet pea. Love you guys,” he placed another quick kiss on both of their foreheads and walked out the back door. Getting into his rental car, he pulled out the cell phone. As soon as the person on the other end answered he said, “Thanks for the info. I’ll be in touch.” Everything was all working out.

***

“Yeah, it was pretty packed there last night,” Nick told referring to Hurricane. He was working the afternoon at the hardware shop because David had a few errands to run.

“It wasn’t that packed there the other night,” Graham replied as his cell phone began to ring. “Hang on a sec, man.”

Nick nodded and flipped through a sports magazine while Graham took his phone call.

“Okay, no problem,” Graham answered and the call ended.

“Who was that?” Nick asked as he continued to flip through the pages.

“No one,” his friend said. “Well, I should get going. Don’t wanna keep you from being productive.”

“Yeah right,” Nick laughed. “See ya later, man.” Letting out a quiet sigh, he checked his watch. Only two hours left, he thought and smiled.