Coming Undone (12 page)

“Now that I’ve taken the edge off, we can get to the next part of the program.” He reached down to grab his pants to fish out a condom from his pocket.

Elise looked up as he lowered himself over her. The blunt head of his cock pressed against her, pressing into her body as she made room, stretching slowly.

God, he felt good. He gave her just the right amount of weight, taking most of it on his forearms. She wrapped her legs around his waist, taking him in fully.

“Fucking you is much more fun than just about anything else I can think of. In fact, it’s more fun than anything I can think of.” He laughed, leaning down to capture a kiss as he began to thrust, slow and deep.

They didn’t say much, but the silence wasn’t heavy, it was nice between them, not needing to fill the space with words.

She felt every inch of him as she clutched his back, pulling him close, loving the way his muscles played against her palms. He held her gaze as he moved within her, held it as he changed his angle, bringing the line of his cock brushing her clit over and over, until she had to bite into his pec to muffle the sound.

He hissed, but not in pain. His eyes blurred and she felt him come as her body tightened around his cock.

Not wanting to crush her, he rolled to the side before getting up to deal with the condom quickly. When he returned, she’d lit a few candles and had stacked the pillows up at the head of her bed. The golden light from the candles licked at her skin, made shadows on the walls.

He kissed her because he could and he wanted to, as he settled in beside her.

“I enjoyed meeting your friends and family today,” she said lazily, playing with his nipple ring. “This is beyond sexy, by the way.”

He grinned. It wasn’t that he’d never felt sexy or attractive. He did most of the time. He liked the way women responded to him.

But when she said it, she said it with such artlessness, such genuine appreciation, it struck him deep.

“I’m glad you like it and I’m glad you had fun today. They all enjoyed meeting you as well, and I think Nina and Rennie hit it off. It’s good for her to have connections in the neighborhood.”

“It is. Girls her age can love their friends so much. I felt horrible moving out here, making her leave her friends behind. So I’m relieved she’s making them here. Maggie is really nice. I like having connections here too.”

He took her hand, raising it to his lips to kiss each fingertip.

“We’re going to be down at the park next Saturday. A little grudge-match football game we have the weekend before Halloween. If you want to cheer and have the time off, you should show up. There’ll be kids there for Rennie. Arvin plays, so Maggie will bring Nina most likely.”

She blinked, surprised. “Thank you. I have classes each Saturday until two. If you’re still there when I’m done, Rennie and I will stop by.”

“Starts at three, so you should be good. If we start earlier, it goes on and on. So we decided a few years ago to get out there no more than two hours before sunset.”

Laughter shook her very delightful breasts. “That’s very cute.”

He frowned and then bared his teeth. “Cute? I’m a badass, Elise.

I ride a Harley and have tattoos.”

She laughed even harder. “I-I’m sure you are if the situation calls for it. But you’re a very sweet man beneath the tattoos.”

“Sweet.” He snorted, amused by her.

Rolling into him, she pushed him back to the mattress and kissed his face several times. “There’s not a damned thing wrong with sweet.

Sweet is very underrated.”

He laughed. “Ha! Chicks only want sweet for their platonic male friends.”

She sobered up and he traced the curve of her bottom lip. “Did I hit a nerve?”

Shaking her head, she dropped a kiss on his shoulder. “Old wounds.”

Old wounds. Yeah, something like that.

She thought of those words as she worked over the next week.

Wondered about how and when it had gone so wrong for her. Wondered if she’d ever not have her time with Ken hanging around her neck like a millstone.

Rennie sat at the kitchen table doing her homework while Elise folded laundry. The phone rang and she smiled at the number.

“Hello, Mama.”

“Why didn’t you tell us about this mess with Ken’s parents?”

her mother demanded.

“I’m gonna take these clothes up to your room and put them on your bed. You know which drawers they go in. I’ll be back.” She grabbed the basket and headed away from listening ears.

“What’s going on? Have they been bothering you?” she asked once she’d gotten to Rennie’s room.

“You answer my question first, Elise.” Her mother’s imperious tone made Elise smile. It was easy now, with a few thousand miles between them, to be amused.

“I didn’t tell you because you two had enough to deal with.

There’s nothing you can do and it would have upset you. Now, what happened?”

“This is why you wanted us to stay in New York until Daddy had retired. I can’t believe you didn’t tell us! We’re your parents.

We have a right to know so we can support you. Didn’t you know we would have helped in any way?”

“I did. I do. I swear to you. After Matthias . . . You just had so much to deal with, and then the murder. It’s over anyway. Now, tell me.” She sat on Rennie’s bed, a froth of pink lace and stuffed animals lined up in an orderly fashion.

“She called today. That evil cow. Said you’d been refusing to let them have their monthly phone call with Irene. Said they’d sue us if we didn’t help. Imagine my surprise to hear that they’d been threatening to ruin your new school and to take Irene out of the U.S. to raise her without her mother. Imagine
her
surprise to my response when she threatened to harm Daddy’s professorship. People like them make me crazy. However, you not sharing drives me crazy too. I don’t care what she says. You’re our child, Irene is our grandbaby; they won’t harm you through us.”

Elise couldn’t help but laugh at the idea of her mother telling off Bettina Sorenson. “I’m sorry. I just . . . Mama, these people are dangerous. You don’t need it.”

She
hated
them. Hated the Sorensons. Hated her kid getting sick at having to speak to them. Hated them for hurting her parents.

“Their son was the problem. Their son! I
don’t need
it,
pish
. Elise, you don’t get to decide what I need.” This was followed by a two-minute-long, profanity-laced rant, all in French, wherein Elise was schooled on what her job was and how they were her parents so therefore Elise needed to obey them and stop hiding things.

Her father took the phone. “She’ll be that way for a while. We’re coming out for a visit over Thanksgiving. I know we invited you back here to visit, but your mother and I decided it’s best to keep you two out west. I don’t want those vile Sorensons anywhere near you or Rennie. We’ll plan to stay for a week, during which we will be looking for a house.”

Her head began to pound and tears of frustration threatened.

“Daddy, really, it’s not necessary. They’re not a threat. I have sole custody and I haven’t refused anything. They call at random and I say no. They upset her every time they call, so I keep it to once a month. She gets cranky, cries for no reason, gets stomachaches. I wouldn’t do it at all, but I want to comply with everything so they can never have anything to use against me. I feel like I’m not protecting her, but I don’t know what else I can do without making things worse.”

“We’re coming. You’ll pick us up from the airport. Your mother says you have her services all week long at the studio. We love you, Elise. We miss you and we miss that baby. Your mother can teach 

piano anywhere, and I’m an old man who can find young people to adore him anywhere too. You need us. We need you.”

She smiled through tears. She needed them so much; even at her age, she needed them. But Ken had been part of what happened to Matthias, had been part of that long slide into oblivion, and even though she and Ken had been estranged and Ken had been doing a stint in county jail when Matthias overdosed, the guilt of it still colored her perceptions.

“Momma, can I come up now?” Rennie hollered from the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m coming down,” she told Rennie before turning back to her father. “Rennie knows you’re on the phone, you want to talk to her?”

Her father laughed and her mother got on the other line. “I’m finished with the bad words now. We’ll see you in a month and you well tell us the whole story when we arrive.”

She handed the phone to her daughter and sighed deeply as she moved toward the rest of the laundry she needed to put away. It was a relief on so many levels to have that off her chest. To be able to share this with her parents. But on the other hand, she heard the anger in her mother’s voice, had heard the barely disguised rage in her father’s. She was done with all the violence and the threats, she simply didn’t want her parents to be affected by the cancer the Sorensons were.

It was bad enough Rennie had to have a phone call from them once a month. It was more than generous, considering all the things they’d done, and in the end she continued to hope they loved Rennie enough to try. But she knew in her heart of hearts that it wouldn’t last. They’d come after her again, so the longer she was established in Seattle, the more she grew roots in the community, the more 

Rennie thrived and the longer Elise adhered to the rules of the agreement, the better off she’d be when they finally decided to act again.

“Pops told me to tell you I deserve a Fudgeicle,” Rennie announced as she came back down to hang up the phone.

“Fudge
sicle
and why am I not surprised? Your grandfather’s love of Fudgesicles is known far and wide.” Elise rolled her eyes but re-warded herself and Rennie with one each.

10

“Oh, there you are!” Erin jumped up from the picnic table and headed toward Elise and Rennie.

Rennie, spotting Nina on the swings, gave Erin a hit-and-run hug and headed off toward her friend.

“Hi there!” Elise was surprised but pleased when Erin hugged her and dragged her toward the table.

“Sit and eat. Brody will be right back. He and his team have gone off to do whatever they do before the game. I suspect shots of liquor are involved. Probably porno magazines and stories of con-quest. Or whatever they do when we’re not around.”

“More like sitting around, eating wings and drinking beer. Porn may be involved though.” Maggie sat and put a bottled water within Elise’s reach.

Erin laughed. “Oh, they’re all so badass. Big bad cops and tat artists and stuff and they’re all whining about their knees.”

Elise grinned and dug into the bag of cookies after realizing she 100 L A U R E N D A N E

hadn’t eaten much all day. Rennie played on the swings just to the left, so it was easy to chat, munch and watch the kids.

All the chatter faded into background noise when Brody came into view with several other men. His gaze immediately sought her, locked in as he strode toward her.

“Hey, you made it.” His voice, that low, darkly sweet rumble, brought everything to attention.

“I did. How were the wings and porn?”

He looked straight to Erin and the women dissolved into laughter.

“All quite spicy, thanks.”

Her phone started ringing. The cell she had just for dealing with the Sorensons. She sighed, digging it out, and sent a look to Rennie before getting up. “Excuse me, please.”

She stepped a few feet away and answered.

“Hello?” She barely resisted the urge to answer with
Why the
fuck are you calling again, you bitch?

“It’s Bettina Sorenson. You sound harried and scattered as usual.

No discipline or drive. So middle-class. Since you’re making me call you, yet again, please tell me why hasn’t my granddaughter returned any of our calls.”

And then she regretted her restraint. As if she didn’t know who the bitch was. “You know very well why. You have a scheduled phone visit once a month. I’ll have her by the phone on the fifteenth at the right time.”

“You’re difficult. Always have been. I told Ken that, but he had to have you. As if there weren’t a thousand girls more suited to him. You’ve always tried to keep her away. You don’t deserve her.”

“We’re done now. Do not call my family again about this. If you have a problem, you know my attorney’s number. Deal with him.”

“Your precious parents! Look at what they raised.”

“I’ll be sure to pass that on to them, and we’ll try not to roll our eyes so hard we sprain something.” She reined in her anger. There was no point in letting this woman get to her. She also had no idea if they recorded her, so she remained careful with what she said.

“Dude, what’s that all about?” Erin asked Brody, who shrugged but watched Elise’s body language change, tighten up. “I don’t like it, Brody. Look at her. Something is wrong.”

“Let’s get playing!” Ben called from their makeshift field.

“Wait a minute.” Brody motioned at Elise, and concern crossed Ben’s features as they took her in. She paced, her free hand flapping around. “You can start without me. I’ll be there in a bit.” He moved toward Elise.

“I’m going to say it again just so we can be very clear. You have no right to call my parents. You have no right to call me on any day but the fifteenth at six p.m. Pacific time.”

She paused, her jaw clenched.

“No,
you
don’t understand. You make her upset every time you call. She has a schedule. A life. You can’t interrupt it and I won’t let you. I’ve spoken to my attorney about this. Stop now.”

Her brow furrowed as she listened to whatever whoever it was on the other end said.

“I’m done. I’m hanging up now. Do not call again until the fifteenth.” She flipped the phone shut and shoved it in her pocket.

The shoulder he put his hand on trembled and her eyes shone with unshed tears. He tipped her chin up. “Are you all right?”

She shook her head. “I’m just really, really angry. I can’t talk about it right now. Rennie might see. Go and play. I’ll be together in a minute.”

He pulled her into a hug, and the tremor in her shoulders echoed through him as though it were a sob. “I’m going to hug you first. Then I’ll play and take you and Rennie out for pizza afterward. Even better, we’ll order in and have root beer floats. Root beer floats are made of win.”