Fall From Grace (Slater #1) (12 page)

“Now, I should fix us some food.  And then I must go to work” Alice said handing Laura back her nightgown.

Laura nodded as she watched Alice get back to the work of preparing a meal on the stove.  The guilt and confusion of what just transpired seemed to flood Laura all at once and she suddenly felt so exhausted that all she wanted to do was to sleep.

Chapter Twenty

Alice.

Alice loved Laura from the moment she laid eyes on her.  She was a beautiful blonde woman, so broken and bruised; she was like an angel who had her wings snapped.  She couldn’t imagine the hurt that had caused such a beauty to end up in a horrid place like the asylum.  When she heard the other nurses speaking about Laura having had a fit and attacking the minister, she knew it was time to take that broken angel from this hell.  She could look after Laura better, she would love her better. So she waited just before the start of her shift when the security would be fewer and she would be able to sneak Laura away without being seen.  Alice felt she needed to give Laura the protection she herself was never afforded. That minister. The anger that she felt when Laura said that they had been lovers, that man didn’t deserve such a beautiful person in his life.  She knew all about Porter, before he left for the seminary, the lie that he was now living.  Oh she knew all about him, because she too had succumbed to his good looks and charms.  He was no better than Stefan, an evil piece of filth that didn’t deserve life let alone such beauty on the end of their cocks.

She felt Porter’s embrace under the bridge; she was brought endless pleasure by his hands and cock.  It hurt her to think that he had taken advantage of her beautiful angel. And the way that Laura spoke his name, she loved him.  Alice had heard Laura’s story, how she was with child and then the child died during childbirth, her son never took a breath, Laura was so distraught that she attacked her family, attempting to kill them and gouged at her own body.  She knew that the father was never been in the picture and now Alice knew why. Porter had gone off to seminary and left Laura alone, only to waltz back into her life as if he’d done nothing wrong and then that look of concern etched into his face, it made Alice sick.

She knew that look in his eye when he realised that Laura was missing, it was the same look that Alice got every time she looked at Laura.  But when he looked at Alice, he didn’t even know who she was.  He didn’t remember Alice at all as she was just a notch in his belt like every other woman he’d been with.  Laura however, she was something special to him.  Alice felt the smug feeling creep into her stomach as she thought that he would be pining over Laura, grieving about losing her, but she would never tell, she would never let him know where she was. 

Alice felt she was believable the day before, as the two fools tried to find clues to where Laura could be. Alice couldn’t wipe the smile from her face at the thought that she held Laura’s heart.  She heard and felt Laura’s body responding to her kisses.  Alice knew that Laura would be struggling with the morality of what they were doing, but she also knew that Laura would let her heart win.  Alice would care for her, give her the love she deserved, she wouldn’t leave her like, Laura’s parents or Porter had.

Just the thought of his name filled Alice with disgust. She hated him. She hated who he was to Laura, she hated his whole family, she knew the only way to stop him from looking for Laura was to kill him. She had to make a plan.  She had to have Laura for herself. Laura was hers.

When Alice arrived at work there was a flurry of activity as men scoured the building still looking for Laura.  She wondered if they would finally give up.  She could see the fluster that Stefan was in; he looked like he’d aged a hundred years. Alice shook her head and wiped the smile off her face. 

“Nurse Alice?” a deep voice spoke behind her. 

She felt herself tense as she recognised Porter’s voice.  She steeled her face before turning to look at him.

“Yes Father?” she smiled sweetly.

“Can I speak with you privately please?” he asked. 

He looked almost as dishevelled as Stefan.  His hair was messed and he wore large bags under his eyes, it was apparent that he had not slept.

Alice nodded and turned to follow him out of the room into the small chapel that the asylum set up for Porter’s ministry.  She looked around the room, taking in the large cross that adorned one wall and the small wooden pews tucked in tightly, overcrowding the room, making it feel stifling.  Porter flopped down wearily onto one of the pews and motioned for her to sit beside him.  Alice gingerly sat, smoothing her skirt over her legs.  As she looked at Porter, it was obvious why he had managed to have a string of women and why Laura had fallen in love with him.  After all she had been one of those women that had fallen for his charms and allowed him to know her carnally.  Porter sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair as he leant forward to rest his elbows on his knees.  Alice could see that he was worried sick over Laura’s disappearance, in another time she may have cared, but Alice knew that Laura was better off with her; she could look after her better than Porter.  After all where was he when she lost her child? She thought to herself. Alice had asked Laura why he didn’t come back.  Laura told her that she had gone to his father. Alice was shaken out of her thoughts when Porter shifted in his seat again sitting up to look into her face.

“I know you from somewhere Alice” he said narrowing his eyes as he tried to place where he could know her.

Alice shook her head, she didn’t want him to remember and she had to think quickly on how to throw him off.

“I wouldn’t think you do.  I think I would remember such a handsome face” she smiled sweetly.

Alice watched as lust ran through his eyes.  She smiled inwardly to herself.  He could fool the others; he could try and fool his God.  But he was still the same Porter; a man that couldn’t control his carnal urges.  Porter shook his head as if attempting to shake the desires from him.

“You were close to Laura?” he asked.

Alice smiled and nodded her head.

“Yes she is a beautiful woman, she shared many things with me” she smiled as she watched Porter squirm on the seat. 

His eyes flashed concern. She knew all about him and who he was to Laura.

“What did she share? I mean anything that would help us learn where she could be? For her safety’s sake” he asked leaning closer to Alice.

Alice could feel the heat emanating between them and she felt her lust begin to rise.  He was still the handsome young man that she had given herself to under the bridge.  She shook her head, throwing away the thoughts of lust driven desires, remembering her hatred for the man that sat beside her.

“She told me about you.” She said dryly, enjoying the look of discomfort her revelation brought.

He nodded slightly before lowering his head to his hands again.  She could hear what sounded like a sob escape his lips and she curled her mouth in disgust.

“I’m sure that she is safe” she said tentatively reaching out touching Porter’s arm.

He looked up at her; his dark eyes brimmed with tears, his brows pulled together in a tight frown.  He took hold of Alice’s hand and held it tight, circling her palm with his thumb.  Alice sucked in a breath at the softness of his touch.

“How do you know that she is safe Alice?” he asked, his frown deepening.

Alice looked away, unable to make eye contact. She stood abruptly, pulling her hand from his, but feeling a sense of emptiness at the loss of contact.

“Laura is an angel, an angel that you broke. You deserve to pay for what you did to her, but I know that she is strong. She will be safe, wherever she is” Alice said, delighting in the way his body crumpled in pain with every word that she spat.

Chapter Twenty One

Porter.

He couldn’t work out where he knew Nurse Alice from. She seemed so familiar.  He asked Stefan what he knew of her.  Apparently her parents had passed away when she was a child and she was raised in an orphanage.  The only orphanage he knew was two county’s away from his small village.  But he couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that he knew her, that she was hiding something.  That she was perhaps even the one responsible for Laura’s disappearance. 

Porter watched her for the rest of the day, well aware that she knew he was watching her.  She cared for the patients; she was tender and sweet with them.  However, whenever she looked at Porter, she sneered, her eyes were filled with anger.  He believed it was because she had grown close to Laura and knew his part in Laura’s demise.  Alice called Laura a broken angel.  Porter always saw Laura the same, as an angel that he had a part in breaking.  He couldn’t keep the sorrow from his spirit; it ebbed its way through his whole heart and soul.  He saw her the day under the bridge; he was buried in another woman, another nameless, faceless woman.  Of all the women that he had ever known, Laura was the only one whose name and face he remembered.  He remembered the scent of her skin, her touch on his body, the way she tasted, the way she clenched around him during orgasm.  He had trouble controlling his desire and would feel his cock twitch in excitement just at the thought of her.  He needed to find her; he needed to protect her like he hadn’t previously.  He knew that her child never took a breath; he knew the child would have died regardless of him being present, but maybe if he had been; it would have prevented her from breaking and ending up in such a horrid place. 

It was early morning when Nurse Alice finally showed some sign of leaving.  She quietened down the patients and the groans became nothing more than subtle mumbles.  Porter watched as she got herself ready and said her goodbyes.  As she passed Porter, she smiled sweetly, a smile that only reached her lips, not her eyes.  Porter nodded politely and watched her exit through the heavy front doors.  He waited by the side window as she entered into the smattering of trees at the edge of the asylum, before he hauled himself through the wooden doors.  The chill in the air bit at his face as he watched the white skirts of Nurse Alice in the distance.  Porter reminded himself not to get too close so as not to startle her, trying to walk as quietly as possible while he followed the nurse through the woods.  After what seemed like they were going around in circles, Porter started to question whether she realised he was following her, when he saw the small stone cottage loom into the distance.  The smoke curled its way up into the canopy from the chimney. 

Porter stopped beside a large oak tree as nurse Alice stopped at her front door, looking back over her shoulder.  Her nerves worn on her face, Porter heard the heavy door bang shut which was his cue to try and sneak a view of what made this nurse so jittery.

Porter crept quietly to the small grimy window that looked into the house.  The room was dark, all bar a flicker of a candle and the brittle sunlight that barely filled the room through the thickness of the canopy above them.  Movement caught Porter’s eye and he shifted slightly to get a better look. Nurse Alice walked towards a bed that sat in the corner as she removed her hat and let her red hair tumble down over her shoulders.  Porter’s eyes widened when he saw her seductively sleek over to a figure that sat perched on the edge of the bed.  He was unable to make out the figure that seemed to shrink away slightly at Nurse Alice’s approach.  Edging closer to the window he carefully moved some of the ivy that covered the pane and his eyes widened in shock.  There on the edge of the bed, dressed in nothing but night clothes, was Laura.  Her blonde hair was cleaned and her eyes were wide as Nurse Alice slowly removed her uniform, her large breasts spilling down her chest.  Nurse Alice reached out to Laura’s face and brought her lips to the nurse’s breasts, throwing her head back as Laura suckled her nipples. 

Porter watched as Laura looked up into the nurse’s eyes for direction, which Nurse Alice seemed to be willing to give as she guided Laura’s hand to her mound.  He could just make out Laura’s slender fingers diving into the Nurses ginger folds. He felt his cock twitch at the sight, reprimanding his own desires. Guilt filled him, he knew he should stop what was going on, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sight as Nurse Alice took Laura’s face in her hands and guided her mouth down to her core.  He heard Alice’s cries of pleasure as her body began to tremble under Laura’s kisses.  The sight was hypnotic and Porter found himself stroking his hardened shaft through his pants.  As Nurse Alice screamed again, this time in orgasm, he felt his cock pulse, spilling his seed into his pants, with a loud grunt.

Laura’s eyes quickly turned to Porter and pierced into him. He watched as a smile slowly spread across her lips.  It wasn’t a smile of a manic, but one of a woman of desire.  As Nurse Alice reached down to Laura’s shoulders and pushed her back onto the bed Laura didn’t take her eyes from Porters.  Nurse Alice buried her head into Laura’s lap.  Laura’s hand cupped one of her own breasts and her eyes pierced Porter’s, her tongue flicking out over her bottom lip.  Porter groaned as he felt himself begin to grow hard again.  He couldn’t watch anymore.  Slowly he peeled himself from the show and inched away from the house, only to hear Laura’s cries of ecstasy.  He couldn’t say for sure, but Porter had been certain it was his name that she was crying.