Fragrance of Revenge (16 page)

Chapter 43

He heard Mercedes calling to him and
thought she might be in danger. He rushed over and opened the door to the
bedroom area. “Are you okay?” he asked, standing in the doorway.

“I heard some noises outside the
bedroom door and wondered if there was a problem.”

“Oh that. I was just moving a chair
against the door.”

“I’m sorry I bothered you Ralph.”

She looked very relieved, but also
very attractive holding the sheet against her. “It’s okay. You had a
significant trauma and I understand.” He started to return to the sitting area.

“Ralph.”

“What?”

“Do you mind sitting over there
until I fall asleep?”

“Sure, just let me get the files I
was reviewing. Okay?”

“Thanks.”

When he returned she was laying
face down way over in the bed with her face facing the far wall. He sat down
and resumed his case review. Several minutes later he looked over and she must
have fallen asleep. He noticed her uncovered shoulders rising and falling in a
slow rhythm.

The sight of her long red hair and
uncovered shoulders reminded him of the time she was naked in her hotel room.

They, actually she, had too much
to drink that night. She was going to be sick and had to leave the dining room.
He guided her to her hotel room. After being sick in the bathroom, she came
into the bedroom and started undressing. Realizing he was watching her, she got
pissed at him and pushed him out of the bedroom as she unhooked her bra. She had
an incredible body and he could have taken advantage of her, but didn’t and
left.

His thoughts were interrupted now
by her crying out ‘no.’

The sheet had slipped down and
exposed the side of her breast. He went over and took a mental picture of how
she looked. He reached down and pulled the sheet up to her neck. Then he reclined
on the near side of the bed. It was all he could do not to take his clothes off
and get under the sheets with her. He wondered what she had endured and knew
this was not the right time for him.

Being close to her like this made
him realize that he was indeed protecting her. He had failed once this weekend,
and was not going to fail her again. He took a deep breath and smelled the
fragrance of Gardenia. He remembered holding her close and dancing with her.
His thoughts were soon replaced by images of what must have happened to her.

He looked over at her shoulder and
saw the red welts.
I’m so sorry Mercedes; I let you down once…it will never
happen again.
He took another deep breath and wished she felt the same way
about him.

He thought he heard something in
the other room. He listened intently and seconds later thought he heard the
chair sliding across the floor.

Chapter 44

“Lighthouse Manor, how can I help
you?” Chris answered the phone.

“I’m glad I caught you.”

“Alexis?”

“Surprise, surprise, yes it’s me.”

“Aren’t you with the doctor?”

“Yes, I am. However, he is tied up
at the moment. Do you know where he lives?”

“Yes, I’ve been to his house.
Why?”

“How would you like to keep me
company for a few days?”

“What?”

“Consider this a call from Doctor
Adler. He is going to take next week off.”

“I’m not sure I totally
understand.”

“Chris, listen to me. I don’t want
to go over this on the phone with you. I would like to talk to you in person. I
have learned some things and I’m not sure I’m going to go back to the facility.
In fact, I know I’m not going back. I need your help. Doesn’t your shift end at
noon? Can you come to his house when you get off?”

“Yes it does. I guess I can.”

“Good. The next question is
whether you can take any days off next week, or better the whole week?”

“I have several days of vacation,
but I don’t think I can arrange coverage on such short notice.”

“Work it out any way you can.
Think of it this way. How would you like to have
me
for hours and hours,
or more appropriately, days and days? Doesn’t that give you some thoughts?”

“What about Doctor Adler?”

“He won’t be an issue.”

“What?”

He heard the click in his ear
followed by the dial tone.

He replayed parts of their
conversation. The doctor is tied up and he won’t be an issue. She has learned
some things. More importantly his mind quickly went to being with Alexis for
days.

He quickly pulled the reserve
schedule list from the file and called Maureen Doyle.

“Hello.”

“Maureen, this is Christopher
Sullivan over at the Lighthouse Manor. I’m sorry for the short notice, but an
emergency has come up and I have been called away. Do you have any days
available this week where you could cover my shift?”

“As a matter of fact I have all
week.”

“Well, I might need all week. Can
you cover this week for me starting tomorrow afternoon?”

“Yes, I can. Why isn’t Doctor
Adler calling to cover your shift?”

“Well, he is taking this week off
as well and has signed out Alexis Strong also.”

“That’s interesting. He’s never
done that before.”

“He said his time off has to do
with Alexis getting back into society. I’m not sure exactly what that means.”

“Okay, I’ll cover your shift. What
about the weekend?”

“I should be back to work by
then.”

“If you are not going to be, just
give me a call and let me know. I can cover that if you need me to. Oh, what is
your emergency?”

He realized he should have thought
about that before he called. “I just got a call from relatives in Arizona that my uncle and aunt went missing and they haven’t been heard from in over a
week.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Thanks, I better go. Thanks again
for covering for me on such short notice. I’ll leave details for you on each of
the patients, but if you need more information, you can talk to either Betty or
Pam.”

“Good luck…I hope you locate your
relatives and they are safe.”

“Maureen thanks again, you are a
life saver.” He hung up the phone and made some mental notes about what he used
for an excuse.

He wondered what Alexis had
learned and what she could possibly do with the doctor for the entire week.
Those thoughts were quickly replaced with the memory of their last time
together.

Then he remembered the money
pickup was later tonight. He could do both. Should he take this opportunity to
share her family information with her? That gave him some thoughts.

Chapter 45

She thought about Chris coming.
That could have two meanings. She was going to have both. Thank goodness the
good doctor had the number of the care home in his address book. There were
many things she needed to consider, but the idea she might have a week to work
them all out gave her a comfortable feeling.

Speaking of comfortable feelings—I
wonder how the good doctor is dealing with his loneliness. She slid the black
tie knot tight up against her throat. It was hard to breathe and it hurt. Her
image in the mirror shocked her. Her face was beet red, but her body looked sensuous
in the bedroom light. She loosened the tie and headed quickly down to the
basement.

In her bare feet she was able to
sneak up on the doctor. She moved slowly and stole a look at him. His eyes were
closed and he was obviously missing her. She hadn’t seen him limp like that in
all the time they had been together.
Maybe I’m not giving myself enough
credit for what I do to men.

There were many things to think
about. Right now she was thinking about her twin sister and what she had done.
Could
she be like her? She kept men captive for sexual purposes, and isn’t that what
she is doing right now? Melanie we should have met. In fact, we should have
grown up together. Maybe things would have been different. Maybe we could have
been double trouble to these men. Just maybe we would not have been stopped.

Her thoughts drifted to her other
sister. Mercedes is an FBI agent who managed to save her boyfriend from her
twin. Yesss, he is definitely worth saving. The doctor is good, and Chris is
much better, but there was something about Scott Tucker’s picture that she was
drawn to.

She could feel her plan
developing. There was a way to have many things. However, right now she needed
to test the good doctor.

*.*.*

She leapt into the bedroom, her
feet pounded on the floor. The doctor’s eyes opened and he focused on her
image. She could see his eyes move down to take in the black tie hanging
between her naked breasts. She pulled her long red hair across the front of her
body and he smiled at her. His eyes traveled the length of her and he was
showing signs of liking what he was looking at.

There were beads of sweat on her
body from the warm temp in the upstairs bedroom. She could see her body
glistening in the soft light of the lamp on the nightstand. The urge she had
was still there, but it was much stronger. She wanted the doctor’s body now,
but knew she needed to wait.

“You like what you see?”

“Yes indeed.”

“I can see you’re telling the
truth based on your body’s reaction. Did you miss me?”

“Yes. You were gone a long time.”

“I wanted you to miss me.” She
looked at him tied to the bed and helpless. His wrists were tied, and he wasn’t
just holding onto the ropes. “Is there anything you need?” She climbed onto the
bed and sat down on his thighs.

“More of what we did earlier would
be nice.”

“You like what we did?”

He nodded. She felt the coolness
of his legs against her warm rear end. She touched him briefly, and his body
jerked.

“I have to go to the bathroom.”

She smiled. “No.”

“Alexis, please. I have to go.”

“You remember what we did the last
time you needed to go. However, since you didn’t like that treatment you will
just have to wait.”

He tested the ropes at his wrists,
but he was securely fastened.

She ran her finger down between
her breasts and gathered some sweat on her finger. She put her finger against
his lips. “Shush.”

She could tell by his expression
he was distraught and by his body’s reaction excited.

“Where were you?”

“That is no way to talk to me. You
are not in a position of authority any longer. I am your master. If you want to
ask me a question, you better phrase it with some respect.” She blew a long
breath down from his nose to his groin. She smiled. “That’s the kind of respect
I was hoping for.”

“You were gone so long, I really
missed you my lady.”

“That is much better. You never
told me about my family. Do you know who they are?”

“You were dropped off at the
facility as a little girl.”

“I know that. I can only remember
being here. So, you don’t know anything about my real family?”

“No, not really.”

She nodded and touched him. “Do
you play with yourself?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

“No.”

“You don’t…what did you call it
the other day—masturbate?”

“No.”

“Interesting.”

“Do you ever have fantasies?”

“I guess. Where is this going? I
need to go to the bathroom.”

“Tell me about some of your
fantasies.”

“Alexis, please.”

“Please what?”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Once again you fail to respect
your position and me.” She directed a slap that caused him to yell out.

He took a deep breath. “I’m sorry…master.”

“If you want some of your
fantasies fulfilled you need to tell me what some of them are. Now, do you ever
masturbate?”

“No, not really.”

“You know for a studied doctor,
you sure are being oppositional.”

“Why do you have those magazines
in your nightstand?”

“You were not supposed to go in my
bedroom.”

He wasn’t getting it at all. She
slapped him again twice between his legs.

“Why do you have my pictures in
your nightstand?”

He didn’t answer her. “Close your
eyes.” He hesitated. “
Close
your eyes.” He did cautiously. She licked
once at his pain. “Does that make you feel any better?”

“Yes.”

“Good. We’re getting somewhere.
Now do you use those books and pictures to play with yourself?”

“Yes.”

She rewarded him with her lips.
She noticed he was getting even bigger. “Didn’t you tell me once that everyone
played with their body? That it was natural to have those feelings and to enjoy
your own body? Did you forget what you had me do, when I was younger? You
watched me, and I watched what happened to your body. You hypnotized me at that
point, but we know now that I never was.”

“I should have been truthful with
you, I’m sorry. You remembered your lessons well.”

“I should have. You have been
taking advantage of me for years now. But, we both know you like things reversed.
Isn’t that correct?”

“Yes…yes I do.”

She was losing her self control
and rewarded him. She could tell he was having some difficulty with her
attention to his body, and his need to go to the bathroom. After several
minutes she needed to resume her interrogation.

“Master, I need you. Please. I’ll
do anything.”

“Finally we have reached the point
of truth.” She smiled and teased him some more but then she grabbed him
roughly. “You lied to me about not knowing my family.” She grimaced and
squeezed him tightly. She let go and leapt off the bed.

“You could have had everything,
and all your fantasies fulfilled.”

She watched his eyes bulge when he
saw the straight razor. “That’s right doctor. You lied about several things,
but you lied about the most important one. You need to be reminded of the
penalty for lying. One last question and think carefully and truthfully about
your answer.”

His head and eyes followed her and
the razor as she climbed back on his legs.

“Do you think you should be
punished for not telling me the truth about my family?”