Killing Me Softly (23 page)

‘Then I brought you here.’

Cat was silent, nodding slowly. ‘How long?’

Lexi swallowed. She didn’t want to answer but had no other choice. ‘Eleven years since you were taken.’

Cat closed her eyes briefly. ‘Eleven years. I’ve lost eleven years?’ She stared intently at Lexi, her green eyes, the green of summer leaves, welling with tears. ‘Why? Why did this happen to me?’ She shook her head. ‘I can see him. In my mind. I’ve always seen him. I’ve been hiding from him. He was so angry, looming out of the dark, bringing pain every time. I tried to hide from him. I tried to go away.’ She put her hands to her ears. ‘But he kept shrieking at me, blaming me.’ Dropping her hands, a sneer formed on her damaged face. She glared at Lexi.

‘Cat? What is it?’

‘He thought I was you. He took me to that old mansion near our house, told me he’d bought it for you, a present, because he knew you loved it. Then he did things . . . ’ She shook her head, flinching. ‘I . . . I can’t remember. But I do remember him saying it was all right because we were already married in the eyes of God.’ Her gaze bored into Lexi, the shadow of nightmares turning the light green a stormy grey. ‘He did this to me because he thought I was you. This happened to me because of you!’

Lexi’s eyes filled with tears, her guilt, sorrow and pain spilling over. Daemon gripped her hand, but she shook away the comfort. She didn’t deserve it. Nodding, swallowing hard, she finally said, ‘It should have been me.’

‘You tried to hide it from me?’

‘No, she didn’t,’ Billy said, but Cat didn’t seem to register. She just glared.

Lexi shook her head, unable to meet Cat’s accusing glare. ‘I was going to tell you. But we were told not to say too much until your doctor gets here. I just told you what I thought was most relevant.’

Cat nodded, the look on her face twisted, alien. ‘Relevant. RELEVANT!’ She threw her mug across the room, the smash of the ceramic lost in the echo of her yell. ‘I’ve lost eleven years of my life and it should have been you? I didn’t even go to Mum and Dad’s funeral or mourn for them or go to university and get the degree I wanted. I’ve lost everything, and it should have been you?’ She shook, touched her scar with trembling fingers. ‘I’ve got to go. I’ve got to get out of here. I can’t look at you at the moment. You are what I should be. I hate you. I hate you!’

Her words echoed in the room even as the back door slammed.

Billy turned to Lexi. ‘She didn’t mean it. It was too much to hear all at once. Don’t take what she said to heart. None of what happened was your fault. Don’t wish it had happened to you.’

Lexi sat in dumb silence as Billy left the room, barely hearing the kitchen door slam shut behind him. Pain, grief and guilt, they were almost unbearable, tearing at her. Daemon pulled her against him. She stiffened. Then as he stroked her hair, the tears came rushing out in terrible, heart-wrenching sobs.

Daemon said nothing, letting her cry. He had a feeling she hadn’t ever cried properly over this, had let the guilt and pain build up inside. She had to get them out. He had to prove to her she was so much more.

He gently stroked her cheeks, wiping away the tracks left by her tears. ‘Don’t believe what Cat said. She’s confused and angry. She will come to see that. We all lash out at the people we most love; it’s human nature. She’ll realise the blame really lies with a dead man.’

Alexia nodded. ‘I know you’re right but it still hurts. I wanted this to be such a happy time and it’s not.’

‘It will be. Just give her time.’ He kissed her again and she sighed, melting into him.

They sat there for a long time taking comfort in each other’s presence. Suddenly the phone shrilled in the study and Alexia sighed. ‘That’ll be Doctor Carlton. He said he’d call to let me know his ETA after he’d arranged to cover his work.’

‘I’ll come with you.’ Daemon took her hand and followed her to the study. She walked over to the desk to answer the phone, her back to the window.

While she was on the phone Daemon came to stand behind her to look out the window. Dark shadows shifted and stirred as clouds passed before the moon. As a child, he’d imagined evil lurking in the dark spaces. His mother hadn’t cared – she’d turned off the light and told him to shut his mouth, she couldn’t stand his whining.

He turned from the window, his gaze passing over the neat and tidy study. The lovely old wooden desk was spotless – it didn’t even look used. Filing cabinets had typed tags on the outside – alphabetised, he noticed, smiling. There wasn’t a pen or pad or paper out of place. Something white on the floor caught his eye. Two pieces of paper had fallen there after feeding through the fax.

Alexia was talking quietly to Doctor Carlton. He bent to pick them up. The name on the cover sheet caught his eye. It was addressed to a Detective Fox. The paper shifted in his hand so he could see the writing on the second sheet: red, angry letters that emblazoned themselves across his mind. He dropped the cover letter and began to read.

‘Okay, Doctor Carlton. Thanks. We’ll see you at lunch.’ Lexi hung up the phone, a smile on her face. ‘Doctor Carlton will be here sooner than . . . ’ The words died in her throat as she turned and saw Daemon holding the letter. ‘Don’t read that!’ Without thinking, she dived forward and snatched the letter out of his hand, her fingers burning as they closed over the paper. Ashamed and angry, she turned and stuffed it into the bottom drawer with the others.

‘What is that?’

His tone made her wince. ‘A letter.’

His eyes snapped to hers, anger flashing dangerously in their depths. ‘That’s not a letter. It’s a threat. Who’s sending you death threats? You’ve contacted the police?’

‘Yes!’ she snapped, feeling as if she was backed into a corner.

‘What are they doing about it?’

She shrugged. ‘Not much. They can’t do much with a few letters.’

His jaw tensed. ‘There are more?’

She tightened her jaw, crossing her arms over her chest. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve been getting them on and off for years. I’m sure you get your fair share, too.’

‘Not like that.’

He was angry but not at her. The realisation washed over her like a soothing wave, making her step forward, taking his hand in hers. ‘The police don’t think he will act on them. They’re only words,’ she shrugged. ‘He’s never hurt me.’

Daemon pointed at the desk where the offending letter lay hidden from sight in the bottom drawer. ‘That is more than words. That is hatred. He means what he says. He’s been watching you.’ His face was pale as he pulled her against his chest. She could feel his heart beating hard, driven by panic and adrenaline. In a funny way, she felt safe.

‘I know. But the letters have only become more threatening in the past few months. He’s always called me names but I was certain he didn’t know where I was. Now . . . ’ she shrugged helplessly.

Daemon stroked her hair, his panic giving way to anger. ‘You read this when you came down earlier, didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Why would I? It doesn’t have anything to do with you.’

He jerked her away, holding her at arm’s length. ‘Nothing to do with me? Are you serious?’ His voice rose. ‘It has everything to do with me after what’s happened between us. You should have told me.’

Anger sparked in her eyes in response. ‘Don’t yell at me.’

‘I’m not yelling!’

‘Yes you are, and you have no right! I’ve been dealing with this by myself for years so excuse me for not running to you blubbering when I received this one! Just because we spent the night making love doesn’t mean you have any claims on me.’

Rather than stiffening, he reached out and stroked her cheek. ‘I didn’t say I did have claims on you. But I do care. And I don’t want you to deal with this by yourself.’

‘I don’t care what you want!’ she spat, disarmed by the sudden gentleness in his eyes.

‘I thought we were getting past this mistrust. I thought you knew you could tell me anything.’

‘Have you told me everything, Daemon? Don’t you have some secrets you keep to yourself?’ He flinched at the question. ‘I can see that you do. So tell me. You can tell me anything.’ Her words, a mocking echo of his, cut into his guilt.

‘Now is not the time.’

She nodded. ‘I see. So you can pick and choose when you tell me things and I have to tell you everything the moment it happens. Nice double standard.’

He stiffened. ‘I just meant that so much has happened in the past few hours – there hasn’t been time. I will tell you. I want to tell you. Saying the timing isn’t right is not a double standard. You have other things to worry about right now rather than listen to me tell you about my miserable childhood and terrible marriage. I still can’t believe you don’t know – the rest of the world does. Darla made certain of that.’

He could see her anger die as quickly as it had come as she registered his words. ‘I’m sorry. I’m a right bitch. Of course you don’t want to talk about that. I get it. It’s just that I feel on edge and that letter didn’t help. But I never promised to tell you everything. And I won’t go looking up your past on the web, either. We’re living in the moment, remember? Can’t we leave it at that? At least for now. I’m too tired to deal with anything else.’

Daemon knew he didn’t have a choice. She was right. He was being hypocritical. He couldn’t expect her to come clean about everything if he wasn’t prepared to do the same. Begrudgingly he nodded. ‘As long as you say the police are looking into it . . . I suppose so. But don’t expect me not to worry about you. It’s not every day you find out someone is sending your lover death threats.’

Alexia started. ‘Your lover?’

Daemon grabbed her, pressing her body firmly against his before she could pull away. ‘I don’t know what you thought, Alexia, but I’m not in the habit of having one-night stands. We started something, and while we are trying to live in the moment, it’s a moment I want to repeat. You got a problem with that?’

‘No. I just thought . . . ’ she shook her head. ‘Never mind.’ She sighed. ‘So, your lover.’ She looked up at him, her eyes still full of shadows, but as her gaze ran over him, those shadows faded away to be replaced by a burning desire that seared him to his soul. ‘I think I can handle that.’ Reaching up, she pulled his head down and placed a nibbling, tentative kiss on his lips.

Flames leaped to life in Daemon’s veins. He returned her kiss, deepening it, his hands racing over her back, pulling her closer, wanting nothing more in that moment than to put their argument behind them and feel her hot, wet warmth surround him. Their teeth clashed as, with hungry passion-fuelled kisses, he lifted her off her feet. He stumbled towards the desk and pushed Alexia on top of it, pressing in between her legs, pulling the jumper over her head.

‘Daemon, the door —’

‘It’s closed,’ he groaned as he ran a hot path down her neck with his lips whilst undoing the buttons of her pyjama top, exposing smooth, creamy breasts. Her nipples were ready for him, her breasts heaving as he took one in his mouth and sucked.

She moaned and made a half-hearted attempt to push him away. ‘Billy and Cat—’

‘What about them?’ He trailed passionate kisses from one swollen tip to the other.

‘They might come in . . . Oh God!’ She groaned as he blew cold air on to each nipple and then covered her cold skin with his hot wet mouth.

‘I don’t think so. I think they’ll be gone a while.’ He began to kiss a path down her stomach, her skin trembling with each moist touch.

‘But Cat. She —’

He cupped her face in between his palms. ‘You worry too much about other people. You know it’s best to let her cool off. Billy’s with her. She’s in good hands.’ He began to nibble at her lips again.

‘The others . . . Bev, Karl. They could come in.’

He undid the drawstring bow on the front of the pyjama pants and began to push them down with his hands while his lips and his tongue followed their progress in a slow, torturous journey. ‘It’s too early. Besides, the only person I’m interested in coming is you.’

Alexia laughed, a low, husky sound that drove straight into his gut, stoking the fire. ‘Is that how lovers talk to each other?’

‘It’s how I talk to you.’ Her pyjama bottoms were gone now and she was sitting on the desk, gloriously naked. He looked up from where he knelt between her legs, a definite twinkle in his eye. ‘Is that a problem?’ He ducked his head, his tongue licking a hot, wet path on her inner thigh. She sucked in a breath. ‘You didn’t answer me.’ He licked up the other thigh to the juncture between her legs. ‘Is that a problem?’ He parted her and touched his tongue to her clitoris.

‘No,’ she gasped.

‘Good,’ he said and licked her again.

As the desire flared inside her she thought she would scream. The tightness built in thick waves and as his tongue licked and played and delved into the velvety depths of her, she thought she might truly go insane.

Collapsing back on the desk she sent stationery flying, her arms sweeping up over her head, back arching in sheer carnal pleasure. ‘Oh God, please now, now.’

That seemed to be all he was waiting for. He stood, divesting himself of his jeans in one sweep and pulled her hips to the edge of the desk and up in one fluid motion, jamming himself inside her waiting body in a stroke that shook both of them to the core. She exploded around him as he pumped in and out, her muscles clenching him in waves. With a surprised shout, he pushed in one last time, making her climax in one glorious spiralling explosion. As he shuddered to completion he collapsed on her, kissing her neck and her face.

‘That was . . . ’

‘I know,’ she said huskily. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, but she did know. Making love to him was unexpected, amazing, soul shattering. Even though she was exhausted and well satiated, she wanted more. ‘Will it always be like this?’

‘No,’ he murmured and laughed at her crestfallen expression. ‘It will get better.’

She smiled; a secret smile of satisfaction that was only for him. ‘Perhaps next time we will make it to the bed,’ she purred, nuzzling his neck, enjoying her sexuality for the first time in her life, feeling entirely empowered.