Underestimated (18 page)

paper ripped and I accidentally touched myself. I would

wash my hands over and over, afraid that they really

would turn black.

My grandmother had set in stone when she told me

too that my fingers would turn black. I never found out the

truth until I was over sixteen years old. We were at my

aunt’s house one evening, and she and my other aunt were

laughing and joking about my grandmother telling them the

same thing when they were little girls.

“Where’d you go, Ry?” Dawson asked once again,

pulling me from my thoughts.

“Seven.”

“Uh?” he asked, backing away briefly.

I didn’t answer. I kissed him instead, trying to

make myself focus on him.

He sensed every part of my trepidation and would

stop and kiss me lightly until I was calm and was back

with him and not Drew. I didn’t talk to him about Drew

that night, and was not ready to share that part of my life

just yet. I didn’t know if I ever would.

After a couple of weeks of looking at every new

face that came into the shop like they were there to spy on

me, constantly staring out my windows at night for a

strange car, and jumping at every little noise, I started to

relax. I was starting to realize nobody was there looking

for me, and nobody was taking me back to that place.

I had been in Misty Bay for almost nine months.

My life was good. I had good friends, and I was madly in

love with my sheriff. Yes. Me. In love. It made me as

giddy as a bunch of teenaged girls at a slumber party. I

loved my job and my boss, Starlight. We had grown the

shop into a lively and striving business.

The months passed, and I settled happily into my

life. I still had my hang ups, and although the dreams of

Justin were replaced with happy dreams and seeing him

play baseball and sitting at a table with a real family

rather than the ones where he was crying or cold or

hungry. The nightmares of Drew still haunted my sleep,

and I was grateful for Dawson, who woke with me and

soothed me back to reality.

One morning I had opened the shop and Starlight

was already there, sitting at her desk in her office. She

was wearing the biggest smile ever.

“Good morning,” I said, depositing my purse on its

rightful hook.

“Guess where you and I are going?” she asked,

holding an envelope in her hand.

“Where?” I asked.

“Vegas, baby,” she exclaimed, pulling two plane

tickets from the envelope.

Like hell I am…

“Why?” I asked as my heart plummeted to the

bottom of my stomach.

“Remember I told you about the trade show they

have there. You have done so much with this place, and I

want you to come with me. I wouldn’t feel right going

without you.”

“We can’t just close the shop,” I tried, knowing it

wouldn’t work. I knew she just wanted to reward me for

my charitable work, but I didn’t want to go anywhere near

Las Vegas.

“Yes we can. It’s for four days, and we would

only really be closing for three. We will fly out after

closing on Thursday, close up on Friday, Saturday, and

Monday, and be back for business on Tuesday.”

“When?” I asked. Chances were Drew wouldn’t

even be home, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t be

recognized. I had no idea what he had told people. Was I

supposed to be missing? Did he tell them that I left him? I

had no desire to go to Las Vegas. I had never even typed

so much as the word Las Vegas in a search engine. I was

tempted a few times, curious as to whether or not he was

looking for me or what was being said, but I didn’t. I was

afraid he could somehow find out what I had searched,

like he did when I was there.

“Next month, and don’t you try to get out of it

either. We’ll have a blast, and we could use a couple new

vendors.”

“Why wouldn’t you want to go to Vegas?” Dawson

asked later that evening as we both made spaghetti in my

kitchen.

I still hadn’t disclosed any more information than I

had to, and he still didn’t know that Drew was there. I

knew it was crazy, sort of. Las Vegas was populated with

almost two million people, but I still didn’t want to go. I

didn’t want to disappoint Starlight either.

“Because I can’t stand the thought of being away

from you for four whole days,” I replied, it wasn’t a lie.

We spent every waking moment that we weren’t working,

together. He had even stopped working the night shift on

the weekends after his discovery of me being scared out of

my wits, worrying that someone was coming for me.

He kissed me. “Have I told you that I loved you

today?” he asked.

“Maybe, but you can tell me again if you want,” I

replied, kissing him back.

My mind drifted back to Drew a lot that night.

Even standing there in the kitchen, cutting up onions, I

thought about Dawson telling me that he loved me several

times a day. Drew had never once told me in six years that

he loved me. The closest time that I, not him, had ever

come close was late one night when he had just gotten

back from someplace that I didn’t know. I never asked. I

wasn’t allowed to know because it didn’t concern me. The

one time that I did ask, he had told me that my business

was to please him, and that was it.

I was already in my bed and was asleep when he

crawled in beside me. It was the only time that I could

ever remember him being somewhat gentle with me. He

had kissed me a lot. He hardly ever kissed me when we

had sex, but that night he kissed me deep and passionate.

He didn’t ask me to do anything and caressed me like he

never had.

He didn’t tell me not to come, and when I was

ready he was ready with me. He stared down at me

attentively when we were finished, and brushed my cheek

with the back of his hand. I kissed him softly and spoke.

“I could have loved you,” I said, and I could have.

“This isn’t about love,” he said, got off of me and

left me there alone with my thoughts and fears.

The following morning he was back to being

Drew, and demanded that I sit naked in his office, spread

eagle on his sofa while he worked. I had to give him a

blowjob under his desk while he did a video conference,

and endure one of his spankings because he had

masturbated me to orgasm and had told me not to come. I

spent seven hours in his office that day, and he wouldn’t

even let me dress when Rebecca brought in our lunch. He

said she had seen me naked before and I sat there

humiliated, waiting for her to leave.

After lunch he had decided that the sofa was too

far away and made me sit on his desk with one foot on the

floor and one on his desk. He worked the mouse on his

computer, made phone calls, and even did a conference

call about margin in a store in, Los Angeles, all while I sat

there and let him penetrate me first with his fingers, than

an ink pen, a letter opener, and when he would get bored

he would go back to his job for a while. He would just

nonchalantly pick something up, anything that he could

push in and out of me while I sat quietly, letting him do

what he wanted, waiting for the time that he would tell me

that I could go.

My first dream that night was about Justin. He was

around a year old. It was the middle of summer and

extremely hot. He was sleeping beside me on my mattress

on the floor. I had the windows rolled out and kept him

covered with a sheet so that the mosquitos wouldn’t eat

him during the night. I was wakened when my parents

came home fighting. They always fought. I knew my dad

hit my mom and could tell that she crashed into the table.

She never backed down though. She always gave it right

back to him.

Justin had sat up, scared, and I rubbed his back and

hummed a soothing tune, letting him know that I was there,

and he was okay. I listened to my dad scream at my mom

and call her a slut and a whore and how no other man

would do what he was doing and raise some other man’s

kid. I knew after they came and took Justin away from me

that day. That was why it was so easy for my dad to let

him go. He had a different dad than I did, but I didn’t

understand when or how. I remembered when Justin was

born and how happy my dad was that he had been a boy.

I sat up in bed with tears in my eyes, missing my

little lost brother. I did do a lot better, and the dreams

came less and less. Finding out that he had a nice home

and parents who adored him, made it easier, but they still

crept up every now and then. I looked over to Dawson. I

hadn’t wakened him. Normally I would wake to him

holding me and caressing me, talking me calm, and letting

me know that he was there. I was there safe with him and

wrapped in his arms. I touched his cheek with my hand. I

was so blessed to have him. Any other man would have

probably deemed me crazy and got the hell away from me

as fast as he could. Dawson didn’t. He was always right

there, and for the life of me I didn’t know why. He turned

in and kissed my wrist.

“You okay?” he asked with closed eyes. I lay back

down as he pulled me close to him.

Chapter 7

I dreamed about Drew more and more. He was

haunting me, consuming my sleep, and I knew that it was

flying to Las Vegas that weighed heavy on my mind. I was

so thankful for Dawson, being there to talk me down after

every time I woke panicked.

Three days before we were to fly out was the

worst. I went to bed with Dawson, and the dread and

anticipation of being in Las Vegas was nerve wrecking. I

fell right to sleep after he had fixed me a cup of Starlight’s

famous relaxing tea.

It was the first time ever that Drew had taken me

out in public. He had a benefit banquet and a lot of well-

to-do people were going to be there. He had someone

come and do my hair, bought me a beautiful evening gown,

and my makeup and nails were done professionally as

well. I met him at the foyer, and I actually felt a little

something for him. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo

and his mouth noticeably dropped when he saw me. My

hair was up with soft dangling curls. I wore a beautiful,

opened back dress that was black with a low cut front,

showing just the right amount of cleavage. The dress was

long and slit clear up my right side. The material hugged

my curves perfectly and the three inch stilettos with the

strap delicately wrapping my ankles, tied it all together.

That was the first time that I knew for sure what

Drew did for a living, and why he was as rich as he was.

He took my hand and opened my door for me. I felt happy

and was glad to be getting out of the house, of course he

coached me the whole way. I knew what I was allowed to

say and what I wasn’t, which was pretty much nothing.

Smile and look pretty, that was my job.

We pulled into a fairly empty parking garage, and I

wondered what we were doing there. It didn’t look like a

place for a banquet; however, the building was

breathtaking. I had been to downtown Las Vegas a few

times, but not in the evening where the lights seemed

magical.

“What are we doing, Drew?” I asked, wondering

whether I should or not.

“I am taking you to one of my stores,” he replied as

the driver pulled right up to the elevator doors.

I wanted to ask him what kind of store, but I did

have a pretty good idea. I had heard him on the phone

enough to pick up bits and pieces.

We went up in a very impressive elevator. The

back wall was mirrored. White, soft leather benches

covered the other two sides. My breath caught in my throat

when the doors opened to the sixteenth floor.

We were standing in the most exquisite jewelry

store that I had ever seen. Well, I had never seen one, but

still. The white marble floors gleamed, and the massive

amount of lit display cases with sparkling diamonds were

breath taking. I knew that Drew worked in diamonds, but I