Whatever It Takes (26 page)

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Authors: Gwynne Forster

BOOK: Whatever It Takes
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“Daddy!” She covered her mouth with her right hand, but he immediately put her at ease; fear and anger always made Kellie doubly unreasonable and obdurate, and he wanted to reason with her.
“I thought I'd drop by to see you. We don't get together as much as we should. Oh, I admit to my part in that, but I intend for us to spend more time together.”
As she unlocked the door, it became clear to him that fear had colored her initial reaction to seeing him, fear that she'd been caught with Fayson. “I . . . uh . . . Does that mean you and Mama will be getting back together?”
He knew it wasn't a serious question, but was Kellie's effort to keep the conversation away from her. “No. I've told you and Lacette that a reconciliation with Cynthia is out of the question.”
“Have a seat somewhere,” she said, as they entered the house. “I'll make you a decent cup of coffee.”
“Thanks. I can use one.” While he waited for her to come to the living room with the coffee, he couldn't help gazing around at the place he'd once called home, and wondering why it held no lure for him, why it no longer represented warmth, love, and comfort. The furnishings remained the same as when he lived there, but they seemed different, less inviting. Even the odors were new and, to him, less appealing.
“Here you are, Daddy. I heated some scones, in case you're hungry.”
This was the charming Kellie, the sweet and loving one who he'd always found so hard to deal with. But deal with her he must, and he would.
“I'm just getting back from Baltimore.” He held up his hand when she attempted to speak, and she rested her cup in its saucer and waited, as if she knew his words would hit her like a lightning strike. “My purpose in going there was to confront Melvin Moody and to upbraid him for what he did with you. I did that, and I probably caused a rift between him and his wife, though I expect that will heal.
“I didn't tell him that what he did set you on a calamitous course that is destroying your life. I didn't tell him that he taught you to use your body to control men, to barter with them for something that you want. And I didn't tell him that using that knowledge has led to your entrapment in an abysmal, ruinous relationship.” She slumped in her chair, but he knew it would only be a moment before she gathered steam and came out slugging. He headed her off.
“I do not hold him entirely responsible, because you knew that what you did was wrong. All that is in the past.” He leaned toward her, trying to reach her emotionally as well as intellectually. “Kellie, I don't want to see you swallowed up and dragged down to a life of misery; consorting with Hal Fayson is like stepping into hot quicksand.”
She sat up. “I'm not—”
He interrupted. “You just got out of his truck. I saw you. If having Lacette's brooch is so important to you, I'll buy you a diamond brooch.” When she didn't react, he said, “But that wouldn't satisfy you, would it?”
Her chin jutted out, and the fire of rage blazed in her eyes. “Gramma knew how I loved that brooch.”
“And you want it badly enough to sell yourself for it? Where's your mother?” he asked, realizing that they were alone in the house and signaling that, for the present, he would speak no more of her transgressions.
“I don't know where she is, and I'm not overly concerned.”
“What do you mean by saying you don't care where your mother is? What is happening to you?”
“She's doing her thing, I'm doing mine, and the pot can't call the kettle black. Period. If she can get that into her head, we'll get along better.”
He couldn't argue with that, but nevertheless, he didn't plan to see his daughter slip through the cracks. “Meet me for supper tomorrow.” He couldn't get used to calling the evening meal dinner and had stopped trying. “I'll pick you up here at six-thirty.”
He noticed that she squirmed, and he figured she had a date with Fayson, but he gave no quarter and repeated, “I'll be here for you at six-thirty sharp. No reason why we both should eat alone.”
He left with the feeling that he hadn't accomplished much. If he could only get her away from Frederick . . . But he knew that sex could be like a drug, binding the most unlikely individuals. Well, he'd give it his best shot. He couldn't do more.
 
 
Kellie grilled a cheese sandwich and put it on a salad plate along with a handful of baby carrots, got another cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table to eat her supper. More often than not she was alone in that big, cavernous house at night, and she hated the loneliness with an increasing vehemence that made her want to strike out at something or someone. She rinsed her dishes, put them in the dishwasher and climbed the stairs. She had lived in that house for nine years, but never before had she heard the stair steps creak. When a windowsill rattled, she whirled around, saw that the window was open and breathed again.
“It's time I left this place,” she said aloud. But where would she go? She sat on the side of her bed feeling trapped. She had beautiful, expensive sweaters, suits, and dresses, high-priced leather boots and a mink-lined coat, but no money. On Lawrence Bradley's advice, she put her inheritance into a certificate of deposit and couldn't touch it for two years. She spent what she made and lived from one payday to the next. If she moved out, her 38,000 dollars a year would do little more than pay for rent, food, and transportation unless she lowered her living standard. She'd have to give up her weekly visits to the hairdresser, manicurist, and masseur. A frown spread over her face. She would miss the feel of the masseur's hands all over her naked body. He wouldn't let her turn over and face him, but one day she intended to surprise him, and he'd never forget it . . . that is, if he wasn't gay.
The thought raised her spirits, and she picked up the phone and called him. “Gee, I'm glad you're still in the gym, Max. I've got this kink in my shoulders and I can hardly turn from one side to another. Can I run down there and see if you can get rid of it?”
“Now? Kellie, it's almost nine-thirty.”
“Max, please. I'm miserable.”
“All right. Hop a cab, and get over here. I'm tired, hungry, and ready to go home.”
She showered, dressed and called a taxi. She had the taxi stop long enough for her to get two orders of jerked chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy and string beans, and went on to the gym.
“You said you were hungry, so I brought you something to eat,” she said breezily, as if he hadn't waited forty-five minutes for her.
“Thanks. You had better done something to redeem yourself.”
She sat on a high stool, crossed her legs and let her open jacket expose her tight sweater. “Don't be such a poop.” She ate a few pieces of chicken and licked her lips at the sight of his treasure bulging in front of him. “I'd better get undressed. Let me get a towel.”
“I'll get it,” he said, “if you'll let me finish eating. This really hits the spot. Woman, I was starved.”
“I'm always nice to people who're nice to me,” she said, and when he raised an eyebrow, she laughed inwardly and shivered with anticipation.
He followed her into the massage room and pointed to the screen. “Okay. I don't want to be here all night.”
She winked at him and started pulling her sweater over her head. “It shouldn't take
that
long.”
“You're supposed to undress behind the screen.”
“Oh, pooh. You're a grown man, and you've already seen everything I've got. Well . . . not quite everything.” She stepped out of her skirt and faced him wearing her bikini panties and a demi bra.
He stepped toward her, his Adam's apple bobbing furiously and his color high from the neckline of his crew-neck T-shirt to the edge of his wavy blond hair. “Did you come here for a massage or a good screwing?”
She tossed off her bra. “Let's start with the massage.”
“No. We're starting with
this
. It's what you came for, what you've been asking for for months.” He picked her up, sucked the nipple of her left breast into his mouth and put her on the table. “If you're planning to back out, do it now.”
For an answer, she lifted her hips and began to pull down her panties. He finished the job for her, pulled her further up on the table and mounted her. Two hours later, he looked down at her and said, “I hope you're on the pill, because I didn't use anything.”
“Let's hope the pill does its job. After what you put me through, I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't.”
“What do you mean by that?”
She couldn't help laughing. “I was lying before, but now I really do need a massage.”
“Let's get dressed and get out of here. When you coming back?”
All of a sudden, she remembered Hal. “I don't know.”
“Is everything okay? I mean, did you get straightened out?”
“Quite a few times,” she told him, and she was glad that she could say that truthfully. If nothing else, Hal had taught her how to achieve a climax. “Do I need to call a cab, or will you drop me home?”
“I'll take you home.”
As they approached the house in his Jaguar, she saw Hal's truck parked across the street from the parsonage. “Oh, my God. Don't stop. Please don't stop.”
He circled the block and stopped in front of the church. “I take it you saw your man waiting for you. From now on, babe, it's massages only. Sex is plentiful, but I've only got one head.”
She slipped out of the car and headed home, walking at her normal gait. When she reached the parsonage, she didn't look toward the truck that was parked across the street, but turned into the walkway that led to the house. Then she saw him leaning against the door.
“Where the hell you been, babe, and make it good. I called you almost three hours ago.”
She staged an act of effrontery. “What do you mean by checking on me? I had dinner with my father.”
“Yeah? Well what happened to his big Cadillac that he couldn't drive you home?”
“Listen, Hal, I just had a row with my dad, and I walked out and left him in the place. I am not up to dealing with a lot of attitude.”
He lolled against the door as if he owned it. “What was the row about?”
She looked straight at him. “You. It was about you. Are you satisfied?”
He straightened up. “All right. Don't let me catch you with some dude, cause if I do, I'll break both of you in two.”
The strength of his fingers beneath her chin frightened her, but she knocked his hand away. “Don't overplay your hand, Hal,” she said, shaken though she was by his behavior and his attitude.
He gripped her arm. “Let's get this straight right here and right now. You go when I say go, and you come when I say come. You're my woman, and I call all the shots. If you forget that, it will be the biggest mistake of your life. See you tomorrow at the usual time and place.”
“I c-c-can't, Hal. My father is picking me up here at six-thirty. I told him I had an appointment, but he wouldn't hear of it. I have to meet him.”
“Don't let me find out that you went with somebody other than your father. If I do, you'll regret it.”
“I'd better go inside. If Mama sees you here, she'll report that to my father. I'm getting tired of all this harassment. See you.”
He pulled her to him and forced his tongue into her mouth. She hated his openmouthed kisses, and he knew it. He had no appreciation for oral sanitation.
“What's wrong with me, you don't like to kiss me? All you want from me is a working tool.”
She caressed his chest in an effort to soften him. “If you'd go to the dentist, get your teeth cleaned and fixed up and stop eating raw onions, maybe I'd be kissing you all the time.”
He stared at her. “Yeah? All right. I'll call you.” He ran down the steps and across the street to his truck.
She went inside, trudged up the stairs and flopped down on her bed. Nobody had to tell her that she'd bit off more than she could chew, that Hal Fayson would enslave her and that she would let him, not because she loved him; she didn't, but because of the way he made her feel in bed. She'd stay away from him for a couple of days, and then she would need him as she needed food and water.
Most of the time I don't even like him, and I hate his slovenliness and his uncouth behavior, but I don't know how to get him out of my system.
She kicked off her shoes and fell across the bed. If Hal knew she'd been with Max, he'd probably kill her. But if she hadn't done it that night, she would have done it later, because the man excited her. He'd said that would be their only time, but she'd see about that. She rolled over and stared at the ceiling.

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