"Hoowee!" The old man hooted.
"Get out of here Jay." Victoria snapped at him. "Drinks on the house later. Come back in an hour."
"I'm gone." He gathered up his tobacco and coat to hit the road. Victoria followed him to the door and locked it as he left, flipping the sign over to say she was closed.
When she turned around I was sure I had made the right decision to fly out there. I had no idea why she was there but that look of defiance was something I'd come to need
It was also exactly how she always looked just before we fucked.
"Now tell me exactly what the hell you're doing here Vincent, before I throw you out. You have fifteen minutes to say something convincing. You have my full attention."
She was loving it - turning the tables on me and it was having exactly the right effect, although probably not the one she intended.
I wanted her more than ever.
I looked around at the small tables everywhere, the bar and… yes, the pool table.
"I didn’t expect to find you here Victoria, but I'm very glad I did."
"You have fourteen minutes Medici, before I call Will, my boyfriend, to haul your ass out of here. He's very big, very jealous and he won’t be happy to see you."
No… it couldn’t be….
"Will? As in, William Hyde?"
"Yes. William Hyde. How do you know his name? Have you been snooping around in my private life you creep?"
I was reeling, torn between my desire to get her onto that pool table and the absolute necessity of figuring out what the hell was going on.
"I can’t stop thinking about you." There were a million other things I could have said, but that was the only one I could think of.
She stamped her foot on the ground, slammed her fists into her sides and growled as though it was the most infuriating thing in the world.
All that fearsome rage, that hot blood. If she gave in to me now it would make our fucking in the elevator look like a prayer meeting by comparison.
The problem was that now I wanted more than sex. Much more, but all we had right now was this impossible mess and it had to be cleared up right now before anything else happened.
The situation was a mess and so was I, but what she did next only screwed me up even more….
Chapter Twenty-Two
Things had been going really well, like really, really well.
I had spent time with mom and dad and had already made a start on trying to sort out their affairs. Will had insisted on giving me a part time job managing in the sports bar, even though I really had no experience with that kind of work at all, but he was adamant that he would train me in and that I would be great at it given time.
It was only my second day there - my second God damn day - when Vincent Medici walked in through my door in all his 'fuck me now' clothes like the incarnation of big city balls in small town Shillington. He looked so damn sharp, so manicured, so cocky sitting on that stupid barstool with his folders laid out before him.
He was just begging to be all messed up and reduced to an incoherent mass by a pair of panties he couldn't resist.
My heart was pounding.
I couldn't let anything like that happen. It had only been a few days since he had rocked my world in an elevator but already it felt like a lifetime and a world away.
And then he said it.
"I can't stop thinking about you."
Why did he have to say that? Why that exactly?
I had been feeling exactly the same way - every minute, every hour, every day since I had watched him walk out the door of Clarissa's office. God help me, even when Will and I had made love all I could think about was him, how much he wanted me and how much everything about me seemed to drive him wild and fuck him up.
I wasn't even sure I could go be with Will again when all I could think about with him inside me was another man and how much better it had been.
A thousand times better.
Lying there and waiting for him to come had felt as close to cheating as you can get without leaving your boyfriend's arms.
I marched over to Vincent and pushed him backwards. The look of shock in his eyes was perfect. Cutting him down to size was a pleasure I would never get enough of. He bumped against the pool table and I went down on my knees in front of him.
I was going to drive him wild and then throw him the fuck out of there. Catch and release, that's all he was good for, and then I would break it off with Will first thing tonight before anything else.
It would never work between us. I knew that now. Not with either of them.
"Do it Victoria." I looked up at him. The pain I was causing him was exquisite. I wanted him to beg for it - not zip it up and turn into prince God damn charming like Will.
"Go on." He said. "Just like you promised - I've been waiting for it since I first heard you say it and I can't take much more of this."
He wanted me to do it and he wasn't ashamed to ask. Of course Will wanted me to suck his dick too but why he wouldn’t let me was a mystery.
A mystery I no longer gave a fuck about.
I pulled open the buttons on Vincent's pants and then waited. His massive cock bulged out through his designer shorts.
"Do it God damn it, I've been waiting so long. Don’t make me wait any longer, I can't take it anymore."
I blew hot air through his shorts onto his dick and watched him throw that beautiful head of his back and groan like an animal in pain.
"Not yet." I said. "I've got something else for you first."
He leaned his hands against the pool table behind him and waited, but I knew he wouldn't hold himself back for too much longer - not a man like him - desire like that can’t be denied. I stood up, turned around and then watched him over my shoulder while I rolled up my skirt from behind.
I wanted to see exactly what it did to him.
"You dirty little bitch." He hissed.
"That's right." I said. "That's me - the dirty little bitch from Shillington, Ohio who has Manhattan eating out of her hand."
"You don’t know what you're doing to me Victoria."
My skirt rode up over my stockings to reveal the garters that sent him out of his mind. I hadn't stopped wearing them since the day Clarissa had convinced me to put them on for him. It was part of the madness of this whole situation that I hadn’t been able to let go of. Maybe it was the feeling of power - knowing what they could do to him if he ever saw them again and what they would make him do to me.
"You're the most sadistic little bitch on earth." He said.
It was exactly what I wanted to hear.
I continued on up - the fabric glided smoothly over my black lined, pink silk panties and I watched him groan.
He knew I was wet for him, even if he couldn't see it yet.
He was still pinned against the pool table, the massive bulge between his legs struggling for release. It had taken Will so long to get hard the night before and even when we had first been together all those years ago, he had never been as hard as and as desperate to be inside me as Vincent Medici was whenever he saw my lingerie.
And he was staring at it now. I was showing it to him. I wanted to break him and see him lose control.
He pushed himself violently from the pool table and with one violent breath he gripped the panties and tore them from me. The sting of the shredding fabric was exhilarating. He stuffing the remains into his pocket and then he was right there on me, between my legs, cupping me with one big selfish hand - palming me, owning me.
"I'm going to fuck you now like you've never been fucked before you little bitch."
"Big promise Medici, let's see you can live up to it you fucking asshole."
I hissed the words at him but I knew he could do it. Only he had the confidence to say that, mean it, and make it come true.
We ignored the pounding at the door while Vincent pushed the fingers of one hand inside me, pulled me back towards him with the other and then pressed that huge, bulging di
ck of his against my ass.
"Go away." I shouted at the door. "We're not open yet."
"Whoever the hell you are, get the fuck out of here. Bar will open later." Vincent added. The abandon was intoxicating. We didn’t care and the whole world could go to hell.
"I'm coming in there. Vicky, who the hell is in there with you?"
Except for William Hyde.
"Oh shit - that's him." I began pushing away from Vincent but he held me tightly. God how I didn’t want him to ever let go but he had to release me or I would have to make him let go. "Get away from me Medici," I shouted, "that's Will, that's my boyfriend. This is his bar."
"Fuck him. Fuck this." Vincent shouted. He let me go, cursing, and began to straighten himself up. I knew it wasn't fair to do that to him but to not do it would have been even less fair to Will.
I couldn’t believe what I had become. I couldn't believe what I had gotten myself into with Vincent Medici, yet again.
By the time Will had unlocked the door and let himself in we were semi-decent again, but only a blind man would have doubted what had been going on.
Will stood half way between the doorway and the spot where Vincent and I stood next to the pool table. I had never seen the man look so angry and upset and he was absolutely right. My heart went out to him but I knew words could never make this right, not in a million years. He deserved far better than this and I swore to myself that I would make it up to him somehow if it took me the rest of my life to do it.
"Who the fuck is this guy?" He said. "Was he… was he hurting you?"
I wished to God I could have said yes to that question. It would have been so much easier to be the victim in all this instead of the loose woman who was causing everyone else so much pain with her stupid, irresponsible actions, but that was not the case. It had never been the case and if I was honest with myself I could see that from the very beginning of all this it had been me who had provoked, teased, head-fucked and thought only of her own pleasure right up until the last few moments.
I wanted the world to swallow me whole and erase every trace of me from the surface of the earth.
"I'm not hurting her." Vincent said. The bastard sounded so calm already. How he managed to do that I'll never know. "And you've got some explaining to do Mr. Hyde."
"Me? I've got some explaining to do?" He marched up to Vincent getting right into his face. Will was no stranger to getting physical with his background in bar work and security but Vincent didn’t back down one inch. In fact, he looked totally un-intimidated. He was a little taller than Will, more buff and athletic, but Will was way stockier and heavier. I couldn't see the Manhattan venture capitalist coming out on top in a Shillington, Ohio bar room brawl.
I didn’t want to find out.
"Stop this Will, this is all my fault."
He ignored me.
"How about you explain to me what the hell those are?"
Will was nose to nose with Vincent as he pointed to the floor between us. I followed the line from his finger down to the ground and I wanted to cry. I felt nauseous and weak.
Vincent stooped immediately to pick them up.
"Those are mine." He said, the tiny crumpled bundle of pink satin and black lace disappearing into his hand.
"Like hell they are." Will grabbed his arm and began to wrestle him but I guess Vincent had a trick or two up his sleeve after all and before I could tell what was happening the heavy weight of Will's frame had slammed down onto the pool table.
"I think you'll find that in fact, they are." Vincent looked as cool as if he had just signed off on a business deal with a new client. He had Will in a wrist lock that was bending his thick arm backwards over the edge of the table, paralyzing him into submission.
I had to snap out of it.
As mesmerizing as this was, watching two full grown, hulking men fight over my underwear, I could not let this continue. This mess was my responsibility and I had never intended for either of them to get hurt - especially not Will.
That beautiful, arrogant bastard Medici on the other hand….
"Stop it now you pair of idiots. Vincent, let him go. Will…. God damn it, just let him have the underwear if he wants them. He's right anyway, they are his."
Will was mystified, horrified, but it was enough to make him stop struggling and as soon as he did Vincent released him.
"Thank you Victoria." Vincent nodded to me and placed the underwear safely into his pocket.
"But Vicky, those are yours." Will protested. "I've seen you wear them." He looked indignant, betrayed.
"Since when are you so interested in my underwear? You never mentioned them once before in all the years we were together."
His jaw tightened, his teeth ground together.
"Maybe that's because I never saw you hand them over to a fucking stranger before."
Chapter Twenty-Three
"Victoria, please come back, you have to listen to the whole story."
The news that her so-called ex-boyfriend had stolen her patent hadn’t gone down well and the dumb expression on Will's face had made it quite obvious that he was guilty as hell. I offered to take her somewhere better to explain things fully but typical Victoria, she snatched the car keys from my hand and took off. Before I knew what was happening she was in the driver's seat of my rental and I was pounding on the window.
"Victoria, open up. You have to listen to me, there's much more to this than you think."
She didn’t listen. Instead, she started up then engine.
"Where are you going?" I shouted through the glass.
She didn't answer. Instead, she hit the gas and sped off.
The woman was born to infuriate and cause trouble….
I saw Will taking off as well so I sprinted after him. Whether he wanted to or not he was going to give me a ride.
"Get out of my fucking car asshole." He tried to push me out of the passenger seat but I locked his wrist and pushed his arm back in his face.
"You're taking me with you Will. Now put the keys in the ignition and get this mid-range heap of shit moving. You and I both know you have some explaining to do."
"I don’t know what you're talking about."
"How about theft and sale of a patent that you had no input in creating."
"The patent was legally mine, I didn’t do anything wrong."
I squeezed hard on his arm. I think I would have enjoyed breaking it, but I'm not that much of an idiot.
"You can explain that to Victoria. Now put the keys in the ignition or I'm going to break this arm and do the driving myself."
I put another twist on his arm and finally he started fumbling to get his car started. Victoria was already disappearing out of view.
"Hurry up Will, she's going to lose us if you can't find your way into that hole."
He finally got it in but she was gone. How could she ever have spent time with this lying, cheating, clumsy idiot was beyond me.
"Get out." I said. "I'll drive. You've messed this up enough already."
"No way. I'm driving. You can break my arm if you want to but--"
I grabbed his arm again and twisted hard enough to make him yell.
"Okay, okay." He said. "You can drive. Let's get moving already, she's headed to a place called Thornhill Road outside of town."
The name hit me like a slap in the face. I hadn't heard it in years. In fact, I had forgotten it even existed. Coming back to Shillington, Ohio after all this time had been a trip so far, but to hear that street address again was surreal.
"Why would she go there?"
"She used to live there. Her old family home is there, she always goes there sometimes when she's upset."
"How can you be sure she'll go there now?"
"I don’t, it's a hunch. Do you have a better idea?"
I shrugged. I didn't want to tell him how well I knew that road, but I planned to get rid of him before we got there.
We switched sides and I took the steering wheel. About
ten minutes into the ride I started banging on the dash.
"So much for your Thornhill Road crap Will, look at that." I pointed to car the same make and model as my rental. "That's my car over there - at that gas station."
"God damn it, she must have run short of gas. Pull in."
I skidded into the station and watched him jump out. He was still banging on the glass like a chump as I pulled back out onto the road.
Now all I had to do was remember the way to Thornhill Road. It had been such a long, long time and my family hadn’t lived there all that long, but somehow, a little bit at a time, it was all coming back to me and the closer I got the clearer things became.
Victoria Price. The name still didn’t mean anything to me from my past, but her face, those eyes… had we really met before?
Finally I saw the street up ahead. I never thought I'd ever see that place again and it felt like I was in a dream. The handful of houses on road were all still there, just like they had been all those years ago but they were derelict now.
It was weird, like my childhood had died right in front of me. Those homes had all been so full of life, filled with families, kids, pets and all the junk of sub-urban life. Now they empty of life, overgrown, neglected; a picture postcard of urban decay.
I spotted my rental parked badly out front of a house I still recognized clearly despite all the years. It was the house next door to what had been our family home for a while. The SUV was half up on the broken sidewalk and half on the cracked asphalt of the road.
There was no sign of Victoria anywhere but she couldn't be too far away.
I pulled in, jumped out of Will's car and headed straight for the front door of my old next door neighbor's house. It was hanging off the hinges.
"Don’t come any closer."
I stopped dead in my tracks. Victoria was right there in front of me. She was sitting in an old rocking chair on the porch, obscured in shadow.
I recognized that rocking chair. I couldn't believe it was still there after all that time.
"Victoria, you have to listen - I need to explain."
I needed to explain so much.
"I've had enough explaining Vincent. You bought my patent from Will, months before I ever met you but you led me on like a fool anyway, pretending you were interested in it when all you wanted was to fuck me. And you bought a patent from someone without even verifying that it really belonged to them. I thought you were smarter than that, I honestly did."
WEAK Part Three: A Thornhill Road Romance Page 2
