by L. B. Dunbar
“So, you’re saying, you were in the store when it happened, but you didn’t hear anything?” June’s brow pinches as she narrows her eyes at Roxie.
“No, I was…I was in the back.” Roxie pauses as I approach, and I swipe a hand along her lower back. I mean it as comfort, but she stiffens, and I instantly drop my hand. Unfortunately, June doesn’t miss the touch.
“And you’re the one who called 9-1-1?” June nods at me.
“I did. I was in the store with Roxie when it happened.”
June’s brows rise, her smooth forehead furrowing. Her hair is pulled back into the most severe bun I’ve ever seen, tightly tugging her skin near her temples.
“And where were you located in the store?” she questions.
“I was in the back as well.”
“Your exact position?” June questions, and I swallow. She isn’t serious, right?
“Between the shelves,” Roxie clarifies. “The last row.”
“I see,” June draws out. “You were both in the back, and what exactly were you doing that you couldn’t hear anything other than bells?” Her lip crooks up, fighting a smile, and I’m ready to tell her it’s none of her business when I realize it’s important to explain Roxie and I were busy, which is why we didn’t see anything.
“We were…”
“Shelving a book in a place I couldn’t reach,” Roxanne blurts. “Billy is very handy.”
I choke, and June’s smile grows a little broader. “So I’ve been told.” Dammit. Why can’t she move along in her questioning?
“Yes, well, because we were in the back, I didn’t see or hear anyone breaking in.” Roxie’s voice begins to tremble, and my hand clenches and unclenches, wanting to reach for her again.
“Well, no one broke in, it appears,” June states rather formally. “There’s no forced entry.”
Roxanne’s head turns to me. “Didn’t you lock the door?”
“It wasn’t locked?” I’m peering at June as I speak, hesitant in my confidence. I can’t recall hearing the lock click into place as I was fixated on Roxie. Her shy grin when I entered. The rush of heat along her neck. The way her eyes latched onto mine. All I could think about was getting her between the shelves and having a do-over of what wasn’t done earlier.
June glances back and forth between Roxie and myself with one brow arched. Her smile wavers. “The door wasn’t locked when I walked in. Did you unlock it, expecting me?”
“I haven’t moved,” Roxie states.
“I went through the back and up the stairs to check on Roxie’s niece.” The words draw Roxie’s attention, and she turns on me with a scowl. I hold my face still, hoping not to give away what I discovered up there or rather who I didn’t see.
“You have a niece?” June asks.
“She’s newly moved in with me,” Roxanne clarifies, and June makes a note on her tablet.
“Can you tell me a little bit about her?”
Roxie explains details, like Sadie’s name, age, and the circumstances of her moving to Blue Ridge. Thankfully, she leaves out my involvement. It isn’t relevant.
June nods, no longer teasing either of us with the information she received. “I’ve heard of your girl.” Roxanne bristles beside me and stands taller. June’s addressing me as she speaks, and for a second, I think she knows my secret. My girl. She knows Sadie is my daughter.
“Heard she’s a little troublemaker up at the high school.”
“Now, wait a minute…” I begin, but Roxie steps forward, her hands fisting at her side.
“She’s had a lot of things happen at once. More than any child should have to bear. Her mother died. She moved here. She discovered…” Roxie pauses as she looks at me, but I shake my head, just a slight twitch, and her face hardens. “She needs some compassion, and she isn’t getting it from the other kids.”
This is the first I’ve heard these things. I mean, I knew there were issues up at the school, but this sounds a little more serious than just a conflict or two.
“Does sound like she’s had it rough,” June sympathizes. “But I can’t deny this looks like an inside job, and as the two of you seem to be each other’s alibi, I’d like to question Sadie, if I may.”
“She’s sleeping,” I interject, turning to Roxie for approval of this defense, but I’ve lost Roxanne. She’s stepped a foot away from me, putting some distance between us.
“I can assure you my niece would never do such a thing as steal from me.” Roxie’s voice trembles again with conviction and anger. The sheriff deputy is Butch Marshall, and his radio crackles from where he stands by the front door. He tugs the receiver up to his mouth.
“Barne,” he addresses his superior. “We have a possible break-in at Hetty’s Flower Shop down the street. An alarm is going off.”
June slaps the tablet cover closed and gives Butch permission to follow up. Then she turns narrowed eyes on Roxanne.
“Doesn’t your niece work there?”
20
Denial. It’s more than a river wide.
[Roxanne]
I refuse to believe Sadie robbed me or the floral shop a block away. Sadie would have no need to steal money. I give her everything she needs, and she’s a responsible girl. At sixteen, she wanted a job and instead of working for me, which she said would feel like she was taking more money from me, she got a job from Hetty down the street. I love fresh flowers, and I’ve befriended her as I try to buy a bouquet a week to adorn the front counter. Greenery adds a certain element to any space, but I digress because I don’t want to think Sadie could possibly be a thief. Robbery? Breaking and entering? I just don’t believe it.
I hate the fact doubt is festering as I climb the stairs to my apartment with leaden feet. Billy left at the same time as June, offering to walk her out and wait while I locked the store behind him. He turned back for a second, his eyes worrisome and focused on me, but I can’t give anymore thought to Billy.
I stand in the middle of my entry and turn in a slow circle within my store. Everything checked out. Nothing else removed. Still, I feel violated in a way I’ve never felt before. Stripped, naked, and grimy. My hands rub up and down each arm as I hold myself. I push away thoughts of Billy, remembering how we were on the floor. I don’t want to equate the two experiences in my head, but they merge, and I shiver with an additional sensation of violation.
I’m not accusing Billy of anything. I willingly went down to that floor and let him enter my underwear, but…nothing’s going the way it should with him, which means nothing should be happening with him, of all people, and now I feel dirty about what we did. I need to get my head together. I need to make Sadie my focus.
I enter my apartment, caution filtering around me.
There was no forced entry.
I’m safe here, in my home. Sadie’s safe as well, I tell myself as I enter her room. She’s laying under the covers, the yellow quilt pulled over her shoulder. She faces the wall, and while I don’t want to disturb her, I need to touch her. I need to assure myself she’s here, and she’s okay. I brush back her midnight hair, finding sweat at her temples. She’s very warm under my knuckles, which skim the side of her cheek. My hand instinctively cups over her forehead. Is she feverish? She feels clammy. Is she sick? My hand pulls back, and I tuck the quilt tighter over her shoulder as I stare down at her.
Heard she’s a troublemaker up at the high school.
This isn’t Sadie. She doesn’t cause trouble. She follows the rules as her mother instilled in her. Schedules. Timelines. Structure. These were the ideals my sister embedded into Sadie. That’s not to say she didn’t have a slight rebellious streak, and Theresa allowed that freak flag to fly on occasion with me, but once I returned Sadie, it was all back to business. My sister’s greatest fear was Sadie would be like her—a wild child, who made a mistake one night to fulfill a fantasy—and end up derailed.
Sadie’s been derailed anyway, and her black mood with matching hair and nails is further evidence of the re
bel inside who has been longing to be released. She isn’t a troublemaker. She’s troubled, and I don’t know how to reach her.
I turn from the edge of her bed and stumble over something as I try to exit her room.
“Dammit, Sadie,” I mutter, thinking she needs to pick up her things, especially her gym shoes which lay right inside her door.
A soft knock comes to the back door as I exit her room and my heart leaps. I’m suddenly so jumpy. Hesitantly, I stalk through the kitchen and grab a knife from the holder on the counter. Nearing the door in the darkened room, I slowly slide two blinds apart to see a man looming against the window. I’m ready to scream when a hand comes to the window, and I hear a muffled voice on the other side of the glass. Pressing his face to the window, I see it’s Billy.
“What the heck?” I snap, unlocking the door and tugging it open with enough force the blinds rattle against the door.
“I just wanted to check on you,” he states, forcing himself into the apartment.
“I just saw you,” I remind him, my voice rising as well as my temper.
“I know, but I’m unsettled by how things went.”
“You mean, how I was robbed?”
“I mean how things happened on the floor.”
We stare at one another. I don’t want to say what happened is forgotten because it’s not, but it’s also the furthest thing on my mind in the present.
“Why are you holding that knife?” Billy hisses, and my head lowers, eyes finding the knife still in my hand.
“You scared the crap out of me.”
Billy’s brows arch. “Are you scared? Are you afraid to be here?”
I’m not. Not really, but a part of me can’t shake that feeling of being violated, and I don’t want to be alone. Billy steps up to me, his hand coming to the back of my neck.
“Let me stay. I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.” The plea in his voice along with the promise does strange things to me, and I agree without a thought. It feels a little wrong, but him touching me also feels so right. It’s just what I need.
Billy takes off his boots and then quietly follows me to my room.
“Sadie okay?” he whispers as we enter my bedroom.
“Yeah. She’s asleep.” I don’t bother to tell him my concerns for her health. Billy nods and then curls onto my bed, lying on his side.
“Go do what you need to do before bed,” he states, and I stare down at him, feeling strange about his position and soft command. It sounds so…domestic, and I don’t dare dream of such things with him. Entering the bathroom located off the hall, I brush my teeth, change into my nightshirt, and comb out my hair. When I return to my room, I slowly sit before Billy and then match his position, my back to his front.
A hand coasts up my spine while his body lowers, scooting his knees underneath mine and forcing me to tug them upward. My nightshirt shifts, and a warm hand rubs over my thigh.
“What are you doing?” I whisper, not accusing him but curious. My shirt lifts higher until my underwear is exposed, and then his mouth sucks at the middle of my back. Open mouth kisses travel down my spine to the base and the edge of my panties.
“You’re safe,” he says between suction. “I’m here,” he tells me, and I want to believe he means so much more. My eyes close as I give into the soothing sensation of his mouth working over my skin, along my skeleton. He remains in the same general area of my body. Moving to my waist and nipping at my hip. His hand continues to stroke over my thigh. Eventually, he palms over one covered cheek, and I still.
“You’re okay,” he reminds me. “Nothing’s going to happen to you. Or Sadie.” The comment relaxes me, and I fall back under his spell. His soothing kisses. His stroking palm. Then he slips his finger under the band at my leg and curls along the elastic until he comes in contact with an area he’s so recently discovered.
“I don’t like how we did things downstairs,” he says, and I still once again, afraid he means me and my too-quick reaction.
“I want to take my time with you, Roxanne. You’re that type of woman.” He leans over my hip and sucks at the tender skin. His fingers slip through wet creases within my panties. “And while I’d take you against a brick wall if that’s what you really want, I think I’d prefer to have you in a bed like this.”
A finger slips into me, deliberate and direct, and I hum under his touch. He’s not frantic or frenzied like we were on the floor but taking his time to delve in and draw back, and I fall deeper into him. His touch. His kisses. A second finger joins the first, and he takes his time to slip forward and back, drawing out the pleasure he’s created. I separate my knees a bit, holding them apart to allow him better access to me, and he groans against my back.
“You’re so wet, Roxie, just as I knew you would be.”
Knew I would be? Has he thought about me? Has he considered what it’d be like to be with me? I don’t ask. I just feel.
“Billy.” I hiss, his name a soft cry, and his fingers increase their pace.
“I want to taste you, Roxie. Let my mouth do as my fingers are.” I shift, and he sits up, tucking his fingers in the waistband and lowering my underwear. I’m not wearing the sexiest pair as this was the last thing I expected to happen tonight. Then again, I never expected to kiss him or be robbed either.
“Stay with me,” he says, almost sensing I’ve traveled back to the bookstore below. “We’re up here. Together.”
Together. Billy Harrington and me. It’s surreal. A fantasy, and I suddenly understand how my sister must have felt all those years ago. This is what she wanted. Him like this with her.
Billy lowers his head and kisses just below my belly button. His tongue comes forward and circles the area, and I chuckle as it tickles.
“There’s my darlin’,” he mutters against my skin as he drags his nose over the coarse mound of hair and then lowers it between my slick folds. My legs spread of their own volition and then his hands force them farther apart. His tongue comes out like it did at my belly button, and he drags it around my most central part before slipping forward, and I break apart. My back arches. My fingers comb into his hair. My knees lift as his tongue does things to me I’ve never had done before. Delicious and dangerous, all the things I thought Billy Harrington would be like. He’s sweet while insatiable, lapping at me, licking me until I’m so wet I feel myself dripping.
“Billy,” I warn, knowing this time will be different. It wouldn’t be that rush that surprised me on the bookstore floor, but a lingering wave of release, rolling down to my toes and spreading to my belly. I curl upward, my head lifting as I bite my lip to hold back the scream. He’s relentless as the orgasm lingers and his tongue moves in earnest, flicking over the nub and then slipping back into me. I’ve hardly come down from the first when a second threatens.
“Billy,” I hiss, his name draining the last of my oxygen as my breath catches, and I instantly come a second time.
“Holy shit,” I mutter as I fall back to my pillow, my body more relaxed than it’s been in years. My head lulls to the side, and I stare off at the window a moment. Billy kisses my inner thigh and then sits up, wiping a hand over his lips.
“How was that for distraction?” he teases, and I want to retort something witty and sharp, but I have nothing. He took it all from me. He took my stress and my orgasm, and unfortunately, I think my heart’s going as well. Casual and uncomplicated he said earlier, but it’s already getting complicated for me.
+ + +
The next morning, Billy’s gone, having snuck out sometime during the night. Sadie acts like she can’t wait to leave for school while I want to tell her about the break-in and warn her about being diligent of her surroundings. While I wasn’t personally attacked, I worry about Sadie’s safety.
“Maybe this is why you should let me drive,” she teases although she doesn’t have her driver’s license yet. She rides the school bus, which isn’t the cool thing, she told me, but most kids ride it as they live spread out within th
e community. Sadie took driver’s ed this summer, but she needs practice hours before she can get her permit. Unfortunately, I hardly drive anywhere in Blue Ridge. I live above my shop. I walk to Tom’s Grocery when I need something. There isn’t much opportunity to let Sadie drive, and an idea strikes me.
“William,” I sternly say his name that afternoon when I call him. I’m all business. This call has nothing to do with the fact he touched me in ways I’ve never been touched. Or the fact I wanted him to hold me all night instead of leaving me in my empty bed still riddled with the shock of my business being robbed or the fact Billy went down on me and it’s all I can think about.
With what we did, what he did to me, I should have returned the favor. I should have at least offered, but he curled up behind me after returning my underwear, pressed me to my side, and held onto me until I drifted off to sleep. Safe in his arms.
Nothing is going to happen to you. Or Sadie. I’m here.
“Roxie,” he teases in return, his voice sultry and deep. “You’re rather formal this afternoon.” Am I? Isn’t this how we are with one another? Isn’t this casual like he suggested?
“I wanted to thank you for handling the sheriff last night and checking on Sadie.” His concern for her is sweet. “Did you happen to notice if she looked sick last night?”
“Sick? Not exactly.” He clears his throat. “Why? Is she sick today?”
“No. No, nothing’s wrong.” I pause, regaining my focus for the call. “She just felt warm, but she went to school. On that note, I have an idea. How would you feel about driving lessons?”
Billy chuckles. “Depends on what I’m driving.”
My God he has a one-track mind, but so have I for most of the morning.
“I meant…giving Sadie lessons. She has her driver’s permit, but she needs practice hours. I thought maybe you could drive her around the area or, rather, let her drive you around the area.”
“Why can’t you drive her?” Billy states without accusation, but I’m defensive when I answer.
