by Gwen Allen
Seeing the wind playing with the strands of her hair, I'm envious. I want to run my fingers through her hair at will, tug at it, make her scream, whatever it takes. Every impulse I have toward her gets out of control so fast. She drives me to extremes. That's why I can't be sweet to her, not just because I hate her.
Letting me strip her, fuck her, she has no pride and I have no self control around her. I like having power over her too damn much to give her up. That's all it is. She isn't getting under my skin.
Chapter 14
~
Vince
It's a busy day for me today. My dad has plans with his wife and he has already abandoned me to go and get ready. And it's only a little past noon. I swear these days I'm in my dad's office at the house more than he is.
I don't mind taking over, but I can't do it all yet. Some contracts need his attention, so I have to go in search of him. Since he married Maryanne, it's been happening more and more. He disappears to go off with her like his priorities have been turned upside down.
I go upstairs to look for my dad and hear his voice down the hall as well as Julie's.
"I swear you've been everywhere," she says.
"I went on business trips all the time. Too much even. Now I only want to travel if your mom is willing to come along," Dad says.
"You guys are such newlyweds," Julie teases him.
"Once I'm recovered to everyone's satisfaction, I'll have to make a trip or two. Business doesn't run itself. But right now your mom refuses to let me out of her sight."
"I know mom is still fussing over you."
I can hear the smile in my Dad's voice as he says, "I don't mind one bit."
"But you miss traveling, right? It must make you feel restless to be stuck here?" Julie asks him.
"I don't know about that. I think I traveled to escape, but your mom makes me want to stay home more."
At his words I feel a pang in my chest. All those times Dad had to go away, claiming it couldn't be helped, and now he's happy to stay home. In painful, lonely flashes I see his packed suitcase, a car waiting to take him to the airport, his frown when he tells me he doesn't know when he would be back.
Julie's cheerful voice breaks through. "She'll be happy to hear that. I'm glad you two found each other."
Next I hear Dad excuse himself. "I better go and get ready. I've given Maryanne enough of a head start."
Hearing his bedroom door close behind him, I realize that I got distracted and missed my chance to talk to him. Looking at the iPad I brought up with me, I sigh. I guess I'll have to wait and catch him on his way out.
That's when I notice that Julie is lingering near the reading room with a phone in her hand. I sneak right up to her without being noticed. The sound of her name whispered right behind her makes her jump.
"Wouldn't you know it, sweet Julie is kissing up to my dad," I tell her.
"Being nice is not the same as kissing up," she says as she walks into the room and plugs in her phone to charge.
"It is when money is involved," I tell her.
"I haven't taken any money from your dad," she tells me.
"When your mom takes you shopping, you're more than happy to spend my father's money," I point out and she can't deny it.
"My mom does the shopping, not me. And you really care a lot about your father's money, don't you?" she says accusingly.
"I just don't want to see it stolen."
She bristles at my words. "No one is stealing anything. You are just horrible."
I shrug. I don't care what she thinks of me, but I'm kind of surprised that Maryanne is so clingy when it comes to my dad. God knows what she's up to.
"And what dark thoughts are eating you up?" Julie asks.
"Just wondering why your mother wants to keep my dad close to home," I look at her with narrowed eyes, but she only looks exasperated.
"Because she wants to spend time with her new husband. Pretty much any newlywed would want the same thing," Julie claims.
"Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason." I can never tell if Julie knows what her mother is really like. Either she has perfected her innocent act or she is really is as naïve as she seems.
"Every little thing isn't a conspiracy. Some people just like each other. Not everyone operates on the basis of suspicion and hate, like you do," Julie says while packing up her book bag.
"I can't help but ask myself if you are an outright liar or if you just blindly swallow whatever your mother tells you," I say to her.
Julie wheels on me. "Neither! I know my mom and she is a genuine and loving person. If you got your head out of your ass, you could see that too."
"It's sweet how you defend her. I guess she must have done something right in her life to have such a loyal daughter," I mock her. But I'm not sure how much of what I say is true. It's possible that Maryanne isn't a horrible mother even if she is a horrible person.
Julie is about to give me a piece of her mind when we hear our parents out in the hall. Maryanne says her daughter's name then comes to the door of the reading room. She's surprised to see me there but then focuses on Julie.
She comes over to give her a kiss on the cheek. "We're on our way out, sweetie. Curtis says we'll be gone most of the day. He has plans. If Dinah brings her baby by the café, make sure to take tons of pictures."
"I will, but I won't get any work done," Julie says with a smile.
I take the opportunity to get my dad to sign off on the contracts I brought up. When Maryanne notices that we're talking business, she objects. "I take my eyes off you for one minute, and you're neck deep in work." She touches Dad's arm lightly and smiles at him indulgently.
"We're done," I say, ready to get back to the office.
"It so good of you to take over for your dad like this. Thank you, Vincent," she says.
I was on my way out, but at the sound of that name, I turn back to face her. When Julie sees me fuming as I glare at her mom, she looks ready to step between us. Before I can say anything, Dad intervenes.
"Uh, Maryanne. Sorry, honey. He doesn't like being called that," he says consolingly.
Maryanne turns to me. "I'm sorry. I just think it's a beautiful name."
I say nothing to that, just turn around and walk out. Behind me I can hear my dad explain my strong reaction. "His mother called him Vincent. After she died, he couldn't stand to have anyone else call him that."
"I'll make sure not to do it again. I didn't mean to upset him. I'm sorry," Maryanne says.
"It's no problem. You didn't know," Dad tells her.
I'm glad when I get away from there and out of earshot. The last thing I need is to listen to them discussing me. I think I'm safe once I reach the office and get back to work, but a few minutes later Julie is standing at the office door. She's hesitating in the doorway, clutching the handle of the book bag she has over one shoulder.
"Sorry. I see you're busy. I thought it might be better to leave you alone, but..." she trails off like she can't really excuse her presence here.
I point out the obvious. "So you knew you shouldn't bother me, but you still came over to bother me. Good thinking, Julie."
"I hated to think of you alone with all those pent up feelings," she says defensively.
"You want to help me out? I'll be glad to bend you over the desk," I tell her and lean back in the big, leather chair.
"No! I meant other feelings, like about your mom," she says, looking embarrassed.
I turn away and stare at the laptop screen but without seeing a thing. I don't want Julie poking around in my head, dissecting my issues, but she doesn't seem to be going away.
"You shouldn't reject everything that reminds you of your mom," Julie says. Her voice is low, like she's afraid to speak up, as she should be.
"It's none of your business," I tell her.
"It is when you were about to blow up at my mom," she says. "You never dealt with what happened to your mom and now..."
Standing up behind my father's desk,
I cut her off. "There is no dealing with it. It's not something I can bundle up in a pretty little package and put away."
"That's not what I'm saying. But it's wrong to remember your mom only for one thing. She was more than that. She loved you," Julie says.
As she speaks, her voice is earnest, her eyes imploring, but I can't bear to hear another word.
"Don't you need to be somewhere," I remind her harshly.
"I do. And I'm sorry. I know I overstepped," she says as she leaves.
Once she's gone, I drop back into the chair with a groan. I shut my eyes but I don't want to see what's behind my closed eyelids—images of my mom seen through a red haze. My eyes snap open and I get back to work. I need to keep busy.
Work clears my head until I run out of anything major that needs my attention. I see that it's late afternoon, and I get antsy, ready for a break. Getting up, I walk out into the hall and listen to the quiet.
Dad and Maryanne are still out. Julie is still gone. There is only one maid on duty now and she's working quietly somewhere, so the house seems empty.
Mom hated times like these. She would even say that she hated the house, called it a tomb. "Why isn't your father here? This silence is eating me alive," she said.
"We can watch TV," I told her, but she didn't seem to hear me. Why couldn't she hear me?
When she got like that, I could only reach her if I started to cry. Then she would come back to reality and console me. I can still see that lost look in her eyes. In the silence of the house, the pain inside her threatened to swallow her up.
Standing in the hallway, thinking back to her pale face and her empty eyes, I'm stooped over under the weight of memories. In the echoing silence, my head fills with noise. I can hear my mom questioning my dad about where he was going, accusing him, begging him not to leave. Her voice is so desperate, but just like Mom couldn't hear me, Dad couldn't seem to hear her either.
I can't take it. I have to get out of here.
Chapter 15
~
Vince
Desperate to get away from the house, I consider just driving till I hit the ocean or something, but I only get as far as Stratos. My friends like to hang out there at happy hour, but it wouldn't have been my first choice.
The bar is somewhere between trendy, upscale and tolerable. They serve drinks just like any bar, and that's what makes the place tolerable despite the tables that looked like modern art and the music that needs more bass. I want a heavy, pounding beat that doesn't let you think, the kind I can feel in my bones.
At least the girls in here are usually all worth at least a second look. I check them out as I make my way to the bar. When I stopped here, I was only looking for a drink, but now my mind is settling on another mission.
I want a girl. Since that damn Julie showed up, she's all I've had. That's no good. She distracted me from other women long enough. I don't know how she did it, but here I am considering other options for the first time since I met her.
I want someone new, someone who isn't Julie, and I want her right fucking now. For that reason I'm not planning on being picky, but this is about as exciting as going grocery shopping. All these girls bore me before I even fucked them. That usually only happens after I do the deed. Except with Julie. I keep going back to her for more like I'm fucking addicted to what's between her legs.
Every one of these women is trying a lot harder than she ever does, showing more skin, wearing more makeup, flashing me a smile. Julie frowns or glares at me most of the time, except when I'm inside her.
"Don't see anything to your liking, I guess," Jake says as he sidles up to me. I was thinking I might see him here. He gets comfortable leaning back against the bar next to me.
Since I was just picturing Julie coming, I can't exactly agree with what he said. I liked what I was seeing just fine. But as far as anything that is actually in front of me, he is right. What bugs me is that I would have gone for quite a few of these beauties before getting a taste of my damn stepsister.
"Maybe some fresh blood will turn up," I say without much hope and tilt back the beer bottle to finish it off. I wave at the bartender to send another my way.
"Too bad you can't have a go at that step-sis of yours."
I glance over at him and wonder why he would be bringing her up. Staring blindly at the hotties, my mind elsewhere, I might have given away too much. "She'd hardly be worth the effort," I say before I can think. I guess I don't want him to know that I've already been there, done that. "Girls like that are no fun. They're only good for giving a guy a fucking headache."
I don't have a problem talking to Jake about whatever random girl I happen to hook up with, but not about Julie. Not because she's special. The situation is just complicated, and Jake can be kind of an asshole, which is why we're friends, I guess. I can't picture myself being friends with a nice guy. What the hell would we have in common?
"I don't know about that. She has a few things going for her," Jake says and I start to think that I might need to warn him off. If he even thinks of coming to sniff around Julie, friendship or not, the man is going to be eating his teeth.
When he claps me on the shoulder, I grit my teeth and he notices the extreme tension that grips my whole body when I think of Julie with anyone else. "You need to get some right now. You are so bad off, man."
His suggestion makes me think of only one thing. I need to go find Julie. When I think of that, I want to kick my own ass for being so fucking whipped. What the hell has that girl done to me?
No way am I doing that. Now I'm more determined than ever not to go anywhere where I might find her. She's a nightmare. These girls here aren't doing it for me, but this isn't the only place to pick up a hot girl. I'll find someone no matter what.
After a few bars, it's all a blur—the dancing, the flirting, the pouty lips, the long eyelashes, boobs pressed against me, hips bumping me. With a mission to fulfill, I made sure not to get drunk. But in the end, the whole night just slides off me.
I check the time. It's still early but I abandon my search. It's hopeless. Only Julie does it for me now. Feeling defeated, I head to my dad's house.
I'm always swearing off her, cursing her name, promising I'll never touch her again. Then I'm at it one more time, ripping off her clothes and fucking her.
I picture her honey blond hair, which I actually combed for her. What the hell possessed me to do that? The enticing depths of her warm, hazel eyes are always pulling me in. And that body... She feels small and curvy in my arms, soft, delicate and so fuckable.
I'm on fire for her, and that only makes me hate her more. Those curves of hers obsess me. The look in her eyes when I touch her is both wild and sweet. I know the sweetness is fake, but it's so much like the real thing.
Who cares if she's real or not? As soon as I get home, I'm ready to get her alone. Driving up to the front of the house, the first sight that greets me puts a stop to all my plans. Julie is getting into a car and now that car is driving away.
Pissed off, I get out of my GTO and slam the door too hard. As I go inside, I'm thinking I might see what I can do in my dad's office so I don’t waste the trip here. As I get close to his office door, I hear Julie's mother and my dad talking. She's saying how Julie is going out with a friend.
A friend? I didn't see who was in that car that drove off. I'm standing here, eavesdropping, hoping that she means one of Julie's girl friends. Because if it's a guy...
Then I hear Maryanne mention the guy's sister having cancer, and I know what's going on. That guy is using the fact that he has a sick sister to get some pity action out of Julie. And fuck, if she isn't just the type to fall for that load of bullshit.
I look at the time on my phone. It's pretty damn late to be going out if this guy is just a friend. I've gone out later than this, and I know what kind of action I was looking for when I did. I bet this guy is after the same thing.
Once Maryanne is out of my dad's office, I go in and relieve him. He wa
s checking over some ledgers, but I can do that. It will distract me from whatever Julie and her so-called friend are up to.
Working can distract me only so much. I run my fingers through my hair and shut my eyes tight in frustration. I need to make her pay. Every second that passes makes me more furious. Spending half the night with another guy—who the fuck does she think she is? I'll show her. She's mine and I'll make her feel it.
Chapter 16
~
Vince
I've given up on working. It's late and I'm sitting on the stairs. I hear a car in front, a car door slams then I hear a key in the door. She's back. I hardly wait for her to get through the front door before I'm on her.
She says my name in surprise. I don't say a word, just pick her up and sling her over my shoulder. She squeals and calls my name as I carry her upstairs. I warn her to be quiet. She doesn't struggle just says my name over and over like she doesn't know what else to do.
Pushing my way through the door of her room, I throw her on the bed. I don't wait for her to get her breath back. I just reach between her legs and yank her panties off. Her eyes are wide as I push between her thighs. Ripping through her flimsy clothes, I get her naked, I want to see all of her. Every inch of her is mine.
Panting, she looks up at me with eyes wide and lips parted. I lean down for a hard kiss and she moans for me, tries to reach under my clothes. That's not how this is going to be. I pull away from her enticing mouth and drag her down to the floor.
"A bed would be more comfortable," she gasps as I open her legs to kneel between them.
"Shut up. The bed is too good for you," I tell her and she calls me an asshole.
She is being demeaned, but she doesn't seem to care. She's wet for me, slick against my probing fingers. That makes me that much harder for her. In the heat of the moment, I have just enough presence of mind to put on a condom. Then I tease her hole and make her writhe.
