Unlucky in Love

by Lexy Timms

  As she masturbated, she imagined him both as slave and master, as equal and stranger. Fantasies she’d forgotten came back to her in the dark, but they wore his face now, had his shoulders and his thick cock.

  She came, raising her hips and biting her lower lip until the faint taste of blood touched her tongue along with the electric jolt of the release. Then she lay finally in the middle of twisted blankets and damp sheets, catching her breath.

  Okay, enough. You had your time, you had your chance. Now forget about him. You’re not going to see him again anyway. Focus on what’s important. FOCUS!

  And then she lay, as she had all night, awake, staring at the encroaching sunbeam, trying to help David in her mind’s eye, and instead seeing only Luke.

  Well, if the sun is up I may as well be, too.

  With a sigh, Dani stretched and stood. She began her morning routine: sit-ups, pushups, stretches. As she moved, her body came alive. Became more alert. Exercise did that for her. She eyed the sneakers thrown half under the bed, where she’d flung them when she’d unpacked last night. She opted against a shower, deciding it would be better to take a run first. In fact, the more she thought about it the more she liked the idea. Let fresh air clear her mind. Then she could deal with the day.

  Dani chose cut-offs and running shoes. The shirt she wore was cut to expose her belly, and whatever it was that the shirt originally said was lost for all time in a scrap pile. Currently it just said “I ”. It was cut scandalously high and seemed to constantly threaten to expose the bottom edge of her sports bra. Maybe that’s why it was still here, in her old bedroom with the other signs of her teenage rebellion. The goth clothes, the mini-dress that looked like it belonged on a street walker. All things she knew would infuriate her father.

  Oddly enough, she loved that shirt, though. As she ran, though it never exposed her, it tantalized. Let those she passed wonder whether she wore a bra underneath, whether her next step would expose all. Truth be told, as she left the house a small and vicious part of her was almost hoping that she would attract the wrong sort of person this morning. Kicking the ass of some would-be predator seemed like a really good way of getting rid of some pent-up anger.

  At the crack of dawn, no one was awake and the house was eerily quiet. She closed the front door quietly and wondered for the millionth time why she’d agreed to stay here again, in her old room. The greater surprise was that her old room hadn’t been changed since she’d last been there. It wasn’t like dear old daddy was the sentimental type.

  It was a bothersome feeling and left her more than a little unsettled as she stretched on the driveway. Already the birds were making a racket in the bushes. The scent of magnolias hung in the air, heavy and thick. It promised to be another hot, humid day. All the more reason to focus on this problem with David and resolve it. There were better climates to explore in the summer than Atlanta.

  Thinking pleasant thoughts of Europe, maybe something Scandinavian for a change like Sweden or Norway, she took a deep breath and took off. After a few minutes, the tease of the shirt, the tease of the shorts were forgotten, and the road disappearing under her feet became hypnotic, seductive. Something about running, about pushing her body, made her feel numb.

  Numb was exactly what she needed. She couldn’t think while the cold fury sat in her throat like bile.

  Someone wanted to kill David. She had to stop it. It was that simple. By all appearances, her father wasn’t taking the threat seriously.

  Why?

  Nothing about this made any sense. She went over it in her mind. Every moment of the night, every last person she’d seen there right down to the waiters.

  Luke.

  She stumbled on a bit of uneven pavement. I wonder what Luke’s doing this morning. She stomped on that thought. Luke was a moment, a fun few minutes in a dreadful day. Most importantly, Luke was over!

  The burn of the road under her tread and the pounding of the asphalt helped to take the desire and put it away, but then something else filtered through. Without the attention of her sex drive, she remembered other things about Luke.

  Like him reaching for a gun he didn’t have.

  It was an instinctive move, one she knew very well, one she’d had at that same time. Which meant, intriguing as the man was, he was no analyst, no financial… anything. She slammed her feet harder as the frustration of having missed that clue ran through her. Yes, she’d been busy with death threats to her brother, but she’d been trained to notice things like that, and she hadn’t. What if her sexual appetites, her absolute frustration of the last celibate year, had cost David his life?

  Furious now, but with the anger directed at herself, she started paying closer attention to her surroundings. Her feet had taken her on the path she’d followed on her morning runs every summer she’d been home. She’d come back around behind the school, and up into one of the older neighborhoods. She’d allowed herself to be lax, thinking of this place as home, as being safe. What if nowhere was safe?

  This, too, was her father’s fault, wasn’t it? Old resentments rose, choking her. Without thinking consciously about it she increased her pace, feeling the sweat on her back, between her breasts.

  She looked up at the neatly trimmed lawns and a few other joggers who were just beginning their runs. Normal people. With normal lives. No hidden monsters in their closets. Okay, maybe that wasn’t exactly true. Maybe their monsters just had fewer teeth. More familiar faces. These were people who lived in the world of casual affairs. Worries about meeting mortgages. Poor grades. What did they know of death threats? Of the kind of business her father did?

  A man with a poodle glanced up at her as she passed. No lewd glances. So far everyone had left her alone. His pale anger stayed with her. Fine, let him be appalled at her brazen display. Dani hoped it would get back to her father; let him deal with outraged neighbors.

  This was a different world from her last time jogging. Only two days ago she’d pounded the pavement thousands of miles away. She missed it. For the most part, Europe was fairly relaxed about a woman’s body, better than South America at any rate. Ironically, Rio, famous for its nude beaches, was quite conservative about skin showing in town, as she’d learned to her dismay. A wry smile crossed her lips as she turned left at the park, choosing the longer route, liking how she’d felt after the first mile, feeling that she could go on forever.

  Here, no one paid attention to her at all. She pondered the differences, aware that this was one of the things that drew her to travel. There was always so much to explore. In some countries jogging at all was ill-advised for a single woman. It didn’t matter so much about assault, she was confident that she could handle herself if the need arose, but a single woman running through the street? The police were not friendly to western views of femininity.

  Rome, though… Damn, she missed Rome. With the white-washed stucco walls and the profusion of greenery that seemed so desperate to take root that plants would grow in the smallest cracks and the most unlikely places. Here, friendly waves from those she passed had been a common occurrence. France was that way, too, though it had become more problematic lately. The French, by and large, were so inured to the feminine form that they barely noticed. It was a shame that acceptance was disappearing.

  Still, jogging at dawn was the best way to explore a new area. You could learn so much about a place. Sadly, the wealthy neighborhood of Atlanta was of a piece. The walls around the homes were high and uniformly white, large iron gates shutting out the unwelcome. This street was one of nannies with strollers, maids walking the family dog, eying her suspiciously as she passed, trying to gauge the threat. With wealth came a certain level of paranoia.

  This was the world of the McMansion, despite their ages and size. These people might understand the threat David had been placed under. Here, children grew up under the threat of kidnapping. It seemed the more one had, the more one assumed someone else wanted what was theirs. And so each house along here was a fortress. B
ehind the walls and dogs and iron those wealthy enough to do so were entrenched in their own worlds, and shut out contradicting evidence that the rest of the world might not be about them.

  The sun rose higher, no doubt to get a better view. She felt the sheen of sweat and relaxed into the comforting slap-slap-slap of her shoes touching the ground and the glorious burn in her limbs. It was her second- favorite form of exercise. Third. The second would elude her today, though. In this neighborhood, she was unlikely to be attacked much as she still burned for a fight. Their judgement she could stand. So, too, their rejection. She was well used to both.

  But the best form of exercise…

  Luke.

  And so, her thoughts had circled around again to tight abs and a devil-may-care smile. She was too far into the workout to be angry with herself for her lack of focus. Maybe it was better to indulge the thoughts and see where they went. Maybe if she just let her mind run alongside of her for a while, she would be able to reach a conclusion or have another insight that she wouldn’t ordinarily.

  She made it all the way back to the door of her father’s house before she had the revelation she’d wanted.

  Someone had not been invited to the party.

  Someone very important.

  Rather like Maleficent in the story of Sleeping Beauty, this was someone shunned who might have a reason to react violently to being overlooked.

  The fact that it was her uncle she was thinking of only made retaliation that much more likely.

  Dammit, what had her father done?

  “Why wasn’t Uncle Benny at the party?”

  Dani had found her father halfway down the stairs, bleary-eyed and likely in search of coffee. Some things never changed. Given the look he gave her as soon as he’d pried his eyes open enough to see her clearly, he was thinking much the same thing.

  “Where the hell do you think you’re going dressed like that?” He waved his arm at her, taking in her half- shirt and circling until she got the point. And then some.

  “Same place I’d be going dressed any other way. Why wasn’t Uncle Benny at the party?”

  “Ask him! And change your shirt!” Edwin pushed past her, stomping noisily the rest of the way down the stairs and veering toward his office, which only went to show how mad he was. Nothing got between her father and coffee.

  “You didn’t invite him, did you?” Dani called after his retreating back, trailing after him. “DID YOU?”

  “None of your damn business!” He paused with his hand on the doorknob. For a moment he stood there, then straightened his shoulders and turned to face her, his face twisted in anger. “While you’re under my roof, you will do as I say and you will NOT go out in that… half a rag!”

  Dani shrugged, and made a note that shrugging like that wasn’t safe. “I’ll get a hotel.” she said, with studied nonchalance. “Honestly, I’m surprised you didn’t throw out all my stuff. The room is just like I left it. I’m touched.”

  He stepped closer to her, his face strange. Almost unrecognizable. Dani took a half-step backwards, only to have her heel come into contact with the bottom stair—hard.

  Furious that she’d let him get to her Dani lifted her own chin, and stepped forward, this time being the one to get into his personal space. Only, he wasn’t fighting the same battle she was. His eyes were…empty… vulnerable. All the bluff and posturing was gone. She stood, staring up at him, realizing how empty it was to fight a one-sided war. And that despite how grown-up she was she still only came up to his chin, and could feel very much like a little girl when he looked at her like that.

  At a loss for words, Dani bit her bottom lip and felt her shoulders sag.

  “I just want you to be…” He sighed, and half raised his hand as though somehow he could reach out and grab the right word. “Respectable. Just that. Respectable. You’re a beautiful girl; you need to find someone…”

  “No,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper, meeting his eyes, but this time without the challenge. “I don’t. I really don’t need to find anyone.”

  Edwin looked at her. His eyes changed. A deep sadness settled there, the frustration and anger and even the openness seemed to collapse on him. And that was more frightening than his worst rampages. In the moment he looked… old. It was something she’d never seen in him before. It never occurred to her that he could get old. “You’re the image of your mother.”

  For a moment she wasn’t sure she heard him. Then she did, and she felt it, the pain in her heart of something she’d thought she’d long-buried. “Don’t.” He was the enemy. She couldn’t afford to feel. She wavered, her foot finding the stair behind her, realizing she was fighting the urge to flee before all that changed.

  Edwin nodded, as if answering a question she couldn’t even hear, and turned and walked away.

  The door closed between them. Softly. Carefully. She imagined his hand on the knob, the gentleness with which he’d let it fall shut. A dozen hard slams couldn’t hurt as much as this moment did. Dani stared at the closed door, crossed to it, placed her fingertips on the wood. Her mouth seemed dry, as though it hadn’t been used for a long time. She tried to wet her lips, but her tongue was thick and unresponsive.

  “Miss Dani,” a voice called behind her. The butler.

  She looked down, closed her eyes for a moment, and took a breath. The day had only begun, it was time to confront it. “Yes, James?”

  “Madam, there’s a caller here, claiming to be a friend of your brother’s. Says he was invited to a function this morning.”

  Dani sighed and nodded. Of course he was. Leave it to her brother to arrange an entire party for the day. The original plan had been for just him and her to go rock climbing. Suddenly there had blossomed an entourage, complete with competing groupies she supposed. She’d already told him she’d reconsidered going. “Yes, David wanted to go out today, James. That reminds me, we probably won’t be home for dinner, so please let Alice know.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” James bowed and returned back the way he’d come, in the practiced way of servants. It was funny how easy it was to fall back into the role of mistress of the house. Next thing you know, Alice would be consulting with her on menus for the week.

  It was absolutely stifling.

  Dani glanced down at herself, then made a face. What in the world had ever possessed her to wear that damned shirt? She tugged the bottom edge down as best she could, though it certainly didn’t improve matters in the least. Well, whoever was waiting had likely seen worse if he was one of David’s friends. The last she’d heard he’d been partying pretty hard on the weekends.

  He’s still only a kid, she reminded herself. Did you party any less?

  Whatever. She’d discharge her duty toward the unwanted, and abnormally early, guest and go change. She desperately wanted a shower, and whatever breakfast her father was ignoring was sending pleasant aromas wafting through the house. Food would be good.

  Half-distracted by the unsettling encounter with her father, and still thinking random thoughts of breakfast, Dani walked to the front room and stopped cold. For a moment her heart stopped with her.

  “What the hell are you doing in my home?” The words came out as a low snarl, animalistic and violent. It really was too much. She’d had the ultimate of shitty days, and the last thing she wanted was the bastard who’d kept her up all night standing right there in her living room.

  Luke turned and raised both hands in a surrender as she approached. “I was invited. David…”

  No way in hell. Absolutely no way in fucking hell.

  “David? Now it’s ‘David’? Like the two of you have been best buddies for years? You never even met him before the party yesterday.” Dani was within inches of him. Being rather short by most standards, she’d been used to taller men. Even so, she’d been able to intimidate them easily. Luke was at least six and half feet tall, and it irritated her that she had to crane her neck to look up at him. One more thing to be furious about.

>   “No, I haven’t.” Luke had his palms out in a rather desperate gesture designed to placate, of maligned innocence that seriously was not working on her. “I never met you before yesterday, either. But that turned out well, I thought.”

  Forget innocence. That smile was pure wickedness through and through.

  Dani could feel the heat rising to her cheeks. “That. Meant. Nothing.” She clipped the words, chin tilted up in absolute defiance.

  “Of course it didn’t.” Luke shrugged, agreeable. Conniving. “I didn’t feel a thing.”

  Count to ten. You can kill him afterwards. “Then why are you here?”

  “Because I was invited to go rock climbing,” Luke said, and for the first time she noticed he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Casual wear. What you’d wear if you were planning on spending the day outside with friends. “I love rock climbing.”

  “Bullshit.” Dani poked his chest. “That’s not why you’re here.”

  “Oh?” Luke smiled, and hooked his thumbs in his belt. “Tell me why I’m here, then.”

  “You’re like all the rest of them.” Dani half-spat. “Another stooge trying to climb the corporate ladder, trying to kiss the boss’ ass so you can get that corner office.”

  “Oh,” Luke said, nodding sagely, as though she’d imparted great wisdom. “Very insightful. It wasn’t David’s ass I kissed, though. At least, as I can recall.”

  That was a good shot. How was it even possible for her cheeks to burn any hotter and not set her hair on fire? “I told you that it meant nothing.”

  “Then there’s no reason to keep me away, is there?” Luke asked reasonably, throwing himself on the couch like he owned the place. “I mean, if it meant nothing to you then there’s no reason I shouldn’t go along.”

  Dani stared at him for a long moment. “No reason at all,” she said quietly. “Only, you’re early.”

  The non-sequitur obviously caught him off-guard. “He said 9:00,” Luke said, glancing at his watch.

  Dani laughed. “That’s sweet. You were raised on a farm somewhere, weren’t you?” She strode off toward the hallway and to the stairs. “David’s still asleep. You can wait here if you want to.” She turned at the bottom step. “That doesn’t mean anything, either. If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go change.”