9
9
Lauren tugged her jersey about her, avoiding Marcus’ gaze as he sat across her at the dinner table.
“Lauren, dear,” Martha called and Lauren looked up at her.
“Yes, Martha?”
“This weekend there’s a nice party goin’ on in the next town, held by Martin’s old friend, the mayor of Malbourg!” she informed happily. “Sadly, I’ve been feelin’ a lil’ delicate these past few days, so my Marcus is going instead of his father and I.”
Mayor Martin murmured his agreement as he stuffed his mouth with the delicious pork.
“So,” Martha continued. “I was wonderin’ if you would mind accompanying him so he wouldn’ be all alone, you know?”
Lauren swallowed the food in her mouth with great difficulty as she glanced wide-eyed at Marcus, who had paused to await her response.
“Uh, I-I’m quite sure Marcus will be just fine without my intruding presence, think of all the privacy he’ll have in the car…” Lauren trailed off with a nervous chuckle.
Please don’t make me go, please don’t make me go, please don’t make me go.
“Actually, Ms. Burns, your company would delight me,” Marcus said smoothly, smiling at her from across the table.
Lauren stifled a groan and resisted the urge to kick the table.
“No, really, I’m ...I’m afraid, I will not be able to. I’m quite busy with renovations this week from tomorrow onwards,” she babbled.
“What renovations?” the Mayor asked.
Lauren explained her plans for the house as she ate, missing the way Martha Stanford’s eyes narrowed dangerously on her.
“Well...that’s wonderful, dear,” Martha said sweetly. Lauren smiled in response. “So…” Martha continued. “Have you uh...gone through the house yet? You know, to perhaps find a few things to treasure?”
Lauren shook her head. “No, not yet. Perhaps I’ll find some things to keep when we start renovating.”
Martha nodded. “Of course.”
Lauren soon got up, ready to escape to her bed and avoid Marcus’s awkward attempts to get her to agree to the weekend thing with eyebrow signals.
Her room welcomed her with its usual silence. With a long sigh, she stripped out of her clothes remaining in only her panties before throwing on a thin extra-large t-shirt.
The exhaustion settled into her limbs the moment she sunk into the soft bed.
Lauren turned on her side, put the bedside lamp off and pulled the covers over her head, leaving only a tiny opening in front of her face. She wanted to hide away like this for the whole day tomorrow. But she wouldn’t. She was no coward! She would face Aaron Spencer and this time, she wouldn’t cry!
He’d never see her weak again! Even if those golden eyes of his settled on her, or he stared at her so hard, she felt like she would shatter into a million pieces. She wouldn’t give in.
Swallowing hard, she closed her eyes and tugged the covers closer, forcing herself to stop thinking about his eyes and his hard-set mouth and his large hands. They were the hands of a murderer and she would do well to remember that before she let herself sink into the depths of his golden orbs.
Soon darkness enveloped her and she sunk into sleep. Sunk deeply.
When Lauren opened her eyes, it was still dark and she lay on the hard floor. A wooden floor.
She sat up slowly, rubbing her head as she studied the room she’d woken up in.
She still wore her t-shirt and the breeze caressing her hardened nipples let her know that she was still naked beneath it.
She crossed her arms around her breasts and looked about her, frightened.
Her eyes wouldn’t focus in the darkness.
“Hello?” she called shakily, only for her own voice to be echoed back to her.
A burst of panic exploded in her chest and Lauren darted forward, running blindly in the darkness, her bare feet slapping the cold floor.
Her heart jolted when a large hand grabbed her arm and jerked her into thick darkness, slamming her against a hard body.
Her terrified scream split the air and a hand covered her mouth.
“Shhh…” said a voice. Lauren couldn’t see. She was blinded by the dark and her own tears.
“Shhhh…” she heard again. Her panicked eyes looked up. What was going on? Lauren couldn’t slow her speeding heart for long enough to answer the question.
She felt the warmth of breath fan down against her cheek, making her struggle to get free. A pair of strong arms wrapped tightly around her and Lauren heard herself squeak in fright. Suddenly a ray of light appeared. Lauren’s wide eyes stared as it illuminated a streak across her captor’s face and all she saw in the ray was a pair of golden eyes staring back at her. Another scream came up her throat as tears overflowed, but he silenced her with a hand over her mouth.
“Sweet Lauren…” he murmured. “Sweet Lauren, don’t cry…”
Lauren trembled in his arms when his body pressed her back against a cool wall. Her breasts were pressed against his warm body and her nipples tightened against him. She stared up at his golden eyes over the hand that covered her mouth. The darkness around them seemed to go on forever and Lauren didn’t even know which way led where. All she knew was his hard body against hers.
His eyes looked tortured.
“Sweet Lauren…” he said. The words echoed in the darkness around her. “Don’t cry. Do you want me to hold you?”
Lauren whimpered, feeling the fear slowly leave her body. His eyes were beautiful and she stared into them, mesmerized.
His hand left her mouth and she gasped when she felt it touch her body.
His large hands stroked up her bare back and he whispered. “Do you want me to touch you?”
Lauren’s heart hammered behind her ribs and his body was pressed so close against her, she knew he felt it too. His large hands caressed her skin beneath the hem of her t-shirt and Lauren gasped at it.
She was shocked to feel her body heat up. She was getting so hot. She couldn’t stop it. Lauren began to pant, her fingers clutching at him in the dark. Her eyes drooped, heavy with the need that pulsed through her core.
He rocked against her and Lauren was shaking from the intensity of the pleasure he gave her.
“Is your pussy wet for me?” he demanded to know and Lauren cried out, feeling two strong fingers stroke against her wet folds. “So wet... so wet, Lauren…” he groaned. She arched against him feeling her body shatter.
Lauren’s eyes shot open and she bolted up, staring at the soft veils around her bed.
Her breath came in pants as she looked around her. The covers were on the floor and her legs were tangled up in the bedsheets.
She rubbed her eyes as the last fragments of the dream fell away.
Bringing her hands away from her face, Lauren closed her eyes tightly. What on earth had she just dreamed of? Even as she tried to remember the dream, it escaped her reach like a wisp of smoke. Lauren swallowed to moisten her dry throat and checked the time. It was still seven-thirty.
She shook her head, eliminating all thoughts of the strange dream and scooted her butt to the edge of the bed. The friction with the bed had her hissing as a bolt of sweetness shot through her core. What in the hell?
Lauren paused and looked apprehensively down at her lap. Ignoring the embarrassing result of what had obviously been a naughty dream, Lauren got into a hot shower, wondering only who had been the subject of that dream. She felt as if, in the dream, she’d known who he was, but at the present moment, she couldn’t remember. She only hoped it hadn’t been Marcus. Or had it?
When the answer to her question wouldn’t come, she shrugged and finished getting ready for breakfast.
At the breakfast table were Martha and Marcus. She greeted them and took a seat.
Marcus looked worriedly at her.
“Are you alright, Miss Burns?” he asked, watching her in his assessing way.
Lauren shrugged and nodded. “Yeah, pretty much. Why?”
He folded his newspaper and set it beside his plate. “Well...I thought I heard you scream last night,” he said with what Lauren could see was deep curiosity.
She paused halfway to the sausage platter. She’d screamed last night?
She frowned and shook her head at him. “I’m sorry, Marcus, I’m not certain I know what you mean.”
Marcus studied her for a few seconds before nodding and picking up his fork.
“That’s okay, I must have been imagining things.”
Lauren nodded in silent agreement. She didn’t remember screaming last night, where did he get that from?
Marcus watched Lauren discreetly as he ate. Brushing a graceful hand over the pocket of his suit, he smiled to himself. He was certain that Lauren had screamed last night. The kind of scream that Marcus himself had been endlessly fantasizing of hearing her make beneath his body. Had she had her fingers between her thighs, pleasuring herself? Had she been thinking of him? Marcus felt his pants get tighter around his groin when the image the thought formed got him quickly aroused.
Little Miss. Burns was too sweet a temptation to ignore.
Martha patted her hand. “You’re startin’ the house today, right dear?” she asked with a smile.
Lauren nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been here for far too long, once it’s a little more habitable, I’ll be out of your hair,” she promised with a nervous smile.
Martha gasped in outrage. “Well, I ain’t never! My hair is just fine with you in it, thank you very much!” she said sternly and Lauren stifled a grin. “I’ll not turn a sweet girl like you out on the streets in a million years, I won’t! You’re stayin’ right here.”
Lauren smiled. “Uhm... thank you, Martha. I sure do appreciate it.”
Martha smiled and patted her hand, putting more food onto Lauren’s plate. “You’re welcome, darlin’. Now, I’ll hear no more talk of your leavin’, alright?”
Lauren nodded and tried to get through as much of the mountain of food as possible, Martha May Stanford watching the girl’s every move.
Suddenly, her phone rang in her pocket and Lauren fished it out.
The caller ID flashed Grayson’s name and she smiled. They had all exchanged numbers yesterday and he’d told her that he would phone in the morning.
She answered and brought the phone to her ear.
“Hello.”
“Hey, it’s Grayson,” he said a little awkwardly.
Lauren laughed. “I know.”
“Oh. Okay, how’re you doin’ today?”
Lauren leaned back in her seat, missing the way Marcus watched her over his paper.
“I’m okay, thanks. You?”
“Fine. I was just wonderin’ if you’re ready for today.”
Lauren frowned.
“What’s today? The renovation?”
“Uhm…oh, did you change your mind about goin’ to see Aaron today?”
Lauren gasped and slapped her forehead.
“I…oh, my God. I totally forgot,” she told him, biting her lip nervously. What the hell? How did she forget something so damn important?
“That’s okay,” said Grayson. “It’s still early anyway.”
“So...what time do you think I should go?”
“Whenever you’re ready. I…uh...I kinda called to tell him you were comin’.”
Lauren cringed. “Aw, jeez, Grayson!”
“It’s alright. He didn’t freak out or anythin’ and it’s better this way cause if you had surprised him like yesterday, he would have just clammed up again.”
Lauren sighed, unable to argue there.
“Alright,” she said. “I’ll get going in a few minutes. Meet you guys at the house?”
“We’ll be there. And Lauren…”
“Yeah?”
“Take it easy.”
She nodded. “I will. Later.”
“See ya.”
Lauren hung up and sighed, looking down at the food she wasn’t going to be able to eat. She shoved her phone back into her pocket.
“Friends with Grayson Moore, are you?” Martha asked. Lauren glanced up at her.
“Uhm...yeah. Although we really only met yesterday morning.”
Martha nodded. “He’s a sweet boy.” She made a grieved face and dusted at her blouse. “I just never did understand why he always hangs around that Aaron Spencer’s house. Best friends, they were at one point! You be careful, darlin’.”
Martha patted Lauren’s hand and gave her a mother’s eyes. Lauren nodded. “I will. Thank you so much for breakfast, Martha. I have to go.”
Martha nodded. “Oh! Before you leave, dear. Yesterday you said you would renovate the house, so last night as a gift from the Mayor’s family, I called up the best roofing company in the next town and they’ll be in to re-do your roofs and ceilings for you,” she announced.
Lauren slapped a hand over her mouth. “Aw, Martha! Thank you so much, I don’t even know what to say!”
She wrapped the woman in an embrace and Martha patted her back. “Oh, you don’t have to say much, darlin’. Just that you’ll go with Marcus on the weekend.”
Drawing back, she flashed a mischievous grin at Lauren and unable to refuse, Lauren smiled and nodded.
“Okay, then. I will.”
She nodded at Marcus across the table and he smiled back at her, a glint in his green eyes. Lauren said goodbye then and left the house, her skin prickling at the thought of where her next destination would be.
She knew the way well enough now to not hesitate at street corners.
The faded ‘IAmAStan’ Eminem t-shirt she’d bought long ago, and hid from her aunt, was tucked into her black jeans and she ran her fingers absently over its front as she walked.
She knew he was waiting for her appearance since Gray called him and this made her even more nervous. He had the upper hand here. She didn’t even have the element of surprise on her side anymore, thanks to Grayson.
What exactly would she say to him?
Lauren slowed her steps when she reached the dark corner of Aaron’s street. Gone were yesterday’s hasty steps, moving rapidly and fueled by fury. In their place were slow and timid steps, uncertain of their destination.
She shoved her hands into her back pockets, thinking she should have driven her car, it would have given her zero chances to be cowardly. Lauren quickly discarded the idea, though, when she realized she would have just parked at the end of the street and watched his house from afar like a creepy private investigator.
With a determined huff, she quickened her steps and kept marching until she reached his front door.
The porch she stood on made her think of yesterday’s events, but she pushed them to the back of her mind. Today would be different.
She’d ask her questions and he would answer.
Nodding in firm determination, she lifted her hand to knock, but the door glided open before she could.
Lauren’s heart slammed in her chest at the sight of him.
He stood beside his opened door and stared down at her with his golden-brown eyes. The sight of his eyes...it made Lauren think of something. She didn’t know what and she didn’t have time right then to figure it out. His thick blonde hair was pushed back, leaving his face clear and open for her to read. And she read it as well as she would a concrete wall.
They stared at each other silently. His eyes studied her, taking in the arrogant face of a rapper plastered on her t-shirt and the nervous fiddle of her fingers against the rappers chin.
He saw her swallow as she straightened, lifting her chin and dropping her hands to her sides.
Lauren refused to be intimidated by him any longer. He stood before her in a black t-shirt and his fireman pants. He looked very… no. Lauren cut off whatever appalling thought that had been even before it had formed. She was crazy to think like that. Crazy to see Aaron Spencer as anything other than a killer. And even crazier to have a wet core in her panties right now. Lauren didn't understand this reaction her body had to him. She had to hate him! That included hating his good looks!
“Aaron S-spencer…” she said bravely, looking him right in the eye.
Aaron wanted to squirm, but he stood still and just watched her. What the hell was he going to say to her? Why on earth had Grayson made that stupid suggestion to her? The fool.
“I…I want to talk,” Lauren said and her fingers were back to fiddling across Eminem’s sharp jaw.
Saying nothing, Aaron stepped back, away from the door and held it open for her.
Lauren hesitated for a few seconds. It was alright, Grayson knew where she was. Plus, he’d told her that Aaron Spencer wouldn’t hurt her, hadn’t he?
She looked up into his golden eyes, still at the door and it wasn’t what Gray had told her, but the gentle look in Aaron Spencer’s eyes that had her stepping into the darkened home.
When the door closed behind her, Lauren jumped with a hand to her heart.
She pressed herself flat against the wall when Aaron walked past her, trembling slightly when his arm just barely brushed hers.
He led the way into the house with Lauren watching his every move.
She followed behind him and stopped when he paused to adjust an old photograph of a beautiful blonde woman on the wall.
Lauren felt a pang of something she couldn’t identify shoot through her. He was about thirty-five years old and the woman seemed about that age. Was she a girlfriend that he perhaps kept in a different town?
Lauren slammed the door closed on those thoughts faster than they’d appeared. She had no business wondering such things. She had no business feeling any sort of jealousy!
“Why don’t you open the curtains some?” she heard herself ask quietly and hated herself for her weak voice.
He stopped walking and turned to face her. Lauren thought he’d tilt his head or shrug and keep walking or some other robotic response. But he didn’t.
“The kids,” he said. “They bother my mother.”
Lauren stared up at him. She had no idea what he meant. His voice was so deep and easy, so…normal. Like she’d thought he was that day by the roadside. But he wasn’t normal. Far from it.
“I want to talk,” Lauren repeated, with more determination.
Aaron said nothing. He turned around and led her through a doorway glowing with light. The kitchen.
It was lit up by the sunlight streaming in through the windows and was spotlessly clean.
He pointed to the rectangular center table with its chairs and Lauren glanced from it to him.
“I won’t sit if you’re standing,” she said stubbornly. She refused to give him height advantage on top of everything else.
Lauren thought she saw a twitch in the corners of his mouth, but when she looked again, it was as grim as before. Quietly, he walked over to the sink, leaned back against it and crossed his massive arms.
With a nod, Lauren crossed her own arms and remained standing. If he wanted to play it like that, then fine.
They regarded each other across the room.
Lauren felt the sadness rise up in her chest again, being reminded so harshly that her mother was ripped out of her life as she stood with the man who killed her.
She swallowed her tears and stared at him. His gaze lowered and didn’t return to her face.
She took a deep breath.
“Did you do it?” she asked and held her breath.
Was he going to lie to her? He seemed to have grown at least half a heart, would its distorted beat make him lie to her to spare her the pain of believing she was looking into the eyes of her mother’s killer?
Aaron Spencer looked up at the question. She walked slowly to him until she stood a few feet before him.
“Did you do it? Did you kill my pops…and my momma?” her breath hitched and the first tear rolled. Lauren jerked a hand across her cheek, removing the offensive tear.
Aaron looked away with a wince. He hated to see her cry, it made him feel like shit. Worse than shit because he felt like shit every day. It tore at his soul when those tears wet her face.
“Please answer me,” she said quietly, determined to not make him clam up today, determined to get a response from him. Now that Lauren had begun to wonder about the events that occurred twenty years ago, she had to know everything. Sadly, her aunt, from whom she could have pleaded for answers, was now dead. The only other person who knew the truth was Aaron Spencer.
Aaron swallowed and looked at her.
“Many…” he began and Lauren froze, listening to every word. “…many things happened all those years ago. You were just a child, Lauren,” he said.
Lauren stared at him again, her entire body tingling with the excitement of having gotten a response from him. Maybe she would finally learn the reasons why. Maybe he would finally tell someone the truth. She hoped. She also hoped her heart would stop hammering just because he’d said her name.
“You were also just a child…Aaron,” she responded. She saw his eyes turn from gold to toffee brown and he took his gaze quickly away.
“I was sixteen,” he murmured. “Old enough.”
“Old enough to do what? Commit murder?”
Aaron’s jaw tightened and he kept his gaze away from her face.
“Tell me what happened that night?” Lauren begged. “Please, I need to know. If you’re not the one w-who killed them, tell me! And if you are...then tell me why… I want to know what happened.”
Her face glistened with tears and the sight broke him. His hands clenched, aching to wipe her tears away. He held himself back, torture in its own right.
“No, no, please don’t get quiet…” she said shaking her head and stepping closer to him. “Please don’t ignore me. I just want to know what happened to my momma.”
Aaron stayed silent.
“Tell me!” Lauren cried, trying and failing to control her voice.
He could see her trying to be strong and how she hated that she was failing, but still unable to fight the grief she carried within her.
He closed his eyes. He wouldn’t say it. It would only hurt her and Aaron was done hurting people.
A sob broke out of her and pierced him right through the heart.
Her face contorted with grief, as she tried to plead with him through her tears. Aaron couldn’t help himself.
She sobbed and her knees went weak. He reached out, grabbed her and crushed her against his chest in an embrace of comfort. Lauren clutched at his t-shirt, hanging onto him, taking in the warmth and comfort he offered while he stroked her hair.
“It’s okay,” he whispered to her. “Don’t cry...please don’t cry, Lauren…”
The calming voice sent a thought into Lauren’s brain. Her eyes flew wide open.
The dream.