Waiting for You (21 page)

Who was he kidding?

He was hopelessly in love with Audrey.

****

Audrey awoke alone in Adam’s king sized bed and stretched to remove the kinks out of her thoroughly worked body. Even now, thinking about the man and his unbelievable venereal prowess had her hormones awry. She smiled to herself, eager to seek him out and start the day sated.

The ease with which she found herself staying over at his place surprised her. At first she had convinced herself that it was because Grandpa Joe’s house was lonely without the older man but the truth that she tried to hide from herself was that she just enjoyed being around Adam. She was safe and protected in a way that she hadn’t been for far too long. That scared her. It really did. She had no business taking comfort from Adam. She wasn’t ready to throw herself into another long term anything. She’d finally been able to trust a man again after Michael, but she wasn’t ready for anything serious. Was she?

She slipped the covers off and sauntered into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. It was too early to be having such serious thoughts. She left the bedroom and walked down the hall in search of Adam. As she neared the kitchen, she heard the clanging coming from the basement and knew that he must be sweating and grunting through his workout. The visual brought a lascivious smile to crease her lips. The man was a sexy beast.

She bypassed the gym and decided to make them some breakfast. Opening and closing his cabinets, she found some fixings for pancakes. Mixing the batter, she was reminded of the Diner he had taken her to and the amazing pancakes she had devoured. The memory made her smile; another one of Adam’s thoughtful moments.

She heard a ringing then and the sound was so foreign to her, she actually searched the room trying to figure its source. The ringing continued and she found herself following it into another room, just around the corner. Adam’s study.

The room was simple with duck egg colored walls, a wall to wall bookshelf and a solid mahogany desk in front of a single window. Atop the desk sat a landline and answering machine. Audrey giggled beholding the device. Did people still use an answering service?

She was about to pick up the phone when it rang off and the answering machine clicked on. A deep throaty male voice came on the line and Audrey wondered if the recipient had been a chain smoker in his years.

“Parker, its Steve. I got the info you wanted. The records you requested, it isn’t nice. This girl, she was fucked up by her husband real good. You ain’t gonna like what you see. I sent you the file on your fax line. Call me to discuss.”

The machine clicked off and the heavy thump of her heart beat painfully in her chest. He couldn’t be talking about her, right? Adam wouldn’t have betrayed her that way. Her mind raced as she tried to replay Steve’s words in her head and make sense of what he had said. The fax machine! She looked around the room and found the old device against the corner of the wall and as Steve had mentioned, the unit sat with a thick pile of papers in the receiving tray.

With trembling hands she retrieved the pile and flipped over the first page. With darting, blurry eyes, she read the report. The report that was written in her own words, the night of her final beating. She flipped another page, a similar report, from the medical examiner. The list went on and on. Medical reports from previous hospital stints. ‘
Falling down the stairs’, ‘supposed car accident’,
so on and so forth.

Audrey was dazed. How could Adam betray her like this? How could he go behind her back and investigate her?

Adam’s deep voice behind her made her jump. “If I’d known you had a fetish for the desk, I would have brought you in here earlier.” He encircled her waist and pressed his body against her back.

The rage began to rise up into her throat as she lifted her elbow and brought it down hard against his stomach. He released her and she used the moment to push him back with her shoulder as she spun on her heel to face him. Her eyes flashed and she must look like a crazed banshee but she didn’t care.

He appeared dubious and confused. The dumb fool didn’t even have the sense to know why she was pissed.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” he tried to step toward her but she shook her head vehemently.

“Don’t come near me,” her voice was steely venom. “You are just like every other man. You get close so you can hurt me.”

His green eyes darkened. “What are you talking about?”

She threw the loose pages at him and they scattered around in a foray of vivid images. Various states of Audrey’s battered and bruised past.

Adam’s gaze cast downward, as though seeing the images for the first time. The shock and horror reflected pertinently in his features. He looked disgusted.

Audrey was raw and stripped down. Talking about her past was one thing but seeing it strewn around her like some piece of twisted art was a stark reminder that she was just damaged goods.

The betrayal she felt by Adam was too much to bear. He’d involuntarily hurt her all those years ago but she’d been a naive teenager, she should have known better now as an adult.

“Audrey,” Adam stepped forward and reached for her arm. “I can explain. I requested this weeks ago before I knew.”

She shrugged out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me!” She stepped away from him as though the touch of even his fingertips were acid on her skin. “You went behind my back and you dug into my personal life, Adam. If I wanted to talk about the things you see here, I would have brought it up. I left it in the past for a reason.
When
you requested it is irrelevant, you shouldn’t have dug into my life at all.”

Adam looked like a lost little boy, so out of his element, like he didn’t even know how they had gotten here. “Aud, I’m sorry. I just wanted to protect you. I thought I could help if I knew.”

“You can’t fix me, Adam! The past is done, it didn’t change anything. I didn’t have anyone to protect me back then and I’ve learnt my lesson but I sure as hell don’t need you or anyone to protect me now.”

“Audrey, listen to me please.” He stepped toward her again and she took a step back, inching closer to the door. “I love you.”

Audrey stared at Adam, the words lost on her.

“You don’t love me, you pity me!” She spat out as the tears burned her eyes. Her throat closed and her heart broke into a million pieces. She turned on her heel and stalked out into the living room. Thank God she spotted her car keys on the kitchen counter. She snatched it and stormed out the front door.

Adam beat her to it and slammed it shut as tried to get out.

“Audrey, don’t do this,” his eyes shone a desperation she had never seen before. She couldn’t find it in herself to think about it then though. The burning anger urged her to get as far away from him as possible. “Please, just sit down and let’s talk about this.”

“Adam Parker, so help me God if you don’t get out of my way right now I will knee you in the balls so hard that your favorite appendage will be useless for the rest of your life!” She sneered at him

Adam stood back as though she had slapped him, hard. She gave him one last hard stare before opening the door and getting the hell out of dodge.

She needed to get out of there before the flood gates opened. She would not cry over another failed relationship.

Chapter 19

A
dam stared after Audrey peeling out of his driveway like the devil was on her heels.

What the fuck had just happened?

His chest pounded heavily as he found his way back to his study. The papers lay strewn across the tiled floor, painting a gruesome picture of Audrey’s past.

He bent down and gathered up the disarray, trying to make sense of it all. As he stood up with the papers in his hands, he saw the message light on his answering machine blinking. He clicked it on and heard Steve’s voice over the line informing him of Audrey’s reports. The pieces started to fit together now, how she had come into his study and how she must have found the faxes.

Adam sat down heavily in the chair behind his desk. Running a hand through his already messy hair, he glanced down at the pictures that caught his eye. The photos were from the police reports in New York and they were graphic to say the least. When Audrey had told her mother that she was beaten unconscious, she hadn’t been exaggerating. The breath left his lungs as he viewed the woman battered and bloodied beyond recognition in the photo staring back at him. Her right eye was swollen shut and she had a deep gash oozing blood from a laceration at her hairline. If the report didn’t state it, he would not have recognized that that was Audrey Kelly.

This monster had maimed her.

Scanning through the other documents, Adam swallowed the guilt as the puzzle pieces of Audrey’s torment came together. Years of abuse. Trips to the ER saying she had fallen down the stairs, had twisted her ankle playing sports and a whole range of other excuses to hide the source of her injuries: her husband’s fists.

Fuck!
He was a world class asshole.

He should never have asked for this information. Audrey was right, he had violated her privacy. After all that he now knew, he realized he had made a douche move. A simple apology with his hat in hand wouldn’t make it right now.

And fucking hell, he had told her he loved her! Way to go asshole.

Now what was he supposed to do?

He tried to call her cell phone but she didn’t answer and the call went to voicemail. “Audrey, it’s me. I fucked up, I know that now and I’m sorry. Please, please call me back so we can talk about it.”

Adam had the urge to get in his truck and just go to her. The expression on her face when she left though was enough of a sober reminder that she was pissed three ways from Sunday. He needed to give her some time to cool off.

He’d give her a day or two and then he was going to make her see reason

****

Audrey sat in her darkroom later that evening, all her most prized photographs surrounding her yet the reflections staring back seemed to mock her.

How did she ever think she could out run her past? Like people wouldn’t find out about her demons eventually. She’d never thought that Adam would stoop so low as to investigate her. A single tear ran down her cheek and she swiped at it angrily. Audrey was not a weak girl, dammit. Too many tears had been shed in the last month and she refused to shed another. She was a Kelly and Kellys were strong.

Adam had left a dozen missed calls, texts and voicemails but she was just too defeated to deal with him right now. How had she confused the amazing orgasms with falling in love? Audrey disgusted herself. She’d fallen into old patterns, so desperate for human contact that she had once again lost herself.

No more. She fired up her laptop and scanned through her emails in an attempt to take the focus away from the dull pain in her soul. If she wasn’t in love with Adam then why did his betrayal hurt so much?

Because she was an idiot, that’s why.

Her eye caught on an email from Sheila Martin. She was a representative for the exclusive Leonard Caplan Gallery in Chicago.

Dear Ms. Kelly:

We are greatly intrigued by the portfolio that you have submitted and would love to set up some time to view more of your work and discuss potential purchases. If all goes well, we would like to have you on as a regular exhibitor.

Let me know when you can come to the windy city to meet in person.

Regards,

Sheila

Audrey stared at the screen in shock as she read and re-read the words. The Leonard Caplan Gallery was interested in her photos. A smile parted her lips despite the sadness in her heart. She had a stepping stone to a successful career again. It was the one positive to the otherwise marred day in her life.

The sad truth was that she picked up her phone ready to call Adam and share the news before she realized that he was no longer part of her inner circle. She needed to cut him off altogether. When had he infiltrated her life this way? One day, one moment at a time, that’s how.

Audrey sighed out loud. She needed to talk to Emma and was about to dial her number when she heard the front door close downstairs.

She hadn’t seen her friend in a few days, maybe she had popped by to see her. Another dreaded thought popped into her mind too and she hoped it wasn’t the other person she was avoiding like the plague, Adam.

Audrey made her way into the living room and glanced around, only to find the room empty. Could she have imagined the sound with her overactive brain? No, that was ridiculous.

“Hello Audrey.”

The voice behind her had every hair on her neck standing on end. Every negative, anxious, panicked feeling she possessed strummed through her entire body, putting her on high alert as she slowly turned around to face the voice.

“Michael.” Her voice came out strained to her own ears as she tried to quell the rising panic forcing its way up her throat, choking any attempts of airflow she tried to get in.

“Well hello dear,” he rasped as he stood before her, just a few feet away. His lips curled up in an ugly sneer, contorting his once handsome face into a scary monster. “My, don’t you look lovely.”

Audrey tried to quiet her raging instincts. Keep calm, just be calm. The man before her was a different version of the husband she had put behind bars. Prison had not done kindly to him. He was larger than she remembered, as though he worked off his rage in the pen. He looked harder, meaner, tougher, and pissed off. And all of that directed at Audrey.

He stepped toward her and Audrey found herself glued to the spot. Move feet, move!! Run! Scream!

“How did you get out,” she managed weakly, keeping her eyes focused on his movements toward her.

“Now now, Audrey, you sound like you aren’t happy to see me,” he taunted. He was close enough now that she could smell his rancid breath; the sour smell of stale beer was overwhelming. He touched her cheek with a dirty finger, leaving a trail of acid in its wake.

He grabbed her jaw crudely as he sidled up to her side and pressed his body against her. “I’m here to see my wife, Audrey.” He bumped his growing erection against her thigh as he roughly grabbed her waist with his other hand and Audrey had to swallow the bile rising up in her throat. “And she’s going to get payback for what she did to me.”

The panic rose past her throat and Audrey needed to react. Now! She drew her arm forward and elbowed him as hard as she could in the chest. It was enough to have him step away from her and she used the distraction to run toward the front door. She nearly reached the entry handle when his meaty hand on her shoulder yanked her back. She fell to the floor, knocking her knee painfully against the side table as she went down. He kicked her, hard in the ribs as though she were a rabid dog. The pain paralyzed her as she lay in a heap on the floor.

“This isn’t going to be over for you any time soon, Audrey.” He grabbed her by the hair and yanked her against the chair in the corner of the room. “I have lain awake every night in prison and trust me when I say, you are going to get your dues for what you did. That day I beat you to shit will be like a walk in the park compared to what I’m going to do to you now.”

Audrey could barely breathe past the pain in her side.

Michael roughly palmed her face again before saying. “Sweet dreams ,bitch.” Then he reached his fist and clocked her on the temple, knocking her out.

****

Adam was tired of waiting for Audrey to return his calls. His brain kept telling him to give her space but dammit if his heart wanted to clear the air, make sure she was ok. This was unfamiliar territory for him but he wanted to do right by her. He’d taken the entire report that Steve had sent yesterday and sent it through his shredder. He didn’t need them to know about Audrey. He already knew the only version of Audrey that mattered and she was strong, independent, talented and seductive as hell. Her past didn’t define who she was and he was a damn idiot for even asking about it.

Fuck it. He was going to see her.

He was about to grab his keys and head out when he heard the phone ring. Fuck. Not many people knew the number so it had to be important. He rushed back into his study and grabbed the phone impatiently.

“Parker,” he barked, anxious to get a move on.

“Parker, it’s Steve.”

“What’s up, bud?”

“I have some news and I don’t think you’re going to like it.’

“Spit it out then.”

“I put an alert out on that Michael what’s-his-face. And I got a hit today about him. He’s been released from prison early.”

Adam gripped the phone, his knuckles turning white and his stomach bottomed out. “How is that possible? He had a lengthy sentence from what I heard.”

“He ratted out some of the drug buddies he mixed with. DA entered into a deal with the rat bastard and he’s out on parole. Free and clear.”

“Fuck.”

“It gets worse.”

Adam ran a hand through his hair, waiting for the shit to hit the fan.

“He left New York and he’s somewhere in Cali. If I were you, I’d stick to the broad like a second skin ‘cause I got a feeling he’s coming to find her.”

“I’m on my way there now. Thanks Steve.”

Adam didn’t wait to hear anything more from his PI before he ended the call, grabbed his service pistol from his bedroom and raced to Audrey’s house.

It took less than five minutes before he was parked in her driveway, staring up at the dark house. None of the lights were on inside or out and her car wasn’t in the driveway. Had she left Crystal Valley?

A feeling of dread starting to creep up along Adam’s spine and he instinctively knew something was amiss. He’d had that feeling every time he’d been on a covert mission just before the shit got crazy and it never failed him.

Adam forced his mind to calm as he stepped around the house, creeping against the walls and peering into the low windows to try and get a visual of the interior. Most of the drapes were drawn and the rooms that were visible were completely pitch dark inside.

He came around back and tried the kitchen door as quietly as possible. The latch was open and he stepped into the darkened room. The kitchen was empty and the house was eerily quiet. Adam had a moment of doubt that Audrey was even in here. Had she packed up her life and moved away again like she did all those years ago? The fleeting thought came with an overwhelming disappointment that Adam couldn’t shake.

Something still didn’t feel right to Adam, his gut was screaming three ways from Sunday and that voice was never wrong.

He crept along the hallway toward the living room and from the corner of his eye he saw a flash of blue on the couch. Audrey.

It seemed like she was lying down but on closer inspection Adam could see that she was unconscious. She had some bruising along the left side of her face, like someone with a strong right hook used her as a punching back. Her hair was strewn across her face and the back of the sofa and Adam knew that she’d landed that way when she was hit. The thought made his blood run cold and then curdle with relentless fury. He knew it was her fuck-tard ex-husband and the bastard was going to pay. Adam was going to beat him until his face was a mash of shattered bone and ripped muscles. He didn’t care what consequences he would face, he just wanted the man to suffer for ever laying a finger on Audrey.

Adam heard a sound behind him and as he turned, he saw a fat fist hurtling toward his face. His quick instincts allowed him to duck just in time and roll on the floor out of range of the huge man after him. That was definitely not Michael. One of his goon’s maybe. The man was built like The Rock.

He charged at Adam and he managed to block and duck most of his hits. He had to give it to the guy, he was a pretty decent fighter. The man launched another fist at Adam and as he ducked, the goon managed to kick the gun out of Adam’s hands, sending it flying across the room.
Shit.

His fists connected with Adam’s face and Adam got his head back in the game. He shoved the guy off and landed some of his own blows. What the guy lacked in stealth, he more than made up for in brute strength as the knee he brought up to Adam’s face sent him staggering a few steps back.

Adam quickly recovered and was about to charge at Shrek with a maneuver he knew would knock the asshole to the ground, when a punch to the back of his head exploded his skull with pain.
What the fuck?

He whipped around and came face to face with none other than Audrey’s ex-husband. Turning his back on the ogre behind him though, was a bad idea as he caught Adam’s arms in a strong hold, locking them together so he couldn’t move. He struggled against the fat arms constricting his movements but it was no use, the guy was beyond strong.

Adam sneered at the cretin before him, resisting the urge to spit in his face. It wouldn’t do anything to help his cause now with the big guy acting as his own personal straight jacket. Aggravating the asshole right now would only cause him to hurt Audrey and he wanted to deflect as much attention away from her as possible.

“Now, now little dog,” the fuck-tard addressed Adam. “Stop fighting your leash little dog.” He walked in front of Adam as the bite of handcuffs encircling his wrists locked him in. Even with the added bondage, the Neanderthal did not loosen his grip on Adam. “I knew you would come for her eventually. I’ve been waiting around for her for days now and when I followed her from town, imagine my surprise when I find her in the arms of another man. Fucking tart is what she is.”