Crossing Hathaway (27 page)

“It’d be a shame if poor Daddy took a terrible fright in the middle of the night.” He kept his tone casual, as if he spoke of the decor.

I glanced back through strands of my hair, allowed the door to close the crack it had opened.

Richard inspected his fingernails, an eyebrow raised. His shoulders lifted and fell. “Who knows, maybe he’ll have another heart attack.”

Hand still on the silver handle, I angled my body toward him. “You leave him out of this.”

“That, my tenacious kitten, will be up to you.” He patted the countertop again. Humor leaked out of his features, and his voice filled with a dark, underlying current of a command. “Come here.”

I pressed my palms against the cool, metal door and shut my eyes.
He won’t hurt me, not really.
If he did, Ben wouldn’t give him anything
. Just play along—for Brent—for Dad.

After a moment to calm my lungs and scream commands at my unwilling legs, I strode to him. I leaned my back against the counter beside him, arms stiff at my sides, fingers curled into tight fists.

Richard gripped me by the waist and lifted me onto the surface between two sinks, wiggled his body between my knees. “There now.” He leaned in, the overwhelming scent of stale coffee and mint smacking me in the face. “Kiss me like you mean it.” His fingers rimmed the collar of my shirt. What. A. Slime.

Wrinkles formed in my forehead as my mind chewed on his words. I pressed my hand against his so he couldn’t dig any farther. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Why?”

“One call from me and Bill will have another of his friends pay your mother a visit. You need to be convincing tomorrow.”

Cold invaded my body, surrounded my heart in a fist of ice.
Do it for Mom.
I licked my dry lips and willed the bile to retreat down my throat. It took all of my concentration to push myself forward and press my lips to his. Nothing happened, not like when I kissed Ben. Icky chills coated my body as he moaned, hooked his arm around the small of my back and used it to yank me against him. He wove his free hand into my hair.

When his tongue probed deep into my mouth, I shoved my hands against his chest, but he held me so tight I couldn’t get any leverage to move him an inch. My legs flailed while he ate my protests and pressed his hardened state against me. His breath came faster, his mouth and hands more urgent on my body.

“Stop it.”

“Oh yes, very good.” He stroked fingers along the bumps of my spine. “The harder you fight, the more furious he’ll be.” He leaned back and stared into my eyes. “He is intending to give me what I want, right, Evangeline?”

I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand, wishing for a gallon of mouthwash. “How should I know?”
Damn. Shouldn’t have said that.

Richard cocked his head. “Do I detect a little lovers’ tiff?”

His scrutiny gained the attention of the hairs at the nape of my neck. I stared past him, the familiar hurt pushing through my anger to seize my chest again.

“So, it’s true. You finally figured out he isn’t worth your time. Maybe he can’t satisfy you in the bedroom? Oh no, how perfect.” He sucked in a breath and held it for a moment, shook his finger at me. “Or maybe you left him because of me?”

I uttered a disgusted laugh. “Get over yourself, Richard. This world doesn’t spin on your axis, even though you like to think it does.”

He stepped away, scrubbed a hand along his chin as if he hadn’t heard me. “I suppose it doesn’t matter. He’s still madly in love with you. Otherwise he wouldn’t have tried threatening me to stay away from you.” His fierce, green eyes rolled up to me. “Once I leave here, you’re going to enjoy the rest of the movie with fruit pie and go home with the fat one at the scheduled time. I have someone watching the hospital. If anything changes with Daddy or Mommy, guards, police, anything—I’ll know. Tomorrow you’ll meet me in my office at five p.m.”

“You have an office?” Unable to conceal my utter shock that Ben had given him an office in the building, I slid down from the countertop, my fingers gripping it so Richard wouldn’t see them shaking.

He huffed and rolled his eyes. Bitterness colored his voice. “The locked door beyond the elevators near the rear exit of the building. Ben doesn’t like me wandering in his precious building. Does that help?”

I couldn’t keep the disgust from my face as I nodded.

“Good.” Richard paced. “I’ll leave the door open and you’ll just happen by. Curiosity will bring you inside and you’ll call to see if anyone’s there.” His lips curved into a malicious smirk. “And then we’ll put on our little show. No matter how much he might want to, he won’t come to your rescue.”

My heart plummeted at the truth in his words.

“Oh, don’t take it personally, kitten.” Richard mocked a pout and grabbed for my hand.

I yanked it away and moved along the counter toward the door. “Fucking son of a bitch.”

Head tilted back, he belted out a laugh. “I think my mother would take offense to that.”

“Too bad. Shame on her for not seeing you for what you are: a sociopathic fuckup. If you’d worked as hard as Ben instead of chasing tail your whole life, you’d already have everything you wanted.”

Richard’s eyes darkened and a deep growl rumbled in his chest as he lifted his hand.

I closed my eyes, covered my head with my arms, but the strike never came. Instead, his shoes tapped across the tile. The door swished opened and closed a moment later.

My knees wobbled and gave way. I dropped to the floor, propped my hands out so I wouldn’t go the rest of the way down. Tears of anger dribbled out of the corners of my eyes. My fist hammered against the tile until pain spiraled up my arm. We could have had him. If Ben had found his balls and listened to me, we’d have ripped the blinders off his mother and exposed Richard for what he was.

The door opened. A small flock of teenage girls rushed in and stopped.

I scrambled up off the floor, scrubbed my tears away as I bolted out of the washroom. Back in the movie theater, I lowered myself beside Brent. I didn’t look at him, just took his stiff, frozen hand in mine and waited for the movie to end.

On the way home, Denny kept glancing over at Brent in the front seat, who stared out his window with his hands balled in his lap.

“Everything okay, guys?” Denny asked after a few minutes of silence.

My brain, half melted from my encounter with Richard, scrambled to find a lie I could live with. “Brent ran into an old boyfriend. They exchanged a few words. He’s just upset, leave him alone.” I cringed under the harsh tone of my voice. “Sorry, Denny. It’s been a long night.”

“Yeah, yeah, no big.” Although his focus went back to the road, he kept sneaking concerned peaks at me in the rearview.

How would I get through the next day? The thought of Ben watching helplessly as Richard groped me put a squeeze on my stomach. I knew Ben wouldn’t come to help me, and that made everything that much worse.

At Denny’s, Brent and I shuffled through the hall as Denny went on to his room.

“Can I sleep with you tonight?” Brent asked in a small voice.

Not the least bit surprised at his request, I nodded, took his hand, and led him into the spare bedroom. We stripped off our pants and crawled under the covers in our T-shirts and underwear. I spooned along his back and held him close. His body shook with sobs, but I held mine inside.

His shaking dwindled after a while. “What are you going to do, Eva?”

“I have no choice but to do what he says.” A tug brought the covers higher around my shoulders, though it didn’t help the chill in my bones. “And hope to hell Ben doesn’t change his mind about giving Richard what he wants.”

What if Richard hurt me anyway? What if he came armed? I squeezed Brent tighter. Richard could do anything he wanted to me right there in Ben’s office and nobody could do a damn thing. He might rape me just to spite his brother, even if Ben did give him what he wanted.

I stifled a shudder and forced the thoughts away by recalling the image of Dad’s smile. At least I’d done everything I could to avoid what would come tomorrow, even though it didn’t work out the way I’d imagined. The rest was up to Ben.

If I died, I was so haunting his ass for the rest of his miserable existence.

I followed Denny out of his place red-eyed and bushy-haired with Brent at my side. His ghostly pallor reflected our restless night. The two of us had tossed and turned for hours before we gave up trying to sleep and had watched an old vampire movie on TV until we had to get up.

Denny drove us to work in silence. When neither of us had answered his questions at breakfast, he gave up, but kept a closer watch on us than normal.

The three of us trudged up the stairs to Ben’s building. My legs burned by the time we reached the top. We shared a group hug before Denny took one last scrutinizing look at me and loped back down to the car, his pants riding low enough his butt crack emerged. Brent and I watched him until he disappeared into traffic.

“I don’t think I can do this.” Brent’s fingers clutched the strap of his attaché case as he stared across the street toward the crowded Tim Horton’s across the street.

“We have to.” My eyes pleaded with his profile. “If anything happens to tip off Ben that something’s wrong, Richard might hurt my parents.” When he didn’t respond, I shook his arm. “Please, Brent.”

His gaze shifted to mine and back out to the street. “Okay. I’ll do my best not to freak out or pee myself again.”

Despite the danger looming at the end of the day, a laugh came from my depths and rushed past my lips. After a moment, Brent joined in and we had to hold each other up so we wouldn’t tumble down the stairs. The early morning coffee drinkers loading up on caffeine eyed us like the lunatics we must have looked like.

Brent spoke through sporadic giggles. “Okay. I can’t believe we’re laughing, but I so needed that. Let’s go.”

We rode up in the elevator, and I gave him a squeeze before stepping out onto the second floor. I turned as the doors pinched off my view of his cute wave and halfhearted smile of encouragement. The instant he disappeared, my courage dropped a few notches.

After a darting glance in every direction, I sped down the hallway toward the safety of the IT office. I hoped the boys weren’t in at that early an hour so I could have some time to gather myself and plaster on what I hoped to be a normal work face.

On my desk, I found another giant bunch of fire and ice roses overflowing a blue Asian-style vase that probably cost more than I earned in five years. I closed my eyes and took a few breaths before snatching up the card. It read:
I miss you. Everything will be okay. Yours, B.

I sank on my chair. At the memory of Richard’s hands on my body, a shudder tore through me. As much as I wished I could believe Ben, I just couldn’t.

After checking the job list, I opened my e-mail. The first one marked priority by Cam said he’d be busy the whole day and had handed the reins to me.

Jeremy trooped in with his laptop bag and stood behind me as my gaze scanned the text on my screen. “Hey, dude. Any emergencies yet?”

I narrowed my eyes at the screen, and the lump of dread sitting in my empty stomach expanded. “Apparently, Cam’s spending the entire day in B—I mean, Mr. Hathaway’s office. He said if we call him, something had better be on fire.” I held my breath to see if Jeremy noticed my almost slip.

“Huh. What do you suppose he’s doing?”

I exhaled and twisted my neck so I could look up at Jeremy. “He didn’t say, and I have no idea. Whatever it is, we’re on our own today.”
What the hell are you up to, Ben?

Paul lumbered through the door, toting a lunch bag half the size of Toledo. He and Jeremy occupied themselves with conversation about the previous night’s
Big Bang Theory
, sniggering in a huddle by the water cooler.

With them occupied, I pulled my iPhone from my desk, put it back down, sighed, and picked it back up. If I didn’t know what he had Cam doing, it would chew at me all day.

I sent Ben a text:
What’s Cam doing in your office today?

Only a few moments passed before a chirp preceded his response
: No hello? How are you?
He added a smile at the end.

I didn’t have the patience to play games.
Don’t be cute. I’m worried.

You think I’m cute?

Ben!!!!!!

Trust me, Evangeline. All is well.

Trust is earned and you’re running a negative balance. Are you going to tell me or not?

No.

I closed my eyes while my internal rant roared in my head.

The cell rang Pink’s “Trouble.” Scowling, I turned it off. A moment later, my office phone shouted a shrill tone into the room. After confirming Ben’s number appeared on the display, I pressed the Do Not Disturb button, picked up my toolkit, and headed for Human Resources to fix a blue screen of death on their assistant’s computer.

I checked items off my work list while the hands on my watch spun much too fast for my liking. Three o’clock, then four. I bought a bag of Doritos and a Coke from the machine in the kitchen and stuffed my face over the counter.

Something tapped my shoulder. A tiny scream escaped me. I whirled to face who my mind already had me convinced must be Richard. Instead, I found Greg from Quality Control.

He stared back at me, mouth half-open.

I set my crumpled bag of chips on the counter, held on to the granite so my wobbling legs wouldn’t drop me to the tile, and gulped in air. “What’s with you guys, always scaring the shit out of me? Christ!”

“Sorry, Eva. Just wanted to ask if you’re okay. You look a little…” His gaze darted to the exit and down to his shoes.

“I’m fine.” I rushed to the door, stopped. “Sorry I yelled at you.”

On my way to my last call of the day in research and development, my BlackBerry rang. I answered without thinking.

“Hello?”

“Why are you so nervous today?” The demand in Ben’s tone snapped me to attention.