Insatiable (27 page)

He had no qualms with her new boyfriend, the bastard. His issue was with Aurora and even though he'd failed at framing her, he would certainly have fun getting to her. And hell, qualm or no qualm, maybe he would take out the boyfriend too. "That’s a lot of killing," he smirked. Landon, Aurora, and the boyfriend. Just the thought of it made his dick hard with anticipation. He could make it look like Aurora killed Landon and then went after her boyfriend. Then finally, not being able to live with herself she'd hang herself, just like her husband. He wanted Aurora to go through the same exact motions as her husband Randy. He wanted her to feel the thickness of the rope around her neck, the solitude while climbing onto the chair and throwing the rope over the heavy beam. Would it hold her? Now that was something that he couldn’t wait to find out and if it didn’t? Well then, he'd just have to improvise.

The next week passed peacefully. Nothing bad happened and Aurora was able to fall back into a somewhat normal routine. Even the Sheriff had stopped harassing her, but she was sure that it was only temporary. He hadn't been removed from the case yet and Aurora was positive that he still thought of her as the killer.  Rosie and Mari busied themselves with holiday chores and menus while she took care of the day to day duties.

Mari had been a whiz at the bookkeeping and that left Aurora more time to concentrate on securing donations from the private sector. Although she'd still been receiving the large cash donations from the anonymous donor, she didn’t want to rely solely on the one particular donor. "You never know when it's going to stop," she told Liam. "Something tells me that this donor will keep on giving until his dying day," he responded. "Well who knows when that will be? Whoever it is could be old and on his death bed. It's sad to say, but there will always be a need for places like this and I just don’t want to see it flounder."

"I guarantee you that it won't," he promised her.

"I won't be home until late!" Aurora shouted to her friends before heading out. She had a meeting with the board of directors and after that she had to stop at the grocery store to pick up some last minute items for Thanksgiving. There was talk of a heavy rain storm coming and Rosie worried that the things she needed for the holiday along with any storm provisions would be sold out if they waited until the last minute to get them. So when Aurora offered to stop at the store after her meeting, Rosie grinned from ear to ear and handed her a list. "But be careful, if the storm hits while you're at the meeting just come home, forget about the grocery store."

Aurora chuckled at Rosie's concern. "What storm?" She joked. "I can drive in any kind of weather ladies, I'm not afraid of a little rain. And we have a generator if the power goes out, so don’t worry."

When she left the house it was already dark, she couldn’t help but notice that the moon was big and that the air smelled more of snow than rain. She stared at the beauty of the moon for a moment before getting into her car. She was anxious to get to her meeting and the store so that she could get back and see Liam. He had to work late tonight. Both he and Gary had been working on selling yet another mansion to a wealthy socialite who had no prenup.

He told her that the socialite was from Connecticut and when she'd found out through the grapevine that her husband was thinking about starting divorce proceedings, she'd gone into action. Instead of using her money wisely, she had decided on purchasing a million dollar beach house for herself and her two children. To make matters worse, she wanted the closing on the house finalized before the Thanksgiving holiday which meant that Liam and Gary had to work fast. Aurora hoped that by the time she got home from the store, Liam would be there waiting for her.

By the time she'd gotten out of her meeting, the temperature had dropped dramatically and tiny white flakes fell from the sky. She cursed herself for not bringing her coat. The gray sweater and black scarf she had on did nothing to keep her warm. While she sat in her car waiting for it to warm up, she took a call from Liam. "Hey baby, just checking in. I should be out of here in a few minutes."

She smiled when she heard him say that. "Good, I'm looking forward to seeing you. I can't wait to get you into bed."

"I can't wait to see you. Maybe with this storm coming I can keep you in bed longer," he groaned quietly.

"You'd like that wouldn’t you?"

"Yes I would baby," he grinned before hanging up the phone. He would call Gary back into his office so that they could wrap things up. The quicker they finished, the quicker he could be with Aurora.

"Jesus Christ," Aurora stepped from the warmth of her car into the parking lot of the grocery store.

"Feels more like January or February," an older gentleman said to her. He'd just finished loading the trunk of his car and Aurora smiled as she vehemently agreed with the man. As she made her way towards the store she wrapped her scarf more securely around her neck. She loved the winter, but she didn’t love the way that it seemed to sneak up on her. She'd always thought of herself as a woman who was prepared for everything and anything, except winter, never winter. She wished that Liam was by her side.
He'd certainly keep me warm,
she thought to herself as she whipped out Rosie's list and went to work on filling her cart.

This bitch is just asking for trouble
, he thought to himself as he watched her go inside the grocery store.
Doesn't she know that it's dangerous to go out at night
? No matter where she lived there were crazy people out there and stupid bitches like Aurora were easy prey. "Some people never learn," he muttered and sat in the warmth of his car.

When he stepped outside, Liam took a sharp breath. He wasn’t expecting it to be this cold. After he'd said goodnight to Gary and locked up, he made his way home. Before he headed over to her house, he wanted to grab a quick shower and the necklace that he had gotten for her. He wanted to wait until things calmed down before he gave it to her. And now, more than a week had passed since things went topsy turvy and there was no threat of a repeat performance, he figured that now was as good a time as any. And he had wanted to give it to her before Thanksgiving, just in case his father showed his true colors and ruined the holiday. He wanted Aurora to have something that would let her know that he was nothing like his father.

Aurora declined the bagger's offer to help put the groceries in her car. It was bad enough that she'd have to battle the cold, no sense in the bagger having to suffer the same fate.
Serves you right for not wearing your coat
, her conscience told her. By the time she reached the car, she was shivering. "Thank god for remote starters," she said and popped the trunk.

A gust of wind threw him off, but only for a moment. The whistle of the wind brought a smile to his face.
Even the weather is cooperating
. Aurora knew, even before she had time to reach for the panic button on her keychain she knew. She squeezed her eyes shut when she realized that she'd left her gun at home. "Make no sudden moves," the man came up behind her.  For a moment she thought it was the sheriff, but she didn’t recognize his voice. 

"Now move slowly and turn around, don’t try to run Aurora. He enjoyed the feel of the knife in his hand, the way the blade had punctured a hole in the back of her sweater. She could feel the tip of the blade pinch her in the back. It was a knife alright, but Aurora wasn’t ready to go down without a fight. The advice that Nick had told them weeks ago resurfaced in her mind and there was no way that she was going to go anywhere.
Fight Aurora! This is no time to be civil, remember?
The words echoed in her head. She turned around to face her attacker; disappointment came over her face when she saw that he was wearing a mask. "Fucking coward," she blurted out.

When he gripped her hair tight and punched her hard in the  face, she spit out blood and started screaming, "Fire!" She knew that the word would draw the most attention, even if the parking lot was almost deserted and the wind was whistling something fierce. It was the only thing she could think of before fighting back. She hoped that someone, anyone would hear and call 911. She kept on shouting until the second punch brought her to her knees and almost knocked her unconscious.

The pain seared through her jaw and her vision had become blurry, but she wasn’t down for the count. His grip was like a vice as she tried pushing and shoving him off of her. He'd gone down to the ground with her now and straddled her, leaving her arms and legs immobile.  "You're one hell of a fighter aren’t you?" He leaned down close to her face.  Her head was spinning and her screams were clogged by the hand against her throat.

The force of her impulsive  head-butt only made him more angry. When he raised his hand to his head she inhaled a deep breath and screamed with all her might. A woman who had just pulled in came charging at the man, cell phone in one hand and pepper spray in the other. The woman managed to pump a couple of bursts into the assailant's face before he pushed off Aurora, and knocking the woman aside, took off running. "The police are on the way," the woman told Aurora. She was enormously grateful for the woman's help but wanted nothing to do with the police. "I'm alright," Aurora slurred, she felt dizzy, drunk dizzy. "Thank you so very much for your help," she winced as the woman helped her up. "You need to report this and go to the hospital."

Aurora shook her head. The snow was coming down more steadily now and she just wanted to go home. "No, really, it's just a couple of scratches. I'll be alright really."

"Too late," the woman said. She and Aurora turned in the direction of the approaching sirens. Not only had the police come, but an ambulance had been dispatched as well.  She was glad when she saw that Sheriff Rafferty had not appeared at the scene. And Nick was off duty.
Hell, he's probably at my house,
she thought to herself.  She thought about calling Liam, but the officer was already questioning her while the EMT looked her over.

She figured that if she answered the questions fast enough and told the EMT's that she was alright; they'd have no choice but to let her go home. She would refuse a trip to the hospital; she just wanted to get out of there and out of the cold. She noticed that when the officer finished questioning her he went to the woman. She was sitting in the warmth of her car and the officer didn’t keep her long. Aurora guessed it was because she hadn't seen much, but she was glad that the woman had shown up when she did. She made a mental note to follow up with the officer so that she could thank the woman properly.

When he finished questioning her, Jill sat quietly in her car. It was freezing out, and she needed to collect her thoughts. She had gone to the store to get some last minute items before the storm got any worse. She was expecting to run in and out; instead she had to use her pepper spray to ward off an attacker. God that woman was strong. If it had been her, she would have curled up like a baby and begged to be taken to the hospital.  And she definitely would not have had the gall to fight back. 

The chime of her cell phone interrupted her thoughts. It was her new boyfriend Landon.
'Where are you?
' He was texting. She'd told him that she would be at his place right after she packed a small overnight bag. She also needed to make a quick stop at the grocery store. Jill knew that she was running late, but she hadn't counted on having to save a woman's life. When she was through texting Landon her reason for being late, he replied, '
After you get the groceries,
come straight here. No more stops and no more excuses, no matter what.
God he must really like me, she smiled to herself. This guy might just be the one.

When Liam got near the house he was surprised to see that Aurora was not yet back from the grocery store, he'd spoken to her hours ago. While making his way to the house he dialed her cell. When Rosie answered the door, she could see the panic in his eyes. "I thought you were Aurora," she said. "We were ready to help her with the groceries." Rosie peered around him towards the driveway. "Wonder what's taking her so long." Rosie looked from Martin to Liam with concern.

"I just tried her cell and she's not answering."

"I'm sure she's fine." Mari and Nick had come into the kitchen.

I'll give her ten more minutes, and if she's not back, I'll go looking for her."

Nick turned his attention towards the kitchen window. "No need for that, I see headlights."

Liam breathed a sigh of relief. Aurora was back home safe and sound. He grabbed his coat and went outside to meet her.

"Hey baby I was getting worried, I…"

When he saw the state that she was in his heart just about attacked him. Dried blood was caked on her face, her lip was swollen, her clothes were stained and torn and she had a large lump on her forehead.

She barely made it out of the car before collapsing into his arms. Her head was pounding, and her teeth were chattering so badly that she couldn't even make out what Liam was saying.  "I was attacked… wanted to get home… was wearing a mask…" Her words came out in spurts and by the time Liam had managed to get her inside the house, she'd gone into shock.

"Hurry and get her by the fire." Rosie and Mari had gone into protective mode and began barking out orders to Martin and Liam. Nick immediately got on the phone and after a few minutes had managed to hear the story of what happened. Liam listened intently as Nick recounted to him what the officer who had been dispatched to the scene told him. "Your girl is a fighter, Liam. But had it not been for that Good Samaritan, who knows what could have happened." Nick had told him what happened.

Liam was more than angry, he was angry at Aurora for refusing a guard, he was angry at the animal who'd attacked her, but most of all he was angry at himself, for not being there for her when she needed him. And he started to take out that anger on Nick. When he stormed into the hallway and snatched up his coat, Nick stopped him. "Where the hell are you going?" "Nick!" He shouted. "I'm going out there to find that son of a bitch!"