Insatiable (29 page)

"I have to see what I can do, Rafferty has been on the force for over thirty five years. It won't be easy to have him taken off." Detective Nelson eyed Liam over his coffee cup.

"How long have you known this woman? Are we sure that she's no longer a suspect?"

Liam's temper was beginning to flare. "I thought you were on our side and why is my relationship with her relevant to this case?"

Nelson set his coffee mug on the counter. "Hey, I get paid to ask the delicate questions my friend. All I'm trying to do is figure out why someone would want to target her. I'm going to need a list of each and every woman who has come through those doors.  It sounds like there's a disgruntled husband or boyfriend out there who's got it out for Miss Collins. And they might not let anyone get in their way; you and everyone around her could be in jeopardy. Now how soon can I get that list?"

"You can have it right now." Aurora had stopped eavesdropping and come down the stairs.  She found it amazing that she was still considered a suspect. Liam and her friend's lives were in jeopardy and it was all because some maniac was holding some sort of sick grudge against her.

"Miss Collins, how are you feeling?" Detective Nelson asked.

"I'm fine detective, if you'll just give me a minute I'll print out that list for you."

Aurora looked at Liam before heading towards her office. Ten minutes later Detective Nelson was leaving, and Aurora walked him to the door.

She found Liam staring out the living room window, one hand under his chin as if he were in deep thought.

"Liam, I heard everything. I can't stand the thought of you risking your life by just being here. Maybe we ought to…"

He stood behind her, wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck.

"I told you that I can't stay away," he said. "So please, don’t ask me to. But I've been thinking, are you sure you want to play hostess for Thanksgiving?  I mean, I can always call my father and cancel."

She rested her hands on his chest. "You will do no such thing. Besides, Renee and her fiancé Mike are coming, and she's bringing her brother along. So we've got a full house coming for dinner, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I need this Liam, I want this. You know, most of the holidays that I've spent here have been spent alone or away from the house. But this year, things are different, and I like that. I can't wait to have a house full of people so no, you aren’t canceling anything."

It was the perfect Thanksgiving morning. The wind was calm, but the air was frosty and cold. When Aurora woke up and stretched she let out a sigh of relief. It was the first time since she'd been attacked that she woke up feeling like her old self. Her muscles no longer ached and the swelling in her face had almost disappeared. She was sure that it was from all the home remedies that both Rosie and Renee had made for her. Between the hot and cold compresses, aloe vera, turmeric, and black tea bags, her face and skin had come out smoother and softer than ever. And she was glad of that, she had no desire to meet and greet all of her guests with a swollen lip and puffy, bruised eyes. Especially Liam's family, given his father's history, she was sure that he'd think that his son was responsible and hell, he might have congratulated him for doing such a bang up job.  Liam told her that he was positive that his father had not changed. That he'd gotten married to a woman almost half his age and was still living the jet-set life. He told her that even though he was ashamed of his father he still wanted her to meet him. "Maybe he's changed," Aurora tried comforting him.

Liam shook his head in disagreement. "No, I'm sure he hasn’t, but he's the only family I have left and I want you to meet him."

Aurora didn’t know what to say, she was disappointed and flattered all at the same time. Disappointed because his father was an abusive man who, because of his actions, had driven his only son away.  And flattered because Liam had wanted to introduce her to his family so early in their relationship.

"Everything will turn out fine, I just know it will," she reassured him. Now as she showered and got dressed she thought about what she would say when Liam introduced her to his father. He and his new wife were driving down from Boston and would make the trip to Newport to stay out at Liam's place. He didn’t want to leave Aurora alone last night but she insisted that he go home and prepare for his father and step-mother's stay. She glanced at her cell phone and took note of the time, they would be arriving around noon. She had a couple of hours before finding out if it was going to be a happy reunion or a dreadful one.

Thanksgiving Day, a day that was supposed to be spent with family and friends. But where was he? He was alone, methodically planning the demise of Aurora Collins. The attack in the grocery store parking lot was just a practice run. She wasn’t invincible after all and he hoped that she realized that. He sat back in his car and ran through memories of happier times. Times when he imagined that his mother had not been tearful, times that she praised him for being such a good and devoted son.

Of course those times were all in his mind, and his mind only. What with him being sent away so young, that was all he had, his imagination. But farce or not, those times were gone now, no thanks to Aurora. He was sure that she was getting her Thanksgiving table ready for the guests that were about to arrive. Let her enjoy herself, it will be her last Thanksgiving.

Unbeknownst to him, Landon Conde's life would be spared; he no longer wanted to go after Landon. It had all turned towards Aurora now, enough was enough. It was time for her to pay.  He'd find a woman to train and manipulate and when the time was right, he'd bring Aurora into the picture. But first he had to find his prey. "And I know just the place to hunt." He grinned and drove in the direction of the bus station.  

The sexy sweater dress looked amazing on her, its rust color enhanced her skin tone and dipped and curved to her silhouette. The dress fell a few inches above the knee and she couldn’t help but feel sexy.  A pair of discounted Black suede Christian Louboutin scrunch boots with a high heel completed the look. Even though they were a couple seasons old, the boots had been a rare indulgence for her. Rosie and Mari were already dressed and in the kitchen when Aurora came down. After paying each other compliments, they went to work on the finishing touches. Nick and Martin were the first ones to arrive and Aurora put them to work setting the table and making sure that everything was just right. Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when she saw Liam's car pull into the driveway. "They're here!"

Liam's father looked more like an older brother than a father and his new bride looked as superficial as ever.
Now don’t go making assumptions,
she told herself.
You haven’t even met them yet.

Nick and Martin stood gawking as they watched Liam's leggy step-mother get out of the car. "When the hell do her legs stop?" Mari wondered out loud.

"Hmmm," said Rosie as they peeked through the blinds.

"Shush," Aurora grinned. "Don’t judge a book by its cover ladies. She might be the nicest person in the world." She couldn’t help but snicker.

"I'm sure you're right Aurora, but let's see if you hold that same attitude when she gives her new son-in-law a kiss hello."

Aurora couldn’t help but laugh. "Mari, that is an image that I don’t care to see," Aurora joked and opened the door.

"Happy Thanksgiving," she said and welcomed them into her home. When Liam introduced Aurora to his father, the man held out his hand as if she owed him something. There was such an air of conceit and arrogance about him. Aurora wondered if she shouldn’t set an extra chair at the table just for his ego. And his wife was the exact same way; she looked around at the gorgeously decorated house as if it were a prelude to something bigger. "Is this it?" She asked.

"And you must be Amanda," Aurora feigned interest. 

Amanda held out her hand and gave the slightest shake when Aurora reached for it. She knew then that the woman held no substance. A weak handshake meant a weak person, and Aurora had no time for weakness. Amanda Hunt was the kind of women whose world was very small, simply because it held no room for others.

She looked at Liam appreciatively. "Okay so maybe you were right," she whispered in his ear.

"Just remember," he whispered back. "I am, and always will be, my mother's son."

"I'll keep that in mind," she winked at him.

He licked his lips. "You look good enough to eat."

"Maybe later I'll let you have a taste."

"You two going to smooch all day, or are you going to show us around?" Liam's father blurted out.  "And how about a drink?"

"Sure dad, just let me finish with the introductions."

"I'll be in the kitchen," Aurora announced. The farther away she was from those people the better. About fifteen minutes later, Renee arrived with her fiancé and her older brother, Seth. "Thank god you're here," Aurora whispered to her friend. "Wait until you meet them. Liam's dad and step-mom are quite the couple." She winked and motioned towards them. Victor and Amanda Hunt were sitting in the living room by the fire and it looked as if they were analyzing every single item in the room.

Renee's older brother Seth couldn’t take his eyes off of Aurora. It had been a few years since he'd seen her and he'd almost forgotten how good looking she was.  Even when she introduced him to her boyfriend Liam, he couldn’t hold back giving a flirtatious retort. "You better keep an eye on her Liam; someone might come and steal her away."

While Aurora let out a nervous chuckle, Liam did not. He clenched his jaw and decided then that he needed to keep a close eye on Seth.

Her name was Deena, and he found her at the bus station, just like he knew he would. There was always a straggler at the bus station, people lost, lonely, and running away from something. Those were the vulnerable ones, the easy prey.  She'd told him her name when he offered her a hot cup of coffee. She told him that she was nineteen and when she agreed to get into the car with him, he thought to himself how easy it had been. During the car ride, he let her ramble on a bit.  She told him that she'd come to Rhode Island hoping to get a job at a coffee house in downtown Providence. She needed to find a place where she would be allowed to read her poetry, poetry was a big thing with her.

Eventually she hoped to make her way into New York City, but that wouldn’t be for a while, for now she wanted to be in Providence. There was nothing for her back home in Enfield Connecticut. To Deena, her hometown was dead. "The only thing to do there is eat out," she told him and laughed. "Don’t worry, there will be plenty to do here," he chuckled. "Never a dull moment," he said and eyed her legs. She smiled faintly before turning away to stare out of the window.

I hit the jackpot, he silently congratulated himself.
These artsy types are way too trusting
. Of course it helped that he was an attractive man, it worked to his advantage in more ways than one. Soon, Deena would regret getting into the car with him.

By the time they sat down to dinner, Aurora could tell by the expression on Liam's face that he'd had enough.  But she wasn’t sure whether or not his anger was geared towards his father or the fact that Seth had not stopped flirting with her. When he shot daggers at Seth's back, she guessed it was the latter. Aurora, along with Mari and Rosie were bringing out the food. "Here let me help." Seth jumped up from the table.

Liam's eyes narrowed and his glare intensified. Aurora could see that he was getting angrier by the minute. She needed to diffuse the situation and quickly.

"Everything is all set thanks, you just sit down and prepare to feast," she smiled at him. Liam stood up from the table and helped her into her chair. When he touched her, his hands possessively wrapped around her waist. "Let's eat," he said and took his place beside her. Victor Hunt, his wife, and his ego managed to dominate the entire dinner conversation. If they weren’t talking about the lavish trips they'd taken, they were talking about the famous people that they'd met and spent time with. At one point, Victor tried talking Aurora into buying an old hotel. He told her that she could convert it into studio apartments and charge the victims to stay there. "Mr. Hunt that would defeat the purpose, most victims of domestic violence cannot afford to pay for a place to stay, that's why I've opened up my home."

"Sounds like you give these women a free ride," he said matter- of- factly. Aurora couldn’t help but grin at his ignorance.  She silently thanked Liam's mother for raising such a kind, and giving son. Before Mari and Rosie could interject, Aurora cleared her throat. Liam knew that she was about to put his father in his place, he leaned back in his chair and got comfortable.

"Mr. Hunt, when a woman comes here she is by no means given a free ride. She has however, just taken the biggest hurdle of her life and she needs reassurance that she's done the right thing, and my place hopefully provides her with that. Let me break it down for you sir, so there are no misunderstandings.  Imagine that you have a daughter and she's in an abusive relationship. It may be a husband or a lover, but whoever he is, he's relentless when he beats her. Now she's too ashamed to come to you, so she hides her bruises from you and the rest of the world. But one day things go too far and he beats her almost to the point of her death. There's never any rhyme or reason to it, because it's internalized by the abuser. And what I mean by that is, he's got his own issues that he refuses to deal with so he takes it out on her."

Aurora now had the attention of the entire dinner table and continued.

"So she finally decides to leave, and nine times out of ten she has to escape. She can't just walk out the door, he won't let that happen, so she has to run for her life. Or in some circumstances she has to get wheeled out on a stretcher. Either way, when she is able to escape, I want to be there for her. I want her to know that she has a safe, quiet place where she can recuperate and start to get her life back. Sometimes you have to put yourself in another's shoes to fully understand where they came from and where they are going."  She raised her wine glass and smiled at Rosie and Mari. "So here's to two of the strongest women I know."  After the toast, Victor fell silent. For a moment, Liam thought that he was speechless. That finally his father had understood. But Victor shook his head. "I struggled and got to the top all by myself. It's lonely at the top but there is no shame in having pride in oneself."