Twenty-Two
Vivienne
Since we’ve come back from Smith’s, everyone keeps telling me to try and forget what I saw in the woods. It’s hard to do that when I have daily reminders haunting me. I’m in a cast, my broken ankle a result of tripping when I saw Denise’s remains. Davis and Smith are smothering me. If Ollie isn’t at my side, one of them, or both, are right next to me. I have no time to myself. I can’t escape the harsh reality that someone is running around my hometown, killing women that Ollie had relationships with. His most meaningful relationship has been with me. It’s become a waiting game. When are they coming after me?
I haven’t slept in weeks. While the daily reminders are bad, the scenes in my dreams are unbearable. The image of Denise in the woods that day is burned into my brain. I’ve tried, but nothing I do can remove it. It’s a part of me now, growing like a cancerous tumor, killing me slowly. After a while, I gave up the notion of sleep. I survive on coffee and fear. Ollie doesn’t sleep much either. With everything going on, his own demons have been coming around more often. Between worrying about me and battling his own nightmares, he finds it best to stay awake.
“We can’t keep doing this to ourselves,” he says from the kitchen table. It’s the middle of the night and we both dozed off on the couch, only to be jolted awake by my screams. He wants me to talk about it, I want to forget it. I understand his need to keep his demons to himself. Talking about it doesn’t help. Nothing helps. Instead, like I do every time it happens, we move into the kitchen where he tries to get me to open up while I bake. Annie’s is always stocked with my goodies these days, thanks to my nightmares.
“I don’t know how to stop it.” That’s the most honest answer I can give him.
“If I catch the bastard that might help.”
“Taylor assured me his office is working round the clock to put this guy behind bars.”
“Taylor’s office doesn’t have shit!” I jump at the harshness of his voice. Everyone I speak to over there tells me that they’re doing their best, following leads, making progress. Evidently, everyone’s been lying to me. “They’re no closer to catching this sick bastard than they were when this all started.”
I abandon the dough I was kneading and sink down to the floor. Standing is too much for me right now. I feel like the world’s caving in on me. My heart is beating at a rhythm that I can’t keep up with. The blood is pummeling in my ears, making it hard to hear Ollie. I can feel him sitting beside me, but none of his words are registering. He lifts me off the floor and carries me to the bedroom, his voice constant.
He never stops speaking as he slowly undresses me. First my clothes, then his. I’m starting to calm down when he sinks into me, his weight on top of my body helping to bring me out of panic mode.
“Listen to me,” he says gently against my cheek as he moves in and out of me slowly. “You are my life. My world. My everything.” His mouth moves to mine and he kisses me in a way that backs up his words. We’re both breathless when he moves away. “My whole purpose in life is to keep you safe. Let me carry that burden.”
I reach up to kiss him, letting him know that his words have sunk in. I trust him. I know he will do everything in his power to keep me safe. I just hope it’s enough.
“No more worrying, baby. I need you happy. I need my Vivi back. Okay?”
“Okay.” My throat is tight and burning. I hold back the tears as Ollie continues to move inside of me. I close my eyes and let the sensation take over. I block everything out but him. His smell, the feel of his rough hands on my skin, the low groans he makes when he starts to move faster and harder. With nothing on my mind but Ollie, the most intense orgasm rolls through my body. I cling to him and cry out his name, causing him to pump in and out of me harder and come, too, the beautiful sound of his release echoing through the dark bedroom.
“Thank you,” I whisper against his warm neck.
“For what?”
“For loving me.”
“Always, Princess.”
Both too sated to move, we fall asleep in each other’s arms, finally getting a decent night’s sleep since this nightmare started.
_____
“Let me help you with that, Vivienne.” Taylor takes the boxes out of my hand and holds the café door open for me. Davis is behind me, carrying the other boxes of pastries in. I usually am pretty good at juggling all this, but these crutches make moving around almost impossible. “When’s that thing coming off?” he asks, tilting his head toward my cast.
“Tomorrow, thank God.”
“We should go out and celebrate,” Annie says from behind the counter. “Think my brother would let you out of his sight for a night?”
I plop down on Ollie’s stool and watch as she unpacks everything. Customers flock to the counter to see what I’ve brought in today. They start calling out orders and buying up things faster than Annie can get them into the displays. Some want entire boxfuls. All manners aside, they don’t wait to taste everything… as soon as Annie gives them what they want, they’re tasting their purchases, moans of pleasure and mouthfuls of, “This is delicious,” heard through the space.
“You could put me out of business if you wanted to.” The counter is finally cleared and most of my stuff is gone.
I smile at my sweet friend. “I don’t want to.”
“So? Are we going to celebrate your mobility tomorrow night? Nothing big, just a girl’s night at Buddy’s.”
“I’m in,” Davis calls. “That way we don’t need to worry about your caveman boyfriend. I’m your bodyguard.”
“You know that means he won’t let you drink.”
“Ugh.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” I tell Annie. We’ve all been so stressed out lately, a night out will do us all some good. Besides, I miss hanging out with her. Our friendship is back on track, stronger than ever, but the only time we see each other is when I drop off my stuff at the café. I have no idea what’s been going on in her life and I want time to talk to her away from here. We both deserve to have a little fun. I lean across the counter and kiss her cheek. “Gotta run. I have some emails to send and a few calls to make to the office. I’ll let you know about tomorrow night.”
“Do whatever you need to do to convince him,” she calls after me, winking.
_____
“No.” He never looks up from playing with Ace. Hell, he didn’t even let me finish.
“I wasn’t really asking your permission. I was merely letting you know my plans for the evening.”
“No,” he repeats. Like saying it again will make it any better.
“I’m going out with your sister. It’s not really up to you.”
He finally stops rolling around with Ace and looks at me. My first instinct is to back up. There’s fire in his eyes, but I know down to my soul that Oliver Bishop would never touch me. “It’s not safe. I won’t let you put yourself in danger just to have a few drinks with my sister.”
“I’ll be there,” Davis tells him from over my shoulder.
“That’s not helping to convince me.”
“Come on, Bishop. I won’t drink. I’ll make sure she’s safe. Isn’t that why you got me this badass gun?”
“He has a point,” I interject.
The tick in Ollie’s jaw is working overtime. “I’m dropping you off and picking you up when you’re finished. You don’t even go to the bathroom without Davis. Got it?”
“Thanks, Dad,” Davis calls out before running back inside. I never thought I’d see the day that he’d be excited to go to Buddy’s.
“Got it, Vivienne?” he repeats.
“Yes, sir,” I sass with a mock salute to accompany it.
“You must want me to bend you across my knee and spank your ass.” The mere thought has my face heating up. My whole body gets warm at the idea of being bent over his knee. He must see it because he steps in closer, but not close enough to touch me. I bite my lip from moaning. “Play your cards right and I might give you what you want tonight.”
“Oh,” I breathe out.
“Like that idea?”
I nod, the ability to speak gone. “Go call Annie and tell her you’ll meet her at eight.” He swats me on my butt as I walk away and a tingle runs up my spine. I already can’t wait to come back home tonight.
“And that, boys, is how you tie a cherry stem with your tongue.” I pull the knotted stem out with my thumb and forefinger. Applause and whistles erupt throughout the bar, my audience ranging from men old enough to be my grandfather to Taylor and a few of his officers.
“That’s some party trick,” the Sheriff says beside me. “That how you ended up with Bishop?”
“I did not possess those skills when I was sixteen,” I slur. Davis convinced me to move from beer to liquor as the night has progressed. Needless to say, I’m feeling no pain.
“How did the two of you get together?”
I pat his chest. “That, my friend, is not a story I want to get into right now.”
Annie grabs my hand off his chest and pulls me off the bar stool and onto my feet. “Dance with me. What’s the use of being out of your cast if you don’t use that leg?”
Not wanting to abandon my Old Fashioned, I take the last sip and follow Annie to the middle of the bar. I wouldn’t call it a dance floor, but there’s a small space between the pool tables where you can dance. No one’s using it at the moment, so we have it to ourselves.
“Davis,” I call. I crook my finger in his direction and wait until he ends his phone call before I start moving to the music. He’s been on that damn thing all night, no doubt keeping Ollie up to date on how my night is going. “Dance with me, Davis.” I start to dance but collapse against him in a fit of giggles. “I’m happy. I’m happy and in love.”
“Happy and in love and drunk.”
“I wish Ollie was here to dance with me.”
“I get the impression that Oliver Bishop isn’t much of a dancer.”
“Oh, he’s got moves.”
Annie drapes her arms around the two of us. “I don’t want to hear about any moves my brother has, on the dance floor or otherwise.”
“At least you don’t have to live with the two of them. The old walls in that house are paper thin.”
“Eww,” she shrieks in my ear.
The music plays on, but the three of us just stand in a huddle, swaying, laughing, and talking, all the shitty things happening in Bellemere far from our thoughts.
“Ready to go home, baby?” I feel Ollie’s hand slide up the back of my shirt as he leans down and speaks low in my ear.
“Party pooper,” his sister pouts.
I turn around and throw my arms around his neck. “Dance with me, Ollie.”
“Heard you been puttin’ on quite a show here. Let me get you home and I’ll dance with you.”
His body feels so good pressed up against me, I’d agree to anything right now.
“Time to go, kids.” He walks over to the bar to close out our tab and ushers us all into the car. Annie passes out as soon as we get on the road, so we take her home with us and Ollie puts her in one of the guest rooms to sleep it off.
“Come on, Viv. Let’s go to my place.”
“Will you dance with me?”
“Do whatever you want me to.”
We take Ace from the yard and run, hand in hand, down the worn path from my house to the old barn. We never come here, but it just seems right tonight. As soon as we get inside, Ollie walks over to the old record player that I remember from when we were kids and puts on an Otis Redding album.
Dancing with him, here where our lives started out, is perfection. I feel safe and secure in his arms. I know nothing can happen to me as long as he’s with me.
“Happy?” he asks as one song bleeds into the next.
“Yes. You?”
“Gettin’ there, Princess. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time.” His hands start to move up and down my body, his lips following the path of his fingers. “Wanna know what would make me happier?”
“Tell me.”
“Gettin’ these fancy ass clothes off you. Makin’ you come with my mouth and my fingers before I sink into you. Fuckin’ you until you can’t see straight.” He pulls at my shirt, the buttons popping and scattering on the floor. My skirt comes off next, and he throws me over his shoulder and hauls me off to bed, doing every dirty thing he promised he would do.