25. Harley
harley
. . .
“ Y ou seem to like interrupting my cleaning-up time, so why don’t you join me?” I asked as Laura walked into the bathroom.
Today I had opted for a bath instead of a shower to ease my aching muscles. The scenes today had me contorted in too many different ways to get a good shot, and if I didn’t get the tension out, it would be visible on camera tomorrow.
Laura wore a silk pajama set and no shoes as she padded across the room to sit by my tub.
“I have a question,” she said.
“Anything, my love.” I leaned against the lip of the tub to get closer to her.
“I want to know.” Her voice was clear, and her eyes never wavered from mine. “Everything.”
And this is what I love so much about you.
There was no fear in her eyes. No hesitation. She was ready, and she was letting me know.
“You should fire your assistant if she does that bad of a job digging things up.”
The redness that spread across her face was delectable.
“So you knew I was looking into you,” she wondered, though there was no nervousness in her tone. Maybe slight embarrassment, but she wasn’t hiding from it
“There isn’t much I don’t know about you.” I reached out for a lock of hair that fell forward. Even after everything, I expected her to flinch, but she stayed still. “Are you sure you want to open this door, my love? There will be no going back.”
Her throat bobbed as she swallowed.
“I should know everything about you,” she whispered. “My client, I mean.”
I let out a chuckle at her attempt to cover it up. Leaning back in the tub, I let the images of that night flash through my mind.
The panic. The hurt. The rage. The satisfaction. The warmth. The need for more.
It was like that with my first. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know how to channel it yet.
“I was raised in a cult. One of those crazy ones where they all planned to kill themselves before the end of the world. They thought it would make them go to heaven or some shit.”
Laura’s gaze turned hard, and her hand reached out to brush across my arm.
“You got to them before they could get to you. Good for you.”
I gave her a stiff nod. I didn’t think it would still pain me to talk about it, but there was an ache in my chest.
“They had planned it that night; my parents had talked about it nonstop. And for the first time, we had a feast. My mother cooked every single thing she could think of to prepare us for our departure .” I spat the word out like the curse it was.
I hated them. Hated what they tried to do to me.
“You poisoned them,” she said.
I nodded.
“Used rat poison,” I admitted with a bitter smile.
“Put it in their disgusting pea soup. They loved that thing but spared me the torture since it was our ‘last family meal.’” I turned to her, meeting her gaze directly.
“I watched them die. The panic that crossed their faces when they realized they were dying, how they breathlessly chased me into the bedroom because they knew what I’d done, how my father used a knife to stab me a few times like maybe he wanted to take me with him.
My whole life they had talked about death as being something grand.
Something to bring us closer to God. But in that moment?
They figured out there was nothing holy about choking on their own poisoned saliva, gasping for breath. And I loved every moment of it.”
I waited for the fear. For the disgust.
But there was none.
Fuck.
There was no denying it now. She was made for me. She was mine. How could she look at me after everything I confessed and still think I had done the right thing?
“What about the cult? Did no one come find you?”
“I played dead when they came to check on me,” I admitted, remembering the grubby hands feeling my body.
“I used the blood from the places my father managed to cut me. The cuts were shallow but bled enough. Then I gave them my best far-off, dead look and made sure to stop breathing. I spent days with their bodies until the police finally came.”
“Why did you stay?” she asked in a small voice.
It was an unexpected question, and it took me a moment to formulate my response.
“I knew it would look suspicious,” I said slowly. “And jail time wasn’t in my plans. I got the handcuffs my father kept in his nightstand for when he wanted me to keep still when he punished me, and I cuffed myself to the bed too.”
She nodded then, a small smile spreading across her face.
“So you played that part, and then you went on to become an actor. Are those things connected?”
“Maybe. What I’d always wanted was to prove them wrong,” I exhaled.
“You asked me if my parents were disappointed. They can’t be because they’re dead, but they would be.
Even then, they didn’t like the attention I brought.
Didn’t like it when people complimented their beautiful daughter.
So I made sure to pick the one thing they would fucking hate. ”
“You did it out of spite,” she mused, and I let out a light laugh.
“Spite, and the amount of money I’d make if I did it well enough.
Plus, no one would ever doubt my cover if I got famous enough.
I mean, who would believe I was a serial killer?
I’m so lovable. The point is, the public likes to make up their own stories.
Their own assumptions. I just capitalized on them. ”
Her breath hitched.
“People think being famous puts you in the limelight and therefore all your dirty secrets come to light, but in reality, if you play your cards right and have enough money, you can get away with murder. Even if the whole world sees it.” I ran my fingers down the side of her face, taking in just how beautiful she looked barefaced.
“Don’t I know it,” she teased.
“And what about you?” I asked.
“I’ve never put rat poison in my parents’ food, sorry to say.”
I traced the bags under her eyes, then the bridge of her nose, before my finger moved over her lips.
“But you wanted to, didn’t you?”
It was written all over her face.
“I’ve fantasized about it but figured it would be too much work. I mean, murder doesn’t go well with a law career.”
“On the contrary. I think they go perfectly together.”
She let out a sigh and closed her eyes, leaning into my touch.
“They never wanted a child; they wanted a maid. A cook. A mini person they could unload all their trauma and misery onto.”
My heart contorted, and blind fury roared through my veins. I tried not to let my mind make up images of what they put her through, as it would only send me spiraling.
“Did they hurt you?” I asked, unable to help myself.
“Not physically. But when I was young I knew I would have to get out of there. Some part of me wanted them to love me. I tried to do everything for them. But one day, I don’t know…
I just stopped. Stopped wishing for them to change.
Stop wishing I was better. Just stopped.
And that’s when I realized I had the power to create the life I wanted for myself . ”
I knew what she was talking about. Deep in my soul, I could feel just how tired that child must have been. I had been there too. The only difference between us was the way we decided to fix it.
The water was getting cold, but I didn’t care. I wanted Laura to be able to spill everything.
“And so I did exactly that.” There was pride in her voice now. “I cut them off and became the best damn lawyer in New York.”
“Don’t be humble,” I said with a smirk. “You’re easily the best in the country.”
Her eyes fluttered open, a vulnerability in them I hadn’t seen before.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “But promise me you won’t kill them?”
The rage was still there, but her words doused enough of it for me to think straight.
“Do you love them?”
She shook her head with a laugh. “I don’t, and that’s exactly why you shouldn’t do it. It’d be a waste of your talent .”
Hope soared in my chest, and a dangerous need for her was starting to overtake me.
“You’re trying hard to be sarcastic, but I can feel the truth in your words.” My smirk widened. “My Laura is coming around.”
Before she could take back what she said, I reached for her face and slammed our lips together. Her gasp allowed me entrance to her mouth, and I took full advantage of it.
She didn’t push me away.
Pulling away with one small peck on the side of her cheek. “Wait for me in bed.”
She let out a huff before she padded out of the room as if she was annoyed at my command, but I noticed just how excited she really was .
I let myself soak in the cold water for a few moments, using it to calm my anger.
In and out. In and out. Think of your beautiful Laura naked and waiting for you.
You can think about anything else after. After.
When I stepped into the bedroom, Laura was waiting for me. Naked. A teasing smile on her face.
And all the pillows she could find were piled up around her like a shield wall.
“My love, if you think that’s going to stop me, I’m going to have to prove you wrong again.”