Chapter Six
By the time I got home, I was a boiling pot of rage.
Each time Dr Tate probed, all I could think was that my stepfather was orchestrating the whole thing, extracting my innermost thoughts for his own perusal.
I had managed to stave off giving much away, brushing over last night’s dinner with some mention of Daniel, and then spent the entire drive home second-guessing Dad’s intentions.
Now that I was home, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with some painkillers and sleep off the dregs of my hangover, saving my troubled thoughts for tomorrow when I could hopefully think more clearly.
But it wasn’t to be. As soon as I opened the front door, my stepfather’s raised voice reached me from the sitting room.
“It was embarrassing, Emma!”
“I didn’t see anyone else complaining,” came Emma’s defiant response. Even from this distance I could sense she was upset, the quiver in her voice belying the strength in her words.
“You were exhausted by the time I got to have you.”
Emma snorted. “With good reason.”
“It’s simply not good enough, I expect more from my women.
” His tone had taken on a threatening edge that sent my blood cold.
“You were given a strict regime of exercise to ensure you had the strength and stamina to be an adequate wife, I don’t appreciate you not fulfilling your side of the bargain. ”
“But I have done, I work hard and do exactly as your trainer asks.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Surely he hadn’t set her up with a training regime in order to perform sexually? The idea was downright perverted.
“Then perhaps it’s with him I need this discussion. Go and change. Meet me at the gym in thirty minutes, let’s see if Mick can start you on a new routine this afternoon.”
I could hear movement and realized they were heading my way.
I ducked out of the hall and into the nearest available room, realizing too late it was Dad’s study.
This room was never left open, so to find myself in it was a surprise.
The footsteps followed on my tail and I ducked behind the door just as my stepfather strode in, swearing under his breath.
I could hear him rustle about at his desk and then he left, pulling the door to behind him and turning his key in the lock, trapping me inside.
Fuck, now what am I to do?
Scouting about the study, I tried to think.
Would he have a spare key in the room? I didn’t even know where to look.
I hadn’t seen the inside of this room in years.
But I couldn’t very well just stay here and wait for him to return.
Moving to the desk, I started to rifle through the drawers and then it hit me, the reason this room was always locked.
Everything he wished to keep private would be stored here.
It was the perfect opportunity for me to uncover what he was up to.
Leaving the desk, I headed for one of the large filing cabinets that lined the walls of the room just as the sound of a cell phone ringing started up.
The flashing device caught my eye from its position on the desk.
Any minute now he would be coming back to retrieve it, he never went anywhere without it.
I looked longingly at the filing cabinet and decided to risk a quick glance.
Pulling out the top drawer, I scanned the overwhelming number of dividers looking for anything that might be relevant.
Spotting one that bore my mother’s name, I lifted it out and flicked it open.
It was hefty, larger than I would have expected.
It contained her death certificate, along with a copy of her will and a multitude of what looked to be financial documents and land deeds.
For a woman I believed to be penniless in her own right, this made no sense.
I had always been encouraged to believe my stepfather had lifted her from nothing and gifted her an amazing life.
And with no living relatives to speak of, I’d never been told any different. ..
Extracting the will, I started to scan the pages.
It didn’t take long to discover the magnitude of my mother’s wealth and that she had bestowed a sizable chunk of her estate to me in trust. I stared at the words before me, shock and confusion taking hold as the meaning sunk in.
I was an heiress. I had money and land. I wasn’t beholden to my stepfather.
And he knew all this but kept it from me. Why?
The sound of hurried footsteps approaching spurred me into movement and I stuffed the file back into the cabinet, closing the drawer and positioning myself next to the doorway just as the key turned in the lock.
Adrenaline coursed through me as I watched him enter the room before me and head for his desk. I knew now was my only chance. Creeping around the door, I backed up to the entrance, my eyes never leaving him until I was safely past the threshold and I turned—
“Abi?”
Shit!
“Dad,” I said spinning back to face him, a smile pasted to my lips. “I was going to chat to you about Daniel but I can tell you’re busy. We can catch up later.”
“Daniel you say” — he studied me intently — “sounds interesting, why don’t we catch up over dinner tonight?”
“Dinner ... lovely,” I fumbled over my response, cursing the elevated pitch to my voice and the heat creeping into my cheeks.
“He really does seem to have made an impression.”
Relief swept through me as he misinterpreted the cause of my peculiar state. “Uh-huh.”
“Well, I look forward to the details tonight — see you at eight, Abi.”
I nodded and spun on my heel, heading for the staircase once more, anxious to get away from him and desperate for some time to myself to make sense of my confused thoughts.
There was so much I needed to find out, starting with the full extent of what my stepfather had kept from me and why.
He had always been a stranger to me, but now he was someone else, something else.
I feared him, but more than that was a growing sense of hatred toward him.
Recounting all that I knew him guilty of made me sick to the stomach.
How could he have given me such a false impression of my own mother and kept my inheritance from me?
How could he send me to a shrink just to keep tabs on me?
How could he treat his women like he did?
Was that how he had been with my mother? What if her death...?
I rammed my fist against my mouth, a sudden surge of nausea hitting me hard as I tried to push the thought from my mind.
My eyes flicked back toward the study and I watched as he locked the door and headed to the back of the house.
He was no doubt on his way to the gymnasium where Emma would be waiting.
Poor girl. What was she doing with a man like him?
She couldn’t possibly love him and yet, was she that callous to be with him for the money?
From the time I had spent with her, I couldn’t believe it to be true.
I just didn’t understand it. And I wanted to understand it.
I wanted to understand her. And suddenly I wanted to see her .
.. badly. Her motives were suspicious at best, but I didn’t care right now, I just wanted the pain of all this information taken away and replaced with the passion she inspired in me.
I knew I had a couple of hours to kill before I could seek her out so I continued to my room, my mind racing with unanswered questions and half-baked plans of what I could do next.
An hour and a half later, with no clear answers or strategy in place, I headed for the gym, unable to wait any longer. I had changed into a baby pink crop top and low-slung training pants under the pretense of heading for a session myself.
I found Emma still mid-workout. Dad had really meant it when he said she would be worked harder.
She sat at the weights machine, doing a pec fly.
Her muscles hard through exertion, a sheen of perspiration covering her exposed skin.
Did Dad choose her clothing too? Her skimpy hot pants clung to her like a second skin.
Her exercise bra, despite the lack of material, was doing an adequate job of keeping her ample breasts in check but her nipples protruded through the soft fabric, begging to be gawped at.
Each time she pulled back, it stretched captivatingly tight against her.
“Quite a sight, isn’t she?”
I spun on my heel toward the voice. It was Mick, the personal trainer, and he had caught me blatantly ogling.
Heat crept into my cheeks as I struggled to say something.
“Don’t worry, I won’t give you away,” he said playfully. “Why don’t you come and join us? Emma’s coming to the end of her regime anyway.”
At the word “regime” and the reminder of what it had meant for my stepfather, the color deepened in my cheeks, but I stood my ground.
“That would be great,” I said. “So long as I’m not in the way, I hadn’t realized Emma would still be here.”
He didn’t believe me for a second. “I’m sure she won’t mind, she’s probably bored of having to work with just me and this score card, perhaps a bit of competition will help boost things a little.”
“Competition?” I said tentatively as I followed him into the room.
Spotting our approach, Emma halted her repetitions and sent me a dazzling smile. I fought hard to keep my eyes on her face but they were constantly drawn to her chest and those two taut peaks...
“Abi wants to put some time in, so I thought we could have a bit of a wager between the two of you, spice things up a little?”
Emma took up her towel and started to rub away the perspiration, all the while her eyes flicking back to mine, catching me looking where I shouldn’t.
She let out a small giggle. “A wager, you say?”
“Aye, how about the one who can push the most weight with the same repetitions can treat the other to something of their choosing?” He winked at me as he said it and I wondered what he was implying, my mind following a path of possibilities that really wasn’t helping me stay focused in the moment.
“Sure,” she said, throwing her towel down and looking to me. “You should get warmed up first though, don’t want you getting yourself an injury.”
And that was all the encouragement I needed. I never tackled weights until after my run and I decided not to change the habit. I wanted to impress her with what I was capable of. She was clearly happy enough to wait for me and Mick was enjoying the banter.
A short run, a stint on the rowing machine and I was warmed up and ready for her ... or rather our wager. Every time I had glanced in her direction, her eyes had been on me, watching me, her thoughts unreadable but the smile that touched her lips was more than just friendly. I was sure of it.
“Right then, ladies, I figure we’ll go for the best of seven moves that test you top to bottom starting with the upper body...”
Obediently, we did as instructed. Each taking our turn while the other watched.
Some moves more torturous than others, not to carry out but to observe.
Watching her work out was like foreplay without the contact.
Her body captivated me. And as things heated up, it became more and more obvious that she found me just as appealing.
“Right, you’re level pegging, ladies. It’s going to come down to the thigh abductors in the final showdown, so to speak!
” Mick was doing a good job of ignoring our blatant appreciation of one another.
Either that or it was simply that we weren’t really aware of him, save for his next instruction. “Off you go, Abi.”
Settling back into the machine, Mick adjusted the weights and I began my reps, aware that they were both watching intently, their eyes focusing at the juncture between my thighs as I pushed the cushioned plates apart.
Their obvious appreciation of what they saw sent ripples of excitement running through me and the familiar ache sparked between my legs.
I lost count of where I was, my mind focusing solely on their enjoyment of me.
The sudden image of the three of us entwined filled my mind and heat soared to my cheeks, my legs faltering mid-rep.
“Hey, easy tiger, this set should be a breeze for you,” Mick teased, his eyes shooting to my face. “You wanting to call it a day?”
“No way,” I said, my competitive spirit kicking in, I released the weight and rubbed at my nose. “Just thought I was going to sneeze.”
I caught Emma smiling at me in obvious amusement.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, the tension in my body from the workout and direction of my thoughts adding heat to my voice.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you,” she hurried out. “You just looked adorable when you did that thing with your nose.”
Mick rolled his eyes. “Never mind adorable, Emma, this is supposed to be a competition and it’s your turn.”
The redness in my cheeks deepened. Adorable wasn’t how I wanted her to see me right now, especially when I was so convinced her intentions were far from sweet and innocent not seconds before. Rubbing myself down, I moved out of the way of the machine and watched as she took my place.
It was clear from Emma’s very first rep why I’d elicited the reaction I had. As her legs spread wide it was my turn to be captivated by the provocative move, my eyes taking in their fill of the open stance, my hands itching to cup her inner thighs as they drew apart...
An incessant beeping started up from the direction of Mick and glancing across I saw him play with his watch, cutting off the sound.
“Apologies, ladies, but I have to give a status report to Mr. Sawyer, he’s keen to see how Emma has performed.”
At the mention of my stepfather, Emma released the weight with a thud and grimaced.
“Hey, don’t look so glum!” he hurried out. “I will be very complimentary, don’t you worry.”
Emma gave him a genuine smile. “Thank you.”
“Let me know who wins, won’t you?” he added with a wink before turning to leave.
I just stared after his retreating form, incapable of speech, my chest rising and falling in almost pant-like gasps as the realization that we were about to be alone, well and truly alone, hit home.