Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,36
you should leave now,” she tried again “Dale is tired, he needs his rest.”
She wondered absently if he was in the habit of making hospital calls or had he made an exception for her? It didn’t matter, but oddly, she found that it did.
“Elise...” it was the first time he had spoken since she had arrived, his smoky voice rolling over her name.
“I am pleased to see your husband – recovering.” he said, a glint of mischief visible in his too dark eyes. “It was quite a knock he took to his head.”
“Why are you here Vaughn? What the hell do you want?” Elise began to panic as she registered his expression and went straight into panic mode, convinced that this was it - he was going to mention what had happened between them yesterday.
“I needed to see him – sober.” Placing his fingers gently under her chin, he lifted her face up allowing their eyes to lock. “I needed to see what I was up against.”
Elise shivered involuntarily as their eyes continued to hold. Gathering every ounce of strength she removed his fingers and looked away.
“I don’t know what you think this is, Vaughn.” She glanced back to the bed and, hearing Dale lightly snoring, she took a few paces away and lowered her voice.
“We shared a ‘moment’. That was all. We were overwrought, emotions were running high – it was a release. It was nothing. A brief coming together in a time of need.”
Vaughn had also moved slightly away from the bed and reached over to lightly grasp her upper arm as she finished speaking.
“Look at me, Elise,” he commanded, shaking her gently when she refused to comply. “Look at me, dammit.”
Hesitantly she raised her eyes, unprepared for the hardness she saw on his face.
“Don’t you ever refer to what happened between us as nothing. It was a hell of a lot more than just a ‘moment’ and you and I both know that. You can deny it all you want but this is real and this is going to happen. If you cared anything for your marriage then you would never have let me touch you, let alone kiss you like I did.” He paused and shook his head.
“Your marriage is over, Elise, and you need to wake up to that fact.”
Shocked, she stood speechless at the simplicity with which this man had summed up her life. She had no reply or at least nothing that made any sense and so she stood waiting, feeling increasingly out of control.
He leaned closer into her and brushed his lips against her ear, re-igniting the shivers. His hand drifted down her arm and came to rest on her left hand, his fingers seeking and finding her ring finger which he lightly touched, before bringing his hand back up to cup the side of her face. His breath was hot and heavy in her ear.
“I am going to fuck you, Elise, soon. And you are going to love every minute of it.”
With a final lingering kiss on her neck, he collected his jacket from the chair and walked out of the hospital ward without a backward glance.
Dale snoozed much of the afternoon away, which was completely normal in cases of concussion, according to the nurses. At least it meant that he behaved and they were able to complete all of their tests without any of the dramas of yesterday.
The doctor had been round and reassured Elise that he would be absolutely fine after another good night and that she should probably leave him to rest. They would call her in the morning to confirm but she should be able to collect him around 11am.
Taking their advice, she decided to head home to give herself enough time to grab some food and a shower before she was due to meet Celeste and the others for their night out at Indigo.
Now that the evening was approaching, Elise was beginning to feel nervous and started thinking about changing her mind – pleading a headache or something similar. Caught up in the moment this morning with Celeste, it had seemed like a great idea. She knew that it would do her good to get out there and have some quality girly time, but this morning’s runin with Vaughn had unsettled her. The main problem was that she was shattered; mentally and physically and wanted nothing more than a hot bath and a good book. Anything to escape from the reality of her life.