The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
AFFLICTION
BY TROG |
CHAPTER
32 |
CHAPTER 32
Aaron Blackmoor sat at The Palace bar listlessly sipping his martini when he saw Tea rush through the door, upset...out of breath...looking vulnerable...and beautiful. Her eyes were wild and wet from crying and she wiped them quickly when she noticed Aaron walking toward her. When he opened his arms to her, she walked quietly into them and let him comfort her the way he always had, falling into old, bad habits...taking the love of the nearest man after being rejected by the man she loved. Allowing him to rock her slowly and stroke her hair lovingly, Tea surrendered to his husbandly comfort, needing to be loved by someone in her dejection.
“My darling...what’s wrong? Did he hurt you...again?” he asked in a rich and soothing voice.
Tea shook her head and pulled away from him gently.
“I don’t want to discuss Todd with you...I can’t.”
“Well...come and sit down with me,” he said picking up his drink and escorting her to a nearby table. “Tell me...what’s wrong, my sweet.”
Tea stared across at her husband and his frightening duplicity. His clear, blue eyes looked so trusting, so filled with compassion and sincerity that it sent a cold chill through her...staring into the eyes of a cold-blooded killer who could so easily portray a loving and devoted husband. He moved his hand across the table slowly until it made contact with hers, then he waited...waited for her to open her hand and allow him in. Tea stared at his long, slender fingers...soft, strong hands that had touched her everywhere...fingers that had pulled the trigger of a gun and taken human life, but...she took his hand not understanding the meaning or the consequences of her own actions. A month ago...this was her loving husband whom she trusted implicitly and vowed to spend her life with, now he was the enemy to all her happiness.
“You should hate me for what I’ve done to you,” she said quietly, looking away from him.
“I love you. I understand that you’re confused, Tea...but I think that you’re beginning to realize that you can’t live in the past. Todd Manning will never change into the man you think he can be.”
Tea felt angry at him suddenly, her natural instincts to protect and defend Todd kicking in, but she held her tongue and chose her words carefully.
“Todd is what he is...just as you are what you are,” she said, looking straight into his eyes, watching them narrow and sharpen.
“I’m not a rapist!”
“What are you? Who are you?”
Aaron let go of her hand, running it quickly through his gleaming blond hair, and sat back, uncertain of her question...of how much she knew.
“What I mean, Aaron, is I hardly know anything about you. We got together so quickly and you never talk about your family, your past...I feel like you’re a stranger sometimes.”
“Why this sudden interest in my past, my dear? It was never an issue before...what’s changed?”
“The past has a way of catching up to us and rearing its ugly head...it keeps happening with Todd and me...will it happen to us as well?”
Aaron smiled radiantly and shook his head.
“The past is irrelevant...it has nothing to do with you and me. From this point on, Tea, I promise you there will be no more...uh...business trips, no more separations...I want to be the man you want...I can be that man. I can give you a good life...children of our own...not Todd’s cast-offs with his ex-wife. We can start again...freshly...cleanly...both of us. We can create a new history...a new life. Can Todd Manning ever offer you that with all his baggage...his young children...his clinging ex-wife? Will he ever be free of his past...of his devils...able to make you the most important person in his life?” he said, taking her hand again, kissing it passionately. His crystalline eyes were fixed on hers like lasers, piercing and precise, and his voice was rhythmic and soft...almost hypnotic...casting some dark spell on her. She felt exhausted and drowsy...and vulnerable.
His argument was a persuasive one...even in knowing what he was. Tea closed her eyes...fighting the urge to give in to him in her bruised and battered state, fighting that old and ugly instinct to use him the way she’d used so many men before him.
“I miss you, my darling. I miss having dinner with you...I miss waking up beside you..I miss...loving you. Let’s go upstairs...let me show you how much I love you,” he said standing up and pulling her up with him. Tea felt lightheaded and defenseless letting herself be lead by him as he pulled her softly, but not forcefully, and together they headed for the elevators that lead to their rooms.
Todd watched them silently from the doorway of the bar as they disappeared into the elevator.
to be continued...
2002 Copyright by Trog
FanFiction Home
Home
