Being on lockdown is chaotic. But I promise to get it together! Until then, a dream.
Deidre had anticipated this. Even prepared for it. She thought she’d had everything under control. Instead things escalated rather more quickly than she anticipated and a few pieces weren’t in place. It was time to improvise.
Bobby paced in front of her. One hand was in his hair, ruffling what was already a blond mess. The other held the butcher knife. From her position on the floor of the living room, the formal one that rarely got used, his already large frame loomed. She crouched in his shadow like a supplicant to an old god. Raising the knife he asked plaintively, “Why, baby? Why do you make me do this to you?”
“I don’t know, Bobby. It’s hard sometimes. Hard for me to understand what you need.” When his face darkened, his body getting tighter as though prepping for action, she hurriedly added, “I know that’s my fault!” She cringed against the white sofa she’d never liked. “I’m just slow and you work so hard! But I get confused. Like now, I’m not even sure why-“
“Don’t play fucking dumb with me, Deidre. I saw you.”
“We were together the whole time.”
“When you went to the bathroom.”
Deidre drew a blank. Yes, she’d gone to the bathroom. She’d had a pee and when she came out he was right there at the door. An unfortunately not unusual occurrence.
“You smiled at him. You talked to him. You touched him!” By the time the last sentence made it into the air Bobby was frothing at the mouth.
Then Deidre remembered. Her whole body slumped in defeat and Bobby relaxed into victory. It had been on the way to the bathroom. The ballroom was crowded, it was drinks and mingling before they all sat down to the two thousand dollar a plate dinner they’d invested in to purchase the current candidate. She’d been careful but had been almost to the toilets with the way clear so she’d opened her purse and glanced inside to reassure herself that the tiny drop phone remained hidden.
That’s when she’d bumped into him. Or he her as he was the one backing away. Deidre laid a hand on his shoulder to steady herself. Then smiled and waved away his apology continuing on to the bathroom. Deidre didn’t know who he was, would probably never see him again. Hell, she didn’t even remember what he looked like. It didn’t matter. She’d touched him. She’d smiled at him. She talked to him. No wonder Bobby was so pissed off. In one, casual encounter she’d broken all of the rules.
Thoughtlessly. Deidre leaned her head back and closed her burning eyes. “I’m sorry, Bobby. It was an accident.”
She sensed Bobby crouching down in front of her flinching only slightly when the cold steel was pressed against her heated skin. “Next time, you ask me and you wait. Then accidents like that won’t happen.”
Deidre opened her eyes, the movement releasing the tears she’d been holding at bay. The words trembled as they fell from her lips. “Yes, Bobby.”
His hands replaced the knife at her throat and he pulled her in for a branding kiss that reestablished his ownership. As her hand twitched toward the knife she thought back to when she loved his kisses. When they felt like being cherished. In the end he carried her to their bedroom and she left the knife behind.
Bobby covered Deidre’s body, the tender parts easily concealed, in bruising kisses and burning caresses. The rough play making her wet despite herself. She hated him, hated that he could still play her body. Then he slipped inside of her and she took control. It was too soon. The plan wasn’t yet at an end, but Bobby was more volatile than any of them had anticipated. If she didn’t do it now, he might kill her the next time. Her power sank into him and when he came, he screamed.
The lawyer looked at the woman seated in front of him. Petite and undeniably beautiful he could understand his client’s fascination. She was so delicate, the mourning black she wore underscoring her fragility. The circles under her dark eyes only served to make them look bigger. Her tightly coily hair, ruthlessly pulled back and restrained, made her seem contained but as though her emotions were pressing against their confines. As, he supposed, they were. After all, it had been less than two weeks since her fiance died. The grief would still be raw.
“I’m not going to take up too much of your time Miss Boget,” he began.
“Please, call me Deidre.”
“Deidre.” Her voice was slightly deeper than he expected from a woman so small. It was very pleasant. Very. Crossing his legs under the desk, he continued. “Things are straightforward. Robert Kooning, your late fiance, left two holographic wills. One mailed to me the other left in a safety deposit box. They were identical. There is no doubt as to his intentions. He left everything to you. You are also the beneficiary on his life insurance policy and his retirement plan. The total of the estate is estimated to be worth three point nine million dollars.”
Deidre simply nodded as though the information was as expected. They had been engaged, after all. In her strangely affecting voice she asked, “Is that all?”
“There are a few papers for you to sign, but that’s the gist of it.”
Deidre left the lawyer’s office and joined a small group of women who had obviously been waiting for her. They were all beautiful and of an age. Despite very distinct differences in appearance one got the feeling that they were related. There was an intimacy in the way they interacted that spoke of long acquaintance. They folded Deidre into their embrace and, as one, said, “Sister.”