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An Unequal Attraction

Clic, AU, Mature.

He watches her place her hand on Sonny's thigh, as they sit at the bar in the hotel. He hasn't seen her in over a decade and a half. But its all still there. The sharp jolt of awareness in his gut at the sight of her, the twisting of his heart in the most brutal way. Its not a lovely fairytale moment, him seeing this woman he made his world around before. But then again...for him...what has ever been a fairytale?

Ric Lansing does not pretend to fully understand how his mind works. On a normal day it is cacophony of noisy screaming pain, grief, revenge fantasies, excuses and justifications. But one thing he does think he has figured out is why he has the capacity to love her and hate her with greater intensity that he does anyone else on the planet.

Because Claudia Zacchara was his first taste of love, loss and rage. It sets her apart in his head.

Her hand slides his zipper down. He sucks in shaky breath after shaky breath. She takes him into her hands. She knows how to do everything and he knows nothing. It is sort of awkward for him but he won't stop her. He can't even pretend he is more experienced because to fake anything would require being able to think and he simply can not think in this moment.

They have only known each other for a few months, even though his father has worked for hers most of their young lives. They have been purposefully kept apart. Could it be their fathers suspected this would happen? Like a match and gasoline, Ric and Claudia could not be in the same room without combustion taking place.

His eyes drift close while she moves her hand up and down his shaft. He bites his bottom lip, till he draws blood, and doesn't care about the pain at all, or how his ass is resting on the hard metal edge of a chair in his pool house. His whole world is centered on the sensations she is causing with her hands. It feels like a gift she is giving him...it doesn't feel dirty to him...but then again it is a secret and they aren't a couple. They aren't dating. He loves her...because she is her...she's too amazing to not love. He doubts she even likes him. She likes to shock her Daddy. Screwing the help's son is shocking. Ric thinks he is Claudia's pawn but it just feels too good to care.

His eyes darken with anger at the thought of her touching his brother.

So many times Ric has been powerless in his life. He's had to settle for whatever was offered him...by Sonny, by Alexis, by his mother, his father. He's sick of settling. He's sick of losing. He's sick of being second. If anyone- and he means anyone- takes what he wants again, that's it.

Going postal should have been a term invented for Richard Lansing. But he could always give it new meaning.

He heads across the bar and clears his throat once he gets behind them. "Watch out for that guy," his voice is light, he wears a smile, but underneath there is a beast waiting to be unleashed, should his warning not be heeded. "He's nothing but trouble."

Sonny turns to face him first, while Claudia simply straightens, brushing her hair away from her face with her hands, and in all her moments Ric can tell she remembers his voice. She knows who is standing behind her and she's trying to prepare herself to face him. That gives him a little comfort. He gets under her skin, does he? Well, that's fair. And so rarely is anything in his world fair.

Sonny chuckles. "Don't listen to my brother. He's always hated me."

Claudia turns her head enough to look at Sonny. "Is that right? Why's that?"

Sonny grins, that grin Ric hates and yet he works day and night to see it because he is just a little demented and that grin is supposedly what will cure him. "Isn't it obvious? I got all the good looks in the family."

Claudia finally, ever so slowly, turns and meets Ric's eyes. It's a like lightening strikes in that dark hotel bar, at least for him. His chest expands till its hard to breath, think, know anything. Damn. She's always done this to him. Made him lose his cool. He's older now and it should be different but it isn't.

She scrunches her nose and gives him a little wave. "Hey there, you."

"Hey you."

Sonny looks between them. He motions and asks "You two know each other?"

"Nope," Claudia says quickly. "Unless your brother has an interest in couture fashion and was at the shows in Milan last year?"

Ric says "Fraid not."

Sonny shakes his head. Sometimes Ric thinks his brother is unintelligent, the truth is he is just uneducated, but he's certainly street smart. He knows when something don't smell right. "Ric, I gotta cut out on our meeting. Call me in morning."

"Something come up?" Ric asks.

"Just feel like getting home to the wife and kids." With a devious smile, Sonny winks at Claudia. "I'm a family man, you know?"

She says "I just bet you are."

He pats Ric on the shoulder and takes off. Ric sits next to Claudia at the bar. He orders a drink, and waits for the bartender to pour his scotch and soda before he says anything to her. "Miss me?"

His eyes slide to the side to see a huge smile curve over her lips.

"Not as much as you missed me," she answers.

And that is true, he's sure.

Maybe he craves her and despises her and would bleed for her gladly- even if she was the one who made him bleed he would smile and find it fitting- because they are soulmates. Or maybe it is all just because she was the first one who wrecked him, and like a baby aches for the comfort of the womb, Ric will always feel most comfortable when it is Claudia who reaching into his chest and tearing his soul to shreds.

She did it once. Left for Italy at eighteen and though she could have came back she never did. And when he went there, with his heart in his hands and a ring in his pocket, he found her in the bed of another man, her eyes unrepentant, like he should have expected no better from her or life.

She will do it again. He wants her to. Cause Ric Lansing has never felt more alive than when he is being played by Claudia Zacchara.

THE END