A Love Story
16)
Adam, in a mood that was a crazy mix of irritation (stupid Martin), humor (stupid Martin got tied to the bed) and fear (Brooke's conniptions were like no one else's), sat before the table of monitors, drumming his fingertips across the smooth wood. His cell phone, loaded with nearly an hour of Brooke's messages, sat nearby, battery removed.
He refused to respond to her nasty remarks… nasty, horrible things, you'd think we'd never repeatedly been intimate, he thought absently.
As the young man on the screen sat on the bench, leg carefully raised, Adam considered his current predicament. His original plan, to trap them in an elevator with a romantic dinner would no longer work. Yes, Micaela Kincaide would be perfect for him… as soon as he removed her claws.
So, in light of the disastrous 'collapsing-room-that-ends-in-passionate-needy-sex' plan, he had come up with another. At least Lottie had decided, so far, to stay out of this one… although, remembering her, how long would that last?
Still, even in light of the first failure, you would not find him moping. No, sitting here, pulling the new file from his leather bag at his side, he was even more determined! The file, small compared to most of the ones he'd been fiddling with since she'd hit the town of Pine Valley, was nonetheless filled with many very important facts.
It was indeed a good thing that Vivianne James was loyal to both father and son. She was one of the few brilliant PI's out there not stupid enough to refuse an extra million a week. And she could also get him any file he could possibly want.
Including this brilliant little piece of information. It'll be fuel to the fire, he thought excitedly, his eyes devouring the words…
It was an added note, in Vivianne's light scrawl, written across a slip of purple paper, stuck to one of the first papers. A brief tale of a young woman's first attempt at business, shredded utterly by a spiteful, spoiled little brat. Ah, yes, the ever lasting sting of first failure… never forgotten, no matter who the person.
Beneath the handful of sentences lay two words, in capital letters, underlined repeatedly. "GUESS WHO?"
Brooke was obsessing, and she knew this, but, hey, since Jamie had gone MIA after the Ho With No Name, what else did she have to do? Answer to that will always and forever be to obsess over her ex-husband, after all, he made it so easy for her. Now, at her desk in Tempo, she thought over her choices to take care of her ex-husband's latest plan.
The speed with which he had organized it spoke of a man who had finally decided that enough was enough and intended to do something about it. Brooke, in a simple pantsuit, sat and waited until her next meeting with Livia, in an attempt to solve this nonsense before JR got back and found out about it.
She'd never thought of such a simple twist of words, just to achieve that end. And, good lord, how the hell had the Hart-Slater marriage come to bloom at the same time? God, only in Pine Valley.
Of course, she had another call to make, another person who might have some ability to fix this nonsense. But, well, she was a bit too nervous to call him. At least as of right now, she thought darkly, reaching out to lift up the pile of papers, all possible ways out of this little 'contract'.
She checked her watch, nodding thankfully to find the time finally right. Standing, pulling on her coat, she headed to her car, pulling out her cell phone as she went. Maybe by now, Adam had put back in the battery and would take her like a man.
"Does he have horses at this ranch of yours?"
The younger woman flashed Diana a grin, eyes sparkling with laughter. "A couple, and yes to your unspoken question: pa does ride, and he enjoys it. I honestly don't know what I'm going to be doing with him when he gets too old to ride."
"Do you ride?" Diana asked in interest, watching as Micaela sat in her tub, scrubbing at her arm with a loofah.
"Well, I can, if that's what you mean." She grinned, a few strands of wet hair falling into her eyes and she shook it back, the rose petal-spotted water splashing slightly against the edges of the tub. "He taught me when I was a little girl, but I haven't ridden in a while." Her voice lowered, a slightly annoyed look crinkling her eyes. "Unless you mean a car in which case…"
"What about a car?"
Micaela sighed, setting the loofah on the edge of the tub, giving full attention to the other woman in the tub next to her. "I… have car problems."
"Pardon?"
"What I mean is… see, it isn't that I have anything against the car. I think the car just doesn't like me. Or, you know… any car."
"You… ahem, I'm sorry but you can't drive?"
"Well, no, it isn't that I can't drive… it's that, well, let's say I decide to turn left. Well, my car will go right. Once, I actually hit this old church."
"Heathen!" Before Micaela could finish, Diana let out a peel of laughter, and the water splashed up, sloshing, causing a few petals to stick to her arms and shoulders. "You hit a church! Did the Big Guy send down a lightning bolt?"
"That's really not funny, you know." When the other woman's laughter continued, Micaela shook her head in amusement, finding it oddly comforting. "Either way, I've got enough bad marks on my driving record that I honestly don't know how I'm allowed anywhere near anything with wheels."
With a wheezing noise, Ms. Cole laughed even harder, her head dropping back tub, giggling hysterically.
Micaela shook her head helplessly, trying to fight the laughter, but it was useless. She found herself giggling with the woman. It had been a while since she'd had this much fun with a stranger. "I thought my daughter might grown up to be like you."
"You have a daughter?"
For long moments Diana stared at her, something odd in her gaze before she offered a soft, "Yeah, almost three."
"Oh…" Micaela pushed over, closer to the other tub, popping her arm out to make herself comfortable. "Is she a sweetie or a naughty girl?"
"Um… the jury's still out." She relaxed slightly, leaning back, sighing. "See, what makes me so speechless is the fact that, not even yet three years old, she can wreck a whole house."
"Oh for… you sound like my Pa. He used to go to all these meetings when I was little so had to leave me with nannies."
"I take it you disliked nannies?"
Now Micaela laughed, that rich sound that made Diana smile to herself. Leaning her head back to study the ceiling, brown eyes filled with humor, she chirped, "Dislike is such a weak word, believe me." She closed her eyes, smiling slightly, "I used to come up with all these tricks so that the nannies would call my father back home early…"
"You didn't think he'd come home to you?"
Micaela looked over, braced herself for the dawning realization, the sudden recognition of the name, but there was none, just a soft, sympathetic tenderness. Micaela let herself relax again, raised one hand from the water, studying the pale brown skin. "I think I was… you, know… afraid. Still, my little plans always worked, he'd always rush and try to tell the nanny that I was just an excitable child."
"Why?"
"Oh, come on, it's every child's fear right? That their family will not want them one day. It's nothing." She looked over and the attempt at humor died at Diana's look. Clearing her throat, moving her hand under the water, Micaela sighed, offered a smile. "All I can say is that my mother was no mother. My father finally divorced and kicked her sorry ass out of the street… she just… didn't take it well."
Maxie, still in her 'welcome' dress, snapped shut the menu, slapping it down on the table. Looking up at the waiter, she bit out, "Get me something worth the price in this place would you, sweetie?" deciding to let him slide on his dirty look, she turned her attention to the 'redhead' looking around in interest.
I should have brought her new clothes, she decided, picking at one nail with another, head cocked as she studied the other woman. Harley, with her hair swept back from her face, had ordered herself what amounted to a French piece of beef. Which Maxie was paying for. Jesus, she could have at least worn something more than what she was.
Between the jeans and the sequined top that read "Viva Las Vegas" , she resembled Las Vegas trash. Even those eyes of hers weren't helping. Her denim jacket hung from the back of her chair, her bag laying at her feet, near those dreadful flip-flops of hers. Had she ever really enjoyed being with this woman!
"What is about other people that you find so fascinating, Harley?"
"They just look so bored. You'd think that people who have enough money to come her would have enough money to keep themselves occupied, wouldn't you?" Her grin died away when she saw that Maxie was just sitting and glaring. With a sigh, she sat up straighter, humor leaving her blue/green eyes and leaving her face looking older than it did a few moments before.
"Well, seeing as how I highly doubt that you brought me here to show me your new town, I'll ask the question of 'what the fuck do you want with me?'"
Maxie remained silent while the drinks were passed out, picking at a loose thread in the tablecloth with one finely-manicured nail, watching the light flash off of the pale golden polish. Finally, letting her hand drop to the table, tracing the curve of her knife, she gave attention back to Harley. "I needed someone I can trust, someone who doesn't have any connection to Pine Valley."
"Yeah, that's sweet, but, see, I know you. No, you were never exactly a bitch, but, really, what is this?"
"You really want to know?"
"Jesus Christ, Maxie—" she stopped, calmed herself before gritting out, "Yes, Maxie, I really want to know."
God, the look on Maxine's face… how somebody can feel that much hate and that much humor at the same time was beyond her. But there was a dangerous intelligence that lay beneath all that hate and cruelness… it was Cambias through and through, it was the same something that made a man happily steal another man's beloved, lifetime company and laugh in his face. "Harley… how well can you act?"
With her blonde hair bouncing, Cady cautiously peeked in, blue eyes settling on the two sleeping big guys. Both looked dumb-dumb, she decided as she grinned to herself, peeking over her shoulder at where she had come. Gina would figure out she was missing soon.
Biting her bottom lip, she pushed open the door, creeping in and immediately spotting, with delight, the tied man on the bed. She nearly bolted when his mouth opened and he snored… really loudly, but managed to stop herself. There he was, the man she'd caught a peek at while passing by the open door earlier that day.
The room wasn't dark, but all three of the people were sleeping. The two dumb-dumbs sitting at the table, sleeping with their heads in their hands while the other man slept on the bed. She looked up at the man on the bed, standing on her tip-toes to peer a him more easily.
Handcuffs.
She headed around the bed, listening to his snores, as her sharp little gaze began searching for the keys. Gina had taught her about keys, taught her that you don't always need one to get into a diary. They weren't on the desk, or on the floor. Tilting her head, she turned, and stopped, her gaze finding the glittering metal on the desk between the two dumb-dumbs.
Beaming, she headed over, reached up and pulled the keys down, grinning happily as she turned and realized that the snoring had stopped. She beamed at him, waving brightly. He just stared, and then he mumbled something around the rag in his mouth.
She ignored him, climbing up onto the bed, and crawled up to inspect the handcuffs. As he laid there, mumbling fiercely, she unlocked his left hand then his right, then calmly handed him the key.
He stared, watching with large eyes as she climbed off the bed; opening the door, she waved once more happily at him before she vanished with a flash of blonde hair and blue dress. And Tad's speechlessness had nothing to do with the gag.
He had no idea what made him drive there instead of his home. He'd set up to head home and plan for the reopening of the casinos, which would happen in under a week if things went according to plan, though, really, how many things went according to plan in Pine Valley?
But, there he was, leading his Rover through Pine Valley, not even completely aware of his change of plans. No, his thoughts, his attention, his awareness was still on his wife. Wife… such a strange word really. And, besides, what did it mean these days anyway?
It couldn't mean what it used to, not anymore, because, hey, he knew how high the divorce numbers were getting. And no one could deny that Erica Kane probably had a big gold star in the big book of divorces. He read the divorce rates and heard about the affairs and just didn't get it.
Yes, sex could be fun, he knew that, but, really, why pursue it more? Why tie yourself down like that? They'll probably just run off with somebody else in the end, leave you broken and defenseless. Things never lasted, not in the way that mattered.
His arrangement with Kendall was just that, an arrangement. He got back his casinos and a partner in the suit; she got Fusion back before Maxie fully realized how easy it would be to destroy it. This was the deal, the whole point of them running off to Las Vegas and Erica deciding to suffer a mental collapse… which, by the way, seemed a bit too convenient to Zach.
So why the Hell was she now imprinted in the front of his mind? It wasn't like she was anything special; yeah, she was a pretty little thing, especially with those eyes of hers. She was manipulative, possessive, hypocritical, shallow… really, the list went on and on. She was, in the nicest twist of words, a man-eating shrew.
Grimacing, Zach tightened his hold on the steering wheel, turning again, considering that last thought. Yes, maybe that was just a bit hasty… he hadn't known her that long. Sure, he knew the basics… that she liked to eat her ice cream with extra crushed Oreos and that she had nothing against listening to his Opera CD's while traveling to and from an airport.
And let's not forget the fact that she wore an interesting perfume that reminded him of something he couldn't quite remember, that was heavy and tangy and made him want to sniff her neck, which, yeah, her reaction to that would be oh so graceful, right?
It was these new thoughts, thoughts of how she had looked when she'd defended him to Erica that made him recoil slightly. It was an odd feeling, watching as Kendall Hart defended him, a Cambias, to mama Kane. The whole 'warmth in his chest' had been strange, not to mention how much he had enjoyed the news of her breakdown.
Yet, beneath everything, it was the fact that had called to warn him that refused to leave him alone. Why the hell did she give a rat's ass if he got taken down by an overly tall ex-attorney… it made no sense to him, no matter how many times he shifted that little nugget of info around in his mind.
These jumbled little flickers of thought and memory conspired, mixed, mingled to leave him in a rather freaked out sense of mind. He was stunned and startled, therefore, to realize where he was… Myrtle's.
Myrtle Fargate, once again, had proven her skill at knowing the intricacies of his brain. The call he'd received today, consisting of the fact that she was watching Miranda for the day, had clearly been a trick of the elderly woman… and it had worked. Here, he was, in his car, before the boardinghouse. His mind had brought him here, he realized in irritation.
His goddamn unconscious had taken full control and driven him out here… where Miranda waited.
Zach looked out the window, taking in the looming shape of the elderly woman's place; he could practically feel her, through the walls, through the glass and metal and stone, a presence of warmth that reminded Zach painfully of a lighthouse he'd seen, only once, as a boy.
He'd taken a picture of it and that picture, now rubbed soft and dull by a teenager's lonely hands, sat in the back of his wallet, ready when the weight on Zach's back got too heavy. He'd always wanted to go find the lighthouse, study it, see if it still seemed as powerful as it once was…
He had work to do, but, still, she was there, calmly waiting to be held and rocked and, just maybe, that innocence of hers would loosen up his thoughts. With a grimace, he opened his door, stepped out and headed to the boarding house.
Gina never even realized that she was gone; she turned to find the little girl right where she had left her. Feeling pleased, Gin picked her up, setting her on a hip as she headed to meet up with Diana at the spa.
AN: Had horrible writer's block on this chapter, the first chapter that i actually had real difficulty with. Big thanks to butch, whoI know from my beloved SOC board... finally posted it!
Yes, the talk between Diana and Micaela will become important and, yes, it did happen. But, if I had put the whole thing in now, the whole fic woulda been blown and, believe me, there are things that you guys don't yet know… hehehehehe… I love being devious and bad. I like slowly piecing together my fics, making my brilliant readers show their brilliance.
Okey-dokey, back to the fic… This was a ball for me to write, how did you like the meeting between Cady and Tad? Yeah… I liked writing it up, and don't forget his whole 'meeting a child he never knew about'… I love that classic soap twist and I love using it! My muse has decided to twist my outline a little but don't worry... nothing big wil change in the long run. grins Anybody else psyched about the recasting of Clint on OLTL! EEEEEE!
Know that, probably tomorrow, I'll be posting up the next drabble of 'As You Are', which will connect to this chapter, a short but sweet drabble from Myrtle's little brain. I want reviews people! REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW… THANK YOU!