"A Shift of Axis"
Copyright 2006 Penn O'Hara
M
Usual disclaimers apply.
Synopsis: Alex stares helpless as Nicole continues to taunt Bobby…
oOo
Chapter Two
Fighting nausea, Alex felt the ghosts of a receding horrendous pain chase themselves around her head as she struggled to not succumb to unconsciousness.
Pushing her mind to piece together what she remembered, Alex was aware she was bound to a hard chair. But she recalled sitting on Bobby's sofa waiting for him, Bobby making coffee, someone grabbing her from behind, pain, excruciating pain, then a swirling tide taking some of the pain away, and Bobby talking to someone. Alex needed to warn him. Warn him about… Nicole!
"N… Nicole's… here, Bobby. Be careful."
Bobby was concerned about her, Alex, and she tried to remember what had happened. There had been a sharp sting when she was attacked, the sting of a hypodermic needle, and then she had succumbed to the pain. But the hurt was lessening, and she could hear voices. Bobby being angry at Nicole. And Alex was angry too. She fixed a glare of contempt on the woman. Damn bitch never would leave Bobby alone.
"Why are you here?" Alex asked, concentrating on the other woman. "Don't you ever… tire of yanking Bobby's chain? Why don't you… get a hobby... like everyone else?"
Shaking the silver haze from her eyes, she looked for and found Bobby. He was tied to a chair too and, My God! He was naked, more vulnerable to Nicole's favorite pastime of taunting him than ever before. Alex cringed at the humiliation he must be feeling but he was warning her not to give Nicole the satisfaction of seeing her reaction.
The haze cleared and Alex lifted her chin to meet the threat that always lurked whenever Nicole materialized in their lives.
"Well, Nicole," Bobby shouted. "What now? Ya think you've got me where you want me?" His lips curled back in a snarl and Alex shivered at the latent savagery in the man she knew could be as gentle as a kitten.
"Bobby, shouting to alert your neighbors is not a safe response to your predicament," Nicole said, moving into Alex' line of vision as she closed in on Goren. "Rafiq will have to do something about it and it's not fair to Alex to save her from a toxin only to die by the bullet."
Oh, shit, thought Alex. It was worse than she thought. Taking a deep gulp of air, she used all of her resolve to straighten in the chair and look around. A good-looking young man was lounging on Bobby's sofa, a Glock and silencer balanced lightly in the hand resting on his ankle where it crossed his other knee. He smiled at Alex and dipped his dark head in greeting. Uneasiness slithered down her spine as she considered his purpose there.
"Ya think Rafiq's gonna be impressed you're in control when you had to use torture," Bobby said, indicating Alex, "to subdue me? Ropes to keep me subjugated?" He violently pulled against the ties and Alex winced at the thought of the damage the hemp must be doing to his bare skin. "And do you really think taking away my 'trappings' is gonna turn me into a blubbering heap?"
Sitting directly opposite Bobby and tethered to her own chair, Alex tried to focus on his face but she was too aware of the naked magnificence of his big body straining against the rigging that bound him. She yearned to help him somehow, ruing being as helpless as he.
"Maybe not," Nicole said, pulling up a chair next to Bobby, grinning with pleasure. "But it has made you angry, and that's a start. Careful, Bobby. You start losing control when you get mad."
You're wrong, thought Alex. Bobby turns on the anger when he wants to run rings around his perp and mess with theirhead.
"And you lose control when you resort to brute force," Bobby said, not giving an inch. "Isn't that what your father taught you?"
Nicole crowed as she ran a hand up Bobby's leg. Alex watched in helpless fascination as the woman's finger drew circles on his bare knee.
"Bobby, we've been down this road. Don't you think it's a little unimaginative of you to use old material?" Nicole gripped his inner thigh, hard, and Bobby jerked. Alex' mouth dried at the powerlessness he must be feeling.
"Or is it just plain desperation?" Nicole asked.
"Yeah, it's desperation." Bobby's voice was strident in the hushed room. No street noise penetrated the closed windows and no sounds could be heard from the corridor or other tenants. Alex feared the heavy paneling of Bobby's apartment was too effective as soundproofing. "Desperation to be rid of you, Nicole. Rid of you for good. Ya know, you're really starting to piss me off."
Nicole gave an exaggerated shudder. "How rude! And now you're trying to get at me using childish taunts. You're losing your touch, Bobby. Maybe you'll like mine better." Her hand feathered over his groin and Bobby growled deep within his chest.
"Not as rude as home invasion." Floored by the horror of Bobby being at Nicole's mercy, Alex formed the words but they came out as nothing more than a undignified croak. She licked her lips and tried again. "How'd you get in?"
Nicole fixed Alex with a calculating stare. "What would you say if I told you Bobby gave me a key?"
"I'd say 'crap' and if I had the energy, I'd spit in your face."
Nicole laughed joyously and laid her head on Bobby's shoulder to watch Alex squirm at the intimacy. Forcing herself not to react, Alex smiled sweetly back.
"Bobby, you really should teach Alex better manners," Nicole said, straightening from his shoulder. Her hand strayed to his midriff, trailing a line across his waist, dipping into his belly-button as she went. Goren's stomach muscles quivered violently. "I don't know how you can work with her all day."
"How did you get in, Nicole?" Bobby asked, his words a hiss through clenched teeth.
"I suppose this is your ploy to buy time now." Nicole sized Bobby up and pouted. "Keep me talking. It so happens I'm marking time myself, until the occupants of the building settle in for the night. So, to answer your question, I learnt from the best. Bernard Fremont taught me all I needed to know."
"And then you killed him."
"You guessed it was me?" She pulled back in glee. "How quaint of you! You saw him, Bobby. I had to put him out of his misery. After we parted ways in that Thai jail, he kept trying to replace me, but naturally found he couldn't. Taking new women in tow, making them dye their hair, molding them into my look. I saved him the trouble of his useless search."
"When did you first realize you were insane, Nicole?" Bobby asked the question matter-of-factly, and Alex breathed easier. If she had been in doubt before, she was reassured now. Familiar with Bobby's deliberate changes of strategy, Alex recognized that he was maintaining the situation.
"Now, Bobby, that's not nice," Nicole said. "And such a bad start to our holidays together. I suppose it would be prudent to tell you about our trip away?"
"Please," Alex nodded, forcing a calmness to cover the alarm that Nicole's plans were long-term ones.
"We're going to my estate in… Well, no need to tell you where. Rafiq and I will take you there later. And we're going to be playing Mums and Dads." Nicole's mouth curved up in pleasure.
Alex tensed at the slightly crazy slant to Nicole's smile.
Nicole swung her gaze from Bobby to include Alex. "You see, Alex, Bobby and I never had much of a role-model for a Dad. Both of ours were deficient in certain ways; ways that are important to a child. So I thought it would be a good idea to revisit that and make it right."
Lifting her hand to Bobby's face, Nicole stroked his cheek. Alex saw Bobby's jaw grind under his skin in an effort not to give Nicole the satisfaction of pulling his face away from her touch.
"Bobby will be the Daddy," Nicole said, her voice breathy and disturbed. "He knows how not to do it, and so maybe he will be healed if he works through how it should be done. His father never gave Bobby's mother any love." She rubbed her face against his. "Only gave her heartache. Bobby realizes a woman has needs; requirements his father didn't fulfill."
"I don't want healing," Bobby gritted. "But if I did, I don't need you to do it."
"That being said, it will happen," Nicole promised in a voice as hard and grating as a nail on steel. Her hand slipped from his face and she balanced both wrists on his shoulders, wrapping her hands around the back of his neck. Pulling his face to hers, Nicole looked directly into his eyes. Alex drew blood on her bottom lip as she watched Bobby's neck shudder, trying to pull out of her hold.
"You'll be a good Daddy," Nicole said, in a plaintive tone as she moved onto his lap. "You'll be good to the Mummy. You'll love the Mummy as she wants to be loved – needs to be loved…" Nicole resisted Bobby's attempt to free himself and placed her lips on his. Alex saw his body go rigid and vibrate from the revulsion he had to be feeling. "…and you'll be good to the little girl." Nicole placed her cheek against Bobby's and looked at Alex.
"Alex, you'll be my Mummy, won't you? You'll love Daddy like he wants to be loved? Give him what he wants? And in the morning, I'll jump into bed with you both and we'll snuggle up and be a happy family."
Alex' jaw went slack as she stared at the madwoman curled up on Bobby's lap: her arms wrapped around his shoulders, head tucked into his neck, gazing coyly at Alex as she asked the question from a sick mind.
"Won't it be fun?" Nicole said in a little girl's voice.
oOo
TBC …