Chapter ELEVEN

Lucas smiled confidently at Sami and ran hand down Sami's arm, his smile widening as she gave a little shudder. Sami doubted he'd be so pleased at her reaction if he knew it why it was she was shaking under his touch. It felt wrong to have him touching her, worse than that, it felt disgusting and her skin crawled as he stroked her arms. She used to love his touch but now all Sami could think about was the last man who'd touched her and wishing it was him rather than Lucas standing there.

"Ali should be asleep for a little while now," he said with another suggestive smile, moving closer to her and drawing her into his arms, "Maybe we can take advantage of that and have some grown up time - what do you think Sami?"

Sami gave him a smile that she hoped wasn't as uncomfortable as it felt and moved restlessly in his arms. She and Ali were visiting him in his little apartment in a continuing attempt to re-establish themselves as a family but Sami was beginning to think that was never going to happen.

"Well Ali's asleep in the bedroom," she hedged, "Maybe we should just wait until she isn't with us."

"Sami," said Lucas with a shake of his head, "We don't need a bed and besides it's been nearly six months since you and I have slept together. It's been a long time for the both of us - don't you miss it?"

"Well I've been looking after twins for the last six months," said Sami a bit sharply, stiffening in his arms, "I guess you could say I had other things to occupy my mind with."

"I know," he soothed her, determined to get what he wanted, "But all that is behind you know and I know you - that's a long time for you to go without sex - so I was thinking…"

Lucas trailed off then when he saw something in Sami's face that he didn't like. He let her go and took a step back and looked at her through narrowed eyes.

"Because it has been that long for you hasn't it Sami?" asked Lucas, his voice suddenly hard.

Sami looked away, unable to hold his gaze any longer, a felt herself begin to blush. Normally Sami could lie her way out of any situation but for some reason she was finding it too hard to lie about her and EJ.

"Are you kidding me?!" asked Lucas taking another step back as he heard the truth in what it was she wasn't saying, "You slept with that piece of scum?! You promised me you wouldn't let him touch you - you promised me!"

"Lucas, I…" said Sami uncomfortably, trailing off because she really didn't know what to say to defend herself to him.

"What, did he force himself on you again?" asked Lucas, still grappling to understand what she was telling him, "Is that what happened Sami, did that bastard rape you again?"

"No!" said Sami sharply, her voice fierce, "No he didn't!"

"So you went to him willingly then?" asked Lucas bitterly and it almost sounded to Sami that he was disappointed that she hadn't been raped and it made her stomach turn to think he'd rather have her be a victim again then having a choice, even if her choice had been EJ this time.

"It… it was just one night," said Sami, biting her lip at the almost truth, "It just happened and it was only a month ago."

"And that's supposed to make it alright then?" spat out Lucas, "I'm supposed to just forgive and forget?"

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to do about you shooting EJ?" countered harshly, "Just forgive and forget that you deserted me when I needed you, that you put your need for stupid revenge over being a father to Ali! Am I just supposed to forgive and forget that you tried to murder my son's father?"

"This is what he wanted all along," said Lucas bitterly, shaking his head, "He's finally got what he's always wanted and you don't see it because he's got you fooled with his 'I'm a changed man' routine! Well I know the truth Sami and even if you're too blind to see it I know that he is just using you to get what he wants!"

Lucas suddenly started towards the door and Sami looked after him in horror.

"Where are you going?" she asked anxiously.

"I'm going to finish this once and for all!" said Lucas, spitting out the words, "I'm going to find that piece of DiMera filth and teach that smug bastard a lesson he'll never forget!"

"NO!" said Sami in dismay, lunging after him.

Sami knew it should have been Lucas breaking his parole conditions she was worrying about but it wasn't. Last time Lucas had shot EJ and this time who knew what he might do! She grabbed Lucas' arm to stop him as he went to open the door and he tried to shrug her off him but she wouldn't let go, trying to drag him away from the door.

"Sami!" said Lucas in aggravation as she refused to let him go.

He had one hand on the door knob and she was behind him with her hands around his arm, trying to stop him. Finally Lucas got sick of it and he lifted his elbow up to jerk it violently away from her, using his superior strength to break free but as he did he felt his elbow connect with her face and she let out a cry of pain.

"Sami!" he said anxiously as she staggered away from him, clutching the right side of her face with her hands, "Are you alright?!"

Sami didn't answer immediately, her eyes welling up with tears of pain at the force of the contact of his elbow with her cheek. She blinked dazedly a couple of times as Lucas rushed over to her.

"Baby I'm sorry!" he said anxiously, peering at her face, "I didn't mean to do that!"

"It's… it's okay," she stammered weakly, still holding onto her face.

"Let me see," he said, grabbing one of her wrists and trying to remove her hand so he could get a better look but she resisted.

"It's fine," she said shortly, starting to recover from the shock as she broke free of his grasp and took a step back.

"Sami," said Lucas hopelessly, frustrated at how quickly things had spiralled out of control.

"Do you have something cold I can put on it?" she asked him dully.

"Yeah, of course," muttered Lucas and went to find her something.

Sami sank down on the couch, waiting for him to return with the requested item and shook her head at how badly that had gone but then, did she really expect anything different she wondered?

It was just over an hour later and EJ was sitting on the couch working - well attempting to do some work anyway. He'd come downstairs intent on getting some paperwork done but was finding it not as distracting as he usually did. Sami was out with Lucas again and despite his best attempts it was all he could think about.

He'd been expecting this, had prepared for it even but the reality of living through it, seeing her leaving every day to be with another man was far more confronting than he'd ever expected it to be. He'd managed it when they'd first been married so EJ had just assumed that he would be able to cope this time round as well but it was different now… now that she'd taken him so willingly into her bed. After what had happened between them it was becoming increasingly difficult just to let her leave everyday. He knew she hadn't slept with Lucas yet, would have been able to see it in her face if she had but even that knowledge gave him little peace.

He'd expected it to be hard but what he hadn't counted on was how gut wrenching it was watching her continue to go back to Lucas. He's thought he could handle it but there were times, moments when he doubted he could endure much more of this torture. EJ didn't think it would take this long but if being stubborn ever became an Olympic event then Sami would be a gold medal winner!

She made everything so hard… figuratively and literally.

Oh god but he ached for her… so much.

Not just for her body but all of her - her spirit, her fire, that gloriously devious mind of hers - he wanted it all, loved it all. EJ wanted her to embrace her feeling for him as completely as he'd done with his for her, without fear or hesitation but he was starting to despair that she ever would. Uncle John had been right - this plan sucked!

The sound of the front door opening and closing heralded the object of his distractions' return. EJ heard her go upstairs, probably to put Ali down and stubbornly remained where he was. If she wanted to talk to him she knew where he was. He heard her walk back down the stairs and come into the living room but he remained steadfastly intent on his work, refusing to turn around and face her as he felt her come up behind him. He found it difficult to look at her nowadays without wanting to fall to his knees and beg her to chose him, to end this torment but he'd started this and now he had to see it through.

"Why do you always work down here?" he heard her ask him, her voice coming to him from the doorway behind him, "You've got a desk in your room."

"I was working in my room but then your mother and John had a bit of an argy-bargy so I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and came downstairs," he told her, proud of how calm his voice sounded despite all of his inward turbulence.

"What!" yelped Sami, "My Mom and John are having sex?!"

Despite himself EJ had to smile at the real horror he could hear in her voice at even the thought of such a thing.

"An argy-bargy is a fight Samantha," he said with amusement but still not bothering to turn round, "Calm down."

"Well if they were having a fight why didn't you just call it that?" she grumped moodily behind him, annoyed at him for the fright he'd given her.

"I don't know Samantha," he sighed patiently, "Why do you call it 'trash' instead of 'garbage' or 'diapers' instead of 'nappies'? It's a mystery."

EJ finally leant back then to look over his shoulder at her and continue his teasing of her but the words died on his lips when he caught sight of her face for the first time that night.

"Samantha!" he said and now he sounded horrified, "What happened to your face?!"

EJ stood up instantly from the chair he'd been sitting in and walked towards her with a worried look on his face. Sami looked away a bit nervously, having momentarily forgotten about the bruise on her face that was already starting to colour up despite having put a cold compress on it at Lucas'. Sami tried to move away from the hand that EJ had reached out to cup her face but he wouldn't let her, determinedly sliding his fingers to the back of her neck, his thumb resting on her jaw line. The feel of his long, warm fingers on her skin made her shiver after so long of him not having touched her.

"Nothing," she said weakly, swallowing hard.

"What happened?" he repeated, his voice low, a small frown on his face.

"It was an accident," she said hastily, looking up at him nervously.

"What was an accident Samantha?" he asked, his voice hardening as he tucked a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"It wasn't his fault," said Samantha uneasy at the look in EJ's eyes, "It was just a silly accident."

"Lucas did this to you?" he asked and there was a rather frightening stillness to the question that made Sami very anxious.

She'd just spent the last hour convincing Lucas to let it go, made him promise that he wasn't going to do anything to EJ in retaliation for finding out that she'd slept with him. She'd told him that she didn't want him breaking his parole and going back to prison and he'd finally calmed down. It hadn't been the complete truth but it had meant that Sami wasn't going to have to worry about Lucas doing anything stupid when it came to EJ. And now it looked as though she was going to have to do the same with EJ.

"I… I was standing behind him and he accidentally hit me in the face with his elbow when he was trying to unstick his front door," she told the half truth, leaving out some rather pertinent information in her explanation as well but he didn't need to know that, "His front door always sticks."

EJ just looked at her, mulling over her words silently and Sami found herself holding her breath as she waited to see what he would do. There was a kind of coiled tension to his quietness that made Sami nervous and she would have given anything to know what it was he was thinking right then.

"Does it hurt?" he asked her softly, his fingers leaving her neck to ever so gently stroke her purpled flesh.

"N… no," she said breathily, caught off guard by his sudden tenderness, "I told you, it's nothing. It looks worse than it is because my skin is so pale."

"Can I get you anything for it?" he asked her, his voice low.

Sami shook her head dazedly, enjoying being this close to him again after so long apart.

"I'm sorry you got hurt Samantha," he said with a sad little smile, "I never wanted that."

"It… it wasn't your fault," she stammered in surprise, "It was just one of those things."

EJ leant down and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and she closed her eyes at the feel of his lips on her skin.

"I'm still sorry," he whispered against her skin and Sami closed her eyes as he pulled her into an all encompassing embrace, wrapping his arms around her. His familiar scent filled her nostrils and she breathed deeply, feeling like she'd finally come home.

EJ walked up the narrow flight of stairs to Lucas' apartment, noting how small and unremarkable the place was - rather like the man himself so it seemed like a perfect match really.

When he'd come down to breakfast today it was to find that Sami had managed to hide the bruise on her face with makeup so no one else in the family noticed but he knew what was being hidden by all that concealer. EJ had remained determinedly removed from having any involvement with Lucas, preferring to leave Sami alone to work out how it was that she really felt about them both without mudding the waters but that was before he saw the ugly bruise marking that delicate skin of hers.

All bets were off now.

EJ stood at Lucas' dinghy apartment door and knocked, waiting patiently for it to be answered. Lucas opened the door and scowled when he saw who it was.

"I thought there was suddenly a bad smell in the building," he said insolently, "Guess I know why now."

"Hello Lucas," smiled EJ unconcerned by the other man's rudeness, "Long time no see."

"Not long enough," growled Lucas, "What are you doing here? If you're looking for some kind of thanks for getting me out of prison then you can forget about it. I don't know why you did it but I just know you've got some sick plan up your sleeve - you never do anything without a reason do you, you slimy bastard? Just don't expect me to play along with whatever evil scheme it is you're planning."

"I have so missed our little talks," said EJ ironically, "It really makes me wonder how it is I managed without you for all this time."

"Is there something you want EJ?" asked Lucas, fed up.

"I was wondering if I could have a little look round your place?" said EJ evenly, "Sami mentioned that she wanted to bring both of the twins here so I just wanted to make sure what kind of place my son was being bought to."

"Right," said Lucas sarcastically, "Because you're such a great father!"

"I am actually," said EJ undeterred, "To both those babies."

"Yeah well I'm going to be getting my daughter away from you real soon," snarled Lucas, "So don't you get too used to it."

"So can I come in?" said EJ mildly, ignoring his threat, "I'll only be a minute and then I'll go."

"Whatever," said Lucas ungraciously, stepping back to let him in, "But I've got a job interview to go to so a minute is all you're going to get."

"That will be all I'll need," said EJ confidently, stepping through the door way.

"I see you've got that door fixed," commented EJ idly, watching as Lucas easily closed the door behind him.

"What are you talking about?" frowned Lucas, "There is nothing wrong with the door, never has been."

"Right," said EJ smoothly, "Sorry, I must have misunderstood something Sami told me."

Samantha had lied to him, he'd suspected as much.

EJ walked over to the middle of sparsely decorated apartment and looked around at it's depressing wallpaper and tatty fixtures.

"It's temporary," said Lucas, seeing what the other man was seeing, "I'm not going to be here for long."

"Oh I'm sure," said EJ calmly and Lucas couldn't help but feel that he didn't mean that in a good way.

"So," he snapped, "Have you done your 'daddy duty'? Don't think I don't know why you're doing this!"

"And why might that be?" asked EJ placidly, with an interested tilt of his head.

"You're trying to impress Sami with how great a guy you are, how caring a father you are but it's no good, we both know it's BS," growled Lucas, "A leopard doesn't change it's spots."

"As a recovering alcoholic I would have assumed that you might hold to a different philosophy on life," commented EJ casually, "Interesting."

"Well you've just got an answer for everything haven't you?" sneered Lucas.

"There are a few things that still baffle me," admitted EJ evenly, "Like what a woman like Samantha is doing wasting even a second of her time with such an uninspired, insipid man like you Lucas Horton. It truly does boggle the mind."

Lucas' eyes narrowed at the insult and his lips twisted into a harsh line.

"You're so sure of yourself aren't you?" goaded Lucas, "So what are you thinking Elvis? Just because you managed to get Sami to feel sorry enough for you one day so that she slept with you and all of a sudden you actually think you've got a chance with her? Don't make me laugh!"

Lucas saw the look EJ gave him and couldn't help the smirk on his face.

"That's right," he said defiantly, "Sami told me about how she slept with you out of pity. What, did you think she wouldn't, that it would be some dirty little secret between the two of you? Sami and I tell each other everything Elvis, that's how it is with a real relationship although you probably wouldn't know that seeing as you've never had one!"

"I see," said EJ slowly, digesting this latest bit of information.

"Sure," carried on Lucas, intent on rubbing the other man's face in it, "We talked about it and worked it out, no problem."

"Yes I saw your idea of 'working it out' on Samantha's face when she came home last night," said EJ coolly, "Very impressive, you must feel like a real man right about now hmm?"

"It was an accident!" snapped Lucas defensively, "I'd never hurt Sami!"

"All evidence to the contrary eh?" said EJ smoothly, not missing a beat.

"Okay," said Lucas sulkily, "We're done here, time to crawl back under your rock Junior."

Lucas started towards the door to open it for him so he didn't see EJ quickly close the distance between them. The first thing he knew was he was being slammed up against a wall with a lot of force, the wind being knocked out of him. EJ quickly took advantage of his surprise and pushed an arm up under Lucas' chin, pressing in on his throat - not enough to do damage but enough to immobilise him. Lucas began to struggle but it was no use, they were hopelessly mismatched in size and strength and EJ had such a tight grip on him that he couldn't find the room to get any power behind his movements to be able to break free.

EJ held the smaller man against the wall easily, using his more powerful physicality to his advantage effortlessly. He'd never really bothered before with this kind of fight with Lucas before. It had seemed pointless, EJ hadn't needed to resort to such base things before because he had his intellect and he could put this little twat in his place with just a few well chosen words. Becoming physical with him seemed redundant somehow. The truth was Lucas wasn't worth the effort, he was a nothing, a nobody that didn't deserve this much attention.

But that was before he'd laid his hands on Samantha.

"I want to make something exceedingly clear to you Lucas Horton," said EJ, looming over the other man as he held him in place, "So that we are both on the same page here. If you ever so much as raise your voice to Samantha again then…"

"What?" interrupted Lucas, tilting his chin up defiantly, "You'll kill me Elvis, is that what you were going to say?"

"I would never hurt the father of that beautiful little girl," said EJ, his voice hard, "Although I think we can both agree she'd be a whole lot better with her drunken jail bird of a father out of the picture eh?"

"Oh right, because Johnny's so lucky to have a father who's a ra…" spat out Lucas but EJ stopped him from going any further, pushing him harder against the wall and leaning his face in so close that their noses were practically touching.

"Be very careful little man," warned EJ harshly, "I own you, you belong to me and with one phone call I can have you back in that cell and no one is going to see or hear from you for a very long time."

"You own me?!" scoffed Lucas, struggling against EJ but still not able to get free, "You really are a crazy bastard!"

"Yes I own you," hissed EJ, tightening his grip, "I secured you're release from prison and I can reverse your fortune just as easily. If you do anything, anything that I don't like, then this pathetic existence you have going on here is over do you understand me?!"

"Sami would hate you for sending me back to jail!" sneered Lucas.

"Do you really think that I can't get Samantha to believe whatever it is I want her to believe?" he purred the question in to the other man's ear.

He couldn't - Samantha was too smart, too wild at heart to be controlled or manipulated by anyone ultimately and EJ knew that and loved that about her.

"You bastard!" snarled Lucas, "She's just a game to you isn't she?"

EJ's lips twisted in a humourless smile.

He'd believed him… but then EJ knew he would because Lucas didn't have the first idea about the woman he purported to love, never had. All he'd ever tried to do was change her into her sister Carrie and EJ hated him for it. Why have something so mundane and predictable when you could have such extraordinariness everyday, it was beyond comprehension for EJ. For Lucas to think that Sami could be so easily led, so easily manipulated just proved to EJ yet again that this mindless idiot didn't have any understanding at all of who Samantha really was.

"I think we've reached an understanding here," said EJ with a hard smile, releasing his hold on Lucas and straightening the other man's coat in a condescending way, "But just so you know - there will be no other warning. If you make so much as a twitch that displeases me, if I even suspect for one second that you have done anything to upset or harm either Samantha or Ali then it is over for you, do you hear me?"

Lucas shook his head, too angry to speak. EJ had him trapped and they both knew it. The hatred he felt for the man just surging through him as he watched him walk away, thinking he'd won, thinking that Sami was going to be his at last.

"Don't think for one minute just because you managed to take advantage of the fact that you have Sami trapped into this marriage and got her to sleep with you one time that it changes anything!" snarled Lucas at EJ's back as he walked towards the door, "She hates you as much as she ever did whatever deluded fantasy world you might be living in now!"

"Hmm," mused EJ, pausing at the door and turning around to answer him, "One time eh? Is that what she told you?"

EJ raised an eyebrow and met Lucas' gaze steadily.

"Well," he said silkily, his lips twisting in a small, goading smile, "But then Samantha never has been renowned for her maths prowess now has she?"

And with that little barb delivered EJ turned on his heel and left Lucas standing there with a shocked expression on his face.