Elise had given her an entire day, but she’d come to the same conclusion: Madison Duncan was a spoilt, stuck up, ignorant wanna be trophy girlfriend with no actual original thoughts in her head.
She felt bad deriding a friend of Tucker’s but she couldn’t help herself.
The woman was vapid, shallow and dull.
And so what if she was a size two with perfect hair and cheekbones?
At least Elise had… character.
She looked down glumly at her non-designer outfit – nothing to Madison’s Lilly Pulitzer dress that probably would cost Elise a month’s salary even if they did come in a size larger than four – and realized she wasn’t in the same league as Madison.
But at least she was smarter.
But she also couldn’t help it – she was jealous of Madison.
Madison was the sort of woman every guy wanted – composed, beautiful, overtly sexual, confident and ready, willing and able to be at their beck and call, doing nothing but whatever their man wants them to do.
Elise could never be that way.
Elise might be a mouse, but at least she was her own mouse, not someone else’s.
And it was making her truly ill to watch Madison repeatedly throw herself at Tucker.
The woman might as well of held up a sign that said “Tucker, I want your mind, your money and your bod in my bed right now. Take me!”
It was truly a spectacular display of overt flirting, and it was making Elise vaguely sick to her stomach.
She didn’t know why she cared – Tucker was a good looking, single man that would be a catch for any woman with a pulse – why shouldn’t he hook up with Madison?
And why should Elise give a damn?
It’s not like they…
They…
It wasn’t like that between them, and the sooner Elise realized that, the better her mindset towards Madison would be.
Tucker Hale could hook up with Dumb Duncan if he wanted to, no skin off Elise’s nose.
She had other things to worry about than Tucker’s love life.
She shook her shoulders out, and mentally reset herself, erasing all vestiges of the previous mental meander.
The rest of the party the night before had gone well, and everyone had raved about the breakfast buffet spread that Elise had prepared in the morning. A group had gone hiking around Copper Harbor during the afternoon, including Tucker, but Elise had opted to stay behind, tidy up a bit and then indulge in a forty five minute cat nap while Betsy and Wendy watched The Little Mermaid downstairs.
“I was almost a mermaid in the lake once…” Elise had heard Betsy say as she drifted to sleep.
Feeling rested and recharged form her nap, she was now sitting on the porch, the darkness rapidly falling on a pickup game of football being half heartedly played on the lawn, while others finished their grilled hamburgers and wandered down to the sand, tugging logs closer to the pile of tinder waiting to be lit later and laying out blankets and quilts to sit on.
Life was good, Elise mused with a small smile, watching as Tucker ducked and covered away from a sure tackle and scored a touchdown with a rather expressive interpretive dance in the “end zone”.
“Hi,” a husky male voice said from beside her.
Elise turned and saw Billy, one of Tucker’s contemporaries, standing at her side. “Hello, Billy. How are you? Enjoying the party?”
“I’m having a great time,” he said with a wide grin. Billy was good looking in an aw shucks, country boy way – wavy blond hair, tight Levis, big biceps and a ready smile. He was pleasant enough, but didn’t seem to be the sharpest axe in the shed.
“I’m glad to hear it,” Elise replied politely, not sure what else to say. She wasn’t sure what Billy did, but she had a funny feeling it had something to do with a factory in Houghton. She guessed they didn’t have a tremendous amount in common.
“Listen, I was hoping to get your help,” Billy said evenly. “My room was freezing last night, and I’d love to have another blanket or two on the bed. Could you show me where they are?”
“Oh, sure,” Elise said, jumping up and going into ‘hostess mode’. “Follow me,” she said over her shoulder, bustling into the house. “You’re in the blue room, right?”
Billy grunted his assent and they walked in silence up the stairs to the row of bedroom doors on the second floor. Elise cracked open the door to the blue bedroom that was Billy’s and without flicking on the light – using the light of the rapidly rising moon instead – she went to the closet and reached up to grab several colourful quilts from the top shelf.
“Here, let me,” Billy said, suddenly by her side. Together, they wrestled the quilts from the shelf and onto the bed, but as Elise turned to go, she found Billy directly in her path. “I’ve been watching you,” he said, his voice low and deep.
Elise was confused. “Watching me do what?”
“Just…watching,” Billy said with a long drawl. “Can’t keep my eyes off you. Something about you draws Tucker’s eyes too, so if he thinks your hot stuff enough to watch… you must be hot stuff. He he gotten burned with you yet, hot stuff?”
“I assure you, I’m not hot stuff, and he hasn’t been watching,” Elise said tightly. “Shall we go back to the party?”
“How about we have our own little party right here?” Billy said, grasping both of her shoulders in his meaty hands and giving her a squeeze. She stiffened and tried to back away, but found one of the four posters of the bed blocking her retreat.
“Thanks anyway,” Elise replied firmly. “But no thanks.”
“Well, that was more of a command than a suggestion,” Billy replied, his voice menacing now. “I want you, you want me, and since you’re the help, it’s not like you can go running to your boss and tell him his friend wanted to get his freak on with you. Wouldn’t look right.”
“I bet I can do just that,” Elise said, pleading now, feeling her heart rate kick up to a million with the threat presented to her. “Let me go.”
“No,” Billy said, his sick beer breath blasting over her face now, his hands tangling in her hair, then pulling a hank of it, making her cry out. “Get on the bed.”
“No,” Elise said forcefully, trying to sidestep him. “You’re drunk – why don’t you sleep this off, and we’ll forget about it by tomorrow? No harm, no foul, right?”
“Fuck that,” Billy said, pushing her bodily onto the bed, arms and legs akimbo. He followed a moment later, crushing his body on top of hers, forking his tongue into her mouth, making her wretch.
Elise had a flash of the past – remembered the feeling of a heavy, drunken body on top of her, and found her mind shutting down, drifting away.
Disassociation was the only way she had survived before – she could do it again.
Just… disconnect.
Numbly, she lay perfectly still, waiting for Billy to either pass out or just… just get it over with.
It was the only way.
“You and I are gonna have a goooood time,” Billy intoned, his words slurred even as his hands slicked her shirt up to her neck, his hands mangling her breasts, his hips grinding against hers. “Show me those titties, bitch, let me slap that fat ass of yours….”
Elise closed her eyes, but did not move. Just endure – it will be over soon.
Disassociate.
Suddenly, the weight on her body was forcefully wrenched away, and her eyes flew open in time to see Tucker bodily lifting Billy off of her and throwing him across the room, where he crashed into a wall and promptly sank to the floor, groaning.
Tucker walked over and stood in front of him. “You are not welcome here. You are never to set foot here again. I don’t want to see you ever again. And we will never speak again. Out.”
“But…” Billy said, managing to stand up with a groan of protest.
“Get the FUCK out of my house,” Tucker roared, and even Elise cowered at the fury in his voice while she hastily tugged her shirt back down and sunk back against the headboard, making herself small. “NOW.”
“But,” Billy began, but stopped when Tucker punched him square in the mouth, knocking the back of Billy’s head into the wall.
Billy half-heartedly threw a few things in a bag even as he nursed his bloodied lip, and then beat a hasty retreat down the stairs. Moments later, they heard a door slam and a car engine being revved and then racing down the road.
Elise uncharitably hoped he wrapped his drunken ass around a tree.
Tucker strode across the room and without hesitation, sat on the bed beside her, noting her attempt to make herself small and invisible. He barely wavered before pulling her into his arms with a hurricane of emotion. He stroked her hair gently, his other arm around her back, pulling her close to his chest. She could hear the hammer of his heart, matching hers, even as he murmured soothing words near her ear.
“I’m so sorry, Elise, I’m so sorry… are you alright? It’s okay, it’ll be okay…”
She couldn’t help it – tears spilled down her cheeks, not because of what almost happened here tonight, but because of Tucker’s gentle handling of her.
If only someone had done this for her years ago – if only she hadn’t had to wait twenty four years for a champion, but for someone to care enough about her now… that was a revelation.
She’d never had that before, but she had it now.
“No, don’t cry,” Tucker said softly, misunderstanding the reason for her tears. “It’s going to be okay. You’ll never see him again. I promise you. He’s gone now. He won’t hurt you…”
She didn’t think she could possibly explain that the tears weren’t borne from that, but from him.
Gratefully, she sank into his embrace, slowing her tears and returning her breathing to normal, even as she burrowed against his shoulder.
“I’m so sorry,” Tucker said, finally pulling away and looking deep into her eyes, making her feel more naked and exposed than Billy’s ministrations had. “I’m so sorry.”
“You came for me,” Elise said softly. “You saved me.”
Tucker shrugged. “I… I missed you. I saw you were gone from the party, and someone said they had seen you go inside. I thought maybe you were uncomfortable with not knowing everyone, or that god forbid you were cleaning again,” she smiled at that. “So I came looking for you. You were the one I wanted to spend time with tonight. Seeing all these people again has been great, but it’s reminded me how far apart so many of us have grown, whereas you and I…”He trailed off. “Anyway, I missed you, so I came looking for you. And then I heard… I heard you cry out.”
“And you found me,” Elise said softly.
“I’m glad I did,” he replied gently, stroking the palm of his hand down her cheek once, so lightly she could have imagined it.
“Me too. Thank you. I know I’ll never be able to say it enough, but thank you,” Elise said, her voice choked with emotion.
“That… that’s happened before, hasn’t it?” Tucker asked gently, watching her reaction.
Elise nodded, understanding his veiled question. “Rape was pretty much a matter of course for about two years in one of my foster situations. I just… I just thought It would never happen again, but…”
God, Elise, god…” he murmured, pulling her to him again, as much to comfort himself as her. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be… it’s over now,” she said, now soothing him, even as she saw the emotions well on his angular face. “Les just…let’s just not talk about this again. Ever.”
Tucker nodded, pulling it together, gently tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear instead. “What do you want to do now?”
Elise sat up straighter, brushing away the last of her tears with the palms of her hands. “I’d like to just stare into a bonfire for a while, listening to the waves. And I like fireworks. Can there be fireworks?”
“We can do that,” Tucker replied, looping and arm around her shoulders and steering her downstairs. “We can definitely do bonfires and fireworks. And the minute you’re done, or want to go in, you tell me. Where you go, I go tonight, okay? No excuses, no guilt, it’s what you want to do. You just tell me.”
Elise nodded silently, following him out to the door towards the beach.
And for the rest of the night, true to his word he never left her side, sitting right beside her in the sand by the fire, his arm protectively around her shoulders, occasionally murmuring softly in her ear, making her laugh with his observations of his friends, and protesting not at all when she laid her head on his shoulder.
Once, though she could have just imagined it, as drowsy as she was, she was sure he had kissed her temple tenderly.
She barely remembered going to bed that night, but she was sure that in a night of extremes, it had ultimately ended positively.
When she woke the next morning to find Tucker asleep in a nearby chair, she was sure of it.
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