Insatiable (28 page)

"Whoa hold on there, I know you're upset but the guy was wearing a mask and neither Aurora nor the Good Samaritan can give a description. Now a report was taken, but I'm afraid with this surprise storm, there's been a ton of fender benders. All the attention is on traffic accidents.  Had I not switched shifts with a colleague of mine, I would be out there with the rest of them. Now once things calm down out there, I'll get someone to come out here and talk to her some more, but for now we've got to make sure that she's alright."

Liam knew that Nick was right, and his main concern now was Aurora. Both Mari and Rosie knew that Aurora would not want to be fussed over; she'd rather suffer in silence than have everyone gawking at her. But when she didn’t protest to Rosie wiping the blood from her face, Rosie knew that their dear friend was hurting. Mari handed her a glass of brandy.  Her hands were shaking so badly that Liam held the glass for her. "It's alright baby, you're going to be alright," he soothed and kissed her. When she finished the brandy, Mari poured her another one. It wasn’t until she had swallowed it down that the warmth slowly began to seep back into her. When she looked around and saw that everyone was there and staring at her, she began to feel uncomfortable. She needed a shower and she didn’t like the fact that everyone, no matter how concerned, was doting over her. "I'm fine really. Liam, if you wouldn’t mind helping me back to my place for little bit, I need to get cleaned up."

Before anyone could protest she was already trying to get up on her own. Liam set the empty glass on the table and put his arms around her waist. The thought of heading back out into the cold made her shiver. "On second thought, I think I'll shower here," she tried to sound casual. "Of course," he said and helped her up the stairs. The large bedroom looked similar to the one in her loft. He lowered her onto the queen sized bed and began removing her clothing. "Don’t get any ideas mister," she teased. The slightest grin overtook his worrisome features. "Right now, the only thing that I want to do is take care of you."

"I don’t need anyone to take care of me. I just need some help getting into the shower," she groaned in pain.

Liam sat on her bed listening to her in the shower and trying hard not to imagine what could have happened to her had help not arrived. Aurora scrubbed herself head to toe over a dozen times and the image of a strangers hands on her made her scrub once more.
Who the hell was he?
Maybe the sheriff didn’t show up at the scene because he was too busy running away from it. And that poor woman having to get wrapped up in this. Thank god she pulled up when she did, there was no telling what that creep had planned. But whoever he was, he knew her name, and that seemed to scare her more than the attack itself. Who the hell was doing this? And more importantly, why?

When she finally came out of the shower she felt better, until she took a look in the mirror. The large bump on her forehead screamed out at her and the punches had caused severe discoloration to her skin. "Fucking asshole," she murmured. Her bottom lip had doubled its size and every ounce of her skin felt tender to the touch. Even her scalp hurt when she tried running a comb through her hair. She no longer recognized the woman in the mirror. Is that what Mari, and Rosie and all the others went through? The tears began to fall as she stared back at the stranger.

"I'm going to kill her, fucking kill her." He cursed as his fingers wrung around the cold wash cloth. The pepper spray had not gone directly into his eyes, but had come close enough to make contact with his skin and it burned. Large red welts appeared around his eyes, and he had the smallest lump on his forehead from where Aurora had tried head butting him. He snickered at himself in the mirror. "Stupid bitch thinks she can fight. I should have choked the life out of her right there and then." 

If that woman hadn't shown up, he was sure he would have been able to rape her and get away with it. One more punch and it would have rendered her unconscious, so taking advantage of her would have been easy. It's all for the best though, he thought to himself. Raping that bitch is just the beginning, when I'm finished fucking her, I'm going to hang her, and that's when the real fun can begin.

He thought about shooting her and splattering her brains all over, but liked the idea of hanging her a lot better. Her death had to be symbolic and besides, shooting her would be too easy. In order to avenge Randy's death, she would have to die the same way he did.
Death by hanging, goddamn that sounds catchy
, he smiled at himself. It was then that he decided to forget about killing Landon, Aurora was his main focus now. No more playing around, he gritted his teeth.

Aurora tossed the towel from the shower onto the floor and stepped into the bedroom.  Liam watched as she began fishing through the dresser for something to wear. Even in distress she looked beautiful.  Her body so curvaceous and full, she had the body and mind of a real woman, and he stared in awe. "How are you feeling?" He slowly came up behind her. He didn’t want to startle her or make her feel uncomfortable.

Her hands were still shaking, and the frustration was beginning to build.

"I'm alright," she almost sounded annoyed. "I just need to find something to put on. Why can't I find anything?" Her nerves got the better of her and Liam could tell that she was softening, but the circumstances were all wrong. She threw her arms up, and circled his neck. Her body went supple as he pulled her closer. The muscles he caressed began to relax under his hands. He helped her get into the bed. "Get in with me," she sighed. He kissed her eyes closed as he took off his clothes and crawled in next to her. He kissed the curve of her lips as he drew her closer to him. Her eyes grew heavy, and she ran her fingers over the soft hairs on his chest. "Thank you," she said and closed her eyes. With Liam lying next to her, she slept like a stone.

Chapter Eighteen

The morning sun radiated through the blinds of her windows, bathing her bedroom in warmth and light. Not remembering her current predicament, she yawned and stretched. A piercing pain shot from her head down to her shoulders. As she put her hands to her face, she hoped that some of the swelling had gone down, but it certainly didn’t feel that way. She wrestled with herself on whether or not she should look into the mirror. But the smell of bacon and eggs assaulted her now hungry taste buds, and she hoped that Rosie had saved her a plate.

She heard the heavy sound of footsteps ascending the stairs and pulled the blankets up to cover herself. Liam came into the room quietly, he was carrying a tray with freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee, eggs, toast and bacon.  "Good morning," he said and set the tray down on the nightstand. "How are you feeling?" Aurora couldn’t help but notice that on the tray was a gray velvet box.  I must still be disoriented and hazy, she thought to herself. She sat up in the bed now, her eyes glued to the box. Liam walked towards the windows and began twisting open the blinds.

"I am feeling better Liam, what's in the box?"

"You have to stop going out alone."

"We'll talk about me going out alone after you tell me what's in the box."

He sat on the edge of the bed and kissed her on the lips. "Why don’t you open it and find out."

She couldn’t read his expression. The box was too large to house a ring, and she breathed a sigh of relief. At least she hoped that there was no ring. It was way too soon for that, but for a moment she contemplated whether or not she'd say yes to him. With unsteady hands she reached for the box and winced the moment that she did. Her body still ached, reminding her of the beating she took last night. He reached over and handed her the box. She smiled when she opened it. "Liam, it's beautiful. It's perfect, thank you so much."

He moved forward and tilted her face with his finger under her chin. "You mean so much to me Aurora. I wanted to show you just how much."

He brushed his lips against hers.  She admired the necklace one more time before he put it on her. When she lifted her hair, he saw the bruises around her neck.
That son of a bitch tried to strangle her.
 "Thank you Liam," she said and kissed him again. "It really is beautiful. Now can you hand me my robe please? I've got to get out of bed."

"You need to rest." He placed his hands on her arms and tried coaxing her back into bed.

"I've got responsibilities here, Liam."

"Yes you do Aurora, and the first one being to heal. I'm not letting you lift a finger today, not until you've gotten a lot more rest."

She didn’t like being told what to do, she needed to get up and get dressed. "Liam, I need to find out what happened last night. I also have to figure out who is sending me disturbing pictures of my dead husband. And, I've got to find out the name of the woman who helped me last night so that I can thank her properly. I can't just lounge around in bed all day. Now I appreciate your concern, but if you really want to help me, then help me get dressed."

"Aurora, just once in your goddamn life will you just bend a little? For me? Bend, before you break. Nick is working with a detective on tying together the pieces of last night and the photograph that was sent to you. Martin is helping Mari and Rosie get in contact with the woman who helped you last night and they are taking care of the holiday preparations. Everything is being taken care of. Nothing and I mean nothing is going to fall apart if you shut it all out for a day or so."

He pushed her back onto the bed a little rougher than he'd meant to. "What the hell is wrong with you Liam?"

"Aurora, you think I didn’t see your face when you got out of the car last night? That I couldn’t see how hurt you were? Both emotionally and physically, or how you must have held on by a thread just to drive all the way back home? I've had enough of your stubbornness; I'm not having any more. Now if you don’t get back in the bed, lie down and let me take care of you, I'll haul your ass to the hospital so fast it'll make your head spin. Now what’s it gonna be?"

She was so stunned that she didn’t react until he moved closer and patted the pillow. "Liam, you can't tell me what to do, you don’t run my life."

"I'll run it until you come to your senses and get some goddamn rest." She could see the anger in him now, it was an anger that she'd never seen before. He forced her back against the pillows and moved close to her face. "Aurora, every once in a while, you need to listen to someone besides yourself. And I'm telling you that you are going to stay in bed and rest, even if I have to tie you to the headboard."

"Fine," she said exhausted again. "You don’t have to get so snippy," she grinned.

"Thank God." Liam let out an exasperated breath.

"I should have been there with you."

She put her hand on his shoulder, and when he turned to her she saw the weight he'd been carrying. His anger at getting her to rest had been fueled by guilt. Guilt that he wasn’t with her when she'd gone to the store. And she knew the piercing end of that guilt, she'd felt the same way after she'd lost the baby and when her husband killed himself.  She touched his face, a light stubble had formed, and it made him all the more handsome. "It's not your fault." Her words were soft and gentle. "You couldn’t have known anyone was following me."

He thought it over until the words sunk in. "No, I couldn’t have known. But it doesn’t change how I feel Aurora. I was so worried about meeting a stupid deadline for another selfish client that I didn’t stop to think that you were alone and vulnerable."

"Liam, stop."  At that moment, she did bend. She put her arms around him, and drew him against her breast.  "It's done and over with. No one is going to hurt me anymore; you and I won't let them."

She held him so close that he could feel the heat coming from her body. She was still naked from last night and had she not been in so much pain he would have made love to her. Even with the bruises, she was beautiful and had the most amazing body. At that moment he wanted nothing more than to strip his clothes off and press her sweet, soft, body against his. His body betrayed him and his cock grew hard.  Now was not the time to think about sex, he told himself.

But Aurora was feeling it too, she felt the hardness of his muscles and she couldn’t help but notice that his cock had gotten hard. God this man was sexy. As much as she wanted him, the thought of making love made her head throb. I must be in some serious pain, she thought to herself. "I think you're right," she said and brought his face up to hers. I think I need some rest because I plan on devouring you later on tonight."

"Well in that case, you better get your strength up," he said. "Your coffee's getting cold and you need to eat your breakfast."

He lifted the mug to her lips and helped her drink. Instantly she began to feel better.

While Aurora recovered, Liam let Rosie and Mari fill him in the everyday happenings of
Aurora's Place
. There hadn't been any new calls from friends in trouble and they were all happy about that. With everything that was going on, it was reassuring to know that for the moment, no one else needed help. "It won't last long," Mari told him.

"The holidays can be the worst time for domestic violence occurrences. I am sure that many shelters have to brace themselves for a spike in Domestic Violence. Let's just hope that it's not so bad here," Mari said.

"I don’t think Aurora can handle anything else right now."

"You're right, the woman needs a serious break from all this non sense. And now there's some lunatic after her? Liam, what the hell is going on? We haven’t heard anything from anybody," Rosie fretted.

Liam shook his head. "I don’t know, but I plan on finding out. I put in a call to the investigator that the attorney, Mr. Bennett recommended, he should be here any minute."

After being stuck upstairs for what seemed like days, Aurora showered and threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater. She was halfway down the stairs when she heard Liam talking to the investigator. "I want Rafferty off this case." Liam was insistent about having Rafferty removed.