Black 21: (Golden Hills Legacy of Black 21 Book 1) (14 page)

Daisy and Eric
settled in their new furnished place easily. The hotel was beyond what she had
imagined. Grant Park was on one side and the Lake on the other, walking
distance to the Loop.

As promised,
she had her own room adjoined to the presidential suite that included a
kitchen, a library, a dining area, and a living room designed in glass and
chrome offsetting a marble fireplace.

She especially
loved her room with a view of the Lake, very pleased with Eric’s choice of
hotels.

They bought
groceries at a store on Balbo Avenue and filled the cabinets. There was also a
dining area on the main floor if they didn’t feel like cooking.

After putting
all her clothes away and placing her toiletries in her bathroom, she met up
with Eric in the living room.

“So, you like?”
he grinned.

“Like? Yes, you
did good, Eric,” she laughed.

“I know it’s
not a mansion like Christian’s or a palace like Jack’s, but–”

She put her
finger to his lips. “You did good,” she said, smiling.

He clapped his
hands together. “Okay, now what for dinner? I can make fish or steak...”

“Tacos!”

“Tacos?"
Okay, tacos it is. Let me get the ground beef out." He stepped over to the
fridge and grabbed the meat.

“I want to do
it." She scooted him over and grabbed the skillet.

He waved his
hands in the air. “Fine, fine. Make me some grub, woman!” he winked and sat the
kitchen table.

She smiled and
prepared the meal. Lucinda had taught her how to make the basics. Eric’s
bantering was similar to Christian’s, making it hard to forget.

Memories of
Christian’s teasing trickled into her thoughts. Her heart physically ached. She
grabbed the edge of the sink and closed her eyes, swallowing hard.

“You okay?” he
asked, running to her.

“Yeah, just a little
heartburn is all. Dinner’s almost done. Go read your reader,” she ordered
softly.

“You sure?”

“Yep, I’ll be
fine,” she forced a smile.

They ate dinner
quietly at the glass dining table. A sadness crept over her like clouds over
the sun. She continuously pushed her salad around before Eric interjected.

“You gonna eat
that today?” he asked lightheartedly, taking a drink of his water.

“What? Oh, I’m
sorry, Eric. I’m not much company tonight, am I,” she stated.

“What’s wrong?
You feeling guilty about us living here together?”

She shrugged.
“I don’t know...maybe,” she admitted, momentarily looking up at him.

“Do you wish it
were with Christian?" He set his fork down.

“I don’t want
to hurt your feelings, Eric. You’ve been so kind." She continued to play
with her food.

“Look at me,
Daisy,” he said softly. “Please?”

She dropped her
fork and sighed, looking up at him.

“He’s the one
who told you to leave, right? I’m the one who’s been there for you, trying to
love you, and I do. I love you so much it hurts, Daisy,” his voice grew hoarse.

“I know,” she
whispered. She wiped a tear away and stood. She walked over to Eric and sat on
his lap. “I know you do. Just give me time, okay?" She went to kiss his
cheek, but he turned and she kissed his mouth instead.

He stroked her
face and slid his fingers into her hair. His kiss grew deeper, his breath grew
shorter.

The sound of
glass breaking in the kitchen jolted them. They ran in there to see what it
was, and found glass shards on the floor by the sink. She silently grabbed the
broom and swept it into the dustpan.

Eric brought
the garbage can over for her to dump it in. “Jack?” he whispered.

She shook her
head. “Please don’t mention his name in this place. That’s all behind us.”

He nodded. “You
got it. I’ll clean up our dinner plates.”

“Thank you,”
she said and continued to sweep for any remaining shards.

***

Standing in the
hot shower allowed Daisy to feel completely numb. It felt so good. She pushed
the water back into her hair, feeling the prickly sensations tap her face.

She finished up
and grabbed a towel. Something caught her eye in the foggy mirror. Wrapping the
towel around her, she stepped closer and saw it.

Mine.

Her hand swiped
at it, erasing any trace.

It appeared
again.

“Leave me
alone!" She wiped again and it stayed gone.

“Everything
okay, Daisy?” Eric called through her bedroom door.

She opened it
and shook her head. Fear filled her face.

Pursing his
lips, he pulled her to him in her wet towel. “Damn him,” he hissed.

“I’m not
letting him control me. He can do all the pranks he wants. If that’s the only
thing he can do, I can live with that.”

“But I don’t
want you walking on eggshells, wondering what he’ll do next,” he breathed into
her hair. “What did he do this time?”

“Wrote
something on the mirror,” she mumbled into his chest.

“What did it
say?”

“It doesn’t
matter, really–”

“What did it
say?” he demanded more firmly.

“Mine,” she
whispered.

He walked past
her and into the bathroom to try to see any remnants left. “She’s not yours,
Jack. She’s mine! You hear me? Mine!”

“Eric!”

“I’m sorry,
Daisy, but that’s how I feel. Your heart may belong to someone else right now,
but you’re mine,” he said in a cracked whisper.

“Leave my room,
please,” she said tersely.

“Daisy, I–”

“Please.”

Before he left,
he wrote something on the still foggy mirror. He walked past her with pleading
eyes and left for his room.

Daisy looked at
the mirror and sighed. A picture of a heart was drawn with a D in the middle.

For the first
time, she allowed the tears to flow, releasing all the pain she had since the
beginning, since meeting Christian that fateful day in her aunt’s and uncle’s
home, the issues with Dane, first encountering Jack on the hay bed, Dane and
Lydia losing their lives, going to that school and signing her life away,
making love to Christian and on the same night ending it, and permitting Eric
into her life and slowly into her heart.

She fell to the
floor and let the tears rack her body, cleansing it, and hopefully healing it.
She cried until she could cry no more.

After emptying
her heart, she sat up straight and wiped the tears away for good. Her lips
tightened with determination.

When she pulled
herself up to the sink counter, she spoke to the mirror as if Jack could hear
her. “I belong to me and nobody else, ya hear me! No one owns me. I will always
be stronger, always!”

She backed up
and looked around the bathroom just waiting for something to happen, willing
it, but nothing did. “Come on!”

A satisfaction
came over her, filling her with pride. She dried her hair and pulled her
nightgown over her head. Glancing around one more time before going to bed, she
lifted a smug nose up in the air.

Knowing Eric
probably lay in his room, sad about their encounter, she made her way to him.
She knocked softly on his door before he finally answered. She pushed the door
open, waving a white rag she had grabbed from the closet. “I’m sorry...forgive
me,” she pouted.

“Course I do. I
went over the line,” he apologized, pulling his arm out from behind his head to
wave her over.

She could see
his bare, somewhat muscled, tanned chest above the covers.

Throwing the
rag at him, she laughed and sat on the bed next to him. She grabbed his glasses
and placed them on his handsome face. It was a face she came to adore, could
see falling in love with.

“I’m going to
see my father tomorrow,” she said.

“Really?
Why?" He sat up against the pillows to give her his full attention.

“I need some
answers. It’s time.”

“Want me to
come with?”

“No, this one I
can do alone. Hopefully I can catch him. He usually works at home on
Wednesdays." She smiled wickedly.

“What’re you
smiling about?” he drew his brows together.

“I loved your
heart. Thank you for that.”

He smiled. “My
pleasure.”

Daisy licked
her lips and leaned in, stopping just short of his mouth, feeling his breath on
her face. “You have the prettiest shaped lips I ever saw on a man, Eric
Wessington,” and kissed him, softly pressing, waiting for him to respond.

“Daisy, you
don’t have to do this,” he murmured against her.

“I know. I love
kissing you." She giggled at the vapor on his glasses and took them off.
“There, that’s better." She returned to him and this time he responded.

She lay on his
blanketed body, just enjoying their kiss, running her hands over his chest,
over his tight nipples.

“God, what you
do to me,” he said breathlessly.

“Yeah, better
not forget it, buddy.”

He pulled her
head next to his and held her, his arms wrapped around her, his chest movement
slowing down under her hand. “The only other heart I ever drew for anyone was
this girl I had the biggest crush on in seventh grade. I would draw hearts
inside her locker door, on her folders, on her hand,” he remembered, chuckling
under his breath.

A pang of
jealousy coursed through her that she didn’t expect. “Was she pretty?”

“Yeah, long,
brown hair and big, blue eyes. She would draw hearts back on me." He
kissed her head.

“So you still
think about her?" She didn’t get why this bothered her so much but it did.

“Sometimes, but
not in a long time until now. You’re the only one I think about now.”

She grinned.
“So what happened to her?”

“Her family
moved away in eighth grade, but not before I got a kiss out of her. She came to
my house one day and–”

Daisy sat up
and stared down at him. “You’re not about to tell me some lovey-dovey story of
a girl you once loved, are you?" She put her hand on her hip and waited.

Eric gave a
thunderous laugh and couldn’t stop.

“What’re you
laughing at?”

“You...you’re
jealous!”

“I am not!”

“You’re jealous
of a junior high love affair I had. Oh, my God,” he continued to laugh until
tears rolled down his cheeks.

“Okay, maybe
it’s a little funny,” she admitted and then laughed with him.

“Admit it!”

She waved her
hands in the air in surrender. “Fine, I was a tiny bit jealous, just a tiny bit
so don’t get crazy on me,” she ordered.

“Okay, I’ll
pretend I didn’t hear the best thing ever, just go on with life as it is,” he
said playfully.

“Best thing
ever?”

“My heart is
dancing over you being jealous, Daisy. It shows possibility,” he said in a more
serious tone.

She gently
slapped his arm and smiled. Crawling back under his arm, she wondered about
something. “Are you really going to go through with your birthday ball, Eric?”

He sighed. “I
suppose I have to. I’ll just go alone. I know Jack wants you there, but I won’t
do that to you. I’ll never bring you back there again,” he promised.

“I want to go
to Christian’s ball.”

“What?"
His body became rigid.

“With you,
Eric. I think it’s the least I can do for him, don’t you?”

“Hell no,” he
shook his head.

“Put your
feelings aside and really think about it. You were friends long before I came
into the picture. I can’t just turn my back on him.”

“Won’t that be
hard to watch him with Charlotte? Watch her become his high priestess? I know
you’re a strong woman and all, but damn,” he shook his head.

“I feel like I
owe him. Besides our last day together, he was so good to me. You must know
that.”

“You still love
him, don’t you,” he stated.

“I honestly
don’t know what I feel anymore. I know I have feelings for you, but I also...I
don’t know." She hugged him to her, kissing his hardened jaw.

He softened his
muscles and relaxed against her.

She sprung from
the bed and rummaged through his nightstand drawers, finding what she needed.

He laughed at
watching her. “What’re you doing, silly?”

She grabbed his
hand and drew a heart on top of it. “There!”

Eric cupped her
face and kissed her, his eyes saying it all.

Stifling a
yawn, he sent her off to bed. She kissed him once more on the lips and then on
his hand where she drew the heart.

“I’ll never
wash it off,” he said, half playful.

She stopped in
the kitchen before going to bed to get some grapes and a mug of ice water. As
the ice poured out of the freezer door, she smiled to herself.

After turning
the remaining lights off, she walked to her room and stood in shock. She spun
around not believing what she saw.

It looked as if
a tornado ran through her room. Pictures broken on the floor, lamps, bedding in
a heap. She ran in the bathroom to see if anymore messages. This time there
was, but in red lipstick that said ‘Help Me.’

Eric ran in
frantically looking for her. “Daisy, you okay? I heard you scream...what
the?" His eyes scanned the mirror.

“Now I’m lost because
why would Jack be asking me to help him? I don’t get it.”

“Sleep in my
bed for tonight until we get this room cleaned up. It’s too much for this
hour.”

Daisy stared at
him with a silent question.

“Don’t worry,
I’ll keep my hands to myself. Come on." He grabbed her hand and pulled her
out of what seemed to be a bigger message to her than what was on the mirror.

The sun peeked
through the half-slitted blinds of Eric’s room, promising a better day. Daisy
stretched and looked to Eric’s empty, slept in side. She smiled at the thought
of him fighting some deep primal urge to wrestle with her in the sheets. But he
did keep his word and just held her until she fell asleep, staying on his side.

Sounds of pans
against the griddle and smells of bacon and coffee made her stomach growl,
making her forget the prior night.

The thought of
going to her room to get dressed troubled her, but she needed to do it. She
pushed the door open and felt pleasantly surprised. The mess was gone. Eric
must have cleaned it up for her. He was really trying to win points with her,
and it was working.

After throwing
on capris and a halter top, she pulled her hair up into a ponytail and sought
out her hero. “Eric, you didn’t have to do that but thank you,” she said, walking
up behind him and grabbing a strip of bacon from the plate.

“Do what?"
Curiosity danced in his eyes.

“You know,
clean up my room. I was going to do it but–”

He shook his
head. “Not me, Daisy. I came straight in here to start breakfast. You’re telling
me someone cleaned up that mess?" He put the spatula down to look at her.

“Uh, yeah...I
guess so,” she stuttered. They both turned their heads toward her room.

“Okay, so we
have a demon who gets really angry and then feels bad about it?”

“Stop joking, it’s
not funny!" She slapped his arm. “That scares the hell out of me.”

“I wasn’t
joking.”

“Would Jack
really do that? I’m not even sure it’s him anymore." She poured coffee and
grabbed three Splendas. “It feels like a different energy.”

“I never
noticed you used that much sugar!” he said, shaking his head.

“Why does
everyone have a problem with that?” she said tersely. She poured the Hazelnut
creamer in and sat at the table to stir it.

“Whoa, who’s
everyone? I know you’re shaken up, but calm down there." He rubbed her
arm.

“Sorry, you’re
right. Just a little freaked, I guess.”

“So who’s
everyone?” he raised his eyebrows.

Her eyes caught
his over the rim of her cup.

“Oh, should
have known." His lips thinned.

“No, you don’t know.
My dad used to scold me,” she said, a hint of teasing in her eyes.

“Liar, but I’ll
take it." He brought a plate of bacon, lettuce, and tomato and a separate
plate of toast over with two smaller plates.

“I love BLT’s,
but for breakfast?" She built her sandwich and bit in.

“My mom makes
them,” he smiled. “Speaking of your dad, are you still going today?" He
bit into his and waited for her answer.

“Oh, yeah. Now
more than ever. I just want answers now that he knows I know about his little
town he came from and all.”

“Okay, I’ll
probably go to the fitness room downstairs and then maybe shopping or even the
beach. You must have loved growing up in Lincoln Park near everything.”

“I did and
still do. Fitness room? You trying to get buff on me?”

“I need to work
out. I’m too skinny,” he said, holding his arm out.

“No you’re not.
You’re perfect the way you are." She really did believe that. Eric was an
incredibly sexy guy from the inside out.

“Skinny,” he
said dryly.

She laughed and
drank her coffee, shaking her head.

After helping
him clean up the kitchen, she gave him a deep kiss to remember and then left
for the parking garage.

***

This day was
too beautiful for a confrontation, but it needed to happen. Lake Michigan
sparkled under the sunlight with sailboats bobbing up and down. Cabs peeled in
and out of lanes, honking as if they owned the streets.

She took North
Lake Shore Drive pretty much the whole way. It should only take about ten
minutes, but maybe more in this mess. Every other person seemed to have the
same idea because the traffic was horrendous, probably going to the zoo.

She used to
love going to Lincoln Park Zoo with her dad and Gloria. Well, maybe not with
Gloria, but she loved being there. Also going to the Cubs games was a favorite
pastime.

Cars honked at
her and she honked back. Her thought was if she could deal with the devil
himself, almost being sacrificed...yeah, she could deal with pissed off
drivers. And the operative word there was almost. Happiness filled her at
escaping something monstrous in a small town. Freedom dominated her world now.

The Fullerton
Parkway Exit loomed ahead of her, taking her to Fullerton Avenue. North Lincoln
Park zoomed in on the left and she turned. Her college was not too far.

Daisy turned on
Webster Avenue that led her to Ashland Avenue, driving until the familiar
Brownstone appeared. She parked next to the curb in front and got out. Kids
kicked a ball down the sidewalk in front of her house, stopping to look at her
as she walked to the curb. She smiled and waved as they giggled and scurried to
catch the ball.

A well-dressed
woman walked her small, white poodle wearing a diamond collar. The sound of a
bike horn tooting for the woman to move, as a serious-looking bicyclist passed
her. He glanced at Daisy briefly and smiled.

She missed the
sounds of her old neighborhood, the noisiness unlike the quiet of the country.
If only she felt the same about her father.

Taking one slow
step at a time, she touched her cross and moved toward the front door, using
her key.

***

Eric worked out
in the gym for a while, working hard on his arms and chest. A pretty blonde
girl flirted with him, but he politely smiled and returned to lifting.

She got off the
abdominal press machine and walked over to him. “I’m Jessica if you’re interested.
I come here the same time every day,” she said. She gave him a card with her
information on it and walked to the showers in her sweat-soaked shorts and tank
top.

He rolled it up
without looking at it and threw it in the garbage can. One more set of shoulder
lifts and he was done. Daisy flitted through his mind. He worried for her and
hoped she got the answers she needed. The heart on his hand caught his
attention and he grinned.

He decided to
take a shower in their hotel room instead of here. The elevator took him up and
he found Room 222. Everything seemed in place. No more unwanted visits. He got
undressed in the bathroom, admiring the veins popping out of his biceps from
the workout in the mirror.

“Looking good,
Eric.”

Eric turned to
find Jack standing there. He wrapped a towel around his waist. “What the hell,
Jack!”

“Oh, feeling
shy?" Jack clicked his tongue a few times, grinning like the Joker.

He put his
glasses on and folded his arms, waiting for Jack to speak.

“Why do I feel
like our deal is changing in terms, Eric?” he mocked, eyeing the drawn heart.

“It’s
just...why did you write mine on the mirror last night?”

“Mine?” he
scoffed. “That sounds juvenile, not something I would do. I haven’t begun to
get into her mind yet, was hoping you would bring her down that road for me
first. I really want her with Christian and not that harlot Charlotte. Daisy
and Christian are the powerful couple.”

“What if I
wanted her for my birthday?”

“You’ll never
have the powers Christian has. No, no, no. Maybe I’ll let you play with her
every so often after she has the baby, but until then, hands off. You’re not
fucking her now, are you?”

Eric stood
straight and eyed Jack, clenching his jaw. “Don’t speak of her like that.”

“Calm down,
boy. Just making sure. She wears that damned cross that you’re supposed to get
off her. It blinds me whenever I try to go near her. I need her to start to
weaken, and she won’t if she feels like her god is with her.”

Eric’s voice
dropped low in defeat. “She said she wants to go to Christian’s party.”

“Perfect! Then
you can play along and bring her as a date, not knowing she’s going to be an
eternal date in hell,” he said, laughing, nearly foaming at the mouth.

Eric looked
down before looking back at him. “I don’t want her to get hurt. Does Christian
know about this?”

“No. The poor
boy is sick with love, always moping around, sort of like you. Even with
Charlotte’s ways, he doesn’t want her, can’t even get it up. Poor boy is
broken, even with the beast bubbling in his veins. So I guess it’s a good thing
because he’ll be getting the best birthday present ever. I really do love
giving,” he chuckled. “Oh, and you might want to look up Jessica to take care
of some sexual frustration you’ll have. Here’s her card…again. Don’t throw it
away this time,” he snapped.

“You set that
up?” he said, taking the card.

“I just put you
in her line of vision. She really wants you, could see her nipples harden
watching you work out. It was rather enjoyable for me. I wanted to take her in
the showers, but restrained myself,” he said, buffing his nails on his shirt
and looking at them.

“Disgusting. Is
that all you think about?”

He inhaled
deeply. “No. I also like good food and drink. It all goes together, really,” he
mocked.

“But Daisy is
so happy here. She wants to be a teacher and–”

“Have babies
with you? I see that heart on your hand, a gift of her affection?”

Eric hid it
behind his back against the sink.

His blue eyes
flared. “Don’t get too attached, my lad. It’ll only hurt when you have to let
her go. That was the deal we made when I told you to go with her. You agreed
because you wanted so much to be with her you didn’t really think about what it
all meant, did you? That I would pay for all this until you got her back home.
So, no more mushy, lovey stuff, got it? Unless you just want to inflict
self-punishment.”

Then Eric
remembered something. “What about the mess you made in her room? The glass
breaking in the kitchen?”

“Again, I have no
idea what you’re talking about,” he arched his brow. “I don’t play silly games
like that. I have pawns, or I mean people, to do my dirty work." He turned
and disappeared.

Eric pulled his
hand out and stared at the heart before washing it off with a rag.

***

“Dad, you
home?" Daisy laid her keys and purse on the overstuffed, off-white
ottoman. Her voice echoed in the quiet rooms.

She walked down
the hall to the stainless steel kitchen. A note for Gloria sat on the
brown-spotted, granite countertop in her father’s writing stating he would be
back around two-thirty.

“Gloria?"
Nothing.

She chewed her
right index fingernail and looked around, taking in the immaculate home.
Memories sprang up of her being scolded if dirtying something...the floor, the
walls, the countertops, the dishes. Gloria would sometimes put her in the
corner for an hour at a time if she didn’t finish her dinner or clean her room.

Her dad’s
office was off to the left of the kitchen, with its enormous mahogany desk and
bookshelves lined behind his leather chair. Cigar smells filled the air as if
rooted in the furniture. She sat in the chair and ran her fingers over the
smooth wood.

Another flash
of memory of her sitting on her dad’s lap while he worked on some client’s
case. Gloria would walk in with his tea and glare at her, grabbing her hand and
pulling her out.

She turned to
the file cabinet and opened the bottom drawer, remembering all the colorful
tabs that kept his papers organized. One particular black tab stood out that
said ROSE. She pulled it out and opened it on the desk. Marriage certificate,
death certificate, college graduation degree.

Going back to
the death certificate, her heart froze. It said nothing about dying in
childbirth but of dying in a car accident in 1993, one year after she was born.
“What?" She shook her head in disbelief. She delved more into the files
and found a newspaper article with a picture of her mother.

‘Rose
McAdams-Lock, an upstanding citizen and active church member of St. Mary’s Star
of the Sea, died Saturday, September 5, 1993. Her one-year-old daughter, Daisy,
escaped without a scratch.’  It went on, but those words burned in her
brain.

Her eyes glued
to the date. Why was that familiar? And without a scratch? Her back healing
after that beating, her chest healing after the cross had burned her...without
a scratch.

The pounding of
her heart thumped in her ears. Staring at the twenty-one-year-old fading
article, her mother’s beautiful smiling face, her copper red hair, and the
cross that now belonged to her.

The vision she
had on the hayride when she met Jack had to be of her mother! It killed her to
think she had died that way. Did Jack put that in her mind? His flashy smile
after it ended said he did.

She folded the
article and closed the manila folder, placing it back in the cabinet. Searching
deeper in the front of the cabinet, she found a picture still in its frame of
her mother holding her on her lap.

But Daisy
wasn’t looking into her mother’s adoring eyes, she was fascinated with
something else. Her chubby little hand was grabbing the sparkling cross...her
cross.

She looked down
at it and felt sadness. “How could he lie to me all these years?” she whispered
to her late mother’s picture.

An anxiety took
over her and she put everything away except for the article. She couldn’t trust
her father and decided to get out before he came home. She walked back through
the kitchen and toward the living room to get her things. The ottoman was
empty. She knew she had put them there.

“Looking for
these?”

Spinning around,
she nearly collided with Gloria. She held Daisy’s keys and purse in each hand,
smiling.