Insatiable (4 page)

Aurora told them that she would be happy to stay in the house. She had been staying there anyway; there hadn't been a 
friend
 in need in a few weeks so there was no need to worry about invading anyone's space. She was glad for the company but not the circumstances which brought them to her. She wished things were different, but they weren’t, and she was going to make sure that her two 
friends
 were very well taken care of.

While she lay in bed that night her thoughts wandered to those of Rosie and Mari. She'd just met the two women and already was beginning to grow quite fond of them. Their situations had led them to her and with Renee's help along with Nick, she was sure that they would be able to get on their feet in no time. Both had taken the first step, they chose to leave. She'd told them that the hard part was over, and it was.

The rest will come easy she told them, she would help Mari file divorce papers and speak to an attorney. Rosie lived with her boyfriend Landon, so making a clean break would be easier for her. Luckily neither one had children so there would be no custody issues, and she was glad of that. Once all the paperwork was filed she'd help them get on their feet, that’s what she was there for.

Aurora compared their situations. Rosie seemed to come from a relationship where he controlled everything that she did. Her boyfriend wouldn’t allow her to have any friends. Aurora knew that it was because he was afraid that they would turn her against him and convince her to leave him. "He thinks that I talk about him with other people and laugh at him behind his back," Rosie said.

"Sounds like his insecurity was plain to see," Aurora told the women.

Aurora thought on about what Rosie had told her. She said that her boyfriend's obsession with privacy didn’t seem to apply to her. He monitored all of her internet and cell phone activity.

Rosie told them that her boyfriend Landon was so controlling that there were times when he'd follow her into the bathroom. "He denied me any privacy," Rosie cried. "And I let it happen."

"You can't beat yourself up over it Rosie, Landon's done enough of that. All you can do now is concentrate on you, healing you. Forget about what you could have done in the past, think about what you just did and use that to go forward. The both of you have made the biggest leap towards freedom and happiness, and I am so very proud of you." Aurora was the voice that would lead them out of the darkness.

"Ladies I am going to see to it that those men no longer invade every corner of your lives. Now it's your time to move on and shine. Your lives begin now ladies, they begin now."

Rosie and Mari exchanged looks before thanking Aurora for coming into their lives at a time when they needed a friend. That night was the first night in a long time where Mari and Rosie were able to sleep peacefully. There was no peril at all in the house just peace, peace and quiet.

On the other side of town however such wasn’t the case. Ronnie, who had spent the entire day looking for his wife, had given up, at least for the night anyway. He'd gone to the packy and gotten himself a case of beer, and as he sat alone in the kitchen he cursed himself for beating her so bad that she had to go to the hospital. Had he hit her only once, things would never have gotten out of hand, but it was her fault for screaming and causing a scene like that. He promised that when he found her, he was going to make her pay.

Landon lay in bed with his hands behind his head. He'd checked every place that he could think of in search for Rosie and came up with nothing. Not even when he checked her online history was he able to come up with anything. "That bitch will be in for a surprise when I shut off her cell phone," he muttered as he got out his laptop. With just a couple of clicks he was able to have Rosie's cell phone cut off.

"Serves the bitch right. Now let’s see you try and call all your friends now," he mumbled. The anger that had been simmering in him all day came out as he began throwing things at the wall. How dare she leave me!" He shouted over and over again. "Nobody leaves me, I leave them!" Landon was at war with his own ego, and it was a war that he would soon lose because deep inside something told him that Rosie was never coming back.

Chapter three

It was an Indian summer like day, very warm for October. Aurora had gotten up before the others and had managed to get in a trip to the grocery store, and by the time she'd made it back home, the sun had made its way fully into the sky. The temperature was almost eighty-three degrees, and she was glad that she'd thrown on a pair of shorts.

The day was not only hot, but it was dry and the dust from the dirt road kicked up as she made her way towards the house. A brand new car in the driveway raised her vigilance to unseen levels. She reached into the glove box and pulled out her .22. It wasn’t Nick's car nor was it any of the volunteers. And even if it was, they were not authorized to be there. Any and all volunteers had to be approved by the board and then a phone call or email was sent to Aurora informing her to expect their arrival, neither had been done.

She pulled up behind the new Jaguar and wrote down the license plate. There was no way she was going to let them make a fast getaway. If they did, they were going to have to plow through a shit load of perennials to do so, either that or ram her Jeep.

The front door flew open, and both Mari and Rosie stood in the doorway.

"He just got here a few minutes ago," they whispered. "He didn’t come to the door, he went straight out to the tool shed. Who is he?"

Mari noticed the gun in Aurora's hand. "I guess you weren’t kidding when you said you had protection," she said with a smirk. "But something tells me that this guy didn’t come to do us harm, he looks lost is all." Mari covered her mouth to conceal her laugh. "Someone who's lost doesn’t go looking in a tool shed for directions," Aurora said. Rosie just nodded her head and pointed in the direction of the stranger.

"You two get back inside and lock the door, do not come out until I tell you," she commanded and made her way towards the back of the house.

The strange man was standing in profile, toned arms folded over his chest and he was staring at a ladder as if it were a foreign object. Aurora could hear him speaking in hushed tones to himself. 
Some kind of psycho
, she thought to herself as she made her way closer.

"Can I help you?" The sound of her voice made the man jump knocking over several lawn rakes in the process.

She held the hand with the gun behind her.

"Err ah no, I'm just looking for a rake or a ladder… something." Was his response.

Aurora took a step back. "Do you know where you are? If so, why are you here?"

The stranger stood wordless for a moment. It was as if he'd been hit by the dumb truck. She was beginning to wonder if she should call the police.

"Look buddy, it's obvious that you've got the wrong house so how about you hop back into your car and get the hell out of here. This is private property, now either you leave or I'm calling the police."

Without meaning to her eyes flickered to where he stood and met his gaze for a moment.

His eyes were the color of salvia azurea, a blue flowering plant that she'd planted this past spring. The color so vibrant and rich, that she found herself spending hours tending to them in the garden.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Let me introduce myself, I'm Liam, Liam Hunt I'm here to Volunteer." Aurora stood puzzled. "No, no that can't be right. I'm always notified ahead of time when a new volunteer is to arrive. I worked it out that way with the board of directors. No, there must be some kind of mistake."

Liam stared intently into her eyes; she was making this very difficult. He wasn’t expecting to find such an attractive woman operating the place. What he pictured was nothing like the woman who stood before him. Soft hazel eyes stared back at him, this exotic, ebony beauty was hiding something behind her back, and he guessed that it wasn’t a bouquet of flowers.

He held up his hands in defense. "Whoa, now I understand that you have to be cautious but I assure you, I am who I say I am. And if you'll allow me to reach into my pocket I'll show you my driver's license."

"Fine," she said. "Hand it over."

She stuck the .22 in the waist band of her shorts before holding out her hand to take the license.

While looking over it carefully, she took notice of the address. "Newport huh? What brings you here? You slumming?" She said and handed it back to him.

The tone of her voice told him that this was a woman who was all business and had every intention of not only protecting her property but the women that were inside of it as well.

"Look Miss Collins I'm just here to help that's all."

"How did you know my name?"

"Well I make it a point to know who I need to report to when I volunteer Miss Collins. Now you've seen my driver's license, and I've no doubt that you took down my license plate while you were blocking me in so let’s say we start over and you can tell me what you want me to do."

"I don’t know you Mr. Hunt and I don’t know anything about you."

Liam took a step closer. "Would you like to get to know me?" He asked.

Aurora stepped closer as well. "No," she practically roared and turned to walk away.

"Now please leave!" She shouted over her shoulder.

Liam stood still for a moment, he'd never been given the brush off before and he was not used to getting it now. All he wanted to do was volunteer at the place where he'd made it a point to contribute generously each and every month. He had no doubt that had he told Miss Collins that he was her number one contributor that she would have had a change of heart, but he preferred to remain anonymous for a reason. He didn’t want any special treatment; he simply wanted to do good.

He'd been meaning to come out sooner, but work and his social calendar had prevented it. Now here he was ready to get into the thick of things but was being turned away by the most beautiful woman he had ever met. Despite trying to be a gentleman, he let his loins get the better of him as he watched her walk away. Miss Collins' body was thick and voluptuous, enough said.

"I'll leave for now Miss Collins, but I'll be back," he shouted before he got into his car. He stammered and laughed to himself before getting out again.

"Ahh, would you mind moving your vehicle so that I can leave? I'd hate to think what you'd do to me if I drove over your beautiful perennials!"

Aurora glanced in his direction and thought about shooting out the tires of his brand new Jag.

"Next time call," she growled and roughly moved the Jeep out of the way.

"Oh I'm going to call alright, you better believe I'm calling," he replied back to her.

Rosie and Mari joined her as she watched his car surrender to the dusty driveway.

"And you didn’t want him to volunteer because…?" Mari blurted out.

"Because we don’t know him and we don’t have people volunteer that we don’t know," she said with a snicker.

"Well damn, know him or not I would have found something productive for him to do."

"Oh yeah like what?"

"Umm, like paint the house from top to bottom, clean out the pool, and pave the driveway? Anything that would involve him taking off his shirt," Mari grinned.

"I'd have to agree," Rosie added.

"Now, now ladies, let's all cool down. We've seen good looking guys before," Aurora teased.

"Yes but not ones as good looking as him," Mari said as she began to fan herself.

Aurora knew that she was right; Liam Hunt was one handsome volunteer. A volunteer that she knew was far too dangerous to have helping out at her place.

It wasn’t until their third night at
Aurora's Place
that Aurora held the first group session. Jean had been right on time and was ready to sit and talk with the women.

Before they'd even settled, Mari spoke up.

"Sometimes I feel as if I am standing outside myself. I see someone that I love and that someone is me. Only the reflection that I see is like watching a horror movie. I sit by and watch helplessly as the character opens up the door even though I know that there is a monster waiting on the other side.

Stop! I want to shout, but I know that it's useless, she's going to open the door because she still holds out hope that the monster has changed. She thinks that if she opens it carefully and slowly that he'll relent and take her into his arms, but it’s a lie. And of course she doesn’t listen, she opens the door and I end up throwing up my hands in frustration and then I say to her, now you've done it. You're going to die if you keep on being so stupid."

Everyone in the room fell silent, Mari had said it all. Now it was Rosie's turn.

"One night I woke up to being pummeled by him. He was on top of me, and he was calling me all kinds of obscenities. But this time I wasn’t afraid, I got out of the bed and I started egging him on. I thought to myself, this is going to end one way or another. So I figured if I had some good hard evidence, the cops won't be so willing to let it go. I screamed in his face. Hit me in the face you coward! What kind of man are you?

I don’t know what happened to me, it's like I went into survival mode or something. I stood there, and I took it. He beat me all over my body but he never touched my face. But do you know what that son of a bitch does when the cops get to the house? He tells them that I was the one attacking him, and that I have been bruising myself up from hitting him! Hitting him! And you know those sons of bitches believed him?" Tears fell from her eyes, and Mari and Aurora comforted her.

Jean, the therapist handed them each a tissue. "This is a great start, ladies you've all recognized that you had to leave, and you did. Now it's going to be mine and Aurora's job to see to it that you stay away, and never again get into a bad situation. You're all worth so much more than that, and I'm going to help make it sink in. Now, let's talk about how we can identify an abuser.

It may seem as if there is no reason to talk about this in hindsight, because the both of you have chosen to leave, but believe me ladies, it's good to recognize the signs. They will help you in your next relationship, and they just might help a friend. So listen up, gone are the days of 
stand by your man
, that is nothing but a myth that was created back in the dark ages.