Live In Position (28 page)

Juliet's face was shocked and hurt.

"Just because you spread your legs for my father doesn't mean it changes the fact you handed me off to that woman as if I were a bag of groceries!" Allison shouted at Juliet, who was slowly retreating from the assault.

Next was Connor who appeared and put an arm around Allison. "Calm down, she was only trying to help."

"You can defend your mistress to everyone else, but do
not
defend her to me!"

"That's my girl," Ilene shouted with pride toward Allison.

"Fuck you Ilene! I'm not your girl! I don't belong to anyone." Allison sobbed hard and then disappeared. I assumed back to her room.

"I think I should go." Juliet spoke quietly.

"Hell yes you should," Ilene shouted out.

"No, it's fine. Let's go back to bed." Connor wrapped an arm around her and pulled her along with him.

I shook my head and tried not to laugh, but a snort slipped out. I could feel Dr. Bishop snap his gaze onto me, but I refused to look at him.

We finally got Ilene up the stairs and into a guest room that was currently unoccupied. She collapsed onto the bed and started snoring loudly. That was the last straw for me. I covered my mouth as another snort slipped out and hurried out of the room.

I got to the hallway and bent at my waist, leaning against the wall. I kept my mouth covered, but my body was convulsing in silent laughter. At the sound of Dr. Bishop's footsteps, I pushed from the wall and started walking quickly to my room.

Still trying to fight the laughter, I reached for the handle of my bedroom door. I fully intended to unleash the hysterics as soon as I closed it behind me, but the feeling of his hand on my shoulder made me jump.

I knew it was him. I could feel it and given the fact everyone else was locked away in a room it had to be him. I turned and immediately met his eyes.

"I apologize for what my mother said." His tone was cool and calm, as collected as always.

I simply nodded and bit the side of my mouth.

"Are you alright?" He furrowed his brow at me.

All I could do was nod.

"You look like you are in pain."

And that was it, I burst into laughter.

"I'm fine," I laughed out. "I'm so sorry." I laughed harder and covered my mouth, quickly opening my bedroom door. I tried to shut the door, but Dr. Bishop was standing in the way.

"Is there something amusing about this evening?"

I tried to stop laughing because he looked like he was getting red in the face, but I just couldn't help it. I shook my head no.

"YES!" I snorted then laughed out loudly, and quickly covered my mouth again.

The next thing I knew, he was shutting my door quickly. I thought he was going to yell at me. Instead he turned and started laughing. It was the first time I had ever heard Dr. Bishop laugh that hard, I mean it was an actual belly laugh.

"I thought this stuff only happened on soap operas, Jerry Springer, and in trailer parks!" I laughed hysterically and fell onto one of the chairs in my living room area.

Dr. Bishop leaned back against my bedroom door in an equally hysterical fit of laughter.

We laughed like that for a good ten minutes until tears were being wiped from our eyes. Both of us started to gasp for air and calm down, but kept fighting off leftover chuckles.

"Oh God," I exhaled loudly and calmed myself down.

"My family is insane." Dr. Bishop breathed out as he regained his conservative composure.

I straightened myself up in my chair.

"Everyone's family is insane." I shrugged. He brought his eyes up to my face. "Some just hide it better than others." I half smiled and stood up. "I'm sorry I…lost it." I really did feel like I should apologize, everything that had been going on had to be taking a toll on him.

"There is no need to apologize." The intensity of his gaze was hitting the highest levels. I shifted uncomfortable from my left to my right foot. "The night has definitely not been dull."

"Um no, it really hasn't." I smiled, uncomfortably. "Well, it's getting late."

His eyes stayed on mine and locked in a trance. I hadn't realized he stepped toward me until his hand touched my cheek.

"Yes, I guess that it is." The warmth of his breath reached my forehead right as he leaned in to kiss my forehead. His lips lingered there for a moment and my eyes closed. I felt my body begin to warm.

"Thank you for your assistance tonight." His lips were no longer on my forehead, the warmth of his hand was not on my cheek, and his tone was cold and collected again. When I opened my eyes, he was opening the door to my room.

"Goodnight Ms. Ashwood." He walked out of my room, closing the door behind him.

I groaned at myself and threw myself back into the chair. My hand touched my forehead. The tingling was still there from his lips. For a moment I lost myself in a fantasy of Dr. Bishop bursting through my door and ravaging me in this very chair.

"What the hell am I thinking?" I growled at myself.

After shaking off the fantasy, I climbed into bed.

Victoria woke me the next morning and we headed downstairs to the kitchen. We were met by Mrs. Baker, Connor, and Juliet.

"Good morning," Juliet's sweet voice greeted us.

"Good morning," Victoria and I said in unison.

"Jinx!" Victoria shouted at me and then ran off toward the breakfast bar laughing.

"We have pancakes, eggs, toast, bacon, and fruit this morning. Which would you like?" Juliet offered to Victoria.

"Hmm," she rubbed her chin and pursed her lips. "All of it." She smiled largely.

"That's a very tall order don't you think?" I raised a brow at her and sat next to her.

"I can handle it." She boasted with confidence.

Half a pancake, one egg, and two pieces of toast later she was leaning against me.

"I thought you could handle it?" I giggled at her.

She moaned and held her stomach.

"I am so full." Everyone laughed.

"Those eyes of yours were bigger than your stomach, huh?" Connor teased her.

"I don't think I can move." Victoria whined and we laughed harder.

Dr. Bishop's entrance into the room quieted everyone.

"Is it handled?" Connor said quickly.

Dr. Bishop nodded and sighed. His eyes turned toward Victoria.

"When?" Connor asked.

"This Saturday," He answered his father.

It was weird, but I felt as if I already knew what they were referring too.

"She wants to start 'bonding' immediately." Dr. Bishop growled with his jaw tightly locked.

"Oh dear," Juliet sighed.

Instinctively I put an arm around Victoria and held her.

"Victoria," Dr. Bishop spoke gravely.

"Yes, daddy?" She looked at him.

"Your mother will be here Saturday to pick you up."

I felt Victoria stiffen.

"What?" She glanced quickly at me with a scowl. "I thought I didn't have to live with her!" She shouted.

"You don't," I rubbed her back.

Dr. Bishop quickly moved in front of Victoria and knelt.

"You are only going to visit, for the night. You will be back the next afternoon, okay?"

"I don't want to go." She whined.

"I know, but she has the right –"

"She wants to see you." I cut Dr. Bishop off and pulled Victoria's face to mine.

"Remember what we talked about?" She nodded. "Well, now you have to go, so you can tell me all about your other room. Don't you?"

She furrowed her brow and pursed her lips.

"I guess," she stated with a huff, "When do I have to go?"

"Saturday," Dr. Bishop stated in a grave tone.

"That's tomorrow!" Victoria cried out.

"Well then we better hurry and get you all packed." I rubbed her back and tried to get her excited about the visit.

Victoria never got excited about it. In fact, when Grace showed up to pick her up I had to carry her to the car and place her inside. Both of us had tears streaming down our faces as we waved goodbye to each other. Dr. Bishop looked angry throughout the entire scene. Once she pulled away with Victoria, I turned back into the house and went to my room.

After twenty minutes of sulking and worrying, I realized I needed to take my mind off of things. I called Miranda. Benji and her had plans for dinner, but invited me along with them. I declined, not wanting to butt into their plans. Then I got another idea.

I called my dad and told him I was thinking about driving down to see them. Carla and he were thrilled I was going to take the day to visit. My dad told me to call before I left. I started packing.

It was almost one in the afternoon when I finished packing. I decided to run to the kitchen for some road trip snacks and bottles of water.

Once I had the snacks and water I headed toward the back stairs. I passed by the dining room and saw Dr. Bishop hunched over a half empty glass of brown liquid. His head was in his hands and the half full bottle of brown liquid was to the right of him.

"Dr. Bishop?" My voice was barely above a whisper, but I didn't want to startle him. He looked up at me with heavy, sad eyes. "Are you alright?"

He didn't respond at first. I took a step closer and was about to speak again when he finally responded.

"Are you going somewhere?" His eyes darted from the water and snacks back to my face.

"I was, um, going to visit my father in Tacoma." My voice was still quiet and his eyes were still so sad and haunted.

He snorted quietly with a half smirk before he put his head back down.

"Do you need to talk about something?" He shook his head. I sighed. "If you need want to talk, I'll be upstairs."

"I thought you were leaving?" He didn't raise his head.

I didn't turn back to look at him as I responded. "I'll be upstairs."

Once I was back in my room, I called my father and told him I would try to make it there another time. He was disappointed, but didn't give me too much guilt to deal with. We hung up with my promise to visit soon.

I pulled on some comfortable lounge clothes and curled up on my couch with my laptop, my book outline, the TV, and the road trip snacks. After thirty minutes of TV, I muted it and put my IPod ear buds in, listening to one of my favorite play lists. I made some changes to my outline and typed my story out.

The room was starting to dim, which meant evening was approaching. I reached behind me and turned on the lamp. That was when I heard a noise. I grabbed the wires to my ear buds and yanked.

'Knock' 'Knock' 'Knock'

My head snapped toward my door. I placed my laptop and outline on the coffee table before I stood and walked to the door. The knocking started again.

"Yes?" I opened the door and was greeted by the glazed eyes of Dr. Bishop.

The eyes were familiar from the drunken night he showed up, but the expression on his face wasn't as intense as that night. There was a sadness and need in his face. I pulled the door all the way open and motioned for him to enter. He didn't move.

"What if she doesn't bring her back?" He sounded defeated and lost.

"I'm sure she will bring her home tomorrow." I tried to sound reassuring, but I would be lying if I didn't admit to having already had the same thought cross my mind.

"How can you be so sure?" His eyes narrowed on me.

I sighed.

"I guess I can't be. Why don't you call and check on her?"

He walked into my room toward the couch and sat down.

"Do you think I should?"

"I think that you have the right to check on Victoria?"

"How are you so calm?" He looked at me with a longing I had never seen on his face. "I saw the way you were when she was leaving."

I sighed out heavily and sat down on the couch next to him, leaving ample space between us.

"I've been trying to keep my mind off of it," I shrugged. Then I turned my head to look at him. Big mistake.

My eyes were caught in his. The intensity in them felt like fire burning me deep into my soul. My breathing hitched.

"Why do I feel like this?"

"You miss her." I whispered out.

He shook his head. "Not that. Why do I feel like this with you?"

"Um, Dr. Bishop, I think maybe you should go." I choked out the words, but couldn't pull out of his stare.

My mind told me to stand up, get away – danger, danger, grab the nearest bible, but I couldn't comply. He moved, breaking the trance. My relief was short lived. He now knelt in front of me – between my legs.

"I can't go." His hands pressed into the leather on either side of my thighs. "You have to feel it. It's almost too much to handle. And when I'm this close to you it
is," his words revealed something close to pain, "torture."