Penance (Long Slow Tease, #2) (10 page)

“I love this song. Dance with me.”

They swayed together and she rested her face against his chest. “I don’t know why she does things like this, Wyatt.”

“Think it has anything to do with the fact that your mother doesn’t know how to forgive your father?”

“What?”

He caressed her back as they danced together, forcing her to following his slow moves. “We had some choice words
before your brother arrived. I’m afraid I kinda put your mom in her place. I’m sorry if that hurts you.”

“Not at all.” She stiffened then stiffened more when he reached down and grabbed her ass, hard. “Easy there, Marine.”

“Is that an order, Lieutenant?”

Her pupils dilated and she slowly licked her lower lip in an unconscious, sensual gesture. “
Would you like to role play with me tonight? I must confess, there are many, many things that I want to do to you. If we were back home I’d even make you dress up for me in your uniform. I think I’d spend the first half hour just feeling your ass, squeezing and gripping it because I can finally touch you, because you are mine.”

His dick just about punched through his pants to get at her undoubtedly wet little pussy. “I’m yours to command, Domina. Your pleasure is my pleasure.”

“You are almost unfairly handsome and charming. Women don’t stand a chance around you.”

The
y jumped apart at the sound of a door opening. To Wyatt’s surprise, Senator Sapphire came in with Mrs. Sapphire. She looked like hell and had obviously cried all of her makeup off. Michelle seemed startled, but then she moved closer to Wyatt and laced her hand with his then stood slightly in front of him, sending everyone an obvious message.

Michelle
lifted her chin and radiated cold control as she put on her ice queen mask. “Mother, I have nothing to say to you right now.”

Michelle started to
turn away, but her father held up his hands. “Wait. Please give her a chance to explain.”

Wyatt drew Michelle back into his arms and whispered into her ear, “Hear her out. Better to just get it said and done with, like ripping off a
Band-Aid.”

Mrs. Sapphire looked down at her hands, a far different woman than the harpy who’d screamed at him earlier. For one brief second he’d wondered if he was having some kind of fucked up side effect of PTSD
and imagined she’d tried to bribe him, but for once he wasn’t thankful he was still sane. What really bothered him was that Michelle’s mom wasn’t rational when she’d been yelling at him after she cornered him in the house, of that he was sure. Talking to her was odd because she would skip around subjects until he wasn’t sure what was going on, then pause before picking up with her rambling accusations again. He’d brush it off as her being just drunk, but that wasn’t it. She blathered incoherently, but it wasn’t from being wasted.

“Michelle, I owe you and Wyatt an apology. But I’m afraid it’s going to have to wait until after I go to rehab.”

Mrs. Sapphire looked up and the shame in her gaze made Wyatt feel sorry for her, even as he braced a shaking Michelle against his chest. Suddenly everything clicked and he realized that Michelle’s mother wasn’t just drunk earlier, she was wasted when she’d been accusing him of all kinds of shit. No wonder her pupils had been so off.

“Rehab? For what?”

Her lips thinned and he saw that irrational anger fill her before she visibly fought it off. “I’m addicted to OxyContin, Valium, and Percocet. After I broke my hip skiing five years ago my doctor gave me some pills for my pain. It made me…for the first time in my life I wasn’t anxious. I could sleep at night without worrying until dawn. I discovered that my doctor could be persuaded to write additional prescriptions. With you and your brothers gone I had far too much time on my hands and an empty house. I know I’ve driven my children away, that I let my own personal issues affect you for too long, but it still hurt when I realized that you all avoided me as soon as you could leave. Your father was busy with being a Senator and I didn’t want to add to his burdens. The drugs helped me to not feel how alone I was. They…they took away my pain both inside and out.”

“Wait.” Michelle’s grip on his hand tightened. “
You were high tonight?”

Her mother nodded slowly, shame radiating from her. “I’m an addict, Michelle. I can’t function without my
drugs and I was so nervous about you and Wyatt coming tonight that I took more than usual…and I drank.”

Michelle’s hand trembled in his and he tightened his grip, trying to lend her his silent support as she confronted her mother. “Drugs are no excuse for what you said to Wyatt.”

Her mother’s gaze darted to Wyatt then back to the ground. “Darling, in my own messed up way I really was trying to look out for you. After Owen’s death we almost lost you. You obviously love Wyatt, I could see it the moment I laid eyes on you, but I didn’t think he was good enough for you. He comes from a working class family, has no fortune of his own, he doesn’t even have a job, and I worried that he was a gold digger.”

Guilt shot through Wyatt
, and he tried not to show it. Michelle’s mom was right, he was basically a loser. While he wasn’t after Michelle’s money, he’d certainly been reaping the benefits of it. Though they’d been together for less than a month he hadn’t spent a dime of his money on Michelle other than the roses he’d bought her. If he was looking at this through Mrs. Sapphire’s very distorted gaze he could see how she could consider him a loser. Hell, he felt like a loser.

Michelle must have picked up on his mood because she entwined her fingers more firmly with his. “Did you try and chase off Kevin’s wife? After all she was just a freshmen in college when they met and her dad is a janitor.”

Her mother’s lower lip trembled and tears rolled down her cheeks. “No, but Kevin is stronger than you are. I didn’t have to worry about a breakup killing him.”

“What?”

Now Mrs. Sapphire looked squarely at Wyatt instead of Michelle. “Kevin knows how to forgive both himself and others, something Michelle and I aren’t very good at. He’s not as fragile as we are.”

To his surprise Michelle didn’t protest, instead turning her focus on her father who quietly stood by her mother’s side, still holding her hand.

“Dad, did you know what was going on?”

He nodded. “I’ve been trying to get your mother to go to rehab, but so far she’s refused.
At first I blamed myself for it, that I’d driven her to seek relief in a pill bottle, but after going to therapy and doing a lot of soul searching I realized that while my actions may have contributed to her addiction, that the actual addiction itself is an insidious disease.”

“You’ve been in therapy?”

“Of course.” He glanced at Wyatt then back at Michelle. “While I haven’t been directly in the line of fire during this never-ending series of wars in the Middle East, I’ve had to deal with the fact that decisions I’ve made have gotten good men and women killed. I’ve had to meet with grieving parents, visit with our troops in the hospital, and attend more funerals than I care to remember. I didn’t want to burden your mother with my issues, not when I’d betrayed her, so it started to bottle up inside of me until I couldn’t sleep at night. I…I only went to get help when your mother told me she would leave me if I didn’t. In my selfishness I never saw how much she needed help as well. I’ve done many things in my life that I’m not proud of, but my worst was being a bad husband.”

Mrs. Sapphire briefly touched his face with their joined hands. “
But you never gave up on us.”

“
And I never will. I mean it, Bethany, I will do whatever it takes to make things right between us. That’s why I’m going to cut this short. We need to get you in a car and off to rehab where they can help you with easing you off of these drugs and get you the therapy you need before you change your mind.”

To Wyatt’s surprise Michelle’s mother grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “I promise. This time I’m going. Anytime I think about chickening out I’ll remember being so
screwed up that I broke my daughter’s trust in me. I realize I’ve done so many horrible things to you Michelle, and while I’d like to blame it on the drugs I think…I think my mind may not be quite right sometimes.”

Michelle stared at her mother. “What do you mean?”

Mrs. Sapphire looked away, her gaze going to the windows looking out over the now-dark backyard. “My whole life I’ve had anxiety, a need for order and structure to keep me in balance. My mother was the same way, if not worse. I used to think that I just had a very good work ethic, that my need for control wasn’t anything unusual. But I’m beginning to see that isn’t true, that there may be something wrong with the way I think, with the way my mind processes things. I have issues from my past that I need to deal with, and even though I hate admitting it, I need help.”

“Come on, honey, it’s time to go.”
Senator Sapphire pulled Mrs. Sapphire to the door. “Wyatt, I’m sorry we had to meet under these circumstances, but you have my blessings. Kidnap my daughter and take her to some beautiful island, and don’t let her go until she agrees to marry you.”

Michelle stiffened against him and he tried to keep his
tone light as he said, “Will do.”

Moments later they were alone again and Wyatt slowly turned her in his arms. “How are you holding up?”

Her lower lip trembled, but she lifted her chin. “I’ll survive.”

“Come on, Domina, let’s get you back to the hotel and
we’ll take a bath where I’ll pamper you, then I’ll make love to you until you pass out.”

She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. “
Thank you Wyatt. I don’t deserve you.”

“Ditto.”

The next afternoon
Wyatt followed Michelle through the entrance to the massive atrium where the wedding would take place. The atrium itself was over six stories high and boasted fully grown potted palm trees and a variety of fountains. While it didn’t have butterflies, it did have elaborate festoons of purple and white flowers decorating the seating area for the ceremony. There would be a brief, traditional reception afterwards then most of the crowd was headed to the Velvet Fist. Looking at all the immaculately bejeweled and coifed women and the stylish men Wyatt tried to imagine who would be going and if they were a Top or a bottom.

Michelle wore a pale ice blue gown that fell to her
ankles and was beaded in geometric designs on the top half while the bottom flared out, making it look like she was floating when she walked. Her hair had been swept up into a sophisticated twist accented with diamond pins and a diamond necklace sparkled against her throat like ice. When she’d casually looked through the selection of jewelry that she’d brought with her for the party Wyatt couldn’t help but feel ashamed that he wasn’t the one who’d bought it for her. Not that he could afford it even if he liquidated all of his assets, but he couldn’t help but feel like a failure for not being as financially successful as everyone in this room. 

They’d already been greeted at the door by a group of Michelle, James, and Yuki’s old friends and were now making their way to their seats for the ceremony. As
they walked through the crowd Wyatt found himself being introduced again and again to an almost endless list of people he had no hope in hell of keeping straight. James helped, naturally easing Wyatt into the conversation while Yuki, dressed in a black silk sheath gown, charmed everyone enough that they didn’t seem to notice Michelle’s lack of participation in the conversation.

But he noticed.

Everyone was cordial to Wyatt and seemed genuinely happy that Michelle had brought him as her date. The only one unhappy with the situation seemed to be Michelle. She hid it well, if he didn’t know her he’d think her radiant smile was genuine, but he could feel the strain slowly building up in her and he worried about her. When one of her friends casually mentioned Owen in passing she’d frozen up next to Wyatt. A soft, whispered moan of pain escaped her before she nodded along with the conversation, but he could practically hear the mask of perfection that she fortified herself with cracking.

He could feel her distancing herself from him, but had no idea how to stop it. This wasn’t the place for one of their volatile conversations and he didn’t want to do anything that would stress her out further. Just the fact that she’d brought him here said more about her commitment to their relationship than a thousand words so he tried to honor her trust in him by giving her subtle touches, little glancing caresses meant to warm her from the inside out. By the time they’d taken their seats Wyatt was seriously considering dragging Michelle out of
the room. Her pulse was racing hard enough that he could see it throbbing along the side of her elegant throat, and whenever he’d tried to hold her hand, it felt as if she was attempting to touch him as little as possible.

Yuki leaned across James to speak to Michelle, “Hey, are you sure you want to go to the reception?”

Michelle’s response was instant and venomous. “Yes, I’m sure. Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass you.”

Yuki’s eyes got big. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Before Michelle could respond the music for the wedding began to fill the atrium and Michelle locked her eyes on the flower-festooned arch where the bride and groom would stand. The ceremony itself was brief but moving, and the obvious love between the couple getting married had more than one woman grabbing for a tissue. Michelle was no different as the couple read their vows to each other, but when Wyatt tried to hold her hand she jerked hers away. He could practically feel the cold radiating off of her and though he tried to not take it personally, her standoffishness still hurt.