Twelve Days: The Beginning Part 24

"Oh that's Sean." replied Celeste. "There's Stan as well but he usually does the night s.h.i.+ft. If you're still out of bed later on then you'll meet him as well." Celeste imparted the information as if it was perfectly normal for her to have two security-type people in her house. Perhaps it was.

"That's not exactly helpful, Celeste. I kind of got that he was 'Sean'; what I meant was what is he doing here dressed up like some kind of security guy?"

"You mean Vaughn didn't tell you?" Celeste asked and then added almost to herself, "I can probably imagine why though."

"What?" Elise asked impatiently, "What didn't Vaughn tell me?"

Celeste sighed. "Sean and Stan are security men, private security men, paid for and employed by Vaughn to watch over you at all times and keep you safe. After the beating that your so-called husband gave you, he didn't want to take any chances with yours or any of our safety so he got them here that first night. One or the other of them has been here ever since."

"And you don't mind?" asked Elise, amazed that her friend seemed so calm about having her flat invaded by all of these people.

Celeste gave her a withering look. "Seriously? You are seriously asking if I mind having two beefy men in my house twenty-four hours a day? Christ, Elise, that knock to your head did more damage than any of us thought!"

Elise laughed and then immediately regretted it as the pain started to shoot through her chest again. All of her injuries were healing well but according to Dr Edwards, it was still going to be a good few days before she was up and about properly. The only area of concern was her wrist which was still a little numb but Rachel had been back a couple of times since and they had managed to get some of the feeling back. She had all of the feeling in her hand and fingers; it was just a small section of her wrist that was damaged. Rachel and Dr Edwards were confident that it would heal itself eventually.

"Doesn't Roger mind though?" Elise asked, referring again to the presence of Sean and the as yet-unmet Stan.

"Mind?" screeched Celeste, "He's as mad as h.e.l.l! It's made for the best s.e.x of my life over the past few days maybe you could get beaten up more often!"

Despite herself, Elise laughed - only Celeste could put such a positive spin on a situation that was otherwise fairly grim.

"Not funny, 'Leste." replied Elise still laughing as much as her injured body would allow. She was really pleased that her friend and Roger were still going strong - even if it was being rather bizarrely fired up by a large man with a bald head wearing a security uniform.

Celeste left her to go and sort out the drinks and, for the first time, Elise thought about what had happened and began to consider how she felt about it all. The fact that Vaughn had employed security guards seemed a little over the top as she felt sure that Dale had no idea where she was and even if he did, he'd have trouble getting to her as she was never on her own. She appreciated that maybe Dale didn't want her to talk and perhaps he was worried that she might press charges against him but as far as she knew, no one had heard from him at all so maybe he was just lying low until they could sort this out amicably.

Elise recognised that she would need to contact him at some point though, and that thought filled her with absolute dread. She would need to tell him that they were officially over and that she wanted to divorce him because until she did that, there would be no way forward for either of them. Hopefully his behaviour on Christmas day would have frightened him and Elise really wanted to think that maybe he too had recognised that their relations.h.i.+p was now toxic. On that fateful day, she had finally come to realise that he enjoyed both pain and inflicting pain on others and there was no way she was ever going to be the woman to accommodate that side of his personality. They both needed to make a clean break and get on with their lives separately.

Celeste returned with the drinks and she pa.s.sed Elise the remote control as she headed off to the front door to give Sean his cup of coffee. When they had first come out here, Elise had wanted to watch television. She had wanted to be distracted, to watch some mindless junk that would make her forget but now she realised that she didn't want that at all. She wanted to know everything and now was as good a time as any to fill in the blanks.

"You not watching anything?" Celeste said as she came back into the room.

"No," Elise paused, "if it's OK with you, I'd like to talk for a while."

"Sure," said Celeste and curled up on the sofa next to Elise, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Christmas Day." said Elise and she watched as her friend stilled and then very carefully placed her cup down on the coffee table.

"What about Christmas Day?" asked Celeste cautiously.

"I want to know it all, Celeste. Everything that happened everything that you know happened."

Celeste shuddered and blew out a long breath, "Are you sure you're up to this?"

Elise nodded. "I need to know."

There was a short pause, the minutes ticking through the silence as Elise waited for her friend to respond.

"Okay then," Celeste said finally and after taking a deep breath, she began speaking at length.

"You turned up here at about 5pm on Christmas Day and when I opened the door I couldn't believe it you were in a bad way, a really bad way. You pa.s.sed out in my arms but I managed to get you to tell me who had done this to you before you lost consciousness completely; that's how we knew that it was Dale."

"My first instinct was to call an ambulance but Roger stopped me as he said that that would be the first place that Dale would look for you and I realised that he was right. I panicked then as I didn't know what to do, so once we had got you to the bed I called Cole, hoping that he would know what we should do. He came blazing in here a few minutes later and you should have seen him Elise - it was like he was completely broken when he saw you. You needed a doctor but it was Christmas, and we had no idea where we could find someone who would come out and see you." Her friend paused, reaching down to take a sip of her drink.

"Whilst Cole and I were debating what to do, Roger phoned Vaughn and I could hear him roaring down the phone. He was seriously mad. He immediately arranged for Dr Edwards to come over and shortly afterwards, the doctor arrived and we all began to relax a little. Less than an hour later, Vaughn came tearing through the door and I do not want to know how fast he must have driven to get here. I remember thinking it was weird that neither he nor Cole had had a drink, especially since it was Christmas day. It was almost like they both knew you were going to need them." Celeste's gaze became wistful as she seemed to consider the romance and beauty of that idea.

"Anyway," she continued, "Dr Edwards tried to take care of you but Vaughn wouldn't leave your side so he ended up having to ask him to leave the room whilst he examined you. Vaughn kept going on and on about that 'b.a.s.t.a.r.d' and how he should have known that this would happen and he kept blaming himself for not being here. He was saying he never should have gone to his sister's. Cole was also doing a pretty good job of guilt-tripping himself so in the end, Roger sat them both down and threatened to knock their heads together if they didn't give it a rest. I don't know exactly what he said but whatever it was it worked and they both calmed down and focused on what was important you."

Celeste stopped for a moment and took another sip of her drink. "I don't know how much else you want to know, Elise." she said and Elise could hear the hesitancy in her voice. There was clearly something else.

"Please Celeste," she said, "Just tell me everything."

"Okay..." her friend said almost reluctantly, "If you're sure you want to hear this?"

Elise nodded and then watched as Celeste drank some more before finally placing the cup back on the table and reaching out to hold Elise's hand.

"Dr Edwards needed to examine you and so he asked if I would help him, me being the only female present I guess. He started by looking at your head injuries and he could tell from checking your eyes that you were concussed although he said he didn't think it was anything more serious than that. The fact that you had pa.s.sed out was likely a combination of all of the injuries plus the stress that you had been under and so he was happy for us to just monitor you for 48 hours. Your wrist was in a pretty bad way and had swollen up, so he applied a cold compress bandage, which we had to keep changing so that it gave your wrist the best chance of healing. He knew that it wasn't broken but he was almost certain there would be some nerve damage which is why you still have a little bit of numbness there." She paused, absently rubbing Elise's wrist.

"That was all fine and I was happy helping out and then Dr Edwards asked me to help undress you. He needed to check you for any other injuries and so we began by cutting off your sweater, which is when he found the damage to your ribs. After that we slowly removed your jeans and Christ Elise, I will never forget what I saw. Your legs were bleeding, there were scratches all over them and when we got to your feet, we found the ripped remains of your stockings. The thought of what you must have gone through made me feel ill and then the doctor said that he needed to examine you internally so he asked me to help move your legs a little. As soon as he said that, I looked up and I realised that you didn't have any underwear on and there was blood. Elise...." Celeste stopped and she was now breathing heavily, as if reliving a nightmare. "The blood. It wasn't coming from the scratches on your legs, Elise. I couldn't cope anymore and I dashed from the room and was violently sick."

"As soon as Vaughn saw me leave the room in that state he charged in and the next thing I knew, the flat was filled with the most heart-wrenching and anguished sobs I have ever heard as he realised exactly what Dale had done to you. The doctor banned anyone else from coming in after that and from that moment until you woke up, Vaughn never once voluntarily left your side."

Celeste finished speaking, her voice now wobbling with emotion, and rubbed at Elise's hand again. She cleared her throat.

"That's pretty much it really. It was just a case of waiting after that and so Cole and I took it in turns to sit with Vaughn and talk to you. You woke a few times but you were really disorientated and pretty much went straight back to sleep. The doctor had told us it could take a few hours so we just made sure there was someone with you all the time."

"It was scary, Elise proper, proper scary, I can't tell you how relieved we all were when you finally woke up."

Tears started to form in Elise's eyes and she dashed them away with her hand, overwhelmed at what her friends had done for her over the last few days. She couldn't believe that they had all put their lives on hold - over Christmas no less - to look after her and keep her safe and she knew that she would never forget this for as long as she lived.

"Thank you, Celeste. You don't know how much it means to me to know that you are here for me and I'm so sorry that I turned up on your doorstep like that and that you had to see...what you saw. I just didn't know where to go that Dale couldn't find me and yours was the only place I could come up with."

"I'm glad you came to me Elise really I am. We are friends and friends are there when life sucks. I'm glad that you felt that you could come to me and I only hope that you can sort things out and finally get that b.a.s.t.a.r.d out of your life. You are worth a million Dale's, Elise, you know that." Suddenly her friend's eyes began to twinkle mischievously. "Besides which, I get the added bonus of two hot hunks twenty four hours a day. I would have been majorly p.i.s.sed off if you'd gone anywhere else!"

Oh yes, Sean and Stan, the security men. Or Bill and Ben as she was thinking of calling them. Bill and Ben the security men. She giggled at her own joke and then as the laughter began to give way to hysteria, she clued Celeste in on what she had found so funny. Soon they were both laughing; laughing so hard it felt like it would never end and Elise feared another one of her ribs was going to pop.

It was a release. A release of tension and anxiety and fear and worry and when they had finally finished their seemingly endless, pointless laughter, they huddled on the sofa together and watched terrible reality TV until Vaughn arrived for his 's.h.i.+ft'.

Chapter Thirty-Five.

The following morning Elise woke relatively early and stretched out gently, testing all her muscles and sore limbs to gauge how much they hurt today. Having completed a full body stretch with minimal pain she was finally pleased to realise that she did in fact feel a lot better. Her ribs were the main thing that still hurt but that was bearable now and she felt much more like her old self, ready to get up and take on the world.

Turning carefully to her side so as not to aggravate her injuries, she looked across at Vaughn who was still sleeping soundly behind her. She loved that she got to see him like this. When he was awake, he was the epitome of alpha male; full of testosterone and always in control. She had a feeling that few people got to witness the gentle man behind the 'mask' and she loved these unguarded moments that she got to share with him.

He was lying on his back with one arm flung above his head and the other to his side, reaching across to where he had been anch.o.r.ed to her. His hair was a little longer now than when she had first met him and it suited him, the length of it curling just below his neckline and brus.h.i.+ng the top of his shoulders. His fringe was flopped adorably over his eyes and she resisted the urge to push it back like he did during the day. In sleep, he was completely relaxed and there was an air of serene calmness about him. She felt totally safe here lying beside him and it was at times like this, in the peace and tranquillity of the morning when it was just the two of them that she realised that she never, ever wanted to be anywhere else.

His eyes were closed so she couldn't see the beauty of their dark depths but she loved the sleepiness in them when he had just woken up. She was tempted to wake him now, just so that she could get lost in their heat but he had been very restless last night and she wanted him to get as much rest as he could.

As she continued to study his face, she noticed the small dimple on his chin, which was covered with a light dust of shadow. Most days Vaughn was clean-shaven but on occasions she had seen him with a day's worth of growth, especially now, and she actually found that s.e.xy as h.e.l.l. She hadn't told him that yet but she figured there would be plenty of time for that in the future.

Vaughn wasn't a big fan of pyjamas and had told her the first night that he had stayed with her that he usually just wore boxer shorts if anything. She was so out of it that she hadn't really cared what he wore but now she found she was exceedingly grateful that he always left his chest bare as it gave her opportunity to study the hard lines and planes as he slept, her eyes following the predictable route down over his pecs and abs to the arrow which disappeared below the quilt.

There were signs that certain parts of his body were awake as she continued her visual journey and she sucked in a sharp breath as she saw the quilt slightly tented over his c.o.c.k. Elise had been married for a long time so knew that this was perfectly normal for all men but she couldn't help hoping that Vaughn's 'excitement' in the morning was somehow added to by being in the bed with her.

Unable to resist, she tentatively reached down and moved the quilt slowly, pulling it away from his torso to reveal his shorts. He wasn't fully aroused but due to his size, his shorts were already struggling to contain him and without really thinking it through, she slipped her hand underneath the elastic and eased them down far enough to release his beautiful c.o.c.k to her hungry gaze.

Elise paused momentarily and wondered whether she should continue her exploration or get back under the covers and wait until Vaughn woke up. She had never been this bold before and wouldn't have dreamed of behaving like this with Dale but she was rapidly realising that her desires and feelings were very different with this man and she knew that she had to stop comparing the two of them in her mind. Hopefully, once all of this was over, Dale would be out of her life for good and so it wouldn't matter anymore what she would or wouldn't have done with him.

Boldly, she reached out and traced his length with the tips of her fingers, hoping to give him a little pleasure without waking him and smiled to herself as he immediately began to harden further in her hand. She continued with the light strokes for several minutes, dropping lower to caress the hidden sacs beneath and then pulling her fingers all the way up and down his length. After a few minutes, he was completely aroused and she again found herself marvelling at his size and beauty. She had never before considered the male anatomy to be beautiful; it was just there to serve a purpose, but with this man, it really was a thing of great beauty. As she watched, she found herself enjoying the view perhaps more than she should have been.

Briefly, she looked up to check that he was still asleep he was - so she decided to up the level a bit. She began gently brus.h.i.+ng her lips down from the tip to the base and then back up again, ending with a kiss at the very top. A small bead of moisture leaked out as she did so and she greedily lapped it up, enjoying the musk of the taste. Wondering how much further she could go before he awoke, she began to run her lips in tiny circles over the top and then ran them back down again, this time taking in the weighted sacs at the base.

Still he slumbered, so she made her way carefully back up to the tip, opening her mouth when she got there and sucking him in as far as she could go, licking him delicately and nipping him gently as she moved her mouth up and down. Another bead of moisture escaped and Elise let out a groan as she took in the taste of him. She could feel herself becoming aroused now too and sat up on her heels to give herself a better angle, enabling her to touch herself through her nightdress as she continued on with her ministrations to his c.o.c.k.

Her breathing was now becoming heavier as she combined the sensation of having him in her mouth with the excitement of caressing herself and she wondered how much longer she was going to be able to hold on.

As if in answer, she became aware of a tortured groan rumbling through Vaughn's chest and she lifted her head up to see that he was now wide awake, his eyes heavy and almost black with unquenched desire.

"Good morning," she said cheekily and grinned at him.

"I take it you're feeling better then?" he asked and grinned back at her. "f.u.c.k, what a way to wake up."

"You like?" she asked suggestively and without waiting for a response, went back to her task; this time taking more of him into her mouth and biting and sucking just a little bit harder now that she knew that he was awake.

Her arousal was growing by the second and as she continued to work on Vaughn, she carried on touching and rubbing herself; the double sensation almost torture. Vaughn had begun to writhe around underneath her and was himself stroking his chest and his nipples. Seeing him does that turned her on even more and before she knew it, she was close to her release.

"s.h.i.+t baby, yeah..."said Vaughn as he closed his eyes and let his head loll back onto the bed.

He reached down with one hand and began to pump the base of his shaft himself, colliding with her mouth on every stroke which only added to the eroticism of the act. This whole situation was mind-blowing and Elise suddenly found herself wanting to taste his release, to take all of him, like she had never done before.

"f.u.c.k baby...I'm so close..." groaned Vaughn and Elise lifted her head momentarily to check what he wanted her to do. She was so inexperienced in these matters it was laughable and having never really done the whole oral s.e.x thing, she wasn't sure how to play out the next part.

"What do you want me to do? I've never...." she stopped, almost embarra.s.sed to admit to Vaughn that she had never gone this far before. Vaughn smiled as he obviously registered her nervousness and he reached down and tenderly ruffled her hair for a moment.

"Baby you do whatever you want to. I need to come and I can't deny it would blow my mind to watch you swallow me but if you're not comfortable then we can do something else. I want you to enjoy everything that we do together, Angel, and I will never force you to do anything you don't want to do." Sincerity was written all over his face and Elise knew what she wanted no, needed, to do.

"I want to I just don't know how to and what if I don't like it?" she asked feeling like a naive virgin she was thirty-one years old, for Christ's sake!

"Just do what comes naturally, baby. Just let it happen and if you don't like it, then we won't do it again. I promise." Vaughn continued to caress her hair and Elise found herself relaxing completely she was going to do this, she was really going to do this.

She dropped her head back down and took him in her mouth again, this time working him in a faster rhythm which she mirrored with her other hand through her nightdress, continuing to caress herself. Vaughn groaned as she took him in as deep as she possibly could and she was amazed to realise that this was actually a ma.s.sive turn-on for her too. Never would she have thought she could enjoy this as much as she was but she had found that she was learning and discovering so many things about herself and her s.e.xuality since she had met this man and so far, all of them were good.

Upping the tempo further she felt his shaft stiffen more in her mouth and realised that he was getting close. She increased the pace of her other hand, determined that they were going to find their release together, so long had it been since they had been able to do anything other than lightly hug.

"s.h.i.+t....." ground out Vaughn "I'm coming baby are you ready for me? Fuuccckkkk....."

Elise bobbed her head as if in acknowledgement and sucked one final time as she felt him stiffen totally and then abruptly her mouth was filled with the warmness that was his seed. Greedily, she swallowed it down, relieved to realise that the taste wasn't at all repulsive and concentrated on sucking every last ounce out of him as she plunged headlong into her own mind-blowing release.

Elise stirred a while later to find Vaughn awake and propped on one elbow watching her. Instantly, she was reminded of the very first night that they had ever spent together in his flat when she had woken to exactly the same image. She smiled up at him and he reached down and dropped a light kiss on her forehead.

"That that was amazing, baby." He said and smiled at her. "I need to wake up like that every single morning of my life."

"Ha...I see." laughed Elise, "Well, I need my beauty sleep so you might find you'll have to go somewhere else if you want that kind of service every day." She was teasing but the second the words left her mouth she regretted them as she saw the anger flare in his eyes.

"Don't you ever say things like that, Elise. I do not want anyone else ever. If I can't be with you then I'd rather be on my own. I don't want to hear those kinds of suggestions." Vaughn was deadly serious and Elise punched him lightly in the ribs to break the moment.

"Relax, I was teasing." she said, somewhat overwhelmed by the depth of his reaction; particularly as they had yet to define what this thing was between them. "It was a joke, Vaughn. I couldn't bear the thought of you being with anyone else it's bad enough contending with the knowledge that Olivia has intimate knowledge of you. b.i.t.c.h." she muttered under her breath.

Vaughn looked completely perplexed. "I don't understand what it is about Olivia. You keep referring to her and her 'intimate' knowledge of me but I have no idea what you are talking about. She seems to be the only person that ever causes us to argue and I am at a total loss to understand why."

Elise looked at Vaughn as if he was a complete idiot. Seriously? He didn't get it? So the fact that he had left the Christmas party with her meant nothing? Oh, and the small matter of her waiting behind for him at the office when they got back from the conference. He didn't think that either of those warranted concern on her part?

She was about to reply when his phone on the bedside table chimed, indicating that he had a text message and he reached across to read it. She watched as his expression changed to one of pure anger as he opened and read the message. Once he had finished, he closed it down and threw his phone back onto the table none too gently.

"Everything okay?" she asked concerned, "Who was that?"

"Nothing." He replied and she knew that he was lying. "Just work." Still lying.

"It didn't look like work to me." She countered and regarded him carefully as a shuttered expression came across his face and she knew that she wasn't going to get any more information.

"Just drop it, Elise." The mood had been broken, the damage done by a simple text message and Elise could feel unwelcome anger and frustration rising to the surface.

The day had started off so perfectly and for the first time in ages she felt better. She had some energy, the pain had largely subsided and she wanted to get out and about and explore the world again. She had spent far too long cooped up in the bedroom with the seriously bad wallpaper and now, after one of the most intense experiences of her life, all of that had been ruined by one simple text message. A message about whose contents she had absolutely no idea.

"Okay." she said reluctantly. It wasn't as if she had a choice.

Vaughn reached across the bed and took her hand. "Listen, baby. I know that things are complicated right now but I want you to know that for me this is real. As far as I am concerned we are together, you and me. Maybe it's not a relations.h.i.+p in the traditional sense but I really need you to know that we will be properly together one day. Once all of this mess is sorted out it will just be you and me against the world, I promise you. You have no idea how much you mean to me angel, and how much I would love to tear your husband into tiny pieces for what he has put you through. No one will ever hurt you again I promise you that."

At the mention of Dale, she immediately experienced a familiar sense of panic as reality intruded and she remembered that there were still so many hurdles to jump and a b.u.mpy road up ahead. The road had to be walked though, and now that she had some strength back, she needed to put one foot in front of the other and take the next steps towards the future and rest of her life.

"Vaughn. I think I should see him." She said referring to Dale. "I need to tell him that it's over and that we both need to move on."

She felt Vaughn's hand tighten almost painfully on hers and was glad that it was her right rather than her left hand she wasn't sure that her left hand and wrist could take another crus.h.i.+ng.

Vaughn's voice when he spoke was cold and his eyes as he looked at her were devoid of any emotion.

"You will not see that man ever again." He said with finality, his words taking on a slightly menacing edge and she visibly recoiled. She pulled her hand away and sat up on the bed, keen to create a bit of distance between them.

"I may be naive in many ways, Vaughn Granger, but you forget that I have been married to a bully for well over five years. I will not be intimidated by anyone - least of all you - and if I have decided that I am going to see my husband then I am going to see him. And there is nothing that you or anyone else can do to stop me."

Vaughn regarded her steadily for a moment as if weighing up his options. When he eventually spoke, his voice was ragged and almost raw.

"s.h.i.+t, Elise," he said, "I'm not trying to intimidate you; I am trying to keep you safe. I wouldn't dream of dictating how you should live your life but that b.a.s.t.a.r.d nearly killed you and there is no way I am going to stand by and watch as you walk right back into his life."