Contract of Shame Read online

Richard and Wayne joined them. Both men steered them back to the table. She asked the barman for a strong coffee to be sent to their table. After downing the strong shots she’d need her wits about her. Scarlet tried to ignore the burning along her neck and force herself not to look around. Every few seconds she glanced behind her, worried in case David hadn’t gotten the message.

  “You’re a little jumpy today,” Richard whispered against her ear.

  “Just tired.”

  She sipped the coffee she’d requested after the shots and prayed the shakes in her hand would subside enough for her to drink it.

  ****

  Richard stared intently at the woman on his arm, concerned. She looked like a cornered animal. Lily kept glancing his way, and her eyes widened.

  He made some excuse and went to the bar to get himself a beer, and he wasn’t surprised when Lily joined him seconds later.

  “What do you want, Lily?” He paid the barman and glanced down at his friend’s wife.

  “Did you see that guy talking to Scarlet?”

  Richard had seen him. Seen him and turned from the scene. The couple had looked really nice and cozy.

  “Probably an old boyfriend,” he said and tried to hide his fist inside his pocket.

  “That why you want to go over and slug him?”

  Scarlet was supposed to be a fuck. Yet every time he got her near a bed and was inside her body, he couldn’t even contemplate letting her go.

  “None of my business about her past.”

  “Just so you know, whoever that man is, isn’t a friend of Scarlet. She’s been jumpy since bumping into him, and the fear in her eyes is not fake. He scares her.” Lily took a beer for her husband and left Richard with his confused thoughts. Double dating with his friends was a big fucking mistake.

  This contract that was his bright idea was also the biggest mistake of his life. No matter what he did, the contract was underlined in everything. He saw it written in Scarlet’s face as she was near him.

  Richard moved back to their table and settled in next to her. He placed an arm around her shoulders and brought her close. The waiter came to take their order. The men had steak while the ladies ordered chicken. It was so refreshing dining with women who weren’t afraid to eat.

  “I’m pleased, Scarlet. When I have to dine with Wayne’s business associates and their dates I’m stuck with women who eat celery sticks for a living,” Lily said.

  “I think I’ve proven by the size of me I like to eat.” Scarlet smiled, but even Richard noticed it didn’t reach her eyes.

  “I don’t care for the food. Once you eat a steak cooked by Lily there is no going back,” Wayne said and smiled at his wife.

  Richard gulped down his beer at the love shining between them. He couldn’t do this. He wanted that kind of affection for him and Scarlet. All he could think of was that damned contract. Late at night, when they were both sleeping, he’d wrap his arms around her and bring her close to his body. In those moments when her barriers were down he witnessed the wonderful woman she was. Always a smile and time for him.

  “You cook?” Scarlet asked.

  “Yes. Every meal time. Apart from when he needs to dine to impress.” Richard could tell Lily really liked her. What would Scarlet say if he banished the contract? Tore it up and made this thing between them real?

  “Wow, Scarlet Hughes? I thought I saw you here.” He felt and saw Scarlet tense as an older woman approached. He saw the man behind her and recognised him from earlier.

  “Hello, Mrs. Buttons,” Scarlet muttered. The cup she placed back on the saucer rattled.

  “It’s been too long.” The woman held out her hand. Scarlet took it, but everything about her reaction seemed off. “And you remember my husband, of course.”

  The husband placed a hand on her shoulder, and Scarlet’s hands went to the edge of the table. Her knuckles whitened from the grip she had on the damn thing. There was exposed flesh on her shoulder, and Richard noted the man’s fingers caressing her flesh.

  “We haven’t seen or heard a lot from you, but your folks still live in the same—”

  “That’s good. Really good. Sorry to be a pain, but do you mind? We’re about to eat dinner, and it’s a special time,” Scarlet stopped the woman and stared forward. Lily looked concerned, and Wayne clearly had already made his judgment on the man. Richard didn’t like it one bit.

  “Oh. Okay, sorry to bother you.”

  They left, but an uncomfortable silence descended round the group.

  “You know, I don’t feel hungry at all. I’m going to go to my room.” Scarlet bounded up, and in the process knocked over her drink into her lap of her pants.

  “We need to eat,” Richard said.

  “Then eat. I really can’t stomach anything, and I need to call my son.” She batted away a waiter and charged for the elevator. Richard quickly made his excuses to his friends and joined her before the doors closed.

  She wouldn’t talk to him, and she stood as far away from him as the lift allowed. A few minutes later they entered the penthouse suite.

  “Who was that guy, Scarlet?” he asked as soon as they got into their room. She ignored him and went to the phone.

  Richard knew she was calling Harry. Everywhere they went she called her son. He admired her for the devotion, but right now he wanted answers. “Don’t call him.”

  She stared up at him with tears in her eyes and put the phone down. “Fine, what do you want to know?”

  “Who was he?”

  “No one?” Scarlet stared at him, and he saw the tears in her eyes. She was so close to losing it, her emotions ready to burst.

  “He didn’t look like no one to me.”

  Her hands crossed over her chest, and she touched her shoulder where the man downstairs had laid a hand on her. She screamed an ear piercing squeal. Richard jumped and watched her go into a frenzy.

  “Why did you force me to wear these fucking clothes? Is this to highlight my whore status to you? To let everyone know you’re buying me for a week?” Each scream brought about a tug and a rip of the clothes he’d bought her.

  “I don’t think of you like that,” he said. A lump formed in his throat, and he hated how bitter his world tasted. He’d done that. He had caused Scarlet to think of herself as a whore.

  “What then? What more could you possibly want from me?” She collapsed in a heap on the floor. “I want it all to stop,” she sobbed.

  The dam had finally burst.

  Richard picked her up in his arms and carried her into the bathroom. She fought him a little when he began removing her clothing. He soothed and made sure she knew he was only there to offer comfort.

  He ran the bath and put plenty of lavender bubble bath in. Her sobs continued from the corner, and he hated the sound. She sounded so lost and afraid.

  Once he seated her in the warm water he didn’t like how distant and vacant she became, and he divested himself of his clothes to sit behind her.

  He pulled her back and rested her body against him. Not saying a word they lay in the bath until her tears subsided. Richard was falling in love with this woman. He stared down at her head, and knew in his heart how much she’d come to mean to him. The contract had been a fuck-up on his part. He didn’t like waiting. The act had been nothing more than a child throwing its dummy out of a pushchair because mummy had said no to sweeties.

  “That man downstairs is Harry’s father,” she whispered.

  A pause and her hands rested on her stomach. He waited for her.

  “In high school I was a mess. I looked a little like Opal. Over developed for my age, and the only attention boys gave me was to tease me about my size. Then one day a handsome young teacher came to the school, and he showed me so much respect. I thought I’d fallen in love with him. No other girl held his interest but me.”

  Richard’s heart twisted in his chest. Already, from her reaction he knew he wasn’t going to like the ending to this story.

  “By the end of
term we were sort of dating. We’d hang out, and one day we kissed. So magical, at least I thought at the time. Nothing happened, just a kiss, and I was on cloud nine. Then about six months later his wife came back to town. She’d been away on some training or something. I didn’t know he was married.” Scarlet took a deep breath.

  “I ended it. I hadn’t known he was married, and I refused to help a man destroy his marriage vows. That same night when my parents were out I let him in, so we could talk. How fucking stupid was I? We argued; and then I said something, and before I knew what was happening he’d fought me to the floor.” Her tears returned in full. Richard held her, and his heart bled for the young woman she’d been. Nothing more than a child.

  “He was your first, and he didn’t take you willingly.” He knew she couldn’t finish the story.

  “Nine months later Harry came.”

  Richard fisted his hands. The bastard who’d been touching her downstairs had raped his woman. He wanted to find the bastard, cut his balls off and feed them to him, personally. Wait until he found the disgusting piece of shit.

  “Don’t think about it,” she whispered.

  “What?”

  “It won’t do any good. Like he said back then, who’d believe me over a professional teacher? Even now I’d be scorned and called a slut. I’d rather just leave him to his wife and give Harry all of my love.”

  Richard held her in his arms and tried with all of his might to tell her how he felt. He was in love with Scarlet Hughes. For the rest of his life he wanted to love and protect and never leave her alone.

  “Does that mean when you and I had—”

  “Sex?”

  “Yes. Does that mean it was your first time?” She nodded. His head was running rampant with so many thoughts. The comment she’d made about no one believing her over a teacher struck a chord with him. In the office before she’d signed the contract hadn’t he said the exact same thing? Richard cursed.

  “I’m a fucking bastard.”

  “Why are you?” her sweet voice asked.

  “Because before I got you to sign that damn paper I said the same thing, or as near as, damn it.”

  Scarlet didn’t dispute it, and he knew in his heart he’d hurt her more with that comment. In fact, he had probably hurt her as much with the comment on the same level as the contract.

  “How did you cope? I’ve heard of women having breakdowns and everything going wrong for them?”

  “When it happened I think I just functioned. I didn’t try to think but keep busy. I saw him every day, but made sure I was never alone with him. Did homework, studied, worked my ass off, and I started to feel normal. Like I could forget about it as a bad dream. When I found out I was pregnant with Harry, I couldn’t believe it. I got sucked under by the responsibility, and everything sort of happened at once. I graduated and had Harry at eighteen. I gave birth after I graduated from high school.” She stopped and ran a wet hand over her face. “I don’t know how I did it. Being pregnant and feeling him for the first time and then seeing Harry on the ultrasound was the most amazing thing in the world. I didn’t see him as a result of a horrible act but as my salvation. Every day I look at him I know in my heart, I survived.”

  “You really are an amazing woman,” he whispered and kissed her temple.

  “Not really.”

  Richard held her for the longest time. When the water became too cold to stay, he let the plug out and picked her up in his arms. He loved having her in his arms. His heart broke for the pain she must have been through. No woman should ever be forced to live life afraid and forever looking over her shoulder.

  The bastard had blatantly touched his woman. Richard wouldn’t let it slide.

  He dried her and carried her through to his bedroom to rest. Richard tucked her in and stroked her hair. “Thank you for telling me.”

  “Do you believe me?” she asked, a fresh wave of tears spilling from her eyes.

  “Of course. I’d never doubt you.”

  She smiled and held his hand in hers.

  Eventually her tears subsided, and she fell into an exhausted sleep.

  He extracted his hand and walked out of the hotel suite. Wayne had booked a room, and he’d been told Tony was currently staying there as well. His other friend hadn’t been able to come to dinner with them at the time. He phoned through to Wayne to make sure Lily wasn’t awake. Richard needed to see and talk to his friends. Half an hour later after checking to make sure Scarlet was still fast asleep, he moved down the hall to where Wayne had booked a room.

  Wayne and Tony stood talking with a glass of whisky in hand. Richard didn’t bother to knock. He’d been told to simply enter.

  “Hey, mate.” Tony went and embraced his friend. “How ya been doing?”

  “Seriously, you still talk like we’re teenagers?” Richard asked, but he smiled.

  He loved being with his friends, the only two to stick by him when his parents were being complete dicks.

  “With you guys spending time with women younger than you, I figured you didn’t like the thought of getting old,” Tony said.

  They caught up about what had been going on, laughing and joking at some of the old stuff they used to do.

  “So, old Richard, what brings us here?” Wayne asked.

  Richard swirled the liquid in his glass and thought about the best way to tell his friends. “You know that guy from earlier, the one who stopped by our table?”

  “The guy that made Scarlet look terrified?” Wayne asked.

  “Yes. I got her to open up to me. You’re not going to like what I’m about to tell you.” Wayne, Richard and Tony despised violence against women. Never would they hurt anyone. He told them everything. How David had charmed her and what happened when she discovered he had a wife. The fact he’d raped her because he didn’t like her refusing him. Once he was done, his two friends looked ready to commit murder.

  “The bastard raped an underage woman and then threatened her?” Tony looked livid.

  “My god, no wonder she looked frightened. And she’s raised Harry all by herself?” Wayne asked.

  “Yes. Even with the severe asthma. She’s asked for me not to interfere. It all happened a long time ago, and she just wants to forget about it.”

  “Fuck, no. We can’t leave that shit alone,” Tony said.

  “What happens if he starts hurting her?” Wayne asked.

  “Which is why I think we need a little intervention,” Richard said.

  Chapter Nine

  The following morning, Richard woke with Scarlet in his arms. He lay and stared at her for the longest time.

  After some time she opened her eyes and smiled. “Morning,” she whispered.

  “Good morning. Lily is expecting us downstairs for breakfast,” he said to her.

  She moaned and stretched out. “I’m sorry for unloading on you last night.”

  Richard held her hand.

  “Don’t be sorry. I love the fact you can trust me.”

  He kissed her lips and cupped her face. In no time the kiss deepened, and his cock hardened. “I’ve got to stop. Otherwise we’ll be here all morning, and Lily wants to talk before they leave.”

  “Well, you go down and make excuses for me. I’ll join you soon. I need to get ready and feel alive.” Scarlet kissed him of her own accord, and he waited until the bathroom shut to leave the bed.

  Richard left her to get dressed and do her business, and he made his way down to the foyer. Tony and Wayne were waiting. Wayne looked guilty.

  “What did you do?” Richard asked.

  “What? Nothing?”

  “I’ve known you for years. You’ve got that face that tells me you told. You didn’t?” Richard cursed. He couldn’t believe how easily he could read the guilt on his friend’s face.

  “Lily heard the conversation last night. She wanted to find the guy and show him a thing or two. I told her we’ll take care of it.”

  “You better have told her not to mention any
thing to Scarlet.” Richard knew she’d be mortified and feel like he had betrayed her trust if she found out he’d told his friends.

  “She won’t. You know Lily.”

  “Why are you two standing here?” Richard asked.

  “Your guy was waiting at the bottom of the stairs when us we made it downstairs. We acknowledged him. I don’t think he’s going to let up,” Wayne said.

  “I didn’t like him on first sight,” Tony told him. “He went into the bathroom. We wanted to make sure you had time to get your word across.”

  David came out of the bathroom a little farther down.

  “We also paid the toilet attendant. He knows we’re coming,” Tony said. Ready to do some damage, Richard charged to where David was staring at the stairs. Richard knew David was waiting for Scarlet.

  The man would hurt his woman, had hurt her in the past. He wouldn’t allow it.

  “Hey, David. I’ve got a bone to pick with you.” David stopped and looked at them. Richard knew they were large men.

  Good. He wanted the bastard afraid.

  “What do you want?” David asked.

  “I take it from you staring towards the stairs you’re looking for Scarlet?” A split second was all it took. Richard saw the realisation dawn on his face, and Tony and Wayne trapped him in.

  “I don’t know what that little slut has been telling you, but she asked for everything she got.” David growled in Richard’s face.

  “Big mistake,” Tony said.

  Careful to make sure no one was watching, Richard charged at the man and pushed him through the toilets to the bathroom David had just vacated. Wayne and Tony followed inside to keep watch on the door.

  “You dare to call Scarlet such vile, filthy names?” He rolled up his sleeves, ready as though he were in an old-fashioned bar fight. Holding her in his arms last night without making love had awakened him unlike any kick in the arse could.