“That’s the reason that I do it.And because of the people waiting for death certificates.There was quite a backlog when I first started.I’m only just now getting things caught up there.It wouldn’t be something that we do daily, I hope not anyway, but so far it’s only been about two a month.Mostly from the nursing home.”She asked what she had to do.“Nothing more than you did when you were a nurse.Just assist me with the post-mortems and help me keep up with paperwork, too.We can do a couple if you want to wait and decide if you want to do it or not.I’m easy.”
“I think that it would be a good job.I’m not so sure about going back to class and teaching.I drove by the parking lot the other day and had to pull over.It made me so upset.I might not be able to teach again, but this I think I could do.”Shipley said today she was working for the police department as a doctor for one of the inmates.“It’s probably David.I think that he was the only one who stayed in jail when they were all sent off to prison.I don’t want anything to do with him.”
“I don’t either now that you mention it.But I’ll go and examine him today because I said that I would.”Elaine asked if she had to do that often.“No.He’s going to be there for a year, so at some point, he might get hurt, and I have to go and attend to him.So if I have something to work with at the beginning, I’m not going to be blind sided by him when something goes wrong.He’s a dick weed, I heard.”
“He’s a prick, is what he is.”The two of them laughed.“He really wasn’t that bad when I first met him.Sometime between him interviewing me and Knox and me going out a few days later, he got it into his head that I was going to be his mistress.As Knox said when he talked to him, it was like he heard the word and liked it, so he used it until he figured out what it meant.Like I said, I want nothing to do with him or his illnesses.It wouldn’t matter to me if he were to get some incurable disease and fade out of my life.”
“You don’t mean that.”She said that she didn’t, but didn’t want to have to deal with him anymore.“I can understand that.You’ve only just gotten your feet under you again, and you don’t want to go with me to examine him.It would be nice, but I understand.Maybe Locke can spare a nurse to get blood for me while I’m there.That would keep me from having to stick him several times to draw it.”
Shipley made a call, and not only could Locke spare a nurse, but he sent over the equipment for her to get tissue samples, too, if she needed them.David would be taken to the hospital in a couple of days to get a full body workup to make sure that his stay with the police was going to be a healthy one.He would be put on a special diet too, so that he remained in good shape for when he went to prison,if that was a possibility after his trial date.
Elaine was excited about her new job.She’d been having nightmares about going back to the school to teach.She had loved her job, but David had ruined it for her.He’d ruined a great many things for her, and one of them was her relationship with Knox.She had a feeling by now they’d be sleeping together, and because of David beating her nearly to death, she’d had to wait until her stitches were out so that she could make love with him.
That was her plan, too.If she were honest with herself, she was sort of afraid to have sex with Knox.Not scared but nervous.She knew that her skin was still beaten up in places, and she had fresh scars all over her back and legs.The ones that were on her lips had healed nicely, but she could still see the scars from the stitches that she’d had in them.
Her eyes were no longer swollen shut, but she had two black eyes that made her look terrible in the mirror.Her left ear was tender to the touch, and she had to be careful when she brushed her teeth, or they would bleed because of the cuts that she had on her gums.In a word, she was a mess.It made her cry whenever she looked in the mirror because of what David had done to her.
“What’s going on?”She turned and looked at Knox when he stood in front of the bathroom door where she was examining herself.“You look beautiful without the stitches in your mouth.How did it go?”
“It went well.He said I had to keep sunscreen on so that they don’t discolor when I get too much sun on them.But otherwise, I’m just fine.”She tried to turn away from him, but he wasn’t having it.“I have a job working with Shipley as a post-mortem assistant.I won’t have to go on jail runs with her if they involve David, but she is getting a nurse from the hospital to help her out with those.”
“Look at me.”She smiled and turned to look at him, but her eyes were heavy with her unshed tears.“Oh, baby, don’t cry.David won’t be able to hurt you anymore.If he gets out in a year, which I don’t see happening, I told you that Zander is going for the maximum, then we’ll deal with him then.In the meantime, he’s in jail and no longer a problem for you and me.”
“It’s not all, David.I’m so ugly.How can you stand to look at me?”He pulled her into his arms and held her while she sobbed against his chest.“I hate what I look like, and I was hoping we could have sex when I got the stitches out of my mouth.Now look at me.I’m ugly with all these scars and scabs all over my body.I found one on my hip that I’d not known about until I was pulling on my pants this morning.Will it be like this all the time?Where I’m suddenly finding another place that he knocked me around with?”
He held her tightly, and she loved him for that.When she mentioned her hip again, he sort of laughed a bit.Looking up at him, she asked him what he found so funny, ready to do battle if he made fun of her.He only shook his head and then leaned his forehead onto hers.
“I love you so much.And I would love it if we were to have sex tonight.But no pressure.I don’t even see the scars or scabs anymore.I only see how beautiful you are and how brave you are.”She said she didn’t feel beautiful at all.Then she pointed out her black eyes as well as the scarring on her head and arms.“All things that make me realize how brave you were when you were being hurt.I believe that other women would have given up and let him beat them.But not you.He’s going to have his scars and scabs for the rest of his life.Perhaps not the scabs, but the scars for sure.You’ll do what’s right with them, and they’ll be nothing but a faint memory someday that will fade with them.”
“But I want to have sex with you.”He threw back his head and laughed.“I don’t think this is the least bit funny, you know.I have been thinking about making love with you since we started living together.And today, when the stitches were taken out of my mouth, I thought it would come true, but then I remembered what I look like.”
“I see you beyond the black eyes.And they’ll heal.Sometime in the near future, they’ll be as faded away as the other wounds that he put on your body.”She asked him how much longer.“It doesn’t matter.Not to me.I have you, and he doesn’t.I feel like I’ve won the best prize of all the things that I could have gotten by having you in my life.”
“You’re being too nice to me.”He told her that he needed to be laid.“I see how you are.You justwant to have sex with me and will butter me up to have it.Is that right?”
“No.I want to make love to you because I love you so very much.”He couldn’t have said anything more romantic than that, and the timing was perfect.“I couldn’t care less what you have on your face or eyes.I love a part of you that is perfect.You’re heart.”
“You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.”He told her that he felt the same way about her.“I’d love to have you make love with me.I have been thinking of nothing else since I got back from the doctor’s office.Of course, I’d not looked in the mirror until I got back, but I’m sure you can close your eyes while we do it.”
“I want to see every part of you when I make love with you.I want to see the passion in your eyes.The way your breathing stops when you’re about to come.I want to taste you when you come too.”She felt her face heat up a little at what he was saying to her.“There are so many things that I want to do with your body that I’m afraid that one time won’t be enough.We’ll have to make love for months so that I can taste you everywhere I wish.”
“You’re making me wet.”He said good, and smiled at her.However, the look in his eyes had her seeing lust there, and she knew she felt the same way.“How about we have some dinner and then go up to the bedroom?I think that would be the perfect place to start our new relationship.”
“I love the way that you think.”He kissed her again, and she could feel his erection at her abdomen.Moving against him, she felt his body shudder, and she wanted more.Reaching down between them, she cupped his cock in her hand.“You keep that up, and we’ll never have dinner, much less make it up to the bedroom.I want you now and later, love.How about we skip dinner and have each other for our meal.I think that sounds so much better, don’t you?”She whimpered a bit and told him she loved the way that he thought.“I love you so very much, Elaine Erickson.And will for the rest of my days.”
“And I love you too, Knox Erickson, and am so happy that you found me when you did.Who knew that moving into an apartment could get me someone to love with all that I am.And to have you love me back was more than I could have ever dreamed of.”They kissed again, and he pulled away.She could see his erection now and was glad that he was holding her.“I want you.Now.”
He picked her up in his arms, and she laughed.As they headed to the bedroom, he told her all the things he was going to do to her.First of all, she was to take every bit of her clothing off and have a look at the treasures that she’d been keeping from him.She couldn’t wait.
Chapter 9
Knox felt his frustrations when he tried to open the first button on her blouse.But when he looked at her, he could see a part of her that he’d never seen before.Trust.It made a calm roll over him in such a way that he knew he’d be able to do this without hurting her.The rest of the buttons seemed to open themselves for him, and he pulled it off of her and dropped it to the floor.
“I’ve never been undressed before.”Knox told her that he’d never undressed anyone before.“Good.I like knowing that I’m first for something.You must have a lot of experience with making love to women.”
“You’re the only one that counts.”He kissed her again, gently prying her mouth open so that he could taste what she had there.“You taste like mint and a sweetness that I’ve never tasted before.”
“Mint chocolate chip.I treated myself at the Dairy Mart when I got the stitches taken out.It’s my favorite ice cream.”He reached behind her and tried to undo her bra.“It’s in the front of my bra.See?It’s got these really nice hooks that don’t dig into me.”
