Page 115 of Left Behind

Linette felt a waft of air and turned around. Her body was slick with soap as he took the cloth from her hands and stepped beneath the spray with her.

With the water pummeling them from head to toe, he took the cloth and slowly began to wipe the soap from her skin.

“Close your eyes,” he whispered.

Linette grabbed hold of his shoulders and felt her world go dark. Her senses became focused on nothing but his touch and the swipe of the cloth, wiping off the soap on her face and her neck, moving down like an avalanche, from her breasts to her stomach, to the valley between her legs.

She shuddered and then moaned and held on tighter as her forehead dropped against his shoulder, then, Oh God, he slid his hands around her hips. Cupped his palms against her backside, then slid the washcloth through the downpour from the showerhead, all the way up the length of her back until every inch of her body was free of soap.

“Wiley,” she moaned.

“I know, darlin’,” he whispered.

He’d washed her clean and then set her on fire.

Water was dripping from their bodies when he carried her to the bed.

“Wet,” she mumbled.

“Yes, you are,” he whispered, and slid between her legs.

***

Wiley left them both sleeping and was out the door before daybreak. He headed for the heliport, stopping at Granny Annie’s Bakery on the way for coffee and a sausage biscuit. It never paid to go to war on an empty stomach, and that’s how it felt, knowing he was going to have to deal with Corina Dalton again.

He ate on the way to the helipad and finished his coffee in his SUV as he waited for the chopper to arrive, and when it did, it appeared with the sunrise, coming over the mountain and down into the valley like a dragonfly coming to land upon a pond.

As soon as it was down, he started toward it at a jog, jumped into the open bay, and slid the door shut behind him.

“Morning, Mr. Pope,” the pilot said. “Conway, Arkansas, still the destination?”

“Yes, it is,” Wiley said. He settled into a seat behind the pilot and buckled in.

The chopper rose, hovered for a second, then shot forward in an easterly direction, and they were gone. Wiley had a brief glimpse of the roof of their house before they flew out of sight.

***

It was hot and windy on the morning of the hearing, and the air conditioner in Corina Dalton’s car wasn’t working. By the time she pulled into the parking lot of the Faulkner County Courthouse and got inside, half her makeup had melted off her face and the hairdo she’d spent money on looked like it had been sucked backwards into a vacuum hose.

She had to pass through security in that condition before she could get to a bathroom to repair the damage, and it did nothing to ease the knot in her stomach. She had finally faced her truth. She was afraid of Wiley Pope. What he might say. What he might do.

The only hold she had over him was guessing how much he wanted what she’d given up. But she had no idea what Ava had been telling him, and she might be in deeper trouble than she knew.

It was a quarter to eleven when she reached the judge’s quarters. Her lawyer, Frank Ashton, was waiting. He had a spot on his tie, and he’d combed his hair with his fingers. She knew, because his hair was oily enough that it had not fallen back into place, and she could see the grooves where his fingers had been. But she’d paid him with sex, her only commodity, and had no room to complain.

She sat down on the bench beside him. “Do they call us in or what?”

“No, we can go in. I was waiting for you,” Ashton said.

“Is he already here?” she asked.

“If you are referring to a black-haired giant of a man in gray slacks and a white long-sleeved shirt, then maybe.”

She grimaced, and when he opened the door for her, she led with her chin and strode in like she owned the place. She caught a glimpse of Wiley from the corner of her eye, but refused to make eye contact as she sat down. Ashton informed the secretary they were present, and then joined her.

***

Wiley looked up as the door opened, and within seconds, he felt her fear and knew it was still nothing to the extent of fear she’d put in her child. Moments later, the secretary buzzed the judge’s office to let him know all parties had arrived, and they were escorted in.

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