the curtain drop back in place and turned to look at Heather.
“He’s mad at me now, but soon we’ll be having make-up sex.”
Heather’s face screwed up in pain.
“The hell with both of you!”
Rachel watched her run back out into the kitchen as Parker blew his horn again.
With a smile on her face, Rachel went out to see him.
“Hello Rick, what’s the matter, did you miss me?”
Parker jumped out of his car and grabbed her by the arm. He then looked around and realized that a couple returning to their vehicle were watching them.
“Let’s get inside so we can talk.”
Rachel went in first. She then lay back on the sofa, and as she did so, her skirt slid higher.
Parker spotted the barrette and panties.
“Heather was here?”
“She just left, and oh, she said to tell you to go to hell.”
Parker sat on the edge of the desk and sighed.
“Why did you plant those things at my house?”
“I was hoping they would have the desired effect, and did they ever,”
“Do you hate me, Rachel, is that it?”
The smirk left Rachel’s face and she went to him.
“I love you, Rick, and I know better than to promise that I’ll be faithful, but isn’t some of me better than none of me?”
“We ended a long time ago, and I love Heather now.”
“Don’t say that, and besides, she’ll never trust you again. She’s as self-righteous as you are.”
“She said that Hearn thinks we’re sleeping together, was he helping you to set me up?”
“He wants Heather, I want you, so we made a deal.”
“That’s some marriage you got there,”
Rachel began unbuttoning his shirt.
“Enough talk, let’s go over to the sofa and I’ll make you forget all about young Heather.”
“Get your hands off him before I shove those panties down your throat!”
Rachel spun around at those words and saw Heather walking out of the bathroom.
“But you, you left... I saw you.”
Heather walked past her and fell into Parker’s arms.
“What’s the matter, you don’t like being tricked?”
Rachel stared at Parker and then at Heather, who was looking back at her with sad eyes.
Heather shook her head.
“I can’t even be mad at you for what you did. I just think the whole thing is pathetic.”
“Don’t pity me you red-headed bitch, and you can kiss your job goodbye.”
Heather laughed.
“As if I’d keep working here, c’mon, Rick, let’s go home.”
They headed out the back door and Rachel called to Parker.
“I still love you, Rick,”
Parker said nothing, but just closed the door on her words.
At the car, he and Heather kissed.
“Thank you for trusting me.”
“I should have never doubted you, even for an instant, but she nearly fooled me.”
Parker held up her left hand and stared at the engagement ring.
“Were you wearing this the whole time?”
“Yes, and she never noticed it.”
“Would you like to go tell your mother that we’re engaged?”
“Later, right now I just want to be alone with you.”
“I love you, Heather,”
She grinned.
“I believe you.”
7
N ico stumbled back into his motel room, his head pounding, his stomach afire.
He fell back onto the bed with a loud exhalation and gazed up at the ceiling, as his mind replayed the events of the last hour.
Timothy Hearn, a preppy piece of shit like Timothy Hearn, had not only disrespected him, but had kicked his ass in the bargain, and had done it in front of a woman.
There was only one way to pay back such behavior, but Nico knew that if he went after Hearn that the outcome would be the same. The coma had left him too weakened to compete physically in a fight, but then, who said it had to be a fair fight?
Nico lay in the dark plotting revenge, and as the plan formed in his mind, the thought of the anguish he would inflict on Timothy Hearn seemed to ease his own pain, and he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.
***
T he next day was a Saturday, and after sleeping late, Parker and Heather went to her house to